I'll take a ping too please

Sweet, I'll check it out

What band?

Lots of great advice in here. I haven't tried the pomodoro technique in a long time, definitely need to use that again. Never had the habit stick.

One thing I struggled with for a long while is corporate career progression culture. At my last job I was strung along for a few years, then my manager was surprised I wasn't "engaged" with the work. It really felt like if you weren't moving up then you were going to get pushed out the door or left behind. Otoh I think the only reason I'd want a promotion to a senior position is to do "what you're supposed to do", vs just clocking in and out which is what I'd much rather do.

Definitely agree about getting chummy with coworkers. Colleagues on other teams are also great people to socialize with if able, and can often share helpful perspectives a direct teammate might avoid sharing.

Yes! It is so annoying. Was at a work dinner recently and the person next to me insisted on asking about my diet, making excuses for themselves (and how hard they try, and ethics are complicated, etc), then apologized for eating meat near me.

I literally never brought it up. You are insisting you are doing something wrong, just drop it lmao. Not like I'm going to start something with senior people in the workplace over their diet.

The cells where no one ever talked, ever, to anyone, survived and were able to operate effectively.

How does that work in practice?

Same here. A lot of the MLs I know say they should be vegan "buuuuut.." <insert liberal reason why not veganism hard here>

fwiw PSL and Green have shown up to some of the the same protests this year

Hell yeah comrade, same here

I appreciate the blunt advice, that would really suck to deal with.

Unfortunately, I've come to learn over time that the best options for home improvement stuff usually turn out to be the more expensive ones and are often a pain in the ass labor-wise

It's funny how it always works out that way.

I hate having to look at a sub-par job for all of eternity when I know I could have done it better/the "right" way.

Yeah, definitely get that. You end up living with a reminder of your own impatience

Makes sense. Thanks for the tips!

Ye

You should be fine laying new steps on the existing provided they’re in good shape. (Relatively level, no cracks)

Cool, these do seem like they're in decent shape so tearing that out seems like a shame.

I would probably at least pull that bottom layer of decorative pavers out and lay new corner pavers there to provide a better base for the steps

Certainly couldn't hurt. Seems like the other steps may just be on a bed of cinderblocks, can't quite tell though. Should probably try to match that while tearing the other pavers out.

Do you think these steps were bound with something like pl500? Doesn't look like mortar to me

Makes sense. We briefly looked into mortar, but kept bumping into the other 2 options. Probably a case of DIYers trying to minimize work though.

Thanks for the advice!

Mercurial fan?

The struggle is super relatable. I've taken to letting my lib friends share complaints with us then when voting comes up mentioning PSL and Green parties. They don't live in a swing state but still are visibly shocked by the suggestion.

Wth, that's obnoxious. They don't even need a printer, a stamp or something should be fine

All the venues around here that I go to (nothing large, I'm pretty cheap) let you buy at the door. Obv depends on the show, but plenty of shows don't sell out, so you can save yourself the fee by buying the ticket there

It was pretty jarring not having that voice after the update. I think there's a mod to patch it back in though