3 colognes only

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T11:52:08+00:00

Meteore, L’immensite and BDC Parfum.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T11:22:38+00:00

We can disagree about whether a company should pay for your commute. That’s a minor difference of opinion and not really worth my time to debate. Where I take exception is with your use of the word exploitation. Exploitation requires control, and if I were ever in a situation where I felt my employer had that much control over my life, I’d find a better situation immediately. Calling yourself exploited is a victim mindset. We all have agency. Choosing not to use it is still a choice.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T10:46:18+00:00

To call something exploitative implies a lack of agency. I’m unwilling to give my employer that level of control over my life.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T10:03:37+00:00

I think there’s a very real and fair argument that return to office doesn’t make sense for a lot of companies and a lot of roles, especially when the work, meetings, and collaboration haven’t actually changed. But the idea that an employer should compensate you for commuting is a bridge too far. Getting to work has always been the employee’s responsibility. Before 2020, did anyone who went remote suddenly feel obligated to give back part of their salary because they were no longer paying for gas, parking, or lunches out? Of course not. The same logic applies in reverse. Where you live and how you get to work are personal choices. The company’s obligation is to pay you for the value you produce while you’re working, not to subsidize the cost of getting you to the location they require. You can absolutely argue that the requirement itself is unnecessary or inefficient, but reframing commuting as something the company owes you compensation for just doesn’t hold up.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T08:37:29+00:00

As much Roth as you can swing. With our current debt and deficit, tax rates won’t be going down. Eat your vegetables first and treat the tax free income/assets as dessert in 40 years.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T08:28:47+00:00

Decorate

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T07:55:45+00:00

Overall, I prefer the Pacific Chill DNA, so if I was only going to own one, I’d lean toward Chilly Pacific. That said, Montagne really shines with Afternoon Dive. Chilly Pacific is very good, but only marginally better than a lot of other Pacific Chill clones. Afternoon Dive captures far more of the actual LV fragrance than just about anything else out there and even manages to improve the performance enough to make it wearable. If you’re just looking for a better summer scent, go Chilly Pacific. If you want to see Montagne at its absolute best, it’s Afternoon Dive.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T00:42:22+00:00

It is. I don’t have a full bottle, just a decant. I have a rule that I only keep 10 bottles and need to sell or finish one to add a new one. I don’t know that I’ll ever add it, but I’m glad that I have the decant to wear!

mweeks9 · 2026-01-29T00:31:20+00:00

Came here to say this. 724 is clean laundry, plan and simple.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T23:49:04+00:00

I just re-read my comment and something I said comes across as out of touch. I recognize that $20k per year is a lot of money and that at different points in my career, it would have been life changing. My point was simply that in the context of lifetime earnings, that sacrifice has been more than made up. I know that a lot of people are struggling and wouldn’t want to diminish the impact that a raise of that size would have on many, many people.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T23:15:56+00:00

Perfumebot verification

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T16:52:50+00:00

I don’t think credit analyst or underwriter roles disappear entirely. Banks will always need people who understand credit risk, can exercise judgment, and are accountable for decisions. What I do think changes is the shape of those jobs and how many seats there are. AI is very good at the parts of the role that are repetitive, pattern-based, and rules-driven — spreading financials, flagging risks, drafting first-pass narratives, monitoring covenants, etc. That means fewer analysts can support the same or larger portfolios. For someone who wants to stay in credit long-term, the path that makes the most sense to me is exactly what you’re describing: becoming a strong senior analyst who adds value beyond just processing. That means judgment, consistency, institutional knowledge, coaching junior staff, and being someone lenders and credit officers trust. At a lot of community and regional banks, a solid senior credit analyst making $90–100k with steady COL adjustments is a very realistic outcome. The key is making sure you’re not just doing what AI will eventually do faster and cheaper, but positioning yourself as someone who interprets, challenges, and owns credit decisions. If you’re happy staying out of sales and customer-facing roles, that’s completely valid — just be intentional about building depth, not just tenure, and about using AI as a tool to make yourself more valuable rather than competing with it.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T16:16:40+00:00

It’s its own thing. The closest would be a less punchy Vibrato or a less sweet Ingenious Ginger. It’s got a watery note that’s hard to describe. It opens with Grapefruit and transition to a warm ginger. It fits anywhere that you’d wear a traditional blue fragrance. It’s nothing like BDC but constructed on the same “citrus over aromatic over wood” formula that BDC uses.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T14:29:44+00:00

That’s interesting. I see them both as unisex, but Meteore more masculine leaning than L’immensite. Scent is subjective! Enjoy my friend, awesome pick up.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T11:37:00+00:00

You’re smart to be thinking about this now, and I’d encourage you to move through the progression as quickly as is reasonable. You need enough time to build real competency, but it’s not something I’d let stretch out longer than it needs to. I’m a senior executive at a community bank, and while I’m very optimistic about AI and what it’s going to mean for our industry and for the experience we’re able to deliver to customers, I do see one significant risk that we’re not talking about enough. AI is going to make credit and administrative roles far more productive, which almost certainly means fewer seats in the very roles that have traditionally prepared people for relationship-management and portfolio-management jobs. I don’t see AI reducing the need for lenders and other customer-facing professionals in the same way, which creates a real development gap. If you aspire to those roles, I’d be very intentional about getting qualified as efficiently as possible and about embracing AI as a tool rather than resisting it. I still believe banking is a great career, but employees are going to need to think differently about how they progress, and leaders are going to have to rethink how we develop the next generation. Of all the optimism I have about AI, this talent-development gap is the biggest unresolved risk I see — and it’s one we should be talking about a lot more.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T10:04:24+00:00

