Partner’s family is visiting. Took them out to eat at a steakhouse. The good one closed and the one we went to was underwhelming. Hoping to take them some place better before they leave.
They’re lucky to have you!
A knife!
I’ve stopped collecting, so it’s rare for me to buy anything, and never pricey.
But, last year, I got lucky on an eBay listing for a brand spanking new, in box benchmade 710b, the exact knife I’ve been carrying daily since it first came out over twenty years ago.
I’d been thinking about retiring my old one entirely, and had a couple of variants of the model (including one that I also got a solid deal on a few years ago that is an updated, fancy version I carry when I want a pretty knife on me.
I triple checked all the pictures, checked against my actual knife to reduce the chances of it being a fake. Talked to the seller and got his story, and figured I had enough to take the risk.
Which, in case nobody is aware, there is a major problem with counterfeits on eBay. Never, ever buy a knife from there unless you can independently identity counterfeits of what you’re looking for. Yeah, you can usually get cheap knives there and be fine, but even the 50-100 dollar range stuff has some counterfeits. So you gotta know your shit if you try and find deals on eBay because most of them are Chinese counterfeits being drop shipped and marked up to just a little below genuine prices so they look like a good deal, but not so good it’s suspicious immediately
Anyway, at the time, when you could find a used example of this model, you’d be looking at 200 plus for anything in decent shape, way higher for mint condition, and even higher NIB.
I found a new in box, opened but totally unused for 150. Was nervous as hell until it got here, and not only was it legit, but the box was in decent shape, and had the original price sticker on it at 98 bucks (I only paid fifty for my original one, but it was lightly used when I got it). Dude had been sitting on it and some others for years and decided to set the prices roughly to what they would be in inflation adjusted amounts rather than secondary market values.
Not a huge splurge, not compared to some knives I’ve bought in the past, but the most recent one
I bought mum a dual dash cam for her car. Viofo 129 Dual Pro. I bought some sneakers but I don’t think it’s splurging when I need them and they were cheap.
Mexican food
Telescope! A really, really bad telescope. I cannot recommend that you avoid cheap Celestron scopes enough. The fact that the spherical primary mirror is the best part of the scope really says something lmao
But hey, better to have a tiny dobsonian and the world’s worst equatorial mount, than to have a tiny dobsonian and no equatorial mount. Now I just got to save up for a couple years so I can spend a cool thou on a half-decent mount
Bday dinner last Friday at a fairly new high end steakhouse. Yummo!
I dropped $35 on action figures 🤓. I’m trying to cut back tho!
Virpil flight controls. I’ve been playing elite dangerous and project wingman a lot and wanted to upgrade from my ancient but reliable saitek X-52. Unfortunately, when it comes to flight sim stuff, there’s really nothing above that tier except the most ridiculous hobbyist stuff. No regrets at all though. The difference is astounding.
That said, if anyone is thinking about upgrading their setup, I can highly recommend the warbrd base. It comes with swappable cams and springs to perfectly customize the stick resistance. The software is intimidating but very easy to set up (with a guide) and once you’re updated your good to go.
A king bed so my dog’s have more room to sprawl out. (I’m still struggling to have any space)
Just to warn you, dogs will immediately sprawl to occupy any space on a bed.
We have a queen size, and back when my dog was still alive, her little corgi butt took up so much space my wife would sometimes fall off when she’d turn over. I’m not joking, it actually happened.
Battletech. I’ve been getting into it the last few months and I’ve bulked up my ComStar force and bought the DLCs for MW5 Mercs for good measure 🤷♂️
Work in progress pic from a couple nights ago
My brother does warhammer minis, are those like that?
Yeah same basic idea, you’ve got a team of models against someone else’s. It’s WAY cheaper and friendly IMO though. Instead of 50-200 models on the table you’ve got like 6 max, usually 4. Big stompy robots jumping over hills, blasting each other, overheating and falling over, clubbing one another with their own leg, that sort of thing.
It’s got a lot more elements of historical wargames in practice than Warhammer.
hell yeah.
Hell yeah is right! The game is full of “hell yeah” haha. It’s got a really solid, versatile core ruleset, too, so you can play it however you want to. The lore covers a few centuries, generally speaking the later on the better the tech is and more complex the game gets. But there’s stuff like the Clan Invasion where you’ve got really asymmetrical forces (2 Inner Sphere Lances vs a Clan Star vs a ComStar Level II or whatever), or earlier during the Succession Wars where the tech level cap is pretty low and you’ve basically just got a really neat way to play chess
They also totally encourage kitbashing, proxies, 3D printing, and any other way you want to have fun with Your Dudes.
Those are cool!
Thanks! Here’s a progress pic :) ComGuard 5th Army, “Eminence Front” Level II, theoretically on Tukayyid bases
E-scooter, absolutely worth it if you live in a city.
I so want one, but they’re still illegal for road use in the UK. It doesn’t seem to be particularly well enforced though, but knowing my luck I’d be one of the people who gets in shit for using one.
They’re illegal in Toronto too but they are super popular so I just went ahead and got one. Splurge on a lock too they get stolen all the time. Mine is double locked inside a bike cage that is also locked.
My new
9950X3DAMD gaming build -.-Which games are you playing on it?
The same I always do. On Bazzite BTW.
Valheim and Elite Dangerous Odyssey mostly. Waiting to see how both perform when I finish building.
We all know how CPU bound heavily modded/high frame rate/resolution Valheim can be.
EDO performs great in normal space play/SRV play. But Stations/Settlements/Odyssey content can get CPU bound.
Brute force vs optimization gains 🥹.
I also splurged on a Wi-Fi 7 router because Microcenter price matched Best Buy (-$70), but more importantly, also includes Monster Hunter Wilds. So I’ll be dipping my toes in there too.
I also have Satisfactory, but was waiting for this to play it.
I’d game more, but Fibromyalgia makes my hands/arms hurt/tired easily 😰.
Originally, I was planning to build last year with a 7800X3D. But, Microcenter had a Crazy Bundle Deal at the time for my 7950x. (Mobo+Ram+CPU for ~$200 less than a single 7800X3D. I couldn’t pass that up.) (Will be handing down to my Boyfriend).
Turns out it was a good decision.
9KX3Ds have better thermals and more power available than the 7KX3Ds 50w Handicap vs non X3D 7Ks.
And better uh…techno magics.
- https://www.phoronix.com/review/amd-3d-vcache-optimizer-9950x3d
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-9-9950x3d-review
I did some deep diving…
“Remember kids. For Gaming, Fast Random speeds on storage matters more than fast write speeds see 4.0 vs 5.0.”
“And lower CAS 28 timings benefit vs trying to get any stable EXPO over 6000Mhz.”
“Wait for ZEN 6 for high speed kits, will have improved (I)ntegrated (M)emory ©ontroller, 9ks shares the same
IMCas 7ks”.Solitaire
I bought a bunch of cute kink outfits^^ Finally have a stable job and income after university
Congrats!
100W portable Solar panel
A bunch of new furniture. The books have shelves, the tv isn’t on a stack of boxes, and we have seating furniture. It’s amazing what you get used to.
