Costco tires

I generally go to Costco first thing in the morning on Saturdays, and there's usually already a long line outside the doors. Then once I get in, I have to rush like a madman to get all my stuff and check out and leave before the parking lot turns into a zoo, and don't even get me started on how early I have to get there if I need gas as well. I am sick and tired of living like this.
So, I figured why not try going on a Friday night instead, but I have some questions:

• will many things be out of stock at night?
• how late can I enter? (mine closes at 8:30PM)
• will the food court still be open? (doesn't say on the website)
• anything else I should be aware of?

I currently ride a Lectric XP 2.0 as my daily commuter. We want to get a smaller ebike for my wife so she can join me on small rides around town and date nights. There are moderate hills in my area but she probably won't need to climb the bigger ones that I do as part of my commute.
These seem pretty similar in specs. Both have 350W rear hub motors. Both are foldable but the Jupiter is slightly lighter. Both have 16in tires. Top speed is similar but Jupiter advertises a bit higher range. I don't know if people have experience with reliability and customer service of these brands.
The haze I can get at Costco so I have their return policy to fall back on. The Jupiter is available through Costco next. The Jupiter is $749 whereas the haze is $549
I guess I lean toward haze on price point alone considering the specs are so similar, but I have no idea the customer support and reliability of these brands. I have been very happy with customer support from Lectric and would like it to be close to that level .

Ive been in my current place for 11 years, so the disposal is at least that old.
I try to take care of common sense, minor things myself. At the moment I have a garbage disposal that just went to hell.
Is there any major reason I shouldn’t l/can’t replace the disposal?
I found a couple at Costco for about $100. They come with the cord already attached, and it sure looks to me like it would be an easy swap. Pull out the old one, screw in the new one, attach a couple of hoses, and plug it in.
Am I being naive in thinking I could handle it? I’m not a contractor or anything, but I can do minor repairs and change my own tire and stuff like that.
I also don’t really rely on the disposable for much. We keep a basket trap in the drain and throw most large chunks in the trash, don’t put large quantities of food down it or anything.
Is there anything I should keep in mind or be wary of? Any hidden traps in this repair that could end up being a big problem? It looks pretty straight forward to me, but I thought I’d ask. TIA for your advice.

Fellow Eugene cps, where do you get your medication from? So far I have been to Walgreens, Walmart, and Costco. I am young, and often, mainly Walmart, will take their moral high ground and not give me my medication. The most common responses from Walmart are "you're too young to be taking X medication", "there's an interaction with another medication", "you're probably going to overdose", or "take this naloxone" while staring at me like I am pure garbage. Now, Costco, my god, they may fill everything and not say anything but it takes them almost a week to refill something as simple as an antidepressant I've had for years. Walgreens is the same though I've heard they are the only pharmacy that has the "right" to not dispense medication if they believe it's not right for you. There was gigantic class action lawsuit with about every single pharmacy dispensing opiates. I know it's a hot topic around here, but people need them to have a good day. Even a decent day. I am so tired of wondering when and if I'll get my medication on time. Anxiety makes pain worse.
Edit:spelling

We are replacing our C2 Cat and Dog that we've had for twelve years after a motor went on us. We've decided to replace instead of repair. Our home is all hardwood and tile. The most I'd want to pay is C$700, although anything less would be a bonus.
I'll either be replacing with another C2 (although our dog is gone so I don't need that option) or a C3. Both Canadian Tire and Costco are selling those options in my area, and Miele online has some options.
My first question is about attachments. I have a parquet hardwood floor attachment from our old vacuum. We also have a variety of other accessories that came with our old vacuum. Are they still interchangeable with new models?
I also would like to know how much physically larger or heavier the C3 is than the C2. I like the C2 for size, but I wouldn't mind a larger bag capacity with the C3. That said, if it is much larger, I'd prefer to compactness of the C2.
My options right now are as follows:

• Complete C3 Excellence SDGEO w/ SEB 217-3 tool: $699 marked down from $949, avaialble at both Miele online, Costco online, and Canadian Tire
  
• Complete C3 Limited Edition PowerLine - SGDE0 - w/ SEB 217-3 hardwood tool, $699 at both Miele online and Canadian Tire
  
• Miele Compact C2 Hard Floor Canister Vacuum, w/ universal floor head, $499 at Costco online
  
• Miele Complete C3 Carpet & Pet Canister Vacuum, w/ STB 305-3, SBD 365-3, Upholstery nozzle, Crevice nozzle, Dusting brush, $459 at Costco online
  

Any info you folks may be able to provide would be very welcome.

I thought I'd post this, as I just left Costco after buying tires.
My 09 Avalanche came with these gaudy 22" chrome wheels. Bought it used, and the tires were 305/40r22's. The wheels were a bit too flashy for us, but we have kept them for about a year and a half. The chrome just hasn't been doing se well on a vehicle that's now almost 15 years old. We hit a nail in the road, and after Les Schwab repaired it, they jacked up the wheel bead, no doubt due to the chrome peeling. But in short, the tire no longer holds pressure, even after just eight hours. Dead flat.
We decided this was the time to change things up, and found some good 18" wheels, then decided on a set of BF Goodrich Trail-Terrain T/A tires. Costco had the same price as anyone else, so we used them because of their warranty and ability to get any road damage repaired. For the record, we went with 285/60r18's.
At the Costco tire shop, they told me they wouldn't even touch the vehicle if the wheels weren't stock. Our salesperson was probably going with the notion that people who buy tires there aren't capable of changing one themself though. I had the (brand new) wheels AND sensors. After a bit of talking, they admitted they'd still sell me the tires, plus mount and balance them—but that since my wheels (and new tires) weren't the same as on the doorjam sticker, they'd do the wheels themselves—just not the truck. That's an important distinction.
We can't drive our Avalanche in for a rotation or tire balancing, but if we bring the wheels in seperately, they'll do it. They'll mount and balance and warranty and tire that fits on the wheel—they just won't touch the vehicle they're being used on if they don't match the oem sticker.
The tire/Costco warranty is still good. They'll still fix leaks. They'll still balance them. They just won't do shit if we bring them in mounted on our vehicle. If we have a leak that needs repair, if we have a warranty issue, we just have to bring the wheel/tire unattached from the vehicle.
No prob for me, I rotate on my own, and I can change a damn flat. Costco will still fix it, still warranty my T/A's up to the 60k miles—I just have to bring them in separate from the truck.
I searched and found a BUNCH of old posts about Costco not warrantying and tires/wheels that aren't OEM, that's just not true. They just WILL NOT touch a vehicle with non-OEM wheels. The solution is beyond simple: Take off the damn wheels, and bring them in on their own (as needed)!
Costco WILL warranty tires they sell, regardless of vehicle or OEM wheels. They just simply WILL NOT TOUCH a vehicle that rolls in with non-OEM wheels.
Hope this helps someone.
we do a lot of mountain driving.

BACKGROUND
Long story short I spent 8 years on the West Coast holding increasingly important positions in the energy industry, but I hated it with every fiber of my being. I started taking nursing prerequisite courses in January of 2020. Family trauma happened. I moved home to Texas to be closer to my family, quit my job (was making ~$130k with bonus), and took the plunge and went to back to school for nursing at 31. I am half way done with an accelerated BSN program and I have a 4.0 GPA. I love it so much despite it being very difficult. I have externship currently and I have an ICU internship lined up for my final semester, which is basically a guaranteed new grad job.
I currently live with my mom and brother. We are remodeling our house so we are in an apartment for a bit. Very tight quarters but thankful to be with them. Boyfriend just successfully made a big career move and is now a superintendent for an important and well respected organization in town making $60k annually with a 8% bonus. Very proud of him and very excited for our future - we are talking about getting engaged in the next year. He is getting an apartment in the next couple months after living at home with his family due to some major family health issues he has been helping out with so you will see some of the apartment search start to happen in this diary!
Currently boyfriend and I split going out expenses pretty much down the line, but with this new job we had a discussion last week about how he will pay for the majority of our going out costs moving forward once he gets his first paycheck this month until I start working full time again in January!
Previous money diary from August 2022 here.
ASSETS (comparing last money diary to now):
​

	August 2022	June 2023	Difference
401k	$156,400	$158,600	$2,200
Roth IRA	$68,000	$68,500	(500)
Saving's account	$41,001.43	$26,572.63	($14,428.81)
Checking Account	$3,024.58	$915.41	($2,109)
HSA	$8,800	$7,100	($1,700)
Brokerage	$440	$444	$4
UGMA	$85,000	$84,000	($1,000)
Pension	forgot to include	$27,000	N/A

