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iodeac

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Posts posted by iodeac

  1. 75,000 in attendance for the CharlotteFC v LA Galaxy match right now on Fox. Wow. 
    I was there and it was amazing. There's a video on Twitter, but the sound went out during the national anthem and the entire crowd joined in to sing it. One of the coolest things I've ever been a part of.

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  2. I love short stories, period.  I think King's shorts are some of his best work.
    I was thinking about Quitters Inc the other day and just the idea of something like that actually existing.

    Another one that's always stuck with me is The Things They Left Behind which is really moreso about survivor's guilt from 9/11. Really well done though

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  3. finished It.  the end made me sad. the characters’ forgetting in the story and also just the culmination of my journey as the reader. what a fever-dream of a novel.
    I know 11/22/63 has been recommended as a follow-up to It but based on other things I’ve read here I think I will pick up Skeleton Crew for “The Jaunt” and also want to read Salem’s Lot as well. How does Cujo stack up to his better novels? Who doesn’t like dogs?
    Don't know if I've posted on this thread before but The Jaunt is one of those short stories that's always stuck with me. Hope you like it.

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  4. I was thinking about getting the Oculus since I need some motivation to exercise when the weather is bad. Should I get the version with more memory, and what other accessories should I get?

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  5. Meant to post this earlier but if you're one of those people who gets into the actual story, you need to make sure to listen to the beginning stage music of each Divine Beast. There's an SOS morse code embedded into the soundtrack, like the champions were trying to call for help once Ganon took control of the beasts. I think Mipha's is the first beast you visit and she activates her SOS first. Poor thing

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  6. The smoke detectors in our house are over 10 years old and they need to be replaced. The old ones are Firex, with a harness that plugs into it from the back. All 5 of them are hardwired into the circuit. We bought some combo fire/carbon monoxide detectors yesterday from Lowes and the mounting and harness are all different, but i think it's a different brand. I guess I assumed they would be universal. I'd really like to avoid redoing all the mounting, I was hoping to just buy some new ones and screw them right onto the plastic. Any ideas? 20220131_160236.jpg

     

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  7. Wow, what a fun trip - just got back from a long "weekend" in Bogota.  We didn't have enough time to get out of the city, but we had a blast.  Wife and I flew down from DC for four days - enough time to explore the city a little, hit some highlights, eat like crazy, and chill some.  A few brief highlights/notable takeaways:
    • Realizing a local guide we met was born the day Escobar was killed - she was 28 (?) and had never lived a day in Colombia with Pablo Escobar alive.  Things are and have been changing so much for the better.
    • Hearing said young lady say she could climb Monserrate in 45 minutes "with effort".  I hauled my ass up there in 50 - seeing as I live at 1,000 feet I was ok with that
    • Drinking beer in the shade on top of Monserrate on a clear day
    • Appetizer, 2 entrees, 3 glasses of wine and 3 beers at a pretty nice restaurant for $45
    • Lunch for 2 on the street near the universities for $2.50
    • La Ciclovia (70+ miles of city streets closed for bikes, or just about anything else)
    • Watching a cab driver manage 4 mounted cell phones in crazy traffic (dudes hustle)
    I'm sure I'm forgetting some other noteworthy things, but the point is - it was great.  We decided on a whim - cheap flight, a few days to spare, what the hell...  and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  I'd also love to see more and get around to other cities and such, but even if you just have a few days and happen upon cheap tickets - think hard about going.  It's safe enough, and with just a few pointers it's even more comfortable.
    It's a big world, but I'd like to go back someday.
    So jealous. I think about our trip every day and I feel like I have to get back again sometime this year. How much were your flights if you don't mind me asking?

    Glad you got a great view of Monserrat, we saw it at night which was pretty cool too. It was a little chilly so we opted for agua de panela. Glad you enjoyed your trip, it's a great city.

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  8. Never met anyone that hasn't been blown away by their trip to Colombia.   Impressed at those who walked up Monserrate.   We walked down it which was nice because it was a constant fantastic view. 
    How's the covid scene in Colombia?   Masks, vaccination requirements etc?

    If I find a cheap flight I might head down.   Directly to Medellin and then to the coffee region.   I think Bogota and Cartagena are on time visits.  Although I would like to make it over to the National Park near Santa Marta
    With regard to wearing masks, everyone wears them, whether inside or outside. I felt safer there than here in NC and we both tested negative before coming back to the US, as did my other friend who came back a week later.

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  9. I just signed up for the HBO Max free trial through Youtube TV just to watch Station 11, and it's not coming up in the list of shows to add.  Everything else is there, like The Leftovers, The Wire, Euphoria, basically everything else.  Anybody else run their HBO Max through Youtube TV and experiencing the same thing?

