My city dismantled our little skate park around 2022, and my wife and I were kinda sad to see it go.

The city then built a whole new one in its place that’s at least ten times the size with lots of lighting. We see tons of skaters of all ages there all the time. It’s really cool and I’m really happy they did it.

Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to come across aggressively. I get a little fired up at the thought of crossing a huge, fast road, and it doesn’t help that cars are way bigger and drivers seem way worse these days.

No question bikes are the best way to get around in a densely populated area. My wife and I stayed in a condo in a building that housed a Target (Newmark Tower) when we vacationed in Seattle a couple months ago. If I could afford it, I’d buy that condo and live that way. We rented a car while we were there, but we barely drove it. It was genuinely liberating not needing it. We rode the monorail. We took the bus from time to time. We climbed a stupidly steep hill to get dinner one night. It was awesome.

But man, I live about a mile and a half from the grocery store and I refuse to bike there for the simple fact that there are way too many fast, wide roads to have to cross to get there, and there are zero bike lanes along the way. Unless you’re on the college campus, everything here is built for the convenience of the car at the detriment of literally everyone else.

And if OP also lives in the burbs, I reckon their situation is pretty similar.

Again, sorry that I came across aggressively. I didn’t intend to get so riled up about it.

Big talk Unfortunately, that’s a huge ask if you’ve never crossed a six lane stroad on foot. The American transit system is often downright hostile to anyone not in a car. It can be goddamn terrifying. Adding: If OP can get around safely and feasibly on a bike, this is great advice.

Otherwise, there are ways to cut down on car costs if you need one. What car you own matters. Get something extremely common that never breaks. A 1998 Camry or Corolla are probably two of the most solid cars money can buy and junkyards are full of them. Parts are cheap and available.

Learning to do your own basic maintenance will also save you lots of money.

• A dealer might charge sixty bucks to swap a cabin air filter. It takes one minute and a replacement for my Honda Civic is eight dollars on Amazon. Same story with the engine air filter.
• Check your oil and transmission dipsticks every once in a while for level and condition.
• Check your brake fluid level and clarity.
• Tire pressures are on the inside of the driver door jamb. Learn how to properly inflate your tires, including the spare.
• If your car came with a scissor jack, a tire iron, and a compact spare, you can rotate your own tires in 30 minutes without buying any tools.
• On an inline four cylinder engine, spark plugs are often on the top of the head, below a cover, and are insanely easy to replace. Just be aware of torque specs, especially on an aluminum head. A torque wrench can be yours for ten bucks at Harbor Freight.
• Check your lights and blinkers every once in a while and learn how to replace bulbs. This is important on older cars that use halogen and incandescent lamps. A tail light is a few bucks, takes 15 minutes to replace, and will probably save you from a ticket.

Learning how to replace some parts is also a big plus and parts stores will often lend you small tools for some jobs free of charge.

Many states also offer discounted rates on yearly registration for older cars. In Oklahoma, it costs me $26 a year to tag my '97 Honda.

Finally, get a dash cam and the cheapest insurance you can, and drive like you’re on probation and on thin ice with your parole officer.

I did consider the risk I’d lose this crowd by oversharing, but being succint was never my strong suit lol

He is always getting into trouble. He’s 11 years old, and while age has slowed him down some, it’s not made him less curious.

I hope not. We already have a serious mouse problem as it is.

Of course. He headbutts everything though so it’s nothing special

He LOVED the box.

The anti-natalists have a point.

I’ve been playing a lot of Minetest. I have Minecraft, but I really love the old school vibes of Minetest. Plus, there are way too many materials in Minecraft. Minetest is super simple. Love it for that.

I’ve been pining for Stardew Valley again after putting it down for a while. I also started a Thousand Year Door run in August so I might actually finish that. Or maybe some old school Animal Crossing if I’m gonna be couch gaming on the Wii.

I started Earthbound last year, and I’ve really been wanting to sink the time into it, but I really think some kind of handheld emulator would be the best way to experience it. I’ve got an old PSP I think would make a great handheld NES/SNES emulator.

I’ve also been wanting to revisit the original PS1 Resident Evil trilogy, which I have on my PS3.

tbh I’m spoiled for choice and I don’t know where to start lmao

I, for one, support a trans person’s right to burn it all to the fucking ground.

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I gave my brother my Sandy Bridge laptop that got me through college. New battery and charger and it’s all set. The 1366x768 resolution doesn’t render pages very nicely anymore, though.

My wife’s 2019 16" MPB is running pretty great. Probably got another 5 years of life left in it. She uses it to watch YouTube and play Sims 4.

My 2016 Acer Aspire V3-372T is hanging in there running Debian. 60 FPS YouTube videos are getting to be too much for it anymore. I may have to put the old girl to rest one of these days.

But hey, it does play Minetest pretty flawlessly.

It’s the State tree of Oklahoma. When my neighbors’ redbud starts making pods, I’m gonna snag a bunch, refrigerate them over winter, then scarify and try to get a few to germinate the following spring. It takes probably 5 or so years to start getting flowers, but I really love everything about these trees, not just their awesome flowers. The heart shaped leaves they develop in summer are so cute.

Huh. I just Ctrl+P before the paywall comes up. Then I can print to a PDF and view it the way it was meant to be.

At least it was a sock and not a coconut.

Far as I know, they still make sewing machines; they just don’t sell them in the States.

Lamborghini started out making tractors.

My parents had a Mitsubishi television about 15 years ago.

Coleco started life as the Connecticut Leather Company.

And it’ll never fail to amuse me how Michelin tells you where to find the best restaurants on the planet.

This was more of a one-off. My wife wanted the projector for other projects, but she was testing it out here. We usually throw these vids up on the TV, which is just out of reach for the both of them. But the TV is only 65". The projection was probably close to 12’ diagonally.

Anyway, to answer your question directly, none.

Still rocking my Nintendo Wii! I mostly play GameCube games on it, but I do have Brawl, Mario Kart, Skyward Sword, and Galaxy 1 & 2. For GameCube, I have Sunshine, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, NFS Underground 1 & 2, Double Dash, Thousand Year Door, Melee, Luigi’s Mansion, Animal Crossing, and Burnout.

It’s also got Homebrew so I play SNES on it too. Been running Earthbound lately. I loved Undertale, but all this time, I’ve never played Earthbound, despite knowing about it for the last 20 years. I even snagged NES Monopoly, which is the only way I could get my wife to play Monopoly with me lol

Anyway, I needed batteries for my keyboard and it takes some 8 hours to charge them (good old nickel batteries, hey?) so I robbed the batteries out of my Wiimote. I need to put them back already.