NET WORTH: $373k
**I don’t carry any credit card debt / no student loan debt / no equity in any kind of home. I was lucky enough to be in a position where I saved up over $40k cash to pay for living expenses when in school. My UGMA account will be used as part of a down payment for a house in the next couple years. My current BSN degree is being covered through family. Also, trying to figure out what to do with my pension - depending how finances go the next 8 months I am in school / if I have any emergencies (I have 2 senior pets) I could cash part of it out or completely roll it over into an IRA.
INCOME
Income Progression: I worked in the energy industry for 8 years; my starting salary was $35,000.
I worked in the Seattle area starting out at $35k in 2014. Moved to a new job in 2016 for $65k and then another new job in 2018 for $85k +12% bonus. Got up to $104k + 20% bonus before I quit. Also worked as a CNA on the weekends for about 6 months for $15 an hour during COVID to make sure I really wanted to go to nursing school.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: It varies but the average so far this year it is $535. I have an incredibly flexible externship at a hospital very close to where I live where my director literally just lets me show up whenever I want to work. I make $17 an hour. I met a couple incredible mentors but I think I am going to quit soon since it just won’t be feasible to work this semester and I already have my ICU internship lined up for September. Trying to be easier on myself and put myself first and I feel very lucky that I don’t need to work. Don’t get me wrong the extra money is SO NICE but I want to concentrate on school, myself, family, partner, and friends. Work on top of an accelerated nursing program is too much. I am actually the only one working in my cohort currently.
Any Other Monthly Income Here: I live with my mom right now and she pays for most of the groceries, utilities, etc. I feel incredibly privileged and lucky that I can live with her and that she is able to support me in this way while I transition careers. I do lots for her to support her such as chores, errands, paying for big Costco runs, etc. My boyfriend also helps out with pet expenses and other things I want / need.
MONTHLY EXPENSES

• Rent: $400 to my mom for a very discounted rate at our current apartment. I don’t pay rent when we are at the house. I will not be paying rent when I semi-move in with my boyfriend in the next couple months. Our goal is to get our own luxury apartment next year close to both of our places of employment after a year lease at a cheaper place. Between now and then I’ll split my time with him and my mom.
• Cellphone: $15 (on family plan & I just pay for additional data)
• Spotify: $5.40 (student plan)
• iCloud: $2.99
• Prime: $8.11
• Gym membership: $20
• Regular therapy: $5 a session and I go biweekly
• Health insurance: $122.54 monthly
• Costco: $60 annually

I allocate the following to my biggest expense categories monthly:

• Gas: $120
• Groceries: $300
• Eating out: $400
• Pet expenses: $200
• Other discretionary spending: $400

