• I always looked at resistance bands as a bit of a joke, considering that they look like (and basically are) giant rubber bands. But they are even more effective than dumbbells for a lot of exercises, and they can go in basically any travel bag. You can even do bench presses without a bench. Consider me converted.

    Wednesday July 31, 2024
  • Rivian headlights make them look like surprised Jeeps.

    Monday July 15, 2024
  • Reddit killed all of their 3rd party apps. The least they could do now is make a first party one that doesn’t lock up and not respond to taps every time I use it

    Saturday July 13, 2024
  • I just ate leftover pancakes for the first time in 42 years. AMA

    Saturday July 13, 2024
  • Who cares about getting a photo that shows you enjoying a roller coaster/ride? What Disney should be doing is taking photos of people who just got off of “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” for the first time and selling those.

    Monday July 8, 2024
  • Using Instagram since the Facebook acquisition is the social media version of slowly boiling the frog.

    Stories. Ads. Suggestions. You can snooze the suggestions for 30 days but you know they’re going to be permanent at some point.

    I’m so tired of fighting to see posts from people I actually follow.

    Saturday July 6, 2024
  • Every time that I use my Breville Control Freak induction burner, I wish they made a full size range. It’s so good at holding temperature that it really changes the game. Recipes that say “keep at a bare simmer for 45-90 mins and never let it boil, because that changes the flavor” are so simple now. Literally being able to set the temperature and walk away is a revelation.

    Friday July 5, 2024
  • I know you can’t stop crying But tears dry out when you’re flying

    Sia - Little Wing

    Sunday June 30, 2024
  • Who owns Redbox these days? Whatever you guess, you’re wrong.

    It’s currently owned by the same company that makes the Chicken Soup for the Soul Books

    Saturday June 29, 2024
  • New traditions with old friends is just the best.

    Friday June 28, 2024
  • If you have a reservation at a hotel that you made months in advance, it’s worth it to check whether prices have dropped in the meantime.

    Marriott makes it easy and lets you search for a new room while holding your previous reservation. We just did this and saved $362 with a stay that’s one day longer than the original.

    Wednesday June 26, 2024
  • It’s crazy how many devices it takes to purchase plane tickets at the correct price. Today I bought some plane tickets.

    I get a business discount that’s at least noticeable, and sometimes fairly large. My wife found tickets for us last night on Google Flights on her laptop and today I bought them on my laptop, since my account has the discount applied. I noticed that they were like $500 more expensive, even with my discount, but I bought them anyway, because there’s a 24 hour free cancellation period and I figured I could change the flight later.

    Tonight we discussed it and it turns out that in less than a day, the price shot up quite a bit. So my wife started looking for other tickets, since our dates are a little flexible. It turns out that leaving a day earlier would save us $500, so I tried to change my existing flight. The United website happily let me do it, but the price was exactly the same as what we saw on Google Flights, so the discount was completely gone, even though it said it was giving me the business price.

    So I pulled out my Android phone that wasn’t on the home WiFi and has never logged into my United account. I found the lower price on Google Flights, selected it, confirmed it on the United website and then logged in to my United account.

    It said it was giving me the business discount there too, but this time the price was correct and I actually got the $500 off. I knew this was a thing, but to see it actually happening with my own eyes was something else.

    Wednesday June 26, 2024
  • Uncategorized

    Target shopping carts are ridiculously overengineered.

    Many of us have experienced the luxury of pushing a Target shopping cart. Compared to shopping carts at other stores, they feel like they're floating through the store, gliding smoothly around corners.

    Recently, I had a shopping trip where my cart only had 3 wheels. I didn’t even notice until I took a quick turn in it and it felt weird because of all of the stuff I had in the cart. The rest of the time, it didn't tip or try to rest its weight on the missing wheel. It just worked. Wild.

    Saturday May 25, 2024
  • Silliness

    TFW you need to use your phone as a flashlight

    but the Flashlight app is too bright so you decide to open an app that has a white background but every app you open seems to have a dark mode and then you realize that you have an app that you wrote years ago that’s installed on your phone and you definitely didn’t put dark mode support in and you open it and it works great.

