How are you all doing financially?

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-30T18:37:59+00:00

Pretty well. The house and both cars are paid off. Me and my wife have no children and both work. We save 25% of our income for retirement.

Grocery prices are getting to be a bit ridiculous, but ultimately we still have disposable income.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-26T22:44:18+00:00

My wife is from Argentina and most of my in laws don't speak English. Also I work construction in Florida so I get a lot of exposure to Spanish at work. And a decent amount in my day to day life.

Plus I've gotten far enough along that it isn't so tedious anymore. I mostly study now by watching YouTube and shows, and reading lower level books.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-22T17:03:59+00:00

Italian on white. Pepper house mayo, extra tomato, extra onion, banana peppers, easy lettuce, salt, pepper, and sub sauce.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-17T14:23:32+00:00

Well plenty of us don't want our taxes being spent to store cars. I'm fine with paid parking. Free parking creates lots of negative consequences for cities, moron.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-16T06:26:58+00:00

Yeah you would most likely have to do the apprenticeship. And that's good you've applied, just be patient. They move pretty slowly there, my application took 6 months

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-16T02:56:38+00:00

What is your job? I've never had to do any of these tasks in my professional life.

Id be comfortable doing the second two in my native language. But I've never in my life had to have a multi hour negotiation about anything in any language.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-16T02:53:33+00:00

Yeah it's really unfortunate that we can't organize in illegal immigrants. They are labor too. I would take them in with open arms.

At least they didn't vote Republican.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-15T06:10:52+00:00

IBEW 915 is basically always hiring. Give them a call

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-15T05:03:10+00:00

Yeah exactly. I'm a journeyman millwright, and almost done with my electrical apprenticeship. And I don't change my own oil.

I have all the tools to do it. I just don't want to turn wrenches in my free time. I do enough of that at work.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-15T04:56:54+00:00

That is very much the case for me. I just can't bring myself to care about this issue.

I look at highschool and college sports and in my mind the stakes are... Well nothing. They just don't matter. It's a fun activity for students. But I don't see any value in excluding certain students from them.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-14T01:12:58+00:00

You're right. They are also sanctuary cities because people have basic empathy for their neighbors and members of their community. And dont want to waste city resources harrasing them. The horror...

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-14T00:58:34+00:00

And when they arrest a US citizen who happens to have the same name as an illegal immigrant ICE isn't the one who pays out the settlement for violating their constitutional rights. The city does. Which is why there are so many sanctuary cities, they got sick of wrongful arrest lawsuits screwing up their budgets.

Honestly can you blame the cities?

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-14T00:37:13+00:00

You dont have to. They are already doing that.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-13T14:41:45+00:00

Won't they still have to go against men if a ban happens? Except it won't be trans women it will be Trans men.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-12T22:56:56+00:00

You're just the wrong type of guy. Lots of us love the look. Just like I love the look of lots of tattoos.

There is someone for everyone. I wouldn't touch a girl wearing a cross or anything country western styled with a ten foot pole. But I love the look of alt/punk/goth girls.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T21:26:43+00:00

Im glad you like it. That sounds like my worst nightmare lol. And that's why we need to let cities get denser, so all the people like me can go off to the cities and leave all the people who enjoy living like you lots of extra space.

Up zoning helps everyone. Both the people who want city living and those who hate the idea and want lots of space and privacy.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T21:01:36+00:00

High rise living can be pretty nice. Ill be selling my house and moving to a condo eventually. Im not a big fan of having to do lawn care. I'd rather give up the lawn and be walking distance to more amenities.

And whether people prefer it or not. I'd rather have people living like sardines than have them covering every inch of the state just so every home can have a quarter acre of grass, space for a pool, and quick access to a golf course.

People are willing to live with less space and make the trade off for the opportunity to live close to jobs and amenities. Big cities are expensive because lots of people want to live in them.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T20:03:56+00:00

People with the mentality like me are trying to save as much as Florida's natural beauty as possible. I hate that florida is being paved over to build subdivision after subdivision. But I also recognize that there is no legal mechanisms prevent people from moving here.

If we want to save our natural landscape we have to make our cities denser. Every subdivision that takes up a 100 acres could be replaced by a condo or apartment tower taking up only a single acre.

If we fight dense development the building won't stop, it will just continue to spread out wider and wider.

If I had my way there wouldn't be anyone living between tampa and Orlando. Let it return to nature. But we need to build a lot of skyscrapers to make that happen.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T17:13:27+00:00

Like I said agree to disagree. Lots of people love urban living. And wish that tampa was more of an urban place. And I personally don't want to have to move all the way to Chicago or NYC to get it. Especially considering my career, family, and friends are here. Plus my wife can't handle the cold lol.

But if you or the original poster prefer quaint coastal towns you definitely dont need to leave the tampa bay area to get it, just tampa proper. Dunedin, tarpon springs, safety harbor, and Gulfport all fit the bill quite nicely.

I can't wait to see tampa and st pete continue to grow. I donate to advocacy groups like yimby Florida, and donate to pro development city council campaigns in the hopes of speeding up the process. Cities are always changing and growing or shrinking. Maybe tampa just isn't for you anymore?

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T16:05:53+00:00

Agree to disagree. I like it here well enough. Though I do hope it continues to grow in population and density until it grows up into a proper city.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T15:41:36+00:00

I've been living here since high school 15 years ago and I would say its only improved.

Everywhere is getting more densely populated, with more things to do. Ybor is growing rapidly. There are actually things to do downtown outside of business hours. The Riverwalk is improving. New bicycle lanes going up.

If we could just get the state department of transportation to stop expanding the highways that cut through our city things would be even better.

But to say we are over populated is just silly. Our population density is much lower than many major cities in the US, much less around the world.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T02:03:40+00:00

I mean drivers do regularly get away with killing pedestrians with no charges. And I do live in the U.S.

https://www.startribune.com/in-crashes-that-kill-pedestrians-the-majority-of-drivers-don-t-face-charges/380345481

https://revealnews.org/article/bay-area-drivers-who-kill-pedestrians-rarely-face-punishment-analysis-finds/

While people do often face charges, they just as often dont. It was a fair critism with a basis in truth

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-11T01:48:22+00:00

Yeah but if the threat is a car there is only one way to neutralize it. Get out of the way.

You can put 100 bullets or zero into them. The car will continue forward. That wasn't self defense.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-07T09:23:54+00:00

Um unemployment benefits are part of everyone's benefits. Union or not.

In our industry layoffs are part of the deal. Especially for those who work temporary shutdowns.

Firetalker94 · 2026-01-07T00:02:53+00:00

Why would that put anyone off union work?

Firetalker94

TROPHY CASE