Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

qbrozen

I have the ring doorbell both here and in SC. Plus 3 other outside cameras and 4 inside at this residence and another 2 outside in SC. All Ring brand so I just need the one app to see them all. And I like getting notified when anybody sets foot on the property around the house.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

I have the ring doorbell both here and in SC. Plus 3 other outside cameras and 4 inside at this residence and another 2 outside in SC. All Ring brand so I just need the one app to see them all. And I like getting notified when anybody sets foot on the property around the house.

Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

28firefighter

We have a ring doorbell cam and 4 ring outdoor cameras around the property. I have a near 360 view plus it provides flood lighting.

qbrozen

@oldfarmer50 said:
Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

Most boring show EVER!

28firefighter

Years and years ago. Not anymore.

andres3

mjfloyd1 said:

I forgot my most recent reason to hate medicine.

Homeless guy with cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease admitted for nephrectomy. He comes in the day before surgery for heart work up. Hospitalist sees patient and orders ekg. Urologist refuses to order Lexiscan and echo because he “doesn’t want them calling me with results and I don’t know what they mean”. Hmm that’s helpful.

I tell urologist that I am canceling case since I have no idea about the patient’s cardiac function etc. and he proceeds to tell me that the “patient will die without this surgery today”. I reply “you have had two weeks to get this done, I’m not willing to have this put on me”. Case canceled

What a waste of time and resources. He clearly had no interest in doing the case. He later admits that the case was “dumped on him”. Patient gets echo within an hour or so and transferred to Indianapolis.

My reason to hate medicine is simpler, I called 3 urgent care locations in my network for wait times, got to the one that had the shortest wait time at 1 hour and got there 10 minutes after the call.

When I arrived there were a whole lot of people sitting in the waiting room, but the TV screen read 1 hour 10 minutes, I figure close enough. 2 hours later I got called into the office. 15 minutes later the doctor shows up.

Not happy. My employer pays a fortune for this type of care accuracy? Off by nearly 100%.

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

roadburner said:

xwesx said:

snakeweasel said:

I, at times, check the life expectancy of my stuff. I tend to take it as a challenge.

Same!

I am still proud of the eleven years we got out of the last battery on our Forester. Usually, as long as you're paying attention to the details, you'll know when "it's time" without it surprising you with a straight-on failure.

I got over 10 years out of the OEM battery in the Club Sport; I replaced it before it failed because the OEM batteries would fail with absolutely no warning and I didn't want to be caught out.

In the old days batteries would give you some warning before failure and if they got too weak you’d be able to jump them once or twice to at least drive somewhere to get them replaced. Modern batteries don’t give much warning in my experience and when they die the are real dead. I had that happen on one car after 5 years and the car had to be towed. More recently the battery died on my son’s car but fortunately, AAA now offers a battery replacement service right in your driveway.

Getting the battery out of the engine bay seems to increase longevity. The battery in several Chryslers was located in the front fender and one lasted 9 years. It was still good when the car was junked.

Triple A doesn't have "Audi" batteries though, and even if you were willing to accept a Chinese brand, they don't carry batteries that fit "Audi's" properly.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

Don’t get me started on what your garage door opener is saying about to to the authorities.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

Concrete. 26 years old. No issues.

Ours is brick along the edges, asphalt in the center, 2 car wide, about 4 car lengths long.....no real problems in 18 years, never sealed.

Mine is about 200 feet of gravel. No sealing required although occasional weed treatment needed to keep it looking good. I can’t imagine what it would cost to pave it.

I believe that it was Red Green who once stated the gravel driveways are the best driveways. They are very modular so they can be repaired easily, they offer ammunition to throw at pests and kids, you can't play basketball on them so you won't be bothered by the sound of the bouncing ball and if anyone comes to see you the sound of the car on the gravel warns you that you have visitors so you can hide.

tjc78

I have three cameras at the primary residence. One that covers about 60% of the rear. One for the driveway and another for the front door/porch. Works well enough. Full 24/7 recording with Xfinity.

At the shore I just have one on my patio (one story up) that covers the entire front. Probably should have more but it’s enough for me to at least see what’s going on down there

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

Most boring show EVER!

The goings on in your garage would probably make an interesting show. Call it JDM Live.🤣

corvette

snakeweasel said:

I believe that it was Red Green who once stated the gravel driveways are the best driveways.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

Most boring show EVER!

The goings on in your garage would probably make an interesting show. Call it JDM Live.🤣
————————————————
I’ll watch it…if there’s nothing better to watch.

jmonroe

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

Didn’t Ring cameras have a scandal where they found both outside and inside versions could be hacked and bad actors were able to see your comings and goings including inside your house?

Most boring show EVER!

