Check pharmacies; most have been replaced by chains, but some independent pharmacies are still around, and will have a number of home staples.

Ethnic markets in general are a good option for finding locally-owned shops, but they’re going to differ in terms of what staples they actually carry.

Those devices absolutely need regular cleaning, because they will get moldy and will spew dirty air everywhere.

To add to this, the “default” for a three-character ensemble in circa 90s kids media was: one (white) boy, one (white) girl, one (non-white) boy, for a 1:2 gender/race and 2:1 “diversity” ratio, which made the media feel diverse (back then this was generally considered a good thing) while still making male and white the default. In other words, a win-win that still was a setback to true diversity. Examples: Wishbone TV show and Harry Potter (if you count ginger as non-white).

AFAIK it’s primarily (exclusively?) a Canadian thing

Have you never heard of a “career change”?

I haven’t seen a TV ad in years; who’s out there talking about Pueblo?

Aspen has been experiencing a deep housing crisis for years. They have to bus in most of their workers from nearby towns because no one who has to work for a living can afford to live in Aspen. Now there’s a worker shortage because no one can afford to live in the outlying towns either.

For NM I’d say Roswell; 5th largest city (48k population) but well known b/c aliens

I think Seville and Pamplona are well known, for the Barber of Seville and the running of the bulls respectively.

Crazy thought, but what if it differed by industry? Something like blue collar jobs get Monday off, white collar gets Friday off. That way office workers can for example more easily stay home to get their cable serviced and plumbers can more easily meet with a mortgage agent. Obviously because of overlap it’s not perfect (office workers can’t meet with mortgage agent, plumbers can’t get their cable serviced), but there’s a huge issue currently with people working 9-5 M-F being unable to access services that are also only available 9-5 M-F, so this would at least distribute things a little more. (This kind of thing already exists for some industries like restaurants, where W-Su workweeks are common)

Hence why the members of c/fuckcars are so intense (I include myself in this).

The only practical way to avoid exposure to society’s car dominance in your everyday life is to live far from society… Which ironically forces you to own a car and drive to get literally anywhere.

To your “edit” point: Don’t take a handful of downvotes personally; it’s pretty easy to do accidentally on mobile so they may have been unintentional

Agree with everyone else that this isn’t normal for someone your age and get a second opinion.

However addressing your other questions: you’re at an age where lifestyle starts to really matter. Diet, exercise, ergonomics, environmental exposure to pollution/toxins, alcohol/drug use, sleep habits: these are all things that many healthy young adults can avoid having to worry about… until suddenly they can’t anymore. It is common, especially starting around age 30, to find there’s unhealthy behaviors from your teens and 20s that you just can’t do or do to excess anymore. It’s different for everyone; for some people it’s that they can’t sleep on a crappy mattress anymore, or drink certain types of liquor, or pull all nighters, or eat garbage, etc etc.

So while it sounds like you have some personal health issues outside of what’s “normal,” you still are at an age where the cumulative effects of a poor lifestyle can start to catch up to you. I think a lot of people greatly underestimate how sedentary their lifestyles are in particular, and of all the behaviors to change for the better as you age, going from sedentary to active is probably the hardest, given that our world is built to keep us sitting: sitting in our cars, sitting at our desks, sitting on our couches, basically sitting from the moment we wake until we go to sleep. Humans never lived like this until very recently: basically every decade since the personal automobile became the standard mode of transportation it’s steadily gotten worse. So yes, definitely do some doctor shopping, but now is also a great age to take stock in your lifestyle and how you’re treating your body. Because yes, it does get a little harder each year, but the speed of which it gets harder is at least partially up to you.

It rarely gets below 20F here, so I am expecting my plant to overwinter (the roots, anyway) and produce more next year. Honestly I wasn’t expecting it to flower at all in year one, so this was a delightful surprise! Sunlight hours here are limited (especially because my garden gets some shade), so perennial plants often take a full year just to get established but then they take off in year two.

This year I’m growing artichoke for the first time (grew a single plant from seed). It’s finally producing a head and I’m super conflicted on whether to harvest it (yummy!) or let it bloom (pretty!)

Tomatoes (all fruits?) ripen from the blossom end up to the stem end, meaning that the blossom end is always at a softer, more delicate stage of ripening compared with the stem end. So by storing the tomato upside down, you’re putting the most pressure on the stronger, less ripe end.

The “stretch marks” on the jalapenos mean they’re definitely ready for picking (not all ripe jalapenos have them, but all jalapenos that have them are ripe).

Tomatoes you can pick once they “blush,” which means start developing color other than green. Store them inside, stem side down, to finish ripening. You can leave them on the vine to fully ripen, but they’ll be much safer inside (from bugs, weather, other damage potential) without any taste loss.

The Italian peppers it’s best to wait until they fully turn red, although it’s more important to harvest them before you start seeing blemishes, such as the damage on the one in the top-middle in this photo. If you see any damage forming (including any soft spots) pick it immediately. You can always use them like a green bell pepper if they haven’t fully ripened yet.

Does that help?

I think Costco glasses are a good deal, even if you have to buy a one-year membership to get them. Don’t know if they’re available online, but don’t you want to try glasses on in person to make sure they fit and are comfortable?

Radicchio has been welcome in my garden for sure; the periwinkle really pops among all the yellow and white flowers from my bolted herbs and brassicas! Chicory/radicchio is also an excellent winter/hunger gap green (although I agree with you, it’s quite bitter on its own, better in a salad mix with milder greens)