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Do you fall asleep listening to podcast, videos etc? Favorites to listen to?

I have had insomnia most of my life and found out that falling asleep listening to something as opposed to white noise really helps the anxiety I feel leading up to and falling asleep. I ended up buying a sleep mask with headphones after my wife was being woken up/kept awake by my phone on my nightstand. I can no longer sleep without this thing, kinda like a kid with their stuffed animal lol.

I am slowly running out of my normal stuff after repeated listening over the last 3 years. Just looking for some suggestions of stuff to fall asleep too.

Normally, I am listening to some competitive Pokémon analyses/videos (JimothyCool, FSG, BKC, anything covering Smogon metas), lore videos covering long running game series (mainly just WoW), comic book analysis (ComicTropes, Owen likes comics, strange brain parts, merry marvelite) and now some "sleep story" based channels (harder to find non-ai junk, but ive been enjoying Good Knight Sleep for their batman stories/call in radio and some mystery stories).

Sorry if that was too much for an example of what ive been listening to, but I would love to find some new things to throw into the rotation.

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Getting a small chest freezer from a family member who just upgraded theirs. Tips on what to/how to store food?

My in-laws just bought a larger deep freeze and said we could take their old one. I am trying to figure out the best way to use it.

We have a Costco membership and usually buy our meat and fish in bulk, then bag them up for dinner servings. My wife and I have been starting to meal prep on the weekends (mainly prep work of cutting veggies up) and have been bagging and freezing those as well.

We buy a decent amount of fast snacking food to heat up in the oven or air fry, and thats where I am getting confused.

Is it best to meal prep/store meat in a deep freeze, or should we keep all of that in the upright fridge/freezer and put frozen pizza, French fries, chicken chunks, etc in there?

Also if anyone has recommendations for a cheap vac seal machine that would be cool.

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Groundcover for a Midwest lawn

Hello! My wife and I moved into out first house and are wondering wtf to do with this yard. My father in law paid for the first months of grass cutting, but the guy left all the trimmings on top and my yard is dead currently (we had huge patches of grass all around the yard, guessing it got smothered but I’m not sure). I am finally buying a sprinkler and have a decent mower and weed eater.

In the case where my grass doesnt grow back, could I just plant clover or another groundcover and be fine? I have been wanting to do a more natural clover/groundcover lawn, but scared too if the mowing cycles are off.

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Scisor vs bottle jacks, and what else should I get before my next flat.

Just hit a pot hole and the wall of my tire is fucked. Popped the trunk to replace it but I forgot the scisor jack that came with my car doesn't work. Long story short, I had family who lived near by pick up my floor jack and ratchet kit. Now I am looking into tire replacement, but also how I can just solve this on my own the next time.

Are bottle jacks good for emergency tire replacement, or should I just look for a scisor jack? I feel like bottles are easier, but theres always a few people saying they are junk when I look into them. I have a tire iron but had them grab my ratchet set just in case since it was next to the jack.

I just feel like a dumbass now and want to make sure I'm not a dumbass in the future

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When do you finally calm down after buying a house?

My wife and I are about 3 weeks from closing on our first house and I am losing my god damn mind. All of our finances/budget work out while still having savings for emergency repairs, our inspection went well after having to back out on the first we offered on (tree fell on the house after offer was accepted, thought we could fix but it was a wash) and we really like the area and first impressions of our neighbors.

I know buying a house is a top "most stressful thing" an average person can go through, but this is a lot harder than I thought and I didn't downplay it in my head. I am guessing I will feel like this for the first year or two and progressively it will become normal right? We have a lot of support from our families (financially, emotionally and labor/handypeople) so I am still optimistic about the whole thing, but my appetite is non existent and insomnia seems to be working in overdrive.

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How much can I get away with before I break Debian?

Made the move to Debian stable on my daily laptop over the weekend. Most of my home lab stuff is running Debian so I am not too green, but I never really tested a lot of stuff with it.

I brought by personal device into work today and didn't think about a VPN when setting it up. I have a few months left on Mullvad I am planning to use. Added their repo and installed the program.

Should I try to stray away from the practice when running Debian as a daily device? I never really deviated from the Debian repos on my home lab stuff, and I know the mantra of "Don't break Debian". Just wondering what you can do and shouldn't do. I am planning on setting up a VPN on my home network sometime soon, and just sending the traffic through that via OpenVPN.

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What are some tools you need when starting to do basic DIY Mechanical work and possible home improvement in the future.

I took my wife's car into the dealership for a warranty a few weeks ago and while they were checking stuff, they said the car needed 1300 dollars of work (piston soak and replace some transmission parts). I ended up doing the soak with my grandpa and took it to a shop for the transmission (wasnt even an issue, just a rivot replacement on a wheel well cover) and ended up saving 700 dollars after accounting for tools, jacks, jack stands, etc.

I want to start working on my own cars for things that can be done easily without expensive specialized tools, and I might be buying a house in the next year. I just want to start getting a decent collection of tools to hopefully save money in the long run.

I currently have a huge range of screwdrivers, soldering equipment, plyer set, socket set, file set, wire cutters and a small tool kit with some misc stuff.

I am mainly looking towards a torque wrench and a good spanner/wrench set, but looking for suggestions on what to get. Holding off on power tools until I wrap my head around brands and batteries.

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About to turn 30 and dreading my party (kinda). Anyone else over their birthdays but get FOMO for parties?

I will be turning 30th in the next two months. Not really upset or scared about aging, but Im starting to feel down on myself when my wife, mom and dad ask about what I want for a party.

My wife turned 30 a few months ago and we rented a community center room for a few hours, fed everyone there dinner, hung out and then went out for drinks. That was pretty fine, but I'm dreading my own party.

