TR Forums

We're going into our second full summer in our house (we moved here in late August 2013 and I don't really count that). I'd estimate that my yard is 20-25% weeds. Last year I was just too busy with other stuff (building a bathroom/kitchenette in the basement for my permanent house guest, for one) but this year I can't stand it.

Do you guys have any specific lawn care websites that you trust? There's a ton on Google and some of it is terrible and some of it is plausible. I guess at this point anything will do.

You need lawn care advice that's specific to your region and to the type of grass that you are trying to grow. What works well for bluegrass will kill St. Augustine, for example.

The local extension agent could be a true expert.

What's with the growing trend of routers that AREN'T wall mountable, and have their ports placed in such a way that they can only be used on a tabletop? Are people putting their routers on display? Who would possibly want that?


*British woman speaking, while Boccherini's Minuetto plays*

"And in this part of the dining area, you'll find all of our computer networking gear; complete with a delightful collection of category six cables going every which way."

how many home users moutn them? I just shove them on top of my PC.

derFunkenstein wrote:

We're going into our second full summer in our house (we moved here in late August 2013 and I don't really count that). I'd estimate that my yard is 20-25% weeds. Last year I was just too busy with other stuff (building a bathroom/kitchenette in the basement for my permanent house guest, for one) but this year I can't stand it.

Do you guys have any specific lawn care websites that you trust? There's a ton on Google and some of it is terrible and some of it is plausible. I guess at this point anything will do.

We use a local mom and pop. The guy who comes to do our weed and feed is the son of the owner/founder. I'm sure your area has something similar.

The Egg wrote:

What's with the growing trend of routers that AREN'T wall mountable, and have their ports placed in such a way that they can only be used on a tabletop? Are people putting their routers on display? Who would possibly want that?


*British woman speaking, while Boccherini's Minuetto plays*

"And in this part of the dining area, you'll find all of our computer networking gear; complete with a delightful collection of category six cables going every which way."

paulWTAMU wrote:

how many home users moutn them? I just shove them on top of my PC.

Mine typically get set on top of the system or shoved under or behind the desk.

Hi i'm back after a few years

derFunkenstein wrote:

Do you guys have any specific lawn care websites that you trust? There's a ton on Google and some of it is terrible and some of it is plausible. I guess at this point anything will do.

What JAE said.

20-25 percent is a lot of weeds. I'm not sure if they are spread out all over, or semi-confined to one area of the yard, but you could try killing and sodding the affected area if you can stand the cost (which is a PITA). Re-planting(seeding) also takes a good time commitment and diligence. Be prepared to spend a lot of time out there, and have an ugly water bill for a good month or so (if you're on city water).

One thing to keep in mind though. You can do as much work as you want to make your stuff pretty, but if the yards around you (and somewhat the weather) don't cooperate it could be all for naught. For instance, if your next door neighbor just doesn't care and come march/april (the time when grass in your area probably takes hold for the summer), if their yard is full of weeds and then you get some wind/rain for that couple months a lot of what you will do is moot, at least to a decent portion of the yard they border.

What type of grass do you have/want? I imagine your climate is similar to mine was in KS (Wichita, for the most part), maybe a little cooler.

Heiwashin wrote:

Hi i'm back after a few years

Welcome back!

On the advice of coworkers I binged watched the first season of Halt and Catch Fire this weekend. While its mostly fictitious it was very interesting to watch then read about the early days of computing and how Compaq backwards engineered IBM's CPU. The nods to those that forged ahead in the early 80's were awesome. Everything from the Comdex show where one actor commented that "Windows was buggy as hell" to the unveiling of the first Macintosh where it spoke "Hello, I am the Macintosh". Even nods to where IBM passed on buying Xerox were present. Although they didn't show it (I am sure because of placing rights) there was much commentary on Apple's 1984 Super bowl commercial.

I am eager to see where the show goes in season 2.

I hate credit card renewals. Way too many things to remember and update.

