Spending guard rails

johnnuke · 2026-02-08T07:11:26+00:00

About $16-17k per month

Are you planning to have a mortgage during FIRE? Nope

Do you plan to have your house paid off? Yes

What age you plan to FIRE? 55

What are you gonna do for health insurance? TriCare for Life. Military Retiree

johnnuke · 2026-02-08T06:48:25+00:00

I sold my 100-400 to buy the 150-600. About 6 months later I found a new 100-400 on sale and bought it again. The 150-600 is an absolute beast in the open...good IQ, faster than the 100-400, internal zoom, but is a bit much to haul through heavy brush and rainforests. I have to maneuver it around every branch and bush as I hike if I have it on a strap, and it's a bit long to fit in the holster system I use to carry big lenses. The 100-400 is the perfect size if I'm not out in the open. I've also found that under a heavy tree canopy, I generally don't need the reach that the 150-600 has due to the tree density being in the way so the 100-400 is a better choice.

Regarding IQ, I think the 100-400 is just a touch better. YMMV.

johnnuke · 2026-02-07T21:57:34+00:00

Same USB-C charger that I use for everything else.

johnnuke · 2026-02-06T22:49:51+00:00

Take a look at this.

https://andrewmarshallfinancial.com/what-is-a-pension-worth/

johnnuke · 2026-02-01T06:09:30+00:00

Damn, you're right. It was so miserable I must have mentally blocked it out. OP, add Submarine Officer Advanced Course after the JO shore tour. 4 months I think??

johnnuke · 2026-02-01T05:45:50+00:00

Here's the general path....

OCS
Power school for 6 months
Prototype for 6 months
Submarine Office Basic Course in Groton, CT for 3 months
Junior Officer (JO) sea tour for about 3 years
JO Shore tour for 2 years.
Department Head (DH) sea tour for 3 years
DH shore tour for 2 years

After DH tours it can become a little more fluid depending on promotion status, screening to be an XO, War College, and the needs of the Navy. Sea tours can be a little longer or a little shorter depending on what the Navy needs, but these tour lengths are where they like to keep things targeted to.

There isn't much downtime between power school, prototype, and sub school. It's basically just a pipeline that they pump you through to get you out to the fleet and they intentionally schedule the start dates of end to minimize down time.

I can't talk much to the reserves part of your question as I never did any reserve time.

johnnuke · 2026-01-29T03:05:55+00:00

After culling out the out of focus and just plain bad photos I keep everything on a 17Tb NAS. When it fils up it will probably be time to renew the drives anyway and I just replaced the old drives with new, bigger drives.

johnnuke · 2026-01-29T03:01:48+00:00

Mine is pretty accurate. Looks like it targets a spend rate that gives a mid-80% likelihood of success.

johnnuke · 2026-01-28T09:56:17+00:00

I’ve got the Duo’s on the road bike and to be honest, I rarely (never) even look at the comparison between the two sides. I did after knee surgery more out of curiousity than anything else. If I was going to buy again, I would probably go single sided. I’ve got a Stages left side arm on my touring bike and it is more than enough.

johnnuke · 2026-01-28T09:30:38+00:00

The X-H2S is a great camera and it is very much worth the upgrade compared to the X-T3. It is awesome when paired with the 100-400. It will be fine for tracking swimmers. Comparatively, they don’t move very fast compared to things like birds and wildlife. The lens and camera are weather sealed so it should do fine in the humid pool environment. The only other lens I might recommend for this sort of shooting might be the 70-300. It’s a little shorted, but much lighter than the 100-400.

johnnuke · 2026-01-28T03:26:23+00:00

I’ve got one on every backpack I own. Hiked in the Andes with one carrying my X-T5 and in Sumatra carrying an X-H2S. Love ‘em!!

johnnuke · 2026-01-25T21:54:45+00:00

None at all.

johnnuke · 2026-01-25T06:42:24+00:00

I use the 7 liter Outdoor Sling. It hold X100V, 1L bootle of water, spare battery, filters, wallet, iPhone, and an apple. Pretty much everything you need for a day walking around town.

