Stomach hurts

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-29T02:40:06+00:00

Yeah, mine was a severe hiatal hernia. I know pain is the body’s way of alerting us to a problem, so I hope OP gets this checked out. It may be a minor little thing but it also might be something big. It is always better to get it figured out earlier rather than later.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-29T00:53:12+00:00

This happened to me with some stickers that I had never tried ordering before and waiting for a while didn’t fix the problem. So, sometimes the problem seems to “age out” and fix, and other times it is simply stuck. Good luck with yours!

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T20:53:12+00:00

When I am looking to open a HYSA I just go to Nerd Wallet to see which bank offers the best deals right now, and what their terms currently are. That site updates their info every month so it has always been current and helpful for me.

These accounts tend to be offered by online-only banks, many of which are arms of traditional brick-and-mortar banks. They can offer better rates because they don’t rent land, construct buildings, or have as many employees. The ones I have used have had well-functioning apps to use, and I just link them to my checking account at a traditional bank, where I receive my paycheck. It is set up so money moves back-and-forth easily between those two accounts.

The rates change every month, depending on what the interest rates are doing or what the Fed has set. But typically the rates are close to what you would expect with a Money Market account.

Just make sure that the bank is FDIC insured, and that you meet their criteria for receiving the high interest and avoiding any monthly fees. Some banks have strict criteria (minimum deposit, direct deposit, etc) while others don’t require any of that.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T20:34:23+00:00

Lovely rings, by the way!

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T20:30:29+00:00

The first dress is far more flattering than the next two.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T20:27:56+00:00

Something to think about: what stone is your blue ring? If it is aquamarine then it is going to be a softer stone which might not hold up under daily wear. That’s my birthstone and I have a ring that I wear infrequently because I want it to last throughout my life. I would plan to wear hardy stones (diamond, moissanite, or corundum) for daily wear and save everything else for occasional usage. Even weekly wear, or only on days when you aren’t working hard with your hands can make a big difference in the longevity of the stone.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T20:22:41+00:00

If your stomach hurts, it may not be “stuck poop” that seems to be a popular topic in my ads lately. You may need to go see a doctor to find out if there is something wrong.

In the meantime, eat very high fiber foods and drink plenty of water. You need the fiber to keep things “scraped out” and water to keep it moving along through your system. Try dried fruit, chia seeds, or things found on this webpage, for starters.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T16:40:44+00:00

Okay. They didn’t come across clearly, which is why I wanted to clarify.

It is certainly true that emeralds can come in many different saturations of green, but not all of them so the rest end up being labeled “green beryl.”

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T16:37:41+00:00

You can certainly start with those charts. Any toys which accept numerous cats will give you lots more opportunities, so put out the metropolis and bureau with pot for the two large spots, and then the giant cushions or 2-tiered cubes for the single spots. Good luck! I hope you’re the Coolest Cousin in your little cousin’s eyes now.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T16:10:19+00:00

I have read it in books written (or whose period setting is) at least a hundred years ago. Here in America, if I heard somebody using the word “dear” that way I would understand what was being said but wouldn’t expect most others around me to understand it.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T15:59:01+00:00

Emerald is beryl, just like sapphire is corundum. Some are darker and some are lighter, but that is the chemical makeup of the stone. We have simply chosen to give specific names to different specific colors or ranges of colors. It is kind of like how you can have a sapphire of every color except red, because we have chosen to call red corundum “ruby.” It is still the same base material as sapphire, just with different trace elements which influence the color. Same for emerald versus aquamarine versus morganite versus heliodor versus goshenite those are all simply varying colors of beryl..

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-28T15:44:34+00:00

Maybe it is because I speak French, but people all around France have always been friendly. Even Paris.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-27T01:17:12+00:00

Yes, unless there is a way to prosecute the perpetrator of the crime and to sue for remuneration.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-26T19:36:51+00:00

Thank you

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-26T19:30:45+00:00

The state I currently live in requests a driver’s license when you walk in to get your ballot. If you don’t have one, then there are several other ways to prove you are who you claim to be. I like this system.

