Whether you hire a contractor directly or you are assigned one from your home warranty company, it’s important to check a number of things to prevent regret and liabilities. This is especially important when you are assigned a contractor from a warranty company because, speaking from personal experience, contractors who partner with home warranty companies tend to cut corners and behave unprofessionally, as I have experienced this multiple times.
1. Check License Status
Licensed contractors are registered with the state. Check the status of their license on the Contractor State Licensing Board (CSLB)’s website. It should state whether their license is active, suspended, or revoked. If it’s suspended or revoked, they probably didn’t do a good job and it’s illegal for them to do work they were licensed for, so stay away from them. For example, here’s the contractor page for Loves Air and their license status.
2. Check Classification, Bond, and Worker’s Comp Info
On the contractor’s page on the CSLB website, you should also check the contractor’s work classification, bond, and worker’s compensation info. Here’s an example for Loves Air.
2. Check Online Reviews
If you are looking for a reputable contractor or are assigned one, read their online reviews, e.g. on websites like Yelp. For example, compare the reviews of Loves Air to T N T Heating & Air, both of which are HVAC contractors. Don’t just look at the number of reviews and the average rating. Read past customer comments as well and how the company responds to customers.
This company got only 2.7 stars from 59 reviews. After reading customer comments, it’s obvious that you should stay very far away from this company. Here’s a response from the owner to a customer’s comment. This tone and choice of words says it all.
Unsurprisingly, this company was chosen by many home warranty companies.
4. Check building permit history
Go to your local government (city / county) website and search for building permits associated with the contractor. For example, T N T Heating & Air serves Modesto, Stockton, and other neighboring cities. If I go to the City of Stockton’s Building Permit website, click on Search Permits, and enter the contractor’s license number, I can see the status of all permits for that contractor. If the permit status is “issued”, that just means the contractor successfully submitted a permit application and can begin work. Once the work is complete, the contractor is supposed to schedule an appointment for the city inspector to inspect the work and either approve the work or disapprove of it with a list of things that need to be fixed. If the inspector approves the work, then status changes to “Finaled”. If the contractor never got the work inspector or approved and a certain period of time passes, then the status changes to “Expired permit”.
In the example below, we see that the contractor has 2 “issued” permits, which are recent, followed by 6 expired permits since 2019. This indicates that the contractor likely repeatedly just got a permit issued but never got an approved inspection, which is illegal. This is a huge red flag. Stay away from such contractors.
5. Get Multiple Quotes
Some contractors will give free quotes. Others will charge a nominal fee. Either way, try to get multiple quotes with a clear breakdown of parts, materials, and labor. Sadly, many contractors don’t like to provide a breakdown because it exposes their outrageous markups. Nevertheless, even if you don’t get a detailed breakdown, at least you’ll know at a high level the main things you’d be getting (or not getting). If a contractor’s quote is outrageous or doesn’t make sense compared to other quotes, then you’ll probably want to skip that contractor.
If you need to create a very strong and long-lasting loop at the end of a rope, the best practice is to use a thimble along with a fastener. The faster can be a ferrule or rope clamp.
Ferrule
Wire rope is preferred because it is much stronger than non-wire rope like nylon, polypropylene, paracord, etc.
The benefit of a rope clamp is you can unlock the clamp and reuse the rope for something else. Also, you just need pliers to tighten the clamp nuts. The benefit of a ferrule is its small size and permanent nature. However, you would need a special crimping tool. Ideally, you would use a hydraulic crimping tool.
Hydraulic crimping tool
One tricky part when creating such a loop is getting the thimble to be snug and tight. Following is one way to do it, which worked for me.
First, make sure you use a thimble that is the right size for the wire rope you are using. In the example below, the wire rope is 1/8′ thick, so the thimble is for that size rope. If you use a smaller thimble, I found it harder to get the thimble tight and snug.
Slide the rope through the ferrule to create a loop. Then, clamp the rope using locking pliers as shown above.
Next, insert the thimble and pull the ferrule toward the thimble until it touches the thimble. If you are having difficulty making the ferrule and thimble stay touching each other, try making the short end of the rope longer.
Insert the correct size die for the ferrule in the crimping tool, then insert the ferrule in between the dies within the tool to clamp it. Follow the instructions to clamp the ferrule. Before clamping, ensure the thimble and ferrule are still touching each other for a permanently tight fit.
Clamp down multiple times as hard as you can. When do, turn off the hydraulic crimper to release the clamp.
You’ll see that the crimping crimped the ferrule, creating a permanent clamp.
