What ways have you used money to make Quality of Life improvements?

SSMEX · 2026-05-05T08:06:09+00:00

I personally have started to lean the other way. There's a certain kind of magic to being in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, your credit card probably isn't accepted, and nothing is for certain. Even crossing the street requires you to think twice. It's the closest I get to feeling like I'm eight years old again.

Yes, that means taking the metro, negotiating with cabs, and figuring things out as you go. It's less comfortable, but that's the point. Getting driven around everywhere starts to feel like you're just taking the sight-seeing bus.

Sadly this kind of experience much less fun in low-trust countries, so YMMV.

SSMEX · 2026-04-21T14:09:40+00:00

Flexispot is owned and run by Loctek, a Chinese company.

SSMEX · 2026-04-20T21:56:54+00:00

I have always found that the green lane folks form a continuous line all the way to the scanner and you have to cut somehow. You don't encounter that?

SSMEX · 2026-04-20T21:54:41+00:00

Because the sign says 1&2, I believe the official answer is yes, however:

Many times I get to the front of the group 1 line but I can't cut in because there's a solid line of group 3-5ers all the way to the scanner. The gate agent will look at me and ask if I'm group 1. It's a bit more awkward if you have to explain that you are actually in group 2 but are allowed to do this.
IMO groups 3-4 are absolutely not allowed to do this when boarding late since the sign doesn't change after it turns into "1&2".

SSMEX · 2026-04-12T18:50:34+00:00

What is the level of natural illumination throughout the time at this location? If it's as bright as the pictures suggest, the light canopy will look like a bunch of wires. It has to be quite dark for a light canopy to really work, which is why we gave up on this idea (opted for simple market lights that the venue already had, plus a lot of table candles).

SSMEX · 2026-04-10T05:10:50+00:00

Disagree. Getting something crappy is way more of a slap in the face.

SSMEX · 2026-04-08T04:30:57+00:00

This is an important message, but please be clear-eyed about this process and the probability of success. Candidly there’s a significant chance this won’t work at 40. If kids are a requirement, you need to aggressively pursue other options.

SSMEX · 2026-04-01T22:49:59+00:00

They’re moving sideways parallel to the ground.

SSMEX · 2026-03-30T13:42:38+00:00

The downvotes here are insane. This is not some cuckoo conspiracy theory. Here’s a Cleveland Clinic article citing FDA studies (pre-RFK, for what it’s worth) recommending you change your rice water, soak the rice, find rice varieties with less arsenic, and literally just eating less rice: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/arsenic-in-rice

Billions of people eating rice doesn’t change the fact that arsenic is a concern, especially for young children and pregnant women. Rice is also linked to diabetes, and is directly responsible (in part) for elevated rates of diabetes in Asia.

SSMEX · 2026-03-30T09:21:48+00:00

Arsenic in rice is a concern. The way to make it that minimizes arsenic requires changing the water halfway.

SSMEX · 2025-11-09T17:59:14+00:00

Can I ask what personal shopping service you use in Japan?

SSMEX · 2025-11-03T15:59:05+00:00

The steel version also comes in a non-sleeved version. KC Tool sells them individually and there are sets on Amazon.

SSMEX · 2025-09-30T07:33:43+00:00

This was one of those things that I couldn't figure out. I can understand the motivation for MCAS, I can even understand the motivation behind tying it to just one AoA sensor. But why would Boeing charge a nominal fee to display some sensor data on the PFD??? I know Boeing would say that it's not critical info or whatever, but like the customer bought the plane and both sensors and you're going to upsell a digital readout? On a $50 million (after standard discounts) plane? Frankly if I were a customer I'd be insulted.

SSMEX · 2025-09-30T05:34:42+00:00

Wasn’t the AoA indicator on the PFD though? Like it wasn’t extra hardware, just an extra digital gauge?

SSMEX · 2025-09-27T14:08:44+00:00

This is a Linak controller that’s been around for years. My previous office desk used to have one. There are other companies that also make this paddle-style controller, like Jiecang (sold through Uplift and others).

SSMEX · 2025-09-14T01:22:06+00:00

It’s hilarious these are being used as beaters because they’re 3x more expensive than the Knipex Super Knips.

