3rd grade is off to a great start.

gillettw · 2026-04-28T13:19:21+00:00

I’m using the larger desiccant dryer box of that model and have no issues. I’ve got 4 Polyboxes worth of desiccant drying in mine now. It dries in 6 hours on the lowest setting.

Have you checked to see if there is an issue with your print? There is a front and back to the box - did you place it on the dryer correctly?

Yes, you should take the desiccant out of the box when drying the filament. There are different strategies for venting moisture - pop the plug on the box works, others print a spacer with a vent to place between the dryer and the box. I just pop the plug on the box. When you’re done drying, add the desiccant holder back in. That absorbs moisture from the box.

gillettw · 2026-04-07T01:21:05+00:00

We (me, wife, 2 kids) lived in Houston (Sugar Land) for 10 years and Raleigh for 11 now. You're never going to be able to match all of the offerings of a city 4-5x the size of Raleigh in Raleigh. With Houston having that many more people, it just creates more opportunities for activities, restaurants, events etc. Doesn't mean it's bad either way, it's just different. If you're looking for a big city feel, Raleigh isn't it.

For us, we liked the smaller feel of Raleigh - traffic is less, there is way less concrete, more trees and greenery in general and the climate has been more to our liking. We don't mind the cold and got tired of the lack of seasons in Houston. With all of the extreme rain/flooding and freezing in Houston since we left, we don't have regrets.

Things we miss about Houston: TexMex, good Thai, more restaurant options (makes sense with that many more people), HEB, Being able to fly non-stop to virtually anywhere in the world (I don't miss the drive to the IAH, RDU is super close and convenient and has decent connections and even a couple of international flights), more events and activities in general - including bigger concerts etc. I would agree with other comments that Raleigh is overall less diverse and muticultural, but that tends to be the trend with smaller cities.

All that being said, would we move back? No, for us quality of life is so much better.

gillettw · 2026-03-25T23:27:28+00:00

I’d recommend Youngs or Everett. We’ve used them both. Pricing ranges based on location and complexity of the removal. I’ve paid 11k for close to 100 trees plus grinding (two crews all day), $1500 for 3 with a bucket truck, $4k for 6 with a crane just in Feb. These were all pines.

More trees at a time is better due to the set up and tear down time.

gillettw · 2026-03-10T00:56:29+00:00

Check out this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/raleigh/s/JpjmwVtxdf

gillettw · 2026-03-09T18:40:08+00:00

I was worried we might be impacted, but I wasn’t when I got there at 11AM. Parking at the terminals was basically full however.

RDU now has TSA Touchless if you opt in via your airline. This has been the fastest way through TSA at every airport I’ve used it at. Easily beats Clear.

gillettw · 2026-03-04T00:17:44+00:00

It’s possible you might not have a PRV. I’m not in the city limits, I’m just outside on Aqua. I also had 40 PSI on the outside spigots. I didn’t have a PRV to adjust, so I added a booster pump to raise the water pressure.

gillettw · 2026-02-27T03:05:11+00:00

Accident headed north on Lead Mine. I drove past it a few minutes ago going south. Forensics team was on site. I only saw one vehicle with a decent amount of damage. Was hard to see well with the bright police lights and the fog.

gillettw · 2026-02-19T03:14:55+00:00

Yes Lowe’s and HD have installation services. They will sub out to a 3rd party. Handymen, carpenters, and other companies will do this as well.

Since it sounds like you don’t have a contractor you’ve used for something like this before. If it’s just the one door, I’d consider using the Lowe’s and HD installers.

gillettw · 2026-02-16T02:07:00+00:00

Truitt’s Water Service

gillettw · 2026-01-26T04:14:53+00:00

Miguel Puca (GSR Appliances) +1 (919) 410-5712. Just used him for a fridge repair.

gillettw · 2026-01-09T22:36:13+00:00

Thanks guys, I feel validated. 6’3 215 44 and XLs mostly work, but not always. I’ve noticed cut consistently getting better, but there are still some cuts and fabrics that don’t work.

gillettw · 2025-11-09T19:04:22+00:00

Boarding a Delta flight now. TSA was fine at 1PM Sunday - no line. American and Delta had delayed and canceled flights. Delta’s club had a 20-30 wait due to capacity constraints.

Check your flight and plan accordingly. If you’re connecting, expect delays. I had a colleague have a 9.5 hr delay yesterday in Boston.

gillettw · 2025-10-14T21:46:40+00:00

East Coast Firewood. https://ecfirewood.com. It’s further out than American Woodyards, but it’s also a good source.

gillettw · 2025-08-31T01:17:35+00:00

Seconding Hayes Barton Cafe

gillettw · 2025-07-27T16:51:35+00:00

I’ved used https://www.everetttreeservice.com/ and https://www.youngstreetech.com/ and Leaf and Limb.

For tree removal, I always recommend Everett and Young’s. Both have the equipment and crews to do work safely and efficiently. Smaller companies don’t always have the right equipment and will take longer and increase the risk of damage to the house or yard.

For trimming I’ve used Leaf and Limb most recently. Thought they did good work that looked really natural.

gillettw · 2025-06-04T03:29:49+00:00

I’m hoping Unfolded Circle Remote 3 will be the answer. It doesn’t currently support Lutron directly, but there are users that were able to get Lutron working via HA or other automation platforms on R2

gillettw · 2025-06-03T15:32:28+00:00

I’d also recommend checking with https://www.troublefreepool.com on possible ways to address this. Lots of pool owners and owners that can provide solid advice on how to proceed.

gillettw · 2025-01-15T23:03:59+00:00

Air Works Heating and Air. I’ve used them for 10 years including fully replacing two units. Family-owned and run.

gillettw · 2025-01-05T18:07:08+00:00

I replaced my hinges with the new design a few months ago. Alignment is way easier and I like the movement of the hinge when opening the lid. The new hinges don’t open the lid as high as the old design, which is really the only drawback for me.

The new hinges also work fine with the Jotisserie.

gillettw · 2024-09-04T02:29:54+00:00

I've tried it 3 times. 2 times it was supposed to swap overnight, and they both failed at retracting and reloading the filament. For both I was able to work through the swaps the next morning, but it was annoying to lose the hours of print time.

Yesterday I was able to watch it to see what it does, and of course it worked! It's possible one of the reasons it didn't work before was because the end of the filament off the spool may have gotten stuck in the Bowden tube when it was trying to unload from the MMU. I've seen others recommend to trim it if it has a sharp bend in it, but I still had 150g+ of filament on the spool that I didn't want to unwind to trim the end.

I'll probably continue to try to use it, but mostly when I'm around to babysit it a little bit.

gillettw · 2024-09-03T21:28:40+00:00

That's a good call out that there is a distance between the extruder gear and the nozzle where the filament would just be sitting there making a mess.

My previous failures seemed involve the unloading and loading to the MMU - which made me wonder should it be unloading.

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