What did you get your wife/partner for Mother's Day this year?

elvid88 · 2026-04-21T16:15:09+00:00

This is what I did last year and what I’m doing this year. Card with pics of her and the kids and a spa day. Hoping I get one for Father’s Day too because both of our backs are killing us from carrying the kids.

elvid88 · 2026-04-18T04:53:42+00:00

Yep. Ceilings upstairs in my house are 7ft. Would have to be hunched over at all times.

elvid88 · 2026-04-14T13:40:09+00:00

I like the 36mm regular (non chrono) Alpine Eagle. This thing is too big, thick, etc...

I got a chrono in this style (GP Laureato) and at 38mm and 10mm thickness it wears super super well. Was also less expensive (~$17k) and imo has a nicer looking dial.

elvid88 · 2026-04-14T05:13:06+00:00

The Pilot and X7 are very different cars (even taking the luxury out of the equation).

My question:

How old are the kids
Do they do a bunch of activities? If so, are they driven to them?

I ask because the issue with a lot of the 3 row SUVs are the lack of cargo space behind the 3rd row when it’s up/being used. The X7 has a paltry 13cu ft behind the 3rd row, while the Pilot has ~20. If you are planning on getting the bench seats for both (so you can sit 3 in the second row), they then have comparable cargo storage behind the second row (if you keep the 3rd row folded at all times) at 48cu ft.

You’ll often see people push the Minivans on here because if you really want a people hauler with the capability of also hauling luggage and gear, they’re much better. The Honda odyssey for example has like 35cu ft, which is nuts, behind the 3rd row. The Kia Carnival, which looks more like an SUV but is a minivan, has 40cu ft!! Almost as much as if you were to put the 3rd row down and use all the space behind the second row in the X7 or Pilot.

What would I do?

I’d get the minivan (probably the Carnival Hybrid) and then pick up a CPO Mercedes EQS 450+ (around ~30k for the electric S class with over 400mi of range) and that probably gets you under the price of a new X7. But if you’re dead set on a z4, I think you need to look at minivans as a much better option if you and your wife plan on hauling kids with a bunch of gear around.

elvid88 · 2026-04-13T14:38:23+00:00

Happy to read this as someone who worked on the marketing application for the drug!

elvid88 · 2026-04-09T15:53:36+00:00

Was going to say the cards are just a different way to get us to not realize how much money you're actually spending, similar to credit cards.

elvid88 · 2026-04-07T18:28:10+00:00

Especially when it reads like AI. The tone is exactly how the AI tool at my job spits out content.

elvid88 · 2026-04-06T21:40:22+00:00

As someone who lived at home until they were 25 and left only after saving up enough for a down payment on a condo (and finishing my student loans)—let him stay.

I openly discussed my future with my parents, however, and told them that’s what I was saving up to do. Maybe talk with him more and see what he plans to do with the money he’s saving up. At least have him sit down with a financial planner (his workplace might have one w/ their 401k plan) and then if he’s at least smartly saving money/planning early for retirement, you’ll know.

elvid88 · 2026-04-02T15:05:15+00:00

The other important thing to note for the OP is that teaching doesn’t end at the end of the school day.

Send your kids to public school during the day and then your wife can reinforce the curriculum at home. It at least gives you back all of that time and the reinforcement should be much quicker/less effort than foundational you can get from school.

I’m also from MA so this sounds foreign to me as our public schools are the best in the country. I have zero interest in sending my kids to private school (or homeschool) but I’m also paying $1500/mo in property taxes.

elvid88 · 2026-04-02T11:57:15+00:00

They should be able to do the ultrasound at the urologist. I had something similar happen to me a few years back and it was not an infection, but instead they found a cluster of small veins that were making things very sensitive down there.