  10. Agree with all your points.  We were constantly blown away by how cheap everything was.  A full course meal with drinks and appetizers cost basically nothing, souvenirs were cheap too.

    Agree about the countryside, we loved it. It was so much fun pulling into the paradores and buying bread, soda, crazy snacks, almohabanas, all that kind of stuff.

    It's crazy to me that Medellin has such a better infrastructure than the capital Bogota with its 8 million people or so. 

    While we were there we heard a lot of commentary about how Venezuelans coming into the country had increased crime.  It was very common in Bogota to see Venezuelans pulling these huge carts at night, collecting trash where they would go sell recyclable stuff later.  I was on Reddit Colombia the other day and someone had posted a video of a Youtuber from Canada, who basically did everything touristy you weren't supposed to do, and ended up getting a gun pointed at her in Santa Marta.  I still feel like as long as you're aware of surroundings, don't hold your cellphone out in front of everyone, travel with people you know, etc then you should be fine.

    Still considering another trip, this time to Bucaramanga in late February

  11. Wife and I just got back from Bogotá yesterday, we spent about 5 days there at a house of a friend of mine that I've gotten to know through Facebook who is actually dating a really good friend of mine here in Charlotte.  We stayed at her house where she lives on the bottom floor, and her sisters and mom live upstairs.  The house was really cool, it had a rooftop to view the fireworks over New Year's and kind of like a courtyard-type area on the bottom floor, it was awesome.

    It was my wife's first time being in Colombia and she fell in love with it just as much as I did last year when I went to Medellín, and for some of the same reasons.  She loved the vibe and energy of the country, and how nice everyone was.  We took side trips to Pueblito Boyacense as well as Villa de Leyva, and I got to see much more of the countryside than I did last year.  We ate a ton of food including lots of arepas, empanadas, buñuelos, and ajiaco just to name a few.

    I love how polite and courteous Colombians are, everywhere we went, people were friendly and you constantly heard "con gusto", "con permiso", "a la orden", etc.  People there don't have these attitudes you find often here in the states.  We were also blown away by the hospitality of my friend's family.  They bent over backward to make us feel welcome, including cooking a ton of food on New Year's Eve, and they had a ton of presents for us.  We kinda knew they would going in, so we bought some stuff for them, but they even cooked a huge dinner the night we left and had more things to give us. 

    I'm definitely looking forward to going back as soon as I can.  Everyone there wears masks, inside and outside, and I felt a lot safer there than here as far as Covid is concerned. The tests were quick and easy and we got our results back in about 4 hours.

    Also, I went to Wake and after what A&M pulled with our bowl game, Jimbo and the rest of that school can fuck off.

     

     

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  12. 15 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

    Update: Colombia is fucking awesome. We ended up staying an extra week.

    If you’ve been kicking around a Latin/South America trip, you should make sure it’s to Colombia.

    Tell me more about your trip.

  13. Watched this tonight thanks to [mention=1806]MirrOlure[/mention] in the Netflix thread. 
     
    Shit, that was good. 
    I think I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have when I watched it a year ago. Watched it again with my wife recently and it's really stuck with me. Have watched the shootout scene by itself many more times on YouTube. Just a beautifully shot movie. I've been debating whether to start Yellowstone just because it's the same person

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  14. This might be a long post but after working around a bunch of Hispanic coworkers in 2017, I set myself to finally learn Spanish. I took a year of it in college back in 96 and loved it, but never continued with it like I should have, so I basically just threw myself into it about 5 years ago. I'm not 100% fluent on a native speaker level but can understand almost any conversation and hold my own. Here's some of what helped me:

    Duolingo is a good entry level app, they make it user friendly and non-threatening for first-timers. It's good for vocabulary but will never help you become fluent by itself. I also disagree with some of the changes the app has made over the years.

    Find a Meetup group. Being in Dallas, there should be plenty and it's a great way to meet new people. Here in Charlotte there are at least three just for Spanish, and I had my own for about 4 years in a neighboring town and decided to end it this year.

    Try to buy an old Spanish textbook or maybe a workbook online. It's one of the tools I used to teach myself grammar, tenses, etc.

    Change your phone settings to Spanish ASAP. I did this five years ago and it helps a ton.

    Try to listen to a bunch of Spanish music. I love the Cafe Con Leche playlist on Spotify. Watch movies and series on Netflix. I really liked Distrito Salvaje for example.

