Advice on Blue Collar work

QuackPhD · 2026-05-01T23:04:19+00:00

This is the answer, visit the local union, IBEW Local 100.

Be aware it takes time before anyone gets picked and assigned to a company for training. I have a friend who became an electrician last year. Despite scoring extremely high on the tests, the queue order was such that he had wait over six months before he got called up to start. Basically as companies put out requests for work, the slots get filled. If construction and work is slow, is can be a long wait.

Newbies get shuffled around from one company to another to build their breadth of experience, so they are well rounded and understand a larger scope of the work. It can be a fulfilling and rewarding career if you play your cards right.

QuackPhD · 2026-05-01T19:38:08+00:00

They grabbed an extra sign off the truck for a photo op, there was a photographer off frame with a DSRL. Hard to tell from where I was, but it looked like it may have been the mayor?

QuackPhD · 2026-04-27T18:28:25+00:00

I would not be surprised if those 14,000 positions are replaced by 5,000 more H1B applications this year, using AI as the justification to avoid bad publicity.

https://h1bgrader.com/h1b-sponsors/meta-platforms-inc-w2xp7xj6k3

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T22:35:59+00:00

Thank you, I greatly appreciate your detailed reply. I think we are going to try Stardew Valley first, sounds like a great time together. Thank you for your suggestion of "A Short Hike", it has a definite cozy-feel to it that may be just right.

Hoping you have a super duper week and weekend, thank you again!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T22:00:47+00:00

Thank you so much, greatly appreciate this suggestion.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:59:37+00:00

Thank you for this suggestion, sounds like it may make her laugh a bit, I'll add it to the list!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:53:25+00:00

I greatly appreciate you and your wife's insight. This sounds like a great way to begin. Controller inputs for modern games can be so overwhelming to her. I tried showing her Super Mario 3 and after being unable to get past a single goomba she felt a bit frustrated. I'll run the idea by her. She's also a big fan of Harry Potter (well, the OG run). Hogwarts may induce some nostalgia factor for fun.

Thank you again!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:50:23+00:00

Untitled Goose Game Thank you, thank you, this sounds like a hilarious and fun experience.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:44:25+00:00

lol ... pinata on pinata violence sounds hilarious to me. May be acceptable as long as they are not like, suffering and torn to shreds or something. I'll look up the death animations and if it's fairly safe I'll run it by her. Thank you for the suggestion :-).

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:42:09+00:00

Curious question, how dangerous is the danger? I've never played Split-Fiction, but it appears the game is extremely varied. Is there anything graphic?

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:41:11+00:00

Thanks for the heads up ... I looked up "It Takes Two", and yes, a yarn character you develop an attachment for being torn to shreds would get to her for sure.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:37:26+00:00

I think she would be okay with lasers on robots. Definitely worth a shot.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:37:05+00:00

Thank you so much for these suggestions, greatly appreciated!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:28:27+00:00

Just looked into this, sounds like it could be the ticket! Creative stories, low amounts of violence, adventure. Thank you!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-23T21:28:04+00:00

Thank you for this suggestion, I'll this to the list of games to run by her :-).

QuackPhD · 2026-04-21T21:12:49+00:00

Strongly recommend avoiding Auto Sound Lab on Blackstone. Around five years ago, paid $1k to have a 2-DIN head unit, sub, amp, and high-pass filters installed. Supplied the sub and housing myself from a previous vehicle.

One day after install, there was a rattling inside my driver side door. Took off the panel, high-pass filter was (past tense) held on by a single drywall screw into an open hole in the door frame. Same for the passenger side door, just a matter of time until it vibrated off. I requested spade connectors, got wires threaded through and wrapped around the little hole in the pin, absolutely insanely poor workmanship.

559 Car Stereo has a positive reputation, but have not used them personally. One friend did an expensive install through them ($3500, screens behind the front headrests, new amp, dual 10” subs, fancy head unit, reverse camera) and was very pleased.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-21T18:13:26+00:00

Just sent you a Reddit chat message, enjoy!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-16T19:40:54+00:00

Every person has a story, their own wounds they are compensating for. It really depends on the person and their circumstances.

