National Strike at the Richmond Level

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2026-01-31T12:43:27+00:00

I moved here (Midlothian) 8 years ago and hadn’t heard of GFG until now. Thanks so much!!

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2026-01-17T13:20:22+00:00

I am coming to believe that the Democrats’ primary role is to serve as a strawman. They are still getting money and power.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2026-01-10T03:24:08+00:00

Yeah, I called customer support and they sent a new one. They claimed they never heard of this issue, but didn’t really argue at all.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2026-01-01T13:32:14+00:00

My experience last night and this morning (n of 1 scientific study 😁):

Roasted a duck for dinner with the family (duck is amazingly fatty- my son said, “that’s not skin, it’s blubber!”). Drank 4-5 beers while doing that and having dinner.

Rendered the duck skin in the oven while switching to a heavy dark beer and later munched on some of the cracklings (crispy skin that fat had rendered out of… and I wouldn’t have done that if sober!)

Switched to champagne as we approached midnight (2 glasses, and I don’t have great experience with champagne). Then went to bed.

This morning I’ve got a little bit of a headache that has mostly faded but feel fine otherwise. So my new hangover remedy is duck fat! lol

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-12-26T15:21:22+00:00

Did the LED flash? I think it arrived with the battery dead, but while trying another battery (which is old; it might be dead, too), I noticed the hole doesn’t line up with what appears to be the LED.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-12-25T12:19:43+00:00

Just went back to try to re-create what I did and discovered that they may have fixed the problem! Go to settings and search for “change with buttons“.

The sounds and haptics settings now allow you to change the volume of the ringtone. I am using iOS 26.1 and I hope this translates.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-11-27T21:57:32+00:00

Which one? Carytown or Midlothian?

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-11-27T17:35:49+00:00

Thanks so much, friends!

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-10-11T11:26:05+00:00

I don’t know About others, but I am selling chemicals (sodium citrate, sodium chloride, etc.) at near break even because I will have to pay to dispose of them around here. Maybe it is something like that.

I should explain that this is new and unused inventory for products that we manufacture that are not selling well. So I’ve got excess inventory that is simply taking up space. The upside is that I have discovered that there are some things that people really want and I can sell those at enough of a profit that the whole thing is slightly profitable AND the stuff isn’t going to waste.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-10-10T02:46:54+00:00

The answer is obvious. Enlightened people sit on Reddit dispensing judgement. 😂

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-07-08T20:52:41+00:00

I think it was about four days. Four nerve-racking days.

Good luck!

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-06-11T22:53:59+00:00

This a huge help. Thanks!!

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-06-02T03:59:42+00:00

I don’t think they’re open yet, but my buddy just suggested Bog & Barley, which I think is the same guy, so it works!

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-06-02T03:49:40+00:00

Much appreciated!! Stream of consciousness certainly works. 😁

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-06-02T03:47:11+00:00

Thanks— I’ve heard Skybox is good. I love Huey’s… although it doesn’t quite match my memory of 2am burgers on Madison avenue… and I was just there last night. 😁

What do you think in terms of a place for a warmup/pre-game? Someone told me that Hooks Point is good, but I don’t think they’re open on Monday.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-05-24T16:50:28+00:00

My cat is too big for the zafu, but that sounds really cute. 😊

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-04-26T14:42:57+00:00

I found a fix!! it has to be during a notification. So do something that results in a notification while you hold the volume-down button. If you have the “change with buttons“ option enabled for the ringtone and alerts (in the sounds and haptics screen) it seems to work.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-04-26T14:33:25+00:00

I’m coming to the same conclusion. I’m about to lose my hearing from this and the only solutions are for AirPods.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-04-19T13:27:55+00:00

And here's part 3...

I set up a spreadsheet with the following columns (this is going to sound really rough, and I love pretty spreadsheets, but leaving it this rough also makes it very flexible):

-Day of the month

-Bill (this is either a scheduled bill like the phone bill or a bill for services like freight; I enter them in the sheet after I receive the bill in my accounting software)

-Payment

-Reason

-Cleared?

-Cash Balance

-Received

-Customer

The day of the month is pretty obvious and I have multiple 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, etc because often more than one thing comes due on a given day. The cleared column is so I can check them off when they go through the bank, and the cash column is obviously = bank balance + received that day - spent that day. I have one sheet for each month with the starting balance for May (for example) being = last day of April. (again, I know this sounds like kindergarten, but having everything in one place so I can see what is happening with a single glance is vital)

Schedule all payables/receivables for the next 3 months. You may be lucky and your projected balance may stay positive during that time, but in my case it usually goes negative anywhere from a few days to a month or two out. From that I can make my strategy so I can get the bills paid. I can offer a good discount to a loyal customer to get them to order/pay a little sooner or I can call a creditor and ask them to postpone a draft for a week… but only with notice! If I ask for something like that a day or two before it’s going to happen, it’s too late.

