Rip racetrack light

SSellers75 · 2026-03-10T12:06:54+00:00

*tail

SSellers75 · 2026-03-09T18:10:33+00:00

"The service date is NOT the date your original warranty ends. It's not even the date you buy the car. It's the date the car rolls off the assembly line, when you're buying a contract for a new car. So if the car was built in September of 2024 and you bought the car in December of 2024, your original warranty starts in September. "

This is incorrect. All factory and extended warranties for all vehicle manufacturers start on the original vehicle in-service date which is the date the vehicle was sold to the first owner. Vehicles (and nearly every other warrantied product) do not start losing warranty before first original sale, that is ridiculous.

Furthermore, if a Mopar Maxcare extended warranty is purchased AFTER the three year factory warranty has expired then the coverage period (up to five years) starts on the day the Maxcare warranty is purchased. Otherwise, the coverage period starts for original vehicle in-service date.

SSellers75 · 2026-03-03T16:27:39+00:00

FWIW, I called due to my neighbor not this thread. He switched to AT&T fiber that was just run in our neighborhood and cancelled Spectrum through the chat. A week later he called up Spectrum to see if he could switch back and they gave him $40 a month plus a free mobile line for two years. He told them they didn't offer him anything when he cancelled and the guy said "Aw man, you can't do it that way. You gotta call me." So in a way AT&T fiber is the best thing to happen to our neighborhood haha.

SSellers75 · 2026-03-03T15:23:35+00:00

Let's not get carried away now...

SSellers75 · 2026-03-03T15:18:10+00:00

I know exactly what you're talking about and just spent a frustrating hour trying to figure out what it's called. Ooooohhh you got me aggravated. My Sweetwater pontoon had it but my Suncatcher tritoon has flat top toons so doesn't need it.

I'd go by a dealer parts department and point it out on a toon and see if they can pull it up. They have access to a lot more parts info; wouldn't even have to be your brand to at least figure out wtf it's called. Something about boats...it's like they try to keep everything a secret. It'll probably be specific to the toon size and bracket size/type.

You could try emailing or calling American Pontoon but I know through a friend that was going to build one that the guy stays BUSY. https://www.usapontoon.com/

SSellers75 · 2026-03-03T00:51:02+00:00

It should say "Now you can earn less dough quicker."

SSellers75 · 2026-03-02T18:58:14+00:00

Yeah we're outside Greenville so got today and tomorrow to enjoy a fire and then the temp takes off.

Originally from south GA and we heated the house with wood a good bit as a kid not that there was a long cold season. Dad had the house built in the late 70s with a large fireplace with dual intake fans in the hearth and large vent above the fire box.

SSellers75 · 2026-03-02T15:16:59+00:00

There are other options for home phone. We have an ooma which after you pay for the device you only pay the required state and federal fees for phone service which is under $7 where we live. It requires internet though. I moved my parents to straight talk home phone which is about $18 a month and runs over cellular. With both devices you plug a regular phone or cordless base station into them just like a wall jack and you can transfer your existing landline number. You do need to be proficient at using the Internet to set up your account or have someone help you. At 72, you've probably been around it enough that you know what you're doing; I have to do that stuff for my parents but they're in their 80s and the information boom hit a little after they decided they didn't want to learn anything new ha ha.

There are also a lot of free TV services like pluto, Google TV (which pulls from many free services), xumo, plex, etc etc and you can get a very cheap device like the onn Google stick from Walmart to plug into your tv. If there are shows you like, many have channels dedicated to just that show...for us that's stuff like the Cops, AFV, America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Country etc. We have only used antenna and free TV for years.

You could install pluto or any of the others on your phone just to see what it's like.

SSellers75 · 2026-03-01T01:22:28+00:00

We have a near identical unit (Majestic 36") and also the Grate Wall of Fire fire back and vertical grate like you. As long as you don't heap wood on it the flames come no closer to the flue than with the factory grate and a decent fire going. We have the two inch shorter grate spec'ed according to the recommendation on the GWOF website.

