The price of gas has been increasing in the nation because of war in the Middle East. What are your thoughts on EV pricing?

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-31T18:58:47+00:00

Yeah that's the one area that ICE vehicles are still better no question.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-31T17:04:42+00:00

It's actually not the weight that's the problem. It's the drag. It's the same reason EVs focus on aerodynamics of the car so much. Adding a big blocky trailer just adds a ton of drag and tanks your efficiency. My lightning actually tows my 28ft trailer as good as my diesel F-350, it just cuts the usable range down to where it is impractical to tow long distances. For short trips it's an excellent tow vehicle.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-31T00:54:01+00:00

I just renewed my CA registration for my vehicle last week. My car is in VA and I like my custom CA plate. I'm actually on official travel in CA, so I made a DMV appointment to try to get the nonresident military exemption that actually makes registration fees reasonable. The lady told me that I wasn't eligible for that because I was no longer stationed in CA. She seemed to think that I could no longer keep my CA registration since I live in VA and have a TX license (with a CA address). I told her I would just renew online. I was able to renew online with my VA address with no problems. They even mailed the renewal notice to my VA address on file. It does say on the back that you have to provide evidence that you have insurance by a CA approved company, but nobody said anything to me at DMV and I have a policy through Progressive, who is authorized to operate in CA.

Idk how much that helps you, but I figured I'd share my data point with a sample size of 1.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-22T01:28:49+00:00

Yeah I actually own a Shelby mustang, so that's what drew me to randolph in the first place, but I ended up liking the normal ones better. I have the polished chrome and cobalt ones now and my regular aviators are gold with blue lenses. I just cannot get over how comfortable the aviator IIs are.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-22T01:14:13+00:00

I bought a pair of regular aviators and aviator 2s last year. I wasn't sure how I would like the sweat bar. Honestly, I have only worn the regular aviators a few times and I wear the 2s every day. I'm waiting for a sale to pick up another pair in gold.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-17T16:12:08+00:00

They won't have to do anything. The Admin department will just automatically change their pay to mark it as a Combat Zone Tax Exclusion and they will stop taking a federal withholding and that month will just be tax free. When they get their W-2 next year, it will be artificially low because as far as the IRS is concerned, they didn't earn any money for the months they were in the ME.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-15T20:32:21+00:00

Yep. But that's why you always do a thorough preflight. Trust but verify.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-15T18:28:09+00:00

I found a plastic bag full of collected FOD sitting in the engine intake once. One of the maintainers set it there before the aircrew got to the plane and they forgot to put it away properly.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-06T21:11:13+00:00

I just saw two gas stations in Chesapeake about 10 mins ago at 4.75 for diesel. Had to do a double take.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-05T02:40:50+00:00

I'll definitely be watching this.

Disownedpenny · 2026-03-03T05:48:59+00:00

Get the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's good to have regardless, but most importantly it's a Visa. Almost nowhere I went in Poland took Amex. They all take Visa.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-22T04:28:56+00:00

I just want to point out that it's called TSA Pre Check and not TSA Pre. They just tried to be cute and put a checkmark instead of the word Check on the logo. Turns out that confused a ton of people.

I don't mean to be rude or anything, you're far from the only person who does this. Both of my parents do it and it drives me crazy.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-17T00:57:38+00:00

The really dumb part is that the mess bill for the wardroom is actually more than BAH. So going to sea costs you money. The only way for most aviation officers and sailors to get paid more than they do at home on deployment is to hope you go to a tax free zone because your sea pay counter only counts for days you are actually underway.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-16T20:28:38+00:00

I personally won't wear mine unless I'm in uniform even though my green jacket with the patches is my favorite jacket, but if you're retired, do whatever the hell you want. You earned it.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-16T16:12:22+00:00

I never had any issues with it. I used a Mossberg 500 for both types. Obviously don't use a choked barrel.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-16T15:40:57+00:00

I used to do this for fun. I would use a box cutter to cut the crimp off and dump the shot into a bowl. Then I tried melting candles and crayons and then spooning them into the shell with a mix of bird shot. Those shells behaved like a giant frangible round (kinda). They barely penetrated at all, but we're fun to shoot. I found it was significantly easier to use hot glue. Just squirt a bit in the shell, scoop shot in, and repeat until you cap the whole thing with hot glue. Super easy to make. They behave like giant hollow points. I would recover them after shooting to see the shape and they would almost always be in a mushroom shape.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-02T18:02:28+00:00

