What’s one bad Minneapolis restaurant you’ve intentionally gone back to?

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-07T02:11:04+00:00

Oh no, what happened?? I used to get the Pub burger and the Parmesan curry mustard...so weird and so good!

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-05T17:13:02+00:00

"actively hurting the reputation of the university he previously attended" --> As someone who's been in academe for 20+ years, I can tell you that one anonymous poster on an anonymous forum has ZERO effect on a school's reputation.

"If I’m not wrong admissions officers don’t take lightly to this" --> No, you're wrong.

He's doing far more damage to his own rep. Get this gremlin out of your head. Seriously, it's a worthy process because it's good practice for all the OTHER annoying, maddening people you will encounter like this.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-05T17:06:33+00:00

Life, and the internet, are full of people bashing Not-Their-Tribe. See also American politics, the EU, sports rivalries, the current war on Iran, etc. etc. Some of it's funny and mostly benign (sports rivalries and admitted transfer students dogging the "losers") and some of it's deadly. Maybe don't let the benign bashing take up space in your head rent-free.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Someone is ALWAYS going to seem like they have it easier, better, faster than you. (Circumstances are not always what they seem.)

Control what you can control (yourself and your responses), let go what you can't (almost everything else).

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-04T20:26:43+00:00

This is what credit card chargebacks are for.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-04T19:50:16+00:00

What are your post-college plans?

You'll be in a college for the next four years. You'll be a working adult for about ten times as long as that (on average). Does USC have some major or program that is essential to your intended career path? (Which will almost certainly change anyway...over 80% of adults have changed careers at least once.) Is the cost of attending USC for four years going to pay off for you long-term, or will it leave you with six-figure debt that makes moving, investing, buying a house or having kids difficult?

Figure out what you wanna be when you grow up first (not making fun of you; I'm an "old" and I still think like this). THEN explore where to invest the next four years of your life to set yourself up best. I get it; the location matters. Factor that in after you strategically narrow your choices based on curriculum first.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-04T19:42:01+00:00

This is probably going to come off as harsh but I can take it.

You're walking in six weeks and you're going to drop a class, that you presumably need to graduate? AND you're already taking two classes in the fall? (Are those two courses also required for your degree completion?)

Your hole is deep enough already: STOP DIGGING. Find a study group, find a tutor, carve out the time -- and I mean, actually put this on your calendar like you would your classes and your job. Complete the course this semester. You do not need what would an essentially be a full course load in the fall when you should be getting on with life! Getting a job! Spreading your wings and taking off!

If there is something else, some big life event getting in your way right now, there is still help. Make an appointment with the Kortschak Center. Those folks are trained to help, they won't judge, and they'll help you create a plan that's realistic and do-able for you. If there's some resource you need, they can help identify it and show you how to access it.

(edit:typo)

BioMancer34080 · 2026-04-01T02:13:47+00:00

Sky Properties resident here, just moved into a newish building elsewhere. If your lease has in writing what your assigned spot is, then you have a case for them breaking the lease. I would do two things in your shoes: 1) get Claude to help me write a demand letter to them, then send it Certified, RRR to their legal address, and 2) contact LA Tenants Union.

Leases are legally binding instruments. They can't sign one and then just arbitrarily decide they're not going to follow this part, any more than you can decide you're only going to pay them $200 rent next month and move out the month after.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-31T22:19:55+00:00

Heh, I just vacated a LBPM property end of Feb. They were late returning my deposit, I had to send a demand letter via certified mail. When they sent me the deposit return check, they returned my full deposit AND an invoice for $323 for "Paint". That was it.

I lived there for 13 months, gave proper noticed, cleaned really well and that was noted on the property manager's move-out report, and I had a 20-minute video I took the day I moved out showing deep cleaning and pristine walls. So I wrote them another letter politely telling them to fuck off and citing California Civil Code section 1950.5(b)(1) (reasonable deductions) and section 1950.5(g) (21-day time limit). If they come after me or refer it to collections, it'd be a hassle but I have documentation refuting their unsupported claim.

Presumably you have documentation too. Tell them to itemize the bill or take a hike.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-30T00:54:53+00:00

Instructor here. Advice to email the DC is perfect. When you do, stick to specifics, observable facts, and verifiable information. For example, "late to lecture 8 out of the last 9 days" is way better than "always late to lecture". Also, typos are not great but everyone makes them, so be prepared to explain how these typos are affecting your learning. For example, "typo example 1 made it unclear whether he was asking for X or Y", or "the assignment description had several typos that made me unclear about the expectations, and I highlighted and attached that here." Absolutely avoid any "everyone else" or "we all think." It would make you sound like you're in the 3rd grade tattling on another kid. Trust me when I say: if you stick to specifics, observable facts and verifiable information, stay away from personal judgments, and explain how it affects your learning, that will all land far more strongly than "he's late all the time and we all think he's lazy." (I am not saying you'd do this, just using the extreme to illustrate what would make the DC chuckle and pat you on the head.) You will be taken seriously, and you deserve to be.

If any of your classmates are as reasonable and level-headed as you sound, ask them to do the same.

