Gmail's new mandatory categories is extremely annoying and needs to be disabled

Some make changes for improvements. 
" " " for bug fixes.
" " " for new features.
and some makes changes for the sake of change itself.  Just to make things different.

That's what Gmail did. They took an existing feature that everyone has grown accustomed to and forced additional categories in their effort to place ads ("promotions" was the primary label that Google wanted to throw in along with bundling it with "Social", "Updates" and "Forums") into the inbox.

Even if you configure the inbox to disable/hide and undo this intrusion, you are still stuck with the minor annoyance of scrolling a bit on the dropdowns that appear in the "Move To" and "Labels" buttons

You can't disable (yet) these drop-downs that appear but if you use Firefox with Adblock you can hide them thanks to the fine people at Google Groups who made the effort complain and a user (Mario Krušelj) to post a custom solution.

In Firefox, edit (or create if you dont have) the category "Element Hiding Helper" in your filter preferences and add the following filters:

mail.google.com##.J-N[title="Social"]
mail.google.com##.J-N[title="Promotions"]
mail.google.com##.J-N[title="Updates"]
mail.google.com##.J-N[title="Forums"]
mail.google.com##.J-LC[title="Social"]
mail.google.com##.J-LC[title="Promotions"]
mail.google.com##.J-LC[title="Updates"]
mail.google.com##.J-LC[title="Forums"]

Screenshot below:

Internet Web Browser of choice

I use and recommend two internet browsers to use.  Firefox as the primary and Internet Explorer as the back up.

Internet explorer is self explanatory. Sometimes there are sites that just simply doesnt display properly on other browsers.  So when i know i need to view a certain site that I trust is secure, I load up internet explorer to view it.  It's also the browser i integrate JAVA with because again, i trust the site is secure and I dont want java loaded on a daily basis for my usual browsing on my primary browser (Java is notoriously bad for security).

Otherwise my primary browser is Firefox.  There are many browsers out there, all of them fine.  Infact one can say there are just too many damn browsers out there, both on the desktop and the mobile.

To make a long story short, the reason firefox is my preference is due to the way they implement extensions.  Speed is not an issue for me to go to Chrome, and the adblock plus extension works best (most customizable/powerful) on Firefox.

My balance of an uncluttered browsing experience with the right amount of extensions has led me to be a Firefox user with the following 6 extensions (and with Java disabled):

• Adblock Plus - Blocks ads by URL (unsurpassed customization compared to any other browser)
•  NoScript - blocks scripts except those i explicitly approve
• ForecastFox - Weather forecasts for the next 2 days unobtrusively in the bottom right of my browser
• InFormEnter - Right click populate common info like name and address (especially in filling out address info when shopping)
• WebSlingPlayer - I have a slingbox
• X-Notifier - single point of access for all my various email accounts

While the default layout isn't bad, I also move around the the bookmark bar, url bar, tabs and stuff to customize the look of the browser. 

Whirlpool LTG5243DQB washer/dryer on the second floor

So, I live on the second floor of a old building where I am actually fortunate to have a washer and dryer.

It's whirlpool combo "Thin Twin" washer/gas dryer model LTG5243DQB.  Which is part of the LTG5243DQ line of whirlpool combo units. I'm not sure what the "B" at the end of the model is for.

Whirlpool LTG5243DQ

You may come across a problem with having a washer on the second floor. Going with the theme of this blog, you are probably searching for ways to solve some issues that arise from having a washer in the second floor of your crappy home with wood floors.  Having neighbors below you probably makes it a problem you can't ignore.

The problem I had was that because I have a neighbor downstairs, he has complained about

•     Loud noise no matter how much you level it (the heavier the clothing, the louder)
•     Vibrations that reverberate throughout the home and especially to your neighbors

Normally when it's general noise from just living in the unit, i can tell the neighbor "tough luck" because he chose to buy a 1st floor unit. It's never going to be as good as living in your own detached house and until we are rich enough one day to do so, this is the sacrifices we make that impacts our quality of life (i hate my home, i should have stayed as a renter in some modern apartment building).

There is an unspoken acceptable/unacceptable amount of noise between our units.   In this particular case, i believe the complaint was valid.  So what to do besides using the washer during normal daytime hours when they tend not to be home?

Researching into this, I have discovered that aside from the exceptions (everything has an exception) of a few unique models, the choice of having a top loading washer was correct (instead of front loading).  Has to do with the amount of force that flows out of the machine during the spin cycle and that it's better to direct it sideways (as long as the machine is not against the wall) rather than downwards into the floor.

Now if you are like me, you are not going to rip up the wooden floors and install concrete slabs and basically redo your floors.  Get the hell out of here.  I also have shelves above the washer that I would have to redo so really get the hell outta here.  What a pain in the ass. After some research, i stumbled across vibration pads.  It was some article that mentioned the manufacturers are starting to silently recommend them or integrate them because they reached the limit of how quiet they can make their machines but they dont want to state it's any kind of "problem".

