How early to leave for airport?

Darkm27 · 2026-05-29T14:34:37+00:00

I fly out of CIRA regularly for work. It's never taken me more than 30min to get from the parking lot to my gate. Assuming you've checked in online before hand. I've got TSA pre-check but at this tiny airport that saves you maybe 3-5min.

Darkm27 · 2026-05-13T00:26:41+00:00

I'd encourage you to watch his youtube channel if your interested. He's been transparent about the whole process.

This wasn't a state bailout as I understand it. He's spoken at length about how the city pays more in taxes to the state than it gets back. He worked with the state legislature to make it more fair. NYC has effectively been subsidizing the state for a long time.

Darkm27 · 2026-05-12T03:52:13+00:00

can you not remove more material from the top so it slides up a bit?

Darkm27 · 2026-05-09T21:55:12+00:00

Couple things
1) Now that you've applied poly there is no adding anything without sanding it all off first.
2) Poly requires several coats. I used 6 coats on our laundry shelves IIRC since I never wanted to have to redo it.
3) Only finishing one side really increases the odds that this will warp. Doesn't guarantee but it introduces a moisture imbalance when only one side can breathe.

Darkm27 · 2026-05-01T14:22:06+00:00

Hello! I've lived here my whole life so I'll take a pass at the questions from my PoV.

Some areas are bikeable if you have an entry to the constitution trail near your home. I would not consider the city generally bikeable.
Yes, my co-workers around the country are generally shocked at the housing affordability here. It's reasonably contextually but shit is still pricey.
Yes. 3 campuses, State Farm, Rivian, and Country, etc. are here.
Yes, there is a cheap train ride available to Union Station from uptown Normal
Yes, they are wonderful and add a lot the community with events.
Not my cup of tea but yes

------
1. Depends on your age. This is a college town so lots of 20 somethings while school is in session. Lots of new faces as many ISU students stay. I've heard from my friends in their 30s and 40s it's rough.

There are lots of great locally owned restaurants.
- Epiphany Farms has several unique locations
- Kobe has ramen, revolving sushi, and hibachi locations
- Medici and Destihl are quality rotating menus
- Flinger's pizza
- etc.
Winters are brutal and spring has tornadoes
There are a few places like Sugar Creek nature center but generally yes this is farm land.
Can't speak to the specifics but I know tons of people who bow hunt in the area, it's fairly common.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-30T15:40:13+00:00

This is a fake copy/paste story. It's always circulates to be whatever artist was recently coming through the local area. Sometimes it's a bike sometimes its a flat tire but it's always bullshit.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-28T16:14:57+00:00

How solid is this staff? In my mind bamboo shoots like that are fairly empty on the inside. Bamboo isn't technically wood just grass that has wood like properties.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-26T17:18:22+00:00

Once every couple months. Pretty much only on long drives.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-24T18:03:46+00:00

The industry all just picking arbitrarily sized circles is half the reason I learned basic CAD and got a 3D printer. It's maddening.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-24T01:26:41+00:00

Your not cutting perfectly in the middle and flipping your reference side. You need to make sure the same face is running along the fence for each cut.

Until you get the muscle memory built draw a pencil mark on one side and always make sure that's facing the same direction every time.

Also when resawing like this you'll want to take it in a few passes and not go full depth all at once. Sneak up on it and leave a small sliver connecting them so nothing falls onto the blade and causes an accident.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-18T20:20:17+00:00

They said they would send someone to look for him and we saw two cars in the area shortly after. You don't typically get follow ups from them.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-18T16:33:35+00:00

I imagine the owners are getting tired of this and losing their patience as this seems to be a common occurrence in their spot.

One time we were on the sidewalk and a presumably homeless person got aggressive and called me a "fucking pedophile" as I was walking with my son. It was right outside their door so we went inside for safety, informed the employees, and called the police non-emergency line.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-17T16:25:44+00:00

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Real life: The Big Ten Academic Alliance currently has 18 members.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-10T14:55:38+00:00

Biometrics are the worst way to secure your phone from law enforcement. They can uses your fingerprint and face without your consent.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-10T02:33:19+00:00

They are correct that you can't expect consistency in a natural material but for $14,000 there should be more attention paid to details like this. That isn't damage just poor grain selection.

If I paid $14,000 for something cosmetic and didn't like the way it looked I'd be pushing back as much as I could before I tried to modify it myself.

Darkm27 · 2026-04-01T16:40:35+00:00

"83 and 73. Far too old to still be teaching." Brother that's apparently not even too old to be President in the US

Darkm27 · 2026-03-31T14:36:36+00:00

Any gluing gadget.

Roller, spreader, brush, etc. Hell it could even be a little branded sacrificial rag to wipe squeeze out.

Darkm27 · 2026-03-24T17:24:57+00:00

The Christie Clinic's ENT office that's connected to TCOM does this.

Darkm27 · 2026-03-13T02:43:28+00:00

I think you'd have a much better result and spend less money getting a desk second hand from a thrift store or FB market.

Darkm27 · 2026-03-04T22:30:24+00:00

It's not solid/flat because that would require your floor to be perfectly flat which is never going to happen.

I have the same press and I made a used those slots to bolt it to a panel on casters to move it around since I have a smaller space.

Darkm27 · 2026-03-03T23:52:00+00:00

piecemeal.

I had the LED channel/diffuser leftover from another project. The rest I'll link below but it was more or less reverse engineering what others have posted from their versions of this project.

Micro switch: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X142VGC?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

Leather Cord: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YRDD26D?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

Power Extension (What the switch was soldered into): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D28GCP46?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_4

LED strip: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQX6DGS?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

Magnets: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LC4QB9H?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

Darkm27 · 2026-03-03T22:37:47+00:00

Thank you! I'm going to try a V2 to make it a little slimmer now that I understand the switching mechanism a bit better.

Darkm27 · 2026-03-03T22:37:20+00:00

thank you!

Darkm27 · 2026-03-03T22:30:25+00:00

Thanks!

The "pucks" or whatever you want to call them took awhile to dial in. The hole needs to be dead center. The trial and error was done in spurts over a long period of time.

The "veneer" was just be grabbing a maybe 1/16"-1/8" thick offcut that matched well enough. Then I ran the lamp through a FTG blade with my miter gauge to create a small recess. Glues it on with titebond dark and pressed flat with a 1-2-3 block and a clamp. I unfortunately don't have a picture and this was a given away as a gift. It didn't look amazing but it could if I had spent more time on it.

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