    Podcasts are great. I started with Notes in Spanish and I still listen to it. They have podcasts at the beginner, intermediate and advanced level. The Españolistos podcast from Spanishland is great too. No Hay Tos is a good one too, but there are tons more out there.

    Maybe enroll in an online program. I love Spanishland School, the owners are amazing people and they do immersion trips to Colombia. I went in early 2020 before the pandemic hit and didn't want to come back.

    The most important thing is that you have to and I mean really have to practice. Find opportunities to speak to people in Spanish whenever you can. Keep in mind that if you're at a restaurant or other place of business they might not be as conversational as you'd like because they have jobs to do, but at least try. It really does go a long way.

    On that note, you should also think about private classes once a week or so. Italki is great and I have a tutor I'm really good friends with, when I go to Bogotá next week we're actually going to meet up. Really looking forward to it.

    If you have the money, I would also look into Baselang. For about $150 monthly you have access to an unlimited number of classes with lots of different teachers. Other than moving to a Spanish speaking country, it's probably the next closest thing to immersion. Having a few sessions a week will really make you improve fast.

    The most important thing and the thing I feel holds people back the most is that you absolutely cannot be afraid to make mistakes. I know lots of people who are really smart but have held themselves way back simply by being perfectionists and/or being afraid to make mistakes. It's part of the process, and literally noone is going to make fun of you for making mistakes.

    Feel free to pm me with any questions. I'm still kicking myself for not majoring in Spanish and studying abroad. Spanish is probably one of my favorite things now and you can probably tell I'm pretty passionate about it. Good luck, it's a really rewarding journey. Also, the first time you dream in Spanish it will blow your mind.





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  15. Never played Mass Effect before and was thinking about taking the plunge with the newest edition which includes all 3 games, DLC, and is remastered in 4K.   About how long should it take to finish all 3 games, and what should I know or avoid going in?  Just from some of the trailers I watched, the game looks huge.

  16. Hope you don't mind a lurker posting, but this forum is full of helpful info so I thought I might check here.  Recently someone used my credit card number and billing address to make an online purchase on Hollister.  Apparently they created an account, used my billing address, used a different email address, and the craziest thing is that the mailing address they provided is in the middle of a parking lot in front of a grocery store about 3 miles from my house.

    When I noticed the transaction about a month ago, I filed a dispute and closed the card   I just got correspondence from Citi today that after they checked with the merchant they are reversing the temporary credit.

    The mailed correspondence also had an attestation saying I didn't make the charges, with a blank to add signature and date, so I scanned it and emailed back to them.  I'm hoping this means they'll take the loss themselves since the merchant is basically saying the dispute is invalid because as far as they're concerned, I was the one who made the purchase.

    I googled the mailing address that the merchant provided, which according to Google maps is right in the middle of a parking lot.  I was also able to use the tracking info the merchant provided to go to the Fedex website and found that the stuff was shipped from Ohio, made it to my state (NC) and was sent back to Ohio because the address wasn't valid.  The thing I'm confused about is why would they provide that address, since it would defeat the purpose of using my credit card in the first place...unless it was to test the waters.  Shortly after another purchase was made online from Armani, so that one is still under dispute.

    This is pretty new to me, so I'm wondering how this process normally plays out.   I was surprised to learn it was someone from my small town apparently, I figured someone would have found my card info somewhere online and from a different state would have used it to make fraudulent purchases.

    Sorry for the long post, but any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

  17. I just kept hearing the announcers talking about NCST going to the championship game.  Shows how close I was paying attention to them.
    Anytime UNC loses a heartbreaker it's a great day, especially after having to endure all the UNC/Mack is Back nonsense at the start of the year.

    Been a great season for us Deacs, hope we can get the W tomorrow and play for the ACC title.

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  18. Medellin for eight days with 3 small kids is a terrible idea isn’t it?
    Medellín is an amazing city but the idea of trying to get around it with three small kids is a little intense.

    My wife and I are going to Bogotá in late December with a friend of ours. He's dating someone who lives there and we're staying with her family for about 5 days, my friend is staying a little longer. I really can't wait to go back, should be fun spending New Year's there too.

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  19. Has anyone had an issue with the Netflix app where the color fades in and out periodically? It just started a few days ago, so far I think it's only the Netflix app and not my TV. Will probably reset the TV and reinstall the app to see if that fixes it. Thanks!

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  20. Surprised at the paltry attendance at Wake, undefeated team with exciting offense should warrant a larger crowd.  
    The game was officially a sellout. Our student body is around 4k and stadium size is around 35k I believe, so we actually had a pretty decent crowd given our record and ranking. Tomorrow should be historic since I don't think we've ever been ranked in the top 10

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