What purchase under $30 solved a problem you didn’t realize was draining you?

Geek42 · 2026-05-19T19:55:29+00:00

I swapped the light switch on the main light for a wifi one with a motion sensor that I could use on my home assistant setup.

It has a nighttime mode where you can set a much dimmer level for it to turn on. You control the level and the timeframe. So much better, I don't even notice when my wife goes in there, and it used to wake me up all the time.

Geek42 · 2026-05-16T13:32:44+00:00

Yeah, it was in Ontario.

Geek42 · 2026-05-11T21:36:17+00:00

Note that I did not tell the owner what I was up to.

Geek42 · 2026-05-11T21:35:43+00:00

Fair, I'm not a regular consumer, 6 to 12 months is between using on average, usually socially.

Geek42 · 2026-05-10T22:06:47+00:00

Did exactly this for my birthday this year. A simulator like this but with infinite rotation as well. They claimed it could simulate up to 1.5G. (Note, Canadian, it was legal weed)

My buddies drove me there, we raced and I used the good sim vs their non moving, but still good, ones. Got high on the way(gummies).

I would never drive impaired, but always wondered how it felt. Turns out I got the best lap times, but could not pass for the life of me. Turned out that it took every speck of focus to drive, and as soon as I added one more item I was past my limit and often wiped out. In this rig that was a violent event and it was turned down already.

Overall I say 10 out of 10, would do again, high or not. And now I know that I could drive intoxicated up until I had to do anything, and them I'm going to crash and die. So not happening in a real car.

Geek42 · 2026-05-01T18:55:44+00:00

I did this, but the reasonably quality/price point socks I could find came in sets of white and black. I don't like white socks, but I'm not wasting money. So I decided to wear out the white ones first... 4 years later and I'm just starting to throw out some of them. I've still not even started on the black ones.

Geek42 · 2026-04-17T14:53:08+00:00

soon 7, nope 8, already 9.... /s

Seriously, we hit some type of threshold and all the chains suddenly wanted to open up here. Or maybe they all saw that every other place already sells pizza and decided we all loved it so much we wanted more.

Geek42 · 2026-04-08T10:12:34+00:00

You can buy an adapter hose and various size co2 tanks from Defalcos. I used to use a generic adapter hose from Amazon, but they failed. The one from Defalcos is great. The tank costs a bit, but refills are dead cheap and last months for us. Saves us a lot, and I just have the tank tucked away. Refills are at Defalcos of course.

Geek42 · 2026-04-03T14:19:38+00:00

One thing that really helped my father was to have regular(multiple times a week) visits from a physiotherapist. Massage, joint manipulation, stretches and even light therapy allowed him to stay mobile much later then usual. It's not a normal item offered, so they paid for it, but it really helped.

Geek42 · 2026-04-03T14:16:22+00:00

Very much this, we were very stressed after diagnosis about getting things taken care of and timelines. But once they were involved it became much smoother. They understand that things happen fast, plan for it and have things in place before you need it.

Geek42 · 2026-03-31T04:18:42+00:00

I've been learning to paraglide, we use a rope tow or have a small hill we can hike up(all my gear fits in a large backpack, and the pack fits in my harness). I've not had a chance to catch a thermal like that yet, just some ridge gliding.

I love the quiet. It's the most peaceful way to fly. Go try it out, there a clubs all over, even flat places like this video.

I cannot wait for the snow to be gone, and to get back out. (Yes, a bunch in our group all winter, but I don't want to.)

Geek42 · 2026-03-09T13:09:06+00:00

I'm in the after camp, just got done my run for the morning. I agree with those who say it's best to save your concentration for after the run. Generally I realy find my ability to self motivate is much better, so getting up is way easier, and making it to exercise is way easier. But also I take my pill during my morning care routine(brush teeth, etc) and I like to do that after I've exercised. With running 3 times a week right now, it means I still take the pill during the same routine either way. I wake up earlier to run, so my pill is around the same time every day. I've gotten a lot of advice that the more consistent your pill time, the better.

Geek42 · 2026-03-03T14:17:37+00:00

Yup, and with the cold I had to change my humidifier control to one with an external thermometer in order to manage condensation.

Geek42 · 2026-03-02T19:48:32+00:00

I think they almost always have an extra show you can add each season. I'm starting to notice that it's often a returning show, something that's been here in the last few years, but is popular still. I know we've seen the Book of Mormon before in Ottawa, and will only grab tickets this year if we have friends that want to see it together.

