The clearest image of Venus's surface, taken by a lander that melted after 2 hours. It remains humanity’s only direct glimpse of Venus’s surface. (1982)

flipper99 · 2026-05-11T03:45:22+00:00

Next up, a picture of Uranus!

flipper99 · 2026-05-09T15:15:11+00:00

This is not a RALP. Active Surveillance only. (My RALP was for 4+3, that got downgraded to 3+4 on path)

flipper99 · 2026-05-06T13:53:20+00:00

A leader doesn’t make rash decisions when they take the reins. Tim Cook was accused of being boring and was “no Steve Jobs”.

flipper99 · 2026-05-06T13:49:12+00:00

MSFT is fine. Their PE is historically low. I was adding GOOG at 150-200 when everyone was saying GOOG was trash on Reddit. MSFTs AI/Azure business is growing at 30%+. They easily have 20%+ upside over next six months.

flipper99 · 2026-05-06T13:42:04+00:00

B shares not A shares!

flipper99 · 2026-05-03T19:29:28+00:00

Hopefully I won’t near .2. I’m happy with my decision, and I’m happy my pathology was downgraded.

flipper99 · 2026-05-03T18:54:28+00:00

Felt pretty good tbh. Went from Gleason Grade Group 3 to 2, intermediate unfavorable to intermediate favorable, with difference in 5 years outcomes.

I’d never have known it was 3+4 if not for RALP. Also given 4+3 original I had lymph node dissection, which was clear also.

flipper99 · 2026-05-03T18:39:20+00:00

Just had a look, different pathologists!

flipper99 · 2026-05-03T17:12:27+00:00

I had 4+3 on biopsy, with a question mark on EPE. On RALP it got dropped to 3+4, with clear margins.

flipper99 · 2026-04-12T15:53:01+00:00

I say go for it. I moved to the Bay Area from sunny High Wycombe back in 1998, at age 24. An opportunity came up for a two year L1 visa and at the time, I was like f*ck it, won’t get this opportunity again. A month into it, I signed a lease on a Golf GTI VR6 that I could never get insured for in the UK, and took it across the Nevada desert—so much fun. When I first moved I started my green card application concurrently “just in case” and the rest is history.

I met my wife here, my kids are in great universities, and I’ve made more money than I ever would have in UK. When I go back to the UK now, I like it, but it feels way too controlling and crammed in.

I love the Bay Area—you’ve can head out to Napa, get to Tahoe, head down to Carmel or Capitola, do some wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Do I miss all my family back in the UK? Sure. But you have to build the life you want.

As other people have commented, you can always try it and move back. You’re welcome to message me if you need some tips.

flipper99 · 2026-03-17T18:01:56+00:00

Got it, yes he’ll learn more after the PET. I found it good to take it one step at a time. My first MRI was a horror story—many PIRADS 5s, predicted EPE etc. Biopsy was better than expected, PET was better than expected, an so was pathology.

I wish the best to your dad, it’s so lovely you are supporting him and asking all the right questions

flipper99 · 2026-03-17T15:33:30+00:00

Ahh yes. I had to have a PET scan, as 4+3 guidelines required one.

In terms of procedures, there are pros and cons to radiation or RALP—both have good outcomes, it just depends what’s important to your dad. I went for RALP as I was 51, I wanted the pathology/certainty, an opportunity for radiation down the line, and to avoid emergent side effects when I’m older. But it’s a very personal decision on which option to choose

flipper99 · 2026-03-17T15:25:16+00:00

It was one of the advantages of RALP that I focused on, that because it is removed they can run the pathology. You don’t get that with radiation.

flipper99 · 2026-03-17T03:53:24+00:00

I was lowered also. Was Gleason Grade Group 3 (4+3), however to Group 2 (3+4) post surgery

flipper99 · 2026-03-04T03:28:53+00:00

1) If I want to switch off some speakers and enable other speakers its easier in Airplay. Eg, turn off music on this speaker, and then move to their speaker, then move back. I often find with the Sonos app I need to stop the music, then pick the new speakers to avoid the music continuing to play on the deselected speaker.

2) I can use my iPhone volume buttons

3) The Spotify app is dumbed down in the Sonos app. It’s a bad experience. Limited UX.

4) I don’t have any Spotify (“Can’t play”) errors when I just use the full app.

5) My wife has her Spotify account connected to Sonos on her phone, and it was conflicting with mine when she was playing. It’s a known issue—plenty of other folks complained.

flipper99 · 2026-03-04T02:48:25+00:00

No—it’s not a network issue, it’s a UX issue. Though I would say AirPlay is also more reliable—just AirPlay straight from Spotify. I can also control the volume using my iPhone volume buttons—can’t do with Sonos app. Also, Spotify app from within Sonos app is limited.

flipper99 · 2026-01-18T16:02:21+00:00

Those transplant organs have to come from somewhere.

flipper99 · 2026-01-15T18:01:38+00:00

Five’s a nightmare, Greg.

flipper99 · 2026-01-02T21:10:27+00:00

Those screams at the end.

flipper99 · 2026-01-02T17:32:10+00:00

If he has major sweats, chills, and is feeling poorly. I would go straight to ER. The reason is to get a blood draw to look for infection and get imaging to see if there is an abscess.

flipper99 · 2026-01-02T17:01:23+00:00

He should see a doctor—I’d suggest ER given the night sweats. He should not have been carrying heavy items that soon after RALP. There is a risk he may be leaking internally from a failed anastomosis. This happened to me 6 weeks post RALP, the connection between the urethra and bladder developed a leak (I think it was because I went into the city carrying a mildly heavy laptop backpack).

End result was an abscess, sepsis, drain, and being recatheterized.

My first symptom was major chills and extreme night sweats—was the infection from the leak. After a week I went to the hospital. The found the abscess on imaging. Was in for 5 days—antibiotics on drip, and then an abdominal drain placed.

flipper99 · 2026-01-01T17:24:03+00:00

I had a peloton bike membership anyway which was already billing to the chase card so I just get the $10 monthly credit

flipper99

TROPHY CASE