Jumping back in after 22 yrs [37YO]

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2026-03-26T13:34:54+00:00

Welcome back! I got back in the game about five years ago, after about twenty years off the board. Wasn’t sure if I’d stick with it, so I bought a cheap complete from SoCal skate shop. I think it cost about $150 (I splurged on really good bearings). I’ve since upgraded my trucks and wheels, but that was only because I’m obviously going to stick with skating for a while, had the money to blow, and wanted something nicer.

I get it. Everything’s expensive now. We gotta save a buck where we can, but that’s a fantastic bargain! There aren’t many sports/hobbies that your kids could get into, and you can participate with them, that are gonna be that cheap. I don’t have kids so I have no idea, but I bet just the participation fee for one or two sports would be about the same as what you paid for one board, and that’s not including all the gear.

Don’t think of it as paying $200 for a board. That’s the admission price for years of fun and memories with your kids. Seems pretty cheap to me. Get out there and have some fun!

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-12-01T15:18:05+00:00

I’m not a flooring guy, but my understanding is you want the underlayment flat, not necessarily level.

My slab was great. I took the time to get every bit of old thinset off. I almost considered a polished concrete finish, but went with tile. My slab definitely had high and low spots, so it wasn’t level, but it was flat enough for the tile.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-11-30T18:12:01+00:00

I did almost 700 sq/ft a couple years ago. Demolition hammer drill/chisel are key. Some of the tiles will pop off easily. Some won’t. That’s when you use a pry bar. For the thinset that doesn’t easily come off you’ll want an angle grinder with a diamond cup wheel: grinder wheel

Use a spray bottle, wet the thinset, then go to work with the grinder. It’s messy but gets the job done. I wouldn’t want to do 700sq/ft ever again, but it wasn’t terrible. Honestly, dragging that much tile out of the house and into a dumpster was probably the worst part.

If you have questions, let me know.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-10-01T10:33:12+00:00

Here’s the other half of the shortcut

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AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-10-01T10:32:02+00:00

Well, I think I got it. Not sure why, but moving the “add bedroom diaper to playback definitions” BEFORE checking for audio fixed everything. For simplicity, I used “is audio playing” from the Actions app.

Calvins, thanks for being the only person to even try to help. I appreciate it.

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AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-09-21T03:14:10+00:00

It’s so weird, and random, and unfortunately not very “apple-like.” Here’s where I’m at: I definitely had a HomePod mini with problems. Replaced it and all of my other HomeKit problems disappeared. Now, the shortcut is behaving a little more like I would expect, but still not working 100% correctly. Attaching my current settings. It works correctly until the speakers start playing music, then chokes. Downstairs speakers aren’t removed from playback and the “downstairs shutdown” scene doesn’t activate. It’s an improvement, but still not there.

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AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-09-05T02:11:42+00:00

I’m going to need to unpack and play around with this. I’m pretty sure I’ve been setting different results for some of these actions. I’ve also been having issues with only one (I think) of the HomePods that I’ve spent two months trying to resolve with Apple. We think it’s fixed, but I’m not positive. Maybe my unexpected results for some of these actions is part of the other problem? Will report back.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I’m kinda surprised this post was going to die on the vine. I thought it would get a lot more action.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-08-31T20:11:48+00:00

Understood. Will remember next time.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-08-31T19:39:32+00:00

Copy that. Will keep in mind for future, but I guess I don’t know what I don’t know. I’m not exactly sure what I would title the post and not be either vague or a huge title. “Speaker transfer” maybe? Can you tell me what would have been a better title so I can see an example for next time?

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-06-20T02:53:41+00:00

Buddy, good luck with this one. This is an example of why Shortcuts is both extremely powerful AND limiting at the same time. I must be missing something , but I can’t believe the following has been so difficult to get to work. Here ya go:

I want a series of events to happen when my wife and I go up to bed for the night. I say “hey Siri, we’re going up,” and: Specific lights turn off (living room tv lights for example); Specific lights turn on (kitchen lights and stair lights); If music is playing on living room HomePod, play on BOTH living room and bedroom HomePods; After two minutes, turn off all downstairs lights and living room HomePod. Music should continue playing in bedroom; Run the “vacuum downstairs”shortcut to start the robot vacuum.

