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othermike27

If you are into limited hoops (not too bad), see HM Bradley for 3% up to $100k. No time required each month, once setup. Per the HM Bradley website: "HMBradley rewards you for how you spend and save – not by how many zeros are in your account" OK, that may work well for some. But I wish t...

othermike27

I-bond inventories can easily be updated via TD. For paper bonds you build your inventory once, save it, and update when you want to do so. Easy as can be. The only date you have to enter is the date of the valuation report. Once the date is given, your report updates in a flash. Very comprehensive...

othermike27

I was just on the Citibank site within the last half hour and it worked as usual: the usual clunky interface and the usual "lucky you - you're special so we want to lend you some money" offer.

othermike27

When I was in HS my English teacher lived across the street from WOPA 1490 AM's (1 kW power) transmitter and had the same problem. When I was in HS a classmate lived across the street from that same radio station and claimed they could hear its programming emanating from their toaster at breakfast ...

othermike27

What's sad is that while I go out of my way to keep the internal cables are neat and pristine, everything coming out of the back of the PC is a tangled bird's net of wires. Four USB cables, two monitor cables, ethernet, plus analog speaker really isn't even that many cables, either. So many cables ...

othermike27

LadyGeek wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:08 am The result is a clean bundle of cables that looks like it belongs there.

Yes, but that's you. I stand in awe of people who can "neaten" stuff that I tend to just wad up and stuff somewhere. Wrapping presents is torture!

othermike27

I'm starting to wonder if I'm getting too OCD about my cable management. My PC is mostly running silently, and there are no obstructions to airflow, but I just can't leave well enough alone. I'm considering buying the following angled power adapters: 1. ATX 24Pin Female to 24pin Male 90 Degree Powe...

othermike27

We have just spent the past week enjoying two episodes per night of New Tricks - the program guide says there at least 12 seasons of this show. All have been cleverly written, funny and decent as mysteries. The brief is: Disgraced Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman leads a motley crew of retire...

othermike27

I'm also feeling the urge to reimage my laptop with a new version of Linux during the holiday break. Care to say from which version to which version? Motivations/preferences? I ask because my experience is limited to Mint, with some prior fiddling in Ubuntu. I've queued up iso files of a few others...

othermike27

So... there appears to be plentiful 5800X stock out there. It's been available on Amazon for over an hour now - apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks the pricing is stupid on them. I'd be tempted by a 5600X as an interim computer until DDR5 becomes standard & affordable 4-5 years from now...

othermike27

With Ryzen, everything I've researched says that the most common stability problem is a memory mismatch - either timings are too tight or it's undervolting. I read the same and that's why I opted for some ridiculously conservative RAM for my build. As I noted on page 1: RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2...

othermike27

For anyone still looking to buy a Ryzen 5000 series CPU, you might want to check your local MicroCenter if you have one. I just noticed that their suburban Chicago location had 18 5600X in stock as of ~10:20 AM today, 24 Nov. I note the time because when I refreshed the page 10-15 minutes later it w...

othermike27

For anyone still considering whether to cancel or renew a CSR card...

Doctor of Credit reports that some people have received retention offers of $150 (or even $250 in rare cases)

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/reader-g ... e-reserve/

othermike27

I completely missed that. I wonder if I can bring in my motherboard receipt from a couple weeks ago and count it as a bundle... Maybe. Over the years the store manager at Downers Grove has been good at price matches and similar moves if they carry the same gear. I appreciate that, so I always check...

othermike27

The Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB is on sale for $250 at Newegg, with Black Friday price protection (so you will be refunded if the price drops even further next week). And Newegg also has the 1TB version for $150. These prices match MicroCenter which has been running both the 1TB and 2TB versions at t...

othermike27

Just received an email from US bank about upcoming changes in benefits. They offer a couple of useless perks and then they take away auto rental collision damage waiver, extended warranty protection and purchase security. I guess they are following citi's lead. I think I need to double check to see...

othermike27

Just received an email from US bank about upcoming changes in benefits. They offer a couple of useless perks and then they take away auto rental collision damage waiver, extended warranty protection and purchase security. I guess they are following citi's lead. I think I need to double check to see...

