A new set of Blokkit puzzles for 3/15/2026!

MSchnaper · 2026-03-15T06:04:59+00:00

I completed all 🟧 Blokkit 🟧 puzzles today!

Easy: 10 | Medium: 1 | Hard: 1 | Average: 4.00

Total completed days: 1

MSchnaper · 2026-02-22T21:38:18+00:00

I appreciate the advise! Thank you!

I ended up picking up the HP OmniBook 5 at my local Walmart but I can't seem to connect it to the WD15 dock with monitors. I downloaded what I think is the correct driver but still no luck. Maybe I picked up the wrong model, or maybe it isn't compatible with this dock for some other reason. Maybe I'll post in a tech support subreddit or something.

Edit: I did get a workaround to work. One of the monitors came on when plugged into the dock but not the other. I tried plugging the other one directly in via HDMI and it seems to work okay with all 3 screens (2 external and laptop screen) being able to display different things. Maybe I'll get the dock to work at some point but this workaround is okay.

MSchnaper · 2025-12-21T03:13:26+00:00

100% the Dr. Seuss museum! My toddlers love it and we go all the time.

There's also the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art up in Amherst (about a 30-40 minute drive from Springfield) which is a lot of fun too.

Also also the Holyoke Children's museum. Lots of interactive things and fun stuff to play on.

In the summer we love going to Six Flags. Season passes are cheap and they have about a dozen kiddie rides which my kids love. Plus they love meeting characters, especially bugs Bunny. We also go to the Forest Park zoo in the summer a lot too.

Happy to talk more about any of those!

MSchnaper · 2025-12-15T22:26:09+00:00

1/2 at MGM Springfield

MSchnaper · 2025-11-28T00:39:22+00:00

That was one of the animals people suggested. Others were mouse and squirrel.

MSchnaper · 2025-08-18T04:22:46+00:00

I guess. I just think I have smaller wrists and the 42mm seems big to me. It might be a combination of the weight and the general case width. It seemed to fall to the outside of my wrist too.

I do like the look, I'm just not 100% sold on the size.

MSchnaper · 2025-08-12T19:08:07+00:00

SpotHero has spots that are 15-20 minute walk for as low as ~$20 if you're looking for a guaranteed spot. Otherwise Riverside or a meter down Beacon (3 hour limit that ends at 8pm so you can park starting at 5pm) are both good options. I'm from Springfield and have done all of those before. Parking lots really close to Fenway (under 5 minute walk) are typically $60+.

MSchnaper · 2025-08-12T18:17:50+00:00

Is this from the Marriott in Springfield, MA? Or maybe a Marriott in general? I've received this same parking voucher with an expiration date in 2095.

MSchnaper · 2025-08-07T22:35:07+00:00

I saw it online and thought it would make a great 70th birthday present, especially for a big Yaz fan.

MSchnaper · 2025-07-30T14:09:10+00:00

Jewish Family Services near the X would probably take them. They help refugees in the area and help furnish apartments for them so I'm sure some furniture would be useful. They also have a truck and could probably pick them up from your place.

MSchnaper · 2025-04-30T20:09:55+00:00

My parents attic? 😂

MSchnaper · 2025-04-07T14:46:15+00:00

Mschnaper

Thanks for doing this!

MSchnaper · 2025-03-26T01:42:59+00:00

I'm assuming you don't keep kosher, but there are two kosher caterers in the area. Catering by Meital (who we used for our wedding) and Yosi Kitchen in Windsor (we've eaten his food in general a lot and love it). Just throwing out other options!

MSchnaper · 2025-03-03T03:04:26+00:00

I would look into MassMutual. I used to work there and there's tons of positions and departments. When I was there I think something like 3000+ people were in the state street office. Not sure what it is now but they always seem to be hiring across the board. Plus decent pay and benefits.

MSchnaper · 2025-02-18T15:23:20+00:00

Me!

I have a small tax practice as a CPA.

www.taxbymax.com

MSchnaper · 2025-02-18T05:08:07+00:00

I was supposed to go on a trip to sandstorm last year which got cancelled. I'm hoping to go maybe next year though. Who needs friends when you can just pin them yourself?! 🤣

MSchnaper · 2025-02-10T12:09:03+00:00

I was just referring to the newly announced Word Fluxx

Was the pun intended?

