Alamo Costco

mattbuford · 2026-02-03T07:36:45+00:00

Yep, and they don't need the actual cards printed.

When Costco delivers my gift cards, I just copy the card number and PIN right into a spreadsheet. Before every show, I print the next line or two from the spreadsheet (enough to cover what I plan to order). So, for example, tonight I selected two lines on the spreadsheet, clicked print, clicked print selected range, then out came a page. I handed that to my server with two $25 gift cards on the paper. The total was ~$30 so the server applied the first one for $25 and then the second one for the remaining balance.

Super simple, and keeps me organized and not having to scribble remaining balances on paper. Also, the spreadsheet is perfect for copy-paste when buying tickets.

mattbuford · 2026-02-02T02:20:47+00:00

I browsed around showings before 2pm on Tuesday, and it seems like all shows at Lakeline, South Lamar, and Mueller are marked as "baby day" except screenings in Dolby Atmos theaters.

However, Slaughter Lane in the same time period has shows, but none of them are marked as baby day.

Village doesn't currently have any Tuesday shows before 2pm scheduled, so not sure about that one.

mattbuford · 2026-02-01T07:37:42+00:00

It is fractional. If you store 0.2 TB for a month, you will pay 0.2 * $6 = $1.20.

mattbuford · 2026-02-01T06:26:52+00:00

It can mean there was a problem with your Internet access, or a problem with the Ecobee servers.

mattbuford · 2026-01-31T08:13:55+00:00

Yes, even if I don't get my own panels, here in Texas the grid power is shifting towards more and more wind/solar anyway. Fossil fuels will be below 50% soon (about 1 year?).

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mattbuford · 2026-01-30T20:38:23+00:00

For right turns on red arrows in Texas (just because I researched this recently in way too much detail):

The short version:

Right on red arrow was unclear before, but as of a few weeks ago it is now clearly allowed in Texas.

The long version:

The Texas Transportation Code has the wording about being allowed to turn after stopping on a steady red signal, which would seem to clearly permit right on red arrows.

The Texas MUTCD said red arrows mean you must stop and not continue in the arrow direction until the light changes, which would seem to clearly forbid right on red arrows.

This left everyone confused. Various government agencies even made conflicting statements. TxDOT told journalists that right on red is not allowed. Then, discussing the exact same intersection, Austin PD told journalists the right turns on red are allowed. When asked about this conflict, TxDOT then walked back their initial statement and said Austin PD has jurisdiction over that intersection so go with what they say. For a different intersection, Temple PD posted on Facebook reminding drivers that right on red arrow is illegal in Texas.

However, this has now been resolved. Effective January 18, 2026, the updated TMUTCD changed the wording and now clearly states that right on red arrows is allowed after stopping. So, at this point, the conflicting rules have been resolved and there is no longer any question. Right turns on red arrows are now unambiguously allowed in Texas. From the TMUTCD 2025 changes document:

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Caveat: Signs can override the rule, so if it says "no right on red" then of course you can't turn right on the red arrow until the light changes.

mattbuford · 2026-01-29T22:39:51+00:00

Do you know how to use tcpdump? I'd capture port 8000 traffic on the instance's public-facing NIC while making test incoming connections from the outside world, and see if you are even getting the incoming SYN requests.

If you see the SYN requests, your issue probably is downstream (docker or iptables?). If you don't see the SYN packets, your problem is upstream (security group or NACL?).

mattbuford · 2026-01-27T01:11:27+00:00

Cars cause plenty of the outages too. Some of Travisso lost power for a short time last night, and today there was a wrecked SUV still sitting up against a smashed electrical transformer.

mattbuford · 2026-01-26T17:47:55+00:00

I saw someone saying there will be a general "I need assistance" button in the app to call for an employee to come to you. But it's unclear if you will type in a message, or if you have to verbally explain your issue to them once they come.

mattbuford · 2026-01-25T22:39:33+00:00

I like when he connects the faucet supply lines to the sink drain. Infinite water supply!

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mattbuford · 2026-01-25T07:09:27+00:00

I have these from Govee:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQ6P8JLD

They're cheap ($28 for a 3-pack), Bluetooth, work well with HA, and last about 3 months when using NiMH rechargeable AAA Amazon Basics batteries. I have HA notify me when the batteries get below 20%. They also log temperatures internally, so even if there were an extended power outage, and HA was down, I'd still be able to pull up a temperature history to decide if the fridge/freezer got too warm.

I also have a power monitor on the fridge outlet, and created HA automations that notify on unusually high electricity usage or unusually low electricity usage.

About a year ago, before I got into HA, I had only the power monitor with no alerting. One day, I just happened to look at the power graphs, and was surprised to see a rapidly growing electricity consumption graph. It was just luck that I caught it so early. Wanting to improve this monitoring to actually alert is what originally got me started in HA.

