I think part of it is maybe people change or are shocked by the realization of the immediate added responsibility, but also remember that you’re certainly not going to sleep as much, like ever again. Losing sleep regularly when you had so much control over your sleeping habits is really impactful to your mental state.

My wife and I didn’t really get angry with each other or change our behavior towards each other, but we definitely were much more tired. At the same time though, you have this wonderful little person that you are shaping (that shits and eats ALL the time) - it’s a massive change of routine. People inherently don’t like change.

I feel a lot of what you’re afraid of stems from this. Just ensure that you both go into it knowing you will need each other to support each other. Do it as a team, share the responsibilities, and truly enjoy those moments because they go by SO fucking fast.

Treat it like a marathon and not a sprint. Compete with each other to be the first to apologize and diffuse the situation when things get heated. Marriage isn’t easy, but it can be rewarding to share that part with your better half.

I hope you figure out how to weather your storm! It’s an amazing thing to see them grow up and to be there every step of the way as a team.

I’m really bad about buying new games at launch where I like the franchise and getting burned (looking at you bf2042).

However with all of the stupid politics, tariffs, and recession coming in the US, I’m sure the hell not buying this at $80, even if I’m a long term borderlands fan. I have way too many games in my library I should be playing/finishing anyway.

I hope others speak with their wallets as well.

Reminds me of a certain Flight of the Conchords song.

There’s also a similar service for renting books through your e-reader called Libby. On kobo their Overdrive service uses Libby for the same end result - renting books from your local library on your digital reader. And it’s free!

Prepare for the weather properly! Your friend should take care of most of the tough parts, but one thing you can do is understand what “the mountains” means in your area.

For example, for me the mountains in Colorado get down below freezing still this time of year, so if I were camping I’d need to ensure I have a proper sleeping bag (temperature rated for the overnight temps you’ll be in up in the mountains) and pad to go under it (absolutely necessary for thermal reasons really any time you’re camping) plus clothes to wear overnight, such as thermal tops and bottoms and socks, even a hat/beanie if it’s cold enough. If you’ve never camped in cold weather, it can be intimidating, miserable, or even deadly if you’re unprepared. I absolutely love doing it (I use a hammock and not a tent, it’s a blast).

However your friend may have most of this for you, so focus on your clothes, he should probably have advice on this topic as well.

Enjoy your first time! It can be an incredible experience with the right company and planning. It’s always fun to connect with nature and disconnect from our everyday lives and technology.

Yeah, certainly if he were a normal President. But he’s a textbook narcissist who only gives a shit about himself and capitulating to the ultra elite. Throw some performance goals set up by his boss Vladimir Putin, and what do you get?

Absolute fucking chaos alongside fleecing the lower 99.99% for anything you can get and manufacturing a crash in the stock market so you and your elite friends can, you guessed it, profit from it tremendously.

A rational president, you bet. This dude is not that.

Fucking A

I’ll leave this here

Doesn’t want to upset his boss

In addition to what these articles recommend, you should turn off your device before going through customs. If you decide to power it on or not, that’s up to you. However, you should NOT unlock it for the first time.

Your phone (either android or iPhone) forensically has two states - BFU (before first unlock) and AFU (after first unlock). You may not think this is a big difference but it’s actually huge. After your device has its first unlock it’s much more susceptible to forensic data extraction. The BFU state on several devices is, as far as publicly known, immune to AFU extraction with Cellebrite. Naturally older devices or those that weren’t designed with security in mind are susceptible in either state.

Look into GrapheneOS and their user forum if you want to learn more about this as well as what devices have decent protection against forensic data extraction

tl,dr - power off and optionally back on your phone but don’t do the first login if you want to deny your device being searched or at least to make it as difficult and as expensive as possible for your data to be extracted forensically.

Source - I’m a cybersecurity professional

Yeah I’m not in it at either price point. I’ll for once be a patient gamer and wait until it’s reasonable or I’ll skip this one. I’m betting there’s lots like us.

It’s cool, trump is getting his so who cares about literally anything else?

• signed, MAGA

/s

You literally swear on the Bible before taking office

Haha and even more ironic here is that trump skipped this step this time and nobody said a word.

Well I’ve had essentially every console Nintendo has ever produced, but at least for now I’m not excited about the switch 2 for this very reason, I’m fairly put off about it.

I’m either going to buy a steamdeck or wait for the cost to go down (Nintendo is usually firm with their pricing though) on the Switch 2 before I’ll ever buy it or any games.

Especially while the US languishes under trump for the next nearly four years. I’m not going to have a lot of extra space for added expenses and price gouging.

I’ve also heard it’s a one way street (dad pun) - meaning it’s not reversible

I also love this YouTube video, which covers this extremely well - https://youtu.be/s7tWHJfhiyo

Raptor: Call of the Shadows?

Unfortunately, those foot pedals are incredibly cheap in their construction. All plastic with a metal spring. Typically the plastic rod holding the upper piece to the lower piece is what breaks first. I’ve gone through many over the years using them as my push to talk button for various programs like teamspeak, mumble, and discord.

It’s handy (or footy - ha! Dad joke) though to give yourself another key you can map to something other than your hands.