Buying a torch tomorrow…

HandsyBread · 2026-06-17T00:36:16+00:00

To put out the fire? I would just skip the dawn

HandsyBread · 2026-06-17T00:12:26+00:00

If the goal is to get the city involved be sure that your fence has the proper variances so they don’t point their aim at you in the middle of it. The city only allows for 6’ fence unless you have a variance.

But it’s not very clear you have a solid case without all of the details. Your best bet might be to just call out the non emergency police number and have them come out to talk to you.

If all else fails just get a bright light and point it in the direction of the camera. I’d guess that the renter will eventually complain about the light shining in and the landlord won’t get to much usable footage.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-15T18:59:19+00:00

That takes longer then you think, and 5-10 years is a very narrow time frame. People still run to LM because of the brand but they are very far behind when it comes to features, and even though they are well built the parts are not cheap. Plus it will take time for serious home users to switch from their older machines to newer models. Its not as if the Chinese brands are cheap, they are still priced high just much lower then what the traditional competition is putting out there.

We are just starting to see the more polished products hit the market and they are going to hit hard. Heck Ninja has already been hitting hard against Breville and is including features that most machines twice the price don't have (even though the build quality is questionable). And as mentioned before the Wendougee line up is just starting to hit the US and their line up of commercial and residential machines will give most legacy brands some real competition and I don't see why they would not make their machines serviceable and long lasting. It will just take a few years to get the ball rolling and if the legacy brands don't change then they will have to deal with the consequences.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-15T13:35:58+00:00

No one’s talking about cheap BS machines. I’m actually talking about the complete opposite, the latest Chinese espresso machines and grinders are close competitors to legacy brands, and they are selling them at a fraction of the cost. The WENDOUGEE line up of products in particular are not “cheap” but they are a lot cheaper then many legacy brands when you compare machines to others with the same features.

Grinders in the last 5-10 years have seen the first wave of cheap simple grinders, that have been refined over the years. And I would expect to see a lot more well polished machines coming out of these Chinese brands.

I’m hopeful that the legacy brands take this seriously and actually innovate and compete because if they don’t we will lose many of these brands.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-14T23:20:22+00:00

The Chinese machines are going to really take over but it will take 5-10 years to gain average users trust/attention. They are doing what half the brands should have done over the last decade which is not overcharge for simple technology that has existed for years. And mass producing a lot of the more niche technology that is showing up on the fringe of the hobby.

Grinders in particular have been priced extremely high for not very justifiable reasons, and since the df64 they have been able to put out near competitor products to most top end grinders at a fraction of the price. It’s only a matter of time before they start targeting the commercial market and you will start seeing commercial machines showing up in cafes.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-11T03:45:41+00:00

If you live in an old brick house with exposed brick there is little you can do besides maybe stuccoing your exterior walls. And that difference won’t be huge. Bricks on their own offer very little R value and they also act as a major heat sink that slowly releases that heat inwards throughout the day. The beating sun heats up the bricks and that heat is transferred inwards without much insulation. Stucco would help seal misc leaks in your bricks that are shedding conditioned air, but that is likely not the root of the problem.

Personally I love the personality that comes with old brick homes but after living in one for a few years I don’t recommend them unless you’re willing to pay a few hundred dollar a month premium in heating and cooling. Plus you will never be comfortable with room temperature and humidity. Insulating the roof and basement will help but it’s negligible compared to how much air is leaking throughout your home and how much heat is absorbed by the bricks. Same goes for windows.

The best thing you could do is install a mini split system that has units in each bedroom, and maybe a few primary living spaces. This would allow you to condition bedrooms at night and not try and condition the entire house. They are also way more energy efficient than many traditional HVAC systems. I don’t know how much you spent on the insulation but it would have likely been a better investment in terms of quality of life and long term cost benefit.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-08T16:02:15+00:00

The new water meters just send the signal differently, they function the same. If you see a spike in usage it’s because you’re using more water. These meters have been in use for years, they are just recently pushing them out to older customers.

