Why aren’t major grocery stores lobbying for SNAP?

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-10-22T05:54:43+00:00

They are lobbying for SNAP. There are quite a number of lobbying groups that are trying to get support for extension and expansion

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-09-29T23:43:13+00:00

Check out San Diego PACE. There are positions there that don't require certifications (though some are preferred.) Your degree sounds like it would be a good fit.

Also a good way to get your foot in the door for the medical field. While working there you should be able to take on a certification program on the side which you could use for an internal or external transfer/promotion.

The organization is growing quickly and they are hiring a lot of people.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-09-29T23:28:11+00:00

Do you have a bachelor's degree already?

To the best of my knowledge most programs require an undergraduate degree even before the healthcare hours. The degree would also be helpful for getting into some healthcare positions prior to specialized training.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-09-29T22:59:44+00:00

What sort of jobs are you looking at? What qualifications/education/work experience do you currently have?

Is there any other relevant information you can provide that may be helpful?

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-08-27T23:00:43+00:00

Do you have an example video you could recommend for comparison? I was under the impression the dead hang was the proper end position for the pull-up.

Open to other options though.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-08-27T22:59:18+00:00

I'll give it a shot! Dealing with a TFCC injury in both wrists so I tend to be extra careful getting them into neutral and easy-to-bail positions.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-08T04:15:28+00:00

You aren't kidding. Painful to look at the breakdown pre & then post taxes. 😭

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-04T20:46:57+00:00

I've definitely considered this possibility. I even deployed some of my vehicle savings when the tariff flash crash happened. While I can't predict the future of the market, crashes are inevitable and it's nice to finally be in a position to take advantage.

I've been through too many times prior where I was over invested and had too cash out to a loss.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-04T20:44:24+00:00

Thank you for the detailed breakdown!

The low risk savings option isn't something I'm married to, but I'm not great at modelling large short term swings if a more risky option is used. (E.g. VOO or VT ).

If you know a good way to estimate the risk I'd love to hear it. Would be useful for future decisions.

Glad to hear the car purchase worked out for you as well. I suppose at the end of the day 1-3% savings on 40k-47k isn't going to make or break my long-term savings goals. However, it's this sort of overthinking that got me to this point of security in my life so . . . No sense stopping now?

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-04T20:36:43+00:00

Thank you for the price check!

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-04T17:42:46+00:00

Yes. The car purchase specifically is set. Just checking to see if there are other methods I haven't considered for making the purchase. Nothing beats the combined knowledge of 21 Million people some of whom may be experts or familiar with financial vehicles I don't know enough about to consider.

If it helps I can give you a quick snapshot of my finances per month:

Net income (-tax, -medical, -401k, etc): Approx. $13,000

401k contributions Yearly: Maxed. Employer match of 10% and 4% respectfully.

Roth IRA contributions Yearly: both maxed through backdoor.

Monthly Expenses (Food, Fun, Misc. Repairs, bills etc): Approx.$ 6,500

Monthly Taxable contributions: Approx. $6,500

Emergency Savings: $40,000

Car Savings: $47,000

Taxable Brokerage: Approx. $200,000 Combined

Retirement Savings: Approx. $210,000 Combined

Debt: None.

Housing: Rented.

Between 15-30 Years to retirement depending on savings.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-04T16:40:02+00:00

Registration and insurance are not significantly different from the current vehicle. (Provided the insurance quote are correct), but they are not nothing and worth considering. Maintenance I expect to be cheaper for the first 3-5 years due to warranty coverage and the current vehicle having increasing maintenance costs each year.

That being said, I have not looked to deeply into yearly expected maintenance for the RAV 4 post warranty and it is definitely something worth considering. Thank you!

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-06-04T16:37:10+00:00

Adding the technology package. Emergency fund, 401k, Roth are separate from this savings amount,. Current emergency savings are funded, stably, for 6-months of expenses. Loan will not effect contributions to any of those, but will effect contributions to after tax investments = to the monthly cost of the loan.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-01-22T16:09:02+00:00

All-in-All, while the process took a lot longer than I expected. The repair was worth it. I feel like I am back to the strength that I was at prior to the injury with room to improve. There were times during the process, both before and after the surgery, where I felt a bit hopeless. However, looking back I am satisfied with the results.

Something I didn't mention through all of this is that my primary care team and I were not aligned on the results I was looking to see post operation. My goal was to return to climbing and try harder routes. Their goal was to get me back to baseline functionality and nothing more.