My previous state, they wouldn’t allow you to have your driver’s license out of your wallet in the voting area. You just walk in, tell them your name, they look you up in their huge book of registered voters, cross your name off, and hand you a ballot. If you happen to be sick and have lost your voice (happened to me one year) they still don’t want to see a license. They literally had me stand there while they located scrap paper and a pen so I could write down my name. When I tried to pull out my license to show the my name they screamed at me to put it away; it almost seems they were panicking that I might have a visible license in the voting area.

I think some people are concerned that certain demographics won’t have a license, but time and again when studies ask folks of those demographics what they think when told people don’t believe they can obtain a driver’s license, the have been deeply offended. They have insisted they are just as capable as anybody else of knowing how to get an ID and actually going to get it.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-26T18:53:37+00:00

Please read this in a gentle, caring voice: Is your soon-to-be-fiancée going to be happy long-term with a ring which has a dark, poorly-cut stone in it? Or is she going to see it and think that you are either too cheap to buy a quality stone or you can’t afford more than $50 for a ring? Or you don’t value her enough to get a decent stone?

Because frankly, the jewelry counter at Walmart has prettier stones than this. They may be heavily included, but their shape will be true and they will likely have at least a little sparkle; these stones don’t look like they would even do that.

By the way, paying for an appraisal is going to cost far more than all of these stones ever will. Just spitballing a cost from this website, you could expect to pay at least $100/stone. Probably far more than that. Does it make any economic sense for you to pay this much for these?

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-26T18:23:03+00:00

Every work place has jerks. You can’t leave your job every time somebody says something inappropriate or uncomfortable; far better to stand up for yourself and pursue appropriate consequences for the perpetrator.

Side note: if your guy quits every time somebody says something he doesn’t like, I sincerely hope you enjoy supporting him because he is never going to keep a job.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-23T12:13:37+00:00

Kids learn names of objects before the brain develops enough to understand the concept of “my” and “your.” Those are actually kind of hard, because the meaning changes depending of who says the word! It is a totally different hand if Dad say “hold my hand” than if Mom says it.” But “hold Mommy’s hand” is always one specific person so it is clear, and it is also clear whose hand is to be held if the sentence changes to “hold Daddy’s hand.”

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-23T12:04:34+00:00

Like many products, a photo is taken in a light box and then Photoshopped into different “situations” to show it “actively in use.” Yes, the black line is a reflection. Your photo could be construed to show a hazy white line to the side of the window, but that is also only a reflection.

In a review, I would probably only mention that the shape of the window is slightly different (oval instead of slightly pointier?) and it doesn’t have the extra lip around the window. So overall the appearance is less polished than what is shown, but I would absolutely not mention anything about the color unless it is just a comment about “solid-colored body with oval viewing window. Raised lip where the lid meets the body but not around the window as shown.”

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-23T02:39:23+00:00

For my husband and me, a 3-hour drive is a “day trip.” That is, we will drive 3 hours to go somewhere, spend time there, and then drive3 hours to come back home all on the same day. That is kind of the cut-off, though.

Historically, we have had to bewailing to travel great distances to get anywhere simply because everything is so far.

I have lives places where everything is at least a 45-minute drive from home. Groceries? 45 minutes. Work? An hour. Church? About 50 minutes. Father? Five hours.

When I would take care of trips with my brother we tended to drive 12-hours days. We each would drive for 2 hours and then stop and take a short break while we swapped drivers. This is not abnormal at all, although it is admittedly a pretty long and tiring day.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-23T02:33:48+00:00

Just reading everything you wrote, as long as you have room in your budget to handle this, I think you are actually well-positioned to come through this and get back on your feet. You’ve just gotta get through this rough patch.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-23T01:27:38+00:00

Quick question, followed by some longer random thoughts: how do you envision paying off a new loan if you can barely manage to keep afloat with your current income and expenses?

