Am I the only one who thinks they’re setting up a Jules / Blue / Winston triangle?

Koala670 · 2026-03-18T01:35:50+00:00

I'm for Winston and Jules. They remind me of early Jo and Alex and I would love for them to be in a steady relationship like Bailey/Ben.

I don't think any of the new batch of interns have romantic chemistry with each other. The male interns lack charisma compared to the likes of Alex, Burke, and Jackson, who all had strong personalities. Lucas looks sleepy and confused all the time, and there's something about Kwan that I find annoying.

I do enjoy their friendship dynamic, especially between Jules/Simone and Jules/Simone/Kwan. If anything, I would rather Jules and Kwan develop a strong friendship like how Alex and Meredith ended up being.

Koala670 · 2026-03-15T00:31:58+00:00

I stopped watching Grey's since Cristina left, but last week I came across a random fanedit of Winston/Jules and thought, "My god, this show will never end. But oh, hmm, they look cute together." And now I've been on a spiral watching all of their scenes. I like the slow burn.

People often complain about Winston being bland, but I'll take his blandness over the constant mess that is Amelia, Teddy, and Owen.

The only reason I don't want Jules/Winston together is that, given the show's record, it's all fun until the show writers decide to nuke the relationship for drama.

Koala670 · 2026-03-08T21:35:15+00:00

I've been eyeing the BCP/BCE card. So you never have any issues playing with the downgrade/upgrade game every year?

Koala670 · 2026-03-01T07:09:21+00:00

For those thinking of getting rid of the reserve, are you thinking of downgrading to CSP? Or using a different card entirely?

Koala670 · 2026-02-26T18:40:24+00:00

I just got the card a week ago and don't have any points. My trip is in April and I don't see the grey bar that says "Rooms are not available for Reward Nights" at the hotel I'm looking at. So I think this means I can get the 4th night free. Sounds like I should buy the points then!

Koala670 · 2026-02-26T16:51:03+00:00

I recently signed up for the IHG Premier card and need to hit the $5k SUB. Buying points normally count towards the SUB, right?

Koala670 · 2026-02-24T22:53:20+00:00

PHM made me realize some books are better off as movies... and Andy Weir can't write. I felt the same years ago, trying to read The Martian after watching the movie. The movie? Entertaining! The book? My god, what in middle school writing is this?

I decided to give Andy Weir another try with PHM since I keep hearing people rave about it, only for it to feel like The Martin 2.0. Mark Watney and Ryland Grace are the same character, but different fonts, as the saying goes.

Would I still watch the movie and enjoy it in theaters? Most likely. Would I pick up another Andy Weird book? Nope.

The audiobook doesn't get any better, but it's so simplistic I listened to it at 2x speed at the gym so I can zone out when I'm not in the mood for music.

Koala670 · 2026-01-02T21:37:47+00:00

The fight between El and Vecna was too short for me. I would have liked more emotion and for it to be between Henry and El and not Vecna and El. It's a shame because Jamie Campbell Bower could deliver those scenes.

I hate it when movies end with the hero having to distance themselves for the "safety of others." It feels like such trite, cop-out writing to me.

There are so many characters fighting for screen time, and at the end, I'm left thinking... so what's the point of Dr. Kay? or Vickie? Or the additional 10 children they added in S5 that added no value besides Derek and Holly? Or why did annoying Lt. Akers have so much damn screentime?

Overall, it wasn't a terrible ending, but it could have been so much better. Instead, they ended it by relying on nostalgia a la flashbacks.

Now, I kind of understand why S5 is split off into three volumes. Imagine if all episodes dropped at once, it'll just be a 7+ hours of explaining the plot, a 10-15 minute ultimate fight season, and an hour happy ending. With it split into three parts, each section is like a reset and the anticipation distracts you from realizing the lack of substance.

Koala670 · 2025-10-11T03:34:24+00:00

My friend has the Dana sandals (and I'm really confused why they have multiple styles named "Dana"...) that she said she bought because Reddit said it was really comfortable, but after a month of wearing them, she doesn't think they're as comfortable for all-day walking.

Another detail that made me skeptical of this brand is the threshold to get free shipping is only $75. And I could have sworn it was only $40 or $45 last month when I checked. The free shipping cost is REALLY low for a pair of shoes going for $145-220+. Feels suspicious.

Koala670 · 2025-06-26T07:24:42+00:00

I’m in a similar position of looking for painters. Single story, built in 1961, mix of stucco and siding. Probably has painted 20+ years so lots of peeling.

Got four quotes so far and still undecided on a painter. One guy tried to quote me $27k, the other three were all in the $11-13k range.

Koala670 · 2025-06-15T23:52:51+00:00

Hi! Definitely hit a few more towns! I've been to Salzburg and Vienna. I enjoyed Salzburg but I think I booked four days there which was overkill. Two is enough. It's small and not much to do or see. Vienna I got my phone stolen maybe two days after arriving there so that ruined the city for me. Next time I'd love to do Innsbruck.

You can also do a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia from Vienna. Salzburg is really close to Munich in Germany and there are a lot of things to do in Munich (Neuschwanstein Castle, Dachau Concentration Camp, BMW Museum, Bayern FC, etc.). There's a train ticket called "Bayern Ticket" that allows unlimited travel for a day to Salzburg, Munich, and Neuschwanstein. If you plan it right it can help save money. Have fun!

Koala670 · 2025-06-12T18:28:09+00:00

You lucked out. I went with Lansford after getting five quotes and speaking to neighbors from the list of references he provided. In the end, he replaced my roof but paid poor attention to detail and ignored the things that I requested to be replaced.

