u/CountyBrilliant

My son lives and breathes basketball. He's out in the driveway every single day. Rain or shine. The kid is dedicated

But chasing balls after every shot is killing his practice time. He wants a portable shooting machine. I looked at the big name brands and nearly had a heart attack. Some cost as much as a used car. That's just not happening

I found one which is significantly cheaper. Actually, it is within the financial reach of an ordinary family. Of course, it's not the same thing as the $6K machines used in high-end training centers. However, I don't need anything professional

I just want something that works. Something that catches the ball and passes it back so he can get more reps in. Something that holds up to daily use.

Has anyone here actually used them? Does it do the job?

Hey folks, been putting this off forever, our old carpet in the living room is wrecked after 12 years with kids + dog running around (spills everywhere), finally ready to tackle it DYI style over a weekend. Looking at luxury vinyl plank for the waterproof side since we get occasional humidity downstairs. My wife wants something expensive, but i'm thinking of going with a more budget-friendly option and using some really cheap floors for this, they've got decent peachtree classic options around $2.49/sq ft that ship quick, figured for ~650sqft it'll keep us way under 2k total with trim, samples seem cheap too.

Is this a solid budget way to go or am i better off spending more for something that'll last longer like higher end hardwood? any experiences or tips on install would be awesome, especially door transitions and hiding seams. Thanks in advance!

I keep reading about all these federal tax credits and state rebates for installing electric heat pumps, and my central AC is ancient so I'm thinking about pulling the trigger.

But honestly, I am super skeptical about how well these things actually handle a brutal Saint Paul winter. The tech has gotten better, but does an electric heat pump actually keep the house warm when we hit those awful sub-zero stretches in January? Or are people just running them as a combo with a traditional gas furnace for backup?

I noticed McQuillan Bros lists heat pump installations on their site and they've been doing local HVAC here forever, so I assume they know how to engineer them for our weather.

Before I have someone out for an estimate, I wanted to get some real-world feedback from actual locals. If you switched to a heat pump system out here, did your electric bill completely skyrocket in the winter, and did you keep your furnace?

i run a small online shop called purevibe essentials. we sell natural wellness products like organic energy supplements, gentle skincare serums, and eco-friendly yoga accessories. everything is made with simple clean ingredients and we focus on items that help with daily stress and focus. the shop started small last year and now we have about 25 products with new ones added every couple of months.

the website is built on shopify with custom themes for a clean look. we use stripe for payments and klaviyo for email flows. google analytics and facebook pixel are set up to track what people click on. the store works well on mobile too since most orders come from phones.

for ads i used ad generator templates to make short videos for instagram and tiktok. i uploaded product photos added simple text about benefits and let the tool create the clips in a few minutes. it helped show the products in a natural way without needing to film everything myself.

what ad lengths or styles work best for supplement products like ours? how do you track if these short videos actually bring in sales compared to static photos?

thanks ladies and gentlemen for any tips you can share!

Um... okay, so I knew lipedema meant our bodies hold onto a ridiculous amount of fluid, but I didn't realize it was THIS bad.

I recently started a serious push to clear out my stagnant lymph system (doing daily dry brushing, wearing my compression gear religiously, and taking lymphatic drainage food to help things move from the inside out). Well, I stepped on the scale this morning and I am down exactly 7 lbs (about 3.2 kg) in just under 72 hours. Seven. Pounds. In three days.

Before anyone asks-no, my diet didn't change, and I definitely didn't stop drinking water (if anything, I've been running to the bathroom every 20 minutes). It is purely fluid weight that my legs were just hoarding like a dragon. I started at 172 lbs and suddenly woke up at 165 lbs today. But the craziest part isn't even the scale... it's my legs. The heavy, tight, painful pressure around my calves and knees is just... gone? Like, for the first time in years, my knees actually have definition instead of just looking like puffy logs. I measured my thighs and I’ve already lost almost an inch off each side. I feel like crying happy tears. If you're on the fence about focusing heavily on your lymph system because it feels too simple to actually do anything for lipedema... please try it. I had no idea my body was carrying around an entire gallon of trapped water weight just making me miserable.

A lot of people outside Germany seem to have very specific ideas about what Germans are like. Some stereotypes are probably based on reality, while others seem completely outdated.
In your opinion, what's the thing foreigners get wrong most often about Germany or German people? Whether you're German or an expat living there, I'd love to hear your perspective.

Hey fellow parents! My oldest turns 12 next month and has been begging nonstop for his own phone like his life depends on it... He says its just to text us after school n sports but we all know the real plan is Fortnite and YouTube. Weve held off forever because of the cost and the whole "screen time will rot their brain" fear, but now safety feels more important than my sanity.

Been hunting for good quality used iPhones to not break the bank.

Curious what age everyone else caved and gave their kid their first phone? Which ones actually survived the chaos? And how do you stop it turning into a full time screen zombie situation??

Would love your wisdom (and war stories)!

Thanks so much!