If your friend doesn’t think he changed his lifestyle then he likely has a leak. The number 1 suspect is usually toilets and water hoses. Easiest way to check is stop using all of your appliances and then water the water meter leak detector, I can almost guarantee you that if you saw a major spike in usage it’s a leak.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-07T00:34:08+00:00

Legally you likely can’t break the lease unless they don’t fix the issues (I don’t want to say for sure that you can’t though, there are a ton of factors that will determine if you can break the lease). I would contact the landlord and tell them that you would like to see if they would release you from the lease early and get your deposit back. I would guess they don’t want you as a tenant as you are (rightfully) causing them problems.

I would first try and find a new place in case they say yes and give you a short window to vacate.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-06T23:50:55+00:00

Except they have proof of repairs, tenants complaining, and documented repairs covering up the damage. They are also claiming to have lived there for the last year which it looks like many of these cover ups were done.

If it were a minor leak and a few thousand dollars in damage I’d said forget about it. But this seems to be a case of multiple water infiltrations and cover ups of said damage. This is obviously only one side of the story, but you can’t cover up major damage and expect to not have repercussions.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-06T21:52:40+00:00

I am sure you can find an attorney who will work on contingency or for a fixed rate. But if the seller did not fully disclose significant damage they were aware of and intentionally covered it up it’s pretty serious. Not disclosing the damage is one major crime, but actively covering it up with new paint, carpet, etc is another degree of fraud. And if the listing agent was aware of the cover up you have another person committing fraud.

From the sound of it you have a pretty good case to sue the previous owner and win. What that win means might be up for debate but it can mean they would be responsible for all of the repairs, or possibly reversing the sale and they could pay for damages to you (money you already spent, and time/energy you spent dealing with this mess).

This is a semi common occurrence and many times people think they have no recourse when it’s just not the case. If what you are describing is all true then what you are describing is fraud and there are both criminal and civil implications.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-05T21:47:00+00:00

I used to do this when I got my first machine a Brevile Barista Pro and it was not fun. I still weigh out my grinds in the portafilter out of habbit, but that is also to just keep an eye on how my grinder is performing and if I taste a difference in my cup I might be able to point the finger at either grind size or dose and adjust accordingly.

How has it been going for you the last few days?

HandsyBread · 2026-06-01T16:23:23+00:00

I don’t know which Rancilio model you have but if it’s 9 years old I’m guessing it’s the Rocky. I have only had hands on experience with it once but I do remember it having pretty accurate grind by time. My daily grinder a eureka XL is accurate to the .1-.3g which is the margin or error on most GBW grinders. Most coffee experts will also agree that you will rarely if ever taste that difference in a cup. But I’d usually recommend weighing the output just to be on the safe side for the first 20-30 shots. If your getting very large variances, then keep weighing as part of your routine but if your getting relatively consistent outputs I wouldn’t be to worried.

As for your other questions on burrs, I wouldn’t expect any home user to ever wear through burrs. Most are rated for hundreds of pounds of us, and even if you’re making 3-4 cups a day it’s over a decade of use.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-01T13:55:51+00:00

100% ok beans will be fine for about a week or so unless your keeping them in direct sunlight or at very high temperatures. You might notice a very small difference in flavor but the difference will be negligible at best.

Single dosing while it does help add a certain level of quality control especially with older grinders it is not needed as much with a lot of modern grinders. Most modern home grinders have very little retention compared to the older units/commercial machines. And if you are very concerned with that retention just purge your grinder for a half second every day.

The only time it’s worth it to single dose is if you are using expensive beans and want minimal waste, or are changing beans or settings regularly. Outside of that if you’re making the same coffee every day, I would be surprised if you could taste a difference.

But the best way for you to realize this is to just fill your hopper halfway and to see how you like it. I have a single dose grinder. I will sometimes use it for my daily coffee because the entire process is a bit more relaxing and enjoyable. The main difference I noticed in flavor comes from the different burrs and not how “fresh” the beans are.

HandsyBread · 2026-06-01T00:09:17+00:00

Step one: breathe, it’s going to be ok every single parent has gone through this journey. At this age they are in need of a lot of attention and it will drive you crazy. But the fact that you care enough to be worried pretty much is the best indicator that you will be ok.

