My company used to staff in-house help desk, about 90% of which worked remotely full-time. They were outsourced, and a few months later, covid hit. Guess who didn’t have a functioning help desk (due to the contractor using crowded call centers) during a time when we were scrambling to get as many people as possible working remotely? I know hindsight is 20/20, but that was a pretty big facepalm.

I work in IT (Sysadmin). “Oh, you fix computers? Can you look at my laptop?”

Sounds like Farenheit 451.

Pickles are definitely my favorite on that list. My favorite is probably zesty bread and butter, but I also love dill. Black olives are alright. Most pickled veg are pretty good. Pickled jalapenos are good, but I much prefer fresh ones.

Homegrown tomatoes of any type will beat the hell out of anything purchased at a store.

Don’t skimp out on things that separate you from the ground. Shoes, chairs, beds, etc. Those things can affect your posture and bad ones can put you in pain, and you’ll likely be spending a lot of time in them, so it’s worthwhile to spend extra on quality ones. I’d say getting 4 years out of a pair of boots is a steal.

On the subject of boots, I bought a pair of Wolverine leather work boots for about $120 back in the early '00s, and wore them for 10+ years, albeit only during the colder months and casually. The only thing that wore out on them were the insoles.

Gunpla and other mecha model builder, here. 1k Euro could get you anywhere from 4-75 model kits (likely more if you really wanted to stretch it), a sweet airbrush setup plus all the tools you could need, or a few nice display cases to show the finished models off in.

I would suggest looking at MS certification programs, even if you don’t want to take the exams. I haven’t taken a Windows Server exam in a while, but looks like the latest one is Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate. You’ll also want to look into things like Active Directory, Group Policy, printing and print servers, and domains and domain controllers. As you mentioned, some networking can be handled Windows-side, like DHCP and DNS, but depending on the org, may be handled by other solutions.

As far as getting your hands on Windows Server software, you can download from MS, and it will have a 180 day trial before activation, which can be extended.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-server-2022

Personally, I’m indifferent to it, though, if you don’t like the name, then no reason to keep perpetuating the tradition. A buddy of mine was the 3rd with his name, but did not pass the name to either of his sons (his oldest got it as a middle name, though). His family was not happy about that.

That’s clearly something that Steve would say. Source: am Steve… or am I?

While not building bricks, you may want to look into Gunpla and/or 30 Minutes MIssions. 30MM in particular is a line designed to mix parts from different kits, and as a Lego and Gunpla fan, certainly scratches that itch like Bionicle did.

I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I AM A HUMAN, JUST LIKE YOU ARE. I ENJOY HUMAN THINGS LIKE BREATHING AIR AND DRINKING LUBRICANT WATER.

Maybe 2-3 times over the life of the phone.

It’s highly dependent on local need, but sometimes projects need fill material, so at least some of it could be sold off to offset the cost.

I recently got a bottle of Melinda’s Garlic & Habanero sauce. It might be my favorite hot sauce that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

“I” as an object gets used way too often and way too many people argue that it’s correct.

My friend’s parents would make breakfast for dinner on Sunday nights. I always love an excuse to make breakfast.

Button first. Makes it easier to zip.

Try taking her out on a leash for a while. It may help her knowing you’re standing right there with her while she does her business. My pup is afraid of storms, and sometimes refuses to go out if it even looks like it might rain, but she will go out and do her business on the leash.

I live alone, so I’ll get away with it pretty easily. Whenever I eat a meal with others, I’ll just eat/drink a small amount.