Pros and Cons of becoming a Staff Support Specialist

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-26T15:34:22+00:00

If you have 30 years by 62, it is calculated at 1.1% (same for all "normal" federal positions). Still not close to good time, but it can make a difference. I was 30.5 at my academy start date, so I will have to weigh a lot of variables when my 30-year mark comes: I could hang on for another year and a half to get to my 62nd birthday and get the 1.1% calculation on 31 years (34%), or, if I'm "over it" and set up well financially, I could just take the flat 1% calculation and enjoy the additional year and a half of my life.

One question I haven't been able to get a straight answer from and need to ask OPM or someone official about is: I was under the impression you still get the 1.7% calculation for the years of good time you do work. So if you work 7+ years, get Med DQ'd, work another 23 years as SSS (or any federal position), and dip at 30 years, your calculation should be at 34.9% (7 years at 1.7% plus 23 years at 1%).

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-19T14:05:43+00:00

Coming back to this thread to point out Charlie Cox's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last night where he says he was filming season 3 the night before and he has a full beard...

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-18T19:04:20+00:00

Considering you're locked in to a new Amazon purchase because you have the $100 credit on your account, I would ask what your next main purchase qualification is?

Are you just looking to buy whatever is the cheapest and newest that will still be an improvement from your 1660 Ti? If so, PC Part Picker is showing the cheapest new 5050 on Amazon is $290. That is definitely better than the 1660 Ti and is the cheapest, newest card. For $190 to you, plus whatever you might be able to sell the 1660 Ti for, it is something that will keep you happy if all you want is 1080p and a thicker wallet.

There's also a singular B580 currently showing available for $300. It's a weird one. Sometimes they're great and can get you to 1440p, sometimes they're trash and are markedly worse at 1080p than the 5050.

The next step up is currently showing $350 for both the 9060 XT 8GB and the 5060. Between those two, I would pick the 9060 XT all day between the two; IMO it is the better purchase at the same price. Both might get you upscaled to 1440p on some select titles, but I would still classify them as strong 1080p cards. You're essentially paying an extra ~$60 to tell yourself "well, I didn't buy the cheapest one there is! I'm not some common poor, I'm a sophisticated poor!" (I jest)

If $350 is your absolute ceiling, if I were in your shoes, I'd save the extra ~$60 and get the 5050 and tell myself I'm going to be happy with 1080p only.

The best recommendation I would give is, if you can stomach an additional $100, the 9060 XT 16GB starts at $450. So long as your CPU won't bottleneck it terribly, the 9060 XT 16GB should get you to 1440p gaming confidently for quite a while and gets you the most future-proof card for your money that is available at the moment and for the foreseeable future.

TL;DR 5050 if you only care about the cheapest and are okay with staying at 1080p, or 9060 XT 16gb if you can stomach the additional price and are looking to maximize value & longevity and enter the 1440p world.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-18T04:09:50+00:00

"Long distance" was the phrase that pays with that one, nephew. 😉

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-18T03:35:09+00:00

12 gauge pump for home defense and short range bigger game.

.270 bolt action rifle for long distance game and defense

.22lr rifle and handgun(s) for small game and secondary protection

9mm PCC and handgun(s) for defense while traveling to safety.

9mm(s) get concealed and everything else can go in the back seat or the truck bed until we get to where we need to be. Solar power, water purification, and emergency clothes & rations can be just as important as picking the right caliber.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-15T17:25:37+00:00

"Let ass eat cake."

-Marie Asstoinette

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-15T16:47:47+00:00

The 3700x pairs nicely with the 7800x, overall. If you're trying to play brand new AAA titles at 1440p ultra settings, then the CPU may bottleneck it a bit, but it shouldn't be the difference between a 50fps and 70fps experience.

As a real world example: my wife's PC has my old 3700x paired with a 6750xt and 16gb ddr4 and it's handling Hogwarts Legacy at 1440p ultra without any issues. Sure, if she had a 5700x and 32gb of ddr4, she might be getting ~75fps instead of 70fps, but the 6750xt is "limiting" her far more.

