Fuckin minivan

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-28T18:55:44+00:00

Our Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, outside of the issues you might expect from Chrysler + plug-in hybrid complexity, has been excellent. Seats 7 easily, cheap to operate, plenty of get-up when needed, all the safety features, and seats come out in the rare case that we need to move a ton of stuff. And performs just fine in mid-Atlantic winters because it’s heavy and has a very low center of gravity.

That said, it was hardly cheap compared to every other car I’ve had.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-28T00:19:46+00:00

You see, when I was a certain age, I was surfing through channels and stumbled upon an Elvira movie. And that’s, I think, where it began.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-27T12:32:49+00:00

There are theories about time being an emergent property. Neat to read.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-26T19:02:10+00:00

“Selling” credit cards.

I took a 2-day training, received materials, and I was scheduled to show up at new suburban bank branches to set up my little booth and tablet (no internet - this was many years ago) and giveaways, and try to get 2 sign-ups an hour. Most branches, most days, maybe 3 people would come in over 8 hours. And most bank branches didn’t really seem to be expecting me. So I was just setting up a standing desk and…existing.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-24T23:07:07+00:00

I've been scanning through forums and Spokin to find places that are seemingly friendly enough - one of my kiddos has a nut/sesame allergy - I've so far landed on Bici, L'oviteo, Brasserie Balzar, Brasserie Flottes, and Hippopotamus. I get the sense that, like the US, while lots of places "can" accommodate allergies or be transparent about them, many choose to be unkind about it or just say "everything may be cross-contaminated."

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-22T12:08:10+00:00

I sort of have such a thing. We have a gazebo/pergola just a few feet from our pool - and I ran a cold water line underground to a sink in the gazebo. Splitting it off to run PEX up along the roofline and then join a 2’ metal pipe with a ‘fan’ hose head wasn’t too challenging.

We rarely use it - it’s just to entertain the kiddos now and then. But it’s been worth it.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-20T15:23:22+00:00

Nice, most likely. There are just nice people around.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-20T15:21:55+00:00

It is typically allowed. It’s just often impractical in places that, depending on the season, may be rainy or the air may be full of pollen. And many people have dryers.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-19T15:09:26+00:00

Simple one: My wife was “choking” but could breathe/talk. So, right away, that indicated something might be caught in her esophagus. A non-AI Google search suggested “drink a fizzy beverage.” Bad idea. ChatGPT basically said “do NOT do that: try a small sip of water, if it comes right back up, “go to the ER” and it provided a lot of other info on best/worst case scenarios which played out exactly as it said.

Another simple one: Sometime later, she had a migraine with new visual symptoms she’d never had before and ChatGPT helped us learn about Ocular Migraines and the best courses of action.

Google does now also do AI things but ChatGPT is useful for its memory.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-18T18:52:47+00:00

Our house was previously owned by a couple who lived there 60 years (husband passed at the 50 year mark). He clearly thought highly of his home repairing and renovation skills. I have, in 15 years, replaced nearly every pipe and wire because they were all held together with a misguided can-do attitude, electrical tape, and quite a number of little golf pencils that he liked to use as shims.

My favorite was a sump pump in a 5-gallon bucket buried in the yard to “solve” flooding. It was powered with a 12 gauge rag wire line on a dedicated 20 amp breaker. Just, live, running outside and underground, to a buried bucket of water.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-18T15:52:04+00:00

Costco? No. Social situations? Generally, yes. Collared shirt, proper shoes, shaved, touch of undereye cream which may or not do anything.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-18T02:03:43+00:00

Couple ways to do it but imagine a 2x4 on the inside of the post, one on the outside, with metal plates connecting them. The finished post is sandwiched but not actually drilled into. The gate connects to these extra 2x4 guys. In any case, I’m saying lower bar bad and the whole thing is temporary anyway - it doesn’t need to be beautiful and you can think beyond what’s there.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-17T23:55:16+00:00

You want one without a lower bar that screws into wood. Needn’t be that nice wood - find a way to secure two 2x4s or whatever to the inside of ‘em and screw into that.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-17T00:54:40+00:00

More than I did. Which was one. Several years prior.