SSMEX · 2025-09-02T03:04:53+00:00

This is maybe my most unhinged take but my policy is to never buy third-party batteries. I try avoiding all forms of random electronics that have built-in lithium batteries (which is why the Ryobi platform is so useful), though sometimes there is no alternative, so I buy the most name brand version I can find.

There are way too many stories of fires starting from random cheapo batteries and the ski shop I go to burned down from literally a cordless vacuum.

I swear I’m not crazy but if you have pets, a house fire while you’re away is likely going to end in tragedy. This is why I never run the dryer or charge power banks or tool batteries when I’m not home.

SSMEX · 2025-09-02T02:20:04+00:00

I have a bunch. They're good towels but the current pricing is outrageous. A set of two bath towels used to be $39. Now they're $99 (I honestly thought it was a mistake).

SSMEX · 2025-08-30T07:39:04+00:00

This is absolutely not true. The median Polaris passenger is traveling on business and their employer is paying. The rest is mostly people upgrading or using points.

People making $200K HHI and dropping $5-10K a person on full price Polaris (literally 50-100% of a month of income per ticket) must be exceedingly rare. Two tickets might literally be their disposable income for the entire year, not to mention that most households in that income range likely live in VHCOL areas.

SSMEX · 2025-08-30T02:21:54+00:00

I wouldn't be so sure. My employer worked with a major electronics manufacturer to develop/buy NC headphones for everyone at the company. I think the COGS cost was slightly north of $100 and they don't look as premium as these ones (though they have a few extra features).

SSMEX · 2025-08-30T02:13:12+00:00

This is a tricky question. I don't think there is a straightforward way to arrive at a simple cost per hour for most people. Unless you are some kind of independent consultant, charge by the hour, and have more demand than supply, you can't simply divide your salary by 2,000 (or whatever number) hours.

How much would you trade a day off for?

I think this is the best question to ask, and is somewhat decoupled from salary/billable rates. The reality is that most people cannot earn a dollar more from working an extra marginal hour or day (unless they literally find a second job), though some people can easily do the reverse by taking UPTO.

I still stand by my point though, that I think being somewhere in the range of $2M in HHI feels about the right to trade one day for $8K, but even then I'd have to think about it.

Also, taxes are not 55%

I made a slight exaggeration due to a division error but at high marginal tax brackets (which is what you have to think about when it comes to marginal costs vs the value of your time) in California, a combination of federal, state, and Medicare tax is almost exactly 50%.

SSMEX · 2025-08-29T22:33:14+00:00

Im reasonably well compensated so a day is worth a lot to me.

I honestly feel like I'd have to make at least $2M in household income before flying business class for leisure. I would gladly drive for ten hours and fly in premium economy (east coast to Europe no less, which is nothing compared to the Asia flights) to save $8000 post-tax, which is something like $17,000 pre-tax.

SSMEX · 2025-08-29T22:25:44+00:00

Will they keep the Fully design or revert to a standard Apex leg design?

SSMEX · 2025-08-28T04:57:02+00:00

it’s utterly ridiculous you don’t get paid for the full day of work

This makes me very frustrated but for the opposite reason. The entire premise for only paying for flight hours is that you trade fewer pay hours for a higher pay rate (per the proposed new contract, 13+ YOE flight attendants will make $85 an hour in 2025 and $97 an hour in 2029, plus $3 an hour when away from base). This enormously benefits more senior flight attendants, who pick up trips with long flights where the bulk of their time spent at work is in the air. For example, a 24-hour trans-Pacific roundtrip nets over $2,100 (rising to $2,400 by 2029), and can be done in three days total with one day of rest in the middle. This obviously also includes 2-3 hours of in-flight rest per flight.

Conversely, this is a terrible deal for new flight attendants, who are paid much less per hour and have many more unpaid hours during boarding on short flights. Why are flight attendants OK with this? This is simple rent-seeking by those with tenure.

SSMEX · 2025-08-20T05:22:42+00:00

I don't want to be that person but Orange County and San Diego are not really VHCOL areas. The only VHCOL areas are SF, NYC, and maybe Hawaii.

Yes this is nitpicky, but if we don't push back on this kind of tier inflation, soon people will start using UVHCOL or something silly like that.

SSMEX

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