I live alone. I run the dishwasher every 7-10 days. If I don’t rinse my dishes there’s no way that week old dried on oatmeal in the bowls and congealed milk skin in the bottoms of the glasses is coming out. I’ve tried. It’s not pretty. Maybe if I had a “modern dishwasher” this would be the case. But my dishwasher is…

My area of Cubeville has some sort of trailing plant that I think is a philodendron. (I can’t take pictures at work and “darn it Jim we’re engineers not botanists” so that makes identification a bit more complicated.) But that thing will not die. It’s been left in the dark for weeks at a time, over watered, under water…

Your method, of only ever storing your keys in your pocket requires that you never do laundry without first putting on a clean pair of pants. I’ve been known to toss a load of laundry in while still in my pajamas. With your method, it wouldn’t hard for my keys (including the expensive and not water proof vehicle key…

Dumbbells require that each hand, arm, shoulder, etc work independently (more or less). With a barbell you can compensate (some might say cheat) if one side is weaker than the other. Whether this is important to you or not depends on what your goals are and how much of an imbalance you have. If you just want to lift…

Thank you for this essential service. Videos are even worse than slideshows.

This is one reason why I always recommend people get two cats rather than just one. Two cats will help keep each other entertained and happy, particularly if there are long periods of the day when the house is empty/quiet.

This is part of my issue. Most N95s come in packs of 20 or more and cost over $1/mask. I could spend $100 and find five different brands of masks which don’t fit me well. I’m single and live alone. That’s a lot of money to spend on masks which aren’t great. I’ve got some KN95s of questionable parentage but they seem…

For any non-routine visits, I write out the reason for my visit trying to include as much relevant information as I can including things like:

I was never good enough to get even close to that certificate. Strength to weight ratio kicked me out of pull-ups, genetic issue kicked me out of sit-and-reach. And a lack of education as part of a physical EDUCATION class meant that I never real improved...you’d think a class which gave quantitative tests would teach…

I’m currently using Duolingo and I do get annoyed at running out of hearts. But you can always get more. You just have to go back and “practice” lessons you’ve already finished. I’m currently annoyed at not being able to even attempt the final levels of each section without enough gems. But I’m making it work and…

It makes sense. Dish soap is better than hand soap at dissolving urishiol, the oil in poison ivy and other plants (including the skin of mangoes). It’s also best to use cold water rather than hot when cleaning off these sorts of irritating oils. The cold water helps keep the oil from thinning out and being easier to…

I seem to be pretty well with kids of all ages despite never having any of my own. With babies it’s all about bouncing and rocking maybe with a bit of smiling and making funny faces with them. All toddlers and many preschool age kids love peek-a-boo. Elementary kids often like to talk about weird stuff. Just go with…

When we all worked in Cubeville in the before times, old dead tree software manuals were much sought after to use as monitor stands. A coworker was very picky and used only old MS Office application manuals. He definitely had his eye on my old Excel manual but I wouldn’t give it to him. Too much sentimental value in…

Among a group of friends, we refer to the people at the big box hardware store who knows what they’re talking about as “The old guy who may be neither old or a guy”. There’s usually one person there, either an employee or a customer, who knows what they’re talking about and is happy to give advice. The key is finding…

Sounds like your booster experience was similar to mine. I got my Pfizer booster (after initial two shots of Moderna) on a Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning I woke up with a kinda sore upper arm. Later that morning I had slight chills for an hour or two and wasn’t that hungry/stomach wasn’t upset but it was a bit…

My go-to potluck item is always homemade cookies or, if I don’t have a lot of time, a pan of brownies (pro-tip, start with a cheap box brownie mix. Follow the directions but add a quarter cup of chocolate syrup, teaspoon or two of vanilla and a couple of handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate M&Ms).…

You don’t need a penny, a quarter, calipers of anything else to determine if your tires have enough tread left on them because almost all tires have a thing called “wear bars”. They’re ridges of rubber built right into the tire! If the wear bars are even with the top of the tread, it’s time to get a new tire. If the…

Wait, what? Being a non-drinker is a specific reason to not date someone? I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the logic in that one. But maybe that’s because I’m also a non-drinker.

Why do people not have Amazon wishlists? I get that not everyone uses the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Website. But for those who do, why not just create a wishlist. Update it as you shop throughout the year (adding and deleting things). Spend a bit of extra time right before any gift giving holidays making…

The two times I’ve had knee surgery I asked my PT (who would also be doing my post-op PT) what exercises I could do BEFORE surgery to help aid my recovery. He gave me a set. I did them regularly. He said it definitely made my recovery faster.