The "I just bought..." thread.

[waffleironhead]

A new chimney sweep kit.
Getting tired of climbing onto the roof every year to do a cleaning of my chimney, I noticed they make these flexible kits that can easily go in from the bottom.
Wood burner wasnt drawing very well, so checked the chimney and realized it needed a mid winter clean. Its been so warm the heater has been low burning and causing a lot more creosote than usual.
This is very flexible and uses weed trimmer line and a drill to spin fast and knock creosote off the chimney walls.
Damn if this thing didnt work well. Started in the basement and fed it section by section up the chimney. No more climbing onto the roof for me.

VIVOHOME 33 FT Chimney Sweep Cleaning Brush Tool Kit Rotary with 10 Reinforced Nylon Flexible Rods Snap Locking 45 Degree Angle Driven by Drill for Fireplace Flue Home Use (amazon.com)

 

[MrSquished]

I got two new but faulty NUC units in a row and said screw it, I'll just build another box. Everything but the HSF arrived today (that should be here Monday).
I picked out a higher wattage PSU so that I don't have to worry about power if I add a GPU later. Besides, the 750W was only $10 more than the same 550W haha.

EDIT: I ordered a cheap GPU today, AsRock Challenger Intel ARC a380 6GB, it should be here next week. Not planning on gaming, but pushing dual 4K HDR displays, one of them being the TV. It'll be overkill for that use but I figured the iGPU might struggle with that if playing high bitrate video, etc.
View attachment 76673View attachment 76674

I had been thinking about shopping out a pair, but I only have one useable eye so I've been hesitant. Selection of available monoculars in my price range is far slimmer, heh.

You tried looking at B&H for monoculars? They do carry them and had a pretty good binoc selection so check them out if you havent

 

[Pohemi]

You tried looking at B&H for monoculars? They do carry them and had a pretty good binoc selection so check them out if you havent

Yeah I did. B&H, Adorama, and a few other camera and optical shops. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I actually looked at a few pairs of astro-binocs (like Celestron) because most of the lower end monoculars I looked at did not have inifinte focus length (they'd be no good for looking at the night sky). I have a cheap mono now and it can't even bring the moon into focus.

 

[NutBucket]

 

[Red Squirrel]

A new chimney sweep kit.
Getting tired of climbing onto the roof every year to do a cleaning of my chimney, I noticed they make these flexible kits that can easily go in from the bottom.
Wood burner wasnt drawing very well, so checked the chimney and realized it needed a mid winter clean. Its been so warm the heater has been low burning and causing a lot more creosote than usual.
This is very flexible and uses weed trimmer line and a drill to spin fast and knock creosote off the chimney walls.
Damn if this thing didnt work well. Started in the basement and fed it section by section up the chimney. No more climbing onto the roof for me.

VIVOHOME 33 FT Chimney Sweep Cleaning Brush Tool Kit Rotary with 10 Reinforced Nylon Flexible Rods Snap Locking 45 Degree Angle Driven by Drill for Fireplace Flue Home Use (amazon.com)

That looks interesting, I'll want to get something like that too once I get my wood stove going. Between work and life I just never have time to work on the install so it's been slow progressing.

 

[snoopy7548]

Aside from all the parts to build my new gaming PC (been out of the loop for longer than I'd like to admit), I just ordered the Dell S3422DWG monitor. Should be a good upgrade from the 2407WFP I bought in 2006...

 

[Geekbabe]

Groceries! Love Amazon Fresh!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Groceries! Love Amazon Fresh!

I finally realized what I am missing in my life. Some Mott's apple sauce, individual containers.

So I surf over to Amazon, OK, they have Cinnamon (variety) as well as regular. Not too expensive. One of each 36 ct. packages adds up to $38.xx, free ship.

EBT Eligible. Check my EBT acct. online, $61.xx. Amazon says, "Payment authorization needed", even after I put in what I'm pretty certain is my EBT PIN.

What's going on here? I only have very little in my debit card acct., which is also on the order.

I've got another order that I paid for with EBT, or so I thought, that took like 2-3 weeks to fulfill.

I assume that it debited the EBT account immediately when I did the transaction, but it was $33, if it didn't debit immediately for that transaction, but will be scheduled to be debited next week, then that's why I can't order the applesauce, because the total of both orders is like $70+. (*)

(*) Hmm, but between my EBT balance and debit card balance combined, this should be OK. I wonder..

Darn it. Should this go in the FWP thread instead?

Edit: I had $28 remaining, in EBT, theoretically, if the other order for drinks hadn't come out yet, so I placed another order for the motts for $24.xx and a couple other EBT-eligible food filler items (snack pack puddings), for a total EBT of less than $28, and it went through OK.

Interestingly, thought, when I searched for "motts applesauce", the cheaper non variety-pack item of 36 cups for $12 or $14 didn't even show up.

So, it's inconclusive, was I charging too much (even though my balance was showing $61), or did they sell out of one of the items while I was checking out, so the order wouldn't go through, because I didn't have enough in my debit card acct. for the other motts, if the EBT-elegible one sold out. Hmm.

