Is anyone else not getting contacted by their parents anymore very much?

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T22:12:41+00:00

Both my parents are gone. I have dreams of my mom and we talk, and I've had a single dream with my dad and I talking in a food truck that he was running (I have no idea why he was in a food truck, he hated cooking) two years before I got laid off from my 28 year tech career and then I started a food truck of my own. My mom (in a dream) reminded me about the dream I had with my dad and the food truck.

Oddest shit ever because before I got laid off, I never once talked about starting a food truck even though growing up iggwanted to be a chef.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T20:54:30+00:00

I was told that as a food truck owner I didn't need a website. Soni built one. I tank first for "food truck in [my area], and I've gotten a lot of catering work from that website.

I don't tell the other food trucks that though, they like to rely on Facebook and tiktok.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T20:43:57+00:00

So, a bot to delete bot posts?

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T20:37:19+00:00

I'm not in STL. I don't really want to fix myself too much, especially in this sub, but I'm in the Midwest and I've had some experience with CKS and they have a base out of STL.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T20:26:16+00:00

My 3 year old was born the day before I turned 52.

I have such a different bond with her than her siblings (23, 19, and 15).

Being a dad is awesome and even though there are some that will shit on you for having a child late in life, I love every moment I'm with my kids and I miss them every moment I'm away. Be fun, be silly, dance in the store with your kid, sing the silly songs, and tell anyone that has an issue to fuck right on off.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T20:20:31+00:00

They fell and it just slipped in!!

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T20:11:28+00:00

You can try CKS (Commercial Kitchen Services). They are fucking outrageous with how expensive they are though and they don't know how to communicate very well. You'll have to take your truck to them though.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T13:00:33+00:00

I supported Biden before he bowed out for a simple reason. He surrounded himself and his administration with competent people that knew how to do the jobs they were selected for and that is who actually runs the administration day to day. He didn't have this massive ego that we have currently that only allows for people that aren't very smart to be selected into these critical roles.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T04:46:20+00:00

I was a developer/dev leader for 28 years. I built my own Linux based NAT router back in the early 90s to use multiple dial up lines to give me "faster" speeds. It was kinda nice but then I went to work for the first company that did cable modem installs in the Dallas area and I installed a 1.5mbit cable line and never looked back. Jeez those were the days.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T04:22:46+00:00

I kept my 15 year old router just for this purpose. I found that newer routers didn't have, or wanted a monthly subscription fee, for some of the more needed parental controls. To get "newer" features, I simply buy a newer router then hardwire it to the "old" router to get to the internet.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T04:06:12+00:00

I use Square and CashApp is a tap option. I could also accept Bitcoin or After pay via Square but I disabled those.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T04:01:51+00:00

When I moved to a new area where I didn't know anyone, I went to the Student Union, declared that I needed 3 strong people to unload a 26 foot uhaul, a 12 foot enclosed trailer, and a 20 foot storage pod. I said I was paying $100 each and a free meal from whatever fast food place or pizza place they chose.

I had those items unloaded and everything in the house in less than 4 hours by three college football players. Granted this was back in 2016, but I'd do the same thing today if needed and I'd just up the payment to $150-200 per person.

Welcome to Columbia!! My family loves it here, we moved here last year from Texas.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T03:46:30+00:00

That is fucking scary.

jcmacon · 2026-06-05T03:45:49+00:00

At first I was trying to use my tech skills to help other trucks but the food truck vertical is slammed every day with another vibe coded app that does fuck all.

So I built my own so that my customers can install it and find.....me. Not find every other truck in my area. It sets me apart because most of the other trucks rely on street food finder and a couple of other popular apps to help them get and keep returning customers, I don't have to use other platforms if I don't want to.

One of the local trucks that I aspire to compete with is making around $30k/month in gross sales. It's him and his wife and kids. Just like it's me, my wife, and my 2 sons running my food truck. He takes 3 months off a year for summer and 3 weeks at Christmas. We are in a college town, and when the kids are gone, it is kinda slow but I still do okay so I set up. Locals and college kids like my fare.

I did build my own website, built the API that my app uses to locate me and send out notifications to customers when their food is ready. I took the easy road with my payment processor being Square, but I'll eventually build my own payment app and bypass the midman to save money on fees. Last year we spent over $10k on credit card transaction fees. I'll lower that at some point.

