Well hopefully your job provides benefits that you can use to start effectively addressing the depression; if you can get a handle on that you may find you can deal with more uncertainty than you think. As an anecdote, this past year I moved from a huge city I was in for 8 years to a remote rural area that I had never…

I think that's a good practice even in normal work environments. Whenever I have a non-trivial conversation with either a co-worker or an outside party on one of my projects, I *always* send a follow up email shortly thereafter that essentially says "Here is my understanding of what we said to each other, and here are…

I realize that this is probably not intended as actual advice, but I did the same thing for a long time much to my detriment, and wish that I had been more proactive in changing my situation much sooner. Many people would suffer from mental health issues or even physical ones if faced with a similar situation.

I think that many people in environments like this become complacent ("the devil you know") and are actually afraid to risk shaking things up and changing them. Don't be scared to live like a broke person for a while so you can set yourself up financially for the move (of course if you're stuck, you're stuck - that…

That's pretty much what a structural engineer will do before signing off - they'll call it "exploratory probes" or some such.

Two things - first, you also need to do this due diligence for smaller construction projects like creating a new doorway or window-like opening to another room.

Agreed; there are plenty of titles - that I didn't think were fringe but apparently are - with bugs that are hard to find but can kill your game, and others (particularly in RPG land) with really bad translations. Very much like the crap shoot that is pirating unpopular music and movies.

That's what the Game Genie was for

2.) Read the fine print and consider lawyering up if you signed a non-compete agreement with your current employer

It's never that simple. The insurance provider still has to negotiate a deal with the private doctor, and there are no guarantees there. Insurance pays the doctor the pre-negotiated rate, and you pay the doctor your normal in-network co-pay. It is a long, painfully long process in my experience.

I completely understand your struggles with insurance and went through the same thing which I detailed in a post I just made. Hang in there.

This is a huge, huge problem in communities outside of major metro areas. In my town there are literally about 6 psychiatrists within 100 miles*, and only one of them takes insurance at all, and it is not mine. I had to have my insurance provider make what they call a "Geo Axis Accommodation" which means they…

From experience, even if a little finger does get in the fan*, it won't even break the skin, but it makes a scary sound so the baby will still cry. Neither the fan nor the finger will be damaged. It's about equivalent to getting "bitten" by one of those small lizards/geckos you might catch around the outside of your…

Replace the doors with a frame and attach sheer polyester/speaker cloth it. Almost the same air flow, pretty good IR pass through, much cleaner look (depending on your construction skills obviously).

The best way to avoid that completely is to locate your equipment in a nearby closet or in the room directly behind the TV if at all possible so you have the option to use noisier gear if needed (IR repeater or similar for control). Obviously that's not an option for everyone but it should always be a first choice.

I only skipped through the video so not sure if it was addressed, but one thing to avoid is creating small pockets of circulating air or a virtual "wall" of air that doesn't allow the hot air to get past and escape - think of an intake and an exhaust too close together so that cool air is pulled in and then…

Some of the more sophisticated rigs have an input for a trigger (e.g. from your home theater receiver) to turn on at a minimum speed, as well as in input for a temperature sensor to increase the speed at some arbitrary set point. You could actually use an old thermostat for this purpose depending on your target…

For books that rely primarily on text as opposed to graphics, any e-ink reader is the clear winner for me.

That depends on how much you value your time. I'm a little strapped for cash myself with a recent move, so I'm opting for the DIY route in most cases these days, but I do miss relaxed bullshit weekends.

Be buddies with your neighbor(s) and someone with a pickup truck - that advice has worked very well for me over the years.