WEDNESDAY - DAY 1
8:45: I slept 10 hours last night and it was glorious. I worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital yesterday and our patient acuity was very high.
9:30: Make a coffee and walk and feed my pup. I walk over to the pool for a morning swim. I love a quiet morning swim so much.
11:30: I had a nice 500 yd swim, drank a Premier Protein shake & ate overnight oats with blueberries for breakfast, had a relaxing shower, and started some laundry. Feeling anxious about everything I have on my plate currently. Also I feel hungover from work yesterday. I was going to work another 12 hour shift tomorrow but now I don’t know if I can handle it with school also starting on Friday and a very busy social weekend coming up. Luckily, my director literally lets me show up whenever I want so I may do 7 or 8 hours tomorrow instead of a full 12. Try to table my feelings to discuss in therapy this afternoon.
11:40: Sit down to finish some online orientation for my internship that is coming up my final semester.
13:03: Orientation stuff only took about 20 minutes thank god. I ran to the grocery store and grab a 4 pack of watermelon Celsius, frozen veggies, Eggo waffles, tea bags, string cheese, coffee filters, Wheat Thins, and lean ground beef ($37.01). Head up to the rooftop lounge at the apartment complex to FaceTime a friend that lives across the country since there is zero privacy in the apartment.
14:15: Get off FaceTime, work on some more laundry, and head out to therapy.
16:15: Good, productive, fun, and validating therapy session and I make it over to my friend’s condo to check on her kitties. I had set up a reoccurring biweekly therapy appointment now that I know my school schedule for the upcoming semester too. We talked about money fixation and anxiety and trying to let that go. We agree that I should sleep in a bit tomorrow, walk my dog, go for a swim, and then go to work. I don’t ~need~ the money so working 12 hours vs 7 or 8 is not an issue. My mental health is more important. Also the work hangover from yesterday is real.
17:00: Boyfriend comes over after work and jumps in the shower while I’m a couch potato (Disclaimer: he’s friends with my friend too and she’s 100% comfortable with him hanging out too.) We relax and hang with the kitties and catch up on our days.
18:45: We head to dinner. We grab burritos at one of our favorite local spots and I pay ($25.88). We look at houses for fun on Zillow and discuss what apartments we want to tour in the next couple weeks.
20:00: I make it home and have a long talk with my mom about her friend who ended up in the hospital today with a compound fracture. Long story short I’ll need to stay up until midnight to hand off the house keys, garage door opener, etc. to a friend who is driving into town that can take care of her dog. Her dog is a pit bull that is vicious to strangers so no one else can go over to the house other than this friend who pet sits and knows the dog.
23:30: The friend makes it and we hand him the keys and everything he needs. I had spent the evening tidying up and meal prepping and looking at more apartments. It’s amazing to me how much time goes into keeping a clean and tidy home.
12:08: I spent a half hour setting up my June budget and then pass out.
TOTAL: $62.89
THURSDAY - DAY 2
9:05: I finally wake up to a bunch of texts from multiple different friends / friend groups. Ugh. I’m just feeling really anxious about school starting tomorrow, my mom being very distraught over her colleague / friend, working today, and a busy weekend coming up. I make some coffee and walk my pup.
9:33: I call my mom while feeding my pup breakfast and tell her how I’m feeling and we both agreed I ran around too much last semester and I told her I am setting firm boundaries with myself to basically not do anything social during the school week once clinical start (Monday - Thursday) unless it’s like a super casual dinner and I truly have the capacity for it. I burned myself out at the end of last semester and spent weeks putting the pieces back together.
9:55: I make another cup of coffee and take myself for a morning swim. It brings me so much joy and grounds me. I swim 500 yards and then jump into the shower, throw my scrubs on, kiss my pup goodbye and head to the hospital. I drink a chocolate Primer Protein shake and call my friend L on the way to hear how her trip has been going so far. It was nice to catch up even though we saw each other over the weekend lol.
10:54: Ate my overnight oats made with half and half and some blueberries, clocked in, and headed out to the floor. Immediately get asked to be a sitter which literally never happens. Thank you universe. Feeling a little less anxious now that I’m here and feeling thankful for the little bit of extra money I’m making and being here for my community.
14:04: Maybe not thank you universe - the patient slept for a while then got extremely combative and was trying to punch me. I switch off with a coworker and head to the break room to eat a bowl I made with frozen veggies + rotisserie chicken from Costco + cheddar cheese on top.
19:09: I finally clock out. I had a snack of 2 rice cakes and some almonds at one point. Rest of work was wild (i.e. a psychotic patient that pulled out his IV and was throwing things everywhere, someone screaming in pain for hours nonstop, etc.) and had me questioning what I am doing making this career change. I am tired.
19:49: I make it home after swinging by L’s to check on her kitties. Jump in the shower. My mom has dinner ready and I scarf down this gorgeous basil, mozzarella, peppers, tomatoes, avocados, and olive salad + a couple Trader Joe’s dolmas + a couple pieces of fresh bread. Delicious. I force myself to get my food and my school bag ready for tomorrow and lay my scrubs out before I crawl into bed a little after 9.
TOTAL: $0
FRIDAY - DAY 3
06:22: Alarm goes off and I roll out of bed and take my pup for a nice walk. Give him breakfast / shower / throw on my scrubs / pack my lunch / give the pup a big kiss goodbye and I am out the door a little after 7:00.
07:47: I get to school and I am NOT feeling it lol. I stopped at Costco for gas on my way ($20.67) and I also swung by a very Texas niche store that sells all kinds of beef jerky my brother really likes to grab some for his birthday coming up ($17.98).
10:00: Class is boring - it’s tough getting back into it with an 8 hour cardiac lecture. It’s good to see my friends but struggle is real. I run into my favorite professor and she makes my morning. I tell her all about my upcoming internship and my boyfriend’s new job and she was stoked and told me to “lock him down” hahaha. I also make 2 phone calls to apartment complexes we are interested in cause my boyfriend doesn’t get great reception at work during business hours. One place doesn’t have any current availability but the lady was so nice and will be sending me a virtual tour later today. Schedule another tour on Monday afternoon.
11:30: We break for lunch and I eat the same thing as yesterday - rotisserie chicken + frozen veggies + cheddar cheese.
12:30: Spend the afternoon in class completely unable to concentrate. The professor is throwing ECG rhythms around left and right. 8 hours of ECG lecture is NOT a productive way to learn the material. I work on a couple study guides during class cause I cannot.
3:30: We get out a little early and I rush to meet my mom for a walk through of the house. I follow her back to her office because I sent a big Chewy order there. Pick up the box along with a Diet Coke, order us Cava for dinner, pick up Cava, check on my friends cats on my way home real quick, and then have a shower and relax. Mom pays for Cava and I thank her multiple times.
7:00: We eat dinner all together when everyone is eventually home (harissa avocado bowl for me!) and then my boyfriend calls right when I head out to walk my dog. Perfect. I miss him and have been having anxiety around our new schedules. We have a good 30 minute chat about our days before I spend the evening basically doing nothing. I chat with my family and mess around on my phone. Text boyfriend about different apartments.
22:44: Bed time after I brush and floss my teeth. I’m zonked from the week.
TOTAL: $38.65
SATURDAY - DAY 4
08:30: I’m awake! Did not sleep well at all cause thunderstorms. My pup is deathly afraid and will not stop shaking for hours so I end up sleeping on the couch on and off. We were up and down all night but somehow I feel okay. We go for a quick walk, feed him, and start a load of whites in the washer.
09:08: I have a shower, and then I head out to get my family coffee from one of our favorite spots.
10:45: Make it back home with 2 cold brews for my brother and I and a latte for mom. I also picked up 5 breakfast tacos and a German chocolate cake for Sunday dinner tomorrow ($56.24). I eat a bean and cheese taco and a potato and egg taco, start some laundry, and put air in my tires with my home compressor since my low air light has been on in my car for an embarrassing amount of time. Brother needs air in his tires too so turns into a production lol.
12:18: Spent a couple hours putzing around dealing with the tires and more laundry and packing a bag for tonight. We are headed to the lake for a friend’s bday party and I have no clue what I want to wear so I pack a lot of options and clothes for church tomorrow morning too. Now it’s time to drive around for a little bit and check out some potential apartments and do a small Target run.
14:02: I make it home from apartment cruising and my Target run. I bought a 3 subject notebook, tire pressure gauge with valve caps included, two bags of frozen veggies, mini coke zeros, and a bag of Lesser Evil popcorn ($21.50). I was so tempted to stop for lunch on my way home but lines were long everywhere so I made myself some cheesy eggs + 2 Eggo waffles when I got home. Put the valve cap on my tire that is missing one.
14:36: Make it to L’s condo and clean up after the cats and start the Roomba. Boyfriend texts that he is out of work and on his way over! He’s been up since 4 am this morning for work and I am feeling some type of way with everything on my plate / anxiety so we will see how long we make it tonight lol.
15:30: S is showered and we are out the door!
16:30: We make it to the rental, change into our bathing suits, and walk down to the river.
19:00: We hang out in the river for a good 2.5 hours. It was a good time - nice to chat with my school friends and their partners. Boyfriend and I head out before the real partying starts lol.
20:00: We eat dinner at this cute Tex Mex place. Boyfriend has some kind of alcoholic mixed drink and we share a fajita for 2 plate. Boyfriend pays - it was $70.56 with tip. I drive us back because he does not like to drive even after one drink which I am 100% here for. We are so tired lol.
21:15: Make it back to L’s condo and we take a hot shower and get into bed in the guest bedroom. It takes forever for us to both fall asleep.
TOTAL: $77.74
SUNDAY - DAY 5
6:50: Oh boy neither of us slept well. There was another thunderstorm. One of the cats was yowling nonstop outside our door. The ceiling fan was clanking on and off. The bed was way too soft. Up and down again all night for a second night in a row for me lol.
8:11: I’m showered and we are both dressed and we head out to one of our favorite taquerias for breakfast. I get 2 bean and cheese tacos and one machacado + egg taco. Boyfriend also gets 3 tacos and we both get coffee. We sit and chat for a while until it was time to go to church. I pay on the way out ($22.98 with tip).
11:40: After an hour of church and an hour meeting for a committee I’m on - I’m wiped out. Still have a house walk through to do with my family and boyfriend so I head over there and we are there for about an hour.
13:10: Finally made it home, walked my pup, and made myself a late lunch of Dave’s Killer bread toast + peanut butter + banana.
13:54: A girlfriend calls and asks if I want to get a pedicure this afternoon. We decide to get dinner together on Thursday instead. I’m actually very touched she called me because we are friends through another friend and normally don’t get together just the two of us. I’m really happy she reached out. I also invite one of my friends from school - I have been wanting them to meet for a while.
14:30: Nap timeeeee! I knock out for an hour then realize how thirsty I am and how badly I need to get out of the apartment. I get up, take the pup for a spin with my brother, and head to Sonic to get a large diet cherry limeade and then head to L’s condo to check on the kitties and chill ($3.34).
18:00: I spent a couple hours chilling on the internet - working on my google calendar, school organization, church emails, reviewing some apartments we may drive by tomorrow, and I download the remaining episodes of season 1 of Nurse Jackie to watch tonight. I had bought the complete first season over a month ago and still haven’t watched it all lol. That’s how little I watch tv.
20:00: We had bibimbap for dinner and German chocolate cake for dessert. Delicious. I clean up the dishes and do more laundry because that’s my life between school, work, working out, having 2 hairy pets, etc. Unpack my bags from the river day and sleepover last night too. Chat with my family.
22:00: Crawl into bed and watch some Nurse Jackie before passing out.
TOTAL: $26.32
MONDAY - DAY 6
7:33: I slept better but still tossed and turned. Still just anxious with everything going on, especially the start of another intense semester.
8:47: Pup is fed and walked. I open the windows because it is 68 degrees which is unheard of in June in south Texas.
10:06: I ended up doing a deep clean of my room hahah. Wiped down and vacuumed every surface. So much hair. My pup is shedding so bad. I change my bedding and toss my comforter in the wash. Thank goodness I have 2 sets of sheets now. I had only 1 for the longest time lol. I take a break and eat some Greek yogurt + pecans + banana + drizzle of honey.
11:03: I vacuumed the common areas in the apartment, took a long shower, and I’m dressed and ready for my boyfriend to pick me up. I felt like being cute today so I put on this new leather skirt from Alice + Olivia my boyfriend got me as a present that I haven’t worn yet + a white crop top + my cheetah old skool Vans. I’m so tired though lololol. This is one of the only Mondays we both have off for the foreseeable future so I am gonna rally and make the most of it!
11:15: Boyfriend is so tired too bahah. We go grab coffees at this cute little coffee shop I’ve been wanting to check out. I get a cortado. Boyfriend gets an iced caramel almond milk latte and I treat ($11.82 with tip). We sit and chill and map out what apartments we want to check out today.
12:30: Walk across the street to grab Tex Mex for lunch at a pretty famous place in town. I get the enchilada plate and boyfriend gets a chicken quesadilla plate. He pays and it is $27.89 with tip.
1:30: Go for our first apartment tour of the day and it is depressing. We drive around and check out the other apartments we are I interested in and then go on one more tour at a place that we are really impressed by. It’s $1.3k or so for a 500 sq ft one bedroom and that’s a stretch. Ideally he wants the base rent to be $1,000 or less which is quite doable. Yet again - south Texas prices for the win. He is looking at older buildings, but they are well kept up and in good neighborhoods. They are not in the hottest places to be in town, but definitely still nice.
16:00: We go back to L’s condo and chill and take care of the kitties. Discuss the apartments and ask my brother if he wants to get dinner with us and he agrees.
18:00: We head back to my apartment, pick up my brother, and head to dinner. We order a large caesar salad, an arugula and sausage pizza, and a mushroom and pepperoni pizza. This spot does $10 two topping pizzas on Monday and it slaps. I treat my boyfriend and brother to dinner ($48.01 with tip).
20:00: Home and boyfriend walks my pup with me. Brother makes us both tea and we have a nice cup of tea and chat until boyfriend heads home. I put together my breakfast and lunch tomorrow and then lay down to chill and have some quiet time.
22:30: Bed time! First day of critical care didactic is tomorrow and I am feeling mostly excited.
TOTAL: $59.82
TUESDAY - DAY 7
6:22: My alarm goes off and wakes me from a deep sleep. I finally slept a good 8 hours though!
7:10: I am showered and throw on some black Lululemon Align leggings and a swiftly tech tee. I was gonna wear real pants but screw that haha. I am really dragging this morning.
7:50: Make it to school and lecture starts at 8. Honestly - that lecture could have been given in 45 minutes but we spent the first 2 hours simply going over the schedule and clarifying assignments since everything is such a disorganized hot mess at the beginning of the semester.
10:05: We take a break and call a fellow church congregation member to see if we want to meet today to tour an organization that supports people immigrating. We are debating if we want to allocate church donation funds to them. We agree to meet at the location at 1:30.
12:41: We are done with class and I stayed a bit after to start making my study guide for our first test even though it isn’t for 5 weeks. I realize the time and quickly pack up and go heat up my lunch. Chat with an MSN student who I had met in orientation for my internship a couple weeks ago and he expressed his frustration about how the start of this semester is rough for him too.
2:38: We finish our tour and we are very impressed at the clean and organized operation. We agree to each write our own follow up email to the rest of the group before the end of the day supplying the church donating.
3:30: I make some jasmine tea and have some quiet time when I get home before starting on some dosage calculation problems that are due on Friday.
5:45: I end up spending almost 2.5 hours on homework - dosage calculations, an article summary, and start on a medication sheet. Ouch. I lay down for 20 minutes, take my pup out, and then head out to meet my friend for dinner at Cava.
6:30: I get the lemon chicken bowl and pita chips ($13.69) and we sit and chat for a 1.5 hours. We just saw each other a couple weeks ago, but so much to catch up on.
20:00: We agree to go on a double date in the next couple weeks and I head home. I walk my pup with my mom and brother, pack my gym bag and my food for tomorrow, write my follow up emails from today’s visit to the church committee, and relax in bed.
TOTAL: $13.69
TALLY OF DAILY EXPENSES:

