The best time of year to buy a bottle of olive oil is when your previous bottle is empty. If you don’t use a bottle very quickly and it gets old and stale, then it prolly shouldn’t be very high on your priority list and you shouldn’t invest too much time or effort into it.

My wife is a professional bartender. My home bar looks nothing like what is described.

I said digital media, not streaming media.

This is why lazy gift givers should stick to the universally fungible dollar bill when making their lazy gifts.

The only benefit I ever got by buying a blue-ray was the card inside that got me a digital copy of the movie. I gave the blue-ray to my parents and laughed at the idea of actually keeping physical media.

Sadly no. I’m a software engineer by trade, so in my spare time I’m boring.

An even better solution would be to just give them cash in the amount that you are willing to give them. Then you can skip asking them what they want, and if what they want it outside of your acceptable price bracket, you don’t have to worry about it.

Honestly, if you are a casual wine drinker, a set of white wine glasses are more than sufficient for your needs for all wine drinking. (If your friends don’t mind, you could drink your wine outta a cereal bowl). White wine glasses won’t cause your sparkling drinks to de-gass too quickly and provide a stem to keep your…

My son also watches these sorts of videos, sometimes for his entire allotted computer time. He’s also expressed interest in doing reviews and “Lets play” videos.

This is bad advice. If you don’t feel like going to a party, then don’t go. If your friends and loved ones care and appreciate you, then they will understand why you decided not to attend.

This is true for red wine glasses, not so for saucers, flutes, and some white wine glasses. Saucers have their widest point at the top of the glass, flutes work best when you minimize the surface area of your bubbly drink, and white wines usually want to be in a shape that minimizes temperature change (which is not a…

Get yourself a decent pair of flush cutters. My favorite are https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-CHP-170-Stand-off-Construction-21-Degree/dp/B017ODDPNO/

Make sure you don’t have ANY fun. Never let your guard down. That office “party” is just an elaborate setup to compromise you. Remember, everyone around you wants to see you fail.

I don’t really think its healthy to assume that your life has to be shitty before it can get better. The professional “paying your dues” is not a very helpful system. In many cases, it’s more office hazing than learning the ropes, and perpetuating the idea that we all must “pay our dues” is tricking people into…

The Restaurant that my wife tends bar for charges $15 (per bottle) for corkage when you bring your own bottle. For a low end bottle, that is pretty close to the markup that we put on bottles. If you’re looking to bring a low end bottle, its prolly not worth the time and effort required, but if you want to bring…

No.

This is true. It is proper to call in advance and see if it is allowed. Some restaurants won’t let you do it, even if it’s legal. I recommend finding other restaurants in those situations.

Most waitstaff don’t know a damn thing about wine, nor do professional sommeliers. (Wife is a bartender, I’ve waited tables, I don’t know anything about wine, but I’ll say a lot of BS to get you to buy a bottle) The great majority of wine connoisseuring is made up shit and trying to convince people that expensive…

You know what is really impersonal... giving gifts at calendar mandated gift giving days because you are supposed to give gifts on those days.

I’ve got an abbreviated list: