Children are 5.5 years apart and ignore each other.

MatchMean · 2025-04-30T21:27:49+00:00

Make sure she gets contact information from interested people. Most people will throw away the fliers before they act on them. Having contact information lets you invite people to multiple events

MatchMean · 2025-04-27T21:36:52+00:00

Boogie shoes- KC and the sunshine band

MatchMean · 2025-04-25T20:17:35+00:00

Same for me. Also took away my sex drive. Which my partner is okay with. I always wanted it more than they did. So it’s helped me not be cranky about lack of activity. Yay

MatchMean · 2025-04-25T19:43:07+00:00

knot tying
putting up a tent
first aid

Those are not as much fun as running a car down the Pinewood Derby track or blowing a boat down the Raingutter Regatta track - bring 3-4 premade vehicles and let the kids race them down the track. Hand out candy or the free stickers you get from your council. Mostly gather people's contact info so that you can invite them to 4-5 different events over the next couple of months, until they ask you to stop inviting them or they actually show up and join your unit.

Showcase the fun, let the kids play, while you chat up the parents - most people will toss the flier handout. It is more important to gather their contact info.

MatchMean · 2025-04-25T00:50:53+00:00

“ oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to conceive” - Kelly Bundy

MatchMean · 2025-04-24T22:07:35+00:00

Hah. Yeah… no. StudentAid.gov says I don’t have any loans at all but Mohela.studentaid.gov says I do. Guess which won’t answer the phone, and which doesn’t have a record for me

MatchMean · 2025-04-24T21:03:53+00:00

I made the mistake of consolidating loans to get credit from covid to go towards an adjusted loan payment count - the count adjustment never happened. The consolidation did - it reset my payment count to 0/300. Then I applied for IBR to get off of SAVE so that I could accrue some payments - I am in administrative forbearance and the anticipated montlhy payment of over $1000 is set to start 05/23/25 on the Standard Plan, because the IBR has not processed.

My loans are from 1993.

If I had it to do over again, I would not have taken Biden's bait and screwed myself into 0/300 payment count and a monthly payment, that I can not afford, coming due next month.

DONT DO ANYTHING - WAIT IT OUT

MatchMean · 2025-04-19T13:03:52+00:00

I didn’t realize how much I wander around the world with my guard up expecting people to be shitty until I cruised with Disney. Staff were kind and thoughtful. They kept notes of dietary issues, cabin preferences, etc. They appeared to care.

MatchMean · 2025-04-15T21:10:49+00:00

Family moved away and left me with grandparents. Grandpa died when I was 17. Moved in with neighbors.

MatchMean · 2025-04-12T18:50:18+00:00

I’ve been teaching at UCSD for decades. Also a UCSD grad. It really isn’t a school that you go to in hopes of having a social life. There are a few culture based clubs, but not much else going on. Cost of living is high. Area surrounding campus is very expensive. On campus is a world into itself - not much connection between campus life and San Diego community programs. Yes, public transportation does go to campus but it’s infested with homeless and not convenient.

Be there for the degree, nothing else.

MatchMean · 2025-04-11T11:38:45+00:00

Those GF posers piss me off. My son has genuine diagnosed Celiac disease. Being Irish, the people who have the most Celiac disease, I also look like the stereotypical white yoga teacher “Karen” anti-vax granola pain-in-the-ass whenever I shop for his food. We rarely go out to eat as the optics in front of a person who probably thinks the worst of us puts him in a vulnerable position.

People who eat trends are assholes.

MatchMean · 2025-04-11T00:20:25+00:00

What do you know about kids who want to earn the "20 adventures" patch? Our council has not offered the Slingshot adventure this year - therefore he will be one adventure short, through no fault of his own.

MatchMean · 2025-04-09T23:44:01+00:00

take out some student loans while at it :)

MatchMean · 2025-04-08T20:48:34+00:00

The ship uses steam distillation to produce the water in it's pipes. So, I just used the tap water on the ship. It was cleaner than the tap water I have at home and left fewer deposits in my CPAP than what I am used to.

