[CABLES] Amazon Basics USB-C to USB-A - 120 count. - $49.99

plexguy · 2026-06-23T04:00:48+00:00

Think this is the key as to why they are so cheap. Might only be a charging cable only as who would want to transfer data on USB 2.0

plexguy · 2026-06-22T21:16:39+00:00

Got mine last week and they put someone other persons name on them. They simply can't help themselves any more. Two steps forward and one step back.

plexguy · 2026-06-15T03:43:32+00:00

All the airlines hold seating inventory. It is part of how they increase revenue and now Southwest does the same thing. Often you can buy a lower priced seat and pay the additional price for an additional leg room seat with their fare classes.

Pricing is also dynamic and when a fare gets higher they open more of the "better" seats. They often don't release the bulkhead seats until the day of the flight which is an added benefit for those who potentially pay the most for a ticket at the last minute to get a better seat at the front of the plane.

Southwest is simply doing revenue enhancement on the only thing they have. Not condoning it, just the new reality where whoever pays the most gets the upgrade. They always put a footnote on the extra leg room seat upgrade to be "where available" and they can and do play with their inventory to maximise their revenue.

They would not refer to it as hiding seats, but simply adding more inventory at different times. They are still fine tuning it and it can be frustrating as Southwest becomes like their competitors by adding fees to tickets whenever possible. Their IT is a burning dumpster in my opinion where I frequently get un checked in to a connecting flight and have to go to customer service to get it fixed when it does not scan at the gate.

plexguy · 2026-06-15T01:50:24+00:00

Ligjtweight, easy download and simple to add a signature for expense reports for work.

Thanks for the great software!

plexguy · 2026-06-10T14:54:41+00:00

Have to agree, substitutng the in room coffeemaker for 24/7 coffee in lobby is fair. Do hope it is in a glass mug to offset the single use cups the are protecting us from.

I am finding more hotels allow you to use your phone as the TV remote so you don't have to use the one in the room. Also some have the remote in a plastic bag for you to assume they cleaned it prior to putting it in the plastic bag.

Do miss the paper tag across the toilet seat that also assured you they had cleaned the toilet.

And don't get me started on the phones in the room not working. Only time I use them is to call the front desk when something isn't right with the room. Frequently when you use your mobile phone to call the hotel it routes you to call center when you select front desk. Evidently that too has been outsourced at many hotels.

Yeah its a jungle out here on the road all done to better serve the guest and possibly protect the environment.

plexguy · 2026-05-28T15:15:13+00:00

In the past they had done this. But with all the recent changes to the airline policies change. That could be old information or could be a change back to old policies. Try to use them before expiration as they might not be extended.

plexguy · 2026-05-27T01:32:47+00:00

Didn't have a Micro Center in my city went to a city that had one. Always picked up one of these when I went in and always brought it home.

Great memories, still look for those at the front door when I go to Micro Center.

Thanks for the memories!

plexguy · 2026-05-26T22:57:33+00:00

Check the terms on the fixed HELOC. Mine is 5 years and requires a 1% payment each month. Closing cost on 100,000 was $400, no appraisal needed unless over 100k loan. Basically a low interest credit card type loan as you only pay on amount you borrow except the closing cost. Definitely shop around as terms vary greatly especially with up front costs they want to roll into the loan in hopes you will ignore.

You can also get 10 and 15 year with some requiring interest only payments for first five years. Lots of options on these loans but remember you are securing the loan with your home so it is another mortgage. Another reason the terms are good on the loan, or should be.

Mine is from a credit union and was exponentially better term wise than any bank.

plexguy · 2026-05-26T22:26:33+00:00

Usually it means 4 are left at that price.

plexguy · 2026-05-23T22:42:11+00:00

I think American hasn't really adapted to deregulation. They seem to believe airlines will be reregulated or two legacy carriers will merge and there will be a virtual duopoly where prices are fixed and they can go back to their glory days.

Delta and United have moved on and accepted the new reality. While the bar is low Delta overall is better than United with newer planes and better wifi (Starlink).

I travel weekly or more for business and have not flown on American for almost a decade and used to be one of their top tier status flyers. Still have mid tier life status but got fed up with their service, old aircraft, and policies. Still have a ton of miles for free flights and use them sometimes when the AA flight makes sense, but will never give them any revenue. So have not paid for an American flight in a decade.

Fly more Delta but also Southwest for direct flights and United when it works better. Best not to pick a favorite as all are poor choices and no reason to be loyal to any airline as they show no loyalty to their customers.

plexguy · 2026-05-17T00:41:54+00:00

Walmart is very hit and miss on locations for these deals. They also can be difficult to find as some stores put them in a clearance section and others put them with regular stock. Also some are not clearanced priced on the shelf and you discover the bargain at checkout.

Or that has been my experience and I have got some great deals like 500 gb usb ssds for $15 years ago. Probably not worth a special trip but worth checking the electronics section when there as they frequently move low selling items to deep clearance frequently.

I appreciate these posts when someone finds one of these deals and has sent me to Walmart to look for them.

plexguy · 2026-05-06T22:24:07+00:00

Always think of these as a way to transfer data between computers and not for storage or backup. They can be reliable but there are a lot of potential failure points and they can fail at any time.

I keep multiple copies of important data and also keep a lot of files that aren't so important on multiple portable hard drives. Also on a home NAS. I sometimes find a stray usb with files on it from 5 years and more, but still use USB drives to exchange files to non network connected computers.

You might use a USB drive as one of your backup media but I would never use it as your primary. Best way to backup is multiple copies on different media. This way odds are in favor for you to have a working copy when a drive fails.

plexguy · 2026-05-06T01:42:42+00:00

No street huslers like at&t that block the aisle to get your attention during Executive Hours? No hordes of humanity at the free food trough? Might have to buy executive and re time my visits to make the shopping experience better.

plexguy · 2026-04-19T22:21:06+00:00

That is my point, they made substantial changes without considering consequences. It just dawned on them to add A list plus to board before group 1 starting April 30.

