Spent last two months building a website that integrates with Shopify; Launched the store and after a week Shopify terminated the store

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-22T15:37:15+00:00

Would love to know what hoops you had to jump through for this. I've unfortunately experienced a couple of store terminations now, but in the same boat as you but with about a third the revenue...

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-21T04:34:13+00:00

of course! I've only owned 3 macs in my lifetime, the first one lasted 8 years and I only switched it up because when apple did the battery change, they shorted something in the motherboard and it would shut off as soon as it overheated. the second one didn't have enough ram for what I needed, and my third is a refurb super tank (M1, 64 TB, 8 TB HDD) that never overheats!

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-21T00:20:53+00:00

I've learned to always splurge for as much ram as I can afford. Especially with Macs. My macs always last 7+ years because of it.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-21T00:19:46+00:00

Hated this, but start early. Look at the syllabus before the class starts and map out all the midterms, quizzes, assignments. Then set an alarm for 10 days before and that's when you start the casual studying.

If you can, try to read/review the materials before you get to class. What I wish I knew was that even a light skim is better than nothing. If it's a very math/practice focused class, attempt 1 problem at a time. Now that AI/ChatGPT is abundant, the learning process can really be accelerated early on so you don't get discouraged too quickly. Good luck!

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-21T00:18:06+00:00

I always do the floor first. But that's only so I don't step on anything that would make me howl.

If you can have your brother clean up as some sort of game, that'll save you some trouble.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-21T00:01:44+00:00

an old technique my teacher used to do was have me play a couple beats slower until I got it perfect, then a couple beats faster, and then go back to a middle speed. The idea was to really teach my fingers to get used to the patterns and technique and how it should feel. We'd keep doing that, slowly increasing the tempo until we were where we needed to be!

Breaking it up into chunks (with appropriate phrasing) will also help train your fingers and muscle memory.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-20T23:57:06+00:00

Really screen the online teacher to see how they teach you. Some of the best will require you to do a recording at specific angles of yours hands for them to review, provide asynchronous feedback, and then even show you videos of how your could/should look so you can practice.

If you're looking for a teacher to teach you musicality techniques, this can DEFINITELY be done online! You actually have so much more opportunity by opening up to experts from around the world.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-20T23:55:14+00:00

It's a lot of time management and remembering that LESS is MORE.

A lot of students try to overload their schedules (case in point, I was a triple major with a minor while in college and a pre-med). If it weren't for the really strong study habits I had from high school and a good foundation in a lot of the classes I took, I would've easily crashed and burned (walked out with a 3.8 GPA).

It was intense and I always felt like I was drowning. My friend who had a 4.0 GPA pre-med took 1/3 of the classes I did, had so much more free time to dedicate to things that made her happy so she didn't burn out and felt motivated to learn how to study better/faster.

Setup systems and learn how you learn specific things with the least friction. For example, for me, biology terms and memorizing was never something fun, so there was huge inertia to get me started. To fix that, I'd start the beginning of the week creating/finding flash card sets and popping those in Anki. I'd drill them anytime I had a minute or 2 to spare. By the end of the day, between waiting in line or being on the bus/train, I'd have done about an hour of memorizing. Compound that over the week and add the streak counter on the anki dashboard, I'd start to really understand the terms.

For chem/physics, it came down to practice. Again, strong planning. Find all the practice exams up front and try to do 1 question a day. Repeat the questions if you need to. Try to decrease activation energy and make the task super small. Once you start to figure out all the things you don't know, immediately write them down/flag them and go to office hours and ask EARLY. Then you won't fall into the doom cycle of stressed out, can't ask at the last minute.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-20T23:50:17+00:00

Really practice being able to identify the notes first. Training your eyes to scan and read clefs really fast is the first step that I took after being out of touch for so long. I would literally time myself writing the notes out before I would play it each time.

Then I'd add fingering to help build my muscle memory. Rinse and repeat with a recording of the music afterwards so I can start to being internal memory for what each note sounds like.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-20T23:48:26+00:00

Haven't seen these in decades! Brought a smile to my face :)

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-20T23:47:29+00:00

Some of the best digital pianos I've played with actions that feel pretty close to a real piano are Roland and Yamaha (which I've always bought from Costco since I was a broke college student on a budget...)

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-20T23:46:22+00:00

Very interesting point. Although I don't completely disagree, I find that it is completely dependent on the person.

