It's an acronym that my wife & I use whenever we need to go to the doctor for anything that's not an obviously external injury.

1. Compared to Normal

2. Affects your life / Attempts to fix

3. Witnessed by others

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For example: For sudden fatigue that has no obvious cause.

C: I work out regularly, my sleep and weight hasn't changed, haven't had any injury or other lifestyle change to explain the sudden tiredness and muscle weakness I've been experiencing.

A: Three months ago, I could carry my daughter around for hours without a problem. This week, I've been getting winded after 10 minutes. Getting more rest hasn't fixed it.

W: My wife and I are concerned, and want to check for possible causes.

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For Insomnia:

C: I've always had trouble feeling rested after sleeping, but lately it's becoming unmanagable. I've been getting maybe three hours of sleep each night, because I wake up randomly and can't get back to sleep. My husband might wake up at the same time, but easily falls back to sleep afterward.

A I've tried Melatonin, drinking herbal teas, using heating packs, white noise, and even taking naps during lunch, but nothing really helps. Even taking a whole day to sleep on the weekend doesn't actually make me feel rested.

W: I'm making mistakes at work due to the brain fog, and I'm worried I'm becoming unsafe to drive from sheer exhaustion. I need help.

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My wife tended to offer a big laundry list of little anecdotes about what's been going on & assume the doctor will be able to connect the dots. Several doctors brushed off my wife's lifetime back pain & insomnia as 'you need to lose weight', or 'it's just growing pains', but using the 'CAW' approach has worked wonders for getting immediate testing & treatment.

If you need to record privately, Use another device or a website such as www.Vocaroo.com.

Guessing portions or using cups is not accurate and can mess up your progress. A food scale helps you know exactly how much you're eating. It also saves you from having to wash measuring cups! It just saves you time while being more accurate.

Growing up we had a nice glass coffee table, in the middle of the living room. Me being nearsighted, decided it would be the perfect bench to watch tv. I sat on it, and it smashed in a thousand pieces. (I broke it again months later).

To avoid the same kind of disaster, I bought a really sturdy coffee table set. My children used it as a bench, as a bed, as a launching board, it didn’t have and dangerous corners.

Also when you get stylish furniture with sharp corners, they are hard to child proof and look horrible with the “child protection “ .

Fun story: both my son and nephew, at different points, got an eyebrow injury from the same (fancy) couch falling and hitting themselves as toddlers.

Both of them have the scar to prove it.

It is definitely R-Rated

Assuming you work full time (40 hours/week) and you take 2 weeks off per year, you can get a pretty good estimate for the annual pay by doubling the hourly rate. This is because 40 * 50 = 2,000.

So being paid $20/hr ~= $40k annually. $33/hr ~= $66k

This doesn't account for overtime, paid vacation, taxes, etc. It's just a quick mental math trick to get a close estimation.

I just read on a lifestyle website (so not my idea) a great tip for getting rid of old leftovers from the fridge if they're in a container you want to save but the contents are NASTY. Just freeze the container until completely solid, then take out and "pop out" the food into the bin (running hot water over the container helps if it's stuck). Do this just before you take out the trash and you won't have to deal with all the smelly mess. And the container will be a lot more pleasant to wash 😊

Keeping track of expiration dates on containers helps reduce food waste and prevents you from accidentally eating spoiled food. A dry-erase marker allows for easy updates.

If anything is damaged or not working, the return team may ask for part numbers or identifiers on the box. It can expedite the return process.

Not the time-travelling kind (oh, how I wish!), but literally just changing your Timezone a few hours back.

It was just past midnight when I suddenly realised much too late that I hadn’t met my reading time goal on my iPhone Books app.. resulting in me losing my 93-day reading streak. I was absolutely shattered. But then I suddenly had this crazy idea to manually change the time on my phone to an earlier Timezone - and voilà, it worked! (Just remember to change your time back after you’ve met your reading time goal.)