The goings on in your garage would probably make an interesting show. Call it JDM Live.🤣

————————————————
I’ll watch it…if there’s nothing better to watch.

jmonroe

We can watch you waxing your car....do you still do that weekly?
That would probably put me to sleep real good

roadburner

I had the C43 out and about tonight. A C6 and a Golf R wanted to play, but since my bride was with me I had to decline any challenges.

stickguy

graphicguy said:

stickguy said:

Anybody here get a Helix mattress? if so, any opinions?

Had a Helix. Sent it back. Was too...ummm.....marshmellow-y feeling for my taste. I think it was the "midnight" model?

Went with a Purple Mattress. Love it. Had it about 4 years.

thanks. we actually tried out a Purple (restore model) and think we liked it so put down a deposit hold. Not positive we want to go with it vs. something more traditional. Considering a Nectar hybrid too. Way too many choices these days!

stickguy

you people with all your cameras, are they all hard wired in, or do you have rechargeable of some kind? on the new house I only put motion floods on the back (so should be easy to add a camera if I wanted) but should have put something over the garage. But without the wiring out there might be an issue (I do have carriage lights but they are a lot lower). My BIL got a rechargeable one that he said works well to cover a dead spot in their coverage. Comes with a handy little solar panel. That would probably give me what I need.

nyccarguy

I never felt the need to have a security camera installed. Even at my store which is in a terrible neighborhood. A friend of mine owns a plumbing supply house not too far from me. He’s got cameras all over the place. He gets requests from the cops more than anything else: “someone got shot on East Tremont Avenue, the shooter fled in a Black SUV. Can we look at your security footage from last night?” There’s also my favorite: “Bradd, your truck just left here. He left the tailgate open.”

stickguy

I only want to add one because we did not think the house design through well enough to realize that we can't see the top of the driveway (or the middle really!) from inside the house. So if a car goes by, we can't tell if it turns into our driveway or not unless someone comes to the door. so it would be nice to have an app to fire up to check.

good thing there are only 2 houses past us on this road. I know all their cars, and most of the rest of the traffic is UPS or Amazon. Amazing how many deliveries those 2 houses get!

Kirstie_H

qbrozen said:

Most boring show EVER!

I would PAY someone to try to stay awake watching my comings and goings, especially since I work from home. Imagine the joy of watching someone try to maintain consciousness as I exit the property every few days - sometimes to get groceries or go to happy hour, and other times just to not be in the house. I do walk my dog every day around 6:30 am, so I'd have to include an early wake-up bonus.

ab348

stickguy said:

you people with all your cameras, are they all hard wired in, or do you have rechargeable of some kind?

The one I have at the front door (Kuna brand) simply replaced the wired-in light fixture that was already there. It is a sensor light so the LED bulb only turns on when it gets dark outside. The wall switch is left on all the time to allow the camera to work. You can look at it live at any time, but it only notifies you when someone trips the sensor to let you know someone is approaching.

graphicguy

Kirstie_H said:

qbrozen said:

Most boring show EVER!

I would PAY someone to try to stay awake watching my comings and goings, especially since I work from home. Imagine the joy of watching someone try to maintain consciousness as I exit the property every few days - sometimes to get groceries or go to happy hour, and other times just to not be in the house. I do walk my dog every day around 6:30 am, so I'd have to include an early wake-up bonus.

"Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night!"

venture

nyccarguy said:

I never felt the need to have a security camera installed. Even at my store which is in a terrible neighborhood. A friend of mine owns a plumbing supply house not too far from me. He’s got cameras all over the place. He gets requests from the cops more than anything else: “someone got shot on East Tremont Avenue, the shooter fled in a Black SUV. Can we look at your security footage from last night?” There’s also my favorite: “Bradd, your truck just left here. He left the tailgate open.”

No cameras here either. I do have motion lights on the 2 sides of the house away from roads. Occasionally a cat will light one up.

I left for a few hours yesterday and left the front door open with only the screen door between me and hell and damnation. Nobody bothered to come in. Well...if they did, they weren't interested in our stuff.

corvette

I have Ring doorbells on the front, side, and rear doors, even though the rear is in a fenced in back yard. The one one the front door is hardwired but has a battery backup. The others are battery only and have to be recharged every 3 months or so.

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

I never felt the need to have a security camera installed. Even at my store which is in a terrible neighborhood. A friend of mine owns a plumbing supply house not too far from me. He’s got cameras all over the place. He gets requests from the cops more than anything else: “someone got shot on East Tremont Avenue, the shooter fled in a Black SUV. Can we look at your security footage from last night?” There’s also my favorite: “Bradd, your truck just left here. He left the tailgate open.”

