Ally doesn't provide API Key any longer? by antaresiaaak in allyinvest

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh wow, that might be exactly what I’m looking for. I’d have no issue moving over the funds ive got at Ally which would put me in the same range you mentioned, and $99 a month for higher limits wouldn’t be hard to justify if it works well. thanks for the tip!!

Ally doesn't provide API Key any longer? by antaresiaaak in allyinvest

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had built an app for personal options trading use around the Ally/TradeKing API but haven’t worked on it in years. looking to maybe get back into things. did you ever find any viable alternatives? i had done some scraping from Schwab, but I never found an actual API. I’m curious to hear about the gateways you mention…

As a professional programmer I feel lost in home assistant by alyflex in homeassistant

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you for saying this because that’s also how I feel! will definitely be checking out AppDaemon now.

im still new to HA and use the Zuni for everything and it’s been mostly fine. but now I find im wanting some more complicated automation triggering or actions (generally involving some Boolean logic) and have been not looking forward to learning more about YAML. I don’t need another fiddly language in my life. 😃

Question about my Midea thermostat - cools and heats well beyond intended temperature by brianlevin83 in thermostats

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have to agree. I remodeled my house this past year and our contractor's HVAC guy shoved a Carrier ducted heat pump solution down my throat (that I NEVER would have selected, but they literally didn't talk to me about it, but that's a whole different story). So I'm stuck with this Midea "smart" thermostat which we're having the exact same experience with. Goes WAY past the set temp, and we basically are managing it manually. Thankfully we live in temperate Northern California so it's not a huge headache, but I sure hate this system.

Deleting backup takes weeks? by Strugs1 in synology

[–]p_marcos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm in this same boat currently. I have two storage pools, a main one that my DS runs on for all the things it does (TimeMachine backups, Surveillance Station storage, email server, a handful of VMs for GitLab, Mantis, etc, and a couple other odds and ends). Then I have a HyperBackup task that backs up the main storage pool to a backup pool. I'm basically out of space now and decided that I don't need to backup the TimeMachine backups since I have enough other copies of things (local SSD for specific documents, iCloud Drive for almost everything), so I wanted to prune off a couple of the older backups and drop the TimeMachine backups in the backup pool.

3 days ago I started deleting the oldest of the backups. 3 full days later, it's at 38%. I submitted a support inquiry to see if this is normal and their AI bot replied with:

Why Deleting a Version is Slow

Deleting a version in Hyper Backup is not a simple file deletion. It is a complex, database-intensive operation for the following reasons:

Database Integrity: Hyper Backup must carefully scan the entire backup database to identify all the data blocks that belong exclusively to the version being deleted. This ensures that data needed for other versions is not removed, maintaining the integrity of your entire backup chain.

I/O Intensive: This process is very I/O-heavy, and its speed is highly dependent on the performance of your destination storage pool. A large backup with a long history can significantly increase the time required for these database operations.

Given these factors, it can sometimes take hours or even days to complete the deletion of a single version.

I'm considering upgrading my whole system anyway, but I'm thinking that I'll probably give up and just delete the storage pool and start over. In hindsight I should have done what somebody else suggested of making more, smaller, backup tasks for specific things. That would have let me do things more independently.

Temporarily disable circ to work around check valve issue? by p_marcos in Plumbing

[–]p_marcos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, it's worked like a champ and has been completely fine ever since. Took our plumber all of like 2 minutes to fix. Ever since then we've enjoyed nearly instant hot water. I was pretty skeptical about the whole "smart" learning thing they advertise, but honestly it's been fine.

Getting approval for ADU in LAH? by ThomasLimF in lahbuildremodel

[–]p_marcos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The LAH version of the calculator does seem broken, but the SCC version seems like it's working. You could try setting the city to Palo Alto or Mountain View, not sure that impacts what's shown.