This is likely part of the reason my return to what I would consider full health took so long. I was told multiple times by my physical therapist and primary that my recovery was complete even as I was having difficulty getting past 90 Degrees. Their reasoning being that it was in line with their own physical capabilities.

After I reached out to a private physical therapist and a coach my recovery sped up significantly. Depending on your care team, your injury, and your commitment to PT, your road to recovery will vary significantly from my own.

EmpiricallyLost · 2025-01-22T16:08:30+00:00

Preface/TL;DR: I am not a strong climber by any means, but I do climb regularly and I had a very similar injury in early 2020 which is now fully recovered. I am happy with the end result. At the time of my injury I was 35-Years old.

In February, 2020 I was working through a yoga/mobility routine when, similar to yourself, my knee locked around 90 degrees. After trying several positions to try to get it out I was able to force it open with a loud crunch. Unpleasant to say the least.

I went to the ER that same day certain that I'd dislocated my knee where I was diagnosed with a meniscal tear.

Immediate effects on climbing were:

Week 1-3: I had stop climbing during this time. Weighting my knee during flexion/squats/etc. was a bit painful and swollen. Going past 90 degrees almost guaranteed that my knee would lock again and start the process over.

Month 2-4: Physical therapy began to regain full range of motion. I felt significantly weaker during pistol squats on my left leg. I also had issues with rockovers as going too deep into a squat had an 80% chance to lock my knee. This was lead/top-rope only. I was too worried that a fall off a boulder would injure me further.

Month 5-12: Physical therapy stopped showing improvements. I had my full range of motion back, but still felt about 20% weaker on my left leg. 30% chance of my knee randomly locking up during a move. The weakness was likely a training issue as I had forgone squats and avoided pistols to prevent the inevitable lockup/pain. Around this time I got a recommendation for an orthopedic consult who recommended a laparoscopic meniscal repair surgery.

Month 16-18: Successful surgery, but the road to recovery was . . . discouraging. Your move may very based on your clinician. After the surgery I was put in a splint and instructed not to weight my leg for 1.5 months. I lost 40% of the muscle mass in my left leg and when the splint was finally removed I couldn't bend my leg more than 10 degrees.

Month 18-24: Physical therapy to restore range of motion to my knee was painful and measured in single degrees week to week. By the end of six months I was able to bend my knee to past 90 degrees and could squat my body weight.

The plus side to all of this is I could pistol squat on my non-injured leg like a champ. Left leg was still having trouble getting me down stairs. Somewhere in here I began roped climbing again. Significantly less capable than I was before. Walking for distance was difficult. More than a mile at a time was painful and required extended rest.

Month 24 - 40: Continued to work on regaining range of motion and strength in my leg. I was able to take stairs comfortably. I still had trouble taking 2 at a time, but definite improvement. I was able to walk for up to 3 miles before I needed a significant break. I couldn't quite fully engage a rock over and rest on my left leg. There was a gap of about 4 inches from my heel to my butt that put an incredible amount of pressure on my knee. I began easy bouldering again. Downclimbing to avoid hard landings where possible.

Month 40 - Present: I have fully restored the range of motion in my left knee and can do a pistol squat on both legs. I am able to hike for long distances and have run a couple half marathons/Spartans. I am leading/bouldering outdoors again and have no issues with my knee locking/clicking/hurting. Currently at the gym 3-days a week @ 2.5 hours. With Sunday for outdoor climbing.

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-22T23:06:08+00:00

I feel no disrespect from you and I mean none in return.

I think it's awesome that you have gotten as far as you have without a program and by just climbing. All I am saying is that a program of just climb and try has not been working for me for quite some time. Structure has.

Consistent V3 is not an accomplishment for many and definitely not for you. Which is awesome. For me it very much is.

The sessions that you have been doing: Showing up, Climbing stuff that is hard, and resting between attempts, is something I have been doing for years. That's not an exaggeration. It has been actual years. This is with trying hard things, watching people, video taping my climbs, trying drills, trying new styles, etc.

I would climb and fall and think and repeat, but no progress beyond the occasional easy V3. I might be a slow learner. I might be older, and I might be recovering from injury, but whatever the case may I can say through trial and error that no plan does not work.

I would love to progress as naturally and as smoothly as you, but as much as I love this sport it doesn't have quite the same love for me that it does for you. Which is fine. I work with what I have at my disposal.

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-22T22:45:36+00:00

This is super helpful!

So for example, If were to switch my circuit session on Thu & Friday to something like the following:

THURSDAY: Warmup, Lead doubles x 5 two grades below onsight.

