"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[freebeard]

How large of a rocket stove would I need to burn the rest of a house?

A pile of concrete blocks you load with a scoop shovel, but it would be dirty, thankless work. First pass might be a 1" square screen, and sweep the dust into a berm and landscape it.

Sweat equity is best equity.

[redpoint5]

No registration required in Oregon at the moment since the DMV is 3 months backlogged.

If I were homeless, I'd much rather camp in the forest than a concrete jungle, but I get that squirrels don't facilitate addiction.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

No registration required in Oregon at the moment since the DMV is 3 months backlogged.

If I were homeless, I'd much rather camp in the forest than a concrete jungle, but I get that squirrels don't facilitate addiction.

That grace period ended Dec, 31 2021. I just renewed my registration last Friday.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

That would be an interesting change. From mountainous country to a big city near the Great Lakes. It would be a much warmer climate but at least will probably have snow in the winter. There'd be the need to find new friends for the whole family and to find new things to do, or figure out ways to do the things we're accustomed to. Camping, fishing, hiking.

Saginaw is not a big city. All of Saginaw County only has 200K people. The city proper is down to 44K from a peak of 98K.

Yes, moving requires finding new friends. My wife and I have done it 4 times in the last 20 years.

Looking at the family tree my family hasn't stayed put for more than a generation. All moved to find work.

I moved out of Michigan when I graduated university
My father moved across the state of Michigan
My Grandfather moved from Indiana to Michigan
My Great Grandfather moved from Missouri to Indiana
My Great Great Grandfather was Born and died in Missouri
My Great Great Great Grandfather moved from North Carolina to Missouri

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

Saginaw is not a big city. All of Saginaw County only has 200K people. The city proper is down to 44K from a peak of 98K.

Right now I'm in the biggest city I've ever lived in with just under 6,500 population. Here in the Colorado mountains towns are small and far between. We have dear in the yard nearly every day. Sometimes bears. I can drive for hundreds of miles and be the only car on the road.

44K is enourmous to me. But not impossible. The wife and I did try to live near Denver in the city of Aurora once 17 years ago. We ended up moving back to the mountains after 6 months. That was before we had kids.

Originally Posted by JSH

Yes, moving requires finding new friends. My wife and I have done it 4 times in the last 20 years.

Looking at the family tree my family hasn't stayed put for more than a generation. All moved to find work.

I moved out of Michigan when I graduated university
My father moved across the state of Michigan
My Grandfather moved from Indiana to Michigan
My Great Grandfather moved from Missouri to Indiana
My Great Great Grandfather was Born and died in Missouri
My Great Great Great Grandfather moved from North Carolina to Missouri

I'm sure it gets easier after the first time. Except the time I went to Denver, I've only lived in towns where friends and family also live. I'm not sure what generation of Coloradan I am, but I know my european ancestors came over in covered wagons. My native american ancestors had even more time here. My great great grandfather helped build the railroads here and died on the tracks. My grandfather helped put in the powerlines into these mountain towns. One great grandmother killed a bear with a 22 gauge rifle in one shot.

[redpoint5]

My wife's from Wray, CO. Population 2k. I met her in PDX, and now we're in a town of 10k. I consider house prices crazy here, but not as bad as PDX. Supposedly our home value increased $200k since we bought it 2.5 years ago. Absurdity.

I'll say though, homeownership is a hedge against rent increases and inflation. There's no tax deduction or equity paying rent, but you get both carrying a mortgage. My mortgage, taxes, and insurance were 100% paid for renting out my 3 rooms.

Though I didn't need roommates to make mortgage payments, I had them anyhow. I'd certainly take roommates if that's what was necessary for home ownership. The system is bent in favor of private ownership, so that's (usually) the best financial play.

[Piotrsko]

Didn't Saginaw have an assembly plant that got closed?

Xists DMV won't accept PO boxes, mine does. Have a parade of RVs that park along the Truckee every night, disappear by 8 am.

[Xist]

Actually, someone in Colorado said that he couldn't register his car because they don't accept P.O. boxes.

I didn't need to register my care while I was in Page.

I found old posts saying you cannot register to a P.O. box because they realized a decade or two ago that people were trying to get around emissions testing, but I cannot find anything recent or official, and when I found the title and registration form it just asked for an address.

There wasn't anything about P.O. boxes.

A friend in Washington found full-time SLPA jobs that pay $60-70k, but my aunt lives in that state and keeps talking about leaving for cheaper home prices.

By the way, I always pack up my laptop to take it to my Wednesday client. This time when I returned I finally set up my new KVM switch.

I bought a Syba KVM for $60 in 2016 and it didn't work.

I don't know what I was doing back then, but about the only time I use my laptop without a keyboard, mouse, headset, and my 43" television is at that client's house.

It didn't make sense to have 2 keyboards, mice, and headphones, except my Logitech on-the-ear headset isn't nearly as nice as my Family Dollar over-the-ear ones, I just couldn't find any other USB headset, and for some reason my normal headset doesn't work with my desktop.

I was amazed that I could buy a KVM for $20, but I could!

I wonder if they sell the same one on Wish. It was Ugreen and:

1. It isn't a KVM, it is a USB switch. No HDMI.
2. It doesn't work!

It turns out they have cheaper ones, but I didn't see them.

I just saw this, but after hours of searching I was happy to find something that wasn't either cheap garbage or prohibitively expensive: StarTech.com 2 Port USB C KVM Switch - 4K 60Hz HDMI - Compact UHD Desktop KVM Switch w/USB Type C Cables - Bus Powered

It cost $109.54!

Since it only has 2 ports I bought a 4-port USB hub and may end up buying another hub so I can use my webcam with both computers!

It had HDMI out, but USB-C in, which probably won't work with my desktop, which doesn't have USB-C!

I bought a USB-USB-C cable, but I don't have confidence that will work, especially when it is way skinnier than the provided USB-C cables.

So, my HDMI video is coming through a USB-C cable, and my USB peripherals are connected to the switch with a mini-USB.

Everything worked fine last night, but the video has glitched a few times in the brief time that I have used this today.

That is what the first one did. It only got worse and worse.

[redpoint5]

I run my laptop to my 3 screens, keyboard, mouse, headset, and webcam through a Thunderbolt 3 port replicator. 1 USB C connection connects all that so my laptop is portable when needed.

Under my desk I've got a desktop PC (deskbottom?). It runs my surveillance system and is my personal file storage. It runs headless (no video, keyboard, or mouse connections). When I need to access it, I just Remote Desktop to it.

I'll probably never need a KVM again considering port replicators and software like Mouse Without Boarders (Multiple screens, 1 mouse/keyboard).

If I ever decide to game on the desktop, my monitors have extra inputs. Extra steps switching inputs on all 3, but no biggie.

[freebeard]

I posted about my travails buying a replacement landline phone, now the spam filter snagged an email titled wholesale old mobile phones at cheap prices.

It's like they're mocking my intentions.