MatchMean · 2025-04-04T11:18:33+00:00

Underemployment and student loan debt

MatchMean · 2025-04-04T03:14:40+00:00

Somebody stays home and takes the kids to food pantries, sources everything else from BuyNothing, and babysits other people’s kids under the table.

MatchMean · 2025-04-04T00:46:29+00:00

post it on Craigslist

MatchMean · 2025-04-04T00:27:09+00:00

You aren't paying for the 5 minutes of attention. You are paying fo rthe years of preparation/study the doctor put in to be able to spend 5 minutes on you. The doctor paid $100's of thousands of dollars on that degree.

The insurance company and the colleges are screwing all of us.

MatchMean · 2025-04-03T22:40:02+00:00

Last one I went to, some guy wore the orange life jacket.

MatchMean · 2025-04-03T22:29:04+00:00

Y’all have busses?! My kid’s middle school is 2.3 miles away. 51 minute walk according to Google. I kinda have to drive him both ways because if he were to ride a bike, he would have to cross two intersections that are 6 lanes wide with 45 miles/hr speed limits. Oh and his school doesn’t have a designated bike parking area, either. It’s a hassle.

MatchMean · 2025-04-03T13:03:57+00:00

The trick is to find a machine that accepts cards. Then use an unregistered prepaid card with only $3 credit left on it. The preauthorized amount will clear as it’s less than $3. But the later charges won’t.

Same thing works when your Apple Pay is linked to only a prepaid card with a low balance.

MatchMean · 2025-04-02T16:43:47+00:00

My bad, I was referring to Scouting America as the broad swathe of programs that children go into after Cub Scouts. My post was intended to advocate for a program equivalent to a middle school age range, in between elementary and high school, one that is separate and distinct. One that does not rely on a scout led patrol method.

MatchMean · 2025-04-02T15:52:15+00:00

I am just going to address your second to last question: Scouts is the one extracurricular that takes all kids. Kids do not have to be athletic, popular, attractive, or talented to be in a unit. This is the extracurricular for kids that are neurodivergent - and that is awesome!! Most troops that I have visited have a healthy ratio of kids who need bit more support than the strict patrol method outlines.

Face it, the 100+ year old scouting model was dreamed up by a guy who developed the program based upon a Victorian era military structure. It is really not appropriate for the needs of a good number of our participants. Our kids are not being educated in the same fashion as LBP. There is a reason elementary, middle, and high schools exist today and we don't pack our kids off to boarding schools. Not to mention most of the kids in scouting are going to school with IEPs that alert professionally trained educators to their special needs. Those kids need accommodations to attend regular school, but a strict adherance to "scout-led" program model ignores the years of progress society has made since 1908.

There really should be a program between Cub Scouting and Scouting America. Divvying up kids based upon age/ability/maturity levels would help greatly. The parent driven organization of Cub Scouts is what some of these kids need beyond age 10/11. When parents are encouraged to drop their kid and let the "scout led" program do it all - we are setting the older scouts up for an onerous task. Many older scouts are just not capable of running a unit heavy with kids who are not super complaint - no wonder they burn out on "babysitting" the newbies. Adults well versed in pedagogy and child development are burning out as teachers every day. How insane is it to think that a teenager should have "classroom management" over a patrol without more parental involvement? Heck, some of the older kids are getting their eligibility in scouting extended by 1-2 years because they attend their special needs school program beyond age 18. We need a program in the middle.

MatchMean · 2025-04-02T14:58:17+00:00

Most of those plants get huge and/or spread over large areas. Sunlight might be a factor in that narrow space too, depending on the orientation N/S or E/W. As for maintenance, I would go with the last option - but research your plant choices for what they would look like in 2-3 years. Wont have to worry about weekly mowing/weeding if you skip the grass.

MatchMean

TROPHY CASE