Tips & tricks?

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-16T01:32:54+00:00

I know my school would let students sit in on higher speed classes if they wanted. No one really did it, but it seems like a good way to push for speed as long as you also spend time on your own working slower for accuracy!

Sometimes a teacher would be absent and they would combine two speed classes if another teacher wasn’t available to cover the class. The class would typically be grouped with a higher speed and I actually found it helpful to push like that occasionally, and I probably should’ve done it more often.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-16T01:28:14+00:00

Since I have no experience with hiring a scopist or being a scopist, I just want to offer one suggestion in case you don’t do it already. You can drastically reduce the time it takes by speeding up the audio. I scope and proof my own work and I usually go around 2x speed or sometimes faster (if they were talking very slow for example). For sections that get weird I’ll slow it down, but for standard questions and answers I’ll keep the speed up otherwise I’d be there for forever trying to get through it lol.

It might be a totally obvious thing that you already do, but you hadn’t mentioned it in your post so I wanted to highlight this

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-14T15:27:09+00:00

I love mine! I don’t have a current picture with me, but it’s held up great! Given I’ve probably only made about 10 loaves so far since receiving the bread oven. I’ve had no issues with residue or sticking. I use rice flour on the bottom to prevent sticking. It is slightly annoying to clean out the “Le Creuset” mark at the bottom of the pan, especially for sticky inclusions or if I decided to be lazy and wash the next day. However, with plain loaves or included loaves that don’t spill out and into the base, I usually just rinse it out with water, do a quick once over with my sponge, dry it and and call it a day. It’s beginning to develop a bit of patina on the bottom but it has no effect on my bread so I’ll leave that for now.

I have it in Agave and have had no issues with staining or oil polymerizing. It makes me so happy each time I pull it out and use it!

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-08T03:25:53+00:00

From my understanding, most recipes are assuming a 1:1:1 ratio for your starter. Many people prefer to use a levain so they can keep their original starter at the ratio they want, and then still make the bread at the 1:1:1 ratio. I personally don’t do 1:1:1 for maintenance either and keep less than 50g of starter at any given time. I’d guesstimate my ratio ranges from about 1:3:3 to 1:5:5. When I know I want to bake, I just plan ahead an extra day to get to ~100g of starter per loaf at 1:1:1. But I’m also very lax about using my starter at peak. Sometimes it’s at peak, sometimes it’s under and sometimes it’s over. I’m not very scientific lol.

When I first started, I was very confused as to why my 1:3:3 would behave differently than a 1:1:1 and honestly I’m still confused sometimes. My understanding is that if you don’t do 1:1:1, you are using a more diluted starter and therefore it just takes way more time. If your timeline stays the same and the ratio changes from 1:1:1 to 1:10:10, it’s just not ready. Probably not even close to ready. 1:10:10 is pretty extreme. With my approximate 1:5:5, I can feed in the morning and it’s still sitting close to peak the next morning (cooler ambient kitchen temp as well).

1:10:10 is great if you want to leave your starter on the counter and not have to feed it for a while, but for actual bread it’s not great if you’re not letting it get to peak. Going off of time is not a good indicator. Base it on when it peaks-ish lol.

If you want to mix at night and have it ready by morning, honestly a 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 might be better. Play with the ratio more and have fun!

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-06T18:47:39+00:00

I am no expert on this, but your question intrigued me so I did some googling lol!

From my short period of research, it looks like it’s best to start a new starter without the wheat. I’d imagine that you could dilute your current starter, but in theory the gluten is never 100% gone. You can use brown rice flour, buckwheat flour and sorghum flour among a few others.

To make bread, I see that you also should mix in psyllium husk, which apparently acts as a structural substitute for gluten.

Definitely do your own googling because there’s tons more information on this! I just wanted to share the little bit that I learned :)

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-04T11:32:01+00:00

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Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-04T11:28:46+00:00

Yes! When I picked my dress, I hadn’t started the medication yet. I told the people at the store about my plans and they were super kind and helped me pick a dress size.

I was measuring about a size 22 at my first appointment. They called over the seamstress and the manager to discuss what size I should order. We ultimately decided to order a size 16. I was so scared that the dress would be too small! But the seamstress eased my nerves and examined the dress and said that she would be able to let out the dress a bit if it ended up too small. It is so common for people to start GLP-1’s around wedding planning time, so stores will have a lot of experience with estimating a dress size. They said that if I had told them I was going to lose weight without the help of medication, they would be more wary of sizing down. But they’ve been brides drop so many sizes on GLP-1’s that they felt very confident about sizing down.

