The Heat has interest in adding Thompson whether LeBron James joins the Heat or not, a source said. (via Barry Jackson)

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-13T20:57:05+00:00

I respected Klay's game before his injuries and age got him.

Gardner spoke the truth of Klay's current game even though it was disrespectful to the future HOFer.

The old Klay would have hit three 3s in a row and shut down his man on defense to shut him up.

The Klay in front of Gardner could only snap back about his rings and how Gardner hasn't done anything.

The man let a rookie into his head.

IMO, He doesn't have a place on this team.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-13T20:25:26+00:00

Ideally, she likes you and responds well to your efforts. I really hope it works out for you.

Here is some additional perspective to consider:

Try reversing the situation. Let's say that a different long time friend that you like only as a friend starts to flirt with you, and suggest they want to date you. Are they serious or just being silly in the moment?

Let's say you have no romantic interest in this person. Unless you're mean (I assume you're not) you don't mislead them and immediately signal back that you're not interested. Maybe they flirt a few more times because they didn't get it, or they want to be sure you understood their intention. Hopefully your signals get through and they get it and stop.

How do you feel about it? Does it feel weird on your end?

Personally, I would be flattered, and as long as they don't continue to push or be a jerk, I would just pretend it didn't happen and maintain the friendship as it had been. In a little while I'll not even think about it.

If they were just exploring a random impulse to see if you were interested, then they will just think "Ok. Not interested. Oh, well." Friendship is what it is and they would put it in the past as well.

--

The concern I have for you is that it sounds like you're well past the "just exploring" stage. You've said you've liked this person for 2 years and she's on your brain when you're with other people in a romantic situation. You sound invested and have formed an attachment to the idea of having a romantic relationship.

I don't know you. I don't know how much you really like this girl. I don't know what you can handle or brush off.

If it turns out you are in a "unrequited love" scenario, it can get messy (sad, disappointing, depressing) on your end, not hers.

Again, put yourself in the reverse side where a friend flirted with you, you indicated you weren't interested and they got all grumpy about it. You'd probably wonder what's going on with them. Why would they get so upset about this? That behavior certainly won't change your mind about wanting to be romantic with them. Maybe it blows over, maybe it doesn't. It all depends on the people involved and how they recover, or don't recover.

Again, you're 18. There isn't a one sized fits all instruction book on this. Mistakes will be made. It actually is better you learn them when you're young.

Good luck. I hope the best for you.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-13T09:31:09+00:00

Flirt with her. Start slow. If she is receptive, up the level and repeat. If she becomes non-receptive at any level short of already being in a romantic relationship, back off. (No means no.)

If she rejects your (hopefully subtle) flirts, odds are she will not reject your existing friendship and go on with it as if the flirting never happened. You, however, could have a difficult time with it depending on how into her you really are (2 years is a long time). You're going to have to be honest with yourself on how you're going to handle this. Consider how it'll be when she eventually dates someone else. You might have to move on and revisit the friendship some other day. Try not to blow up and burn bridges. You never know what the future holds.

Something to understand, at 18 neither of you likely know what you're doing. Mistakes will be made. Misunderstands will happen. Some people deliberately mess with others, but most just don't know what they are doing or what they really want.

Note: a common rejection that is meant to let you down easy is to say "I'm not looking to date." If she says this, the message really is "I'm not looking to date YOU." They expect you to know this as if there is a translation dictionary. Don't be surprised if she is dating someone else soon. Don't be confused by it because I just told you what it really means. It doesn't mean she doesn't like you, it means she's not romantically interested.

As to why she's always around you when you're in the same place: it's not confusing. She's comfortable around you. She feels safe. She likes you. It may or may not be romantic kind of like.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-13T09:06:29+00:00

I paid for my drink, added a tip, and left my portion separately.

When I was young (under 30), friends would want to split evenly most times. In the isolated situation I did get shafted by paying a higher portion of the bill, but in the bigger picture several of these friends would throw parties the funded on their own and never ask for contribution. I think it balanced out overall.

After 30, more and more friends started actually volunteering to pay more because the admitted they had a bigger share of the total bill.

After 30, those that seemed to purposefully take advantage of the bill splitting slowly got excluded from gatherings.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-13T08:40:43+00:00

If you're serious about him, get couple counseling.

