#but being treated like a workhorse means I’ll leave too. so not sure what the end goal really is

[crowcryptid]

My boss came in today and told me I am expected to finish filing 2021-2023 in 2-3 weeks because the room that we store all this shit in is getting taken over.

I straight up. Could not think of anything to say. So I just said. “Ok.”

I’ve been at this for like. 2 months? Idk. Maybe longer? I didn’t keep track. I finally finished 2020 last week.

Im currently up to April 2021.

Idk what’s going to happen in 2-3 weeks when she realizes I’m not done.

To rub salt in the wound she also gave a little speech about “being 100% committed to the project” (in addition to your regular work of course).

Small issue though. That speech was directed at all 3 of us. I’m the only one actually doing anything.

Not that I am allowed to point that out though.

It’s a real shame they’re a best friends who wouldn’t dare make each other do any work. It’s also a shame that the lady who used to have my job was also their best friend who let this pile up till now. She stops by to visit and have lunch in our office too. Isn’t that nice.

To give an idea of how um.. physical this process is. This was from today. Just organizing papers. Carrying them around.

[smoothshift]

I recently purchased a new 2018 Honda Odyssey last night and wanted to share some first impressions. I know this group isn't normally into Minivans, but hopefully some will benefit. via /r/cars

I recently purchased a new 2018 Honda Odyssey last night and wanted to share some first impressions. I know this group isn't normally into Minivans, but hopefully some will benefit.

My previous car was a 2005 Odyssey, so I have the advantage of being able to compare new to old. The ‘05 was a workhorse. I treated it poorly, and it had the scars to show, but it really never gave me a single problem that wasn’t in the normal scope of wear and tear. I was the third owner and it was in a somewhat serious accident at some point before I got my hands on it. I used it for camping, kayaking, towing a 2000 lb trailer, extended cross-country road trips, moving, hauling a cord of wood in the cargo space, carrying 4x8 sheets of plywood, etc.

Below are some first impressions in no particular order:

The fit and finish are standard Honda quality. By that I mean that it’s not quite what you would expect from a German car, but the tolerances are still very tight and the overall feel is that of a quality vehicle. It’s neither a top of the line luxury car nor is it an economy box. The price may be a little higher than the initial quality, but I know that the value would hold.

The sound system is pretty meh. I mean, it’s okay, I guess, but it’s definitely not premium. Honda advertises 11 speakers, 550 watts, and two woofers but I can easily hear distortion in the mid-range and I am not an audiophile by any stretch. My Chevy Volt has a Low-energy Bose sound system that absolutely blows the Odyssey away in clarity, bass, and loudness.

There are things that were previously available in the EX trim are now only available in the Touring or Elite such as: Heated driver’s seat, Sliding 2nd row seats, Upper seatback pockets. The EX also used to come standard with roof rack rails (not crossbars), but the Elite does not include these.

The center console in my ‘05 used to fold down and the new console has a lot more storage. This is both good and bad. On one hand, the additional storage is nice, but I used to carry 2x8x10’ construction lumber often which required me to drop that center console to fit boards between the seats. I guess if I had to choose which is better I’d pick the new style, but what would be ideal is to have the entire unit pop out when needed.

The heated/vented seats have a nice even warmth and the heater goes all the way up my back. My ‘05 heated one spot and made me feel like I shit my pants.

Honda took away the cool box -- the in-floor storage between the 1st and 2nd row.. I really loved this feature; it was where I kept all of my cargo straps, bungee cords, audio cables, hitch balls, power inverter, etc. What was there previously is now a spare tire. I’m still not sure where I’m going to stow my every-day carry items. There seems to be less cubby bins overall in this car.

I have no idea what I’m doing with paddle shifters and it doesn’t help that the transmission has 10 speeds. I guess it might be nice to be able to downshift in slow-and-go traffic in order to stay off the brakes, but that’s probably not the best habit to be in. The transmission seems to be okay - it’s nothing to rave about, but it does the job just fine.

As far as I can tell, sport mode does nothing but enable the paddle shifters. If there is any difference in acceleration, then that difference is slight.

Cabin noise is more than I expected. It’s not terrible and it’s certainly better than my 2005, but at highway speeds there’s wind noise. The engine also makes as much or more noise than my 2005. It’s not a bad sounding engine really, just a little loud when under load. It has a throaty sound that might be more in place in a sportier car.

There is a vacuum in the back where the spare tire used to be. I hear this is a good vacuum, but I was really hoping that I could make my kids use it when I’m taking them somewhere. They absolutely trash the second row and I thought this would be an excellent use of their time when traveling. The problem is that the vacuum cannot be turned on or off from anywhere except the very back of the vehicle.

The smartphone app, HondaLink seems to be worthless without a subscription and they aren’t transparent with their pricing, but I understand it’s expensive. I have OnStar in my Chevy Volt which I refuse to pay for, but it at least gives me some basic abilities such as smartphone unlock and remote start.

Speaking of subscriptions, there is a vehicle WiFi option, but the only carrier is AT&T. This seems like a dumb move on Honda’s part since large portions of the country have a poor signal with them. I have no problem with AT&T and get a good signal around my town, but my plan is with Verizon and I’m not likely to open a separate account for just my van. When we want wifi in the car, we usually tether to our phone. I think I’ll continue to use that option.

The entertainment center is 10.2 inches which is an improvement. I haven’t really used it yet so I’m not sure about the resolution or daytime brightness, but I understand that it’s pretty good. A really nice feature would have been the inclusion of Chromecast, but there at least is an HDMI input available although I haven’t found it yet.