othermike27

I think you would do well with a 3400G on a B550 motherboard, which would leave you with plenty of room for later upgrades if you feel the need. Good idea except AMD and the motherboard makers say it's not supported. https://www.amd.com/en/chipsets/b550 *Note: AMD B550 chipset is not compatible wit...

othermike27

Alliant CU is now at 0.55% - just announced this lower rate yesterday and they're pretty good about not dropping precipitously.

othermike27

So the thing that really struck me about the 5000 series benchmarks is that they are drawing even less power than the corresponding 3000 CPUs (which were already significantly more power efficient than equivalent Intel CPUs). It's the same 7 nanometer process - just with a far more refined architec...

othermike27

For a home/hobbyist environment, why might I want to run one or more Virtual Machines instead of just more processes on a conventional PC setup? I get that I could use a VM for several different applications (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVQmzaSabEQ) but I don't understand why one would prefer a ...

othermike27

But Apple has also shown that making a consumer a slave to the manufacturer's configuration results in major compromises on the hardware front, and their active attempts to kill independent repair seems inevitable given their control of the parts pipeline. Highly ironic that Apple, "the comput...

othermike27

ZMonet - Here are some resources that might help: https://www.lifewire.com/search?q=turn+on+a+computer+that+is+not+powering+on https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-beep-code-2625810 https://www.lifewire.com/post-test-card-2625964 Something new to me - the beep codes are unique to each BIOS supplier. L...

othermike27

... OtherMike27 and LadyGeek -- I see that my board does support a speaker (part 11 on the diagram). I ordered one off of Amazon and will have it tomorrow. Thanks! Maybe that will help me from troubleshooting blind. I'm hoping that the Asus beep codes are universal as I found this on a website. ......

othermike27

I am stumped on a computer problem I hope someone might be able to help me with. The other day my computer completely froze while using it. Before the freeze, the LED lights in one of the case fans flickering a little but nothing else. I tried resetting the power and the computer just kept power cy...

othermike27

My CSR annual fee of $550 is due later this month and because I didn't travel this year and likely won't be flying until late 2021 at the earliest, the card just isn't worth the AF, so I am considering either downgrading to the Sapphire Preferred ($95 AF) or just cancelling the card outright. I hav...

othermike27

I have been building my own PCs since 2008. A couple years ago I rebuilt one into a 9-drive NAS using the UnRAID OS. Although this system is in regular use holding backups of my other computers, I built it mostly for hobby interest/curiosity. I have been using Synology NAS units since 2011 and I'm ...

othermike27

I'm leaning toward building a budget NAS instead of buying one off the shelf, primarily to get a more capable rig with more future-proofing than Synology or QNAP offer at my pricepoint (around the $380 or so cost of a Synology DS418). ... This would be my first build, as to date I've only bought an...

othermike27

For the last couple years we have used a Bissell Air Ram. Battery lasts 30-40 minutes, easy to empty (but small) cannister, definitely sucks up particles on wood and laminate flooring. Surprised at how well this one worked out. Would not try to chase a Golden Retriever with one though.

othermike27

My "daily drinker" for G+T has been Bombay Sapphire for years. With plain old tonic - no designer brands in little bottles. But has to have a slice of generously squeezed fresh lime. For martinis, I'm happy to have Hendricks. For the second martini, maybe Tanqueray or even Beefeater's. For...

othermike27

Invest4lt wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 4:11 am So many great options (in order)
Botanist, St George, Monkey, Hendricks, Roku

Huh...I don't see the gin button on my Roku. Maybe it's an older model. Dang!

othermike27

I have seen enough anecdotal reports like this to be convinced that the system has leaks somewhere. Whether it's an inside job, re-use of an old card number, a bad actor making a lucky random guess, or something else doesn't really matter to me. I now assume that all open accounts, whether active or...

othermike27

In the last few weeks I have run into similar issues spreading out the proceeds of a house sale among CDs/online savings accounts. Alliant, the credit union I used to receive the house proceeds, limits ACH outgoing transfers to $25,000 per day, whether from savings or checking. They also still limit...

