An audio recording is not a record. There can be glitches. A recording will not tell witnesses to stop talking over each other or that there is an audio problem. A recording will not tell someone to please repeat themselves because they didn’t understand a word. Stenography is still very relevant. I had a case…

It has nothing to do with making my job easier (I don’t need it made easier, I love the challenges), but with creating an accurate record, which is important for everyone involved. I see expert witnesses who have literally been deposed or testified hundreds of times who can’t string two words together because no one…

I edit court reporter transcripts, so I’ll add one more thing. There is someone in the room writing everything that is said. So speak slowly; enunciate (especially with acronyms - so many letters sound the same!); don’t use a ton of fillers like um, uh, and like; spell names; and most important, don’t talk over anyone.

“Given that streaming services are often offered as perks with other bills, you might be eligible for free access to stuff you’re currently paying for.” Indeed. I have Disney+, Star+, and HBO Max as part of subscriptions I would have even without the streaming service as a bonus. I am in Mexico, so if I remember…

Soriana has really gone downhill in like eight years that I’ve been here. Very expensive now, almost no selection, and there’s always stuff that’s out of date. Chedraui is my backup. It has things that Walmart doesn’t and vice versa. Aurrera is part of the Walmart family, but feels very low end. Don’t have La Comer…

Funny, where I live in Mexico, Walmart has the best grocery store roasted chickens (way superior to Costco) and the best produce, plus some of the Great Value products made for Latin America are better than those made for the US/Canada market, probably because food standards are higher here. I do about 60% of my food…

A nice thing about working for yourself is that if someone catches you talking to yourself, you can tell them you’re having a staff meeting.

I inherited a a degenerative condition from my dad, who had a knee replacement in his 50s, which is very young. When his knee started to really hurt, he stopped moving and he got really overweight, so that just made things worse. I didn’t want the same fate. But combined with my knee issue is that one of my legs…

Might make sense for a family. For one person, learn how to use your filters. I’m on Apple Mail so I have created a whole bunch of smart folders to accomplish separation while having a minimum number of email addresses to track.

I recently splashed out on a Cuisinart convection toaster oven. That’s basically air fryer technology but more versatile. It makes the best toast I have ever had, whether one frozen slice or nine fresh slices (and has a separate bagel setting). I can fit my cast-iron pan and braiser in it as well as a whole pizza or…

Thankfully, I can eat chicken! I have never heard of a chicken allergy, so that was a really interesting comment!

Nope, just the eggs. And even that is not lethal, like I need an epipen or anything. I just get sick.

Yep. And they still think they can slip me an egg and I won’t notice. It’s gotten even more fun since I discovered I can have duck eggs (thanks for the tip, Margot Robbie!) so now that I enjoy duck eggs when I can find them, folks assume the chicken allergy is even faker than they thought it was.

I don’t pretend to be a mashed potato expert, but in my limited experience, the drier the potato, the better. All the liquid then comes from the cream or milk or butter and they don’t taste watered down. I’ve been steaming potatoes in the micro for eons and I let them sit and dry out a bit before I try to mash them.

“Egg yolk mashed potatoes do not taste like egg yolks.” I had this discussion on another food site recently. You might not taste it but others will. I’m allergic to eggs and they taste rotten to me, so I would absolutely know if you used egg yolks instead of, say, turmeric, to make your mashed potatoes yellow as they…

Now that I have mounted my displays on arms that can go in any direction, I will never go back to a platform or stand.

The two stands on my Samsungs are not removable, so I’ve mounted them with the stands hanging down. It really does look stupid. But I didn’t realize I was going to end up wanting to mount them so it never occurred to me to check of the stands are removable. And one of the displays is older than the other and is not…

I have a Mac Mini (2018) and I was shocked when I bought it that the Apple display on the market at the time was not compatible with it (what?!). I ended up with two inexpensive 24" Samsungs. One of them is an older model that is on its last legs and I’ve been looking for an alternative and an upgrade. I got a bit…

Glad I read this. I’m only seeing this applying to laptops, but I had the logic board replaced on my 2018 Mac Mini, so I’m going to proceed with caution until we have more details. Mine was a factory/manufacturing issue and was replaced by a genuine part by authorized service retailers under warranty, so I’m probably…

I drive right past Sam’s on the way to Costco. We have several Sam’s in my city, including one I could walk to, but I went to it with a friend and it didn’t impress me. All the products that I would buy are available from the Walmart a 7-minute walk from my house, and when I get deals, the prices are comparable.…