• Food + Drink: $240.36
• Fun / Entertainment: $0
• Home + Health: $0
• Clothes + Beauty: $0
• Transport: $30.67
• Other: $17.98

TOTAL EXPENSES: $279.11
REFLECTION
I spent quite a bit on going out to eat this week with my boyfriend, family, and friends. It was the end of my school break and boyfriend is transitioning to a new job so we were a bit out of whack with spending on food. Usually we eat at home with our families more, but it was nice to go out and enjoy ourselves too. It was a super busy week for me too - which is the norm lately. I have a great community and social life here compared to the West Coast and I do not take that for granted. Trying to make myself more of a priority so I don’t burn out again, which is difficult for me.

This was our first time in Hawaii, and given that we weren’t sure if we’d have the chance to come back in the future, we crammed as much in as possible. We’re a couple in our late 20s. Overall, we loved Oahu, liked the Big Island, and thought Maui was just okay. The main focuses of our trip were trying a lot of different foods, which we did and enjoyed most of, and taking in the beautiful nature Hawaii has to offer, which we did and enjoyed nearly all of. We enjoyed Oahu the most because it offered the most of everything and it was easy to get around. Maui got docked a few points mostly because of how much drive time was required to do most things and it definitely wouldn’t have been worth it if we hadn’t been able to use credit card points for our hotel. HVNP was the big highlight of the Big Island, and we enjoyed a majority of what we did. If we had the chance, we’d probably go back to see more of the BI. In general, we were expecting food to be way more expensive than it was (yay for not meeting expectations) but it was surprisingly difficult for us to find fruits to try besides pineapple, mango, and papaya (boo for not meeting expectations).
This is a reaaaaaally long trip report so I tried to organize it in a way that will allow people to just find their island of interest if they don’t want to read the whole thing. Each island has a bolded header and I put a heart (💜) by things that we absolutely loved and would likely do again and a star (🌟) by things that we really enjoyed doing as first time visitors but probably wouldn’t do again. Please feel free to ask any questions about stuff I didn’t go into detail about!
Oahu Overall Rating: 9/10 Hotel: Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach (mostly stayed here because of CC points and free breakfast. Breakfast would've been way better if there was fruit besides canned pineapple, toilet paper was awful for my bootyhole, and they have the slowest elevators known to man)
Day 0: Travel/arrival

• Landed in Honolulu around 7pm after a very long day of traveling. I wanted to get Marugame Udon for dinner but balked at the line. I had heard that the line moves fast, but we were way too tired to wait, so we got Kono’s instead. My bomber was a bit too salty and greasy, but my boyfriend loved his.

Day 1: Honolulu

• We started the day with Diamond Head. We had the 7-8am reservation, which was perfect, since it was super busy on our way down. 🌟
• I wanted to have lunch at Helena’s but they were unfortunately closed for the duration of the Oahu leg of our trip. Did not learn this until we got there (sign taped to the door), so definitely check their website if this is on your itinerary.
• Walked to Bishop Museum from Helena’s and walked around and had a very sad lunch at the Highway Inn there. The Bishop Museum was beautiful and there was lots to see and read. Chose to do this over Polynesian Cultural Center due to the PCC controversy with the Church of LDS.
• Saw the Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha statue. Cool to see both, but we didn’t do the formal tour at Iolani Palace.
• Had dinner at Tonkatsu Tamafuji. This was hands down one of the best meals we had the entire trip. We weren’t able to get a reservation so we arrived at 3:30pm to join the waitlist (we were second or third) and were seated almost immediately when they opened for dinner. 💜

Day 2: North Shore

• Started the morning early with the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse trail. Super easy and got to see the sunrise at the top. We really liked this trail. 🌟
• Spent some time at Lanikai Beach and it was a nice beach to relax on
• Headed up to drive through Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden and the mountain ranges were stunning. 🌟
• Lunch at Da Bald Guy. It was good but nothing mindblowing. I wanted to try Ry’s Poke too, but they were closed for a few days. Again, learned from a sign on their window lol.
• We did the Ehukai Pillbox Hike and went past the first pillbox to see the second pillbox. The views from there were phenomenal. My poor feet were suffering a little and the downhill stretches were a bit scary at times, but it was worth it. 🌟
• We got an acai bowl from Haleiwa Bowls and it was so delicious and refreshing. 🌟
• Checked out the North Shore Macadamia Nut Company, North Shore Soap Factory🌟, and the Waialua Sugar Mill🌟. We got some souvenirs for family and even got a little tour at the sugar mill. Pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed these stops.
• Second lunch at Jenny’s Shrimp Truck. Good, but again, nothing mindblowing.
• Laniakea Beach was super crowded so we went to Papa’iloa Beach instead. Pretty and not crowded at all, and saw our first sea turtle here!
• We were pretty tired from the early morning so we decided to skip the last couple of things on our itinerary (Sunset Beach and Ted’s Bakery)

Day 3: Waikiki

• Started the day at KCC Farmers Market. We had mochi from Daizu Tei, banh mi from Pig and the Lady, and passion fruit cane juice (can’t remember the name of the stand). We also got a cup of a variety of cut fruit, which was pretty subpar and disappointing -- a majority of the fruit tasted unripe. 💜
• Lunch at Ono Seafood. It was good, but if I learned anything on this trip, I don’t like poke as much as I thought.
• Evening was spent at Kualoa Ranch for a friend’s wedding. What a beautiful venue!

Day 4: Waikiki

• Hung out on Waikiki Beach for a while before getting lunch at Marugame Udon. Udon was really tasty but I definitely didn’t need to get the tempura too. Extra points for the great value! 💜
• Wandered around International Marketplace but didn’t do any shopping
• Quick snack at Musubi Cafe. Good, but also thought that I’d like spam musubis more.
• Took a nap before getting dinner at Omakase by Aung. This was an amazing and delicious experience. The vibes were *chef’s kiss* 💜

Day 5: Waikiki

• Got coffee and some pastries from Kona Coffee b patisserie. Coffee was fine but the pastries were to die for. Waited in line for a while, so it’s probably good to go at a random time in the middle of the day rather than first thing in the morning 🌟/💜
• Headed over to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites and went to the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Aviation Museum, and USS Arizona. Didn’t have time for the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum but if we could go back, we’d do that instead of the Aviation Museum. The Battleship Missouri Memorial was really cool and my WW2 buff boyfriend loved it. 🌟
• Wanted to get dinner at Maguro Brother, but was yet again met with a “we’re closed and will reopen on x date” sign. Went to Maguro Spot instead.
• We had shave ice at Island Vintage for dessert. We LOVED it and got one that had frozen yogurt in the center. I am dying to have it again. 💜

​
Maui Overall Rating: 7/10 Hotel: Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa (we walked down pretty much the entire 2 mile strip of resorts in Kaanapali and from the outside, I'd say that the Hyatt Regency was among the nicer resorts. However, we would never in a million years stay here if it weren't for CC points)
Day 6: Travel to Maui

• Flew to Maui in the AM and grabbed lunch at Thai Mee Up. Tasty! Unfortunately, we were there pretty early so most of the other trucks were closed. Checked out Costco too, because why not, and had to resist the urge to buy a million snacks.
• Went to the Iao Valley State Monument and did a few short trails there but the star of the day was the Waihe’e Ridge trail. It was probably the most challenging hike we did our entire trip, but it had the best views. It was unfortunately a bit cloudy at the top, but on the bright side, we didn’t have the sun beating down on our backs and were able to get pretty amazing views halfway up. 🌟
• Checked into our hotel before heading out for dinner at Star Noodle. This was another favorite dinner. It’s small plates/family style and while our waiter suggested starting with a noodle plate plus 2-3 other plates, we ended up ordering a second round of plates because everything we had was so good. 💜

Day 7: Haleakala

• The sunrise was breathtaking but I never want to do that drive in the dark ever again, even as a passenger. We left at 2:30am and arrived 30 minutes before sunrise and would suggest leaving even earlier to beat the tour buses. It was CROWDED. Did a few trails (Pa Ka’oao, Leleiwi Overlook, and the first half of Halemau’u) and headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap lol. 🌟
• On the way back, we grabbed a few snacks and poke from Foodland
• Explored Lahaina a little before going to the Old Lahaina Luau. The luau was enjoyable and the amount of food was insane. We didn’t love the food (our favorites were probably the apps and dessert), so because of that and the fact that we’re not big drinkers, it was a bit overpriced.