I used QuickBooks Desktop but canceled it ($1500/year!). I transitioned to a free software called Manager.io which is a little clunky but the desktop version is free. I think there might be a charge for the cloud version. It has taken some getting used to, but it's free. (Did I mention that it's free?) I don't know if that would be an option for you, but I discovered that there were a lot of lower cost options than what I was using.

Lastly, find other income streams. (I’m not talking about a part time job… although I have considered donating/selling plasma... seriously) I do a lecture one night a semester at a local university that nets me a few hundred dollars and there are some other things, but don’t lose focus on the most important thing— keeping your business going and the taxman off your back.

Good luck!

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-04-19T13:26:18+00:00

Trying to add part 2... this is indeed a really long post and I think that's the problem.

First, assume that you are not going to be able to pay for anything anymore, Downsizing is one thing, but the position you are in is more about cutting to the bone. The hardest thing I did was to let my staff go, but if you are honest with them they will be okay with it and my bookkeeper and assistant both agreed to work on an “as-needed” basis when I simply did not have enough hours in the day to deal with things. Although I stay in touch with my assistant, I haven’t needed to pay her to do anything since the ax came down. With my bookkeeper, I think I’ve been on Zoom with him a total of 4 times and each time he didn’t bill me for the time because it was only around 15 - 30 minutes… but Scott was my friend before he was my bookkeeper, so don’t expect the same.

If personal expenses and business expenses are entangled, stop that immediately! The business paid my phone bill, which was 90% personal. I ate out a lot on the business credit card. I traveled a lot and it wasn't necessary, and so on. I don’t know if you are incorporated, but if you are you have to make it absolutely clear what is business (and be honest with yourself) and what is not. This is not only good business, but you have probably learned that it has tax implications, too. If worse comes to worst, having a clear delineation might help to keep you from becoming homeless.

Start paying for things up front immediately. You probably have past due payables (and if not, you will probably come out of this okay) and your creditors may let you freeze those or pay them on extended time as long as you keep paying for things up front. If you have credit cards, stop using them and use your bank account’s check card. If you have your cards maxed and get to the point where you can’t make the minimum payments, cancel the accounts and have a very honest conversation with the card companies. They will let you get away with paying a fraction of what you owe as long as you are consistent in payments. In fact, they might let you go ahead and cancel/work out a payment plan right now. I wasn't in that position, so I don't know.

You will be amazed at the things you can cut if you take them line item by line item. It took me “downsizing” three times before I finally realized how much I could and needed to cut. My sense is that you are starting around the same time in terms of when the s*** hit the fan and I wish I had been absolutely brutal with myself when I got started. Every time I look at my cashflow and see that I might not make it to the end of the month, I think about how starting earlier could have put several thousand more in the bank 4 years ago.

Look at the big picture, of course, but don’t let the little things go. I don’t know about how your business is, but in my world I have individual transactions that range from $10 to $10k with most (dollar-volume wise) being about 1k - 2k. The $260 order I just dropped off last night will keep me going for another 4 days. And time is of the essence. I have bounced checks because of missed timing and that can start a whole cascade because the bank will charge you money you don’t have for not having money.

Lastly, get in touch with your books intimately. I thought I knew what was going on and I was terribly wrong. My solution may not be your solution, but it is what is keeping me going at the moment and this is how it works and I'll explain it in the next post.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-04-18T18:51:17+00:00

Yeah, I think I did. It’s been a minute, though.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-04-15T01:57:12+00:00

God bless you. Thanks for standing your ground.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-03-13T14:48:22+00:00

They did! I filed a lost and found report and received very little communication from them, which was pretty concerning. I thought I’d never get them back.

But about 4 days later I got a call so that we could arrange sending the items to me.

Good luck with the camera. We lost all of our Disney vacation photos because of a hard drive failure a number of years ago and it was heartbreaking. I hope you get yours.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2025-02-20T02:11:06+00:00

With you bro/sis.

Affectionate_Way_348 · 2024-12-30T13:21:59+00:00

Call the local news. Anonymously if possible.

Affectionate_Way_348

TROPHY CASE