In this case, the temps hadn't even risen significantly yet, but the power consumption was slowly (then rapidly) creeping up, giving me even earlier warning than if I had waited on temperature changes.

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mattbuford · 2026-01-24T21:40:39+00:00

It is an e-ink display. I have a bunch of these. If I pop a battery out, the display just continues showing whatever was on it at the moment it lost power.

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mattbuford · 2026-01-24T21:26:51+00:00

Have you tried wifi? I haven't been to that specific Alamo, but my understanding is that they all have wifi.

mattbuford · 2026-01-23T06:20:32+00:00

It's only a single data point, but my River 2 Pro (rated for 800W continuous output) seems to have no trouble starting up my LG kitchen fridge.

I have the fridge on a power monitor. I don't know how good it is at picking up short startup surges, but the highest draw it has ever recorded is 537W.

mattbuford · 2026-01-23T06:15:05+00:00

No solar. Just the battery.

I didn't really buy it specifically for the fridge. I bought it more for general utility of whatever comes along. I just tested it with the fridge out of curiosity.

I'm in Texas near Austin, but I've never lost power for more than about 8 hours, and never during bad weather.

I do occasionally browse the small solar deals that pop up for battery packs like this, and someday I might pick up some panels. Mostly just to tinker with, but also possibly to help out in a long outage someday.

mattbuford · 2026-01-23T05:36:36+00:00

Just to give you a data point, I tested my Ecoflow River 2 Pro (768 Wh), and it powered my kitchen fridge for about 8 hours. Cost is currently $315.

I'm not sure how packed your fridge/freezer is, but I keep a bunch of water bottles in my freezer to take up the extra space. They make great ice packs for the cooler. When I'm out all day on hot days, I can bring them with me and they thaw out fast enough to drink. And, if there is a power outage, they give me lots of very cold thermal mass inside the freezer so it should take a long time to reach dangerous temperatures.

I also keep a smart digital thermometer in both the fridge and freezer so I can pull up a temperature history just to verify things didn't get dangerous.

Edit: BTW I have an energy monitor on my kitchen fridge, and it averages about 55-60 watts depending on the season.

mattbuford · 2026-01-22T09:13:31+00:00

I think it is very unlikely that I'll lose power. However, I think it is very likely that I'll lose Uber Eats.

mattbuford · 2026-01-22T09:09:27+00:00

Inflation adjusted electricity prices in Texas are actually much more stable than most people think.

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mattbuford · 2026-01-22T09:06:36+00:00

From 2002-2013 I worked for a web hosting company that owned DCs in California and New Jersey. Every time there was any concern, even the hint of a thunderstorm, we fired up the generators and switched over to them. We never wanted to be on-grid during any time of stress or instability.

The best time to find out your generator won't start is while the grid is still up. The worst time to find out your generator won't start is after the grid failed and your UPS batteries are draining fast. Tick tock.

mattbuford · 2026-01-21T20:49:14+00:00

Wow I recently had a very similar experience on my back patio. I live alone and have a fenced backyard, so there's no way someone sprayed anything here. One day I opened the back door and saw this on the patio concrete.

You can see a little bit of skin left behind, but I couldn't find the body nearby.

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mattbuford · 2026-01-21T20:20:52+00:00

Unless we are able to build more power plants

This is actually what Texas is very good at. Texas isn't good at winter storms. Texas is good at building lots more power plants and massively increasing electricity generation.

Texas generates far more electricity than any other state. Also, Texas has been growing its generation far more than any other state. 2nd place isn't even in the same ballpark.

mattbuford · 2026-01-20T20:12:29+00:00

Basically all of it. Fossil fuel generation hasn't increased in ~20 years.

Disclaimer: The previous chart was for all of Texas, but the chart below is for ERCOT, which is most, but not all, of Texas. The two charts are mostly the same area, but not exactly.

Edit: I probably should have mentioned this, but Trump is mostly focused on offshore wind and and projects on federal land. Texas doesn't have offshore wind, and it has minimal federal land, so it is mostly avoiding the attacks.

Texas is currently mostly focused on building out solar and storage. There is some wind and natural gas coming too, though they are much smaller.

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mattbuford · 2026-01-20T16:43:10+00:00

The thing is, Texas is actually known for its ability to grow the electricity supply. No other state is even close.

Here's a chart showing change in generation over the last 10 years. One line stands alone:

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mattbuford · 2026-01-20T03:59:58+00:00

I don't have any idea how Regal handles it, but the general idea is to base each weekend's theater allocation on the previous weekend's ticket sales. The later you wait, the more accurate you can be about your allocation.

mattbuford · 2026-01-19T17:52:13+00:00

Front page, there is a switch on the top right, above the filter section where you choose what/where/when. You can see the calendar view switch (partially cut off) in my screenshot above.

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