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What did you do this week (and weekend)?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
I hate to admit it but I spent the majority of the week doom scrolling about the tariffs on Canada. Ug. What a depressing way to spend the week.
It DID get me to write some letters to some US governors and it did fortify my decision to buy more Canadian goods, but all in all it felt quite pathetic. I hate the way that US actions completely dominate our Canadian news.
I started watching Mindhunter and it's great!
Also started planning for a summer trip to visit family. My wife hasn't met any of my siblings yet and she also wants to visit Anaheim Disneyland. My wife was able to score some free tickets from her friends who work there. I was laid off in 2023 and had an "onsite" flight canceled but was able to re-use that flight credit and stretch that to buy six plane tickets for the wife and I. So as long as the US doesn't collapse before then we are both excited for summer!
I loved Mindhunter!! Wish it could have gone longer, gotten more into BTK.
As for what I've been doing - only one month into my new job and my #2 has been out for the week so things have been slower to accomplish at work. I've been breaking in my new, and first, leather jacket so that it looks used when I first take it out. We transplanted our Meyer Lemon tree from a bed into a container, did some weeding in the greenhouse and garden. Volunteered at a food bank DC erecting boxes for them. Hosted a friend's dog that we're going to foster on weekdays (joint custody sort of thing) - my dog died about a month ago, so getting some pet time again is nice, he's a good boy.
Rader would have been such a great story to tuck into. What we got was so crazy.
Your weekend sounds great!
This past week / weekend has been a bit more active for me than average.
Middle of the week earlier, I had a significant sale go through with a local RF engineering company which both left me with an infusion of ready cash, and a lab tour which was not long after I had decided to expand my electronics knowledge into RF.
I took those funds and rolled them into some eBay purchases for equipment to proceed with the mentioned branch-out into RF. Some GHz-range signal generators (with the intent to keep the best one and test/clean/sell the rest), a very nice 6.5GHz Anritsu Spectrum Analyzer, and also my first 7.5 digit multimeter: a Keithley 2001. Also some miscellaneous RF adapters and more general lab supplies.
Last night I produced a review video for the first piece of gear I've ever been sent for my YouTube channel - a rather nice, lower price-point digital microscope. Yay! I'm a corporate shill now like the cool kids! Made sure to start the video with things like 'CORPORATE SHILL ALERT!'
Tested and took apart my new Keithley 2001 - she has damage captain! On the negative side, this was listed as working properly. On the positive side, I might end up with a broken K2001 for free, and then get to fix it. We'll see. Made another video out of it already showing the teardown so I can share the symptoms and discovered damage with the electronics community, and add to the overall repair database for this meter.
I’ve been looking at houses and I found one yesterday that I absolutely love, so I put in an offer! Offers weren’t due until later today so now I’m just sitting here a stressed and nervous wreck, both because I don’t know if I will or won’t get it, but I also am paranoid that my offer will be too high over appraisal or something else bad will happen during closing. I wish I had more control over my negative thoughts right now. The reality is that I’ve already totaled up all my cash and have enough even if I’m a little bit over appraisal and even if the sellers won’t re-negotiate if the appraisal is low. And at the very least, I qualify for a first time home buyer program in MN where I can get a loan of $14k to pay for closing if I end up needing to use the cash I do have to pay the difference in appraisal from my offer instead of paying for closing. This shit is so confusing and stressful, y’all, but I’m sure I’ll feel it’s worth it when I’m sitting in my own house that I own and am investing into.
I am happy for you, but I hate this little dance the banks do with appraisal value. We were trying to get our PMI dropped due to the appreciated value of our house putting the loan mount under 80% and they made this big song and dance about how it would have to be reappraised, and we'd have to pay for it without knowing whether it would remove the PMI, and it might affect our taxes, etc.
Then in the same phone call, the same person offered us a home equity line of credit and said that for lending purposes, the system had already computed the equity in our home based on appreciation and they could offer us a loan for an amount over 20% of the original loan.
The system is rigged. We're even doing better than most people are, being old enough to have graduated without ridiculous college debt, but it's still exploiting us.
Welp, bad news, I did not get the home I placed on offer on. I placed an offer $23k over asking ($308k vs $285k asking) and my only contingencies were the standard (financing, title, etc.) and an inspection. I got beat out on dollars and by someone waiving inspection and it sounds like the listing agent was pushing the sellers to pick me, so I'm guessing I was beat by an investor. It fucking sucks because I loved that house, but this is the first one I made an offer on and I have time to look and offer on others, I'll find another one I love.
I'm sorry to hear it! I guess you and your agent have to know your market, but I would resist the urge to waive the inspection. An investor is already rolling the dice and is planning a minimum cost fix for any problem. But you are going to live there, and knowing what you're signing up for is pretty key.
