Mixology and movies are probably the top 2 for me. But unfortunately both of these things can be deceptive in conversation. So if I start talking to someone about either one, the enjoyment of the conversation will depend on how deep down the rabbit hole the other person is. But in those rare moments when they seem to be on the same page, I could talk for hours!!

Some things that have been exciting recently: I wandered into a Binny’s and saw a whole shelf full of Chartreuse which I have not seen in many years!!! On the movie side of things, I’m very excited for Yorgos Lanthimos latest upcoming film! The trailer looked great and he always makes highly interesting films!

Live in Chicago and I second this. Everyone always talks about how cold and bitter it is here, but that’s much easier to prepare for than the 120F with 90% humidity we sometimes get. Yuk!

I grow purple basil every year specifically so I can make pink basil smashes. They taste just like a regular basil smash… But it’s pink!!!

In Chicago it’s because of 1 of 3 reasons:

1. They are 12 or under.
2. There isn’t any bike infrastructure and they are safer on the sidewalk.
3. They’re a dick and ride on the sidewalk anyway in spite the very nice protected bike lanes that are right next to the sidewalk. This is the case 90% of the time and could be curbed with some education and enforcement, but that’ll never probably happen.

My dog is the most cowardly dog I’ve ever met. All I would have to do is bring the toy he is afraid of. All the other dogs will either ignore it or want to play with it. But my dog will recognize the scary toy and cower. I got him that toy for Christmas and it was a really nice expensive toy. Same brand as all his other toys he loves. But for whatever reason, he’s scared of it. So I gave it to my parent’s dogs who think it’s just the best toy they’ve ever seen.

Chicago has been excellent about this. If the people say a bike lane is needed, they will very likely put it in. The only issue that really gets in the way is the privatized parking meter issue. We really shot ourselves in the foot with that one. Still, I only ever see bike infrastructure get better in Chicago every day. There are even some streets that are being made permanent pedestrian only areas which I’m stoked about!

There’s dozens of us! DOZENS!!!

I do the same to portion homemade sauces and such. I have a silicone cupcake tray where each cup is 1/2 cup of liquid. So I fill and freeze it and pop them all out into a baggie to keep frozen till I need them. Then I can make super quick dinner by grabbing a couple of pucks from the freezer and warming it up to go on pasta and grilled chicken.

You can also use “-fuck” which has the added benefit of removing a lot of the ads that appear. Because you know… They can’t be associated with that kind of search.

The last couple of years the earwigs have been terrible. They eat everything and my basil gets eaten down to the stalks. I’ve tried all kinds of things and nothing seems to work other than keeping the soil dry which only mildly helps. This year I noticed a spider hanging out in my basil plant. It kept getting bigger and my basil grew better than ever! Now I take extra care of my spider buddy!

Oh really? Here I am thinking you just show up to a beach and go to town 😆

I’ve always wanted to try to do something like this but I also have so many questions about the medium. Like is there a special sand/water ratio to get the best structure? Are there special tools you use to sculpt? What do you do about the extra sand you remove? It’s all so fascinating!

At my first job that literally employed 10 people, the internal IT manager left for a better job. He had been working for them for 5 years and did all sorts of things that weren’t in his job description much like all of us since there were, you know, 10 of us. I remember them complaining about not getting any applications and also asking me in the marketing department about how to entice new candidates. My coworker and I looked at the job posting which required 10 years of experience for entry level pay and both suggested that they either need to pay more or reduce the experience required. Their excuse for not doing so basically amounted to that they were paying the previous guy this amount so surely they don’t need to pay more. Except… He left? Because of money most likely? It baffled me how they just couldn’t connect the dots there.

What about kombucha? Ice tea? Water?!?! Would be nice to know that anything you consume regardless of how healthy or not doesn’t contain micro plastics or other contaminants.

I could get loads of cool liquors I’ve been eyeing for experimentation! Or like… one reeeeeally nice scotch.

Ice cream sandwiches are just ice cream between 2 dense cake layers. So by this definition, you’d be correct!

deleted by creator

This might be the best way I’ve ever seen to get people to clean up after their dog.

Lol ok I feel dumb after looking at the comments. I thought you meant like… On rollercoaster rides or something.

I feel like the answer to this question will depend on your location and what you’re used to seeing. I personally grew up in the Chicago suburbs and then moved to Chicago and the difference in choices at the grocery store is night and day. Not only are there far more niche items, but there are also more stores to select from. So if one store doesn’t have something, I simply go to another. But I also have noticed that if I’m out in the rural areas, it’s pretty strictly the basics. There’s also a big difference between regions. I have more variety in Chicago than in Phoenix and there’s certainly more variety in New York than Chicago. I haven’t noticed a drop off at my usual grocery stores, however…

I have noticed a large drop in variety specifically at box clothing outlets. There is less variety and less stocked sizes readily available. I think this is likely because of the proliferation of online shopping and corporations seeing this as an opportunity to save money by simply shipping less popular items to stores when people can order them online instead.

That’s just been my personal experience having traveled around a bit 🤷