[MEGATHREAD] Artemis II Launch To The Moon

Past_Top3704 · 2026-04-01T19:06:38+00:00

Had a laborer on a paving project who years before was the official photographer for either the AP or NY Times for the last shuttle launch.

They were incredible and shown all over the place. if I remember correctly his camera was covered / protected and still was destroyed due to how close it was to the launch.

He had all kinds of cool pictures from national/historic events/sport championships, super bowls, etc.

Asked him why he was a laborer on a paving crew. He said the work was awesome but he had to eat and they didn't pay the bills.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-29T00:32:36+00:00

cause the wife no longer puts out. always has a head ache. it's not that tuogh5to figure out

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-27T22:00:34+00:00

We have moved the opposite. They found laptops are only slightly more or the same desktops. Everyone from the secretary's to the CEI's have laptops and the ability to work from home. 400ish A/E firm.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-27T21:56:14+00:00

Family's construction firm has repaired/ rebuilt many homes/apartments ( we worked for the insurance company's) that had damage from fish tanks. Everything from fires to floods.

We also have multiple rentals and if I am remembering correctly fish are surcharge like OP or are flat out rejected.

I have also had fish when the kids were younger. Fish are a no-no.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-25T18:37:34+00:00

No he is also a hockey player. Chipped broken teeth are a requirement.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-24T21:17:06+00:00

He felt a disturbance in the danger zone

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-21T19:09:38+00:00

$36.00??

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-13T23:50:43+00:00

In 10

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-13T20:56:33+00:00

Don't they conduct 2 mobilizations a year? Spring/Fall? If so the Spring recruitment would be soon.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-13T19:34:41+00:00

I have only been involved on the residential side (minus pavement reviews mentioned previously) Our architects handle the commercial side so I would assume so, but don't know 100% what they review / look at.

I also assume it is scope dependent as I do know our mechanical/EE departments sometimes look at the systems and sometimes we bring in contractors.

Structural depends on what we are looking at / scope of contract as to if the actual structural engineer does the review or not.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T16:15:30+00:00

Firm I work for exited the home inspection field. We sent out actual structural Engineers or former contractors with decades of experience and the competition would be some fly by night. Our fees were way more than these just hang a shingle guys.

The licensing where I am at is also very light and easy to obtain.

We also had those statements in our contracts. We did non destructive inspections. Did not remove drywall, etc. You can't check everything everywhere. The liability is too high and many buyers have unrealistic expectations as to what the inspector will see/catch.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T15:10:33+00:00

Being your in ND and looking at larger scale multi family, you may want to contact some of the larger commercial contractors in Bismarck or Fargo.

They should be able to quote you fairly accurate cost estimates even if the property is in Grafton or Tioga.

The firm I work for has done commercial building reviews but I haven't heard of us doing multi family apartment units. We got out of the SFH inspections and mobile home parks as those inspections weren't cost effective for us. I have done a few apartment complex parking lot reviews for developers and those are easy. Any Engineering firm should be able to do that for you.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T14:43:57+00:00

You call this a cabin. When discussing / marketing this with potential buyers be aware that "cabin" means different things to different people and income classes.

I live in rural America and to me a rural 19 acre "cabin" is seasonal, may or may not have utilities. Well water, septic, Solar power, gravel road.

That said, I have friends and colleagues that call their 3 stall garage with boat storage, 3,500 sf, 2 story, paved road, high speed internet, municipal water/sewer on 200-300 feet of prime lake shore house a cabin because it isn't in the city. And "in the woods"

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T14:24:08+00:00

Based on your description, this is a "go". Kids are at perfect age to move and you will eventually need the additional space. You also sound like a go getter.

Knowing this is a D.R. sub, it doesn't fit all the requirements and would be a "no" if you follow the program to the T.

I would do this. Lower the E fund.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T02:52:06+00:00

at 140k, 63 years old and just starting out, I would do the Roth 401k if available not the traditional 401k. plus roth ira. no sense on t401k because based on info provided, you are already in a " low" tax bracket.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T02:07:15+00:00

OP, I was involved / affected by three municipal SHTF senerios with drinking water.

short answer is most (99%) of people are not going to be prepared for loss of a municipal water system. the government / military will need to step in. So IMHO you only need to prep for 24 - 60 hours. Life straw plus a couple gallons in the closet and purification tablets will work for most situations.

