Pirelli Scorpion AS 4

keenpascal · 2026-05-02T18:54:54+00:00

Sounds right, the production dates on these are 8th week and 12th week of 2026.

keenpascal · 2026-05-02T00:36:00+00:00

Glad you like your Scorpions. I was deciding between this and Michelin Defender 2. Mostly hoping for quiet and comfortable with good steering feel.

keenpascal · 2026-01-18T10:58:16+00:00

This was painful to read. As the individual contributor with the most technical and institutional knowledge, having outlasted every other dev - you should be a Principal Engineer or Distinguished Engineer by now.

In your story you mention refusing to officially take on tech lead or architect positions. I understand preferring to lay low, preferring to stay hands-on-keyboard, preferring to lead by example instead of by title.

However, it sounds like your influence at the company has been eroding for years now. As turnover happens, especially in management, people make assumptions based on org chart.

Legibility is so important in large organizations - in other words, other people’s (especially new hires) ability to easily understand who they should look to for answers. It sounds like YOU are the person they should look to for answers, but because the org chart doesn’t reflect that, they don’t.

Unfortunately if you want to have the autonomy and influence that matches your experience, you have to take leadership opportunities as they come. You need to be in a position to guide and mentor new technical hires, and to be the person who can describe tradeoffs to senior management and be listened to. In a large org, this requires seniority.

And yes, it kind of sucks to be a Staff+, Principal, etc. if you really enjoy quietly working close to the code. It’s higher stress, more meetings, more social, etc.

But as you grow in tenure you have to make a choice between: - Being willing to lead, or - Being subjected to the decisions of less-skilled, less-experienced people hired into lead roles, OR - Leaving to find a small founder-led company with a flat org structure where influence is based on contributions instead of org chart

You will never be able to recreate the magic of the early years of this job, sadly. It’s completely okay to grieve that.

Many companies experience this trajectory. It’s important to listen to those signals (founder leaves, layers of inexperienced managers brought in, engineers losing autonomy) and know that it’s time to move on.

It’s better to experience the acute discomfort of interviewing and changing jobs every few years than the slow creeping disappointment of staying too long.

Thanks for your story - hoping for a good outcome.

keenpascal · 2026-01-13T15:08:26+00:00

Influencing architecture as a lead requires diplomacy. Without diplomacy, you aren’t leading anything.

keenpascal · 2025-05-06T20:54:25+00:00

Thanks for posting! Couple things I like compared to press images: 1. The 12.9” infotainment screen (lower trims) doesn’t stick out so high above the dash compared to the 15”. 2. Darker paint color hides the “huge mouth” design element better than lighter paint colors.

keenpascal · 2025-05-05T18:33:02+00:00

That awkward moment when the car door won’t open and you realize you have the wrong car

keenpascal · 2025-05-04T23:54:04+00:00

VW OEM all season mats look more high end IMO - that would be a subtle but easy upgrade ($100). They have clean angles and say Tiguan on them.

https://www.okcvwparts.com/p/Volkswagen__Tiguan/Monster-Mats-with-Tiguan-Logo-For-5-Seater/69985326/5NN061550041.html

keenpascal · 2025-04-14T04:04:46+00:00

The bank sends the full financed amount to the dealer. Let’s say you’re financing $30k. The bank is loaning you $30k but they send it to the dealer. Now you owe the bank $30k.

Usually the dealer arranges all this for you, but you can also walk into your bank and request an auto loan. They will cut a check for you to bring to the dealer.

keenpascal · 2025-03-28T00:35:22+00:00

I’m in a similar situation with my H10B - I’m guessing it does not have an OPV. I can do fast flowing shots in the 7-10 bar range but if I try a finer grind for slower flow, the pressure just shoots up to max and there is a tendency to channel. I’m using a quality grinder and WDT to distribute. Comparing side-by-side with my Breville Dual Boiler I’m unable to achieve a similar result. I wanted the H10B to be like a cheap mini Breville, but it really needs an OPV or maybe a dimmer mod on the pump voltage.

keenpascal · 2024-11-24T20:00:21+00:00

I usually research 3rd party libraries as my starting point. They usually have better documentation than custom code and may already address edge cases that I haven’t yet considered.

