MetaFilter

Cost/Benefit of United Club Pass

FWIW, the passes seem to be $59 now, which skews the math worse a bit.

My flight got rescheduled, and I think they priced it at $50 as part of the "sorry we fucked up your carefully planned life" thing. But yes, they are normally $59. I poked around their website a LOT and found that $50 deal only available directly through the "reschedule your rescheduled flight" portion. Maybe if I do click through on that I'll find the price is… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 4:58 PM on October 1, 2021

This has been a really great discussion and I feel I know what to expect. I did indeed get hooked up, thank you artificialard. (The offer was made publicly, so I don't think I'm betraying anything here.)

I'll check it out, maybe it'll be a space for me. A clean bathroom will be welcome, I'm sure. I have surprisingly never flown through ORD before so this will be interesting to begin with.

Thank you, all of you, for your answers here. I'd start… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:45 PM on October 6, 2021

How do I unbundle my Disney+ account?

I had a friend go round and round with D+ customer service trying to get some kind of pro rate on an unused portion of a plan while he changed plans or whatever, and in the end the easy solution was the cancel/resub route. You might want to wait until close to the end of your current subscription, so you don't double pay for a half-month of D+ or something.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 9:47 AM on July 5, 2021

Wildflower identificaiton

If you have a smartphone, you might enjoy having the app Seek, which uses your camera to identify plants and animals and stuff for you. I love having it on my phone.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 3:31 PM on May 2, 2021

Strategies for talking to hospital about errors in bill

A bit of an update -- I called the insurance company and talked to someone there for a bit, and they put me on hold and called the hospital, and then looped me in to the call so I could explain the billing discrepancies I'd found to everyone. I'm supposed to hear back in a month, but should call in a week to see if anything has been decided quickly.

Thanks for your advice here. I'll write more if I have more to write. :)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:14 PM on April 16, 2021

Summer Dresses for Men

I was going to suggest a sarong. I've worn one when camping with a bunch of hippies and it was freeing and delightful for a weekend. Couple one with a linen shirt and you'd have a nicely breezy loose outfit.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:47 PM on March 12, 2021

Can anyone help me understand what is going on with my body?

I've been wondering if this is an allergic reaction to something but there is nothing obvious to track for that. It is so specific and really is only every like 6-8 hours... it seems like a reaction, but I have no idea.

Giving me language to help me talk to a doctor about this would also be helpful. My current doctor is much better than my previous at actually listening to me, but having doctor language is helpful too.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:19 PM on July 27, 2020

I don't consume much dairy at all and did not consume any dairy in any meaningful level on Sunday, the day before this attack started at noon.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:28 PM on July 27, 2020

And this is like 10 levels beyond hacking and coughing and spitting in the bathroom. I did not capture any of it to measure it, but I'd say I got rid of maybe 1/2 gallon of mucous across the various expressions of this particular session. I found myself in wonder at the quantity that I was bringing up and spitting out.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:30 PM on July 27, 2020

This is absolutely not normal, and I have talked to my doctor about it but I might have not had the right language to talk about it. My PTSD is a bit of a conversion disorder, in that I don't feel panic while my body is doing panic-related things to me. It's complicated. But this mucous-puking feels like it's maybe not a part of all that. I've had it often enough I'm not making any emergency calls about it. I've talked to my doctor, he thinks (at this point) it's all a part of this other thing,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:46 PM on July 27, 2020

I've been having these symptoms for months, it's not COVID. I'm probably at risk for having a bad COVID reaction but if I had caught the bug it wouldn't have shut itself off this evening and now be entirely non-existent.

But I can look into getting COVID tested. I have zero symptoms (not a dry cough, no temperature), but maybe I can do that without paying much for it?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 11:11 PM on July 27, 2020

I will be contacting my doctor this week to try to get an appointment of whatever sort we are allowed to do these days. And I will be requesting tests. It sounds like chest x-rays at least might be worthwhile. That can see a lot of things like infections and pneumonia and stuff. I'll ask about other tests, like for pertussis? I'll ask if he wants me to save some goo from my next episode for lab testing. I have a couple of other things to ask that have been mentioned in private, too.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:07 PM on July 28, 2020

So, after a lot of false starts and difficulty getting doctors to really listen to me, my symptoms got worse over time and I finally ended up in the emergency room to be diagnosed with pancreatitis. It's a diagnosis that makes a lot of sense of what I've been going through over time. Now it's time to heal from this.

I hope the is the only thing that's wrong, but it seems to really fit the bill pretty well.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:44 PM on February 22, 2021

Repairing a broken tub faucet

Have you tried googling for YouTube videos about this? I did a search for "replacing plastic part of tub faucet" and got some videos. i can't tell what really applies to your situation or not, but refining your search might lead you to gold.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:44 PM on December 29, 2020

Is the plastic glued to plastic? or is it glued to metal? If it's not plastic/plastic you might be able to get something you can use to make the adhesive release.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 5:27 AM on January 2, 2021

Looking for simple, customizable white noise machine

I run a box fan in my room overnight for ambient noise. I guess it could be positioned closer to where your head is or further way or aimed at different things for different effects. I know this isn't at all what you're really asking for, but after trying out a bunch of apps and mp3s and all kinds of things, I keep coming back to this because it works for me.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:14 PM on November 30, 2020

How to take good notes?

