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Damor

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Damor

  1. Damor

    Maui

    @Baboontyme, the Tripadvisor "forums" are a total beating, but it sounds like there is consensus that you can do better renting through one of the local island agencies than VRBO/AirBnB due to the fees and add on charges. I didn't pursue that much, though. I only really looked around Napili because that's where we wanted to stay, but there are several condo complexes around there that have a rental portal, though they aren't part of big resorts. Prices range from stupid to ludicrous.
  2. @Jerry Callo, I think we probably started on the same template for the phone contract. Here are a few more tweaks we made: -- I will never give anyone other than my parents my PIN code. If I choose to allow another person to use my phone, I will be held fully responsible for anything they do with it (messages, photos, searches, etc.) as though I had done it myself. -- I will never delete messages, emails, browser history, or anything else from this phone without a parent’s assistance. I will not try to be sneaky or devious about my activities. It doesn’t do any good, anyway, because nothing ever disappears from the internet. -- I will never give out personal details of myself or my family over the internet, and if asked for them, I will notify a parent immediately. -- I will always maintain enough battery (>15%) to use this phone as a tool for communicating with my parents, meaning that I cannot use it for entertainment, photos, schoolwork, or any other purposes below that battery level. -- I will not share pictures or videos of another person without asking for and receiving their permission. I will never use my phone or social media to bully or tease anyone, even if my friends think it’s funny. -- If I ever receive anything inappropriate or find myself in a place on the internet I do not belong, I will immediately notify a parent, show them the problem, and allow them to help me resolve the issue. I know that this will happen at some point and that I can come to them openly without fear of punishment. Now, if I try to fix it myself or hide, it… boy, look out. Ours are now 17 and 15 (boys), and over time they've gotten graduated privileges (often grudgingly), but they have managed them reasonably well (there will always be fuckups). We were very glad to have done the contract to have talking points to return to and to cease arguments and whining. And I'm sure Apple has an equivalent, but we used the Google Family Link app to limit their access to certain apps and set time limits both for apps and overall screen time until we eventually gave up on that. Probably the best thing that happened for their caution and awareness, though, was when one of my son's best friends got catfished via Insta to send pics... then got the blackmail threats. Nothing quite cements the lesson like hearing your buddy talk about getting interviewed by the FBI and Homeland Security, unfortunately.
  3. Damor

    Maui

    Thanks. Yeah, that one in particular, Die Hard, looks impressive but would probably be wasted on us. We've been out sailfishing at Isla Mujeres and had a blast, but aren't super serious. I'd think targeting Mahi wouldn't require the intensity of chasing marlin. Edit: Man, reading the Yelp and Google reviews on all these guys is an absolute beating. Once you get past the one-star reviews unreasonable people leave because they didn't catch anything, they all have at least a handful of legitimate sounding but sometimes conflicting negatives. Makes you wonder if they review bomb each other. I did find one, Like Try, with consistently excellent reviews; however, they damn well better since their 6-hr rate is $8250. I'll be leaving that to the Surly 0.1%, thanks.
  4. Damor

