There’s definitely a lot of variables in that decision, so it’s not a “one size fits all” recommendation. A timed release feeder can be helpful if your cat is constantly pestering you for food, but having your cat associate you with food can also be beneficial to your relationship and can be a tool to address some behavioral challenges. If your cat is only pestering you near meal times, adjusting your routines might also work. For example, if your cats are harassing you to wake up in the morning to feed them, then adjusting your routine so that feeding them is no longer the first thing you do will likely help to reduce or eliminate the unwanted behavior since they won’t associate you getting up with them getting food.

Another potential issue is that wet food doesn’t really work with most timed release feeders, and I don’t think there’s any microchip-based timed feeders that are compatible with wet food. Wet food is much better for cats than kibble, so even if you use a timed feeder for kibble, they should also still get wet food regularly too.

Your best bet is to find activities that you enjoy that you can do on a regular basis in an environment where you’ll be around other people who also participate regularly. Sign up for a class, join a sports team, volunteer somewhere, find a local meetup group, or even just become a regular at a bar.

Making new friends definitely gets harder as we get older because people are busy and just don’t have the same opportunities to casually yet regularly interact with strangers any more. As kids, most people repeatedly engaged with the same group of people on a daily or weekly basis due to school, sports, etc., and the familiarity that came with that made it relatively effortless to develop some friendships.

Even when I totally hit it off with people I’ve just met and we exchange contact details, I’ve rarely ever intentionally hung out with them again. The new friendships that I’ve formed as an adult were either with a friend of a friend or with people I happened to cross paths with many times before we ever intentionally made plans together. It’s those repeated, low stakes interactions that have been most successful at forming new friendships.

I remember reading something a while ago that said the rubber backed mats should never go in the dryer, and while I forget the exact reason, it wasn’t just because the dryer damages the mat. Searching online, it looks like the rubber can also damage the dryer and poses an increased fire risk.

Really? That’s what I usually buy, but there’s still some liquid in the package, so I’ve always pressed it. I guess I’ll have to try it without pressing some time.

I like to do a bunch of baking for the holidays, and usually do a mix of easy/familiar recipes, plus some new/challenging recipes. I made caramels, and while I was pretty happy with them, I never heard one person comment on them, and they were a lot of effort compared to things like chocolate chip cookies, so I’ve never made them again.

Edit: Another is pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkins. I’ve done it, it’s not that difficult, but it’s also not any cheaper or better tasting than just buying good canned pumpkin.

I rarely even marinate my tofu, and have never really had issues with it getting rubbery, but the hassle of pressing the water out is enough of a deterrent for me. I’ve considered buying a tofu presser, but I have a small kitchen, so I don’t really like owning such specialized tools.