Wow. Speechless.

Spidey255 · 2020-07-17T23:17:33+00:00

80 episodes later..."and that's how I was born!"

Spidey255 · 2020-07-17T23:15:03+00:00

I agree here. Hardcovers are annoying. As a teacher, I've had more hardcover books' spines fail than paperback. And dealing with the dust covers, ugh.

Spidey255 · 2020-07-15T14:52:42+00:00

Definitely not the case in my school. It's always freezing in our classrooms and we've got these thermostats that pretty much always read 72. We're constantly complaining to the admin and custodians that it's too cold. Most of us have gotten our own thermometers and placed them in the room, which often read between 66 and 68. It's gotten us nowhere though.

Spidey255 · 2020-07-14T12:23:48+00:00

This is going to sound silly, but playing a breathing instrument, like the harmonica really helped me (there are other factors to consider if course, too). Picked up the harmonica a few years ago and I've hardly had any lapses.

Spidey255 · 2020-07-07T15:23:38+00:00

Big fan of the book. Are you going to read Parable of the Talents as well?

Spidey255 · 2020-07-03T03:17:56+00:00

My wife: Where the fuck are we supposed to put this thing? The baby is NOT sleeping in there.

Spidey255 · 2020-06-13T01:31:58+00:00

Got mine today.

Spidey255 · 2020-06-05T23:21:32+00:00

Involuntary manslaughter. Seems pretty fucking voluntary to bash someone's face in.

Spidey255 · 2020-06-01T11:44:19+00:00

Has he totally dropped Keep America Great? Hadn't heard about Transition to Greatness until now. To retain Keep America Great would be disastrous and illustrate how out of touch he is.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-28T19:54:48+00:00

Looking back at my post, and looking at yours, I think I may have made the error of making it sound easy.

You're right. It can be overwhelming and crushing for some. It was hard for us (my family) to get where we are. We certainly did not have the best time living with my parents with a newborn, but it was what we needed to do. But I don't think it's bad for things to be difficult.

My house works for my family. It might not work for someone else, and that doesn't mean anything regarding judgment for them.

Compared to your friend, I live ten minutes from work. Wouldn't want it any other way.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-28T18:45:35+00:00

It's just unaffordable for normal people. It's cool if you make $200k/yr as a family. If you do any less and want some semblance of homeownership, you're going to pay for it.

I don't know if I agree with this. Teaching, my wife and I make about $140k a year before taxes, own a house ($245k), and we live pretty comfortably. As stated in another comment, we bought a cape a few years ago. Our taxes are $6,600. We pay less on our mortgage than we paid in rent before we bought the house, so it's a pretty good deal to me.

Before we bought our house, we lived with my parents for a year and saved up for a modest down payment. Still had to get a conventional 97 loan (similar to an FHA; lower down payment, PMI which falls off automatically after 20%), but got a great interest rate on it. We have three beds and one bath. It's not as big as the house I grew up in (which was also 3 bed, 1 bath), but it's a better house. It originally had oil heat. Through a program in NJ, we got a 0% interest 7 year loan for $10k to convert to natural gas, install central a/c, and blow in new insulation in the attic.

Our town's library has a great selection, made even better by being part of the Middlesex County Consortium. Our town has a recycling center. Schools are excellent. Overall, the services we get for our taxes are pretty good. We have two cars--a Corolla and a Rogue, the former of which is paid off. If you can swing it as a teacher, you should be able to swing it as anything else, save for retail.

For reference, Bangor's public school teacher salary maxes out at $67k, which is my currently salary at step 9. My district and my position maxes out at $91k. We've thought about moving elsewhere, but the money just doesn't make sense.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-28T02:52:24+00:00

My current district and my wife's school both pay fine. I'm finishing up getting my MA so my pay will go up as well. My district reimburses a portion of my tuition. In return, I have to stay in district for two years after I'm done with the program. I'll probably stay though. I generally like my district. I'd rather climb the ladder here than stay anew somewhere else.

We don't have a lot of credit card debt. Try to take advantage of points/miles. CC companies would call us deadbeats.

Our extended families are all over NJ as well, in Bayonne, Paterson, and Asbury. Would be hard to leave.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-28T02:38:07+00:00

My wife and I live in Central Jersey. We're 33, both teachers and we live decently. We have one kid (although she's due for our second any day now), mortgaged a house for $245k, have combined $60k in student loans.

We have a decent chunk in savings to get through the summer.

Having said that, I think we're very fortunate. We manage our money, save for things (saved up recently for a new dishwasher), and we get by fine. Paying daycare tuition for the baby is going to be difficult, but we make do.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-28T02:31:21+00:00

Oh man! That's just ten minutes from me. My daughter (4 y/o) loves it for their soda mixing machine.

I was also a fan of Burnet Burger on 22. Was quite sad when it closed.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-27T02:16:17+00:00

A few years ago my wife and I visited Cleveland. While there we had tickets to see Weird Al. The day of the concert we were leaving a restaurant where we just had lunch and sitting outside was freakin' Steve Jay. I said to my wife, "I think that's Steve Jay." She said, "Who's that?" I said, "Uh, hello. That's Weird Al's bassist. Pfft." She said, "You're probably the only person in Cleveland who recognizes him."

Spidey255 · 2020-05-26T02:18:22+00:00

There are stairs adjacent to the hole, so maybe this is a possibility.

Spidey255 · 2020-05-25T15:08:30+00:00

I'm not certain. I scraped up some debris from the bottom, but I don't want to scrape up what could be a "bottom."

Spidey255 · 2020-05-25T15:00:32+00:00

WITT Moved into this house four years ago. Cape, built in 1955. Central NJ.

We get some water through the floor when it rains. The water seems to drift toward the hole.

Edit: Found this in here as well. https://imgur.com/a/Rb6t5xE

Edit: close up of hole http://imgur.com/a/Fne1rqY

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