(Part 2) Best products from r/SeattleWA

Get it if you feel that your life is worth protecting. You don't need to be paranoid, but it's always good to be prepared. If you're in a situation where you feel that your safety or your life is in danger, use it - it is effective. If that time comes, and I hope it doesn't, you are solely responsible for the outcome of that situation and I'm assuming you want it to work out in your favor. The police won't be there to protect you and people on the street will likely not intervene.

This is the one that I bought for myself and my wife. I'd also recommend getting the practice spray to try it out a few times and feel confident using it.

And disregard the people talking about how safe Seattle is and mocking others for being prepared. Your safety and your preparedness is more important than what they think.

If you buy a gun do your research to figure out the right one for you before you purchase. Don't buy a gun in Seattle, the additional tax isn't worth it. Just take the drive north to a place like Precise Shooter in Lynnwood for example.

Guns should not be used for stopping crimes where your or other lives are not at risk. If your car is being broken into, someone is looting your shed, whatever you should stay in your home and call 911. There are classes you can take that will give you the only justifiable reasons to use a firearm.

Almost if not all shooting ranges allow you to rent before you buy. I would recommend that you take a training class before you rent or purchase if you don't have any training already. Also an FYI most shooting ranges will not allow you to rent a firearm if you are alone, so you will need to bring a friend to do so.

West Coast Armory for example has a number of classes right up your alley. Just as an FYI I don't work for them nor am I affiliated in anyway. Two that would be good for you would be:

Right On Target - Entry Level Handgun

Right on Target- Introduction to Home Defense

In addition to a firearm, if you own your home or condo there are some easy steps you could take to make it more secure. Things like Door Jamb armor for example make it almost impossible for someone to just kick down your door and be in your home in seconds. If you have someone coming into your backyard at night you can get motion activated lights and even sprinklers.

Get a safe for your firearm to store it in while you are not at home.

If you do not own your home, condo or apartment, there are devices you can buy to make it a tiny bit harder to run off with, without having to bolt it to the floor. Like this which is designed for a vehicle, but you could use the attached cable to wrap around something that cannot be easily destroyed like the headboard on your bed, the metal frame of a large piece of furniture, or a sturdy metal railing.

If you have questions places like /r/homedefense has a number of people that would be willing to help answer questions. /r/guns has a great FAQ that might answer a number of your questions as well.

There are tons of great options for commuter bikes, generally anything in the "hybrid" space will serve just fine, though lots of bike makers have their own commuter models. There are tons of good places to buy, Redmond Cycle, Gregg's Cycle, Performance Bike (although some people don't like the bigger chain places sometimes).

For measuring the size of a bike the shop should be able to help you but generally you should be able to stand over the top tube of the bike without being on your tip toes and be able to just barely lift the bike up a bit. Find the shortest bike that you can't stand over and go one size down from that, that's probably the right size.

Stuff you will absolutely need:

• front and rear fenders
  
• rear bike rack
  
• waterproof backpack or pannier bag. /u/olympiabeer already recommended Ortlieb, their stuff is great, also check out Arkel, if you plan on commuting to the store as well I'd recommend a pannier plus a backback for typical trips
  
• front and rear lights (rechargeables are a must, my M.O. is to find AAA/AA powered lights and just pull from my stash of eneloops, one big advantage of this is that I can carry a spare set of batteries just in case, a lot of newer lights use li-ion batteries and can be charged via usb, just remember to keep your lights charged regularly after you use them)
  
• ankle straps to keep your pants from getting caught in the chain (you might not need these all the time but it's good practice to keep them in your regular gear)
  
• rain gear, including gloves (I like Marmot's PreCip jacket and pants because I can just keep it in my bag 24/7 and it goes over clothes easily)
  
• emergency repair kit (patch kit, tire levers, pump, all of which can go in an underseat mini-bag) plus if you're commuting it can often be a good idea to toss a spare tube into your bag, it'll save you a ton of time and hassle
  
• water bottle and bottle cage, maybe a 2nd bottle for longer rides, especially in hot weather
  
• emergency food (shot bloks, energy bars, whatever, trail mix, just more than nothing)
  
• first aid kit (band-aids, larger bandages, ibuprofen, alcohol wipes / prep pads, antibiotic gel, maybe a pair or two of exam gloves)
  
• several dollars in ones and quarters (if you really need to take the bus or do something that requires a small amount of cash this can be a lifesaver)
  
• also consider carrying a spare external battery/charger for your phone, so you can be certain you can use it if for some reason you need to (wrecked, hurt, stranded because your bike got stolen while you were at a store 20 miles from home, whatever)
  
• U-lock
  
  Also, you might want to consider getting a saddle that doesn't make your junk go numb. I've been happy with the ISM PR 3.0 but YMMV. Try to avoid getting too cushy of a saddle when you're just starting out, it may seem nice at first but if you're going to be regularly biking more than just a few miles a day you'll want something designed for that.

