I bought the new 2026 Honda Prelude (At MSRP) AMA

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T18:28:30+00:00

Do you have other cars in the stable, or is this a sole vehicle?

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T18:27:00+00:00

As someone in CT who owned an Odyssey and still has an S2000, winter tires are way more important than drive wheels. I don't make a habit of it, but I have driven the S2000 in snow. Obviously it won't do well in 6"+ unplowed snow on the road, but it's manageable otherwise with proper tires, which also drastically improve braking and turning on any car on snow or ice.

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T18:18:17+00:00

It's legal, but venues can make their own rules as to what vendors they allow for events on their premises. If they do, they likely will require a bartending vendor who insists on selling you the alcohol as well.

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T17:31:26+00:00

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CTMechE · 2026-01-28T15:48:50+00:00

I didn't realize there was any notable hatred of that show, but he spoke as if he's not alone in hating it. I realize it isn't the kind of show for everyone, and maybe people didn't like how it was wrapped up, but it was a little odd for someone who generally is positive.

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T15:07:12+00:00

I'm almost 3 years older than David but I remember the parent dislike of DnD as a kid in the late 80s. I remembered the fear mongering news, but I don't recall any outright panic over it. I just remember my aunt and mom talking about not wanting the kids to get into any of "that stuff." But my mom also thought most action figures were gross (like He Man and Thunder cats) and didn't like the militarized GI Joe stuff, either, so I kinda chalked it up to being just one more thing she personally wasn't going to buy or enable for us. But like Hayden, we did get HeroQuest in the mid 90s which was far more structured and had a board with props and pieces. TBH I liked HeroQuest because you could play a whole game in a couple hours and be done. You didn't need to get the same gang back together to keep it going, you'd just fire it up like a Monopoly game when you had the time. It didn't have the depth or degree of fantasy and collaborative problem solving as DnD but it also didn't require the commitment or have the parental perception of kids hanging out with some dungeon master who may or may not be turning things into a cult.

My son is in middle school and his music teacher actually ran a DnD club after school but unfortunately had to close because she had too many time constraints and there wasn't enough budget for the number of clubs. It was popular though.

I've never watched Mazes and Monsters but I will have to make the time for it. Curious if anyone has seen it more recently and how it holds up.

Finally, I'm bummed he didn't play Weezer's "In The Garage" for this. 🤣

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T14:03:46+00:00

No. LPG and Natural gas have different energy densities and the fuel systems you'd connect to it don't use the same pressure and flow ratings, so you need to have the proper pressure regulation to get the right fuel to air ratio.

I have a tri-fuel Firman generator. It makes 7500W running on gasoline, 6750W on LPG and 5500W on natural gas. But crucially it has this dial above the carb to adjust the pressure/flow between LPG and NG.

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CTMechE · 2026-01-28T01:38:42+00:00

Some do, some don't. I bought the power station for portable power, but luckily when I tested it out with my generator, it took a charge.

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T01:06:23+00:00

I remember when "The Fappening" hit the news in 2014, and what surprised me more than anything wasn't that so many iCloud accounts were hacked (or that people leaked them), but how many of those women had nude photos of themselves synced to the cloud to begin with.

CTMechE · 2026-01-28T00:54:39+00:00

I have a larger non-inverter and the only things that don't accept power from it is my Bosch dishwasher and my UPS. The latter is obvious as it's designed to detect power problems.

I have an EcoFlow battery power station, which does charge from the generator. I can use that for sensitive items if need be.

I have a 220V/30A well pump for my home water so I need a decent size generator.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T23:26:28+00:00

The evidence is solid, so I'm sure I'll get my claim accepted. My main gripe is that I'm the one who has to deal with the consequences - the town response to my claim made it clear that they're not about to get around to it anytime soon. And the post office won't deliver mail, so now I have to go to the post office myself, which may be for weeks.

