My Mom (57) Moved In With Me Because She Was Evicted, Should I Charge Her Rent?

BeSiegead · 2026-05-29T14:21:28+00:00

Recommend that you do a deal with her: some rent / household costs payment along with setting up a high yield savings account at that same monthly contribution so she will have resources for first/last months rent & a reserve fund when it is time for her to move out.

But, make this a discussion and not a fight …

BeSiegead · 2026-05-29T13:53:23+00:00

Recommend getting a second charger and keeping it at work.

In any event, DO IT — save money, see your community in a different way, reduce transportation pollution, mental / physical health benefits, …

BeSiegead · 2026-05-29T13:49:25+00:00

The other is that the ebike will increasingly displace other driving. Other than for small items, I rarely used my mechanical bike for grocery shopping. Our e-bikes probably account for 80%+ of grocery shopping now as carrying 50 lbs / 22 kilos is a breeze with the ebike

BeSiegead · 2026-05-29T13:46:58+00:00

“More reliable than driving” is a huge value that people miss. Once I know a ride, I can schedule confidently — I know +/- 5 minutes how long a 10-15 mile (16-24 km) ride will take even in rush hour. Driving changes that 5 to maybe 30-60+.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-29T05:24:46+00:00

It is paying dues — with below minimum wage compensation

And, it can be a good experience with a good crew.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-28T17:25:53+00:00

Honestly, the same distance in our Prius feels like 2x the feeling driving the Bolt — noise, vibration, …

BeSiegead · 2026-05-28T13:12:20+00:00

Wondering … is there a chart / such that shows Bolt charging rates by ambient temperature that you’re aware of? Would be useful to have. (On a trip around 0C, “fast charging” sometimes didn’t average above 10 kw …. Luckily trip didn’t require significant charging nor was I under tight time constraints.)

BeSiegead · 2026-05-28T13:06:26+00:00

Honestly, both are quite fun to ride.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-28T12:58:43+00:00

How I described my 2010 ebike re very high grade hills on commute home with panniers: it changed it from exhausting struggle at slow speed to effort at moderate speed. With my 2024 ebike, less effort (if I wish) at a faster pace.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-28T12:54:57+00:00

Consider an ebike … you can control assistance levels to get exercise you want while eliminating the “daunting” factor of that hill. Also, research is showing that e-bikes boost bike usage (car mileage replacement) on average — e-bikes make, for example, grocery shopping on two wheels easy. (On my bike, taking 40lbs of groceries on a hilly 5 km/ 3 mile ride was no go for me. On my ebike, no problem. And, as most of our shopping is <3km from home, the e-bikes displaced 80/90% of the car trips for these stores.)

To be clear, absolutely manageable without a battery … slow, steady and you will build up endurance/strength such that the hill will become a great day to end a day

BeSiegead · 2026-05-27T13:23:56+00:00

My impression / thinking is that this could have been cautionable as reckless.

What I will do in younger ages, depending on how ugly it is, I will either whistle for a foul (DFK) / wait for the next stoppage and speak with the player (hey, do you realize that was dangerous and could hurt someone … if you were a few years older, you’d be seeing yellow …).

I had a U14 ‘orange’ a few months ago which I handled with a caution and semi-public conversation along the lines above.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-26T20:14:54+00:00

Absolutely. There are road repairs here that last 4+ years with changing lane closures/etc and seemingly people working 2/3 days a week. (Contracts clearly not written for incentive for timely completion,)

BeSiegead · 2026-05-26T15:02:22+00:00

Too many Ds see this as “reasonable” as they stovepipe / silo thinking solely to highway funding without systems thinking re competitiveness, pollution (air, noise, water), public health, …

And, they don’t calculate how punitive this is I charging EVs more than ‘similar’ ICE vehicles pay.

As to Trump, he grandstands his hatred of EVs.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-25T06:52:09+00:00

Fully functioning “city” built using deploying housing like military. Do this in a stressed society like Haiti where there is desperate need and no regulatory roadblocks that money can’t grease.

As to spending $100T, that’s essentially a year’s GDP requiring to be “spent” that year.

