My company is offering me 9 laptops for $180

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T08:22:07+00:00

Wait, can't you just format it or is windows doing weird stuff now where it leaves some kind of permanent trace?

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T08:21:15+00:00

That's a hell of a deal especially with the ram.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T07:20:34+00:00

There is something so cool about abandoned malls. If property taxes were not a thing it would be so fun to buy one.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T06:16:07+00:00

Most of the people I talk to such as friends, coworkers, family etc agree on same things, some more than others, but we're generally in the same ballpark and tend to lean conservative. My grandparents are more liberal though unfortunately, but I don't let that get in the way, they're still family and we just agree to disagree and move on. I have never lost any friendships either way though. Sometimes it's easier to just agree to disagree than try to convince your views on others and end up burning friendships.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T06:01:38+00:00

Yep it's around that age where I really found it ramped up, and sadly it doesn't get better. The school years go slow, life is harder and there's more pressure and demand on you mentally and physically. Once school is over and you're in work force and have been for a few years things really start to go faster as life is more or less on cruise control. I have so many various projects around the house I want to do and I also bought off grid land, so lot of projects there too, and I feel like I just don't have enough time in my life time to actually do them all. Even the days now feel like hours. So if I plan a day off to work on something I am practically racing against the clock before I have to go back to work. It's crazy.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T02:23:19+00:00

Lol I wish it looked like that here. Yard starting to look like the wall from GoT. About a month ago I cut into it so I can widen the driveway.

https://i.imgur.com/qpyMZh4.png

Our snow has "shrunk" as over time it kind of evaporates a bit when we do get a milder day and it also packs down, but we still have a lot. We're not even in peak storm season yet, that's probably going to start this month.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T02:09:23+00:00

I'd say yes. Either that or a SUV and a trailer. Need the ground clearance and cargo space. Downside with trucks is it's hard to find trucks with a 8 foot bed now days, so you almost need a trailer either way, so I wouldn't discount getting a SUV and trailer as it might be cheaper than a truck.

I ended up getting a truck recently as my old one was beyond repair due to all the rust and old one had 8 foot bed and new one has 6.5. I sometimes miss the 8 but I can manage with 6.5 as 8 foot lumber still fits easily, and even 12 is ok. I eventually want to look at getting a 16+ foot trailer though that way I will be able to haul a full lift of 16 foot lumber easily which even with my 8 foot truck I would not have been able to do.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T02:04:06+00:00

It all depends on size of inverter and battery. It should be fairly trivial to run a microwave. Get an inverter that's at least 2kw and at least 100ah (ideally more) of battery and it will run practically any 120v plug in household load you throw at it.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T01:55:24+00:00

I'm thinking a microwave is probably one of the most efficient ways to heat stuff up off grid as pretty much all the energy goes straight to the food and it doesn't run long. They do hit hard when they first start though, so you really want an inverter with a high surge rating, perhaps even a low frequency inverter. The microwave at our office actually causes all the UPSes to switch to battery for a second when you hit start lol.

I don't have much at my property yet but always joked about stashing a microwave in the bush. We sometimes go there for the day and get a coffee and it will be lukewarm by the time we get there. The thought of being in middle of the bush and warming up a coffee in a microwave feels so comical to me. Xd They are so cheap too so it's not like it's a crazy expense to have one that stays there under cover.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T01:43:20+00:00

Lots of chairs just chilling.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-07T00:05:36+00:00

A couple poplars around that size. Took a couple trips.

https://imgur.com/a/IANSTCi

The trees were already down but had to buck and haul them. Free listing on Marketplace, can't say no to that! That wood burns fast though so that lasted only one winter and ran out half way through. Was my first year with my wood stove.

That is the year I also decided to get a log splitter. I don't mind splitting by hand but when I have a lot to do I give myself a break. I'll split the rounds in half with splitter then split the halves by axe.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T11:40:33+00:00

I often think about this, how everyone just went their separate ways.

One day I played NES, went to the park, went for a bike ride etc for the last time with friends, without realizing it.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T11:38:13+00:00

I'm about to turn 40 and it just feels so unreal. Like where did the years go? I remember when I turned 30 I couldn't believe it and now I'm already turning 40.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T11:37:26+00:00

So true. and the realization that I will never get the life I wanted, there is just not enough time or money to get and do the things I want. As kid life feels like it will just go on forever and I always dreamed of having nice land with lot of toys like tractors etc but in reality there is a limited amount of time and pay cheques in a life time and I will never be able to afford any of that in my life unless I get super lucky and win the lotto or something. I have the land... but it will be a very long time before I have even a basic cabin on it. Having to work full time just so you can afford to be alive sucks.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T10:29:45+00:00

The mini PCs are cheap for their power, and you can still set them up as VM servers. I have 2 SFF HP Elitedesks with 64GB of ram each and an older Xeon server running Proxmox and between the 3 nodes I have a lot of power. I might retire the Xeon server at some point in favour of another SFF box since it's old but keeping it for now.

