The whole concentrate thing is actually a smart move that fits into this bigger pattern I've noticed, where we pay way too much for water in a bottle. It's not just cleaning stuff either, think about salad dressing or iced tea mix, you're basically buying water and shipping costs. Mixing your own forces you to slow down and actually read the label too, which is something most people never do with the ready-to-use stuff. I started doing this with my all-purpose cleaner last year and now I catch myself eyeballing every single product in the store thinking "how much of this is just water?" It's like a whole new way of looking at shopping once you get into it.

Hate to say it but this kind of thing happens way more than people admit. We all pick the "safe" option because it's what everyone around us uses, then a year later we find out the cheaper thing actually works better for what we do. It's like buying a Toyota Tundra because your buddy has one and he tows boats, but you never tow anything and just drive to work. Same thing with tools, same thing with phones, same thing with sneakers even. Marketing and peer pressure are a hell of a drug man.

Dave sounds like the kind of person who thinks coding is a secret club with a secret handshake. Did he actually ask what you were building, or did he just jump straight into telling you why his way is the only way?

The "to do list for my to do lists" thing is so painfully accurate lol. I think what you're describing is actually a bigger pattern I've noticed in life where we try to force structure on things that don't need it. Like everyone's obsessed with having a system for the system instead of just doing the thing. The rolling weekly is smart because it respects the fact that real life doesn't care about your perfectly laid out plan from Sunday night. I've seen the same thing happen with people who track water intake or sleep or whatever, they spend more time logging than actually living. Eventually you realize the best journal is just the one that gets used, not the one that looks good sitting there.

and that's exactly how it goes with old tech man, once you pull on that thread you find the real problem underneath. the belt turning to goo is just the start, its always the start. i've fixed like 4 of those fat ps2s and the lasers are usually fine even if they look dirty. the real killer is the spindle motor seizing up or the mainboard caps bulging out. you might want to check if the laser sled moves freely before that belt shows up, saved me a headache doing that ahead of time. honestly its the same thing with any gadget from that era, the rubber dries out and the plastic gets brittle but the electronics stay solid. you just gotta remember these things were built to survive a nuclear blast compared to what we get now.