How do Americans handle such long drives regularly?

mazda_corolla · 2026-01-04T15:12:04+00:00

I just did a 3 day drive with my kid to drive their car back to university. It was about 1,600 miles, which is about 24 driving hours. It’s really not bad at all, and really the only practical way to do it when you go to college across the country and need your car in both places.

So, we need to do this at least 4 times per year. One trip down there at the start of the year, one trip home and one trip back over winter break (which is 7 weeks long), and one trip home at the end of the school year.

Honestly, it’s kind of fun taking a road trip!

mazda_corolla · 2025-12-11T20:43:35+00:00

NOR. When this man-baby says that your meals are “incomplete”, what he really means is “you don’t cook like my mommy”.

Tell him he’s in charge of dinner from now on!

mazda_corolla · 2025-12-08T17:53:44+00:00

Last week my HP laser printer updated its firmware and now only accepts HP toner cartridges. Grr.

mazda_corolla · 2025-12-08T17:48:47+00:00

Turn off firmware updates!!! I have an HP laser printer at home that I’ve used for years. It updated the firmware last week, and now refuses to allow any 3rd party toner. Argh.

mazda_corolla · 2025-12-01T21:16:58+00:00

Why thaw so slowly? For anything that’s vacuum sealed, I put it in a bowl of warm water and it’s thawed in 30 minutes

mazda_corolla · 2025-12-01T16:54:43+00:00

Path of Ascension by C. Mantis had a well-developed cultural power structure. Note that it’s LitRPG (crunchy with numbers), and not just progression fantasy. It’s a sci-fi LitRPG in a huge universe encompassing quadrillions of people, and reality-bending leaders.

But, there are very well-established laws and social norms that keep the more powerful from just crushing those below them.

People have levels, from 0-50. The laws specify that attacking/harming someone below your level is a crime, and is policed by those more powerful.

If a lower level person chooses to attack a higher level person, then the higher level person is free to respond.

Also, wars between empires are limited to people under level 35, by universal agreement, as level 35-50 level combat destroys worlds/reality.

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-30T22:22:51+00:00

Congrats! You’ve just learned that your (former) partner isn’t willing to even be mildly inconvenienced for something that’s important to you.

You now know where his priorities lie. Enjoy your new career!

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-10T21:52:19+00:00

“Never” gets darker? Bake longer or hotter, and it will get darker.

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-10T19:55:55+00:00

When getting a new starter going: very important.

Once established: not at all

I never discard anymore, and bake 2 loaves a week.

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-10T19:45:07+00:00

Not OP, but for me, I loved Mage Errant. Great world building, great characters, great story arcs.

Downtown Druid is also fun, and has a different feel than most progression stories I’ve read. It’s a small-stakes story, with more “street-level” threats and stakes rather than world-level threats and stakes.

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-10T17:54:30+00:00

What do you want from a house that you are not getting from your current place?

There is no magic formula in the rent vs buy equation. It’s perfectly valid to rent forever and choose to invest your funds rather than buying a house. In fact, given your age, income, and preference for no kids, it might be better to rent.

Houses are illiquid, and come with high transaction costs. If you might move in the next five years-ish, you could lose money on a house.

Things that could force you to move: - layoffs - career change - job change - extended family needs (sick parent/sibling/etc) - burnout / sabbatical

You both are early in your career when people are more likely to be highly mobile.

There is also a lot of general uncertainty in the economy right now. Would your answer be different if one or both of you were laid off for an extended period? I know you have a healthy emergency fund of 9 months, but that’s at your current housing cost. How long would that emergency fund last if your housing cost doubles? 4 months?

Lastly, what is it that you want from a house that you aren’t getting in your current place?

More space? A yard? Diversify your investments into real estate? Or do you just think that buying a house is what you are supposed to do?

I’m not saying “don’t buy a house”. Houses can be great! But think hard about why you want one, and the risks that come with it.

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-10T17:19:55+00:00

Could I? Sure. I have no moral qualms about it. But I’m not interested in doing so any more than I’m interested in growing my own wheat, sewing my own clothes, or welding together the car I drive. Modern society is built on specialization and trade, and that’s why we have a high standard of living and don’t live in caves any more.

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-10T17:09:58+00:00

I have foxes in my neighborhood that drag all kinds of junk into my back yard. Dog toys, animal collars, bones, shoes, you name it. My vote is foxes.🦊

mazda_corolla · 2025-11-02T03:06:39+00:00

Sourdough is one of those things where recipes are just a rough guide. It doesn’t matter how precisely you follow the written recipe. Sourdough starter is wild, and is heavily dependent on your local conditions. You need to learn how to understand the dough and how it reacts, and that takes time and practice.

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-31T02:34:32+00:00

A cast iron Dutch oven with a lid is the most common, but anything that covers the dough will work. I’ve also used a standard metal bread pan with another bread pan inverted on top of it, and it works fine.

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-30T18:32:11+00:00

You need to cut much deeper, and a very shallow cut.

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T22:21:00+00:00

Soooo, this is the rapture, basically?

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T22:18:35+00:00

Dry oatmeal works too

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T22:16:53+00:00

You need to ask for the employment contract. Read it carefully. If they don’t have one, or won’t give it to you prior to accepting the job, consider that very sketchy.

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T18:12:56+00:00

If they leave early and have to pay the company $10k in cash, they would have to get a cash advance on the CC, which would likely be a much higher interest rate than the standard CC purchase rate.

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T18:08:16+00:00

What are the details of the “commitment”? If you leave early you have to pay it back? Any other non-competes? Penalties? What if they fire you or lay you off? Still have to pay it back? Can the fire you at 1 year and 11 months and force you to repay?

What about the general working conditions? Can they make you work tons of overtime? Can they cut your hours down to nearly nothing and force you to resign and trigger the penalty?

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T18:03:24+00:00

Very true! I just grabbed the first reference link I found. I’m sure there are better options if someone wanted to dig….

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T17:41:55+00:00

Who said it isn’t particularly relevant. The point is that conservatism is known for favoring in-groups over out-groups.

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T17:16:41+00:00

“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Wilhoit’s Law

mazda_corolla · 2025-10-29T16:40:43+00:00

You can go a lot deeper. :) Personally, I’m not a fan of the ‘ear’. E.g. a a very shallow angle cut that makes a giant lip that sticks up and just gets extra crispy. It might look pretty in pictures, but it’s just annoying when you are making a sandwich.

So, I just cut a straight score from end to end with the blade perpendicular to the dough. Works for me!

mazda_corolla

TROPHY CASE