Owners have to report credit card tips to the IRS, but cash goes straight into your barista’s pocket.

I have tried to reclaim some of our limited counter space with an Instant Pot (inherited it from the inlaws). I figured I could get rid of the slow cooker and the rice cooker and use the IP instead. Which worked—for me. I still for some reason can’t get my wife to use the IP instead of the slow cooker. I think she…

Yeah, I think they purposely make long layovers there, hoping you’re going to shop in what is really a huge mall with an airport attached.

The nearest grocery store takes as much as $1 in gas for me to drive there and back. I can walk to the Dollar General at the end of the block. It sometimes makes more sense in every respect to walk there and get something I need before the next trip to the grocery store.

Conservatives in Texas -> Fighting to enforce a mask mandate
Conservatives in Illinois -> Fighting to defy a mask mandate

I thought I read all your previous van stories, but I don’t remember what transmission it is. A568? I have A555s in both my CSXes, although I have the original A520 from the ‘87 sitting in the garage.

Two years ago my wife and I went to visit our daughter who is currently living in the Caucuses, and we flew from Chicago to Istanbul as part of the trip. Turkish Airlines runs free tours of the city for passengers if you have a long enough layover, and ours was 8 hours. But when we got to the new airport, which is…

If you haven’t tried Edge lately, you might give it a shot. I used Firefox for years until just a couple of months ago. I was actually using a customized version of FF, so that I could still use an old unsigned extension I wrote myself. After trying Edge on a whim, I was pretty surprised to find out how well it works…

• Eggs: Over-easy or scrambled (not too picky about eggs, really)

Along those lines, Dawn Power Dissolver (sometimes hard to find) is the only thing I’ve found that will really clean our smooth-top range. I’m not sure I really want to know what’s in it. I should probably use gloves when I use it.

It’s interesting you mentioned stout beer, because I’ve been known to say that Guinness (which I like a lot) reminds me vaguely of Dr. Pepper. I think it’s probably that they’re both bitter and sweet at the same time, which isn’t as weird as it sounds to some people, because bitter and sweet are separate flavors. You…

It’s currently working surprisingly well for me in Edge (which is Chromium-based now, of course) with uBlock and Privacy Badger enabled. There have been times when it was borked, but it’s working pretty well right now, knock wood.

emulsifying it with soapy water

Ooo! That reminds me of a house a couple of towns over from me where a guy was ticked off at his neighbor or something, and put a bunch of statues in his own front yard to get back at him. They were there for years, until he finally died or moved a couple of years ago, and the new owner removed them. Pity, because…

Several years ago my wife and I kept coming home and finding garden gnomes in our garden. First it was just the one, but after a few weeks there were four of them. I eventually found out my mom had been buying them and coming over and putting them there when we weren’t home. It was kinda funny, really.

Ooo! Where ‘bouts? I was born in Carbondale, and grew up near Centralia.

Our girls were at the right age for the original Furbys craze, and you could not turn those things off! The only option was to unscrew the battery compartment and take the batteries out.

The first shawarma I ever had was in Dubai, and there they put fries inside, and it’s great. I make shawarma myself that way now: grilled chicken seasoned with Arabic garam masala, pickled vegetables (I usually just use some giardiniera), a quick lemon and garlic sauce, and crispy crinkle fries. The fries are a vital…

You can also change the Gboard settings to always show a number row at the top, and pick a theme that always shows the default long-press symbols above the letter keys.

Yep, I was going to mention The Food That Built America. It’s been really interesting. I’ve also been watching the one they’re showing now about machines and inventions. It seems like the underdogs and/or original inventors of foods and machines have rarely won out.