u/BrightRick

OK, I was complaining that Spectrum needed to get into my building's maintenance room to fix the problem. It took weeks of arranging, but I was finally able to have building maintenance meet Spectrum's repair guy. Only to be told that there's nothing in the room for him to fix - even though THREE other tech guys said they needed to get in the room.

All that was in there there are physical connections - no electronics. According to THIS tech, the issue is "somewhere in the area and is effecting everyone" and "we get 1dozens of automated alarms every day from around here" and "we can't find the issue." The solution? I have to power cycle my modem and router every time I want to use the internet or stream. Seriously. When I do power cycle, I have a good connection that lasts an hour or so. Response time is terrible - I click on a link and it can take a minute for a page to load. The tech's reply "Yea, that's part of the problem. Upstream is getting lost somewhere." ETA to fix the issue? None. Supposedly they've had multiple fiber lines cut by construction crews, surface equipment damaged by landscapers and other issues. "All the repairs have lead to massive instability." My equipment is working, upstream and downstream are fast. The PHYSICAL stuff is working. But if I use Google's Lighthouse to measure page load times, it usually times out because the page takes more than a minute to load.

So I am basically SOL.

Last year I started using mason jars for my cold brew and love it. They sit on the counter and whenever I walk past they get a little shake - and If I'm especially tired I sing (badly) "My name is Cuban Pete...." while shaking them. Each jar is around 2/3rds full of water and has around 1.5" of grounds. I started using "cold brew filter bags" off Amazon as my first step in filtering several batches ago ("50pcs No Mess Large Cold Brew Bags, 8x12 inch Disposable Coffee Filter Bag"). $10 for 50 is worth it. I have a tall pitcher and one of the bags fits in it perfectly. I dump both containers of cold brew in the bag, rinse the jars and dump that in as well. Slowly remove the filter bag from the pitcher while it drains. Then I soak that bag in another pitcher to extract whatever is left. What surprised me was the amount of small sediment these bags trapped and how fast the coffee flowed out. I expected them to trap only the grounds, but they appear to trap anything under 80 microns (that's a guess.) My final filter step has maybe 20% of the fine particles I used to have! Plus I can take those bags and toss them outside in the sun to dry - lots of uses for dry grounds. Also a lot less cleanup.

I make around 2 gallons of cold brew weekly. But when I travel for long weekends, I find carrying a lot of liquid to be a pain. I was at Aldi last week and noticed their "Barissimo" cold brew pouches. Around $7.50 for four pouches, two pouches makes one pitcher overnight. OK, the stuff is actually GOOD. I put a pack of four pouches in my empty pitcher, and when I arrive at the hotel I fill it with water and let the first batch sit overnight - next day I have decent cold brew. I've used it at home a few times when the coffee grounds ran out and I did not feel like going out - I have days with really bad arthritis and driving is a no-go. If you're looking for an emergency backup or easy travel solution, it's worth a try!

I live in a multi-building condo complex. There's an individual internet drop to each building's maintenance room. Our building of 14 units has had no streaming or internet for over two weeks. I called service - they showed up, checked and told me that they need to access to the maintenance room where the connection is because "there's no signal on the line." I told him I was a tenant and had no access. He actually asked me "Then why did I call?" Er, because I have no internet or streaming. "Well, the building management has to arrange it." OK, two weeks later and nobody has called Spectrum and Spectrum has not called them. Our property manager quit a month ago, so the office has been empty since then, except on random days once a week when someone stops by to pickup checks.

I received a notice today from management that the trouble ticket was closed and the issue solved. Except it was not. I messaged with Spectrum. They REFUSE to accept a complaint from me concerning the entire building and refuse to call anyone but me. Their solution is to send a maintenance guy out again, and I know how that will end. So what I am going to do is have service come out every single day until it's fixed. I have to use my phone as a hotspot to use the web. Maintenance will be here in an hour (impressive actually) to twiddle their fingers and ask for access to the maintenance room.

I purchased an A1 a few months ago and love it. I see a lucky few snagged one off Vine. I just grabbed a hotend and nozzle from two different vine listings. Spares are handy!

Last weds I thought it was a sore throat. Waited for a day - the typical gargling with salt water, etc. Next morning my throat was obstructed about 60% and my uvula was almost sideways. Hit the emergency clinic, they wheel me over to the ER and they do an emergency cyst removal - a 1.5CM and several 1-2mm cysts had formed in under a day. The pain was insane. Worde than the two tooth extractions I had a month earlier. All done, out patient. Go home.

The next day I'm feeling terrible, but they just dug a hole in my throat, so.... 1am. Fever hits 103, throat is swelling closed again. Drive to the ER - it's 7 minutes away. I won the lotto - I'm the only person in the waiting room. Explain the problem. Several hours in an ER bay (tests, xrays, CT scan, etc.) and two days in the hospital. They thought sepsis may have started because of the bloodwork - it was that close. Removed the tonsils with a LASER the first day. On IV antibiotics from Fri. in the ER to Sunday, plus steroids, etc. Sunday I'm sent home with a hip-flask of opioids and a box of Narcan, antibiotics, etc.. The nurse tells me that the pain from the previous Thursday was lightweight training for what to expect in the next few days. Yea, I joke around with the staff wherever I am and they tend to loosen up around me.

Friggin 66 years old and had my tonsils removed. Pureed and liquid foods for at least two weeks. Soft foods after that. Stay sedate. Nothing to dry out or stress the throat. I have 7 types of pureed beans in the fridge. Fruit-pops smashed into diet pepsi is my newest friend. I can't do sugar, dairy or salt, and have a literal prescription to eat ice cream. And can't.

Beans. Protein shakes. No alcohol, caffeine, citrus. The White Scabs (good name for an indie band) are forming up nicely - my throat looked like the set from some cave-based horror movie. Now it's the spider-web covered caves from LOTR. Yes, I'm, taking daily photos.