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LosIllini

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Everything posted by LosIllini

  1. LosIllini
    Just ran an updated RateGrinder sheet- PowerNext 12 Auto is 11.1 cents and Fixed is 11.2 cents. Great tool if you don't go the Ogre route/ plan on jumping around during your contract. I currently have Southwest Power and Light, but they are much higher this year.
  2. LosIllini
    Looking at the latest RateGrinder spreadsheet- prices have come down to 11.0 - 11.7 based on 2k usage in Dallas, with a nice drop over the last couple of weeks. My contract is up in a few weeks, so hopefully the trend continues into my 14 day window to switch.
  3. LosIllini
    That's about all I make these days. Bunch of good Chicago thin recipes on pizzamaking.com. You can vary the amount of water for crispier/ cracker crust. As dcbc said- cheap amazon peel, baking stone and parchment paper are your friends, unless you like calzones. I use Cento (yellow cans) tomatoes- either crushed or puree, with a little salt and sugar. Makes a good Chicag-style sauce. And whole milk mozarella.
  4. LosIllini
    Decided to get rid of the wired kb/ mouse cord clutter a couple of years ago, and went with the Logitech MK295 Wireless Mouse & Keyboard Combo, Mouse model is M220. Works well.
  5. LosIllini
  6. LosIllini
    Been making two kinds of salsas lately- no cooking or boiling. Though, I love to char the tomatoes/ peppers if I have time. First is 6 or 8 roma tomatoes- get the ripest you can find. Don't have to be pretty, riper/ more beat up, usually are better. 2 or 3 seeded, diced jalapenos. Salt. Blend in a food processor. This is a really fresh salsa that would be similar to Spanish Flowers in the Heights, or the basic Taco Cabana red salsa. You can always add garlic, onion and cilantro and/ or char everything if you want to trick things up. Second is really, really simple- couple of cans of tomato sauce (I like the cheap Fiesta brand), and either a small can of pickled jalapenos, or half a jar. Include the juice, and add a little bit of salt. All to taste. This is vinegary, and similar to what you would get in Dallas at Ojeda's, or, the Roja salsa at Taco Joint.
  7. LosIllini
    Fwiw- same here on ATT 1000. Ethernet- 900+/900+ up/ down. Running Wifi through an Asus RT-AC86U router. Older tech- Not WiFi 6. Get roughly ~400/300 up/ down from about 20 feet away on a new MacBook. Less from farther away, but still good. No problem streaming 4k/ high def over rokus and firesticks. Asus is definitely better than the built-in ATT modem wifi. Assuming you'll get higher throughput with a WiFi 6 router--- but, not sure how noticeable it will be. I have two RT-AC86Us in a mesh configuration- one upstairs/ one downstairs. Probably overkill since one covered the whole house pretty well. But, I got one free on a warranty replacement.
  8. LosIllini
    For you fancy tv watchers- Fox is bcasting this and the USC game tonight in 4k via the Fox sports app
  9. LosIllini
    FWIW- just got the SiriusXM annual renewal flyer in the mail, and they had me auto-renewing at last year's price $123 (i may call up to haggle, didn't try real hard last year), but, it didn't go the usual $300-$400 'before negotiation price'.
  10. LosIllini
    I have a 713 phone number and live in Dallas--- looks like we made the same list.
  11. LosIllini
    I have a 20 year old wsm, and a newer one I bought on the cheap on nextdoor. Old one is beat to hell from use/ travel, but, with some replacement parts, still works great. Newer one works, and is prettier. Don't need two, and want to clear up some space, so, going to have to make a decision.
  12. LosIllini
    I think there are a few ways to block ads/ malware- through an ad blocking DNS, using blocking scripts on the router (which is what I'm doing), or through separate hw/ sw solutions like pihole (running on a raspberry pi box). On my Asus router, I'm running a program called Diversion, which uses 3rd party scripts/ blocking lists that seem to be updated pretty regularly. You can also whitelist/ blacklist/ create custom entries. Works pretty well, and is self-contained on the router (no separate hw boxes). Pihole looks to be more customizable and has more bells and whistles, but, Diversion seems to be pretty popular. I still use my regular DNS servers (Cloudflare or Google). Don't notice any losses in surfing speed. Pihole vs. Diversion
  13. LosIllini
    Running 2 x Asus RT-AC86U routers in a Mesh setup in a 2 story house (one on each floor), with 3rd party Asuswrt-Merlin Firmware. Backhaul is via ethernet which helps performance, though they work via wifi as well. Not too tricky to setup- first unit did a pretty good job covering the house, but, added the second unit to my existing network. They're probably a little bit dated at this point (no wifi 6, look like routers w/ antennas), but, are rock solid, and the wifi is powerful/ covers the entire house. Rarely have to reset. Merlin firmware has some really cool stuff if you like to play with software. I have some add-ons running which block adverts/ unwanted traffic at the router level (amazing how much roku, samsung, etc. device call home/ how many ads this thing blocks).
  14. LosIllini
    Hamm's is good for a macro- usually try to pick some up to bring back, if I'm driving in Arkansas- seems like it is $16 or $17 for a 30 pack. Like the Yuengling too--- Yankee Shiner. Always been a fan of Shiner Bock- in the 90's, I used to throw a case in the SWA overhead to bring to my midwestern friends. Irony now is that you can get Shiner cheaper a lot of places outside of Texas than you can in Dallas. Hard to find Shiner Premium up here though. Haven't seen Lonestar longneck 12 packs or cases in a long time either, just six packs or cans.
  15. LosIllini
    Good question. Probably 90+% of the time, I don't. But, when I have had internet or power problems that have knocked out my internet, cell phone hotspot is my backup to keep work flowing. In the big scheme of things, not being to fwd/ send pics without timing out isn't the end of the world (android phone, so, most are sms/ mms to iphones, which I am assuming are going over the cell net and not wifi), but, is more of an annoyance. But, I did notice that I and guests were randomly missing calls on the VZW network, unless we had VoLTE enabled over wifi.
  16. LosIllini
    Finally gave up on Verizon and switched over to ATT. Much better speeds, and sms/mms and chat functions don't timeout when sending pics from inside the house. Running a Galaxy S21. In the heart of VZW LTE area/ and border a pretty strong 5G area. Can walk down the street and get 100+Mbps download speeds, but, barely get 1Mbps w/ terrible ping in my yard. Did all the troubleshooting- my street is just a deadzone. Turns out a couple of neighbors have experienced the bad coverage too.
  17. LosIllini
    Gracias! Ordered. I have an old Pacific Trail- Pac Tech Terrain Jacket w/ a rip, that I bought at Oshman's/ Sports Authority years ago. It's a backup that I leave in my outdoor box in the truck. Best jacket ever. Think Columbia bought them, canceled the brand.
  18. LosIllini
    The 2021 Snowmaggedon in Dallas was something else. Lot of peeps had frozen pipes/ no tools to get things turned off. Heard stories about the big plumbing companies charging a ton to shut water lines off. Seems that in the M-Streets some of the water meter/ shutoffs are in the alley, while others are on the street. Had a few neighbors that had boxes full of dirt, and had to dig way down to get to the cutoff. Here's the key that worked on the covers (got it at Home Depot), and then an adjustable wrench to close the valve.
  19. LosIllini
    Awesome! Love the Ayinger. Great time of year- football starting, and Oktoberfest hitting the shelves. Really like the Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier too - which uses lighter malt.
  20. LosIllini
    Looks like they carry something similar at Fiesta in Dallas
  21. LosIllini
    Just checked the fridge--- multiple hot sauces- cajun and habanero, and only French's Yellow on the mustard side. Pretty vanilla daily driver, but, gets the job done. Used to love the sinus clearing English mustard (Colman's?) on chicken/ various lunch sandwiches when I was working in London, and the Dusseldorf/ Koln mustards on brats/ grilled sausages in Germany were great. Gonna have to up my USA game... Can't stand Mayo, but, one of you sweet bastards has the Texadelphia mustard blend recipe to share with us (which I'm sure has mayo in it). That may be better than any plain mustard. Rock on.
  22. LosIllini