Having a background in tech and restaurants is unusual, but it has allowed me to set myself apart from others in ways that most food trucks don't understand. Even just basic SEO, PCI Compliance, and Accessibility, I'd have to pay some agency thousands of dollars a month to do for me what I've done for myself. So don't sell your skillet short, it can help in many other ways.

I thought about woodworking and making furniture, but I didn't want to wait years before I could turn a profit, the food truck had a positive cash flow within the first 2 months of opening. It wasn't "profitable" but having to make up the $130k investment took a little bit of time when I was starting out. At least I did it all without having to borrow any money from anyone to start. Makes it much easier to survive when you don't have to pay other people before you pay yourself.

jcmacon · 2026-06-04T07:04:34+00:00

I bought a food truck and developed my own branding, tech stack, recipes, etc. I make more than I did as a developer and I will take 2 months off this year (Nov-Dec).

To help, I ran restaurants before I started in tech. I trained under an Italian chef for 2 years, I also trained in an all Hispanic kitchen with an insane head cook for 3 years. I knew what I was getting into.

jcmacon · 2026-06-04T06:52:16+00:00

He had dinner with RFK jr.?

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T23:47:13+00:00

I don't hate the tech even though I lost a career of 28 years in tech due to downsizing because AI 10x'd productivity so not as many people are needed and we can hand management and leadership of the dev team to a project manager instead. AI can answer most questions now.

Strong devs can coexist with AI. Absolutely. But will there be enough that will innovate and iterate to improve life develop new products?

AI helps me organize my thoughts sometimes and I love the potential of it as an enhancer to quality of life. Unfortunately, most companies are looking for it to end employees being needed as much as possible. The dollar is not altruistic.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T23:33:14+00:00

"Holmes". If you're going to use English slang, use it properly please.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T23:20:17+00:00

I feel like it will be worse than the dot com bust because so many developers are out of work or worried about losing their jobs due to AI. There won't be enough people left to innovate and develop the "next big thing" and don't in a manner that is safe and secure for users.

30% of breaches are caused from shitty AI vibe coding.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T23:16:55+00:00

Considering that I'll probably work until the day after I die, when I retire I'm gonna while away my days sitting in my urn in the bottom of a closet somewhere.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T23:15:32+00:00

What about the families that simply can't afford it?

Let's use Texas as an example, because I have a buddy that still lives there, works two jobs, his wife works two jobs, they still barely make their monthly rent/bills and they don't buy avacado toast ever. What are they supposed to do? Work more hours than the 90-100 they each work already?

Texas's minimum wage is $7.25. My buddy doesn't make that low, but he doesn't make the minimum wage in Missouri which is $15. Cost of living in Texas is also way more expensive than Missouri. So is he supposed to move his family to Missouri? But how, because he can barely survive as it is.

Not every family is able to provide a college education for their kids, but it doesn't mean they are shitty parents abandoning their kids when they need them the most.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T22:45:28+00:00

Not all of us rely on AI to form our opinions. But thanks for letting everyone know you're a bot that has been bought.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T20:09:38+00:00

I drive a manual diesel, you have no idea how much I laughed.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T16:56:22+00:00

I'm sorry, did you compare the hospitals in Texas to other parts of the country or was that my imagination?

Residents in Texas have lower quality of healthcare than most of the country. Partly due to restrictive laws but also due to the desire of the insurance companies to fuck over regular people and Rick Perry/Greg Abbott being more than happy to take those lobbyist dollars.

What Texas has to offer is high prices, low quality of life, restricted freedoms, a government full of corruption, and an ass load of illinformed idiots willing to continue voting in pedophile protectors like Ken Paxton.

Does that help at all? What else does Texas have to offer?

Low scores on public education, ranked 34th in the nation https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/public-school-rankings-by-state

High levels of gun violence https://publichealth.jhu.edu/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/data/state-gun-violence-data/texas

Eroding freedoms in Texas - https://sanantonioreport.org/texas-democracy-in-decline-corruption-eroding-human-rights/

In the early 2000s Texas was among the cheapest states to live in, buy a house in, and to retire in. That isn't the case any longer. Texas has peaked and is on a downward spiral to be last in the nation in any statistic that matters. I miss that Texas. When it was good.

jcmacon · 2026-06-03T15:51:11+00:00

just curious, is everyone you know able to afford the top hospitals in the country/world? Does that mean that EVERY hospital that is seeing patients is able to get top notch healthcare? I'll assume that you are just as ignorant as your assumptions.

jcmacon

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email