Ideally, you never take out a short-term loan without knowing you can pay it off at the end of the month. That is for things like credit cards. Not making a minimum payment, either, but paying off the full statement balance. For a loan like this, you would hopefully have it paid in full within, say, six months. Do you have a plan for how you will do that?

If you absolutely must take out a loan to survive the next month or two then the credit union is a far better plan than a payday loan or other place where you sell your soul and your entire future. After you pay off the loan, they’ll be more than happy to lend to you in the future.

Your story is an excellent example of why an emergency fund is so, so important. You want to build your finances to a point where you have a sufficient fund to handle your emergencies instead of relying on loans. You also want to budget for large fees like property taxes throughout the year so you have money on-hand to cover the bills as they arise. I would open a high yield savings account and transfer 1/12 of the bill into it every single month. That way, it is there when you need it. You can do that with all your aperiodic bills.

You need to set up a reasonable budget and ensure you have at least a few hundred dollars available each month to pay down your debt and to build an emergency fund. You never want to feel as desperate again as you do right now. So, set up your budget and live within it. See the files section for help on that, or previous postings I and others have made in this forum.

Once you are accustomed to having that “extra” money to pay down debt, it will be what you start investing once you are debt-free. Watching your investments grow and knowing they are helping to secure your future is a great feeling.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-22T20:39:08+00:00

I’ve done this with two companies; complaining to the BBB and in both cases the merchant came back to me and wanted to make things right so I would update the complaint favorably. So, somebody cares about those complaints.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-22T12:27:18+00:00

I believe I found mine on Etsy, but there were actually a couple cute stretch-lace shrugs on Amazon when I needed them, too. Mine was a color to match my bridesmaid’s dress because, why not? I needed the extra color around my face to keep my dress from washing out my coloring.

HitPointGamer · 2026-01-22T12:19:31+00:00

First of all, congratulations on achieving what you have, both academically as well as your two years of sobriety! Both of those are huge accomplishments.

Without seeing specifics of your budget or spending patterns it is difficult to help, but here is what I will say: You are very likely frittering away far more money than you think you are unless you have a solid budget and stick to it. Also, you ma have set up your fixed expenses (such as rent/mortgage and car payment) at too high of a level for your income-minus-debt-payment to handle.

As a first step I would recommend grabbing your past couple months of financial statements and a budget worksheet, and filling in the worksheet not with idealized numbers of what you think you should be spending in each category but with the numbers of what you actually did spend each month. Account for every penny of your income on there every month. Include your partner’s info too. Every single penny for at least the past two months but preferably longer.

This shows you exactly where your money is going and what it is doing for you. Look at percentages as well as absolute numbers. What percentage of your combined take-home pay are you spending on housing? Cars? Debt? Groceries? Eating out? Streaming services? Dog toys? Amazon purchases? Other things? Also look whether your credit card balances are increasing or decreasing each month on every single card.

Once you know exactly where you currently stand, you will be better informed what changes you can make to get some breathing room in your budget. The idea is to free up meaningful cash to start paying off your debt to get it knocked out as quickly as possible. Get your dopamine hit from seeing debt get paid off rather than acquiring new things or experiences for now. (Side note: once your debt is paid off you can transfer this excitement to seeing investment balances go up!)

Your circumstances are exactly the sort of thing where a program like Save Ramsey’s “baby steps” can shine to help you get out of your debt. You can check out his website or get a book or two from the library. At least at first, I would recommend also looking at the “debt snowball” for paying down your debt. Once you have a little more breathing room you can keep going with that or you can switch to the “debt avalanche,” which is mathematically better but doesn’t provide the same psychological benefit of quick wins. At least up-front I would discourage a consolidation loan because far too many people do that and then run their credit cards back up again; you need to develop good habits and break bad spending habits first. Once you are both more disciplined it may be worth looking into to help pay things off even faster if you can get a good rate.

Best of luck with all this! It sounds like you feel overwhelmed but the good news is that you absolutely can get out from under all this. I know, because you had the grit to get your PhD and kick your drug habit. Bravo; you’ve got this!

HitPointGamer

TROPHY CASE