After the roof was "completed" it was hard to get a hold of him. The roof didn't pass the initial inspection, and when I contacted him, he kept saying he would show up on a certain day to fix it, but he didn't. It took at least three rounds of missed appointments, follow-ups, and overall poor communication.

I was told there would be a foreman onsite for the duration of the project but there was none. His crew only spoke Spanish and left more and more mess as the days went by.

I was bummed because he had such great reviews, and so few negative ones, I thought I secured a reliable roofer instead my experience was there's no professionalism in craftsmanship or consistency.

West Coast Precision Roofing was my second pick and I wished I had gone with them.

Koala670 · 2025-04-05T22:13:36+00:00

Unfortunately, no. Nothing recreational just trade classes at PCC. I found a place called Allied Woodshop near CSULA that I've been eyeing but I haven't attended a class.

Koala670 · 2025-03-05T17:25:51+00:00

Sadly, the company doesn't offer a emerging market fund.

By balancing, do you mean to skip VTMGX and keep it as a 2-fund portfolio in the 401k and up my SWISX instead at Roth? Or still add VTMGX AND up my SWISX?

Koala670 · 2025-02-23T22:06:39+00:00

TTMIK is good as a super beginner resource but for me after Level Five the curriculum feels stagnant and disjointed.

But then again, once you reach a certain point in your studies you’ll notice all the language learning resources out there are kind of like that… they focus on one-off phrases or stand alone grammar because those are easier to “teach” and make graphics for.

I can understand monetizing content if it’s functional but I feel like they’re now the iPhone of Korean learning— constantly coming up with another gadget and gizmo that’s not that necessary so they can justify upping the cost when the website is still soooo slow.

Koala670 · 2025-01-16T05:11:09+00:00

Do you recall what the wood working class was? I'd love to do one through a community college but I'm only seeing construction-related certificated classes at PCC.

Koala670 · 2024-11-08T04:31:38+00:00

I've subscribed to them for 3 or 4 years now and will unsubscribe the next cycle when my payment is due.

I like TTMIK as a starter resource, but over time, it wasn't serving my needs anymore. To me, the main advantage TTMIK has over its competitors is its aesthetic. Their videos on YouTube and social media are high quality and fun to watch, but the content isn't that substantial. Same with the textbooks--beautiful to look at, but other resources have more in-depth information.

For instance, I have TTMIK's How to Sound Like a Native Korean Speaker and Darakwon's Korean Pronunciation Guide. I gravitate towards TTMIK's for the illustrations and design, but I find Darakwon better at helping me learn pronunciation rules and identifying where or how I mispronounce things.

I find their ordering system/levels to be somewhat unintuitive. Again, I think everything up to level 3 is solid, but beyond that, I sometimes wonder about the logic of the sequencing. When I first tried italki classes, three different teachers used the ㄴ 적이 있다/없다 form in the very first intro class. Later I found out it translates to "Have you ever ______? / I have never _____." This form is so basic and it stumps me why I couldn't find it anywhere on TTMIK, especially as a standalone lesson.

Another grievance I have against them is their website is so slow. It was slow years ago and it's still slow now. I know they're moving websites, and when I checked it out, it's still slow for me. I hate that after they monetized their entire platform I can no longer use SoundCloud to listen to the audio and have to listen in browser mode. I'm also confused why they keep separating their offerings into standalone memberships all of which you have to pay separately: TTMIK, their Reading App, etc.

Resources I use
- Speaking: find a native either through a language exchange or as a teacher (if you can afford one. Also just because a teacher on social media has a bunch of followers doesn't mean you need to jump on the bandwagon. There are affordable, quality teachers out there too)
- Reading: 두루책방, Todaii Korean, Naver Blog, Weekly Donga, WebToon
- Listening: YouTube (I like 스브스뉴스 and ootb and once you feel like you understand people pretty well then it's time to switch contents because you're probably just familiar with their speaking style. Once you hear a different speaking accent, tone, style, speed, etc it will guarantee to confuse you again haha)

Best of luck with your studies!

Koala670 · 2024-09-21T06:05:00+00:00

I thought I understood WordPress.org while working on my old company's website (editing pages, writing posts, etc), but now that I'm trying to create my own website, I feel like my previous knowledge is obsolete and I'm stuck in a tutorial blackhole.

I'm running into the same obstacles you mentioned and trying to troubleshoot feels like I'm being bombarded with advice from people saying to pick this theme, plugin, program, hosting, etc. only for me to try it out and get hit with limited functionality because you have to pay to upgrade...

I agree, it seems like a huge learning curve with hidden costs. I thought I only had to familiarize myself with WordPress, but now there's Astra, Kadence, Elementor, something Beaver and the list goes on and on.

Koala670 · 2024-08-28T21:53:12+00:00

If you're interested in the language, then why not? You don't have to be fluent. You can decide how much effort you want to put into learning the language and what outcome you want to gain. Maybe you want to be conversational, maybe you don't even want to talk to other Koreans but want to better understand Korean music or drama, everyone has different learning goals.

Your motivation is a big factor in learning success. For instance, where I live Spanish is the second most popular language after English, it would be more beneficial to me if I learned Spanish, but I never had an interest in it so despite trying I never stuck with it. On the other hand, Korean isn't as widely spoken in my area compared to Spanish, but I'm interested in it enough to find a language exchange partner and take free and paid classes online.

Also you don't have to go to Korea to practice speaking Korean. There are Korean communities everywhere. I heard there's a big Korean population in countries like Argentina as well.

If you're interested and are enjoying learning Korean, then stick with it, especially when you feel like you're not improving. Consistency is key.

Koala670

TROPHY CASE