So we’re not getting hand milked by 40 cows while getting figged by 3 cherubs.

Postcard aesthetic isn’t good enough?

That’s probably because Aldi is buying it from several different producers (processors, packagers, or bottlers. Not sure the appropriate title) that apply Aldi’s branding (or whomever) to the package.

Starting scrambled eggs (3) in a cold pot or pan with at least a tablespoon of unsalted butter (a little more or less doesn’t seem to hurt the recipe). Bring up to medium heat (alternating between on the heat and totally off the heat if you have to to keep the eggs from cooking too quickly). Near constant stirring with a spatula to keep the eggs off the bottom. Adding salt/pepper and a half a spoonful of creme fresh, Greek yogurt, or sour cream at the end just before the eggs completely set. Delicious flavorful creamy scrambled eggs. Gordon Ramsey did a short video guide and fancies them up with some tomatoes and mushrooms browned in a lightly oiled pan on the side and putting the eggs over a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread, and fresh chopped chives sprinkled over it all. So much more of the flavor of the yolk comes through when I cook eggs this way compared to other methods. I’ve used this dish to great effect to impress the (non-vegan) guests that I’ve brought home the night before. Paired with a French press of coffee and suddenly even a broke college student can feel fancy. If you prefer iced coffee, you can prepare it with cold water the night before and let it sit on the counter overnight before pressing it.

A splash of beer works similarly too depending on what you’re putting those onions on.

I have setup and run what are basically HTPC’s for decades now. Kodi running on a Debian based Linux distribution or just Debian is a solid recommendation and has lots of support for infrared remotes, but kodi can be very fiddly to setup properly. It will work, but don’t expect it to work “out of the box”. You’ll probably still need a mouse and keyboard for anything outside Kodi. You’ll have to read a bunch of documentation and do some customizing to get the most out of Kodi. It’s still easier than most other setups, but it will feel very frustrating if it’s your introduction to Linux too.

I’ve moved to using my HTPC primarily as a server. Once you get comfortable with linux and docker, setting up new server services like Jellyfish, Plex, and and *ARR stack is relatively trivial. The advantage here being that you can serve your media to any device that can connect to your server. For me that means one library of media to share with any TV in my house, any mobile device I own, and any friends and family computer savvy enough to download the right apps and setup an account. If your network (and your Internet connection) isn’t reliable this kind of setup may not work very well for you at all. For example, Plex account authentication will fail is you don’t have Internet. Jellyfin and Kodi fair better when Internet is only available occasionally or is unreliable.

My least favorite part of using Kodi was setting up the remote. Even worse was trying to configure controllers for retro gaming. The situation is MUCH better than it was, but is still far from easy. I was kind of able to side step the remote problem because now I can just use the remote for the TV (if it supports the Plex or Jellyfin apps) or another streaming stick like fire stick, Nvidia shield, or Roku. My Nvidia shield can pair with any Bluetooth controller and runs RetroArch so that problem was side stepped too. ROMs can be copied via samba shares or loaded directly by a USB drive.

TLDR: Kodi has built-in support for IR, but streaming sticks are cheap, and in the long run I found setting up a server was more versatile, more reliable, and less stressful. I know, I also hate it when people ask for a specific solution and others recommend asking a different question. But in this case, my experience is that IR remotes suck, are flaky, and not worth it if there is any other option.

Do you mind sharing what brand retail UPS weren’t lasting a year?

I’m dealing with similar brownouts and also an area with lots of lightning. I got about 5 years out of my UPS batteries. Wondering if I’ve just been lucky.

Don Glover

This is like a Far Side comic in that I’m sure it’s actually funny, but I have no idea why.

Yeah, that sounds less than ideal.

Have you tried or already had trouble using plexamp with downloaded content so that you can keep a local copy of some subset of your music library on your device? I only ask because I’ve used plexamp without issue for streaming, but haven’t really felt a need to do the local sync yet for music, just Movies and TV through the regular Plex app.

Sounds like you’re unfamiliar with the widespread use and long history of rotoscoping in traditional cell animation. Motion Capture is just rotoscoping with modern tools.