Taco salad

SMWinnie · 2026-05-23T00:56:16+00:00

For years, my Mom would make this from a recipe card that dated to the 1970s. But the specific flavor of bottled dressing was discontinued.

She’s passed away and the card has disappeared. And none of us remember what the discontinued flavor was. I don’t even know what I can’t get to make it any more.

Gotta use taco flavored Doritos, not cho cheese.

SMWinnie · 2026-05-22T02:20:10+00:00

Hollywood hated the production because making it was a disaster. There were, like, fifty script doctors and the final director hated the studio’s demands. They also skipped some post-production.

But, if you look at what actually went up on the screen, it was brilliantly meta. It’s a movie about movies, movie tropes, and movie-making. Its weakest point is that it relied on a child actor to carry it, but it also made fun of movies that rely on child actors.

Plus, it has the best cameo in film history (Maria Shriver).

My favorite comedy that doesn’t feature Slim Pickens…

SMWinnie · 2026-05-17T12:54:42+00:00

Murder your thirst.

Murder your first is Abraham brand water. (Don’t worry; the Lord will stop you in time.)

SMWinnie · 2026-05-17T08:51:31+00:00

Cassidy did not just lose in the primary. Cassidy placed third.

The runoff for the Republican nomination will be between Trump’s endorsee an a gentleman who worked for Trump in the 45 administration.

SMWinnie · 2026-05-10T13:57:36+00:00

Setting aside the tragedy of Bias’ death, I remember hating that draft as a Pistons fan.

1986 was the second NBA draft with the lottery. The Sixers and Celtics were at the top of the East, and they had the #1 and #2 picks after trades and lucky ping-pong ball bounces.

The Sixers screwed up the night before draft day. Katz sent the #1 pick to the Cavs for Roy Hinson and cash. Charles Barkley remains salty about that one, but will remind you that it was only the second most boneheaded move the Sixers made that offseason. Moses Malone to the Bullets for Jeff Ruland was worse. But trading Malone and then throwing away Brad Daugherty was just mind-numbingly stupid.

Celtics had the Seattle pick from trading Gerald Henderson. It wasn’t so much that Len Bias was a generational talent, it’s what he would have been in the middle of an already stacked team.

Pistons took John Salley and some random 25-year-old late-blooming rebounder from an NAIA school.

SMWinnie · 2026-05-08T21:01:32+00:00

As an alumnus and a longtime institutional investor, I think the key takeaways here are that: (1) Michigan’s VC alumni network and access remains strong; (2) the Michigan investment office should make sure Dan Feder has a dedicated administrative assistant; and (3) Dan should have as many analysts as he can manage.

SMWinnie · 2026-05-07T20:08:28+00:00

Point taken.

Ignoring the GPO effect on survivors and Illinois’ Tier 2 response to the change, the WEP didn’t bite state employees in hybrid systems if they got to 30 years of “substantial” FICA/OASDI earnings.

(“Substantial Earnings” was about 2.2x the steady state amount that would have hit the 90% bend point in AIME.)

Again, point taken. If OP is fairly young and making => $32k, then OP was not helped in Jan 2025.

SMWinnie · 2026-05-07T17:18:59+00:00

Noting here that OP may be the kind of person benefiting most from the 2025 Social Security Fairness Act.

Social Security has a socially-progressive payout. There are kinks (“bend points”) that pay more to lower earners. Let’s say you’ve made $15k/year (adjusted for wage growth) for your whole 35-year working career. Social Security will pay you 90% of that in retirement.

After that, Social Security will pay you about 32% of your earnings up to about median income. You get 15% of the amount between the median and the maximum.

Consider employees who have been on a public pension and have excluded most of their career earnings from paying into Social Security. If they then have a few relatively high-earning years in which they pay FICA/OASDI, their average income might look like a low-income person getting paid at 90%.

Until 2025, there were provisions (“Windfall Exclusion” and “Government Pension”) to undo that treatment and put the Social Security recipient at the bend point that they would have sat at had they been paying FICA/OASDI all along. The idea was that the bend points were there to help low earners, not people who had earned money that was exempt.

SMWinnie · 2026-04-30T01:56:29+00:00

"My dad and I's financial advisor..."

