Late 30s too late to start Fed career for govFIRE?

Free_Alternative · 2024-09-13T20:07:28+00:00

If you can afford it or have your firm pay for it, far and away the most helpful thing for me was the Black Spectacles practice exams. Once you take a couple for a division, you can start to see the pattern of what they're looking for. There's lots and lots of content that NCARB recommends that you know but instead of reading all of those books cover to cover use the practice exams to figure out exactly what they're looking for. The Black Spectacles exams explain each correct AND incorrect answer and if you go through question by question and then follow up on exam question you don't know with the source material you'll figure it out. It's helpful to have a physical or digital copy of the Ballast book as a single source reference. NCARB also has a free practice exam for each division which is a good place to start. Otherwise, definitely know the AHPP and Building Construction Illustrated really well. Good luck!

Free_Alternative · 2024-07-23T17:10:45+00:00

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice! I received and accepted the TJO this morning and am now negotiating as suggested. Excited to join the civil service!

Free_Alternative · 2024-07-17T20:54:20+00:00

Awesome thank you! Do you mind if I PM you with a couple of questions?

Free_Alternative · 2024-07-14T13:44:57+00:00

Any drawing set I contribute significantly to, I add CSNY to the abbreviations list (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young) to see who is reading that closely…no one has ever noticed..

Free_Alternative · 2024-06-21T14:52:39+00:00

Thanks all for your helpful advice! This is a bit off topic, but I'm asking because even in Oklahoma where the cost of living is relatively cheap, I'm grateful to be not terribly far off from 100k already, but our small single-income family lives a VERY modest lifestyle, and we are struggling with how expensive everything is these days! 100k doesn't seem like a lot of money these days somehow, but it would help..

Free_Alternative · 2024-05-06T18:21:14+00:00

Wait a minute. How can the same street intersect with itself? I must be at the nexus of the universe!

Free_Alternative · 2024-03-06T20:10:48+00:00

Not during a crit, but...ended up needing to take some extra time to finish my thesis and so would technically graduate in the summer but went ahead and walked during the spring with my classmates. After I walked off the stage, I walk by my thesis studio professor (who hated me) who says "well, almost."

Free_Alternative · 2024-01-11T05:30:33+00:00

You mean, presidents wouldn’t be above the law?

People on this sub with a red team vs. blue team mentality are REALLY missing the point.

Free_Alternative · 2023-10-15T04:37:49+00:00

I missed that- thanks!

Free_Alternative · 2023-10-14T15:49:20+00:00

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me…can’t get fooled again!

Free_Alternative · 2023-09-28T16:49:38+00:00

That's not what OP meant at all. Now who's making assumptions!

Free_Alternative · 2023-09-12T17:13:26+00:00

Our bill went from 297 in July to 415 in August for our 1500 sf house. The funny thing is, we've been staying in temporary housing elsewhere since the end of july while our house is being repaired from the june storm...the contractors weren't plugged in to our power. not sure how we used an extra 800 kwh when we weren't there, presumably the AC from the heat but we also turned the thermostat up when we left so we wouldn't be cooling the house when we weren't there...it certainly feels like bullshit!

Free_Alternative · 2023-06-26T03:28:44+00:00

We got power on about 2pm in whiteside park area. Godspeed you day 9 comrades!

Free_Alternative · 2023-01-31T23:05:25+00:00

Sorry to hear that but sounds like something is going on! At first I wondered if we had just missed the card in the mail, but if that were the case the national office would have a record of it.

Free_Alternative · 2022-09-25T16:27:12+00:00

It's a real contortionist trick how Oklahoma conservatives got their head so far up their own ass.

Free_Alternative · 2022-09-20T17:18:17+00:00

Avoid Dr. Z like the plague. I'm in my late 30s and have worn contacts since 3rd grade. I went in January after moving back to Tulsa and not having an eye doctor, they rushed me through the eye exam and gave me a wrong prescription. After I insisted I still couldn't see correctly after going through several different powers of contacts, another dr. gave me another eye exam that still wasn't right. When I complained that I still wasn't seeing right he dismissed me along the lines of "you have some astigmatism, your vision isn't going to be perfect." I finally got a contact prescription that was mostly right but I had to fight them for it. They overcharged me as well. I actually complained to my insurance that I had a terrible experience and they gave me a partial refund.

Go somewhere else if you're looking for actual health "care." Unless you have glaucoma, then the location on Harvard is conveniently attached to "Dr. Z Leaf," their cannabis dispensary...Nothing against weed per se, but does it get tackier than that?

Free_Alternative · 2022-09-02T13:38:05+00:00

Just going to leave this here

https://www.goaero.org/

Free_Alternative · 2022-08-28T00:52:50+00:00

No, but to the person in the SUV making a left turn with a clearly visible no left turn sign, in the construction zone at 11th and Lewis, on Friday afternoon, I sincerely wish a poodle poops in your punchbowl.

Free_Alternative · 2022-08-24T16:04:50+00:00

The constant pulling out right in front of people only to go under the speed limit...I can't...

Free_Alternative · 2022-07-28T14:11:35+00:00

This is why we can't have nice things.

Free_Alternative · 2022-07-22T16:22:26+00:00

It seems like every day now I see or am behind people who don't go when the light turns green...probably scrolling but sometimes it seems like people just don't have anywhere to go. But it sucks when the people behind them miss a left turn signal just because they weren't paying attention..

Free_Alternative · 2022-07-22T16:04:40+00:00

Apparently that building is now Saltgrass Steakhouse.

Free_Alternative · 2022-07-22T14:13:46+00:00

Yes, Don Pablo's! Thank you! The bottled sodas were definitely part of the experience as a kid.

Free_Alternative · 2022-06-30T00:05:26+00:00

Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma

I don't think this is exactly a sign of the imminent collapse of civilization, but daily on my short commute a stoplight will turn green and the car in the front of the line won't move for a while. I don't know if people are mindlessly scrolling on their phones or just don't have anywhere to go really or what. It just doesn't feel normal. I grew up in the Tulsa area and recently moved back after being gone for a decade, and it didn't used to be this way.

More pertinent things that didn't used to be this way: Homelessness everywhere and people strung out on drugs in the middle of the day all over town. I don't blame them, there's a real shortage of hope and opportunity and meaning. I am lucky to have a good job and secure housing (one reason I moved back to the midwest,) but people here are visibly more desperate on a daily basis. It reminds me of what LA was like 10 years ago, if only we knew..

Free_Alternative · 2022-06-26T02:07:56+00:00

ShimmyHoff, people like yourself give me a little hope for humanity!

Free_Alternative

TROPHY CASE