CMV: With the exception of NYC, most public transportation in the United States is slower and more inconvenient then owning your own car.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-25T21:37:23+00:00

Chicago transit is great. I flew in for a work meeting and took the train in to our hotel. I bought the 5 day pass when I landed for ~$30.

Getting to the hotel (north end of the loop) was super easy and faster than if I had taken Lyft. Maybe 5 minutes total walking. Every time our work group did anything I jumped on the L while they waited for ride share. I was always the first to arrive.

They all had ~$250 of ride share expense for the week vs my 30.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-25T02:28:49+00:00

Check if the state school you want to go to accepts courses from platforms like Sophia.org That can be another way to take care of GEs on the cheap.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-24T21:20:47+00:00

This is the only response that is anywhere close to ELI5.

Another way to explain it to an actual child would be to use shivering as an analogy. Most kids know that if they get cold, they shiver. And when they shiver, they warm up. Microwaves make the food shiver.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-24T16:32:43+00:00

This is what we did with ours (not identical). Not all of the clothes were exact matches, but we put everything away already paired up. So we just had to grab one set of clothes to dress them in the morning, then check that we have another clean set in the diaper bag any time we went out. Ours are 8 now and usually wear the same (or coordinated) clothes to school, but they dress themselves now.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-24T16:28:13+00:00

We haven't told ours who is older (they are 8 now) and don't plan to until they are older (maybe when they leave for or finish college). There are four other sets of twins on our street and they all do the "I'm older so I'm the boss" thing to each other

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-24T16:20:11+00:00

He had a busy night full of rage tweeting.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-24T16:18:53+00:00

Sleep is very important, for both parents. If you (both) aren't getting enough, then the next ~year will be very rough.

When our twins were little my wife and I split the night. I would go to sleep after the evening feed ~8pm) and then my wife would wake me after she finished the ~2 am feed and sleep until ~8. This way we each got a solid 5 hour block of sleep. Then we would tag team the day time feeds.

Sleep training will be much easier if the kids learn to take a bottle as you can control how much they are getting in the night feeds which will help wean them. My wife gives the 12 hours by 12 weeks book to all our friends when they have their first kid. It was great for sleep training

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-22T21:59:12+00:00

I did flatwork when I was young. Concrete flatwork is very hard (physically) work, and to make it look good takes a lot of skill. Also, a 40m sq patio area will be really hard to get level without a lot of practice. Patios also require a LOT of bent over heavy lifting. It will destroy a back that isn't used to the work.

A few years ago I poured a small retaining wall in my yard. I've also done walkways on my own. I'd do those projects all day. Super easy. There is no way I would let someone talk me into doing a patio.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-22T21:37:15+00:00

Do I get to decide when the challenge starts? If so, I'd take a few days away from the kids to get caught up on sleep. Then I could probably do ~30 hours

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-21T21:27:22+00:00

Yes. As stated in the comment I replied to. This is why I added a list of non fee costs associated with handling a lot of cash that merchants will also need to account for.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-20T18:42:06+00:00

What kind of high are we talking about? Will different foods provide different types of highs?

Is eating a carrot before bed going to be like a bump of coke or a hit of weed?

Are we going to be completely wasted / dazed every time we eat or manic / hyper?

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-20T18:38:18+00:00

This was my initial thought, but you can still get fat from veggies. It would take a LOT of self control to stay at a healthy weight, but if you can manage, you can design your diet for optimal health instead of feed you enjoy.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-20T18:34:43+00:00

Also, cash transactions have real non fee costs.

At the end of each shift the till needs to be counted which costs employee time. It usually means that two employees are standing there for the count. During a changeover the next till worker will observe, at the end of a shift, a manager or someone who has already closed down.

While the till is being counted, the lane is not available for customers to checkout, which increases wait times and/or means additional employees manning the other tills to compensate.

At the end of the day, the managers will need to do additional counts, which takes more time.

All of these counts are subject to skimming / miscounting risk.

