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

I mean, a fridge is a fridge? Most of them aren't pretty but I wouldn't go so far as to hide one? Some of the fancy ones with the sleek designs are more aesthetically pleasing than not but most of them are big brick shapes for keeping food it. I don't really think about them enough to consider them displeasing. They just kind of exist.

 

yea, i think it's weird too. But hey, people think that for some reason. My friends parent's almost got the cabinet things to hide the fridge... until they saw the price. They changed their mind very quickly. I don't remember the price, but for just the fridge it was more than a couple thousand dollars, they were getting expensive cabinets in the first place though.

A blog post of what they were considering.

[Edit:] changed some wording, added in a blog post to demonstrate.

 

As long as it matches the rest of the appliances I don't find it like... exceptionally ugly? I'm used to seeing my appliances in a kitchen. I think I'd be weirded out by a kitchen that had none of them visible.

 

The house my parents are renting has one of those big...cabinets? Fridge homes? Its ugly as fuck, makes the fridge take up like 150% as much room, and makes it *impossible* for two (admittedly short) people to easily take out in case u need to fix something or clean behind it. Those fridges that are, like, built into the wall and look like more cabinets are like, fine, I guess, but I would rather a normal fucking fridge that i can easily move around and get behind then the hulking shadow of the fridgehole dominating the kitchen

 

this past Thursday morning I got a call offering me a job at the place I had a weld test earlier this week (a steel manufacturing company that mainly fabricates giant bridge parts). I called back Friday morning to accept the offer but there wasn't an option in their extension menu to talk to a human, so I left a brief message in their all-purpose voicemail saying that I wanted the job, please call me back. They didn't call back on Friday.

I'm not sure if I should wait through Monday to see if they call me back, or physically go to the office to check in and accept the job. Worth noting: it's about the lowest tier job there is in the place, so I'm not sure if I want to make any kind of a fuss about it? but I also very much want the job, and want to make sure they actually got my message, etc.

 

Does diaphragmatic breathing ever feel not bad and awkward and like you're just flexing your lungs for no real benefit

My boss is telling me to practice it, and while i disagree hes been telling me to since like 2018 or something so i guess i have to try it

i have to make my stomach go out and keep my shoulders down, it technically is putting air in my lungs but i have to Focus so hard on it that i like, discard that breath and then go back to not micromanaging my breathing

 

It eventually gets more natural than the other way, if you practice! One of the tips I was given was to practice while laying on your back - that given a sufficient surface, your shoulders will be more naturally restricted from moving in that position, and you can lay your hands over your stomach to feel it move.

 

I learned it from singing in choirs from a pretty young age so it's sorta second nature to me, especially when singing or exercising as it's technically a higher lung capacity i think?? could be helpful to just try practicing it when doing an activity like that, where you're already to some degree going to be conscious of your breathing

 

let me prevail upon the collective computer knowledge of this site once more

I found a Dell G5 15 for $470 at a local surplus chain. I am almost certainly going to buy it but brain won’t let me without double checking with an outside source that it’s not a terrible idea

according to the reviews I have found this laptop is merely okay as far as gaming laptops go, but also the lowest price I could find for it online was almost double what this one is going for, and I intend to build a pc at some point in the future anyway so i will have other options

edit: fuck it, i will make the purchase, as long as they let me turn it on and poke around first (and as long as it’s still there)

 

That's a better gaming laptop than the one I used to use, and that one ran all the games I had just fine.

 

huzzah, I haven’t made a terrible mistake! :D

the keyboard glows red, it’s like I’m a real gamer or something :P

edit: thank you by the way for responding to my various discombobulated requests for computer advice in the past, I feel like i am slowly but surely learning how to tell if a computer is hot garbage or not lol

 

What's the best (free) blog host? I want to do book reviews and podcast show notes, I don't want to do coding.

 

I have an old collectable snowglobe, but it sprang a leak and the water inside is filthy. Unfortunately the glass is glued to the wooden base. Is there anything I could use to dissolve the glue to replace the water?

 

Depends on the glue. For hard glues, oil and petroleum jelly can soften it enough to just scrape it away.

If it's a silicon glue, you can get silicon removers or denatured alcohol, and follow the instructions. Paint thinner and household solvents can degrade it as well, although that might also damage the finish of the wood. Also all of these should be done in a well-ventilated space.

 

So I was thinking about getting a new chair to use in my bedroom, but I tried looking up desk chairs online and about hyperventilated. Everything is very expensive and I don't know how much any of this is necessary, but I wouldn't know, because I may be thirty years old but I've never bought a desk chair!!!

Spoiler: Probably unnecessary detail

I have previously sat at my desktop with:

An actual armchair
One of those chairs that's a bowl resting in a stand
Folding chairs of various levels of shittiness/scavenged from curbside
A pile of pillows (computer was on floor)
A kitchen table chair once I think?

Right now I have the only computer chair I've ever purchased, a nicer quality folding chair with padding, but I'm going to be actually earning a small income soon and I would like to upgrade to something more comfortable/better for my back, but I don't know what is actually necessary? Everything I could find on IKEA's website that says it has lumbar support is over $150 and that makes me panic a little. Do I need lumbar support? (Additionally, everything at IKEA lists the weight it's tested to as 30ish pounds less than I weigh :/ so.)

I'm looking for something that will improve my quality of chair experience, be lightweight enough that I can move it around easily, and doesn't have arms (I also use my computer chair at my spinning wheel, due to space limitations.)

If anyone has general advice about chair shopping or suggestions for nontraditional seating solutions I would super appreciate it, thank you.

 

I'm pretty sure you can get lumbar support pillows, if that's something you need! That might cut the cost a bit.

 

this might seem odd but anyone know how to make veins bigger? i want to donate plasma but mine are tiny. the general agreement seems to be exersize but which ones?
(i figured this was specific enough for it not to get its own thread)

 

Hydrate, stay warm, and general resistance exercises of the arms if you're specifically looking to donate, plus at least fifteen minutes of cardio daily. Although before you commit to all that I'd go talk to the techs at your donation center. I have ridiculous veins and when I have blood tests at the doctor they have to use the butterfly needle and stick me three times, but the donation tech when I donated blood got the big needle in the first time, which is a first in my entire life.

 

the heck is a butterfly needle?
o-0

 

That's the really tiny needle they use when you have low blood pressure and tiny veins that roll and hide. It's got a little plastic bow tie looking thing around it because it's smaller than the tubing is set up for. That's what I have to have as a general rule, but usually at a donation center there's a phleb tech (the person who actually sticks you) who's insanely good, and if you tell the center ahead of time "I'm a hard stick, I have tiny veins" they will go get this person and they can perform miracles. The only time this has failed me was when I was clinically underweight and shouldn't have been donating anyway. So it's very possible your local donation center doesn't need you to do all that work.