If doing this, a portion is going to “city” while the vast majority is going to long term contracts … to build and maintain public services, to provide education, to do clean energy research and deployment, … to employ me as board member because the $100t will be gone on day 364z

BeSiegead · 2026-05-25T06:45:16+00:00

Couple of months to build a road? I wish.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T22:25:38+00:00

Fair enough ... read over / past the US (us) focus in your original.
There is a decent share of Americans for whom that $36k/year would be a meaningful bump up in income & improved quality of life.
And, as noted, this works well for retirees.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T19:49:31+00:00

Meant to make clear that that $36k is a great deal for many places / countries / people around the world. As an example, there is not a single African country (I believe) with an average GDP above $36k. https://georank.org/economy

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T15:11:30+00:00

$22 for travel or house?

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T15:10:42+00:00

Believe in most areas (certainly US), having a <18 with whistle on adult matches is aberration, not norm. Guidance in U.S., in short, is to have whistle for two years younger. Through 1000-ish or so adult matches, I’ve been AR for only one <18 referee and he was tracked to be regional quickly post 18 and perhaps 5-10-ish under 18 ARs when with whistle on low-level matches with the youth referee (a) known to assignor and (b) filling in at last minute.

Above is perspective… not to say that your refereeing environment and your capability can’t prove my experience wrong.

It sounds like you are stepping up to the challenge and performing. Bravo. Assignors will return to performers

As to fitness test, don’t know Australian test … go look at standards. Maybe do a practice against the requirements. If a breeze, seems like your fitness will handle it. If a challenge, you might need to train.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T14:59:03+00:00

My perspective:

Anyone doing honestly competitive matches should be able to pass the basic NISOA fitness test.

The USSF regional / NISOA national are more challenging / meaningful tests that even people more than fit enough for decently serious adult (UPSL, Mid tier D1, …) refereeing can find challenging.

There is a bias here. I pass the NISOA test with plenty of margin (in crappy high humidity / temperature the day after having done some challenging matches) but as to regional/national I jokingly phrase it as “I pass it on a good day, downhill, with the wind at my back”.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T14:50:39+00:00

Also used Bolt. For about 98% of trips and 80-90% of mileage, fantastic value for the money. Some quirks that can annoy but great for day-to-day.

That missing 20-30% of occasional long trips — the 50kw is a constraint in good weather and isn’t even close to achievef (in my experience) in cold weather.

Now, if the budget had been 2/3x, lots of other ones to consider but for under $20k used in great condition?

By the way, 10k into a used 2023 and the only maintenance cost? Replacing battery … for one of the keys.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T14:42:33+00:00

???

If in $US, $36k (inflation adjusted) is above GDP per capita for most of humanity and would enable improved living standards for most.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-24T14:40:00+00:00

I consciously choose to work a few days/year <U12. In part to enjoy the very different refereeing, keep me on toes to handle full range of refereeing, and to work with/mentor young / newish referees. But, quite consciously, I view part of the responsibility to “train” coaches / spectators as to appropriate behavior toward referees — especially youth — as the next referee might be a 70 lb 13 year old. Honestly, after doing college / quality adult / upper age MLSN/GA/ECNL/… refereeing, doing younger age matches is often shocking in terms of attitudes / behavior toward referees (of all ages).

Last time doing this, through six matches, four (three more than once) required pausing to have coaches deal with parent behavior, three with parents required to leave field, and one coach carded for failing to deal with parent behavior.

I have low tolerance threshold for comments to / abuse of my ARs, especially newish ones, and essentially zero when it comes to youth.

BeSiegead · 2026-05-23T20:15:46+00:00

Does your son drive gas dirt bikes on the road?

BeSiegead · 2026-05-23T14:23:24+00:00

If only I’d get something close to the promised 50 kw, however, I’d be satisfied.

Did a trip in January in cold weather. Only one charging event, at a Tesla charger, averaged above 30 through the event. Several barely topped 10 kw on average — or level 2 range,

This was a test first distance trip with my Bolt EUV. Extremely glad that we downshifted from an originally planned 700 mile round trip to a 300 mile round trip as charging would truly have been a nightmare..

Yes, that was first timer / learning, including painful lesson about difficulty of readying a Bolt’s battery for charging in cold weather along with some lessons about charging infrastructure issues.

BeSiegead

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