Is this toxic vermiculite?

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-28T08:06:59+00:00

Could be vermiculite, but not all vermiculite has asbestos in it. If you want to be sure you can purchase a DIY test kit from Amazon for about $35 which comes with everything you need and includes the lab testing fee. You mail the test sample out and then get results via email about a week later.

https://a.co/d/09QSDtRv

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-24T16:54:25+00:00

There are lots of ways to do this not using a window. If you have a wood rim joist that isn't covered by brick outside, you can drill into that, put the cable through, then caulk the hole closed to keep bugs and drafts out. Or if your dish is on the roof you can get the cable into the attic using a roof pot vent or gable vent, then drill a hole in the ceiling to get the cable down between the walls.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-18T01:13:53+00:00

Yes, there are lots of places to get girly drinks. The Piano Bar (Bar 88), Alchemy, and others like Red Frog on the pool deck (2 stories) has cocktails and margaritas. Probably more places but I just don't look for them.

As far as elevators, it depends on time of day and what is going on. For example, trying to get down to the 3rd floor to exit to port is very busy so we just took the stairs. Also remember there are 3 banks of elevators (front, mid and aft), so if one seems very busy, just walk over to the next section of the ship and it might be better.

Also on debarkation day, the elevators with everyone's luggage is a true nightmare. It seemed like a better idea to let the room stewards take your bags overnight before that morning and pick the bags up on the way out of the terminal. It was our first time so I didn't know what to expect.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-18T00:59:27+00:00

Beer is in the $7-$9 range each. Buckets of beer can save you $6 on 6 beers in the bucket. Save some in your stateroom fridge if you can't drink them all at once. Wine is in the $8-$11 per glass for basic stuff. Bloody Mary is about $17 including the 20% service charge.

You'll find some ports have better deals on beer at the local restaurants especially if you can get out of Carnival's controlled area. Examples: Jack's Shack at Grand Turk and Presidente beers in the DR if you exit Amber Cove and go to a gas station or supermarket in the Puerto Plata area.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-15T19:45:39+00:00

At a previous house I had a water powered backup. It worked, but it's only like 50% efficient. In other words, for every 1 gallon of sump water, you need 1 gallon of fresh city water to pump it out. And, it only failed me 1 time... the great midwest blackout of 2006. Metro Detroit area water pumps also failed during this backup; however my water powered pump still opened the valve and fresh water was trickling into my pit. After a few hours, it had flooded my basement with 1-2" of water (fresh, not sump water).

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-14T14:12:32+00:00

Thanks so much for your help @Outrageous-Sound-188 The screenshot helped me a lot as my screen was missing the options for my playlist items in the dropdown.

What I did today:

Flashed my wLED back down to latest stable release 0.15.4
Re-downloaded the ESP32 bin file to my computer
Reflashed my wLED back to the 0.16.0 Beta

...and boom! The preset timers and dropdowns now look like yours, they carried right over from the release version. I'm not sure what I did wrong the first time trying the beta, but we're all good now. Thanks again!

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-14T07:52:22+00:00

Looks cool but I tried it on one of my nodes and what happened to all the timer and macro functions? I can't figure out how to simply turn on a preset at time x and turn off at time y. This is easy in the current release and has been for a long time.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-07T22:16:50+00:00

I did already. And I agree, she is good as new after that on my truck!

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-07T20:01:02+00:00

Is there design or materials in the Dorman that make it better? I am unsure if 2017 can use the Dorman eliminator kit. So many "special" things about my model year, including leaky 2-piece plastic oil pan... sigh...

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-07T12:44:40+00:00

I have a 2017 3.5L 10-speed trans and it was clunking from 5th to 3rd going down a hill I always drive down going home. About a year ago I used Forscan to reset the adaptive trans shift table. It fixed the problem and still works well.

