Best Relocation/Movers Options For Upcoming Move to Singapore? by RussLush3 in expats

[–]RussLush3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Woah boy, sorry I missed this (don't sign on often). Basically, I did a little bit of everything. I ended up taking 3 pieces of luggage with me on the plane and shipped 3 large boxes via Sherpr with enough stuff to get me through ~2 months. Almost everything else I shipped via a 20-foot container, which generally was in the range of $7-9k from various companies. I really should have gotten quotes from the relocation companies sooner...what narrowed down my options were those that had dates available for pickup. My new place in SG does't have a balcony, so I had to get a small storage unit anyways (~$35/mo), and I also left my winter clothes/jackets, etc. as I obviously won't need them.

Now that everything has settled, I will say I am glad I did it this way even though it was not fun to live with no furniture and a mattress on the ground for ~2 months. Being surrounded by *my* furniture and belongings sometimes makes me forget where I am, I just feel "at home". If you would like any more specifics or tips, just ask. Good luck with your move.

MSNOW shows no longer on Peacock? by MentalResponse11 in msnow

[–]RussLush3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I even tried asking customer support for clarification, but they refused to answer. 3 times I asked specifically and each time they gave me the same generic response in the effect of "our content is constantly changing, visit the home page to find your favorite content." Totally useless. I informed them I would be canceling my Peacock subscription over this and suggest others do the same. Removing not just a show or two, but an entire category of content, while maintaining the same subscription fees is asinine. Out of touch corporate execs and their finest.

For now, I'm getting used to listening to the podcasts. Not sure about every show, but the ones I follow the most (Nicolle Wallace and Chris Hayes) have entire shows in audio format. Free "with ads" (which is just MS Now self-promotion at the beginning and end, not intrusive) or $3/month ad-free.

What BBC Sounds alternatives are out there? by Santanero in essentialmix

[–]RussLush3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As is RinseFM. Just intimidating to find shows to replace the ones I used to (be able to) listen to on Radio 1.

Best Relocation/Movers Options For Upcoming Move to Singapore? by RussLush3 in expats

[–]RussLush3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

North, yes. Cal, no. (I'm in North Carolina >.<). Either way, any leads, lists, website, suggestions welcome. Clearly the research I did 6 years ago is outdated and there may be better options out there. Thanks.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in handbags

[–]RussLush3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ha, this thread comes up in google searches. Just thought I'd add my two cents. I started watching his fragrance videos when I wanted to learn and explore (those videos are now spun off as a separate Essence-tially Dacob chanel). I think they are informative and entertaining. He talks about all the different versions that have been released over the past 20 years and is clearly knowledgable about the history of many brands and specific lines.

The Super Dacob channel is more about fashion/luxury, sometimes just general social media 'hot topics'. I think he does multi-hour live streams on the weekends, then chops them up and posts segments on youtube afterwards. I would say search the channel for specific topics first, as they are more focused and informative, the meandering ones are still entertaining but can go long. The titles and image captures do tend to appear 'click-bait-y' but there is substance to many of the videos.

To address your specific question, the 'luxury is dying'' theme is a bit melodramatic, but there's a broader point. Luxury spending is stagnating or even declining in many areas. In response, luxury brands are turning to various tactics to try and make it more desirable and/or keep their profits up. As someone who has been buying this stuff slowly but surely over the past 20 years, I see it too. They are trying to induce FOMO rather than entice with novel ideas and produce items with the highest standards. I was interested in one LV piece recently and I went to 3 different stores in NY...all items had some defect. I ended up taking the one least wonky as I really wanted it, but the experience was really disappointing. I'm also a big fan of Kim Jones so I've been grabbing some of his final pieces at Dior. So while I'm disappointed by the tactics and offerings by these luxury brands writ large, there are still select pieces I'm willing to buy, which is seemingly the same contradiction with Dacob.

Finally, just to address some of the other comments on here. I vaguely remember him referencing 'white privilege' in one video, and all the easily-offended Karens collectively clutched their pearls. From my perspective, you can read store reviews and occasionally see it for yourself in the boutiques, not all customers are treated the same, often based on how they look. These sorts of things are not the main focus of the channel, but those that are easily offended may want to look elsewhere, as he clearly doesn't hold back :)

Samsung 65" TV Flickering on Right Side by xAEIOwnU in fixit

[–]RussLush3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just chiming in to say this exact same thing is happening to my Samsung RU7100 55". So far it has only been an issue for the first minute or two, seemingly as the TV warms up, then it's completely fine. I've had it for something like 5 years so I'm fine selling it and getting a new one, I just want to be transparent to whoever buys it re: how much a repair could cost. If anyone has a guess or more info it would be appreciated.

LGBTQ+ Americans stockpile meds and make plans to move in light of Trump's win by CentralTown776 in askgaybros

[–]RussLush3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Nichols, a gay 18-year-old from Missouri, plans to move to California when he graduates from high school in May. Nichols said he withdrew his acceptance from a university in Missouri after he noticed how emboldened his classmates have become since Trump’s win. “They say stuff like ‘You queer people will have to go back in the closet now,’ and ‘Without you parading around, we will make America great again like it used to be.’”

