Best: My wedding. It was low-key and beautiful. The only thing I should have done differently was hire a photographer because the family members who were taking pictures did a shit job.

I’m honestly hesitant to answer the next part. I will with the disclaimer that it contains references to sexual violence. If that’s uncomfortable for you, please accept my apologies and read no further.

Worst: My brother in laws wedding. The ceremony was fine. After that, we stood there for a bit talking to my wife’s dad and step mom. Her dad basically admitted to mollesting one of my wife’s cousins when she was a teenager. He didn’t phrase it as an admission. He said she “accused him” of getting her drunk and assaulting her. And then he laughed it off saying that he couldn’t imagine why anyone would accuse him of something like that.

My poor wife stood there the entire time, speechless; gripping my arm like a vice. We excused ourselves and went back to the car. She cried the entire way to the hotel. One of the few times I’ve ever seen her do that. She said she thought he had only assaulted her. She never imagined he would do that to other girls, otherwise she would have said something.

It took every ounce of restraint in me to keep from knocking his teeth out while he was telling that bullshit story because I knew he had done it but I also knew my wife wouldn’t like it if I made a scene.

The lesson I took away from that experience, one that I try to carefully convey to my kids, is that if you are a victim of sexual assault, please, please, please tell someone. You may not be the first. But you most likely won’t be the last. I know it’s hard. I know it’s painful. I know you wish it had never happened. I don’t blame you. I don’t blame my wife for not telling anyone because I know how painful it was for her.

But here’s the thing. You can’t erase the past. But you might be able to make sure you’re the last victim, if you can find the courage within yourself to speak up.

Dehydrate them. Dehydrated fruit makes for tasty and healthy snacks.

“The Arsonist in the Office” by Pete Havel

Helped me recognize that the incredibly toxic job I was in was not sustainable.

“It’s Your Ship” by D. Michael Abrashoff

Excellent book on leadership. Should be required reading for anyone who manages people.

“Psychopath Free” by Jackson MacKenzie

Most people probably have no idea what it’s like to be in a relationship with someone who has a personality disorder. It can be absolute hell. It certainly was for me. This book provided some good insights but also helped me feel less alone.

There are other books but those are three big ones for me.

being exposed to too much AC

“AC” as in Air Conditioning??

Second this but wanted to add that a remotely mounted fan (one that’s connected to the intake vent through a duct rather than being mounted directly in the ceiling) significantly improves the experience because it cuts down on the noise and minimizes heat losses in winter.

We have a gable mounted attic fan that draws air through the house. 5000 cfm makes for a nice breeze.

Art Vandelay.

What size is your central AC (usually measured in “tons”) and what’s the total area of the space you’re trying to condition? Single story or multiple stories?

Mismanaged. Subsidizing shortfalls in the general fund using funds from the electric utility.

TLDR: The town owns its own electric utility and mismanaged the utility’s funds to the point of leaving the distribution system in severe disrepair.

“We’re on a mission from God.”

Ecclesiastical Art Deco. There are surprisingly few examples of this. Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa is probably the best one.

TBF your job is harder than many others.

Just the laundry and dishes for a family of five is plenty. It never ends. Sigh

Snapchat.

I’ve worked at places where we repurposed old CAT3 cables for network connecting printers, desk phones, environmental sensors, etc. Rare occasions where 10Mbps works just fine. Using that to connect a PC would suck.

Oh yeah? Well, my upcoming AI models pose a higher risk of enabling the discovery of the location of the long-lost Ark of the Covenant, which would [allegedly] make ones armies invincible and impervious to biological weapons.

Invest now!

I’m gonna go with “yes”.

I use Jellyfin with FinAmp for Android. Even supports offline caching.

You’re going to have to define what you mean by “devices.”

Because everyone should live in a poorly constructed cookie cutter house and get into petty fights with their homeowners association the way God intended.

/S

Experienced parrots that are constantly wrong.