u/Ptereodactyl1942

Considering buying an AquaTru Carafe countertop system purely for drinking water/coffee water as my local tapwater literally gives me an instant stomach ache despite being "clean and safe to drink" (Los Angeles tapwater).

I've been filling up jugs at local neighborhood water stores that likely have a $10,000+ RO system and I love the water. (Smooth, silky, clean, goes down easy, no detectable taste of anything). But am getting tired of getting in my car every 3 days and making a trip just to get water. (Machines are often times out of order as well).

Was just curious if the AquaTru Carafe produces the same quality of water and doesn't have a metallic taste and is just as smooth and silky as water store water.

All the youtube vids show how good it is at removing contaminates, but nobody talks about the actual taste.

As an ex valet driver, I've driven many manuals (and owned quite a few myself).

My favorite: Late 90s/Early 2000s Porsche 911 Carrera. It was somehow the easiest manual I've ever driven. (The only car I've ever driven that felt like it was built for me.) Perfect clutch tension, nice and low clutch bite point, perfect gearbox (not too much slop/able to shift quickly without too much resistance but not "loose" feeling either).

Worst: 2003+ Toyota Corollas or any other toyota/scion/toyota collab vehicle that used the same C59/C60 transmission. Even highly experienced manual drivers can easily stall them. The clutch bite point is super high (almost fully extended), you have about a 1/4"-1/2" of clutch pedal travel to PERFECTLY press the gas pedal (and then the throttle response has a delay so you have to repeatedly tap the gas pedal to prevent it from stalling when taking off), zero torque to prevent stalling, they have rev hang, many have bad synchros fresh out of the factory (forcing you to shift into 2nd gear and then into 1st gear in case the car doesn't want to go into 1st, or shift to second gear before reverse if it doesn't want to go in reverse, hangups when shifting from 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 4th, and the shifting feels too "notchy" but not in a good way. By far the absolute hardest car to take off from a stop uphill.

Honorable mentions for good "all around" manuals:

Hondas (pretty much any year). They are very predictable and feel how a typical manual should.

2008-2016 American V8 Muscle cars. Generous clutch bite travel where the bite point runs from 40%-65%ish from the floor to fully out, plenty of idle power to take off from a stop by slowly releasing the clutch (without even using the gas pedal), decent feeling gearbox. Earlier year models felt too loose and sloppy, later models had too much electronic assistance incorporation (anti-stall, auto rev matching, etc).

BMWs (any year). Not for everyone as they have notoriously stiff clutch pedals, stiff gas pedals (the floor mounted gas pedals with a high amount of spring tension), but the gearboxes all feel very solid and strong. They are a workout to drive in traffic, but in the canyons they are awesome.

Option A:

You get $4000/month deposited in your bank account every month for the rest of your life (or until you decide you want to stop receiving the money and go back to your old life). You can't invest the money, have side hustles, or work a job (for money/things of value in exchange). The money has to be spent on living expenses, or leisure only. It CAN be saved though, just not for investment purposes. It doesn't go up with inflation. You'll get free (but shitty) health insurance. (Medi-Caid, lets say if you're in the USA. Long wait times for doctors appointments in dirty run down offices, gaslighting doctors, no cosmetic treatments covered, just bare minimum generic drugs and emergency surgeries/medically necessary treatments only basically.)

^If you already own a home and select this option, the equity will go to 0 and you'll have to start paying a mortgage again based on current value/interest rates. Or get a cheaper home, rent, live in a van, whatever instead. (Basically, put yourself into the shoes of an 18 year old starting adult life in America that didn't come from a wealthy family whom might select this option so you don't get an unfair advantage over them if you're retired/already own a home.)

If your existing money/valuables/assets exceeds $50,000 in value, it will drop down to $50,000 if you select this option.

Option B:

You get to pick a common entry level job (where you'll be paid a flat $8000/month as long as you stay working there, no raises) that new workers usually get hired at for the first time. (Think of fast food, retail, warehouse worker, amazon driver, hotel maid, janitor, etc.) It can't be a dream job like "luxury hotel reviewer, supercar tester, food critic etc" or anything you truly dreamed you wanted to do one day. It has to be something that sucks and is stressful and simply just makes money. But the moment you pick a job and hit apply, you are immediately hired with no interview, no background check, no questions asked. Just instructions on when/where you show up to work. (Monday-Friday 9-5, weekends off, holidays off, standard amount of sick days/vacation days per year. You can still get fired for doing something really bad, but wont be laid off randomly. You'll be an employee working the same position for life.) With this option, you'll get the best of the best employer provided health insurance (A PPO that covers everything, cosmetic treatments included at high end botique doctors offices.)

You can also cancel this option as well and go back to your old life.

I've been to MANY different Mexican restaurants in my life and the flavors never really popped on anything as much as they do at Salsa & Beer. Everything else just kind of has that typical "sonoran" style flavor where the toasted corn flour/corn frying oil flavor in the tortillas is the main thing that hits you first. And then the other ingredients come second. Where at Salsa & Beer, every ingredient has the umami aspect. I'm white so I don't know the proper spanish word to describe what I'm trying to say about the other classic "sonoran style" places so correct me if I'm wrong.

Do Hispanics look at Salsa & Beer as non-traditional Americanized Mexican food? Or do they consider it authentic?

And do you guys think Salsa & Beer adds MSG/lard to everything to achieve that?

I've seen my fair share of coolers, cardboard boxes, and ladders. But for me the most dangerous things were actually somewhat recent.

