Testing

From Big In‑Stores to Zenni Online‑Only: Learning to Be My Own Optician (Sorta)

by

Five pairs of eyeglasses from big in‑store shops and Zenni online‑only, used in my journey to be my own optician.

I’m not an optician, but when you start ordering glasses online, you suddenly have to pretend to be one. You’re the one picking frame size, deciding between single‑vision, bifocals, trifocals, and progressives, and hoping it all works once it lands on your face. You still need a real eye exam and a real optician for a good prescription and PD, but after that, it’s you, a website, and a credit card.

Last year I spent almost a thousand dollars on frames and lenses after cataract surgery. I wanted to celebrate finally getting it done, ditch the bare‑bones Walmart 9.99–13.99 specials, and try progressive lenses for the first time. This year I’m in the “why did I spend that much?” phase and looking hard at cheaper online options — with Zenni ending up as my main test case.

Read more

Tello Mobile: How I Cut My Phone Bill by $30 a Month

by

Tello Mobile $10 per month 2GB unlimited minutes plan screenshot showing Build Your Own Plan options.

Tello Mobile caught my attention when Perplexity AI suggested it as a way to slash my monthly phone bill — and it delivered. I was on a big‑name network, paying around forty‑five dollars a month with taxes and fees included, and barely scratching 200MB of data thanks to fiber WiFi and WiFi calling at home. Something had to give.

Read more

Cooler Master N200: The Micro-ATX Case That Still Gets It Right

by

Cooler Master N200 micro-ATX PC case collage showing front, side, rear, empty interior, and fully built system. Highlights external bays, compact design, and budget-friendly features.

Building the i5-13600KF rig reminded me why the Cooler Master N200 is the micro-ATX case that truly solves modern problems for practical PC builders. After years searching for something like the old Rosewill FBM-01—a dependable, budget-friendly case with external drive bays—I stumbled upon the N200 purely by accident.

It’s not nostalgia driving this post. The real strength of external bays is versatility—they offer options that are rare in today’s case market. The Cooler Master N200 stands out in 2024/2025 for keeping one 5.25″ and one 3.5″ bay up front. Hot-swap drives, extra USB-C ports, card readers, fan controllers—whatever your build needs, these bays make it possible even in a compact Micro-ATX case.

This isn’t about chasing trends; it’s about keeping useful features alive for builders who need them.

Read more

Redragon K713-RGB-PRO: A Keyboard Novice’s Continuing Journey

by

Redragon K713-RGB-PRO review – software customization interface on Windows with color lighting and key mapping features

Redragon K713-RGB-PRO is the first keyboard I’ve found that finally ticks all the boxes—sturdy for everyday use, with large, readable legends, great backlighting, and a price I can afford. For years, my quest for the right keyboard was never-ending, thanks to OEMs that change models or drop good layouts without warning. As a self-professed novice, I’ve tested brands and layouts I never expected to, until Redragon K713-RGB-PRO delivered exactly what I needed.

Read more

Creators & Bloggers WYSIWYG Hack: Chromium Wins Copy-Paste Problem

by

Perplexity robot sidekick whispering to his pardner (AI Whisperer), with blog post title 'Creators & Bloggers WYSIWYG Hack: Chromium Wins Copy-Paste Problem' on black background.

WYSIWYG—“What You See Is What You Get”—should mean that the bold headlines, bullet lists, and hyperlinks you see on screen show up perfectly in your WordPress blog post. But if you’re like me, you’ve spent months struggling with formatting, watching good-looking AI content fall apart in the Classic Editor.

Today, while drafting this post and testing live, I pasted Perplexity AI output into WordPress using Firefox—fully expecting the usual formatting mess. I only recently started a $20/month subscription to Perplexity, and this post is just my fourth since making the switch. To my amazement, the formatting held: bold, lists, and headers appeared just as I wanted.

​After months of using “Paste Without Formatting” to avoid broken content from Claude, ChatGPT, and SuperGrok, this was a genuine surprise.

I almost changed the post’s title to “Creators & Bloggers WYSIWYG Hack: Perplexity + Chromium Solves the Copy-Paste Problem” just to capture this new discovery. But for clarity and Rank Math, I’m keeping the title as is—detailing what happened live, step by step, so you can finally fix your formatting pain too.

Read more

Translate »