    Breakfast Tacos

    LosIllini replied to Spoosner's topic in Dallas

    Had some pretty good bacon/ potato breakfast tacos from the La Banqueta locations on Carroll and Gaston. They have the jalepeno/ dona style salsa, as well as a hotter orange/ taqueria-style salsa. Need to get over for lunch, and try their pastor.
  23. LosIllini
    That's perfect! I'll go even simpler for thinner crust/ tavern style pizza. 1 Can of Cento Puree, salt, and sugar. I like the Cento alot--- cheap, you can find it at most stores, and not as acidic as some sauces. If you want it thicker, add in some tomato paste. Jimmy's in Dallas has some great tomatoes/ sauces- lot of times random, but, they usually have Sclafani Crushed Tomatoes which are good, and big cans of Tomato Magic, which is a great sauce for pizza.
  24. LosIllini
    never thought of cooking them. I'll have to give them a try--- when we clean birds, we usually feed hearts to our labrador retrievers as a reward--- they love 'em!
  25. LosIllini
    Are you using the wifi from the ATT router, or do you have it in passthru mode with another router? (ATT doesn't allow a true 'bridge' mode, but, you can work around it) I've always used an Asus router- running Merlin firmware, and have gotten speeds mentioned above. Sometimes I've seen channel interference from neighbors, but, the Asus seems to handle switching/ overlap pretty well.

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