u/sophie1816

I have experience in choral singing, but am just beginning to learn how to sing an individual harmony part. I have some questions that will probably seem like dumb questions to many of you, so please be patient.

I’ve found a singing partner who is much more experienced than I am, but who seems willing to put up with me. 😊 He plays acoustic guitar, and we are working on some folk/light rock duets. He is probably a baritone, and I’m a mezzo who sang second soprano when I was in a chorus.

So far we’ve worked on “If I Fell” by the Beatles and “Teach Your Children” by Crosby Stills and Nash. I’m obviously singing a male part in both of these songs, but they work pretty well for me, as the Paul McCartney and Graham Nash parts are unusually high for male parts - they both go up to an A4. Some of the notes are low for me, but I’m looking at it as a chance to improve my chest voice.

But, he has now proposed that we learn a duet by the Everly Brothers, and the higher part (the part I would sing) is lower than that of the two songs we’ve done before. I’m thinking it’s not going to work well for my voice - and definitely won’t play to my strengths. My solo voice probably sounds best in the range of about D4 to B4, and most of my part would be below that (my full range is more like E3 to G5, but some of that is definitely not good quality solo).

1. Are there ways we can adapt songs with close vocal harmonies like Everly Brothers songs, that were originally sung by two men, so that they work for a male and female voice? A few thoughts I had were just moving the key up a few steps (assuming he could sing in the higher key), or even turning the song upside down, so to speak, so I sing the low part an octave above and he sings the higher part in the original octave. Maybe the latter would sound terrible - I just don’t know enough about music to know.
2. If you think we should just avoid songs like the Everly Brothers, are there pop/light rock/folk/country singer

s or songs

1. you can think of who have harmonies that would work for a male and female duet? I’ve been trying to think of male/female duos and mostly drawing a blank.

I should add that we are amateurs and are just doing this for fun and as a learning exercise - this is not about performing gigs or anything like that.

And please don’t suggest we create our own harmonies. That is way above my head right now. Maybe someday! But right now, I am a beginner who is really just learning to hold a part by myself.

P.s. Sorry for the formatting. Reddit won’t let me fix it. :-)

Hello wise ones! As the title stated, I’ve decided to put my guitar journey on the back burner for 6-8 months. I’ve got some long-delayed house projects I really want to complete, and it’s clear that is not going to happen unless I cut some things out or my life, for now. Plus, I have been focusing on improving vocals recently, and want to continue that.

My goal is to maintain my current level over the next 6-8 months - not improve, but also not lose what I have. I’d love your feedback on this plan (not on whether I should do it or not, but the specifics of the plan).

My current level: I’m at the point where I can do fluid chords changes for about 15 chords. I can also do simple strums and keep in time with others.

I was beginning to work on some more complicated things like bass walk ups/ walk downs (I don’t know if this terminology is universal or not), but am not yet able to do this up to speed.

My goal: To maintain this level over the next six months or so, and in particular, maintain my hand strength and flexibility, my calluses, my ability to play the chords I have fluently, and the ability to keep time well.

The plan: I’m planning to practice at least twice a week, primarily by playing along with my recordings of jam sessions and my past guitar classes. I think this will help me keep my ability to play in rhythm and change chords in a timely way. I’ll make sure to switch the songs up so I’m using all the chords I know.

I will also play with others at least twice a month, either at organized jams (we have a lot in my area) or by playing with friends.

I may throw in some extras like scale practice from time to time, but I don’t want to pile too much on.

Any thoughts? Do you think playing twice a week is enough to keep up my strength and flexibility?

Thanks in advance!

I haven’t done any bra shopping since 2019. At that time, I purchased two bras I ended up loving - Panache Andorra (size 34F) and Panache Cari (size 32FF). The Andorra is a seamed bra and the Cari is a T-Shirt bra. At that time, 32FF was my best size for most bras, but the Andorra seemed to have an unusually small band, so I got it in the 34F.

It’s time to replace those bras because they are getting old. I’ve also gotten older, lol, and lost a bit of weight. So for the Cari, in particular the cups were getting too spacious.