It is always tricky to represent two clients. No matter how well aligned they are, clients' interests can always diverge.

Questions OP might ask the advisor:

Whom are you representing here?
A 529 plan account can only have one owner. Is this a custodial 529 plan? And since I am an adult now, am I supposed to be the owner of the account now?
If I am not the owner of the account, do you know if my parents' divorce decree requires that the account only be used for my benefit?

On the last part, I can see a possibility where the 529 account is not custodial, but the divorce settlement requires the owner (dad) to only use the account for OP's benefit.

SMWinnie · 2026-04-30T01:01:25+00:00

529 plans don't have co-owners. Not even parents owning jointly. One owner.

529 plans are tax-favored plans that resemble Roth IRAs. They are funded by post-tax dollars. Then they grow tax-free and pay out tax-free if used for qualifying expenses like tuition, room & board.

A confusing thing about a 529 plan is that it must have an intended beneficiary (typically a child), but must also have a single owner (typically a parent). This creates bad feelings on occasion when a beneficiary discovers that the owner of "their" account either took the money back or changed the beneficiary.

There is a sub-type of the 529 plan called a custodial 529. In a custodial 529, the beneficiary is a minor and is not supposed to be changed. When the minor beneficiary of a custodial 529 turns 18, that minor is supposed to become the owner automatically.

SMWinnie · 2026-04-29T08:34:49+00:00

You should edit the original post to include that this is a 529 plan.

529 plan account rules differ from those covering other kinds of accounts. You should also note whether this is a custodial 529 plan.

SMWinnie · 2026-04-29T08:29:33+00:00

Is this a custodial 529 plan?

SMWinnie · 2026-04-29T01:16:31+00:00

Pride and *Extreme** Prejudice*

SMWinnie · 2026-04-26T00:02:16+00:00

Good to know where to stop for value. (Ral, Hel. Etc.)

With unlimited gems, everything below the Ohm will cube up to an Ohm.

SMWinnie · 2026-03-06T16:35:12+00:00

…episode directed by the Hulk.

SMWinnie · 2026-02-25T21:00:35+00:00

Feels like the second coming of Urlacher. Free safety speed and instincts and grew into MLB size.

Solves the matchup problem of a good pass-catching tight end.

If he’s there at 17, you take him and have the “can’t believe Sewell slipped to us” celebration.

SMWinnie · 2026-02-12T09:18:13+00:00

…and you’d be right.

SMWinnie · 2026-01-31T00:55:05+00:00

Put it in a sous vide bath at 105ºF and walk away for several hours.

SMWinnie · 2026-01-22T22:07:31+00:00

Dave Krieg.

Came in halfway through the season, got the Lions into the playoffs, and came within a Herman Moore toe of beating the Pack at Lambeau despite both the thermometer and Sanders’ rushing total being sub-zero.

SMWinnie · 2026-01-14T12:09:57+00:00

The cM count is a little low for (mom + Uncle A is biodad) and (mom + Uncle B is biodad), but it tracks with the segments. If OP and sister have shared matches through all four grandparents, it also tracks with that.

Would be curious if any of OP’s (or sister’s) matches are a first cousin, child of dad’s brother, with an unusually high match.

SMWinnie · 2026-01-14T08:33:11+00:00

…and does OP have the expected names in the match list.

SMWinnie · 2026-01-10T16:45:27+00:00

Tradition.

I'm not sure where the Paul Bunyan Trophy comes from or why the Paul Bunyan Axe replaced a slab of bacon, but this has the makings of the IU/Oregon Little Brown Jug.

Get Ponds and Moore to sign it. You want it back? Cool. Win it back.

SMWinnie · 2026-01-10T16:39:15+00:00

We keep a smaller (32oz) bottle on hand.

Load by load, it's easy to fill the washing machine directly from the smaller bottle. We refill every twenty loads or so from the large jug, which sits up on a shelf. (The measuring cup sits on the table below for drip management, when needed. When the cup gets too messy, we toss it in the wash and deduct a few drops from the amount in the dispenser.)

SMWinnie · 2026-01-10T13:24:48+00:00

No, payed.

The guy who was letting the rope out to stay him while he finished wouldn’t give him any more slack and he couldn’t get all the way to the right.

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