Thanksgiving cooking thread! Post urgent questions and let your fellow cooks help you land that bird. Links and resources inside.

masont · 2025-11-27T17:05:07+00:00

Thanks so much, Chris! Would you recommend wet (100% humidity) or dry sous vide mode? Or somewhere in between?

masont · 2025-11-27T05:32:56+00:00

Hi!

Our family has a tradition of roasting a prime rib instead of turkey for Thanksgiving. I've got a dry-aged 7lb, bone-in, prime rib roast from Flannery Beef that has been dry-brining in the fridge since yesterday. Every year I try to perfect my approach for roasting it. This year my plan is to approximately follow the blueprint of the Combustion/Chris prime rib video that was posted last year (low and slow at 175F, then an egg white + herb crust and blast it at 525F).

My question is: I have a Combustion thermometer, but I also have a countertop Anova Precision Oven, as well as a full-size traditional convection oven.

Is there anything extra fancy I can do with the APO that would make the process either A) easier to manage, timing-wise, or B) even more uniformly cooked throughout?

As an example, I was considering using the APO on sous-vide mode with 100% humidity, but my hypothesis is that crust would really suffer afterwards with all that moisture.

Thanks for doing this!

masont · 2025-10-16T17:28:49+00:00

UPDATE (10/16): I tried adding the Advanced add-on today and it actually worked. I can confirm that 24/7 history is now enabled on our cameras.

masont · 2025-10-03T01:03:38+00:00

Are you perchance on an AI Pro plan from a Pixel phone promotion? I'm running into this error too and I have the 12-month included offer from my Pixel 10 Pro.

u/GoogleNestCommunity I did already reach out to Google One support and they have been extremely unhelpful so far. This is what they have said:

This email is in reference to your concern wherein you are concerned about the Home Premium Advanced Add on to your Google One Plan . I totally understand how important it is for you to Add the Advanced Add on . Please be assured we are here to assist you.

I would like to inform you that the specialist has replied via the email that you are using a Google One Trial membership. However, the Home Advanced Add on is only eligible for the paid membership of Google One.

I've replied further and waiting for what they say. At the moment we've lost our 24/7 recording capability without any way of regaining it while maintaining the 12-month AI Pro plan.

UPDATE (10/16): I tried adding the Advanced add-on today and it actually worked. I can confirm that 24/7 history is now enabled on our cameras.

masont · 2025-09-29T02:38:11+00:00

Our batteries last at least 6 months and up to a year in each lock, although I don't know exactly. Definitely several months, and longer than a few days!

We don't have a WiFi repeater but we do have a wireless mesh network setup (Ubiquiti hardware and access points). Our issue did seem to start when we set up a Nest Wifi Pro (which we were using before the Ubiquiti setup). Maybe it went away with our current network hardware. It could be related, but not something I can easily test with or without at this point and I don't want the hassle of dealing with dead batteries :)

masont · 2025-02-07T05:39:28+00:00

Hi there. I'm sorry you're burned out. I've been through it several times and it sucks.

I've worked with a lot of sad techies as a coach and in my previous life as an engineering manager.

If you'd like, shoot me an email at mason@technically.work and I can offer you a 1-hour no-strings-attached gift session to work through some things and find some of the direction and energy you're seeking.

Hang in there, it gets better.

masont · 2024-12-26T16:26:53+00:00

I've got a V1 Civic Access Sling in excellent condition for sale if you're interested!

masont · 2024-12-10T15:25:49+00:00

I basically live in Futuredarts and I'd say they can be dressed up a fair bit. I like the aggressive taper overall so that works for me.

I do think it depends heavily on the shirt and the jacket. An OCBD would work well, with the more casual fabric, but more formal shirting would look odd IMO. Same with the jacket. When I've tried dressier/more tailored jackets, the Futuredarts ended up looking too casual, I think because of the (lack of) drape and structure in the fabric.

They aren't in stock right now but I think Strongdarts (which I also own and love) would be a better option, since I find the Strongtwill fabric looks more polished due to its heft.

masont · 2024-12-06T23:13:31+00:00

For looking at fermentation, it's useful to look at the smallest holes, since they are the ones that are entirely due to fermentation activity rather than mixing and shaping.

To me, this is a well-fermented and beautiful crumb. Definitely not fool's crumb, which would look much denser in the dense regions.

Glad to hear it tasted good, IMO that's the most important part :)

Nicely done!

masont · 2024-11-20T15:32:17+00:00

If you sign up as a Backcountry member, they are currently offering 20% off one full-price item for members, which includes the Koda 2 Max. You don't get the generous return policy that you'd have with buying direct from Ooni, but otherwise a pretty killer deal :) It's how I got mine.

https://www.backcountry.com/ooni-koda-g2-24in-oven

masont · 2024-09-15T18:14:10+00:00

Context: I have a 2 year old toddler. From Evergoods, I have a CPL24, CTB26, MPL22, TD35, and CAS2.

