u/kiwidust

My daughter is starting her third year teaching down in Baltimore; her first teaching kindergarten. So I thought I'd make her something useful for her classroom!

Sure, these American kids may not know the TARDIS out of hand, but she does! I'm also adding a handful of kid-friendly Doctor Who books to give her a head start.

Health problems have kept me pretty useless for the past several years. I had planned on building the bookshelf from scratch, but time overcame intention and I bought a prefab, decorated, and painted it. Cutouts and laser etching were done on a Snapmaker 2.0 using the 10w Laser for those that like to know how the sausage is made.

Health problems have kept me off my good, ol' Snapmaker 2 for... damn, several years now. Finally feeling a bit friskier and will my daughter starting her third year of teaching kindergarten, I decided to do something up for her.

I had planned on building the shelf, but time overcame intention so I bought one and used the 10w Laser to cut the decorations. I'm inordinately pleased with the TARDIS. No, her kids won't understand it, but she does and I bought her some age-appropriate Doctor Who books to show them.

Maybe I'll finally try using the damned dual-head extruder I bought three years ago and never touched!

Bob's front rims need some serious love after several years of neglect and lots of brake dust. I've used "CRC Brakleen 05050 Brake Parts Cleaner" in the past successfully, but worried that it may not be the best thing for the rubber tires.

Any advice/suggestions/testimonials?

Was able to swing a partial kitchen renovation this year (new counter, induction cooktop, sink, and range hood). Had no prior experience with this kind of thing (I had done most of my "homework" by myself, but health issues have mostly scuttled that).

(Note that we choose to leave the backsplash behind the range undone, as we're going redo that wall anyway.)

We went with Perfect Storm Renovations in Pittston (we're in Southside) and had an excellent experience! Low pressure, free estimates. One visit to discuss the needs, one to finalize the contract and sign the paperwork, another to get the exact measurements, and finally one full day for ALL the work.

The folks that came were courteous, considerate, and took great care not to create new damage or needless mess. They cleaned up nicely, removed all the waste, and made sure we had all the relevant manuals and documentation for the new gear. They even put up cheerfully with all my old man questions and stories!

Decent contractors can be hard to find! Highly recommended!

Bob here (2009 ForTwo) has been loaned to my daughter's boyfriend in Baltimore for the past two years and is finally back home in Scranton!

He needed a better car if they were going to be able to move into the apartment they wanted (in her school district; she's starting her third year as a Kindergarten teacher) and I was unable to drive for some time due to a Cancer/COVID double nut-tap so he took Bob.

But future son-in-law just picked up the Toyota to the rear and they brought him back yesterday! He needs an inspection (still registered to me in PA) and a good, deep cleaning (especially those rims!) but despite having an additional 10k miles on him (59,000 total) he still purrs like a kitten!

Look at that smile! He's absolutely chuffed to be home!

This is the moment when (usually) a car chase suddenly ends at a completely unexpected, unforshadowed, insanely tall cliff-face.

(Couldn't find this already documented although it may be hiding under thousands of "cliff hanger" references.)

The example I've posted is from the recent film, "Lucky Strike" [2026] in which an American soldier in Belgium has stolen a German tank. (And please don't judge the film by its worst 12 seconds. It's an honestly interesting story; well worth a rental.) This also occurs in "Disclosure Day". which we happened to go to recently.

I -wouldn't- include the famous cliff scenes from say, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" or "Tremors" as both were foreshadowed well and set in obviously "cliffy" areas. But I know there are many others - what are your faves?

Found this pic from a few years ago. I rarely use Cream Cheese, but my son does frequently. Found this when I had a craving for a bagel one day.

Apparently, he doesn't enjoy cleaning up containers for recycling.

EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION

Damn, sooo many shitty assumptions! Many of you folks are so remarkably adept at reading between the two lines I wrote! But seriously: you know what they say about assuming, don't you? They say, "Don't do it. Assuming, that is. Don't do it."

Firstly, the kid in question in 26 now and works IT for the local school district. He's working on his second game release for PS5/Switch/Steam. His 24 year-old sister is starting her third year as a Kindergarten teacher in a few weeks. They're both better people than I am and I regret nothing that I've done for them. I'm incredibly proud of my children and continue to have great relationships with them.

On to more specifics:

1. I conversationally said, "a few years ago", but it was actually 14 years ago. He was twelve when this happened. Show me a 12-year-old that isn't at least an occasional dumbass and I'll show you some lying parents.
2. This was not a "frequent occurrence" that we simply "allowed to happen". This happened once. We had a talk. It didn't happen again. It was so unusual, in fact that I took a picture of it! We shared it with family under a common tag of "Here's my honor student!" and had a laugh.
3. We bought (and still do buy) much our of packaged food from a local wholesale club. At the time, this came in packages of four units. We did (and still do) clean our fridge regularly.
4. For those people suggesting that mental health issues are "parental issues" or that you be simply "be strict" to eliminate Obsessive-Compulsive behavior, to be blunt: screw you. My kids do not have these problems, but most of my family work with mentally challenged children and this kind of neanderthal thinking view hurts children terribly.

I'll end with the last lines of Tim Michin's "Storm":

And if perchance I have offended
Think but this and all is mended
We'd as well be 10 minutes back in time for all the chance you'll change your mind.

Shutters were painted badly decades ago. Paint has been leeching and staining the siding ever since we've owned it. Fixing it has been constantly pushed to the bottom of the to-do, but I now have some bandwidth to try and tackle it.