When we last sold/bought a house, the buyers wanted a sewer inspection, which I thought was weird. But I wish we had done one because we ended up shelling out $5k to have the line repaired and then another $11k to repour the driveway.
Last tip: when I scheduled the inspection on the house, I brought a laser distance measurer and a tape measure and measure all the rooms while they are doing the inspection.
I got as much detail as I could, including: door placements, ceiling height, window placement - including the inside and outside dimension of the window and the height from the floor. There are some floor plan apps that will help you record the measurements and produce a drawing. We've definitely gotten a lot of mileage out being able to pull that drawing up at the hardware store.
These measurements will helped me with furniture placement, buying window coverings, getting estimates for flooring installs, etc. To buy shades or blinds based on the measurement, make sure you get the inside width at the top, middle, and bottom of the window and use the smallest measurement.
Thanks for all the advice! And yeah, I am not skipping an inspection. I am by myself and would be pretty at risk if I had a $10k repair immediately after move in because the sewer line or water line is fucked.
Big week in footwear. I ordered a pair of Softstar shoes, a minimalist leather shoe, that finally came in after manufacturing/shipping (they're made to order). They're great shoes, but pricy ($165 for what I got, plus $20 for being a size 14, but I got a $25 discount from a sale). They'll be something I wear for day-to-day stuff, they're quite comfortable.
I got a couple pairs of boots for wearing around town/out in the boonies: Jim Green's Barefoot African Rangers, which are something I've wanted for years, a leather, stich-down construction with an easily replaceable sole. I also got their African Trooper in the barefoot last (a collaboration with Rose Anvil), because I wanted something to wear when I'll be in wetter/grassier environments. I broke in the Rangers last week wearing them at home, and will be rocking the Troopers in the office tomorrow, when I go in to avoid having my power out at home when my apartment's breaker is replaced. I did a fit check and they kinda just look like a nubuck shoe under the pants, so it's not so bad!
I also bought a Brannock Device which cost $70 prior to these, so its been a godsend to finally dial in my shoe size. I could've gone to a store, but with this I can loan it to family who want to measure as well, so it's worked out pretty good so far. It's less helpful for buying shoes because companies do whatever they want size-wise, but if you're buying anything from a smaller company that hand-makes stuff, this size is good information to have.
I took a first aid course! But I still wouldn't trust myself with anyone else's life. So I don't know how useful that would be.
The most I trust myself to do is, Check for danger. Approach the casualty and tap them on the shoulder and ask "Hello hello, are you okay?" And then yell at someone to call an ambulance and then yell at someone else to get an AED.
My friend was trying to remember the song you can do CPR to. And she hummed the tune to Final Countdown. I found that hilarious.
Pretty busy week for me, was just knocking out tasks left and right at work. Unfortunately since I got a "Meets Most Expectation" two halfs in a row, I have to do a Performance Improvement Plan. However, since I've been doing so well since the year began, my manager told me its just a formality at this point. Next 30 days are going to be super busy basically just getting HR off my back.
Outside of work, I'm still waiting on signing my apartment lease. The elevator in the building I'm looking to sign in is broken and the company that owns the building doesn't have an estimate for when it'll be done. I've got a placeholder lease atm just to see if there are any "gotch-ya"s in it but it seems fine so far. I know it sounds weird to be thinking about signing an apartment lease when my job could be at risk but I'm not too worried and I look forward to moving out of my parents' house finally. If anything does go south, I can end the lease and always move back in w my parents.
I've also been playing on the Tildes Minecraft world a lot more this week. I actually built out a little extension to the Cyan Line on the metro that goes to the west side of Tildetown. Now I'm thinking about connecting that new western terminus of the Cyan Line with the main downtown Tildetown Station. Not sure if I can reuse any of the existing tunnels but it would be interesting. It'd also move metro system away from its current radial nature and criss-cross the world.
I finally got a break in the ice and snow that have been sweeping the Midwest, and I got to break out my forge for the first time! I did one test burn for a few minutes a month ago but wasn't quite ready to do any work with it, so this was the first real test of it.
My first solo project was a pair of tongs made from half-inch rebar. The "stock" wasn't quite long enough for me to heat one end without getting burned on the other, so I did have to use my old slip-joint pliers to hold the material while it heated. I also didn't let it initially heat for long enough, so while the outside of the steel was bright orange, the inside was less malleable. After a few heats it was all at a more forgeable temp, but before that I didn't make much headway.
Overall, I'm proud of the result but not happy with it. One of the jaws is skewed so they don't overlap perfectly, the handles get in each others way when I close the tongs, and the rivet is complete trash. However, they are functional, which is all I need in order to get going, so I can actually put smaller stock in the forge to heat without having to hold it the whole time.