The central control panel is well accented with hardware buttons for the things you’re likely to use often. While the control panel is not exactly intuitive, it’s also not exactly complicated or difficult to figure out. What’s hard is figuring out how to use it while driving. I expect it will be second-nature within a week or so and I will still be discovering features for another 6 months. That’s how these things usually go. It’s possible to customize it to some extent which is nice, but the customizations do not tie to the car key. My wife and I will both have to agree on how we want it and I’ll need to run changes by her before making them.

Idle-stop is cool. It kicks in when you press the brake pedal firmly and the engine restarts when you let up a little. I don’t know if it really impacts your overall fuel efficiency all that much, but I like the quiet. The thing I learned is that I shouldn’t go directly from stop to gas when the light turns green. There is a slight delay as the engine restarts and I inevitably chirp the front tires from taking off too fast. Meanwhile, the guy behind me has begun to roll a bit and is annoyed when I didn’t go right away. Best strategy is to know when your light’s about to change and let up on the pedal to restart the engine ahead of time. As best as I can tell, this feature does not employ the starter. I think it leaves a cylinder under compression and fires that plug it to restart (purely a guess on my part).

The floor is no longer flat when the middle row is out. This can be a big pain when loading bulky/heavy furniture and items that should not tip or wobble. This large bump also cuts down on the available cargo height.

In summary, while there are some things I would change about the new van, I’m happy with it overall. I rarely buy new cars, but when I do I really enjoy having solid state-of-the-art tech and features which this car has in abundance. If I do my parenting right, my kids will both be out of the house in 6 years at which time I’ll dump this van for something a little more fun. This review probably sounds fairly critical, but that’s only because my critique is focused on things I would change or improve if I could. The Odyssey, overall, is an excellent choice for any family. I can’t imagine how I would have accomplished some of the road trips with the amount of cargo we carried without a vehicle like this.

Honda’s reputation for safety, quality, and value stands on its own. While I’m sure that there are other fine minivans that might be equally capable and reliable, I wouldn’t risk my money on one.

*Edit: grammar

[ilovewikishopline-blog]

OmniHub tries to fix the MacBook Pro’s port shortage with magnets and modules

New Post has been published on https://goo.gl/aBGDSp

OmniHub tries to fix the MacBook Pro’s port shortage with magnets and modules

Earlier this month, my five-year-old MacBook Pro finally gave up the ghost. After traveling the world and surviving several CESes, it was time to finally lay the thing to rest. I had some misgivings about replacing the old workhorse with one of the new models, not the least of which was the company’s fairly unpopular decision to ditch all existing ports for a quartet of ThunderBolt 3 ports, which felt a bit like trading in a cow for a pocketful of magic beans.

I’ve just been at too many events/live blogs in the past couple of years where some fellow reporter is kicking themselves for leaving some ever-important dongle back in the hotel room. So I’ve had some adapters sitting in my Amazon shopping basket until the time came to officially pull the trigger on the new computer — the $100 HyperDrive Hub being the top contender.

But then a representative from MadHub dropped in with perfect timing with word of the company’s new upcoming Kickstarter campaign for the OmniHub. The system is a magnetic, modular solution to the problem of never having the right ports. From a design standpoint, it looks an awful lot like the HyperDrive and any number of competitors. It’s a long, thin ledge that plugs into the side of the MacBook, extending the surface area out a bit. It’s a much more elegant solution than having a bunch of extra cables dangling down from the side of the computer.

Where the OmniHub looks to set itself apart is the concept of modularity. In other words, why be stuck with the default array of ports on one of these systems, when you can mix and match to get what you need? It’s also more compact, for those times when you don’t need to bring everything along, and works with more systems, including the upcoming Google Pixelbook, because it doesn’t have the two USB-C jacks on the back.

I’m not sure how useful that last point ultimately is for most people. I don’t expect that too many folks are going to be swapping these peripherals from system to system. But there’s certainly appeal to the first two points. I don’t really have much use for an HDMI module right now, but I need an SD card reader, and I’ll take all of the standard USB ports I can get. So treating port selection like a salad bar sounds pretty great.

Of course, this is a Kickstarter campaign, so the selection is pretty limited. There are three modules at the moment: One with SD/micro SD, two USB 3.1 ports and a USB-C on the side, one with an HDMI and USB-C and one with DP video and USB-C. Hopefully, if all goes well with the campaign, the company will add more choices. MadHub sent the first two along for review purposes — both are pre-production, so my results were honesty a bit mixed.

The company is still working on the paint job — which is a good thing, because my units arrived scuffed, in spite of being sent along in super-protective casing. And the silver coloring didn’t quite match the shade of my new MacBook, though you’ve really got to be paying attention to notice, so that seems a bit nit-picky. The magnetic connector was also a bit weak, though that’s something the company assures me it’s working on for the final product.

The hub doesn’t quite lay flush with the keyboard casing and juts out from the back if you have  two in at once. The fact that each module is held in by a single port also means that the platform moves around as you plug and unplug things. Also, I had a little trouble with one of the USB 3.1 ports — I had to pull the cable out a millimeter or so in order to get the charge going. These are all things the company will hopefully address in the shipping version of the product.

There are some nice touches on board, as well. The port layout is well-thought-out so you can work with multiple modules at once. There’s also a nice green glow that emanates from the ports, making it easier to find them in the dark.

You can get in on the ports for pretty cheap if you support the Kickstarter. Otherwise, they’re a bit pricey compared to some of the other non-modular competition. A USB and HDMI combo should retail around $108, while all three together are expected to go for $158. If all goes according to plan, it should start shipping by the end of the year.