I've lost contact with most of my friends over the last few years, but I try to not let it bother me. I'll check in with 2 buddies once or twice a year to make sure they are ok and that's pretty much it.

I am starting to feel like a loser for not having any friends though. I understand people don't have as much time for friends as they get older, but after my 21st sucked, I tried to set a goal of making my 30th better with people I want to be around. Flash forward 9 years and I have no one to invite besides my immediate family and in laws

I'm trying not to say "truthfully I don't care" as I wouldn't make this post if it was true, but I'm leaning that way. Both of my parents just did their 50th and was a huge party both times. My wife had a bunch of people at hers. I am feeling like a loser having no one to ask, and like I'm going to poach my wife's friend group if I want to fill the roster.

It's such a weird feeling. I already feel exhausted keeping up with the small group of people I do talk too, but also feel like I failed because of some arbitrary rules/goal I set for myself 9 years ago. I am more than happy with my current life and this really never bothers me besides "landmark" life events. Last time I felt like this was planning my bachelor party when I realized I had no one to do anything with, but just took a weekend trip by myself to walk around a state park for a day or two.

Sorry for the rambling, I just feel off/weird about this whole thing. I don't really ever feel the need for more friends, but when I have to do milestone events, I realize I'm really lacking in that area. Anyone else in the same boat or was like this before?

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They Might Be Giants -I Palindrome I

Just finished up signing all the papers for my grandpa's will this weekend and this popped into my head. Grandpa is leaving me everything because he knows I'm a decent enough human to take care of my untrustworthy mom, and I can't stop listening to this now. Sorry for the feels dump, just crazy how different this song sounded to me 20 years ago, and the responsibilities I'm getting now that I didn't think I would have to worry about for awhile. TMBG are truly incredible artist that grow with you

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stlouis·St. Louis, MO | Gateway to the WestbyEdgarallenpwn

Has anyone been to STL Dental Center?

I am currently in need of a lot of dental work. I have insurance but it is not the best, and I am looking for places that have affordable care. So far I found SLU, SIUE and STL Dental Center from AT Still.

I have a huge phobia of the dentist and was without insurance for awhile, but now that I started my new job I am looking for something affordable. Currently I know I will have to have 3/4 of my wisdom teeth removed from the last time I went 3 years ago, and am scared for my upper molars (both have been fractured to the inner half of the tooth, an one is starting to cause pain).

I have been putting it off due to lack of insurance, money and trauma related to dentistry/insurance as a child. I am trying to fix everything I have been ignoring the last decade of my life after getting insurance and back on my meds, but dentistry is one thing I'm horrified of due to the debt I know I will be in plus dumb stuff I started working through in therapy.

Does anyone have experience with the STL Dental Center, or one of the other dental schools?

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Looking for a new dry herb

I have a pax3 that is starting to show it's age. The battery is not holding it's charge that well and I'm sure the tech has improved a lot over the years. I was looking at a crafty or mighty+ but wanted to see if there was something else comparable for a little cheaper. I would like to keep it under 300, but can spend some more if it's worth it.

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Planning on setting up Proxmox and moving most services there. Some questions

I am currently running most of my stuff from an unraid box using spare parts I have. It seems like I am hitting my limit on it and just want to turn it into a NAS. Micro PCs/USFF are what I am planning on moving stuff to (probably a cluster of 2 for now but might expand later.). Just a few quick questions:

  1. Running arr services on a proxmox cluster to download to a device on the same network. I don't think there would be any problems but wanted to see what changes need to be done.

  2. Which micro PCs are you running? I am leaving towards HP prodesk or Lenovo 7xx/9xx series around 200 each. I don't really plan on getting more than 2-3 and don't run too many things, but would want enough overhead if I switch stuff over to home assistant and windows and Linux VMs if needed.

  3. Any best practices you recommend when starting a Proxmox cluster? I've learned over time it's best to set it up correctly than try to fix stuff when it's running. I wish I could coach myself from 7 years ago now. Would of saved a lot of headaches lol.

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Nvidia Shield owners, how have you configured your device?

I have a Shield pro 2017 that is running really slow with a bunch of issues. The 9.0 update (ads on home screen one) killed performance and now it's slowly been getting worse. I was thinking of just reformatting but have been looking into debloat it as well ( https://florisse.nl/shield/). Anyone have any other tweaks they've done on these? I just use it as a client for Plex and YouTube mainly.

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2007scape·Old School RunescapebyEdgarallenpwn

What are you currently working on in game?

Hi everybody! Just trying to kick off some communication and get this community going.

So what have you been working on/grinding in game recently?

I am coming back from a pretty long break. Played a ton from 2016-21 with a few months here and there since. I got 99 cooking waiting out my 2 weeks at my last jobs and trying to just skill now, working to some afk money methods.

Been grinding rune dragons for some GP while I watch stuff before bed and have been WC and mining at work trying to get to redwoods and amethyst. I am hoping to get my QPC back soon then tackle raids again.

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Why does the drive thru operator change back and forth during my order?

I just had two people take my order in a drive thru. They alternated every question. First person welcomed me and asked what I wanted. The next person asked what size and drink I wanted. The first person came back on and asked if I wanted any cheese sauce then the second person came back on and told me the price. When I got up to the window the 2nd person was the one working the register. This happens from time to time at different places when I get lunch but I can't figure out why it is done.

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stlouis·St. Louis, MO | Gateway to the WestbyEdgarallenpwn

Good piercing shop?

Hey, looking to get my nose pierced sometime in the next few weeks and I am pretty lost. Never had any tattoos or piercings but I want it done correctly. Is there any shops I should go to OR any shops I should avoid? It seems like it is a pretty simple process but I'm a body mod virgin and want to make sure it's done right.

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