81–90 of 618 posts
Gym membership. Without changing my diet, I lost 30 lbs and became much stronger. With further diet changes and a little bit of walking, I am closing in on 50 lbs lost while continuing to gain strength in every major movement pattern. I.e., I am probably losing little or no muscle. Waterpik. Flossing for people who don't like to floss. 5k retina monitor. It made me fall in love with using a computer all over again.
Under $1000: An Ooni pizza oven. It's a relatively low-stakes investment and you can produce some pretty phenomenal pizzas after you get over your first few "catastrophe calzones". Just a nice weekend dad hobby.
A ChatGPT subscription. It has certainly changed the way I work on projects.
First visit to a physical therapist for my back. I was in pain and for all intents and purposes, crippled; couldn't walk much, getting out of the chair hurt. I couldn't stand straight. I put it off for 3 years because I'm stupid and I got overweight. The first visit they showed me exercises that fixed it in a few days. Don't put these things off, I wish I had those 3 years back.
Under $1000
Apple Watch to help me lose weight and get my heart healthy. The gamification of it works for me, I've "closed my rings," every day since I got it.
Getting old sucks.
Under $100: 1) A bidet! Got one in the pandemic when toilet paper was scarce and I wanted to be more efficient, but now I'll never go back. The Tushy ones are good. 2) A safety razor & accessories. I get a cheaper, closer, less irritating shave, and I get to customize every part of it. This can certainly be a rabbithole you spend a lot of money on, but you can get a solid customized starter kit for under $100 that wi…
- Bidet - just a basic one that plugs into the existing water line. Everyone in my house makes fun of me for it, but after a year with it, using TP feels barbaric.
- Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven. There might be other brands that are just as good, but it's essentially a small electric oven I can use outdoors. I started baking small loaves of sourdough almost daily, and use it occasionally for pizza, chicken, or smoked meat. I'm reluctant to use the indoor oven (especially in summer) because it heats the house so much, plus I'm mindful of my electricity usage.
It's heavenly.
I also love my bluetooth headphones with Noise Cancellation. I can be in my own world at the gym, at work, at the coffeeshop.
No need to remember which email address I used to sign up, which of my passwords I used, what special character I added... It makes 2FA a breeze. It works seamlessly across my computers, browsers, phones...
I also use it to store API keys, my social security number, passport number, IBAN, copies of documents I need to keep handy..
The added security is just the icing on the cake.
Under $1,000, but just barely over $100: Semi-recumbent stationary bike that fits under my standing desk. I've never been coordinated enough to get the hang of walking on the treadmill and typing, but pedaling slowly all day I can do! I've lost 45 lbs so far this year, and adding up the calorie estimate for each day (I've been tracking) and dividing by the 3500 calories people say are in a pound, about 20 of them hav…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you mean Bite-Away, then yes. I bought mine with leftover FSA funds and as far as I can tell it works, placebo effect or not. https://www.bite-away.com/en/
I got the much smaller usb-c keyring Heat-It, and works so great . Previous submission, https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/12/usb-c-cures-mosquito-bites/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41548336 There was a study recently on it, which feels fairly encouraging. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3257884/ The real winner this year was the $30 (rainbow, because it's cool) mosquito net. It's been shockingly hard se…