weather tools i use that don't suck
It is usually true - other than just by looking outside - that the only thing you really need to get weather information is a weather station and/or a big 'ol outdoor thermometer.
What those tools can't do however is tell me a forecast, nor give me any information from a significant distance.
When I was a kid, there were only three ways to get a weather forecast. Television, radio, and newspaper. And no, I never once ever used the newspaper for this information. TV was the way I got the forecast unless the power was out, in which case a battery-powered AM/FM radio was used instead.
Speaking of radios, thankfully there are plenty of choices for emergency weather radios still for sale today.
The way I get my weather forecast info now is either on the computer or the phone.
I'll start with these two sites: radar.weather.gov and weather.gov. These two are bookmarked on both computer and phone because they load the fastest and give me the info I want quick.
Yes, there are other weather web sites and apps that are fancier. They suck. On the phone, every single weather app is slow to load, pesters me to buy some "premium" service I don't want and makes it REALLY difficult to scroll and zoom. The government run weather sites, while simpler, just work.
One that works directly in Terminal is wttr.in.
On the command line in Linux, I type this:
curl wttr.in/mytown
...where I replace mytown with the city I live in, and ta-da, current conditions and 3-day forecast. The information is pulled from wttr.in and shown directly in Terminal.
Yes, you can also get the same info just by typing in the address wttr.in/yourtown (replace yourtown with your city) in a browser.
If for whatever reason the town name you use doesn't work with wttr.in, replace with the nearest bigger city or an airport code. You'll eventually find something that works with it.
I've been running Linux for about a year now (I'll be writing about that soon), and yes I have the ability to use a weather widget in the taskbar just like Windows or MacOS. Heck, I remember seeing weather widgets even as far back as Windows 95...
...and I've never liked them because they always have a propensity to "get stuck".
I'll explain.
I install the widget, and it initially works. Okay, great. But then later on, the report doesn't change. It will still be showing information from 6 hours ago and it didn't auto-update itself. Now I have to either force-update the widget or outright restart it. That's annoying.
This is not a Windows, Linux or Mac thing. All the computer weather widgets do this. I've never known any one that didn't, so I just quit using them.
Weather widgets may look nice but I don't trust them. I've always found it better to load up weather sites manually, because I know the information will be current.
how i deal with being sick
I've been sick all week. Caught a bug. Is it flu? No idea. Maybe.
I don't get sick often. Maybe once or twice yearly. But when I do, it hits hard and there is a routine I go through to allow my body to heal itself.
I'll try my best not to make what I'm about to describe sound gross.
Tissues
I go through a ton of these when sick, but I can't just use any generic tissue. The generic stuff is too scratchy and can cause me nosebleeds. True, I could use tissues with lotion added (like Puffs Plus), but those feel weird. My go-to tissue is Kleenex Ultra Soft.
For whatever reason, Kleenex uses the absolute ugliest graphic design I've ever seen on a tissue box. It's this weird tropical/floral/jungle thing. Whatever. Those tissues agree best with my nose, so that's what I go with.
Pain relief
When I get sick, I get sore. Fortunately, this is something where I can use generic pain reliever, so I just get whatever ibuprofen is available that's cheap. The 200mg pills work just fine and I only need to take one every 6 hours or so. In fact, I would get 100mg ibuprofen, but unfortunately that's only the chewable kid's stuff, so I just use 200.
I don't need the super strong pain reliever like 650mg acetaminophen. That stuff is for things like arthritis (which I don't have) and is way too much for soreness just from a bug.
Coughing
Two things here. NyQuil Cold & Flu and a big ol' bag of Halls Cough Drops, lemon flavored.
NyQuil basically comes in two versions. Red and green. The red one works and always has. The green one, a "nighttime" formula, has never worked for me. I know that if it's green and I take it, two things happen. Jack and squat. With the red stuff I actually do get some relief, but not the green.
And where the drops are concerned, yeah I pop those like crazy when I'm stuffed up, usually two at a time.