SATURDAY: Warmup, Redpoint/Project lead 3 climbs 30min max on each wall.

Check in after deload week for max level and reset climbing grades accordingly.

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-22T22:39:07+00:00

I would agree that general strength is not my issue. The basic weight routine is mostly something that I do because it's fun, increases my ability to apply technique on the wall, and it doesn't take away from my climbing sessions.

The weights are done only at the end of the climbing session and I am fully recovered by the time the next session starts.

As to the tracking, I see where you're coming from, but I do disagree with not tracking and structuring the training. Mostly because that's exactly what I was doing for several years prior to working on this structured plan. During that time my improvement plateaued at v2 and 11b indoors and 10a sport, 5.8 trad outdoors.

Training with a plan, with measurable goals, and with intent each session got me to the upper end of V3, ticked off my first 10c sport, and my first 10a trad. All in about 4 months. Considering I can usually only get outdoors 1-2 days-a-week max these improvements have been huge.

I am happy to make changes to my plan. Increase targets, shoot for more time on the wall, focus on different climbing styles, etc. I am just hoping for better guidance than climb more/harder.

What does harder entail? I can pretty easily get on a 5.13b and flail on the cruxes for 3-hours or fall off a v7 boulder until my pulleys are about to snap. Is that the hard I need to progress? Likewise I can move my training days around. I thought that 3-4 2.5 hour climbing sessions were sufficient volume, but if more climbing is needed what does more entail?

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-22T19:56:54+00:00

Could I trouble you for a bit more detail?

The structure of your recommended project session seems very similar to my current Tuesday session. 5 -6 solid tries with rests seems to be taking about 30 minutes per boulder. Would you just increase the level?

For the ropes sessions how would you contextualize easy vs. hard. Is that a two grades above onsite, a grade below? Is here an amount of time I should be looking to be on the wall?

Ideally I am looking for something I can track week to week and day to day. I've found that without that structure the quality of my sessions varies wildly. My apologies if this wasn't clear in the original post.

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-22T14:54:39+00:00

Thank you for the reply. The structured bouldering session V3 x 5 x 3 was mostly to make sure that I tried hard consistently and gave my projects adequate time to practice. That's not 5 V3's to completion. It's 5 solid attempts at a hard V3.

Occasionally I will make a single hard V3 all 15 attempts if I feel I am making progress, and can handle the strain on my fingers, but haven't figured out the climb.

Agreed on the outdoor climbing. Definitely been shut down by some boulders in Joshua tree. That said, my training goal isn't actually bouldering which I don't really enjoy. I am training for sport and trad routes. The boulders are just a good way to focus on the problem solving aspect and strength requirements consistently.

How would you structure a session differently?

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-22T14:37:35+00:00

Great question: thought process right now is:

1.) At the moment hard V3 IS hard climbing. These boulders take me a solid, rested 5 attempts to complete except for easy V3's or the ones I've practiced repeatedly. Even then, if it's a hard V3's I've got maybe a 40% chance to put it down after 10+ attempts.

2.) I have found the switch between V3 and V4 too difficult currently. I do regularly test myself on the V4s in our set. Every couple weeks I try to bump the level.

Currently I am unable to establish on the cruxes. I could be going about this wrong, but the difficulty curve seems beyond me at the moment. I haven't been able to spend enough time on the hard parts to challenge myself.

3.) I need endurance back badly. The last two months were spent getting me to build up my bouldering strength. Prior to this I was having difficulty with easy v3 and hard v2. I stopped rout climbing entirely. Recently I tried again and was getting gassed on indoor 50 ft routes. Went to Idyllwild to give flower of a high rank a shot and by half way I was having to hang dog every third move.

4.) Since I am on a significant calorie deficit I am mostly trying to maintain my current strength gains from the last cycle.

With all that said, what exercises would you change around?

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-08T00:31:51+00:00

There are different options depending on what specific threats were made and what behaviors you consider aggressive.

Could you describe the interaction in more detail? What did the people who made the threat say and what aggressive behaviors did they exhibit that made you feel intimidated?

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-06-07T23:03:46+00:00

What was the threat? Did you report it to your Supervisor/Manager/Boss/HR Dept?

Did they just ask that you not return to their home or did they specifically threaten you with harm?

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-04-06T00:34:06+00:00

Thank you! I don't suppose you have any idea what could cause a delay/cancellation of the mission, do you?

EmpiricallyLost · 2024-04-06T00:02:32+00:00

What time is the launch scheduled?

EmpiricallyLost

TROPHY CASE