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Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

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Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#161

Post by antisthenes »

Wonnk13 wrote: post #148

Sooo many folks here geeking out on their > $1k espresso machines and I'm just sitting here with a burr grinder and a pour over setup for coffee. What am I missing by not drinking espresso?

> What am I missing by not drinking espresso?

Nothing. Some weird online status signalling maybe. Just do what you like.

Personally, I like nursing a cup of hot coffee + milk for a little bit, so I don't drink espresso. It gets cold too quickly unless you chug it immediately, and then it's just disgusting.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#162

Post by notacoward »

lagrange77 wrote: post #138
robmerki wrote: post #36

I spent ~$2700 on a new mattress. I no longer wake up with hip or lower back pain. My sleeps are an order of magnitude better. I ended up with a Tempurpedic. I spent about 2 hours trying every mattress at the store and bought the one that felt best. There’s probably a million hacks to get that mattress cheaper, but I regret nothing. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It also came with 2 “free” memory foam pill…

> memory foam pillows, and my random neck pains are also gone those gave me my random neck pains in the first place :D

Getting the right pillow is a struggle, all right. It has to be just the right depth for me, which is hard to achieve in the first place and harder to maintain even as the pillow and my mattress and my body all age in different ways. It almost seems like truly quantitative pillow personalization is a business opportunity.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#163

Post by bryondowd »

escapedmoose wrote: post #11

I spent a few hundreds dollars lining 2/4 of my office’s walls with tabletops to make one huge L-shaped desk. Lovingly deemed “mega-desk,” it greatly improves my ability to work on multiple and/or large projects. It is also the envy of every WFH person or crafter who enters my house.

I did something similar. Ikea tabletops for the desk surface and back, two legs I found on Amazon to support the very ends, and a bunch of brackets from the local hardware store.

Biggest bonus was being able to set the height of the desktop to fit my short legs. Having a desk top at 26" looks somewhat comical, but now I can sit with my feet flat on the floor, knees at right angles, thighs resting on the seat, elbows and forearms resting on the armrest and hands resting on the desktop/peripherals. Nothing bent at an odd angle and no pressure points. The difference has been way more than expected.

Second best part is having a big L shaped desk with nothing to bang my knees on from one end to the other.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#165

Post by torbica »

alfor wrote: post #48

Powerful computer, good large monitor, quiet wireless mouse and keyboard. We spend so much time in front of a screen, but it’s easy to stay with old tech as it still work and do the same thing, but quality and speed matter. An improvement of a few percent pay for itself many times. Choosing the best with what you work with will push you to also be the best at what you do, it serve as a yardstick to measure your work.

>quiet wireless mouse and keyboard

Which models did you buy? I am looking over 2 months now with unlimited budget and have no luck.

Keyboard:

* standard US layout

* should be really quiet for my night sessions

* available in EU

Mouse:

* big size

* standard 3 buttons and wheel

* quiet clicking and scrolling

I have currently Microsoft Sculpt Keyboard (still working but worn out) and Logitech M330 (too small).

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#166

Post by karakot »

ajkjk wrote: post #67

I'm not the only person saying this: getting an espresso machine was the biggest QoL improvement from one purchase I've ever had. Although you do have to enjoy and be excited about manually making espresso. For me I specifically wanted to go through the process (grinding, tamping, etc) since being able to vary the result, pick the coffee, etc is part of the enjoyment, so a machine that uses Nespresso pods or the like…

I've been drinking good espresso for many years (locally and freshly roasted beans, good grinder and espresso machine, etc), then moved to aeropress and been sticking with americano for the last year. Now, I'm trying not to drink any coffee for a month to check if it's the reason I'm getting extremely anxious lately.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#167

Post by escapedmoose »

bryondowd wrote: post #163
escapedmoose wrote: post #11

I spent a few hundreds dollars lining 2/4 of my office’s walls with tabletops to make one huge L-shaped desk. Lovingly deemed “mega-desk,” it greatly improves my ability to work on multiple and/or large projects. It is also the envy of every WFH person or crafter who enters my house.

I did something similar. Ikea tabletops for the desk surface and back, two legs I found on Amazon to support the very ends, and a bunch of brackets from the local hardware store. Biggest bonus was being able to set the height of the desktop to fit my short legs. Having a desk top at 26" looks somewhat comical, but now I can sit with my feet flat on the floor, knees at right angles, thighs resting on the seat, elbows…

My initial reason for putting my desk together was also height. Too-tall desks were giving me literally debilitating neck and back problems; my neck was so fucked up it caused constant dizziness which took months of physical therapy and daily exercises to only partially alleviate. With a lower desk and a petite-sized office chair, I can sit ergonomically and feel 100%. No dizziness and I don’t even have to do the exercises anymore! Literally life-changing.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#168

Post by dtran »

technics256 wrote: post #98
dtran wrote: post #34

I'm an avid runner and take recovery seriously, but was always skeptical of the price tag of compression therapy like the Normatec Legs recovery boots and similar products. Finally pulled the trigger last year during a sale ($700), and wow, I can't believe I didn't buy these much, much sooner. I use them multiple times a week. They're surprisingly super relaxing to wear while working or watching something, and defini…

A bit unrelated, but I've been a runner my whole life and have been injured the past few months from plantar fasciitis. Curious if you have any recommendations there.

So sorry re: the PF. It sucks. IANAD/IANAPT (physical therapist), but based on my own experience with PF a few years ago and experiences of friends, it's usually a combination of: 1. Rest from running 2. Doing a lot of stretching/strengthening exercises 3. Potentially using orthotics like u/bilsbie suggested. Would make sure to go in an d get a custom fitted one, and it may be tough to wean off off

For #2, the exercises that seemed to help me the most were the various towel stretches, rolling with a lacrosse ball, and doing a lot of calf raises. I even briefly went to a few barre classes on a friends' recommendation, which was kind of fun (and very humbling), but probably helped because we did tons of calf raises with what I thought were tiny weights, but was super challenging.

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#169

Post by gnicholas »

slt2021 wrote: post #159
gnicholas wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you wear in terms of safety equipment?

I dont wear any safety gear, because (1) I dont speed, (2) I know and feel my board enough to be safe, (3) monitor battery and dont ride below 10-15%, (4) I can roll/run it out if anything happens. but newbie riders should at least wear a helmet, and install fangs to protect themselves from nosediving. These are a must, I would say

Thanks for the info! What do you mean by not speeding? How fast feels safe on well-paved residential streets, streets with traffic, etc.?

Re: Ask HN: What $500-2500 product improved your 2022

#170

Post by slt2021 »

gnicholas wrote: post #169
slt2021 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont wear any safety gear, because (1) I dont speed, (2) I know and feel my board enough to be safe, (3) monitor battery and dont ride below 10-15%, (4) I can roll/run it out if anything happens. but newbie riders should at least wear a helmet, and install fangs to protect themselves from nosediving. These are a must, I would say

Thanks for the info! What do you mean by not speeding? How fast feels safe on well-paved residential streets, streets with traffic, etc.?

Most nosedives happen at around 19-20 mph, I usually dont drive faster than 13-15.

Also depends on the weight, if you are tall&heavy, you should drive even slower.

Also nosedives happen if you just plain accelerate on flat ground with flat stance, I prefer to “carve” and alternate weight between sides of the wheel. That way you can decrease power required to move (because of decreased contact area and decreased rolling resistance)

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