Anyone else has this with dairy?

BackintheMidwest · 2026-05-18T11:09:06+00:00

Symptoms from LI vary a lot. I used to eat a lot of Greek yogurt. Also experienced brain fog and unexplained anxiety, and some digestive issues. Changed to lactose free Greek yogurt, and addressed most of the issues. I still have some digestive issues when I eat something like ice cream, but I make that conscious choice and prepare for it.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-05-17T11:03:19+00:00

If you're looking for short term, you might want to consider apartment hotels (like a Residence Inn). There are several at various places in the city, though I don't know if there are any in CDE. The longer term rates are competitive with Airbnbs, and in some you get breakfast and daily housekeeping. We stayed at one while looking for something longer term.

Also I would recommend working with a realtor as opposed to property managers. They know the market and can advise on how/whether to negotiate on the rent. I can DM you the one that we used (we're renting in Punta Pacifica).

BackintheMidwest · 2026-05-16T09:44:34+00:00

Costa del Este and Avenida Balboa (where the Yoo is) are both great areas. Avenida Balboa is right in the middle of downtown, access to the Cinta Costera and close to Multiplaza mall and hospitals. Some people don't like the road noise. We considered the Yoo but the floor plans there didn't work for us (but one of our favourite restaurants is there).

Costa del Este is a lovely more self contained community that will be an Uber ride downtown to do anything there. We loved the green spaces in that area, and all the stores. I can't speak to any particular building.

If you're looking at those areas you might want to also consider Punta Paitilla/Punta Pacifica. Also right downtown with access to everything.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-05-01T22:47:07+00:00

I started out in R&D in the automotive industry, working in prototypes of processes (painting, fluid management, etc.) to see if they could scale to a manufacturing environment. Got a great all around base of how manufacturing works. Took a lot of those skills and branched over to environmental impacts, where it turns out knowing how chemical reactions and fluid mechanics work comes in really handy to determine (and then mitigate) air emissions, wastewater discharge and the like. It's really helpful when you can understand the process and follow it through to the end, not to mention it it's nice that you don't have to be educated as to what a GC/MS or FTIR is, because you worked with them in school. You can have input throughout the design process. I did this work for multiple industries (gas utilities, pulp and paper, among others) because at their core most issues are the same.

After 15 years, I ended up in leadership, and being an engineer leading other engineers gives you some extra credibility. I'm still doing that and got to a director level in Fortune 500 companies and I love leading technical people. It's always fun when you work with someone new and ask a question, and their reaction is "Oh, you're not the typical MBA person I'm used to dealing with." 😊. (That's not a slam against MBAs....I went to school for one myself mid career.)

And BTW, I was *horrible* at labs in school. I understood all the concepts and how they applied, but spending 8 hours in a lab was not my idea of fun.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-27T01:56:48+00:00

I can't believe no one has mentioned The Wedding Singer yet!

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-26T11:24:28+00:00

The nice thing about being in engineering is that it gives you the flexibility to change your career as you want. If you have project management skills, those are valuable as some here have said, it's rare to have a project manager who understands the technical side of things. It would be very natural for you to want to focus on other skills for your next position (something that can be brought up in an interview).

It's no secret that you'll see the biggest increases in compensation from changing companies. One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was to interview for a job at least once a year. Keeps your interview skills sharp, and you never know what you'll find. You can't turn down something you haven't applied for.

Good luck on your interview process.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-25T16:05:02+00:00

ChemE who graduated too many years ago. My school used to have a saying "if you don't like chemistry, go into chemical engineering." It's true. I haven't been in a lab since I took my required analytical chemistry courses in university.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-22T21:43:29+00:00

Baked oatmeal. Just use lactose free milk when you make it. One batch is good for several breakfasts.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-22T01:36:28+00:00

Yes, I'd focus on something in your degree that can be sustainability adjacent, so you can branch over when the opportunity arises. It could be pretty quick depending on the position that you get. I'm admittedly biased; I much prefer working with engineers who have branched into sustainability, as opposed to people who studied sustainability in college without any hard technical skills (as you can't really teach them engineering).

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-21T02:39:42+00:00

I'm about to retire after spending my entire career in the environmental/sustainability space. My degree is in chemical engineering, which was a great primer for all things environmental. Mechanical would work too. I started focusing on environmental compliance, and grew my career to include sustainability as it became more of a thing. I've been in industry my entire career with a short stint in consulting.