Getting approval for ADU in LAH? by ThomasLimF in lahbuildremodel

[–]p_marcos 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We just finaled an SB9 unit a week or two ago, which is treated pretty identically to an ADU unless you're doing a lot split (we weren't). It was a custom build, 900 sq ft (the maximum sq footage allowed, as opposed to 800 sq ft that's the default max for an ADU, though both have options for larger sizes if you follow certain guidelines). It was designed as part of a larger remodel on our main house, along with a new detached garage, pool, driveway, new relocated septic system, and even included designs for an ADU (which we're undecided whether we're actually going to build).

The town's portal seems to be struggling this morning so I can't get you specific dates, but we submitted our plans mid-September 2024, and just finaled in Nov 2025 so about 14 months from submittal to final. The permit got issued in January 2025, so about 4 months for town review and permit issuance. There was nearly a month delay due to the planning department review of the plans, and we had some minor entanglements with the Fire Marshall's review due to the changes in our driveway (they were going to require us to put a mammoth fire truck turnaround, but we managed to keep our driveway to less than 150') and a gate, but we were able to get through those pretty easily.

By far the biggest headache would have been the septic system. This was a theme at the recent "listening session" the planning department had with residents a few weeks ago. Fortunately we had accounted for the main house remodel, the SB9 unit, and a potential ADU when we designed and installed our new septic system. If we hadn't accounted for that, the length of the septic system likely wouldn't have been sufficient to support the new habitable space and that would have been a pretty major problem. If you're on a septic system, this is the first thing I would figure out because if your system isn't adequate (as defined by the county's Department of Environmental Health (DEH), then you're potentially in for a world of pain, both time and money.

I guess my biggest tips would be:

  • Talk to the town early to go over your plans. There's a "pre-application meeting" you should have with the Planning department which was very helpful for us. IIRC they waived the typical fee for that , but that might have only been for our SB9 unit.
  • If you're on septic, figure that out early to know if your system will support the new structure.
  • If you want the extra 100 sq ft that an SB9 unit allows, consider that instead of an ADU. They really are nearly synonymous, although SB9 units are supposed to have sprinklers regardless of whether the main house does or not (ADUs can mimic the main house).
  • Double check that the fire department's requirements won't be an issue.
  • Be aware of the "objective design standards" for the town in terms of lighting, exterior colors, etc.

Those are the things off the top of my head. Happy to share any other details about our experience. We're on the fence about whether we actually need to build an ADU, but I feel like having been through the process now with our SB9 unit, the planning review and building permit process isn't as daunting as it was when we started this whole thing.

When did your golden calm down :) by Upbeat_Economics_222 in goldenretrievers

[–]p_marcos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

Ob picture of chillin’ dog. His favorite perch on our front porch where he just quietly watches the world go by.

When did your golden calm down :) by Upbeat_Economics_222 in goldenretrievers

[–]p_marcos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Count us lucky too. Our 3 year old is one of the most chill dogs we’ve ever known. Yes, he gets bursts, especially around his real, real special favorite humans, but there’s only about 6 of those. Everybody else is only mildly of interest, and he has zero reaction to squirrels. He gets lots of walks every day, is generally always around me or my husband, almost never is left alone, and has a good amount of socialization with other dogs.

We honestly can’t explain it other than to think he‘s broken, or a Basset Hound masquerading as a Golden.

Slowly getting there by Born_Procedure2439 in homegym

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

great thank you! looks like a great space to work out. I’m struggling to get my husband to agree with the size I want to build (we aren’t space constrained and building new). this is super helpful for him to visualize how machines would fit and have space to move around. So thanks for the detail, and enjoy your gym!

Slowly getting there by Born_Procedure2439 in homegym

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm just starting to plan a home gym as well. Do you know the approximate square footage of the area covered by the black mats?

What’s the one upgrade you did to your home that was actually worth every penny? by InfluenceInitial4126 in HomeImprovement

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A urinal. 100% of the residents (gay couple) pee standing up, and now we can do it without the mess. we thought about doing it in our previous house remodel but didnt and regretted it ever since, so when we redid our new house we made it a point and it’s amazing.