Day 8: Road to Hana

• Not to be all poo-poo about it but both of us thought this was way too overrated. I’ve given my thoughts on some other threads, but there are scenic drives in northern Michigan that are way prettier than the Road to Hana. The only things worth stopping for were Waianapanapa State Park 🌟 and the Pipiwai trail 🌟 and maybe the Keanae Arboretum just to look at the rainbow eucalyptus trees up close and the roadside lava tube. Other than that, we were not impressed by the beaches or the waterfalls and it was exhausting. Oh, and unpopular opinion, but Aunty Sandy’s banana bread is so overrated.
• We had lunch in the middle at Braddah Hutts. It was very tasty but we definitely could’ve shared a plate. Dinner at Tin Roof was on the itinerary but we decided to skip because of how full we were from lunch.

Day 9: Resort Bumming

• Given how exhausting the previous day was, we just bummed by the pool all day and napped.
• We got dinner at Huihui, which exceeded our expectations and we watched the lovely sunset as we ate.

Day 10: Snorkeling

• We did a half-day snorkel tour with Sea Maui and it was a really great experience! We went to two spots and had breakfast, lunch, and drinks included. 💜
• Took a much needed nap before going to Down the Hatch for dinner. We weren’t super hungry so we just shared an appetizer and entree and got shave ice at Ululani’s afterwards. Both were good but we liked the Island Vintage shave ice better than Ululani’s.

​
Big Island Overall Rating: 8/10 Hotel: Orchid Tree B&B (I wanted to gatekeep this but it was too cute of a B&B to not share. The suite we got was clean and comfortable and the simple breakfast in the morning was great. The host cut fresh fruit from their yard for us) 💜
Day 11: Travel/HVNP

• Traveled to the Big Island early in the morning. We stopped by Greenwell Farms for coffee beans to take home, but didn’t have time for a free tour. The beans were a bit pricey but oh well, it’s a souvenir for family and it was 100% Kona coffee.
• We did a farm tour at Kuaiwi Farm and it was fun! We had a bit of a weird group but the owners were great and gave samples of a variety of things to try. 🌟
• Lunch at Shaka Tacoz was delicious. I was in dire need of some vegetables, so I ordered a salad and it was HUGE. I’ve never had such a filling salad.
• We were going to check out the green sand beach but decided against it and headed to HVNP instead. We were able to fit in the Devastation Trail, steam vents, sulphur banks, Kilauea Overlook, and the Thurston Lava Tube. This really freed up our second day at the park and everything was very cool. 🌟
• We got ramen at Tetsumen in Hilo for dinner and it was a pleasant surprise! It was a great way to end the cold and rainy day. 🌟

Day 12: HVNP/Travel

• Since we had time for HVNP the previous day, we only did the Kilauea Iki trail which was also really cool. We were impressed and amazed by HVNP. 🌟
• We went back to Hilo to check out the farmers market and this was possibly the most disappointing part of our short visit to the BI. Despite being warned during the farm tour the day prior, I wanted to try white pineapple before leaving and was convinced by the vendor that I purchased from that the pineapples were ripe. We had been warned during the farm tour that many vendors at farmers markets will lie and sell unripe fruit. So I ended up spending over $20 on an unripe white pineapple that made my tongue burn. I made myself eat probably 1/3 of it before I gave up and threw it out. I also purchased a mountain apple that was also definitely not ripe and I couldn’t eat more than the one bite I took. Lesson learned, I suppose.
• We stopped by Rainbow Falls (had time to kill) and it was alright.
• We had a late lunch at Cafe 100 and Ken’s House of Pancakes (also alright) before our long trip home.

This is a shitty post to say the least, lol, but just wanted to seek advice/suggestions from other bottoms/vers guys about their fiber regimens/routines.
Curious what everyones fiber routine is. I recently started taking whole psyllium husks (previously used Costco pills), and also trying to incorporate more natural fiber through food into my diet. I'm looking to be able to more spontaneous with my husband sexually, and was hoping this would aide in that. However, my stools feel looser and I'm not getting the ghost wipe everyone pro ports. .
Currently this is my intake:

• In the morning I have a bowl of Raisin Bran - 1 serving (6 fiber); followed by a glass of water
• Lunch is hit or miss, but usually a sandwich with whole wheat bread (6 grams)
  • If I don't have a fiber rich lunch, or less that 1-2g of fiber, I follow my meal with 1 tablespoon of whole psyllium husks (Yerba Prima, 4.5g per tablespoon)
• After dinner, which usually has a veggie or salad or whole grain with it, I always follow with another tablespoon of WSH (same as above).

I am aware of the water intake and always follow it with 8oz of water (usually probably 16oz). I also stay pretty hydrated, drinking my water bottle (24oz) 2-4 times a day.
My thoughts are:

• Too much fiber between food and supplement
  • Should I stop the Raisin Bran or lower the serving?
  • Or continue and skip the WPH after lunch, or do 1/2 a serving?
• I've read so many that recommend whole husks over the powder. Could the whole husks be causing this? Should I try to grind them into a powder? Or is this a myth?
• Or could it be that I am not giving the husks enough time to absorb water?

Just curious what others regimens are. I understand all of our bodies are different too. With the exception of the fiber rich breakfast, and eating breakfast more regularly, my diet has not changed much. When I took the pills, I never ran into too many issues. I was just tired of how many I had to take. It's also more cost effective for the WPH rather than the pills.
Thanks, bros!

Have had the Prime for about 18 months and only 15k on it. The wife hates the stock tires (no grip in the rain). Recently had it in for 15k service and they said the tires are wearing very unevenly (4/5/2/3). We've had them rotated at least twice during the 15k so I that alone is not the issue.
I plan to get CC2s at Costco which seems to be the top recommendation. My concern though, is that there something wrong with the car that will cause such uneven wear on the new tires as well. If it was the alignment, I would think one side of the tire would wear more than the other, but that's not what's happening, they are wearing evenly on each tire, but treads are all very different amounts of wear.
I'm hoping its just that the stock tires are for shit. Should I be checking something else before getting the new tires?

I am NOT OP. Original post by u/sirtwixalert in workingmoms. OOP gave me permission to repost.
trigger warnings: Brief mention of child death, suicide, and abuse, but not the subject of the post

mood spoilers: Wholesome

 
Today I find out if the past eleven years were worth it - March 13, 2023
I started medical school in 2012, with the MD class of 2016; I’ll graduate this May, eleven years later, with the MD/PhD class of 2023. Four of those years were expected - two preclinical and two clinical years for the MD. Five more were added for the PhD, completed between the preclinical and clinical years of medical school. Another was interspersed throughout the two clinical years of medical school when my husband moved to another state for a three-year fellowship and I stayed behind to solo parent our daughters during most of my clerkships, and the last was tacked on as a leave of absence when COVID shutdowns and interstate travel restrictions would have kept our family separated indefinitely.
I’ve been married for 9 of those years and a parent for 7. I had our first daughter just a few weeks after I passed my PhD qualifying exam and my husband started his intern year of residency; I had our second two years later, after I had switched labs and my husband had started his final year of residency; and I had our third three years later, after I had finished most of my third year clinical clerkships and my husband had finished his first year of fellowship and the whole world had set itself on fire.
I was the primary parent, and I was parenting alone most of the time. During my graduate years, I got the kids ready and handed them off for the day, worked in the lab 9-5, and then picked them up, played with them, fed them, bathed them, put them to bed, cleaned and prepped for the next day before writing or analyzing data or reading until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. I brought my first tiny academic wingman to my first conference and gave my first presentation with her snuggled on my chest. I wrote my 243-page dissertation and prepped slides for my defense late at night with a sick child on my shoulder. During the clinical years, I coordinated early morning care for the days I needed to leave the house at 4am and late evening care for the days I couldn’t leave the hospital in time for daycare pickup at 6pm. I saved my 2 annual personal days for Halloween and the annual daycare-wide performance of the Nutcracker. I studied for shelf exams and board exams on my phone in the dark, sandwiched between two children who didn’t sleep through the night until this year and another who still wakes up at least twice a night. Most days looked like this, and many still do.
During my rotations, I stood with another mom as her two year old died and listened to a thirteen year old share the experience of her suicide attempt for the first time and played peekaboo with a four year old while my attending looked for signs of abuse more subtle than her obvious bruises and fractures and realized that I wanted to work with children and their families. I made plans to apply to three specialties that would allow me to do so – psychiatry, pediatrics, and triple board, which combines pediatrics with adult and child/adolescent psychiatry – at the hospital where my husband works, the only location that would allow us to stay where we are now. It is unusual to apply to more than one specialty, and especially unusual to apply to only one location; for each of those specialties, students usually apply to an average of around 45 programs with the goal of interviewing with around 10 programs. But my daughters have been through enough, and I will not put them through another move. So I applied to three programs, interviewed at all three, and ranked all three. At 10am today I’ll find out whether I matched, and at noon on Friday I’ll find out which specialty I matched to.
I’m too tired to even know what I want. Whether I want to match or not. Which program I want to match to. If I match, I know that the next 3-5 years of my life are largely out of my control and I will lose time with my daughters; I’m particularly sad at the thought of losing that time during the last few years that my oldest is still excited to hang out with me. If I don’t match, I’m sitting on a quarter of a million in debt without a clear path to repayment and back to square one in the finding-a-fulfilling-career game, and the time already lost in my daughters’ early years will sting even more than it already does.
I was planning to process all of this alone today, but of course it’s a professional development day for our school system so my girls will be right here with me. They know that I’m nervous, they know that I’ll probably cry no matter what the email says, they know that I’ll be both happy and sad at the same time and they know that we’ll be ok. This morning I saw my oldest looking through our giant pile of Costco greeting cards and I heard her tell my middle that she chose the one that says GOOD JOB! because “no matter what happens, mama did a good job” and my middle solemnly declared that she would stop my youngest from spilling all the cups today because “that would probably be extra hard for mama today” while my youngest calmly poured her water on the cat in the other room. These kids. My heart.
 
