The only time that I use Amazon now is when I cannot get the item that I need either in the city that I live in first or another online retailer. My Amazon spending as decreased significantly since I left prime in January of 2025.

Yet another reason to avoid Meta platforms.

My sole use for AI has been troubleshooting computer issues. I will say that AI often does a better job than first line tech support when prompted correctly. That being said, I am a tech nerd who knows more than the average computer user that is not in the IT industry. There will always be a reason for human tech support tiers for people who cannot prompt AI correctly, but still need their stuff to work. I personally don’t want AI invading my life any further.

This garbage makes me so glad I switched to Linux Mint. Gaming has been just fine. Sure there have been a few hurdles, but they were well-worth spending time on as Microsoft continues this foolishness.

I can confirm. I learned real quick in college working a part-time help desk job for the University that I attended that I under no circumstances want to work in IT at any level or program because they are both thankless and stressful career paths – when tech works, then why do we need you and when it breaks, why do we have you is all the “leaders” ask in many companies because they do not have a basic understanding how any of the IT systems function, hardware lifecycles, etc.

My partner and I keep our membership for TP, Kleenx, Paper towels, Coffee, shelf-stable snack items, and then miscellaneous stuff we see in store or online. We keep the cheapest membership and it is worth it.

The 24H2 update would not install on a brand new prebuilt PC that I bought for my parents. I contacted both the manufacturer and Microsoft and spent too many hours troubleshooting before I gave up and returned it to where I bought it as defective. Back to the drawing board for a replacement PC for my parents.

Fun fact: 20% down payment on $435,000 is $87,000 – that doesn’t include closing costs minimum monthly payments with a 30-year fixed mortgage at an interest rate of 6.889% would come in at $2,668 (this escrows taxes and home insurance). Just for fun, I’ll share that in 2012 my partner and I bought our first home (1,800 square feet attached 2-car garage in the Midwest with typical appearance for a starter home) for $146,500 and 20% down payment was $29,000 - we put down $48,000 since we had it – now you need nearly 3 times the amount to avoid Private Mortgage Insurance. Our minimum monthly payment was $1,032 on a 15-year fixed mortgage at 3.5% interest. The bar is just way to high for most people to even consider buying at this point. When we sold our first home in 2021, we sold it to a person who was planning to live their themself – no rental companies was our stipulation.

Totally not weird at all right? LOL.