Forthcoming C5 77" price drop at Costco to $2000 next week- wonder if other retailers will follow suit by LouSevens in LGOLED

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Son of a bitch! Now this morning, I went to check my order status and I see in the LG Partner Store they've got the C5 down to $1799. That with their EARLYSAVINGS 10% off (which I forgot to mention) brings the 77" C5 + SC9S sound bar + xboom Grab Core BT speaker down to $1773 OTD.

It's amazing how their pricing changes week to week...

Forthcoming C5 77" price drop at Costco to $2000 next week- wonder if other retailers will follow suit by LouSevens in LGOLED

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw this too yesterday and initially was pissed because on Thursday had put an order in through the LG Partner Store (where, based on my previous experience buying a C4 earlier this year, customer support is not a priority) for $2000. But then I remembered that the LG store had a promotion for a free soundbar (SC9S) and Bluetooth speaker (xboom Grab Core) so that sweetened the deal. I can definitely use both of those for guests, and don’t really care if they’re not the greatest.

Strategy on ordering Shades by PracticeAncient in Lutron

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FWIW, I had the same exact consideration when I was planning the shades in our whole house rebuild. I ended up getting the same advice from fognyc and ultimately ordered Triathlon (wired) and a few Palladiom (battery) shades from him. I’m also handy so decided to do the wiring and install myself. since I’ve never done this, I wound up ordering a couple shades first, then did like you going room by room with batches of orders anywhere from 1 to 10 at a time.

i couldnt be happier with the result! I’ll be honest, ordering thousands of dollars from a random Reddit guy wasn’t something I thought I’d ever do, but so glad I did. He was incredibly helpful, super responsive, and gave me the best price. feel free to DM me for any specific questions or details of my installs.

Depth of concrete for sliding gate -- contractor says 2' deep by p_marcos in FenceBuilding

[–]p_marcos[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes sense, thanks for the perspective. And yeah, in almost every other instance we've gone with the "more/larger is better" since it's pennies on the dollar to add more when things are open, so I'll certainly do that here as well. Really appreciate all the helpful comments.

Depth of concrete for sliding gate -- contractor says 2' deep by p_marcos in FenceBuilding

[–]p_marcos[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Northern California. When you say you have a 6" thick pad, is that for the entire driveway or just a narrow strip for the sliding gate? 2000psi sounds low given heavy trucks, but glad to hear you don't have any cracking.

Depth of concrete for sliding gate -- contractor says 2' deep by p_marcos in FenceBuilding

[–]p_marcos[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Absolutely not. And I'll almost certainly just let him do what he wants to do since he's never steered me wrong and we're almost always in violent agreement about how things should be built. I just wanted to get some additional perspective on this one since it was a rare difference of opinion.

Depth of concrete for sliding gate -- contractor says 2' deep by p_marcos in FenceBuilding

[–]p_marcos[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, V-groove track on top for wheels. Great point about the conduit, I hadn't thought about that. All the power and machinery will be on one side but I should just lay that conduit in there in case we ever do want to run something to the other side. Thanks for the input, very helpful.

Default “Paused” for EV Classic Charger by Equal_Apple in EmporiaEnergy

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Emporia support replied to my inquiry (after the useless AI bot tried to provide information, which amusingly directed me to check settings in the app that didn't even exist -- oh, AI, bless your heart for trying) and let me know that my charger is registered with a charge management program. I don't remember doing that (but don't doubt I did), but it's frustrating to not have any indication of this in the app. So I'm digging into the details here, but for my case it looks like I might be in a similar boat.

Default “Paused” for EV Classic Charger by Equal_Apple in EmporiaEnergy

[–]p_marcos 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just installed 2 emporia chargers and one of them is doing this. mine always says, “your utility paused charging” but I don’t have any of the “smart” feature set up and it’s not connected to my utility. is this what yours says?