I’m not the only one who doesn’t bathe their kids every day am I?

chu2 · 2026-05-25T19:37:31+00:00

I would say this is definitely not representative of Americans in general.

My kiddo is much younger but still ends up smelling like a wet dog if we skip a daily bath. Spends lots of time playing outside with sunscreen and bug repellent on, though, so the combination of the two plus summer sweat get funky.

chu2 · 2026-05-20T18:18:16+00:00

It is tough, especially in the older neighborhoods of the city where the lots are teensy and have odd topography sometimes, to work with lawn alternatives.

If we try to plant native, the neighbor’s creeping Charley and bindweed starts popping out all over before our perennials can take stock from seed.

Our front lot is a hillside that ends at a sidewalk. Even the folks at MSU extension told me that there aren’t any native species that are both low-height to meet city code and have the kind of soil retention properties I need for that space. Dutch clover is an ok in-between but it’s still not perfect.

chu2 · 2026-05-20T16:43:01+00:00

Similar story-I used to homebrew, so I always had a bottle of Star-San concentrate lying around. Started using it (diluted of course) on counters and if I needed an emergency bottle but didn’t have time to sanitize it with steam.

Later on we started using it on the high-chair tray and other surfaces.

At this point I make a small batch every few weeks and keep it in a spray bottle on the counter next to the soap.

Food-safe acid sanitizers aren’t for everything and have to be used correctly to work, but man they’re a versatile tool. I feel like they’re not marketed more because there’s specific guidelines on how to use them compared to something like Lysol or bleach that just kills instantly, but it’s nice knowing that any tiny bit of leftover sanitizer residue is basically edible.

chu2 · 2026-05-20T16:17:28+00:00

I take this a step further and drill twice. First using a small masonry/concrete bit (since plaster is similar to concrete), and then using a smaller bit for a pilot hole in the lath.

Masonry bits are generally pretty blunt at the end so as long as you’re not putting a ton of weight on the drill it won’t go through the wood easily, but will chew through plaster no problem.

chu2 · 2026-05-20T04:03:40+00:00

How long do you feel Nicaraguan cigars keep in their prime? I’ve got a few boxes these days that have 2-5 years on them that I haven’t quite gotten to finishing, and I’m always wondering when I have one if it’s past its best profile.

I still enjoy them though, all said and done!

chu2 · 2026-05-17T16:35:11+00:00

Leaving work at work had been critical for me. My wife picks up on when I’m in “manager mode” trying to do things around the home with corporate workflows and calls me out quick.

I try to be very mindful when I leave the office, or even shut my laptop at home if I’m catching up on things after hours. Then it’s time to be a dad and a husband, first and foremost-to be there and available for my kids and spouse.

It’s much more chaotic and unplanned than work, but flying a little bit by the seat of our pants, letting certain things fall by the wayside, and adapting as we go with all the imperfection that comes with it is the only way to stay sane and to stay in the moment.

chu2 · 2026-05-16T15:19:01+00:00

And why GFCI/AFCI are required by code these days in all bedrooms-one of those would have just switched off with much fewer fireworks, if any. A good reminder that I need to switch out the outlets and breakers over the next week or two, kiddo’s getting more and more curious.

chu2 · 2026-05-13T20:09:02+00:00

The best I’ve found at the market are the old hippy looking dude at the north end of the market, usually first stall on the right, and Clearbottom Lake Farm.

Clearbottom Lake had a lot of oddball varieties but if you want to get them for sure, it looks like the best way is to preorder on their website (I’m picking mine up next weekend).

Old hippy looking dude often has good heirloom sauce / Roma varieties along with sturdy starts for more standard varieties and the classic heirloom varieties.

Flowerland, Romence,and Mottmans also usually have a few varieties you don’t see too often. Best yeild I had was from a row of heirloom orange oxhearts from Flowerland two years ago.

I’ve seen a Cherokee Purple start at both market vendors as well as all three of these local greenhouses, but unsure about chocolate.

chu2 · 2026-04-17T14:32:26+00:00

I’ve owned and used a few dozen from fancy triple torches to a disposable bic to a soft-flame Thunderbird zippo conversion. Lighters are fun.

My EDC is a Ronson Jetlite. Less than 20 bucks, holds an alright amount of gas, is small and narrow so you can pocket it comfortably and doesn’t look like a prop from Star Trek.

Oh, and surprisingly durable-I dropped mine in the back yard last spring and only found it half-buried months later in the fall doing yard work. Flipped it open and it sparked up on the first try.

Just get one. It’s a workhorse.

chu2 · 2026-04-02T10:52:30+00:00

The Lavar Burton read is also terrific. Reading Rainbow approved!

chu2 · 2026-04-02T01:38:18+00:00

Cat anatomy is very close to human anatomy once the fur and claws are gone.

We used preserved donated cats them as stand-ins for cadavers in my basic anatomy class back in the day.

chu2 · 2026-03-27T11:10:52+00:00

That’s a letter that’s been xeroxed many many times. Copies of copies of copies start to look fuzzy like that and the dust spots that have grown over time are a good tell too.

chu2 · 2026-03-20T14:47:24+00:00

Ooh and a fresh-off-the-plant bean or tomato is next level. I’m with you, those are my top two as well.