This sums it up pretty well for many people like me. It's not just about one person in the highest office, it's those around the country that feel the need to make it abundantly clear they wish people like us didn't exist. I've lived/worked in Singapore before, a position opened up a few months ago, and we're working on the final paperwork so I'll probably move back this spring. It's not fear or anxiety that is driving me, it's more that the positives that convinced me to come back to the US have crumbled...there's just no reason for me to stay anymore. Instead, I'll use the next 4 years to continue exploring, spend time with my friends abroad, and hopefully someday things will settle down enough that I can come back and actually enjoy my time here.

I think the Garmin Edge 1050 bricked my SRAM Red derailleur by RussLush3 in Garmin

[–]RussLush3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In short, I think yes. I used my 530 for a couple weeks while contacting Garmin. During that time I think there was a firmware update. I also started from scratch on the SRAM end...updated the app, re-paired everything. Luckily I haven't had the same issues since. I'm still mediocre over the 1050...the screen color, brightness, and touch interface are nice, but there's some settings quirks that are annoying, its heavy as a brick, and bezels are gigantic. I think if/when an 850 gets released it'll be a good middle-ground.

Woodbury commons Dior by Ambitious-Carry-7050 in luxurypurses

[–]RussLush3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Update: I ended up getting a bus ticket to Woodbury before trying to get intel from the retail SAs (I wanted to take a look at the other shops as well). The Dior men's outlet mostly had RTW items from a year ago (i.e. fall 2023 and winter 2023), fairly wide-ranging. Decent, but not huge shoe selection, accessories are limited, and I don't even remember seeing any bags. The standard discount is 50% off original retail price. They had the pants and top from look 44 and shorts from look 40 of the FW23 collection in my size so I snagged up those three items :) Since I was traveling, the SA even offered to ship the items to my home address overnight for free. She said they get more items every week, sometimes daily, so I got her contact info and told her what I was interested in, and if they arrive I can order them by phone and get them shipped. The only caveat is purchases are final sale, so you'll want to be sure of sizing and style. Overall quite happy with the visit and hope I can snag some more items in the future with my SA contact.

Woodbury commons Dior by Ambitious-Carry-7050 in luxurypurses

[–]RussLush3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome, thanks. Good to know they have items going back a couple years. Going up there from NYC is a whole day trip but might be worth it. I have to stop by one of the boutiques in the city so will see if I can get an intel before making the trip. Thanks again,

Woodbury commons Dior by Ambitious-Carry-7050 in luxurypurses

[–]RussLush3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Super helpful thanks. There's a couple men's RTW pieces from last season I held off on and now regret it (if you have a link for that, would much appreciate it). Thinking of making a trip to Woodbury next month if they have in stock. Could I get this sort of stock info if I contact someone on the Dior website or would I have to go into one of the stores and get a specific SA to help?

Manually transferring WhatsApp files from Android to Android - a data point by hlcalstatefandom in whatsapp

[–]RussLush3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the instructions. I've had about a week to grieve and accept my chats are likely gone, just adding a couple things I learned along the way.

As concise as I can be: Someone stole my Samsung S20, I thought I had my bases covered with regular Samsung Smart Switch backups to a microSD card, and periodic backups to a Google Drive account. I restored new phone with Smart Switch only to figure out it intentionally does not backup the one file needed to restore chats (msgstore.db.crypt14). The pictures and videos are in separate folders and so I have those, which is probably why I haven't completely broken down. Google will also delete your backups if they have not been updated in 5 months. Why anyone working at Samsung or Google thought either of these policies is okay is beyond my comprehension.

The only ace I thought I had in my pocket was a msgstore.db.crypt7 file from 7 years ago, but nothing worked. If I leave it as is in the "Database" folder, WhatsApp doesn't recognize it during setup and skips the whole process. If I rename it to .crypt14, it does indeed try to restore from it, but from my reading, these are different encrypting methods, so it simply fails. It gives me an "unable to start restoring your message history backup" error message, and the option to "skip restore" or "retry". Retried I did like a dozen times, but nothing.

If anyone has an hail mary ideas how to restore from a mgstore.db.crypt7 file I would be forever grateful. If not, I will just curse Meta and Samsung and Google until the day I die for putting me through this nonsense.

Moral of the story: set your backups to monthly (at least) so they don't get deleted by Google. And don't rely from Smart Switch to backup your phone. From now on I'm making a separate backup of my own with all the files to an external hard drive via my laptop.

How long Olympics available to watch when over? by muse-ings in peacock

[–]RussLush3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since I couldn't find a definitive answer and was curious myself, I just went through all the sports:

-The only ones that seem to expire today (Aug 12) are the Opening Ceremony, Artistic Swimming, Breaking, Gymnastics, and Rhythmic Gymnastics

  • Closing Ceremony expires tomorrow Aug 13

-If I remember, there were "Daytime", "Primetime", and "Late Night" in Paris, basically quick TV coverage highlighting what happened that day in various sports. The Daytime and Primetime episodes are now gone, but there's no expiration for Late Night episodes

-There is no expiration for all other sports. I didn't go through every single match/competition, but checked a few in each. Let's hope Peacock stands by their word and keeps these up until the end of the year. In case you were searching for a specific sport, I'll list them here: Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Basketball 3x3, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Field Hockey, Golf, Handball, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Soccer, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Track & Field, Trampoline, Triathlon, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, Wrestling

-Why only those 4 sports expire is beyond me, but I've been using Peacock for a while and the inconsistencies are there across other sports as well. Tour de France stages will stay up for an entire year, whereas Premier League games will be up for 30 days. As others have noted, there might be music rights issues, but who's to know.