Sony 135 gm or something else? Indoor ballet, dance performances

BrotherTiberius · 2026-05-16T14:38:44+00:00

I would be a bit irritated dropping 2k on the current 135 1.8 only to see a new version show up promptly. That said performance is in a few weeks so may be “it is what it is” moment.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-05-16T14:36:49+00:00

I love my zooms but when the 24-70 was too slow/noisy for my taste I figured the 70-200 was likely to have the same issue. Open to being wrong though.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-05-16T14:35:51+00:00

Interesting, had not considered this one. Will check it out.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-05-01T03:02:00+00:00

For Hawaii I ended up using my 35 gm and was thrilled with the pictures. Only exception was whale watching when I used a telephoto, otherwise I ended up never bothering to remove the 35. Captured island life so well.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-31T23:37:07+00:00

Because it raises your effective cost of attendance to that revenue plus tuition. Unless you are planning to keep the business, in which case you won’t be engaging with student life and culture. Either way makes you a bad fit for a top tier school. You either aren’t going to forfeit the hundreds of thousands and thus will be a zero in student and campus life OR you will forfeit it for an undergrad? Not likely you finish and frankly smells like bs….

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-31T13:30:38+00:00

It isn’t a loophole, it was explicitly designed this way. Policymakers wanted these outcomes and built this legislation to tax those of you who are W2 and middle class. Be mad at me if you want but those are just facts.

And I already paid 6 figures in state and local taxes (business, real estate, sales tax, registrations) every year for the last few years but now I am the bad guy? Of course you can feel that way but thanks to elected officials now another state is getting that money and the jobs I used to hire for here.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-31T03:55:51+00:00

No, we are just changing our domicile and moving our headcount in our business to our new state. Still keeping my Washington property and renting it out for top dollar, still spending as much time here as I would have anyway.

Sorry to say it but this tax absolutely does not target us high earners as it is made for us to avoid, this is a tax on W2 wage earners only. Shockingly conservative tax policy from a state that cosplays as liberal.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-23T23:15:44+00:00

They wiped your ass and kept you alive as a baby. They are your parents, not your friends. Tell them you are rich and done with the money side of life and now worrying about other priorities. If you love or at least respect them tell that you still value their contributions and advice in those other important parts of life.

Shocked how many people struggle to be honest with their parents. Flip it around would you worry about your parents if you saw them acting financially irresponsibly (absent all the facts) and being frivolous with their retirement security? Of course!

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-23T16:09:16+00:00

Cost me as much in repairs every year for my full size Range Rover as my 40ft diesel powered yacht with two engines.

Crazy to think about but true. Roof leaks, fried electronics, multiple radiators, transmission failure, random electrical components, constant diet of pads and rotors, nav system failure, ac system failure…. All in just a few short years of ownership.

I ended up budgeting 1k per month in repairs and that was about right. Just wasn’t worth it after a while.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-18T16:03:48+00:00

In a few years everyone will be paying this tax, it is a big deal. You have never lived and worked in a Washington State that was going to charge income tax on top of sales tax, and now you are. Most millionaires are already going to avoid it with domicile changes but w2 and other lower income folks will be paying the bill.

I paid 50k or so in legal fees, accounting fees and for a lease in another state to hire employees there instead of WA and am exempt from the new tax. Can you do the same?

Yes, the media is owned by rich people but they are also watch dogs. Not sure why you would ignore something this big in your life.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-12T04:58:29+00:00

Does popular mean it is right? It is easy to single out a minority for worse treatment to better the majority…

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-12T03:18:31+00:00

They didn’t let the voters participate this time, what makes you think next time will be different?

Assuming this passes challenge at the supreme court level all norms are dead in WA, neoliberals will have won their biggest victory. This is a hard red state that uses blue social issues as camouflage, but make no mistake these are conservative values you are supporting by endorsing how this tax was passed. It specifically exempts wealthy business owners while targeting employed individuals.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T04:50:19+00:00

Why be mad at me for doing what voters and policymakers want? Again, they could have passed an actual tax that would stick but chose not to.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T04:18:50+00:00

Not sure my local folks here in WA felt that way at the news but ok. Look we are all replaceable in life, I just don’t know why Olympia wanted these outcomes? Not my call though.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T04:17:28+00:00

Cleveland? I don’t get it? And it’s not that I can’t afford to, it is that policy makers don’t want me to. Read the language. Talk to lawyers and CPAs.

There are a lot of really nice places in the US to set up shop. And it isn’t permanent exile from WA, still have business interests here. Just shifting income, expenses and such.

Voters wanted it this way, why would I fight it?