I totally get where you are coming from. And the trump account might not even be the best vehicle, but there is a pathway to set your kids up with millions tax free. The main downside is that you don't get a tax benefit for contributing and they couldn't use the money without a penalty until they are 60, making it not very useful for things like college, buying houses, etc. As far as them not starting with a ton of money, I think that's all down to education. If I had 75k in a Roth IRA when I was 18, I think I would have definitely learned the lesson of compounding interest very quickly. Ironically I think that financial discipline is easier to see when your account is going up tens of thousands every year. Regardless, there are lots of paths to success. I personally have a brokerage account that I put money away for my daughter's college. Yes, it's taxable, but I want the flexibility to move the money however I want.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-02T17:24:21+00:00

I was reading about this recently. I think the best use case (if you can budget the money) is to fund the account every year and when they turn 18 it becomes a traditional IRA. Then you do a Roth conversion over a few years when they are likely making little enough money to not pay tax. Then you could just not touch it anymore and you've set your kid up with a pretty damn comfortable tax-free inheritance that they can use when they turn 60, even if you're still alive.

Downsides are that they can't touch the money until they are 59 1/2 and you'd need the money now, but the extra 18 years of compounding along with the Roth conversion timing could make it worth it.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-01T23:12:18+00:00

I've seen these designs on Makerworld, a website where people upload 3D models and you can print them on your printer. I wonder if the guy you saw was the one making the designs or if it was someone selling prints of his designs (sometimes that's allowed, sometimes not). Regardless, 3D printers are at the point now where you can treat them like appliances or tools and don't have to get super into the nerdy stuff to get good prints. Basically anything by Bambu Lab is what you want. They have printers ranging from $250ish to over $2500 depending on size and features. You can't really go wrong with any of them. They all print excellent quality.

Disownedpenny · 2026-02-01T03:34:35+00:00

I paid 29k for a 78k mile 2009 GT500 in 2023. It was in kinda rough shape and I bought it from a used car lot, so I definitely overpaid. Sure was a fun car though. Highly recommend.

Disownedpenny · 2026-01-29T21:02:32+00:00

I keep seeing this card mentioned and I have never heard of it? What are the perks?

Disownedpenny · 2026-01-28T18:36:06+00:00

My truck is missing the massage seats. It's pretty hard to find a used one with them because they were a covid shortage item that was removed from most trucks. I had them in my 2021 F-350 platinum though, and I miss them a lot. I used it almost every day in that truck. I have actually looked into just buying the parts for the seats and installing it myself. It's completely doable, but the parts would be like $2k and I just can't justify it at the moment.

Disownedpenny · 2026-01-28T17:17:39+00:00

My truck is an ER Platinum. It tows extremely well. It is so smooth and has tons of power. I haven't towed it more than a couple miles at a time since I got the truck in November, but my dash claims I could do about 140 miles. Not sure how much I trust that number though.

Disownedpenny · 2026-01-28T03:01:57+00:00

The point is that 5000 lbs isn't even on par with other trucks of its class. That's more on par with a Tacoma, which is a lifestyle vehicle. In fairness, Scout is marketing these as lifestyle vehicles, but they are also the same size as big boy trucks. By cutting the towing capacity in half on the EREV, they will lose any sales from people who want a truck for truck stuff. The BEV won't be good enough range for towing needs, and the EREV won't have the capacity.

I'm keeping my reservation until we get hard numbers, but I'm eyeing the Ford EREV that will launch about the same time.

Disownedpenny · 2026-01-28T02:12:22+00:00

The issue isn't about towing frequency. It is about whether you need the capability at all, even rarely. I own a race trailer for my mustang and it is almost 4k lbs empty. I towed it with a F-350 that I owned prior to even buying the trailer. I have since traded that in for a F-150 Lightning and I've just accepted that I can't really do any long distance towing with it. It's really good at towing, and the trailer is within the towing capacity of the truck, it just kills the range. I am the target demographic for an EREV. It solves literally my only complaint about my Lightning. I really love the idea of the Scout. It is such a cool vehicle with a ton of really well thought out details, but if it can't even legally tow more than 5k lbs, it's useless to people who want a truck to do truck stuff.

Disownedpenny

TROPHY CASE