For political disagreements, be wary of fruitless endeavors. 20 replies back and forth are pointless. Most of the time, my goal isn’t to change that person’s mind; it’s to be the voice of disagreement so that others can either be exposed to my views and their rationalization or so that others who silently agree with me can see that these views aren’t unpopular. After enough time passes, I tend to state that I’m disengaging because it’s no longer going to catch the eye of many of these people.

In general, be courteous. Most people aren’t assholes. Some people will have a bad day and maybe will take it out in you, but gently asking them to be courteous and not take their bad day out on you usually spurs some introspection and improves the interaction. If it doesn’t, then they’re really not mature enough to further engage with. Respect yourself and don’t allow anybody excessive opportunity to ruin your day.

$90k is absolutely life changing for most people. That’s a down payment on a house plus moving costs and upgrading appliances and furniture. That’s the difference between poverty and living comfortably. If that’s not life changing for you, then I’m not sure you’re familiar with the struggle, in which case I strangely both pity you and envy you.

Sure you’re not gonna buy a mansion with $90k, but you could go from renting a shithole apartment in a shithole town to owning a home in a decent area with access to better employment to sustain a much higher quality of life. $90k is a ticket to escaping geographical and financial shackles.

I’ve had my Earfun Air Pro 3 earbuds since like July and I like them okay. Currently on sale for $76. I used to eat in front of my TV in the living room even when alone, but now I just sit at the dining table and pop these in. Especially with Vanced YouTube. The ads on the PS5 YouTube app became obtrusive to the point that I just don’t use it anymore. I’ll also pop these in while doing chores around the house. They pair to my phone and Steam Deck without issue.

I had other earbuds before this that were about $35 but not noise cancelling. They fell out of my pocket while I was out of town, so I splurged on something that would sound better, and I’m happy with them for the price point and form factor.

Excellent thought, but we’re on public sewer. That’s why I’m confused about why they would’ve been bleaching the water heater.

Built shelves into the back wall of the garage. It’s been great for storage.

Installed a water softener, but more on that in a minute.

Also wrote with sharpie on the wall of the maintenance closet the dates of routine PMs for the furnace and water heater. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that they weren’t particularly diligent about the water heater stuff. It just said “bleach” and dates, but they clearly weren’t flushing it properly. I found and removed probably like 15-20 pounds of scale and replaced the lower element that it killed. I have a theory that they installed the water softener well after living with hard water for a while, and by then there was already a bunch of scale in the water heater. Combine that with dosing bleach which is higher pH and not properly flushing it out and they welcomed crystallization of the dissolved solids that were already there. Then under deposit corrosion killed the lower element. I’m not sure why they felt the need to dose bleach though. That would only really attack organics, and the water is already treated before coming through. Idk, it’s my first home so maybe I’m the one who’s a clueless idiot here, so I shouldn’t judge too harshly here lol.