GettingOut Messaging and Video Visits Refunds

 Getting out is a predatory company that handles inmate communications. Their system is designed to take your money, charge bogus fees, and never let you get any stored value back out.

It is next to impossible to find out how to get refunds online, so I’ve documented it here for everyone stuck in this nightmare of having a relative in jail and not being able to get their money back once they’re out.

Calm their Customer Service Line

Press 1 for English or select a different language as necessary.

Listen to a minutes-long disclaimer and give your rights to your stored value away after 180 days.

Press 1 to accept.

Press 1 to go into the deposits message.

Press 0 to be transferred to a hold queue.

When you ask for a refund, you will be told you need your contact information and the inmate number. That number should be in the app for GettingOut Messaging under your contacts, but it was not for me.

Once they discover this, you will need to send a note to the parent company ViaPath to get a refund.

Send To: customerservice@viapath.com

Phone number of your account

Name on the account

Facility name

Inmate name

PIN (4-8 digits)

This is how refunds are done in 2026. Email. To a third party. I’ll let you know if it actually works.

If you try pressing zero at the big menu before deposits, you will be presented with “That option is disabled” message because they know the easiest way to frustrate people is to remove it and hide it in a sub menu. No matter how deep.

Regardless of what you think about people in jail, the families of these people are being taken advantage of by this company, and they are keeping money they are not entitled to if they built a better system.

The disclaimer ensures ViaPath can keep your money after that time of you can’t get it back within the time frame which is not allowed for other stored value like gift cards.

The queue staff are unhelpful as a rule. You should encourage them to unionize to improve conditions so they will not be yelled at by frustrated families.

Everyone on this line is trained to send your concerns with the system not being operational or easy to their tech support department to be looked at. They know they are hard to contact, so this statement is bullshit.

Everyone is trained to say that your concerns about the usability of the system will be sent to their supervisor. This is bullshit. It is hard on purpose.

Everyone on the line has the same regional accent, so the call center is not in the US. That jurisdiction has laws for consumer protection. If you figure out where, I will work with you to ensure the company pays.

How I Juice Limes in My Countertop Cast Iron Citrus Juicer

 Got a question on Reddit as to how I juice limes using my generic countertop cast iron juicer. I picked this up from a McMenamins bartender in Kalama, WA. Speeds up the juicing, gets more juice out, and makes it easy to press every last drop out.

First, cut a coin off one end:

Then add a small slice across the line about a quarter of the way into the lime. This opens it up a bit:

Stand your lime up on the juicer plate and crank it:

That’s it! You can also press the lime shell a bit to make sure all the juice gets got. I’ve only ever observed a teaspoon or so left behind, however.

Edit: I tested the above remaining juice on several limes. Between 1/6 and 1/3 oz Lime juice is left behind on thin skinned limes. Thicker varieties leave almost nothing.

Cyberpunk RED - Rockerboys

Cyberpunk RED miniatures from the Rockerboys faction. Tried to evoke lots of 80's Vaporwave and retro-future Miami Vice with the color choices. The Manager has some of the most effortlessly awesome eyes I've ever done, and the skin and hair on the Guitarist just glows. The assembly was kind of a pain being resin, and you might notice some mistakes if you look too closely as these are tiny tiny minis. But I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Hopefully, I get to paint more if they keep doing that system.

Manager

Guitarist

Keytarist

Nolzur's Marvelous Minis - Palette Cleansers

I call these small projects Palette Cleansers because I paint them in between other big projects like whole army units or big figures and terrain. The Nolzur Minis by Wizkids are cheap, already assembled and primed. They can be frustrating with mold lines, but they are decent enough at 3 ft. These usually come in two sculpts per pack.  I picked one and surplused the other for trades or teaching others how to paint.

Golden Dragonborn Sorcerer

Classic Barbarian with Sword

Warmage with Spear

Mustard-colored Wizard with Staff

Bronze/Gold Dragonborn Cleric or Wizard with Staff and flowing Blue and White Cloak

Red Dragonborn Cleric with Green Mace

Purple Wizard with Green Fire and Staff

 

 

 Black Dragonborn with Spear and Shield

 

Skitarii, Mashal, and Tech Priest Dominus

Just finished these 12 minis, all with a similar palette. I only paint right now, so they are probably not playable on the tabletop, lol.

A different Dominus is the mini that got me back into painting 5 years ago, so it was refreshing to take another crack at this mini after having learned so much! I have learned a ton about blending and layering since then. The robes are richer, the metals poppier, and I am much more precise.

The marshal was a little disappointing, honestly. I wanted so much more from this mini in terms of greeblies and detail. It ended up being a scaled-up squad leader with a scepter. Literally, their leaders are just taller? Maybe I'll take another crack at his robes and add some trim to liven up the back of the mini. Big sigh.

The squad is where I took all my chances. Again, I painted a squad of these guys about 4 years ago, so the second chance brought many opportunities for improvement. I loved the purple glow, but I still think I can improve my technique. Tips appreciated. I'm not sure I have the heart in me to do a third squad. Going to try some Sicarians and other Ad Mech units instead.

A bit anxious about what to do to make my Next units stand out but mesh with this scheme:

• ⁠Sicarians can basically echo the black jumpsuit with metallic bits, but I feel like going with that will lack some pop. Maybe leaning into the purple energy on their blades and finding accent pieces to pop with yellow and green?

• ⁠Pteraxi are the same conundrum, but a wing vein with a green on yellow pattern might be fun. I intend to do the flamer squad. I can really amp up the muzzle burn with purple hues rather than make them glow to match.

• ⁠Dunecrawler, ironstrider, and robots: I still haven’t done any armor. I don’t want green tanks. I need a good primary color. Was thinking a brown would pull in the base colors, but drab armor is not very 40k, but I’m planning a smooth ivory for my knights. That would tie all the big boys together visually. I’ll have to think on that.

Regardless, no more AdMech for a bit! After painting a big batch like this, I am going to take a break and paint some one-off RPG figs and smaller squads with more painting variety and skill-tests. A batch of Harlequins with their diamond tights and trailing streamers would do me well.

Star Wars Legion - Clone Wars Core Set and Commander Rex

 After painting Rex with my son, he convinced me to get the core set (what a fool I am). The kit was good for a first offering for new players and new collectors. And I got to take Citadel Contrast for a spin to add another skill for my painting belt.

The models were decent. ObiWan and Clone Troopers were supplied in bags, basically clean except for mould lines.  Owing to their spindly bits, Grevious, two Droidekas, and the  B-1 Battle Droids were still on sprue. The plastic is definitely different from Games Workshop sprue. It was less solvable than GW plastic when using Testors and Tamiya plastic glue. Parts kept coming unwelded, but a little super glue put it right. Detail was tight and almost always movie/animation accurate, and the extra parts for Grevious even allowed for some simple conversions (see below for an extra surprise; you can blame my son for it). After assembling them, I realized the 28mm accurate scale is so much more fiddly than the 28mm heroics I'm used to.  Hands and guns are smaller.  Weapons are smaller too. But the accurate proportions make for great squads. In a crowd, they look like right even when base to base.

I was not interested in spending months painting these minis.  Especially since my son had lost interest in playing almost immediately after purchase. I was delighted to find Sorastro's painting guides for Legion.  He helped me get from prime to table-ready in less than a month. This was my first adventure with Citadel's Contrast paint, and the advice to thin with medium and how to handle flow was excellent.  His colors were spot on too. After spending the pandemic bemoaning my mistake, it was refreshing to go so fast from concept to finished product.