Thank you for sharing what you did. I will use that phrasing, and hopefully they will take me up on the offer. I know they have a good support system locally, including family, but the isolating/quarantining may make it difficult for some people to help out, so I’m glad I reached out with a more concrete offer of help.
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Thank you for stepping up. With this type of loss, IME/what I’ve seen, people don’t know how to help so they don’t do anything to avoid offending. So a robust local network can be surprisingly absent during things of this nature.
Agreed on the specifics. “I’m going through a coffee line, can I bring you a latte?” “I am at the store. Do you need TP, chocolate, or any groceries?” “Can I come by and walk your dog?” General offers for help often feel either overwhelming, so those grieving don’t use them, or hollow, so they don’t want to be inconvenient.
And +1 to @Ckni27 that it’s generally best to acknowledge than to ignore. You won’t risk “reminding” someone of their sorrow. The only way this goes wrong is when people send a million “how are you” messages. Those can be very overwhelming.
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Yep. Something my friend said to me was along the lines of “I want people to use her name, I want people to talk about her. I’m never going to be ‘reminded’ of losing her because it’s always with me. It will have always happened to me, but to know that I’m not alone in thinking of her is a gift”
So that made me figure that even if I miss the mark a little, it’s better to try than to be too afraid to.
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I don’t think I will be able to go to a gym anytime soon, and I basically only use the spin machines there, so I was looking to get one for my house (I went to the Y so nothing too fancy). It occurs to me that maybe instead I should get an actual bike and a spin trainer (I think that is the right word?) for greater flexibility. I had been considering getting a bike anyways; I’m just a bit scared of biking next to cars. Anyways… for a HUGE bike noob, who would only use a bike either as a stationary bike or on roads and who does not want to spend a lot on a bike, any suggestions for bikes I should be looking at? Batsignalling @katscratch and any others who can help.
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Hiiiiii
I’m not as knowledgeable about bike shopping as some others but I hang around my shop a lot since it’s owned by my friends, haha If you feel comfortable with the riding position on a spin bike, you’d probably like a simple road bike with drop bars.
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If you have any bike shops in your town a lot of them are doing no/minimal-contact test rides, and most will clearance out previous year models my son got his first new bike, a Giant Escape, for $400). The biggest piece of whether a bike will be fun to ride on a trainer or for long-ish road rides is how it fits your body. Any shop should have someone that can watch how you ride and make adjustments or recommendations.
The brands in my area that are the most accessible and tend to have bigger sales are Giant/Liv, Trek, Specialized, and Jamis.
After my high school bike was stolen when I was 26 or 27 I had thrift store bikes then a cruiser my mom gave me, then I didn’t ride much for years because none of those were fun for more than rides around the lake. My first new bike as an adult was a $1000 bike designed for cyclocross that I randomly rode and fell for one day while my son was talking to a mechanic. It’s still my absolute favorite to ride and opened up a whole different path in my life 
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Generally “hybrid” bikes are the typical recommendation. Giant is the most cost-effective of the quality name brands so I would look for a Giant dealer if possible. They are usually $50-100 less than the equivalent bike from Trek or Specialized. A lot depends on whether you want something like kat mentioned with drop bars (not familiar with any myself), whether you want something with flat bars but you still lean forward while riding (like a Giant Escape) or whether you want a more upright posture (less efficient but more comfortable if you have upper body issues like me)
My current bike is a Specialized Roll which I find very easy on my upper body but I doubt it would be compatible with an indoor trainer because it has very wide tires.
Also, I will note that indoor trainers are not very cheap. Usually $100-200 and up. Depending how picky you are I think you can get okayish spin style manual resistance exercise bikes for not much more than that, and they usually take up much less floor space than a conventional bike plus trainer. I also found it a hassle to frequently hook up and unhook my bike from the trainer if (for example) you wanted to use it during warmer months but it was rainy
What’s your budget? What kind of riding do you plan on doing outside? (What do your roads/paths look like surface wise?)
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Yayz I almost tagged you I was hoping you’d chime in 
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I am always available for bicycle discussions.
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Oh my god I just did this for the first time. THANK YOU!!!
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Ok, like I know there’s a plague happening, but can you rent dogs?
I need a Shiba Inu for the day. I need to do a photoshoot with this dog in the bathtub. Bath-Shiba. It’s gonna be big. Trust me.
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Ask a local rescue? And offer a picture for them to post to get the dog adopted?
A friend of mine does promotional pictures for cats at a local shelter, it’s the cutest damn thing. She does little costumes and sets for them (she makes and sells costumey things on etsy so that helps).
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Our shelter lets dogs go out on day trips and slumber parties.
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Slumber parties? How do you qualify to host these slumber parties? I’m not qualified to pet the dogs at our humane society
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Does anyone have experience with small portable air conditioners? (ETA: this is the kind of thing I’m thinking of: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Toshiba-8-000-BTU-6-000-BTU-DOE-115-Volt-Portable-AC-with-Dehumidifier-Function-and-Remote-Control-in-White-RAC-PD0811CRU/303408318)
Specific questions:
- How noisy are they inside the room?
- How noisy are they to outside neighbors since they need to vent through a window?
- Do they work??
About 6 months ago we moved from a very well insulated fancy apartment to a very poorly insulated 2.5 story 1500 sq ft. condo. The bedroom is on the top floor of the building and south/east facing so it gets very hot during the days, even when it’s only getting up to 75/80F.
Right now the weather cools off enough at night that we can just open windows in the evening after the sun goes down and everything is comfortable, but in about a month that’s not going to help.
We have central A/C but since this place is huge and drafty I feel like it’s a waste of energy. I know that the efficiency per sq. ft. is lower with a portable A/C but we would be cooling a fraction of the space and only for a few hours in the evening. I’m worried that it will be very noisy though, and that it will bother the neighbors who are all in close proximity.
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They are very noisy, and not at all efficient. But the trade-off for cooling only a small area but it worthwhile. Consider, though, if you’ll have humidity problems and the rest of the house if you don’t condition it. That would be a no go here because we would have mold everywhere. That said, what we have are two through the wall heat pump units, no central heating or cooling at all.
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I spent a summer in a house that had one that was freestanding with a vent hose that went in the window. It was quieter than my fan (but was audible) and was very good at cooling the room (the whole top floor of the house). Much better than a window unit. The owner said the utility bill was actually a bit lower because the central air wasn’t working so hard overall.
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Yes, this is what I’m thinking of.
@ Rural, did you have a window unit or one of the freestanding ones that Katscratch mentioned? I live in LA so it’s very dry, just hot 
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We do now have through the wall ones that are fairly noisy, but not as bad as a cheap window unit. Cheap window units are very noisy. I’ve never had one of the freestanding deals.
I’ve also never lived anywhere where it was dry when it was hot.
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