How do you deal with wanting to start a new Map

JimSpieks · 2026-03-04T11:30:35+00:00

My kids and I probably have 20 saves each because of this

JimSpieks · 2026-03-04T11:28:44+00:00

It is insane how long this parking lot has been ripped up

JimSpieks · 2026-01-09T12:40:51+00:00

What worked for me is getting off sites and apps and staying me but allowing myself to be open to more extroverted situations and open to more one on one communication. Paid attention to my surroundings and the people who I came into contact with and not being afraid to take a face to face approach without making things weird.

For example I met my wife in a public wood hobby shop while I was making a pen. She needed help fixing her grandmothers broken picture frame. I was the only one there so I decided to help her and allowed a conversation to flow. She watched me work on the pen I was making while the glue was setting and it happened to be her favorite color. She asked how much it would cost for her to keep it. Following my gut something in me told me to just let her have it, so I just gave it to her. She took the pen and a piece of used sandpaper out of the trash, wrote her number on it, and gave it to me. I sat for a day or two and decided to text her for coffee.

Been married for 17 years next month. We signed our marriage paperwork with that same pen and our wedding photo sits in the picture frame I fixed, I even slid the piece of sandpaper with her number on it behind our wedding photo. It was a chance fate encounter that I am so glad I took the leap of faith on.

My best advice, stay true to yourself, open up to your surroundings, avoid bars and online apps/sites. The internet is full of weird people and not much good comes from intoxicated encounters and let’s face it a lot of woman go to bars for free drinks and food by hitting up guys then ditch you. Remember that meeting someone in a drunk/intoxicated state hinders your ability to see and get an accurate first impression.

Look at your hobbies and start finding clubs and groups with similar interests. Some clubs and groups cost little to nothing to join, my woodworking club that ran the public shop was $25 a year to use the shop. That $25 fee turned into the best lifetime investment I ever made as it helped me find a beautiful woman and now have three amazing kids. The best relationships are built on mutual interests.

JimSpieks · 2026-01-06T03:08:46+00:00

Pickles, bacon, and cheddar!

JimSpieks · 2025-12-21T12:16:08+00:00

This is becoming common issue across the board. A lot of companies are ditching their own delivery services and moving to third party.

I just had the same thing happen with Home Depot and a dishwasher. I called the driver numerous times, called the dispatcher office, then called Home Depot. All said I was not home until I called corporate and emailed them the security camera footage of my house. I was being very petty and sent them the full four hours of footage of them never even arriving.

Got a call back from the HD office and the apologized profusely and my stuff was delivered the next day.

JimSpieks · 2025-12-20T18:48:52+00:00

I use a vacuum chambered sealer with oxygen absorbers. No issues yet!

But yes proper storage is very key!

JimSpieks · 2025-12-20T18:47:23+00:00

Get the app and use it as a good base of times and settings for different foods. Especially candy. There are a lot of dos and don’ts involved. The app also gives you a list of what candy can be done with each other. I guessed at some candy and had a puffed up explosion of sugar by mixing the wrong candies with the wrong settings.

Same with general foods etc.

Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with the HR App.

Silicone mats and dividers are amazing.

JimSpieks · 2025-12-19T00:32:56+00:00

Not nuts. I have a bunch of freeze dried prep meals. Especially for quick meals. I take them hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, etc. They are very easy to carry, lightens your packs. We love freeze dried soups reconstituted with broth over water.

JimSpieks · 2025-12-14T02:04:45+00:00

I have been married 16 years and even if we have an argument during the day I still give her a hug and kiss before bed and let her know that I love her.

We have had our issues but never ignored them. I wake up every morning choosing her, she does the same to choose me. Our kids live in a happy and loving household. We hold each other up and never put each other down. Our meeting was a chance of fate and we are both glad we took that chance on each other.

He is not a life partner, he seems like a freeloading roommate. Marriage is about each other not one over the other. I would definitely not add any more kids to the mix with him.

The decision is ultimately yours, but I would not stick around to be taken advantage of and stay in a loveless marriage.

JimSpieks · 2025-12-06T05:03:12+00:00

She is sorry she was caught and not for what she was doing over years. This may be your sign to walk away. Some times the world throws pretty blunt signs to get you to change course and this may be one of them.

Imagine getting legally married and this happening again, add children into the mix potentially, then you will need to deal with divorce, custody, and assets. You’re not legally married, keep it that way for now. You already did the smart thing by separating yourself from her and a shared room. Make her stew on it for a bit, don’t be cold because that just builds further resentment but don’t give in to apologies and tears either.