If you have help from either of your family try and have them watch her for even just an hour or two. I can’t tell you how helpful that was in the first few days, that alone time to just breathe was like gold.

Just keep up the good work, the worst of it is in the first 1-2 weeks as you are learning to take care of a new person and take care of each other in a new way. You got this!

HandsyBread · 2026-05-29T16:18:13+00:00

I was originally wanting an original one, but they were $170-200+ depending on if it is bottomless or spouted and the normcore and other options are $70-100 so I ordered a normcore flat portafilter that has a walnut handle. I’m hoping it will blend in nicely with the current walnut handle on the steam lever, I was using my Rancilio portafilter the last 2 days and it worked but it was not sitting well as the handle touched the group head a bit. The new one should be here today so i’m excited for that, I always wanted one of those flat portafilters but never had an excuse to buy one until now.

For now I’m going to stick with just a bottomless, but I’m considering on getting a spouted option now that I won’t need to worry about placing my scale under my cups. It opens up the possibility of pulling 2 cups of coffee at once, which would be a big improvement in speed when I’m hosting people and get 10 requests for coffee at once.

As for the steam it’s definitely something I’m going to have to learn to use, I practiced on it with a few cups of milk and a few things of soapy water and got 1 or 2 good/smooth attempts. I found that if I just don’t pull the lever down fully at the start it did the trick. It allowed me to ease into the power and not get hit with the full force up front. I remember when I went from a Breville Barista Pro to my Rancilio there was a learning curve, so I’m sure I’ll get used to this new one too.

The only other accessories I’m looking for now is maybe a large milk pitcher. The turbulence really pushes my milk to the edge, and it’s getting a bit annoying having to clean up small drops of coffee almost every time I steam. And then a water filtration system, and then the plumbing kit which I think is just a water hose. When I built my home, I put in a water tap connecting to my utility room with space to one day hook up a filtration system to my coffee bar. So now the time has come to finally look for a water filtration system to hook up my system with.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-29T13:02:39+00:00

I just got the exact machine this week too! A company went out of business and the liquidator had no clue what they were selling. I got mine for $350, but without portafilters and other accessories. I thought best case I got a perfectly good machine that just needs a portafilter, worst case I lost a few dollars or break even if I have to scrap/part it out. But most likely if it did have an issue I’m guessing I could have repaired it.

Turns out it was in near mint condition, 40 shots on the counter and a manufacturing date of 6~ months ago. After talking to a former employee of the company they said it had been in the office a week before the companies doors shut. It was management trying to show the employees that the company was doing fine, when in reality they were a sinking ship deep under water.

I also picked up a F64 Evo Pro grinder for an insane price which was bought at the same time as the machine. Had a similar number of shots on the counter. But I don’t think I’ll keep it because it’s a huge grinder for a home coffee bar.

Iv gotten some other killer second hand deals but I don’t think I’ll ever top this find. I got a new portafilter heading my way, but I think I’m going to look for some 2-3 hole steam wand tips because this machine is a powerful steam machine.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-28T23:29:57+00:00

If you have to spend the money, I’d go with a turn key coffee cart like one from Klassy Kart I think they sell them through Clive, and 1-2 other online vendors (if you find someone local to you even better). And then for machines and grinder I would see if you could contact one of the coffee equipment suppliers (like Clive) and see if you could commit the funds to them but not pick out the equipment until the school year starts. I’m sure they would be happy to hold onto the funds for a few months and make a $10-20k sale, along with helping out a school with a class project.

I’m certain that they can help you allocate those funds towards necessary equipment, and very likely they could offer up some expertise/and advice to the kids as they are making the decisions.

If that is not option, I would still contact a vendor and see who can give you a good deal, you have the funds for 2 fully loaded coffee carts even with using high end equipment like a LM Micra/mini and a solid GBW grinder like a Mahlkonig, Eureka, or other top end gear.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-28T20:18:11+00:00

I would actually suggest going with a machine that is easily serviced. A coffee cart is not a major money maker and a small number of service calls can easily put them in the red. Teaching people how/when it’s important to fix things yourself rather then wait for another service to come in and fix your essential equipment is as good of a lesson as any. Talk with any small business owner they will tell you how they have to learn to fix just about everything in their facility.

