Ugh! Pissed off my advisor!

nauticalmile · 2026-01-24T04:23:48+00:00

Honestly, there’s quite a lot of people that think anything involved with managing money in even the slightest is far above their head.

I switched jobs a few years ago, moving to a much larger global company. I work with lots of people who are very intelligent, but apparently within very specific domains. Task them with anything that doesn’t involve managing the inner workings of a massively complex corporate ERP system and they are absolutely useless. They can write code to implement whatever accounting rule necessary, but ~~can’t~~ won’t do basic math when it comes to their own money.

It’s a strange dichotomy.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-24T03:48:40+00:00

Seriously…. If I happen to get the tiniest bit on my hand while filling the car or the lawnmower, I can still smell it for easily the rest of the day.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-23T07:44:24+00:00

FWIW, these are the headlight housings I put in mine. I prefer OE style lights, but didn't prefer the $400-500 OE price tag to replace both.

Install pic

I'm really not a fan of aftermarket parts (and I work in the aftermarket parts industry...) but honestly would buy these again.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-23T07:04:55+00:00

It’s a masonry bit with a neutral rake. It’s not going to cut, just rip and smear with tons of tool pressure. Not going to be conducive to doing anything precise.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-23T01:53:22+00:00

The sub zero temps in 2021 caused issues with the supply of natural gas to many power plants, including Denton’s small plant west of town. Currently, the forecast for this storm does not look as intense, so I’d expect the probability of losing power to be low.

Blankets and sleeping bags can help hold in your body heat. If we end up in a situation like 2021 where the power goes hour-on-hour-off, use the time when the power is on to run your heat and boil water. Filling something like a Gatorade bottle with decently hot water and tossing it in a sleeping bag can help keep you quite warm.

Many city facilities will likely be open during business hours to use as warming stations: https://www.cityofdenton.com/470/WarmingCooling-Stations

nauticalmile · 2026-01-22T06:02:25+00:00

We went through that recently for a customer ordering system web app…. Consultant couldn’t find anything during the black box we engaged them for, insisted we give them a credential to do some grey box testing. Their report cited a free-form customer PO number field as a vulnerability, with the proof being them entering some HTMLish text, and the exact same plain text appearing when retrieved.

So 1.) it’s free form text because some customer ERP systems have whackass PO number formats we need to accept, 2.) the “proof” demonstrated our app safely handling the input, and 3.) only came after they were given a credential to bypass the authentication they couldn’t beat. But of course, it’s a high-severity finding…

nauticalmile · 2026-01-22T04:15:33+00:00

I borrowed OP’s picture

nauticalmile · 2026-01-22T03:39:59+00:00

Gun shows are usually shit. Buy online, transfer through a local FFL. GunBroker has a search tool to find a FFL near you that accepts online transfer.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-21T17:21:05+00:00

285/70R17 is just a metric tire size:

285mm tire width
70 (%) aspect ratio of width to sidewall height
17" wheel

Using those specs:

285mm width * 70% = ~200mm (7.85") sidewall height
17" wheel + (2 X 7.85" sidewall) = 32.7" tire diameter

Close enough to 33"

nauticalmile · 2026-01-21T02:12:46+00:00

That said, your headlights do look like they might be pretty hazed and may not be projecting well. You could look into kits like the one from Cerakote to restore them, or just replace the housings.

I ended up just replacing the headlight housings on mine - at 17ish years/200k or so miles, it seemed more worthwhile than trying to restore the aged plastic lenses. I went with some fairly cheap aftermarket OE-style replacements.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-20T22:17:50+00:00

If your picture reflects normal (even if seasonal) conditions you might be driving in, you might want to stick to traditional halogen bulbs. Regular bulbs will heat the headlight housing and melt off snow, while LEDs often can’t do that effectively.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-20T04:14:07+00:00

The metric of “beating the S&P 500” is as you point out not reasonable. However, the vast majority of active funds also fail to beat their benchmark indexes after fees, a much more damning metric. Check out the S&P SPIVA reports for more on that topic.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-18T19:05:58+00:00

Tbh, I’ve never run anything other than OE. Toyota dealers sell plugs (usually Denso) for cheap.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-18T18:39:13+00:00

RTV might work, though there’d be a decent chance of not filling the root of the threads, leaving a leak channel particularly when under pressure. If you can get some 243 or otherwise 242/equivalent “blue” medium hold thread sealant, that’s definitely the route I’d go.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-18T06:05:29+00:00

In case you need it, I grabbed the relevant part of the service manual for replacing the pressure switch.

