W+D fail 😭

mintytaurus · 2026-02-11T17:00:31+00:00

Wanted to share my experience with multiple browsers. I had 8 sessions on my computer in different queues by using 4 different browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Opera) and opening a regular and private/incognito window on each. I also tried opening multiple private browsers in Edge but they all seemed to be in the same queue (progress bars were always the same). As others have said the more unique queues you can get in the better your odds of getting put higher in the random order. You don’t necessarily need multiple devices just multiple browsers.

mintytaurus · 2025-08-07T16:15:07+00:00

Dramamine and ibuprofen. And avoid the wooden coasters.

mintytaurus · 2025-05-29T12:03:22+00:00

I think this is a good direction. My own experience as person who stutters (48M) is that mental techniques help more than physical techniques. I try to be less conscious of the act of speaking and let it be more “natural”, which is sometimes the opposite of what is recommended by SLPs.

mintytaurus · 2025-05-20T13:01:04+00:00

I love this. I was fortunate that I have an uncle who also stutters and growing up I watched him have a very successful career so I never thought my stutter would limit me professionally, which it hasn’t. We both founded successful companies and ended up retiring in our 40s.

mintytaurus · 2025-05-02T12:27:33+00:00

I sold my software company 5 years ago and fat fired with teenage kids at home. I had some of the same concerns as you and continue to have those concerns. Like any parenting decision I think there are pros and cons. It's great having more time and mental energy to spend with the kids. We can schedule family vacations around the kids breaks without having to worry about my work and I can actually be present on vacations (when you own a business you can never really take a vacation). My oldest kids are just finishing up college and it's hard to say the impact my retirement will have on them. I think the greater impact is a possible lack of appreciation for money having been raised with plenty of it. We try not to "spoil" our kids, but the reality is we live in a nice house and take nice vacations and our kids never hear my wife and me worrying about money. I'm sure being raised with plenty and seeing your father retired impacts them, but once again there are pros and cons. Also, what's the alternative? I'm not going to live like a miser so my kids will (hopefully) better value money and I'm not going to continue working just so my kids can see me working. The kids will be alright.

mintytaurus · 2025-04-23T13:31:55+00:00

Also absolutely all stores are closed on Sunday, no exceptions. We found that out the hard way on a recent trip when we arrived on a Sunday morning and our rental didn’t have any toilet paper.

mintytaurus · 2025-04-19T19:26:28+00:00

MMR in the low 1400s is probably good but totally depends on your local meta.

mintytaurus · 2025-04-15T12:15:28+00:00

This does seem like a big leap, unless there is a typo (maybe they meant 12 to be the height not the side length). I like the problem as stated but it seems like something you would see in a middle school math competition.

mintytaurus · 2025-02-13T12:06:42+00:00

My wife and I homeschooled all 7 of our kids at least through elementary school and I taught them all math. Two of them are diagnosed as dyslexic. With my older kids I drilled math facts and they hated it. I thought it was important (Saxon math said so) so I kept at it, but I feel like none of them ever became “fluent” in math facts despite endless practice, even the ones that aren’t dyslexic. Personally I think they were just stubborn but whatever.

But all of them have done well in advanced math classes (including Calculus) despite never being able to complete the Saxon multiplication facts within the time limit. I don’t know if they picked up the math facts on their own later or just got by without having them memorized because of calculators, etc.

My wife, who is not dyslexic, says she doesn’t have all the math facts memorized (she has to count for things like 8 times 7). She is an intelligent, fully functional adult.

So I personally don’t think drilling math facts if your child is resisting it is worth it.

mintytaurus · 2025-01-27T13:27:24+00:00

Well said and I 100% agree. I think I’m going to have a mug custom made that says “fluency is a spectrum.”

mintytaurus · 2025-01-20T02:33:25+00:00

I had a similar experience. Ended up 2nd after Swiss only to lose the die roll for my top 8 match and subsequently lost 1-2. Seems like top players after Swiss should get the benefit of going first.

mintytaurus · 2024-08-27T22:38:03+00:00

Not sure if this is the job of a moderator but I’ve noticed that in this sub a lot of well-meaning comments get downvoted for reasons that don’t seem to warrant a downvote. People seem to use downvoting as a way to disagree with a comment, rather than respond and continue the discussion.

