EsteeBestee's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee Link ParentWell, you can recommend it to me because it’s already on my wishlist and I’m just waiting for a spare weekend to play it. I’m looking forward to it!Well, you can recommend it to me because it’s already on my wishlist and I’m just waiting for a spare weekend to play it. I’m looking forward to it!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee LinkI haven’t had much time for games lately, but I’ve been putting some more time into Euro Truck Simulator 2 since it’s so easy to pick up and play for anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours. I finally...I haven’t had much time for games lately, but I’ve been putting some more time into Euro Truck Simulator 2 since it’s so easy to pick up and play for anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours. I finally picked up the Greece DLC and then made a delivery to Lesbos in my lesbian flag painted truck, lol. I’m excited for the upcoming DLC that adds more of the Nordic countries! The game is just perfect for me when I wanna talk to friends and play something light. You can go full sim in this game and use a wheel and pedals and stuff, but it’s a perfect controller game for me.
I’ve also been continuing with Assassin’s Creed Mirage. I think I mentioned last week that I like it a lot and I like that it’s a pretty focused game and a good way to vibe with some ancient culture. I could play games of this style basically forever.
I still need to go back and beat Dragon Age Veilguard, but I’ve just not been in the mood for a bigger game right now. I reckon I’m about 2/3 of the way through.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee Link ParentThanks for the write up, I think I have to check out both of those games!Thanks for the write up, I think I have to check out both of those games!
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Comment on What low-stakes drama is going on in your circles right now? in ~talk
EsteeBestee Link ParentThe 2019 bit is that we're a relatively young company (only about 12 years old) and 2019 was one of our good years where we had substantial growth and our leadership is apparently connecting that...The 2019 bit is that we're a relatively young company (only about 12 years old) and 2019 was one of our good years where we had substantial growth and our leadership is apparently connecting that with working in the office vs work from home instead of, y'know, the million other factors. We're actually doing fairly well financially right now too and he wants to force us all back into a cramped office where we are guaranteed to get less work done, but he somehow thinks that putting us in a room and making us be friends will make us produce "the best work of our lives" (the best work of my life has been ever since I went work from home lmao). He's so fucking privileged and out of touch and just doesn't know what problems normal people deal with. We have to consider commutes because we don't work 7am to 7pm like a psychopath, we have to pay for child care, we're already dealing with so much stress from politics and the economy in the US and they picked now to make us work in an office? It sucks, but I'm trying to make the best of it because I'm still more privileged than the majority of americans and I try to keep that in mind. Not that I'm not entitled to my own problems, too, but at least I'm in a position where I can be looking for a house and not stuck renting forever, for example.
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Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk
EsteeBestee LinkIt was finally warm enough outside to do some minor work on my Subaru. I replaced spark plugs and wires and it's running a bit better now! I also just got new Falken tires today for it. It's...It was finally warm enough outside to do some minor work on my Subaru. I replaced spark plugs and wires and it's running a bit better now! I also just got new Falken tires today for it. It's almost warm enough to get the Miata out, but I need a good rain fall to clear the salt off the roads. I would work on my cars in the winter, too, if I had a better garage situation, which brings me to my next point...
Then this weekend, I'm going to three open houses for some homes I like. I started the home buying process in the last month and this will be my first weekend of tours! Two of the homes I'm seeing are at the high end of my price range, but both perfectly fit my needs. They're both up to date, in good walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, cute as hell, and have pretty good garage situations. The last one is a little cheaper due to location (further out) and based on the listing, it's almost perfect for me. It isn't as up to date as the other two, but it has everything I need an the garage is AMAZING! It would easily fit 4 or more cars and has ample space for a lift and plenty of tool boxes. The only thing holding me back is that we were just ordered to return to office tue-thur each week and that property would be somewhere between 30 minutes (no traffic) or an hour commute each way. If this were 3 months ago before we had this mandate, I'd be scrambling to put an offer in, this house checks all the boxes (again based on listing info, I still need to see it tomorrow). So I'm currently debating if saving $300 a month on my monthly payments over the other two is worth spending 2-4 hours more per week in a car than I would if I were commuting from the other two. And even besides the commute, it's a little further out from the city center than I intended, but still near enough, I suppose.
Of course the other option is I don't move on any of the three and other listings will pop up over the next couple months as the housing market gets busy here. I think my current plan might be to see if that cheaper and further one just stays on the market a bit so that I can offer below asking. It might push me to get it if I'm saving $400-$500 a month on the payment.