I've tried to soak it with "Briggs & Stratton 6826 Multi-Purpose Cleaner and Concentrate" using a foam cannon and pressure washer, but it made little difference. I'm not above hoisting my fat ass up a ladder and scrubbing, but want to make the trip worth it. Any procedures/products/concoctions that won't kill the siding, but will lift the stains?

Thanks in advance.

Was hanging a POE Kit at my Mothers-in-Law's house at the same time somebody else was putting in some light fixtures. They tripped a surge and one of the cameras went out. Took a bit, but finally traced it to shorted wires on the Ethernet Connector.

Been working in this space for a long time and never saw a connector burn itself out like this. Could be luck on my part.

The cameras I was installing use the IEEE 802.3a standard, which delivers 48 volts over POE. This isn't a LOT, but I think it's a lot more than most people think it is. Be careful out there!

Totally cromulent!

Never really had a problem with this over many years... a couple of times different places have dropped a fried egg into the roll before the Steak and Cheese, but never would I ever have expected this.

I mean, on one hand: Dog love'em, they did try. One the other hand... oh, honey.

We're looking to replace our current 30" electric coil cooktop with an induction model. We'll be replacing the countertop and hood as well, so cutout sizing can be customized to whichever unit we settle on.

Getting confused about the depth needed tho'. Our current cooktop is 3.5" high and the bottom sits directly over the drawer you see in the image. The bottom of the unit gets warm, but not hot. I may be misunderstanding the tech, but I would have thought that an electric coil would produce much more waste heat than an induction unit?

How hot do these things get underneath? How much room is really needed? Are there any reasonably priced "shallow" units? Many of the units I'm looking at require 3-5" of space under the unit. It seems excessive, but I admittedly don't know what I'm talking about.

Our budget is tight, but we can swing up to $1500 for the new unit.

I could easily notch the drawer to allow for wire routing or a junction box. I could even shorten the drawer if it would help. With such a small kitchen it would be a significant blow to lose that storage space completely...

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Have had this bucket of bird seed on our back porch for years. We always keep the feeders full and put out bowls of nuts and dried fruit for the squirrels (or whomever wants it). Never had a problem.

This year we've got three juvenile squirrels that are causing havoc. Dug through this, dug through a cooler we keep on the front porch for the delivery folks, chewed through my shed roof, keep throwing trash everywhere.

Little jerks! Your parents were never this bad!

Working through remediations as the problems arise, but still weird how differently the behavior has been.

Clearly silicon isn't the answer! Although this has lasted quite a while, it's pulling away and no longer doing the trick. Any suggestions on a more appropriate product?

I'm in Scranton, PA so there's lots of seasons. I was thinking of the putty used to seal HVAC and plumbing intrusions, but am not sure if that'll have staying power over this long a run.

Concrete steps (may be original to the 1962 house) have a couple of large cracks. They're exactly where I'd expect them. Left them longer than I should have. Mea culpa.

What's the best product to fill them in? I assume I'd use some wadding (rope or sliced up pool noodle kind of thing) stuffed down to provide a surface for the patch material then follow instructions.

In Scranton, PA - lots of seasons! lots of snow! - if that changes anybody's opinion.

Any thoughts appreciated!

EDIT: SOLVED.

Started working fine after nearly an hour of looping (apparently five loops was the trick). I assume it was so old that it needed multiple updates to continue, but this could have been communicated. And it could have been communicated without trying to get Sidewalk enabled every time.

So, anybody activating an older unit... patience, I guess?

ORIGINAL MESSAGE.

Bought several Echo Show 5" devices years ago. Kept one, others meant as Christmas gifts, but had one left in storage. Just tried to set it up for the first time (pic of serial number attached).

It's now in a loop: I get asked to Enable Amazon Sidewalk, I refuse, I get asked if I'm really, really (REALLY!) sure if I don't want to enable Amazon Sidewalk, I refuse, then it spins on "Loading" for about 10 minutes, then begins the loop again. Been four times so far.

I will not enable Amazon Sidewalk.

Any ideas to get some forward movement? Thanks in advance.

I've an old 6'x3' cedar shed against the house that's served us very well for over 20 years. The roof has been degrading for some time, but was still watertight and solid (ish). That was until the new crop of squirrels showed up and started ripping it to shred.

The roof isn't solid (tho' I could make it so) under the felt are two 1'x2' sticks bridging the gap to allow the shingles to be stapled down.

I've pulled the old shingles off, as well as the roofing felt. I've pulled all the staples and the walls are still solid and well-seasoned. I stupidly failed to grab a pic before encasing it in a temporary tarp.

A couple of questions.

1. I'd like to do this right, but is there an alternative to roofing felt or someplace I could order a small amount of it? I'm loath to buy an entire roll I can't use when I only need 6'.

2. I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to find cedar roofing shingles. The big box stores around all sell cheap packs of flimsy grade "D", mostly broken crap.

Anyplace online that you'd recommend for these? Something solid and rated for roofing use? I don't have much of a budget, but I only 18' of coverage and I want them to last.

Thanks in advance!

Looking to confirm which cameras share mounting configurations with the RLC-510A and RLC-810A bullet cameras. One of my RLC-510As just went on me (it's been up for seven years) and I replaced another one (broken by vandals) with the much superior RLC-810A in the past.

All the cameras are mounted (as in the pic) under the eaves of the house with POE cabling completely internalized through the base. As I've already drilled mounting and cable management holes for them, I'd like to continue using the same configuration.

Anybody done any upgrades of these or know for certain which (if any) newer cameras are compatible?

Thanks in advance!