> Its ironically more paranoid than working in the financial industry.

Having owned a liquor store for a while, it's not paranoia. The majority of the people you can get to work low end retail jobs will try to rip you off in any way they can.

"if I only had a bartender that stole from me 1/3 of the time I'd keep him..."

or so the saying goes

In a sort of reverse of that story, back when my teenage son was working at Target, my wife asked me to get a vacuum cleaner. So I went to the Target webpage and found a mid-range model, and texted my son to buy it and bring it home after his shift. He came home and said the only one left was the display model but that he got it for me.

The next day, security called him in to the office, which freaked him out a little, of course. They asked him why he had bought that vacuum cleaner. He said I'd asked for it. They then all laughed, and told him that it was a commonly stolen model and they were using it as a honey pot. When he walked over and took it off the shelf, they were concerned. When he then went up to the front and bought it, they were confused. They said now they understood. It was always the dad causing problems. And they sent him back to work.

> When he walked over and took it off the shelf, they were concerned. When he then went up to the front and bought it, they were confused. They said now they understood.

What could possibly be confusing about a person doing what most normal people do in a store?

I'm guessing because they expected him "employee disappear it" and not pay for it.

You were shopping a Mazda 3 Premium Turbo vs an Audi RS3? The Audi is almost twice the HP and double the cost of the Mazda. I'm not sure physical buttons would really be my driving consideration between those two cars.

Yes. I was shopping all available compact sedans and hatchbacks with AWD and turbocharged motors. My budget was wide and I enjoy spirited driving, I would have loved for the RS3 to work out, but it didn't for several reasons but the primary was that the interior UX was pretty awful.

That's a pretty frustrating market segment to shop for in the US these days, given there are so many good options that just aren't sold here. I was looking for similar cars early last year and quickly ruled out Golfs (and a variety of others) over the total lack of actual buttons. So annoying. I wound up with a Mini Clubman—another fun premium compact that's now no longer being made.

Yeah, I also considered a Mini then, and just took my wife shopping for her new vehicle. She also likes smaller cars so we considered getting her a 2026 Mini Cooper S but they've gone the other way and done almost everything on a single center-screen, there's no actual instrument panel anymore, but there is a HUD at least in the higher trims. Ultimately this was a huge turn-off for her, and we ended up getting her a 2025 Lexus ES350 (which I realize is quite a bit larger vehicle than a Mini Cooper).

When I vehicle shop, my budget isn't endless, but it's fairly uninhibited because I keep cars for an average of 10+ years and I like driving and want it to be an experience I enjoy. That said, companies just aren't making cars I like much anymore. I /loathe/, utterly /detest/ crossovers, and that's the vast majority of new vehicles being brought to market. Even vehicle lines that I previously liked, such as the BMW 3 series, have become enshittified in weird ways that dilute the core concept of that particular vehicle line. I'd love an E92 M3 w/ DCT but made in 2025/2026, but that's not made anymore and I think the current G80 M3 is a much worse car in every way that matters to me, even though the S58 is in some ways a better engine.

It's really disappointing and frustrating trying to find a decent vehicle these days.

Ironically people are constantly surprised every time this comes up that I cross-shopped a Mazda 3 vs an Audi RS3, but if you put aside some of the cost difference (which isn't as large as you think, it's 50% more, not 2x the price), Mazda is trying to up its game and move into the Japanese Luxury space to compete with Lexus, Acura, and Infinity rather than the other Japanese brands. Some issues aside, I think the execution on the interior of the Mazda 3 Premium is pretty great, especially at its price point ($40k base).

I struggle to find any use case at all for my iPad. Even when traveling, I use my phone most of the time and when I want something bigger, I have the MacBook Air in my bag, which doesn't feel any more cumbersome to have with me than an iPad.

I won't really argue much. I can get by with just my iPhone. I think a MacBook (don't have an Air) is better for a lot of things even if the iPad is better for media on a plane. The weight difference is minimal if you count the keyboard. I don't draw so don't need an iPad for that. A Kindle weighs nothing so I can always bring that for reading.

Not sure I'll buy another iPad given my current lifestyle.

Yep. There are plenty of small manufacturing companies that have embedded programming projects that aren't sexy or cutting edge, but are just little STM32 or similar chips running bare metal no-OS code for all kinds of simple little devices for different industries. I've been doing that work for the past twenty years. It scratches my engineering itch, but also lets me work pretty independently, put in my mostly stress free 40 hours a week, and then go home and not think about it.

I haven't had that experience too often here in New England. Though I'm typically involved with specific hobby based groups. Usually politics are avoided and if someone insists they are basically politely ignored.

I honestly never paid that much attention to Computer Chronicles back in the day. But when I clicked on the link to the obit, I instantly recognized him from the photo.

> In cooking there’s no such thing as waiting.

I tend to go hyper mis en place when I cook. So by the time "active" cooking is taking place, it's a pretty chill affair and I often end up reading my book in the bits of down time.

> So by the time "active" cooking is taking place, it's a pretty chill affair

Nice! As my mom used to say: A good cook leaves the kitchen cleaner than they found it.

I do a mix of mise-en-place and frantic chopping in between things. Depends on what I'm making and how the different activities gantt chart together.

Reminds me of when my toddler came back from an overnight at the grandparents house and started excitedly telling me about how you can put syrup and butter on pancakes. He had been just fine before that with plain pancakes, but wouldn't touch them afterward without syrup and butter. Thanks for that, dad.

Yes, it definitely takes unpleasant and forceful conversations with grandparents and relatives.

(I'm fine with butter, but syrup is 100% off limits. Use berries.)

> I didn't know about buying games or what I did was bad until well into the 90s.

Really? When we were pirating games off each other as teenagers in the early 80s, we absolutely knew we were getting games for free that the publishers wanted us to pay for.