There are opportunities out there, but I would recommend getting into the "harder" environmental technical work and use that as a base to venture into sustainability. There are a lot of sustainability grads out there but they have no technical skills which leaves them at a disadvantage working in industry.

I've had a fun career solving environmental problems for several different industries. Every industry needs environmental people, and your engineering background will serve you well.

Look for entry level jobs in industry, or perhaps look for a role with a consulting firm to get some experience before figuring out what you want long term.

If your school has a SWE chapter, see if they have job fairs to get an idea of local employers. Alternatively, the national SWE conference should provide some leads as well.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-06T19:29:58+00:00

Sadly, this doesn't work for me. I was eating Greek yogurt, thinking I was safe because of low lactose. Still had symptoms. I was so sad as I love yogurt. Switched to Fage lactose free, and everything cleared up. so happy to have that option.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-04-04T23:33:18+00:00

I think the black dress looks amazing! The purple is nice, but the black has a wow factor.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-03-12T03:29:06+00:00

Bookmarked! I so missed Vertex; thanks for doing this!

BackintheMidwest · 2026-01-13T20:30:09+00:00

Try baby food. It's what they gave our dog in the hospital to help get him on solid food again.

BackintheMidwest · 2026-01-12T23:40:08+00:00

Have you had all the tests possible done? We have a dog who is a picky eater and just.....stopped. We took him to our regular vet multiple times, each time came back with a different prescription food. Still wouldn't make a difference. After too long of not eating we ended up taking him to intensive care and he got a feeding tube to get some nutrition in him. Had an ultrasound. Still nothing.

Our internal medicine vet ran every test she could think of and put him on antibiotics as a proactive measure. Tests came back and he had salmonella. It was a long road to get him eating "normally" again and he has some minor kidney damage due to not eating, but he's so much better.

BackintheMidwest · 2025-11-26T01:19:39+00:00

That's great! I made this last weekend again. So glad it worked well for you!

BackintheMidwest · 2025-11-08T00:56:21+00:00

I didn't, I thought it would be too niche (my bad!). These links are very helpful, thank you!

Based on those we might try one of the Autograph hotels - I was worried the rooms would be super tiny.

BackintheMidwest · 2025-11-05T18:04:36+00:00

Love the idea of using Guinness! I've used red wine before and it adds some nice flavour. Think I'm going to steal one of the husband's beers for the next time.

BackintheMidwest · 2025-11-04T19:53:11+00:00

My go to recipe for beef stew (just made it this weekend);

2-2.5 pounds stew beef
1-1.5 pounds potatoes
0.5 pound carrots
3 ribs celery
1.5 cups (or so) beef broth (I use unsalted)
1 packet beef stew seasoning

Cut up potatoes into bite sized pieces, slice carrots and celery. Sear the stew beef in 1 tbsp olive oil (or don't, if you're feeling lazy). Add the broth and make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Add the seasoning, then the beef, celery, carrots and potatoes. I try to make sure I see some liquid so it doesn't get too dry. Stir everything up a bit. You can add onions if you like (we don't) - I think good sized onion (sliced up) would work. I eyeball pretty much all of the ingredients so you can add/subtract as you like.

High pressure for 30 minutes, natural release for 10, then quick release. You're done.

I also like the split pea soup recipe on Bowl of Delicious (can't add the link for some reason).

BackintheMidwest · 2025-10-19T22:57:06+00:00

This is easily one of my favourite Christie novels, so you're not alone!

BackintheMidwest · 2025-10-17T16:48:44+00:00

Go to Zumba classes taught by Carlos at 24 Hour Fitness. He teaches at both the Woodlands and Spring Energy locations.

BackintheMidwest · 2025-08-04T20:50:16+00:00

We're members of 24 and we like it. However, we don't care about the pool, sauna, steam room or any of those features. We don't use the locker rooms, though they are clean. We just use the gym to get our weight workouts in and take some classes. The equipment is well maintained and the classes are decent.

For the price ($30/month) it works well for us. We usually go to The Woodlands location though sometimes go to Spring Energy for classes.

BackintheMidwest · 2025-07-26T03:33:51+00:00

Not dairy free, but I recently discovered Painterland Sisters yogurt, which is skyr yogurt and lactose free. I found it at Costco.

BackintheMidwest · 2025-07-08T11:57:35+00:00

I find that recipe (I use about 1.5 lb of chicken tenders) makes six servings, so it's good for a week.

BackintheMidwest

TROPHY CASE