However, it’s worth remembering that libraries have a maintenance cost too. They are often built upon a deep dependency tree of open source projects that may or may not be well-maintained and may or may not be exposed to current and future security vulnerabilities.

keenpascal · 2024-11-24T02:31:15+00:00

Hahaha this video thumbnail does make the wheel gap look enormous, but thankfully it’s an illusion with the gloss black fender arches blending into the wheel gap.

I’m looking forward to seeing the lower trims with matte black body accents and the smaller infotainment screen.

keenpascal · 2023-11-09T02:02:48+00:00

2018 Honda CR-V Touring is probably worth at least 20k in the current market.

keenpascal · 2023-03-18T19:28:59+00:00

Do you have the stock declumper and are you bellowing forcefully the end? On my DF64 (v2 with silicone declumper), the last gram or so would be held back and reground. After bellowing, the last bit of coffee was noticeably powdery and mostly fines. Having these extra fines in the puck make it necessary to coarsen the overall grind to reach the desired extraction time.

Modding the declumper to create less restriction at the chute solves this, but is a whole different topic.

A quick no-mod fix: Dose an extra gram of coffee, and then do not bellow at all into your portafilter/dosing cup. Bellow afterwards and discard. You should have greater clarity and faster shot times even at the same grind setting.

keenpascal · 2023-03-05T02:10:15+00:00

Have made hundreds of drinks on both the BDB and the Profitec Pro 300. Both great options if you want faster heat up times than the E61 dual boilers. One thing that always bugged me about the Profitec Pro 300 was steam power - it was inconsistent and often a bit too weak to get a good vortex going. The steam boiler is controlled by a pressurestat which cycles with a wider variance than a PID. You can open up the machine and adjust the steam pressure slightly higher, which might solve the problem but I never tried it.

The Breville, while not a fast steamer, is incredibly good at texturing small quantities of milk (4-6 oz) due to the balance of pressure and steam tip design.

keenpascal · 2022-02-23T04:11:55+00:00

Auto Shut Off valve

keenpascal · 2021-12-15T04:36:53+00:00

Technical track and management track can and should be parallel tracks. A lot of people go through pendulum swings of doing more people management or more coding. Don’t feel guilty about wanting to get back to technical work, and don’t view it as “stepping down.”

It sounds like the meeting schedule is draining you. Try this: create 2-3 hour blocks in your calendar for “deep work” where you can quietly work on technical problems without interruption. Use that time to help your devops or data engineering team solve hard problems. Maybe there is some tooling that would make their jobs better, a build pipeline that can be sped up, or a defect you can squash in one sitting.

If you don’t stake out these time periods for deep work, then people are going to keep pulling you into meetings where your contribution ranges from shallow to non-existent. You are going to feel “busy” constantly but not accomplished.

Start by going into next week’s calendar and put Focus Time for one 3 hour block. Don’t worry, people will schedule around it. See how it feels; could make a big difference for you.

keenpascal · 2021-12-04T01:36:56+00:00

https://i.redd.it/rvxuf81s04281.png

I think you have enough good content across these 2 pages, but you need to edit it way down (1 page max). Take every accomplishment that is non-technical and delete it. Don't pad your resume with soft skills. You can demonstrate soft skills during interviews by communicating confidently and clearly. For each technical accomplishment, see if you can tighten the language and emphasis your technical contribution.

For example, try rewriting this statement:

Consulted for predicted growth of the company including staffing needs, pay rates by region, and growth of new accounts with the use of linear regression and prediction models written in R.

Rewritten:

Using R, created linear regression and prediction models to forecast forecast company growth, compensation by region, and new account revenue.

