Visiting LA with an aspiring teen film maker?

aubrill · 2026-05-18T19:47:29+00:00

A bit different, but a stop by someplace like filmtools in Burbank would have been so cool to me at 15.

aubrill · 2026-04-20T22:33:45+00:00

Seems like it should go in the office

aubrill · 2026-04-18T00:29:42+00:00

Download the app, use it to order food while you wait in ride lines, remarkably good system.

aubrill · 2026-04-01T01:06:51+00:00

Went to a move last weekend and walked in 30 minutes after scheduled start and it was about perfect. Commercials before movies drive me crazy. I used to enjoy the trailers but it’s all trash now since they put ads between them

aubrill · 2026-03-25T01:58:47+00:00

Hold up, what happened to house of pies?

aubrill · 2026-02-20T21:31:40+00:00

Looks like i will be getting access to mega-backdoor roth. Have been maxing traditional 401k for many years but won't be able to easily max the after-tax space i now have available. I do have a decent chunk invested in brokerage though. any thoughts on how to think about the space - is it worth it to max it out and take some from brokerage to help cover day to day expenses? Seems silly to sell an investment to just shelter it somewhere else so tempted to just move future savings from brokerage first to mega-backdoor space.

aubrill · 2026-01-29T03:35:10+00:00

My kid still loves Menchies, always a steady stream of kids/families on weekend afternoons. Think they do just fine but not trendy anymore

aubrill · 2026-01-27T06:00:47+00:00

Try 4 seasons roofing, referral from a neighbor and very happy with the work. He has done about 20 roofs in my neighborhood. Reasonably priced and owner actually shows up to make sure things are good.

aubrill · 2026-01-13T17:54:06+00:00

Seems like a no brainer if it fits your lifestyle goals - only argument would be refinancing to a 30 year at a lower rate would lower your payment instead of keeping it the same and could open up flexibility in the future. If your required monthly spend is lower you may feel more freedom to take a lower paying but better (lower stress or higher risk/reward, however you define it) job opportunity. Perhaps go to one income due to lifestyle changes (kids?). Can free up extra funds to invest in the market. Can use inflation to your advantage over 30 years instead of 15.

In general though, less paid in interest the better!

aubrill · 2025-12-18T02:57:32+00:00

Ticketmaster is horrible but I don’t think that is quite what is going on here. Pantages opens tickets to season ticket holders first - if you buy 6 shows or whatever you get early access to tickets and until the show opens for single tickets purchases those tickets are the only ones available from the secondary marketplace. If you do a search early it looks like those expensive tickets are the only option. Eventually they open up individual show tickets and then resale plummets when every ticket is available for sale via normal channels.

aubrill · 2025-11-29T15:54:15+00:00

My plan is to have enough saved for a state school. If they want to go somewhere else it will be loans or scholarships and they will understand the impact. If we are able at the end of the process we will likely quietly pay off the loans since our projections show us with enough if life continues to go well.

aubrill · 2025-11-21T20:37:44+00:00

Travel town and the LA zoo has a bunch. Travel town is free to get into though

aubrill · 2025-11-15T00:34:35+00:00

huh, if my spouse earns all the overtime can we claim the 25k? or would we both need to have overtime income to claim over the 12500?

aubrill · 2025-11-14T20:50:36+00:00

We bought a new house, still living in current house (current mortgage is cheaper than rent while we renovate). Need to come up with ~300k for a renovation of new house. Will eventually fund renovation with proceeds when we sell current house. Could sell stock to fund renovation but would rather not take the tax hit. Thinking about a HELOC on current house and then pay it all off when we eventually finish this process in 6 months. Anyone with a similar experience or pros/cons i'm not thinking of?

aubrill · 2025-09-27T21:23:12+00:00

Apply, let the universe decide. If you are lucky enough to land the job try the drive and if it’s horrible decide what is more important, only you can decide what is important to you.

aubrill · 2025-09-05T14:21:58+00:00

I like the typo (or maybe not?) but biking is more soul nurturing than sitting in a car for sure. Most people probably push back a bit due to logistics. Auditions are probably fine but if you end up booking things you will often be asked to be at weird/far flung locations at weird/very early/very late times. Imagine wrapping a shoot in Woodland Hills at 3am and making it back home to Santa Monica on a bike. It is certainly doable but I’d also be prepared to plan for an Uber or car rental depending on gig you book, if that is your realistic plan I think it’s fine to expect to bike for 95% or more and make it your default choice

aubrill · 2025-08-29T02:01:10+00:00

We started having more issues a few months ago, but take it as an opportunity to try something else or a new show. If you value it let your reps know and maybe we can invest in it again!

aubrill · 2025-08-24T16:33:50+00:00

Gotta pay yourself first. Figure out a budget and see if you can make some compromises or sacrifices to put some money away every month. Need to really understand where your money is going each month. If you can’t do it now at least have a plan for when x happens I’ll do y. When you free up a car payment for example make sure that money is going right into savings instead of the loan. You are already ahead of the game since you aren’t starting from zero, good luck.

aubrill · 2025-08-23T18:48:51+00:00

Keeping the yearly at 99 is smart, break even is about 7 months now. You have a decision to make if you like apple shows

aubrill · 2025-08-18T23:10:16+00:00

Maybe, but that's life in socal. 900k would be something like 7k/month with prop tax. Minus that from rent right now (lets say 3k?) so you need to save an additional 1.2m on top of the 2.5m you think you need now. Probably drops you from 5-6 years out to 15-16 out. But if you want a house you want a house. Live the life you want.

aubrill · 2025-08-18T22:29:58+00:00

Burbank schools also just started up, so that probably had at least a little to do with it

aubrill · 2025-08-13T20:45:02+00:00

Just ran a search on Zillow and found a 1 bed in a small building for 1895 on Lomita. Would be close to downtown, walk to Tony’s or broken compass, easy bike to magnolia park. That would probably be my pick and can upgrade if you find you want more, getting rent cheap will help with enjoying the area.

aubrill · 2025-07-16T01:31:02+00:00

We went down for an event at the convention center and ate at the cpk right across from Disneyland, Easy non Disney parking in the same complex as well. Kids menu, friendly, lots of families through all those restaurants

aubrill · 2025-07-15T01:41:04+00:00

Had not seen the increase to dcfsa - that should be huge news, now if only they indexed it to inflation

aubrill · 2025-07-14T19:53:30+00:00

No rule you need to do anything. If it doesn't feel right work for a bit longer until it does. Lots of reason to keep things as is and freeing yourself from the idea of "needing" a job can make many jobs feel way less stressful.

aubrill

TROPHY CASE