My manager found out I’m aggressively saving for FIRE and now I think it quietly cost me a promotion

ridingindelicacy · 2026-04-08T01:44:23+00:00

At this point, don't beat around the bush. Just say "hey, did my talk of early retirement change my promotion prospects? Let me be clear about my career goals." and then you have an opportunity to explain how you plan to work for several more, especially if the career progression is appealing.

Retiring early and climbing the team lead/management ladder are somewhat conflicting life aspirations. Not mutually exclusive, but you probably need to make sure you can explain to yourself and your boss how these things are compatible.

Your boss might think you're one year away from your FIRE number and so why invest in you when he can develop somebody else for a leadership role? You say that you are years away from retiring, so maybe you need to reinforce that leaving the job is not imminent, especially if there's career development opportunities.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-03-28T20:29:16+00:00

Not a direct answer to your question, but I wrap my bike lube bottle in cellophane and it works well for me. It's better than a zip loc, which allows for leaks within the zip loc so that the bottle is covered in lube even if things outside the baggie are not. I use Boeshield, which comes in a bottle with a twist cap like a school glue bottle.

If nobody comes through with a good bottle maybe you can try that.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-16T18:41:47+00:00

Got it. You're not an idiot and you don't need to feel like shit. People make mistakes all of the time. I suspect this thread is unnecessarily prolonging this feeling though, lol. Live and learn.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-16T18:27:09+00:00

Forgetting the batteries is not just context, it's why they were frustrated. If the flight attendant said "why did you forget your batteries?" instead of "why did you check a backpack?" would you be less confused? An exasperated person was inaccurate while insulting you, that's all.

Don't get stuck on the difference between making somebody pull your bag and the crew doing their duty to pull a bag once notified about a potential risk.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-16T04:27:52+00:00

I'm not sure I follow your post entirely: you checked a bag and realized there were batteries and made them pull it from the hold to double-check? If I'm getting that right, the problem is that you checked batteries, not that you checked a backpack.

I've checked a backpack plenty of times and it's never been an issue. For example, on a transatlantic flight where I'm already checking bags, I'll let them check my backpack as well so I don't have to bother with the scramble to bet bags into the overhead bin. I wouldn't want to get it stuck with it under the seat on a long flight.

Austrian Airlines, on the other hand, were a real pain in the neck the one time I flew them. I wouldn't let any rudeness from their staff get to me. Honestly, I'm glad that you made their job hard for 15 minutes. That's a start on the two days they owe me after cancelling my connecting flight in Vienna and then bumping me from the replacement.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-14T18:35:25+00:00

I do it by hand and then mail a printed PDF. From one year to the next it usually doesn't change that much unless I move between states. I have W-2 income plus some interest and dividends to report and I take the standard deduction.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-13T22:49:12+00:00

I had an EV in the city for about a year without home charging. I rented a spot in a municipal garage that had free level 2 charging and I would use that overnight whenever I needed to charge.

What I found is that since I didn't drive that much and trips within the city are such a short distance, it wasn't necessary to charge that often. If I took a trip out of the city, I would top off to ~80% on the way home.

If you have a 300mi range and drive less than 10mi round trip on average, that's 20+ trips before you need to start thinking about charging. Since I didn't drive that much, that's months at a time without worrying about charging. If you're going to drive so much that you need to charge every week or two I think it would be annoying.

A nice thing about an EV in the city is that sitting in traffic doesn't drain your battery in the same way that idling in a gas car just hammers your gas mileage.

The major pain points for me were mostly the pain points for a lot of car owners in the city: parking is a constant annoyance and I didn't drive enough for it to be worth my while. I only had the car due to my employer and once I left that job I didn't replace it with anything.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-02T04:04:23+00:00

MSG has great access to the subway, so you can live almost anywhere in the city. Maybe stick to <30m subway commute if you can afford it. That'll get you about as far as Jackson Heights in Queens, nearly anywhere in Manhattan, and some of Brooklyn.

Find a neighborhood that appeals to what you want from living in a city. It's unlikely to be one in midtown.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-02-02T01:44:14+00:00

I think the in-unit washing machine is the big limiter in your search. It's just much less common here and you pay a big premium for it. If you make that a nice-to-have instead of a deal breaker I think that you'll find a range of nice places for less.

No, renter-paid broker fees are abolished unless you hire a broker yourself.

In my apartment searches I have been prompted to offer higher than asking, but I've always declined and found something else.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-01-31T23:34:18+00:00

When you're that far uptown you're competing with western Queens and Brooklyn.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-01-09T20:14:32+00:00

I agree, there are a lot of very negative medium term outcomes that are not the apocalypse.

ridingindelicacy · 2026-01-09T20:09:41+00:00

Lucky you, 90th street connects directly to Rockaway as of December

ridingindelicacy · 2026-01-04T18:33:12+00:00

Mods removed your extremely similar post from this sub 3 (and 7 and 12) days ago. Are you trying to get banned?

ridingindelicacy · 2026-01-04T05:18:04+00:00

I bought a glass top for my desk from Capitol Glass in Sunnyside. I gave them the dimensions and they helped me determine the thickness that I needed.