I'm glad they are taking this seriously for you! Terrifying incident and not something I would ever want to experience.

A few things you can do to help you feel better about being home alone. Obviously make sure your doors are locked (thankfully in this case it seems like they were) just to help prevent someone coming in by opening it. There is also something called "door Jam armor" that I was recommended here to prevent someone from kicking in your door. It's not expensive, really easy to install and unobtrusive.

There are little chimes you can get for windows Amazon link that are equally unobtrusive and just make a very loud chirping noise if the window is opened without them being disengaged. These would wake you up similar to a smoke detector but louder.

You can also pick up keychain mace, or just regular mace to carry around and have at home so that if someone physically stronger than you breaks in, or tries to attack you there is a way to respond.

If you are comfortable with it having a gun at home can give you a means of self defense in the case of someone larger breaking in. It's not for everyone, but it is a tool that helps some people feel more comfortable after incidents like this. My mother experienced a very traumatic incident with a neighbors home and could not stand to be at home alone until she had picked up a gun. She's never had to use it but it made her feel much safer being a smaller, single woman.

Ultimately you are unlikely to ever have an incident like this occur again, thankfully! But taking a few steps to make yourself feel more comfortable in your own home, and be prepared just in case something happens is not the worst move.

Have you noted how sunny the areas are? That will make a big difference in what you can plant.

There is a book out there called something like PNW Vegetable Gardening. It gives activities for your garden, month by month. It's pretty nice.

You can grow things now if you want that over winter. Purple sprouting broccoli is a good one. Garlic does well as well as some onions which will be ready in spring. Kale and Arugula can do fine as well, but I'm nut sure if you can start them right now. Otherwise, make sure your soil is amended and plant cover crops like has been suggested already. You can get a bag of it at Swansons and it contains a nice mix of them.

Edit: This is the book I was thinking of.

> How is the Republican Party still this cucked even after Trump won in 2016?
>
> Trump won because he realized the Democrats and the media were always going to call the Republicans racist sexist bigot homophobe Nazis, and he told them to go fuck themselves.

Do you ever watch Michael Malice?

Malice tells a great story about the moment that he knew that Trump would win. Basically he watched Trump brag about his dick on TV, and nobody cared. At that moment, he realized the rules had changed.

"In this current environment right now, we have a bunch of candidates who are languishing at 2% and 3% in terms of popularity, and you have a person like Donald Trump coming out of nowhere and he's number two in the Republican field when he's not even really a Republican. It's because this guy knows how to weild popular culture. The reason why Sarah Palin was so popular for such a long period of time, and why the left has attacked her so mercilessly -- and even those on the right have attacked her so mercilessly, is because she understands popular culture, and she weilds it well, and many in the Beltway, including conservatives, are threatened by her.

The person who knows how to play the media, who knows how to talk over the media, that knows how to weild the media, is the one who's going to win. Barack Obama understood that perfectly well in 2008; that's how come he won."

Art is very easy to buy, and nearly impossible to sell, so assume that anything you buy will hang on your wall forever (or sit in storage).

I prefer to actually buy things at a distance - usually by email. I don't like to buy expensive things in-person because tends to stir up a hot emotional state that encourages bad decision making (this is how I buy cars, too).

I walk through a gallery, find something interesting, ask if they have anything else by the artist and the price list if they aren't on the labels. Try to get a sense of how I'd rank all of the pieces in order of preference - what makes one of them more interesting than another, etc. And get the story about the work from the person at the gallery.

Then I go home, do some of my own homework on the artist, think about where I might put it, block off a section of the wall with painter's tape, and sleep on it for a while. For discretionary purchases, I've always had a rule of thumb that I must sleep 1 night for every $X something costs. If I still like it at the end of my waiting period, then I'll email them and tell them I'm interested in whatever piece.

If your tastes lean toward pop surrealism/lowbrow/street art, 1xRun is a good entry point. A lot of different artists have prints there.

Otherwise, find galleries that represent the artists or types of art you like, and just sign up for their mailing list. SAM has a rental gallery, too - it's a good way to try before you buy.

There's a few places around town that do estate auctions, and once in a while I find something interesting in those catalogs.

The book Art Collecting Today is a good introduction. So is The Intrepid Art Collector.

Somebody else mentioned AppleHealth, and it covers dental, but only limited to a very small pool of procedures unless you have a currated plan. Having tried to find a dentist for a friend with AH, most had a 3-6 month wait if they would even take it.

https://www.healthfinderwashington.org

You could see if Seattle's Union Gospel Mission has any openings or tools for you, they have a low income dental program:
(206) 621-7695, it closes at 3 pm.