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Comment on What low-stakes drama is going on in your circles right now? in ~talk
EsteeBestee Link ParentI suspect that’s what it will be like regardless if people do it on purpose or not. I do actually like my direct team and won’t mind whiteboard sessions with them, but it’s everything else that’s...I suspect that’s what it will be like regardless if people do it on purpose or not. I do actually like my direct team and won’t mind whiteboard sessions with them, but it’s everything else that’s just distracting for me. Our CEO even said “I know we will probably get less done, but I want us all in the office again to “recreate the magic of 2019””, the dude is so out of touch with how normal employees operate. We’ve been doing pretty good for 5 years being WFH, time to fuck it up because our CEO wants to be like Starbucks (ignore that they just performed massive layoffs and ruined lives so the stock number goes brrrrrrr).
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Comment on What low-stakes drama is going on in your circles right now? in ~talk
EsteeBestee LinkThe company that owns my townhome complex (and many other properties, mostly apartments) sent out a letter recently reiterating that working on cars is not allowed on the property (while also...The company that owns my townhome complex (and many other properties, mostly apartments) sent out a letter recently reiterating that working on cars is not allowed on the property (while also saying that non functioning or leaking cars are not allowed, so how do you fix a leak?). Despite my landlord explicitly having seen me work on cars before and not having had a problem with it, I'm now convinced that I'll be evicted even though I'm a fantastic tenant and even though the letter was clearly a generic letter sent to all their properties and aimed more at apartments than townhomes. So I did spark plugs this week and guess what? Nothing happened, lol. I'm buying a house this summer anyways, so what do I even care, I guess I'm just paranoid.
Secondarily, my company is forcing us to return to office tues-thur starting next week (after having us all work from home for the last 5 years). I'm too exhausted to fight it at the moment with me trying to improve my health (hitting the gym heavily), having surgery soon, and buying a house this year, so I plan on being as petty as I can possibly be about it. I'm going to abuse the fuck out of the snacks and drinks they provide us, if people come up to my desk unannounced, I'm just going to stare at them for 5 seconds with my headphones on and then go back to work, and I'm going to shit on company time. Any other suggestions of things that might bring me some joy that don't actually endanger my employment?
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Comment on Stellantis introduces pop-up ads in vehicles, sparking outrage among owners in ~transport
EsteeBestee Link ParentOh it absolutely is done on purpose so that manufacturers can get you going to their dealerships for service. My GTI was the only car I never changed my own oil on and even the battery can be a...Oh it absolutely is done on purpose so that manufacturers can get you going to their dealerships for service. My GTI was the only car I never changed my own oil on and even the battery can be a pain in the ass to change on some modern cars. I just found it much more worth it to learn to work on cars and then be able to enjoy older, cheaper, and more “raw” cars! I kind of have a thing for 90’s Japanese car, so learning to work on cars was kind of a necessity for me!
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Comment on A baseball discussion thread, 2025 spring training edition in ~sports.baseball
EsteeBestee Link ParentPeople forget about us a bit, so we have to do what we can to stand out.People forget about us a bit, so we have to do what we can to stand out.
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Comment on A baseball discussion thread, 2025 spring training edition in ~sports.baseball
EsteeBestee Link ParentI am so sorry. If you become a Twins fan, you only feel immense pain and suffering for half of the season instead of all of the season.I am so sorry. If you become a Twins fan, you only feel immense pain and suffering for half of the season instead of all of the season.
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Comment on A baseball discussion thread, 2025 spring training edition in ~sports.baseball
EsteeBestee (edited )Link ParentEDIT: I definitely misread the prompt as "do you watch other sports", not "do you watch other baseball". I don't really watch other baseball, but I watch basically every sport in some regard. As...EDIT: I definitely misread the prompt as "do you watch other sports", not "do you watch other baseball". I don't really watch other baseball, but I watch basically every sport in some regard. As far as other baseball leagues, I guess it's still MLB, but I've heard St Paul Saints games are fun (and cheap). I've been meaning to go for a few years now, I think I will this year.
Original comment:
Oh man, I watch almost any sport. Mostly I watch motorsport. I watch F1, Indycar, Nascar, IMSA, and WEC mainly, but I'll watch WRC, MotoGP, or any other series that happens to be on.
