I have a huge quarrel with modern head rests. They all have this forward slant that forces your head forward and down. If I get in an accident it will probably crush my neck vetebrae.
It was so bad on my 2012 Subaru Outback I had to turn the headrest around so it faced backwards - and then it got way more comfortable!

I’ll camp out to catch up if the restaurant’s pretty empty. Never if it’s bustling. Especially when the people I’m catching up with are in recovery (and therefore the bar is off limits). If you know you’re going on an extended hang out, choose an appropriate venue (order at counter places) or an off time.

My rule of thumb is that camping is only acceptable is the restaurant is half-full or less, so that there are plenty of spare tables in each section, no one is waiting to use your table, and you make sure to tip both of the waitstaff is there’s a shift change.

On the flip side of this: Assuming the restaurant looks slow, is there any reason a person shouldn’t linger? Normally I try to clear this with the server ahead of time and I make sure I tip both employees if they have to do a hand off.

I’ve done Dry January for 3 years now, I think? I do it as a check-in with myself on my drinking habits, because alcoholism runs in my family. This is the first year in a really long time where I do think I’ve been using alcohol as a coping mechanism too much. Which is, for obvious reasons, worrying. So it’s a great…

I know it’s usually in very poor taste to blame the victim, but this is one of those rare cases where, frankly, the blame lies, in no small part, at the feet of the victim. Sure, he shouldn’t have been killed, but there was no shortage of warning signs he acknowledged and yet willfully ignored. It’s like seeing an…

Our thoughts and prayers go out to both John’s family and friends

This is great advice for habit building. Our brains have trouble conceiving of larger numbers/amounts; there’s a threshold that our brains reach when conceptualizing time where they just give up and lump it in with ‘forever’, which can easily make a new habit overwhelming, which is where new year’s resolutions usually…

Thanks for this, I tend to fall into a really deep slump this time of year. It’s nice to have a reminder that it doesn’t have to be wasted time. I’m going to try and stay focused and positive.

I can still hear the devolution sound in dino eggs and turning into a spider haunted my young self

When I was in college I got to hang out at Daniel Lawrence’s apartment. Was friends with some of the guys that were beta testers for him. Freaked him out one day by aking, “Hey, why’s there a magnet in your disk holder.” Love playing Telengard and most of the dungeon crawler games.

Wow. This is a great article that I hope every parent... no, every person reads. Thanks for sharing this wisdom of kindness and civility, especially in our current climate. I needed this.

I like the classics, like hanta virus.

Ouch, this is rough. I hate the idea of him being able to force a text to my phone, but at the same time, if this were literally any other president, I’d be fully behind it. If FEMA and the office of the POTUS both think I should know something immediately, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I pick between a gray/black palette (with some color accents; dressier) and a blue/brown/green palette (more casual) for most trips. It lets me pack reusable pieces that go in many combinations, with a minimum of shoes, purses, jewelry, and jackets.

This 100%.

Chocolate and peanut butter, my man. Two things that are great on their own and even better together.

OTOH--Both weed and mushrooms grow “out there,” too.  Like picking and eating blueberries.  Or catching fish.  And, as the author noted, its best to do it *at* the campsite.

That's true—the trap, really, is falling back into the same money pattern. But I do think a lot of these quick fix solutions are designed to set up that type of cyclical behavior. You're right though, it usually ultimately takes a change of habit and discipline; unfortunately, there are no easy fixes, unless a…

I never did one of those payday loans but I've had myself deep into credit card debt in my younger years. About $30,000 to be exact. Mostly from buying dumb crap that is long gone now. Now I'm debt free, except for the mortgage. I went to my credit union and took out a consolidation loan to merge all of my…