A bicycle with a full chain case. They’re hard to find in the U.S. Bike mechanics say it’s because they’re a pain to work on, but the cool thing is that you hardly ever have to work on them. When riding in the winter, I’d have to clean the gears and chain every couple of weeks, and then replace the drivetrain almost every year. With the chain case, so far my maintenance has consisted of oiling the chain a handful of times in three years.
Kerbal Space Program 1. I bought it in early beta for like $14, have received all subsequent updates for free because I bought it so early, sunk literally thousands of hours of enjoyment into it and come out with a solid basic understanding of orbital mechanics.
I cant think of a better return on investment I’ve ever made.
mid price point rice cooker. not as much of a cool/fun answer as the rest, but it lets me meal prep for days. i don’t like cooking for just myself, but it’s so easy to use that it doesn’t feel like a waste. plus i always overcook my rice on the stove 😅
Electrostatic capacitive rubber dome keyboard. …Such a pillowy, smooth travel compared to every mechanical keyboard. I wish there were higher demand so I could get an ergonomic one instead of basically being limited to what Topre or NiZ release.
I bought a rice cooker, and it easily earns it’s permanent space on the countertop. Having the ability to cook 5 (dry) cups of rice and have it stay warm for days is so convenient.
Otp got it. I have some in it right now that I made two nights ago. Texture wise, if I press down on it, it slowly springs back up. If that gives you a good sense of how it’s holding up. & it’s a sealed unit water can’t escape once it’s done cooking (it vents steam during that process)
I haven’t experienced any mold in mine. It’s a sealed unit (outside of it venting during cooking) and I’m no mycologist but I’m sure that mold spores wouldn’t be too appreciative of the cooking process.
Some times, also left over rice can be put in the refrigerator and then used for fried rice. Sometimes I’ll just make as much as I need on that occasion. Either way it comes out perfectly every time.
With mine, the rice is still pretty good after about 48h on the keep warm setting. It’s still edible after 72 but starts to get too dried out at that point.
Per the CDC: Bacteria can multiply rapidly if left at room temperature or in the “Danger Zone” between 40°F and 140°F. Never leave perishable food out for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour if exposed to temperatures above 90°F).
This is one I thoroughly do not understand, maybe because I have not tried it, but cooking rice is already so easy, why would i need a separare appliance for it?
I thought the same thing for 20+ years. A nice rice cooker is great though. Ours has a yumcarb setting that my wife likes, which has a separate basket with holes in it. Most of the starch leaks out of the rice and pools below it.
my take is, if you are alone in the kitchen and doing multiple cooking tasks. then you have one less thing to worry about.
it is also good because even children can operate the rice cooker. so you can assign that very easy task to a person with little to no experience and just a minimum of instructions.
I have a tiny kitchen so I appreciate being able to conveniently cook rice in the corner of one countertop, especially when I’m cooking with two pans on the stove.
An opposing viewpoint here, from a couple of rice snobs – I’ve spent 30+ years (my entire life) with a rice cooker so I’ve never questioned not owning one.
Ours broke (the gasket did, after 10 years), and the company that made it no longer exists (Sanyo), so we tried just cooking rice on the stovetop for a year before we bought a new one. It’s now been 2 years without a rice cooker, and we don’t plan on buying one of those fancy Korean ones I’ve been eyeing.
We found the rice tastes better (a bit of burning at the bottom adds flavour), and we don’t need another appliance taking up space. The only thing I miss is the keep warm functionality, but now we just freeze the leftover rice and microwave it (or make fried rice with it).
And now we have more counter and cupboard space to buy other gadgets, as we’re cooking enthusiasts.
For large amounts of rice we luckily have a pressure cooker.
My 2nd monitor. It’s some 24" curved 165Hz 1080p monitor that I bought from a guy at my university for $105. While not the best for gaming (noticable ghosting), it’s been incredibly helpful for work as it gets more complicated in university. The extra screen real estate lets me fit so much more without needing to alt tab or click on another window.
When I get a bit more space to myself, I’m thinking of somehow wall mounting a 42"-50" 4K TV and using that as a work monitor. Or maybe I don’t need a wall mount. I’d have what feels like acres of screen real estate.