So I ordered the Cari in a 32F - one cup size down from the size of my current bra. But it didn’t work. The problem is that I have very wide set breasts, with breast tissue almost to my armpits. The smaller cup size for the Cari gave me side boob, but I don’t want to order the 32FF again because I think the cups would be too big. (Actually even the 32F cups were a bit spacious - they just didn’t cover the entire width of my boobs.)

I know t-shirt bras are notoriously hard to fit, especially for older breasts, but I need one t-shirt bra to have something seamless for some of my tops.

Does anyone know of a t-shirt bra that is good for wide-set, shallower breasts? (My breasts did not used to be so shallow, but age seems to be doing that, lol. ) I also need underwire and side support.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

I had some damage to the paint on the roof of my car that I discovered about 6 weeks ago. I’m not sure exactly how long it had been there, because I had broken my arm and was not driving for a while.

It looked like a rock had hit the car right above where the driver’s head would be. They was starburst damage to the paint, and it went down to the metal.

By the time I saw it, it had already started to rust, and that of course has gotten worse. So I’d like to repair it asap.

On to my question: I am hoping insurance will cover this under comprehensive, because I’m sure the repair will not be cheap. But I have no proof of how the damage occurred - in fact, I don’t even remember it happening. I can’t think of any possible way other than a rock or other projectile hitting the car as I was driving, but I don’t remember it happening.

Do you think this is typically something insurance would cover? And what kind of questions could I expect to get from them?

I want to make some upgrades to one of the bathrooms in my townhouse - replace the tub/shower combo with a shower only, paint, and upgrades things like faucets, towel racks, the mirror, and lighting. It’s a small (5 x 7 or so) bathroom that is currently all builder grade. I want to make upgrades but keep it simple and fairly low budget. I’m keeping the flooring, vanity, and toilet, and not moving any fixtures. I’m also going to probably use a fiberglass surround for the shower rather than do tile work (haven’t made a decision on that yet).

I don’t feel competent to design this myself, and want some help. My problem is when I look up bathroom designers, they all seem to do very high end work, and also charge a ton. I saw one designer that has a $5000 minimum - that’s just for her design fee, not any of the actual contruction!

What I am looking for is someone who understands how to shop for bathroom materials and has a good eye for design, and knows how to do things like make sure the shower doors open in the right place. I’d like to hire them for 5-10 hours, or maybe a bit more, to help me make a plan and point me in the right direction. I don’t expect them to supervise the construction.

Do any designers like that exist? In the old days, it seemed like you could go to a kitchen and bath store and get design help there, but I don’t know if that still exists. I’d also be open to working remotely with an online designer. I really just someone to hold my hand and give me advice, for an hourly rate.

Do you know any designers who work this way? Or are my only options to either do it myself or spend a gazillion dollars?

My apologies for my complete ignorance on this topic. But I truly have no idea how people go about projects like this.

Please don’t suggest that I just use an online rendering program. I may use that as an aid for visualization, but I really need more help than that. This is not my talent, and I need someone more experienced to guide me through this.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

If the post below doesn’t comply with the rules, please remove it. I could not tell from reading them.

I had a terrible experience at UVA with a wrist fracture. The individual providers were mostly pretty good, but the overall system is a nightmare.

—There surgeries are greatly delayed for trauma because they don’t hold trauma slots, at least not for wrist fractures. The earliest surgical date they could give me was 20 days after the accident. Fortunately, I decided not to go the surgical route.

—They are seriously understaffed, especially in the OT/PT area, and cancel patient appointments constantly. I’ve had more medical appointments cancelled by UVA orthopedics than I’ve had in the rest of my life total up until now (and I am not young).

—Due to the understaffing, they are explicit that their goal is only to provide patients with the minimum medically-acceptable outcome. THEY TELL PATIENTS THIS. If patients want better medical outcomes, go to Sentara or Richmond or NoVA. I worked in health policy professionally, and I’m still in shock that they are saying this out loud to patients.