It's may seem basic, but during the lecture listen for phrases like "the three things we notice here" or "there are several parts to this" and then listen for sort of main bullet point statements about those things. Whatever else is said about those things will be explanation, you can jot that down or not, but write down that main statement to at least be a clear jog to your memory.

A good lecturer will basically signal to you everything that is… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:52 PM on September 30, 2020

'Amiably peopled' novels

I feel compelled to mention Douglas Coupland? His novels seem largely plotless (they aren't) and can be very episodic and are generally people hanging out trying to figure out life. Life After God is a favorite of mine -- less a novel and more a collection of events and reminisces.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 5:14 PM on August 30, 2020

Campfire bonding games

If you really want to get into pen and paper, you could do an Exquisite Corpse writing exercise, starting one with each person so in the end you have six finished pieces each with six sections to the writing.

This involves each person having a pen and paper, and each person writes a sentence or a few sentences on their paper, and then folds it down so only the last line or two can be seen, and passes it to the next person in the circle. The next person continues the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:27 AM on August 15, 2020

"oomph" for effort

I make a lot of body movement sounds. Most of them I think are sort of balancing stress somehow, similar to what was described up-page about balancing blood pressure. I grunt and groan a lot. My job involves me lifting moderately heavy objects (mostly 30-60 lbs) regularly during the day and if the lift is particularly cumbersome I will usually emit a short vocalization while I bring the weight/balance under control.

I don't think it's anything to be ashamed about.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 3:12 PM on August 9, 2020

How to subvert isolation into peaceful solitude

There are a lot of games you can download for your phone which are more distraction engines than major sagas or whatever. I've been playing Peggle for a while on my phone, and it's been a nice thing to have to pull me away for a little while without being a commitment where I'd be upset if I were torn away by being on call.

I'm not much of a gamer, but that's been fun to have, and it's entirely offline. Maybe there are other things like that you can get that are offline… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 4:04 PM on August 2, 2020

Okay, and also, what about using your time for some journaling? Or downloading a mindfulness app? If you're stuck in a space like that, using it for self-reflection and smoothing out of the wrinkles isn't a bad thing to think about.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 4:06 PM on August 2, 2020

Maytag Induction Electric Range slow to heat, can I fix it?

YouTube is a giant repository of helpful instruction videos on how to accomplish projects like this, so once you get your replacement parts ordered you'll have a great tutor to help you complete your project.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 12:57 PM on July 3, 2020

My twitter has become a freakish half-brained, out of sync thing

Have I been hacked? What do I need to do? What is going on?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 11:18 PM on June 23, 2020

I had tweets deleted before my eyes. This whole situation is so bizarre. I feel personally targeted by I cannot imagine why. The disparage feeds between my phone and desktop is especially weird.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 11:28 PM on June 23, 2020

I am running zero scripts for plug-ins on my browser. My devices are both showing "latest tweets", because I want my twitter to be a reverse-chronological stream of people that I follow. The missing images never fill in -- the page is just static once it loads with blank images.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:22 AM on June 24, 2020

I can't seem to get a shift-reload to work. I cleared my cookies and when I got logged back in, the same result as before, no change.

My twitter is rather image dependent, so this is sort of killing the experience for me. I hope it gets resolved somehow.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:33 PM on June 24, 2020

it all works fine on my phone, BTW, so it can't be something to do with my account. It's twitter fucking with their desktop service somehow. Yay.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:35 PM on June 24, 2020

And... it works on Firefox. So it's an issue with Safari.

Thanks for the help here. I guess I need to let Twitter and Safari work each out. I don't know what more I can do other than restart my browser and clear my website cache of everything twitter related.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:49 PM on June 24, 2020

New iPhone SE 2020. Essential apps?

Why don't you list your needs and people would list best apps for those needs? I mean use the apps you need and maybe not make some n number of apps your need.

I've never really been friends with my smartphone in the past (my previous phone was pretty horrible), so I don't have any real needs when it comes to a smartphone. I don't even know what my needs might be. My new phone is really quite nice, and I'm just looking for suggestions about apps that… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:15 AM on May 24, 2020

Yahoo weather (this one’s a love-hate relationship)

Dark Sky is $3 and is a brilliant weather app. Well worth it, and seems to now be Apple exclusive.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:39 AM on May 24, 2020

Tweetbot. For $5, it makes Twitter so much better than the basic app.

Can you describe exactly how it makes it better? I interact with twitter as a reverse timeline of most recent posts with everything turned off that makes it anything other than that. I only interact with tweets I see, I don't go searching for anything to interact with. If Tweetbot is really worth $5, exactly what would it change for my experience to make it better?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:06 PM on May 24, 2020

BYW, congrats on getting the new iPhone SE. I have the original one from 2016 and will probably stay with it for a while longer

I got this phone specifically because it should last me several years of upgrade cycles. Apple is pretty good about that, and them offering a mid-cost phone with this massive processor is great for what I want in a phone.

