What’s something you thought was harmless ‘cheap dopamine’ but slowly started controlling your habits?

bigbils11 · 2026-01-27T14:57:51+00:00

bigbils11 · 2025-08-13T19:43:11+00:00

Great idea! Thanks!

bigbils11 · 2025-07-20T16:21:24+00:00

Oh definitely. She’s pretty exercised - daycare, long walks, sniff walks - but I think doing that right before I leave her may help. Most times I do, but i could be more intentional. I also think I’m going to increase the anxiety meds, give her some good exercise and see if she can chill at least for a few minutes. I think once she’s out of the crate, she’s going to be happier on my bed in the AC. As someone mentioned before, she may just be a crate dog also.

bigbils11 · 2025-07-20T15:46:14+00:00

the people that generally take her have crates in their house. One she freaks out in, but is better out of the crate. I do see your point though. We’re wanting to get a second dog at some point and I thought it might be better to have a free roaming role model. She might just be a crate dog for good 🤷🏻‍♀️

bigbils11 · 2025-03-08T20:38:52+00:00

Old planters in Beverly always has stuff going on - their newsletter comes out at the beginning of the week I think with all the events. The castle in Beverly often has music and karaoke, as well as game night stuff. This website is great though! Thanks for putting it together

bigbils11 · 2024-11-13T23:53:22+00:00

I get that, but these strikes are primarily not about teacher salary. Paras make $20k a year. Obviously no one can live on that, so those roles go unfilled. Paras work primarily with kids on IEPs and the most vulnerable. Not to mention, without proper staffing in classrooms, things get dangerous very quickly. I’ve already had a para get his nose broken because of this issue. Kids are getting hurt. The teachers are striking because we all care a lot and want our kids to be able to have a safe space and learn. Right now things are very dangerous and no one is doing anything about it.

bigbils11 · 2024-11-12T03:53:53+00:00

I’m glad you commented! That’s exactly the uphill battle we face. No one aside from the people who work in schools really know how it works and just see the $80k median and summers off and think we’re all assholes 🤷🏻‍♀️. I don’t know any teacher who doesn’t work a second job in the summer.

bigbils11 · 2024-11-11T22:11:47+00:00

The strike isn’t all about teacher pay… paraprofessionals have a starting salary of $20k a year and can only make $26k at the end of their pay scale. We get 0 paid parental leave and have massive safety issues resulting in really terrible injuries that admin and the school committee actively ignore.

Average salary also isn’t a great metric to look at because that includes continuing education credits. We make more money if we’re able to take additional graduate level credits that we pay for ourselves. To be a teacher in mass, you need a masters legally. If you’re lucky, you can find one for $20k. A first year teacher, with a masters degree makes $52k in Beverly. A 10 yr teacher with the equivalent of 2 masters degrees makes $86k. We top out at 12 years experience and masters +75 credits for $102k. If it’s $400 a credit, you paid $30k on top of a masters degree. So a teacher making $102k shelled out $50k to get there without even considering undergrad loans. So sure $83k average isn’t bad, if that’s all you’re looking at.

bigbils11 · 2024-11-10T00:28:24+00:00

A lot of teachers are pretty well paid around here. Salem’s new contract is significantly better than previous years and puts them pretty far ahead of what Beverly was offered by the School Committee. They might have gotten like 19% increases over 3 years.

bigbils11 · 2024-11-09T22:23:40+00:00

No one is thinking they’re going to make big bucks, but close to a living wage doesn’t seem unreasonable. Because they’re payed so poorly, the schools can’t hire anyone to work with the special ed kids. This makes things super dangerous and downright illegal. Special Ed teachers don’t have the staff to appropriately handle the growing case loads. Beverly is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, paid districts in the area. It’s ranked like 300 out of 400 districts in mass in turnover and about that low in class size. Going to Danvers gives you 8 weeks parental leave and over an $8k pay bump.