—You get moved around from therapists to therapist, and there is no central tracking of your progress (some as ROM) measurements week to week. I had to create an excel spreadsheet to track my own progress. Not a big deal to do, but again, I was shocked at the lack of professionalism. So I bring the spreadsheet in and show the OT how I’m doing.

There is more, but that’s enough for now.

I’ve had a terrible experience there. The individual providers were mostly pretty good, but the overall system is a nightmare.

—They are seriously understaffed, especially in the OT/PT area, and cancel patient appointments constantly. I’ve had more medical appointments cancelled by UVA orthopedics than I’ve had in the rest of my life total up until now.

—Due to the understaffing, they are explicit that their goal is only to provide patients with the minimum medically-acceptable outcome. THEY TELL PATIENTS THIS. If patients want better medical outcomes, go to Sentara or Richmond or NoVA. I worked in health policy professionally, and I’m still in shock that they are saying this out loud to patients.

—You get moved around from therapists to therapist, and there is no central tracking of your progress (some as ROM) measurements week to week. I had to create an excel spreadsheet to track my own progress. Not a big deal to do, but again, I was shocked at the lack of professionalism. So I bring the spreadsheet in and show the OT how I’m doing.

There is more, but that’s enough for now.

I broke my right (dominant hand) wrist 3 1/2 months ago. It was just slightly displaced after the ER reduction, so I chose not to have surgery. That meant 6 weeks of immobilization - 3 weeks in a splint past the elbow, and another 3 weeks in a short cast.

When I got the cast removed, I could barely move my wrist in any direction. I’ve been doing PT for two months now, and while I’ve made a lot of progress, I’m discouraged that I’m not further along. I’m having particular problems with supination. I FINALLY got enough supination back that I can hold a fork normally when I eat, but it’s still far from normal. And I’m still missing 5 to 10 degrees from the goal ROM in other directions.

And, the amount of hours a day I need to spend on my exercises is daunting. I’m retired, but it’s still hard to fit it in. If I go out for the evening, say to a friend’s house, I need to take my PT equipment and do the exercises there. I can’t imagine how someone could be working a 40 a week job and still be getting the recommended PT in. They want me to be spending at least 4-5 hours a day at it.

Also, my doctor told me that most ROM improvement is made in the first 6 months after an injury - after that, it’s very hard to make continued gains. So that put the pressure on.

So, I’d love to compare notes. How is it going for you? Any tips you want to share? For those of you who are more than 6 months out, do you feel like your wrist is fully back to normal? If not, is it continuing to improve?

I need new tires for my Nissan Sentra, and Vredestein HiTracs check all the boxes better than any other tires I’ve seen (at least, that are available for my car).

I’m looking mainly for quiet tires, a smooth ride, and good traction in the rain. They also have to be at least not terrible in the snow (I drive in snow just a few times a year).

The HiTracs meet my criteria wonderfully, according to the ratings, and are well-reviewed by both Consumer Reports and Tire Rack. They’re also a great price.

The problem? I’ve seen concerning reports of sidewall weakness leading to blowouts. And I know they had a recall for this problem a few years ago.

Anyone have a sense of whether these are isolated incidents, or indicative of a systemic safety problem? After all, good traction in rain means nothing if I’m going to have a blowout going 70 on the freeway.

I’d love to hear your opinions!

My tires are 8 years old with 46k miles on them, so it is well past replacement times for them on age only (clearly I don’t drive very much).

My priorities for tires are quiet, comfort, and good handling in the rain. Safety in the snow needs to be not terrible, as we do get some snow here (Virginia), but I don’t drive in the snow much so that’s not high on the list. I don’t really care about treadlife at all, as with my driving habits the rubber will age out before I put a lot of mileage on them.

After reading a ton of reviews, I’m not seeing anything that looks a whole lot better than the tires currently on the car. I have been happy with them (although I also don’t have anything to compare them too). I’ve also read that the manufacturers choose a tire they think will work well with that specific vehicle (and obviously that will be economical for them as well), so that is an argument for going with the OEM brand and model of tire.