    Maui

    I started the dominoes falling for my older son's HS graduation trip. Going for two weeks at the end of June/early July. We've been to Maui twice before, but the first time was when we got married, and the second was 12 years ago, so it'll be quite a different agenda having two teenage boys as opposed to two under 5. We're going to stay on the west side at the Napili Surf Resort, so that should be good for days just hanging at the beach. Thus far on the agenda, we're planning on doing the Old Lahaina Luau with some family who will be along (holy shit, I forgot how expensive that is), a ton of restaurants (several shamelessly stolen from this thread), and renting snorkel gear to wander around to various beaches. We're renting a Jeep from a place called Bext, which I hope is as awesome as their reviews. They don't give you any pearl-clutching over where you go, so we're going to do the full road to Hana (we have never done the RTH) and I'd really like to do the Kahekili highway up north, probably making that a day of hiking/snorkeling in a loop. My BIL and his family with younger kids will be over there part of the time, and we were talking about doing a snorkel trip, probably either with Trilogy or Teralani. Anyone else I should look at? I'd read that Molokini gets a little overrated, thoughts on that vs. the west Maui spots? Never done one of these before. Anybody ever done any fishing out of Lahaina? There are several well-reviewed charters, which look like they range from laid-back to extremely hard core (leave at 2am kind of stuff). Primarily we'll have to decide if we want to do bottom fishing or go out deep for big pelagics. My older one has catching a Mahi Mahi on his bucket list, so that will figure into the equation. If anyone has any experience or advice, I'm all ears. Can't wait.
  5. Thanks very much. Dumb question, but first time I've done an overnight layover, so I appreciate the voice of experience. I'm thinking with a family of yahoos, checking through is probably safer. I did at least perform due diligence and find that we should be good to exploit the AMEX lounge for dinner/nightcaps and breakfast/bloody marys in between. Any reason to consider paying more for the Grand Hyatt over the Regency for a single overnight layover? I'm thinking no, since we'll be sharing the room with two stinky teenage boys.
  6. Dumb question amnesty, please, regarding an overnight layover. I just booked flights for the family from AUS to Maui via DFW (curiously, it was over 20% cheaper to do that than to drive to DFW to take the same direct flight from DFW --> OGG). We'll have an overnight layover between those departing flights, so I'm thinking I'll just book a room at one of the Hyatt hotels at the terminal. So I guess we just pack carryons with our possibles for that night, and go in and out of security for our stay? And our checked bags just hang out in the system overnight and submit to whatever fate awaits them? Seems a little weird, but obviously I'm not a jet-setter.
  7. Great Christmas all around here, but it's especially good to be Dog, It can be frustrating to have to wait... but good things come to puppers who do.
  8. Buncha culinarily gifted assholes on this site. This thread is both inspiring and intimidating. I don't consider myself much of a cook, but figured I'd try out a goose this year because why not? Longcat version is on the Turkey thread. It was also my HS senior's last Christmas under our roof, and we had my MIL for Christmas with us for the first time since our boys were tiny, so somehow over the course of the day this morphed from our usual buffet in PJs to my wife getting out her grandmother's china for the first time ever. Had a great time. Dry brined and roasted a goose which HEB actually had while being open: As my wife is a Miss St grad and my son has it on his short list, it was served Crossbones Style in honor and memory of Cap'n Leach: Roasted potatoes are always good (I like Kenji's Serious Eats version), but the goose fat absolutely took them to 11: Stole a recipe for Brussels sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts from Nigella Lawson: And finished with her Christmas Pudding recipe which nobody but me likes: That's fine, just means more Cointreau cream for me. Merry Christmas, assholes.
  9. Whew, been a long, fun day. But I think I've recovered just enough after a few fingers of Lagavulin on the back porch with Nick Offerman to post some pics. I'll spoiler the longcat version and put the rest of dinner in the Christmas Menu thread later, though that one is highly intimidating. Buncha gifted culinary assholes around here. The short version is that goose is fucking awesome. Just do it. Follow the Serious Eats instructions and you'll be good to go (though the gravy got mixed reviews). Turkey is great, especially for the larger crowd we have at Thanksgiving, but I'm going to indulge in goose at Christmas as much as possible from now on. And if I can do it, anyone can. Longcat version:
  10. In a decisive blow for the common man, I stuck it to those corporate greedmongers for a smooth $40.44. There will be no happy holiday slumber on Melody Lane this year, ha ha!
  11. Anybody roasted a goose? I decided that if somehow HEB was open and had one, I'd take it as a sign from The Universe that I should try it. So, unlikely as 'twas, here we are. I'm a dry brine spatchcock turkey guy, so feeling a little like a memorable disaster of epic proportion is on the horizon. There's not much online about spatchcocking geeses, but I'm guessing since the breast is darker meat there's less of a risk of drying it out vs. a turkey. There's a Serious Eats page that includes dry brining following blanching (another common theme), though it's not the usual Kenji level of nerd vetting. I've read a few different approaches online as well as Nigella Lawson's recipe. I'll probably piece something together by Christmas Morn that involves blanching, dry brining, Lawson's stuffing, and setting the kitchen on fire with a deluge of goose fat. And roasted potatoes, natch. The fortunate thing is that neither I or my family has had goose before, so if it's awful I can just tell them they are Philistines with no appreciation for the finer things whilst feeding the dog under the table. Links to some things I have found: Serious Eats NPR Somebody else who sounds like they know what they've at least learned the hard way