I really thought my AC would somehow limp through just a couple more months

It started with little things. Strange noises every now and then, kind of a rattling sound followed by this awful buzzing. Then the house stopped cooling properly. I’d set the thermostat ridiculously low and somehow the place still felt warm and sticky

But instead of dealing with it, I kept making excuses

I told myself it was probably something minor. Maybe low refrigerant, maybe a dirty filter, maybe it was just struggling because of the heat wave, which is typcal for Phoenix. My plan was to wait until summer was over and call someone in November when HVAC maintanance prices would hopefully be cheaper

Classic case of kicking the can down the road

Then one evening during one of the hottest days we’d had all year, the AC finally gave up. No dramatic warning either. It just made one loud ugly sound and stopped.. forever…

The house turned into an oven shortly

I found one company and called them pretty late expecting I’d have to wait forever, but they actually came out pretty quickly after hearing what was going on

The tech took one look at the system, and I described the noises it had been making, and basically told me the unit had been waving a white flag for months

Apparently the weak cooling and weird sounds were major warning signs, not minor problems like I kept convincing myself

He literally said that this thing had no chance of surviving the summer

Can’t even argue with that

So, as you can see appliances usually tell you they’re dying long before they actually die. Ignoring the signs just means they pick the worst possible moment to quit

I’m curious if anyone else has hit this stage.

I’ve been consistent for years (SPF, actives, hydration, decent routine overall) and my skin is definitely better than it used to be, but lately it feels like every new product gives smaller and smaller improvements.

Texture and that generally “tired” look are the things I still can’t seem to fully improve.

I’m trying to figure out whether this is just the normal limit of topical skincare or whether professional treatments are actually worth exploring at some point.

During a late-night rabbit hole I ended up reading about different treatment approaches and clinics, including all saints clinic, but I honestly don’t know what’s genuinely evidence-based versus good branding.

For people who moved beyond products - what actually felt worthwhile?

Been looking into DSCR options for a property I’m building and honestly not sure anymore what’s considered realistic rate-wise. The project itself should have pretty decent numbers and low leverage, but it’s in a smaller area where there just aren’t many comparable rentals, which seems to make every lender conversation more complicated than expected. I’ve been comparing brokers, old reddit threads, some calculators, Newfi, and everyone seems to give a different answer depending on how they look at the deal

For people who’ve financed more unique properties with DSCR loans, how much do lenders actually care about the area/comps compared to the numbers themselves?

I’m looking to step up my Sunday dinner game. Usually, when making a classic carbonara with proper guanciale and a heavy hand of Pecorino Romano, the sheer richness and black pepper dominate everything. I’ve tried pairing it with a structured, dry white like a Frascati Superiore, which felt traditional, but sometimes I feel like it needs a red with decent acidity, like a Chianti Classico, to handle the fat.

Curious what changed - was it your age, your mood, your situation in life, or just that you knew what you were getting into the second time?

Not predictions or lottery numbers. Just the one thing you genuinely need to hear right now

Just moved my Plex server from Windows to Fedora Linux. Total beginner with Linux but I wanted the stability and lower overhead. Installation was fine, server is running, metadata imported correctly. But about half my video files won't play at all. They just spin and then error out. The other half work perfectly.

I am not trying to do anything fancy. No remote access issues yet, just local playback. My library is a mix of h264 and h265, some mkv some mp4. Do I need to install something extra on Fedora to get codecs working? I keep seeing people mention ffmpeg but I am not sure if that is the fix or how to install it properly. Any help would be great before I switch back to Windows.

just got off a 7 day eastern caribbean run yesterday and i completely forgot how brutal disembarkation day is. they basically kick u to the curb at 8am and our flight out of MIA wasnt until 5pm

last time we did this we just went straight to the airport and sat at the gate for like 7 hours staring at our bags. miami airport is literally pure chaos and doing that after a super relaxing vacation just completely ruins the post-cruise glow

This time we decided to just drag our suitcases to an uber and hide out somewhere away from the crowds. ended up killing most of the afternoon sitting outside at Bayshore club down in the grove just watching the boats go by. Getting some actual fresh air and decent seafood instead of eating sad $18 terminal sandwiches made such a huge difference ngl

but it got me wondering what everyone else does during this weird gap? do u guys book those day-use hotel rooms, take a post-cruise excursion, or just bite the bullet and camp at the airport? trying to figure out if there's a better system for our next sailing cause dragging luggage around a restaurant is still kind of a pain tbh.

we are heading to akureyri in mid july with our family of four including kids ages eight and eleven. i usually book everything through booking.com but this time the best i could find was hotel halond and it just didnt stand out enough for us.

i found hotel kea akureyri and hotel natur which both look really nice for families. im thinking about going with one of them.

has anyone stayed at either one? how were they especially with kids? any feedback would help before i decide.

My wife and I are planning a 10 day luxury iceland trip next summer and we really want to spend a couple nights right at jokulsarlon glacier lagoon because the floating icebergs and seals make it feel like nowhere else on earth. We are looking for places with glacier views straight from the room, outdoor hot tubs or saunas, and easy access to boat tours or hikes without dealing with long drives every day.

Has anyone here stayed at a luxury hotel right by the lagoon? Was the location and experience actually worth the splurge or would you pick something else next time?

I used to think that being emotionally intelligent meant being a Zen master who never got angry or upset. I spent years trying to suppress my "messy" feelings because I thought they were a sign of weakness or a lack of control. But I’ve realized that high EQ isn't about staying calm 24/7; it’s actually about how quickly you can check in with yourself when things get chaotic. It’s the ability to feel a massive surge of frustration and instead of letting it drive the car, you just acknowledge it’s in the backseat.

My best advice? Stop trying to "fix" your bad moods the second they happen. When you feel a negative emotion, try to name it specifically, like "I’m feeling overlooked" rather than just "I’m mad." Once you label it, the emotion usually loses its power over you. Emotional intelligence is a muscle, not a personality trait, so give yourself some grace while you’re training it.

What’s one "negative" emotion you’ve learned to actually appreciate lately?