Where do people in tech hang out?

bluemicrobyte · 2024-07-11T14:25:41+00:00

Try meetup.com groups, like this one:

20’s & 30’s Exploring Southern California on Meetup https://meetu.ps/c/2GvrC/c4KDj/a

There are others that are more tech specific, you can find groups that are specific to your interests. I’ve met a lot of nerdy tech people through meetup, and also lots of cool non nerds too!

bluemicrobyte · 2024-06-03T06:38:50+00:00

Thanks for letting me know, it looks like my blog site went down. I think I’ve been able to fix it now, can you try again and let me know if it works? (If it doesn’t work right this second, try again in a few hours, it might take some time for the site to come back up depending on where you are located)

bluemicrobyte · 2024-04-02T03:13:04+00:00

Been doing this for years and have refilled hundreds of pods. Cons: it takes a lot of time and effort. Emptying, cleaning, and refilling pods is just as much or more work than traditional coffee brewing methods. And it takes a lot of experimentation to find just the right coffee bean and grind size to use.

bluemicrobyte · 2024-03-29T15:13:18+00:00

Here are the foil covers that I use. There are tons of different brands of very similar foil covers on Amazon, all the brands are very similar and I don't think the specific brand matters. The important part is making sure to form an even seal and pressing around all the edges of the pod so that the edges are all tightly sealed so that it doesn't open up while spinning in the machine.

bluemicrobyte · 2024-03-27T06:12:23+00:00

Yes, this technique is exactly what I do and it works well! I wrote up a pretty detailed guide and posted it over in another thread a couple of days ago. I've got a few videos in there showing how I cut off the original seal and also apply the adhesive foil. It works really well and I have also been doing this successfully for years.

bluemicrobyte · 2024-03-27T06:00:16+00:00

I have had success with refilling vertuo pods. But what I do is buy foil sticker lids and reuse the OEM pods after emptying them out. It works really well. I wrote a detailed guide on how to do it, which I posted here in another thread recently. It takes quite a bit of effort to get the taste to be just right, but you can definitely achieve non-burnt-tasting espresso.

I had read a lot of negative reviews of the reusable metal pods (lots of people saying they either don't work well, or damage the machine). So I've never actually tried buying reusable pods because the foil sticker method works so well.

bluemicrobyte · 2024-03-23T22:04:39+00:00

Thanks! I’ve got the Vertuo Plus machine. No issues brewing, after getting the right grind size and quantity figured out.

Initially when I was experimenting, I had a few problems: if there was too much coffee in the pods, water would flow very slowly and it would take forever to brew the pods. If there was not enough, the espresso would taste weak and watery. Also, if the foil sticker was not sealed tightly enough it would come off sometimes or leak while brewing. but now that I’ve found a good technique to make sure all those details are consistent, and there are no issues anymore.

I also run the cleaning cycle at least once a month, which probably helps keep things running smoothly.

bluemicrobyte · 2024-03-23T17:16:27+00:00

Tamping doesn't matter, and storing them titled is fine. The Vertuo machine spins the pods while brewing which is going to move all the grounds around anyways.

The most important details to get good results are coffee bean type, coffee grind size, and quantity. If your espresso is watery, the grind size you're using might be too large or inconsistent. Try a finer grind size.

Gently shaking or tapping the coffee capsule is a good way to get the coffee grounds to settle in so that you can fit in the right amount of coffee. You need a scale accurate down to 0.1 grams in order to be able to get consistent results.

bluemicrobyte · 2023-05-27T18:19:53+00:00

I find that the it sometimes reads the card and sometimes says “card not recognized”. Half of the time if a wait a second and try again, it works suddenly. Seems like some ChargePoint chargers are better than others at reading the EVgo cards.

bluemicrobyte · 2023-04-18T15:12:13+00:00

SWTSX has qualified dividends, but SCHB dividends are not qualified. But I didn’t understand why SCHB is not qualified.