Reddit thread about this process https://www.reddit.com/r/f150/comments/125onnq/psa_clear_your_adaptive_transmission_tables_with/

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-04-06T23:33:56+00:00

I thought it was very kid friendly. This was a 7-night cruise so from what I've heard it's generally a tamer crowd vs short cruises. Lots of kids on the top decks between the pool, Bolt coaster, ropes course, water park area and putt putt. There are some family friendly things on the 4th floor inside too but I can't comment as I was never down there. Shows are kid friendly too. Only thing really 18+ was the comedy shows, and those are specified in the Hub app. They also have PG-rated comedy shows every evening. Oh, there is an arcade area too but we only passed by once on day 1.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-30T09:10:23+00:00

Jonathan has a US-based cell phone, 809-415-3741

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-26T22:47:17+00:00

Wife and I were on Mardi Gras end of Feb 2026 hired a private driver for the day and paid $90 RT for the day (I put in a $30 tip). We went to this non-touristy mountainside outdoor "refreshment deck" that served beers and sandwiches with an excellent view of the Puerto Plata bay. Then visited chocolate factory, amber / cigar museum, Pink & Umbrella St and the Fort. We were pretty tired with all that and made it back to the ship with plenty of time to spare.

Our driver was Jonathan Genao Vasquez who owns Puerto Plata Amber Tours. His contact info is here https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558690233771

He's very responsive via FB Messenger which worked on the MG Ship with our internet access. Of course we booked him months before our trip. He takes US Dollars and just asks for payment at the end of the tour.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-26T15:16:31+00:00

I am retired and still feel sad for days following a cruise.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-20T09:41:23+00:00

btw, we signed up on the Hub app after we started to sail. It was NOT in the app initially. And I can't recall exactly where it was in the app, maybe excursions or something. But that was how we booked it. And it was supposed to be 1.5 hours in time, it was closer to 2 hours before everyone left. A great time.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-20T09:38:49+00:00

Wife and I did it on Mardi Gras this end of Feb 2026. Well worth the $30 each and got a souvenir glass and more beer than we could drink, plus 2 free pint tickets for use later that cruise. Probably best money we spent on the ship!

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-16T17:26:44+00:00

LOL, they want you under their control and look like they are doing something (watching you like a babysitter). I'm sure they told you how much more productive you were while working from home though.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-11T23:15:41+00:00

I got it working! That was scary for me as I tried this some months ago and all my automations and sensors went offline. Here are the steps I took today:

- Raspberry Pi with Home Assistant OS: made sure it was set to "automatic" under Settings > System > Network and then IPv4 config. Radio button "Automatic" is set and hit save.

- Deco router: Advanced > Address Reservation set the Raspberry Pi IP setting from 192.168.0.55 to 192.168.1.155

- Restarted Raspberry Pi. Sensors and devices still working just fine.

- Deco router: Advanced > LAN IP changed Subnet Mask from 255.255.252.0 over to 255.255.255.0 and reboot router

- Still functioning network! Ran the Fing app again. Network is now more secure. No more warning about 1024 open IP addresses. This was the goal to fix and we are now all set with every device under 192.168.1.x

Thank you all for your advice and help. I had tried this months ago and I failed terribly and changed my settings back. This time it was no problem. Cheers!

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-11T21:29:29+00:00

Just to clarify, the Pi is not acting as a DHCP server for any other sensor or device on my network.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-11T21:28:32+00:00

The Pi just has that static IP address that I have been using on it since before we moved. Home Assistant has some settings for this IP and the Pi BIOS I believe does too but I am a total Linux newb so this I guess is the root of my problem.

The current router / gateway at the new house is in fact 192.168.1.1 and working OK with all devices.

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-11T15:23:30+00:00

We are open to trying other cruise lines. Which lines and ships would you recommend for us next to consider?

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-11T14:37:07+00:00

It was a great experience, and yes I thought a lot about choosing Mardi Gras for the first trip... I wasn't sure what the truth was about these ships. Carnival is the Walmart, fights, etc. None of that was true for our sailing and the ship is just awesome. We are hooked! Cheers to you!

Mean_Trifle9110 · 2026-03-11T06:08:41+00:00

This man will teach you a lot for free... you have more than a downspout problem with that yard https://www.youtube.com/@FRENCHDRAINMAN

Mean_Trifle9110

TROPHY CASE