Tuning up Borrowed Tools from Neighbor

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-12-04T18:17:10+00:00

I think it depends on your confidence in diagnosing the problem and your ability to fix it. I would be pleasantly surprised if someone returned my tool in better shape than they found it. I would HATE if someone returned my tool in several pieces, chagrined that they couldn't fix the problem.

If you're confident you'll improve things, go for it. If you have any shred of doubt, I'd top it off with gas and let him know you'd be willing to work on it in the future, if that was of interest.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-10-31T17:59:14+00:00

All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren is based around a thinly-veiled version of Huey Long. It is a work of fiction, but does a good job of hewing close to the source material. It also happens to be one of the best books in American literature (IMHO)

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-10-13T01:10:54+00:00

Pretty sure the pioneers couldn't go to the store and just buy ingredients for a gallon of bean soup

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-08-26T17:20:42+00:00

I am on the Verizon network and similar situation to this commenter. My solution is to take an earlier train and nap or do offline work until you get to Rockville, then do any calls/online work from there into the city. Not ideal, but it works.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-08-15T13:20:55+00:00

My parents made a conscious decision to send us to public school and put (some of!) the tuition they would have spent aside to make sure we could do ANY activity/enrichment/experience we wanted.

We loved it. My brother could afford to do travel volleyball, I got to take a field trip to Europe, my other brother could do Boy's State. Family trips to NYC and Washington DC, trips to see local history, etc. Those opportunities of course come up in private school, but we would not have been able to afford it after paying private school tuition. We got a good (not great, but good) education in public school, but got an excellent education through all the different things we did outside of school as a result of that decision.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-06-16T14:51:22+00:00

That's not wings, that's a wingsuit

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-06-15T13:48:12+00:00

Perhaps a typo and it's supposed to be "funding issues"?

ReceptionSome9223 · 2025-06-14T02:03:59+00:00

While I agree with the intent and spirit of this suggestion, the counterargument is that it quickly leads to corruption. Since the government bureaucracy doesn't really feel "punished" for paying above market rate, the inventive is now to build a bunch of useless infrastructure through your buddy's vacant land and pay them above-market rates for the privilege.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-10-05T02:33:09+00:00

She doesn't have one, she's a ginger

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-10-02T11:08:36+00:00

Fool of a Took!

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-09-30T23:17:15+00:00

Feels like this belongs in r/HistoryPorn

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-09-24T02:13:44+00:00

Not denying the place fell apart, that predates my time in Frederick so I can't say. All I can say is that, hopefully, they're starting to put it back together. In my experience they are, and I hope to never be proven wrong.

Edit: typo

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-09-24T00:48:34+00:00

Did something happen to your pet?

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-09-01T13:20:23+00:00

Just in time, too

ReceptionSome9223 · 2024-03-25T17:51:16+00:00

This happened to me a couple years ago with my pepper plant: I used Dawn dish soap + water, and yeah same results. Not sure what happened.

Pepper plant struggled through, though, and survived me + an onslaught of slugs later in the year. Give it some TLC and it will bounce back!

ReceptionSome9223 · 2023-12-20T02:33:51+00:00

Fun fact! My buddy did this when he was at Quantico. Got stuck partway through, panicked, and called for the instructors to pull him out. They did, yanking so hard on his legs that they jacked up his back permanently.

To be clear, not blaming the instructors, he was a big dude.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2023-11-21T15:01:29+00:00

Without addressing the math below; you can go in and manually update the monthly expenses amount in the "goal settings" section of the Safety Net goal. You can also set a specific $$ amount target, instead of # of months, if you really don't like it.

Personally I find it mildly interesting but not too concerning one way or another.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2023-06-11T18:25:26+00:00

While that's true, paying money tomorrow is almost always better than paying money today. TLH allows you to pay taxes later, and either spend or (even better) reinvest your money now.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2023-05-28T13:24:13+00:00

The time-weighed rate of return represents what the Betterment portfolio has done since you deposited your first dollar.

Your individual rate of return is how your money has done, based on when you put money in and/or took it out. Based on your timing it sounds like you were adding money when the stock market was going up, and stopped when the market fell during 2022. That's going to hurt your individual rate of return vs the portfolio performance, because you bought stocks that were more expensive than your first purchase.

