Mine is the chain style. I cannot compare as I have never used the braided wire and I don’t have to think about weight savings that much. I don’t generally hike far to a camping spot.

Instead of a curved folding saw I prefer a rope saw. I’ve always been able to take down limbs and trees faster.

For those that don’t know what that is, imagine a chainsaw chain with handles on either end.

I did this briefly years ago for a hotel chain (the booking, not the stealing). We got an extra quarter for everyone we transferred to another department for deals or some shit. We were supposed to ask people if they would like to hear about it but I found out that as long as it transferred they could immediately hang up and I still got my bonus. After that every caller I had got transferred to the other department for the rest of the time I worked there.

I made an extra few hundred bucks and got canned about the same time I found a job in my field. No FBI involved, though.

Well fuck, I own more work boots than that, not to mention shoes for jogging, shoes for work, and shoes for going out. My work and fashion footwear game is strong.

Fellas, is it gay to have women compliment you because you care about your appearance?

I won’t say why but I feel personally attacked by this duck. Well done!

I just replaced mine as they were abscessed or impacted and I didn’t notice a change, but that was over several years. I would have died in the middle ages.

If you can afford it I recommend getting the worst of them replaced with implants. If you can’t then get some partial dentures to replace whatever you’ve lost. It will help both your confidence and quality of life.

Fluoride in water can help if you’re not taught proper care and feeding of teeth, but you are right. The fluoride in toothpaste is what should be doing the heavy lifting.

I feel you. I grew up on well water (no fluoride), have a genetic predisposition for terribly crooked teeth, and wasn’t taught basic oral hygiene until I was legally an adult.

I’ve had several extractions but every time it has been either an abscess or an impacted tooth, so just the relief from that pain was almost like a drug itself. About half my teeth are fake at this point and the ones that are left are in pretty good shape because they weren’t too far gone when I actually learned how to properly take care of them.

I’ve got two related to my military service, and one related to my grandfather.

1. A guy I vaguely knew because I competed against his brother in sports in school ended up being stationed at every base I was stationed at. We even ended up being deployed together and are still good friends to this day. I’ve told stories about him on here. The way our lives have gone it looks like I’m his crazy stalker because after school I was just behind him doing almost the exact same things as him for both hobbies and careers. I promise I’m not, it just turned out that way. I did beat him moving to Houston, though.

2. After I was discharged I was on a road trip with my (at the time) fiance. We stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere a thousand miles from home and 600 miles from the last place I saw him a little over 6 years after the last time we saw each other. We were seated at a table next to a guy I went to boot camp with.

3. In the spirit of the last one, I was on a road trip with my grandparents when I was young. We ran into my grandfather’s cousin. This shouldn’t be weird, but my grandparents lived down the road from me in Texas, his cousin lived in Alabama, we saw him at a rest stop in Tennessee, and neither had any idea that the other was on a road trip.

I didn’t even know I was dating anyone!!!

Seriously, if he’ll let you share it I’d love to give it a whirl.

A few times. Usually, like many others, I let the rep know that it’s not their fault but I’m angry and try to escalate to someone who has the authority to assist. Three times I went over the line. I’m going to leave out a lot of details on the ISP ones because one would be far too long and the other could potentially out some of the parties involved. It helped in every case, and I genuinely feel bad about one because I could have gotten someone fired.

Once an HP rep stonewalled me for hours and I baited him into saying something fucked up on a recorded line. I hung up, called back, repeated what the rep said, informed them that it was recorded, and asked for a supervisor. I got one immediately and got my problem solved. I’m not proud of the way I handled it but I was young and not thinking about how my actions might affect others.

Another time was a national ISP. Every single time I called all the supervisors were in a meeting (yeah, right). My service worked almost 2 out of every 3 days and I wasn’t getting nearly the speeds I was paying for. I got on with a rep who told me about yet another supervisor meeting. So I said I’ll hold. I told him that I had vacation time and no Internet so I had nothing else to do but fuck up his call time statistics and tell dirty jokes. In those days at that call center they weren’t allowed to hang up unless you were straight up abusive. He blinked before I did because he was supposed to have already gotten off work and I was in the middle of telling bad limericks. So I got a supervisor and they actually got me fixed up the next day.

The last time was a different (local this time) ISP. I had requested specific times for repair because I was working nights and had been without Internet for weeks. I was told that was no problem. But they repeatedly showed up in the middle of the day (supposedly, I never heard from them so they weren’t ringing the doorbell but every time I called they claimed to have come out and no one was home) and telling me it’s my fault for being asleep and never letting me talk to anyone except for the receptionist. So I called one morning insisting I needed to talk to someone else because it had been weeks and she wouldn’t put me through so I let out a string of curse words and the supervisor interrupted me telling me not to talk to their employees like that. I told her about all the trouble I’ve had and that since she was there and had the receptionist lie to me about her being busy that I didn’t give the slightest shit what she thought. I told her that I was coming off nights and unless she wanted me up there every day I had off explaining to anyone in a suit walking in exactly how I was treated and that she was having her employees lie for her she’d have someone out that evening who would ring the doorbell and fix my shit.

It turned out that the issue was with their connection at the box on the outside of my apartment building so they should have been able to fix it without my input at all. No one bothered to fucking check. I seriously don’t think anyone came out but I can’t prove that.

I loved them for a long time and was around since the beginning as well. When they opted everyone into Buzz without their consent I became real cautious about what I share with them. I still use some services, and even used Stadia when they had it. However, I’m ready for them to turn anything off at any time and don’t share any info with them that I wouldn’t want public.

I have HoloISO running around on mini PCs because they just work as remote steam machines, can play games in their own right, and I can use them as media boxes if I want. I don’t necessarily recommend it, but it was super easy to install and configure except for the Bluetooth issue that cropped up occasionally where I had to unload and reload the Bluetooth module. Now I just have a script that automatically does that on boot because I can’t give a shit about fixing it.

I also have a couple of Slax USBs running around. They used to be relatively popular with folks who fixed computers. I like building from modules and I’m familiar with Slackware so it was a good fit for a live environment.

You’re gonna be alright, too.

We’re gonna be alright, buddy.

One is too many and a thousand is never enough.

Edit: I do get the irony of someone with my username posting this. I understand what’s wrong with binge drinking and me in general, I’m just not ready to fix it.

I always heard it as “Swallow a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day”. Same meaning, and I think I like yours better.

Same. It’s actually the reason I chose Android over IOS way way back in the day.

That’s a good view. You’d be surprised who is down for a hug, though.

My friend group usually goes for the handshake hug. This led to things like when someone is having a hard time we hug it out.

We also compliment each other a lot. It’s nice. Some of these guys didn’t get compliments until our group started doing it to each other. You can watch someone who doesn’t get a lot of compliments change their body language from closed off to confident just by letting them know you like their shirt or that their haircut looks great.

Start easy with the handshake back pat. Easing into it can overcome some of the awkwardness that causes people to shy away from physical contact. Not everyone will be down for it, and you’re right that consent is key. Maybe it won’t work, but you’re not out anything by giving it a shot.

You’ve asked the wrong guy. All I know is it’s Kevin Costner.