Captain Ned wrote:

I hate credit card renewals. Way too many things to remember and update.

I don't mind the regularly scheduled ones nearly as much as the total surprise changes, and especially when they won't tell you exactly why. I've had a credit card replaced that had well over a year to go before it was due. I've even had bank account numbers changed, requiring new checks and having to update the myriad direct deposits.

I eventually figured out why the credit card was changed. I had used the card at Newegg, who's go-between was hacked.

What do you guys think about using virtual credit card numbers? BofA shopsafe, etc. I've been playing around with them - works OK if I'm fine with a slight hassle. Ex. I have my Spotify sub on one, and forgot to change the default 2 months expiry (so 2 months later, Spotify emailed me and warned me that my card was about to expire... oops). And that expiry date must be between 2 and 12 months apparently. (And bofa's applet needs Flash - grrrrrrr, that's one of the few things, save for online HW, that I need Flash for anymore. Though the online HW often also needs 3rd party cookies enabled as well, so I keep a portable copy of Chrome around without security locked down or an ad blocker installed for that sole purpose.)On the other hand, if I have enough of these virtual numbers for random autobills and stuff, this might turn into a web/mess like the VLAN exceptions at work (HS district). Apple TVs left and right, punching little holes in the security so they can communicate to wifi devices (airplay), etc. What a pain when you have to mess with it later.

I have to wonder though - why the hell is this so insecure? Checks having account numbers right on them, giving out the same credit card number to all merchants, etc. Seems like one-time use codes (made easier) could do some good, help privacy (ex. retail tracking by credit card number), and make database hacks that much less of a pain. Which reminds me, I really should look into password managers... I haven't bothered because I don't like the idea of them getting hacked, plus what about my phone/other people's devices? At least my important accounts (bank, email, etc) are all on unique passwords I remember. My myriad of forum accounts? Not so much.

localhostrulez wrote:

What do you guys think about using virtual credit card numbers?

You basically already answered this. CC companies prefer to annoy you to give you the illusion of security, rather than designing/implementing a more secure system. Most companies these days prefer to carry insurance rather than spend any money on security. In my opinion, companies trusted with sensitive information that get hacked should be shutdown immediately with their officers thrown in jail. Interestingly, we now even need to include the IRS in that.

I'm mad at my CC company right now. I used bill pay to send in a $2000 payment on the first that was due on the 5th with a 5-day grace period. Bill pay decided to write a check because payment was large but guarenteed delivery by the 8th. Long story short check did not arrive to visa till the 13th. VISA dinged me $25 and bill pay declines to pay fee because their regular arrival time if the check had been smaller was the 6th and therefore by their logic I was too late anyway. Bah! What is really annoying is that I am not making miniumum payments. I am hammering this balance downward by thousands each month and they have the guts to ding me. So, I canceled bill pay and I am a payment away from canceling that VISA card too.

Mr Bill wrote:

I'm mad at my CC company right now.

Apropos: Mr. Bill for Mastercard.

Man, I could've sworn someone posted the Mr. Bill commercial fairly recently.

And as for the security thing... well, I don't think it's an illusion of security. After all, if a limited virtual number gets stolen, it does limit the potential damage somewhat. It IS, however, a stupid band-aid on the root problem. Did someone figure that letting hacks happen and simply dealing with them was cheaper than making a decent system, so as a simple economics matter, that's what they should do? Aiya... And now that I think about it, I guess Apple Pay and the like actually do have some merit - not because carrying around a piece of plastic is a pain, but because I seem to recall them giving the retailer a temporary virtual number for security. I don't think any of the stores I shop at regularly have it though - Fred Meyer and Winco mainly (the latter doesn't even take credit cards - they're too cheap ). But at any rate, the whole damn thing just needs an overhaul. Pretty glaring flaws if you ask me. I'm tempted to just pay cash at a lot of stores for this reason - at least you can't hack my wallet through a server.

MarkG509 wrote:

Mr Bill wrote:

I'm mad at my CC company right now.