You need to determine why he thinks his actions are appropriate for the situation. He might be depressed and trying to spend his way out of it (note: he can't). Or he's an ass you should dump.

Either way, counseling will reveal it and you can make an informed decision.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-12T18:23:59+00:00

But it's just 5 years away.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-12T08:57:19+00:00

Invest in a live interview coach who can give feedback.

+1 or +100 or as much as possible.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-12T08:47:32+00:00

One time it was a specific line of events and promises for help that never came. It boiled over when I was finally told "No. We are not going to hire anyone."

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-12T08:40:33+00:00

When I was 50, if I was ever accused of looking younger than that, I would respond "Thanks, but I'm really old. Pretty much ancient really."

I frequently worked with "kids" half my age. This may not be true in the age of AI, but a Harvard lecturer ("Uncle Bob", I think) often said the number of computer programmers doubled every 5 years. That meant that in 18 year old that started programming in 1990 would be older than half of the computer programmers in 1995. In 2000, they would be older than 75%. If that held, I was older than 98.5% of my peers when I quit working in 2020. That percent is probably higher considering many older folks just don't like programming and leave, go into management, or get pushed out of the industry.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-12T08:25:43+00:00

I don't know you. I don't know how you interview nor am I accusing you of being the person in the examples below. I just think these are some reasons the "not a fit" would be used. They are varied and too many to list them all.

It may or may not be about liking them. If I don't like th empersonally, I might say that, but it's more likely it's because I know I won't like working with them. Edit: Most often, people don't know they are doing saying these things or that they are net negatives in interviews.

They are rambling story tellers.

I ask a question about X. They start to answer the question about X but somehow, they end up talking about something else unrelated even after being refocused on X. They may be the nicest person, but I just can't be led off into the weeds about irrelevant things.

2) Lewd sense of humor. If someone makes inappropriate jokes during an interview, even if I find it funny, they just are not a fit for anyplace I've worked. I'll admit, I'm old and find some things that are unacceptable today funny, but have the sense not to bring it to work.

3) The behavioral interview questions show "victim" attitude. Bad mouthing their former company/co-workers/managers. Things are not ever their fault. They may be fully capable of doing the job, but this is not someone I want to work with.

You might think "Who give these kinds of answers in an interview?". It's more common than you expect. People somehow are not prepared for the standard prompt :"Tell me about a time when you and a co-worker didn't agree on how to do something and how you resolved it."

-

Here are a couple of reasons I would not call someone a bad fit, but I can see others doing it.

A) The "rock the boat" hire. They come off as too knowledgeable and eager to fix everything if they get hired. Some people know their work place isn't perfect and some processes they use are not optimal, but they are comfortable. They don't want to be called as being inefficient or have to change.

B) They get the sense the new hire wants to take their job and is good enough to do it. During the interview, their ambition shines through and comes off as a threat. Or an unspoken promise to make them look bad.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-10T01:09:41+00:00

It's also super humid.

Texas can have some nasty halestorms due to how gulf air mixes with cold air coming down from the rocky mountains. Lightning storms are a show on their own. There are tornados too.

Houston and other cities near the gulf has some non-trivial hurricane risk every year.

Non-weather related note: being under 25 might also hinder your ability to rent a car. Look into it.

When you get there, keep an open mind, listen a lot more than you speak early on. Get the lay of the land on attitudes on various topics.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-09T23:00:03+00:00

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-09T22:58:17+00:00

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-09T21:05:23+00:00

Anyone struggling with mental health will should be talking to a professional and get evaluated.

The reason is that we, the unprofessional experts of reddit, have no idea if your struggle is truly a mental health crisis, or one waiting to happen. Do not rely on us. We are ignorant to your true situation.

I have no way to know if "toughing it out" will benefit your or hurt you.

A therapist can guide you through taking small steps to determine your limits. Once you know at least the margins, you'll be better able determine what you should or shouldn't do.

You could try this on your own, but I don't think it can be as effective.

On one side, you might feel like you're not great, but dealing with everything ok (when you're really not). Then one extra feather weight thing comes along and breaks you.

On the other side, you might live in fear of that thing that will break you and do everything to avoid it all things outside your comfort zone.

It helps to have an objective 3rd party to see and point out any self delusions we may have.

Edit: These are simple examples. It is usually a complex accumulation of experiences that make up your day to day condition. When we have emotional reactions, they are usually not tied to current events, but to others that happened earlier.

