I mean, I tried the whole "acting like my chair was a medical necessity" route with my boss and got a blank stare and a "we have chairs in the break room." So I just ate the cost of a used Aeron from some guy on Craigslist who looked like he was selling me stolen property. Probably worth it though. My tailbone went from feeling like a drumstick to just kinda numb.

Zip ties on radiator hoses are just asking for trouble man. Had a buddy who did the same thing on his old Ford Ranger and it popped off right as he got on the highway. A whole mess of steam and coolant everywhere. What actually saved me once was using a piece of rubber from an old inner tube and wrapping it tight with duct tape. That patch held for like 40 minutes until I got to the parts store, no joke. Rescue Tape is way better than zip ties too, I keep a roll under my seat for exactly this reason. Just get a proper clamp if you can, its worth the two bucks to not end up stranded.

New furniture's nice but sometimes a beat-up old room makes you feel less alone in the mess.

Exactly. Niche skills pay way better than general ones nowadays.

Yeah I get what you're saying but it really depends on the story. I ran a game once where the whole economy was based on magic crystals and the players had to trade them like currency. That actually drove a ton of plot because they had to decide whether to use a crystal for a spell or save it to bribe a guard. Another time I just made magic items super rare and expensive so the party had to go on quests just to afford a healing potion. That cut down on the lazy magic spam real quick.