 

[Kaido]

I got a knockoff hydroponics setup:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DLMRKHM

Plus a book on hydroponics:

Amazon.com

I've killed every plant I've ever had (most recently my beloved Venus fly trap, RIP buddy!). I've been meaning to get into hydroponics for awhile & finally bit the bullet on the pre-Prime-day-whatever sale they had the other day. It has 12 slots. My goals so far include:

1. Mint
2. Cilantro
3. Basil
4. Sage
5. Oregano
6. Rosemary
7. Tarragon
8. Parsley
9. Thyme
10. Dill
11. Chives
12. Leaf celery



View attachment 69305

I inherited a Space Tomato today! Short version is NASA has been sending tomato seeds up to space for awhile now & then letting school kids grow them:

Tomatosphere™: Sowing the Seeds of Discovery through Student Science

Home base on the moon. Boot prints on Mars. Visits to asteroids. With the world’s spacefaring nations looking beyond the space station to envision human missions to increasingly distant destinations, scientists have already begun to tackle the many challenges of sending humans farther and...

www.nasa.gov

Fun facts:

* The seeds were weightless for a month
* They orbited the earth 500 times
* They travelled over 10 million miles!

You Can Grow Tomatoes from Seeds That Flew in Space!

Tomatosphere, a Space Station Explorers partner program, is looking forward to a big year. Through this award-winning, curriculum-driven free program, K–12 students investigate how the space environment affects tomato seeds’ germination and growth. More than 3 million students in North America...

www.issnationallab.org

A local school had some sprouts from the extra space seeds looking for a home, so I added one to my LED growlight setup. I will probably 3D print a Groot planter using Wood PLA to house it in, plus I have a separate bendy growlight I can use as it gets bigger. It tickles me to know this plant grew from seeds that went to SPACE!

Also, I attended a Freight Farms training session recently, which is a company just north of me that makes hydroponic shipping container farms that can operate from -40F to 130F. You can grow 3 acres of food using 5 gallons of water per day! The system design is OUTSTANDING! Unit cost is $150k. They have over 600 installations to date, from Alaska to Dubai. The only food it can't grow is trees (ex. fruit trees) due to their size. There are lots of crop options; a single unit can produce 700 heavy heads of lettuce in just 5 weeks, year-round! (or 1,450 small heads on a 3-week schedule!) More complete crop guide here.

 

[SKORPI0]

Ordered Feb 2nd, arrived Feb 22 via Google-Fi. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Black, 512GB for $1199.99 with $600 less by transfering my Google-Fi phone# from a Note 20 Ultra 5g (128GB) with a
512GB microSD card to this S23 Ultra (512GB) no microSD slot. I will be keeping the Note 20 Ultra (early Jan 2021) as well as a Note 9 512GB. (Dec 2018).
Bought this Case Slide Lens Kickstand Cover to protect it.

 

[IronWing]

So, it’s a phone?

 

[SKORPI0]

So, it’s a phone?

Yes, with Android 13.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Yes, with Android 13.

Update it quickly to 14 whenever possible. That version is jinxed!

 

[Fenixgoon]

I bought a bunch of Warhammer minis because I'm overseas and they are way cheaper than the US

 

[NutBucket]

Peak 90's boombox:

]

 

[sdifox]

Peak 90's boombox:

]

Why?

 

[NutBucket]

1. Wanted one as a kid, couldn't afford it.
2. I still listen to FM and CDs 99% of the time.
3. Got for what I believe is a good price so should be able to flip it.

 

[herm0016]

2 more VP racing not gas cans.

Discount Tire | Tires and Wheels for Sale | Online & In-Person

www.discounttire.com

continental control contact
and I got a screw in one in less than 50 miles. GD.

 

[sdifox]

1. Wanted one as a kid, couldn't afford it.
2. I still listen to FM and CDs 99% of the time.
3. Got for what I believe is a good price so should be able to flip it.

I am not even sure you can find those things in salvation army. Maybe flea market. I think I have three aets of mini components in the basement.

 

[NutBucket]

"Vintage" boomboxes are a thing, especially the high-end ones.

 

[sdifox]

"Vintage" boomboxes are a thing, especially the high-end ones.

Just because something is old doesn't make it good.

<--- shakes head at LP revival.

 

[NutBucket]

Don't get me started on LPs. Love those too. But I'm also a curmudgeon hence I still buy CDs.

 

[Red Squirrel]

These were all the rage when I was a kid. I had a similar but more basic boombox I got for my birthday or Christmas, don't remember. The dual tape drive was a real hit, you could make mix tapes from other tapes or copy tapes etc. Mine didn't have CD but I eventually did get one with a CD player too.

I had a friend that had one of those big silver rectangle ones with the detachable speakers, it took like 32 D cell batteries (ok maybe not that much but it sure felt like it when you were putting them in), that thing was a beast and I was always so jealous of him.

I kinda have a sweet spot for older tech now, they're not making anymore of these things, so whatever I do have left that is old I keep. Most of the stuff from my childhood I don't have and wish I had kept, but I do have a couple tape decks, VCR, CRT TVs etc that I've gathered over the years. I don't really go out looking for this stuff but if someone is about to throw it out, I take it. Better in my crawlspace than in a landfill.

I had one of those Talkboys from Home Alone too, I really don't remember what I did with that thing. I was a lot into tape recorders and radios and stuff as a kid.

 

[SKORPI0]

Peak 90's boombox:

]

http://www.wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=Panasonic+RX-DT75

 

[NutBucket]

http://www.wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=Panasonic+RX-DT75

Agreed maybe not absolute top of the line but close enough for what I paid. No complaints!