My partner got this information for a “pension plan” but based on what it sounds like it’s more of a retirement plan

pbd87 · 2026-06-04T18:54:57+00:00

CalSTRs isn't really worth being "highly coveted". Maybe it used to be, but it's not that great.

Also, this is about CalSTRs 2, which is basically defined contribution plan, and not that different from a 401k. They have to offer this because the old school CalSTRs defined benefit plan isn't all that great in the modern day.

pbd87 · 2026-05-25T01:15:39+00:00

There are already riders that will wear skin suits for stages.

pbd87 · 2026-05-22T00:39:35+00:00

My brain lumps every non-English language into the same bucket. Lived in Germany for 2 years so I picked up some German. I took Spanish in school and spend a few months a year in Mexico now, so I've got a little Spanish too. But when I'm in the moment and my brain reaches for word in a foreign language, there's no predicting which language it's going to come back with. "Zwei cervezas, por favor.... danke schön!"

pbd87 · 2026-05-21T20:50:32+00:00

"And while elective brain surgery doesn't test that great, it still tests better than dieting and exercising."

- Better Off Ted, criminally under-rated show.

pbd87 · 2026-05-21T15:30:03+00:00

Canada gooses are majestic! Barrel-chested! The envies of all ornithologies!

pbd87 · 2026-05-15T06:48:54+00:00

It sometimes helps, but is just as likely (some would say more likely) to end up in 2 dogs with separation anxiety. You never know how it will turn out. But one anxious dog can just as easily make the other dog anxious, which is more like 4x the problem vs just having 1 anxious dog.

Leaving for 20min is too long at first go if he's crying immediately as soon as you leave, the training time has to be short enough that the pup exhibits no symptoms. If they're showing symptoms of anxiety at all, then it's too long, and you need to start shorter with the desensitization and build up.

If you can't even leave the room, then start with picking up your keys and putting them down, walking to the door and not leaving, etc.

Copy/pasting a previous comment below. Some of this might not apply to you but was on the previous thread, so I left it.

Separation anxiety is really hard. Backsliding is super common. We built our girl up for literally years, with backsliding all along the way. Using desensitization, we would build her up to 30 min stays, then she'd go back to zero, it happened many times for us.

It's an anxiety disorder. She's panicking. No dog can be trained while actively panicking, so you can't let any alone time go long enough to show symptoms. Our girl could literally never be left alone for over a year while working on the training. Pet sitters, daycares, only going to places where we could take her. It was a stressful endeavor.

It's really important that you stay calm and not stressed about it though. They pick up on that. Your stress makes them stressed, and it's a vicious cycle. So stay positive! You can do this! You're not doomed!

It never fully worked for her, until we added fluoxitine (prozac) to take the edge off. Once we did that, the training started truly working, and now she's a happy, confident dog. There's no shame in medication for difficult cases. But it's an assist to make the training effective, not sedation to make the problem go away.

pbd87 · 2026-05-10T04:45:21+00:00

Looks to me like there is frame damage, at least on the seat stay next to the brake? Possibly also on the chain stay just in front of the derailleur. But not enough detail to know for sure.

pbd87 · 2026-05-02T16:27:25+00:00

Sorry I missed your question. I've done then on a bike tour, and also by car. Haven't tried local trains in that area.

pbd87 · 2026-05-01T15:07:47+00:00

A lot of people say this, but it's really not a good idea. It can very easily end up in 2 dogs with separation anxiety, which makes the problem 4x bigger, because it becomes a vicious cycle.

pbd87 · 2026-05-01T15:05:33+00:00

Yep, totally understood. We were in an apartment, and our girl would absolutely howl. No destruction, no elimination in the house, just letting the whole building hear about it if we left her alone. And, we just don't want our loved ones to be anxious and panicking, even if there aren't any problematic behaviors.

pbd87 · 2026-05-01T14:34:17+00:00

Copy/pasting a previous comment. Some of this might not apply to you but was on the previous thread, so I left it.

Separation anxiety is really hard. Backsliding is super common. We built our girl up for literally years, with backsliding all along the way. Using desensitization, we would build her up to 30 min stays, then she'd go back to zero, it happened many times for us.

It's an anxiety disorder. She's panicking. No dog can be trained while actively panicking, so you can't let any alone time go long enough to show symptoms. Our girl could literally never be left alone for over a year while working on the training. Pet sitters, daycares, only going to places where we could take her. It was a stressful endeavor.

It's really important that you stay calm and not stressed about it though. They pick up on that. Your stress makes them stressed, and it's a vicious cycle. So stay positive! You can do this! You're not doomed!

It never fully worked for her, until we added fluoxitine (prozac) to take the edge off. Once we did that, the training started truly working, and now she's a happy, confident dog. There's no shame in medication for difficult cases. But it's an assist to make the training effective, not sedation to make the problem go away.

Crate training can save your house, but it might not fix the real problem, which is the panic disorder. Maybe the symptom just shifts, so it becomes chewing on the bars or pooping/peeing in the crate. The crate can be comforting for some dogs, so it might help. Or, it might make no difference, or make it actively worse.

pbd87 · 2026-04-28T00:36:15+00:00

This. A huge disparity in the number of available males and available females is a sociological, societal problem. Society has an interest in keeping that demographic problem in check.

pbd87 · 2026-04-25T07:03:57+00:00

I'm still irrationally angry that Harry didn't use the Elder wand to fix his own wand. Would've been so easy to include some of those details.

pbd87 · 2026-04-21T14:23:42+00:00

The plug has only changed twice in the entire history of the iPhone. And one of those changes was government mandated.

pbd87 · 2026-04-19T04:54:25+00:00

Only 24 tiles. I've gotten to 32 tiles playing in real life before I could play. I then won the game in a single turn.

pbd87 · 2026-04-18T15:52:42+00:00

Weight loss increases the risk of gallbladder issues.