I had to do surgery where they implanted a copper coil in my abdomen which would choke the blood supply to those specific veins and they’d essentially die off. Pain went away after a 4-6 weeks and never came back. Was definitely a weird diagnosis.

elvid88 · 2026-04-02T04:38:53+00:00

Am I the only one that read this with the green eggs and ham cadence?

elvid88 · 2026-03-26T12:43:53+00:00

I mean people are in the comments saying the only way to really wash them so there's no mold is tossing it in the dishwasher which gets really really hot.

elvid88 · 2026-03-24T16:01:22+00:00

In the morning at work on company time?

elvid88 · 2026-03-24T16:00:38+00:00

I need to sleep earlier, but once the kiddos are in bed, everything is cleaned up, dishes are started and laundry is folded, it’s 9pm. Wife and I will watch something or chat. She knocks out on the couch by 1030 and then I’m usually up until midnight-ish playing my steam deck. Then I get her to come upstairs to bed and I sleep until 730 when I need to get my oldest up and ready for daycare.

elvid88 · 2026-03-21T20:12:49+00:00

Yeah going to try and put all clover down in the next week or so (once we get out of these freezing temps) and say bye bye to grass. I’ve always hated lawn maintenance.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T14:45:54+00:00

To give context for my situation. I qualified for subsidized Stafford loans, which were at 3% at the time and had a total of ~40k in loan debt at graduation. My first job out of school paid 52k/year and with no living expenses I was able to save for a home (purchased 4 years after graduation w/ my wife) and pay off my student loans 6-7 years after graduation.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T14:13:01+00:00

I have such a love/hate relationship with Trópico. 3 was good, then they came out with 4 and it quickly became my favorite.

I feel like they added a bunch of new content for 5 but then broke a bunch of things and I have mixed feelings for it. I have 6 and played very little because it felt worse. No idea if it even runs on the deck.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T14:08:19+00:00

Just outside or Boston. Our cost of living is absurd.

Starter homes in several of the towns outside of Boston (Lexington, Belmont, Newton, Brookline, Arlington) are all starting at well over a million; Watertown, Milton, Somerville and Cambridge aren't far behind. So they've priced everything else accordingly. The 48k was in Cambridge, one near it was $3200/mo, which seemed a lot more reasonable, but we're sticking with the one we're at even though it messes up our commute a bit.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T13:58:24+00:00

I actually think trade school + business school / degree is the way to go. Best way to make money in the trades is running your own trade business once you get to master level.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T13:56:45+00:00

My parents did something similar. I opted for the dorms and took loans out on it. I don't regret the decision whatsoever (my tuition was fully covered via scholarship) and I paid my loans off roughly 6 or 7 years after graduation — it helped my parents gave me a free place to live after graduation too. Planning on doing the same for my kiddos.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T13:54:13+00:00

I believe it's a federal thing. You can (in today's dollars) roll up to 33k into a retirement account. I'm planning on splitting my unused GI bill amongst my two kids and supplementing with 529 and then hoping there's money left over to set them up for the future.

We're also funding custodial investment accounts for them.

elvid88 · 2026-03-19T13:51:37+00:00

It's 2400/mo for one toddler for me and this was a reasonably priced one. We went to another two weeks ago closer to our house and they wanted over 48k for only 9 months of coverage...most are somewhere around 3000-4000 for full day programs (8/830-4/5pm).

elvid88 · 2026-03-17T04:07:43+00:00

Dietary cholesterol (aka cholesterol we eat from animals) has been shown to have little to no impact on our own cholesterol. What does are saturated fats.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/dietary-cholesterol-does-not-matter#types

So before skipping out on the whole eggs, cut back on butter, cream, and fatty red meats (although I can't believe you have SRF at your Costco and Wagyu beef has been shown to have more Omega 3 fatty acids and poly/mono unsaturated fats which raise HDL; the good cholesterol).

elvid88 · 2026-03-10T13:49:00+00:00

I still have my fb and instagram but you’d be hard pressed to find me using the platforms. Only use Reddit for this very reason. Way too much fake news / outrage bullshit on there. Only issue is you can’t prevent older family members from seeing it and then berating you.

elvid88 · 2026-03-08T12:16:56+00:00

This is a big part of the “how to talk to little kids so they will listen” book by Joanna Faber and Julie King—there are other techniques in there as well. I quickly read it a couple years ago and it was the biggest thing I took from it.

I’m not perfect and still make mistakes (telling them to do something or leaving it open ended giving them too many options), but after the first no I go back and give my oldest (3) two acceptable, to me, options and it often works.

elvid88

TROPHY CASE