Daily Hack - life - cycling - life

[Too Tall]

Hacking daily existence, we all participate knowingly and reflexively. Here are some of my daily hacks, you have them. I'll start with a coffee and chime in with cycling hacks later.

Coffee shops routinely ask if you want room for cream. Sure, charge me for a large but only give me a medium that's what I want?????. Try this, ask for a double cup and no room. Remove the second cup and pour the amount of cream into this cup you normally use for that large coffee. From the other cup pour hot coffee into the cream than sip until you can pour in the remainder. Now use the first cup as you sleeve.

Huzzah

[monadnocky]

Great. Now all the coffee shops are going to go out of business.... razor-thin margins only recovered by abovementioned scam.

I thought I was the only one who did this.

(related: why do they charge more for a hot tea? Still one teabag, just more water I guess?)

[holliscx]

Fast food hack especially handy if you visit on off hours and there's a mound of sad fries under a heat lamp - ask for fries no salt and they'll make a fresh batch - then ask for a packet of salt for the hot fries on your tray.

Josh you could also bring in your own cup and ask them to fill it up - you'd probably get a small discount, odds are they would give you a generous pour, and you don't waste 2 cups in the process. Just a thought.

[rowdyhillrambler]

My main man, and right hand is Sexy Rexy. He has worked for/with me for years. Best guy and personal guru.

He is a Vet, which means he gets 10% off at Lowes. I spend a pretty good amount at Lowes, sometimes a couple of grand a month.

He is always with me, so I get the 10%.

I then give him 5% of whatever the savings are. And, I still save 5%. I don't really care about my 5%, but he gets a couple of hundred a month extra. Which means a lot to him.

[NYCfixie]

Lifehacker

[j44ke]

I get bread at a bakery near my house. Very good bread, often crowded, Jewish owned, so its in "The Book" (as my wife and I like to say - she's Jewish etc.) and the clientele is predominantly Jewish, especially at the holidays (OY!) and the noise level is what you would expect from Jerry Seinfeld - everyone talking, no one listening, everyone needs to be somewhere yesterday, no one has their money out, etc. Anyway, every time I ordered bread, I'd shout my order and then it would go through a string-and-paper cup routine for about a minute back and forth until finally my order got understood and then I'd have to shout whether I wanted it sliced or not (not) and that started another huh what I said huh what etc.

So now I say my order quietly right from the start. The person behind the counter realizes they can't hear me, and so magically they come over closer to me and listen carefully. Whereupon I shout my order at full volume and everything speeds along to its conclusion and I am out the door before the Prophet Elijah!

[joosttx]

have your coffee on the toilet.

[robin3mj]

Tyvek Fedex envelopes are the perfect size for a laptop and a couple folders worth of work material.
Always keep one in my backpack to ensure dry stuff on way home if unexpected rain pops up during the workday.

[rwsaunders]

Always stow your luggage in the overhead bin which is opposite your aisle. That way you are facing the bag when you pull it and you don't risk twisting your back. If you're battling a tight connection, you can pull the bag in one motion and "de-plane" like a paratrooper...especially when every second counts. Eff you American Airlines.

[Gattonero]

As I live alone, things in the fridge may go off before I get it.
I get annoyed by soggy salad.

So I put those tender green things in a glass/pyrex bowl that's big enough to keep them roomy and airy. the bowl is lined with kitcken roll and sealed with cling film.
You get more than a week of those fresh spinach leaves

[Drew]

Fast food hack especially handy if you visit on off hours and there's a mound of sad fries under a heat lamp - ask for fries no salt and they'll make a fresh batch - then ask for a packet of salt for the hot fries on your tray.

Josh you could also bring in your own cup and ask them to fill it up - you'd probably get a small discount, odds are they would give you a generous pour, and you don't waste 2 cups in the process. Just a thought.

