In the past, I would lay down on the beach or pool loungers and be on the alert so I don’t fall asleep, which tends to happen when the sun is strong.

But on our recent cruise , it hit me: I thought screw it, that is part of the plan! To fall asleep in the sun and just enjoy the whole experience. It is not like I am tied to a schedule and that napping unexpectedly will make you miss some meeting or something l! lol.

As I came to this realization, I would go out of my way to just lay there and hope I drift away into a beautiful nap under the sun.

Do you do the same thing and nap on the pool or beach?

When I returned my car to the rental place at the airport, I asked the guy from the company where I could get a taxi or uber , and he asked where I was going and I told him to the Everglades cruise port, he just said “come , will help you”. He grabbed all our luggage and started putting them in a nearby SUV (also part of the rental fleet) .

As he was doing that , I asked him how much and he just said whatever you can pay me. I gave him $30 which I believe is a bit too much but this was way too convenient and we didn’t have to do any waiting or walking etc. he dropped us right at the port and within mins we were inside. The guy has been doing this for decades and is very experienced with the whole pickup and drop off between the two points. Basically from the time we dropped off the rental to us being at the port took less than 15 mins max!

Feel like what he did is illegal but I wasn’t going to ask him that.

Wondering if anyone has done this?

While sailing, what is the strangest thing you have ever seen in the sea at night? Either something you couldn’t explain or that remains a mystery till the day.

So this is my third time in the Fort Lauderdale area, having previously cruised out of here in 2013 and 2017. But I feel like I got to see the city more closely this time and made some personal observations that I wanted to share.
These are just my observations, and you may or may not agree with them:

- Have to start with customer service!
Man, is it good here. You truly feel like your business is appreciated, regardless of where you are. My wife and I are constantly in awe at how seriously people take their jobs and how great the customer service is, whether it’s a gas station, restaurant, retail store, etc.
I made a similar post two years ago about my stay in Orlando and Cape Canaveral, and it’s nice to see the same thing here in Fort Lauderdale again.
This is something we are not used to in Toronto, where customer service doesn’t seem to be much of a priority.
OK, I know some of you will say that they are forced to be nice and that it’s not genuine most of the time. But honestly, it’s not my job to worry about whether it’s fake or not. All I know is that it feels good to get some great customer service. 😂

- The second one is where I feel I may lose some of you, or get a lot of disagreement:
Drivers and driving here are very smooth, and it took me less than an hour to feel right at home. People are patient, and you rarely hear honking.
But here’s the irony: on our way to Miami to watch Inter Miami play, we witnessed a very nasty collision on I-95! It was so close to us (the next lane over) that the sound of the crash is still in my mind, and the damage was severe. I really hope everyone was OK!
I know there is this tendency for people to overestimate how bad drivers are in their own city. But for me, as someone visiting, I noticed the total opposite.

- This is something we noticed during our visits to California and Las Vegas, and again here in South Florida: where are the damn people? 😂
The streets are mostly empty, whether it’s day or night, with very few people here and there.
I understand that it may be too hot to walk during the day, but what about at night?
We were driving along A1A and Las Olas, and despite seeing hundreds of condos, we could hardly find anyone out walking. This was Thursday night around 10:30 PM and again Saturday night.
Where is everyone?!

- Same thing with the beach.
We were at Dania Beach on Friday afternoon, and the weather was perfect for the beach. But again, the beach was virtually empty. Like, maybe 10 people on a 1 km stretch?
We couldn’t believe it! It literally felt like we owned the beach. 😂
Where I live in Ontario, we go to a beach north of us, and while it is nowhere close to the beaches here, you literally bump into people left and right because of how busy it is.
Now, I do understand that it was a bit too hot, and we later realized that schools had already started. But even those two things couldn’t fully explain how such a beautiful beach could have so few people.
BTW, I do realize Hollywood Beach is busier and has more energy, but we actually prefer Dania Beach because it feels more suited for families.

-The beautiful Guitar shaped hotel! We were driving on the highway when my son noticed a beam flashing into the sky and said ‘daddy, look at that, looks like the Luxor beam in Vegas….’ Which got me curious and decided to drive toward it to see what it was all about: as I got close, I was shocked to realize it is for the Hard Rock hotel, a hotel I had read about and seen pictures of. More recently, I have been following closely the building of the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas. And wow what a beautiful hotel! So glad I followed the smoke which led me to it, and got to see it from inside as well.

