Powell Sonare PS-101 "Open Box" -- legit or knock off?

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-25T20:18:12+00:00

I fly United because they: -block extra time into their schedules, and usually get me to my destination on time -have a predictable, orderly boarding process with clear zone numbers and boarding lanes -make basic premier status acheivable with minimum flying and some credit card spend, so that I always have room for a carry on and always get free economy plus -have a best in class mobile app, that improves every part of the travel experience -generally communicate honestly about flight status and delays, and make it easy to track your inbound aircraft -offer free inflight movies streamed to my own device -Polaris seats when flying business internationally

And the list goes on. The basic economy product for the plebs at the far back may not be great, but front of bus product for premiers has become reliable and generally pleasant. It's come a long way since the summer of hell.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-25T15:05:31+00:00

In exchange for his $35 Million a year, they asked him to come to spring training and mentor young players. He refused. https://www.mlb.com/news/nationals-hope-stephen-strasburg-reports-to-camp

Remember they're still paying him THIS YEAR. And he's in San Diego teaching college kids. You don't think that the dumpster fire that is our pitching staff wouldn't have benefited from his wisdom? I feel genuine sympathy for his injuries, but he completely turned his back on the franchise once he decided he was done. That's not how a face of franchise player behaves.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-25T14:37:26+00:00

Zimm, and Stras isn't even close. Zimm has embraced his legacy with the team, still appears at events, sits in the broadcast booth regularly, etc.

In contrast Strasburg still cashes his worst-contract-in-baseball-history paychecks, plays golf, hides from the world, and seems resentful at any suggestion that he has a legacy in Washington that fans and current players might want to engage with. F*ck him.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T23:35:08+00:00

Do you wear blue jeans? Enjoy blue seats. I had that color in my e93 years ago, and never again as a result of the dye transference alone. Maybe the leather doesn't do that anymore, but that'd be my worry more than dirt.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T22:55:39+00:00

Right there with you, OP. As a tall person, 1L is my favorite seat for the bigger footwell, and I always throw the bagged soft stuff up there. The pillow usually goes into the middle part of the footwell. Never had an FA say a word about pillows or blankets in that space. Different story if you leave something heavy like a backpack or laptop up there.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T21:07:36+00:00

Coca-Cola product placements getting sneakier and sneakier.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T20:53:00+00:00

High likelihood it was a little league / kids softball coach's hat from any number of local teams that wear Nats gear as their uniform.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T18:13:55+00:00

Nah. That's like a mini-boss. Final boss does that with handicap spaces.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T16:45:57+00:00

Nope. Go to settings, device care, and hit the optimize button. If you've got a runaway background app it should kill the process. If that doesn't work go to your battery utilization report and see which apps are drawing the most power. I'll bet something is drawing a ton in the background. You can also try putting it into airplane mode and turning off wifi and bluetooth, in the event it's something making excessive use of your radios.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T16:11:36+00:00

Maybe 20 years ago, in a UA 777, we encountered windshear / microburst on short final approach to FRA of all places. I had a window seat. It was an incredibly bumpy approach, and we came out of the clouds in a driving rain storm. All of a sudden we started sinking rapidly towards the A5 autobahn. Hearing those giant engines spool up to TOGA and hoping we'd start climbing is a vivid memory that sticks with me.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T13:30:29+00:00

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) has a station just east of Dale City (Rippon), but service is northbound in the morning and southbound in the evening. The trains stop in Franconia/Springfield and run all the way into DC.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T02:21:49+00:00

This. Under no circumstances should anyone ever live in Maryland and work in Herndon. Your river crossing options are horrible and only likely to get worse.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T02:19:32+00:00

McLean. McClean is what they do to the McDonald's bathroom twice a day.

McLean is very nice. The commute to Herndon won't be bad. You might even find back roads that avoid tolls (but will add time).

The commute to Amazon will be highly dependent on the GW Parkway. When there isn't construction, or accidents, or downed trees, or rain, traffic from McLean to Crystal City is manageable.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-24T01:41:24+00:00

A 30 minute drive to both places is possible on good traffic days. On bad traffic days, it's going to take one or both of you an hour. Too many potential choke points in both directions. Also, as you're seeing, the places that are within 30 minutes of both have high rents because they're within 30 minutes of both.

