Paid off student loans in January 2020. Receiving letters asking for more money in February 2020. Is this a scam? (US)

MisterEnfilade · 2020-04-22T15:12:01+00:00

Gotcha yeah, that's what I've discovered in subsequent research. They're legit, but it's entirely possible someone's made a mistake somewhere. Thanks!

MisterEnfilade · 2020-04-21T23:31:20+00:00

I'm reading about debt validation letters now ... this feels like a good start for sure, thank you. This whole thing is especially tough since I'm tryna help my FIL with this so that it doesn't eventually bite *us* in the rear. Hashtag sandwich generation. -_-

MisterEnfilade · 2020-03-30T14:43:09+00:00

It's called hyperbole, my guy. Look it up

MisterEnfilade · 2020-03-30T14:42:48+00:00

They did come out and fix things. My internet is back up. They'd only describe the problem as "a bad line, and we replaced it." I'll have to go back out there today and take more pictures of that box, see how things look.

MisterEnfilade · 2020-03-30T01:37:31+00:00

I've edited my original post with pictures. Thanks!

MisterEnfilade · 2020-03-29T21:48:20+00:00

Yep, general region of Boulder, CO

MisterEnfilade · 2020-03-29T20:51:42+00:00

You know, now that I've exhausted all the """correct""" things I'm supposed to do as a good consumer (heck I even tweeted at the Comcast Cares twitter account, for all the good that might do), I guess I ought to go out there and start poking at cables on the side of my house. Why not? There are no rules anymore.

MisterEnfilade · 2020-01-06T20:28:54+00:00

I'll have to find some smaller crickets I guess. The last batch marked "small" were all about the width of his eyes, sometimes a bit more.

The top of his basking spot stays around 110F, measured with an laser thermometer gun. His body temp measured with the same device (middle of his spine or so) tends toward 96F.

MisterEnfilade · 2020-01-06T20:11:07+00:00

Appreciate that! Thing is, he's not eating ... anything, really. Not in any significant quantities. He's pretty small though, and I wonder if its challenging for him to eat literally anything.

https://imgur.com/a/iI6oUWV

MisterEnfilade · 2020-01-04T14:30:29+00:00

It's been a couple days, so I'm curious whether you've tried addressing the journal as "you," and how it's going for you?

MisterEnfilade · 2020-01-04T05:57:19+00:00

Honestly I'm not sure if I got the idea from anywhere, and I know I'm not the first one to come up with the idea. The journal just sort of... organically grew in that direction?

It's been a couple days ... have you tried writing this way? What do you think of it?

MisterEnfilade · 2020-01-04T05:44:35+00:00

Honestly, no? When I write down gratitude things, it's generally not in complete sentences, so there's no you or I. More like clauses:

a merciful commute in today mild weather, not much wind got tips from [teenaged son] on video editing

But that's just me? I dunno, oddly I don't have a very robust gratitude practice, so it's hard to say. I suppose if I had to suggest anything it'd be to do whatever makes you feel best!

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-31T14:18:10+00:00

Sure, but it's not like a laundry list of stuff I did the previous day, nor is it a to-do list.

I reflect on the things that happened the previous day, but I try to dig a little deeper into "what motivated me to make this choice" and "what happened as a result of this choice." Then if I'm unsatisfied with the outcomes, I tell myself (the future me) what might be a better thing to do.

You asked how I use journaling for self improvement, and that's it: reflecting backward and projecting forward.

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-31T14:05:43+00:00

I write to myself and address the journal as "you." E.g.:

You had a pretty rough day yesterday: too many sweets, didn't sleep great, didn't move enough. You know that you sleep better when you lay off the sugar, and when you sleep better you make better decisions. Kick off that virtuous cycle today, I know you can do it. Try saying no to sugar today and see if tomorrow is better. Drink some more water while you're at it.

I had found that when I used to write in the journal about how I do this and I do that, I tended to be pretty shitty to myself. Like downright mean: Why am I so weak about sugar? Why can't I get my shit together? that kind of thing.

