Kadaj21

While I don’t have a Steamdeck or similar, I made myself a relatively portable Mac Mini setup with a wireless mouse and keyboard and a usb-c portable monitor.

Razer Atheris laptop mouse keychron k7 65% wireless/bluetooth keyboard.

The keychron has mac/win mode and came with a few extra keycaps for windows/mac use if it matters. Can be used over bluetooth or by cable. That one has slim profile keycaps. I really enjoy using it. I’ve seen a similar sized keyboard somewhere on amazon that also folds in half longwise to take up less space. Will probably grab one to play with.

The portable one was one I took a chance on Temu. 15” 144hz OLED that I snagged for cheap. Can be powered just on the usbc cable but also had mini hdmi and an extra usbc port. Also has a micro usb port for power if needed too.

The mouse I’ve had forever and is on the smaller side. If I’m feeling for a bigger mouse and plan ahead I also have a MX Master3 for work and a G502 Hero that I normally use at my desktop.

Michael Jordan?

Ricky Bobby? Lol

Corn! Wait, no, still hate it.

Yeah most of my family are in the southeast portion of my state and I know most, if not all voted for Trump. While there’s a good degree of separation (its a 6-8 hour drive to visit with kiddos in tow) we were all much closer when I was young and its difficult to wrangle with that.

I know for Thanksgiving some of the family comes up to visit and thankfully we never have politics come up. So no crazy uncle ranting and raving or anything like that. But with my dad just having a transplant recently and a lot of them being anti-vaxx, my parent haven't been able to go visit their siblings and cousins. Not sure if anyone will be able to come up thanks to their views.

Yeah, I’m not part of any of the demographics that are gonna get hit hard, except for the financial bits, that I’ll probably be screwed on since I’m not making 6+ figures, though I am over the median income in my area.

But just thinking and remembering how chaotic the first term was, and realizing that he’s gonna have sycophants and a freaking playbook, I had to take the day off.

I was one of those people that was thinking at how great all those states were in enshrining abortion access in their state constitutions, but then frickin voting for the people that will very likely enact a national ban. Then remembering that my wife and i are trying for a girl and that if the ban happens during that she could end up like the other stories of women (already mothers or looking forward to being one) dying from infections and/or sepsis because docs wouldn’t treat them. We’ve already gone through losing a pregnancy, she bled for a week and a half, but luckily nothing extra needed done. Who knows what could happen we go through that again.

Then these folks are also typically against renewables, the area i work in. My team is fighting for extra help and our company has benefited and expanded greatly thanks to the IRA. Red team thinks solar/wind = green new deal = IRA = BAD so Im anticipating that affecting many aspects of my workplace. Of course our CEO sent out a letter stating they are “looking forward” to working with Trump and team…….right.

When I got back to work my lead was asking me how i was doing, he pretty much pooh pooh’d my concerns away saying its not gonna be that bad and people were making mountains out of mole hills pretty much. This dude is ex-military. Trumps comments alone on folks that served should have been enough alone to discredit him. Guess what else is probably gonna get hit hard? The VA that my lead uses. He’s also on disability and pretty much gets what i make a month alone on top of his salary. Very much a Joe Rogan/Ticker Carlson “just asking questions” type.

All I can think is that bo matter the general subject, its gonna get very much worse for the next 4+ years. And hopefully I’ll still have my wife around if we continue trying.

Still haven’t played it.

Yeah i dunno. Magic mouse? Poor ass design. This? You might have to tilt it up a centimeter or two to hit the power button.

I have a M1 Mac Mini… power button in the rear. I dont turn it off. It shares a screen with an internal KVM with a Windows PC…that also never gets turned off.

My work laptop is more of a PITA since that does get shut down and I need to pull it out of the stand i have it resting in to open the lid most the way to turn it back on if I swap the USB C cable from the Mini. Not the case when docked at work since the dock has a power button on it.