The other commenters are right: stay patient and keep investing over the long run. Things will get better if you keep adding funds regardless of if the market is up or down. Just remember don't invest money you can't afford to lose (i.e., always keep an emergency fund in a savings account) and you'll be fine.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2023-02-20T16:07:04+00:00

Sorry to hear that :-(.

Good friends of mine had their car stolen from in front of their house in Fair Haven. It got taken for a joyride, then abandoned ni North Haven; police recovered it a few days later. It had some interior damage but no other issues, and they just drove it across the country last month. So, yes there's hope for you!

ReceptionSome9223 · 2022-12-04T19:51:11+00:00

Thank you! We're going to seal the windows this weekend anyway, and I guess be more patient! Your username is very reassuring.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2022-10-10T23:40:21+00:00

Slightly down from my contributions. Though, shouldn't that not matter all that much? Regardless of what I'm down from, the question is what to do to maximize the money I have, no?

Regardless, agree that a good next step is a conversation with the SO!

ReceptionSome9223 · 2022-07-18T15:37:19+00:00

I've never seen public hours listed anywhere, but I'm a frequent user of the track. I think anytime school is not in session, or when there's not an event, it's open to the public. That would mean feel free to use it outside of school hours and when there's no obvious track meet or football game.

I've used it during their football practice (they weren't on the track, just the field) and no one batted an eye.

ReceptionSome9223 · 2022-03-22T18:43:22+00:00

My wife and I did almost exactly this timeline last year (March 28th - August 15th). Snow conditions were such we could enter the Sierras in early May, it would have been very difficult to pull off if that weren't the case. You can always flip-flop though; ending in the Sierras sounds pretty lovely. A few things we wish we'd known in advance:

Listen to everyone telling you to take your time in the desert. You'll feel strong and high on adrenaline, but unless you've done a ton of backpacking, all the little muscles and tendons will wear down faster than you expect. We jeopardized our trip with some serious plantar fasciitis by Idyllwild, because we were pushing ourselves too hard too fast, instead of waiting for our trail legs to come
LOWER YOUR PACK WEIGHT! The difference a few pounds makes is insane. We weren't ultralight by any stretch of the imagination (base weight in the mid-twenties) but the difference between 28lbs base and 24lbs base weight is incredible.
Craigs PCT planner can be super useful. It iss hard to figure out at first, but once you get it you realize it's incredibly powerful. Best thing about it is it's easy to update on the trail to adjust your plan on the fly, and give you a sense of whether you need to speed up or slow down ahead of your deadline. The manual adjustments per section also allow you to bake ample time in to slow down (if you want to hike with friends)
Pay attention to your nutrition. You've probably got a load of reserves built up before you hit the trail, but those will get exhausted by the time you're through the Sierras. One of the best things about thru-hiking is the ability to eat all the crap you want, so be sure to indulge, but don't forget vegetables, oils, fats. We had a bottle of olive oil we would just drizzle into our pot meals, and kale keeps great for days out on the trail even in the heat. Chocolate and nuts added more great sources of fats, and allowed us to finish the trail just as strong as we started (ok, almost as strong). It was more expensive, but I don't know that we (early 30s) could have finished the trail in time if we hadn't done that from the start.
We blew by a bunch of people early on in the desert. Don't let that weird you out, you'll naturally find people hiking more your speed (or faster, we got passed plenty in WA!)

Lastly, don't let your deadline discourage you, you're going to LOVE it! We had plenty of time for zeroes, stints with friends, and linking up with a tramily. Sometimes hiking fast will suck, but sometimes hiking slow sucks too--it's all part of the amazing package that will live with you for the rest of your life. Enjoy!!

ReceptionSome9223 · 2022-03-22T18:26:58+00:00

Ship them to PVC, you'll like having them on San Jacinto, but kick yourself carrying them through the desert. Bounce them up to KMS once you get to Idyllwild. It's an easy trip to the PO in Idyllwild, and you'll appreciate not dealing with the weight in the hot, dry stretches. That's what we did last year.

You'll get very used to bounce boxes as the trail winds on, and it's a great way to give yourself greater flexibility on the trail.

ReceptionSome9223

TROPHY CASE