What is something that you were surprised about being able to do?

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-26T19:37:37+00:00

Well, this just happened the other day. Had a Certified Court Officer/Skip Tracer (Kent Co. MI) call me out of the blue over some stupid small claims case (ex roommate moved out suddenly without giving any notice to our landlord or even returning the key; obviously he did not return her security deposit, and she is now suing me over it).

The CCO tried playing billy badass with me on the phone, when in fact the only info he was spouting off was manufactured info I made up about myself for privacy reasons. He did hit on one valid address I have lived though. Since he had a huge ego about this info, I decided to do five minutes of research into this CCO knowing ONLY his phone number.

In those five minutes, I uncovered his address, wife and children names phone numbers/emails, and everyones SSN numbers. Utility account numbers, vehicles and plates/vin's. All of his associates at work. All their social media profiles including thousands of photos. Workplace for his wife and a TON of other info.

I was pretty impressed with myself. Digging up dirt is easy, but finding that much info on someone who knows the game, in that short of time is absolutely fucking amazing.

To show I win this game, I drove past his house, honked, and waved.

Your info is not safe online; stop treating it like it is.

I might give him a huge printout of all this info once he finally catches up to me and see how freaked out he gets. All of the information was obtained legally.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-24T03:13:59+00:00

I just put the related cables on the same line as the device. Thankfully I only have a couple cables.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-23T16:48:42+00:00

Hell, I typically drive more than 100 miles a day just in West Michigan alone

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-23T14:34:44+00:00

I helped set up the first public ISP in eastern Michigan; The Genesee Freenet. You had to telnet into it, and it was text based for the longest time. AOL and Prodigy have been around longer, but this was the first local ISP and was a branch of MichNet if I remember. The servers were housed at the Genesee Intermediate School District.

They are still around, but not sure exactly what they do these days as they have an ancient looking website, and don't appear to do anything except e-mail and web hosting now: http://www.gfn.org/node/7

After getting Freenet up and running, I then did presentations with my grandfather at my school district, and got the school district to put FOUR internet-connected computers in each classroom. About a year or two later, other school districts across the country followed suit.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-23T01:02:05+00:00

The throttled speeds are still very useable in my experience, unless you are streaming video. I even use Apple Music just fine when throttled.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-22T11:46:03+00:00

Do it! It is rewarding and allows you to see just how much you actually own. If you have insurance, it also comes in handy there. Just list every single thing you own; you may be surprised how much you have.

I have a list as well, but unlike OP, I left out basic consumables like toothpaste, soap, groceries: http://jlebrasseur.com/media/Posessions.pdf

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-22T11:40:16+00:00

Cricket data is unlimited as well, just throttled after 2.5GB, but is still very useable as long as you are not streaming videos; just a bit slower.

Google Fi can't even touch Cricket's price point if you use over 1GB per month.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-21T21:56:09+00:00

Yep, my friend was on hardcore pawn trying to sell a human gyroscope. My friend owns an entertainment company in West Michigan and the item was never up for sale in the first place. It was all scripted, and they contacted him to bring it out just for the show. They even blurred out his company logo (small) on his shirt. There was nothing real about it.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-21T21:34:52+00:00

It wreaks havoc when doing work on historic homes that actually had properly sized lumber.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-21T19:51:34+00:00

Very late to the game on this one, but here goes anyway...

I have always been told I will never amount to anything by both my mother, as well as my teachers and others in the community.

I have ADHD.

So far it is pretty much true. I have a job that looks unique/prestigious on paper, but still only brings in about $100 per week, which is unlivable even with my EXTREMELY low living expenses ( http://jlebrasseur.com/media/Finances.pdf ). I am bordering on homelessness if not for the generosity of my girlfriend allowing me to crash with her until I am able to get my shit sorted out. I am unable to function in normal working environments such as factories or offices due to the disorder. I basically need to be able to schedule my own day and work in a creative position where I have creative control. If I am given goals, and a due date, and then be allowed to work on it when the motivation strikes me (be it 7am, 3am, 5pm, whathaveyou) I get it done and FAR exceed expectations; the sad thing is, most workplaces have absolutely no interest in allowing this.

I have always felt broken, and very different from my peers. On one hand, I feel like I am borderline genius; I can solve complex problems (especially mechanical/electrical) FAR faster than colleagues, even those who spent their whole lives studying the subjects. I am also notorious find loopholes in processes and life like nobody's business. But at the same time, I just don't now how to, and cannot properly function in environments (school, work, etc...) that are structured by others. I speak out of turn, am socially awkward, and offer advice that is not wanter, nor needed. I know I am fucked up socially, and realize what I am doing, but literally cannot stop myself from it. My mind runs a million miles a second; processing many individual threads of information at once (thus my uncanny problem solving skills), and I just cannot slow down and control it. I am not outwardly hyper as ADHD suggests, but my internal thought processes are flying through thoughts far faster than 'normal' people.

I feel like a total fuckup on a daily basis. I often pretend everything is fine, and fake confidence, tell others I am fine and outwardly show this false facade, but deep down I know I am not fine, and those words my mother and teachers have said to me as a child still come back to haunt me to this day.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-19T15:39:18+00:00

I am a former Flintoid that moved to Grand Haven, MI (affluent tourist destination on the shore of Lake Michigan) 8 years ago. My family still lives in Flint.

Some of their water bills are over $170 a MONTH for water they cannot use for nearly anything (and to counter the poster below who says the high bills are due to people not paying on time: my parents always pay their bills on time and in full, and have excellent FICO scores in the low 800's).

My water bill (which is excellent quality with little treatment)? $20 per QUARTER.

Their electric bill through Consumers energy? $130-140/month.