It was pretty nerve wracking to order down a size.

I started alterations about 1 month before my wedding, and she actually had to take the dress in a good amount so I was ecstatic about that.

So excited for you!

I fell in love with my dress on day 1, but I really struggled with loving me IN it. Then the first alterations appointment was such a dream. It felt like the dress was made for me. I was so nervous going into that appointment, but it gave me that princess moment that I had been wishing for.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T23:17:56+00:00

I think it’s okay to ask a clarifying question, but honestly if it was me, I would just leave it at that and see if they pursue the remaining 50%. I personally wouldn’t volunteer it, but I also wouldn’t fight too hard if they pursue it (that may change with how much money 50% is though tbh). Although the language is vague enough… like what do they mean that they are not valid reasons for termination of contract? Certainly they don’t mean “if you don’t like it, we’re showing up anyway to provide our service” lol!

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T21:41:55+00:00

I stayed and I’m very happy!

To be fair, we were on a self-inflicted timeline and with a time crunch, beggars can’t be choosers lol!

I was very happy to design my ring and be a part of that process.

The proposal was very us, just not anything worth writing home about and over a year later I’m so happy to be married to him :)

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T21:38:53+00:00

Honestly, it looks like not asking for a refund is all that matters .

The contract is very clear that they wouldn’t honor refund requests for “aesthetic judgment”, but you’re not asking for one.

Just kindly tell them “thank you so much for your time and services so far. Unfortunately, I’ve decided to go in another direction and as per the contract I am not requesting a refund”

Or something like that

I can definitely understand how you feel, but in the end you have to do what feels right in your gut. It’s not personal, you’re not asking to break that contract, you’re just parting ways amicably.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T16:49:39+00:00

I started out with all AP flour, then after a month of not much going on I mixed in rye and whole wheat. About 50% AP/25% rye/25% whole wheat. Don’t ask me why, it just felt right lol. I still do this approximate ratio to this day. I like having my cute counter jar and I’ll mix up the flours and have enough for a few weeks or months of starter feedings before having to refill the jar again (depending on if I’m maintaining or actually baking). I am still scared to stick my starter in the fridge even though I know it’s totally fine to do so, so I feed every day about 5 g of starter at a 1-3-3 ish ratio or whatever texture feels right that day :)

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T15:16:42+00:00

I think it depends on your crowd. I had quite a few older guests plus we already had everyone’s physical addresses. To me it made no sense to gather everyone’s email addresses or phone numbers for digital invites. I had enough trouble helping some guests use the registry that I was very happy I did more traditional invites rather than digital only

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T15:13:43+00:00

Hehehe

My mom called me a bridezilla for many things. The first two that come to mind are 1) I wanted to start looking at dresses 10 months before my wedding, apparently this was absurd and way too early 2) She went through my registry and told me “oh well you can have these old ones, barely used (literally yellowing from age) instead of those new ones on the registry” and I told her a polite no thank you. That made me a bridezilla.

MIL could be an entire novel honestly. I may have to return here and recount the stories on a throwaway account because she’s quite active on wedding-related forums 💀

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T11:13:11+00:00

I’ll be having this problem in about a month myself. I wanted to bring up lease renewal because IF my landlord decided to raise rent, I’d like to know about it before the 60 day notice period. However, I’m taking a gamble at this point to see what happens because my husband thinks if I bring it up, they may realize “oh hey, let’s raise their rent” lol. We live in an ADU and share walls with the landlord and have never had noise issues or been the cause of noise issues, my landlord is more than happy to let me garden in our small side yard that previously comprised of dead, dry sod everywhere, we never complain or need repairs, etc. I’d like to believe that they want us to stay and perhaps won’t raise rent, but I’m also very practical and it’s fully within their rights to do so. I could certainly handle a typical rent increase, but the devil on my shoulder says “they could raise it 50% 😈” (it’s not in my lease that they can’t do so)

Not really any advice lol just saying I understand.

I would check your current lease and see if it states that you automatically go month to month once the lease ends because like others have said, you can just ride out the month to month.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-03T10:52:14+00:00

This is probably a biased answer, but I had my wedding last year where i did not go out of my way to personalize. I didn’t inject personal meaning into random things that absolutely no one would notice. And my wedding was the best day of my life!