Clearing the nose
A couple of things.
Neti pot. Salt water through the nasal passageways really does work.
Second, nasal aspirator, but not used in the intended way. These rubber bulbs are jokingly known as "snot suckers" and used for infants. That's not how I use it. I run some warm water into the bathroom sink, press the bulb, dip into the water, fill the bulb, hold one side of my nose closed, breathe out slowly, and while doing that spray water into the other side to rinse it out. I then repeat for the other side. The breathing out is to prevent the water from going up the nose too far and causing choke.
Why do this?
When I'm sick, it's all too easy to keep using tissues to the point where the skin inside the nostril gets irritated enough to bleed, even with the Kleenex I use. I can't just let my nose run, nor can I leave anything drying up in there, so periodically spraying warm water clears everything out without skin irritation. A light pat dry is all that's required afterward.
Dizziness
This is just general disorientation from being sick, a.k.a. "feeling woozy" or light dizziness.
The cause of this is my ears getting blocked up, so I have to do my best to keep the ear canals clear.
I have an eye dropper with bottle for this task, and do it in two rounds.
First round: Hydrogen peroxide in the bottle, fill the dropper, lie on my side, fill the ear canal, wait 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn over, drain the ear into a towel for 5 minutes. Repeat for the other ear.
Second round: In the bathroom, head over the sink, hot (but not ridiculously hot) water in the eye dropper, tilt head to one side, fill the ear canal, wait 10 seconds, tilt head the other way, drain. Repeat 3 to 5 times. Do the same for the other ear.
If you've never done the hydrogen-peroxide-in-ear thing before, yes it will bubble and may itch slightly while the peroxide is doing its thing. But it does a very good job at loosening wax buildup, which is the whole point.
I do not do this every day while sick because it would cause too much in-ear irritation. Only every 2 days at most.
Doing this does not clear up sinus pressure, and I know this. I usually do still have some very slight dizziness from sinus pressure while sick, but at least the ears are clear and aren't adding to the dizziness. I'll take whatever advantage I can get.
Keeping the throat clear
The cough drops keeps the phlegm out for the most part, but I also make a point to brush my teeth more due to more mouth-breathing when the nose is stuffed up, gargle with hot water, and do something else...
...get outside. Even just getting outside for 5 minutes to get in some fresh air does help out quite a bit.
It usually takes a week before everything is cleared out
Some can get through a cold in just 2 or 3 days. I'm not one of those people. It takes a solid week - and by that I mean 7 days and not just 5 - before that cold/flu/whatever is totally gone.
During this time, I get the runny nose, soreness, coughing, dizziness, sense of taste and/or smell gets all jacked up, fatigue, sweats, all of it. I get run through the ringer.
Over the course of that week, there's usually only one day where I'm barely functional to the point where I can't even hold a conversation with someone. I never know when that one day will be, but I always know the day after I feel much better and am on the road to recovery.
Is getting sick now worse since I'm older?
I am a middle aged Gen X, so are things worse for me now when I get sick?
No.
What I have now that I didn't before is knowledge. That nasal aspirator thing I mentioned above? I wish I knew about that thing years ago. Hydrogen peroxide and hot water in the ears? I wish I knew about that years ago too.
How did I deal with being sick in my 20s and 30s? I suffered, that's how. I just dealt with it. Yeah, I had the red NyQuil and maybe I had the cough drops, but that was it.
I know better now. A lot better. It makes my once-or-twice-a-year sickness easier to weather.
Gem guitar from the 90s: G&L ASAT III
It's not the Strat-style pickup configuration and electronics that really make this great but rather the bridge.
Take the G&L ASAT III from the late 1990s. It does not load strings from the rear but is rather a top loader, and things get better from there.
What G&L calls this is the saddle lock bridge, which is more than just a big ol' hunk of metal. Much more. That bridge makes for the most ridiculously easy palm muting and never feels uncomfortable to rest the palm on for regular picking.