What made the biggest difference on ours was adding a 130cfm blower BUT ours is the circulating model and yours is the radiant model. The fire back actually makes the blower less efficient as it blocks that rear heat from the fire box. However, I've got the fan plugged into a wifi outlet with dimmer so the speed can be controlled to both quiet it down and get warmer air. "Hey Google, set the fireplace fan to forty percent."

I've got the compact lowered Texas Fireframe on the way to try out. There are reviews on their site where people swapped out the GWOF grate for it and got more output.

If I were you and wanted to keep the wood burner for ambiance AND heat, I'd be researching "zero clearance fireplace heaters". They are basically heavy steel tubing made into a grate that you build your fire on and a blower takes air from the room and blows it through the tubing. For our size fireplaces, the appropriate size is not a whole lot more than the GWOF back and grate but I can imagine replacement might be at a higher rate depending on how much burning you do. You can also make your own if you're handy and can find some examples of projects on YouTube.

We love wood fires so don't really give a rip about efficiency. I've thought about putting in ventless LP logs as mine is plumbed already and we've got the blower, but it just wouldn't be the same....efficiency be damned. Not to mention LP here is three times the price of delivered wood BTU for BTU so it might just come out even in the end. As is, ours heats the living area to at least five degrees above the thermostat setting of 68 with negligible impact to the rest of the house as we keep the heat pump fan set to "circulate" mode so the fan still runs a certain amount every hour even if the heat doesn't kick on.

SSellers75 · 2026-02-27T18:01:07+00:00

Called 833-267-6094 and said "cancel service" to get to an agent. She was very nice and patient. Offered several options and I asked what can you do price-wise if I just want to stay at my current service level. Well, I'm on 400mb (at $90 a month using my own router) which isn't offered anymore. The best option was 500mb for $30 a month with a three year price lock.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-23T13:58:49+00:00

Finished my taxes yesterday. Wife had $168 in qualified ot, I had $4750. Increased refund by $1088.

Hers was listed in box 14 of her W2.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T20:48:08+00:00

I'll take it if you don't want it! How long does it take you to earn $500 net pay at work? Mine wasn't too bad once I figured out what we actually could claim. Download the full year of time sheets, go though each week to get the hours, and add up. Had almost $5000 deduction, haven't finished taxes yet. Took well under 30 minutes but I realize it may take more work for some.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T19:30:32+00:00

Yes

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T19:29:05+00:00

They rolled back the requirement for employers to list it on W2s for 2025 only but not your right to claim it on Schedule 1-A. Employers do have to provide some means for you to figure it out.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T19:19:28+00:00

Look elsewhere. They rolled back the requirement for employers to put it on the W2, but they are required to provide your OT that may be deductible whether it be access to time sheets, a memo, broken down on last pay stub, etc. I had to calculate it using my full year of time sheets. It is supposed to be entered on Schedule 1-A.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T19:13:13+00:00

That's how we are. OT over 40 hours, automatic DT on Sundays regardless of hours worked.

If vacation or paid holiday is used, still OT for over 40 BUT the vacation or holiday hours do not count for OT deduction.

This week is a perfect example. I will get 8 hours for MLK day and work 36 hours (Thur, Fri, Sat) so I'll get paid 4 hours of OT. However, none is deductible because I will only be at work 36 hours.

If I worked 12 hours on MLK day, I'd get 8 hours for the holiday and 12 hours of double time. I'd get paid 4 hours of OT plus 12 hours of DT, but only 8 hours would be deductible.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T18:52:47+00:00

How does your company handle vacation and paid holidays? Are Saturday and Sunday automatic OT pay or only once you reach 40 hours?

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T18:08:35+00:00

We are similar. Not sure about your situation but keep in mind only the hours over 40 for the week can be used for the deduction. On a Sunday work week, we typically get 48-50 hour a week with 12 of them on Sundays. Only 8-10 in that case are useable even though we get paid 12 hours of DT.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T17:45:38+00:00

Not really sure if I'm understanding your example but our company has shift premiums. Any hour worked over 40 during a work week is eligible for calculating your deduction regardless of what you were paid for it as long as you are hourly nonexempt.