For traditional sports, I watch the NBA and WNBA obsessively, but I also follow NCAA basketball tournaments (I don't watch the regular season though), MLS, and I'll watch a few games here and there of premier league, NWSL, PWHL, NHL, etc. I'm kind of a sports fanatic.
MLB falls under the "I'll watch it when it's on and basketball/motorsports isn't" category and I'll usually go to a Twins game or two a year. I'll watch the playoffs when they're on, I just can't be bothered to keep up with everything in the regular season when that's when motorsport is on. I usually read /r/baseball though.
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Comment on A baseball discussion thread, 2025 spring training edition in ~sports.baseball
EsteeBestee Link ParentGo Twins! I'm looking forward to us having another couple months where we're the best team in baseball followed by the most absurd collapse in recent memory!Go Twins! I'm looking forward to us having another couple months where we're the best team in baseball followed by the most absurd collapse in recent memory!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee Link ParentWhat, you don’t want to read a 700 page manual for the F-18C or AH-64D and then spend dozens of hours becoming barely competent? I’ll have to check out nuclear option. I’ve had a hankering for...What, you don’t want to read a 700 page manual for the F-18C or AH-64D and then spend dozens of hours becoming barely competent?
I’ll have to check out nuclear option. I’ve had a hankering for planes again lately and I did reinstall DCS after a hiatus of a couple of years, but I haven’t booted it up yet. I did want to try the F4 out at some point though…
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Comment on a/s/l? Tildes user survey question. in ~tildes
EsteeBestee Link ParentI mean, I'm pretty biased and most other states have some redeeming factors, but I'll try to list out some of the things I love. We have beautiful springs, summers, and autumns. There's almost...I mean, I'm pretty biased and most other states have some redeeming factors, but I'll try to list out some of the things I love.
We have beautiful springs, summers, and autumns. There's almost nowhere else I'd rather be during May through October. Winter is also beautiful and very livable for most of it, but yeah we sometimes have weeks of negative degree weather where we kind of just stay inside. Our nature here is amazing, both within cities and without; I have a ton of forests and parks that I can visit within Minneapolis/St. Paul and you can't beat the Lake Superior north shore for nature or the numerous state and national parks we have!
We tend to be a safe place for immigrants to move to and a safe place for LGBT people and other minorities to live, so we get a big mix of ethnicities and cultures here which contributes to friendly cities, lots of things to do, and amazing restaurants and food variety, etc. We've got a pretty good entertainment scene (guthrie, orchestra hall, huge improv, lots of music venues like First Ave and Cabooze) and a bunch of sports teams. We spend our taxes on improvements for everyone, like free school lunches for kids, mass transit, affordable housing programs, etc. Even though Minneapolis/St Paul is the country's 16th or 18th largest metro or something, our cost of living is relatively low. We've got great education and friendly people and I could just keep going on and on.
I'm sure many of these things can be found elsewhere and I haven't lived elsewhere, but I just love it here. The vibe is perfect for me, I just like how friendly, smart, and kind hearted we tend to collectively be and we seem generally unbothered by what's going on elsewhere (I mean, we're fully aware of what's going on in the federal government and it will affect us, I just mean that we're pretty self sustaining up here and our quality of life is great). There are other places in the world I'd like to live in at some point, but as far as the US is concerned, I'm pretty glad I was born in Minnesota.
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Comment on a/s/l? Tildes user survey question. in ~tildes
EsteeBestee Link32/F and your resident Minnesotan, the best state in the US :) I hate talking about work, but I'll say that for hobbies, I'm obsessed with basketball, I lift heavy things at the gym, I also race...32/F and your resident Minnesotan, the best state in the US :)
I hate talking about work, but I'll say that for hobbies, I'm obsessed with basketball, I lift heavy things at the gym, I also race cars, fix cars, play video games, and enjoy good coffee!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee Link ParentI think it's mostly that I don't really have interest in spending 100 hours in a game like that to "complete" it usually. I know you can just do the main story and skip a bunch of side stuff, but...I think it's mostly that I don't really have interest in spending 100 hours in a game like that to "complete" it usually. I know you can just do the main story and skip a bunch of side stuff, but the game also tries to ferry you into the side stuff, too. I think with Valhalla, I put up with it because I'm a viking nerd, if I wasn't, I think I would have bounced off after 20 hours like many other people.
