u/tsg-tsg

Years ago I opened a BA credit card because Chase had a good SUB, and I'd planned a trip to Europe. That never happened, and I've been slowly cashing out Avios ever since.

My final trip was this past weekend - I used those Avios to book Alaska to SAN. When I booked, I did not have enough to buy first class ... I know it's lame on an E175, but I like my shoulder room even on short flights.

Between the booking and the flight, I made Atmos Silver... I've never in my life flown often enough to earn status, but this year the stars aligned and I got there. This flight to SAN was the first one I'd taken after having reached Silver.

Much to my surprise, both inbound and outbound flights were automatically upgraded to 1st. Economy tickets purchased with points on a partner turning into 1st class is pretty rad. Icing on the cake of my trip!

Has anyone ever seen any sort of adapter for pre-facelift cars to use some sort of commodity fog light, or maybe adapt the facelift style lights to the earlier bumper? I think I could design such a thing for 3D printing, but hoping maybe something like it exists. Prices for new, correct fog lights are absurd, used ones (that aren't broken) impossible to find, and I'm tired of looking at the holes in the bumper. :/

Hi all -

I know just enough to be dangerous... And I guess when I'm being dangerous. I need some guidance.

I have an ancient 3-speed resistor matrix which is dead, and I'd like to replace it using a MOSFET speed control. My plan is to use a commodity fan controller, and the one that I happen to have has a 0-5v input controlling an n-channel MOSFET with a 12v supply. I think I said that right.

The existing matrix is run using a 3-way switch, and my thought is to repurpose that switch to provide three voltages between 1v and 5v to feed the fan controller.

I am confident the fan controller will support the current I need to get this done, but I don't understand how to calculate resistor values for this voltage drop, or if maybe there is a better way to do this entirely.

Any guidance is very much appreciated!

In our environment, we are using exclusively UPD for printing and this has worked for literally years without surprises for Macs. However, I've recently discovered certain printers where it does not work, and I don't understand why.

Windows devices where these printers are plugged in work fine. Macs where these types of printers simply do not map.

FWIW, I have tried a few things: Connecting the printers locally via USB, connecting directly over a network, and even connecting to the printer on a Windows print server all gets the same result - no autocreation. If I change the driver to something obvious, like "generic post script" the printer is autocreated as expected, so I know the issue is the driver (if I didn't already :).

I'm admittedly nowhere near great with Citrix, and where I'm lost is figuring out why these printers aren't being auto-created. Forget about them working or not, what causes UPD to simply skip a printer? Is there a way to change that behavior?

As a followup to this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/e39/comments/1uayw3g/1998_m52_pcv_replacement_experiences/

After replacing the CCV and related plumbing, the smoke on startup hasn't really changed. I was afraid of that... I guess, really, I was pretty sure that's where the issue was going to be.

I have replaced a fair number of valve stem seals, and have all the regularly needed stuff to do that on the average engine (compressor, spark plug hole adapter, seal pliers, etc.). I do not have the special BMW cam locking tools, but they're pretty cheap.

What's putting the fear in me is the "fragile hollow camshaft" that has to be removed in order to get to the actual difficult part of the work. 😥 I've found a couple posts that address how to safely remove the cams - there's one on bimmerforums, one on pelican parts, maybe 1-2 more) but they are each subtly different, and I can't find any posts where people have followed the steps successfully, or not followed them and broken a cam. ;)

I'd be interested in anyone's cam-changing experiences. I don't know the M52 really at all, I'm learning as I go, but it seems like if you back off the followers slowly, evenly, there really shouldn't be much risk. I'd welcome any thoughts on this matter.

(I'm not even sure I want to tackle this... so far, the work on this car has been easy.... this is a big ask, and I'm not sure I'm gonna do it... I may just have to tell her to live with the startup smoke or try some snake oil and get ready to get a new car.)

It's been a long time since I've needed to do this, but am I correct that BART is not currently running red between Berkeley and SF at 11pm on a Friday, and the backup plan would be yellow from Rockridge? If so, how's Rockridge at that time of night?

Appreciate it!

Gonna be in San Diego later this summer & have Ambassador. The room categories in the app are throwing me... For whatever reason the "corner city view" appears to be a higher category than the "corner water view," and this is the first time I've ever noticed this... usually the water views are more expensive, though perhaps it's because the "water views" are more a view of the USS Midway?

Above "1 king corner city" is the unqualified "premium room" (no bed type, no view, etc. specified) then rooms with lounge access, then "corner suite."

My question: If I book the "1 king corner city," would my guaranteed upgrade take me to the unqualified "premium room," a room with lounge access, or the "corner suite?" I assume the upgrade is never to lounge access, but am not certain. The only real reason I'm asking is that "premium room" is both more expensive, and totally unqualified. What precisely is "premium room?"

(I'm specifically interested in this hotel primarily because there's a Sixt on the ground floor, and I might end up renting a car for one day of my stay. In the past, I've stayed at the Marriott across the courtyard, but IHG has been better for me this year, and I'm trying to focus stays there where I can.)

I was an early reservation holder last year, and I'm still fairly committed to a Slate. I've got no issue putting down my additional $250 in a couple weeks, but I'm definitely not gonna give these guys another $30k until I've at least driven the thing, and if the delivery date gets pushed back or something that could factor in as well.

If I decide to bail on the purchase AND some crazy bastich out there wants my spot, am I going to be allowed to give or sell it to them? I'm not sure it matters, if I write off $300 it wouldn't be the biggest waste of money this year, but I'd obviously rather not. ;)

Ever since SWA did it's thing, I've been using Alaska and, frankly, really enjoying it. The biggest benefit to me is that for most of the flights I take, Alaska uses the ERJ 175, which means I never have to worry about a middle seat. That right there is worth the price of admission, I almost don't care about anything else!

Anywho, I have an bit longer than usual flight coming up for two adults, and am pondering two scenarios:

1. Pay cash up front for two 1st class seats

2. Use a companion pass for two main cabin seats, circle back at some point to upgrade to 1st

(Yes, I realize that 1st on a short-ish domestic flight isn't The Best, but I like my shoulder room when I can have it.)

My question is whether there's typically a financial advantage to one approach vs the other? Put another way, how close to "full original price" is an upgrade, typically? I realize there isn't a precise answer given how fares are priced these days, I'm just looking for generalities. 😄

Could someone post a photo or a good description of where this relay is supposed to be mounted? The one on this '98 is floating around freely behind the left headlight. 😃