Apropos: Mr. Bill for Mastercard.

Heh, that is where I got the nic from. There were so many jokes, since my name is Bill. I decided to just go with it and take the moniker.

Lots of thunderbolts and lightning last night (very very frightening me - why does that Queen song always come to mind?). That's not usually how dead week/the month of June starts out... and by the month of June, I literally mean right at the start of it. Started right around midnight and went through 1AM or so. I quickly ran to unplug all my stuff, and watched the Facebook posts of it from my phone. It even knocked out the power for a few seconds for most people. (I had the lights off at that point, but it did get rather dark outside for a moment after a lightning strike, and the school wifi went out for a minute or so.)

I'm in the Oregon State dorms here. But getting out in just a week and a half... first and last year I'll ever live in a dorm.

Captain Ned wrote:

I hate credit card renewals. Way too many things to remember and update.

Well, as long as it's just a renewal. Identify theft opens up a whole bunch more hassles. I suddenly feel very wise for maintaining check payments on some of my accounts, as it's (ironically) one of the most secure forms of payment running these days.

ludi wrote:

Captain Ned wrote:

I hate credit card renewals. Way too many things to remember and update.

Well, as long as it's just a renewal. Identify theft opens up a whole bunch more hassles.

Oh, I've done that 3 times in the past 10 years. All 3 times the CC company said I should get my new cards within 2 weeks, upon which I tell them no, I'll get them tomorrow because you're going to FedEx them to me. No CC for 2 weeks in my line of work is a non-starter.

Captain Ned wrote:

Oh, I've done that 3 times in the past 10 years. All 3 times the CC company said I should get my new cards within 2 weeks, upon which I tell them no, I'll get them tomorrow because you're going to FedEx them to me. No CC for 2 weeks in my line of work is a non-starter.

Whoa. Did you threaten them with a state audit? Or is there some consumer-protection law that requires them to expedite on request?

ludi wrote:

Captain Ned wrote:

Oh, I've done that 3 times in the past 10 years. All 3 times the CC company said I should get my new cards within 2 weeks, upon which I tell them no, I'll get them tomorrow because you're going to FedEx them to me. No CC for 2 weeks in my line of work is a non-starter.

Whoa. Did you threaten them with a state audit? Or is there some consumer-protection law that requires them to expedite on request?

Nope. They don't know my day job and there's no state law (CCs are Federal law); it was just "do it my way".

localhostrulez wrote:

Lots of thunderbolts and lightning last night (very very frightening me - why does that Queen song always come to mind?). That's not usually how dead week/the month of June starts out... and by the month of June, I literally mean right at the start of it. Started right around midnight and went through 1AM or so. I quickly ran to unplug all my stuff, and watched the Facebook posts of it from my phone. It even knocked out the power for a few seconds for most people. (I had the lights off at that point, but it did get rather dark outside for a moment after a lightning strike, and the school wifi went out for a minute or so.)

I'm in the Oregon State dorms here. But getting out in just a week and a half... first and last year I'll ever live in a dorm.

Yeah, the thunderstorm was fine, but did you feel the 4 earthquakes we had that night also? All right off the coast....

By the way, I'm typing this from my office in Owen, seems weird to have another Oregon State student on a small community such as TR....

layerup wrote:

Yeah, the thunderstorm was fine, but did you feel the 4 earthquakes we had that night also? All right off the coast....

By the way, I'm typing this from my office in Owen, seems weird to have another Oregon State student on a small community such as TR....

I finally fell asleep after the thunder, and I don't wake up super easily. Sounds like those earthquakes far off the coast happen all the time though - are you sure it wasn't just the lightning we felt? Or could "the big one" finally be coming?

And another OSU student here? Who are you? I'm in my dorm in Hawley.

localhostrulez wrote:

layerup wrote:

Yeah, the thunderstorm was fine, but did you feel the 4 earthquakes we had that night also? All right off the coast....

By the way, I'm typing this from my office in Owen, seems weird to have another Oregon State student on a small community such as TR....