Wife watches Emily Baker and the guy was like 110lbs and low 5’ ‘x height. Smaaaall guy. Her defense team was a mess too, kept getting in trouble with the judge.

Yeah, early millennial and OPs comment fits to a “T” for me, though I think some of my experiences had a bit more socialization in context, like ICQ, Aol chat, and MSN messenger. The rise of cell phones, text messages, T9, etc. My kids are amazed when I pull out the VHS tapes at my parents, or my dad pulls out some cassettes or vinyls (though those have been more popular of late).

I went from an 08' VW Rabbit to a '21 VW id.4 a few months ago. Got the $4k tax rebate passed onto the dealer to bring my price down to $19k [~$21k after taxes/fees], it's the AWD Pro S, and doesn't have the Gradient Package [some silvery exterior bits and slightly larger wheels]. I love the car, my family loves the car. The only nitpick I reaaaaaally have and that most people have for the VW evs is the damn driver side window switches lol. You get 2 and have to tap a touch sensitive bit to switch it to the back. Makes no sense. The steering wheel touch inputs for cruise control and media are another controversial choice, but I've gotten used to it.

As far as an EV in general goes. Like most have said, check out the charging network you have where you are and where you plan to be. I've only done one road trip in my id.4 [from buying it in Chicagoland and bringing it home] and while the range was "OK" [about 150 highway miles per charge], since I was along a string of L3s along the turnpike, I wasn't worried about making it to a charger. My immediate area had a couple of L3s, but now there's probably about double/triple around me now that's opened in the few months I've had my car.

That being said, my circumstance have the car as mostly a commuter, so I tend to last on a charge all week, and then L1 charge it Sun-Tues morning to start all over. Any around town stuff during charging time doesn't really make a dent since it's all within a few miles of my home. I also am able to charge at work for free, though sometimes spots get filled. Initially I was thinking about getting a L2 EVSE, but between home and work, I don't really feel the need for one. I'd also need one with a good 50' cord since I park in front of my house, otherwise wife and I would have to re-arrange the cars whenever I wanted to charge.

That being said, if stuff happens and we do go up to my sisters about 40 miles away or something happens to where I do need to charge at a L3, the price per "tank" has been about $15 and taken 20-ish minutes. Most of the time I'm watching a few youtube videos, or going in for a restroom break and by the time i get back the car's about ready.

My car, and I think most EVs nowadays will have a setting limiting the charge to 80% to help with keeping the battery healthy. If I'm not using air conditioning at 80% my estimated range is about 190-200 miles, if it's hot and I'm using AC, it'll go down to 185ish. First upcoming winter, so I'll get to see how much my car is impacted. I don't usually worry about range. I did at first because I had a couple of close calls about charging stations not being available while doing some longish trips back and forth, but I think in general my immediate and surrounding areas that I might frequent have gotten more stations recently.

OH. Insurance for me wasn't much more than what I was already paying, but registration in my state tacks on another $200 dollars a year, presumably since having an EV you're not paying into the gas tax. Some states don't have EV fees, some do. So might want to check that. My co-worker just found out about that and wasn't happy lol.

Randomly? Nah. If there happens to be a real good snowfall and the plows don’t get out before you do I’d then expect a nice 10mph or so drive. Once they’re out they’re clear out the roads on priority on how busy they are. So in town your side streets might be neglected, bit the main roads should get cleared pretty quickly.

Grew up in SE MI, if you’re gonna be south of the 313, there will probably get a few good days of snow where you’ll want to be careful driving that first few hours or day, then the roads will be cleared. Will likely have to deal with the 20s-30s temps more than anything unless polar vortex hits, that’ll kill an older battery for sure lol. (Under 0 degrees)

Good all seasons, or better yet a winter set on steelies will be good enough, probably more important than having a AWD or FWD vehicle. I’ve driven FWD most my life. When I first got my ‘05 Mazda3 with summers in Cleveland that gets lake effect snow…never again lol. Braking was pretty much a rhetorical exercise then.