In your area I couldn’t imagine NOT having security cameras and alarms and maybe a moat with alligators but stickguy is going to be woken up every night each time a raccoon or possum dances through his yard.😫

jmonroe1

roadburner said:

I had the C43 out and about tonight. A C6 and a Golf R wanted to play, but since my bride was with me I had to decline any challenges.

————————————————-
A friend who I worked with years ago, who had a very nice Vette said, “wives can sure take the joy out of getting a red light”.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

@andres3 said:
My reason to hate medicine is simpler, I called 3 urgent care locations in my network for wait times, got to the one that had the shortest wait time at 1 hour and got there 10 minutes after the call.

When I arrived there were a whole lot of people sitting in the waiting room, but the TV screen read 1 hour 10 minutes, I figure close enough. 2 hours later I got called into the office. 15 minutes later the doctor shows up.

Not happy. My employer pays a fortune for this type of care accuracy? Off by nearly 100%.

Why not just get an appointment with your primary care doctor if it was so urgent that you had time to check wait times at multiple urgent care locations?

28firefighter

Not that I agree with much @andres3 has to say, but getting a primary care appt with my doc requires 60 to 90 days lead time. Anything more pressing and they suggest urgent care.

ab348

28firefighter said:

Not that I agree with much @andres3 has to say, but getting a primary care appt with my doc requires 60 to 90 days lead time. Anything more pressing and they suggest urgent care.

Same thing with my primary care doctor. Only problem is that my part of Kanada doesn’t have urgent care.

mjfloyd1

Same day appts here with primary care.

But even so, 60-90 days vs a couple hours?

explorerx4

My PCP left my local location a few months ago.
I called today to set up an appointment with one of the DR's recommended in the letter I got about his relocation.
First appointment available was the week of Thanksgiving, so I asked for one after that week and set that up.
Just got an email that there is an earlier appointment available.

corvette

They’re overextended if they are booking appointments that far out. I use the Kroger Little Clinic for smaller issues, like if I think I might have strep or an ear infection.

Michaell

corvette said:

They’re overextended if they are booking appointments that far out. I use the Kroger Little Clinic for smaller issues, like if I think I might have strep or an ear infection.

We use them for vaccinations.

qbrozen

@stickguy said:
you people with all your cameras, are they all hard wired in, or do you have rechargeable of some kind? on the new house I only put motion floods on the back (so should be easy to add a camera if I wanted) but should have put something over the garage. But without the wiring out there might be an issue (I do have carriage lights but they are a lot lower). My BIL got a rechargeable one that he said works well to cover a dead spot in their coverage. Comes with a handy little solar panel. That would probably give me what I need.

Mine are all hard-wired. The doorbells and the one in my garage in SC have battery backups but backups don’t make much sense when the cameras need WiFi to transmit. So the power goes out, so does the WiFi, obviously.

imidazol97

I used the Little Clinic one time on a holiday week for what seemed like a head cold/sinus problem.
They gave me a souped up antibiotic and something else. When I went to my regular physician about 7 days later for the same thing, she said it was absolutely the wrong thing to do for my allergies that was causing my problem. I recall the antibiotic and the side medicine had bad side effects. At least they didn't kill me. I never went back. I'll go to Urgent Care and the other similar level clinics that are abundant here now.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

My PCP left my local location a few months ago.
I called today to set up an appointment with one of the DR's recommended in the letter I got about his relocation.
First appointment available was the week of Thanksgiving, so I asked for one after that week and set that up.
Just got an email that there is an earlier appointment available.

————————————————
I live in a town that is an absolute medical mecca with 2 real hospitals within 2 miles of my house but unless there is something out of the ordinary (although not an emergency) I doubt I could get an appointment sooner than a few days. It never used to be like that before this area was crawling with doctors. All doctors are now part of the 2 major competing medical groups here. You’d think that would be great for patients but it isn’t. Years ago when a doctor had his own practice, with maybe one or two associates, things were a lot better.

jmonroe

corvette

@imidazol97 said:
I'll go to Urgent Care and the other similar level clinics that are abundant here now.

For me, the larger or more unfamiliar the medical clinic/office, the worse panic attack I have going there, so I default to TLC even if it’s sub-optimal.

nyccarguy

It’s not easy to get an appointment with my PCP, but nowhere near 60-90 days. If you are sick, they get you in. If not with your PCP, with another MD in the group. I wouldn’t go into one of those walk in clinics. I’m friendly with a guy who is a pediatrician. In his opinion, it is better than nothing, but you aren’t getting the best care at one of those places.