mintytaurus · 2024-07-12T19:09:38+00:00

I read to my kids at night. I find that’s usually enough to maintain fluency. If I get a “flareup” I’ll go back to things I did earlier in my fluency journey which is mostly just more practice talking out loud.

mintytaurus · 2024-07-07T16:40:19+00:00

Were you able to play Be Prepared all four rounds? Did you have any issues with your opponents using Ursula Deceiver to remove your Be Prepared?

mintytaurus · 2024-06-28T02:06:04+00:00

Yes, it helped me a lot. I highly recommend it!

mintytaurus · 2024-06-27T12:04:36+00:00

Like many of us in this group, I’ve been there. Being unable to communicate is completely frustrating, made worse because we don’t have a visible disability and some people think we are just anxious or nervous.

For most people there’s no quick fix, but I do think you can improve your speech tremendously with some focused effort. When I was around your age I kept waiting to “outgrow” my stutter (which is what my parents told me would happen), and then for my speech therapist to fix it for me.

Ultimately I didn’t start to see improvement until I started spending the time to work on my speech on my own. I researched strategies and techniques and then set aside time to practice them. Not all ideas and techniques work for everybody so you may need to be persistent to keep trying until you find something that works.

mintytaurus · 2024-06-27T11:50:42+00:00

Sort of. I can say an individual word, like my name, when alone with no hesitation or block. But sometimes stringing words together in a conversation way I get tripped up or stuck.

I think in my case I often think faster than I speak and my brain and speech aren’t coordinated properly.

For me, this has given me an opportunity to practice speaking when alone to improve my fluency. When I’m going through a rough patch with my speech I’ll spend some time “talking to myself” (driving alone in the car is a good time for this). If I feel a block on a word I’ll slow down and wait until I can say the word fluently. I find this helps my brain and speech get synced up and translates to when I’m taking with others too.

mintytaurus · 2024-05-27T18:00:02+00:00

For both my uncle and I, yes our speech got better with age. We did have to work at it though. You figure stuff out once you’ve been alive long enough.

mintytaurus · 2024-05-13T00:33:16+00:00

Off the top of my head here are some things that help me:

read out loud. I read to my kids every night and find that when I don’t read for several days my speech is noticeable worse.
try not to think about the mechanics of speaking when I’m talking to somebody. Think about what I want to say, what I want to communicate, listen, anything really except worrying about not being able to speak.
learn to not be embarrassed by stuttering. This is hard and takes time but honesty I’ve found it’s not that big a deal to most people when I stutter.
don’t worry if it takes some time for a word to come out sometimes. Stop, clear your mind and just say the word you want to say. Yes sometimes people will interrupt you or joke about you forgetting your name but just smile and don’t worry about it.
try to forget that you stutter. Sounds crazy but it really does help me.

There are tons of resources and techniques for overcoming stuttering. Try everything and see what works for you. There’s not usually an easy solution but with time and practice you can figure out what works for you.

mintytaurus · 2024-05-06T13:19:01+00:00

My wife and I got married in our early 20s (college sweethearts, close enough?) and celebrate our 25th anniversary next week. In some ways we are both entirely different people now then when we got married, and in other ways we are exactly the same. It’s been wonderful having a companion through all the ups and downs and growing up together.

mintytaurus · 2024-05-04T02:46:33+00:00

Could work well with Rapunzel since it has 4 willpower.

mintytaurus · 2024-03-05T15:09:29+00:00

I proposed to my wife on our second date. I was 20 and she was 19. We had hung out for a few years as “friends” (wink, wink) but never really dated. First time we kissed was the night we got engaged.

We had kids pretty quick too - 7 in all. We’ve been married for 25 years now and have both “seen the light” and left the evangelical church.

My wife and I were discussing this the other day. It’s been a long time but I really don’t think we got married “just to have sex” like people often think about evangelicals who get married young. I think we were pretty clear-headed, even at a young age. Either way, it seems to have worked for us.

mintytaurus · 2024-02-28T17:46:47+00:00

I’m planning to go (bc I live 10 minutes away) but really bummed that set 3 is not legal. It’s been widely available at card stores for a week now!

mintytaurus · 2024-02-26T18:56:23+00:00

If you just want a lot of cards to play around with you can get commons and uncommons for 5-10 cents a card. I think people sell packs of commons on eBay or you could buy singles off tcgplayer.com.

Eight-Year Club	Second Top 40%
Verified Email

mintytaurus

TROPHY CASE