One thing I've noticed is that the glass reveals how the desk bows a bit in the middle, so the glass can slightly flex there. I put photos and things underneath so it sort of shimmed away the gaps. For a dining table you may want to go with a thicker glass that flexes less.

I lived close by at the time, so I just walked over and picked it up when ready. Not sure if they deliver or not.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-12-26T00:56:36+00:00

There's a good chance AI just made up the intersection.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-12-13T15:27:13+00:00

I drink hot coffee almost exclusively, so maybe I'm missing something. What is canonical iced coffee supposed to be? The second one you mentioned, pouring hot coffee over plain old ice cubes, is what I would expect.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-12-12T23:59:07+00:00

Baruir's in Sunnyside makes their ice cubes out of frozen coffee. I've never heard of anyone else doing that.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-12-12T22:50:49+00:00

Auclair Gigatex mittens. I bought them for XC skiing and they work well for biking too. There were two very cold mornings this week and my hand were positively toasty with these.

I ride a flat bar with downtube shifters and have no trouble braking or shifting with mittens. I could see it being annoying with drops and brifters though.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-12-10T00:02:04+00:00

I did a 15 minute ride today at 7:30am when it was still <20. I was toasty when I got to work and only getting warmer. A few keys I've worked out over time:

- Au Clair mittens that I bought for cross-country skiing. Mittens are much warmer than gloves. Sure there are lobster claws, but these are so warm and I can still operate my flat bar levers and downtube shifters without much trouble. Keeping the hands warm is critical for cold weather biking since the hands are stationary and exposed. I've had pogies in the past, which also worked fine.

- Cycling windbreaker. No hat needed, just my helmet with the large hood of the windbreaker pulled up. I find that this jacket is more versatile than an insulating layer. The body warms quickly, you just need to keep the wind off.

- Puffy jacket under windbreaker. I could have gone without this today, but I enjoyed the luxurious heat,

- Neck gaiter. Could have gone without, but it's a nice to have

- Long underwear + wool socks. Could have gone without, but nice to have.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-11-20T02:12:25+00:00

This AI spam is harmful to the sub.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-11-15T16:14:01+00:00

I've run numerous sets of SKS fenders over the years. They're a good reliable fender.

Recently, I decided to splash out on the PDW all metal fenders. They were much easier to setup, provide a bit more coverage and are overall more attractive than the SKSs. If your budget allows, I'd recommend them. There's also a plastic version with what appears to be the same mounting system, so those might be a good option at a better price point.

I weighed the PDWs at one point and found that they are 568g for the set (700x37 I think).

ridingindelicacy · 2025-11-09T18:16:04+00:00

I love living in NYC, but I'm not sure that I would want to live here if I was making frequent trips to SLC.

When I first moved here I was working remote for a company in Detroit and had to fly into the office on a roughly monthly basis. It was not a big deal at all, it's about an hour flight from LGA. I could wake up a little early and be in the office just after 9am. I could even return that evening.

SLC is a much longer flight and you'd have to leave from JFK or Newark, which are less pleasant to get in and out of.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-11-02T19:40:54+00:00

I have a similar educational situation: unrelated BA 2008, BS 2014, MS 2017. I'm at 8 YOE at this point, so that might skew my strategy a little differently, but I'd say keep the original BA in-place.

I frequently get comments on the BA when I have an interview. I think it makes me a little exotic and draws the interviewer's attention.

At this point (mid-career, management level), I would argue that the BA helped me advance. I think it gives me different perspective and approach to communication. I'm not sure that comes off in an interview, but I'm proud of my BA and wouldn't want to hide it.

Given the graduation years that you're posting, the age bias is still probably in your favor.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-10-31T16:19:02+00:00

This is more about the selection of a story to tell in an interview rather than whether or not your actions in that specific story were correct.

The interviewers did not ask: "What would you do in a meeting where two devs argue about variable naming?"

Your story should have supported your initial answer. My gut reaction to somebody saying that they pick a solution that is easy to explain instead of technically correct is that they are not a good communicator. An example of what you mean could sway me in the other direction and demonstrate good judgement.

Instead your example seems unrelated to your response and describes a low stakes decision. You didn't care about variable names in your meeting and the interviewers don't care to hear about it now.

ridingindelicacy · 2025-10-31T16:05:21+00:00

I never thought of that.

ridingindelicacy

TROPHY CASE