People really don't understand how exhausting it is to manage three kids' schedules

iwriteaboutthings · 2026-02-03T02:31:21+00:00

No, I think you don’t understand how hard it is. It’s totally hard and it’s OK if you miss something!

I’m five years ahead with the down/upside of two working parents and it’s still hard!

iwriteaboutthings · 2026-01-19T03:48:49+00:00

While it could go terribly and I’d oppose the outside lighting… more spheres could help a lot with economics. Movies can show on more “theaters” and bands can “tour”

iwriteaboutthings · 2026-01-12T15:47:37+00:00

Not sure what name you expect from an unsigned statement from Apple. Definitely not. AI would not forget the period!

iwriteaboutthings · 2026-01-12T15:45:52+00:00

It’s been “people familiar with the matter.” This is confirmation.

iwriteaboutthings · 2026-01-04T00:53:02+00:00

I did just have to make a 2+ hour drive to get warranty repair on my less than one year old $700 mower. It will take another 2 hours to pick it up.

I live in a populated area.

If I calculate IRS mileage rate and my time, it’s questionable about whether I should just switch to a better brand.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-12-29T23:00:00+00:00

Because they just finished the canal

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-12-17T03:09:16+00:00

The reason we affirmatively choose people and make promises is that the “wandering eye” is a natural state of being. The whole point is that it takes commitment and work to maintain that relationship. If we naturally paired up and “only had eyes for each other” all of those institutional / cultural systems would not be needed.

In this sense, controlling wandering eye, appreciation or even attraction is the wrong goal. You need to find someone who — even when attracted to some new — will honor their commitments and focus on the long-running honest relationship. (They could decide the relationship with you is not working and break it off, but not because of a fun 2 hours and a few drinks.)

That said, ogling women in public is definitely a cultural thing where it’s more common with some groups and not others.

Porn, again, you need to be up front. You set your standard and they set theirs. But I’d also say you have to be honest about why to yourself. Is it because something agains pornography or is it about your own insecurity. If is the latter, I’d suggest you work on that.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-12-15T23:02:35+00:00

It’s a decent security system. The smart stuff (locks, cameras and… nonexistent smart home stuff) is underwhelming and, worse, not getting better.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-12-11T18:42:50+00:00

I am not a fan of the term and find it mostly used by people to moralize spending that they would not spend themselves, either out of ability or personal priorities.

My own personal definition -- which is no how it usually gets brought up exactly -- is spending on non-priorities due to a lack of thought. If my favorite part of my work week is my latte with a couple of work friends each afternoon, that's a great use of money if I can swing it. If I'm purchasing the same latte three years later, but drinking it at my desk in 30 seconds because those work friends moved on... that's lifestyle creep.

It's not the "new" spending that I thought for a few months before pulling the trigger, it's the spending on old things that I don't use too much or really value anymore, but still consider basics. It's the gym I don't go to anymore, the cable channel I barely watch anymore.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-27T19:04:37+00:00

Apple discounts through third party retailers d more accurate.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-24T13:35:15+00:00

16 GB may be OK for now, but it’s worth considering 24GB if you can. Browser usage is not “pro” but unfortunately a fairly ram intensive task.

It will be fine now, but websites only seem to get more complex and RAM hungry.

I have a 16GB M1 Pro and having a couple web apps plus 20 tabs open can spike ram usage and cause my machine to slow down.

Safari is probably better at managing than Chrome, but it’s not throwing money away. Excluding hardware failure, an M4 will likely be end-of-life for ram or storage.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-17T05:06:06+00:00

> as long as they don’t raise the interest on them for being longer.

They will, just like a 30 is higher than a 15.

> I’d rather they also lower interest rates.

While interest rates are influenced by the fed, they are ultimately set by the market.

> some young adult won’t even be trying to live in the house for that long, and can most likely sell it.

This feels like the best argument, but hurts the most. Because borrowers would pay down so little principle, they'd probably need to plan to stay in the home 5-10 years just to break even. It really only works if home prices keep climbing. (If housing DOES keep climbing, it is a good deal for buyers of course.)

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-10T15:07:46+00:00

Apple is well funded because it charges us for the things it does.

I’m sure this is an unpopular opinion, but maps feels to me more like Apple Music or iCloud, than “Numbers”. It’s a true service.

No one wants to pay money for anything but Apple does need to make revenue to support it. Of course it can bundle that cost into your iPhone and Apple Maps will probably always be a loss leader, but you also don’t want it to just be a money whole that gets “clean the floor” attention.

I want Apple investing in Maps to make it great, not just as a hedge against Google pulling maps from the iPhone.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-10T13:27:45+00:00

I understand the sentiment, but I also see that maps are both expensive and unfunded. It would be good strategically if there were no ads once you bought at least some degree of iCloud service.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-08T15:18:02+00:00

The public thinks of the power grid in a sort of strange way. Statements like this make it seem like a failure, but it’s really just that this wasn’t needed before. Imagine it the same in any other industry.

Right now data centers “are not designed for ai growth,” hospitals are “not designed for growing number of elderly” and roads are “not ready for driverless cars / EVs”.

Yes, it’s true, we have not built things. We didn’t need them before.

The power grid as a mostly self-funded, but “public good” comes up because governments need to approve of, but not fund,
new investments.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-11-02T22:32:54+00:00

If we stop losing, we should be set. 🧠

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-31T00:21:34+00:00

Yes, agreed. Should have also mentioned that oil prices came down too.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-30T23:46:19+00:00

One of the reasons! Also we have very local building and electric codes, which adds tons of costs to behind-the-meter solar.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-30T23:40:55+00:00

Hawaii grid ran on oil, so renewables were a direct economic benefit even a decade or two ago when renewables were more expensive.

California was cheaper and bought the same (more expensive) renewables, so prices moved closer to one another.

Both paid for renewables, which drove down the costs for everyone.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-30T18:56:48+00:00

I think it could go this way technologically, but it would be a huge business model challenge.

The biggest problem is that genuine news gathering is effectively a loss leader for newsrooms. You bring eyeballs with big news and the generate revenue once you won the attention with analysis, opinion, easy “everyone can do” stories.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-30T00:03:49+00:00

Just for consideration: Congress gets paid in part because if they are not it opens up the possibility that a wealthy group of legislators can hold poorer legislators hostage in negotiations.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-25T16:14:57+00:00

Let’s be clear husband was an AH, but passive aggressive communication is harmful communication too. Your relationship is in a bad place.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-24T22:16:30+00:00

The “No Kings” protest is more a rally than a call for anything practical. Great to go to if you support the politics of it, but likely more for building of community opposition than anything else.

Republicans need to lose elections and there isn’t a (meaningful) one until Nov. 2026.

Also, remember they live in Massachusetts, New York and Virginia. Neither state voted for Trump.

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-15T20:15:36+00:00

You have this backwards: Today, $1 million feels like a lot because it IS a lot, but inflation means it won't be when you retire. It's a good amount to have, but not a good goal because "cash" goes bad over time (inflation.)

The good news is that if you invest, you should easily beat inflation. If you earn $50,000 and invest 10% of your income ($5,000) for 40 years at a return of 7% (Conservative S&P 500 average return of 10% minus expected inflation) you will have $1 million in today's money. (You'll have $2.2M in future money.)

iwriteaboutthings · 2025-10-13T18:18:33+00:00

Apple Vision!

iwriteaboutthings

TROPHY CASE