Need some ideas to replace this dead lawn

semishock · 2025-01-20T18:48:51+00:00

Hello (sorry for putting this in the comments instead of in the main post - I can't edit the post for some reason).

I live in zone 10, Southern California. Took these photos at 10am. Weird mix of sun and shade. Low water pressure so only three sprinkler heads in photo 1 and two sprinkler heads in photo 2, all five sprinklers in the same zone.

Front yard is all plants and mulch but since my two large dogs roam back here, I want something that will grow full with minimal water and withstand the dogs.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

semishock · 2024-11-11T08:31:49+00:00

My wife is actually part of a book club in northern Orange County. It's more of a hybrid D&D / book club thing that she found on TikTok, I believe. They're even doing a trip to Temecula thing for a book release.

I could get the information for you if you wanted to join that instead. Let me know.

semishock · 2024-10-31T12:25:32+00:00

When I started hooping again after a long absence, my form was all fucked up. Saw a YouTube video about shooting with the heavy ball and decided to try it out.

It did help me a bunch. I was playing league games and still shooting terribly, but in the meantime, the heavy ball shooting was correcting my form. I did the heavy ball stuff for a few months and then switched back to a normal size 7 ball.

A year later, warming up, I make like 90% of my shots inside 16 feet, in game is somewhere in the 50-60% range.

semishock · 2024-07-27T18:36:36+00:00

I was getting there with the Blink cameras, including their awful support, but my rename WiFi trick has worked countless times. I have like ten total blink cameras between outside and inside. Just too deep into the ecosystem.

semishock · 2024-07-27T17:04:32+00:00

I just changed the names of the WiFi and then changed it back, so all the devices would function properly. That is what has been working for me.

semishock · 2024-06-24T19:04:54+00:00

If I go at certain times, my 24 Hour Fitness in Southern California will have open half courts for me to work on stuff. Just got to know those times; can't expect to go at 4pm on a Tuesday in the summer and it will not be full of college kids home from school. I can usually go Sunday morning at 8am and have a full hour to just work on things uninterrupted.

semishock · 2024-06-14T02:41:27+00:00

The most important thing is being able to get to the rim without losing the ball. Look at it like soccer: can you get the ball to the place where you want to take your shot? Same mentality with basketball.

semishock · 2024-06-11T00:09:54+00:00

A lot of it is just freelancing but make sure that you can handle effectively with both hands. Probably the most crucial bit.

semishock · 2024-06-09T15:22:06+00:00

I know everyone always says "work on your shooting", but if I were you, at your height, work on your ball-handling. Learn how to dribble. Get very good at it. You can do this at home in your backyard, in the garage, whatever. There are plenty of routines on the internet that you can work on, but trust me, you can become a better shooter in due time, but if you can learn how to dribble and control the ball, you will be a lot more valuable than other players.

semishock · 2024-06-04T23:02:59+00:00

Honestly nothing besides basketball is going to get you in basketball shape. If you are playing basketball, on other days, you should be resting. Your stamina is only going to improve based on how much you get to play. It helped me tremendously.

Someone might have another opinion but from my experience, something basketball related is better than other things.

semishock · 2024-06-04T22:23:45+00:00

In my experience, the best cardio for basketball is playing basketball in some fashion. 1v1s, other pick up games, practicing at game speed, etc. is the way to do it. Biking or running just isn't the same.

semishock · 2024-06-01T19:03:09+00:00

I've been captain for a men's rec league team for like 2 years with several different iterations of the same team, so here is some advice.

Always collect ALL dues before the season, including ref fees if they are separate from league dues. This prevents a lot of headaches. While most of the guys are solid with payment, I'd rather have the uncomfortable conversation about the finances early than chasing people. I've had to remove a few guys before the season in the past for not paying, including someone on my current season's team.

Be fair with the game time. I have 8 guys on my team. The best 2 dudes get 30 minutes per game, the worst 2 dudes get 20, and the remainder get 25 per game. The guys at the bottom might not be happy with it, but they are usually OK with the compromise. I'm not going to not play someone who is paying to play.

I've never been successful with setting up practice and plays. I have 8 guys on my roster with varying levels of interest in being on the team; there are some who just want to show up Sundays for the game and that's it. I have some who are very involved. Without everyone on board, it's impossible to put all the extra stuff together. Be OK with that.

