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Inspired by the "bought a new UPS battery I didn't need thread" I'm looking for recommendations for home UPS's. I open to brands but like APC so that's my go to. Our power outages are usually an hour or less but if longer stretch into days so I am only looking to ride through 1-2 hours. I...

Happy new year everyone. The year of the dragon!

Maybe this is more of a rant but I'm looking for constructive information. I've mostly always bought cheap luggage that I replaced every few years - think $40 for a carryon size that might last 5 years. The bag I currently use is about 5 years old and showing its wear. It was cheap. But in...

I have a PhD in engineering and an MBA in finance but my mind goes numb trying to understand the information about ACA. I'm mostly reading information at the KFF website which is mostly clear but I still am not sure if I completely understand. My understanding is that we get a subsidy that is...

I'm a cheese lover. One of my plans after retirement is to explore cheesemaking. I've made a few already, mostly fresh cheeses like queso fresco and cottage cheese. Anyone else into this? Any pointers on where to get started with things beyond the simple fresh cheeses?

We'll be going to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in April/May 2025. I know those countries are generally pretty safe, especially in tourist areas. But I've traveled to a developing country about 25 years ago and at the time my company sent us to a travel physician. She recommended several...

I posted a couple of years ago about being 2 years from retirement day. In the post I mentioned a few things I wanted to accomplish in the meantime. I don't expect anyone to remember it but I would like to find it to check up on myself. Is there a way to see all my posts? I've already gone...

Does anyone still use travel agents and if so do you have one you can recommended. I thought I asked about this a couple of years ago but searching the forum only brought up a relevant post from 2007 which got minimal response so I'm asking again. Here's my problem: I usually book my own...

A bit of a strange situation... This is in Hawaii which is itself weird for stuff like this. Back in July I hired a flooring contractor (licensed). I have no issues with him but he basically handed off the work to one of his workers. Since late August the guy has completed 3 fairly large...

I lived in Arizona most of my life and have been on a lot of 66 from the TX/NM border to Santa Monica, California. But my partner and I are looking to do a through drive sometime next summer or later and would appreciate any suggestions, including the places I've been a lot. Yes, there are...

I am remodeling my house in Hawaii, mostly just installing tile but the scope has expanded to include new moulding, a bathroom renovation, painting, and now replacing the electrical outlets. All the 20 year old outlets are noticeably yellow compared to the wall plates and look terrible in the...

I'm not sure if I mentioned I'm having some renovations done. I think at this point they qualify as major. I'm projecting about $60,000 on about a $1,000,000 house. My question tonight is about a detail. Yesterday I had a plumber here to prepare the shower drain for the tile installer. I...

Any thoughts on tankless water heaters? My water heater needs to be replaced. It is old and has issues. I'm trying to decide between tanked and tankless. I have mostly had tanked heaters. I'm talking to a contractor about replacing (he's doing some other work for me) and he is pitching...

Because Koolau brought it up... Honolulu's long awaited rail [-]debacle[/-] project started operating on June 30th 2023. Thousands of people rode during the first 5 free days. The first paid day saw about 1250 riders. At 84,005 riders per day the operating cost is $12.79 per rider. They are...

I am considering installing a whole home generator with a fairly large propane tank. We've had several multiday power outage over the last few years. I could probably go with a portable generator to just handle a few things like refrigerator and freezer but the whole home solution I found is...

As mentioned in another thread, I'm remodeling a bathroom. I absolutely love the shower valves that are ubiquitous in Europe. If you are not familiar, you set the temperature on one side and the flow rate on the other. No variation or adjustment from one shower to the next unless you want to...

We're remodeling a bathroom. Thinking of putting in an LCD lit mirror. I have several LCD bulbs and fixtures but the cost is minimal so I don't mind the risk of it dying after just a few years. But LCD mirrors are a few hundred so I'd be pretty bummed if it crapped out early. Any experience...

So, partner loved Sweden this summer, her first visit, and it was a mix of tourism and meeting my close lifelong friends/and-its-too-complicated-to-explain-but-family-is-probably-the-best-word. I'm planning to take her back in December next year to test that. (Not really a test, just to show...

I have been frustrated the last few years with the power plugs on airplanes. They are almost always worn and abused to the point that my chargers with American flat parallel bladed plugs will not stay plugged in. I've thought of bringing a roll of gaffer's tape in my carryon to secure them...

We left Sweden today after almost 2 weeks. We did not spend a single ore or krona in the form of cash, bills or coins. It is almost a completely cashless economy. So far it seems like Denmark is pretty similar. The only hickup they have to work out is that at local markets and for very small...

I posted in another thread about my lost luggage issues. So going forward I want to use something to track my bags. I am not an Apple guy so I'm looking for something for the Android ecosystem. Does anyone use anything to track checked bags? Tile seems to be the leader but from what I can...

So here is the situation: We left Kona Hawaii (home) late at night last Saturday. We arrived SFO and our flight from there was delayed over an hour because the airline was short staffed and could not clean the airplane on time. They documented the reason in a text message. It is not an...

Wasn't sure where to put this. In the travel forum lots of people have been talking about how great Apple Pay is. I'm not an Apple guy but I signed up for Google Pay last night and used it in the wild for the first time today. All went well. So I understaand how to use it. But I have some...

I was born in the mid 60s. The Vietnam War was a part of my childhood. I can't say I understood much about it at the time. I remember hearing about people my parents knew or others around their sphere dying. I remember the "boat people" settling in the army town I lived in and so many people...

I'll be in Europe is just over a week for about 3 weeks. My US Verizon cell phone will work just fine for getting calls to my US number. And if I want to call numbers local to where I am visiting I can call from my US phone and the calls will be routed through google voice at minimal cost...