Let’s say that you have a very confidential message or file that you want to share with someone and you absolutely don’t want anyone else to be able to see it. Most people would just share the message via email or some other communication tool, but this isn’t necessarily secure, especially since the tool provider, like Gmail, could access your email communications. When you want to be 100% sure that only your recipient can view your message, the best practice is to encrypt/decrypt it using GPG.
Encryption Variations
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a proprietary encryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication.
OpenPGPis a non-proprietary, open-source version of PGP.
This post will show you how to share secret messages with a friend by encyrpting/decrypting them using GPG. There are many tools that can encrypt/decrypt messages using GPG, including command line tools. I will use GpgFrontend because it appears to be the easiest for the general public to use. For this tutorial, I will use Windows.
1. Download the GpgFrontend
Both you and your friend will need to perform this step.
You can download the Windows installer or the portable version that doesn’t require installation. For simplicity, I will just download the portable version.
Download the portable version from GpgFrontend’s latest releases, labeled GpgFrontend-*******-windows-x86_64-portable.zip.
Extract the contents of the downloaded ZIP file.
RunGpgFrontend.exe from the extracted Program/bin directory.
2. Generate a Key Pair
Your friend will need to perform this step.
Open GpgFrontend
Click on “Manage Keys”.
Click “New keypair”.
Fill in your details, such as name and email, and choose your desired key type and size. You can also add a comment if you wish. Set an expiration date for the key, or choose ‘Never Expire’ if you prefer. Optionally, create a passphrase for added security. I will click the Non Pass Phrase checkbox for simplicity. Once all details are filled in, click ‘OK’ to generate your key pair. You will then see your key listed in the KeyPair Management window.
3. Share Public Key
Your friend will need to perform this step.
In the KeyPair Management window, select the key you want to export, right-click, and click “Show Key Details”.
Click the “Operations” tab, then click the “Export Public Key” button.
Save the public key somewhere on your computer. For me, the filename generated was David[email protected]_pub.asc. The “pub” stands for “public” because this is your public key that you can share with other people. If you open the public key file, it will look something like this.
Your friend should send you this file so that you can use it to encrypt your message.
4. Import Public Key
You will need to perform this step.
Click “Import Key” -> “File” and browse to the public key file your friend shared with you.
Click the OK button to confirm importing the key.
5. Encrypt a Message
You will need to perform this step.
Write a message in the main text area of GpgFrontend.
Check the public key in the list of keys in the Key Toolbox pane. To do this, click in the leftmost column of the key you want to use, outlined in red in the screenshot below.
Click the “Encrypt” button. You will see that your plaintext message was converted to a PGP message.
6. Share the Encyrpted Message
You will need to perform this step.
Copy the encrypted message and share it with your friend, e.g. via email.
7. Decrypt the Encrypted Message
Your friend will need to perform this step.
Copy the encrypted message into GpgFrontend’s main text area.
Click the “Decrypt” button. You’ll see the encrypted message get converted to plain text.
With GPG, you can do many other things as well, including
Most salads contain multiple vegetables and leafy greens like lettuce, tomatoe, and onion. The problem with some of these ingredients is they go back fairly quickly, especially lettuce, which becomes slimy, discolored, and smells. Grape tomatoes tend to wrinkle and look unappetizing. One vegetable, however, seems to stay and look fresh for about 2 weeks – cucumbers. Cucumbers are also high in water content, which can help you feel full and eat less. They are also low in carbohydrates and sugar, and have a low glycemic index (GI). This means that cucumbers don’t cause a rapid increase in blood sugar. They can be a good snack for people who want to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
A leverage gym is one of the most versatile exercise machines available. They are perfect for a home or garage gym due to their small footprint. Some of the leverage gyms currently available in the market are
Powertec Workbench LeverGym
This machine costs $1600. One of its advantages is you can add attachments to the end of the bench for an additional cost to do additional exercises like bicep curls, leg curls, chest flys, etc.
This machine costs $900. If you buy it without the bench, it costs $700. This is great if you already have a bench or if you want to buy a better bench like the Keppi Weight Bench 1000 Pro.
There are many types of videos you can make to make money on YouTube, but arguably the easiest type is where you do nothing but walk around somewhere interesting. For example, here are a few YouTube channels dedicated to walking tours.
According to SocialBlade, their estimated monthly earnings is between $157 and $2.5K and their estimated annual earnings is between $1.9K and $30.1K. We can also see their estimated earnings for each video.
Let’s check another channel’s estimated revenue.
@t0urister
This channel makes between $634 and $10.1K per month and between $7.6K and $121.8K per year. With this type of income, you can quit your job and literally just walk around to make a living (plus some minor video editing).