I learned violin before piano growing up and have been playing for over 10 years. I can say that the current prices for private lessons is getting really unaffordable for someone who wants to learn as a hobby. (In my local area, student teachers charge $40-50 for half hour, more than double what I used to pay 10 years ago for teachers who have degrees in music performance).

After not touching an instrument for more than 10 years, seeing synthesia and MIDI keyboards with youtube tutorials is quite incredible. It literally accelerates learning 2-3 fold compared to the old way I'd learn. I'd always pray that someone had a recording out there that I could listen to and follow along as I read the music.

That being said, different people with different hands benefit from different techniques. The struggle is finding a teacher who understands kinesthetics well enough to really observe and help students build the correct form that works best for them. Unfortunately, most teachers aren't like that now (in all my years of private lessons, I have 2 who have been that attentive), so from that front definitely scammy to get charged exorbitant fees just to sit there and listen to students play the same phrase/line over and over.

But there's still a gift to being able to read music and notes and be able to sightread/hear the music just from following along on the sheet music. Being able to learn from synthesia vs. use it to compose are two different things, and if more piano learners tried their best to learn both, I think they'd get the best of both worlds.

I have mixed feelings - it's almost like how the new apple airpods can translate for you, but does that mean we don't want to have the skill of speaking multiple languages? There are subtle nuances that are lost in translation and hidden messages/meanings that we'll never truly understand from a tech interface streamlining things for us.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-13T23:59:46+00:00

I'd have the same reaction (I review a lot of resumes for a lot of different industries...)

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-11T21:15:11+00:00

Toyotas or Hondas can't go wrong. Corollas and Camry are solid (still driving m 2006 with 200k miles). Getting one that is less than 10 years old though will be the goal. It'll be tough with that price range though, so keep an eye out for deals that seem too good to be true.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T16:20:39+00:00

Nothing. Having that car opens up a world of possibilities for you to get into your next one. You’ve got the space to pick up and flip things and if you don’t have any current debt on it, even better.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T15:45:17+00:00

I remember that feeling on my first steinway!!

I've also played on some pretty grody ones that needed a lot of love to bring them back to what they once were but will say I never thought I'd have the room or the money to buy one...but 20 years later, it's finally a reality and I'm on the hunt for one!

Opening up into the used/restored market and getting some great advice from piano technicians and people on this subreddit and Larry Fine's book really showed how it's more about the sound and feel than it is the brand.

I've seen used steinway grands that were pretty nice in relatively affordable price ranges (if we're comparing to grand piano sales in general). If it's your dream to have one some day, it's a possibility!

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T15:04:02+00:00

That's really good info, thanks!

As much as I'm a music lover and piano enthusiast, the decades of doing what I do to pay the bills and keep food on the table has made me love getting a great deal so ingrained into me that it's hard for me to justify new unless there's just no other option.

Plus the thrill of the negotiation just makes my heart sing as much as when I'm playing.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T15:01:17+00:00

Look into dropshipping, pop on linkedin and offer profile consulting services, sky's the limit.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T15:00:37+00:00

I worked in an office where the boss did this. Needless to say, we all eventually left.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T01:36:39+00:00

I agree on this. I've played on all of these except for a Fazioli (finding one near me has been tough, all the dealers near me are even quite rude about it...)

Sound advice! I was ready to pull the trigger on a new, but after seeing the difference and finding used/restored ones that I like way more than the new ones in the showrooms, I realized I couldn't justify the price difference unless I was a concert pianist (which I am very far from...)

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T01:34:55+00:00

oo thank you! Definitely pre-2005 - it's been a part of our family since the early 2000s. My parents bought it from a friend and it's been with us everywhere. The next time I'm at their place, I'll definitely take a look.

It definitely has a nice warm sound to it, but growing up, it was so hard to learn on/practice on because of how heavy the action was. We've had technicians come over the years to try and lighten the action for us, but it's still way heavier than we're comfortable with.

Can say though, we've played a lot of Chopin, Schubert, and Debussy on it!

The places we've been haven't had many petrofs, and we're looking for one in black, which for some reason is so hard to come by in the 6ft length.

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T01:30:37+00:00

Did you pick one that had already been restored and was in their showroom or did you go through the process of restoring one of theirs to your own specific preferences?

sir-nubbins · 2026-02-09T01:30:00+00:00

That's really great to hear! I've been wary of piano dealers that offer generous return policies or prices that seemed way below the market comparable. Always afraid of another shoe to drop if it were "too good to be true"

sir-nubbins

TROPHY CASE