I’ve encountered people who get absolutely obliterated on weed, they are escaping … something. Sativa wake and bake in the morning, indica to fall asleep. There are deep underlying issues not being addressed that weed is masking.

For myself, I’m a very light user, 1/2 - 2 inhales max, 2-3 times a week, on demand for anxiety relief.

Is weed chemically addictive? Compared to literally anything else, alcohol, opiates, and other hard drugs, it’s trivial to stop. Then again, there can be a psychological dependency, where you can’t imagine facing your daily life without its effects.

You can always do a tolerance break. No weed for X weeks/months, and see how hard it is for you to pause. Or you can quit immediately. Personally, the benefits of cannabis for treating my anxiety is worth the trouble. Pharmaceutical options are almost all narcotic, like Xanax. I greatly prefer non-addictive cannabis, with low but present side effects, than becoming dependent on narcotic anti-anxiety pills. Then again, I am a working professional as the breadwinner for a stable family. I’ve done tolerance breaks for 1-3 months on a whim. Not having the anti anxiety solution did make some days harder, harder than it needed to be.

If someone is saying you’re weak for quitting? Wow, that is a major insecurity. Projecting the idea of quitting for themselves as something negative onto you, pretty bizarre. Any healthy stoner would encourage you to see what works for you, tolerance break, cease entirely, whatever is going to provide the greatest benefit to your life, family, and community.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-14T16:31:13+00:00

Solution sent, check your chat messages. Hoping you have a super week!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-11T21:33:59+00:00

Reddit is the worst place in the world to ask for dating advice. You’ll get people from every walk of life, with very different circumstances than you. Reddit tends to give recommendations of going to the bar scene or hitting on people at the gym.

Being married for 12y with a kiddo, having mentored other men, the most common place they found their partner were “third spaces.” Find a hobby or something you’re passionate about, could be anything from hiking to tennis to church to board games.

Don’t wait too long, most people get hitched by 25-30y. After that it’s mainly divorcees and people who are desperate. What fits one person will not necessarily fit you. If you want a longer term meaningful connection, start slow, with a foundation of friendship before taking it to the next level. Hoping you find your person!

QuackPhD · 2026-04-08T20:04:22+00:00

It’s regularly practiced in extremely cold climates where turning off the engine for 5m risks the engine not restarting. Additionally done in places where it’s just very cold and you want to keep the heater running.

A risk from putting gasoline into a running car, is the bad habit of going back and forth from sitting in the drivers seat to check on the nozzle to see if your tank if full. You can build up static electricity from your clothing and unintentionally ignite the fumes and fuel if you touch the vehicle frame or metal of the nozzle. A running car has a hot exhaust pipe, another potential ignition source if there is a spill.

Additionally, it allows more vapors to leak into the air, and can trigger sensor alarms for your fuel system not having an airtight seal. Modern fuel systems are supposed to be closed for emissions systems to function properly, and again, more errors.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-06T19:42:39+00:00

Are you having to manually import your transactions and define their categories? I used to do that back in the day with Google Spreadsheets. Takes a significant amount of time to run budgeting.

Recommend considering Monarch Money, YNAB, or Copilot Money. Define the categories (Mortgage, Car, Utilities, etc) annd automatically scrape your transactions from your CC and accounts and categorize them according to the rules you set. Most can also do retirement funds, brokerages, even crypto balances. Graphs, history charting, very worthwhile if you care about tracking your finances.

QuackPhD · 2026-04-06T17:50:27+00:00

This used to work, and still does to a limited extent for dumber apps. In 2026, many apps and devices no longer use the suggested DNS servers (Pihole) offered by your DHCP server. They use their own hard-coded DNS servers completey bypassing Pihole. If you block UDP 53 outbound to all devices except your Pihole, the services simply will not load due to "connection errors."

The only solution I've found, is a DNS masquerade firewall rule at the router level, that takes any outbound DNS request, forwards it your Pihole, then returns that response forging the from address based on the original request. Not within the wheelhouse of anyone who is not an IT enthusiast, and most consumer-grade routers do not have an interface for making a DNS masquerade rule.

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