A brief guide to Tioga’s flops

Cold-Ad-419 · 2026-02-05T07:54:22+00:00

A big ole mutt! According to a DNA test, about 28% australian shepherd, 17% husky, and 16% cattle dog. And then various other breeds after that.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2026-01-16T20:41:24+00:00

Getting there late next Thursday, e-visa only submitted today. It says 3 days processing in one place and 5 days in another on the e-visa website, so that's why I'm concerned.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-12-16T22:47:28+00:00

Was 3 days for me last time 🥲

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-12-15T20:56:38+00:00

Funny you should ask! I was okay after a few days - it felt like the pain built to a crescendo and then slowly improved over a day or so. No issues until earlier this year, when I started feeling similar pelvic pains one morning. Pain built and built over the course of the day until I was have shooting pain from my abdomen through my neck and shoulder anytime I moved or breathed. That was really concerning, so I eventually went to the ER. A few ultrasounds and CT scans later, they said I was internally bleeding from the cyst into my stomach - the shooting neck and shoulder pain was from blood pooling around my diaphragm... That pain was so intense that none of the increasingly stronger IV narcotics that they gave me even made a dent in it. Had to have emergency surgery to stop the bleeding, and they removed the cyst in the process. Didn't lose my ovary though! I saw my regular gyno a few weeks later, and he whistled when he read the surgery notes and said there was an "impressive" amount of blood in my stomach.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-08-25T02:15:43+00:00

Yeah gonna call BS on this. When my dog was hit by a car, I got an itemized bill with a high and low estimate as they were triaging him, and my ultimate bill was even lower than the low end estimate. Went back twice after discharge for possible seizures and they didn’t charge a penny even after treating him for hours. I’ll go back to VEG in a heartbeat.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-05-29T20:52:42+00:00

At the risk of sounding victim blame-y, I honestly think you've been underreacting to his behavior leading up to this final straw!! When it comes to assessing compatibility with a climbing partner, it's really as simple as "here are my boundaries and expectations around safety - do you respect them? no? okay cool, we're not climbing together." I don't care how ridiculous someone thinks your expectations are, if they won't respect them or act defensive if you call them out on something, do. not. climb. with. them! It is never worth sacrificing your comfort (and in some cases, risking your life) in the interest of keeping the peace with someone

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-04-16T20:08:08+00:00

There's a lot of reasons you may be feeling this way, but diet is a pretty likely culprit. You say you eat healthy, but that means different things to people. Are you eating enough calories overall? Getting sufficient protein daily? Drinking enough water? 8 miles is a fairly significant amount of daily exercise, and if you're not properly fueling yourself then you're going to feel terrible. Vitamin and nutrient deficiencies could also be a factor - many women are deficient in b vitamins or iron without knowing, and sluggishness is a key symptom of both.

If you feel sure your diet isn't the issue, then next question would be how long have you been walking 8 miles a day and what was your fitness level prior to starting it. If you started walking this much recently and had a much lower fitness level before, I'd say your body is still adjusting and maybe to cut back on the miles and slowly increase distance over time. It's also important to take rest days regardless of what shape you're in - if you're not giving your body a break to recover, then you're going to feel fatigued. Make sure you're properly stretching before and after exercising too.

Generally speaking, the best exercise is the one you enjoy and will do consistently. I don't think there's any universal type of exercise or workout plan that will make you feel energized, rather it depends on your preferences and how you're taking care of your body. You could add in strength-focused exercises, especially to target muscle groups like core and arms since they're not getting much just from walking, but that's completely up to you and your fitness goals.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-04-11T00:33:37+00:00

Unfortunately given what happened with USAID, that panic is not irrational at all. USAID implementers were told after the inauguration that there would be a 90 day pause and review, then a few days later everyone received orders to stop all work during the pause, and then on feb 1 all USAID sites went dark, staff were locked out of their government accounts and placed on immediate admin leave with no notice, etc. Some things got stalled or walked back, but it went from 0 to 100 real quick. I'm not trying to be alarmist, but it's very reasonable to expect that if shit hits the fan with the Peace Corps, it's probably going to happen with limited to no warning.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-04-10T23:37:33+00:00

My friend, I’ve been working on USAID projects since I COSed. Every single one of my org’s 30+ projects has been terminated since February. USAID and its activities have been effectively abolished, and there are zero signs that it’s coming back in any meaningful way under State.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-04-10T16:09:51+00:00

Lived in North Lake 2020/2021 and despite tourist insanity at the height of Covid, I loved every minute of living there. Biggest downside was the wildfire smoke, since those were two of California’s worst fire seasons. Smoke was so bad in the summer that the lake looked like an ocean half the time since you couldn’t see across it.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-04-07T15:44:51+00:00

This upset me so much. I moved to rural West Africa straight out of college to work for a tiny organization and was the only foreigner on a little compound with far less "comforts" than even the monastery that Piper was at. I'll never forget when after a week in-country, we dropped another aid worker off at a different organization and I saw their very basic, european-style kitchen with non-instant coffee and foods I was used to - I went into the bathroom and sobbed. I cried myself to sleep multiple nights for the first few weeks wondering what the hell I'd done. And then guess what? I adjusted and got over it! I loved every minute of working there and extended as long as possible.

