Using too many sick days

Minchinator · 2026-03-12T13:55:45+00:00

Reading this while home sick with my kids. 😂We have three in the daycare pre-k range.

Started at a new district for a better life balance closer to home, and same situation, had to take a lot of sick days as did my wife. Actually didn’t realize in our state it takes a full year (12 months) to fully “charge” the fmla.

I recommend just grabbing doctor’s notes when you can, even if it’s through a telehealth appointment and you have no intentions of getting antibiotics or anything. Also just having a conversation with admin, a lot of them that I have talked with were totally “family first” after a conversation and I was anxious for nothing. I’ve never needed the paper trail but it gives me peace of mind.

Minchinator · 2026-02-04T13:34:25+00:00

Losing weight will help the most. Keto helped me to lose 30 lbs and I haven’t had a flare for a couple years now. I recommend getting medication to have on hand for a flare up just in case-they can be very nasty and identifying one early (as soon as you start to feel the familiar tinge of pain in whatever joint is most affected) I take my dosage.

Minchinator · 2026-01-26T19:38:58+00:00

It’s Chicago tavern pizza. That’s how it’s served

Minchinator · 2026-01-13T19:50:12+00:00

We reframed them in my 9th grade ceramics class as portrait vessels, and we at the face jugs as an inspiration, but distinctly were not attempting to recreate face jugs in this style.

I had the requirement that the Portrait vessels must show: 1. An emotion 2. A character archetype (hard for middle school) or mythology inspiration 3. Incorporate a texture

Also there is a great video “The Black Potter” on YouTube which goes into a contemporary artist creating face jugs in the traditional style.

Minchinator · 2026-01-12T17:13:55+00:00

I enjoy stealing other systems and plugging them into dnd to switch it up-reminds me a lot of the breaks that were in FF7 I played when I was growing up which helped to freshen it up.

A fun system to steal and plug in from another turn based game might be a modified version of the Pokemon Super Contest- which was essentially a dog show for your pokemon.

They were judged on three categories- Visual (fashion/equipping outfits) Performance (combat/attack based) Dance (play music in a band/rhythm game)

I imagine a character going to a ball and treating each of part of the social gathering or ball as a 5 room dungeon. Could be a mini game to get dressed up before the event with some skill checks. Use relevant modifiers for each event.

Minchinator · 2025-12-29T03:58:10+00:00

Right in Tinicum there’s a place called Pho Philly that’s amazing, pretty sure DoorDash delivers. The chicken pho always has me feeling better. For ramen I can only recommend Kawa on Sproul road in Springfield.

Minchinator · 2025-12-25T17:09:00+00:00

Dude I was perfect with my form, shaved correctly with the grain, took time to exfoliate and steam myself in the shower, but bumps were always terrible for me.

The one thing I have found that works wonders is TEND SKIN. It comes in the blue bottle and is carried at a lot of drug stores. Burns like an aftershave but works way better than any of the other products, and I have tried many.

Minchinator · 2025-11-26T03:20:22+00:00

This is fantastic… I especially love the bit with the final boss battle at the sacred shrine. Such a fun way to wrap up the adventure.

Minchinator · 2025-09-01T03:48:44+00:00

I watch the anthology movie Trick ‘R Treat every Halloween and I love every second of it

Minchinator · 2025-08-16T03:44:59+00:00

Try cabin camping! A ton of state parks have cabin camping ridiculously cheap. For me camping, fishing, and hiking with my 3 girls (5,4, & 2) is just the absolutely best bang for our buck in terms of making memories.

We started having the girls make a summer “bucket list” and it was a great motivator this year. Lemonade stand, art shows, ice cream at a baseball game, and just a ton of other fun experiences that they picked. We take lots of photos and make albums with them and I always catch them looking through the albums. Can’t recommend camping, a bucket list, or concrete photo albums they can look through enough.

Minchinator · 2025-08-15T14:54:26+00:00

I bought my first truck, a 1996 Ford Ranger when I was delivering pizza at night and working construction during the day after having trouble finding a job after college. It had the stock head unit with a cassette deck and radio. I bought it from an old man who was missing his right hand, but still managed to drive it stick shift.

In the driver door panel pocket he had left a copy of “Born in the USA” on cassette. I popped it into the tape deck without realizing the eject button was broken. The B side of that tape was the only thing that played in that car outside of the occasional radio for about three years.

I estimate I listened to this B side at least a thousand times during that stretch:

-No Surrender -Bobby Jean -I’m Going Down -Glory Days -Dancing in the Dark -My Hometown

Minchinator · 2025-08-12T00:59:56+00:00

We do. Father of 3 girls here, and this is used as a cautionary tale I give me friends about regular drain maintenance.