- Last but not least, I love the abundance here.
I don’t really know how to explain this one, but you go to a restaurant and there is an abundance of utensils, condiments, bags and whatever else you ask for, without feeling like you’re being nickeled and dimed.
We are constantly wowed by this, especially since we live in a place where not only do you get charged for bags, but they make it seem like having a plastic bag is a crime, all in the name of the environment. 😂
I often tell my wife: why do places like this seem to get blessed with more abundance when they are so generous with what they offer?
I know this may seem silly or tedious to some people, but these little things add up and go a long way toward making a great impression.
Anyway, just some random observations from our trip. We’ve really enjoyed Fort Lauderdale this time around!

Based on what I have observed, most discussions here (at least for U.S based cruises) are about those that leave from Florida or east in general, and a lot less around those that sail out of the west coast into the pacific (California, Seattle etc…)

Does it come down to the east having access to the Caribbean? But western cruising has access to such rare and nice places like Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico to name a few.

I personally have been on several cruises and other than one out of Italy, all other ones were out of Florida, but would love to try a cruise out of the west coast.

Did the addition of Fontainebleau make the area north of Wynn noticeably busier? I remember that stretch of the Strip feeling pretty dead years ago, especially once you got past Wynn toward Resorts World/Fontainebleau. Now with Fontainebleau, Resorts World, the Convention Center and all the restaurants/nightlife, does it actually feel like a more active part of the Strip? Or is it still relatively still quiet compared to the central Strip?

For the record, last time I was in Vegas, Fontainebleau wasn’t finished yet.

Does anyone else get this weird FOMO in Vegas?
I’ll be somewhere having a perfectly good time, but then I start thinking about all the other places I could be.

Like I could be sitting at a bar at Paris, enjoying a drink, and then suddenly I’m thinking, “Shit… I could be at that huge bar at Cosmopolitan right now.”
Then I actually go to Cosmopolitan and see how packed and buzzing everything is, and now I’m thinking, “Wait… Bellagio is right there. What’s happening at that nightclub tonight?”

Then I’m walking past the Bellagio fountains and there are thousands of people everywhere, lights, music, people taking pictures, and I’m thinking, “Maybe I should just stay right here. This is Vegas.”
Or I could be sitting at a pizza place at Luxor, perfectly happy, but then my brain starts going:
“Why am I eating pizza here when I could be at Forum Shops? I could walk around, pick from all these restaurants, see all the people, and have way more going on around me.”

Then I see Señor Frog’s and it’s packed and loud and everyone looks like they’re having a great time, and I’m like:
“Fuck… maybe THAT’S where I should be right now.” 😂
And it just keeps going.

That’s the thing about this city. It’s not even that the place you’re currently at is bad. It’s that you know there are 50 other places within 10 minutes that could potentially be even better.
You’re sitting in one place thinking about another place. You’re walking somewhere thinking about somewhere else.

And meanwhile there are thousands of people all over the Strip doing completely different things at the exact same time.
I don’t really get this feeling anywhere else the way I get it in Vegas.

It’s almost like Vegas itself gives me FOMO. 😂
Anyone else experience this, or am I just terrible at committing to one place for more than 30 minutes?

I have been on Reddit on and off for over 10 years and have been part of different sections, depending on my interests and passion etc.

But since I am a resident of Vaughan, I have also been a member of this subreddit for years and I generally noticed the people and discussion here is more civil and respectful than other forums. You could tell most members here are mature and even the admins are not on power trip like you have seen with other sections (have literally been banned from other sections for life when making my first post…)

Do you notice the same thing? Of course , this is not suggest it is perfect here , but from my experience, people here are generally nice and not mean or condescending like you see with other sections.

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to troubleshoot a persistent issue with a Dell P2419HC monitor connected via DisplayPort to a Lenovo ThinkCentre M92z All-in-One PC.

The Dell monitor constantly blinks/flickers. The screen will intermittently go black and come back, and I'm trying to determine whether this is a graphics driver, DisplayPort cable/connection, monitor setting, or compatibility issue.

