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    1. I bought a house, now what?

      I posted previously about looking for a house for my disabled partner and myself and after several stressful months we're closing on April 30th! So, now what? I'm working on home insurance quotes,...

      I posted previously about looking for a house for my disabled partner and myself and after several stressful months we're closing on April 30th!

      So, now what? I'm working on home insurance quotes, I have the money arranged for closing. We're in the "these issues need addressed" phase of the contract process (there are no smoke detectors in this house wtf) and the home inspection raised no dealbreakers. No radon or termites.

      So what don't I know about? What new homeowner things do I need to be thinking about now? We plan to move in the latter half of May. Accessibility suggestions are also useful, we're going to have to add a small ramp inside (one step), move a cabinet in the kitchen and replace carpet in the master bedroom.

      Thanks for all the advice last time, please give me more of it?

      54 votes
    2. I have now donated a full gallon of blood products!

      Previous posts: Comment: Becoming eligible to donate due to change in FDA guidelines that impact gay men Topic: I donated blood for the first time! Topic: I donated platelets for the first time!...

      Previous posts:


      Not sure if anyone here has been following my little personal saga on this front, but I have now officially donated a full gallon of blood products: two whole blood donations (1 pint each) and two platelet donations (3 pints each). All together that's eight pints, or one gallon! Not too bad for someone who just started this in January!

      Having done it a couple of times now, I can confidently say that the worst part of the whole process for me is the finger prick at the beginning to check your hemoglobin levels. Because there are a lot of nerve endings on your fingertips, it hurts more and lingers longer than the needles in the arms. Those sting a little bit going in, but the pain isn't too bad and goes away very quickly.

      I've been doing the platelet donations on my own, but my husband and I have been doing the blood donations together, which feels really cool to do as a gay couple since we were barred from doing it for so long. After our most recent donations we got free matching T-shirts, so now we can not only donate together but also look super cute while doing it too. 😁

      This is probably the final update about this I'll post here. I don't want to come across as self-aggrandizing or anything, and I'm not posting this for any sort of kudos. I'm simply excited to share something that I've waited literal decades to do!

      Also, while I was in the chair and watching my pint bag fill up, I did have a thought of "I should ask Tildes about this." In the US, they, of course, measure my donations in pints and gallons. In other countries however, is a pint still the standard measurement used for a "unit" of blood, or do they use a different easy metric unit (e.g. half a liter)?

      39 votes
    3. Eclipse playlist recommendations

      Okay, this is just for fun, what songs should go in an eclipse playlist? So far I have: Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler Here Comes the Sun - Beatles Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden (and a...

      Okay, this is just for fun, what songs should go in an eclipse playlist? So far I have:

      • Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
      • Here Comes the Sun - Beatles
      • Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden (and a nice cover by Norah Jones)
      • Soak Up the Sun - Sheryl Crow
      • Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
      • Steal My Sunshine - Len
      • Eclipse - Pink Floyd
      • Bishop's Death - Ladyhawke Soundtrack
      • Sunglasses at Night - Corey Heart
      • Bad Moon Rising - CCR
      11 votes
    4. Restaurant advice Astoria, Queens, NYC

      My wife and I will be traveling to NY in early April. I already have our "nice" dinners planned at Osteria 57 in Greenwich Village and Peak NYC at Hudson Yards. If, for some reason, I should...

      My wife and I will be traveling to NY in early April. I already have our "nice" dinners planned at Osteria 57 in Greenwich Village and Peak NYC at Hudson Yards. If, for some reason, I should absolutely avoid these two places...please let me know.

      We need to loosely plan dinner for the other two nights. These two nights shouldn't be as expensive as the two nights above :). Both of these nights we'd like to eat closer to Astoria, where we will be staying (roughly 28th and 38th). We'll be close to Richmond Hill one of these days, so would be open to eating down there as well before returning back to Astoria.

      Could you suggest a great pizza place where we could sit down and have salad and pizza?

      how about a traditional Indian restaurant? Not a fusion and not some place where someone tries to do something fancy. A place I can get Chicken Tikka Masala and my wife can find Chana Masala.