Also, what makes this thing ring out like a beast is a hex screw adjustment that literally presses the bridge saddles together so everything connects and therefore vibrates as if it were a single piece.
And because this is a top loader, string bending is super easy even at full string tension.
Nice.
Is the switch a 5-way? Yes it is. Looks like a Tele but switches like a Strat does. Those G&L pickups aren't weak, either. You can see just by looking at it that it has the MFD (Magnetic Field Design) G&L pickups in it.
When it comes to '90s guitars that really tried to genuinely advance into the modern era, ASAT III was definitely one of them.
"I don't want a guitar that old. Is there an alternative that's new?"
Yes, see Godin Radium.
9 volt battery prices are stupid
The main reason people buy 9V batteries are for smoke alarms. This has been the way of things for what, 40 years now?
In guitar and bass player circles, the 9 volt is used for pedal effects (a lot of BOSS pedals use a 9V directly under the footswitch), acoustic-electric guitars with a preamp and active electric bass guitars.
Regardless of where you use the 9 volt battery, there's basically only one rule you need to follow so you don't get ripped off with these things.
Never buy them in a store.
Either get yourself some Amazon Basics 9V batteries, or industrial grade Duracell Procell or Energizer Industrial and call it a day.
Since I know people are going to ask, I'll answer this up front:
What is the difference between a regular 9 volt and industrial grade?
The answer is drain rate. Industrial grade doesn't last longer, but you will get a consistent drain rate. What that means is that every battery in an industrial pack will act the same from the beginning of useful life to end. With regular 9V batteries there may and probably will be inconsistent drain rates. One battery will last a long while, the next out of the pack may drain quicker and have a shorter life, and the next may be "so-so" with its drain rate.
Does that mean you should only buy industrial grade? Only if you feel it's worth it. I'm honestly okay with the Amazon Basics brand.
It should NOT cost 13 bucks for two 9V batteries at the grocery store...
...yet it does. You will spend $6.50 per 9V battery if fool enough to buy 9V batteries from a local grocery store.
The online price whittles that down to under $2 per 9V battery if going with the lowest price. Yes, that means it's literally 70% less buying packs of 9V batteries online instead of in-store, and you get a better, newer battery out of it, even if going with Amazon Basics.
How long do 9V batteries last unused in storage? Usually about 5 years.
Chances are likely however that the year printed on an industrial grade 9V is probably more accurate than that of a non-industrial. I can't prove that as I've never tested it, but it's most likely true.
Personally, for smoke alarms I would use industrial grade just to be on the safe side. For everything else, regular grade.
Fender JV Modified '50s Strat at almost $600 off!
This is an absolutely outstanding way to get into a very proper Fender Stratocaster HSS, no question about it. And yeah, I had to post this one because it's too good of a deal to pass up.
This guitar did cost 4 figures to get it, but at the moment, the Fender JV Modified '50s Stratocaster HSS can be had in the 3's.
Several things make this a very attractive buy. The neck is that sought-after "soft V" shape, but with a modern and preferred 9.5" fingerboard radius instead of 7.25". The middle and neck pickups are jangly and vintage-voiced, and the bridge side humbucker has the addition of a push-pull on Tone 2 to split to single coil. This is a tone monster.
As far as I can tell, this guitar only came in sunburst and that's it - but what a sunburst it is. The JV means Japan Vintage, meaning yes, it was made in Japan and they really know how to do a proper sunburst finish correct.
Was there ever anything wrong with this guitar? That's the crazy part. Not a thing. I think the only reason these didn't move more is because it's HSS and only came in sunburst...
...which is why I say this is a fantastic way to get into a very nice HSS Strat. I'm not ordinarily into HSS guitars at all, but I genuinely like this. It has the mods I'd personally put into one. And the zebra style humbucker plays with the dark part of the burst nicely. It looks very high-end, and to be honest, it is. Grab one if you've got the cash for it, as I'm sure they'll move quick with that giant discount - with free shipping, I might add.