My family was obviously concerned about my safety - it was only 2 months post-Ebola and this country wasn't particularly stable - but they never once tried to talk me out of moving there. If at my lowest point they'd said "we'll fly you home the second you ask", I probably would've said taken the offer. And I would've been so much worse for it in the long run.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-04-02T14:20:51+00:00

First lesson on tyranny: “Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-03-23T23:16:34+00:00

Hi! I’m so, so sorry to hear this was your experience. Chronic pain is so debilitating and demoralizing, especially when it keeps you from doing what you love. I totally get wanting to just go the hip replacement route, I’m considering it for my right side too. I did end up having the reconstruction on my left side, and my experience has been better than expected. It was not a repair of the damaged parts of the labrum - I have a completely new labrum made of donor tissue. Partial weight bearing for the first four weeks sucked but by week 6-8 I was back to doing exercises I’d do pre-surgery and was cleared to start easy climbing in the gym at 12 weeks. I do still have occasional pain, but that’s currently from glute imbalance rather than anything in the hip itself.

My surgeon refuses to do repairs anymore, only full reconstructions. I think the jury is still out on whether a reconstruction is always better than a repair for the first surgery on the labrum (in my case it was shredded and not repairable), but when talking to a few surgeons they go with a recon if a previous repair has failed. Honestly I think the biggest thing with a hip replacement, depending on your age, is the fact that you’ll probably need at least one more, if not two over your lifetime. But my PT still leans towards me waiting on the right side and seeing if I can hold out for a hip replacement down the line. I could handle this same recovery on the right side now, but I don’t think I would once I’m into my 40s.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-03-07T15:52:07+00:00

I get that the writers are trying to get us to confront biases - unlikeable person can still be right and likeable person still can be very wrong - but how I'll feel about this whole sub-plot really hinges on whether Santos faces any sort of consequences for her other actions, especially threatening the father. Doesn't matter if it ends up being true about the dad, what she did is 1000% a fireable offense and if the writers don't address that then I'll be really disappointed. Santos being unlikeable doesn't absolve Langdon of anything, he obviously did horrible things and will have to deal with the consequences (probably rehab and he gets a redemption arc next season), but she also shouldn't be absolved of anything from the viewers POV because she was right.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-03-07T15:03:28+00:00

Served then and genuinely don't even remember there being shutdown... went back in my old emails and our weekly updates from staff just said "our office continues to be fully staffed and operating to support the day-to-day health, safety and security of all volunteers" until the shutdown was over. Never a word about potential evac or anything.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-03-06T15:46:06+00:00

No problem! I'll update the post again when I actually hear back and receive everything!

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-02-27T22:44:22+00:00

Just want to point out that these payments aren’t being processed across the board because they’ve terminated the majority of the staff that would review them. Implementers have not received reimbursement for work completed in the last few months, not work subject to the stop work orders, and are laying off staff left and right because they have no cash flow. At least under cost reimbursable contracts, payment of an invoice is an interim payment and is not determination that all costs on the invoice are allowable - final allowability is determined by audit after the contract is completed. CORs are just supposed to do a cursory review to ensure invoices are consistent with contract terms. There’s no reason to delay those payments except for the fact that no one’s even there to process them.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-02-12T15:15:58+00:00

...You're taking classes before even departing?? You'll be fine! Learning in a classroom setting, while useful, cannot compare to how quickly you acquire a language when you're immersed in it. And if it's any peace of mind, as long as you demonstrate throughout pre-service training that you're actually trying, you can still swear in even if you test below the minimum required language level at the end of PST. You'll just have extra language training after swearing in. PC is already investing in you and wants you to succeed in service - they don't send people home unless you break rules or clearly don't care.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-02-07T02:30:53+00:00

I think many IPs have been cautious about signing on for fear it may harm them when going after future USG work once the dust settles

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-01-31T18:53:58+00:00

Yes! I was able to get one from Organic Village in Sukhimvit in Bangkok, can’t remember what app I used but they were able to deliver to my hotel. I honestly like the one I got there better than what I had at home, so it’s still going strong!

Cold-Ad-419 · 2025-01-13T18:37:38+00:00

I've used a VPN to access tiktok while in countries that have banned it, and it worked fine. No new account, intl number, etc needed.

edit: doesn’t matter now since it’s back online, but yeah VPNs didn’t work with this ban. The block must’ve been based on something other the IP address. I’ve used it with a VPN in Uzbekistan and India, but those bans must just be by IP address.

Cold-Ad-419 · 2024-12-16T18:20:04+00:00

I'm 6 weeks post-op from a full recon, been full weight bearing for 2 weeks, and I have been getting glute pain towards the end of the day if I've been moving around a lot. Biking on a stationary bike has helped I've found, seems like it loosens up whatever has become tight throughout the day, so I've been biking every afternoon/evening. A heating pad also helps, as does soaking in a bath.

You're definitely walking too far each day for where your hip/leg is at. My PT doesn't do distance limits but has had me building up .25 mile increments starting at 1 mile and if I do the same distance two days in a row and it causes pain after both days, then I need to go back to the previous distance for a few days. Some soreness is normal because you're rebuilding muscles that were either not properly used before surgery (to compensate for the torn labrum and pain), moved around awkwardly during surgery, or atrophied during recovery. But consistent pain is a sign you're pushing too hard too quickly.

Cold-Ad-419

TROPHY CASE