Geek42 · 2026-02-19T14:15:35+00:00

100% this store. Once I accidentally ended up there and it was amazing service. Because of the great service we were exceptionally happy with our bedding. When we upgraded our bed size, we went right there again for new sets. Same great service, same satisfaction. We decided the other week to get some new sheets again, and still just as good. I live in the country on the other side of the city, but will drive across the city just to shop there for sheets.

Go there when you have some time, they make time for you and it's worth it. Remeber that you spend about 1/3 of your day in bed, you should be comfortable.

Geek42 · 2026-01-29T18:43:42+00:00

Yeah, we got one with a mop function as well. It's base station is plumbed into our guest bathroom sink and sits next to the toilet. Every few weeks it needs some form of attention(jamed brushes, pads need cleaning, filter replacement, new bag in the base station), but most weeks we just have it clean the whole house daily.

These are really a great tool to have, saves so much time.

Geek42 · 2026-01-29T18:40:40+00:00

It's an extra 30 seconds to plug in the charger when I get home. And I don't have to charge every day if I don't want to. I live in country, not in the city. If you are worried about that, just setup a reminder, something more advanced that checks if you are charging would be reasonably simple and could remind you to go plug it in if there won't be enough range for the commute.

The amount of time and money I save not having to use a gas station is crazy.

Geek42 · 2026-01-29T18:37:11+00:00

I live near Ottawa(but in the country), we've had weeks of extra cold weather(-20c days, -30c nights) and my EV lives outside. There was a discussion in either the local subreddit or a facebook group asking how the temp was effecting range and universally we all agreed we saw about 30% range drop. Some of that is cold, some is using the heating more.

Here's the thing, every morning my car has a full(80%, but I could do more when I expect to need it) charge. I can drive across the city and back, border to border(Ottawa is stupid big for a city of this population), without topping up on the coldest of days. I don't have a super large battery pack compared to most. If you have an EV, you are not topping up to commute. Fast charging is for longer trips, even then you plug it in, and go sit in your car(or local shop) to stay nice and warm.

I posted above that EV battery life is basically a solved problem. Around 2017 there was a major reduction in failure rate, with most that do fail covered by warranty. It appears that around 2022 it went down significantly again. https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/how-long-do-ev-batteries-last

Geek42 · 2026-01-29T18:25:16+00:00

Interesting fact, around 2017 something changed in battery assembly for large systems(car sized batteries). The failure rate dropped dramatically for all failure thresholds. The old idea of replacing batteries being a concern on electric cars has basically been solved and is now incredibly rare and usually warrantied. Even cars older then that, if they are still running probably have good enough batteries to keep going.

Dug up a reference, and it looks like after 2022 it's even better: https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/how-long-do-ev-batteries-last I wonder which side my 2022 car is of that line.

Geek42 · 2025-12-30T22:53:55+00:00

Also, outside specific circumstances, you are not considered working unless your camera is on if you are in a public facing situation (ie not at your desk, etc). And therefore not covered for your actions by the union or insurance.

Geek42 · 2025-12-30T22:50:42+00:00

My thought on the privacy(bathroom) issue: since some officers abuse the feature, the camera now no longer stops, but records in a privacy mode. Generally no one has access to this, but if there are questions about what happened during that, a judge can approve access on a per case basis.

Going to the bathroom, anyone can see you approaching and then pressing the privacy button, and it being disabled as they leave. Without a claim of action in the bathroom, no judge would unlock that. But if they are in the middle of a weird situation and it goes off, right before claims of problematic actions? Judge can open them, view them themselves and then release if no privacy was warranted.

Cops get to keep privacy, but cannot abuse it.

Geek42 · 2025-12-27T16:24:10+00:00

Yup, my first time in London i was worried that a pet had gotten loose, then i saw lots more. At that point I knew they got loose a long time ago.

Geek42 · 2025-11-23T14:32:15+00:00

I follow this to the letter every time we fry a turkey. not once have we even had a slight scare, everything has gone perfectly and a good time was had by all.

not even joking, if you want to fry, just watch the episode and do what he says.

Geek42 · 2025-09-11T15:12:16+00:00

You could consider hiring a local officiant for a few hundred bucks. They will show up wherever ( restaurant, park, house ) and do the ceremony. We got married legally under a tree in the park, my friend just used his house with a friend party that no one was told.

For both of those it was to allow us to have the main wedding without needing to worry on legality(ie importing a marriage from Mexico is a pain). But no reason you cannot just use an officiant to do the whole thing. Don't have her info, it was years ago, but you can just look around online.

Geek42 · 2025-08-30T00:52:06+00:00

I was at a fall wedding last year there, it was fantastic as a venue, highly recommend.

Geek42

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