He says the insurance companies pay them more than his private practice. If he can get $80 for an after hours sick k visit, the insurance company will pay the walk in place $180.

stickguy

my plan has teledoc offered now. That actually seems better for most things I am likely to go to a walk in for!

we do seem to have a ton of those around now. My primary office (only been with this guy for a year after moving) is connected to a group, but his office is 1 doc and a couple of NPs or PAs. No clue how easy it would be to get in on short notice, and hopefully I don't have to find out.

helps that our nephew is an ER/ICU doc. Not local, but if we are unsure about something we can always ping him for a 2nd opinion. Even had him read scans over the phone once.

but one thing I do know. Anything is better than walking into an ER. Though right up the road from me is a facility connected to the hospital group that my primary is part of where they have some sort of ER/walk in clinic/satellite hospital (the "big" one is down in Albany). I should probably figure out what they actually do there, before I need to know on the fly!

Kirstie_H

stickguy said:

my plan has teledoc offered now. That actually seems better for most things I am likely to go to a walk in for!

I got an email last week notifying me that Amazon now offers telehealth visits for common health conditions. Insurance not accepted, but it's $29 for a chat-only consultation, and $49 if you choose video, and it's HSA/FSA eligible. If I'm feeling poorly, I'd happily pay $29 out-of-pocket just to not have to leave the house and be trapped in a waiting room with other potentially unwell people.

tjc78

My wife and I don’t even have a PCP. If we feel like we are sick we head to urgent care for antibiotics. Otherwise we stay clear of docs.

stickguy

PCP may be passed now. With digital records in theory any doctor can access history if you want them to so walk in clinics make some sense.

mjfloyd1

@stickguy said:
PCP may be passed now. With digital records in theory any doctor can access history if you want them to so walk in clinics make some sense.

Except that the different systems- Cerner and Epic etc do not interact at all. It’s really ridiculous. You have to get paper charts if not in system.

We are Cerner but apparently switching to Epic in 2027.

nyccarguy

Kirstie_H said:

stickguy said:

my plan has teledoc offered now. That actually seems better for most things I am likely to go to a walk in for!

I got an email last week notifying me that Amazon now offers telehealth visits for common health conditions. Insurance not accepted, but it's $29 for a chat-only consultation, and $49 if you choose video, and it's HSA/FSA eligible. If I'm feeling poorly, I'd happily pay $29 out-of-pocket just to not have to leave the house and be trapped in a waiting room with other potentially unwell people.

You really trust AMAZON with your PERSONAL medical information?

tjc78

@nyccarguy said:
You really trust AMAZON with your PERSONAL medical information?

Amazon, TikTok, Meta, X, Placer AI etc know more about you than even yourself.

Placer AI tracks your phone pings to know if you are in a (geo fenced) space. They sell the data to retailers. For example a retailer knows what store you visit before and after you visit theirs. They also have time spent in each location. All can be used across the retail organization to help pick cotenancy, spots in strip malls … etc

explorerx4

I have a couple of maintenace prescriptions that need to be renewed every year.
Having a PCP just seems to be the easiest way to do that, for me.
Over the last couple of years, he had me do lots of tests to make sure everything was OK.

kyfdx

explorerx4 said:

I have a couple of maintenace prescriptions that need to be renewed every year.
Having a PCP just seems to be the easiest way to do that, for me.
Over the last couple of years, he had me do lots of tests to make sure everything was OK.

I think being of Medicare age and not having a PCP is an invitation to die young.

Sandman6472

Absolutely, since I got really sick & almost passed, finally got a g p doctor. Switched to his partner a couple of years ago as my original guy was slowly ending his practice. Like the new guy a lot and has a better "bedside manner" which is important. With the outbreaks of vertigo since 2022, I've relied on him to get me therapy to deal with the constant dizziness. Up to 2024, it was coming on twice a year. Only happened once in 2024 but it was by far the worst bout I've ever had. And getting into physical therapy took a couple of weeks because not all facilities have staff that deal with vertigo. Luckily, there are two locations near us that handle this condition. As I said, this last bout was by far the worst I've had and took longer for it to go away. It deals with the crystals in one's ears and there are certain procedures to get everything realigned again so it'll stop the dizziness. Was out of work 5 weeks this time as driving is not safe for me or others on the road and I refuse to put myself or others in danger.

Being sick while getting older is not for the faint of heart as I've found out since 2018. Having lost my three siblings by the age of 66, I take my health seriously and realize that tomorrow is not a given. I wake up everyday thanking the big guy upstairs first thing. Even with my current health issues, consider myself blessed to have made it this far, as I'll be turning 70 next week. And I hope to have many more years of happiness with my family if that's what's in the cards!

Kirstie_H

nyccarguy said:

You really trust AMAZON with your PERSONAL medical information?

OMG, if they have a data leak, people will know I had the flu, or pinkeye. I have no interesting medical history and NKDA, and for $29 I doubt they're going to take a lot of notes anyway, so if I ever use them, it'll be for a quick diagnosis and probably antibiotics, since they only take care of a limited number of medical concerns. Also, they're still required to adhere to HIPAA.