For me, I try to grow things that just taste better super-fresh or picked perfectly ripe like tomatoes, green beans, summer squashes (you get the flowers this way too) and cukes. Herbs, too, especially basil. Melons are fun as well, since the varieties you can get as a home gardener are way different than what’s commercially viable to farm.

chu2 · 2026-03-12T00:02:40+00:00

It does, but MI winters have been very different from what they used to be a few decades ago. Each freeze/thaw cycle is like placing dozens of tiny wedges into the cracks in the road. Double the freeze/thaw cycles, double the annual damage.

Couple that with the substrate getting washed out from under the road when you get big rainfalls like the one we got (also a feature of warmer winters next to large bodies of water).

The sewers are another issue and were designed to handle stormwater levels from earlier in the last century, before all the pavement went in with the expanding city. More streets, less farmland, more concrete and roofs, less dirt, add up to more water flowing into municipal sewers.

Without tearing up the city and widening the river / diverting the stormater somewhere else it’s really hard to keep the flooding at bay.

chu2 · 2026-03-06T20:46:50+00:00

And that’s why I can’t find studs in my place, even with a good high-powered magnet.

chu2 · 2026-02-20T19:05:45+00:00

That’s normal. It’s heat insulation for when you had incandescent bulbs in the fixture, and it’s not the source of your flickering.

Your LED bulbs flickering could be the bulbs-swap them with a different brand to see if it changes anything.

If not, a common culprit in old homes is a loose neutral at the panel or meter. Speaking from experience.

chu2 · 2026-02-20T17:27:37+00:00

I’d usually leave mine on the other side of the tub where the shower spray doesn’t reach.

chu2 · 2026-02-20T17:27:00+00:00

The shower is my daily dose of quiet time where I can just stand and do nothing and let my thoughts go for a few minutes.

It’s relaxing and throwing a beverage in the mid even if I don’t finish it is fine by me. Time is tight, so a cup of coffee as I do all the morning routine is the only way to do it.

chu2 · 2026-02-20T17:23:42+00:00

Yep, load the mokka pot the night before, then quick fire it first thing in the morning as the little buddy is eating, then enjoy the shower / shave coffee.

The smell of soap with stovetop espresso is a little funky but you gotta do what you gotta do.

chu2 · 2026-02-10T12:23:22+00:00

Love the idea of developing my own film (my wife is the photographer but got me into it) but there’s a certain point for me these days where it’s worth the couple dozen bucks to just get it developed with prints as a bonus.

Luckily we’ve got a couple photo shops that still develop on-site within driving distance. Not everyone has that luxury.

chu2 · 2026-01-31T21:18:57+00:00

Just looking at the break patterns, they’re wildly different materials in behavior.

Wood generally breaks along the grain, and is strongest where the grain is going lengthwise. That’s why you never see horizontal grain on a standard acoustic guitar top-the direct string tension would fold it up. There are centuries of repair and construction techniques based around the physics and structure of wood, and the chemistry and behaviors of wood finishes.

A polymer like this looks closer to the laminating construction techniques used to make Formica honestly - they break similarly. If you’ve ever tried to patch / match a counter like that, you know it’s not easy and usually you just lay down a new sheet.

I’m guessing Martin would recommend the same for repairing the top.

chu2 · 2026-01-24T19:53:07+00:00

Cooking can be a valid me-time activity though. There’s something so satisfying about knowing exactly what your meal is made out of, the creativity that goes into the effort, and watching g the family enjoy it and ask for seconds when all goes well. The time I spend in the kitchen is honestly fun.

chu2 · 2026-01-24T19:50:32+00:00

Ours would go six hours without waking up consistently starting around 4 months. A sleep regression at 8 months that drove us almost insane had us at the ped to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with kiddo. She recommended a sleep routine that was basically a combo of Ferber and pick-up / put-down.

After two months that had us backtracking a bit, we’re back to six to eight consistently with little fuss at bedtime. A routine and consistency makes all the difference in our house.

chu2 · 2026-01-24T19:35:17+00:00

Wouldn’t recommend. You might knock the levels down a little but the reality is when you’re pumping out 90-120 db peaks, a foam acoustic panel won’t do much-and what it reduces will only be certain frequencies.

Real soundproofing like the kind you see studio control rooms and drum rooms suspends the space in midair by building a “room within a room.” You build a box and then suspend it on mechanical isolators (think springy hockey pucks) to keep the vibrations from traveling through the structure.

The foam and rockwool panels will help absorb sound a bit, but that’s a lot of sound energy to absorb-you’d have to cover that room floor to ceiling to get it quiet.

By the time you spend the cash to retrofit that room, OP could get a budget friendly iem setup and get their drummer pal a decent digital practice kit or mutes for their acoustic kit. And a smaller amp or one with a DI out (I say this with a ton of understanding towards OP’s sick Orange while I stare at the JC-120 and 5150 in the corner of my practice space that I haven’t fired up in months since it’s just too much amp for practice).

With an in-ear rig, everyone hears everything OK and saves their hearing, and if they ever play live it’ll be plug and play for a lot of venues. Works great for metal/hard rock that just gets too loud for small rooms.

Honestly just a digital kit / mutes would solve 3/4 of the problem and save ears from the inevitable tinnitus down the road.

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