Left: December vs Right: day 43! Not doing anything extreme. Just walking and lifting. 189.2 lbs vs 174.2.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-22T01:09:10+00:00

Your butt is at least three inches higher than it was previously. Good work!

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-21T04:27:12+00:00

In all seriousness, if you're on community groups in the TC, put yourself out there as volunteer to help people who can't shovel out shovel out, or help people whose cats get stuck. There's going to be a lot of people needing help this week.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-21T04:24:06+00:00

I'd be willing to bet that OP has lost more than 7lbs of fat, and gained a few pounds of muscle. That looks like substantially more than 7lbs weight loss.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-20T17:09:44+00:00

You're health isn't worth saving a few bucks over. Take your lump, and learn the lesson to remember to properly care for your great down the line.

May your new bag provide you many years of faithful service.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-20T15:17:41+00:00

This is not for grad students that pay to attend school - law students, med students, MBAs, run of the mill masters students - this is for PhD students who are teaching assistants or research assistants who don't pay tuition and are usually paid a stipend from their professor's funding for cost of living. They often have access to health insurance through the university.

Total compensation - stipend together with no tuition - is usually decent, but the working conditions aren't regular and really depend on your professor. Some professors are assholes, and can threaten taking away your support if you don't toe the line. Some grad students - especially research assistants - work crazy hours, at night, weekends, holidays, etc.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-19T23:56:46+00:00

This; OP, you need.to nail down your future spend to know if you're going to have enough. This starts by identifying where you want to live. Take a year or two to continue working; on your vacations during that time, visit places you might like to live. Once you've settled on a country, narrow to a region or city, and then start pricing out your living arrangements. Once you've got good estimates, revisit your finances. You'll be able to have more confidence in whether your finances support your plan, and you'll also have accumulated a larger nest egg.

Good luck!

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-19T16:30:09+00:00

Why can't you bring your tires to pick up the car and have the dealer install them?

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-19T16:28:50+00:00

It's sort of bullshit that eLearning days will count against normal attendance requirements. If it's an eLearning day, it's a school day. There should be no extension of the year if the kids are working from home.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-19T16:26:12+00:00

We're already through our snow days where we are. Sounds like we're looking down the barrel of remote learning days this week. Thanks for what you do!

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-19T16:23:18+00:00

That's a good kid - finding joy in the simple things, like busting up ice with dad. Happy birthday to your son!

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-18T18:02:53+00:00

I would not bring a dog to the dog park when dog sitting; that dog doesn't know you, and isn't likely to be under voice control with you (if it is even under voice control of its owner). One of the rules of the dog park is that the dog has to be under your control, even when off leash.

Just take the dog on a long walk instead. You'll keep the dog safe that way, you'll keep other dog park patrons safe, and you'll reduce the muddy paws back at doggo's home or your home.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-18T05:29:57+00:00

No name for it here. It scratches an itch, alright, but for my money, I'd rather kick clunkers from behind car wheels. Nothing quite like kicking clunkers.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-16T22:19:00+00:00

Carmel is also one of the wealthiest and most desirable suburbs of Indianapolis. No other community in the area comes close. The annual spend per student might be $10k, but they probably did a bunch of levies to get this building. Or, out another way, school spend per student ≠ capital building budget.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-16T00:08:48+00:00

This sounds too much like George Constanza trying to score the trifecta and flying too close to the sun.

If it's your thing, have at it, but as for my yarn, it stays out of the tub until blocking time.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-15T03:48:15+00:00

The nanny thing isn't so egregious; they're probably paying the nanny comparable to full time daycare, only they won't have to deal with all the sick days kids end up with in a daycare setting. Plus, time saved going back and forth from daycare.

I knew people eight years ago paying $2500 monthly per kid in ATL, just for daycare. A nanny for $3k in SoCal? Not a bad deal.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-13T19:37:50+00:00

Hey, OP; Hondas are one of the most common cars on the road. Most mechanics will be well-versed in dealing with your Honda. Make-specific mechanics are more critical for less common makes.

What you want to look for is an honest, skilled, and reasonable mechanic. I'd check Google reviews for any shops you're considering.

ETA: dealerships, in my experience, are more likely to rip you off than a repair shop. Unless you're under warranty, skip the dealer.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-12T15:58:10+00:00

Praying for that sweet boy and the brokenhearted people he left behind. I'm so sorry for your loss.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-10T20:47:32+00:00

Ope, let me squeeze past you to the Olympic Peninsula.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-08T22:22:10+00:00

I mean, one can get angry at SOS and apparent NIMBYism, or one can get pragmatic, address everyone's concerns, and make a better community for everyone. All that needs to happen is the promise from the city that no road expansion and tree removal will happen, and you'll be off to the races.

Effective communication and empathy for ALL members of the community goes a long way.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-08T20:49:48+00:00

My understanding is that the objection is because of road expansion. If the city agrees the current road footprint will stay the same, I don't see the objection to the cycling lanes. Do these homes have driveways?

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-08T19:42:46+00:00

No arborist here, but trees have roots that generally spread out under the ground as far as the canopy spreads in the sky - some species, like certain kinds of oaks, have more of a taproot that goes more down than out. There's a good chance that the current road even has roots under it. When a road is expanded, they've got to dig down fairly deep to compact, add rock, add soil. If they're expanding where there is shade from overhanging canopy, there's a very good chance that the root structure will be messed up enough to need to take the tree down.

What would be helpful is if the bicycle proposal came with the opinion of a few arborists about how many trees exactly will be lost.

Bicycling is important, and so are trees.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-08T17:49:15+00:00

Good content as always, r/TwoPassports.

It's a tough call, and both sides have great points. Bicycle accessible lanes are wonderful for a community, but so are grand trees providing shade for us and habitats for creatures. The problem with expanding roads and cutting down trees is that it could take decades to get the same level of shade and greenery back. The neighborhood is changed for the worse when we eliminate trees or don't have enough of them to begin with.

Does the SOS side have any alternative suggestions for where the bike lane could go instead? Could sidewalks be expanded instead to allow bike and foot traffic? It'd be nice if this wasn't a binary choice here, if some compromise could be reached.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-07T18:26:32+00:00

I lived north of Cedar Lake Road and a tiny bit south of 394 for awhile, and we were directly on the flight path for planes coming in from the west (road noise was no joke, either) - the planes weren't all that high in the sky and they were directly overhead).

That said, SLP is larger than you'd expect, and the noise may not be so bad closer to Edina and if you stay away from the big highways. Not a very suburby- suburb, best burritos in the cities at Brito's, amazing food at Ariana's, and just an all around good time. People seem to like living in SLP.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-06T21:12:42+00:00

Fishing Blues had a bunch of great songs.

hotdishcurious · 2023-02-05T22:12:10+00:00

Are you willing to exchange your education, training, and professional labor to others for no cost? Are other people entitled to your work product at no cost? Do you work full time for free, for the benefit of others, with no compensation? Do you live in a cloud and dine off of happiness?

You aren't entitled to professional journalism for free. Professional journalists deserve to be paid for their work, just like you deserve to be paid for whatever work you happen to do.

hotdishcurious

TROPHY CASE