Take your own cup is a good plan. Been doing this for years. Save a tree brah

[Saab2000]

Always stow your luggage in the overhead bin which is opposite your aisle. That way you are facing the bag when you pull it and you don't risk twisting your back. If you're battling a tight connection, you can pull the bag in one motion and "de-plane" like a paratrooper...especially when every second counts. Eff you American Airlines.

Another aviation hack....

Fly early. Fly direct. Ignore at your own peril.

[SteveP]

Funny flying story from a recent flight.
Seat belt fastened the plane starting to move.
We start our lift off and the person across from me feels water dripping onto her from above..
Fark, can't get up... I know what happened.
Wife had a water bottle in her luggage and forgot to close the cap.
Aye jayssus.
Finally get to some height and the stewardess opens the bin and finds the bottle.
Ps
The lady getting dripped on was not happy but really it wasn't that much water..
She failed to appreciate my " they waterboard in coach on this airline"
Just helpless sitting there belted belted and knowing I couldn't do anything.

[robin3mj]

Another aviation hack....

Fly early. Fly direct. Ignore at your own peril.

Having lived in Chicago for four years and traveling about 40% of the time for half that time, I concur. The 6am flight was my friend. Also, a soft sided Patagonia MLC that'll fit in any spare space of the overhead or under your seat at a pinch was the best way to go. Never have to gate check.

Another travel "hack" (I hate that word). Figure out which rental car company stocks your own personal car and go with them. We have a manual Jetta wagon, but Enterprise often has automatic Jetta sedans, and the ease of just hopping into one of those after aforementioned 6am flight, while not exciting, makes it that much easier to get into your driving groove on the road.

[zetroc]

Always stow your luggage in the overhead bin which is opposite your aisle. That way you are facing the bag when you pull it and you don't risk twisting your back. If you're battling a tight connection, you can pull the bag in one motion and "de-plane" like a paratrooper...especially when every second counts. Eff you American Airlines.

In this vein, I always stow my carryon bag in a compartment about 4-5 rows ahead of my seat. Then when it's my turn to stand up the compartment is already mostly empty and I can just start walking, grab the bag, and go.

[Too Tall]

Take your own cup is a good plan. Been doing this for years. Save a tree brah

Not that I need to defend myself (much) I do this when I'm riding my bike.

[joosttx]

Another aviation hack....

Fly early. Fly direct. Ignore at your own peril.

I do neither. I fly Delta exclusively. If there is an issue my Diamond status gets my the best service possible. I usually fly out midday or afternoon when I travel. That way I can get a morning bike ride in and say goodbye to my kids and wife.

[j44ke]

Another aviation hack....

Fly early. Fly direct. Ignore at your own peril.

And never ever fly through Charlotte NC. I am convinced that the growth rate in the population of Charlotte over the last decade is 100% air travelers who missed their connection and gave up trying to get home.

Funny flying story from a recent flight.
Seat belt fastened the plane starting to move.
We start our lift off and the person across from me feels water dripping onto her from above..
Fark, can't get up... I know what happened.
Wife had a water bottle in her luggage and forgot to close the cap.
Aye jayssus.
Finally get to some height and the stewardess opens the bin and finds the bottle.
Ps
The lady getting dripped on was not happy but really it wasn't that much water..
She failed to appreciate my " they waterboard in coach on this airline"
Just helpless sitting there belted belted and knowing I couldn't do anything.

I was on a plane where a woman dragging a seemingly endless number of duty-free bags got on the plane just before take-off. After she'd crammed everything into an already over-stuffed luggage compartment and we'd pulled away from the gate, something started to drip from the ceiling. It was cologne. Stunk up the plane enough that people started getting ill, and the pilots brought the plane back to the terminal. They cleaned the plane, put everyone back on and we left 4 hours late. That woman had no friends.

[deano]

Patagonia MLC

I live out of one of these things whenever I go anywhere, whether I'm gone for a weekend or the whole summer. The bag itself is a life-hack.

[Gattonero]

Rainy day.

We don't have dolly pegs in the workshop, but we've plenty of bartape plugs