CALI COOPER 🥉

One small add: the regular Paperwhite 11 does have adjustable warm light (only the Signature adds auto-brightness) while the Clara 2E’s ComfortLight Pro lets you schedule the warmth to ramp up toward bedtime, which is great in bed. If you read on your side, the Kobo Libra 2’s page-turn buttons are a big comfort upgrade without Oasis-level pricing. Also bump font size and line spacing a notch and keep brightness a little above the minimum with warmth near max to reduce eye strain and for budget, both Paperwhite and Clara 2E see frequent sales, and Kobo refurbs are a solid way to save.

Two quick adds: check your school’s grade replacement/forgiveness policy - if retakes overwrite the old grade a W now and an A later is often the cleanest path. Also look at course sequencing and frequency; if it’s a once-a-year prereq, dropping might ripple into two terms unless you line up a summer offering or a pre-approved transfer equivalent. In the meantime, you can often use another section’s professor or TA office hours and ask for archived problem sets or old exams to get a fast boost if you try to salvage it.

In addition to that map the prereq chain and course rotations so you don’t hit a scheduling bottleneck and and loop in both your advisor and financial aid to stay within SAP rules. Consider winter/summer or an articulated community college for lower-division catch-up, but confirm transfer and residency limits first. Be careful with pass/fail - many departments won’t let P/F satisfy prereqs or major requirements - so if you need relief, use it on gen eds instead. If timing is tight, ask about co-reqs or instructor consent to take a prereq alongside its sequel, but only if the load is truly manageable with your job.

Do two quick checks before deciding: run GPA scenarios and ask financial aid how a W affects your SAP/credit-completion rate not full-time status. At most schools a single W is GPA-neutral and rarely an admissions red flag, while a low grade can drag your GPA for years. If the numbers put you near the GPA floor, a W is smart damage control; if a C or better is still reachable, plan a two-week sprint by pausing extras and leaning on any TA/group study time you can get.

Plus one to this. I’d also map your degree audit now and identify the single gateway you must clear this term then treat everything else as optional or pass/fail ballast. Set a hard decision point after the first major exam: if you’re below the progression cutoff, use the late-drop to protect GPA and funnel time into the lighter courses. Check for half-term modules or placement-by-exam to clear prereqs faster, and ask your boss for a temporary 4–6 week hour reduction around exams to buy focused study blocks.

Quick note - Good adds. I’d layer in interleaving: mix similar problem types in the same session so you practice picking the right method not repeating one. When you do retrieval, set a hard cutoff (10-15 seconds); if it doesn’t come fast and count it as wrong and fix it in the error log. Also, once a week make a one-page from-memory summary and then check it against your notes to surface gaps.

Adding one thing - Alongside SAP and repeat rules do a quick grade math check: plug your current points and the remaining assessments to see the best-case outcome; if even a strong finish still risks your GPA or scholarship, a single W is usually the safer hit. Also look for pass/no pass or audit options and confirm the course rotation/prereq chain so you know exactly how a W affects timing so yeah... if you stay in and set a tight salvage plan now - department help rooms, peer study groups, and asynchronous resources can bridge the gap while tutoring is booked.

I've got three kids now and and we've burned through our share of strollers in this urban jungle with all the stairs and potholes throwing curveballs left and right. For the second baby, I shifted to a lighter setup that folds compact for the car and transit, but I was skeptical about how tough it'd be at first. Turned out, they're pretty resilient if you treat them right - regular checks on the joints and axles kept things tight, no more wheels coming loose like with our old heavy beast. On those bumpy walks, I learned to navigate smarter, like lifting the front slightly over big cracks, and that saved a lot of wear. The sunshade is crucial for sunny days, I extended mine with a simple clip-on fabric, and for the cup holder, a makeshift one from a strap works fine. Parenting's tough, but a reliable stroller makes it bearable, and these lighter ones have lasted us through daily use without falling apart, even on rough terrain. I tried pushing it harder once and it held up, but then I eased off - yeah, balance is key.

Right, overheating hair dryers are the worst, especially with long hair that takes forever to dry. I actually remember mine doing the exact same thing, shutting off right in the middle of things. Cleaning the vent didn't help me either at first. Turned out, the problem was how I was holding it - my hand was partially blocking the intake vents without me realizing. I started being more mindful of that, keeping my grip lower. Also switched to drying in sections, giving it a break every couple minutes by hitting the cool button or turning it off briefly. And yeah, plugging directly into the wall instead of an extension cord made a difference, something about voltage drop or whatever. Anyway, those changes and it runs fine through the whole routine now. Give it a shot.

