Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!

figmentPez · Monday at 1:25 PM

Grumpy thoughts of the day. I hate how video games are seen as an expensive hobby. Like, yeah, some people are spending $2K a year on parts and games, but so does someone going to dinner and a movie every weekend. I've never seen "movie buff" on a list of most expensive hobbies.

What I've spent, on average over the last decade, on video games and computers is easily less than half of what my dad has spent just paying for cable TV to watch sports games, but I've never seen someone list watching football at home as one of the most expensive hobbies.

Squidleybits · Monday at 5:29 PM

If you spend a ton of hours in one game, the cost per hour is far more reasonable than movies etc. @HCGLNS and I did the math on what Monster Hunter World worked out to per hour.

Ravenpoe · Monday at 5:41 PM

figmentPez said:
Grumpy thoughts of the day. I hate how video games are seen as an expensive hobby. Like, yeah, some people are spending $2K a year on parts and games, but so does someone going to dinner and a movie every weekend. I've never seen "movie buff" on a list of most expensive hobbies.

What I've spent, on average over the last decade, on video games and computers is easily less than half of what my dad has spent just paying for cable TV to watch sports games, but I've never seen someone list watching football at home as one of the most expensive hobbies.

Is this a commonly held belief? That video games are an expensive hobby? I don't think I know anyone that would hold that view as the defacto position. It can be cheap or expensive like any hobby.

Warhammer, magic the gathering, these I often hear as expensive hobbies, but not video games. Video games are too generic.

PatrThom · Monday at 9:55 PM

Squidleybits said:
If you spend a ton of hours in one game, the cost per hour is far more reasonable than movies etc.

It's certainly a far more reasonable hobby than, say, photography.

--Patrick

Squidleybits · Tuesday at 11:11 AM

Now that can be pricey. Pokémon cards is a bit bananas these days too.

GasBandit · Wednesday at 12:45 PM

Ravenpoe said:
Ok @GasBandit I've done some quick math.

400mg/day is considered the safe maximum amount of caffeine for most people. 600mg/day and more is known to cause long term problems.

In just the mio energy you are consuming, not counting any other sources of caffeine, you are averaging 900mg/day. That is seriously unsafe.

So a little update on THAT situation... I'll be cutting out Mio Energy from my diet ENTIRELY.

A Downside of Taurine: It Drives Leukemia Growth

Leukemia cells use taurine to produce energy and grow, a study in Nature by a Wilmot Cancer institute team shows.

www.urmc.rochester.edu

Taurine is the 4th ingredient in Mio Energy, right after Caffeine and before Guarana Extract. But regular Mio doesn't have Taurine... so I've switched to that and my own guarana powder. One scoop in my Mio in the morning seems to be enough to get me through the day (approx 220mg of caffeine)

And yes, my "migraines" have completely vanished since I stopped trying to blow gasket seals by running the engine constantly on nitrous.

PatrThom · Wednesday at 1:02 PM

Taurine is a building block of proteins and tissue, much like amino acids, but it is not considered essential, and your liver can make what it needs assuming you are getting enough of its precursors. So yeah, you probably won't miss it.

--Patrick

GasBandit · Wednesday at 3:10 PM

Just in case anybody thought that EVs were all that different from regular cars, I've been going back and forth with my dealership's service department about a noise that only manifests when their technician isn't around to hear it. I think I've got it pinned down to the window seal, where in certain circumstances it swells and becomes "too long" for the window channel, bowing the middle out which makes it catch wind while I drive and makes loud wind noises. But now I can't get it to do it, and I think it's because summer has really hit now, so the night/day thermal differences aren't exacerbating the expansion of the window seal as much... I'm probably going to have to wait until late fall again to be able to get the technician to hear and acknowledge the defect.

ThatNickGuy · Thursday at 10:22 PM

I have three PS5 controllers. One I almost never use because the buttons kept sticking. Another I stopped using recently because one of the buttons on D-Pad stopped responding. Now the third one's D-Pad has suffered the same fate.

I really, REALLY don't want to have to buy a new controller, but I'm almost certain there's nowhere in town to bring them for repairs. I'm sure as hell not going to attempt a DIY fix because I'd wind up breaking them even worse.

Cheesy1 · Thursday at 11:52 PM

Found out the ex is already in a new relationship.
Of course she is.
Maybe she'll actually love this one.

