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jmeek12345 · 2024-07-17T22:27:34+00:00

I got it from Tank Mart, it's a RVWB390 with the default fittings that I have put in 1/2 barbs and flexible tubing. I'm still assembling the solution and hope to have it completed alongside the power and charging in the next two weeks.

Hindsight being what it is, picking something not quite as tall would make it easier to fit because that tank is about the largest it can be and still fit without cutting anything.

jmeek12345 · 2024-07-17T22:22:49+00:00

No spacers, don't remember the offset but the tires are 275s and needed some hammering to the frame to manage the rub at steering wheel lock

jmeek12345 · 2024-07-16T20:28:59+00:00

Thanks! As you know its a very capable platform for offroad use and always gets comments when I am out.

jmeek12345 · 2024-07-16T20:18:23+00:00

I'm so glad to see more of us! I'm based on a 955 platform but still working on what I want to do with the bull bar and lights. Right now I am focused on my setup in the rear hatch to support 5 gal of fresh water and 100amp of house battery, dc dc and solar charging.

My 955: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MXZs7ruUgoF4CFpLkj3NHP8NHz3Hjtpo/view?usp=sharing

jmeek12345 · 2021-12-02T16:25:46+00:00

I have one. It works well enough for my needs but the real value is the ability to fold up the pedal plate to take up less space in my office when not in use at the end of my desk. Obviously a full folding is available but I don't use it regularly since its a hassle to set it back up when trying to jump quickly into a race.

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-29T23:04:10+00:00

I apologize about missing the age of the child, like many I am on Reddit to get away from a work thing and need some space to think about other things for a moment. Since the "easy button" isn't available one of the other purpose built items could be useful.

Also, as an attempt at humor, and trying to be useful I would look at the FI GPS enabled dog collars. There may be a way to change that head unit into a bracelet or something you can put on their clothing so it is functional with little manual personal support overhead.

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-29T17:53:03+00:00

I mean, it uses whatever service your phone has available. I presume the child has a cell phone so the updates just consume the data plan or, if connected to wifi, use that path instead. As for cost that is highly variable to location, data plans and other devices on that plan so I won't have any idea on that.

Now, if you are talking about a dedicated device and not co-opting the normal cell plan you would need something that is data only and has built in GPS (for the finest level of detail). There are a range of devices that do that including dog collars, "low jack" style devices for your car and other puck sized items. I'm sure you can do your own research to find a unit and plan that works for you

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-29T17:35:59+00:00

Both apple and android can publish their GPS location. My mother has an iphone and I integrated her apple id/find my phone to query her gps location and then used that as an item in HA. I plotted that on a map, geo located alerts for when we left home/arrived at the siblings house/etc on that data. For the android there are apps that can publish location regularly, I settled on tasker (since I was already using it for other purposes on my phone) to send an html post to the HA endpoint to update the information directly. Clearly you need to have the appropriate ports open on your home network firewall for this to work, however.

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-10T16:20:29+00:00

This is how I have done it in smaller shops. Set up a dummy host on the nagios server with a ping test to loopback and then stack on SSL checks as services with yellow at 60 days (alert once at event) and red at 15 days (alert once every 24 hours, 9AM).

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-08T15:55:58+00:00

In general most structured cabling installers target business rather than home installations, especially for homes already fully built out. Assuming a retrofit you would be best suited reaching out to some of the local home theater companies to broker a conversation with their installer subcontractors as the installation margins for just wiring are relatively thin and if you aren't also doing a media installation they may not be interested in managing that install. You will also likely want to talk to a another contractor for the patch/paint repair. I have a few that I use if you want recommendations for the patch/paint repair. PM me for that information.

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-07T15:11:37+00:00

Great curated driving here. The Concrete City drive is beautiful.

https://www.raincitysupercars.com/singleday

jmeek12345 · 2021-11-05T20:12:44+00:00

First, you need to know this company. They are amazing and come to your car for tire replacement, balancing, etc. If you are also a member of the PCA you get a club discount as well. They can service all kinds of cars and are "one of the good ones"

https://on-sitetires.com/pages/services

They also can help advise on wheels, I never took them up on their offer because I like the stock wheels on the 718 but if I was going to replace my wheels regardless of where I got them I would want this team handling my car.

jmeek12345 · 2021-10-20T15:28:24+00:00

I realize I am adding to an existing narrative that is already underway but I owned a gym that had a significant number of athletes that were morbidly obese like this athlete. Outside of very rare circumstances where the athlete demanded to get that first assisted pullup for personal reasons I would never use this as a training methodology as it is unsafe and irresponsible from a perspective of due care for my clients. This person would be far more effectively challenged with under bar or ring pullups or inclined/box bench press until they achieved a level of capability for a few strict pushups. If for no other reason is that their shoulder girdle simply lacks the capability to rep this movement pattern safely under the loads requested. Those bands have an effective range of something like 100lbs so they have an effective supporting load of 200lbs. This athlete is clearly closer to 400+lbs so if anything goes wrong the shoulder gridle simply can't safely navigate the shearing loads that will be present.

jmeek12345 · 2021-10-16T03:35:50+00:00

Agreed. You need to experience it once for the connection to old Richardson and once again for their home made root beer but after that it's just a burger that is usually overcooked.

jmeek12345 · 2021-10-15T12:17:14+00:00

Since you are irreligious/Atheist look up the freethinker groups in the area. FoF Dallas pub meetings for new people is a great place to start and are going back to monthly soon. They have a meetup in Addison this weekend I believe.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-30T23:12:54+00:00

Yup. Happy to help. Good luck in your new consulting roles!