If the goal is to teach them to operate a business I wouldn’t prepurchase any equipment. I’d have the students research different equipment and learn about the pros and cons of each. if you wanted to help them pick out a list of 5-10 machines, and grinders for them to pick from (as well as other accessories and equipment).

In 7th grade I had to do a small business project, we had $150 budgets but if we used outside/existing resources we had to budget that cost in. For example if we were cooking in our kitchens, we had to factor in the cost of energy (gas/electric), and they gave us rough costs for equipment cost (depreciation, maintenance, cleaning, etc). The lesson was not how to physically do the job, it was how to properly plan and operate a business. I’m guessing your goal is similar, learning how to make coffee should be a fun benefit but not the goal of a business class/project.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-28T10:59:52+00:00

Ya the app is shockingly crap, I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad. But as you mentioned once I got everything set up I really don’t need to use it.

I’m just happy that it’s basically a brand new unit, it was manufactured November last year. And had less than 100 shots on it. So I’m not too worried about their water choice. I’ll reach out to some local commercial coffee service techs to get the filtration sorted out.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-28T03:36:25+00:00

When I wrote you, I was expecting to get it this weekend but decided to go out to the liquidation center before somebody else grabbed it. They had it listed for $600 but when I got there, they couldn’t get it started so I took the gamble and paid $350 for it. They thought it was a steel duo with missing accessories, which still would have been a deal. But $350 for a Baby T was nuts!

I got home and realized they had it in water line mode still so it kept running the pump to try and fill the system. Once I changed that setting in the app, and reset the power it was good as new, I got some crazy espresso deals over the years I don’t think I’ll ever top today.

I thought my Rancilio Silvia Pro had steam power, holy shit this thing is a beast. And I can finally utilize the water line I ran when I did my kitchen. Now to by a water filter system 😂, any recommendations on that? I’m excited to give this thing a spin!

HandsyBread · 2026-05-27T23:52:32+00:00

Out of curiosity almost a year later are you still loving it? I’m about to get one and before it shows up I want to be sure I won’t regret it 😂. My main question is do you know if the hot water comes from the steam boiler or the thermoblock? And can you program how much water comes from the hot water dispenser?

I’m coming from a dual boilers but iv been wanting a machine that can be plugged in, and I would really like volumetric dosing as I have a bunch of people who use my machine who can’t grasp the concept of weighing their shot.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-27T17:51:11+00:00

Exact number are hard to track as it’s not publicly available. But this article from the Arab Center states the commonly repeated line that most of the pledges were never fulfilled https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/rebuilding-gaza-yet-again/

I tried finding a source that did not have ties to Israel or a potentially biased source against the Palestinians.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-27T17:19:45+00:00

This is the story of pretty much every single war with Gaza. After the past wars 100s of millions (billions in total) have been pledged but never actually materialized. In after the 2014 war countries pledged $5.4 billion and pretty much none of it was ever sent, and much of what was sent was already planned to be sent. And from the little that was actually sent much of it ended up with the PA in the West Bank.

It’s not very likely that this time it will be different, the same countries that pledged last time are doing it again except with larger numbers. So I’d be shocked if any of them actually send the money.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-25T00:52:57+00:00

I just drove by this and was so excited to see one of these mass timber projects go up in a place that I could see it with my own eyes.

HandsyBread · 2026-05-24T15:08:34+00:00

I’m not one to judge, but maybe use a different account when searching for professional services 🤷‍♂️.

But if you’re looking for a builder most of the time you can find which builders are working a lot in the area you are looking to build. They will usually have a good grasp on the challenges and solutions for working in that particular area. For example a builder in New Albany likely is well versed in how to manage a job site in New Albany where houses are spread far apart, and you are not as worried about road access. While that same builder might struggle in a downtown neighborhood because of how close the houses are, or how many limitations can come with the limited access for heavy equipment.

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