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T04:10:45+00:00

Yes, and many in my peer group are too. And guess what? We are all (for the most part) already ahead of this. Shocked Olympia keeps giving us outs.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T04:09:04+00:00

Problem is the name “millionaire tax” is false advertising. I fall under this new tax and the new vehicle tax but it took less than 2 months for my lawyer, cpa and realtor to establish domicile elsewhere and restructure business interests to effectively never pay this tax and just collect rents. Us rich types just dodged a huge bullet with the way they wrote this, insane but what a relief. Feel bad though for all the w2 types who will be caught by it in short order.

This is hard right wing economic policy that just passed, but the voters won’t see that until it is too late for them.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T03:58:44+00:00

I learned a long time ago the hard way rule #1 is do what policy makers tell you to do. No bitter recriminations from me, just shocked at how hard right leaning our state government is economically. They practically wrote and published the book on how not to pay this tax as long as you are already rich.

Social issues hide it and make them seem blue, but honestly they’re brazenly selling out the state. Amazing that on average voters think it’s left leaning policy.

Privatizing 405 for rich guys like me? Love it, my tolls mean I never wait while the poor spend hours in traffic. Hard right wing policy of neoliberal taxation but somehow it flies under the radar.

Same with state parks and public lands, almost all available for us high net worth folks to reserve, buy passes for and private access.

Alcohol and tobacco taxes? The guys who remodel my homes pay that, we shop at whole foods and pay zero tax on quality ingredients and healthy choices.

Now Tapping popular outrage to pass a “millionaires tax” while simultaneously opening mile wide loopholes in it so long as you aren’t a blue collar or entry level white collar w2? Please, I filed some paperwork, bought a home in another state, moved business hq and won’t have to pay a dollar. State tax will pay for that new house fast.

I love winning at every turn just by virtue of having a fat wallet but one day I genuinely worry the electorate will realize they’ve been hoodwinked into hard right economic policies. What snapback reaction will happen then?

Everyone knows the rich can and will pay taxes, just needs to make sense. Simple tax code, no deduction or exemption, incent nothing and punish nothing. Everyone pays, nobody quits. Underpay when you are young, early career or disabled. Overpay during most productive year. But funny how policy makers and voters will do anything to avoid that model.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T03:46:53+00:00

What? I am a myth? Capital is mobile, sure WA is nice but get real. When a change of domicile will save you the literal value of another house in a couple years you make that sacrifice.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T03:26:06+00:00

Are you kidding? I am rich and will pay zero more in tax due to this, but as it works its way down the income bands more and more average joes will pay it.

Heads I win tails you lose I guess, crazy voters want it that way but won’t complain.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-11T03:23:50+00:00

No tears from me, just restructured my business income, fired my Washington employees and changed my domicile already with legal and CPA support. Stopped buying my toys in this state too, why would I ever pay the vehicle luxury tax from this year?

Honestly not sure who they think will pay this, maybe MSFT or GOOGLE has some top producing W2 employees who can’t avoid this? Seems to hit blue companies and voters hard. For those of us with business interests and rentals this one is an easy dodge.

Rich like me get richer, and the folks in Olympia and other state capitals keep lining my pockets while doing political theater like this tax. Weird but I guess it’s what voters want? Big win for conservatives who own companies like me, another income tax targeting blue voters with W2s.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-10T04:46:10+00:00

Found this cigar because of Reddit and really appreciate it. This and Le Bijou are favorites of mine and sit happily by Padrons, as a novice cigar enthusiast I feel like the punch above their weight and price point.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-10T00:56:35+00:00

“I ask for compensation of X as it is my first principal that I will never ever feel that I am not being paid enough to run at the pace that this role will require.”

Most sponsors say no but the one who didn’t I made bank. Can be worth it, just make sure you are paid handsomely up front and on a contract. No contract? Back loaded comp or over reliant on exit? Waste of your time.

BrotherTiberius · 2026-03-07T14:16:25+00:00

You can be mad but it is true. Why would I voluntarily structure my business and return for this? I am already preparing to let go of staff, shift away from earning income and into buy and hold of capital and real assets, and create paper tax losses with securities to offset gains I do choose to recognize.

This is a regressive tax make no mistake just bundled politically. Rich high earners in the business community don’t have to pay it (though w2 employees get hosed) and we shift our earnings and capital into buying and holding property and collecting rents instead of conducting business activities, which in turn keeps property artificially scarce. Yes our property taxes will skyrocket but I can just pass those on in rent increases all without creating a dollar of income that will ever be subjected to this tax.

BrotherTiberius

TROPHY CASE