So I spoke to my pest control company today, they said that that when the rainy days stop and the heat comes, the cockroach population will explode and we'll start seeing them everywhere...outside AND inside 😱😭 I've already seen them around my neighborhood at night, but not as much as I normally do in the summer so I thought maybe we got lucky this year. But it sounds like they are just biding their time. I am dreading this. Just letting everyone know what to expect. I have found snakes in my yard and didn't bat an eye but the idea of even one roach in my house makes me sick. Not to mention taking the dog out at night to do his business and having to dodge the bastards every few steps.

FWIW this company I'm trying out doesn't seem like the type to scare people, so I don't think this is a sales tactic to get more business. They're just being honest.

EDIT: what are your pest control company recommendations? I used Orkin but wasn't happy with them, found a place that had good reviews on my neighborhood page so I'm going to give them a try.

I have two medium sized dog kennels and a bag of unopened dog food (accidentally bought grain-free which my picky dog won't eat) that I'd like to donate to a pet rescue organization. Does anyone know of organizations that want these items and will take them? I'm sure the SPCA will take them as a last resort, but I'd prefer to give them to groups that may have fewer resources/money and be more in need. TIA!

Our office is talking about opening back up in the next few weeks and I'm just wondering what are some options for avoiding the absurd parking fees downtown. We're only going to be in the office 1-2 days per week, sometimes less, so a monthly contract doesn't make sense. I know a lot of the garages around our office are like $20 per day which is insane, even for just a couple of days a week.

I used to work downtown and I remember there being a few $5-6 lots near the downtown transit center, does anyone know if those are still there and the same price?

I'm also wondering about taking the bus but a little nervous as I've heard the bus isn't that great, especially in the evenings. Does anyone take the bus regularly and if so, is it generally safe? I live near west loop @ i-10 so would likely park at the NW transit center and take the bus in from there.

Other than possibly finding people to carpool with or sucking it up and paying a bunch of money to park each time I go downtown, are there any other creative ways to save money on parking?

I learned something new today that I thought I'd share in case it might help someone here. This applies specifically if you have a Nest thermostat, but if you have a smart thermostat of another brand it may be worth looking into to see if you are having a similar issue.

I moved into a house recently that had been completely remodeled, including a new HVAC system and newly installed Nest smart thermostat. I was surprised how humid it felt inside the home, given that the remodel seemed really well done and I couldn't find any significant gaps in the doors or windows. I would run the A/C to cool the house down and the humidity would temporarily drop a little bit but then climb again after the A/C shut off. I bought a little electronic hygrometer and it was showing consistently in the upper 50% range and most days it even got above 60%. I wrote it off as just a quirk of living in an older home and bought a big dehumidifier. While the dehumidifier helped somewhat, it still felt stuffy and more humid inside than I was used to. The Nest was giving a lower humidity value that seemed more normal, but the dehumidifier and hygrometer were higher and more in line with each other. So I didn't really trust the Nest reading to be honest.

Today I learned that Nest has a feature built into it that was likely making it worse. The feature is called Airwave and it's supposed to increase efficiency and cooling by running the fan for a few minutes even after the compressor shuts off, ostensibly to continue cycling cool air. However, running the fan without the compressor can sometimes blow condensation from the A/C coils back into the house (sorry if I'm using wrong terms, not an HVAC expert here). Here's a much better explanation than I could ever hope to provide: https://youtu.be/_pQ443d-NsE?t=307

Anyway I turned the Airwave feature off earlier today and I already feel a huge difference. I normally kept my AC at 70 or 71 during the day because I was hoping that keeping it cooler would pull the humidity out but it never really seemed to work. After turning off the Airwave feature I upped my thermostat to 74 and it feels infinitely better in the house. My little sensor thingy is currently reading 52% instead of 60%+, and my dehumidifier isn't running (thank god because the noise was slowly driving me insane).

TL;DR: if your house feels too humid and you have a Nest, try disabling Airwave. If you have another brand of smart thermostat, see if there's a feature where the fan keeps running for a few minutes even after the compressor shuts off. If so, try disabling that feature and see if the humidity goes down.

I don't have anything against increasing urban density so I'm not against the concept of townhomes per se (and I'm choosing to ignore many of the complaints about shitty build quality here), but...I just can't get over how fugly they are. Some of the older neighborhoods like the Heights and Montrose have beautiful craftsmen style and brick bungalows; why don't more builders put up townhomes that least pretend to mimic the style of the neighborhoods in which they're built? I guess I don't understand the appeal of those grotesque stucco homes that look like they can't decide if they want to be an Italian villa or the Palace at Versailles. Is it the cheapness/speed factor? I assume one can achieve a somewhat attractive structure even with the shitty construction that so many of these townhomes seem to have, but I guess I don't know much about construction so maybe they just have to be ugly by design?

Before COVID I had a pretty decent paying job but it was a lot of long hours on nights and weekends. I'm fortunate to have been able to find another job recently but the pay is less. The benefit of this new job is the hours are way less so I find myself with extra time in the evenings and on weekends that I didn't have before.

I have thought about getting a second part-time job to help replace some of the income I lost but the new job sometimes does require working a bit later than usual so I was hoping to find something more flexible even if the pay isn't great. I do have a car so I've considered driving for door dash or something along those lines but I was wondering what other options there might be that I may not be thinking of. I don't mind getting a certification if required and can put in a few hours on weekends as well. Virtual work is fine too but since my job is entirely remote I wouldn't mind something that gets me out of the house.

Just looking for suggestions that might fit that criteria. No MLM's please.