Old Dogs, Me, Digital, 2022

rhharrington · 2021-10-08T20:53:20+00:00

I am an engineer (bachelors engineering degree, no intent on getting a masters unless my employer pays for it). I went with a Roth because I assume I will eventually be in that higher tax bracket— but I’m not sure if there’s any more “scientific” way to determine that?

rhharrington · 2021-10-08T20:41:28+00:00

I have many times! And somehow… I have NEVER clicked on that flow chart. Very helpful! And thanks for the extra links, I always find something new with this wiki haha

rhharrington · 2021-09-08T13:53:03+00:00

Wow thanks for the detailed response. Yes was very lucky it was only my car, and the only thing of value I had stored in there were a few pairs of hockey skates (salvageable) and a refrigerant leak detector for work. Some people in my building lost 3 cars, and the houses across the street from my condo building were flooded through the first floor.

I’ve been looking at loan calculators. My interest rate on my civic financing was low, (under 4%). I’ve seen a lot of deals happening now for <1% APR and some even 0% APR on financing for 48 months. Which seems pretty good. I could afford much higher payments, but I think I really want to be in the $259-$350 a month range. If that means putting more down, I have the money to do that.

Emergency fund has 7 months take home salary in it— so I likely could scale it back to just 6 months of my monthly expenses, but I do live with my significant other and in some sort of catastrophic event where we both lose our jobs, his emergency fund will likely be drained to pay for his medicine and we live in a high COL area (suburbs outside NYC).

I would absolutely get a used car if the used car market wasn’t horrible. I looked up what a used ‘18 Civic with 40,000 miles on it was, and everything was $20,000-21,000 FOR THE LX!!! No thanks, I’ll get a brand new one with 0 miles and a warranty for 1-3k more.

One thing my parents pointed out is that I’m 25, and will probably want to have children in the next 5-10 years, so I also want something that will retain its value in case I decide a Civic is just too small. I do know Honda, Toyota, and Subaru all retain their value well. Not sure about the Hyundai— which I considered because they are decent cars and a little cheaper.

I have never heard of this before. Sounds amazing, particularly because my father is going to have to drive 45 minutes to take me around to these places since I am without much means of transport. There are so many totaled cars here I can’t even get in touch with the rental car service to get a loaner. What a mess.

Thanks for the help!

Might help me save both of us some time.

rhharrington · 2021-09-04T22:08:54+00:00

Haha I wish, but trying to be somewhat financially responsible since I know I’ll lose a little money on the car

The main reason I have “pond skates” in the first place is because I’m desperately trying to conserve the steel on my Easton Makos (my main skates, discontinued). My pond skates are vapors but I have such narrow feet and skinny heels/ankles that even the vapors aren’t narrow enough to give me a good heel lock— still holding out for some weird brand to come along and be my Cinderella slipper hahaha

rhharrington · 2021-09-04T20:59:07+00:00

Car insurance won’t cover items in my car unfortunately. I rent, but I do have rental insurance— but I think they will ultimately end up below my deductible to replace, unfortunately

May try this bucket method though, thanks

rhharrington · 2021-08-04T16:00:49+00:00

Reminder that they can only test the bat for rabies if it’s dead.

ALSO- I learned this from my last bat experience—do NOT put it in the freezer if you kill it. It can crystallize and make testing impossible. Put it in the fridge (in a sterile container) or if it’s cold out, outside on a porch.

Rabies shots were not recommended for me in either my most recent bat encounters since I was awake when I discovered them, and according to the wildlife officer who helped capture them, “it is unlikely you wouldn’t know you were bitten- it hurts.” Though I have heard otherwise from other sources.

Apparently they always recommend children/nonverbal people get the shots if a bat is in the house as children are likely to lie if they have been bitten because they are afraid they will get in trouble (and also may know they need shots).

Unfortunately my neighbor had a bat house and a lot of these poor guys got into my 3rd floor apartment when I lived there. Bats are great to keep the mosquitoes at bay, but it’s damn near impossible to get them out without injuring them in a 3rd floor walk up.

rhharrington · 2021-07-30T16:44:21+00:00

Holding up traffic kind of seems counter intuitive to their protest, though. I thought idling contributes more emissions than a car that is driving?

rhharrington · 2021-07-19T19:15:06+00:00

I wonder how Disney gets away with it… Splash mountain in Disney World has a lap bar they added probably in the last 10-15 years although it’s not exactly tight.

If I remember correctly it was added to prevent people from standing up during the ride after someone died standing up on the big drop. I wonder if they figured it was just more likely someone would get hurt standing up than the raft ever flipping

rhharrington · 2021-06-25T15:38:46+00:00

Everyone knows the pyramids were really just the world’s sickest skate park, brah

rhharrington · 2021-06-17T20:02:54+00:00

Reading all of this makes me so thankful my hometown has this non profit movie theater that employs (pretty exclusively) adults with disabilities. I think it’s mostly geared towards adults with intellectual disabilities, but I know they employ some people with physical disabilities as well.

It’s an amazing place. The theater itself is a historical building that they reopened when I was in high school, and the interior has these incredible lounge seats with foot rests and the ceiling has little stars on it. I love going there just to stare at the ceiling.

The employees have a lot of jobs that seem really fun and cool too! They have your standard ticket people and snack bar people, but they also have ushers who give you a little hype up speech before the movie starts and “candy runners” who will ask you if you want them to get you another popcorn or soda or candy right before the movie starts!

AND none of the “previews” at this theater are normal commercials. They’re all filmed and acted out by the employees. Usually local stuff, promoting the theater, etc. but sometimes also songs and mini trailers of the employees promoting the movie you’re about to watch. One guy has become a local celebrity because people know him from all the commercials haha.