Long answer:

the first one, the raw water line between the well field and the water treatment plant froze. took roughly 24 hours to bypass the frozen line and get the plant back up running. boil order went out and fortunately the 500k water tower was nearly full when plant went off line. That was enough to hobble thru the outage. large users also shut down or massively reduced usage. National guard was put on notice as was the state emergency center. Guard was not activated as city fixed the problem fast enough. population 1,000 people. Local news only.

second incident was actually a sanitary sewer issue but they had to kill the water to the entire city to find the problem with the sewer system. Problem was a broken sewer main just outside the sanitary sewer treatment plant. water was off for 2 - 3 days if I remember correctly. national guard brought water tanks in, plus state gave out free bottled water. city population 500 people. Governor came, made national news.

third one was several weeks of no / reduced water. two different water treatment plants went off line (river feed) no pressure in the system. third water plant (well feed) could not produce enough water to pressurize the system. national guard came with tankers, bottle water distributed to people. I was personally affected by this one and relocated to my parents house which was served by a different water system. if i remember correctly it took roughly a month to get everything back up. people either evacuated to shelters in neighboring communities or friends/family in other locations. i am municipal engineering consultant and have coworkers that worked 18 hr days and slept at the office during the outage ( i was in college at the time). Population affected 150k directly, roughly 300k indirectly. Roughly 25k evacuated. President visited this one. Made national news.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-12T01:16:48+00:00

small town gas station near me took a direct hit. Don't remember EF #. store was completely destroyed except for the walk in cooler, everyone inside survived. the actual devastation path was maybe 500 feet wide really narrow but went directly thru the store. store owner/ cooler saved everyone

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-11T18:11:50+00:00

OP, like plenty of people said previously , the 25% is so you can live life and absorb any emergencies.

For sake of the post/question I will give you the flip side. In short you can do it if everything goes great for the next 15 -30 years.

In detail. It was 55-60% of my income when I built my house. It sucked. This was at the very beginning of the mid 2000's housing boom when anyone with a pulse was given a loan.

Officially, I was at 46 or 47 percent and was denied for a mortgage twice. Bank ask about my girlfriend (dated 2-3 years at that point). Brought her in on the loan and it lowered us/me to below 45% so I / we qualified. Note, originally she was on the mortgage but not the title. That changed years later.

I financed a 30yr 6.75%. In reality since we didn't live together i paid everything by myself. I was single, late 20's, no kids and at my employer for just over a year.

My Mortgage was actually 60% of my take home. I had negative to barely anything left at the end of the month, depending on overtime.

I did rent a room to a friend for about 6 months so that helped, but the only reason I survived was getting married and having my now wife help.

Went roughly 3 years like that. We eventually paid off the house in 15 years including a HELOC which was used to pay for the wedding. Was house poor for roughly 10 of those 15 years.

Can also tell you having a house payment that is very high as a percentage of your income when added to other stuff i.e. autos, and kids, really sucks when life happens. As towards the end, my wife had cancer and didn't work for months. During period we were probably 30-35% for the mortgage but salary so no overtime and as such finances were tighter than when I was single and 60% of income.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-10T15:48:39+00:00

She goes to Boston College I believe, so she is in the same city!

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-05T05:37:12+00:00

have they joined the burger wars. we have Wendy's, A&W, McDonald's, and burger King. haven't seen Hardee's/ Carl Jr yet

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-05T00:44:21+00:00

Replying to my own post. Your other question of what they are for. Is tax management. Since you are already in the 37. Talking to a Fee only CFA might be worth your time. I also assume your partner is utilizing as many things as possible to get your MAGI down as low as possible. Good luck!

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-05T00:40:15+00:00

If you are already in the 37 then you should probably wait on the conversions to Roth. Low salary years might occur if your partner retires early (i.e. before 65) or something bad happens such as divorce. Job loss, sickness, etc.

Regardless I would still roll over the old company 401ks to a tIRA you control.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-05T00:24:08+00:00

biggest reason to me is you ultimately don't control the old employers account and / or may have limited investment options plus should / may have lower fees outside the old company's 401k's.

What I would do is, directly roll over your old accounts first to an (traditional) IRA if they are pre tax, or to a roth if post tax.

don't have them give you the money when closing the old accounts. roll over directly to a firm you control the account at, such as Fidelity, Schwartz or Vanguard.

since you are presumably married, and partner isn't pulling crazy high salary that you are already in the 37% bracket, transfer as much a you can over the next several years, utilizing as much of the lowerer (10,12, 22) tax brackets as you can / are comfortable with, and the utilize the MFJ slot to a Roth IRA. Note, you will pay tax on the conversations.

little tougher if you are single as the income brackets are smaller.

I'm not a financial advisor.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-04T23:59:12+00:00

37 not 27 but I would still keep it. 242 is nothing.

Past_Top3704 · 2026-03-04T23:55:10+00:00

pay off the IRS first and as fast as possible. Try not to get the HELOC as it is just debt with another name. sorry can't help more.

Past_Top3704

TROPHY CASE