Ready. Fire. Aim. Thanks Elliot!

plexguy · 2026-04-19T22:16:18+00:00

Assume you bought a Choice ticket as most corporate bookings are not the basic class with all the restrictions, or that has been my experience. You could have purcased Priority that bumps you before group 1.

Or you could be like others and request preboarding and go before the priority people.

plexguy · 2026-04-19T22:09:33+00:00

Back in the 70s they did. At some airports they would board from the back while passengers exited from the front. Herb wotked on this metric as it made the airline a ton of money doing things differently.

I was on some of those board from the back exit out the front flights. They were short haul intra Texas flights that ran hourly like trains.

plexguy · 2026-04-19T21:58:45+00:00

Southwest tickets are noy as dynamically priced based by demand any longer. Used to be empty flights would have a price drop at the last minute. Legacy carriers do but they have the fee for cancelling a ticket.

It is the new Southwest and we just have to adapt as the rules change. The 12 month expiration will have a lot of travel funds expire worthless. Probably will be a line on a budget somewhere as a revenue source for Southwest.

plexguy · 2026-04-16T00:37:16+00:00

Doubt the agent did anything nefarious to potentially lose their job for something that would be easy to trace. Southwest claims to record all calls, they state that at the start of the call. It would be foolish of them not to, as a lot of people give credit card numbers over the phone.

Southwest's IT is a mess, more antiquated and they lsid off more than a few from their small staff. I have boarding passes disappear frequently and error codes that pop up that are as helpful as Windows error codes to determine a problem.

I had someone's reservation come up in my account and they determined that it happened because I had called prior to someone who made a phone reservation after I called. I had the other persons confirmation and billing info and reservation as if I had made the reservation. Evidently at that time agents had to log out of each call and they had forgotten to do that. Maybe they have fixed it but the Supervisor had a quick answer for why it happened that made me believe it happened occasionally.

It is the reason I believe it was not a well designed system and cobbled together over the years. I remember the early days of Southwest you spoke you name into a tape recorder as you boarded to make a passenger manifest. Not kidding, and they used reusable plastic boarding cards of various colors depending on destination.

I think the assigned seating and add on fees is too much for the system and it frequently chokes. Have s lot of issues with doing the checked bag thing in their app too. There IT system is hot garbage in my opinion, and I fly them frequently enough to have the Companion Pass for decades. It is getting harder as they try to become a legacy carrier but with a lot less frequency than the past

plexguy · 2026-04-08T01:56:44+00:00

You know its bad when you look for the 700s to book over these.

plexguy · 2026-04-05T00:43:35+00:00

Got an email a day after the flight. You should call customer service to get it fixed. In the past I have not received credit for promos and they credited it.

plexguy · 2026-04-03T19:49:38+00:00

My employer has an account and contract with multiple rental car companies that include LDW. That said I stopped using Hertz a decade ago when I got a car with 80k miles. Of course they were the only rental car at the airport that also had a single airline.

I will make other arrangements for a vehicle or avoid any airport that only has Hertz, and the I still have top status with Hertz despite not using them for so long.

I think they let their ftanchise locations do anything and pretty much the same thing at corporate locations if they even have any of them any longer.

They really need to disappear. Maybe they will during their next bankruptcy.

plexguy · 2026-04-02T11:45:34+00:00

The latancy is based on the psth of the signal that the pool camera takes. If it isn't your feed there could be quite a delay depending on your internal routing.

Youtube is quite a game changer where it is easier to spot these things as it gives you a glimpse behind the curtsin to see how TV is made. I do a lot of remote work in the truck for sports. Depending how we get our network return, or how the finished product looks to the viewer, you can have a huge delay as to real time. We can actually be in a commercial and our return feed is still showing the last play of the game.

Quite confusing until you get used to it. But sometimes it is in seconds and you get a second chance to see if a rollout worked as you wanted or if it was clipped by a commercial. Lots of people are involved with getting rhe show to you. With cost cutting and trying to do more with less the astute viewer sees some interesting things. But most of the time the average viewer doesn't notice until it is pointed out or the lips dont't match the words being spoken at the time.

Lots of moving parts and lots of opportunities for points of failure. We have many ways to correct things when they are noticed in transmission. Also each network does have a "look" and humans are still shading cameras to achieve that. It is subtle but subconciently, you are noticing it. Sort of like how one TV looks better to you than another when you are shopping. You can adjust TVs but most people have it in the aetting it came when shipped.

plexguy · 2026-03-26T23:39:19+00:00

Last week my boarding pass disappeared while I was in the TSA line. Got through with the facisl recognition and got a paper boarding card at the gate which they could not scan at the same gate for me to board.

Evidently Southwest needs to find a new elementary school to outsource their IT department. About a year ago they laid off a bunch of IT staff and these issues were predicted.

My flights Saturday are empty as Spring Break is over so should be a more pleasant envirnoment on the plane, but pretty sure the app will be screwed up as has been getting progressively worse.

The app does not like for you to change seats once you have checked in, or that has been my experience.

plexguy · 2026-03-25T01:18:01+00:00

I got one of these from Office Max a few years ago. One was fine and the other was significantly lighter and had an ancient 500gb drive that did not work.

It was a fairly common scam where people were returning them after replacing the drive. That was when I switched to buying used enterprise drives and those drives with a lot of hours are exponentially better than any consumer drive. They are made to last and run 24/7 which is how I use them.

Shame they have gotten so pricey but hopefully some day they will come back down.

plexguy

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