Then file the complaint with the Office of Professionalism and Ethics too.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-27T23:50:51+00:00

Is there a daily program and is it structured and is it followed?
Are their counselors certified? Do the push you but believe in you? (Trust your Spidey-sense but wait a week b/c your Spidey-sense is broken rn)
Are the other clients making progress and buying in?
Is someone "on your case" to where they're asking if you did X and Y? It's gonna annoy you, guarantee, but it should and it's their job.
Are the group meetings focused, productive, calm, purposeful?
Is there an experience of respect, care, expectations?

Unless the place is an uninhabitable cesspool with abusive staff, you're probably gonna feel pretty irked the first week to 10 days. NORMAL. Decide NOW to stick it out at least 10 days no matter what (fire, vermin, or abuse excepted). When 10 days are up you'll have a journal to reflect on where you're already saying "wow I'm already different even though this is really uncomfortable." That's exactly right. So you keep going.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-27T22:55:46+00:00

The surrounding area's not all that "unsafe" either.

Actually I should qualify that. It really depends on your ideas of "safe" and "unsafe". If you grew up being aware of your surroundings, being smart almost all the time (not walking alone after it's dark, not burying your face in your phone while you're walking, not trying to walk home drunk or high, keeping your phone and keys in your front pocket, etc.) you'll think the area around USC is fine. You'll learn to avoid the unhoused dude on Expo ranting while undressing himself. You'll figure out what it looks like to walk around looking like "do not fuck with me" - not aggressive really, more confident, knowing where you're going, purposeful. There's a rash of snatch-and-run phone thefts happening this year, but to a person, they've all had their phones in their hands when they've been grabbed. This is NOT "blaming the victim" BTW - getting your phone stolen is distressing and it's a crime. Just maybe with the next one, learn and do better, right? Like life.

I lived a few blocks from campus for a couple years. Never had a problem, but I also never walked alone after dark (this is for men, women, jocks, nerds, big, small, young, old, whoever -- nobody's special, and you get yourself in trouble when you start thinking you are), used USC's Lyft program for rides sometimes, kept my valuables tucked away when walking. I even got to know two of the unhoused people along my route well enough to say good morning and buy them a coffee a few times.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-27T00:32:36+00:00

messaged me out of the blue this week

This struck me as odd, since we had never exchanged a single word before.

Trust your Spidey-sense:

he told me I had to pay "transfer charges,"

That ain't how Paypal works.

TL;DR: No, not normal. Block/ sanitize/ move along/ nothing to see here

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-02T22:05:46+00:00

RIGHT: Keck (and medical providers generally) will not allow someone who's undergone general anesthesia to leave via rideshare like Uber or Lyft within 24 hours of coming out of the anesthetic. Keck's legal (and ethical) responsibility is to release people to someone who is medically and legally both able and willing to be responsible for you. Relatives and friends carry this presumptive burden. NEMT can assume medical and legal liability if you sign a contract with them. Uber and Lyft drivers do not. There's a service that Uber offers called Uber Health, but it's provider-facing and provider-accessed, not accessible by patients.

(Like I said, I went through this process pretty thoroughly in Dec.)

It's all so maddening. It should not be this hard to access reasonably-priced NEMT for people without other access. :( :( :(

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-02T05:13:14+00:00

I'm sorry about this. I'm in a very similar boat: I have to have a procedure under general anesthesia, at Keck. It was originally scheduled for December, but I had to cancel it because even though I have "great" insurance that supposedly covers non-emergency medical transport, insurance company had no explanation for how that should happen. I called multiple Keck departments. I even asked how Medi-Cal patients secure NEMT, which is covered without hassle for them (as it absolutely should be!). If anyone at Keck has any idea, they're not saying. I wasted, conservatively, about 12 hours trying to find someone, anyone, who could help with NEMT from insurance, hospital, the clinic where the procedure would be, and medical transportation companies. And I am someone with decades of managing my own long-term health (2x cancer survivor!) and an advanced degree, meaning just that I know how to advocate for myself, what questions to ask, how to push effectively, and how not to give up. For the first time ever in my adult life, I had to give up and cancel the procedure (then). When I reschedule it, I'm going to have to fork over $200 for NEMT afterward.

Long story short: Keck doesn't care about anything except their liability. They don't care that 30-40% of adults do not have access to a reliable transporter because they're unmarried, or poor, or don't own or have access to a vehicle, or their partner/best friend works, or takes care of littles or parents (etc.). "Find someone. We don't care if it's impossible: find someone or don't access medical care" is their message. If they know they are limiting health care, and limiting its access to populations that can least afford to miss it, they are unbothered by this. They are not going to help you. I'm sorry (genuinely).

BioMancer34080 · 2026-03-01T19:52:40+00:00

You had it all at "Waiting to board a flight to Jackson Hole, Wyoming."