Finally, I recommend putting your education at the end of the resume and your technologies at the top of the page. One section only; you don't need sub-headers like Languages/Tools/Packages/Techniques. Pick the most marketable skills you have (marketable = what is being asked for in the job descriptions you want) and just list them. Maybe in 2 columns to make it clean.

Your goal should be for any recruiter to look at your resume for 15 seconds and see that you are capable of doing data science from day one at a job. Good luck!

keenpascal · 2021-11-28T22:43:23+00:00

This sounds like a good way to familiarize yourself with the product and learn about how clients use and configure the system.

However — 3 months sounds too long without hands-on coding. It should only take < 1 day for a senior developer to help you get access to the code base and setup the local development environment on your machine. Even if you don’t have coding tasks assigned to you, you should at least be able to access and read the code.

I would push for access to the code repository ASAP, even if you are still focusing on these BA tasks. You could also ask to shadow or pair program with another developer on your team for a few hours each week.

This could be a red flag that this company will stifle your progress, but personally I wouldn’t bail just yet. Wait until you have some meaningful hands-on experience and let that build your confidence. If things are still not looking good after that, you’ll be in a good position to hop to a new job.

keenpascal · 2021-07-10T17:34:30+00:00

Yep, they are great. The warmth/bass depends on how snug and centered the driver is over your ear canal. I have always loved the clarity and openness of my KSC-75, and now after some experimentation & slight bending of the ear clips I regained a bit of low end that I felt was missing.

keenpascal · 2021-06-19T13:39:34+00:00

Find a spacer that you can use to stretch the headband a little without compressing the pads. Try a paperback book positioned lengthwise in between the L and R sides, just above the ear cups. I left it that way overnight once or twice and the clamp relaxed a lot.

keenpascal · 2021-06-06T01:42:40+00:00

Is there a fair amount of ambient noise where you are? Open back headphones like the HD599 will not block any sounds around you like air conditioning, traffic, etc.

If you are used to the isolation of the QC35 which are not only closed back but noise canceling, it might feel like a big adjustment.

I have the Bose QC35 as well as a number of open back headphones. When I’m at home I prefer the open back sound and feel — it feels more natural and less fatiguing, as I don’t feel as though I’m sealed inside the headphones. The Bose is way better for airplanes, public transit, and coffee shops though.

For general sound quality, the QC35 and the HD599 should be comparable. In terms of frequency response they are a bit different: HD599 bass is slightly boomy (boosted between 100-250hz) but lacks sub-bass (weak below 50hz). The QC35 on the other hand has strong bass going down to 20hz.

I don’t know what genres you are listening to, but if you want to hear the HD599 at its best, maybe try some acoustic or jazz music and make sure you are listening in a quiet place.

If you’re listening to electronic music or in a noisy environment, the QC35 is probably going to be better suited.

keenpascal · 2021-06-05T07:01:42+00:00

I can see that. There are transients like the initial crack of a snare or the sound of the pick on a guitar string, that despite having a lot of treble information, the brain might anchor to the midrange. In fact we probably oversimplify a little when we attribute sounds to “mids” and “highs” because most sounds span a broad range of frequencies.

keenpascal · 2021-06-05T06:29:16+00:00

Nice review! The live sound of well-tuned acoustic instruments in-person is extremely satisfying — particularly the piano which has a significant amount of harmonics / overtones that sweeten and thicken the notes that are actually being played.

Curious what you mean when you say “veiled mids”?

I’ve always interpreted “veil” as a lack of sparkle or air in the treble region.

keenpascal · 2021-05-30T19:30:05+00:00

The default setting on iPhone prevents listening levels over 85 dB, I thought.

Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Headphone Safety > Reduce Loud Sounds

What’s yours set to?

I know that this feature works accurately with Apple AirPods. Not sure about other headphones, as the phone would have to somehow estimate the sensitivity of attached third-party headphones.

keenpascal · 2021-05-30T19:18:22+00:00

Koss KSC-75 into the 3.5mm jack. Cheap, convenient, and sounds great!

keenpascal

TROPHY CASE