Camera
If you want to start your own YouTube walking tour channel, you’re going to need a camera. One of the cheapest and smallest cameras with impressive features for its price range is the DJI Osmo Pocket 3.
If you don’t want to hold the camera in your hand, you can mount it on your chest or a backpack strap for hands-free filming.
According to one of the most famous studies of anabolic steroids by Bhasin and colleagues
you can gain more than double the amount of muscle from using steroids than if you didn’t use steroids
you can gain almost double the amount of muscle from using steroids and without training than if you trained without using steroids
600 mg of steroids per week
It’s clear that steroid use makes a huge difference in your ability to grow muscle. The test above was conducted by given each subject 600 mg of steroids per week, which is the amount for entry-level bodybuilders, as indicated in the chart below.
High-level competitive bodybuilders typically take between 1000 – 5000 mg of steroids per week.
Interestingly, by just taking 600 mg of steroids per week, people can gain on average 1 lb of muscle per week without even lifting weights.
Average, not max, lean mass gained
To see the difference in body size between a natty (natural) bodybuilder and a bodybuilder who take steroids, consider Shaun Clarida, Mr. Olympia 212 Division Champion in 2020 and 2022.
Below are photos of Shaun before and after taking steroids. With steroids, he gained 3 times the amount of muscle that he was able gain naturally.
Genetics affect the ability to grow muscle and response to steroid use
According the chart below, the worst responding subject gained only 9 lbs of muscle in 20 weeks whereas the best responding subject gained 31 lbs of muscle in 20 weeks. This study was done where each subject simply took 600 mg of steroids every week and without lifting any weights.
Average muscle gain
The table below shows average muscle gain depending on whether you are a natural bodybuilder (no steroids), an enhanced bodybuilder (you take 600 mg of steroids per week), or a very enhanced bodybuilder (you take between 1000 – 5000 mg of steroids per week). The figures below refer to pure muscle gain, not total weight gain. People can gain more mass than the numbers shown, but some of that mass will be fat. Also, the figures below are averages. Some people will gain more, and some will gain less. Women can multiply the figures by ~60%.
Steroid Misuse Consequences
Following are some possible health consequences of steroid misuse according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
First, you need to design your shirt by finding some images. You want the images to be SVGs so that you can scale the image without losing quality. To make the shirt shown above, I searched Google for “visit California logo svg”.
I found a “California” logo that I like, but I needed to edit it to remove the “visit” part.
I then searched for “california bear svg” and found a bear image that I liked.
After doing some image editing, I ended up with these 2 images.
Determine printed image dimensions
Lay your shirt down and, using a tape measure, decide how wide each image will be. For the “California” logo that would go over the chest, I chose 9 inches.
For the bear image that would go on the sleeve, I chose 5 inches.
These dimensions are not final. We will preview the design using cardstock (thick paper) first before using vinyl.
Import the images into Cricut Design Space
Download, install, and open Cricut Design Space. Follow the guided setup. Then, click the Canvas tab and then the “Upload” icon to upload each image. For the “California” text, I uploaded a large PNG on a transparent background and then set the width to 9 inches.
Do the same for the bear image. Since the Cricut Explore 2 machine can accommodate vinyl up to 12 inches wide and my video is 12 inches wide, I positioned the bear image below the “California” text.
After setting the width of the bear to 5 inches. I selected both image layers in the right column and chose “Attach” so that I could cut both images at the same time.
Cut images from the cardstock
In Cricut Design Space, click the green “Make” button. You will see a preview of the images on the mat.
You will see a preview of the design on the board. To make weeding easier, cut a sheet of 65lb cardstock large enough to accommodate the design. In this case, I round up to the nearest inch, so my cardstock will be 10″ x 6″.
Then, place the cardstock on the lightgrip mat as shown in the preview above.
Click “Continue”. Connect the Cricut machine to your computer via bluetooth or USB. Once Cricut Design Space detects your machine, you will follow a 3-step process to cut the images on your chosen material.
Make sure the dial on the machine is set to “Custom” because we will choose the material type in Cricut Design Space.
For step 1 (Set Base Material), click “Browse All Materials” and choose “Value Cardstock – 65 lb (176gsm)” since that’s the material we’re going to use first.
For step 2 (Load tools and material), make sure the correct blade is loaded in the correct clamp, load the material into the machine, and then press the flashing Load/Unload button on the machine.
When you press the “Load/Unload” button, the machine will grab and pull the mat a little to prepare it for cutting.
For step 3 (Press Go), just press the flashing “Go” button on the machine. Since we are printing on cardstock, where both sides of the cardstock are the same, we don’t need to toggle the “Mirror” option.