UPDATE: Today I find out if the last eleven years were worth it - March 17, 2023
I matched to my top choice - psychiatry! It's bittersweet, as my 7-year old told me it would be, to close the door on pediatrics, and I think a part of me was hoping to fall down my rank list to triple board (which would have allowed me to do both), but this was the best outcome for my family and ultimately for me as well. In just a half-decade or so I'll be ready to practice independently, and I'm so excited to help kids and their families and learn all of the things I should have done differently with mine!
 
OOP also added additional updates to her original post:
Edit 1: I matched!!! My oldest read the email, all three ran around screaming, and then they went and pulled out the Costco card, the extra special other cards they made, and the bag of program (but not specialty) specific swag my husband had hidden for me. I assume he had a no-match bag hidden too, so now I’m on the hunt because that one probably has more candy.
Edit 2: thank you all for your thoughts and well-wishes! One of the hardest things about adding the PhD (and then two extra other years) is that I know very few people in my graduating class, and it has been lovely to share this day with a larger community!
 
NEW: OOP responded to some common questions in the comments. For some reason Reddit keeps hiding her original comment so I've copied and pasted it here.
OOP here. My goodness, so much support and (supportive) rage. Allow me to clarify some things, particularly for folks who haven’t experienced medical training personally or vicariously and don’t understand the lack of control and sacrifice it entails.
Did you find the candy?
No, my husband was certain I’d match and had no backup plan. Of all the things to be mad about, be mad about that. Fear not, though, I had my own candy at the ready (as I always do).
Why do you have so much debt as an MD/PhD?
Because I paid for my first year and a half, about 80k in total, and that’s now 120k thanks to interest from 2012 until the loan pause. The rest is from childcare and a year of paying for both an apartment (VHCOL city) and a house (relatively HCOL area of an LCOL state, so somewhere in the middle). A resident’s salary doesn’t cover that, so we flexed my loans instead.
Why did you bother with the PhD if you were just going to practice clinically, you dumdum?
I’m in a research-track residency, and research is likely in my future, but really: because I wanted to.
What the hell is wrong with your husband, and why didn’t he make any sacrifices at all ever?
This is a tough one. I love how much more support you all want me to have, and how mad you are. I want more and I’m mad too, but I’m not mad at him so much as I’m mad at the system. This isn’t the way either of us thought things would turn out, and we’ve done our best to pivot and find a way forward that would let us balance our careers and our family (on a tightrope, obviously).
It’s also not a situation we wandered into blindly. We made conscious decisions at every step, we made them together, and we both sacrificed.
We started medical school a year apart (him first, then me), and then we got engaged.
I decided that I wanted to pursue to PhD and he supported me fully even knowing that his options for residency would be limited to our city because I would be stuck there, and that we would be doubling our most challenging years because our paths were offset.
I told him that I desperately wanted kittens, because I had always had cats and our house felt empty without them, and he helped find two to adopt despite his lifelong love of dogs and general mistrust of cats.
I suggested a total DIY wedding and a monthlong honeymoon immediately following his sub-I and encompassing ERAS (residency application) submission, and he hopped right on board.
He applied only to residencies within our extremely competitive city.
We had kids mostly just when I thought we should have kids, based on when I thought it would be best to physically carry and deliver and breastfeed and such. This included: during his intern year, during his final year of residency, and during his first year of fellowship – the first and last being possibly the very worst times in medical training to add any extra life stress, and the middle no picnic either.
He applied only to fellowships within our extremely competitive city the first time around, and when he didn’t match he worked there as a hospitalist for the year. He would have continued to do so, but he was a shell of himself and I actively encouraged him to apply again, this time more widely. I hoped that maybe I could transfer to finish out clinical rotations, or if I couldn’t transfer then I could take a leave of absence or at the very least just leave completely with my PhD.
He found out that he matched out of state, three hours away, around the time I found out that my school would not consider any of those options. I could stay, or I could leave without my PhD and with a payback bill of roughly 430k (non-MSTP).
He told me he would gladly pay back my debt if I wanted to leave, break his contract and stay if I wanted him to, or figure something else out. We figured something else out, which seemed like the best of three crummy options. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t easy, but it was a finite and doable plan that (should have) involved spreading roughly 18 months of clinical rotations out over three years. It (would have) allowed me to bring our kids to visit him for a full month every other month, and during rotations we would have (and did) see each other every weekend.
But alas, life. And COVID. I made the biggest sacrifices there, I’ll give you that. But one of us had to make money, and he was the only one who could do that. He was also the only person whose level of training made him actually useful to society during a pandemic, though that didn’t factor into my decision to take a leave of absence (which my school was suddenly totally on board with, very cool).
Those years were garbage for everyone in the world, so I won’t dwell on them. I was not ok and he was working most of the time, but that would have been true whether I took a leave with him or stayed the course without him, and we both had more time with our kids and each other than we would have otherwise.
And then he finished fellowship, and he applied to attending jobs in the very few locations that I felt I would be happy whether I matched to residency or not. Bought us a sweet old house even though it probably (ok, definitely) made more sense to rent for a while because I loved it and he knew I didn’t want to move again. Gave me the green light to make my own decisions about residency, a career change, or just some solid time away from work to decide what I wanted and made it clear that he would support whatever choice I made in every way he could.
If you’re mad at anyone, be mad at the system that’s had him working 80-120 hour weeks for the last 8 years, because for the remaining 48-88 hours he has been an engaged parent and husband even when he probably wanted nothing more than to fall into bed.
And a little bit at him, but mostly because of the candy thing.
Yeah but why couldn’t he take the kids so you could do your thing?
I mean, he could have. And he did. There would a couple months at the end of COVID when I started rotations again and he held down the fort with our older girls (the youngest came with me because she was still breastfeeding and I had the boobs), and a couple more when he had all three once she stopped breastfeeding. Beyond that, it didn’t make sense to leave the kids with him and pay a nanny or daycare there when we already had to pay daycare in my city to keep their spots.
Why did you even have kids if you don’t even see them or provide stability for them?
We like them!
Also, if you’re intentional about spending what little time you have together and also about the way you spend that time, you can create lovely relationships and foster stability even in the midst of chaos.
But mostly because we like them!
Reminder - I am not the original poster. OOP is u/sirtwixalert, who deserves all the credit.

Haven’t been off roading for decades. But I was just in the Middle East where they go Dune Bashing. They are crazy. Anyway on the main “highways” is just sand. So when the pavement ends, people stop, and let the air out of their tires. Sort of like putting chains on all four tires if you are in the snow. Then you continue on. Now this is not just one or two cars, we are talking thousands. Then you just drive over the sand for miles. When you return, and are about to get on the pavement they have “air stations”. Think gas stations but they don’t sell gas, they sell air for your tires. And get this…. The lines are as long as the gas lines at Costco before a major holiday weekend. (Let me know if you want to see pics). Anyway I’m wondering if people do this is the US? And with a Rivian? Maybe in the Mojave desert? Do you let the air out of your tires? How do you fill them? How does the Rivian perform in the sand? Seems like it would be a blast.

