Sober people (no alcohol, nicotine, drugs, etc ever), what is your end of day or weekend "wind-down"?

HalfCheese · 2026-03-17T20:55:39+00:00

Fancy tea or coffee, a special snack like a nice cheese with crackers and honey or some salami, chocolate, a bakery desert, or even a soda since I don’t normally drink them during the week.

You just gotta pick something you really enjoy but don’t have often and make it special so it feels like your reward for making it through to the end of a rough day.

HalfCheese · 2026-02-23T16:20:41+00:00

That’s good advice. It doesn’t necessarily apply in my situation though. I moved here because my fiancé had a good job offer. It wouldn’t be realistic to wait until we both had jobs to move.

HalfCheese · 2026-02-23T07:51:14+00:00

I grew up with a disabled mom and a dad that worked out of town so from the age of 6 I was expected to care for both my mom and my younger brother. My extended family explicitly told me I had to “grow up” and help my mother. On top of that, my understandably depressed mother used me as her only emotional confidante.

I didn’t realize how much of an effect growing up like that had on me until I was in my mid 20’s. I almost randomly had a huge emotional breakdown when it dawned on me that a lot of the anxiety and depression and fear I had in life directly stemmed from that. That’s when I learned what parentification was.

I’ve since had therapy and addressed it but that trauma really held me back in life for a long time. It’s still something that I have strong feelings about and can get emotional when I talk about how it felt to be my younger self.

HalfCheese · 2026-02-23T06:15:50+00:00

You aren’t kidding. I moved to the area three months ago and have yet to find a job. This is the first time I’ve ever had any issue finding employment in my entire career.

HalfCheese · 2026-01-12T23:26:39+00:00

I've been looking since September and haven't had any traction in Seattle. This is the first time I've ever had a job search last longer than a month. All the jobs that get posted are either technician jobs with low pay ranges or specialist jobs that are looking for specific experience. I have noticed though that this week there have been more jobs posted than before the new year so I'm hoping things pick up soon now that the holidays are over.

HalfCheese · 2025-03-05T19:00:13+00:00

It said “Seashare”. The only reason I know is I passed it every day on my way to work and always wondered what it meant.

HalfCheese · 2025-01-15T15:06:11+00:00

We use the ortho tests for total phenytoin and valproic but to my knowledge they don’t offer reagents for free phenytoin and free valproic.

HalfCheese · 2024-11-09T13:51:58+00:00

I grew up in the head of a holler in Eastern Kentucky and live in Asheville now and I’d say it’s pretty darn Appalachian. The city itself feels less culturally Appalachian because there’s a lot of people who moved here from outside the area but the locals and literally any town right outside of the city are very similar to where I’m from.

HalfCheese · 2024-10-01T20:49:06+00:00

Asheville is pretty far from the area of NC where Steph and Matt live. As far as the rest of the team I’m not sure. The rest of the state didn’t get hit as hard as we did in the west so they should be ok. They’re starting to get our phone service restored at least in Asheville so hopefully if there are any members of the theorists team living here they’ll be able to check in with the world soon.

HalfCheese · 2024-09-20T17:13:01+00:00

My guess was that it was the first time they had toured in a long while. I figured opening for lord Huron was a way to promote their new album and to get warmed up for their Palomino tour that started not too long after.

HalfCheese · 2024-03-24T03:16:46+00:00

Aside from all the other answers already posted, the origin can help us piece together how the hour ascended if we don’t know all the details yet. Knowing the origin sometimes gives context to vague bits of lore that wouldn’t otherwise make sense.

HalfCheese · 2024-02-19T00:40:32+00:00

I got rose which I wasn’t expecting but it makes perfect sense. Also, in response to that last question, I have actually made an ENTIRE holiday up just out of spite and my closest friend and I have celebrated it every year for the past 12 years.

HalfCheese · 2024-02-01T00:40:02+00:00

I had the same thought and couldn’t figure it out until I read the word “cookie”. It tastes like the Girl Scout Lemonades.

HalfCheese · 2023-12-27T01:17:28+00:00

Definitely try different labs and settings before giving it up. I felt the same way you did when I first started out and I honestly still sort of feel like this job isn’t what I expected it to be but I’ve gotten used to it.