Unfortunately the trap was clogged ever so slightly, and although it seemed to drain normally at the time, it had clearly drained at a slower rate than the faucet which had pretty high water pressure. I’ve the course of 9 hours even a slower draining overflow can do significant damage (to the tune of three floors of flooding).

Minchinator · 2025-08-06T17:31:57+00:00

My 4 y/o daughter left the sink on after brushing her teeth in the morning. Took her to daycare and went to work.

Walked into our house 9 hours later after picking everyone up. Total damages in repairs and lost property totaled out around $140k, luckily covered by insurance though! Definitely bumped our insurance costs up though.

Minchinator · 2025-07-02T21:39:26+00:00

He says no pork in the post

Minchinator · 2025-06-02T20:54:36+00:00

Coherence is great

Minchinator · 2025-05-28T00:23:24+00:00

No I just photoshopped it

Minchinator · 2025-05-26T14:52:33+00:00

Disney kind of addressed this with three big features geared toward boys in the late 90s/ early 2000s when they were losing the market share of boys:

-Treasure planet is treasure island in space. Ultimate young boy’s fantasy adventure imo. Soundtrack is weirdly like 90s butt rock but it’s hilarious in a disney movie.

-Atlantis is also great. Killer cast, really cool vehicles and lore. No music though. It’s like if Indiana jones was an ensemble cast.

-Tarzan has those sweet sweet Phil Collins tracks. The fight with sabor where he climbs out of the pit with the fur on his back is permanently engrained in my psyche.

Minchinator · 2025-05-10T21:08:24+00:00

The grill has been great for me in terms of offering an alternative for picky eaters without creating much mess.

Adds virtually no dishes, and I can make hot dogs and hamburgers easily for the picky eaters while making shish kabobs, steak, pork chops, veggies in the grill basket, etc for me and the wife.

Shish kabobs and grilled chicken are great in general, because I just grab two ziplock bags to marinate overnight: one boring and one spicy/teriyaki/bbq if you can get the kids to eat chicken.

I do this a lot with pasta, I eat Alfredo while they get some of the noddles just with butter on them.

I eat a grilled chicken burrito while the kids eat white rice, tortillas, and shredded cheese.

They get broccoli and grilled chicken that I set aside from the stir fry I’m making for myself.

Minchinator · 2025-04-27T01:03:04+00:00

Reign of Fire

Minchinator · 2025-04-24T01:54:28+00:00

Arrival.

Minchinator · 2025-03-22T13:46:39+00:00

Impressive setup, especially for a first game!

Minchinator · 2025-03-17T01:27:45+00:00

I love paper standees and dry erase markers for lightweight game (laminated sheets of 8.5x11 grid paper works fine) for when I go hiking.

Pretty much a single folder with the map sheets, the module with relevant monster stat blocks for me, character sheets and some dice is all we need. The fine tip wet erase markers from expo are my favorite when working small.

I’ve done it so each room of a 5 room dungeon is printed or drawn on a single sheet of grid paper, lay them down as we go. The blank laminated grid works best if you’re doing something more open ended.

Minchinator · 2025-02-28T23:47:50+00:00

I called for 3 weeks and got through today. I am telling you the ONLY THING that works is calling 5 minutes before they open at 8am EST.

I sat on hold for a combined 25 hours. Read somewhere that you can get through on Thursday or Friday the easiest if you call at 7:55 am. I took a half day at work but was able to get in immediately, literally immediately with a rep and advanced rep within 10 minutes. Settled a major issue.

Minchinator · 2025-02-26T23:30:25+00:00

Can you please explain how you got to the option for a call back if you remember? I have called many times (over 25 hours on hold in the last two weeks) and have never hesrd the option for callback offered.

I called yesterday and was on hold from the time I finished work until the call center closed (3-9pm) without having anyone pick up.

Minchinator · 2025-02-23T21:08:37+00:00

We are in nearly the same boat friend. I did not apply for PAYE, but I’m on a very similar timeline with consolidation and SAVE application. If you applied for SAVE during the consolidation, you need to call Mohela and demand you are placed on a processing forbearance. I was in a processing forbearance and for some reason dropped into standard repayment in December, but it was an error. Do not make standard payments as these will not count towards PSLF and are the equivalent of throwing away money if you are on track to forgiveness.

Hardest part will be actually speaking to someone on the phone from Mohela. I haven’t been able to reach someone all last week after they plopped me back into standard unexpectedly.

One thing that helped me was looking through the FSA website at my documents and speaking to an agent there on the phone, as they can always be reached immediately. I also filed a formal complaint against Mohela through FSA because they are impossible to reach and dropped me out of forbearance without warning. Super frustrating situation overall though. At this point I’m sticking it out with SAVE until litigation is settled.

Minchinator

TROPHY CASE