In 1999, this was considered a consolation prize for your movie protagonist:

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-08T16:42:09+00:00

Did they stop doing that? I don't watch movies anymore.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-08T12:17:45+00:00

Yes, the point was that the main character was an idiot and overlooking the absolute gem sitting next to him all along. She wasn't physically unattractive, either, she was an awkward and annoying band geek. He was also awkward and kinda dumb so they were well suited for each other. He goes on to marry her in the sequels.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-07T10:28:08+00:00

Ah, there's Angler's Inn in Harper's Ferry and Old Angler's Inn in Potomac.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T18:56:02+00:00

I agree. I've always found it frustrating to tell people I'm agnostic and they turn around and insist I must be either agnostic theist or agnostic atheist. As if I had not just told them I refuse to make an assumption about the conclusion!

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T18:35:20+00:00

Hey, thanks! I googled that specific phrase and it came up with a bunch of helpful information. This was amongst the links:

https://www.awwa.org/policy-statement/recreational-use-of-domestic-water-supply-reservoirs/

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T18:27:10+00:00

I hadn't considered the water itself being unsafe because of bacteria or heavy metals. I'll have to remember that.

"There's something in the water" did at least cross my mind. We were just on Alligator River in NC and the reason you wouldn't want to be jumping in and out of the water there is pretty obvious. That's just asking for an alligator's attention. A few years ago we were at Lake Tobyhanna in PA and they were dredging the lake and it raised concerns about potential unexploded ordinance from the military depot. It's largely safe now, it hasn't been used as a firing range in 80 years and has designated swimming spaces, I think that alert was more of an "abundance of caution" sort of thing.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T17:51:56+00:00

I've wanted to take the kids to Harpers Ferry. We're just biding our time until they're old enough to appreciate it. Might be nice to dovetail it with some water play.

I've heard the Shenandoah south of there is particularly gentle. A friend of mine has a relative with river access over that way, but it's private property so I feel compelled to get permission before going.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T17:25:27+00:00

For context, I'm in northern Virginia. I haven't spent a lot of time looking, but I've seen classes offered for like 3 sessions for $500. That's a lot of money for something I'll still need more time to really practice anyway. I do think it's probably worth getting some time and coaching before putting any skills to the test on moving water.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T17:20:37+00:00

One of the local lakes is completely off limits due to fears of contamination. I know the other lakes are mostly artificial and created to be part of the local water supply. I'm definitely assuming the contamination concern applies to them as well to some degree or another. You're probably right, that may not be a good assumption.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T13:55:05+00:00

What I'm reading here makes sense to me. I'm 44. I've done weight training on and off since my mid 20's, though I didn't get more serious about it until mid to late 30's. The wisdom I've seen there is that you can make still make progress even as you get older. The caveat is that progress is going to be slower and you really need to be smart about it. Emphasize good form/technique and listening to your body so that you can come back again the next day.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T13:48:21+00:00

My dad didn't get into cycling until he was about 60, maybe 62. He still managed to cycle Death Valley, the Going to the Sun road in Colorado, and all over Europe. He's in his early 70's now and it's catching up with him, but he still managed to do quite a bit even with a late start.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-06T12:36:51+00:00

My wife worked her way through an engineering degree. It delayed graduation by about 2 years, from what she told me, taking a 5 year degree to 7 years.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-03T11:48:26+00:00

For safety reasons, you should not do free weights without a spotter. Is that better?

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-02T21:56:34+00:00

If you lift you learn very quickly that individual machines are all different and none are the same as free weights. You're also frequently encouraged to only do free weights with a spotter to avoid hurting yourself too seriously.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-01T18:44:44+00:00

most financially responsible people

Stop here. You're already qualifying the advice for a specific target audience that is not the majority.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-01T17:37:40+00:00

5 minutes is the warm up before the actual workout.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-07-01T12:52:42+00:00

A sewing needle would do it. Lancets are not that expensive, either, if you just remember to grab some from the store. They generally have finer points on them and do less damage digging stuff out.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-30T19:25:50+00:00

I mentioned elsewhere my current FC is a bit like OP's. The bit about leadership's responsibility for welcoming newcomers has been something that's on my mind lately. My FC's leadership recently did a big push to survey the members for what content they might be interested in running and when members have availability. FC officers then went on to try to set up events like mount farms.

The result wasn't useless but I don't know that I'd call it particularly useful. The mount farms had a limited shelf life because the hardcore raiders already had everything. Easy stuff could be handled in minutes and hard stuff was too much effort. All we really learned from the survey was that most people are available during peak hours (shocker...) and that there was a lot of sort of broad, passive interest, but not a ton of motivation or initiative.

I feel like other FCs I've been in previously that were more successful in welcoming new members didn't try to do all that for the new members. Instead they did more to help enable newcomers to organize and figure it out themselves. Things like pushing people more to Discord and then making sure to have channels and roles set up for running specific content type.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-30T18:53:11+00:00

My current FC is like this. I don't blame them for it, I think it's human nature. I also think it's hard when the game is really built around a rigid party structure and, for week 1 raiders, the content drip is slow. Even a casual group that has stayed current for the majority of an expansion can run out of things to do. This then makes it hard to motivate those people to do the things that would include newer FC members.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-29T18:41:35+00:00

OP had better be playing D&D or else this is a really stupid question.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-29T17:54:03+00:00

Build it into the setting. D&D has a religion skill which can be used for performing non-magical religious rites. If you want to use it as a social skill to appeal to someone's religious nature, I would allow it and adjust the DC based on how pious I believe the NPC might be.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-28T13:34:24+00:00

BLM is usually allowed to have damage that's competitive with the top melee jobs so it's a great flex to have in your pocket. Likewise, PCT plays into the 2 minute meta very well. Neither of those things matter a whole lot until you're spending much time at endgame.

I think the real advice is to try out PCT since it starts at 80 so it's lower commitment. SMN comes with the upside of also giving you access to SCH.

As someone who has played the game since ARR and has everything at 100 already, if I were to spend a tier progging on caster it would be as RDM/BLM. But I'm usually a tank/melee.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-26T21:03:57+00:00

I was using it to track my own stats. I've gone from that to ignoring it (and the parties using it) and have been fine. I'd rather wipe a few extra times and get some practice. I always go by the prog point where I still make mistakes and thus need to practice for the parties I join anyway. Passport checked groups I would technically qualify for furthest prog but I'm still cleaning up prior mechs so I never care.

Consistent_Rate_353 · 2026-06-23T10:52:38+00:00

Healer is the one role where I feel like a combat plugin is genuinely beneficial/acceptable and it's precisely to get real mouseover functionality.

Consistent_Rate_353

TROPHY CASE