Super General Advice (the thread for advice without making a thread)

it was working fine but i think it must have gotten dislodged and/or corrupted somehow because if i leave the sd card in the phone is completely frozen - zero touch response to anything. so i'm not sure!
when i get back to my dorm tomorrow i'll try putting the sd card back in now that it's been a few months (lol) and if it works great and if not, i'll just buy a new one. if that one doesn't work either - i.e. there's something with my phone, not the sd card - then i might upgrade because 10 gb......is so little space for music photos n apps

 

lmao yeah. I got my s5 tail end of 2016 as a certified refurbished (it was 80 bucks and also unlocked... couldn't go wrong when I was a baby pc tech that just needed a phone to text my boss with). some phones unfortunately don't last long it seems :(

huh that is... weird! but that sounds a bit like corruption to me. hopefully it works for you now! if it doesnt, do you have a... idk what it's called but it's a thing you can stick a microsd in to make it full size so that you can then pop it in a card reader and format it. but 10 bucks for those huge 64gb ones ain't bad at all

 

Anecdata regarding phone replacement: I have an iPhone XR, but I had a 7 for over two years, and the only reason I upgraded was that the battery overheated something fierce and it was no longer under warranty (and wasn’t fixable at all—it got so hot that it pretty much fried the phone). My parents haven’t upgraded because their phones still work fine. Generally I think that if the phone is irreparably broken (and ymmv on what counts as “broken,” be it “the phone is not usable” or just “the phone is technically functional but is glitching a ton”—that’s kind of a gray area, although given how badly your phone is acting I would personally count it), it’s good to replace it.

That being said, if you have a repair shop in your area, that’s almost always way cheaper than replacing the phone if it turns out to be a fixable issue. It’s worth taking it in, I think, in case it’s something they can fix.

 

The sd card issue sounds odd to me, it shouldn't be able to cause issues to the phone if it's corrupted or damaged, it should just be unreadable. Micro sd cards are pretty cheap though, I hope that works for you.

It's really all on what you want to do. I used a moto g6 while I was waiting for my pixel 2 to be fixed/returned after I dropped it and broke the antenna, it worked really well. If you don't want to go to the newest, shiniest phone you could always get one that's one year off from that one, usually for cheaper as well.

 

Y'all, I've been looking for housing for a while, and on Sunday I found a place where I'm 100% sure is the place I want to move into now. Now I need to get back to the person who originally put this place up on the Facebook group I found it on, and express this somehow??

I don't know how to do this. Like, what message do I send to express "hi, I like your place and would like to move in"? I know they had other people who also viewed the place, so my brain is like "but what if they want one of those other people to move in instead??"

In general I don't know how this interaction works beyond this point. I've only gotten as far as

Step 1: Send message to express interest in room
Step 2: Set up appointment to see the room in-person
Step 3: See the room in-person
Step 4: ?????????

 

"Hi, thanks for showing me the place! I really liked and I'd like to lock it in. What do you require as far as lease signing?"

A lot of places require a signed lease and some money changing hands before you move in. Your potential landlord should tell you what all you'll need. If there's not a lease, that's not a situation I personally would be involved with, but be sure to hash out, in writing so that you have a record, move in day, how much you're expected to pay, when you're expected to pay, any rules for the property, and when you're expected to leave. Then, once you have paperwork signed, money given over, and a move in date settled on, you're good!

 

@sirsparklepants A few concerns:

1. Is “I’d like to lock it in” not too presumptuous? Like, what if they really did want one of the other people to move in instead? I think I got along with the other tenants reasonably well, but I wasn’t making much of an effort to be likable, now that I’m thinking about it. I feel like there should probably be some mutual agreement that both A. I want to move in, and B. They want me to move in.

2. There are a few things I still need to work out that I think are more important than the lease signing (namely: “what is the current roommate’s move-out date”, and “is she planning on leaving her furniture behind or not”. I’d like to know whether or not I should be looking for a mattress…)

3. I haven’t…actually communicated with the landlord yet... So far all of my communications have been through the tenant who had put the “seeking housemate” post up on Facebook/Craigslist originally. The only thing I know about the landlord is that she owns a lot of property around here and is pretty hands-off and “chill”. The topic of lease-signing didn’t even come up when I visited on Sunday…the tenants said that they’d appreciate if I stayed until my graduation date, so they wouldn’t have to do the whole finding-a-roommate song and dance again too soon, but they indicated that month-to-month is also fine… I feel vaguely like we talked about me paying through Venmo or something… I don’t know if any of those are bad signs or anything. The point is that we talked about the whole "lease-signing" thing in such casual terms that I don't know what I'm actually expected to do...

