Last weeks thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

  • Something interesting that happened to you
  • Something humourous that happened to you
  • Something frustrating that happened to you
  • A quick question
  • A request for recommendations
  • Pictures of your pet
  • A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
  • Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

  • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
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    1 day ago

    I snagged an OKJ Bronco for a great price a couple of weeks ago as a damaged packaging product. Turned out it was pretty much perfect inside except for a couple of small scratches which I covered up with enamel paint very easily.

    Managed to hang a lamb leg in there last weekend which turned out delicious. Might try to do some ribs in there if the weather is decent this Sunday.

      • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
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        23 hours ago

        I’ve been thinking about getting a drum smoker for awhile, but was expecting not to get one until next year sometime. I was kind of tossing up between this and a Pit Barrel Cooker, then the Bronco popped up on one of my saved sellers on Trademe and I had to jump on it.

        Pretty happy with it so far!

  • terraborra@lemmy.nz
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    1 day ago

    Been off on stress leave the last couple of days but I’m lucky to have an extremely supportive manager. They let me take the days off without using annual or sick leave. Also found a good psychotherapist through work’s EAP services which has helped.

    • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
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      1 day ago

      That’s really cool they let you do that. Hopefully you’re feeling less stressed, and not sitting at home worrying about all the work that’s piling up.

      • terraborra@lemmy.nz
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        7 hours ago

        Part of the stress is that there’s no funding for the next 3 years and therefore very little work. There’s a wave of redundancies that’ll be announced this coming week.

        Going to be tough.

          • terraborra@lemmy.nz
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            7 hours ago

            Thanks. Unless something has drastically changed I’ll be safe but will be losing a lot of good colleagues.

            • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
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              5 hours ago

              Yeah that’s usually the way. All that institutional knowledge gone.

  • FloofahNZ@lemmy.nz
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    1 day ago

    Just got some Deadly Sin coffee beans.

    The taste for me is great, strong but smooth, not the burnt taste some stronger coffee’s have. A blend of Robusta and Arabica beans hence the higher strength.

    It’s tough commenting on-line suggesting foods, drinks, movies etc to others, it’s all a very personal preference.

    • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
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      1 day ago

      Oooh, I was just looking at ordering more coffee. And the strength of the coffee (as in flavour not caffeine) is something I struggle to get right. Cafe coffee is always a lot stronger than what I make at home, even when I caefully measure proportions.

      I might order a bag of this and give it a go!

  • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
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    1 day ago

    I have a loose definition of “week”. This is the first thread in almost a month…

    Anyway, a while back I asked about gateway routers, and @thevoyagekayaking@lemmy.nz recommended the Ubiquiti Dream Machine SE. I eventually built up the courage to spent that much money on it, and it arrived this week.

    After a few challenges I managed to get it set up. It has now replaced my ISP router, and I’ve also replaced the Pi-hole with the UDM’s options for local DNS entries and ad blocking. I also have set it up as a VPN client with Wireguard and ProtonVPN, and I can choose which devices are routed over the VPN and even customise it per domain so streaming services that don’t like the VPN can be excluded.

    I have a 300Mbps connection that normally averages about 280Mbps, and ProtonVPN lets me keep this speed (I’m on a paid plan).

    The internet in general feels more snappy too, lower latency. I’m pretty happy with this purchase, and keen to get some cameras plugged into the PoE as soon as my wallet has recovered.

      • Dave@lemmy.nzOPM
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        1 day ago

        Tools exist that can do it, but there’s always a pinned post at the top of c/nz if anyone wants to post something or read something.

        The problem with using a bot is that people with bots disabled won’t see it! I also just don’t really like the idea, it seems so impersonal. Perhaps a good compromise is setting up the posts in advance with a post scheduling tool, so it’s not a bot but my account still posting them.

        • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
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          23 hours ago

          Good idea with the scheduled posting. I gravitate to these kinds of threads, mainly as sometimes I don’t really have anything relevant to add to news or political posts.