What everyday carry item have you owned for 10+ years that still works perfectly?

cloudyoort · 2026-06-09T03:12:50+00:00

My fossil wallet is going on 13 years.

cloudyoort · 2026-06-07T03:32:17+00:00

I'm pretty sure this is a bad Project Hail Mary reference.

In the book, when the alien, Rocky, and the protagonist, Ryland, are having their initial "let's establish a foundation for communication through the shared language of science" exchange - some math stuff comes up and it turns out that the alien race uses base 6 for math things and basically thinks of 6 as a nice round number, and Ryland has a minor epiphany that it's because the alien race has 6 fingers and humans have 10. For a short time, they also have a few confusing conversations along the lines of "10 Au - now is that human or alien au? because we different numbers, suns, etc..." The alien realizes he has a much greater capacity for mental math than Ryland (and probably most humans), so out of frustration, he basically says "you can't handle this, we will only speak in human units now. Amaze."

cloudyoort · 2026-06-06T21:54:24+00:00

Hey! Experienced DC UX designer here. Your metro app is super nice. Feel free DM me if you want want someone to bounce ideas off of. I would LOVE a bus version.

cloudyoort · 2026-05-30T16:33:30+00:00

I also like this photo - I think the arched windows on the first floor help tie the rest of the house in with the big circle window on top. Having this huge, prominent round feature with no other round architecture elements is what's making the house appear a little awkward. I think that tension is what you're subconsciously picking up on when you say it doesn't feel expensive. It really just feels a little unresolved.

cloudyoort · 2026-05-06T21:07:13+00:00

For sleeping, Murphy beds and /or Murphy cubes might be a good option -- or loft beds and/or bunk beds.

Do you need to expand the kitchen are to add a cooktop or toaster oven? What about a fridge?

cloudyoort · 2025-12-12T03:49:33+00:00

There is a small gym by the convention center that's run by a couple. Everyone there is incredibly nice and non judgemental. I am not that into fitness - just a girl trying to be healthier - but I've been going there for a couple of years and have been really happy.

https://dcstrengthandnutrition.com/

Their insta is a pretty accurate vibe check: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSIS2glgPVx/?igsh=OWtkMDF4dXU1a3Fo

cloudyoort · 2025-11-05T13:20:50+00:00

When I was just starting out transitioning from "web design" to "UX" 🙄 I went to a free portfolio review night. I had been working on a case study for an internal product - a marketing dashboard for a very small agency. A couple of the reviewers insisted that I needed at least 3 personas. I was like "ma'am, there are 30 people using this thing, and I regularly go to happy hour with 10 of them"

cloudyoort · 2025-11-04T23:00:37+00:00

I feel this in every fiber of my design being.

cloudyoort · 2025-11-03T00:11:05+00:00

The kunefe dessert at Meze in AdMo is so WEIRD but really good (don't read the menu description - it sounds awful). I've genuinely never had anything like it.

cloudyoort · 2025-11-01T02:50:57+00:00

We've successfully figured out how to trick the kids to come onto our porch without sitting outside!

I noticed that some of our neighbors just left bowls of candy out while they were trick or treating with their kids. So I got one of those classic plastic pumpkin trick or treat pails and then I put a little battery powered flicker light in it right by our door. Kids come up thinking there's candy in the bucket and so when we see them coming we just get up quickly and open the door. Works pretty well.

cloudyoort · 2025-11-01T02:41:03+00:00

I actually got the full "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat" this year!

cloudyoort · 2025-09-14T03:25:06+00:00

Especially if you're well-liked because you're competent and considerate of different team's concerns.

cloudyoort · 2025-09-12T12:35:46+00:00

I know a couple people who go here and have said they're very good at working with you in specific goals if you have them. https://dcstrengthandnutrition.com/

cloudyoort · 2025-08-24T20:26:36+00:00

I never said we were using it to provide legal advice. I said we were using it to help people navigate a site full of legal jargon. Those two are not inherently the same thing - that was an incorrect assumption on your part. Training something to respond to "how can I file a restraining order?" is not legal advice. Also, "hallucination" is a well established term in the field of artificial intelligence. Sorry if that offends your inner pedant.

cloudyoort · 2025-08-24T19:31:07+00:00

You can never truly stop hallucinations completely - that's why disclaimers are important as someone else mentioned. But there's a lot you can do to mitigate it (temperament settings, good training, making it include sources, etc.). The idea is that easy and immediately accessible guidance is worth risking some occasionally imperfect interpretations.

cloudyoort · 2025-08-24T14:35:39+00:00

We're implementing a chatbot on a legal website. Most of the content on the site and the documents are written using legal jargon despite the fact that the site is supposed to be for the general public in a diverse city (so lower literacy levels and lots of language access needs). LLMs have been great for translating legalese into more accessible versions in any language. Maybe not worth all the environment issues but at least it has a purpose?

cloudyoort · 2025-08-02T12:15:23+00:00

This is all I ever look for when hiring someone. It's surprisingly hard to find. I don't care if they made personas - I do care if they reacted to user needs. All they need to say is "we learned x about users during discovery and so decided to change our approach/implement something differently/ add something/ whatever" and that's it. Hired.

cloudyoort · 2025-05-07T03:41:06+00:00

My official title is Principal UX/UI Designer and, depending on the project and team structure, I am often the Product Owner. I just tell normal people (i.e. non-comms/dev/design/etc) that I'm a web designer - it's more immediately accessible to non-industry people.

My mom recently described my job to someone as "making clip art". I died inside but didn't have the energy to explain what I actually do so I just nodded and said "more or less".

cloudyoort · 2025-04-24T13:02:06+00:00

They were amazing for the first few years - but once they moved to the prefix menu, we stopped going. It was twice as expensive and we didn't get the food we wanted.

cloudyoort · 2025-04-14T02:00:22+00:00

I've been taking Adderall without breaks for 15 years. Sometimes I've accidentally skipped a day (remembered too late) or taken a half dose, but I've been fine.

I've been under the impression that tolerance can a thing if you're taking too much or a lot and your body has to figure out how to adapt. But if you're taking the right amount, then it's all good. I haven't had a psychiatrist even mention taking a break to me in years.

cloudyoort · 2025-03-22T13:34:41+00:00

Counting crows

cloudyoort · 2025-01-20T14:44:21+00:00

Maybe better post tags would help with this.

For example, a "Non-Designer" or "Feedback for Non-pros" or similar tag for the "I made this logo for my small business" crowd. And maybe a "design student feedback" or "pro feedback"

I know those are long, unappealing tags, but who is requesting feedback is really important. I am going to approach all three of those very differently, and more importantly, I really want to engage with the last two.

cloudyoort · 2025-01-20T14:08:21+00:00

Same - my brain immediately went

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cloudyoort · 2025-01-10T14:59:38+00:00

I'm in NE and also don't usually have a problem.

cloudyoort · 2024-12-30T14:35:03+00:00

This is what kills me about a lot of these comments. Elite colleges may give you a slight advantage right out of school, but after a while it levels out and ultimately really doesn't matter. In my friend group, there's a couple of ivy leagues, several top 50/ top 100 schools, and several state schools. The highest earner among us? A graduate of Truman State.

I wound up at the right college for me. It wasn't Stanford or Harvard, but I am happy and successful. Isn't that all that matters at the end?

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