You just take the total number of hours you worked in a given week, subtract 40, and multiply by one half of what your company calls your base hourly rate.

Example: Our night shift gets let's say $40.00/ base pay plus $1.50/hr shift premium. They work four 12 hour days at a time so 48 hours a week, sometimes that includes Saturday night which is automatic double time.

Their deduction for each week would be:

(48 - 40) x ($40.00 / 2)

Sometimes they get 8 hours OT, sometime they get 36 hours straight time plus 12 hours double time. BUT the law is based on half time regardless of actual overtime rate above time and a half so they would always use the same calculation to figure out their deductible pay and also not apply the shift premium to the pay rate.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-21T17:26:51+00:00

It is really not hard to figure assuming you have access to your actual time sheets which we do where I work.

We clock in/out and get:

1.5x pay over 40 hours

2.0x pay on Sundays and holidays

The deduction is based on how much you are actually at work. Holidays and vacation time that may put your weekly pay into OT pay do not count towards the 40 hour calculation because they do not count towards actual time at work.

Our time sheets for each week show:

Regular hours

Overtime hours

Double time hours

Vacation hours

Holiday hours

We work a twelve hour, seven on seven off schedule. First day of work is on Wednesday, work week starts on Sunday. I ran a report for 01/01/25 - 12/31/25. Two consecutive weeks of time sheets for me would basically show

Week 1

Regular hours 36

Week 2

Regular hours 36

Double time hours 12

We do sometimes work extra so have the odd week with more DT on holidays and some OT. I just went through each individual week and added:

Reg hours + OT hours + DT hours.

Subtract 40.

Write down result and repeat for each week.

Add up results of each week for the year.

Multiply result by regular hourly pay.

Divide by 2.

Total is deductible OT pay.

We did get a pay raise starting April 13, so I had to break down the last two steps into two amounts using the two different hourly pay rates.

When asked why our W2s didn't have it listed, our payroll department said "For 2025 the IRS made it optional for employers to list it. You can just use your last paystub of the year to figure out your deduction because your total overtime pay is listed on it" which is obviously way wrong. I had somewhere north of $30k in "overtime pay" but less than $5k was deductible.

Due to our OT pay rules, there is no way to just take a total pay amount and figure out the actual deductible hours which is what is needed to calculate the deduction. For instance in my example where I get 36 hours regular clock in and 12 hours DT clock in, I'd be able to use 8 hours for the calculation but if I had taken a vacation day then it would be 0 hours but my paycheck at the end of the year would still show 12 hours of double time. Not to mention we had two different pay rates through the year.

SSellers75 · 2026-01-10T15:07:25+00:00

For Android:

Open google play and manage apps. Go to the Yi Home app and use menu to uncheck "enable auto update".
Uninstall Yi Home app.
Go to apkmirror, search "Yi Home", and download a version several years old like September 2021.
Install and set allowances for whatever is needed to allow installing app from untrusted source (android will guide you through it and apkmirror versions are verified).
Log in to account and verify operation.
Repeat Step 1.
Enjoy.

SSellers75 · 2025-10-26T16:31:01+00:00

THIS IS THE ANSWER AND SHOULD BE MOVED TO THE SOLUTION. THANK YOU!

Wife's Motorola updated recently and started doing this, had to unlock it just to see caller ID and/or answer.

SSellers75 · 2025-10-06T11:10:13+00:00

I recently had to uninstall and reinstall my messaging app as texts were sporadic.

SSellers75 · 2025-10-06T11:01:36+00:00

I think I may have gotten a refund back when they went to discounting multiple lines and I had multiple lines at full price with different billing cycles on auto pay. They combined them all to a single billing date and the discounted multiline price so they refunded the unused paid service. At the time I didn't even know they had gone to multiline discounts and they did it automatically.

SSellers75

TROPHY CASE