As a longtime movie lover, I find myself drawn towards games over movies now. I never thought it would happen to me but games can tell such great stories now that I have a hard time choosing a movie over a few hours of gaming. Weird for me to even admit that to myself since I wanted to make movies in my younger years.

I thought the ending was interesting until I played through it. It just reinforced how pointless the whole story was. Maybe it had good intentions, I can see that on paper, but it made me question why I wasted my time if none of my decisions mattered anyways. We play games to be entertained and escape reality, not to reinforce what we already know. Most of what we do doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Rock Band 4/Rivals is my zen time. Nothing like listening to music I like while rhythmically clicking plastic buttons.

Bought 2 acres of wooded land in North Carolina for $60k, 2 years ago and built a house on one of the 1 acre lots. Now an empty 1 acres lot is going for $100k next door. I guess land really is a great investment if you find a deal.

I agree, along with pizza rolls. They all have a chemical taste to them nowadays.

I agree with you that PHEV is the sweet spot for some people like me. I go on road trips multiple times a year and until I can charge up in 5-10 minutes, I don't see full EV as an option for my family. Also the lifespan of the batteries is a concern. You can have maintenance done on an engine to make it last as long as you want but batteries just need to be replaced at the end of their life. Eventually you reach the point where the battery replacement cost exceeds the cars value.

As someone who has kids who are now just becoming “adults,” “that funny feeling” just keeps getting worse. I worry they’ll never be able to afford houses or families of their own and with the constant rising costs, we won’t have anything to even leave them. I wish I could bury my head in the sand and think everything will be just fine, but I can’t anymore.

I know when I had to rent a car for my family last year in CA to drive up to Oregon, I didn’t want an EV. Even though they were cheaper, I didn’t want to risk us getting stranded in an unfamiliar area that I’ve never been to. We ended up stuck in a “we’ve never seen that before” traffic jam outside of SF. We were trapped for 8 hrs with no exists and I’m not sure an EV would have made it to our destination. Once we got out of it, the first task was finding a gas station. It was not a good area and I can’t imagine finding/sitting at a random charging station, in the middle of the night there. I imagine I’m not the only one who’s had this fear.

This is good to hear. It gives me hope that EVs can have a long life expectancy and might actually replace 20 yr old ICE cars.

Having just bought a ten year old plugin hybrid, I feel like I have two engines to worry about now. They’ll let you buy an extended warranty for the ICE but it’s a big fat no for the HV battery. If the battery totally dies, which it will, it’s $6k+ to replace it. I feel like an EV has an 8-10 year lifespan because after that, you better have the cash on hand to replace the battery. I’d prefer a super efficient ICE car that can run for 500k+ miles with proper maintenance. Then again, I’m a cheap old bastard who misses those reliable beater Hondas and Toyotas.

Offsite is always a good idea in case of a disaster like fire.

Wow, I’m really going to miss him. I got this vibe, before all this started, that he was becoming very depressed. Especially when the other guys would talk about their marriages, etc. It’s almost like a radar for people who’ve struggled with these kinds of mental illnesses in their own lives. After the smoke clears, I hope he doesn’t do any harm to himself and starts a new chapter in his life. Hail yourself!

Same here. Wife also WFH and she has her own office too. We could turn it into a guest room temporarily if we needed though.