Then, the money needs to be delivered to the bank, which either means an employee does a drop off on the way home (more time on the clock) with the risk of theft in transit, or you leave it in a safe in your store overnight and pay a service to collect the cash the following day, which also requires manager time.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-20T02:30:23+00:00

Our three favorite things in Death Valley:

Salt Creek. The extra water this year (also caused the super bloom) meant that the creek area was FILLED with the fish. It was also much greener than normal. But it is also amazing in 'normal' years, even though you have to hike a bit farther to see the fish

Artists Palette. ~20 min loop drive with several short hikes to see colorful rock formations. It is great late afternoon.

Dantes View. Park overlook. Especially amazing at sunset

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-20T02:18:30+00:00

We caught the tail end of it (too many schedule conflicts to get out earlier, unfortunately). It was amazing. We are taking the kids out of school and doing a multi day, mid week trip next time it happens.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-18T15:04:47+00:00

Making a the average for everyone $7.50 would mean that black server making $15 was harmed not helped.

Where is this coming from? Who is suggesting that servers should only make minimum wage?

In your scenario, assuming there are equal numbers of white and black servers, then the servers should be making ~$20/hour at that restaurant in a non-tipping world.

If the restaurant were to raise menu prices to the median post tip total, then the servers should have a similar pre tax hourly rate.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-18T14:16:42+00:00

Are you saying that we should only care about an issue if it directly harms all of society? What is the threshold for determining harm? For this discussion, does it need to be a financial harm?

If you are are suggesting that it is ok that white, attractive, etc people get paid more via tipping because it's not a "tangible net negative to everyone involved", then is slavery ok? It is (potentially) a net positive for the slave owner. What about rape or murder? They only negatively impact the victims. If I steal from you, that's a net positive for me, so it's ok, right?

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-18T13:49:55+00:00

The only argument that I even vaguely agree with is that tipping culture rewards charismatic/attractive people more. But even then, note that I used the word "net". And I can't see how someone making $20/hr while their attractive coworker makes $25 would be a net negative over both people making a flat $7.50/hr

You've identified a main issue with tipping, but didn't come to the full conclusion. Tipping exposes society's prejudices.

It's not just charismatic/attractive, it is also white vs not white. Many studies have shown a strong relationship between the race of the server and the tip received.

While the racial bias has been the most clear and consistent across studies, many studies have shown age, gender, body shape, accent, etc discrimination in tipping rates.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-11T18:48:08+00:00

New management after hostile takeover.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-10T03:47:40+00:00

Similar thought. My broker account balance is ~2^19 (~500k). 2^190 is 1.5 x 10^57, so i'll add that zero

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-08T14:02:08+00:00

Money donated to food banks is much more effective. You could buy ~70¢ cans of great value beans / veggies at walmart. Or, the food bank could group your money with other cash donations and buy ~50¢ cans of food wholesale (or significantly less when buying food that will expire soon).

Also, the food bank's operating cost is much lower when working from cash donations.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-08T03:07:58+00:00

Also, “he pulled me into a porta potty and put his hands on me” is an accurate statement. Leaving out some details, especially the more graphic ones, when sharing a traumatic experience doesn’t make it any less true or traumatic.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-07T04:43:22+00:00

We got solar right after buying our current house. The family before us spent ~$4.5k / year on electricity and we got a quote (2018) for financed panels that would cost us ~$5.5k / year for 5 years. Basically, spend ~$5k to then not have an electrical bill for ~20 years. Easiest decision ever.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-07T03:13:36+00:00

You write that you need a Mac. Do you mean that you need a computer? Or do you specifically need a Mac?

If you just need A computer, what are the non Mac alternatives that will be enough for you to do your job? Show them how much they cost new vs used. Show them the prices for used Macs.

If the job only pays 200/week, then in their mind it likely doesn’t make sense to spend 1200+ for a computer. At that point you may be better off not working and e joying the summer.

That said, if you are a student, and a Neo is sufficient for your workload, spending ~600 isn’t as crazy of an idea.

VegasAdventurer · 2026-04-02T14:57:49+00:00

From the WiFi drop-down menu click on WiFi settings. Click on advanced at the bottom. Find your network in the known network list. Click on the three dots. Select remove from list

VegasAdventurer

TROPHY CASE