With that in mind, would a message like:

“Hi, thanks for showing me the place the other day! I really liked it and would like to lock it in, if it’s still available… Would it help if I contacted your landlord about lease-signing or that kind of thing? (Also, did you hear from your roommate about whether she’s leaving behind her furniture or not? And what date she’s moving out exactly?)”

…or something like that be appropriate?

 

@Alexand no, it's not too presumptuous; if they liked someone else better then they'll probably say something along the lines of "I'm sorry but the room has already been taken". I've never actually rented a room in this kind of situation, I've always spoken to the landlord directly, but I'd say the first step is to find out if you'll be dealing with them or if this is some sort of subletting situation so you can find out who, exactly you'll need to negotiate terms with. Personally until you have very firm terms in writing agreed to I wouldn't move in or exchange money, because rental situations can become dicey fairly easily. I've had good ones and bad ones and as a general rule, solid expectations made clear between all parties are more conducive to a good situation where no one gets taken advantage of.

A message like that sounds good but given the additional information, I'd probably say something like "would it help if I contacted the landlord about the lease terms", and ask who you'll be dealing with as far as payment and terms goes if they indicate they want you to move in.

 

Does anyone else on Sertraline know of a way to soothe the pain that happens if you accidentally swallow it without enough water? Oww :(

 

I’m on Sertraline but I’m not sure what you’re referring to, could you elaborate on what kind of pain it is?

 

i took sertraline for a few years. mostly what i did was drink cold water to soothe said pain. hope you feel better! :(

edit: i hope we're talking about the same pain, to clarify, it's in the throat?

 

Yeah, burning in my oesophagus. It's lasted all afternoon, so if it still hurts in the morning I'll call the doc. I don't think any serious damage was done, but if I need to I'll get it checked.

 

this is something i've never tried before, so i apologize if it sounds a tad outlandish, but have you tried taking something akin to tums/an antacid? those usually coat the esophagus pretty well.

 

I don’t think that’s an issue I’ve ever had—I was thinking maybe you’d hit your vagus nerve, but that wouldn’t last all day...

I think Alex is onto something with the antacids, though. At the very least it won’t make matters worse.

 

Anyone have any idea if I can buy cooking wine under 21? I want to make French onion soup and I can't seem to find a recipe that doesn't include sherry or cooking sherry

 

they do specifically make dealcoholized cooking wine! it's usually near the fancy vinegars in the grocery store. back when i was in college at least it was possible for underage people to buy it. (it's been over 10 years since i've tried though.)

 

update: i checked it out at the supermarket today and i remembered wrong, it’s not actually dealcoholized— it’s just very salty, and therefore “not for sale or use as a beverage”, which is how minors can buy it i guess. it was on the bottom shelf by the vinegar though, nowhere near alcohol (even though it’s 10%!)

 

You're not incorrect though either! Dealcoholized wine is a thing that many supermarkets (and Walmart even) sells!

However, whether or not a minor can purchase it varies depending on state law. Probably the same with the cooking wine you remember.

 

Hey y'all, I'm back with more Rental Problems. I've expressed interest in the property I want to move into and now need to figure out...how that would end up working??

The thing is, I just learned yesterday (from the on-campus Department of Off-Campus Housing) that in this situation, the owner of the property isn't my actual landlord. Because I'm subletting a room from one of the tenants, it's legally the tenant who is my landlord. And I've been communicating with the tenant, and trying to get them to put me in touch with their landlord, because I was hoping that the landlord would have an Official Lease Agreement for me to sign somewhere...but it turns out that they're not my landlord anyway?? So I need to work things out through this tenant.

But...the tenant isn't giving me an Official Lease Agreement...or anything. Like, they've explicitly said that "you don't have to officially sign anything". But it's like...if I don't sign anything...how do I know what my rights and responsibilities are as a renter??

I'm meeting with them about this this evening, so that we can talk about it in-person. (They say they're an "in-person kind of person".) But I don't know what to do once I get there? Like...what do I ask.

TL;DR: What questions do you need to ask your future landlord to make sure you're all on the same page and nothing Unexpected happens, in the case of there Not Being A Lease Agreement