I’m wondering what other Sentra owners have done? Have you replaced yours with the Conti ProContact, or have you found something you preferred? I should also say that I love my Sentra and plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, so I don’t mind paying for good tires.

TIA!

ETA: It’s a 2017 Sentra, tire size P205/55R16.

I need new tires for my Nissan Sentra, and Vredestein HiTracs check all the boxes better than any other tires I’ve seen (at least, that are available for my car).

I’m looking mainly for quiet tires, a smooth ride, and good traction in the rain. They also have to be at least not terrible in the snow (I drive in snow just a few times a year).

The HiTracs meet my criteria wonderfully, according to the ratings, and are well-reviewed by both Consumer Reports and Tire Rack. They’re also a great price.

The problem? I’ve seen concerning reports of sidewall weakness leading to blowouts. And I know they had a recall for this problem a few years ago.

Anyone have a sense of whether these are isolated incidents, or indicative of a systemic safety problem? After all, good traction in rain means nothing if I’m going to have a blowout going 70 on the freeway.

I’d love to hear your opinions!

I use the iPad email client. In some screens, the trash can icon does not appear. I also cannot add it to the Tool Bar.

The only way to delete a message in this case is to select “edit,” select the message I want to delete, select “move” and then move it to the Trash folder. That is four steps just to delete a message.

In other screens, the trash can icon does appears on the tool bar, so I can delete the message in two steps (ie, select, then delete).

Any suggestions?

My tires are 8 years old with 46k miles on them, so it is well past replacement times for them on age only (clearly I don’t drive very much).

My priorities for tires are quiet, comfort, and good handling in the rain. Safety in the snow needs to be not terrible, as we do get some snow here (Virginia), but I don’t drive in the snow much so that’s not high on the list. I don’t really care about treadlife at all, as with my driving habits the rubber will age out before I put a lot of mileage on them.

After reading a ton of reviews, I’m not seeing anything that looks a whole lot better than the tires currently on the car. I have been happy with them (although I also don’t have anything to compare them too). I’ve also read that the manufacturers choose a tire they think will work well with that specific vehicle (and obviously that will be economical for them as well), so that is an argument for going with the OEM brand and model of tire.

I’m wondering what other Sentra owners have done? Have you replaced yours with the Conti ProContact, or have you found something you preferred? I should also say that I love my Sentra and plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, so I don’t mind paying for good tires.

ETA: Other tires I’m considering are the Continental TrueContact Tour 54, Pirelli WeatherActive, and the Bridgestone Taranza Quiet Track. All have gotten high marks for a quiet ride and for wet handling, my two top priorities.

TIA!

My tires are 8 years old with 46k miles on them, so it is well past replacement times for them on age only (clearly I don’t drive very much).

My priorities for tires are quiet, comfort, and good handling in the rain. Safety in the snow needs to be not terrible, as we do get some snow here (Virginia), but I don’t drive in the snow much so that’s not high on the list. I don’t really care about treadlife at all, as with my driving habits the rubber will age out before I put a lot of mileage on them.

After reading a ton of reviews, I’m not seeing anything that looks a whole lot better than the tires currently on the car. I have been happy with them (although I also don’t have anything to compare them too). I’ve also read that the manufacturers choose a tire they think will work well with that specific vehicle (and obviously that will be economical for them as well), so that is an argument for going with the OEM brand and model of tire.

I’m wondering what other Sentra owners have done? Have you replaced yours with the Conti ProContact, or have you found something you preferred? I should also say that I love my Sentra and plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, so I don’t mind paying for good tires.

TIA!

I’m considering them because I understand they give lifetime free rotations and flat repairs, and you can get those services from any Discount Tires location, so it’s useable if you’re out of town.

Also, I understand you can order tires online from Tire Rack and have them shipped there, so you can get just about any tire. However, Tire Rack will also ship to other local installers, so that’s not specific to Discount Tires.

