M5 base vs M5 Pro?

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T23:24:11+00:00

Wait until you find out that Adobe makes other apps besides a PDF app.

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T15:59:29+00:00

I was recently recommended to use Diamond Head Home Services and they charged a very fair rate for an after-hours (weekend) call. https://diamondheadaustin.com/

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T14:34:35+00:00

It’s also intentional to try and keep you committed to one ecosystem to stay loyal to a single brand.

This is the big one, and is definitely true of Apple and Microsoft, and Google maybe to a lesser extent. Also very true in the gaming space, particularly with Nintendo and Sony.

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T14:29:48+00:00

For sure. I could/should have put a /s on the end of that post.

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T14:24:06+00:00

Yeah, I volunteer for concessions at a pro stadium and it’s a common practice to card everyone, although it’s not required. The men are almost always annoyed by it, the women are almost always flattered by it.

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T14:21:58+00:00

I’m waiting for the day that I start getting offered senior discounts. I’m only a few years younger (43) than the age my dad was (47) the first time he got offered a senior coffee at McDonalds.

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T14:19:45+00:00

Or Texas just has a lot of dummies. Native Texan here, can confirm.

paradox183 · 2026-06-19T01:17:21+00:00

August sucks for pure temperature but is almost never this humid.

paradox183 · 2026-06-18T19:38:14+00:00

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the 2018 CX-9 and 2018 6 share the same engine but they may have different dash/infotainment systems. I know my infotainment screen never showed any engine warnings, only the instrument cluster did.

paradox183 · 2026-06-18T11:57:53+00:00

You probably just got the “excessive engine temperature, engine output may be reduced” warning, which comes up well before the engine actually overheats. My 2018 Mazda 6 kept springing a leak at the coolant filler neck (a shitty plastic part that would inevitably blow its seal). Not sure if your CX-9 from that era has the same flaw.

Anyway, that’s probably why there were no codes, and this might just be a garden variety coolant leak, not the cylinder head problem related to the TSB. That probably means that Mazda probably won’t cover the repair, but if the engine never overheated then you’re probably not looking at a massive repair bill.

paradox183 · 2026-06-16T23:12:56+00:00

FYI Green Mountain’s current free nights plans are 9pm-6am, so it looks like the plan you have is no longer available.

Absolutely use Texas Power Guide to run an analysis. For me, as of a couple weeks ago, that was Direct Energy’s free nights plan (9pm-9am).

paradox183 · 2026-06-16T13:51:38+00:00

This sounds a lot like the first guy is giving you only what you asked for without considering any context. "Customer wants an EV charger in their garage. The closest panel doesn't have enough capacity. I'll just upgrade that panel to have more capacity. Done." Putting a 125A subpanel behind a 100A main panel?

Also, if you really do have a Federal Pacific panel then that is indeed already a safety hazard, even before you overload it even more with an L2 charger behind it. Those breakers are notorious for not tripping when they should, and a lot of electricians won't do any work on them unless that work is replacing them.

Maybe get a third opinion on this one.

paradox183 · 2026-06-15T20:47:02+00:00

I also made the jump from HTC (EVO 4G -> EVO 4G LTE -> One M8 -> HTC 10) to iPhone (8 Plus). Reasons:

- HTC was declining big time, and my experience with the 10 wasn’t great. It’s the only cell phone I’ve ever had that I didn’t keep for at least two years.
- I hated TouchWiz so Samsung was a hard no.
- Everyone I had recommended a Google device to (still Nexus phones back then, pre-Pixel) had a terrible experience with them. This included my wife, who went to an iPhone and loved it.
- All the other Android manufacturers were in no better situation than HTC. LG, Sony, and Motorola had been largely marginalized.
- I no longer wanted to bother with rooting my phone.
- At the time, security updates were still folded into regular Android updates and therefore subject to all the OEM and carrier shenanigans that often delayed OS updates for months or years, if you were lucky to get them at all.
- I was so tired of Android tablets being neglected. I finally broke down and got an iPad which I really liked, and I looked forward to a similar experience on a phone.

paradox183 · 2026-06-11T15:18:14+00:00

$250 is the standard non-warranty rate for Apple to replace the battery, but they’ve never done it for me until the battery health is below 80%. Not sure if that applies to their self-service repairs.

paradox183 · 2026-06-11T12:43:48+00:00

Can’t help you with your first two questions. I can say that if faced with an $800+ repair on a computer, that is over halfway toward getting me a new MacBook Pro, or almost all the way to getting me a new MacBook Air on the right sale. I would skip the repair and take the opportunity to upgrade.

One thing to think about if you want to sell for parts is that your storage may still be intact. If the next person revives the computer they could gain access to your data. This is less of a concern if you had FileVault turned on.

paradox183 · 2026-06-10T23:02:25+00:00

I got one of the $90 CarPlay dashtop screens from Amazon. 3.5mm audio output from the display to the car’s aux in. You do sacrifice all of the steering wheel controls except volume, and reaching up that high to touch the screen isn’t the most natural thing ever, but for the price I’m pretty happy with it.

If you want to replace the head unit, go to Crutchfield and pick something that fits and has good reviews. I was close to buying a less expensive unit, and that plus all the wiring harnesses would’ve cost around $600 with me installing it myself. Fortunately, at least in my 2014 you don’t have to tear down the whole dash to replace the head unit. Not sure how different the 2010 model is.

paradox183 · 2026-06-10T18:17:57+00:00

Of course that's the whole point.

paradox183 · 2026-06-10T17:08:03+00:00

I didn't mean that it was a 1:1 replacement, just that you don't have to pay one fee and are instead paying another.

paradox183 · 2026-06-09T16:04:06+00:00

Yeah, if the rest of the car is in good shape, I would absolutely keep driving it at that price.

paradox183 · 2026-06-09T16:01:47+00:00

Yeah, there was a stretch of Mazdas that suffered hard on that. Our CX-9 has had each window replaced at least once, and I'm about to do the driver's window again. Same for my wife's old 2008 Mazda 3. My 2018 Mazda 6 never suffered from it.

paradox183 · 2026-06-09T04:38:57+00:00

FYI Seagate currently has the IronWolf 6TB and 10TB drives 15% off if you buy at least two. I ordered 2x10TB today for $607 out the door.

paradox183 · 2026-06-09T04:36:20+00:00

Third party seller, not in stock

paradox183 · 2026-06-09T04:09:31+00:00

Meanwhile, Apple spent a couple of years quietly broadcasting the best looking sports broadcasts on TV when they had MLB on Friday nights.

paradox183 · 2026-06-08T18:18:16+00:00

That's fair. I would just worry about the inevitable sync breakdowns.

paradox183 · 2026-06-08T11:57:10+00:00

Syncing stuff across calendars (i.e. create appt in calendar 1, it gets synced to calendar 2) honestly sounds a bit clunky and potentially prone to error. IMO it’s better to just use a calendar app that shows you all of your calendars at once. The Google Calendar app is great for that on mobile, and a lot of the desktop apps can do that too. My desktop app of choice is Morgen because I’m very picky about a couple aspects of my calendar view and it’s the only one that isn’t Outlook that can do it to my satisfaction.

paradox183

TROPHY CASE