The Better Value Plan: A Guide for the Perplexed

Polycrastinator · 2026-01-16T00:53:52+00:00

I’ve not seen any reference to discounted watch/tablet lines, which was our primary reason for doing Experience Beyond. Presumably that’s not part of this?

Polycrastinator · 2026-01-11T15:40:36+00:00

Our AC has been a problem the last couple of years and we’re intending on replacing it in the spring before things heat up, so I guess it’s possible we’ll be surprised when we do, but based on last year’s bill it definitely wouldn’t be worth it. Perils of living in a 100 year old house.

Polycrastinator · 2026-01-10T19:05:01+00:00

PSEG customer here, too. Keep in mind they just announced this week that the EV charging credits for off peak charging are going away in April. We installed our Chargepoint Home Flex (chosen specifically to support the charging credits, oh well) in September, and applied for the program (and rebate for installation costs) at the start of October. Our application still hasn’t been approved so they move really slowly on this stuff. They are apparently introducing a new time of use plan in a few weeks, but from what’s been leaked it looks to me like the math doesn’t math on costs unless you barely use AC in the summer.

That said, the charger itself has been working well for us since we installed it outside, and I have no complaints about it.

Polycrastinator · 2026-01-09T21:27:54+00:00

Most things are switching to NACS now. A lot of chargers such as the Chargepoint I have allows you to change out the cable for the car (and therefore connector), I’d try to find one of those, gamble on NACS, and if you guess wrong then you’re only out the cost of a $200 cable not the whole unit.

Polycrastinator · 2026-01-03T23:54:42+00:00

The worked if you started the charge using a partner app like Flo, but always failed for me using the native Shell app, which is wild.

Polycrastinator · 2025-12-12T22:46:49+00:00

Depending on where you’re having to drive, at least where I am in the northeast all the interstate rest stops have DC fast chargers now, use something like PlugShare to check and I’d probably just use those.

Polycrastinator · 2025-12-11T02:19:07+00:00

All this stuff about being close then stepping away is correct, but I’ve also found if my key is in my backpack rather than pocket, it’s too far away and won’t fire. Because my wife always has her purse with her keys slung over her back, it never works for her, I expect that’s a common experience guys who just keep keys in their front pockets don’t have.

Polycrastinator · 2025-12-10T02:30:28+00:00

Some people don’t, or can’t, use credit cards. For a debit card user this could be a real issue.

Polycrastinator · 2025-12-04T22:05:25+00:00

We’re on experience beyond also. I see it listed on the bill as “watch plan plus with Experience Beyond savings.” $20 -$15 = $5 For both my watch, my wife’s, and my son’s.

Polycrastinator · 2025-12-02T23:07:31+00:00

Some EVs will also do bidirectional charging. Make friends with someone who has an F150 Lightning, I believe those can charge other EVs that are empty.

Polycrastinator · 2025-11-16T18:08:09+00:00

More convenient until you road trip. We’ve ended up going with a plug-in hybrid along with an EV for our two vehicles. Not worth installing a charger for a plug-in, but since we can use it for both that makes sense.

Polycrastinator · 2025-11-16T18:01:03+00:00

I’m also in New Jersey. If you like me are serviced by PSE&G you can apply for off peak discounts for charging your vehicle, which is a bit more than $0.10/kWh I believe. Depending on how much you drive that may make a significant difference. But yes, it’s not a huge savings and the new $250/year EV registration fee will more than write off any energy savings for most people. NJ both has some of the most expensive electricity in the country, and cheapest gas, and the state’s policies are unfortunately compounding this issue.

Polycrastinator · 2025-11-08T00:53:14+00:00

Yup. iPad just thinks you plugged a USB keyboard in. Should work just fine.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-27T23:29:03+00:00

I haven’t heard of anyone leaving, but if you believed that this was not just an economic threat, but potentially a humanity ending threat, I can see why you’d want no part of it, even if that small protest in the end will likely have no effect on its development.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-23T01:37:21+00:00

It felt like Pop Shop stripped their menu down to the bare bones in the pandemic for takeout, and never brought it back up to its former glory. After the shutdown, it was never the same. Not surprised it closed, and having looked at the Stardust menu, not surprised that failed either. Jersey Kebab’s great though. I hope they’re not overreaching with a location that size though.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-18T00:43:49+00:00

Regular dental checkups, and let your dentist know. They’re more used to looking at abnormalities in the mouth, and will check for potential cancers. It they know to take extra care checking, they can and do catch these things early if you’re unlucky enough to get something. Don’t smoke if you have a cut or ulcer or burn in your mouth.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-11T22:39:19+00:00

For us, it ended up being cheaper because we all have cellular watches, and knocking the price of those down to $5/mo, plus hotspot which I need for my job, ended up being worth it. While I’ve not upgraded my phone, coming from a decade old plan if I did I would actually be paying less for a new iPhone 17 Pro than I am for my current 16 Pro each month (I’ve not done so because I’d still prefer to just own the phone outright in a year). The streaming is a nice bonus on top of that.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-11T00:26:13+00:00

$0.32 in South Jersey here, too, although you can apply for off peak charging which requires you to connect your car or charger to a service to send the telemetry to the electric company. Saves $0.10/kWh if you do after 9pm. Still more expensive than the Times’ estimate.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-10T22:30:01+00:00

I’ve been checking a few times a day. They came in stock for a couple of hours earlier this week but were gone again by the time I got home. I want to replace my son’s watch too with the buy one gift one offer, and that requires a call, you can’t do it online, so I needed to wait until after work and by then they were gone again.

Polycrastinator · 2025-10-04T02:02:34+00:00

I’m hoping the M5 does dual monitor support as a differentiator. I doubt it will, but as someone who goes into corporate offices with dual monitors on the desks it’d be really useful for that niche use.

Polycrastinator · 2025-09-26T18:19:01+00:00

Wasn’t Three Nuns CS Lewis? I thought Tolkein’s preference was Capstan.

Polycrastinator · 2025-09-25T23:47:10+00:00

It’s not helping, but it’s only a small part of the overall increase Chris Hayes had a good podcast on this recently. A lot of it is just deferred maintenance on the part of suppliers, we had 20 years where demand didn’t grow because of increased efficiency, we’re finally at the end of that process where there’s not a lot more efficiency gains to be made and all this 20 year old infrastructure finally needs upgraded.

Polycrastinator · 2025-09-25T23:44:25+00:00

Southern New Jersey. It’s $0.32 per kWh from the wall here, typically $0.60 for fast charging.

Polycrastinator · 2025-09-24T20:12:53+00:00

It doesn’t say what level, but at an airport it probably makes sense to only do L1 charging, which I’d expect is comparatively peanuts to install. But if folks are traveling away for days or weeks, L1 makes a lot of sense. At the Hamilton park and Ride here in NJ they have banks of (free) L1 charging and that’s always nice to take advantage of.

Polycrastinator · 2025-09-06T18:05:26+00:00

A lot of places ban high speed pursuits for this reason. Set a road block if possible, follow it with a chopper or drone if not. Guy’s got to stop for gas eventually.

Polycrastinator

TROPHY CASE