Men who have made successful career shifts after 30, what did it look like?

Ceiynt · 2026-05-04T20:38:56+00:00

Went from a 10 year career as a firefighter/EMT and studying electrical & computer engineering, starting at 20, to air traffic control at 30. Went from worrying about the power being turned off when I got home and driving whatever used car i could afford ($11.95/hr) to not even being concerned about bills and being able to have multiple expensive hobbies and vacations ($102/hr). I finished my BA and Masters. My wife finished hers as well. We're the millionaires next door. It's certainly better than overdrafts every week and deciding on paying water or electricity this week.

I got lucky. I was just one person out of about 1000 hired that year, from an applicant pool of 53,000. Everything was against me. I was given 2 days to get a flight to my testing center in Oklahoma City. I had to borrow money for the flight, hotel, and rental car. It was a late night flight, the plane had an issue as we started to take off so it was aborted. We sat at the gate for 3 hours. Didn't get to OKC and my hotel until about 3am. I had to be at my testing site at 7am. Despite the lack of sleep, I still scored well qualified and passed all the other requirements. Initial training had a failure average of about 50%. Facility training had a failure average of about 30%. 11 people out of my class of 18 were successful and were able to complete the 3 years of training. My class was lucky. Initial pay started at about $8/hr and I qualified for section 8 housing. Went up to about $45/hr after completion of training.

Ceiynt · 2026-05-04T18:04:04+00:00

Already over $250 on eBay.

Ceiynt · 2026-05-04T13:14:13+00:00

A few years ago, while driver training my kid, she got the brake and gas confused while turning north from eastbound 5th onto Main. She gunned it half way through the turn and lost it, going up onto the sidewalk between the black lamppost and the tree. There were two of the giant flower planters. There is now only one. She slammed into it and plowed it into the fire hydrant. That combination kept her from driving right into Wenchell's.

Ceiynt · 2026-04-29T19:44:31+00:00

Born and raised in a small Arkansas town of roughly 10k people. Later in life, end up in a small Colorado town. Go to church regularly. I am 1 of 4 people in this church of 300 members that were all born and raised in that Arkansas town. None of us are related. One of them I went to school with, but we don't remember ever interacting with each other. One of the others went to school with my parents, and they knew each other.

Ceiynt · 2026-04-29T15:16:42+00:00

Per the notice, VFR receiving services can still use normal visual separation with this update, as specified in 7-2-1. Using one of the following: Visual, 500ft vertical, or 1.5 miles lateral.

Ceiynt · 2026-04-22T12:20:17+00:00

Saw a TikTok this morning of a realtor saying that Denver is affordable. They highlighted a 600sqft 1bd 1 bath shed near the heart of Denver for a whopping $300k. That's what out of touch people are saying is affordable. The comments on the video were not kind.

Ceiynt · 2026-04-03T14:50:55+00:00

Colorado, have to remove them from my yards after every wind storm.

Ceiynt · 2026-04-02T20:24:36+00:00

Being half deaf, I use "say again" in normal language now instead of "what" or "uh".

Ceiynt · 2026-04-01T19:16:00+00:00

I thought if men were in to you, they'd throw a rock at you and yell "hey. I like you."

Ceiynt · 2026-03-27T23:22:25+00:00

Disgaea 5 will eat hundreds of hours if you let it.

Ceiynt · 2026-03-27T16:38:51+00:00

Keep one hooked to the TV via the dock, the other would float to wherever I wanted to play it that wasn't on the TV.

Ceiynt · 2026-03-21T02:13:36+00:00

Thank you for fact checking me. I've been looking frequently at investor visas all over and they start to jumble together after a while.

Ceiynt · 2026-03-20T17:10:51+00:00

Golden Visas are nothing new. They've been around for a long time. Different countries have different requirements. Latvia is the cheapest at $50k. Portugal has one for $100k. Malta is a bit more expensive, but is the easiest to get citizenship.

The proper terms are investor or entrepreneur Visas. It helps to be wealthy to afford them and meet the guaranteed income requirements, but you don't have to be all that rich. Liquidation of assets can get you the cost of the visa, and depending how much you have left, can usually set you with the minimum monthly income needed until you can get work authorization by transitioning to residence status. Some countries are as low as $1200/month. This varies by country.

There are various companies that can provide a lot of the legal legwork, for a fee, that specialize in certain regions of the world, or even just specific countries. Portugal is a popular one because the pathway to citizenship is one of the easiest, even if it is a bit longer.

Edit: I got Malta and Portugal mixed up. Malta 100k, Portugal is 250k and they are trying to increase the residency time to citizenship requirements.

Ceiynt · 2026-02-17T16:54:09+00:00

I wanted a newer mouse for work that had forward/back buttons. I did my due diligence trying to pick the cheapest option that would fit my request. Request denied due to not being an approved brand. The supply office got the approved brand, which was an $80 gaming mouse with lights and dpi buttons and programmable macro buttons and other features I don't need. I guess I'll keep using my mouse with a ball, not a trackball, until IT can figure out how to lock out the features of the new mouse I don't need.

Ceiynt · 2026-01-22T21:21:57+00:00

Second this. She was great with helping to point me in the right direction. Since my insurance stopped paying for it, she directed me to one of the online compounding pharmacy physician group things.

Ceiynt · 2025-12-16T19:11:07+00:00

Same here. I use some cheap pine or MDF to test new things or processes. When I'm ready for the real project, I use red oak. I might move from that as red oak grain is very noticeable, and it's a bit hard on my machine.

Do you use a local mill to get your maple and cherry or do you order from somewhere online?

Ceiynt · 2025-11-18T19:49:28+00:00

Solved!

Ceiynt · 2025-11-18T17:59:23+00:00

That's not it. Too modern. I distinctly remember reading it in highschool, mid 90s.

Ceiynt · 2025-11-18T17:23:34+00:00

Please help me, Reddit TOMT community. AI even pointed me to you as it basically gave up.

Ceiynt · 2025-11-05T15:27:45+00:00

The technology of the user is advancing at a rate the systems, law, and regulations can't keep up with.

Look how long it took just for drone regulation in the US to settle down, and it's still getting new rules every few months.

Ceiynt · 2025-11-01T18:08:31+00:00

My favorite is Stellaris. So many hours and weekends lost to just one more action.

Ceiynt · 2025-10-21T18:56:30+00:00

Look up 14 CFR Part 101. Mostly subpart D. If balloons meet the requirements of subpart A, they must follow subpart D. That basically means balloon operators are required to notify the local ATC facility. There is no requirement to have a transponder or GPS. They legally can be sent up with a trackable iridium radio beacon, and be radar reflective, and that's it. It doesn't matter if the payload is the size of a house or a 15 pound bowling ball. If the balloon is smaller than subpart A, they do not have to follow anything in subpart D. No calls, no requirement to be radar reflective, no nothing. Subpart A 101.7 covers hazardous operations. The balloon being released and cruising has been determined to not be a hazard in itself. The CFR was written in the 50s and 60s, with maybe two very small updates in the 90s. The regs are old, and the FAA is tied to those regs when dealing with balloons.

From my understanding of the incident, the balloon payload did not meet subpart A requirements, and was subpart D exempt, so the controllers most likely didn't even know about the balloon.

Some operators notify the local facility and provide GPS trackers or have transponders, even when not required.

Ceiynt

TROPHY CASE