Here is what I've found so far:

PC: Lenovo ThinkCentre M92z AIO
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 2500
Monitor: Dell P2419HC
Connection: DisplayPort directly from the PC to the monitor
Resolution: 1920 × 1080 (recommended)
Refresh rate: 60 Hz

In Device Manager, under Display Adapters, the Intel graphics driver shows:

• Driver version: 10.18.10.4252
• Driver date: July 10, 2015

I also opened the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel, and it correctly detects the Dell monitor as:

>

It shows:

• Display Type: Digital
• Connector Type: DisplayPort
• Device Type: DisplayPort
• DDC2 Protocol: Supported
• Gamma: 2.2
• 1920 × 1080 (60 Hz) listed as a supported mode

One thing I noticed is that when I go into Windows display settings, the refresh-rate option is greyed out. I wondered whether this could be related to the problem.

The Intel Graphics Control Panel does show other supported resolutions, including some that support 75 Hz, but 1920 × 1080 is only listed at 60 Hz, which I believe is normal for this monitor.

I've also confirmed that Windows is detecting the monitor correctly.

What I've tried / considered

I'm wondering if the problem could be:

1. A faulty or poor-quality DisplayPort cable
2. An Intel HD Graphics 2500 driver issue
3. A DisplayPort compatibility/handshake issue between the older Intel graphics and the Dell monitor
4. A setting on the Dell monitor related to DisplayPort
5. Some limitation or known issue with the Lenovo M92z's DisplayPort output

The graphics driver is quite old (2015), but I'm not sure whether that is actually the correct/latest driver available for the M92z/HD 2500.

What would you recommend I try next?

In particular, I'm wondering whether I should focus on replacing the DisplayPort cable, reinstalling/updating the Intel graphics driver, changing a DisplayPort setting on the Dell monitor, or troubleshooting something else entirely.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Yesterday , was walking on Cityview heading south and was surprised to see fireworks (believe it was at wonderland). Was not sure for what , since they on my do them on holidays.

Anyone knows?

For those familiar with the South florida and Fort Lauderdale area, need some advise with planning our 3 day in the area prior to our cruise (for late August)

Our cruise is on Sunday and we arrive early Thursday (around 11 AM) where we will pick up a rental car and head to our hotel (situated between the beach and the port area.

So what is the best way to spend these 3 days? I was thinking the following but if someone has better ideas, would love to hear them:

Thursday : we stay local and explore the city, chill at the hotel pool etc. (this is our third time in the city in 13 years)

Friday drive to Miami, see the city (have only seen it once and briefly) and drive a bit down to the Florida keys and see some of the first ones (not the full trip)

Saturday : beach day and whatever else we can check out .

And I do realize a lot of this is dictated by by the weather and whether it will cooperate:

What is your favourite Las Vegas strip mall ? Not necessarily for shopping only, but for hanging out, dining and just chill out.

View Poll

I run 3 different websites/blogs , some of which are decades old. And despite getting decent traffic (nothing crazy) , over the years, I have little to no success with Amazon Affiliates: basically, I would sign up, get little referrals and they would end up cancelling me due to low activity.

So I thought instead of doing this again and getting shut down again, how about I search for another person who already has Amazon Affiliates and partner with them, where we agree on a split (50/50 or whatever works for both) . Would this work? and if Amazon allows it, how would I go about creating my referral links? Would the account holder have to provide me with access?

Looking for some advice before I start throwing parts at this.

Vehicle:

• 2013 Mazda CX-5 (345K KM on it)
• 4-cylinder engine

Symptoms:

• Car occasionally goes into limp mode
• CEL comes on intermittently
• Cylinder 2 misfire seems to happen mostly during acceleration/load
• Sometimes the car drives perfectly normal after clearing codes
• After resets, codes may not return immediately even after 15-20 mins of driving
• I took it on the highway for an "Italian tuneup", for about half hour on friday, thinking that the car is mostly driven on regular streets by another family member, rarely over 50 KM/H. That highway driving is what triggered the P0421, which has since disappeared (it only showed up for first few hours after the highway driving on friday night)

Codes seen so far:

• P0302 – Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected
• P0421 – Warm Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold
• P2096 – Post Catalyst Fuel Trim System Too Lean Bank 1

Interesting part:
At first I thought the catalytic converter was failing because of the P0421, but after resetting codes, the cat code disappeared while the misfire-related issues remained. Makes me wonder if the catalyst code is secondary to the misfire/unburned fuel issue.