Taking a moment to organize and identify all parts ensures you won’t miss a crucial step or discover missing pieces too late. It saves time and reduces frustration during assembly.

Many extension cords do NOT have a fuse or circuit breaker, but are only made to handle about 6 to 12 amps.

The circuit breaker / fuse in your house only protects the wires inside the walls. It doesn't "know" if you're over-currenting your extension cord or power strip.

The maximum wattage or amperage should be on the tag of the extension cord itself.

If you ever want consistent disappointment to change with family, friends, or coworkers, you need to change the mindset into accountability. Just change the narrative to a place that the other knows you know it wasn’t going to happen and watch how fast things change (or don’t).

If they don’t change, it means they don’t care about you, the project, the relationship, or whatever it is. Finally the ball will be in your court to determine if you should keep whatever it is going or end it outright.

Hope this helps to settle arguments a bit faster for some of you! Many of us are out here wasting time on arguments and people that generally don’t care about us at all!

Edit: people THRIVE on the argument, the chase, the back and forth…. You need to stop that behavior before you’re going to resolve anything.

Some of us have never been able to maintain a journal or diary of our daily/weekly/monthly lives.

The memory of your personal timeline and events can become jumbled.

So, as you remember events in your life, take notes or write short "stories" about them. These notes do not need to be incredibly detailed, just enough to set off the memory chain.

Jobs - Crazy boss.

Jobs - Big project you are proud of.

School - Silly stuff with friends

School - College events

Wedding - Mom willingly moved to the hotel early.

Military - Meeting the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (CMSAF). The most senior enlisted person in the USAF

Once you have several written out, you organize them by when they happened.

School silly stuff

Fast Food Crazy Boss

School College stuff

Military

Big Project

Wedding

etc, etc, etc

Edited for clarity and add some points.

Don't turn hiking into a race or competition. To out and enjoy nature with someone and then leave them in the dust is inconsiderate.

Either you set the plan to break up into different groups at different speeds or you let the slow person lead so everyone gets to walk together.

This doubly true if you have young or old people in the group.

Test how loud you really need your TV to be periodically by turning it way down then back up to a reasonable volume. I've caught myself changing platforms and unintentionally having my TV way to loud many times. Often I turn the volume way down then back up to a reasonable volume I'm shocked by how unnecessarily loud it was before. Even a few clicks from there and you're probably not be 'that neighbor' with the obnoxiously loud TV.

Literally such a small thing but I’ve gotten so much yardage out of it. Make yourself a separate gmail to use for coupons, promotions and when places will give you something for an email address and then turn the notifications off. Then, when you’re ready, all your coupons are there without the annoyance

• For foodies: A gift card to a restaurant, or make the reso and invite them
• For adventurers: Tickets to a theme park, concert, or destination
• For busy friends: A subscription box they’ll look forward to, like coffee, books, or snacks.
• For everyone else: A heartfelt letter and a "coupon" for quality time together—dinner, a movie night, a trip to somewhere tropical

Memories last way longer than most gifts ever will. Plus, it’s less clutter for them and less stress for you. Win-win

Many people accumulate a variety of food storage containers that are almost, but not quite, identical size and shape.

In addition, many containers have bodies and lids made from different types of plastic that deplasticize and shrink at different rates.

Always check that your lid and container actually fit each other BEFORE filling the container with food, so you aren't left scrambling to either find a lid that fits or move the food to another container.

(Yes, I tried to standardize -- most of my lids fit most of my containers. Most.)

We all feel low at times. And when we do, we seek to fill the void with many different distractions resulting in behavior that is unproductive. But before you procrastinate and go on distracting yourself, try closing your eyes and observing your breath and inner sensations for just a few minutes. Probably you will notice many sensations you were unaware of. Maybe you will notice some emotional or physical pain. This is okay. Just be with those sensations for the time being. Notice that when you accept whatever is there at this very moment a certain peace and clarity of mind will come. It is about being aware and accepting that whatever is happening at this very moment cannot be any different than the way it is. So before you start dulling your negative feelings and thoughts, try to just be present with them - and you may notice that they often disappear the moment you give them some conscious attention.