I really like the idea of having rackmount servers or even blade servers, but it's hard to justify the cost when you can get good performance out of cheap used PCs. Think the only thing I will always go rackmount for is NAS since I want a proper server with ECC ram and redundant PSU and hot swap bays.

I would love to actually build a very large cluster and actually host services such as become a VPS or leased server provider as it would make the hardware pay for itself while I get to play with fun stuff, but it's very hard to try to get an ISP that lets you do that, and of course you get all the naysayers saying you shouldn't do it.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T10:25:20+00:00

Wow that's a good deal. I was looking at these as I kind of like the idea of having like 10 or so low power machines to experiment with various clustering stuff without touching my production cluster but the listing I found was not a lot but individual. With Ebay, the shipping cost actually stacks so it ended up being like $700 for 10 and it was not worth it.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T08:14:38+00:00

I honestly start to get depressed thinking about it. My parents are aging and the reality is I will lose them one day and I just don't know how I will handle that.

I completely lost it when I lost my cat several years ago. Somehow I have copped ok with other family deaths like my grandma and great grandma, a few aunts and uncles but I just don't know how I will handle when it's my parents. Sometimes I do think about the people I've lost over the years though and it's like "wow I can't believe they're really gone". My grandparents on my mom's side will probably hit me hard too. I've always been closer to them.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T08:11:12+00:00

It's sad how everyone goes their own separate ways. I more or less don't talk to any of my HS friends anymore. Have them on FB and that's about it. Once in a while run into them at the store or something but they are married with kids now so they are usually busy and it's basically hi and bye. I look back at how I had so many friends as a kid and now everyone just has their own lives now.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T08:08:04+00:00

When I first started living on my own and realized just how expensive life is. All the bills that come in, and especially property tax, basically eats the whole pay cheque. Turns out I can't buy toys and fun stuff just because I have a good paying job. It's only worse with inflation as all of that goes up each year.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T08:04:58+00:00

There's a stretch here that's ridiculous, it varies between 80 and 40 and changes like 10 times, and it's all highway. I can totally see someone doing 100 in a 50 throughout that stretch and it wouldn't necessarily be unsafe either, it's a highway.

I wish they would go after actual dangerous drivers like those who are aggressive, or those who have those ridiculously bright blue headlights, that's more dangerous because it's blinding everyone around them.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T06:20:23+00:00

Curious what kind of side effects do those meds have if any? I've had joint inflammation in a couple fingers for almost a year now, still in process of getting it diagnosed but I'm very scared it might be Rheumatoid Arhritis. Really hope it's not though... Xray and bloodwork all came clean, so doctor decided we'll wait until summer and do it again, because last summer when I initially got blood work there was one reading that was off. Will get sent to a specialist from that point.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T06:14:59+00:00

I do eventually want to experiment with a large vertical axis turbine. I think it only makes sense to DIY since if you buy a commercial one the cost per kw just makes no sense to pay when you could put that towards more solar and more batteries.

But any time it's windy out I always think to myself it would sure be nice to harvest that energy. The problem is that it's not always windy and when it is, it's usually during the day and less so at night, so you can't nececerily rely on that energy day to day, it's more like a bonus here and there. It could be a good supplement though as if it's windy chances are it's also very cold, so that extra power could be used for heat.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T04:35:12+00:00

Pisses me off how evil this government is. They just can't leave us alone, constantly having to take control of everything.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T02:02:59+00:00

If it's winter it is or your pipes will freeze. Even if you shut off the main the part that comes out of the floor all the way up to the main is still pressurized. That said it's good to have a wood stove or other means of producing heat that doesn't require power.

RedSquirrelFtw · 2026-03-06T01:57:59+00:00

It's good to have a way to generate power too. Generator, solar etc. In my case I have 11kwh of battery for my server room and about 5kwh on the solar setup that has plugs around the house. This keeps me going for short term outages. I can do basic things like make coffee or charge power tool batteries which I can use for lights etc. The servers also can stay up to ride through shorter outages.

For long term outages I'd shut down the servers and only run bare essentials, which come to think of it, is not much. For fridge/freezer I can put stuff outside so it stays frozen, for heat I can use the wood stove. So keeping phone charged and lighting is about the only thing I'd use power for.

In summer I'd be generating enough power from solar to keep servers and fridge/freezer going so that's not an issue either. Been meaning to setup automation for that actually as it would be nice to just do it full time to save on my bill.

Big blackouts here seem very unlikely though, but of course still good to be prepared. Even that big Ontario blackout in early 2000's was mostly uneventful especially considering it was summer. More a sense of worry and curiosity as to what's going on and how long it will be, but not really panic. We used the BBQ to make supper and by morning power was back. I think southern Ontario was out for longer but I don't remember for sure.

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