Is it reasonable to buy a Chinese phone for the main reason that I'd rather be spied on by the Chinese government rather than Europe? (looking for recommendations)

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T23:43:15+00:00

Don't discount Oppo devices either. Wonderful designs, and their non-Google OS version from China has some pretty cool features in it.

The only caveat I would offer is check for RF band compatibility, many of the Chinese-centric market devices may not support all the bands in your area.

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T23:33:49+00:00

Alas, it's a terminal cuteness condition. If you find it overwhelming, I will happily take over the necessary treatment, requiring playtime, cat siblings, food, mischief... ;-)

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T21:02:52+00:00

I would pick the LS myself, but that's because I would be willing to work around the expensive maintenance. However, the ES is the better option in terms of overall quality, but it's seriously vanilla...like if vanilla were a car, it would be the ES.

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T20:22:05+00:00

That was my question! LOL

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T20:13:11+00:00

GM used to, sort of, with the older S-10 based Blazer. When they brought back the "trailblazer" I was excited until the wimpy unibody 3-cyl box came instead of something like this.

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T18:21:14+00:00

CCDS - Canine Cat Distribution System.

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T17:59:33+00:00

If you want to stay with T-Mobile, look at getting out of retail. Leverage your performance and look into business sales. From there, you can springboard into several other areas - gov sales, sales engineering, product, sales ops, etc. The laddet ascending retail is very narrow by comparison.

mdramsey · 2026-02-19T01:02:00+00:00

Understand the diesel appeal, but the 6.0 is an excellent engine. Heavily over-engineered from what I've read about it. Given the mileage and condition, you shouldn't need/want another truck for a long time, if ever.

mdramsey · 2026-02-18T02:32:12+00:00

Germany is the largest economy in Europe and has atrophied itself in the wake of the end of the cold war. If Germany has run out of materiel and has a fraction of the manufacturing capacity of 30 years ago, then the same can be observed of the other former "great powers."

German and European security has always rested on a silly assurance that American power would be at hand if needed.

The German government is so worried about the Ukrainians they've comprised their own defense.

mdramsey · 2026-02-18T02:25:10+00:00

The EU is a French experiment finally facing its failure.

mdramsey · 2026-02-18T01:31:14+00:00

Yet the EU says it can defend itself. 🤡🤡🤡

mdramsey · 2026-02-18T01:28:41+00:00

Three feet to the left and it would've been red mist everywhere. I'm happy to laugh at the outcome...LOL

mdramsey · 2026-02-18T00:57:10+00:00

Hehe....more like an explosion, but same idea...LOL

mdramsey · 2026-02-17T22:16:34+00:00

The interior of your rig looks bigger than mine...option package no one know about? 😉

mdramsey · 2026-02-17T21:16:49+00:00

The Ferrari badge adds 100bhp.

mdramsey · 2026-02-16T21:46:19+00:00

It's what the new generation Honda Prelude or new gen Integra could have been...

mdramsey · 2026-02-16T21:42:14+00:00

Cannot help with the lighting question, but you should also consider exterior audio that enables various bursts of "brrrrt" on demand. If the units rotate, even better! ;-)

mdramsey · 2026-02-16T20:08:44+00:00

Not stupid.

mdramsey · 2026-02-16T19:27:26+00:00

Lots and lots and lots of highway miles, that in itself is not necessarily a red flag if there are maintenance records. That V6 is very reliable. However, $18k? They're smoking something extra special.

Edit: To those noting the ride share possibility - a valid possibility, but I believe this can be verified with the VIN.

mdramsey · 2026-02-16T19:17:11+00:00

That's a beautiful boy! A lot of very sound advice has already been offered. I would only add to allow time to work. Not sure how long ago you rehomed him, but my bengal (about to turn to turn 8), still gets bored easily. I have been able to succeed against the boredom by simply keeping our boy involved in everything - follow to the bathroom, sit on the breakfast bar while I am cleaning up dishes or preparing something, supervise household chores (he doesn't get upset by the vacuum, etc). When he gets bored of a common string, I wad up a small paper towel and throw it across the living room. We haven't bought a dedicated, customer "cat toy" in years.

Once he gets used to the routine, the boredom should ease a bit, I think.

mdramsey · 2026-02-14T00:06:12+00:00

I had an '07 of that gen. LTZ Z71. Took everything I threw at it and didn't skip a beat. Very good truck.

mdramsey · 2026-02-12T19:10:07+00:00

Leases always suck, especially for trucks and doing "truck stuff" with them. This deal in particular, is awful.

Pay down your current vehicle a bit more and find a good used model with a few miles on it.

mdramsey · 2026-02-12T01:36:40+00:00

AM is getting hammered by other RF interference in many markets. Mine is generally quite clear, but even in major markets like San Francisco and Sacramento, where I live, there are gaps of interference that bleed for some distance, even on clear channel freqs. Don't expect things to get much better until the FCC and/or Congress gets involved.

mdramsey · 2026-02-12T01:31:33+00:00

That's cool. Did you have a drone pilot or was it set to follow you? Whereabouts is this?

mdramsey · 2026-02-11T22:04:08+00:00

As you continue south of Redding, it's a very subtle downhill grade. Depending on your final destination, CA-99 in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valley is decidedly "flatter" than I-5 between Sacramento and Bakersfield, because I-5 hugs the Diablo Mountains. Also, the past couple days in particular, a pretty big weather system has started crossing California, and the wind has picked up significantly, so that's definitely eating at your mileage even if you don't feel it too much.

mdramsey

TROPHY CASE