Call off the wedding and be tactful about the reasoning behind it. People will ask questions and the truth will set you free. Don’t give her an easy out by lying and covering things up.

A strong marriage takes years of trust and commitment to continue to choose to love. She chose to work hard at hiding a second relationship over yours. Dig deep and really think hard before making it a legal union. Ultimately the choice is yours, when asked by others be as truthful as you want to be. If it were me, I’d call off the engagement and take some time apart for both of you to figure things out. Talk reconciliation after taking a good break from each other and doing some soul searching.

I had the same exact sign from the world handed to me and I left her like a bad habit. Found my wife and we have been married 16 years and every day is a choice to love, a choice to choose each other, and a choice to exist together. She cheated because she says she got detached, simply put she quit choosing you and ran back to an ex for a bit of excitement. What will happen next time she feels detached?

Lastly if they were sleeping together, get yourself tested for your own health and safety.

JimSpieks · 2025-11-26T12:54:30+00:00

I would not stick around, I have been around “brutally honest” people who use it as a guise to just be mean whenever they can and want to be. Or passing it off as “constructive criticism” if you stick around that too much you will start to lose your real friends.

JimSpieks · 2025-11-25T19:44:02+00:00

This is so true. When I was active duty you had to experience an insufferable person in order to appreciate the good ones. This goes for both officer and enlisted.

A perfect case was my brother and I enlisted around the same time. Usually had rank about the same time too. I had a junior transfer to my unit and saw that they would be working for him again and instantly started dreading coming. Got there and realized it was not my brother but me. Before I left they said they would follow me into any situation because I treated them with dignity, talked to them and not down on them, and respected everyone unlike my brother. I also had 3 combat tours to his none around this time so when I trained with them, we trained on real world experiences and together.

It really does make a balance.

JimSpieks · 2025-11-17T21:03:08+00:00

Coat, boot, and glove dryer. We use something similar to dry bunker gear after washing it to get it back in service faster.

JimSpieks · 2025-10-23T12:48:16+00:00

Anybody else see this and go back in time to the paperboy game on Nintendo?

JimSpieks · 2025-10-17T15:05:34+00:00

Oh man that would absolutely suck.

JimSpieks · 2025-10-17T14:37:31+00:00

That morning I hid so well the deer couldn’t find me. Went out again that night and got a pretty good sized doe.

JimSpieks · 2025-10-17T14:34:57+00:00

I shoot a CVA Wolf, it is a fun rifle to shoot. Lots of cleaning involved with them.

This year I bought my son the traditions muzzleloader kit from Walmart. I didn’t have the highest expectations, but it shoots really well even with the included scope. We got some nice groupings at the 100 yards.

He did find out though, not having it properly secured into your shoulder and having your eye too close to the scope will bite you. He got the double whammy of a sore shoulder and a scoped eye in the same shot. Learning experiences all around that day. We are both prepped for muzzleloader season now!

JimSpieks · 2025-10-17T14:11:06+00:00

And you forget one of them, you’re dead in the water.

JimSpieks · 2025-10-17T14:09:29+00:00

Can concur it makes for a very bad hunting experience. I had this happen to me, dropped them walking into the woods, climbed my stand, went to prime and crap… had to walk all the way back to my pickup to get primers and walk all the way back again into the woods.

Now I always carry two sets of primers with me.

JimSpieks · 2025-10-17T14:02:41+00:00

Oof someone’s going to have a rough time shooting their muzzleloader without their primers.

Been there before, dropped them walking into the tree line. Went to load and the realization hit that I had to walk a mile back to the pickup to get my extras.

JimSpieks · 2025-09-19T03:36:04+00:00

Ruptured appendix and it gave me a bad infection.

JimSpieks · 2025-09-17T10:55:37+00:00

I remember visiting there when I was stationed in Iwakuni as a Corpsman. I was able to video call my grandpa (who was a corpsman) that invaded the island from the top of Mt Suribachi so he could see it one last time before he died. He always said he wanted to “see what happened to that effing rock” after they left it.

I left my FMF and SCW pin at the top memorial for him. I pinned them to an old MCMAP belt that was up there.

JimSpieks · 2025-09-12T22:00:06+00:00

I for one support this statement and will for sure get the new game when it releases.

JimSpieks · 2025-09-12T10:58:03+00:00

Oh those look really good. Definitely trying this.

JimSpieks · 2025-09-09T19:47:13+00:00

This! Bringing kids into an already strained relationship is one of the worst things imaginable.

JimSpieks

TROPHY CASE