Ick. I invited my oldest friend to our wedding. We hadn’t talked much for 5 or 6 years owing to him joining some pseudo cult. I was at his wedding but couldn’t be part of it, and that got him in trouble or something. So when I invited him I called him to be 100% certain that he and his wife would use the spot. We had…

I feel like every friend group has one of these. We want to kick them out, but they’re technically post of the fabric. With ours, we had to just start offending him by being ourselves. We weren’t jerks, just told the truth and wouldn’t let him steal focus. He would “disappear” and pout for weeks or months at a time.…

I’ve let this happen to me one time.

In my mid-20's, I was invited to one of those family style restaurants by a friend (buca de beppo sounds right). We have this big group of people, well over ten, including my friend’s parents and little brother. I know everyone at the table so I don’t think anything is up. I’m lost…

Oof, that sounds painful. Breech of etiquette, though. Don’t invite someone to a party they’re not invited to. IE, their wedding preparations.

Similar story. In my early 20's, and it’s the very early 2000's and a guy I barely knew invited me to go fishing with “me and the guys” (from church, that I also barely knew)…

As others have said, when you’re out of town on work, some companies have a nice stipend and “get their money’s worth” by having you in the office or whatever for 10-14 hour days. You get back to your hotel room for a shower and the last thing you want is to have to budget 2 hours to go find food that isn’t going to…

Also, if running isn’t your thing, give rucking a shot. Just throw some books in a backpack and go for a long walk. You’ll work a bit harder than walking, feel it in your breathing, and it’ll burn a few more calories.

Really any amount of weight will work, but 20+ lbs is where you start to really feel it.

Proper burpees are not overrated. And they’re not filler. I’ve met remarkably few people who like doing them, but they’re absolutely fantastic for training your exhaustion recovery. I don’t know if there’s a term for that, but being able to dance with exhaustion and recovery is huge for cardiovascular health.

My…

Ohhh, some celery (for more servings of vegetables) and some hot sauce and pepper...

I’d eat the impossible stuff more often, but the way they get it to “almost beef” is by seasoning over the awkward flavor. And that comes with a LOT of salt. Around 90mg of salt per oz. That’s a lot of salt to make this stuff palatable.

Used to slap used tires from the junk (er, salvage) yard all the the time when I had all of $20 to my name. They probably weren’t even legally tires anymore, but they were in better shape (held air), and we had no money.

Very nearly Commander Vimes’s “Boot Theory” with the amount of spare change we were constantly…

You’d have to talk to your bank. AFAIK, you can refi any FHA-backed loan, but if you haven’t paid off 20% of the home value you’re stuck with that PMI payment. However, with house prices skyrocketing in the last few years, you may be able to get the home reassessed. If the value has gone up enough in concert with the…

You are not wrong. I’ve done four thermostats now, and they suck. All Ecobee’s and I’ve had to install their power adapter deal at the furnace, which was hair-raising to say the least.

If you feel confident enough to do the thermostat work, it’s pretty simple. However you need to look at the control board on your HVAC system to ensure you have the correct fuses as backups in case something does go awry.

And when you’ve done the thermostat, you can make the jump to swapping out electric switches and…

I’ve done that, too. Depends on how thick the fish cuts are, but I’ve found over time I prefer to keep the fish off the veggies

I really enjoy sheetpan dinners. Have been using multiple sheets for ages, too. Usually chicken breast or salmon flats. Always cover your baking sheets with parchment paper if you can

Set oven for 400F on convect.
t-40-45min
Cubed/sliced/cut up potatoes brushed with olive oil and sprinkles of rosemary/thyme (house smells…

HOA management companies. Oh, man, they’re terrible. They quadruple the dues just to pay the landscapers (that may or may not even do anything in your yard) and give ear to the old people who patrol the neighborhood making sure everyone is in strict compliance. Our neighbors got fined because they thought they’d done…

I don’t recall who said it, but “HOAs are proof that the communists won the cold war.”

I’ve lived in multiple HOAs, and they NEVER provide more benefits than drawbacks.

Perhaps the article should be called “best thing to do to take advantage of a 3 hour (?) window when, statistically, more people are glued to TVs than any other Sunday afternoon”.

Because the best things to do for people who DGAF about football are literally what they do every other Sunday. Whatever the hell they want!

I…

Even if it doesn’t remain a free upgrade, most games hit the bargain bin (< $20) in a couple years. So if you want to have a permanent copy and somehow lose access, you’re not out too much

I consider distractions/pacification to be categorical wastes of time and resources (the physical exertion by the actual players, not so much, but only for them).

Television and games tend to be pure distraction. What makes me a hypocrite isn’t this belief, but that I violate it by playing video games relatively…