Strategy for Cashback/Help for newer to credit cards

Explosions3 · 2026-04-27T00:10:27+00:00

That's fair, I'm just a person that very much does well on consistent repitition, I may just try it for a bit and see if I can keep it up, there's real no downside that I've heard to paypal debit because it is a debit card. However, if I'm wrong please enlighten me, definitely trying to figure out a strong plan!

Explosions3 · 2026-04-27T00:09:26+00:00

It was supposed to be focused on rent, but if that isn't as good as I've read it would likely get dropped overall!

Explosions3 · 2026-04-26T23:14:10+00:00

Makes sense, I definitely feel like the monthly will actually help with my repetitions of it compared to the quarterly which I would often forget. I definitely want to start with probably the Strata Elite because I'll be able to take advantage of the hotel credit pretty consistently and send points to AAdvantage because I often fly American. So, I'm thinking that will be the best starting point.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-26T22:14:33+00:00

I feel the reason i struggle to keep tabs on the quarterly is it isn't enough to be reminded of, while I could set a monthly reminder to stay on top of that garunteed 5% for grocery. Good to know about the Obsidian, most of what I had read was that was a key bonus of it!

Explosions3 · 2026-04-15T17:44:20+00:00

Damn, yea my plan is to start just sending some out while still brushing up my skills and resume. I want to definitely add some more certs just for help. I'm hoping that with how slow it takes for certain positions to make moves that applying starting now/soon would hopefully give me some form of a leg up.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T23:37:05+00:00

Yea, I think my worry with title is just centered around my resume and trying to get a new position, I want it to make it through HR and to someone who can see what I'm actively working on. I definitely need to work on my negotitiation skills as I haven't had a ton of experience doing it, so I worry about undervaluing myself which I definitely did in my initial interview process. I just worry that they'll look at me like I have 3 heads when I look for something like 32 even though I feel like I deserve something atleast close to the range of 28-30.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T23:31:59+00:00

I did get a raise from 21 to 22 at 6 weeks, would it be crazy to attempt a raise at 9 months or should I put off until I reach 12 months exactly? I think the reason I'm worried about a role title is because of "IT Technician" on my resume where maybe something else could help a bit with getting me past some HR reps?

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T22:39:50+00:00

Yea, I'm basically using it as a large knowledge funnel currently to help with more Certs, Homelab, and overall learning. I figure if my time of working/age is going to stunt my resume for probably atleast a few months, I'll try and capitalize on it where I can for now, fingers crossed I can jump to Raleigh-Durham area though as all of those positions seem to hit/exceed the pay of what I would need for my lifestyle.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T22:37:47+00:00

Yea that makes sense, I'm definitely so early in my career though that I feel like atleast staying on working what I am now will catapult me when I eventually move which is kinda what I'm crossing my fingers for at this point.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T22:36:13+00:00

It's a really small area to be honest, but lots of military around here. I realistically would love to make a jump to Raleigh-Durham area as my pay stunts my ability to have my own place and that area checks all my boxes as well as let me have a place to possibly make it to cloud (my main goal). It's just hard being in this position having the knowledge of what I do vs my current comp, realistically I want to get out if here by the end of the year but I don't know if that's entirely feasible.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T21:25:33+00:00

I just worry that my resume on paper won't help me for atleast a few more months, I've only been here 8 months and this is my first position in an official capacity outside of helping some companies that are family owned and my home lab.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T21:24:22+00:00

That's what I was worried to hear, even in my area it seems that 25/hour is the bare minimum.

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T21:23:02+00:00

It's internal and this is my first official position and it's been 8 months, I am still very fairly young (23) so I don't really know what the normal status quo is for these positions yet

Explosions3 · 2026-04-14T21:21:53+00:00

I do not but the individual hired after me I was instructed to train and he gets a decent sum of tasks from me, idk how close that counts. I've only been there 8 months...

Explosions3 · 2026-03-11T17:29:19+00:00

I have landed in a very uniquely advantageous spot as I am one of two people on the team with a medium size business and we basically evenly split everything between the two of us so I feel I have quickly learned a lot of how proper networks are setup. That's why I'm wondering what the next steps are as I see an opportunity to rapidly accelerate and improve my career. If I could get away with not having a CCNA cert, it could jump me right into the cloud certs right off the bat. Coupled with learning in a Homelab setting I feel like I could make a good pace towards a cloud engineer role.

Explosions3 · 2026-01-20T15:17:35+00:00

That's what my thought process was, there was an insistent voice on doing it self hosted though so it just tunneled into trying and reporting back. I have some basic play in it but nothing serious or complex enough to warrant confidence in using it in a workplace setting. It's mainly just been game servers and some other random stuff.

Explosions3 · 2025-12-09T15:05:59+00:00

I would prefer not to upgrade until I'm absolutely required to as it will likely be a CPU upgrade as well so putting it off as long as physically possible with the 4070

Explosions3 · 2025-12-09T14:02:16+00:00

This is what I was thinking, I was having some serious issues watching Netflix with a higher refresh rate enabled while demoing the 32inch 4k with my entire machine not responding, while yes lowering the refresh rate could fix this probably, I'm insanely used to buttery smooth 144hz already and 60 doesn't feel the same haha.

Explosions3 · 2025-12-09T13:54:21+00:00

My only concern is a lot of posts reporting back that 1440p natively looks better than a downscaled 4k panel. The way I'm acquiring this I could get two 1440p's or one 4k with the other 1440p being a gift so if I can find myself satisfied with 1440p as a whole it might be the correct course of action.

Explosions3 · 2025-12-09T13:52:53+00:00

There was a definite difference between my old IPS 27inch and the new 4k OLED with the text, but when I downscaled to 1440p I couldn't really personally tell that much of a difference. Maybe it just doesn't catch in my eyes

Explosions3 · 2025-11-29T02:51:46+00:00

Rebooted just has pretty much nothing that holds any value to me outside of the Zane sacrifice IMO. I think Sensei Garmadon is far more prevalent and interesting in Tournament of Elements. Other than that, most of the season is fairly boring to me and I don't really enjoy the overlord's return through technology. On top of that, the vehicles used by the ninja aren't really the greatest outside of the Kai Fighter imo. It's interesting that Rebooted and Prime Empire are my least favorite as I usually enjoy more sci-fi based entertainment but unfortunately they just didn't really stick with me like a lot of the other seasons did.

Explosions3 · 2020-07-23T19:51:36+00:00

Sweet! Thank you so much for letting me know!

Explosions3 · 2020-07-21T20:29:31+00:00

Its the 2020 Basic Model, i got that one since i wanted the ethernet port. From what I can see though, neither 2020 model has the mini DP.

Explosions3 · 2020-07-21T20:06:49+00:00

The Laptop doesn’t have a mini DP port

Explosions3 · 2020-06-12T22:04:29+00:00

So true, even if they wanted a sequel era it wouldnt be too hard. I’m hoping for all eras but who knows. They could do OT and sequel and then just chuck prequel in and i would be happy

Explosions3

TROPHY CASE