Was driving on the I-5 south in Los Angeles entering the San Fernando Valley from the Santa Clarita area, freeway was dark, late at night, few cars near me. Even though my car has pretty bright headlights, I was cruising along at 75mph and a fucking king sized thick ass wood box spring appeared in front of me out of nowhere in the left two lanes with a 2-3 foot long solid wood kitchen cabinet to the left of it right in the middle of the carpool lane. I was kind of zoned out, a bit tired, was experiencing road hypnosis and experienced the craziest adrenaline rush of all time. My brain went from autopilot/flow state to 100% within milliseconds. Time kind of slowed down for a second and the 1 second I had to react kind of felt like 5 seconds. I was able to swerve to the right to dodge them which almost put me into an arab-style drift (since I was going 75mph), didn't even have time to brake and I had swerve back to the left immediately after as there was more debris in front of it from cars that ended up hitting it.

The rest of the drive home was wide eyed/fingers pulsating/white knuckled. I don't even remember reacting. I noticed out of the corner of my eye some other guy pulled over on the side of the freeway up ahead who must have hit it and was on the phone. I didn't even think to call 911 to report it because I was scanning the road for more debris and still in the adrenaline rush.

About a week later, I was driving on the same section of the freeway (but on the opposite side) and noticed a giant 10ft long steel fence post sticking into the carpool lane about 2 feet. But luckily, that was during the day and I was able to see it up ahead much better and dodge it.

I have one, have had it for almost 9 years now, no rips, nothing loosened up on it, no squeaks, still comfortable.

They don't have the best lumbar support (if any), but are GREAT for a reclined sitting position. You can add a small pillow for lumbar support if need be. I wouldn't consider them an all day chair, but are great for a home office when you're on the computer for no more than 2-3 hours at a time. Much better than any Walmart/Amazon chair in the same price range.

Just thought I'd share in case you guys are stuck.

Protip: To ensure a squeak free lifespan, don't overtighten the screws/bolts during assembly and use blue loctite and tighten everything evenly.

I've been religiously buying old spice aqua reef since I was in middle school when my school had old spice reps come out and give out free samples to the boys.

It always did the job perfectly, I'd get a full 12-18 hours of zero BO from it. But within the last year, I've noticed the sticks got smaller/wear down quicker, and sometimes the smell goes away after 6 hours and the BO smell starts coming back. Nothing has changed about my hygiene/body either.

I've tried all the mainstream deodorants here and there (speed stick, gillete, etc) and prefer the texture of old spice blue gel the best. Others have way too many fragrance oils and are overpowering/make me dizzy.

Native coconut vanilla seems to be the only decent one I can tolerate nowadays that still lasts 12+ hours.

Anyone else notice the same thing or can recommend a deodorant that lasts, has a gel-texture, and doesn't have overpowering fragrance?

Just got back from a local retailer to try out all the popular Herman miller chairs (first time ever sitting in one) but focused on the Aerons.

Everything besides the Aeron felt like your typical $120 Ikea/Walmart office chairs in my opinion. (I didn't try the leather/foam gaming chairs.)

The Aerons were obviously more comfortable and ergonomic. I see why they're the most popular. The mesh was nice and tight and supportive, lumbar support was pretty good (but still not the best/most aggressive honestly compared to other chairs I've sat in).

My main issue was neither the B or C fit me perfectly as a 5'11 205lb man. The B seat depth (front to back) was slightly too short and there was a 4-5 inch gap from the edge of the seat to the underside of my knees so I felt like I was kind of "hanging off the edge" a little bit.

The C was a larger chair all around obviously (but lumbar support felt the same as the B.) A bit too wide for me but seat depth was perfect. About a 2 inch gap to the underside of my knee, BUT the seat also felt flatter and concave at the edges which caused a pressure point under my thigh (where the B had more of a pronounced curve under your thighs and didn't have a tendency to push my legs together like the C's concave nature did). That's when I made up my mind that these aren't going to work for me.

Second issue was the build quality. I know these are made in the USA and supposed to be 10-20+ year chairs and super durable, but I honestly expected more out of a $2000 chair. Still lots of plastic everywhere, one of the display chairs I sat in even had a stripped plastic lumbar support adjuster screw. Every mechanism had a bit of slop and play and felt "rickety" for a $2000 chair. The base (that the casters are attached to was plastic I believe). The casters themself looked like the same rough plastic that will take the finish off hardwood floors that you'd see on $90 walmart office chairs. Nothing impressive at all. They should come with polyurethane floor protecting casters standard.

The locking/adjustment/tension knobs felt cheap. (I'd expect them to be metal and have more of a crisp and smooth action when adjusting them but I could wiggle them around with my fingers and they had the same non-smooth plastic texture that the casters had.)

When you have the chair locked (so as not to lean back) there's still about an inch and a half of play where the chair rocks back and forth. The employee told me the only way around that is to just tighten the tension to the max so its less noticeable.

So, in my opinion, these are $400-600 chairs new, not $2000 chairs (I'm sure I'm gonna piss a lot of people off by saying that). Size B is definitely going to be the safer bet for most people, but you should definitely try to sit in one first instead of blindly purchasing one. If you're going the facebook marketplace route, I guess you probably can't go wrong with a B if you're committed to buying one. Also, TEST ALL THE adjustment mechanisms and thoroughly inspect the chair before buying a used one!!! That's super important. Don't just look at the mesh and say "ok I'll take it" if it looks okay, you've gotta inspect EVERYTHING and make sure the seller didn't mickey mouse fix one of the mechanisms. I'd personally have a hard time wrapping my head around even spending $300-400 on a used one which seems to be the going rate for used Aerons in Southern California.

I didn't experience the "life changing" WOW this is awesome/why didn't I buy one 10 years ago thing that everyone else talks about. They just felt Meh. If someone asked me to guess the MSRP of an Aeron (if I didn't know and had never seen one before and just had 30 seconds to quickly sit down and test it out), I'd probably say about $350. And I would have guessed that they were made in China due to the build quality.