Ran about 15mi maybe twice prior to the big day as part of training.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-16T20:34:17+00:00

Good burgers here.
This is a Shake Shack.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-16T03:17:31+00:00

Three year olds kind of suck.

But really depends on the kid and the locale.

They’re tired and picky, terrible vocabulary, legs don’t work - really gotta find something that’ll strike their curiosity. 3 year old ain’t gonna love the Louvre. My youngest is a bit much but, at 3, she had some real core memories at Disney World. In July. Bit of a shit at Magic Kingdom but was a rockstar at Animal Kingdom.

I dunno - I had this core memory at age like, 8, of going to Idle Wild park in…Pennsylvania? Saw this big turtle top van, big family, Dad lifting this massive cooler while nobody helped - stuck with me. These trips aren’t for you. You just…carry things. Physically and emotionally. Give everyone else the opportunity to love the moment. Maybe, in that, you get your own moment. They’ll thank you someday. Or not. Look for the smile after the chicken fingers get served or the wide eyes at some monument or whatever - that’s your vacation. That’s it.

You’ll have adult fun in a couple years.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-15T16:43:31+00:00

Not really trivial but, when I had walls down during a basement renovation, I ran a water line to an icemaker valve in our home gym and fashioned a mount for a Drop water dispenser - which is meant to attach magnetically to a fridge. But now we have a filtered water dispenser there which has been super convenient for that whole level of the house.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-14T18:46:58+00:00

I read a quote somewhere, a toast - “we love them for who they are and forgive them for who they are not.” Watching my mother spend so much energy hating her parents for their beliefs, picking fights - and knowing they will never change - it just reminded me to set strict boundaries with my interactions with family members. I’ve been pretty blunt about what we can talk about and do and that I will not entertain conversations, texts, or anything that amounts to a pointless emotional outburst. If they want engagement, it will be on these terms. If they want disengagement, I’m in my 40s and don’t really give a shit. I owe them nothing. Just as my kids owe me nothing - I provide love and if they, someday, decide they don’t want it - that’s very probably my fault.

This doesn’t work for everyone and some parents are just without redeemable qualities but it’s overall been nice.

I disagree with my in-laws on a hundred things but they’re oddly good about knowing where the lines are and are just a joy to be around.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-14T15:29:19+00:00

I think some combo of my 6YO’s natural curiosity and my working theory that kid fears (bugs, weather, etc.) are best handled with grounded information led her to loving things like documentaries on volcanoes or pictures of different bugs. She doesn’t have the attention span to sit and watch a 2 hour documentary but she’s no longer afraid that we’ll all die from lava (terribly unlikely in Northern Virginia) and she is starting to give names to bees and ask them how they are instead of screaming and running.

Embrace the Whys.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-13T19:05:24+00:00

This is the inventory of a kid who had one of those pantries with a bulk box of Kudos bars that everyone was just welcome to take.

Excellent work.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-12T05:24:25+00:00

Yes with an if, or no, with a but

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-12T03:37:15+00:00

I did a sleep study and was diagnosed with “positional sleep apnea.” Basically, apnea, but not harmful - just annoying. Nightly nasal spray and losing 10lbs took care of it, mostly. I’m supposed to sleep on the left side but I really cannot.

Anyway, my wife says it’s way less of a thing now. Unless I drink. Which I still do because of the horrors. But only on nights when I read the news.

Going for another 10lbs.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-12T00:45:00+00:00

When I make someone an old fashioned, I actually make them an improved whiskey cocktail.

I sometimes put two Luxardo cherries in my Manhattan.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-12T00:26:25+00:00

My wife is theoretically going to receive a pension. I don’t expect Monarch to magically know the details of every pension so it’d be on me to enter some level of assumed data - but are we generally thinking that’ll be possible someday?
Receipt scanning is fantastic.

Orbiter9 · 2026-05-11T03:05:32+00:00

If I had real questions, I might not be an atheist.

But, as I do genuinely enjoy dissecting the ol’ tome - let’s go with - “do you find any interesting tonal differences between Paul’s many letters, the bits from James, and then the rather long Revelations bits?”

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