u/SituationNormalAllFU

You could have at least stopped. I was standing right there when it happened. I don’t think it was your fault. Stopping to try and help is a basic human reaction, though. A much loved family pet was lost, and you simply fled the scene with your bumper dragging in front of you. Not okay.

My partner is starting a new job soon that involves her commuting to an office 20 miles away one day per week, and driving around our local market the other 4 days per week. She currently drives a 2020 Golf GTI she bought new, and has always had sportier cars. Her GTI is now out of warranty and starting to show its age. I would like her to buy something she enjoys every day while also having a full warranty and excellent fuel/energy economy. Our son is also going to be 8 this year and really getting interested in sports etc… she is going to need a bit more space soon.

We are looking at EVs and I think she is mostly settled on the Mach-E. She eliminated the Toyota BZ and C-HR on test drives. She doesn’t like the looks of the Hyundai and Kia offerings. Tesla is right out. We haven’t tested the Polestar, Lexus, Audi, or Cadillac options yet, but they are getting up there in price and the added luxury doesn’t resonate with her all that much. I’m also 6’7” and while it will be her daily, I need to fit. The GTI is okay for me as a passenger and occasional driver, but far from comfortable. The Mach-E actually fits me pretty great. So unless we find another contender I think it’s going to be a Mach-E.

We have test driven a Mach-E Premuim trim and a GT. I put both of them through some slightly spirited driving (I have had a lot of Mustangs, and an F-Type R, and have a bit of track experience). We both came away with similar impressions - the GT is definitely more powerful, but the Premium is no slouch. Handling was honestly very similar between the two. I know the GT has Magneride, but as much as I tried to give it a chance to shine… it really didn’t seem very apparent to either of us. AWD isn’t super useful where we live, where we realistically only deal with ice and snow 2-3 weeks out of a given year.

Premium with Sport Appearance package and the 88 kWh battery seems to be the right choice. She loves the way it looks, drives, and feels to ride in. My assumption is that she would only be giving up a bit of acceleration and AWD. I was hoping the handling upgrade would justify the bump to GT, but just couldn’t find the value during the test drives, even on the rough patches of road or hard cornering I put them through.

So - what are we missing? Is there anything less obvious about the GT that would help justify the extra spend? Do resale value and insurance cost factor in significantly? Anything else we should know?

I set mine up today, for good measure, and tested it with my partner on FaceTime. She was laughing pretty hard most of the time, saying I looked like a robot version of myself, aged an additional 10 years. I think I agree and I'm already wrinkled enough, lol.

Is this something worth tweaking so I can actually use it, or just a neat parlor trick?

This is going to sound strange unless you’re already aware. I had been in a plateau for about 6 weeks. 9 months in, already at max dosage. 50 lbs down, another 50 to go, but aside from mild fluctuations my weight had not moved downward. If anything it went up a bit. I also noticed that my only side effect left was a bit of mild constipation. Very different from the first 5-6 months on the drug. I have always injected in my abdomen, rotating sides weekly, into the “roll” above my belt line.

I brought this to my doctor, and she said while she can’t up my dosage again, I should try the back of my arm or higher up on my abdomen. Specifically above the belly button line. I didn’t expect much to change, but this past weekend I injected in my belly above the bellybutton line by a couple of inches. This week so far the side effects have been more noticeable. Nausea, even some diarrhea. It feels a lot more like week 4 than week 40. And I’m down to a new low on the scale. Only a pound lower than my previous low number… but it’s moving the right direction again.

Maybe this is coincidence, but also maybe it’s legit. It’s definitely worth a shot (so to speak) for anyone in a similar boat.

I’m casually planning a shed build in a section of my yard that I think could be perfect for a solar setup. I’d love to hear what some people smarter than me think about it.

My city technically limits unpermitted outbuildings to 200sq ft. I wouldn’t expect them to get too excited if I’m a bit over on roof coverage, so I’m considering a 12x16 enclosed with a 16x20 overall footprint to provide some covered area. I’m not 100% on this, but it would allow a lot of panel options. The longer dimension would face north/south and the south side will get full sun, so a roof mounted set of panels is probably easiest.

I’d like to avoid connecting this shed to the grid. Solar makes sense, I think, and it mostly needs to support occasional shop light use, a thermostat controlled ventilation fan, chargers for my electric lawn tools, and battery tenders for mower, etc. In the winter, the battery tenders will be the only real draw. I will be able to do the math on current draw soon enough, but it’s not massive.

I think I can do all of this fairly easily, and I am plenty handy. I also have some experience with RV solar, so many concepts are already well understood. I don’t have any experience at all with the various DIY home solutions that are out there. I feel like there are so many fake reviews, shill YouTube videos, etc that it’s tough to get a real view of what is good and what isn’t.

Hoping some kind folks here can suggest some good options.