Vent
Before I start I want to say that I have a reliable, stable roof over my head. We were able to afford a Costco run the other weekend so there's meat in the freezer. We're not going to go homeless or starve. My husband has a reliable job that works 50 hours a week so he gets 10 hours of overtime every Friday. He gets paid $23/hour. I'm not asking for help, just venting.
I'm a massage therapist. I've been doing this for about 10 years. I had a fantastic clientele at the spa that I worked at. I was so sick of working for somebody else, though. There's always drama and my boss started doing shady shit with our taxes and commisions. At the much encouragement of my clients, family, and friends, I opened up my own practice this past February. It has not gone as planned. Everything was so great until summer. Nobody has money anymore.
I have no money. I poured my small savings into my business. I didn't even go all out. I thrifted or curb shopped (free!) a lot of it. My husband pays the monthly bills while I pay the groceries, gas, the sitter, and anything else our 4 year old might need. I've been living off of my credit card. Husband has started covering groceries and my usual areas too. Grocery runs used to be less than $50 a week, now it's $100 a week for the same items. We do our best to be frugal. We don't eat steak and lobster. I buy meat from the almost expired discount section. I don't buy berries anymore because they're too expensive. Bananas are cheap. I lied on the self checkout at how many avocados I had because my son is going through a phase and it's all he wants. I eat one piece of toast with one egg, half an avocado, and homemade cream cheese (that got too expensive, so did butter). Now milk prices are going up again. At least I found some free seeds so we've started a vegetable garden. The rabbits ate the first couple shoots though. Fencing, even secondhand, is expensive for me right now.
I can't sleep because my bedroom is so hot. We have air conditioning but I put my son in the coldest room and I'm in the warmest, husband is in the middle warm room. My room is south facing and that side of the house is never shaded. I found $20 on the ground this morning in the parking lot. I cried because I could go get a box fan so I can maybe sleep. I had to buy one for my grandma last year and I remembered it being $10-15. I got to the aisle and cried again because it was $23.
My son needs cotton pajama shorts. He's getting terrible heat rash and ezcema in the summer. The awful quality store bought polyester pajamas do not help. Why do the girls sections have cotton clothing but not boys??? I'm a very good seamstress. I looked for a shorts pattern and cried again because the patterns used to be $2 and now they're $9. I can't do that. I've not been the best, historically, at making my own patterns. I know the theory so I'll just have to try again. Let's hope I don't mess up with the $5 cotton thrifted sheet too much. I literally don't have the money to buy another one. Most of the sheets nowadays are polyester anyway.
I market myself, I swear I'm doing what every person suggests to grow my practice. Summer is usually slower for massage. Everybody is taking vacations. It's just so incredibly frustrating to have boomer clients that are just so out of touch. My younger clients that can actually afford massage are the ones supporting me right now, as little as it is. My prices for my business are right with what the average massage costs ($90 for a 60 min). I can't raise them anymore.
I'm sorry, I'm not asking for help. I've got a roof over my head and food in the freezer. This is just so overwhelming. I'm going to look for a second job. Even though it'll take time from my son I just don't have an option right now. I have to make more money. Every time I go to the store it's more expensive. Heavin forbid student loan payments start again. Or my 200,000 mile Honda breaks down for good. I just had to spend $400 to fix it last weekend. Out of savings, again. My mechanic says it should be ok but I'll definitely need tires for winter. He's a friend and could tell I'm stressed about it all. He hugged me when I left and said he'll always do his best to take care of our vehicles. He's got his own busy household too, though.
I'm just...tired. Worried. Scared. I just can't believe how expensive everything has gotten. Even thrift stores and marketplace is more expensive.
Oh and my feet grew a whole size so none of my shoes fit anymore. I've got weird feet and birkenstocks are my go to. The sandals that I've had for 5+ years now give me blisters. All my shoes do now. Good luck finding decent shoes at size 11 at a thrift store.
I'm tough, we're tough. It's ok to have dry seasons because then you get creative. Someday this will all be a memory. We're gonna be ok but right now I'm so fucking sick of all this.
Edit: I spent the morning looking at part time, temporary, and nanny jobs. I found some that I think might work and now I'm excited for my husband to get home to show him. I'm ok, just had a little pity party this morning! Now everybody from the party went home and I'm back to work :)

I am getting to the point where I need to replace my OEM LE2's. I am considering getting a light A/T. I am looking at the BFG Trail Terrain which is currently on sale at Costco. My main reason for looking at A/T instead of All Season is gravel and snow. I have some land and there is a long gravel road to get out there. My LE's got a leak from driving them on gravel at like 20k. Been pumping them up every other day for the last 15k miles (Dealer said they could not repair the leak because of its location on the shoulder).
I have read some concerning reports that Trail Terrains hydroplane. I do most of my driving on road/highway and rain isn't uncommon. I am wondering if the hydroplaning on the Trail Terrains is overstated or a real thing?
Is there an All Season tire that works better on gravel? I know no All Season will be perfect on gravel and I am sure this hole I got was just bad luck but I am curious what others think.
Thanks.

I have been looking to join a DnD game for, well years – unsuccessfully. If you are in the same boat, consider us! Rather than try to find an existing game to join, I’ve decided to host my own at my house: I have a dedicated gaming room with a table that sits 6 – so, we are looking for 4 more players (the two occupied seats are for myself and the DM).
If you are also tired of trying to find an existing game to join, send me a message with the following information:

• A/S/L
• Experience (in playing RPGs)
• Availability (which nights of week/weekend could you attend)

Below are a few details to consider:
What’s the catch? Well, for most people, I suspect it will be my location: I live in Lago Vista. If you are new to the Austin metro you probably have no clue where that is. That’s okay, I didn’t either until I moved here. :P I am roughly 20-25 minutes west of Cedar Park/Leander. (As a point of reference, the Costco on 1431 is about 25 minutes away).
I have a good friend who has agreed to be the DM. He has considerable experience being a DM for a variety of game systems, and is an exceptional story teller. We will be starting off with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure module [which for those of you that care is a 5e module]. Our ideal is to run the game 2 nights a month. We will take a (more detailed) poll among the selected players to determine precise day/times for what works best for the most people, but our initial thoughts/preferences are to play on the weekends, twice a month, for about 3-4 hours each session. Just a little bit about me, the DM, and the space we will be playing in:
I’m male in my early 40s, unmarried, 1 dog (who cannot access the dedicated gaming room), business owner, former musician, lover of all things fantasy. (I’ve lost track of how many terrible B films I’ve watched just because they had dragons in them). While I have not played a DnD game before, I am familiar with some of its lore - having read a good number of the Dragon Lance books, all of Salvatore’s work, and I enjoyed all of the Neverwinter Nights video games (as well as myriad other fantasy worlds books & games). I’m an Excel geek, organized, clean, and just in case you are a true unicorn – a massive Battletech/Mechwarrior fan (the reason I have a dedicated game room). I even managed to work a few dragons into a Mechwarrior campaign I DM’d for a friend a while back. It was an unusual campaign for the Mechwarrior setting, but pretty fantastically integrated. If you like, or know of Battletech, you may need a towel for all the drooling when you visit the game room – it’s almost embarrassing the collection I have amassed.
A little bit about the DM (as described by me, not him): Male, also in his early 40s. He is a married, successful businessman working for a ridiculously large company with 2 girls that live with him and his wife part time, lover of animals, sci-fi, fantasy, and a gifted charismatic story teller. He excels at drawing people in and has a true gift for improvising on the fly as needed.
Both of us love beer, cocktails, wine, sci-fi, fantasy, good company, and lots of laughs.
We are both open minded. We don’t care if you are a he, she, we, them, they or whatever. People are people, and that is all that really matters. If you are a purple alien that only eats peanut butter you are more than welcome to join as long as you enjoy having fun and promise not eat us!
A little more about the space: I have plenty of parking – my two separate driveways can park six cars easily (I’ve hosted parties with 20 people or more here). The dedicated game room is not enormous, but can easily fit 6 of us. If we decide we need more room, I do have a very open dining area with a large table. There are refrigerators located close to both of those rooms if you want/need to keep drinks cold, and when we decide we need a break, there are 3 bathrooms in the house. [This place was built for entertaining]. I am fine with discreet vaping indoors [no huge clouds please], but any actual smoking will need to take place outside.