    Thursday May 23, 2024
  • Video Games

    Video Game Review: Rollerdrome.

    it’s good.

    Wednesday May 22, 2024
  • Uncategorized

    Companies are a lot more willing to send you new hardware for “free” when yours has issues and you have a monthly subscription to a connected service

    Wednesday May 22, 2024
  • Business

    ,

    Life

    When negotiating, silence is a superpower.

    Wednesday March 6, 2024
  • Uncategorized

    Vanilla Visa Gift Card tips

    If you happen to receive a Vanilla Visa gift card, I have a couple of tips based on my recent experience.

    Don’t try to use them on Amazon. That’s the only one that I tried, but from what I hear, most online retailers won’t work. However, I was able to use the card to add money to my balance on the Steam store.

    Don’t use your computer to view your gift card balance, use a phone browser instead. Apparently using a web browser on a computer to log into the Vanilla Visa gift card website hasn’t worked in years.

    Sunday February 25, 2024
  • Business

    ,

    Silliness

    ,

    Home

    ,

    Shorts

    Every now and then I think, "Why don't I have a bunch of envelopes printed with my outgoing address on them?"

    “My Brother laser printer is reliable and it has a special slot in the front for printing envelopes. I should have a stack of these, ready to go. "

    Then I put an envelope in the slot and my printer tells me that I have to open the back door of the printer (which is against the wall, in a corner of my office) to print an envelope.

    That can’t be right, can it?

    It is.

    So dumb. So now I still have a stack of blank envelopes. I’ll forget all about this and do this whole dance over again in a year, I bet.

    Even smart printers are dumb.

    Friday February 16, 2024
  • Richard's Rules

    ,

    Food

    Richard's Rule #4

    The optimal number of people in your group at a food festival is 3. 2 people run around and grab food while one person holds down the table. Doing it with just 2 people is not nearly as fun.

    Tuesday February 13, 2024
  • Movies

    ,

    Video Games

    The Other Fifth Element

    While at my in-laws for Christmas, we watched the 1997 cult classic movie “The Fifth Element”. I ended up on IMDB, looking up some of the actors to find out what else they’d been in and I saw that some of them were also something called “The Fifth Element” that came out in 1998. I had no idea that there was something else called “The Fifth Element” and the fact that it was released so soon after the 1997 movie made me wonder what the heck it was. Turns out, it was a video game released for the PlayStation. And it’s BAD. Really, really bad. No wonder I’d never heard of it.

    Here’s some videos of someone else playing it: www.youtube.com/watch and www.youtube.com/watch

    I managed to get my hands on a copy of the game, and I found it wildly unplayable. The controls were horrible, the levels visibly loaded as you went through them, and the enemies were just dumb. I couldn’t aim or even walk around very well, and the camera was totally drunk.

    There isn’t really any story to speak of, and what there is makes no sense and has little to do with the actual plot of the movie.

    And when you finish a level, your reward is that you get to watch a pixelated cutscene from the movie. I’d rather just watch the movie again.

    1/10.

    Sunday December 31, 2023
  • Richard's Rules

    ,

    Food

    RIchard's Rule #3

    Most Chinese takeout places have a very similar menu. However, there are one or two things on the menu that they are really good at, and the rest is either OK or nearly inedible. The trick is to figure out what the good things are.

    Sunday December 10, 2023
  • Richard's Rules

    Richard's Rule #2

    If you walk into a party and there’s swag when you walk in, grab it. You might see the swag and think “I’ll grab it on the way out so I don’t have to hold on to it all night.”

    The problem is: other people will leave the party before you and you’ll end up swagless. Just bring a Baggu or something similar and fill it with swag.

    Thursday December 7, 2023
  • TV

    You see, the thing about Rick and Morty is

    it’s so full of comedy that you never see the emotional beats coming. If it were a drama, you’d be expecting it. But this show earns the surprise of the big emotional moments by being laugh-out-loud hilarious 90% of the time.

    Wednesday December 6, 2023
  • Richard's Rules

    Richard's Rule #611

    If you lose something while sitting on a soft surface, such as a couch or a bed…it’s underneath you.

    Friday December 1, 2023