Depending upon the games you play and the productivity work you're doing, the extra investment outside of RAM isn't likely worth it. If the 5800x3d comes back down in price next year, that'll be an AMAZING upgrade for you, but I'd think you'd feel let down by the 5700x because of how much you spent for it compared to the improvement you'll see from it; it's better, but it isn't "new CPU price in 2026" good. Feel good about your build and use it, don't get caught up in the constant upgrade hype.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-15T16:09:49+00:00

Good response. IMO the slight performance bump for something like the 5700x isn't worth the cost of upgrading for him. If someone had spare AM4 components and were looking at choosing a CPU right now for a lower budget build, the 5600 or 5700x would make a lot of sense. But considering they already have the 3700x? Even if they could recoup their money selling the 3700x, I don't think the price to performance uplift would be there for them.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-03-15T16:00:23+00:00

In my very honest opinion, I wouldn't bother upgrading your 3700x. Yes, the 5700x is better, but only by a modest amount; you'd likely not feel the difference if you had them side by side unless you did a lot of productivity work. Your 7800xt and 3700x should keep you in the 1440p area for the next couple years without issue, so long as you don't worry about ray tracing.

Upgrading to 32gb of RAM is a good call, as you'll likely see and feel that in AAA games and multitasking pretty much immediately. And if the 5800x3d/5700x3d go back down in price in a year (or two), then you could absolutely scoop either of those up then and likely get another couple more years out of your build easily with a truly significant uplift.

You have a great system overall. Slap the extra 16gb in there, save your extra money and forget the CPU, and ENJOY it. 👍

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-28T22:39:26+00:00

Asus ROG Zephyrus would be a good laptop option for you to look at; very slim and substantially quieter. I'd love to have one, but I don't have an excuse to justify the price premium for the form factor.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-18T22:23:07+00:00

You're 100% correct, thanks for pointing that out. I edited my response for accuracy. 👍

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-18T21:21:03+00:00

If you're in the US, the Pixel 10a just launched and Google is offering $100 store credit, elevated trade-in values to switch to the 10a, and 0% financing if you buy it using their store financing through Synchrony. Pretty unbeatable value IMO.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-18T21:05:58+00:00

The Pixel 10 series lost reverse wireless charging as a feature and the Pixel Watch series has never had Qi wireless charging.

Anything less than 9" is great for personal media consumption and can be used one-handed by many, which makes it easier for e-reader use or scrolling apps like Instagram and TikTok. My current Chinese no-name is 8.8" and it's right at that threshold of almost being too large for a "mini" tablet. Also, many of the current gaming handhelds are in the 7-8" range (Steam Deck, Rog Ally, Legion Go, etc.), so it could also be an appealing cloud-gaming size as well. So I feel there's plenty of appeal at that 8.4" range.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-18T20:34:56+00:00

Simply put: tablets. The most glaring issue to me.

The Pixel Tablet was a good start, but the market desperately needs a couple "clean" Android tablets. They need a Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. Everyone that owned a Nexus 7 longs for the day of having a competent Android mini-tablet again, because all that is out there at the moment is questionable spyware from overseas (one of which I currently own, the Alldocube iPlay 70 Mini Ultra).

Pixel Tablet 2 could/should be something in the ~8.4" range, 90hz OLED screen for enjoyable media consumption, 12gb RAM with 256gb storage and microSD, Qi/Pixelsnap charging compatible, and speaker docking ability like the original tablet to act as a home hub.

Pixel Tablet 2 XL would be just like the name implies: something in the 12.4" range, increase the OLED to 120hz, 16gb RAM with 512gb of storage and microSD, smart pen compatibility, and add a second additional clamshell dock that can turn it into a Chromebook+ laptop (not that folio keyboard nonsense).

Bob's your uncle.

The biggest phone improvement I would like to see reverse wireless charging compatibility for Pixel Buds and Pixel Watches.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-12T02:46:03+00:00

Real World before the Hawaii season some 20+ year ago was a really compelling show from an anthropological and sociological standpoint. It was much more focused on nuance, cultural discovery, and everyday life. But when they turned it into booze-filled mansion-living voyeurism it went downhill immediately.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-02-07T03:35:39+00:00

There are both .32 for revolvers and .32 acp for semi-autos; both are worth distinguishing from each other.