Naturally my first indication was to go to Home Depot/Lowes.  Unless I'm buying something with high probability that I will keep, i generally buy from brick and mortar stores so that it's easy to make returns when needed. At Home Depot, they had the GE Anti-Vibration Pads (4-Piece).  These were basically very hard pieces of tire-like rubber that you put under the legs of the washer to prevent it from walking (moving on it's own during spin cycles on generally smooth tile floors) as well as absorb vibrations/reduce sounds.

It's the same claim that every brand of the 20 different variations out there made. I was wary of them.  I felt like, i could just get 4 pieces of "soft" blocks of wood and put those under the washer at this point.  After much deliberation and google searches at home depot itself, i decided to walk away. There just wasnt enough positive reviews to go on that made it definitive one way or the other. I think there's no doubt that it works because anything that creates a disconnect between the level washer and the floor has to buffer a limited amount of the energy, but i wanted a product that works well. 

Eventually i bought the Anti-walk Silent Feet - Anti-vibration Pads for Washing Machines and Dryers from Amazon. Made by The Vibration Solution company.  It had good enough reviews both on amazon and other blogs.

I bought the red package one.  You can research what the difference is with the green and red or you can just Quickly Get the bottom  line here.  Basically in the green package, 2 of the pads "slide" so that you can pull out and push in your washer.  I had enough to space to tilt the washer one way or the other so i opted for the red one.

The difference between this and the GE set from Home Depot was that this one, instead of being all hard rubber, was half hard and half soft rubber.  The bottom part that goes on the floor was soft rubber, that vibrated with the vibrations of the washer so that it appears to buffer the floor from the washer.  The top part of the pads was hard rubber and this is where the washer legs stand on.

I recommend it. That's the bottom line.  It works enough as intended. The washer still makes loud banging noises especially with heavy loads like towels, but that's a separate issue.  In terms of finding something to buffer the vibrations from the washer to the floor, mission accomplished.

Link:
Anti-walk Silent Feet - Anti-vibration Pads for Washing Machines and Dryers

Living in a two story "garden" style home - DON'T

I live on the second floor of a old building built back in the 50's.  I am actually fortunate to have a washer and dryer because for the most part, multiple dwelling units of this age/type doesnt allow or support washers.  The pipes cant take it, the connections (drain pipe, water, vents) are not present and so on.  So i actually found a diamond in the rough here because when i moved in, someone spent a great deal of money to upgrade the unit to include a proper gas dryer (not electric!) that vents out and a washer.  No more laundromat or going to the laundry room of the building for me!

A lot of coop and condo communities is like this. When you see a cluttered bunch attached 2-story homes with separate entrances that are next to each other, know that for the most part there is absolutely no sound proofing between the units. 

You see, these type of buildings generally has no sound proofing or insulation between units.  Basically some cheapass built a 2 story building back in the day, then chopped it in half to make it a 2 family home and double the profit.  Multiply that by 200 and you have a coop/condo development with "garden style" homes.  While you share a common wall and floor/ceiling, thankfully there may be sufficient brick and concrete between the adjacent units that the only noise issue is between the first and second floor.

If you ever look into moving into a multiple dwelling unit (condo/coops/rentals), i strongly recommend the tall modern buildings that has concrete in  the floors/ceilings.  The regular two story ones where everyone gets their own separate front door entrance looks nice from the outside, but everything is paper thin and cheap on the inside.  If you must move in to these garden style homes, then get the ones where the units are side by side and not on top of each other. Else even the smallest noise seeps through and you are basically living with your neighbors downstairs/upstairs.  In addition to the lack of noise barriers, the bones of these homes are usually all wood and the pipes will make thump/hammer noises, the floors will squeak and overall, it's a real crappy way to live.  You end up feeling like a prisoner in your own home if you have bad neighbors.

Intro...

Life is too busy and there's too much things to do, to get done, to read up on, to look up.  So here's where I'll enter things that I've filtered in my life which was not a waste of my time or braincells.

So I've come to the conclusion as Im sure much of you:

• There are too many alternatives and choices for everything.

It doesnt matter in what context you view that statement.  Whether it's shopping, or doing laundry, or picking an app or a route, there's too many options.  This is not the same as saying there's a lot, there's plenty, there's a wide variety... etc.   No, there's just too many.  There's more than needed or desired.

There's two ways to approach this.  One is to simply pick the easiest, closest, quickest choice and be content.  This is the way I wish I did things because there's truth to the statement that "ignorance is bliss".  Life is easier, straightforward, you may or may not pick the cheapest/best way to do something but you will never know, you will save time in the short run because you dont waste time researching upfront and making comprehensive comparisons.

The other way is far more irritating, but it's for those of us that keeps our mental muscles finely tuned. It's to find every possible option, weigh the pro's and con's and do a moderate amount of comparison before a sticking with a decision and then possibly revisiting this decision every few months or years.
 
I assure you, countless hours are wasted with the latter method.  Minutes turns into hours, quite often one can go off in tangents and overall it can feel like one is trying to absorb the internet.

To hell with it all.  To add to the general pool of millions of blogs, review sites, forums and such, here's my one single simple take.  There may be better options.  There most definitely will be worse options. Often, we must all settle for "good enough".  We dont have all damn day to deal with each and every thing.