This unhelpfully large list is dentists that take AH, and some might have payment arrangements that could work, but it's a lot of time dialing numbers.

https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/locations/~/media/depts/health/dental-health/documents/dental-resource-list.ashx

ICHS might be a good option? But I haven't had a lot of luck cold calling people on the list, most say they won't take it even if they are on it. Hope your friend feels better and doesn't have to go to Amazon

Personally, I don't think a full repeal to all of the residential zoning is the best practice. A full repeal would likely only increase land values
(here's a good explainer as to how that can happen). I do believe they need to be loosened significantly. At the rate this city is growing, it needs to have all of the tools necessary to help increase density and banning thing such as having both an ADU and DADU on single family lots and requiring their sizes to be such that they cannot accommodate families is a bad thing. Duplexes and triplexes also should be legal in single family zones. These allowances also should be paired with strategic rezones that allow for some sort of corner market/commerce zone within a 5-10 minute walkshed of every house in SFZs in order to make it reasonable for people in SFZs to live without a car in these now densified neighborhoods.


In regards to more reading: are you looking for more reading regarding Seattle zoning law exclusively or are you looking for reading recommendations that follow an urbanist bent? For Seattle specific stuff, The Urbanist and Seattle Transit Blog post a lot regarding land use in the city. If you are looking for books that talk about general city planning the gold standard is The Death and Life of Great American Cities. I personally really enjoyed Walkable City, Suburban Nation, and Happy City.

Is your goal French press specifically (as in, the coarse grind and long brew time that results in that characteristic slightly-grainy taste) - or is it more generally non-shitty coffee from an automatic machine?

The mechanics of French press make it hard to automate, so I'm not terribly surprised there's not a lot of robotic presses out there. If your goal is just good coffee without a long manual process, the best option I'm aware of are the automatic "pour-over" machines:

https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KCM0802OB-Coffee-Brewer-Black/dp/B00OQJ7X8S/

https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV1902DW-Coffee-Brewer-Silver/dp/B0752CKQHW/

https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Barista-Brain-Coffee-Maker/dp/B00YEYKK8U/

There's also "fully automated" espresso machines. A lot of them even include a grinder, so in theory you can press 1 button and get a latte or americano or whatever a few minutes later. They tend to be $$$ and use up a lot of counter space, though.

My personal setup is fairly manual - an electric kettle and an Aeropress. The electric kettle is way easier than a kettle on the stove - the one I linked has variable temp controls, so you can set it to heat up to 80 C and hold there. Doesn't need constant monitoring the way a teakettle on a burner does, and you'll get much better results with not-quite-boiling water. And the Aeropress makes fucking great coffee, without the PITA of cleaning a French press.

Yup! One of the reasons why we got a Toyota. It's a Toyota Corolla Le edition. Everything else is in tip-top condition except that! The scratch is relatively small actually. It seemed a lot bigger when I looked at it yesterday, but then anger always seem to amplify things.. It's definitely deep. I ran my fingernail lightly through it and it felt rough under my nails (which I read is one way of telling whether it's deep or not)

The touch up paint I got is actually from Toyota, so hopefully it'll match at least as close as possible. Good reviews for the touch up paint too. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TNNRYZY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's slate metallic (I checked the color code on my car).

I.. am an absolutely greenhorn. My only experience comes from the various youtube videos and how-tos that I read yesterday for a couple of hours... I might skip the sandpaper, or at least get my BIL to help me out with that part if he can. I think he has a bit of experience in it. Good point about the magnifying glass! I think I have one in my office that I can borrow for a bit. I figured the scratch is small enough and at a not so obvious place that if I do a hack job, it hopefully wouldn't be too obvious. At this point, I mostly just want to make sure it doesn't rust.

Well money is money; I work in tech and have seen lots of conservative, Trump-loving, gun-toting IT people in my 20ish years (all in Seattle). More so lately, I suppose, but I work for small places that don't have much turnaround.

And I'd like to very respectfully disagree with any notion that someone "CAN'T" recover. I'd invite you to go to a handful of "open" (meaning you don't have to identify as an addict to go) AA or NA meetings and see the amount of people who have recovered to convince you otherwise. Or perhaps volunteer with a harm reduction organization like PHRA.

I'm also reading a great book by a well known redditor (in some circles at least) called "The Big Fix: Hope After Heroin" that details the author's recovery from a decade of IV drug use and prostitution on the streets of SF to being a decade-sober mother of 3 that works with addicts in the same neighborhoods. It's an enlightening read! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017QL9QSM/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the best advice here. A coding bootcamp may give you a credential that's worth the price, but the real capability is from your own work/studying/interest. And that stuff can be done for almost free. I really liked Automate the Boring Stuff -- a Python book that provides some powerful tools very quickly.

The bootcamp will be 100x more valuable if you attend already able to code.