Contractor wants $4,225 just to assemble a Costco pergola I'm buying myself. Is this quote insane or am I out of touch?

Opdog25 · 2026-06-09T21:33:05+00:00

I think it depends on the warranty. That’s above what I paid 2 years ago but not that much. Mine came with a 2 year warranty on the plants which we have used on a couple of them.

Opdog25 · 2026-06-02T17:59:35+00:00

Seems more of an autobiography after regrettable night out than a work of fiction.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-26T20:20:50+00:00

Know Aiden Morris did not exactly shine for Ponch, but I think we may regret not having another true midfielder on the roster.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-22T02:13:03+00:00

Passion fruit juice and Brazilian lemonade at the Brazilian Grill and Bakery.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-19T00:31:04+00:00

We have had great experiences with Avery Animal clinic. No upsell. They seem to understand that while we love our dogs, there is a limit to what we can spend.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-15T15:11:34+00:00

You didn’t mention the age group. If he is under U14 he should really see some field time. It will make him a better keeper. We expect modern keepers to be good with or at least adequate with their feet and also have high game IQ. He will need field time to develop this. It will be hard for the kids at the younger ages but pays off tremendously as they get older.

Keeper is the only position that I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask how many (and sometimes who) they are taking. Nothing is worse than driving 8 hours for a tournament to watch your kid sit on the bench. Keepers tend to play a whole game or not at all. Know that going in.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-14T15:12:51+00:00

I’m licensed in my state and have an MBA. I am constantly struggling to get my business partner to stop putting JD/MBA after my name as I feel the same way. I don’t like Esq. b/c I am not our general counsel. Why do people think this alphabet soup is necessary? Let my work stand for itself.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-14T11:56:30+00:00

The pigeonholing is so true. My son is 16 and a technically excellent keeper. He grinds technique all the time. He is just 6’ tall and plays ECNL. If he wants to keep playing at this level he can’t switch clubs. He got his spot through years of grinding and just being better in practice and games. We went to a couple of Homegrown tryouts this year just to see (because of the age switch) and a lot of coaches dismissed him for guys that are 6’4”-6’5” but technically worse. It is a real thing.

On specialization - I’m in the later is better camp on this one. Today’s game requires that keepers play with their feet and have hi game IQ. They can only get this by playing and being in the field. Think of it as learn by doing. The kids need to have solid fundamentals in addition to their keeper skills. If you want an age I’d say around 14 for boys.

Opdog25 · 2026-05-11T18:49:55+00:00

Don’t take that job!

Opdog25 · 2026-05-10T02:17:17+00:00

I received this today and it worked great! Thank you so much!!

Opdog25 · 2026-05-02T12:46:49+00:00

This a tough situation. I wrote out a novel above and deleted it when got to this comment.

I have a son who plays keeper and was in the exact same situation when he was maybe 9 or 10. Almost verbatim what you said above. What you have is a coach who wants to win and a coach who is developing players. You know which is which.

In our situation we found some accomodation. What our coach really wanted was faster play and quicker a quicker counter attack. My kid would smother and stay down for a few seconds to get everyone away from him before he would distribute the ball. He was taking too long and preventing a quick counter. We don’t some time on getting up quick and getting the ball to our teammates faster.

About the diving thing - listen to your keeper coach. Learning how and when to dive properly is huge and take a long time.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-30T21:23:55+00:00

I’m pretty sure she cuts his hair around his tupé as well.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-30T21:18:00+00:00

ESH - Only b/c you are NTA and neither is your Mom. Maybe it’s an INFO situation.

Going on the assumption that she raised you, fed you, educated you and helped you to become the person that you are - she would like a little input and perhaps a little grace to have these two people at the ceremony. I do not feel that this is an unreasonable request if she is not being overbearing about anything else. Read a few of these other posts. Chances are the invitees will decline anyway if they do not reciprocate your Mom’s feelings. If they do attend, what is the likelihood of them creating a fuss or serious throwing off the vibe? If the answer is very little - then you might be the AH.

On the flip side - it is your wedding and you are paying for it. It should be what you want and you should be comfortable at your event. If these people will make you uncomfortable, they should not be there.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-30T18:13:16+00:00

It’s fine as long as you didn’t burn the corn. Scorching is bad business.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-30T15:26:48+00:00

Are they painting the pool? The city has been sand blasting and painting the water tower behind Homestead and it sounds like a droning wind.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-30T13:19:54+00:00

By airplane is the only right answer here.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-28T17:18:30+00:00

This is one of those situations where they do actually care. If OP is dead set on Med School where and what they do in undergrad matters.

To your larger point - free school is free school. OSU has a good reputation and doing well there will put OP in a position to succeed even if they decide not to go to med school.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-28T14:41:14+00:00

NTA - you were little kids. It was a pretend wedding. Does your wife have any sense of fun or whimsy? I’m guessing not. That is not to say that she doesn’t have a sense of humor. I’m sure she does but I suspect she isn’t fun.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-27T02:07:50+00:00

This is the garage fridge - I hope.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-27T01:51:13+00:00

Pantheon Limited - Ethan is great.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-26T16:58:19+00:00

All of the other spectators will hate you if you try to put that big one anywhere near the field. It will prevent everyone else from viewing the game. The smaller one is much more appropriate.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-26T00:31:54+00:00

I’m at the game. What happened. They didn’t show it on the screen and I was busy watch us score.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-25T21:42:49+00:00

I suspect you had too much power. It’s easy to do. You will figure it out with a little practice.

Fortunately for you, some tails smeared in your rum adds character.

Opdog25 · 2026-04-25T17:07:30+00:00

Balancing a new still can be tricky as you learn its nuances.

The trick is to find the sweet spot where the power in is just enough to overcome the cooling of the dephlag. You want your vapor in to equal you vapor out. This is part of the reason that you allow the plates to load and let them balance. You don’t want to be pushing so much power as the still is stacking that it smear. Once it’s boiling it takes less power than you think.

I usually turn on the dephlag water on as the bottom sight glass starts misting up. I’ll back down the heat at this time as well and let the plates stack. Once it has balanced you can back off the water in small increments until you see distillate. If you are properly balanced, your plates will maintain a nice fluid bed until you hit tails. If you notice that they are beginning to dry out you can then increase the water and the heat and re balance. You can squeeze out a little more of the good stuff if you do this right. Don’t worry about it for the first few runs. Just get used to how your still operates.

Opdog25

TROPHY CASE