- How do I talk to my roommate about the thermostat without coming off as controlling?
A roommate wants the house at 77-78 while the roommates crank it to 72-73 ('you could hang meat in here'), and asks how to raise it without sounding controlling. The hosts side with the roommates: 72 is the widely accepted comfort setting, appliances work harder in heat, and '78 is ridiculous... old folks' home temperature.' The verdict: get a lockbox for the thermostat, or put on a sweater. The discussion spirals into energy-company 'nasty grams,' evaporative cooling (hosing down the house), swamp coolers, Ben's two wells, and an 'Independence Day' no-peace impression bit. The Secular answer is read ('stop pussyfooting around, have an adult discussion'; 'it's you, 78 degree man'), and a host closes with his own car-climate-control wars story with his windows-down wife.
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Dear LFTP: the single man and the holiday cliques
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The first Dear LFTP letter: a single man, happy with his life and plenty of friends and family, dreads the holidays — at Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings of 15 to 25 people,…
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Dear LFTP: the inclusive dinner and the autistic boy
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Dear LFTP #2: friends who always bring extra people
- How do we stop friends from inviting extra people to our gatherings?
Mike reads the second letter: dear friends who socialize a lot keep inviting extra people to gatherings at the listener's lake house — including, once, a passed-out stranger ('my coyote fell asleep on the couch').
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Dear LFTP: the $600 lawnmower and buying them a mower
- My nephew's wife took my $600, lied about it, and is avoiding me. Should I say something or let it go?
Mike reads a letter from someone who gave a nephew's wife $600 for a self-propelled lawnmower; she spent it, never bought the mower, and now avoids them.
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