I finally fell asleep after the thunder, and I don't wake up super easily. Sounds like those earthquakes far off the coast happen all the time though - are you sure it wasn't just the lightning we felt? Or could "the big one" finally be coming?

And another OSU student here? Who are you? I'm in my dorm in Hawley.

I'm a graduate student in civil engineering, working towards that degree. What are you studying?

Can't say i've ever been in hawley, how is it?

localhostrulez wrote:

I finally fell asleep after the thunder, and I don't wake up super easily. Sounds like those earthquakes far off the coast happen all the time though - are you sure it wasn't just the lightning we felt? Or could "the big one" finally be coming?

And another OSU student here? Who are you? I'm in my dorm in Hawley.

And yeah, those earthquakes do occur with some frequency. The only reason we keep hearing about that "big one" is because the chance of occurrence is starting to get statistically significant, but who's to know?

layerup wrote:

And yeah, those earthquakes do occur with some frequency. The only reason we keep hearing about that "big one" is because the chance of occurrence is starting to get statistically significant, but who's to know?

If the Cascadia Subduction Zone decides to break loose OSU appears (via Google Maps) to be far enough inland to avoid catastrophic damage.

layerup wrote:

I'm a graduate student in civil engineering, working towards that degree. What are you studying?

Can't say i've ever been in hawley, how is it?

Cool. I'm a pre-electrical engineering student. Seems like OSU is among the only places that call it ECE, though I'm more interested in power/automotive, not designing circuits or consumer electronics. As I tell people, it's much more fun to design something that I can easily see, and that will blow up if I do it wrong. More danger. (Actually, the solar car did blow up a few years back due to a battery problem. But we built a new car and recovered. Yes, I'm on that team, joined at the start of the year - I'm a freshman.)

Hawley is... meh. Typical enough dorm, full of engineers/CS people, and the furniture isn't bolted down like the older dorms, but it's still a dorm. I'm quite happy to be moving out - more space, actually allowed to have a soldering iron, getting my own bedroom for a lot less than the shared dorm room, access to a kitchen, able to blast music even louder (I doubt I'm pushing my Lepai or the Pioneers anywhere remotely near the max as it is), etc. And that's considering I'd managed to grab one of the bigger double rooms here (basically a triple-size that they called a double for some reason). It's a mess in here, since I'm preparing to pack stuff. I have a bunch of cardboard I got from Winco (I rode all around town in the spirit of this, finally found a place that had some they hadn't already compacted ) and bubble wrap from random packages for packing up stuff. And on the housing note - one of my friends told me that he'll be paying $800/month for half a bedroom in a 4 bedroom house in Berkeley. Yikes. I'll be paying more like $400 for one bedroom (of 3). Slightly ratty place, but eh, whatever. First though, I'm heading back to the SF area for the summer/work. That ought to be a nice break.

Captain Ned wrote:

layerup wrote:

And yeah, those earthquakes do occur with some frequency. The only reason we keep hearing about that "big one" is because the chance of occurrence is starting to get statistically significant, but who's to know?

If the Cascadia Subduction Zone decides to break loose OSU appears (via Google Maps) to be far enough inland to avoid catastrophic damage.

Yeah, we're reasonably far inland. Further than my hometown (Moraga CA, which almost no one not right next to it has heard of) is actually. There is the Willamette river on the other side of town though (although the east side of town is at a lower elevation than campus), and I wonder how that will deal with impacts. Someday I should go check out the coast, if I ever have time (and a car).

The other issue is that disorganized roommates aren't exactly likely to be prepared for a big quake. Earthquake preparedness? Can you do that in a frat party?

localhostrulez wrote:

I have a bunch of cardboard

Slightly over 32 years ago, moving between or out of dorm rooms meant getting a box of Hefty bags. Any Hefty bag that wasn't emptied within 1 year, resumed it's destiny as a trash bag starting with whatever contents were left in it.

Edit: Any prize for whomever gets that 1st post on the 800th page?