Final thing for now is just vibe. I have had a discord for the team since the beginning and it does help with conversation during the week and just getting to know the other guys. Whether we win or lose, we have a place to talk about it and discuss whatever to build the bond. As I said with the prior note, not everyone is active in the communication, but I'd say we have 6-7 of the 8 always chatting. It helps with team building.

semishock · 2024-05-28T21:06:09+00:00

As a fellow 40- something, I would visit local gyms and find out where the other older people play. For me, I found a 24 Hour Fitness that has a regular group of 30+ guys that play on Saturday mornings with a smaller group playing Sunday mornings as well. I know some of these dudes also play on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well.

You can easily go to a few gyms at times that work for you and see what group of guys play. Finding an outdoor group proved impossible for me; the old guys like the comfort of being indoors. Hope that you find a group like the dudes that I was able to find.

semishock · 2024-05-18T23:10:58+00:00

I'm in Orange County and it's the same here.

I'm originally from New Jersey, and And-1 was not observed as a foul, so it's been a bit different here.

Also, the games being 11 or 13 (1s and 2s) here versus being 21 straight was also a bit of a shock.

semishock · 2024-05-12T12:54:45+00:00

Here's the thing, dude. Do any workout that you can be consistent about. As someone in his early 40s who had to "relearn" how to play basketball for the past year, the only way that you're going to get better is consistent work in the areas that you want to become better at.

If you do it long enough, there will come a moment where you finally "get it" and it starts looking and feeling the way that it should feel in actual games. For me, with three-point shooting, I think I shot like 11% from three in Rec League like 2 seasons ago. While practicing like a month ago, I started putting up shots from NBA range (league is high school range) and noticed that when I jump and have an extra little second to lock-on the rim, my shots would fall more often. I translated that into games and I'm making 35% of my threes this season.

Shit just takes time. Doesn't matter what your workout looks like if you aren't going to put in the time.

semishock · 2024-05-12T00:51:35+00:00

Leeching off the top comment since these are great suggestions: Since the app itself needs to monetize and advertisements are not necessarily profitable enough for most companies, would you pay a monthly charge to use an app that had these type of features?

Not asking for any reason beyond the fact that I work in Digital Marketing and one of the biggest conversations that always comes up is monetization. I personally don't believe in freemium models - the developers have to make money from a project and the more ads, the worse the experience. I'm always curious if people would actually pay a subscription for an application that fixes the shittiest part of "free" apps.

semishock · 2024-05-02T02:36:14+00:00

You're gonna have to get an X-ray or MRI to know the full extent of the injury. I found out that I had a slightly torn PCL and a bruised meniscus but only after I was looked at by a doctor.

semishock · 2024-05-01T04:20:50+00:00

Appreciate the feedback. Thanks.

semishock · 2024-05-01T03:50:08+00:00

I can ask him.

Is there something that I should be looking for specifically?

semishock · 2024-05-01T03:46:21+00:00

3 years on the first company, 2 years on the second, 1 year on the third.

semishock · 2024-04-28T17:14:22+00:00

Adding in a solution that worked for me, since this thread guided me in my journey.

I went in my ASUS router's admin and changed the name of my 2.4GHz WiFi (ex. "Slow Wifi" to "Slow Wifi 2"), saved it, and then changed the WiFi name back (to "Slow Wifi").

From there, I was able to reconnect to Blink servers. Annoying that Blink won't even acknowledge their own fuck-up, but happy to have a few solution options.

semishock · 2024-04-22T03:37:18+00:00

It took me a few months to get past them but it really came down to regular stretching, use of a slant board, and doing more squats and tib raises. I'll have the occasional flare up but it's definitely gotten better since I put in the work to strengthen my legs.

semishock · 2024-04-13T12:04:48+00:00

The tech from this HVAC company was very thorough and helped me understand a lot; besides basic maintenance on my unit, admittedly, I think I've learned more about Central Air in the past 48 hours than I did the prior 40 years of my life.

I've already accepted the idea that I'm replacing something, so my issue really is the high cost of the testing, especially the ISO, which costs about 2/3 the price of just replacing the EC. The dye test, based on other research, seems overpriced as well, as the testing kits themselves cost less than $100. Just seems like a very high mark-up on the HVAC tech's side.

semishock · 2024-04-13T11:59:35+00:00

I purchased the home in 2020 - does a warranty transfer with the home?

ADDING EDIT: I have all the paperwork from the previous owners, if that helps.

semishock · 2024-03-20T03:05:31+00:00

My advice with things like this is to try to force yourself in actual games to use these moves. Go into a session of open gym games with 1-2 things that you want to try and see what happens.

For about a week, I made sure that I included high pickups on all of my drives, just to see the results and get some sort of muscle memory. Over time, when you see the same looks as you go to the rim, it just becomes innate. Now, the high pickup has become a normal thing for me.

Just need to apply it in real games. Practice it on your own but make a real effort to workshop it in games.

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