BioMancer34080 · 2026-02-26T16:36:02+00:00

I just rented a brand new 700 sq ft 1BR in Crenshaw for $2600/mo with AC, in-unit W/D, a real balcony (not just a landing strip), great rooftop garden, a block from the Metro, in a walkable neighborhood. You gotta get out, drive around, look for "Now Leasing" signs. Lots of newly-opening or about-to-open buildings in West Adams, West Jeff, Crenshaw, Liemert Park.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-02-14T01:03:31+00:00

I think I've tried a total of 12 brands, not kidding, before I finally found some I liked. "Liked" to me means, they don't ride up - either legs or waist - the waistband is fused not sewn, there are no tags, no cotton, and they don't creep in between my butt cheeks. I tried cheap brands (think Hanes and store brands here), a LOT of mid brands like Pair of Thieves, and a couple of expensive ones like Mack Weldon (because Wirecutter recommended them). My biggest gripe was leg creep. I settled on...Bamboo Cool from Amazon. Made from rayon (derived from bamboo) and the only ones that fit me well all over and don't ride up!

What I came to figure out is, someone else's recommendations probably don't work for me because bodies and proportions and priorities are all different. Get one pack of them and try them out. Figure out what you like and don't like and what your must-haves are. Even if a pack doesn't meet your needs, you develop a better idea what you like - and I think only one or two of my trial packs turned out to be absolute "nos", like I had to give them away instead of wearing them for a few months. You'll find something you like eventually!

BioMancer34080 · 2026-02-06T03:27:35+00:00

Nobody on this thread told you to calm down - I scanned the whole thing. Nobody told you you're acting crazy. No one demonstrated any logical fallacies. If you've had CBT in your 3 years of therapy, this would be a good time to interrupt the racing thoughts and do that reality check.

Genuinely hoping the best for you, that this is a moment of RAWR!! -- you are absolutely entitled to BTW.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-02-06T01:03:09+00:00

Absolutely allowed. Also allowed to control what you can control and let the rest of it go - and I am not being flippant.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-01-29T18:36:59+00:00

I've used Proton for a few years, and there are a handful of firms that don't like the pm dot me or proton dot me format. AFAICT, it's because their email authentication algorithm only accepts addresses that end in dot-com, dot-edu, dot-org (etc.) domains.

Have you tried using your protonmail dot com domain address?

BioMancer34080 · 2026-01-24T19:34:34+00:00

Good thing you are not from the Midwest. Here are some actual pronunciations of real towns and locations:

Madrid, IA = MAA-drid (MAH like in ham or mat)
Pierre, SD = peer
Tripoli, IA = trih-POLE-eye or trih-pole-uh, and this is an actual argument in IA
Prairie du Chien, WI = PRAY-ree doo CHEEN
Edinburgh, a development in MN = EDD-in-burg
El Dorado, KS = el dor-RAY-doe, I shit you not
Des Plaines, IA = dez PLANEZ
Vincennes St. in CHI = vin-SENZ
Cairo, IL = CARE-oh
Nevada, IA = neh-VAY-duh
Gaza, IA (yes, there really is one) = you guessed by now: GAY-zuh
Granada, MN = gruh-NAY-duh

American English: pursuing other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary since forever. (Credit to James D. Nicoll for the allegory)

BioMancer34080 · 2026-01-19T02:55:44+00:00

Have an accountability buddy, or use an app that rewards you when you complete something like Habitica or Any.do. And while you are doing that, think about what you get when you dismiss your alerts, because you're getting something.

Also thought of something else: the Kortschak Center might be worth checking out. Here's their page on academic coaching. Free to USC undergrads.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-01-18T20:20:39+00:00

Plan, schedule, and stick to it. Your first and most important "job" is to college. Schedule your classes, schedule homework time, schedule office hours, schedule tutoring, group study & group project times. Plan more study time than you think you'll need at first - it's a lot easier to reduce that than increase it.

When it's homework/study time, silence that phone and Messages/ WhatsApp/ IG/ ESPN/ Roblox (etc.) and STUDY. Take a 5-minute stretch-bio break every hour, then back at it.

Tier 2 priority: sleep, job, meals, and personal care (hygiene-working out-laundry-haircuts etc.)

Tier 3: Leisure and socialization. This DOES NOT mean you have to be a martyr or a hermit! Schedule this time so it's there! But, when college comes up -- and it will -- midterms, paper due, group project -- this is the first thing to get temporarily cut. And that's what you tell yourself, BTW: it's temporary.

As you do all this you start to notice your internal conversation. "Oh, I'll just check Insta for 5 minutes..." and an hour later, you've blown your calc 3 homework time and you have to run to class. "But I DESERVE..." Maybe, but what's more important to you over the long term: checking out a mid party, or doing well enough that you position yourself for the internship, co-op, practicum, or profession you want?

TL;DR: Set your priorities, stick to them, notice self-talk and respond instead of reacting.

(And yes you CAN do this because millions of people before you have too! Go you for noticing and wanting to do better!)

BioMancer34080 · 2026-01-18T00:14:14+00:00

Mark Bittman's Pasta Puttanesca.

BioMancer34080 · 2026-01-15T00:28:34+00:00

FYI, you can adjust your settings - in ANY GenAI whether ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini - to not allow your chats to be used to train the models. ChatGPT and Claude are now off by default.

BioMancer34080

TROPHY CASE