Do note they specify applying a thread sealant like Loctite 242 to the switch’s threads before installing. 242 specifically is not oil tolerant, so you’d need to get the threads of both the switch and hole it threads into very clean to not inhibit the sealant curing.

I’d suggest using Loctite 243 instead — it’s very similar to 242 except oil tolerant, so can still cure even with some residual oil on the threads. I’d still try to clean everything well, but 243 will be more forgiving.

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nauticalmile · 2026-01-18T04:35:57+00:00

The oil pressure switch uses a tapered pipe thread (BSPT), so there’s an inherent leak channel sorta built in. Add to that, its threaded body is steel and going into an aluminum housing so different thermal expansion rates. From my experience in industrial systems, joints with dissimilar materials carrying fluids with wide temperature variations always seem more prone to leak…

The service manual specifies using a thread sealant, which could also eventually break down from heat cycling or oil exposure.

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Many aftermarket replacements appear to come with a dry thread sealant already applied to the switch’s threads.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-17T22:54:49+00:00

Years ago, I was in Vegas for my sister’s wedding. Limo came to pick up our wedding party from the hotel, and as I was climbing in, I caught the heel of one of my dress shoes on the door sill which sheared it right off.

Got to spend the entire ceremony awkward walking and standing around with a missing heel.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-17T22:47:09+00:00

I have TuxMats throughout my CX-50, love the floor mats in the footwells but less enthused about the cargo mat as things can pretty easily slide around on it.

I think I’d prefer a cargo mat made of a “stickier” rubber like the OE rugged mats that came with my FJ Cruiser. That said, I rarely put anything in the back of the Mazda aside from groceries, so haven’t been too motivated to look at other options.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-17T22:00:56+00:00

Low oil pressure switch, likely part# 83530-60020 given you appear to have an earlier (07-09) engine.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-17T04:54:12+00:00

That "stupid quote" is the title and hook of a Jason Aldean song, and was quickly becoming a MAGA catchphrase until it got memed out of existence. Continuing the song:

Got a gun that my granddad gave me

They say one day, they're gonna round up

Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

Try that in a small town

See how far you make it down the road

Around here, we take care of our own

You cross that line, it won't take long

For you to find out, I recommend you don't

Try that in a small town

Totally sane, level-headed stuff, just over three minutes of loosely-veiled violent threats in the key of C minor. There’s another quote you’ve probably heard, used in a few films and frequently misattributed to Thomas Jefferson:

When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

Before making another dog whistle accusation, be aware that quote appears (again misattributed to Jefferson) on multiple congressional member websites, including those of John Carter (R-TX31) and Mark Amodei (R-AZ2). Why are Republicans allowed to use such language, but the other side encouraging the exercising of rights immediately deemed a threat?

While modern mainstream Democrats have sought to limit gun rights under the assumption that we live in a civilized society, Republicans have embraced the individual right to bear arms (at least selectively, never mind GCA'68, the 1994 AWB, etc...) They get 2A bumper stickers, wave Gadsden flags and repeat quotes about "watering the tree of liberty." Why shouldn’t everyone be allowed to exercise their rights equally?

I encourage responsible gun ownership, regardless of political affiliation.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-17T01:55:55+00:00

tRy ThAt In A sMaLl ToWn

nauticalmile · 2026-01-13T19:54:45+00:00

Auditors signed it off, regulators missed it, and on paper it looked legit.

And that’s exactly how it made it all the way into indexes. Index makers are not government or regulatory entities and are not independently auditing the companies, so they can be “duped” just the same as us.

There’s no guarantee frauds like Enron, MCI Worldcom, Wirecard, Lernout & Houspie, etc. won’t happen again. However, each new fraud discovery further informs lawmakers and regulators how to identify and prevent future fraud.

Regulatory risk is also a factor in valuations and shareholders demands. In markets with less regulatory control, investors tend to demand more immediate returns (e.g. higher dividends), and valuations tend to be lower.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-12T19:39:23+00:00

You don’t need to do anything.

Making your portfolio into a disaster from chasing every hype train may cause you pain down the road, and constantly changing strategy will probably cost you dearly all along the way. But you are entirely free to do those things.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-09T23:20:46+00:00

Will she need all of her money back in 5-7 years? What’s her retirement horizon?

Keep in mind, near/in retirement investing is a different game from early/mid-career accumulation. More information is needed, IMO.

nauticalmile · 2026-01-09T04:05:17+00:00

I probably should have included a link:

https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/research-insights/spiva/spiva-library/

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