Ran into a buddy last month who swears his offset eats 285 all day and he stopped wrapping years ago.

Three inches apart is wild. That's not cable management, that's basically strapping a heater shut. I get wanting the clean look, but heat has to go somewhere and a tight bundle just traps it in the middle where you can't see it. The messy velcro thing bugs me too, but a fire is a lot messier than some slack in your cables. I'd leave the velcro loose and stop worrying about how it looks under a desk nobody sees.

Man, that red light check was real. I remember standing there staring at the VCR like it owed me money, making sure it was actually blinking and not just mocking me. Streaming is convenient but it definitely killed that little thrill of pulling off the recording, so you're not alone in missing it.