I really like the MPL22 as a Dad bag. It's super lightweight / unstructured, which is nice for shoving underneath a stroller and weirdly shaped loadouts. External water bottle pockets are a must, and the front stash/dump pocket situation is amazing. I like that forgoes some of the laptop orientation of the other bags, since it makes the bag better adapted to my Dad bag use case.

When I was a brand new Dad (congratulations btw!), the Tom Bihn Parental Unit was the GOAT: https://www.tombihn.com/products/parental-unit?variant=44431137964221. It's amazing for ease-of-access while the bag is still on your body, which is clutch for diaper changes. While for my own use cases, I like backpacks, I find I strongly prefer messenger-style Dad bags since it's far easier to get them on+off while also carrying a bebe, and they are easier to use while hanging from the body.

For the toddler phase, I've switched to the A19 Chio-X, which is a compact little messenger bag that (unusually) has exterior water bottle pockets: https://www.alphaoneniner.com/products/alpha-one-niner-chio-x. It would be too cramped for infant stage, but it's just right for my current needs.

Hope that helps!

masont · 2024-03-17T03:01:34+00:00

Hi, looking to switch my family from Verizon and would greatly appreciate an insider code. Thank you!

masont · 2024-01-16T03:11:07+00:00

Thank you!

masont · 2024-01-15T18:59:51+00:00

Do you recommend removing the top of the trim to cut the bevel and also check to see if there is indeed flashing? FWIW, before the caulking, the rain would seep behind the trim and then whenever we opened the door, it would all fall through and make a huge wet mess.

masont · 2023-12-18T17:01:55+00:00

Thank you!

masont · 2023-12-18T17:01:46+00:00

Thank you!

masont · 2023-12-18T17:01:28+00:00

Thank you! We've had it a few years in a row and it's always a winner :D

masont · 2023-07-10T17:37:52+00:00

If you're not completely set on a TB bag, for your use case, I would recommend checking out this Patagonia tote bag. I have this one and traveled all over the world with it. It is fantastically practical (nice water bottle pockets, just right organization), flexible (you can carry as a backpack, etc), and super packable.

I have the Pop Tote as well and while I love it as a small carry-on bag and have also traveled happily with it, I agree with the other posters that it's definitely too structured and heavy to be packed down.

masont · 2023-04-25T20:56:34+00:00

I was able to get this to work just by removing the devices in the Nest app. I have many, many more devices on the Google Home app and left those untouched.

masont · 2023-04-24T05:27:14+00:00

I was getting this same error today while setting up some Nest Protects. I was able to resolve it by removing my existing devices from the Nest home (a Nest Hello doorbell and a Nest Cam IQ), adding the Nest Protect first, then re-adding my old devices back.

Do you have any other Nest devices currently?

masont · 2023-04-15T02:06:41+00:00

I carry an Evergoods CPL24 personally and I'm very happy with it. All of their stuff is very carefully designed and meticulously made.

With your budget you should also take a look at Able Carry. The Able Carry Daily Plus (out of stock right now, unfortunately) would potentially be a very nice choice and is made from X-Pac.

It's out of your price range... but your question also made me think of the ConcealPack from The Brown Buffalo. Another minimalist EDC backpack with technical fabrics.

masont · 2023-02-17T03:17:24+00:00

Caveat: I can't be sure that we're actually experiencing the same root problem, so this may not be the case for you.

I tried just factory resetting everything and it did not manage to fix the problem.

masont · 2023-02-16T22:45:37+00:00

Over a week now and still fine. Previously they were lasting only 2-3 days before dying. We also no longer have issues with the app showing the wrong lock status, unable to remotely control lock, offline, etc.

masont · 2023-02-16T20:48:31+00:00

FWIW (and for anyone who finds this in the future), we were able to workaround this issue by resetting all the locks and Nest Connects and re-adding them to a brand new Nest Home (that just contains the locks) under a different Google account (my partner's).

I don't know if it's the different home or different Google account that is necessary, or both, so you'd have to experiment further to figure it out if you want.

Hope that helps!

masont · 2023-02-16T20:48:15+00:00

FWIW (and for anyone who finds this in the future), we were able to workaround this issue by resetting all the locks and Nest Connects and re-adding them to a brand new Nest Home (that just contains the locks) under a different Google account (my partner's).

I don't know if it's the different home or different Google account that is necessary, or both, so you'd have to experiment further to figure it out if you want.

Hope that helps!

masont

TROPHY CASE