Thank you, fedward, for all your information about setting up Wallet and how it… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:42 PM on May 24, 2020

And... my credit union doesn't cooperate with Apple Pay. So there's that.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:39 PM on May 24, 2020

I'm finding and downloading apps in this thread and it's fun and thrilling.

One thing I've learned is that you all live a lifestyle involving your phones that is like an entirely foreign culture to me. Apps that tell you when to get sun? Keeping shopping lists? So much stuff I never even thought about using a phone for. Thank you for all your suggestions, and I will keep reviewing things as you keep posting them because this is sort of an amazing window into a life I don't live!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 2:50 PM on May 25, 2020

So many recommendations for Overcast. Also got Lenka, Seek (this app is AMAZING!), Merlin Bird ID, and a couple of other things. I'm still sorting through all the other suggestions to see if they will work for me. This whole thread has been amazing, and I really appreciate all the input!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 3:29 PM on May 25, 2020

One thing about overcast... I have to manually move all my iTunes podcast subscriptions? That's a drag.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 4:00 PM on May 25, 2020

I've pulled in a few more things from here and there. Tydlig is great. Convertible makes things oddly fun. Bord is exactly as advertised, and I like it as a little amuse bouche.

I'm still exploring exactly what I want to do with my phone. I'll continue to consult back here as I integrate other things into my new-found hand computer lifestyle. If other little things come to mind to suggest across time I would welcome finding them here, if you remember.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:23 PM on June 1, 2020

I"m curious about the Duolingo and Babbel divide, and whether it really matters and what are the costs involved. I was once fluent in German and could also use to learn Spanish because it's a major emerging language in the US.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:06 PM on June 3, 2020

So, one interesting thing I'm taking away from this is using Notes to make lists that are of actual things that will be useful, not just for short term storage of information. I hadn't thought of that before.

So, I'm starting to think about this in a serious way, and will try to start some things. That list of lightbulbs is interesting, certainly. If there are things people have to share here about the ways they organize their thoughts or the selections of subject… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 7:55 PM on June 22, 2020

Soup recipes for chemo

THe American Cancer Society publishes (published) a little book called "What to eat when you don't feel like eating."

This book appears to be available to borrow on the Internet Archive. The free preview is lacking everything, but it seems to be there.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:04 PM on May 28, 2020

Thinking about upgrading my cell phone experience

More information: I've never yet been someone to use my phone all the time. My usage as mostly been for texting and weather checking and twitter. I might do more with my phone if I had a better one and didn't pay for data, but I don't see myself streaming movies on it or anything. If that information helps.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 12:02 PM on April 25, 2020

If I get an unlocked phone from Apple but the only SIM card I have is from my TracFone phone and I want to keep my number on a new carrier, how does that exactly play out?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:25 PM on April 25, 2020

I pulled the trigger and have an unlocked iPhone SE coming my way. Should be here mid-May, according to Apple. I do appreciate any and all past and further suggestions about carriers and service plans. I'm sort of new to all of this, having not had a cell phone for years and then only getting one grudgingly and getting one on TracFone. So all this is great information for me.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 12:40 PM on April 26, 2020

My phone from Apple has arrived and now I'm trapped in the morass of making sense of different plans. How do people make choices amongst all this? Maybe I'll just run the iPhone on TracFone for a while until I figure it out.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 9:41 PM on May 14, 2020

So, as a follow-up... I've been researching local plans and will continue doing so, but in the meantime I got a "bring your own phone" SIM card from TracFone and they ported my number and all my already-purchased minutes/texts/data onto my new phone and they even spent time with me on the phone during the process to make sure everything was working (making calls, receiving calls, making/receiving texts, mobile data).

Honestly, it was a level of customer… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:20 AM on May 24, 2020

Please help me like lentils

Lentil rinsing has been covered, but I'm here for the cold salad thing. My husbear makes a thing where he boils lentils for about 20 minutes until al dente and then he combines them with shredded cabbage and mayonnaise and whatever other seasonings one might enjoy (he goes spicy but one could go in any direction) and you could add blue cheese or whatever and you toss the whole thing together and it's one of those things that is great first day and then takes on a different character as it… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:36 AM on May 17, 2020

Songs about authenticity & self acceptance

I have some sort of obscure ones that I love. Janice Robinson - Nothing I Would Change is a giant statement of self acceptance and authenticity. I have loved all of (and highly recommend) her debut album Wild Seed - Wild Flower for decades but the Dionne Farris track Human fits right into what you're looking for.

Likewise India.Arie, whose remarkable album Testimony Vol 1 contains the track There's Hope. (Actually, the whole album again, is a statement of personal power… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:17 PM on April 30, 2020

canadian kids show ear worm

I honestly clicked through onto this thinking it was about some parasitic infestation of children living north of me, but I'm glad to learn it was not, and that the question was resolved.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 8:48 PM on April 1, 2020

Help me find TV/movies featuring smart, capable, complicated women

Oh, Prime Suspect is apparently, all seven seasons, on Prime Video.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:12 AM on March 30, 2020