Turning inwards for a few minutes is a great trick to focus one’s mind on what is important and dwarf whatever worries one has.

“The purpose of Meditation is to create the necessary inner ambience for you to live in Joy, Peace, and in turn unfold your genius.” - Sadh-guru

Try closing your eyes and just observe for a few minutes next time you feel low.

Regular insurance companies are there to make as great a profit as possible for their investors, and it can lead to sketchy rejections of claims etc. In contrast, Mutual Insurance companies are owned by the policyholders themselves, so the only motive for "profit" is to ensure that the organization has enough funds to continue operating, and as a result, they often offer better rates and service. They are sort of like the credit unions of insurance.

Let them manage maybe 1/4 to 1/3rd.

Why? they are probably using computer algorithms to manage your money. And taking a percentage to manage your money.

Keep 2/3 - 3/4 as self managed, emulate their algorithms and avoid the management fees.

Note: Your mileage may vary.

My dishwasher consistently leaves water droplets and pooled water on my dishes. I got tired of drying dishes from the dishwasher, so I came up with a solution.

As soon as the dishwasher is done with it's drying cycle (it's imparative that the dishes be hot), open it and gently but firmly shake the top rack, then the bottom rack. This will force most of the droplets and pools to fall to the bottom of the dishwasher. Then, leave the door cracked slightly to vent the residual moisture. Wait until the dishes are completely cool, and voila! Perfectly dry dishes, every time!

If you can pay for a “expensive item” twice you’re obviously not going to get the same product twice (unless it’s needed) but being able to afford it twice provides you freedom over it. Owning expensive items takes up mental space. It creates little pockets of doubt over losing it or damaging it or maintaining said item.

If you can’t afford to lose the item etc IT OWNS YOU! But if you can afford it twice then YOU OWN THE ITEM! It’s good sound advice financially and psychologically.

My brother purchased a refrigerator about a year ago for $1500. 3 weeks after the warranty expired, it died completely. Called repairman and was told $1000 to fix. I suggested reaching out to the manufacturer to ask if they would do anything to assist. Surprisingly, they replied within an hour and said yes! This would be a one time courtesy and in no way extends the warranty any further. But it doesn’t hurt to ask for warranty repair when so close to the expiration.

ETA: Brand was Frigidaire.

It's easier for us tech-savvy folks to stay up to date on the latest strategies employed by scammers and identify them in action, but many of our older loved ones can't stay the same.

By just spending a bit of time researching what the latest scams to look out for are and then educating your loved ones, you can potentially save them (and yourselves) from having to go through the trauma and financial burden from being scammed.

Trust me, as much as you'd like to think your parents (and yourselves) are too smart to be scammed, there are and will continue to be newer, more devious ways of scamming folks. Stay sharp out there.

This applies especially to news sites in which only the first 5 lines of the article are shown, then they blur the next few lines and show an overlay which tells you to subscribe to read the rest. This truncating of the text and overlay display is usually done with client-side Javascript, which checks your browser to see if you're logged in or not, and if not it will remove all but 5 lines of the article from the DOM, and show the paywall.

However, you can always stop the loading and execution of a page's Javascript by simply using the Escape key. As the webpage loads, quickly and repeatedly spam the Escape key. More often than not, you will see the whole article load and no "Subscribe now to read the rest" overlay show up to ruin your day.

This does NOT work for all websites, some of them actually don't load in any article content until AFTER it detects you have a user session, but for SEO purposes many sites go the other way around, by removing content when it doesn't find a user session.

This technique works well on Rolling Stone for example.

(Yes, opening the site in an Incognito window or clearing/disallowing cookies would also work with RS, but the Escape key method is simpler for me)