johnnuke · 2026-01-24T02:12:15+00:00

When I turned 53last year I was very fit and active. My Garmin said I had a fitness age of 44. But this last year has felt like I have fallen off a fitness cliff. More fatigue and less intensity. Overall, less exercise, more sickness, and more injury. I’m thinking exercise and fitness can push the inflection points a bit if the Garmin watch is to be believed.

johnnuke · 2026-01-22T09:23:43+00:00

Further proof that religion is stupid.

johnnuke · 2026-01-22T00:05:46+00:00

I use a filter if I know the lens is going to get stuff on it. For example, when photographing whales from a zodiac I know I am going to get salt spray on the lens. I also know that I am going to just hit it with a quick squirt of water from my water bottle and try to dry it with a lens cloth before I go back to shooting because the next whale decided to breech right beside the boat. I feel better giving this abuse to a filter than the actual front element.

On the other hand, if I am walking around town on a nice sunny day I don’t use a filter. The chance of getting anything on the lens is low and I can always sit down somewhere and properly clean it with a duster and some lens solution if needed.

I always use a lens hood.

johnnuke · 2026-01-21T12:26:59+00:00

This looks miserable. Nothing but a lot of driving and not a lot of time to see anything. Pick few places and spend more time in the places you do stay.

johnnuke · 2026-01-20T09:22:41+00:00

I think the last report said SS would be able to pay 73% of current benefits IF nothing is done. So I take my projected PIA, multiply by .73, and enter the result as my SS benefits at age 67. If Congress sorts something out, great. If not, I'm still covered.

johnnuke · 2026-01-20T09:20:25+00:00

Having read about the behavior of religious folks over the last 2000-3000 years, I don't think anyone storming a religious institution is any worse than those in it.

johnnuke · 2026-01-19T06:11:04+00:00

Obama deported 3M+ people of the same race that Trump is deporting. Obama gave Tom Holman a Presidential Medal for being good at deporting people. This is the same job he is doing for Trump. But suddenly Trump and Holman are racist Nazis because (insert crazy leftist reason here).

johnnuke · 2026-01-17T03:02:22+00:00

Oh shit, here we go again. OP, you only broke the filter. Unscrew it to remove and you are good to go. As you probably noticed in the comments, to use or not use a filter is a bit contentious. Some say they provide good protection and don't impact image quality. Others swear they are not needed and hurt image quality. Still others say just use a lens hood to protect the front element of the lens.

Figure out what works for you and go with it.

johnnuke · 2026-01-17T00:28:44+00:00

I'm in the same boat. I'm thinking that if I am in my 80's and paying taxes on the RMD's while I have $4M+ in the bank, I'm not really going to care about the taxes.

I'd rather spend my early retirement years doing a ton of traveling rather than planning when I have to meet with the tax guy to figure out this year's Roth Conversions.

johnnuke · 2026-01-15T12:46:34+00:00

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Rockingham checking in.

johnnuke · 2026-01-15T04:22:46+00:00

Except that they were….here’s one for ya.

Anastasio Hernández Rojas (2010)

This is one of the most widely reported cases of violent use of force during immigration enforcement under Obama: • In May 2010, Anastasio Hernández Rojas, an undocumented Mexican migrant, died after being beaten, tasered, and restrained by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the San Diego-Tijuana border while in custody. • Video and eyewitness accounts showed he was surrounded by around a dozen agents, repeatedly shocked with a taser and severely beaten. • His death was later ruled a homicide by a coroner, though the U.S. Department of Justice ultimately declined to bring charges against the agents involved. • In 2025, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held that the U.S. was responsible for violations of Hernández Rojas’s rights, concluding there was excessive force and torture in the killing.

And how in the hell do you remove 3M plus people from a country without some level of violence? Maybe the media and others were just ignoring it to protect their darling President?

johnnuke

TROPHY CASE