Additional info:

• Misfire seems worse under acceleration
• Recently tried premium fuel / may try CRC injector cleaner next week
• No obvious rough idle most of the time
• Family member was driving when limp mode happened again
• Freeze frame data attached

Freeze frame highlights:

• Engine warmed up
• Fuel system was in closed loop
• Misfire code triggered during driving conditions, not cold start
• Lean condition code appeared after highway driving

What I’m trying to figure out:

1. Could a bad ignition coil or spark plug on cylinder 2 alone trigger ALL these codes? For the record, we changed spark plugs 4 weeks ago or so (when this issue started happening) , while ignition coil was changed a year ago. In fact, I (as well as the mechanic) swapped 1 and 2, and the misfire stays on cylinder 2 which likely rules out this being an ignition coil issue
2. Could this be an injector issue instead?
3. Is the catalytic converter possibly still okay and just reacting to the misfire?
4. Any known CX-5 issues around vacuum leaks, coils, injectors, or O2 sensors that match this combo?

Trying to diagnose in the smartest order before replacing expensive parts unnecessarily. And as mentioned above, I already bought the "CRC 05319 GDI IVD Intake Valve & Turbo Cleaner" and do intend to use it on the car sometimes end of next week (when we won't be needing it for a few days, in case something happens etc)

More importantly, if the CRC cleaner doesn't make a difference and I need to take it to the dealership, I need to know what to tell them to narrow down the issue, this way they are not necessarily changing any unneeded parts.

Thanks in advance.

https://preview.redd.it/woqxznlzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3c7d52d340d38cf62c0bb468cdbebcacf78456b

https://preview.redd.it/p0zn8klzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d6500c0675e5c1ff22c7672e5fc67e68f95c548

https://preview.redd.it/hsw1ullzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6d71db48ef1e00d4e51f3c593fea31b3ce25f54

https://preview.redd.it/3soyjllzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a001defc4df96c03e7ae75a7a580d4f626cfe250

https://preview.redd.it/t8zf03mzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de56ce587aaece09dc957ed3a89efabf87ba16df

https://preview.redd.it/kmbtollzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f427a7d12f7e4032e83e8104e3ca0ff875eaa2bd

https://preview.redd.it/h6jvfmlzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5dc7ef9933596844fbdccac3f75d7c14c0c377d

https://preview.redd.it/npwf2mlzv63h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6de24b414ee68457975029f3215f84a2d7906be

Back in October 2012, I bought my first ever brand new car, and it happened to be the newly debuted 2013 MAZDA CX-5.

Some 14 years, 345,000 km (215K miles), and many life moments later—births, marriages, and losses in the family—this car is still here, still running, and mostly driving without major issues. In fact, while I have had the same car, some immediate and extended family members have gone through 3,4 even 5 different cars during the same time period.

How did I get to so much mileage? Well, between 2017 and 2020, I did Uber on a part time basis and mileage went up pretty quick. But then I made up for it starting in March 2020 when I started and would work from home for next few years. My average went from like 25-30K to just 10K or less for last few years, as I only make it to the office 1-2 times a week.

A year ago, I had major issue with limp-mode and CEL and after some diagnostics and changing the coil packs, things were back to normal. Now, exactly one year later, the same issue came back again and we ended up changing the spark plus as they were pretty beat up. Issue seems to have resolved but the CEL seems to still come on and car still feels sluggish and shaky at times. I may take it for walnut blasting to see if it is carbon buildup? Who knows. If anyone has any suggestions but the issue is a misfire in 2nd cylinder.

What is my game plan with this car? Since I am not driving it much, and having a second family car, I plan to drive this to at least 2030 or 400,000 KMs or which ever comes first. Hoping and praying it lasts till then, watch me delay the decision once I get there once again and say “let me drive it til 2032 to make it 20 years…” lol.