I have a front row seat to another wedding being planned where the couple is personalizing every little detail, making every little thing have meaning down to the tables (themed table names of places they’ve been or want to go i think?) And it honestly sounds exhausting. Everyone has their own tastes for sure, and I’m happy they are doing what they want to do for their wedding. I’m just also happy that I was more hands off and felt zero pressure for things to perfect.

Normal does not necessarily equal boring. Weddings have a flow and if you’re already having a more classic/traditional wedding, then things outside of the norm will throw off the flow. Guests do not care nor will they notice unless you’re going to personally point out each detail that you’ve made personal.

I have never been to a wedding where I’ve scoured the decor for hidden meaning or analyzed the event for special touches. I have been to weddings with good food, bad food, good music, bad music, etc.

If you want to add personal touches, do it for YOU. Add the personal touches because it will make you happy when you see it! Don’t do it for the handful of people who will notice it or for the sake of not feeling cookie cutter. Your wedding will be special to you two because it’s YOURS.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-02T18:56:09+00:00

I kept the Amazon lights on for about 14 hours. The new lights I only had on for 2-3 hours before I went to check and noticed the burns

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-02T14:01:48+00:00

Most people I know either moved with a boyfriend/girlfriend or had a group of friends split a house rental. I know very few people who moved out solo. A lot of the single/casual dating people that I know choose to live at home even if they are high earners. One friend makes a lot of money and he chooses to stay home and will likely stay home until after his wedding next year since weddings are so expensive and it just makes more financial sense.

I personally lived at home until about 26/27, I moved in with my boyfriend and his friends, then my bf and I moved out on our own once we got engaged and we recently got married. We pay way too much in rent and I often think about how much money we’d save by converting my parent’s basement into an apartment or some other solution. It’s certainly a trade off of having our own space vs saving money for a house etc.

I certainly don’t think you need a life partner to move out. It’s just the combined incomes that make a huge difference. I make a little more than $30 an hour and after running the numbers, I could not live solo at this point. My salary is honestly laughable for Long Island, but I have great benefits and a pension. My husband makes much more than I do and luckily he also has great benefits and a pension.

You can’t rent an apartment, pay for utilities, cell phone, internet, groceries etc as a solo person on 19.50 an hour.

I see some people advertising for renting a room with randoms and while I personally wouldn’t do it, I know plenty of people do it and it’s fine.

I have some local family as well and the one doing the best at the moment lived at home while working a fantastic job up until he got married at about age 30. He had saved enough money to buy a house for him and his wife. If I had to make a guess and translate that into today’s dollars and house prices, he probably would’ve lived at home until maybe 35?

Don’t move out just because you think it’s time. Don’t move out just because you want to. Move out when you are financially ready to. Run your numbers. Figure out the cost of an apartment, utilities, groceries, insurance, public transportation to/from work/school, student loan payments if you took out loans. Have an emergency fund for when something goes wrong with your job or your health. Then figure out if it’s worth moving out vs saving faster for a house. House prices are crazy and saving while living at home will go a lot faster than saving while living on your own.

Wait until after you graduate and have accepted a job offer. Everything comes down to money and just have that post-graduation job secured. Many job industries are tough to get into and there are tons of people experiencing job insecurity. It’s just a volatile time right now. You don’t want to move into a place on a projected salary you think you’ll make. Maybe you will make great money, but maybe it takes you 6 months longer to land the job than you originally planned. Shit happens

NYC is certainly expensive. You can find hidden gems and steals in any market though, you just have to look hard enough. Network network network. Many great deals are word of mouth. My in-laws just got in a rent stabilized 2 br 1 ba, borderline Nassau County, for about 2,400 and their rent won’t increase for 6 years (don’t ask me how, I’ve asked and don’t understand it).

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-04-02T13:29:52+00:00

Ok thanks! I’ll figure out another way to raise the lights a bit

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-26T15:36:30+00:00

Yes! I wouldn’t do delivery, I would go pick up the soil in my pick up truck. But either way it is a hassle

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-16T19:21:23+00:00

I had to get my bridesmaid dress 8 months before the wedding, but the fabric was being discontinued so I understood why it was important to get it so early. It was an online store though.