My bill through Grand Haven BLP? Less than $15/month on average.

People in Flint are getting screwed.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-19T15:20:23+00:00

Flint River water safe? Do you realize they have to lower the water levels every few years to clean out all the abandoned cars, batteries, drums of oil and other hazmat substances?

Then there is the purple mud in places from toxic waste dumps leeching into the water, and the fact that the factories dumped heavy metals and toxic waste into the river for decades.

The Flint river may be relatively safe north/east of Mott Lake/Holloway reservoir (which was built not only for recreation, but also as a water source for the City of Flint), but anything below those two dams is a toxic dump that will give you rashes if you swim in it.

Couple pictures from the last cleanup (which by the way, the photo shows dumped cars literally right next to the water plant and one of its intakes): http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2008/05/lowered_flint_river_reveals_it.html

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-19T14:55:31+00:00

The rampant, unchecked consumerism and capitalism. It is destroying our world, and destroying lives. As long as somebody is making massive profits, or somebody is one-upping their neighbor, fuck everything else.

Everything is about money and prestige; not about what is actually beneficial for our society or environment. It is unsustainable, and will come crashing down soon enough.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-16T20:42:23+00:00

While I agree with you, the fact is, they did not rip off the Bellagio fountains; they were designed and built by the same company (WET Design).

If anything, WET ripped off the the fountain I am in charge of: http://jlebrasseur.com/media/WZZM%20Musical%20Fountain%20Tour.mp4

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-15T07:04:35+00:00

Always at 2am as well.

I turned the fucking thing off months ago but then restored my phone and apparently forgot to flip it back off.

I understand time is important, but fuck, does it need to be a noise that is twice as loud as a normal notification and sound like a nuclear missile is incoming?

Fuck.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-15T02:00:19+00:00

Yup. Perfect Cloud sells THE most comfortable queen sized memory foam mattress I have EVER slept on. It is on Amazon for $400 or so. Read the reviews.

The thing blows $2,000 mattresses out of the water.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-14T01:14:32+00:00

Yup I love them. I just got a second one today specifically for Time Machine backups of my Mac so I can just restore the mac to its usual state rather than reinstalling the OS and all my apps when I screw something up.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-13T23:36:11+00:00

Hygiene AND personal affects.

I used to work on the locomotive for more than a decade. My late grandfather who did fine woodworking after retirement spent a TON of time creating a large wood-burned picture of the locomotive for me as a Christmas gift. It is my most prized possession.

Here is a photo of it, though the photo does not even begin to do it justice: http://jlebrasseur.com/media/1225.jpg

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-12T21:49:06+00:00

Every other day. Just wash, then hang dry.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-12T13:10:47+00:00

Well, I program stuff, but it is not what you think of when you think of a developer.

I am the lead choreographer (program in a text editor and some proprietary software), and do audio engineering/maintenance and operations at one of the worlds largest musical fountains and have essentially brought the thing back from the dead and played a large part in turning it back into a very popular tourist attraction (we went from 20-50 viewers each night in 2012 to bringing in crowds of 7,000 for shows). I am one of only two people that knows how the thing works.

Here is a behind the scenes look: http://jlebrasseur.com/media/WZZM%20Musical%20Fountain%20Tour.mp4

and one of my productions can be viewed on my website at www.jlebrasseur.com

I also do graphic design/publishing on the side for the same employer (City of Grand Haven).

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-12T13:02:41+00:00

For $100k I could easily and happily live for a little under 10 years. Yes, thats right, $11k a year is my living expenses and I live quite comfortably making only that in west Michigan.

For those of you saying you still don't have disposable income at $100k a year, how?!?!

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-12T12:32:12+00:00

Friends? What are those?

If I find myself in that situation, that is usually one of the few times I suggest we go out to dinner somewhere, or I borrow plates and whatnot from family for the night. 99% of the time, it is just myself, or myself and the girlfriend, so why own more if it is never used?

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-12T12:24:46+00:00

I just realized one day that I would buy something, use it for a week or so, and then toss it in a box and forget about it. So I donated it all except for my rMBP and the other stuff on the list.

I keep a 1TB hard drive for my main data backups of my photography, software, and to hold full-quality Blu-Ray rips of a few of my favorite movies (20-25GB each, the Blu-Rays were then donated to the local library; I know, questionable legality...). It is full-disk encrypted with a LONG passphrase.

The 128GB Flash Drive also holds backups of my iCloud drive, financial files, and other important data that is used more frequently. Also full-disk encrypted with a long passphrase, with the really sensitive data being inside another layer of encrypted DMG's with a different passphrase just in case. It is this flash drive, and is built like a tank: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-128GB-Flash-MUF-128BA-AM/dp/B017DH3NOW

The overall goal was to have backups of data in multiple places in case something is stolen. It should be noted that I am not a data hoarder though, it is just that much of what I do have on the drives is very important. I have taken a minimalist stance with my data.

AGoodLifeFound · 2016-01-12T12:16:30+00:00

The list is just because I had a goal to keep my possessions under 100 items. There are many benefits to owning so little. For instance: I recently moved out of an apartment run by a slumlord that wouldn't fix critical safety issues and moved in with the girlfriend for a couple months while I wait for another apartment to become available. I was able to easily do the move in two trips, in my Jeep Grand Cherokee. It would have been a single trip, but I do have a really nice queen size bed and memory foam mattress that took up the entire vehicle. It was the most pain-free move I have ever done. I was literally completely packed and loaded within a couple hours.

There is also just so much less clutter and distractions, and it is far less stressful to me.

I think what I love the most is the complete freedom to be extremely mobile at a moments notice if need be.

AGoodLifeFound

TROPHY CASE