This is a good one. I went with the AS-D2 for a year, then got the Phoenix copper DOC for something more aggressive and more beautiful. Been using that ever since. The Feather was great to learn on though and now my kid learned on it and uses it. I’ll probably have to get another for the younger one when he’s ready.
25 years ago I bought an IKEA printer cart to hold a computer tower and a UPS and stuff. It was like a billy line, so it was particle-board (aka beaver chow) but at least 20-odd years ago it wasn’t the hollow-core shit like so much of their stuff. I could screw in a mount for a switch and stuff.
Fast forward 25 years. I’ve moved-house 10 times, three of them coast-to-coast moves, and this thing is festooned with old cable-tie mounts, two switches (hp1810 and er-x) some test-rig APs for a project, a work laptop on top and its 4th APC unit (movers beat the hell out of them).
Good as new. I’m amazed that the beaver-chow actually held together, but I’ve kept it safe from its kryptonite: water. I’ve rolled it out and around to work on a tower on the top as a workbench l, and I’ve loaded server after server into it as they lifecycle out.
Good musician's earplugs will make everything quieter so as not to damage your ears, but you can still hear and enjoy the music. Industrial type ones are more powerful and block out as much as possible
I’ll second this one, and I mostly only use mine for sleep. You can get some that you mold yourself, so there’s less fear of losing them. I use Radians brand.
short version: everybody got together and agreed on some standards, nvidia refused to show up, said fuck that, made their own shitty standard that would’ve caused a massive duplication of everyones effort, all so that they could keep their driver proprietary more easily, and they only recently gave up on this.
My house. I am constantly stressed now, but it’s something I can work on, improve, and builds equity.
The medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I know it sounds stupid, but of all the improvements in my house I’ve made in the last year, this one has had the most impact. It looks great and gives me tons more storage. And since I use it every single day, I can appreciate it every single day.
Yeah, my girlfriend and I were telling people, it’s great. We can just put holes in walls and no one can stop us. We don’t have to stress about a deposit or anything like that. It’s so freeing.
I picked this one up. It matched the sink and vanity that came with the house perfectly and was built at a much higher quality than I expected.
Home Decorators Collection Home Decorators Collection 25 in. W x 25 in. H Rectangular Medicine Cabinet with Mirror www.homedepot.com/p/…/302968021SKU# 302968021
I also got one of those cabinets that goes over the toilet too, and while it looks alright, it felt cheap when I put it together.
Zenna Home 23.25 in. W x 71 in. H x 7.88 in. D Dark Brown Over-the-Toilet Storage with Glass Windows in Espresso www.homedepot.com/p/…/320104339SKU# 320104339
SAN SERO Vented Microwave Cover. I was just thinking about this the other day. I’ve owned this thing for over 9 years and use it nearly every day. At the time I think I paid like $20 for it (it’s $34 now). And I thought that might be silly for what is basically a piece of plastic.
But holy crap, it’s got to be my highest value-to-dollar ratio item EVER.
With it, I hardly ever have to clean my microwave. It keeps splatters to the cover itself, which is trivial to wash out.
And it helps with energy efficiency too, keeping heat close to the food, instead of it being lost as waste heat.
It comes with tiny vent holes at the top, so it won’t steam up much or pop off.
And it has a nice handle built into the top middle of it, so most of the time you can grab that without burning yourself.
It also fits perfectly onto your typical round dinner plate. I mean perfectly.
This thing has been with me through four different homes/house moves, and hundreds of times of cooking or re-heating items on bowls and plates.
It’s easily the best thing I’ve bought in my life.
Am I getting this right, you paid 20 USD for a plastic cover for plates in the microwave? I mean, yes, you should have one to avoid splatters, but I once upgraded from a 2 USD one to a 5 USD one due to better usability, I can’t imagine paying 20 USD for it
I can’t imagine using a microwave for anything other than popcorn!
Oh, melting butter
This is why I never believe the hype about air fryers. Most of the reviews come from people who’ve been using a popcorn machine to cook god knows what 😂
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