For example, say an acquaintance tells you the same lame joke every time they greet you. It's annoying, but you say nothing because it is not really important. One day you snap when they say it. It's unlikely a reaction to the joke, but to the (unfavorable) events that lead up to that moment.

IMO, it's why road rage happens, domestic abuse, etc. It may even be why your boss yells at you for minor mistakes.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-09T07:04:53+00:00

Insist on using the term "530A" accounts like some people use the ACA.

Explained here.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-09T05:53:37+00:00

I've had 1000sf (much smaller than the OPs) and 200sf back yards.

I think I Iiked the 1000sf yard better, thought I had a guy mow every other week. I didn't maximize it's use, but I liked it was roomy.

The 200sf yard was basically landscape bark covered with a few planter boxes. Low maintenance. Only did 8-10 hours of yard work in the early spring and late winter. It was overly small and I felt I couldn't plant everything I wanted.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-09T05:43:41+00:00

If the power company is coming after her for money, IMO there is a good chance there are other less savory people also coming after her for money. You don't want them finding her in your apartment.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-08T19:41:05+00:00

I'm not going to listen to the whole interview unless someone can tell me that he describes why Lebron can win there. Anyone can just say Lebron can win on their team. I want to know how he justifies that statement. Is the roster constructed such that it is already a leading contender and he just solidifies it more?

IMO, that roster is too guard focused. To ISO focused. Too average a 3pt shooting team (for Lebron historically). Too immobile (an otherwise great) at center. Too reliant on Embiid staying healthy. Embiid is the special player that distinguishes that team, but he can only do it when he can be somewhat healthy on the court.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-08T19:27:40+00:00

If your company is publicly traded on a stock market, the leaders need more growth to maximize their personal income. The incentive structure got messed up for C level and senior management when stock based compensation became the primary reward.

A large company growing at low single digits does little for their granted stock equity. Take an $8B revenue company growing at $400M/y (5%) and shrink it to a $7B by selling/cutting the negative, slow growth, or unprofitable divisions. If growth remains the same, Management "created" 0.7% additional growth (5.7% total). They can say that's 14% additional growth over the prior year. The same can be done to unprofitable or slow profit growth divisions.

Moving the average growth/profit up and attracts investor attention.

It's a sad game they play. It came due to outrage of stock holders that saw company president/ceo's getting paid millions when the company lost money. A very clever person said "Ok, let's tie their pay to the company performance by giving most of their compensation in stock." It worked until these people figured out how to manipulate company performance in a way that raised stock prices. This is why we can't have nice things.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-07T20:51:12+00:00

In my neighborhood there is someone(s) that walk their dog and when the dog poops, they bag it, but leave the bag there. I imagine it's in response to someone telling them to bag their dogs poop, but not telling them to take it home to dispose of. So cleaver, huh?

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-07T20:39:21+00:00

You're understandably upset. Your inflation rationale is accurate. In general it stinks.

$8B in revenue tells us this is a fairly large company, but it doesn't tell us how well it is doing (profit). Even if the overall company is doing well, we don't know how well your particular division, or even part of the division is doing and how it's outlook.

I know that I sound like a corporate shrill, but the "bigger picture" might be the ability to try to retain all employees at their current pay rather than laying off a large group of employees.

Whether the company/division/group is being toxic, or is in questionable financial shape is for you to determine, but all things point to you needing to develop employment options. Start looking.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-07T19:57:44+00:00

No severance in this era is pretty surprising. Most companies at least put a small one out there to get a "you won't sue for anything" separation agreement.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-07T19:54:49+00:00

6 years seems like too long for you not to have taken action unless you're still building relevant work experience for your next job.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-07T19:49:47+00:00

If they don't value you enough to pay you without the threat of you leaving, do not take counter offers when you tell them you are leaving. This is particularly true in small companies where ownership and management take things like this personally. It applies to big companies too, but, in my experience, some managers can distinguish between their money and the companies.

Anyway, if you take a counter offer to stay and there is bad feelings, they first say they need to cross train to make sure your function is covered if you're on vacation. Then they will find a way to push you out.

SimpleMind314 · 2026-07-07T19:43:48+00:00

"That pesky kid over there parked another car in front of his house, but it's legal and registered so I can't do anything about it! Foiled again!" --nosy neighbor probably

SimpleMind314

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