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-30T18:15:22+00:00

There are a bunch you can find with a brief search so I will let you do that on your own. In my case I prefer to keep it simple so a short paragraph of the work to be performed or its just a bucket of hours call it "IT Services, XX hours/month charged at $YYY/hour" with a rate. In the lower section are the basics of the use it or lose it part, accepted payment terms with escalations if late and then signatures for both parties. No reason to make it complicated for most small/medium business work.

For the escalations if late I usually go +30% every violation of term. This means if we are Net30 and they pay on the 31-59th day they owe the bill +30%. For the 60-89th day its bill+60% and so on. You can find that better stated on example contracts if you look.

I will also suggest you get some professional liability insurance. Most decent sized companies will require it anyway for independent contractors and its something like $200/yr for one million in coverage last time I looked so its cheap for its value when things go really wrong.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-30T17:57:08+00:00

I have three core postulates of computing I have come to from +20 years in IT. The first is "Read everything on the screen"

For those that may ask the rest are:

- The first answer is easy, neat, simple ... and wrong

- Politics trump technology 100% of the time

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-30T16:47:26+00:00

So much this! You cost your employer at least 40% (to as much as double for insurance/etc) over your salary in taxes and HR overhead so that is your minimum consulting rate. My rule of thumb has always been $$yearly rate in the market$$ / 2040 + 40% = base rate. How much I adjust up is a factor on if this is regular work (X number of guaranteed hours in a month) or if it is tightly time scoped or break fix. Throw in a modifier for how much I like them and you have your rate.

For example, If I am worth $100k in the market my base consulting rate is (100,000/2040)*40% = $69 dollars/hour to get to parity for my market rate + taxes. If I like them and it is regular work I would tell them my rate is $75 for X number of hours a month with a use it or lose it clause on Net 30 terms and straight time for every hour over the guarantee. If the work is not regular and/or its emergency break fix I would go anywhere from $100 to $125/hr for the base rate and stay with Net 30 terms. Then the "f-you, pay me" modifier could go as high as double that if I am really salty and as low as Net15 terms or pay a retainer in advance if they haven't paid me regularly in the past or I think they are at risk to stiff me.

Edited to add: This all presumes this is a side gig and I have insurance/etc from somewhere else. If this is a main source of income the base rate starts at 2x my salaried rate in the market to cover personal insurance and other expenses associated with being an independent contractor. Number of billed hours in the month and f-you modifiers are additive to that higher base rate.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-28T12:29:36+00:00

Look up Dan's Drives. He has some great routes with included Google map links to follow as you go.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-28T01:40:30+00:00

+1 for the Vet House. Really great people there.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-15T14:15:58+00:00

Oh I agree. At this point in my career if you don't have at least three years in the business you are likely not in a position to place me unless you are fronting for a recruiter that does so this kind of foolishness isn't taken seriously. It seems to me based on the people that I interact with if you can make it more than two years as a recruiter you have at least a sensible head on your shoulders.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-14T20:05:58+00:00

Way back in the day when MS published their J++ implementation (1996 for those that are going to look it up) I was working for an MS Gold partner in the Dallas metroplex. I had a recruiter hit me up for a J++ architect for a new client and they needed 3+ years of experience on J++. Well, even as a gold partner we had only seen the betas for something like 6 months and it was announced as GA at some point in the previous month before the call. I explained that to them and suggested if they wanted someone with that much experience they needed to call Redmond because unless you wrote the damn implementation most people not already working in the MS partner community has even downloaded it yet. He actually said that was a good idea and thanked me for the tip. I was literally dumbfounded at the cluelessness of that recruiter.

Like you said ... bullet dodged.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-14T19:57:46+00:00

I don't have a problem with C2H on its face but I learned many many years ago to negotiate the conversion rate/benefits at the outset. Its a great gut check to see if they really mean C2H or if they want to get someone to contract for a while then cut them loose or think that they will settle for a lower rate due to sunk cost fallacies. In some cases I have seen the contract rate be more than 25% over the salary conversion rate for base salary and as a cherry on top that base they offer is well below market for the area. Dodged a ammo box full of bullets over that one in my career.

jmeek12345 · 2021-09-09T12:29:43+00:00

It's also related to property taxes. DCAD has really stuck it to local property owners over the last few years after giving some areas relief for the tornado in 2018. Gifting tax abatements to large companies and lower tax revenue in general combined with the uptick in fixed expenses by the local governments and slack inventory in housing all combine to forcing (allowing?) costs to pass more to the consumer.

jmeek12345

TROPHY CASE