5 Things You Should Know – Part 385

jazz

October 6, 2020

Here are 5 things you should know.

1. There’s this amazing website called Documentary Mania which literally has hundreds if not thousands of free documentaries sorted by themes or topics.

https://www.documentarymania.com/home.php

2. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.

If something is important, it’s usually better to do part of it than it is to not do it at all.

Some examples: Got a big test tomorrow and not up to studying? Study for 15 minutes. A 40 is much better than a 0. Don’t feel like working out today? Go for a walk. Too busy for breakfast? Drink a cup of milk. Stayed up too late? Go to bed right now. 3 hours of sleep is superior to none. The pile of dirty dishes too daunting? Wash 5. Can’t do the whole yard? Mow the front.

The principle can be applied to various situations in life. Often times you may find that after you get started, you feel motivated to complete the task, but if not, hey…you did part of it, and that’s nothing to sneeze at (and it’s certainly better than nothing.)

Y’all take care of yourselves.

3. Most drain cleaning/sewer services scam customers out of hundreds to thousands of dollars. This is a guide for anyone who owns or plans to own a house that will allow you to spot the tricks they use, as well as tips to prevent you from needing to use a service at all.

Here are some of the many tactics these companies use:

The most common one is that they couldn’t get their blades past a blockage so the line must be broken. If this were true, the blades would come back with either mud on them or completely clean and shiny. Even then, there are lots of other reasons why they could be shiny so it’s not a definite break in the line.
They clean the line with small or sometimes even no blades. If it’s mainline, at least 3-inch blades should be used. Preferably 4 inches though. But some companies don’t do that. So they will poke a hole into the blockage, and everything will run just fine…for a few days. Shortly after, that tiny hole will close again and you’ll call them back out. They’ll try to convince you it’s because the line is broken when it’s not.
They make you think roots in the mainline are a huge deal and the line must be replaced. Roots are the most common cause of sewer line backups. It’s incredibly common and should be expected if you have a tree near your sewer line. Some people will go ten years before their first root caused backup because it can take time for the roots to get through the pipe. Your sewer line is still in good shape. Just get it snaked every year and use the root killer to slow the growth.
They scope the line and find bellies with sitting water or small offsets. While not ideal, most houses have them and it’s not necessarily a big deal. It’s something to keep an eye on, not waste 5-10 grand on.

Here are some general tips regarding the trade:

If the company doesn’t have the prices online, don’t tell them if you’re renting out the house. If you’re a landlord they’ll assume you’ve got extra cash and upcharge you.
If your basement has a floor drain, get a $10 water alarm. If it ever backs up, you’ll know immediately and stop the spread of water before it causes massive amounts of damage. This is particularly important if you don’t go into the basement often.
If you have a sewer line scoped, make sure you see them do it yourself. They like to swap footage with another house and act like your line is broken. Also, make sure they use at least 3-inch blades on your mainline. Also, make sure to get a copy of the footage. You can send it to multiple companies and they’ll usually give you their opinion for free so you don’t need it scoped multiple times!
Clean out the p-traps to your sinks. Watch a two-minute video and do it yourself in 5 minutes and save a hundred bucks.
DO NOT FLUSH ANYTHING DOWN THE TOILET UNLESS IT CAME OUT OF YOU, OR ITS TOILET PAPER!!!! It doesn’t matter if your wipes say they’re “flushable”. It doesn’t matter if it’s “just a few tampons”. It doesn’t matter if you “didn’t think your kid was dumb enough to flush his cat stuffed animal”. Don’t do it! Just because it gets past the toilet doesn’t mean it gets through the whole line. If you’re flushing wipes or tampons, there’s a good chance your just collecting them and one day you will be met with a very unpleasant surprise. The only thing worse than spending 10 hours fishing for tampons is spending a thousand bucks for someone to fish for your tampons.

Most people don’t know much about this and these companies know that. And they take advantage of it.

4. If you want to start lifting, you’re going to feel weaker than you actually are for a couple of weeks because your brain is lazier than your muscles and doesn’t want to change.

Your body has likely never had to fire a single dedicated muscle to move something. Ever. You have almost always been able to “cheat” moving something by using your core strength, keeping your arms in close, and “putting your back into it”. You’re making up for your weaker muscles by giving them mechanical advantages in every way you can. So your brain has literally no idea how to contract your bicep (for example) by itself and wants to cheat. If you’re using a machine, you might even catch yourself trying to get under the weight, even though logically you know it won’t help. That’s your brain fighting back against what is basically just seen as a massive waste of effort and an inefficient way to move something. You are literally fighting yourself.

Your first few weeks, if not your first couple months depending on frequency can feel embarrassing because you don’t think you’re doing it right, or it doesn’t feel right, or you feel like you’re getting nowhere. Your brain has to literally build the ability to focus and fire a muscle properly, and that takes time, and it’s frustrating. As we age, it hates building new neural pathways even more, and it fights against your conscious efforts. It can be done, though!

The only way forward is to do the motion, with a comfortable weight, over and over until it gets there. This can’t be rushed, it just takes time and consistent form and effort. You’ll notice when it does because things will start to feel better. You might have gained little to no muscle mass but you’ll be able to move a little more weight. That can be confusing, but it’s just your soggy meat-hunk finally getting the picture. Machines are actually great for this because in most cases you can’t cheat the motion, which would do you no good at all.

If you feel embarrassed because you think you look weak, or foolish in a room full of people who aren’t struggling, just remember that they went through the same thing once. They’re probably mentally supporting you because they know getting started sucks.

So don’t give up on working out. Don’t give up on your body. Don’t feel embarrassed because you’re struggling to literally curl 5 pounds. Keep at it, and understand that your brain is just a stubborn bit of hardware that has to be trained and changed with you. Put that work in. Plus, then you can do the Terry Crews thing where you bounce your pecs around.

For the curious or concerned here’s an interesting read about this.