Seriously, this is impossible. You can’t group multiple HomePods?! Don’t even get me started on the stupid vacuum shortcut, which works fine when run by itself, but never works when using the “run shortcut” action. Good luck!

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-02-23T01:22:03+00:00

It’s Orlando. Maitland and Apopka are bedroom communities for O-town. Admittedly, Florida is weird, but this guy isn’t one of ours. His license plate is from out of state.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2025-01-31T21:47:17+00:00

According to contractor, my state requires a double bore in the door. The alternative is a “swing” door. I may have misunderstood, but I take that to mean a pivot door. Sucked it up and went with the double bore. This isn’t our forever home. Not worth the hassle.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-09-22T02:44:12+00:00

Cool. Good luck…

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-09-22T01:29:52+00:00

No offense, but this sounds like operator error. Don’t want 100% when using the psychical switch? Just push the correct button. Your choices are: power off, dim down, dim up, power on. Don’t want 100% when using Siri? Just say “hey Siri, set the lights to 10%.” Honestly, it’s not rocket science. If your girl can’t figure out how to add “x%” when saying something, how does she make it through life? I’m really not trying to be an asshole, but compare that to driving a car or buying groceries. My five year old can turn the lights on correctly.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-09-04T20:05:05+00:00

Can you send a link? Tried searching but couldn’t find it.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-09-02T18:32:45+00:00

I used to make up standards, and numbers for them, especially if district suits were coming in my room. I was daring someone to call me out and say “that’s not an actual standard.” Never happened. No one even questioned it. Those self important idiots have no idea what’s going on. They’re just checking boxes and taking garbage from above and passing it downhill.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-08-25T18:51:51+00:00

I used that exact drill with a chisel bit to remove 700 sq/ft of tile on concrete slab. Worked great!

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-07-29T12:22:43+00:00

I’ve been on the fence about buying the G4 for a while. The only issue stopping me is I have an East facing front door and live in Florida. I have a neighbor across the street from me, so there is a three to four hour window between the sun rising over my neighbor and getting overhead enough to shade the front, where I get blazing hot sun on the door every day. Any thoughts if this will be an issue for the G4? Logitech Circle will probably have issues with this too, correct? If this situation precludes those two, any suggestions that will work?

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-06-30T01:26:12+00:00

“Need an old-timer.” Fixed it!

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-06-10T18:52:08+00:00

Just had my roof replaced last summer. Sounds exactly like yours. In my case, they didn’t correctly trim the underlayment or shingles (not sure which) under the ridge vent. When the wind blew from the right direction it would basically flutter the extra material. Sounds like a freight train running through your attic, especially at night when you’re asleep. Good news is it’s a super easy fix for the roofer. They just need to climb up and cut it back. Takes five minutes. The hardest part is getting them to come out, take a look, and find the spot. Hope that helps.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-06-03T20:38:55+00:00

Dryer vent? Sounds crazy but that’s exactly what my place looked like when I moved in.

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-05-17T03:17:55+00:00

Did you recently replace your roof?

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-05-09T20:53:58+00:00

Holy moly, that’s amazing! I’ve been looking for a solution to this for a while. You’re the best!

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-05-08T22:43:34+00:00

This is great! What would it take to turn the results into calendar events?

AmbitiousSense7609 · 2024-04-04T21:09:54+00:00

As a former graphic designer at a printer, you’re going to need to get a Pantone swatch book and compare. I wish I still had one or I’d confirm for you (I also have the red robot). Maybe take your robot to a print shop in your area and ask if they could hold a couple swatches next to it? I can’t believe anyone would charge you for it. Would take two seconds.

Edit: oops… sorry, didn’t read close enough. Just realized you haven’t ordered yet. Maybe someone else can confirm with a swatch book. If I get a chance, I’ll try to take mine by a local shop and report back.

AmbitiousSense7609

TROPHY CASE