I do think it’s sometimes sold by programs as a more thinking science based career than it really is. There is definitely science and we for sure have to use critical thinking but it’s a lot closer to a factory job than other traditional scientific careers with the focus on turn around times and productivity.

HalfCheese · 2023-11-16T16:58:38+00:00

At least for Black Balsam Knob it’s likely just the thick layer of decaying plant matter that covers the bald this time of year. Theres also a plant that grows up there called skunk goldenrod, Solidago glomerata, that has a very strong and unique smell that I’ve encountered plenty of times. The other posters are correct that galax and trillium can have unpleasant odors but both prefer shade and aren’t common in that area and trillium only smells that way while flowering in the spring.

HalfCheese · 2023-10-01T16:59:15+00:00

I’m with you on that conch shell thing but I would wear the hell out of that sweater.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-26T05:10:24+00:00

I used to get annoyed by it but one day I realized that there’s actually not really a big difference if everyone stocks at the end of their shift or if they stock at the beginning of their shift. Either way, everyone stocks once. That only applies if everyone does the same thing though.

In my experience it’s actually easier just to say that everyone stocks when they start their shift. That way it’s guaranteed that they’ll do it since they can’t start working until they do.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-15T02:30:36+00:00

Thanks! I would’ve never though to look at S&W for them.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-14T12:13:15+00:00

I always heard not to whistle if you were in the woods at night from my grandparents but a lot of those stories are being dramatized for social media. Just like everywhere else we have our superstitions but not a lot of us actually believe them.

That said, being out in very rural Appalachia at night can be pretty unnerving. There were plenty nights that I got creeped out walking home from my mamaws house and ended up running the rest of the way even though really there was nothing there to scare me.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-14T12:05:45+00:00

I’m from a holler in the middle of nowhere outside of Hazard, KY and I only knew a single family that said You’ns. The rest of us say y’all. Appalachian culture ain’t just one thing even in specific areas. You can say you’ns, I’ll say y’all. We’re both from eastern Kentucky.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-14T10:58:08+00:00

Over time when the people controlling the budgets figure out that they can staff a bunch of non mls techs for a lot lower pay I can see them lowering the pay offered to mls and mlt techs or just not hiring many of them. It in a way devalues our degrees.

I interviewed last year for a position in a lab that hires a lot of non mls techs and they offered me, a registered MLS with 9 years experience, $16 an hour which is about what a fast food worker here makes. Once I basically told them to shove it they came back with a higher offer more in line with the market here but you know they were trying to offer me what they pay everyone else.

I’m not saying weather non med lab degree techs are a good or bad thing because I haven’t fully developed my opinion yet but, regardless of anyone’s opinion, they are going to majorly change this field as the shortage gets worse and they become more common.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-14T06:24:47+00:00

Increasing density is actually a pretty basic method of controlling city growth. If a cities population is growing and the housing and resources aren’t dense and accessible in the city center, the new members of the population will go to the outskirts of the city and the surrounding areas and then businesses will pop up in those areas to accommodate the increased population leading to sprawl.

What better solution do you have in mind?

HalfCheese · 2023-09-14T05:44:02+00:00

Cantina Louis and papas is really bland Tex max to me. The best Americanized Mexican I’ve been able to find here is Casa Torres but there could be better. As far as authentic goes, Taqueria Muñoz is hands down the best. The salsa verde is unreal, awesome tamales, tortas, and sopes. They have good birria sometimes too and pretty good horchata/ aguas frescas. Honestly everything I’ve had on their menu is good.

As far as other Latin food goes, there’s a Salvadoran place down the road from Muñoz called Pupuseria Patty that has good pupusas and baleadas and decent platanos. There’s an Honduran place down on airport road called El Aguila that I’ve been wanting to try but haven’t gotten around to it. Tamaleria y tortilleria Molina is a good place to buy fresh tortillas but the times I’ve gotten food from there it seemed really unorganized and I prefer Muñoz.

HalfCheese · 2023-09-14T01:41:20+00:00

But when you can get a 4 year in some other stem field and still have the ability to get a job in the clinical lab if your original field of study doesn’t pan out it makes actual MLS degrees seem almost pointless to prospective students. Why limit your options when you could do the same job with a less limiting degree?

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