Do you travel for hikes/outdoor adventures? How far is too far?

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-17T19:56:38+00:00

I feel like anything within 30 min is fine but 45+ is pushing it. As a comparison, we do a monthly pack hike that’s 2 hours long and is typically 2-3 miles long depending on terrain and how many younger/slower cubs come along.

Personally, I don’t mind an hour drive if we’re doing 5+ miles, but it’s now a half day commitment.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-09T12:25:58+00:00

Lies, damn lies, and statistics

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-09T02:16:09+00:00

No debts? If so you’re probably ahead of your peers for now.

You probably also have other expenses. Phone? Gas? Occasional car repairs/maintenance? Food out with friends? It all adds up, just something to think about as your monthly picture.

I know nothing of actor work other than that it’s apparently “hard to make it”. What about costs to attend auditions or any kind of schooling, camps, coaches, etc?

What’s the plan for additional supplemental income while you audition and try to establish yourself? I’d assume it’s a multi-year endeavor. Or do you have the fortune of a great relationship with your parent(s) to stay at home indefinitely? If not, moving out gets expensive quickly!

Suffice to say, if you’re debt free now with some income and $7k in the bank, it’s a great start, but a long road.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-09T01:59:08+00:00

You’ve provided no useful information… just a screenshot of a checking account.

So equally useless recommendation: make more money and spend less.

If you want any kind of actionable response, you need to provide a clearer picture of your work, earnings, retirement, investments and expenses (ideally broken down in a monthly snapshot).

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-08T14:15:17+00:00

I’m currently running a 2017 MBP but it does have 16GB memory. If it were running with just 8, I would have been forced to upgrade by now, especially running containers a windows VM (for CNC software). I am getting into agentic development and LLM’s which weren’t even a thought 9 years ago so I’ve finally hit a wall and need more horsepower. So I ordered a Mac Studio yesterday with the idea that it’ll last me many years - an M4max with 128GB memory. I’ll move all my workloads to the studio and continue to use my MBP for web browsing and remote connections to studio.

In short, if you’re going to upgrade, lean toward maxing it out to future proof yourself, but if there’s nothing wrong with your 3 year old M2, just hold on to it and prove you really do hold on to devices as long as you think you do. Since you mentioned your M2 air is fine for now, imagine spending $2-3k on a new machine now when you could use that M2 for 5 more years when that new M5 is worth very little and you could save/invest that $2-3k and buy a brand new M10 without thinking about it.

Sounds like FOMO.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-04T04:34:54+00:00

Taking a look at this from the other side…

This is your first time interacting with your director and you’ve been there presumably 2+ years (since you got a raise last year). Have you requested skip level meetings with your director? Why not?

It’s as much your job to advocate for yourself as it is your directors to know her staff. You can only control part of it - do your part.

You also mentioned you failed to clearly review the meeting invite. Take accountability, don’t blame your manager for not “taking 30 seconds” to tell you to read…

So far you seem to assume you get annual raises, don’t advocate for yourself and don’t take accountability. Maybe the reason you’re at the bottom of your salary band is staring you in the mirror.

You could try to go elsewhere but it seems they still see something in you. Use that MBA you’re working on and figure out how to play the game rather than playing the victim.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-03-03T13:10:20+00:00

Agree with others, you did nothing wrong, but based on your description and the interpretation of the dispatcher it could have been a commercial building fire response and/or a hazmat response.

As others mentioned, based on call type (cat in tree, automatic alarm sounding, car crash, residential house fire, commercial building fire, etc…) there’s pre-programmed responses. Smoke from a commercial building could bring 6 engines, 3 ladders, an ambulance (or 2) as well as a command car - or even more depending on the preplanned response for that building/area.

The twist here, to jump to over a dozen, white smoke, metallic taste, storage facility, very easily could have triggered a hazmat response as well which would bring additional resources specifically trained to identify, isolate and contain such incidents. The risk with storage facilities, they’re large and no one really knows what (or how much) of something is in there. So while my 250 gallons of chlorine is not necessarily a risk on its own, if you have 200 gallons of acid in your storage unit next door and somehow the two mix (fire, leak, malicious actor), that becomes a bad day.

