Consumer Research

Seems like the major brands all fit a bit different. Getting a good fitting and comfortable skate is more important than a particular brand. Personally I would try and find a used pair first at a local skate shop. If that doesn't work is go to a store and try on different brands and see what you like. CCM and Bauer both have lower end skates that are perfect for what you need

I agreed with the used skate idea.

I bought a pair a couple years ago, first since HS and was shocked at how much they have changed in options, fit, etc.

I have wide feet so I learned that Bauer Vapor is the narrow one, Supreme is a bit wider and Nexus are the wide ones. I found a pair of Nexus ones that were used for a month and returned during a trial period, I think normally they are $599 new, they were on the shelf for $400 and Scheels was running a 50% off used skates sale. They were able to bake them for my foot and they are the best skates I have ever owned.

Does anyone have a good suggestion for a low cost sound bar for a 4K TV? It’s for a basement television where we aren’t looking for top of the line, just something with good sound and ARC and Bluetooth support

My wife thinks nothing is wrong with the sound coming from the TV so she said I could buy a lower cost one. As a result I’m looking at a Bose one, a Yamaha, a Vizio, and a Samsung. All of them are under $250.

It amazes me how many females in my life have said they do not notice the difference between the TV speakers and everything else. The difference is stark for me.

I bought a Bose Solo Soundbar Series II at Costco a month ago. It was $139 when I bought it during their month long black Friday sale. Regular price is $179.

That would be my wife.

She also likes nice vehicles but physically can’t see a difference between stock rims and high profile tires of our Tahoe LT and the larger rim/lower profile of the premier.

I’m looking at the Bose TV speaker which is a little more expensive but I’ll have to look at this one more. I really want the HDMI eARC feature though so I don’t need a bunch of remotes in the basement.

It is for me too. I told her when we finally splurge on a new living room TV we will also be getting a Dolby Atmos sound setup. My 5.1 system works really well but I’ll be ready for an upgrade by then.

We just bought a decent one with a sub from Costco too.

Thanks! I will heck out the used stores first. I stopped at the Bauer experience or whatever in Bloomington and was overwhelmed and out of my element. Ha

The S35 were like $100-200 and labeled as recreational.

Our TV speakers are fine as long as there’s no other noise in the house - I have to crank the volume every time the furnace runs. There seems to be no difference between 30 and 80 in the volume either. I’d love a sound bar.

Don't listen to the hype. No 12 year old could skate without $500 skates according to that store.

Funny...was thinking this same thing while perusing the comments. It's not about the volume, it's about the sound and the experience it creates.

And a $360 stick!

This will date me, but the difference in sound between 24K Gold discs and regular cds was astounding.

Yeah I didn't even ask to try any on. Felt out of place ha

Anyone ever hear of the website Ice Warehouse? They have in stock of the size I need as Scheel's, Pure Hockey and what not don't carry half sizes. Same price, but wasnt sure if anyone used it.

Used both icewarehouse and inlinewarehouse before (same company I believe). Not for skates, but never had any issues with them. If you know what size you need already, I don't think it would be an issue.

Ice Warehouse is legit. I've purchased from them a few times over the past five years.

I agree with the posts above and will add that icewarehouse is by far the best online hockey store that I ever dealt with.

I am not sure where to put this but I am tech illiterate and need help.

My son’s iPad is getting bombarded with FaceTime requests from people he doesn’t know (all over the Us and in Africa). Is this weird for an iPad since it doesn’t have a phone number associated with it?

Yes, super odd. I never get them. Neither do my kids.

How old is he? Does he use the iPad for school? As in, does he do any sort of group chat for school? If not, just go into Settings and just turn it off. Do not engage with the requests. You do not need a phone number to FaceTime, you only need internet connection.

Yeah, I don’t use FaceTime but I would suspect this is a setting you need to fix in the app itself. Or just don’t let your kid use Facebook.

It’s not an app you download. iPad come with FaceTime pre-installed. Just go to Settings, scroll down and you’ll see FaceTime. Turn it off. And FaceTime isn’t FaceBook, two completely different things. :biggrin2:

He Facetimes with friends daily. But I can see he gets many calls to FaceTime that he doesn’t answer from unknown numbers.

I’ll have to figure out a way to block unknown numbers.

That latter was a mis-type, but still, my technology illiteracy showing. ?

Can FaceTime be spammed like any other number?

I just searched “spam FaceTime calls”. There’s instructions for going in and blocking numbers for FaceTime. Looks slightly tedious, but might work. Is there any possibility he’s clicked on something while in chat? They got into his FaceTime somehow, even through one of his friends.