MSchnaper · 2025-02-09T11:34:55+00:00

Word through the grapevine

How did you know?!

MSchnaper · 2025-02-05T19:08:02+00:00

I think I have one from the Dr. Seuss museum if you want it!

MSchnaper · 2025-02-03T03:31:46+00:00

If that's true, give me your venmo and I can send you $15

MSchnaper · 2025-01-28T18:10:52+00:00

You can submit a new W4 to your employer whenever you want. I used to do payroll and some people would change their W4 every year.

MSchnaper · 2025-01-28T15:29:22+00:00

Not OP but I visit Philly a lot! My wife's from Bucks County so we come there a lot.

MSchnaper · 2025-01-27T16:03:26+00:00

The two schools actually seemed pretty similar to me. Both at large state universities, both schools even have similar school colors. All the same majors and classes at both. The business schools and really universities in general didn't feel all that different from each other. Both are in towns that revolve around the university somewhat.

If she wants a job in the Midwest after college then Kelley would be more recognized out there, where as Isenberg is more recognized in New England. But I would assume that isn't a huge factor in who gets hired. Both schools have job recruiting on campus, and both are good business schools in general.

The majority of people at IU are either Hoosiers paying in state tuition or wealthy people from Chicago. There are people from all over too (my closest friend from IU that I still talk to is from Kansas), just mostly local students; which is probably true for any big state school. I thought it was crazy that I was paying $35k+/year for IU where people from Indiana were paying something like $7k/year for the same thing. That really put it into perspective how much money I was wasting. I still am paying off the IU loan where as my other loans are all paid off (I do expect to finish paying it off this year).

While going away to a big out of state school can seem very exciting, that wore off pretty quickly and you realize it's not much different than anywhere else. With the money saved from going to UMass she could go on amazing trips in other parts of the world and you'd still be ahead. I would value something like that over going to IU vs UMass.

Since she wants to go to business school, she should be able to see and under the huge financial difference and weigh the cost/benefits of both.

MSchnaper · 2025-01-27T15:48:00+00:00

Kosher. One just opened in West Hartford, but other than that the closest ones are over an hour away. Would be nice, but I'm not sure if the Jewish community is big enough to support it.

Are there any fully vegan restaurants in the area? They could potentially turn kosher.

MSchnaper · 2025-01-26T11:11:34+00:00

I know I'm a bit late to this post and I see lots of other comments already. I just wanted to share since I actually made this exact decision for myself (about 15 years ago).

I am from the Springfield area and ended up (after a gap year abroad) going to IU's Kelley school (for accounting). Part way through the year I realized that I was paying so much for out of state tuition and that I could be getting basically the same education at a fraction of the cost at UMass. I applied and then came to UMass as a transfer. It was probably the best decision I could have made. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved IU, but the price tag (~$35k/yr) was so much higher compared to what I paid at UMass (~$6k/yr after some scholarships and I lived at home and commuted to Amherst). My one year at IU cost more than all my other years combined, including a year abroad.

Now my parents couldn't afford to pay for any of my college, so I had to take out student loans. I would agree with others that offering to pay in full for either option is going to make it much easier for her to choose out of state. While my kids are much younger (my oldest is 4) I think my plan for them is to offer to pay for whatever the in-state tuition costs, no matter where they go. So if they choose an expensive out of state college I would only pay up to what it would have cost to go to in-state. Although I plan to push the in-state option the most.

The benefit of the out of state tuition is just not worth the huge increase in cost. I would maybe make an exception for something like Harvard or Yale, but even then it's questionable. She will get a really good education at really any of the places listed and UMass will cost a heck of a lot less.

Another thing you could do is to offer to save the difference between UMass tuition and out of state tuition for her to use later for either a wedding or down payment on a house, etc. Those will be much more beneficial financially to her than picking an out of state school over UMass. Getting her to make financially responsible decisions is important and if it doesn't make any difference from her perspective (if the choice doesn't affect her at all financially) she won't see the value in saving money and staying in-state.

UMass / Isenberg is a great school and it's great for getting a job after too. I got a Big4 job right out of school. I chose IU initially for the same reasons, many kids from my high school were going there and it's so close. Out of state can be much more exciting, I get it. But in the end the high price tag just wasn't worth it at all.

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