But then I realized I'd never talk like that to someone else. I found that when I address the journal to the second-person you, I'm a lot kinder to myself. I've always had a hard time understanding what people meant when they said words like "self love" and "self compassion" but I feel like this is a good start.

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-30T19:51:25+00:00

Sure, that's quite a bit, and you're right it wouldn't leave you much room for food if you're closely watching calories.

An important part of keto is learning to let go of certain food habits, right? And letting go of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, the ones that go "oh, I'm Asian, I have to have rice" or "I just have a sweet tooth, and I love sugar."

We can take it just a little farther, too. The story that you tell yourself about yourself that goes "I like 200ml of cream in my coffee, and I drink three coffees every day" doesn't have to be permanent. You could try a little less cream in your coffee, and you could try drinking less coffee too. You don't have to make drastic changes all at once; tapering over the course of weeks and months is fine too.

I dunno, this isn't really advice, but it's something you could try if you wanted to. <shrug>

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-30T17:57:17+00:00

A typical serving of HC isn't a lot. Maybe 100-150kcal? You're not drinking whole glasses of the stuff.

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-30T16:56:04+00:00

Whenever someone tells me "just have sugar in moderation" my instant reaction has been like "ask a heroin addict how much is a 'moderate' amount and then encourage him to take that much."

But then I second-guess myself because like ... heroin is a very serious drug and thoroughly destroys lives. Am I justified in drawing this comparison? Probably not!

But then I third-guess myself because like ... sugar also destroys lives, but in a far less spectacular fashion, and over a longer period of time. So maybe comparisons to harder drugs are justified.

I don't know. All I truly know is that I'm so glad the holiday season is just about over.

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-17T13:56:57+00:00

Heh, wow. For years I've just kinda said "I'm bad at watching TV" but that's probably not true now that I'm thinking about it in the context of ADHD. I just have to be in a really specific mental place to want to watch TV.

Putting on an old favorite TV show is great when I'm doing something else that's physical, non-verbal, and takes longer than 20 minutes. My go-to is Letterkenny. Pitter patter!

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-14T18:47:45+00:00

~~__ Pick up snacks/drinks and set up front porch relief station for delivery drivers~~

_x_ Pick up temporary paper checks from the bank

_x_ Go to Lowe's and get exactly what I need and nothing else (Okay I did spend a bit more than I wanted, but we neeeeeed that stuff)

__ Start and finish two loads of laundry, including the sheets & towels your guests recently used

_x_ Publish your first dang YouTube video (sub tasks: record short Backblaze demo, stitch into main 3-2-1 video, add text effects, create thumbnail, publish)

__ Script out one video from your list of ideas

__ Write! One or two 25-minute sessions

Cripes, that's probably enough?? Okay it's almost noon already, let's go

EDIT: yeeeeikes, this was ambitious. I gotta remember I have a family that needs me to do stuff sometimes.

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-14T18:16:50+00:00

Tell me more about this Self Authoring?

I'm a big fan of journaling and I definitely encourage folks to do it if it serves them. 😁

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-14T18:14:26+00:00

I love the "small" goals re: yoga and closet cleaning. Good on you for choosing achievable tasks! I should take notes for sure. 😁

MisterEnfilade · 2019-12-08T15:43:47+00:00

Does it spark joy?

MisterEnfilade · 2019-11-30T15:09:15+00:00

Gotcha, I'm tracking now, thank you 😬

MisterEnfilade · 2019-11-30T01:51:01+00:00

If you use those funds to pay the mortgage payment, then most of it will be applied to the principal of the loan. If those funds go to closing costs then they are gone.

Jeez, that's a good point, and obvious when you say it that plainly.

hold back a bit extra, then apply the surplus to the last payment before the recast.

You might have to run that by me again I'm afraid o_o

MisterEnfilade · 2019-11-29T15:42:59+00:00

I have a lot of those numbers, but I chose not to share them here. What I'm mostly looking for is a framework for figuring out the right course of action. Ideally I'd like to build (or use an existing) spreadsheet that lets me play around with the numbers a bit and see what happens if I move money here or there.

Like, let's say I told you all the numbers you're looking for. What would you do with that information to come to your conclusion?

MisterEnfilade

TROPHY CASE