That grinding sound on a new blender usually means something is misaligned rather than you adding too much fruit. Unplug it and remove the jar, and check the bottom assembly. Make sure the rubber gasket sits flat and is not pinched, the bottom collar is snug, and there is no thin piece of shipping film stuck to the blade unit. With the jar empty, carefully spin the blades by hand using a towel to protect your fingers. They should turn smoothly without scraping or wobbling. If you feel scraping, gently snug the bottom collar by hand. Also look inside the jar while spinning to see if the blades track in a steady circle and do not brush the jar or the collar. Next, look at the motor base where the jar sits. The rubber drive piece should be centered and intact, not chewed up or rubbing the housing. Set the jar back on squarely and twist to lock so the couplers mesh cleanly. Test with a cup of water starting on the lowest speed, giving a few short pulses. If your model allows it, do a one second test with the jar off to see if the noise comes from the motor or the jar assembly. Loud on the base alone points to a motor or coupler issue. Quiet base but noisy with the jar points to the blade unit or gasket. You can usually find the manual by searching the brand and model printed on the base, which shows the correct order of parts and tightening direction. If you notice a burning smell, metal shavings, or the sound does not improve after these checks, stop using it and contact the seller or manufacturer for a warranty fix while it is still new.

Hey Kenneth! Live in a two-story too and what solved the dropouts was a non that model digital monitor with a handheld screen that uses frequency hopping. The signal stays steady through the floor and a couple walls and and in eco mode the parent unit battery makes it through the night without charging. Setup was plug in the camera and turn on the screen, and it connected on its own. Works great. For outages, choose one where the camera takes USB power so you can run it off a power bank, and keep the parent unit in audio only or VOX so the screen sleeps until there is noise. Placement matters more than price in my experience. Put the camera a bit higher than the crib and keep it away from big metal objects or a microwave.

Former cosmetic formulator here with dry sensitive that model myself. In a dry climate you want strong humectants plus a lightweight seal so water does not escape. Look for glycerin near the top and supporting hydrators like propanediol or panthenol & then barrier helpers such as ceramides and cholesterol. Dimethicone and hydrogenated polyisobutene are nice for slip without oiliness. I would avoid essential oils and heavily scented botanicals even when labeled natural and since they are common irritants as that model gets more reactive with age. used to chase thicker creams and ended up shiny yet still parched, which only made things worse. On that model filter for fragrance free and sensitive that model, then scan reviews for fast absorbing and no pilling. Patch test along the jaw for two days before committing. Apply to slightly damp that model after a gentle cleanser, use two pea sized amounts, and wait a minute to set. If you feel dry mid afternoon, tap on a thin second layer rather than jumping to a heavy occlusive. At night you can spot seal the flaky zones with a whisper thin film of a silicone rich lotion or a tiny touch of petrolatum and keep it minimal. Fast relief without the heaviness.

Cracks on soft cases are usually tears starting at stress points like the corners and the narrow rings around button holes. Budget cases often use very soft blends or thin wall tooling and so a month of on off flexing plus pocket heat and UV pushes them past their tear strength. If it is actually TPU sold as silicone it will feel a bit stiffer and can go brittle sooner. Classic stress riser problem. Short term ask the seller for a warranty swap since that failure window is common enough that many will replace it. For your next one and pick a design with reinforced corners, a single continuous ring around cutouts, and a little extra thickness along the rim rather than a uniform ultra thin shell. Genuine liquid silicone rubber from a reputable brand tends to tear less, and hybrid TPU with a rigid backplate also holds up better. Avoid alcohol heavy wipes, clean out lint and grit weekly, and try not to leave it in a hot car. Works fine until it suddenly splits if the same weak geometry is there, so the design matters more than the label.

I've had my audien hearing aids for a couple years. They're ok quality, but as someone else mentioned in this thread, there are other and better budget-friendly options. However, it depends on how bad your hearing loss is. If it's close to severe, you may need prescription grade hearing aids. For mild to moderate, over the counter hearing aids should do you well.

I lose phones, so I use a small notebook and paper flashcards. Ten words a day, review twice, done. Set a 10 minute timer right after dinner. Store a duplicate list in the cloud so a lost device does not reset progress.

I get the panic when nothing sticks, but most of what you read will evaporate unless you drag it back from memory on purpose. Fancy systems will not save you if you are not testing yourself. Read a small section, close the book, and write or say everything you can remember, then patch holes later that day and again a few days after. Plan about as long for recall as for the read, so a 40 minute read needs another 40 minutes of self-testing plus a quick 10 minute revisit.

If none of the settings get you to a clean lock you may be running into the soundbar processing budget. Some bars simply take longer to decode and apply enhancements and they do not offer negative delay to correct it. In that case you either live with a small video delay added on the TV or you pick a bar that supports eARC and offers per input AV sync plus the option to disable heavy processing. In the meantime, use the recipe that brings the delay down the most. Console to TV directly, TV audio Passthrough, console PCM, Game Mode on that HDMI, bar in standard mode, and only add video delay if you absolutely need it.