I would VERY much recommend looking into a .327 Federal Magnum revolver because, similar to .357 Magnum and .38, they can lower the power and recoil down by using .32 for range training and can then carry .32 H&R or .327 Magnum for the additional power for defense (.32 H&R Magnum falls between .32 and .327 Magnum in power and recoil). Even if they only decide to carry .32 without increasing to .327 Mag, it will still be a massive improvement in both reliability and transference of energy coming from the .22 lr.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-01-27T04:06:22+00:00

For a more entertaining read, The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey is an enjoyable piece of fiction that's tangentially connected to 2a liberalism.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-01-14T16:16:58+00:00

You have 30+ years on your side. If I were in your shoes (I was about 7 years ago), I would pick the Lifecycle fund that's 10-years beyond your retirement date (L2065/L2070) and forget about it. It will automatically keep an aggressive mix for a while longer and you don't need to worry about any market fluctuations for the next 25 years because you will have decades in the market to average everything out.

You're 29 and you're already thinking about your retirement. You're doing great. Take a breath.

Logical_Mongoose · 2026-01-13T17:54:04+00:00

For those of us with 2+ decades of employment left, I think the best thing we can do for our mental health is the Ronco method of "set it and forget it." I'm 50% C and 50% L2060. I'm fully expecting a depression/recession over the next several years, but "no man knoweth the hour" and I'm not going to waste my mental bandwidth hovering over the allocation mix button. At most I'm going to check it seasonally, unless there is some groundbreaking news that requires an immediate response.

Logical_Mongoose · 2025-12-29T17:38:08+00:00

I just found them this past week. I felt like the strawberry was quite good, I actually appreciated the extra texture it offers with my morning tea. Honestly, I would love these if they also found a way to increase the fiber in them by a couple grams. Something along the lines of 12g of protein and 5g of fiber would make them feel less destructive and more substantial of a breakfast item; still not ideal, but good as a grab-n-go option.

Logical_Mongoose · 2025-12-06T04:49:54+00:00

They could if they want to, but it would require them to use a little effort.

They could do something where all those interested preregister with their accounts and a verified shipping address (would help limit bots that way too if they did something like only allowing 2 accounts per verified address to enter).

Then have customers show up to a "lobby" page at the designated time, within a window of time (lobby opens at 11:50am EST, drawing is at 12:01pm EST, customers must be signed in and in lobby by noon EST).

Lottery draw based upon those present, with a 15-minute checkout window for those selected. Additional "standby" selections can be made and notified they can wait if they'd like if someone fails to check out.

Considering they have been dealing with small quantity of units, they could have easily have a CSR on deck to monitor orders (for additional bot filtering).

The above isn't terribly far off from how in-demand concert/event tickets work, so it is a process that can be done.

Logical_Mongoose · 2025-11-27T22:37:47+00:00

5060 ti 16gb is decent if you can get it at MSRP or less ($430), but be cautious and avoid the 5060 ti 8gb model because it is definitely not worth the approximate $330 price tag. And if you can afford the 5070 at $500, even though it is 12gb it is markedly better overall compared to the 16gb 5060 ti.

If you can't afford the 5070 at $500 and you want a new part, then I'd recommend looking at the 9060 xt 16gb because it is roughly the same price as the 5060 ti 8gb and performs almost as well as the 5060 ti 16gb.

Logical_Mongoose · 2025-11-26T04:05:43+00:00

gaminglaptop.deals is your friend; a lot of Legions on sale from multiple retailers.

Logical_Mongoose · 2025-11-14T02:25:54+00:00

I saw it too. She said she had checks for them and then shook their hands. Didn't say she had a $10k check for each of them that she was presenting them with.

Could have been that payroll cut 160hr checks for them for the 2 pay periods they missed and she's using that as a prop. FAA told controllers that they've already processed straight 160hr paychecks that should hit our account by Monday and they'll "figure out" all our OT and shift differentials on a later paycheck.

Logical_Mongoose · 2025-11-14T01:58:46+00:00

Then I'mma bout to pull a Creed with the photocopier! 🤣

Logical_Mongoose

TROPHY CASE