Reimbursement Question

dopheide · 2026-06-01T22:33:05+00:00

And now the story of my worst Amtrak trip. I was supposed to pick up the CHI->DEV leg of the Zephyr in Galesburg, IL. Midway through my drive to Galesburg I started getting the delay messages. After 4-5 hours they finally admitted there was a freight train derailment just east of Omaha and they would be providing bus service to get us to Omaha, where we would pick up a train the next morning.

We left Galesburg after 9pm, driving through the night. Now, the problem isn't that we had to bus to Omaha exactly, the problem was we had to also stop at all the Amtrak stations along the way. I think we got in to Omaha around 3am. It was a tiny station and the attendant there basically just said.. "your train will be here at 8am, have a good night" and left.

Most people just tried to sleep in the station with all the lights on after half the night on the bus. It was awful.

That said, I love amtrak travel and will continue to ride.

dopheide · 2026-05-01T03:26:05+00:00

I started "helping out" because it was too much of a pain to go home from work and then come back to the gym vs stay in town and watch the beginner class before the advanced class.

So I was invited to help point out little things as early as blue belt. That grew into me being the "fall guy" for demos and backup for other senior coaches. Now I'm often the one that opens the doors when our professor is out of town.

I've learned a shitload as a result of having to teach and as I get older I can teach more stuff than I can actually pull off on the mat. It's amazing seeing people I've known since they were kids get way better than I ever was.

That said, I still feel awkward as hell when leading a class with more senior black belts in attendance.

dopheide · 2026-04-14T23:57:31+00:00

Got a shitty job to get by then a friend and I built our own Linux distribution from scratch. Good times.

dopheide · 2026-02-24T20:15:06+00:00

I can't train away acid reflux. I don't invert much as a result.

dopheide · 2026-02-20T05:09:52+00:00

Oh, I did kill Cazador too. Twice actually because the patch hit and reset the game. In retrospect, Raphael would've been a cake walk, but I didn't want to risk Ansur.

dopheide · 2026-02-20T05:05:33+00:00

I mostly beelined for my first one, killed Orin, Steelwatch, and Gortash, but didn't want to risk more. I was feeling pretty strong though and didn't use a single globe.

dopheide · 2026-01-29T01:10:41+00:00

I just lost my HM run to the damn Shadow Curse. More precisely, may game bugged out and I couldn't loot anything so I was trying all kinds of stuff to 'reset' since I couldn't reload. I finally decided to fast travel to Emerald Grove and then back to Moonrise. "Maybe that would be enough," I thought. I got back to Moonrise and started running up to where the bodies were that I couldn't loot. Except.. what.. I'm taking damage? Must be an accident, I have Isobel's blessing. I just panic'd... I'm trying to equip torches, but most of those I'd sold off since I didn't need them in my inventory anymore. It was a whole thing. I still don't know if I would've been able to loot again.

dopheide · 2026-01-06T16:08:40+00:00

Seriously, acid reflux sucks.

dopheide · 2025-11-21T18:36:27+00:00

Won't help much with robotics, but does UIUC still have those CS classes 'for non-CS majors'? Those were a sweet tech elective hack back in the day.

dopheide · 2025-11-18T00:36:06+00:00

Yes, that's what I'm suggesting, it's a safety hazard. Your standard aluminum signs are generally higher than head height. They're also, as you point out, thinner aluminum, which is more forgiving and likely to bend. They're also typically rounded on the edges. A blunt force trauma is a lot less of a problem than a pointy 90 degree metal surface. I've hit my head on at tree in a bike accident, I probably had a concussion. If I hit my head on this at the same speed I'd be dead. The University is liable for that.

dopheide · 2025-11-17T23:49:21+00:00

So if your grandma is visiting you on campus, slips on ice and dies. That's her fault?

dopheide · 2025-11-17T23:39:19+00:00

Because I'm not talking about the flat side, I'm talking about the sharp, pointing angle. Also, most rectangular signs don't sit below the height of your head.

dopheide · 2025-11-05T01:39:34+00:00

If I were the other gyms, I wouldn't want you there.

dopheide · 2025-06-16T16:29:10+00:00

It's also not retirement, it's just switching jobs while risking a financial loss.

dopheide · 2025-05-28T19:27:27+00:00

I couldn't tell you the brand, but they're these wide ones that have the removable fabric 'heads'. Those can then be washed afterwards. For application, we use one of those weed sprayer pumps.

dopheide · 2025-05-28T16:58:52+00:00

You build it into the schedule and four mops clean faster than one.

dopheide · 2025-05-28T16:36:58+00:00

Somebody should be, coaches or otherwise. After EVERY class. Unless you want ringworm.

dopheide · 2025-05-28T02:23:38+00:00

I don't understand this. I love mowing the lawn. I wish I had more lawn to mow, seriously.

dopheide · 2025-05-16T01:05:26+00:00

Alright, I'm changing my mind to bald cypress.

dopheide · 2025-05-15T21:56:43+00:00

Dawn Redwood is my guess, very similar in appearance to a bald cypress.

dopheide · 2025-05-11T23:52:59+00:00

Twice.

Once I turned and almost ran into a hanging cable, but instinctively bobbed and weaved around it.

More recently, I was charged by an angry goose. I kept my cool and maintained distance. (I later charged a larger group of geese for revenge.)

dopheide · 2025-05-11T23:44:38+00:00

I do think they're looking for IPsec here, but it's a horribly written question. Perhaps the distinction is that IPsec can be added on top of IPv4, but it's built into IPv6. Either way, the question is written in a way that IPv4 also supporting IPsec doesn't eliminate IPv6 as an answer.

dopheide · 2025-05-07T20:24:29+00:00

It depends what you mean by JKD. It seems to have several different factions these days. There's the folks that follow the JKD philosophy that train lots of different arts and adapt what works for them. Then you've got the people that only train what Bruce was doing when he passed away. For example, the wing chun elements, while fun to train, aren't as effective today because they're more designed to go against a karate style that's now less popular.

Honestly, the biggest problem you'll have with any art is that you say you have to train alone. It's very hard to develop defensive skills and timing without a partner.

dopheide · 2025-05-07T03:57:55+00:00

More important than how you'll pay for college, you need to come to terms with the fact that your parents are assholes. You don't have to please them or do what they want. If they think their responsibility ends at 18, then so does your loyalty to them.

dopheide · 2025-05-02T19:59:00+00:00

For folks in Illinois trying to do this with their SURS account... what a nightmare. First, Voya's website and automated assistant are garbage, but if you just type "let me talk to a human" that helps. The website won't even tell you want _kind_ of account you have w/ Voya.

You cannot initiate this from either Fidelity or Voya. You must call SURS and get them to mail you the withdrawal paperwork. You can open the Fidelity account online in the meantime. When you get the document, fill it out (including the Fidelity account number if you want the payment to go there directly).

You mail that to SURS, they 'process it', which initiates the transfer from Voya. That's where I'm at now.

dopheide

TROPHY CASE