u/Domesticated_Turtle

Had a few friends over last weekend and made short ribs for dinner. One of them tried it and said I should start posting the stuff I cook. And I actually did! I took that way too seriously, so now I have a food account with 4 followers lol.

I tried filming everything on my phone at first, but it was honestly kind of annoying. I kept moving the tripod around because it was either in the way or somehow still getting a terrible angle, and at one point I got butter all over my screen.

then I remembered I had an Osmo Nano sitting around and started sticking it wherever there was metal nearby. Fridge door, shelf above the counter, side of the range hood. It was actually way easier because I could just leave it there and keep cooking instead of constantly checking the shot.

The footage ended up being more fun than I expected too. Half of it is just my friends walking into frame and stealing pieces of food before I was done, that is quite funny right lol.

So apparently I make cooking videos now. no idea how this happened, but I guess there are more hobbies to accidentally pick up.

I got back from 15 days doing Amalfi Coast (3 days), Rome (3 days), Florence (3 days), Dolomites (4 days), then Milan to fly out.

Amalfi was the rushed part. Landed in Rome and went straight to Salerno, did Positano, Amalfi, Ravello from there. Positano was my fav spot in the south and next time i would just stay there instead of hopping towns.

Do not do what i did: tried to hit Ravello, Amalfi, Salerno AND Rome on the same day. Ferry got cancelled, had to bus it, missed the train to Rome. Not a fun day. Leave buffer around ferries, seriously.

Rome felt like one big outdoor museum. Vatican Museums, St Peters, Colosseum, Pantheon, Borghese over three days which was busy but manageable honestly. School of Athens, Last Judgment Berninis David are the ones still stuck in my head.

Florence caught me off guard. Compact, walkable, and the Duomo popping up between random streets never got old. Hit Accademia, Uffizi, Piazzale Michelangelo plus a Serie A match... by the Uffizi though I was definitely feeling museum fatigue lol.

Then trained north and stayed in Ortisei for four nights. Having one base after all that moving around felt unreal. Alpe di Siusi, Seceda, Val di Funes, all gorgeous.

Milan was just my exit city. Milan Cathedral and a quick walk, worked fine for that.

Money: food ran about 50 euros a day. Rome and Florence were reasonable, Amalfi and Ortisei hit harder on accommodation. Trains, ferries, museums, cable cars, football, skiing... it adds up.

Quick tips cause people always ask: book museums early, stay near transit in Rome, do not plan tight connections after ferries. I used a redteago esim for maps, train bookings and ferry updates. Grabbed offline maps before heading into the Dolomites.

Waterline algae was driving me nuts. Felt like every weekend I was leaning over the edge with a brush for 20 minutes, then by the middle of the week it looked like I had never touched it. Finally got tried of messing with it and picked up a scuba v3 a few weeks ago for swim season. One of the reasons I bought it was because people kept saying it actually cleaned the waterline. Sure enough it climbs up and works its way along the edge on its own. It has not made the algae disappear completely, but it has cut down on the buildup enough that I am not scrubbing every weekend anymore. That alone has been worth it. The robot helps with the buildup but I am guessing there is more to it than just running a cleaner. Anybody found something that works even better for keeping the waterline clean?

Been looking at the DJI Mic 2 and the Mic Mini 2 lately, and the naming honestly feels more confusing than helpful. The feature gap between them is pretty noticeable, but the names make it sound like one is just a slightly smaller version of the other.

Then I realized basically every big brand does this now. Apple had the iPhone Mini, GoPro has Mini models, Sony does smaller versions of their headphones, and so on.

Do companies use "Mini" branding to make people compare products longer and eventually spend more, or is there actually a big market for people who only want the simpler feature set?

Curious if anyone here who understands product strategy has thoughts on this.