PatrThom · 2025-05-23T05:50:44-0500

ThatNickGuy said:
I really, REALLY don't want to have to buy a new controller, but I'm almost certain there's nowhere in town to bring them for repairs. I'm sure as hell not going to attempt a DIY fix because I'd wind up breaking them even worse.

One of the people I used to work with does this.
I say "used to work with" because he quit in order to do this full-time.
I had no idea it was such a thing.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy · 2025-05-23T06:12:07-0500

ThatNickGuy said:
I have three PS5 controllers. One I almost never use because the buttons kept sticking. Another I stopped using recently because one of the buttons on D-Pad stopped responding. Now the third one's D-Pad has suffered the same fate.

I really, REALLY don't want to have to buy a new controller, but I'm almost certain there's nowhere in town to bring them for repairs. I'm sure as hell not going to attempt a DIY fix because I'd wind up breaking them even worse.

Fucking hell, comments like this bother me. I knew, I knew, I KNEW someone would suggest doing it myself even though I specifically included a sentence about NOT wanting to do it myself to avoid this shit. But nope, people are assholes.

PatrThom · 2025-05-23T06:25:04-0500

Hey, I dont know what the problem is. Just go buy $300 worth of equipment, watch 6hrs of YouTube content, and spend 3hrs patiently hunched over your kitchen table with some readers on. What could be easier?

--Patrick

Ravenpoe · 2025-05-23T06:48:14-0500

ThatNickGuy said:
Fucking hell, comments like this bother me. I knew, I knew, I KNEW someone would suggest doing it myself even though I specifically included a sentence about NOT wanting to do it myself to avoid this shit. But nope, people are assholes.
View attachment 51811

If it makes you feel any better, this person is not trying to be an asshole, they just don't realize the level of discomfort you have in diy because people make quick assumptions when reading. They're trying to help, they're just bad at it.

PatrThom · 2025-05-23T08:25:59-0500

Ravenpoe said:
They're trying to help, they're just bad at it.

I've been that guy. Heck, sometimes I still am that guy. And I have to agree with Poe that it does look like he's genuinely trying to help, but he loses points for completely ignoring the whole "I don't feel confident doing it myself" part. At the very least, he should've ended it with something like, "If you still don't feel confident doing it yourself, here are some people in your area who..." I realize that the poster might not be local enough to know offhand what's available in Nick's area, but IMO if they wanted to suggest the DIY alternative despite the explicitly stated request not to, the "price" for doing that should have been to at least make the effort to answer the original request as asked.

--Patrick

Sparhawk · 2025-05-23T08:33:40-0500

It is a non-invasive type “fix”. More of a cleaning really, and talking about $15 or so if you don’t have alcohol or canned air compared to what $60 to $120? If the controller isn’t working anyway, and you can’t use it…

I know in this area some of the cell phone repair places do repairs on gaming stuff, might be the same there. I’m not sure of the cost of repairs for comparison.

Adam · 2025-05-23T08:42:35-0500

I tried fixing a Switch joycon. Ordered the special tools, watched the youtube videos, ended up making it worse. I can appreciate the desire not to do it on one's own. I also tried to fix my espresso maker. Ordered new steam valves and actually got it to work when the local hardware guy said he couldn't fix it.

If it's already unusable, you don't have much to lose by trying, outside of time, money, patience, frustration, energy, and mental anguish.

ThatNickGuy · 2025-05-23T09:04:29-0500

I'm blocking him. Fuck this shit. I'm so fucking tired of people who double down instead of having even a modicum of empathy.

I'm having a bad day at work in top of this. I might just go to Gamestop after work and get a new controller.

drawn_inward · 2025-05-23T09:36:51-0500

ThatNickGuy said:
Fucking hell, comments like this bother me. I knew, I knew, I KNEW someone would suggest doing it myself even though I specifically included a sentence about NOT wanting to do it myself to avoid this shit. But nope, people are assholes.
View attachment 51811

This kind of stuff irritates the shit out of me too. I understand your frustration.

PatrThom · 2025-05-23T18:27:02-0500

With a response like that, he deserves to be blocked.
He doesn't sound helpful in that response. He sounds offended that you didn't take his advice.
That's not very helpful.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy · 2025-05-24T12:42:11-0500

Dropped my bike off at Cyclesmith for a tune-up. Walked all the way home, only to discover I forgot my keys. So now I need to do a round trip in a cab just to get my keys. Fucking hell.