OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[FearlessF]

hah, since it's a rainy day, won't be driving the vette for a couple daze

[utee94]

hah, since it's a rainy day, won't be driving the vette for a couple daze

You sure? Could be fun!

[FearlessF]

could be fun but,........ I'm sure

[Brutus Buckeye]

You could do some pretty mean donuts. 

[CatsbyAZ]

I must say that for as much as my Millennial Generation likes to rip on our parent's Boomer Generation, all credit to Boomer men for having mature interests: golfing, wineries, classic rock, country clubs, breweries, yacht clubs, motorbikes, traveling Europe, tailgating, rifles…

Now take the accepted interests of my generation. The guy in the picture below is roughly my age – a millennial who is a few years older than myself. Lately he’s been crashing out about himself on his YouTube channel, and without labeling it so, hitting a mid-life crisis. His wife hasn’t left him, but she flies off to so many yoga retreats in the Tampa area that everybody wonders the obvious: whether it’s all a cover for her finding a new man.

So how is this guy coping with his mid-life crisis? Buying a sports car? Carrying on an affair with a waitress at a country club? Signing up for a Blue Origin flight? Surfing?

He’s dropping thousands of dollars on Pokemon and Magic the Gathering cards, hoping to find rare cards while he films himself unboxing the latest decks of cards he’s bought:

[jgvol]

I must say that for as much as my Millennial Generation likes to rip on our parent's Boomer Generation, all credit to Boomer men for having mature interests: golfing, wineries, classic rock, country clubs, breweries, yacht clubs, motorbikes, traveling Europe, tailgating, rifles…

Now take the accepted interests of my generation. The guy in the picture below is roughly my age – a millennial who is a few years older than myself. Lately he’s been crashing out about himself on his YouTube channel, and without labeling it so, hitting a mid-life crisis. His wife hasn’t left him, but she flies off to so many yoga retreats in the Tampa area that everybody wonders the obvious: whether it’s all a cover for her finding a new man.

So how is this guy coping with his mid-life crisis? Buying a sports car? Carrying on an affair with a waitress at a country club? Signing up for a Blue Origin flight? Surfing?

He’s dropping thousands of dollars on Pokemon and Magic the Gathering cards, hoping to find rare cards while he films himself unboxing the latest decks of cards he’s bought:

Is that the douche' that runs "The Quartering"?  

[betarhoalphadelta]

So I brewed a roggenbier on Sunday. A roggenbier is a rye beer that is brewed with a hefeweizen yeast, so while it's not a hefeweizen (b/c it uses rye instead of wheat) I've often called my a heferyezen... 

All was well. Got everything chilled to pitch the yeast. Yesterday I could hear the airlock bubbling away... And not just bubbling away, it was staccato like machine gun fire... Clearly the fermentation was kicking ass. 

Well...

I wake up this morning and go out into the garage and thought it odd that I couldn't hear the airlock. And then realized that there was a big area of wet floor between the fermentation fridge and the garage door. And thought... "WTF happened? Did the blowoff go out the blowoff tube and leak?"

Nope. Apparently something got plugged up and the pressure of the CO2 building up, pushed my fermenting beer right out of the fermenter through the racking cane. So I had a fridge full of spilled beer, a floor full of spilled beer, and a nearly-empty fermenter. 

So 5ish hours of work on Sunday (in a hot garage), all the cost of ingredients, and a mess I spent this morning cleaning up, and I've got nothing to show for it. 

[Cincydawg]

Shucks.

[SFBadger96]

Oof. And now you'll have to bring all that charm to parties, instead of beer.

[utee94]

That sucks, bwar.  Love of the game, right?

On a related note, Live Oak Brewing in Austin makes an absolutely delicious roggenbier.

[FearlessF]

fuck it dude, let's go bowling

[Cincydawg]

About three years ago, I "inherited" my wife's iPad.  I had an old one, this one was better, slimmer, etc.  She had dropped it and cracked the screen, repair was $$$, she bought a new one, I used the cracked one, worked fine, until yesterday when it stopped charging.  So, any advice for a new one?  They seem pretty cheap these days.

I don't look forward to regenerating my old apps, but whatever.  My primary use is reading books on Libby and occasional surfing.

[FearlessF]

I got nothin

I am grumpy that the battery in my work laptop died.
I tried to convince the computer guy at the company to simply send a new battery
he says he needs it back in his shop to try to get a warranty repair

so, I'll be forced to set up a different laptop with all my stuff - GRUMPY

[betarhoalphadelta]

About three years ago, I "inherited" my wife's iPad.  I had an old one, this one was better, slimmer, etc.  She had dropped it and cracked the screen, repair was $$$, she bought a new one, I used the cracked one, worked fine, until yesterday when it stopped charging.  So, any advice for a new one?  They seem pretty cheap these days.

I don't look forward to regenerating my old apps, but whatever.  My primary use is reading books on Libby and occasional surfing.

With iTunes, you probably don't have to do very much to regenerate your apps... As long as everything is synced with your iCloud account, it should reload them when you log into the account on the replacement iPad. That said, I'm an Android guy and I haven't replaced my phone in a LONG time (it's a Pixel 5), so YMMV. But when my wife has replaced her iPhone, it was a pretty seamless process re: apps. 

Based on what you say about your usage, I don't think you'd need an iPad Pro or Air. Base model should be fine. Beyond that, all I'd say is that if you're looking to save a little, to look at previous generation or refurbished. 

Analogies:

• For the "last generation", one of the things I used to say 30 years ago in HS selling computers at Best Buy is that often the best "deal" was one step below state of the art. Because there are a group of people who pay outsidized premium for the latest and greatest, which often only has marginal improvement over one step down. I.e. the numbers don't matter, but let's say that a new model is 5% more capable than the previous. Consumers will pay a 10, 15, or 20% premium for that 5% just to have the latest and greatest. Take one step back and you get the savings while not giving up much capability.
• For refurbished, I find it similar to the used vs CPO market for cars. A "used car" bought from a non-affiliated dealer or private party, you don't really know the history or condition. There could be gremlins looming. CPO, on the other hand, *has* gone through some inspection and vetting processes. Of course gremlins may still exist (as they can with a brand new car off the lot), but you have at least a little bit of trust that people have followed a process to reduce the likelihood. Refurbished electronics are more like CPO--they've been inspected, repaired [if necessary], and gone through some level of functionality testing to make sure they work. And often refurbished electronics will carry at least some sort of reduced warranty, or at least a 30 day return policy, such that if it craps out quickly because they missed something, you at least have SOME recourse. 

Finally, if you prefer to buy new, just go to Costco. And choose the lowest amount of flash on offer. For what you say you do on it, there's no need to pay up for anything but the lowest cost base model iPad.