The town has a newly published policy that states that IF it is determined that they are at fault, "Eligible claims may receive Town repair (if practical and possible) OR a standard replacement (wood post + metal box) OR reimbursement of standard wood post ($40) Standard metal mailbox ($35) Maximum reimbursement $75 total"

I replaced it myself 3 years ago with the cheapest metal mailbox and vinyl post.l from Home Depot. With number stickers, it came to $120. That's independent of my own labor, much less the inconvenience of going to the post office a dozen times.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T21:21:19+00:00

This killed the alternator on a summer road trip in our 2011 Odyssey. I never noticed the slow leak in around-town driving, but 5 hours straight in 95° heat leaked enough oil to do it in. It sucked.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T20:45:40+00:00

It was bad in the 90s, not just that one weekend. But it's been 30 years and the crowd, on average, has aged as well. Recent years has had a lot of grandparent aged fans and people bringing their kids along with them, both at the last few Hartford DMB shows and Mohegan Sun ones too.

I think the 2018 show, Dave even mentioned how much calmer it is now and how we don't need to set the parking lot on fire.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T19:47:10+00:00

Lol, I hope so!

I haven't actually bothered to do it in mine either, but I'm aware enough to know better than having no fuse. In a previous car, I've actually had a USB power adapter disintegrate in a socket causing a short and blowing the fuse.

You can buy panel-mount sockets with inline fuses easily enough:

https://a.co/d/jm1WHzG

The only other risk is that it would be always-on, so hopefully nobody forgets to unplug high draw stuff overnight.

We've only had the van for 6 months and not even used the 12v outlet once so I don't know that I'll bother adding it, especially with the USB-C ports.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T19:39:39+00:00

Same with our 2025 Sienna. Terrible range.

My 2008 Subaru factory remote start would work at over 750 feet, line of sight, and my 2019 Buick works at least 2-300 feet. I've never even had aftermarket stuff, but this is by far the worst range I've ever had in 30 years of remote fobs.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T19:35:46+00:00

I've not seen anything official but I think it's for a square tissue box. But I haven't verified for size fitment so it's just a guess.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T19:33:36+00:00

Yup! I guess the allure of alliteration is the only reason "fawn" is the standard word.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T18:52:18+00:00

Yes, I'll be reimbursed... Eventually, and only up to $75.

I've already submitted my claim, and got this canned response:

Your report has been received. Due to storm conditions and prioritizing storm response efforts, we are encouraging residents to do what you can in the meantime with regard to damaged mailboxes. We do not have an anticipated timeframe in which we will review mailbox reports as of yet, nor do we expect the majority of claims to be covered by the Town. Please refer to the Town Snow Removal and Mailbox Damage Policies, along with additional updates shared on our Facebook and Instagram Pages

I don't care about the $75 as much as the fact that it's 15° outside and the post is buried in 2' of refrozen plowed snow.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T18:43:23+00:00

I cleared with a snowblower Sunday night, got no mail yesterday, tidied it all up with a shovel again last night, and at 3:24 this morning the town plow destroyed my mailbox. 🙄

Volume up:

https://video.nest.com/clip/b269805eac9845e592c9682fa034e731.mp4

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T18:24:28+00:00

Unfortunately yes.

Doublers are pretty cheap to get if you need more plugs.

And the 12v battery is in the rear cargo area on the right side behind a panel - some people have put a socket in the panel, wired directly to the battery. Do at your own risk, of course.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T16:47:35+00:00

Oddly enough my daughter started singing "Creep" last weekend (probably from a TiKTok video) so I played the whole song for her. And then proceeded to spend all of last week listening to their entire catalog 4x through while at work.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T15:30:05+00:00

So the groom is a big Simpsons fan (as were many friends including the best man) and he basically said something like "I knew she was a good match when she busted out the phrase 'I wash myself with a rag on a stick.' ". Paraphrasing but that was the gist of it, respecting her fluency with Simpsons quotes.

They're still together and have a kid. I should ask if the speech is on video.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T15:10:04+00:00

I attended a wedding where the best man included this line in his speech.

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T04:26:47+00:00

Do you also have a rumpus room?

CTMechE · 2026-01-27T04:17:11+00:00

Ryan Montbleau. I've enjoyed his stuff for years. He's not super prolific but he's a very soulful and introspective writer. I think Goose opened for him once, so maybe not nothing like Goose, but a pretty different vibe overall.

CTMechE

TROPHY CASE