I want to keep a journal of my journey with my traeger I bought 2 years ago. Or my cooking journey in general.
I don't remember the very first thing I smoked on it, but I did smoke a brisket. "smoked"
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Guess what you have to do to a brisket before cooking it? prepare it. You gotta trim the fat off it? Pffft, just season it up and throw it on. I don't remember what seasoning I used. I ended up staying awake until 2 am trying to get that brisket smoked because it kept stalling. I know now it's because the fat would do whatever it does and bring the temp back down, so it wouldn't cook. Real interesting stuff, now that I think back on it. I got so tired out that I ended up throwing it into the oven and that mother fucker was still raw in the middle. Imagine the audacity of this bitch.
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I've cooked steaks. I used to season my steaks with dried marjoram. My first steaks look sad and depressing now that I look at them, maybe I'll post pictures eventually. These were in the oven, which is probably why they were sad HEH. Then I used montreal seasoning. I hate this, it's gross. Mom loves it though, so I'll adapt. It wasn't until I bought some blend from costco that really resonated with me. This was delicious! If I had time, I'd low temp smoke the steaks and then grill them. Now I grill them because I typically make them when I don't have time to wait. Steaks are chef kiss though. I prefer ribeye. I've done sirloins, cause they cheap, and I've also done tomahawks because they showed up at Costco. What decadence, I've never even heard of tomahawks before seeing them. Or I have in passing. I used to cook a lot of tenderloins, but I think I prefer ribeyes at this point.
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Traeger has a seafood broil on their recipe list. I did that. Having Kielbasa twice now, I don't like it. I made my mom season the seafood broil. She didn't season it enough. The shrimp was on too long. So, with overcooked shrimp, it was still pretty decent. Maybe I'll do it again eventually. Having a butter sauce would be nice if I'm not actually going to broil it.
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Beer can chicken. There's a recipe where you rub lemon juice, fresh rosemary, and stick a beer can up a chicken's hoo haw and that's it. I put onion powder and garlic powder on this chicken. It good. Produces juicy chicken. Flavorful, great. Chicken makes me hella nervous though cause I'm not trying to provide uncooked chicken to myself or my mom.
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I did pork for the first time, costco sold pork tenderloins for like 5 dollars for the whole thing. Fucking steal! I bought 2. One is still frozen in the freezer right now. I did some cocoa bullshit that traeger has on it's recipe list. Didn't like the rub. Cocoa on meat isn't my thing. Good to know. EVERYONE ELSE loved it and assured me it was good. That's fine but it doesn't change the fact that I don't like it. Otherwise it was beautiful, beautiful smoke ring, perfectly cooked. I think, I don't know. I'm not a doctor. I think because the tenderloin was split into two, it's huge, I might do 2 different rubs for the next tenderloin.
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I've cooked a blueberry cake thing, also a traeger recipe, and I didn't like that. Everyone else did though. No comments to this, really. I think I did have issues blending it all together, or the prebake part, but whatever. No memories of a year ago.
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Brisket #2. I made my own rub. My uncle makes his own rub, which inspired me. I don't remember if I liked the rub, I did taste it as I went, so I assume so. All our knives are dull so I used this little cutco steak knife to trim all the fat off. Fuck, I was there forever. Whatever. Got it on the grill, smoked. Did burnt ends with butter and...honey? I don't know, I followed some recipe. I still don't know if it was right. One day I'll figure it out, maybe. I don't like brisket as it turns out. Either I don't like the cut of meat or the brisket I made. It had a smoke ring, it worked, unlike the first time.
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While grilling steaks, I decided to just toss green beans on the grill also. Just olive oil, salt, and pepper. Holy fuck, fucking perfect. Best green beans. I've made it like 5 times now, straight from frozen.
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Threw some shrimp on with my steaks in a little pan of butter and salt. Ended up finishing on the stove because we trying to eat here, not starve.
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Also, cooking baked potatoes on the traeger is one of the best things ever. Covered in olive oil and kosher salt. Perfect. No more salt needed. Butter added and just amazing.
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I think that's it. I found a brisket elote that I want to make, eventually. I should probably stop making the same things and do new things. I want to learn and just do.

Hi!
Does anyone have experience here buying Millets or wheat flour? Our indian store doesn't really have bulk quantities of Millets, so its expensive and tiring going back and forth every couple of days.
Also, does anybody here know an alternative to Ashirwad wehat flour, that are readily available in box stores like Sams (preferred) or Costco?

First post in the community and hope it’s an appropriate question/topic, etc.
I’ve had one of these jump boxes for a few years that I use occasionally for jump starting cars but primarily for usb device charging at an off-grid campsite my family frequents. It’s getting pretty tired these days.
On our last visit I discovered a pair of beat up solar panels and a solar controller at the campsite. On a whim I connected the panels and the controller lit up, so I decided to see if they could augment the battery pack which was running low (indicating 12.1v; I didn’t have a multimeter so all measurements are based on what the jump box indicates). The controller is for a 24v trailer setup and I had no inverter, so I just hooked the jump box’s jumper cables to the controller output and turned on the switch for jump start mode. The jump box’s indicated voltage immediately increased, so I angled the panels to target mid-14v and was able to fully charge several devices before I lost sunlight.
Once it got dark, I continued charging until the box went dead. Important to note that the unit seems to have two independent charge indicators: an indicated voltage, and a “charge level” led (which is wildly inaccurate- it tends to show 4/4 bars until voltage drops to about 12, and then plummets). When depleted, that indicator flashes and deactivates usb output.
The next day when I had sunlight, indicated voltage on the box increased until it held 13v even without being connected to the solar input, but the “charge level” indicator remained at 0/4 and I was unable to turn on usb output. Once I got home I plugged the box in, and as I expected it immediately jumped to 4/4. My assumption is that once the module decides it’s dead, something trips that can only be reset by connecting it to ac input, regardless of actual charge voltage.
So the bottom line question (finally) is:
1: am I doing anything that poses a safety risk? (Important)
2: am I doing anything that would be contraindicated for device reliability or service life? (I don’t really care, it’s cheap, but I’m curious)
3: sans inverter, is there anything I can rig to trick the jump box into recognizing that it has sufficient voltage and untripping the “dead mode” when it receives sufficient charge from the solar panels?
(Sorry for the length of the post- this is all mostly a for fun project for me and I’m just curious to see what can be accomplished with the resources I have sitting around. I know I could grab a cheap inverter and eliminate all these questions but it’s more of a learning opportunity to better understand how everything works. Thanks in advance!)

Hi all I will need to change my tires for the Clarity PHEV pretty soon. Owned the car for around 3years with around 22K miles (low miles due to pandemic).
I believe I drive normally with no quick acceleration and using the regen to stop my car as much as I can, and I am mostly satisfy with my EV range. However I can't figure why my tire worn out that quick. The America's tire rep said something about OEM tires are not very good on the wearing due to make the car more comfy or something like that. I'm not how true is that.
I think I drive local VS freeway 50/50 if that matters.
So for the tires, I read the posts from good ones like Michellin Cross Climate2 that's like $1K (so expensive!) to some regular ones for $600, and I used to have MXM4 on another car but I can't really tell or care much noise or performance difference.
I think I like my tires to last longer (so I don't need to keep buying tires and spend $$$), reasonably comfortable and quite. I don't really care about performance as I drive as eco as possible. Driving in SoCal.
I am looking for recommendations here and thanks in advance!
UPDATE: ended up ordering from Costco for the Michelin CrossClimate2 since it's been mentioned a few times here. Hope this one last longer than the OEM! I am still not sure when someone can have 30K-60K miles from the original tire when mine is done after 22K. Maybe the ones with longer threadspan are mostly freeway driving with colder weather?

This morning I went to Costco, wanted to run errands early , I’m always a little anxious when going to big stores decided today to go to a new Costco I’ve never been too, I was okay until I was on line and started to get like super good vision then blurry vision it was so weird then started to feel lightheaded, breathless as if was hard to catch a breathe , then my heart was racing sooo fast. As soon as I ran out I felt better, I’m tired of this it’s been 3 years of dealing with constant anxiety I haven’t had a panic attack in a while though. I’m so mad at myself should I have stayed and fight through it ? I feel like I’m back to square one.

This morning I went to Costco, wanted to run errands early , I’m always a little anxious when going to big stores, I was okay until I was on line and started to get like super good vision then blurry vision it was so weird then started to feel lightheaded, breathless as if was hard to catch a breathe , then my heart was racing sooo fast. As soon as I ran out I felt better, I’m tired of this it’s been 3 years of dealing with constant anxiety I haven’t had a panic attack in a while though. I’m so mad at myself should I have stayed and fight through it ? I feel like I’m back to square one.

I noticed a ~2mpg drop on local roads and a ~4mpg drop on highways after installing 4 new tires at Costco (BFGoodrich - Advantage Control). My old tires were Bridgestone - ECOPIA EP422 PLUS that were dangerously worn out -- so it's expected that the new tires with full tread depth having lower mileage per gallon.
Car is 2016 Jetta SE.
However, I read that it's normal to have an up to 4% drop for new tires, which for my previous ~38mpg high way means a ~1.5mpg drop. I clocked ~34mpg now for the same highway. So it seems abnormal.
Question:

• is it because the BFGoodrich - Advantage Control is just bad for fuel efficiency?
• Or is it because I should do alignment after installation (Costco only did balancing + rotation)?
• Should/can I ask them to take the tires back and replace with Bridgestone - ECOPIA EP422 PLUS?
• If you have a rec for high mpg and cost-effective tires for Jettas, I'm all ears!