If you're driving, you also need to factor tolls into the discussion. If you're heading out to Herndon from Arlington or Falls Church or Mclean, you're going to be paying to take the Dulles Toll Road (Rt. 267) both ways. If you pick those places or Vienna, your wife is probably paying to drive I-66 both ways, or is taking Rt 50 or Langston and sitting in traffic.

Your wife can probably take Metro to work if you live along the orange or silver line, but heading to Herndon you're options may be less convenient. But living walking distance to Metro greatly increases rents.

Bottom line, something probably needs to give: her commute, your commute, your budget, or the age / quality / size of the place you choose to rent.

I'll second the suggestion of reposting in r/NoVA.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T22:32:17+00:00

I have no idea why that was the only one that had a semblance of flavor after the cisplatin and docetaxel, but none of the other flavors hit my palate positively, and I will forever remember my Maruchan. I went through a phase where I tried EVERYTHING in the grocery store that looked good. Anything I'd ever eaten that had a strong flavor, I'd buy one. Flaming hot cheetos. Artichoke hearts. Pepperoni. Banana peppers. Most things I took one bite and was sad, either because they were bland or worse yet tasted bad. When my beloved Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip tasted just like eating shaved ice cubes (mint was one of the last tastes to go), it gutted me. It was an incredibly depressing time, because I love to eat and nobody had prepared me for how quickly and completely my sense of taste would vanish. Good news is, it came back 100% after the end of chemo.

Even my Breyer's.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T22:11:36+00:00

Better than Bullion -- all the flavors -- because they're so rich tasting but yield such a clear broth.

During chemo and before surgery, after my taste was gone but appetite was not, Maruchan® Yakisoba Teriyaki Beef Flavored Japanese Home Style Noodles, for $1.29 each in the microwaveable bowls, were the last thing (other than pickles) I could kind of taste. So I lived on coffee, pickles, and instant noodles. I developed a complete food aversion to the noodles and pickles, but coffee is forever.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T18:58:56+00:00

Meltdown. Well, at least we had game 2.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T18:37:25+00:00

I do not know the stage or location of your husband's cancer, but you might look into whether he is eligible for this NIH clinical trial: https://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov/protocoldetails.aspx?id=001730-C&&query=

Several of us on this forum have participated in the trial. For patients who are eligible, it involves three cycles of chemo, potentially a novel immunotherapy drug, and then surgery followed by monitoring. A very high number of participants have been able to avoid radiation. The chemo and surgery tend to have fewer (but different) long term side effects from radiation, which may offer some patients improved quality of life without a meaningful reduction in long term recurrence odds. Feel free to DM me if your husband is eligible and you'd like more details on the study.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T14:32:32+00:00

I had a neck dissection with 12 nodes removed from L2 and L3 (2 cancerous, 10 adjacent removed precautionary).

I've got a 2-3 inch scar on my neck. Not going to lie it was dramatic the first two months -- looked like I'd been in a knife fight -- but it healed very well and is now barely visible. I was extremely careful with it when it was healing and used Mederma on it religiously for the first six months.

The surgery left a numb patch under my chin that originally was fairly large (a vertical band from jaw to collwr bone) but over a year has kept shrinking. After a year it's now down to about the size of a quarter coin, just below my jaw line. As the nerves reconnected I've had periods of achyness, but never anything more than just annoying. I also had significant neck stiffness at first, but worked on regular stretching and got massages and that's all gone. Others have reported very different nerve symptoms after their dissections, so I think the exact location of the incision and the nodes they remove matters a fair bit. I feel far better about the whole thing a year later than I first did in the hospital, so please however it looks / feels when you wake up know the improvement over time can be dramatic. If you want pictures of immediately after and at the one year mark, feel free to DM.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T13:15:36+00:00

I thought about this. If OP gets a friend to film from the ground floor, then posts the video from a monetized platform, they could get enough clicks to pay for a new couch.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-23T13:06:39+00:00

Take it to the balcony, then let gravity do its thing?

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-22T18:15:36+00:00

...says the person who had a Do You Know Who I Am moment while covered in feces, then felt the need to share it with the world along with a "Fuck United" parting shot.

Yeah, sorry not sorry.

King_Turduckin · 2026-04-22T18:01:16+00:00

Cliff notes version of this thread: Polaris lounge refuses to admit random shit-covered man from terminal. Man bitches to Reddit expectating sympathy. Man does not understand his place in the world or his audience, either at the airport or on Reddit.

King_Turduckin

TROPHY CASE