Spyke

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So, who or what ruined Christmas this year?

It's not "ruined" but my 3 week old daughter has been particularly cranky today, she refuses to go to sleep despite multiple feeding sessions, diaper changes, and attempts at burping. I'm already tired because I took most of last night's shifts, so I'm glad we're not leaving the house. It's a bit of a bummer because I usually love everything about Christmas (the music, the lights, the food, the presents) and we are pretty much missing all of that this year. I can't wait to make up for it in future years though!

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Question for those who have read them: is the whole *The Expanse* series good?

I think the first half of book 4 dipped a bit in quality due to some weaker characters, but the bonkers second half more than made up for it (and the TV version improved on that particular book, IMO).

The show ends on book 6, which means you miss out on pretty much the entire third act of the series. I'd say it's worth finishing just to get some closure on some of the unresolved loose ends.

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US sees largest COVID wave since omicron

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I mean, it provides more protection, not immunity. I got boosted in October but I was pregnant and thus immunocompromised. I got it in November but none of the rest of the family did... We hadn't been leaving the house for anything but groceries and even that was enough. My daughter was born at the tail end of symptoms so here's hoping she got a good dose of antibodies to protect her until she's old enough to be vaccinated herself.

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Cable lobby to FCC: Please don’t look too closely at the prices we charge

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When we moved into this house, the prior owners had a hookup to AT&T that was max 50 mbps for $50/month. We kept getting told that At&T fiber was coming "soon" to the area, but the truth is that we live in a neighborhood with a lot of old people who don't need/know about fiber and there was no incentive for them to bring it to our street (the biggest kick in the balls was that it was available a couple blocks away). So we got a Comcast hookup that has served us well for a couple of years, for $75 a month (my only gripe of course being that we never got the speed we paid for). Well, they just upped the price by $5 a month and fiber has finally arrived in the form of Fidium, so we're saying good riddance to Comcast as well.

This is probably the first time ever that I've had more than 1 viable option available to me, and the competition is probably why Comcast was cheaper for us than for my parents living in a Comcast only area. We have no brand loyalty, we'll switch service the minute we get a better deal. But these companies are able to maintain their shitty practices because most people don't have options.

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Meta Threads engagement has dropped off since red-hot debut, tracking firms say

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This is the same reason I uninstalled the Facebook app eons ago. It got so bad, every 3rd post was an ad or a "suggested page" and the option to go to my preferred view (sort by most recent, friends only) was buried in 4 layers of clicks. I was able to get around this for a while by bookmarking the "most recent" feed on the mobile site but that now just redirects to the front page. I don't even look at Facebook any more, I just keep it around because I still get event invitations.

But of course, the developers are going to get the completely wrong message from this dropoff in engagement...

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US women are stocking up on abortion pills, especially when there is news about restrictions

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I had an extremely drama free pregnancy and I'm still healing 6 weeks later. The hemorrhoids in particular fucking suck because it's painful for hours afterwards every time I poop, even with taking stool softener. I have an extremely generous maternity leave policy and I work a desk job so I'm able to take plenty of time to fully recover. I can't even imagine how a warehouse or retail worker is able to manage, and their leave policy probably isn't nearly as generous either.

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Justifying purchasing a weather station

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Honestly moisture sensors would be nice to have later, but you don't need to start with that. A smart irrigation timer from companies like Rachio will be just fine for the begining. It adjust the watering schedule based on current weather conditions so you don't have to make manual changes from season to season.

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Buyers worldwide go for bigger cars, erasing gains from cleaner tech. EVs would help.

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Automakers also just aren't making enough small EVs, and we can't afford/don't want a bigger one. We want a small, efficient about-town car that we can use for doing groceries and going downtown. We both work mostly from home, and the only reason we were even considering another car is because we have a kid on the way and might sometimes need 2 cars to split between errands and kid duties. We'll just stick to our current, fully paid off car for now and wait either until the prices for new cars drop or the battery technology improves so I feel better about buying a used EV.

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A book recommendation from Google Bard

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Fair warning, Rothfuss hasn't touched the Kingkiller Chronicles in a long time and there's no indication if he will ever finish it. (My husband delights in taunting his mom by sending her articles about whatever project Rothfuss is currently working on that's not the Kingkiller Chronicles)

You have a very similar taste in literature to me so I'd like to offer for your consideration:

  • The Expanse series by S.A. Corey (the show adaptation is also excellent)

  • Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (first in a series but that's the only one I've read so far)

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Moving to Sacramento in February or March from Oklahoma for work

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I don't have suggestions as to the location of the commercial space (I'd tentatively suggest Arden Arcade, but definitely scout about because some areas are super sketch), but the comment re traffic is spot on. Wherever the office ends up, try to find housing nearby if you don't want to be stuck in traffic for an hour or more trying to get home (when it would take 20 minutes at other times of the day). Light rail can be an alternate option to driving if you're lucky on the start/end points of your commute.

You can choose from a whole variety of housing experiences in the Sacramento metro area, from apartments in the middle of downtown to houses on the outskirts of downtown to living outside of the grid entirely in the suburbs. Heck, one of my coworkers chose to skip the city entirely and buy an old farmhouse 45 minutes away in a more rural area.

With a kid, I'd definitely do your research about schools in the area, as there are a few to choose from. Elk Grove school district is excellent, Sac Unified not so much (although it will vary from school to school). There are others too that I don't know very much about. Fair Oaks had some controversy regarding a racist homecoming float. Rocklin passed a policy requiring teachers to notify parents if students are using pronouns/names different from what's on their birth certificate.

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[Discussion] How do you store/organize your recipes?

I use Copy Me That because it's easy to quickly save recipes from the phone without having to do any formatting, but I've now run into an issue of having too many recipes that I've never actually made lol.

I think I might try to use one of the other methods mentioned here to collate my tried and true recipes into a digital cookbook and continue to use the app for archiving things to try.