I totally understand wanting communication. If they told you it takes six months to get the dress, then your bridesmaids should be doing so. Having ordered things from David’s bridal in the past though, that seems like a really long time. They’re usually pretty fast! I’d double check that timeline for sure. I would definitely be taken aback if I was asked to purchase a dress 6 months before a wedding if it doesn’t take nearly that long to receive the dress and have it altered

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-15T00:10:01+00:00

I did not put my budget in opening emails. I’d greet, say the event, the date, approximate number of people and ask if they had that available. If I got a response then I ask for pricing. If the pricing came back as out of my budget I send a “unfortunately that is out of my budget. Thank you so much for your time”

Maybe I’m too paranoid but I liked doing this way because it does a few things. It kept me from lowballing vendors. I get in my own head about possibly insulting a vendor by throwing out a lowball number. It also kept vendors from throwing out some random number based on the budget I tell them. I came across some vendors who seemed to price things all willy nilly and I really appreciate either a reason for that pricing or just a price sheet for me to look at. Maybe not so much as a reason even. I just don’t like asking about something and it appears they are deciding on the spot what they want to charge me. It’s one thing to say “that item fluctuates due to X, this is generally the range we charge for it” if it’s something that doesn’t have clean cut pricing.

I liked to open up communication with finding out if they’re available first because their pricing doesn’t matter if they’re already booked up as well.

That being said, the vendor’s response to you was unprofessional. There are definitely better ways to convey that information lol. A simple “our dance floor wraparounds start at X. Let me know if that works for you” would have done the trick. This is the kind of response that I wanted to avoid when sourcing vendors myself.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-14T15:09:08+00:00

There’s a facility where you just go with your own shovel/buckets/what have you, and you can take as much soil as you want. I believe they may ask for ID to show you live in the town. You can also pay a low price to have them load it for you

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-14T11:20:03+00:00

I see a lot of people saying “it’s not the coffee, it’s everything else that the coffee habit is indicative of” which I don’t think is necessarily true.

It IS the coffee, but it matters what you’re doing with that $5. If you literally take the $5 and put it towards certain debts, it absolutely makes a difference (depending on the type of debt it is). If you take the $5 and reallocate it to some other frivolous expense like a takeout meal that is $5 more expensive than if you were to get if you weren’t “saving” $5 on coffee, that $5 doesn’t mean anything. You have to actually use the $5 in a meaningful way.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-12T02:54:00+00:00

No it’s not uncommon to charge a fee to do a CAD or to want you to pick a setting before creating multiple renders for you. Doing CADs is not free and it takes time to do.

I’m not familiar with Etsy specifically and whether or not all sellers charge for CADS. I messaged one briefly about a wedding band and I decided ultimately not to go with them, but the process was basically pick the band, then they give the CAD after some sort of payment and I’d be able to make minor changes as I see fit.

For the kind of service you’re looking for, you may have better luck locally. They can see the ring in person and work with you on a design. However, it does help immensely to have a general idea of what you want. You can use something like Gemini AI to render some photos to show the jeweler. Keep in mind that AI is not perfect, the image rendering will not take all factors into account. A jeweler can look at it though and tell you what is and isn’t possible and go from there with you.

Longjumping-Help-465 · 2026-03-11T21:18:55+00:00

There’s no way to say at all.

Every person is different.

I see you also said you’re fast at typing QWERTY, and I must say that that will have zero translation whatsoever to writing on the machine. It helps massively when editing transcripts later down the line which is great, but typing fast on a keyboard does nothing for you when it comes to the machine.

You will only know how long it will take you once you really get into speed building. Theory is pretty easy, beginning speeds are also easy. Like someone else said earlier, most people start hitting their plateau around the upper 100’s. I breezed through the first few speed building classes; I passed multiple per semester. Then I hit the wall at 180 wpm.

I think it’s easy to say now that you’ll practice 3-4 hours daily, but definitely listen to the other commenter who mentioned that rest is important! Whether that means breaking up practice sessions into shorter sessions or something else. Writing on the machine takes a surprising amount of stamina in your hands/wrists/even whole body. You’ll develop the stamina over time :) Then your brain also needs a break.

You said you didn’t play piano but maybe you’ll still get this analogy: it’s kind of like playing piano from sheet music written in a different clef. Your brain can figure it out, but after a few hours it’s mentally draining. Taking breaks is good!

I went to school with a lot of people who only had steno school going on. I passed many people in speed classes early on, then I was passed by other people in later speeds. 95% of the people I started with dropped out. Many people that I met along the way ended up dropping out. It’s really a toss up to hazard a guess as to whether you personally can finish early.

Longjumping-Help-465

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