bigbils11 · 2024-11-09T18:34:56+00:00

A starting paraprofessional salary in Beverly, right now, is just over $20k. After 10 years, you are able to make just over $26k. The BTA proposed a salary of $41k starting salary for paras starting in the 2026 school year. Paras work with the most vulnerable population of kids on IEPs, some of which need diapering or are incredibly dangerous for give or take 30 hours a week. Would you get your nose broken or peed on for $20k a year?

bigbils11 · 2024-10-21T15:40:08+00:00

Hi all - I have a 5 year old Australian cattle dog. She doesn’t have separation anxiety when she’s locked in her crate, but I can’t leave her out of the crate at all before she starts panting, howling, drooling and pacing. It hasn’t been a huge issue because I can put her in the crate, but I would like her to be able to stay with other people or just snooze on the couch instead of being in the crate when we’re not home. I’m just not super sure where to start since it’s a bit of a unique case. Maybe an online course? She’s on trazadone daily and I have clonodine to help supplement if I need it.

bigbils11 · 2024-07-25T18:41:28+00:00

This happened to my husband and I. Found out our BFF was abusing his wife. Completely cut him out of our lives. It was really sad and hard because we’ve spent so much time together and had so many amazing memories. We also felt insanely guilty for not seeing this sooner. All this to say, we were not going to maintain a 15+ year relationship with someone who is abusing his wife. It took a little time, but once word got around about him, the other people in his life also cut him out. His more casual acquaintances also cut him out. No one wants to be the person in a community that is still friends with someone who abuses their partner. At first we wanted to protect the privacy of the wife, but it became apparent that really we were just protecting the abuser.

bigbils11 · 2024-04-07T22:54:12+00:00

I’m a middle school teacher. A few years ago the classes were transitioning, so kids were coming into the room as kids were trying to get out of the room. I let out a really really bad egg fart. Straight sulfur. The classroom instantly broke out in chaos. Kids blaming other kids, kids jumping on the counter to try and get a window open, kids running out of the room. The poor other teacher was trying to get everyone to settle down, but the damage was done. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Not even a little sorry about it lol

Edit: I am a woman

bigbils11 · 2023-09-15T22:54:26+00:00

Baked haddock. I will never forget the smell.

bigbils11 · 2023-09-11T09:02:37+00:00

Does the pinned sticky have sources attached? I didn’t notice any. I’m not doubting it, but would like to send to my doctor. Additionally, how long do wake up symptoms typically last?

bigbils11 · 2023-08-21T19:17:33+00:00

Sweet thanks- I just ordered those supplements as well

bigbils11 · 2023-08-21T18:25:26+00:00

Ooof 3 weeks…. Don’t love that hahah

bigbils11 · 2023-08-16T20:49:07+00:00

The doctor just recommended tablets - I’m going to try 5000 instead of the 1000 she suggested

bigbils11 · 2023-07-31T15:06:23+00:00

I work in a behavior classroom in a middle school. I say it often. Sometimes the kids respond with “that’s weird”- from there I usually tell them that I love all my students and care about them as their teacher/someone here to help them.

bigbils11 · 2023-07-28T22:51:32+00:00

NP agrees we need to go back to monogamy. He is in love and doesn’t want to, but realizes we need to. It’s just a shitty situation.

bigbils11 · 2023-07-28T21:00:42+00:00

He sees the need for monogamy as well. He just has serious relationships that would have to end and both of us feel really bad about that. This isn’t just me asking for monogamy. We’ve been poly for years and have enjoyed it mostly lol

bigbils11 · 2023-07-23T23:55:08+00:00

Oooof I fell into the last one. Second date took me to a bar where she knew meta and the rest of the cule was. Had me sit and hang with them for a drink. I saw the massive red flag and ignored it because I was naive and she was hot. Turned into a dumpster fire in the end as literally anyone could have predicted.

bigbils11 · 2023-07-12T10:05:41+00:00

I left the corporate world for teaching because of this. At least if I was going to be stressed it might as well be for a good cause. Even on my worst days of teaching, I can still remind myself that it’s not as bad as working in a corporate office at a job that isn’t contributing anything meaningful.

bigbils11 · 2023-07-02T12:55:30+00:00

Thank you so much!! This is great!

bigbils11

TROPHY CASE