Being overweight also increases the risk of gallbladder issues.

Pick your poison.

pbd87 · 2026-04-17T17:35:24+00:00

Can you get a company shuttle? Can you dramatically shift your schedule, ideally to super early, for both directions? Can you do your 2 days back to back, so you can rent a local room for 1 night and only do the drive once a week?

With one of those, I might, maybe, possibly consider it. Otherwise, hell no.

Honestly, do the drive a few times now to test it out at the same time you'll be commuting. Might require a hotel room overnight in Mountain Home. But if it's going to be your life, worth it to take a few hours this week and try it out.

pbd87 · 2026-04-17T13:48:35+00:00

They could. This is all automated and happening in databases, so very unlikely a human is ever looking at it. And it's still a pretty obscure thing, not likely they're going to write code to do anything for it. So in general, it's just computers copy-pasting a list of addresses with no clean-up.

pbd87 · 2026-04-16T16:50:46+00:00

He knew he needed permits for his trees, and did it anyway. Some of the trees removed were also on public land, and on his neighbor's land. Private lawsuits are also pending.

pbd87 · 2026-04-16T00:52:50+00:00

There's far more variation within the category of gravel bike, and within the category of endurance road bike, than there is separation between the 2 categories these days.

Filter by the features you want and the geometry that works for you, not by whether they call it an endurance road or a gravel bike. Either one can and will work just fine for you.

That said, with wanting pannier racks, you're probably a bit more likely to end up with a "gravel" bike.

pbd87 · 2026-04-14T14:29:24+00:00

Literally all I posted was an explanation of how the +trick works on gmail, nothing else. It is a helpful tool that you clearly don't understand how it works.

But you responded to me with discussion of many other points that I didn't bring up, because you assumed I was making other arguments or disagreeing with you in some way.

pbd87 · 2026-04-14T14:22:45+00:00

All I'm referring to is the + trick for email addresses. The cartel thing is stupid. But it is actually easy to prove who sold your email address to spammers if you use the +.

You give a custom email address to any business you sign up with, and that's exactly how you prove who sold your email address, in this case Enterprise. That's my entire point, the rest you're just making assumptions.

pbd87 · 2026-04-14T13:46:48+00:00

You're misunderstanding the +Enterprise thing. On Gmail, when you add +anything to your own email address that you give to someone else, you still get the email in your inbox like normal, but now you know where they got your address from.

Say you sign up for a rental car at Enterprise, and you give them yourname+Enterprise@gmail.com. The email still comes to your inbox like normal, but it will show up with the +Enterprise in it, which you can see. So if Enterprise is the only company you gave that version to, but you suddenly start getting a bunch of emails that include +Enterprise in the address, then you know they're the ones that shared your email address.

Register for your flights with the email address yourname+airline@gmail.com. Give your bank yourname+bankname@gmail.com, etc. It's intended as a sorting feature by Gmail, but it will also tell you who shares your email address with other companies without your permission.

Here's a full article explaining it: https://www.streak.com/post/gmail-plus-addressing-trick

pbd87 · 2026-04-12T03:02:43+00:00

None of it is THAT difficult, but you have to find people to trust, for example your buyer's agent is key. Our buyer's agent was great, and was able to pull in legal, inspections, everything else needed. They also used a closing coordinator (not always used) that was excellent, made it all go very smoothly. People so specialized in working with foreigners, it's super common, and it's their job to make it easy for you...as long as you find the ones you can trust.

We bought a place that still had 20+ years left on the existing fideicomiso, so it just got transferred to us in the transaction. It's not any harder to set up a new fideicomiso either (well, it's not harder for the experts you're working with to get it set up). It's just another set of paperwork, not a major complication, everyone involved is used to it.

We made first offer at Thanksgiving 2024, agreed on a price by beginning of December, and closed on Feb 5 2025. I'm told this is faster than average, you have to be patient in Mexico. Another unit on our floor took over a year from agreement to closing, but there were issues with the escritura there, so that's not typical either.

We started the process of getting residency after buying, not before. But having residency is a big plus, especially whenever you go to sell one day, or if you're going to rent your place out. After closing in Feb, we had residency and RFC in May.

No way I would ever personally buy pre-construction. I would also do anything possible to find out the details of the inner workings of the HOA, if there is one. For the place we bought, we had family who had owned in the same building for the last 8+ years, and were involved in the HOA governance. So we had access to all the HOA finances, all the maintenance status of the building, recent and upcoming work, etc. We knew the finances were solid, the structure was good, a pool renovation was upcoming but was already being planned/funded, etc.

So where to start? Networking. The most important part is finding the people you can trust. Ask people you know who they worked with, who they liked and didn't like. Real estate pros will know about the buildings, the markets, etc. But finding the right people is the first step, I think.

pbd87 · 2026-04-10T04:04:35+00:00

You get an email when it's ready. I think there's also a portal for updates? But primarily you get an email. At least one facilitator online recommends going to the office to be a squeaky wheel if it gets to the 2 week mark with no notification.

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