  12. Today was a good day to be Dog. ... or to be with Dog.
  13. We put in a 48" Blue Star cooktop thanks to the Shaggy/Surly hive mind. I'm a terrible cook, but I absolutely love it. I had to learn how to tweak the flow as I'm pretty sure my installer didn't know what he was doing, but it still gets hot AF. The simmer burner is great. The small griddle insert gets used all the time for grilled cheese/quesadillas (haven't ever used the grill insert). The custom colored knobs were stupid expensive but look great. Probably my favorite thing we did in the kitchen, although I feel a little bad for ruining my boys on their future shitty apartment stoves. And as far as electronics and shit, it was great to be able to manually light it and make chili during Snowmageddon.
  14. At this point, I think it would be just as effective and infinitely more cathartic to compile them into a montage to be shown at our final Big 12 press conference, set to "My Heart Will Go On," "The Way We Were," and whatever else we can come up with to fill the 3hr run time. Open to suggestions.
  15. Down to $70 today on Amazon from the usual $100. I've actually got the 2000amp version (also down from $200 to $150 today). If you have cars that love to eat batteries or kids who leave doors ajar/lights on, these things are awesome. So much simpler and more compact than jumper cables, and works as a USB power bank as well. My teenage drivers will be getting these as stocking stuffers.
  16. Today Rupp played with all the kids who love dogs, willingly kenneled for the olds who are skittish, went fishing with anyone who would take him, and made Thanksgiving everything it should be for a dog. He's pooped now. Good boy, Rupp.
  17. Yes, I do. I really do. I believe that.
  18. Dry brining for ~48h, hence the cheesecloth recommended by Kenji: @scottsins, I can't imagine a short dry brine would do any harm. I will say that I've been much happier with a dry brine in terms of simplicity and results.
  19. Just finished our yearly family screening. I'm one of those people who's awful about watching my favorite movies over and over, but this one gets limited to a single annual showing. And this is more for the homebrew thread, but tapped this at the opening scene: "To the wives."
  20. I'm not really sure if I should post this here or in the fishing thread, but I figure @troph will see it either way. Although we're far from sophisticates, we've gotten to be big fans of Joshua Been out of Salida, CO. He does some amazing work and is great to visit with, also does his own framing which cuts down on the decision making process for me. He paints a variety of things, but obviously centers on Colorado landscapes and outdoor stuff. He's also smart enough to know that visiting fly fishermen are prone to spend money on anything related to fly fishing. We've picked up several of his paintings over the last few years. Like most art, photos really do no justice to the textures and brush strokes, but here are a couple we got recently: He suckered me in with this fly fisherman: And my wife with this fly fisherwoman: If you're ever in the area (which you shouldn't be, because we're supposed to be keeping it secret), check him out.
  21. @Irwin F Fletcher, how about a bottle of beer made out of beer cans, and a counterpoint can of beer made out of bottlecaps?
  22. Girl dad talk not going away. (seriously, I salute y'all. Dunno how you do it.) Tonight my older son's senior football season came to an end in an OT heartbreaker. The same creature I carried to the NICU in my arms when he was born now required me to get up on my tiptoes to hug him. Same arms, same kid, same dad, but so much in between. I held on to that hug tonight a little longer than he'd have liked, but he indulged me. I didn't want to let go, but I had to. It was time. The reason everyone tells you that it goes fast is that they never really believed it would for them, just like you believe it won't for you. Damn.
  23. Damor

    Golf Cart Mods

    Bump. My EZGO RXV batteries are on their last legs, and I'm thinking about going to lithium. Anybody done the conversion? @Rivers, y'all are just parts, not installation, correct? Any thoughts on making the switch? My local shop sells factory lithium but doesn't do conversions.
  24. They should just cut out some of your colon and move it up there. Would make your burps smell fantastic. Don't google "colonic interposition." Or do, whatever floats your boat. Give it hell, SBB, RD, and any and all others unspoken who may be reading this thread. We love y'all (homo, no homo, whatever).
  25. Had been meaning to bump this myself. I had some time off a couple weeks ago and finally brewed for the first time since January. Making a Kölsch, a kinda bastardized Kölsch recipe from AHS that's going to get serrano peppers, and the AHS recipe Kwiek farmhouse ale (love that one) that's fermenting at ambient garage temperature. Very sad to hear about their storefront. I almost always order online from them, and wondered what the hell was up. Most of the stuff I've gotten in my last few orders has been Northern Brewer branded, and a lot has been packaged all wonky. I can't imagine they'd disappear entirely given their other affiliations, but I guess nothing is safe these days.
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