othermike27

Your picture does look at lot like the picture in the murder hornet article. I'd suggest that you notify your local agricultural extension office - early eradication of this pest could be very important. So, you think the picture in OP's post look like this one? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/u...

othermike27

I get these regularly now; it's just Chase trying to be helpful. The "new activity" usually turns out to be a scheduled end-of-month payment that reduced my total outstanding balance and therefore reduced my credit utilization %, causing the score to go up a couple points. My only concern ...

othermike27

But what happened? VG Help and customer service used to be so good! Did they offshore it like PayPal, Citibank et al? Partial answer to your original questions: it's not all offshore, unresponsive or incompetent. Yesterday, I got confused about the VG online instructions on how to roll back my full...

othermike27

I just finished my Barksdale signup, and can verify that it's open to family of active military (among others). Immediate family is usually defined as parents, spouse, siblings, children. So you should qualify. Did you see something that specifically said you can't? I didn't see a message saying &q...

othermike27

Barksdale looks like a good option to consider now that their field of membership is extended to veterans. Thanks for the pointer. [...] Membership available to, among others, military and family of current or former military (much like Navy Federal). I qualified for NFCU since my son is active mil...

othermike27

MikeG62 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:48 am Separately, are you wed to NFCU? Barksdale FCU has better CD rates (FWIW, I have CD's with both).

Barksdale looks like a good option to consider now that their field of membership is extended to veterans. Thanks for the pointer.

othermike27

Open a Alliant checking account. I'm happy with Alliant in every other respect, so this is probably the best solution for me. I have an open checking account there, and I'll just need to make sure any external links are set up with checking and not the savings account. It's easy enough and quick to...

othermike27

Many thanks to those, especially the regular posters, who keep this thread going. I have to deploy the proceeds of a house sale and I choose to use CDs for this purpose. But I have run into an irritating snag in actually carrying this out. Alliant CU still restricts a savings account to 6 transfers ...

othermike27

I slept through the whole thing. Unlike some of our fellow posters who seemed a bit lost without this forum.

Seriously, thanks to you LadyGeek (and your colleagues/minions) for keeping things running smoothly and harmoniously.

othermike27

OP - I suggest that you look up Tom Margenau's column "Social Security and You" on creators.com. No sales pitch for anything, plenty of facts and sage advice from an informed source on a sometimes complicated topic. Here is a link to his bio page from which you can follow on to a few recen...

othermike27

We have ooma, and just plugged ooma into the router and the telephone base unit into ooma and placed the cordless extensions throughout the house. We don't use the existing phone wiring/jacks at all. Although the router and ooma and telephone base unit are all on my desk, we can retrieve voice mail...

othermike27

...have read not so good things about infotainment and transmission. Bought a 2019 Pilot Touring for wife 2 years ago; very pleased with it. If you are referring to the early issues with the Touring's 9-speed transmission made by ZF of Germany, rest easy. During a test drive I was able to get the t...

othermike27

Normchad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 3:44 pm
Funny enough, the last picture at that link shows the caulk gun, with the puncture pin fully deployed.

Yes it does, but the first picture is a 360 view that shows no pin.

othermike27

Question: is there a method to reallocating some credit line to a new credit card from Chase? I have done exactly this on several occasions when adding another card or increasing credit limit in anticipation of heavy use/big purchase. You can also close a card and ask that the credit limit be trans...

othermike27

I am inclined not to share the quotes with them. Happy to hear other opinions. I go two rounds of quotes. I solicit a first round of OTD quotes by email from dealers giving them only enough info to complete the quote and to understand that if they don't satisfy my request, they have no chance to wi...

othermike27

To counter issues like this and others, I suggest two practices for all of us. First, monitor every open account regularly no matter how often/little you use it. We usually use 4 credit cards and have other accounts for travel or other purposes, but I review all open credit card accounts weekly. Ban...

othermike27

OP, you say, "... but I'm inclined to open a backup hub account." How would you use the backup hub? - replace: migrate all your links and business from USAA to the backup - duplicate: recreate all links at the backup so it functions as a true backup to USAA - divide: split links/business b...

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