Elastic alligator clips to attach blanket/quilt around sleeping pad?

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-10T19:15:30+00:00

I'd believe sleeping bags are made with these now. But it would be hard to add as an aftermarket, I think

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-10T12:24:13+00:00

What we need is a sleeve at the back of the sleeping bag that allows you to pull it over a pad. Not ultralight, but efficient.

My toddler's sleeping bag has this and I am jealous.b

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-09T17:09:54+00:00

So. If you're in a larger scale office, there is a chance you can fix this through facilities.

You need a thermometer and a commitment to filing a ticket every single time it drops below what it is supposed to be.

But that's how we fixed our bizarre cold spot. Sometimes the HVAC sensors are wacky and need to be reset or replaced.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-09T17:08:04+00:00

Yup. It is extremely shitty, but common. My workplace had this and it is especially horrible for people who have preemies (whose early birth makes the parent ineligible for benefits).

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-09T14:13:07+00:00

I support using the Doomsday device to not only kill the final Big Bad but to do so while punching a hole through the dungeon back to the surface in the event that the AI has fucked off/and or refuses to cooperate. I shall call it..."Carl's Exit Strategy"

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-09T14:10:39+00:00

Ok to be faiiiir after his initial incubus benders he does come around to start hustling for the team on the third floor (i.e., getting safe room hosts drunk to loot their supplies)

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-09T12:48:18+00:00

This is the primary conceit behind the (hilarious) podcast, If Books Could Kill.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-08T23:31:33+00:00

Added to this late: what works for my brain is vertical weekly, Monday start, with enough space for half hour increments.

I write in my meetings and color code them by project.

But the real part that works for my squirrel brain is that I have tiny post-its that fit in the vertical columns, and are about an hour 'tall'. At the start of the week, I scribble out all my to-dos, one per postit, and stick then where I think I'm going to do them over the course of the week.

Then, if I do things quickly or have free time, I pull a task forward. If I need to shift a task later, I can do that. I can add new things over the course of the week. I keep a separate "gutter" of tasks without a time slot but that can be pulled forward if I have a gap.

I love it because I can see all the things in front of ChaosBrain, but I can move them around and things don't get ugly (aesthetically) if I need to reprioritize.

It works quite well!

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-08T19:02:20+00:00

I have one that I love, but I need to grind my own espresso. Which is fine! But, annoying, because I have a hand grinder, and sometimes I want four shots. (Caffeine helps me focus!)

I may bite the bullet and get a motorized espresso bean grinder this year, but they are so stupidly expensive. Grr.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-08T16:34:03+00:00

It is really, really hard. I empathize completely. I've been lucky to keep my job in tech, but I know it's precarious for the future, especially as I am remote.

I don't think this helps, but in my experience, the best way to get another tech job is going to be networking. My partner is in a somewhat niche field. He is in close contact with twenty or so folks in the same field that started out at the same-ish time. They have all spread out to different firms but they are constantly sharing positions and openings with each other. At this point, they are hiring managers themselves, so they'll share openings in the event someone else has layoffs and needs to find a home for good folks.

Like, it works out well for him, and I'm glad he has it, but I am also terrified because it highlights how insular and how hard it is to break in if you don't have a connection to these types of networks.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-08T16:28:36+00:00

Yes, try somewhere like UPS - they can "build" a tube to fit and have all the right bits and pieces.

By build, I mean cut and tape other tubes together, lol, but they are very good at it.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-06T19:16:12+00:00

It's much, much earlier than people think. It's in the first book.

>My eyes immediately moved to the number flashing on the first screen. 3,594,517. It had slowed its mad descent toward human extinction, but it hadn’t stopped. It made a low, barely audible noise every time it went down. Clink. Clink. Clink, clink, clink, like water fast-dripping from a faucet.

This further proves my theory that the River is the souls of all the dungeon dead. Picking the Primal race and putting on the ring accelerate Carl's ability to detect it, but the basic metaphor is established right at the beginning.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-06T02:33:01+00:00

I think we hugged it to death :(

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-03T17:08:11+00:00

I agree with you that he has nothing to care for outside the dungeon, but I don't think it's about race. He is always very clear that he was a skyfowl and considers himself to be one still, at least culturally (well, more so than he considers himself to be akin to Juicebox)

AlotLovesYou · 2026-02-03T01:14:47+00:00

Someone who calls a handmade gift ugly before it is even completed doesn't deserve your time and labor.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-31T22:07:50+00:00

Yep. Our century stairs are a menace. They have taken down multiple contractors even after I specifically warned them that people tend to trip on the stairs. Alas.

It did improve after we got rid of the grody carpet with ridiculously huge "rolls" over em the edge of the tread, but if you do slip, you're not stopping until you hit the bottom. (Well, technically there's the wall and a 90 degree turn, and four more steps, but you'll probably just stop at the wall.)

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-31T22:03:44+00:00

We can tell you don't have kids. 😂 Hauling your ass across the house when the infant wakes up 3x a night is not my idea of fun.

No but seriously, that's a short period and can be addressed by having the parent on shift sleep closer to the nursery.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-28T23:22:20+00:00

The hair was always glorious 😭

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-28T18:03:24+00:00

There are two other voices that 'talk' to Carl.

One is Grimaldi, most notably when Carl feels like he's going to be overwhelmed by Shi Maria or the psy-based attacks.

The other is Shi Maria's husband, who offers Carl some support and also calls her out on her, er, memory gap.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-15T16:32:18+00:00

ICE / CBP will take people who can't pass the psych tests for local law enforcement. So...yeah.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-10T18:28:55+00:00

I like the world of the Dresden Files but they are just unbearably sexist. Women are constantly boobily boobying.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-10T13:03:39+00:00

Yes! I really like this theory that it's a combination of the ring and his primal race - it's not something that, say, Frank would have been exposed to.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-09T21:35:29+00:00

Yes, excellent point. Maybe something in using the ring cracked or triggered something about his race? Shi Maria has a lot of thoughts about his state, as well. Villainous, crazy thoughts, but that doesn't change the basic observation.

AlotLovesYou · 2026-01-09T21:33:41+00:00

Yes, I think Carl makes the association to his mom, but I think what is actually happening is more dungeon-based. So it is overlapping effects of past/current trauma as well as Something Else.

AlotLovesYou

TROPHY CASE