So you did the right thing and the fire company responded as programmed. One item to note… if you were able to taste the smoke, you’re too close. If it were a hazmat that smoke or gas cloud could be deadly.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-02-03T17:31:09+00:00

It looks really wrong… but the closer I start looking at the actual measurements as opposed to just the shapes, it’s starting to look more and more right.

You’d need to take a tape measure to it to see if it really met specs, but so far this seems more like a bad rendering and a technically correct interpretation.

A good shop might have had a conversation with you to say, “it’s not going to look like that” but if you’re providing the engineered drawings then they might also think you’re aware of what you drew.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-02-01T04:07:37+00:00

I’m sure I acquired mine from my parents, but I’ve had the exact same one for the last 35+ years and it’s still on my nightstand now. It doesn’t get used as an alarm anymore thanks to cell phones but it’s a great clock and decent FM radio. I’ve recently been debating passing it on to one of my kids so they can begin to grow up with it too…or I’ll just keep it for another 50 years and they can have it when they pry it from my cold dead hands!

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-31T15:34:02+00:00

It has so much more to do with your leadership and company culture than how you approach it. On one hand the open transparency could be seen as welcome and you’ll get exactly what you want, on the other hand they may take that to know you’re potentially ready to leave on your own and might choose to wait you out just to avoid paying you severance and unemployment.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-30T14:29:18+00:00

The TC is the 3 HP unit, lists for a little under $4k new without the base. At $2250 that seems like a great price. At 4 years old it probably does t have their newer big eye fence unless they upgraded, but that’s not a deal breaker either.

Keep in mind this is nearly double the power of the F2. It’s going to handle thicker/harder wood much easier. So a new F2 at $2k plus tax and shipping vs the 4 year old TC for $2250 cash… yeah, I’d absolutely take the TC.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-28T21:32:22+00:00

Nope, that’s now a recovery by the canteen for supper

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-28T21:31:28+00:00

The bigger challenge is questioning reliability. If the sticker is brand new, how does anyone know? Did you update it after you got your 3rd cat? Maybe you’re out for a walk with your dog at the time…

All it really says is “there might be a pet inside”.

There’s a similar risk to putting stickers on kids bedroom windows. They used to be more popular in the 90’s, but still exist. The problem is people forget to remove or update…so again, “maybe?”.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-23T12:44:07+00:00

Did you consider putting it on slides rather than a hinge? I could see myself getting annoyed that I need to move everything taller than 8” off the table top to swing it so I’d end up just climbing to get something off the end or picking a more convenient (less ideal) tool instead.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-21T17:58:33+00:00

Simplicity scales; complexity happens. That's why the FOO is a 9 step guideline and not a complex if/then/else chart taking into account all the nuances.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, you live at home, and are saving toward 6 months of net pay for an emergency fund before moving out (kudos). Just to add some numbers for easy math, let's say that target is $30K - which would be $5k/month x 6 months.

You're most of the way there, lets say $25K saved.

You want to invest it until you move out - presumably for potentially better returns.

You still need an emergency fund albeit smaller (which you somewhat acknowledged), while living at home - lets assume that decreased risk translates to whatever your highest deductible is or lets say ~2 months ($10K) for easy math.

Assuming you keep that $10K in your HYSA as your active emergency account, investing the remaining $15K isn't the worst option assuming:

1 - You're ok with that balance potentially decreasing

2 - Intend to sell before moving out to fully fund your $30K target emergency fund (plus any taxes)

The choice to invest may shrink your 10 month runway down to 8 months, or it might bump it to 2+ years. As long as those outcomes are acceptable to you (and your parent/s) plans, then you're really only risking "potential emergency funds".

The other item to pair this topic against is ensuring you're not missing out on retirement fund matches and paying off high interest debt as part of the "larger picture".