      Some other place that isn't Indian or pizza, but is an absolute must in Astoria?

      Thank you New Yorkers!

      12 votes
    5. What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)

      What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was...

      What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

      If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

      12 votes
    6. Looking for non-political content

      Every now and then, I need, or at least am drawn to, something to turn my brain off for a bit. For some reason, this is often political content for me, which probably isn't healthy. Was wondering...

      Every now and then, I need, or at least am drawn to, something to turn my brain off for a bit. For some reason, this is often political content for me, which probably isn't healthy. Was wondering if you guys had any recommendations for content creators that upload fairly regularly about non-political, not-super-deep stuff.

      29 votes
    7. Tildes Video Thread

      Find yourself watching tons of great videos on [insert chosen video sharing platform], but also find yourself reluctant to flood the Tildes front page with them? Then this thread is for you. It...

      Find yourself watching tons of great videos on [insert chosen video sharing platform], but also find yourself reluctant to flood the Tildes front page with them? Then this thread is for you.

      It could be one quirky video that you feel deserves some eyeballs on it, or perhaps you've got a curated list of videos that you'd love to talk us through...

      Share some of the best video content you've watched this past week/fortnight with us!

      9 votes
    8. What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)

      What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was...

      What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.

      If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!

      8 votes
    9. What did you do this week (and weekend)?

      As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do...

      As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!

      5 votes
    10. What programming/technical projects have you been working on?

      This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...

      This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?

      17 votes
    11. Feature suggestion: Show the "Post a new topic" button on the front page

      Hi everyone, first of all, thank you for creating and maintaining this site - I don't think I've ever seen a more constructive and friendly general-purpose community online. :) In the last few...

      Hi everyone, first of all, thank you for creating and maintaining this site - I don't think I've ever seen a more constructive and friendly general-purpose community online. :)

      In the last few weeks, after getting access to tildes, I stumbled multiple times over an interesting article that I thought that would fit on Tildes. But I didn't see a button to post it on here. I assumed it has to be something related to rating or account age. I was wondering how long it would take. Maybe a month?

      The volume of posts here is pretty low, so I never saw a reason to visit one of the groups - I only visited the front page. Only now I found out, that the button to post something is only visible if the user is currently on the page of a group.

      I don't know if this happened to someone else, but I personally find it really unintuitive that there isn't a button on the front page to post a topic. Reddit, Lemmy, Discourse etc. all have it like that.

      Did anyone have a similar experience? Or was this a concious choice?

      20 votes
    12. Another update, our first event

      Hello once again! I wanted to show y'all some pictures, because today we've hosted our first event. Check it out! Today's event is a birthday party for a little girl, her family and friends are...

      Hello once again! I wanted to show y'all some pictures, because today we've hosted our first event.

      Check it out!

      Today's event is a birthday party for a little girl, her family and friends are all here setting up for a meal and they've got a neat inflatable for the kids to play on. She's turning 2 and folks decided to just go all out for it.

      I wanted to share too, how this event is helping out the overall plan. The little girl's grandmother was a caterer before they moved here. She doesn't want to do catering professionally anymore, because the job wore her out. She stopped doing it after they moved, because she was exhausted. The way she tells it, it's a pretty typical story of being worked to the bone for rewards that aren't fulfilling, for a larger business that was mostly just about growth/performance. Turned her off to the whole idea, because she was sick of being pushed past her limits. We got to talking with her and shared some of our own plans - to be a local space, small scale and low key, not trying to grow super fast or get bought by something bigger.

      As we shared all this I noticed her grandmother's demeanor change, what was at first a negative recollection turned into a sort of hopeful interest. Turns out she would like to do catering again, she'd just like to do it without the pressures of a larger scale business. I said at one point, that our goal was to be a good place, not the biggest business or the richest people. She gave me her number, and said to reach her whenever we wanted.

      I couldn't ask for a better outcome on this one, I think. They paid early too :). Anyway, I don't have just a whole lot more to say, I just wanted to show y'all some progress since I'd already written out so much. Slowly but surely, step by step, it's working out so far. Hope y'all's weekend is good, and I hope to show you more soon!

      25 votes