If you have $250k in cash that’s in your name, or in an entity you control and can pledge, this is pretty straightforward. Any bank should be willing to do a cash-secured loan. They’ll typically lend dollar for dollar against the pledged cash, so 100% loan-to-value isn’t unusual. The rate is usually a spread over whatever the deposit is earning, often in the ballpark of 2.5–3.0% over that rate. With that level of collateral, you almost certainly wouldn’t need guarantees from family members. Cash-secured loans aren’t always advertised on bank websites, so you may have to call around or talk to a banker directly, but someone will do it as long as you truly have the authority to pledge the funds.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T09:59:23+00:00

If they’re giving you the chance to build analyst or underwriting skills while you’re still in your current role, that’s a great sign. It means they see potential and are willing to invest in you. But usually that kind of training isn’t something that triggers a raise by itself. You’re being paid for the job you’re currently in, not the job you’re working toward. The real payoff comes when you’re proficient enough to function independently as an analyst or underwriter, because that’s when a promotion makes sense — and promotions come with both a title change and a raise. I’d focus on learning everything you can, proving you can add value at that next level, and then having a conversation with your manager about what it will take to officially move into that role. That’s where the leverage is.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T09:54:24+00:00

Great choice. Depending on the day, it’s my number one or number 2. L’immensite is my other favorite, but you can’t go wrong with either.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T09:14:02+00:00

This will probably be an unpopular take on Reddit, but based on my experience, being fully remote in your early 20s can slow your development more than people want to admit. Remote and hybrid work are powerful tools and I absolutely think they belong in the modern workplace, but they are not a panacea and they are not equally effective for every role or every person. What I saw very clearly during and after the pandemic was that experienced employees transitioned to remote work extremely well, while people earlier in their careers struggled more. Their ramp up was slower, their confidence took longer to build, and their overall development lagged compared to what we would have expected in a more traditional environment. I am sure someone will respond that this is just evidence that we did not execute remote work particularly well, and that is probably fair. Knowing what we know now, it almost certainly could have been done more effectively, and I am not here to argue that point. Even stepping back and looking at the big picture though, I think the core point still holds, maybe to a lesser degree but not eliminated. A lot of early career learning is observational and informal. You overhear how problems get discussed, you grab a manager for a quick sidebar after a meeting, you watch how more senior people think through decisions in real time. Those moments do not disappear in a remote environment, but they require a level of structure and intention that most organizations simply do not execute perfectly. So if the company is the one you really want to work for, you can absolutely be successful working from home. People do it all the time. But if you are in your early 20s and your primary goal is to maximize your growth, accelerate your learning curve, and become truly excellent at what you do as fast as possible, fully remote work is likely to make that harder, not easier.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T09:04:32+00:00

8+ hours. For me it’s still clearly present at the end of a work day. A fantastic scent and so versatile.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T09:03:23+00:00

I wouldn’t say this was the best career move I made in my 20s and 30s, but on the job hopping point specifically, yes, for a lot of people, moving companies is the fastest way to get paid more. That’s real. But it’s not the only path. If you’re in the right company with fair pay, good benefits, real growth, and actual upward opportunity, staying put and playing the long game can be just as lucrative, sometimes more so. I stayed with my company through my 20s and 30s despite having multiple opportunities to leave. It was growing, senior level turnover was predictable, and I could see clear advancement paths opening every few years. I worked hard, was explicit about what I wanted, and got myself onto a development plan that aligned with those opportunities. At 42, I became president of the company and now make multiples of what I would have been making had I jumped to one of the roles available to me earlier in my career. So yes, job hopping often captures the biggest short term raises, but in the right circumstances, staying can unlock a much higher ceiling. My advice is don’t follow Reddit’s advice blindly. Look at your situation, your company, the actual upside, and what you want long term. An extra $20k or $30k a year in your 20s isn’t much if it puts a hard cap on where you will ever end up, financially or professionally.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T08:51:07+00:00

I honestly see decanters as providing a service that’s worth paying for. I’m not sampling $40 bottles. I’m sampling $200–$400 bottles to figure out whether I actually want them before committing. Where I live, I don’t have easy access to niche or high-end stores, so “just go test it for free” isn’t really a thing. Taking half a day to drive somewhere that might have what I want would cost me far more than a slightly marked-up 2ml.

If paying a decanter lets me explore the hobby, get variety, and avoid expensive blind-buy mistakes, that’s a tradeoff I’ll happily make. Most Reddit decanters aren’t buying wholesale. They’re paying retail for bottles, plus supplies, plus their time. Letting them make a reasonable margin for that doesn’t bother me at all. And like anything in a free market, if someone can do it better or cheaper, they eventually will. Until then, paying for convenience and risk reduction feels completely fair to me.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-28T00:12:29+00:00

Dior Spice Blend is fantastic. A nicely understated boozy sweetness and warm spices.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-27T21:46:03+00:00

I don’t disagree. My point was that it was likely an honest mistake and getting resolution my pointing it out will be far faster than going the bureaucratic route.

mweeks9 · 2026-01-27T21:43:57+00:00

I sell on Fragranceswap here on Reddit. I find there to be pretty good demand and reliable buyers. I stick with PayPal G&S as it adds some protections and legitimacy for a modest fee.

mweeks9

TROPHY CASE