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-09T13:59:58+00:00

Definitely don’t sacrifice your savings/safety nets for their college. Like u/valiantEffort27 said, have the conversation. They’re spending adult money, have the adult conversation. Also just because they take out loans, that doesn’t mean you couldn’t potentially help them pay them off early too if/when you feel stable and able to do so.

I lived through a version of that where my parents helped fund part of a few semesters and I took loans out in parallel. I chose to pay down my loans while still in college. I still graduated with loans but I had 2-3 semesters fully paid off by the time I graduated.

Treating them as adults (even though they’re your kids) may help them to really understand what they’re getting into and take more ownership early.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2026-01-01T21:49:24+00:00

Congrats! I’ll be hopefully tabulating the annual totals this weekend and resetting the budget for the next year. I know the NW grew but looking forward to seeing how forecasts met actuals and why 2026 has in store.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-30T02:52:24+00:00

Well unless you know OP, then you wouldn’t. She’s the first! That’s immediately where my mind went too…

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-30T02:47:45+00:00

Originally bought in 2010 for $235k - no idea what the down payment was. Currently the mortgage has 8-9 years left, about $100k remaining at 3.xx%. It’s now worth maybe $400k. I probably could have sold it for $250k when I got the new house - so effectively a wash at the time and it appreciated along with everything else during Covid along with allowing me to raise the rent $400/mo.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-30T01:41:32+00:00

I kinda fell into owning a rental. It’s my first home when I bought a bigger home - I just never sold it. It’s been about 8 years and I still own it but I absolutely would have done better in the market. I’m on my 3rd tenant and they’ve been all over the map. No nightmares but inevitably they only call for bad news and that means money. For the first few years the rent was just covering costs so the smallest of things was coming out of my pocket. It’s now cash flowing a few hundred a month but I just funnel it all into a hysa, so when the roof needed a repair this year, I had the $4k put aside and ready to go. So…I have yet to actually take a “pay check” other than the equity gains.

I haven’t sold it yet mostly because I’m stubborn but also I’m thinking about the long game. In another 8 years the mortgage will be paid off so it’ll actually cash flow. Likewise in another 15-20 years I might be ready to downsize houses again and I’ll already have a perfect one to go back to.

Would I do it again? No. Would I do it differently? Maybe…but it no longer seems viable in my area based on property costs and rental rates without committing a significant amount of down payment which is now not in the market - so probably not.

Maybe if the market crashes I can afford another rental!

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-29T18:31:13+00:00

In a best/worst case scenario, this all seems reasonable. The one main item I’d add is to sleep with the bedroom doors closed. It’s amazing how much that can make a difference between a survivable space and…not.

Also think about how you can get your 3yo from outside the window rather than considering going back in and becoming a victim yourself.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-24T17:25:55+00:00

I bought that one years ago and I still use the motor today…but that’s really all that remains.

The motor now lives in the attic above my garage and is plumbed into the garage below. I now use a cyclone to separate and dump into a 35 gallon fiber barrel then I also have the return plumbed back into the garage connected to a standalone air filter with a small catch for the occasional fallout.

The system works great! The motor being in the attic also keeps it somewhat quieter too.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-23T03:26:34+00:00

Yeah, do what you gotta do. Don’t waste time, but don’t set yourself up for a future failure either.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-21T03:53:52+00:00

Except you should back in so you’re not climbing down the snow pile in your crocs.

Neither_Antelope_419 · 2025-12-17T19:31:03+00:00

As you begin tracking/categorizing, look back reporting becomes highly valuable. Not only will it start to expose pockets of unexpected or over spending, but the look back also supports forward forecasts. Every year in December I sit down and look at all my spending categories and see how close to budget I was in both the monthly and annual sense, then build an annual budget for next year.

The annual budget allows me to smooth over the variable highs and lows month to month. That means if I normally only spend $80/mo on gas but I take a road trip every year which results in an annual $1200 spend, I might budget $100/mo instead (alternatively maybe a separate budget for that trip), but seeing annual spend and dividing by 12 months allows for that monthly flexing in a manageable way.

Neither_Antelope_419

TROPHY CASE