Hoping this week goes better than last week. The terribleness of it all peaked on Saturday, when I was rudely checking my phone at the funeral of someone who died in a very sudden, tragic way, because my dad was having emergency surgery >1000 miles away.

The number one secret of dog training: It is just creating a shared language between you and your pup so that they can be successful.

Are they doing something you don’t want them to? Teach them what you want them to do in that scenario instead. For instance, my dog used to sprint towards the road when he wanted to cross. I taught him to sit instead, and then we crossed whenever he asked by sitting to reinforce the much safer behavior.

The point is to teach them how to tell you what they want/need in healthy ways, and actually listen when they do what you taught them. Another example, give them a way to tell you they need to go outside (bells they can ring is a good option) and then let them out when they ask in the way you taught them.

The Humane Society has some suggestions for how to protect feral cat colonies from coyotes. Not sure if you’ve already tried all of these or if they would even work for your location, but it seems worth considering.

That…was not how I interpreted the authors position.

What did you read that makes you think they specifically want Jesus to be taught in schools?

I haven’t made any this year, but I have in the past. My favorite flavor I’ve made is a chai ice cream (just brew the tea in the ice cream base).

I volunteered to moonlight in a second role at my day job. This week is the first time that the workload has been getting to me. I guess it’s just going to be a stressful couple of weeks and then I’ll get through it.

I’m sorry to hear you are struggling. It may take time and it may be a tough road, but you can absolutely dig yourself out of this hole.

I’d recommend focusing on one loan at a time, if the whole makes you feel overwhelmed. While I’m not the biggest fan, Dave Ramsey suggests paying loans off using something called the snowball method. I think this can help you, because it will allow you to have wins and see progress faster. Since it sounds like you are struggling with motivation and seeing progress, this method will be the most useful. Small, achievable goals are important!

Basically, you pay the minimums on all of your current loans. Then you pay any extra on your loan with the lowest balance. Once that is knocked out, you take what you were paying for the first loan (minimum payment plus the extra) and put it towards your second smallest loan. A secondary benefit with this approach is that you will reduce your required cash outflow if you do end up losing your job. Good luck!

Theme: Prehistoric Times

Plot: Temptation

Hero: Clever tinkerer

Villain: Greedy business tycoon

Side character: Scheming courtier

Wildcard: Fey

I’m not quite sure how to work a business tycoon and courtier into something set in Prehistoric times, but I’m definitely intrigued on the sort of story I could come up with for this prompt.

Thanks for sharing this! I really enjoy it, especially since I want to write more. I think I might workshop this prompt a bit cause it definitely got some juices flowing.

At the end of the day, you know deep inside what the right choice for you is. The unknown is scary, but the future is always unknown, no matter what you choose.

I went the route of going back to school for a fresh start, after my first career attempt didn’t work out. It was absolutely the right choice. I went from feeling stuck in a bad situation and absolutely miserable, to a career that allows me to live my best life and I am infinitely more happy.

I didn’t know what was going to come out of the change. I knew I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing. When I went back to school, I did as many different internships as I could, since I knew what I didn’t want to do, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do anymore. I ended up falling into a career field I never even knew existed, but matches up to my strengths perfectly. Bonus points for being paid more than I ever imagined I could make (I basically tripled my income from my old job when I started my current one).

Life’s short. Change is constant, no matter what you choose. Do what makes you happy, even if it’s scary. We all end up as worm food, do you want to live your life as a series of “What ifs?” Or do you want to take a chance and try new things?

I’m here for the people. I don’t want to be a part of a community that is bots talking with bots, which is what I felt like places like Reddit had become. When I found Beehaw, it was a breath of fresh air to actually see intelligent conversations between real people. I’d hate to see that be lost.

It can depend on where you’re located and how deep you get into the sport. For beginner classes, in my area, they are ~$100 for 6 weeks. It gets more expensive once you need your own gear and if you choose to compete and/or take private lessons.

I think the most comparable comparison in costs are probably club hockey and club soccer.

• Walking my dog - Better awareness of my neighborhood/getting to know my neighbors. Fresh air, sunshine, and time to work through my thoughts helps me stay clear headed. Cardio is good for you.

• Fencing - both physically and mentally challenging. It is basically violently enforced meditation. Hella fun and is great stress relief. Cons - can be expensive and relatively few adults.

• Reading fiction - I enjoy getting lost in other worlds. Helps to disconnect from the internet from time to time

• Yoga - reduces random aches and pains from sitting all day at work/high impact activities. It just generally feels good afterwards.

• Curling - team sport I do with my spouse. Throwing shit and drinking/eating afterwards is nice. Good community to socialize with.

• Watching movies/tv/YouTube - Lots of great stuff out there. Easy to do too much of this one, especially youtube.

Most recently… empanadas.

But there are so many foods i hadn’t been exposed to but absolutely adore. We didn’t have much “ethnic” foods as a kid, so there’s been a lot I’ve tried as an adult and loved. Butter chicken has become a staple for me. Saag paneer. Pad see ew is another great one. Savory pies in former British colonies (I had a butter chicken pie at a takeaway in NZ that was incredible). The list goes on…

For ages. Sometimes they have pretty good movies for free.

It sounds like a platform private companies can use to develop instantaneous peer-to-peer money transfer, as opposed to a true service run by the feds. Either way, the fact that it would allow someone to make a direct payment to another person’s bank account anywhere would be a huge upgrade.

I’m the opposite. I saw it as white and gold, saw a picture of it in better lighting, and now can only see it as blue and black

Earthship homes are also an alternative that are pretty decent at remaining a stable temperature. Plus, I think they look pretty cool!

Something like Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy

Yeah, that sounds like it would be a textural nightmare with how thick and heavy peanut butter is.

It’s very rare to eat peanut butter on its own. It’s most famous for the way it pairs with other flavors. Peanut butter and jelly (strawberry jam is a classic), peanut butter and honey, peanut butter and chocolate, or if you want something super extreme peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.

I would bet you’d like it more if it hadn’t been peanut butter only.

I was walking my dog earlier this week and came across a cat that had most likely been killed by a coyote. It was incredibly upsetting to see and completely ruined my day. That cat did not need to live it’s last moments in fear and fighting for its life, if only it’s owners had kept it inside/supervised it when outside.

On a better note. I once saw a woman walking down the street and her cat was just following her along (no leash). It was super cute and you could definitely tell they had a fantastic bond. More cat owners should be like that lady.