• 2 Posts
  • 210 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 15th, 2023

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  • For me digital wallet is a bit more convenient than using my real wallet, but not essential. I have one credit card that I use all the time, but it seems my bank hasn’t bothered to make it work with NFC payments yet for some reason, but it works with Google Wallet so that’s nice.

    I also always keep my wallet with credit cards and a little bit of cash as a backup. One time I was out at a bar and there was a power outage. They were still serving drinks, but instantly all transactions switched to cash only. I think it makes a lot of sense to have backup options.

    The opposite can be good too – your phone as a backup just in case you forget your wallet.

    It’s probably not entirely been worth the effort to stay up to date with changes whenever Google breaks things. At some point I may stop. I guess one immediate value has been that watching things unfold has hastened the souring of my view on Google. I am now frequently looking for ways to avoid their ecosystem, and avoid big companies / non open source in general. I’m far from ready to leave the ecosystem on every front. But at the very least, I would never recommend a Google product in my professional life at this point, at least not without careful planning of an exit strategy.




  • Could be they want to hit a certain category (groceries) on the card. Maybe they are also trying to meet minimum spend on a new card.

    For those who shop a lot on Amazon, the Chase Amazon Visa is probably worth it since it always gets 5-6%, but if you don’t have that card, using gift cards to hit a grocery category seems reasonable. Slightly more hassle, but at least you can split purchases on Amazon.




  • Even with a free forum host, it’s difficult to keep things running for a long time.

    Awhile back I was unsatisfied with how quickly my (new) furniture was degrading, and found a furniture forum run by a guy in the biz. So much knowledge on there about different furniture and how to actually find quality stuff that will last decades.

    The owner retired this week, and he had been paying for an IT contract to do basic maintenance / upgrades on the forum (I think he started on a free host, but as it got bigger he eventually had to move it). He needed IT help basically to apply security patches and do upgrades. He’s stated that he no longer plans to pay for the maintenance contract. I’m guessing the forum will disappear soon.




  • Thanks a ton, all of what you wrote is super helpful!

    I think I’m doing pretty similar things, but you’ve definitely given me some food for thought.

    I estimated my TDEE (energy expenditure) around 2800cal, and I’ve been aiming for 2000cal. Like you it’s a little aggressive, but also gives me wiggle room in case I’m not estimating calories correctly.

    I actually really like counting calories along with intermittent fasting (I only eat between noon and 8pm every day. I also don’t really like “fad” diets or even worrying too much about macronutrients, though I’m making an effort to get more protein, and stuff like cucumbers helps a ton with satiation like you’re saying. Your way of meal planning simplifies things a lot, but I don’t know if I could really do that because I like a wide variety of food.

    I’ve been doing strength training (3-4x per week), but you’re giving me motivation to add some cardio. I hate cardio but deep down I know I need to train because the outdoor activities I like the most (hiking, skiing) require it.

    I’ve been following my plan for a little over a week so far. Not a lot of time, but seems like I’m down about 0.25kg. Scales are pretty inaccurate though, and my weight does fluctuate over 1kg in a single day.

    My motivation is perhaps a bit different… I’ve done strength training before and am trying to get back into it, but at this point in my life I’m at about 24% body fat (according to U.S. Navy calculation) which is right on the verge of obesity, so I’m thinking to drop down 10% before seriously trying to put on more muscle. I’ve read it’s slightly easier to put on muscle at low BF%, but more importantly I think I will just look better, since I don’t think I look great at 24% BF.

    Whenever I get blood tests done though, I’m usually just barely in the “healthy” range when it comes to cholesterol and stuff, so that’s definitely a secondary motivation. Plus lots of people in my family have diabetes, so it’s better for me to take steps now to prevent it.

    Thanks again for your reply, it gives me validation that I’m on the right track, and definitely gives me some food for thought.







  • Cleared DRS last week for the first time. I had kind of avoided it because I’d heard mixed things, and bozja / field op stuff never really caught my interest (I had ranked up to 22 but kind of didn’t enjoy the format). The past couple weeks I got back into it and something clicked and I realized it’s exactly the sort of content I’ve been wanting.

    Lost actions / essences, while still kind of annoying to farm (I ended up just buying some from MB), give you flexibility in builds that no other content does. Also the duel system that confused the hell out of me before has given me a challenge to look forward to while I’m farming in Zadnor. I think it helps that the instances aren’t too crowded anymore so it’s easier to get into duels to practice.

    So when I joined a couple of field op discords and noticed there are multiple DRS runs per week, I decided what the hell, I always wanted the mount. I spent a few hours reading guides & got my holster prepped, and joined a run. The first run was a blast, but ultimately we wiped on Queen’s Guard and didn’t re-instance that night. The second run I joined was 48/48 with a lot of vets and we tore through the bosses, but it was still definitely a challenge (my goal was to not die too terribly and embarrass myself), and I felt like I could contribute even being a newbie.

    I’ve done a lot of raiding in this game, but DRS was some of the most fun I remember having in grouped content. Definitely recommend it if you think it might tickle your fancy.