viceroy
5mo ago
Anybody feel like telling a few stories about how the housing market might get better over the next couple years? I'm having a hard time seeing it and most people are more inspired by predicting doom than imagining the subtle signs of what an improving market would look like. Was out for a walk earlier with the wife and she mentioned how this one neighborhood we both like sometimes just bums her out now that she's accepted we're not going to be able to buy anytime soon. We've managed to save enough but even on lower end stuff, the monthly payments are insane and 2-3x what we're paying.
viceroy
6mo ago
Two. An artist in her 30's with a flip phone, she's opposed to smartphones on principle. I respect it, though wonder if she has paper maps or something for when she travels. There's a woman at my work with no cell phone at all and she has effectively called the bluff of the corporation on mandatory MFA, but they've also kind of called hers because afaik she can't access our corporate intranet. Every once in a while it flares up a dozen people get CC'd, IT rejects the request for a mobile device to be purchased and assigned, etc. Such a waste of time. I actually haven't heard of it recently so maybe management wised up and found a way to structure a reimbursement in such a way that they could sneak a burner phone from best buy onto that monday's bagel run.
viceroy
6mo ago
One thing I've noticed is the amount of relatively inexpensive analog synths, guitar pedals, and random peripheral music gear like samplers and drum machines. Back in the 00's when I was playing music in a sort of scene, if anyone had an analog synth it was from the 70's, very expensive, and, uh, temperamental at best. Bands all pretty much used the same pedals in various configurations. Today you can pick up a Korg minilogue on craigslist for a few hundred bucks and have a full analog circuit polyphonic synth and while you're at it scoop up a few boutique pedals, I'm not sure if they're really less expensive than what we were paying for Boss pedals back in the day or if they just don't hold their value, but the takeaway is that it would seem that the kids making music these days must have an absolute mountain of options even not considering DAW/virtual bloops.
Now, affording a place to practice...
viceroy
6mo ago
I messed up my back in my late 20's, though it was honestly from sheer laziness and a careless sneeze. I thought I'd gotten through it then I spent the first year of the pandemic in a terrible chair from office depot which slowly undid 3/4 of my progress and I was in pain daily for a good while. Get a quality chair, definitely, which in my experience start new around $1k. I credit getting a new job that was on prem, and spending my workday in a decent chair (ergohuman), along with a fairly basic stretching and core workout routine with getting me back on track. These stretches seem like they are a secret sauce-- child's pose, downward dog, stretching lower back. Along with hip flexor stretching.
viceroy
10mo ago
I'll have a camping hammock hung up on my balcony during the summer months. I wouldn't want to spend a whole night in one but it's extremely nice for a nap on the weekends, or after dinner in the evening light during the long days. Also a prime reading spot. The trick is hanging it with just the right curvature so that you're cradled but not have it so taught that it becomes awkward and sort of traps you inside.
viceroy
1yr ago
My job is stressful, we're almost two years into an enormous project and people are extremely touchy. I got way too angry today at something and even after making myself go for a drive and get some fresh air, I was driving back into the office park just seething. I realized I wasn't going to be able to make it through the day like that and engaged in a shockingly effective momentary reflection. It was just the simplest one minute stoic meditation. I said to myself that there is a higher mind, and there is an animal that is acting unskillfully due to thinking its emotions are important. There's no threat, being calm is advantageous. Not firing back a shitty email is advantageous. I realize that this is super basic but I guess why I'm writing it is I could actually feel the tension disappear all at once. I've tried to do similar things in the past but its like this time the rational mind actually spoke with authority and everything fell into line immediately. I walked back in completely cool.
viceroy
1yr ago
Normal cat behavior. We've moved a couple times with our two cats and one of them will, upon moving in, without fail, find the craziest spot to hole up in and basically stay there for days. Like it takes 20 minutes to even find him.
viceroy
1yr ago
It's terrific, if I had the self control to take it with moderation then I would take it all the time. (That's an AA joke)
Where I landed on drugs, and this especially applies to drugs like benzos that make you feel like everything is peachy, is that the rest of the world isn't doing them with you. Anxiety up to a point is useful to keep you from making an ass of yourself and I've seen a lot of people do this. That said, I've thought about doing the same thing and keeping one or two around for "break glass" types of emergencies. THAT said, it's the worst class of drugs you could possibly be addicted to, I think.
viceroy
1yr ago
Audrey Hepburn. Beloved by all who would care but noticeably given a kind of feminine archetype status by women.
viceroy
1yr ago
My brother gets us all some small luxury item and a big box of hand warmers every year and to be honest it's the most useful and gifty gift I get. I'd never buy myself those carbon hand warmers unless I were going skiing or something along those lines. But some days are just kinda drafty, my hands can get cold then seem to not want to warm up, they're nice for walks in the winter. I'd be fine without but it can be much better with.
Check out Selenium, maybe just use python/selenium for the form automation and run it from your computer. You could have a table of your guest personas and just read that into the script. I've never done web dev stuff but I'd think finagling the script into an API that you could call to from some simple web gui would be doable on a cheap VPS.
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