For you creative/design types of people, where do you go to find accessories and artwork for a space? We're going to go shopping on Friday to try and find things for our new basement, but I wanted to see where people might suggest going.

We're likely going to end up looking at Homegoods and some of the chain furniture stores on the lower end. We're also going to look at some of the shops at IMS to see what's available on the higher end, but are there other places that would have a good selection of things that you'd suggest going to check out?

We only have some very vague ideas of what we want to do down there so some of the trip is just to try and get some ideas of how to fill the space. Our belief is we're willing to spend a decent chunk of money if we see something we really like, but we're also not afraid to buy some cheaper things that will work until we're able to visit some of the art fairs this summer.

Im afraid I’m not much help since most anything on our walls is made by Karl Jaeger or Terrence Fogarty. And as for accessories? We obtain them at breweries and hockey rinks. (Growlers and pucks).

Needless to say, do not take decorating advice from us. ?

Ditto. I go for kitsch (I have a Dogs Playing Poker tapestry), or special interest (have a 3'x5' canvass of the 4 main stars of Goodfellas, and a 3'x2' of Pacino from Scarface) hanging in my living room. Have a couple framed pics from the Plymouth OC also. My decor is very much pop culture. I do have one spot on my walls, if I ever find the right Velvet Elvis (size is key, here).

Zwak hooked me up with one of the buildings in NE that has a ton of artist studios so we're going to look at some of the artist's websites and see if anything jumps out at us.

A little masculine?

If you can wait, this is always a great time to visit that building. The event was cancelled last year but as of right now it scheduled for 2021.

https://www.northrupkingbuilding.com/events/art-a-whirl#:~:text=2021%20Dates%20and%20Hours%3A,%E2%80%93%20Noon%2D5%3A00%20p.m.

Yeah - we have gone to Art a Whirl before we had kids. I’d like to go back this year depending on the situation for sure

I appreciate you looking this up for me. I didn’t realize that complex had a full website with links to a bunch of the artists who work out of it. Searching Google randomly for local artists doesnt give you anything as robust as what that one site does

Hey, hey, hey. My "Chicago For The Tourist" (an OC hanging) has 2 women in it as the focus of the picture. https://posterplus.com/products/paul-proehl-chicago-for-the-tourist

Our house has very little carpet as it is mostly hardwood. We have some cheap carpet in our finished basement that has never been cleaned. This weekend I rented a Bissel Big Green from Lowes. Normally I rent a Rug Doctor. After this weekend I will not be going back to Rug Doctor. The Bissel Big Green was $10 cheaper than Rug Doctor and was much easier to use. With the Rug Doctor it only cleans if you pull it backwards. The Big Green cleans both forwards and backwards and is much more maneuverable.

The down side is that it holds about half as much fresh water as the Rug Doctor but this also makes it lighter.

Anyway, if you are looking to rent a carpet cleaner, Bissel Big Green gets my vote. There's also a $7 off coupon on their website so the cost was $22.99 for 24 hours.

I'm looking to buy a webcam. Any recommendations? Features to aim for, or avoid?

If this is for zoom/teams/whatever calls, I just recommend looking at the field of view. A lot of the webcams have wider angles than what’s built into a laptop so others see more of the room around you.

Half the water would drive me nuts though. I'd be filling that thing constantly.

I was looking into home carpet cleaners, the big green seemed to be one of the best but due to cost I went with their pet model. Not impressed.

Thanks, I got a logitech C920s PRO. It had 78 degree FoV. I didn't want the super wide angle. I'll check it out today and can return it to Target if there's any other problem. I'm a little worried about the autofocus being too sensitive and adjusting too often.

Looks like I am using the same one. I use it for the GPL Podcast and it works well.

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/webcams/c920-pro-hd-webcam.960-000764.html

Just fair warning, if your carpet still has warranty left, don't use either of them. It will void the warranty. You need hot water extraction done every 12-18 months to maintain carpet warranty.

WTF? Really?

Yes, really. A carpet warranty is no different then one for your car or your computer. Do it yourself almost always voids the manufacturer warranty.

Doing it yourself can go wrong several ways...poor rinsing leaves shampoo and that attracts even more dirt, too hot water loosens carpet glue/backing, too much water makes backing buckle. Or the pad gets too wet and now you have mold.

Excellent! We set it up and it looked and sounded great. But we did get an issue with the computer response. After the camera was connected, both mousing and typing response was real bad (typed a password and it took 5+ seconds for the computer to display it.) Did you encounter anything like this?

Did you reboot?