porting the google number requires a phone plan w carrier; but i only use prepaid accounts between multiple carriers that change roughly every 6 to 12 months or so, depending on the price and whether or not they'll support the unlock phones that i buy online. also: my current carrier will not accept a google voice number per their technical support people.
Why not just switch to another VoIP provider like jmp.chat then?
and those companies rely on some sort of multi factor authentication and my experiences with forwarding teaches me that the forwarding doesn't always go through in a timely enough manner.
I assume you're "voting with your wallet" which imo is not an effective or worthwhile endeavor. What manufacturer is so much better than Google that they're actually worth going with over a Pixel with Graphene? The only one that I can think of is maybe Fairphone, but it only works in Europe and the extra cost would likely be better spent towards a donation to a project like GrapheneOS than a mediocre device that is neither private nor secure nor degoogled.
my primary reasoning for an android alternative is to get out of google's walled garden
You don't even need an alternative OS to get out of Google's walled garden. You can and probably should start doing that before you move to an entirely new OS.
there was also something wrong with them and some esoteric policy at the places i purchased them from wouldn't let me get a refund
Ebay has very good buyer protections - arguably too good, making things hard for small sellers. Virtually impossible to not get a refund within eBay's 30 day return period.
ig, you could just buy used though or wait for their own device to be released via the upcoming OEM partnership. I wouldn't be surprised if pixels are sold at a loss or break even point anyway, supplemented by surveillance capitalism and google play store revenue.
tbf there does seem to be some immune system weirdness with tattoos and if you're already in a higher than normal inflammatory state because you have an untreated autoimmune disease like celiac, maybe it could make you feel like shit at least in the short term. idk
The most that came from it was learning I had celiac disease
Well that is kind of a big deal lol. You may already know all this but celiac causes malnutrition as well as direct symptoms.
Iron deficiency from gut malabsorption can cause pretty significant fatigue, malaise, mood issues, and other problems. The criteria for determining what is considered iron deficiency have recently changed as well so that a LOT more people are considered deficient compared to before, and not all docs are up to date yet. Assuming you're an otherwise healthy person, you'd probably want to have a ferritin (iron stores) of at least 50 ng/mL but ideally around 100 ng/mL if you're symptomatic. There are several other vitamins that are commonly deficient in celiac as well.
Possibly, I'm not up to date on the latest research, but if so it hasn't made its way into the guidelines. The risks are significant based on my understanding so I would be surprised. There are selective estrogen modulators with lower risks but they aren't that effective for osteoporosis.
? There are treatments for osteoporosis. They're called bisphosphonates. And bone density screenings are routine in older women. Am I missing something?
I've only been able to get HDR to work properly in Bazzite's gaming mode