I'm also less of a fan of chasing stats on gear in the three open world games, I prefer the other AC games where you have your tools and cosmetic items and can maybe upgrade some stuff, but you don't have to go looking at a new sword because it does 50 damage and your old one does 40. Mirage does have a bit of the gear chase for your swords specifically, but you also spend so little time fighting (almost everything is stealth/assassination) that I never felt like I needed to go find better weapons. I think Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla are all perfectly fine games, I've just been sick of that style of open world for a while now.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee LinkI'm still playing a bit of Destiny 2: Heresy. It's good fun and I imagine I'll be in and out of it for the rest of the season with probably a month break at some point. The new dungeon is rad and...I'm still playing a bit of Destiny 2: Heresy. It's good fun and I imagine I'll be in and out of it for the rest of the season with probably a month break at some point. The new dungeon is rad and I've heard the Trials of Osiris rework is excellent, but I didn't play it over the weekend.
I also resumed my playthrough of Assassin's Creed: Mirage. Despite me looking forward to Avowed, it's yet another game on my wishlist that is aggressively mid on release and that I don't really want to pay $70 for. I have been trending more towards playing games months or years after they come out, I just can't stomach paying $70 anymore for games that are either unfinished, are just alright to good, etc. By all accounts, Avowed seems finished, it just isn't a large enough scale game for me to want to pay the money.
Anyways, with Ass Creed, I forgot how much I love this series, it's kind of a guilty pleasure. I just really enjoy walking through ancient worlds, reading codex entries, and getting some sense of what life is like in older cities and cultures (obviously it is not historically accurate in many regards, but the vibes are good). I do really like the return to the more classic AC gameplay with Mirage. I did vastly enjoy Valhalla, but part of that was that the vast open world and RPG like gameplay fit a viking adventure pretty well and for a few years of my life I was super into viking stuff and was part of a reenactment group, so the game vibed with me. I did not like the same system in Origins and I have yet to play through Odyssey, but I've heard it's good.
Shadows looks to be kind of in between, where it will have less of the RPG systems that Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla had, but will be a fairly large world? I am still a little burned out on the japan setting after spending 50 hours in Ghost of Tsushima recently, but I'm sure I'll pick up Shadows at some point. For now, Mirage is hitting all my buttons. I reckon I'm about halfway through and looking forward to the rest of it (and looking forward to it being only a 20-30 hour game instead of a 120 hour slog).
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Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of February 9 in ~games
EsteeBestee LinkHumble still has the entire Destiny 2 pack for $30! Despite the 10 year saga now winding down and player counts reducing, the game is still in a good place to at least get a few dozen hours out of...Humble still has the entire Destiny 2 pack for $30! Despite the 10 year saga now winding down and player counts reducing, the game is still in a good place to at least get a few dozen hours out of it (or a few thousand if you get sucked in like me) if you’re a shooter fan! The game is, however, notoriously confusing to new players. That said, even if you just want some campaigns, playing through the content currently in the game gives you a number of quality campaigns and things to do. That would be Shadowkeep, Beyond Light, Witch Queen, Lightfall, and Final Shape. You would then also get the seasonal stories from Final Shape (with Heresy just having started last week).
Then of course on top of the campaigns, there’s a whole host of other things to do like nightfalls, dungeons, raids, and PVP. If anybody is thinking about jumping in, but is hesitant due to the lack of game knowledge (again, bad new players experience), I’d be happy to answer any questions or help out!
Despite the game’s flaws, it’s still one of a kind and one of the best looter shooters out there and the campaigns alone justify the $30. The community for the game is pretty great and there are all sorts of guides, so even though the game does a poor job of directing you, YouTube is a pretty good resource to get into D2.
https://www.humblebundle.com/games/destiny-2-story-so-far-2025
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Comment on Stellantis introduces pop-up ads in vehicles, sparking outrage among owners in ~transport
EsteeBestee Link Parent2005 is even newer than what I actually own, I just threw something out there, ha. My current cars are a 2000 Impreza RS and a 1994 Miata. I just don't feel the need to go newer, there are so many...2005 is even newer than what I actually own, I just threw something out there, ha. My current cars are a 2000 Impreza RS and a 1994 Miata. I just don't feel the need to go newer, there are so many fun older cars and I don't have to worry about touch screens, computer systems, or complicated repairs, it's great!
I am a trucker and I am in Europe…2. I continue my journey of taking the funniest deliveries I can, such as a comically large vat of olive oil from Greece to Italy as I explore all the cities in the game. If you happen to be an NPC car in my game and you see my Mercedes truck painted like their F1 car in your rear view mirror, I’m sorry.