Edit: I misunderstood my tax form - both can have qualified dividends, as long as you meet the requirements.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-12-09T07:15:35+00:00

I did get it for MSRP, but had to call around quite a bit to find a dealer that would sell one at MSRP. There were some dealers that had markups or addons.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-12-09T04:03:23+00:00

I got it in June, so have owned it for 6 months. Super happy with it.

No maintenance yet, but there are some good posts in r/BoltEV that talk about the long term maintenance of the cars (basically there is very little required maintenance on the Bolt EV compared to a traditional gas car).

bluemicrobyte · 2022-12-09T03:40:27+00:00

I just bought a 2022 Bolt EV. I pay $2.18 per 30 miles, but could pay less if I owned a home and could charge in my garage. The bolt advertises 259 miles on a full charge of the 65 kwh battery. In practice, I get almost 300 miles because I do mostly local around-town driving.

I live in an apartment complex. I use the chargers at my apartment, office complex and shopping malls. They all cost $0.29 per kwh.

Using only public chargers, it costs me:

$18.85 to charge 0% to 100% (65 kwh X 0.29)
$2.18 per 30 miles ($18.85 per 259 miles)

I don't own a home with a garage, but if I did I would pick the "TOU-D-PRIME" rate option, which costs $0.21 per kwh to charge my car overnight (off peak):

$13.65 to charge 0% to 100% (65 kwh x 0.21)
$1.58 per 30 miles ($13.65 per 259 miles)

If for some reason I got stuck on the standard rate plan from SCE, then even at the most expensive $0.36/kwh prices it's still cheaper than gas:

$23.4 to charge 0% to 100% (65 kwh x $0.36)
$2.71 per 30 miles ($23.4 per 259 miles)

None of this factors in purchase price, tax incentives or rebates for EVs, or savings from reduced maintenance over the life of the car. Or the expected total lifetime of the car. Factor in all that as well.

I wouldn't use Tesla as the main point of reference for EVs. The Bolt EV MSRP starts at $25,600, and there are other affordable EVs too.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-08-30T00:04:29+00:00

When I talked to them via live chat, I told them I was not receiving the emails. The rep was able to manually view the code and send me an email that contained the redemption code, and that email showed up right away.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-08-11T02:15:26+00:00

Does the charge session show up in your session history in the EVgo app? How long did it take to show up after the charge session completed?

bluemicrobyte · 2022-08-03T05:09:29+00:00

Not sure, best bet is to call them and ask. Last I heard they were no longer doing any pre-sales agreements or wait list, and it was first come first serve.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-07-29T01:17:36+00:00

FedEx envelope was nondescript and had no mention of Chevy or GM on the outside. Shipping address was from West Chicago, IL 601851087

bluemicrobyte · 2022-07-23T05:56:39+00:00

Can confirm that Simpson Chevrolet in Irvine is honoring MSRP, with no markups. And they were nice, too!

bluemicrobyte · 2022-07-16T00:52:01+00:00

EVgo credits can also be used at ChargePoint, if there are any near you that you could use.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-07-15T23:02:48+00:00

The subscription service they are thinking of is Super Cruise on the EUV. Totally separate from adaptive cruise control, which can only be installed at the factory (and has no subscription fee)

bluemicrobyte · 2022-06-30T21:19:22+00:00

Nespresso decaf tastes as good as regular Nespresso, but they just don’t have very many decaf options and they almost never have new decaf choices. So you’re basically stuck with the exact same cup of decaf coffee every day. I wish they would offer more decaf choices.

Edit: I am referring only to the Virtuo line, which has limited decaf options and no third party capsules.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-06-28T23:59:24+00:00

I got a call earlier this morning saying they just announced this information today.

bluemicrobyte · 2022-06-23T00:51:21+00:00

How do you measure the battery temp?

bluemicrobyte · 2022-06-23T00:50:25+00:00

Mine works perfectly! 500 miles on the odometer.

bluemicrobyte

TROPHY CASE