Anyway, would love to hear about your experiences, pro or con! TIA.

I’ve been reading reviews and put together a list of tires that fit my car and are rated pretty well on the factors above. But I’d love real world input! If you have experience with any of these, good or bad, please let me know.

All the tires listed are All Season, except the Pirelli Weather Active which is an All Weather tire. With the level of snow we get in VA, I don’t think I need to have an All Weather, but the Pirella is said to be much quieter than most All Weathers, and good in rain as well, so I threw it on the list.

I do care a lot about noise and comfort, as I do a lot of long highway drives and like to listen to music and podcasts, and feel rested when I arrive. We also get a fair amount of rain where I live, so safety in wet weather is important. I don’t care a ton about longevity or gas mileage as long as it’s not unusually bad.

All the tires are within my budget, so price is not a major concern except as a tie-breaker. I’ve listed the current Tire Rack price for 4, before installation, fees, and taxes.

The candidates are: Continental TrueContact 54 ($595.96); Michelin Defender 2 ($715.96); Pirella Weather Active ($553.64 - they’re on sale!); Goodyear Assurance Comfort Drive ($591.96); Vredestein Quadtrac Pro ($679.08); General Altimax RT 45 ($515.96); and Falken Sincera SN 250 AS ($492).

I’d also love input on my current plan of ordering from Tire Rack and having them installed by our local Discount Tires. I’ve read good things about both on this sub.

Thanks in advance!

I need new tires, and wasn’t sure whether to get All Season or All Weather. It seems like we are in a gray zone regarding whether we get enough winter weather to need All Weather tires. (For those who have not researched this yet - All Weather tires have a higher rating for snow and below freezing weather than All Season.)

Would love to hear what you’re buying, and what your experiences have been (good or bad) with various tires in our local climate.

ETA: I understand there are some trade offs, including that All Weather tires can be noisier and rougher than All Season tires, and I’m not sure if the improved performance in cold and snow would be worth the trade offs in our climate.

Some of the tires I’m considering:

In the All Weather category: Michelin Cross Climate 2 and Pirelli Centurato Weather Active

In the All Season category: So far, just Michelin Defender 2 and Goodyear Assurance Maxlife 2

Thanks!

I fractured my dominant (right) wrist in early April (comminuted, no joint involvement). Since it was only slightly displaced after reduction in the ER, I chose to let it heal naturally.

I’ve now had the cast off for 6 weeks and have tried to be diligent about my PT. Most of my ROM is doing pretty well (flexion, extension, and the two sideways directions are all getting close to normal).

But I’m still really struggling with supination. I’m currently at 40 degrees, with normal being 80 degrees. So I’m only halfway there after 6 weeks.

The most frustrating part is that I really have difficult stretching in that direction. I can do active stretching, but to get the larger passive stretch is much harder because it’s such a weird angle to try to grab it with my left hand and twist. And of course they say not to let your elbow rotate - but the problem is, how do you stop it from rotating?

My CHTs have suggested various techniques, including wrapping a band around with my hand with weight on one end, or rotating a ball in both hands. But neither of them give me much of a stretch. I’m really only feeling a stretch when I actively twist it, but I can’t hold that for long.

I’d love to hear about your experiences getting your supination back. Your timeline would also be super helpful!

I have a bunch of mp3s saved to my Google Drive of music my friends and I have created. However, I can’t find a native app on iPad to play it. Also, I can’t find an app on the iPad store.

All the apps I can find want you to download prerecorded commercial music. There doesn’t seem to be an option to move my own music from Google drive into the app.

If anyone can help, I would much appreciate it! It seems astonishing that it’s impossible to play homegrown music on iPad in the year 2026.

Thanks!

I’ve tried MANY programs from the Apple store, but none of them seem to allow me to import mp3s from my google drive. They seem to be oriented toward commercial music, but I am trying to play self-created music.

In the past, media players were built into devices and would play anything. Has that been eliminated from the iPad?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

P.s. It was suggested I post this on the ‘tech-support thread” but I not find that.