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This year will be my first in the ACA marketplace since retiring. I’ve recently exhausted the 18 months of Cobra coverage. In comparing plans through open enrollment here in Washington state, I’m very confused by the costs I’m seeing. Coverage is for two of us, married and filing jointly, 60...

Another Backblaze user here. No, it’s not free, but it works well and is very reliable. As a former IT guy, this one stood out as one of the better paid services. I’ve been using it for more than 5 years.

Go Zags!!! Love college BB.

With anything google, you are the product. I bought a 65” LG OLED TV last year and couldn’t be happier. And as a former audiophile, I’m actually impressed with the quality of the built-in audio.

Vote by mail here in Washington state. Love it!

This is a problem in our household. It would be so much better if the financial institutions would all support token authentication via something like a Yubikey.

Turning 60 this month and I’ve only had 4 cars since college. A used Dodge Omni (totaled when I got t-boned by a kid who blew a stop sign) and a new Dodge Omni in 87. Those were pretty lousy cars, but cheap. Next I bought a 94 Acura Integra (stick!) which I owned for 23 years and 200k miles...

I have a 5 year old Chamberlain belt drive with battery backup and external keypad. No smart features, thankfully. Just don’t need them or the added complication. The battery backup function failed after about 2 years. Prevented the opener from working at all until I removed the battery. Tried...

I’ve started doing trail work since retiring. Been mountain biking for going on 30 years and figured it was time to give back. It’s really hard work, but it’s very rewarding. Good group of folks I work with in the local trails association.

If you have an old road or “hybrid” bike, look into getting a smart trainer and companion app like Zwift. It’s a far more engaging experience than an old exercise bike and watching TV. The app controls the trainer resistance and “gameifies” your workout. You can do canned workouts of varying...

I got an email from Chase, who I have a card with, offering to hook me up with Paze. It’s basically your bank or credit card company offering you a payment service to make your business with them more “sticky”. I’ve already got PayPal, so paze does nothing new for me. I passed.

Well, I didn’t start with 3x 60 seconds. 😀 Started at 30 seconds one time and it was really hard. As a cyclist, I had almost no upper body strength. Thought it was finally time to work on that. I space the 3 sets out between other stuff involving kettle bells and dumbbells as well as some...

Almost daily for me. 3x 60 seconds. Along with a number of other strength-building exercises. Longtime cyclist, but realized I needed to add some strength training as I approached that 60 milestone.

Late July will put you in the heart of fire season here in the inland northwest. Some years it’s particularly bad, with air that is unhealthy to be outside in. And over very large swaths of the area. This can last for a day or two or multiple weeks. Last year I drove from Spokane to Eugene in...

LibreOffice. I don’t miss MSOffice after having used it for over a decade.

Best of luck with the upgrade and many thanks for all the mods do for the forum and its members!!!

Last two cars I bought, I used the Costco car purchasing program. Fairly straightforward with the Hyundai and Subaru dealers I dealt with. May not have gotten bottom dollar, but reasonably good deals nonetheless. Paid cash for both. Did my best not to laugh at the finance droids when they tried...

Perhaps your Wi-Fi coverage isn’t consistent. Try loading an app on your iPad called Network Analyzer: net tools. Then use the ping utility to make sure that your iPad can “see” your PC on the network. If ping is good, indicated by a green dot for each ping try, then you might need to check the...

I think you mean IP address, not MAC address, in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. And you need to make sure that file sharing is enabled on the PC side for a specific directory or whole hard drive. And that the PC's firewall isn't blocking connections as well. There are a number of other things to...

Some advice: if you are planning on traveling to Washington and/or Oregon in July or August, be sure to have flexible plans. Not to be a downer, but you’ll be in the middle of fire season out here. Even if your plans don’t end up being close to a fire, that smoke covers a lot of ground. Last...

Didn't see much discussion of reliability/longevity. That's the main reason I've chosen to go with a desktop over a laptop. Most laptop batteries don't last beyond about 3 years and the "ruggedness" of laptops and their components is highly variable. Not uncommon to get 7-10 years out of a good...

There are a lot of variables to consider in those speed tests: Are you connected directly to your home router or are you connecting through Wi-Fi (wirelessly)? Are you using a VPN (for added security)? Is anyone else in your house also using your ISP service at the time of your testing (like...

According to the installation manual from the manufacturer’s website for that fixture, a ground is required. If you aren’t supplying a ground wire, it could well be that it’s not a faulty fixture, just improper installation. Also, if you choose to add a dimmer later, an older dimmer for...

Many thanks for this thread! I found the $5 offer after a little poking around in my Fido account. I inquired last year and was only offered the $20 discount. This year’s savings is lunch money!

So many good memories of toys for Christmas. For me, it was anything to build, construct, wire, what-have-you. In no particular order: - Slotcar set - Lionel train set - HO train set - Erector set - Girders and panel set Yeah, I eventually became an electrical engineer. And I still race...