Once cutting is complete, click the “Load/Unload” button to unload the mat.
Notice the outline in the cardstock showing where the cardstock was cut.
Remove the cut images from the cardstock
Remove the cardstock from the mat and separate the cut images from the rest of the cardstock. Use a weeding tool, if needed.
You should be left with this.
Preview cut images on a shirt
We’ll want to preview how the cut images appear on our shirt. To do this, cut the transfer tape in the size as the cardstock – in this case, 10″ x 6″. Cut straight lines as that will make it easier to center and position the design on the shirt.
Remove the transfer tape from its backing.
Place the transfer tape over the cut images and press it on the cut images.
Remove the transfer tape using a weeding tool to keep the cut images stuck to the tape.
Cut the transfer tape around the individual images.
Wear your shirt and place the cut images on the shirt where you want them to go.
The size of the “California” text looks good to me.
The size of the bear, on the other hand, looks way too big.
Iterate
Since the bear looks too big, I’ll reduce the size from 5″ wide to 4″ and 3″, repeat some of the previous steps, and see how that looks.
This is how the 4″-wide bear looks on the sleeve of the shirt. It still looks too big.
This is how the 3″-wide bear looks. I think that’s a good size.
Now that we have our images and final dimensions, we’re ready to cut the images on heat-transfer vinyl (HTV) and iron them on our shirt.
Prepare images
Follow the same steps as above except instead of a 4″-wide bear, make it 3″ wide.
Trim heat-transfer vinyl
The vinyl I bought is an 8-foot long roll that is 12 inches wide. Since our mat is 12″ x 12″, I cut it to make it easier to work with.
I actually have some leftover vinyl from a previous project, so I’m going to use that.
Cut images from the vinyl
In Cricut Design Space, click “Make” and then “Continue”.
For step 1 (Set Base Material), click “Browse All Materials” and choose “Everyday Iron-on”
For step 2, you’ll notice 2 things:
For iron-ons, the “mirror” must be turned on. This flips the images so that when they are ironed on, they appear correctly. Cricut Design Space automatically toggles this on for you.
You need to place the iron-on material face (shiny side) down on the mat.
For step 3 (Press Go), go ahead and press go to start cutting.
Trim heat-transfer vinyl
Remove the vinyl from the mat and trim away material from the designs. To make it easier to position and align the designs on a shirt, I like to cut straight lines around the designs so I end up with perfect rectangles.
Remove the dull side of the vinyl
Use a weeder tool, if necessary.
You should be left with your designs on a transparent liner.
Determine design placement on shirt
Measure where you want the designs to be on the shirt. I’m going to position the top part of the “California” text to be about 3.75″ from the top as shown below.
Turn on heat press
Turn your heat press on and set the target temperature to 315 degrees Fahrenheit. Set the timer to 5 seconds.
Press the designs on the shirt
Put the shirt on a bath towel on a hard surface like the floor.
When the heat press is ready, place it on the shirt for 5 seconds where the design will go. This will remove wrinkles from the shirt.
Set the heat press timer to 30 seconds
Place the design on the shirt exactly where you want it to go.
Since I cut the design in a perfect rectangle, I could measure from the edge of the rectangle to various points on the shirt to ensure the design is straight and centered.
Optionally, secure the design to the shirt using heat transfer tape.
Place a sheet of teflon on the design to protect the shirt and the heat press.
Place the heat press on the design until the 30 second timer is up.
Wait one minute. Then, remove the transparent liner from the design. If the design comes off the shirt, then put the heat press back on and press firmly on it for another 30 seconds.
Once the transparent liner is removed, I like to put the teflon sheet over the design and apply the heat press once again for 30 seconds.
Now, let’s apply the bear to the sleeve. Lay the shirt down such that the seam is at the bottom and in the middle.
Cut a piece of cardboard and insert it into the sleeve as shown below. We need the surface of the top part of the sleeve to be flat. Otherwise, the design can be ruined due to the bump from the seam.
Remove wrinkles from the shirt by place the heat press on it for 5 seconds.
The brown cardboard could cause discoloration in the white design. Cover the cardboard in the sheets of teflon first as shown below.
Secure the teflon to the cardboard using heat-resistant tape.
Place the design on the sleeve where you want it.
Put a sheet of teflon on the design.
Press the heat press firmly on the design for 30 seconds.
Wait one minute. Remove the transparent liner.
Optionally, place a teflon sheet on the design and apply the heat press again for 30 seconds.
The finished product
Removing vinyl
If you make a mistake, this video will show you how to remove vinyl from your shirt.