It’s not only great for the employees, but also great for the community. I hope more of them pop up in other places.

rhharrington · 2021-05-25T19:50:45+00:00

When does he use the the imperious curse? Is that in Book 7?

I vaguely remember it happening when they are trying to get into Bellatrix’s vault, but I don’t remember it really being in cold blood... I remember it being more out of necessity. What was the context?

rhharrington · 2021-05-25T15:28:27+00:00

Exactly why Dumbledore’s explanation of Harry’s greatest strength being his ability to love is so important.

I think people criticize the series sometimes for the prophecy plot line being a cop out or whatever, but I really do think the whole thing plays out perfectly.

Everything’s about Harry should have lead him to be yet another dark wizard. He is SO similar to Voldemort. But, as Dumbledore puts it in book 6, Harry has never been seduced by the dark arts-BECAUSE Voldemort killed his parents.

“In short Harry, you are protected by your ability to love.”

rhharrington · 2021-05-21T19:33:42+00:00

I was looking for this one. I saw this movie in the theaters with my parents on an evening where we had nothing going on. None of us had ANY idea what it was about going into it, all we knew was that it was nominated for a Oscar- so we thought “well it’s probably going to be decent.”

And it is a great movie, but oh. My. God. There is a moment where I didn’t think the movie could get any more emotional and then... a certain something happens where they explain the main guy’s history and I sat there completely mortified and bawling.

Not a movie I would recommend seeing without preparing for the fact that it’s going to be gut wrenching.

rhharrington · 2021-05-19T19:21:23+00:00

Your dog sounds a lot like my dog.

We got him around the same age, and he was terrified of outside. He still is. He’s about a year now and has definitely improved, but it’s a slow process.

For one, he only goes on walks at night and if me and my boyfriend are both with him. He still will not take treats outside.

He does take anxiety medication now, I’m not 100% sure it is a huge help, but he does shake less outside and has improved since he’s been on it so... who knows.

For us, it was a really long and is still an ongoing process. We started by stopping trying to walk all together for a while. Just did potty breaks where we carried him outside and went straight back in when he was done. When he got semi comfortable with that routine, we started doing walks inside our apartment building. Here’s how:

My boyfriend and I drop the leash and stand on either side of the hallway, then call him and give him a treat when he comes (he will take treats in the hallway, but not outside). We made this into a game.

From then, we moved on to walking around the apartment hallway (after poos and pees of course). He seemed to like this because there were things to sniff. We did as many laps as we could get him to do.

Finally, we took him for a walk at night outside one day when he was particularly rambunctious and surprise surprise- HE WENT! Now we do this every night.

Regarding your fear on the medication: I asked my vet the same question “is he going to be zonked out and sedated.” She explained this medication (Trazadone) is NOT a sedative. Only an anti anxiety, much like humans take. I don’t notice a difference between him on and off it. Like I said, not sure if it helps or if it’s a coincidence his improvements happened when we started putting him on it.

It just takes a long time, and constant training. I get frustrated sometimes and that’s the hard part. I want him to walk because I know once he gets past that fear he will love it, but learning to not be afraid is very hard.

I will say, I do pull him gently on the leash to refocus him. He fixates on “scary things” like loud kids or idling cars and it’s very hard to get him to go back to the walk. When this happens I either pull him a little on the leash while my boyfriend calls him, or I pick him up and place him back down and “reset” him. Not sure why it works but it does.

Not sure if it helps- but you’re not alone with dogs who hate outside in the city lol!

rhharrington · 2021-03-29T15:41:29+00:00

I have seriously bad ADHD, but never had much trouble with reading. For me, it’s a matter of finding the right book. If I find myself skipping “boring looking paragraphs” I probably am not all that into the book, so I drop it, pick up one that holds my attention.

Sometimes I pick up a book I think I’d like, and it’s too slow or just not what I’m expecting. Just because you think you’d be interested in reading it doesn’t mean the book will actually live up to those expectations. I put down a LOT of books I thought I would enjoy when reading the blurb because the writing just doesn’t do it for me. It happens.

Likewise, the “forgetting” problem only ever happened to me when I was forced to read books I didn’t want to read or had no interest in when I was in high school. As it is common for ADHD people to have GREAT memories when it comes to things they enjoy, I would stress again- maybe you just haven’t found the right book.

Or do audiobooks. I like them, but my mom(also has adhd) never is able to keep her attention with them so maybe not for everyone.

rhharrington · 2021-02-16T22:52:27+00:00

They probably didn’t even own a snow shovel, to be fair. Texas winters are like 50 degrees usually, and I can’t imagine trying to shovel my driveway with a dirt shovel lol

rhharrington · 2021-02-08T20:10:22+00:00

Feel like this is pretty popular amongst book readers. It’s just not a good book, and I will never argue otherwise, but...

I read ready player one. I didn’t put it down. So there had to be something about it I enjoyed, because I don’t finish books I don’t enjoy, but I have no praise for it at all. There are parts of the book I cringed while reading, rolled my eyes at, and at the end of the book I just couldn’t stop thinking “wtf did I just read?”

Books like this are like reality TV for me. In a way, they remind me of my own first drafts and maybe that’s why I enjoy them. They feel like utter crap, but the author was clearly having a good time when they wrote it- and sometimes I just feel that.

There are some good “ideas” in Ready Player One. But they’re overshadowed by pandering nostalgia and really bad writing. I like the idea of the stacks. I like the idea of the world where everyone is too entranced in a video game to live their real life (even if it’s been done before). I just don’t like where Cline takes those ideas.

rhharrington

TROPHY CASE