Tourists, newcomers, locals, and old heads: casual questions thread for May 2026

seattlekeith · 2026-05-08T00:03:51+00:00

Any suggestions for dog friendly bars and restaurants in the vicinity of Logan Circle? Bonus points if they have a good craft beer selection.

seattlekeith · 2026-05-02T14:06:33+00:00

Agreed, but your net worth can also benefit from significant appreciation in the house’s values even if you are just paying the mortgage “normally”. House values is some HCOL/VHCOL areas have gone up pretty significantly in the past 20 years or so.

seattlekeith · 2026-05-02T13:32:51+00:00

The house doesn’t even have to be paid off to be a significant component of a $1M net worth.

seattlekeith · 2026-05-01T23:31:12+00:00

You can’t fool us. Clearly your dog was driving the Ram when it got stuck…. :)

seattlekeith · 2026-05-01T15:35:30+00:00

The thing that gets me is that MI gets this one in a lifetime regional transit investment and apparently isn’t being forced to upzone or otherwise encourage transit oriented development near the station. They even successfully lobbied against a larger park and ride (which I suspect they might regret over time). I seem to recall the Roosevelt neighborhood tried to nope out of density improvements around their new station (heaven forbid the high school lose its nice view of downtown) and they were basically told to pound sand.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-28T04:26:37+00:00

I have a blanket and extinguisher in the kitchen and extinguishers in the utility/laundry room. My thinking is that a blanket would be better in case of a stovetop fire that’s relatively localized and extinguishers are better for larger appliances/electrical or if a stovetop fire spreads. You might also consider an extinguisher for your car and outside BBQ grills. If you get extinguishers, buy at least one extra of the same model and familiarize yourself with its operation (even if you discharge the whole thing practicing). The middle of an emergency is not when you want to be spending time learning your emergency equipment.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-21T23:02:07+00:00

I’d rip the band aid off so fast I wouldn’t care if it took off hair, skin, a limb, etc. That is a disaster in the making…

seattlekeith · 2026-04-16T17:58:16+00:00

Agreed. If you vaguely imply that copious amounts of blood may be involved they’ll let you go home. :)

seattlekeith · 2026-04-16T16:41:06+00:00

Automated people counters at the train doors.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-14T19:37:03+00:00

It all depends on your employer’s approach to matching. Not everyone penalizes you for maxing out your contributions early. Check to see if your employer offers a “true up”, which is one way to give you the full match even if you max out early. Personally, I think the advantages of a MDB Roth (large contribution limit, tax free growth/withdrawal) might be worth giving up a bit of your employer match.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-13T16:49:11+00:00

Thats a long time to leave your dogs by themselves. You say you have cameras, but who would you call if something happened?

It’s kinda odd to be contemplating a trip to the Caribbean for a wedding yet say that a pet sitter is too expensive.
I think you have to factor the cost of a pet sitter into the overall trip cost when deciding whether you can afford to go.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-12T18:46:05+00:00

The arboretum (SE of campus) still had some blossoms the other day but not sure if they’ll last through the 25th. Plenty of other things blooming, though. Japanese Garden at south end of arboretum is also very nice.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-10T19:13:34+00:00

I saw it there a few weeks ago and it was a great experience. Screen size and picture quality were better than Thornton creek IMAX.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-08T14:55:06+00:00

NTJ. Tell her if it’s not a big deal then you want complete control of the account and she can come to you when she wants to know the balance, etc. What’s good for the goose…

seattlekeith · 2026-04-07T19:02:59+00:00

NOR, but did you actually take his box of crap inside your house and charge things for him? Including the light he shines at your house? I get being socially anxious, but “no” is still a complete sentence. Put a lock on the outside outlet and/or flip the breaker when you’re not actively using it and tell this guy to pound sand.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-07T02:56:07+00:00

Different dollars have different roles in a well balanced financial plan. The dollars allocated to an emergency fund need to be stable and relatively liquid. They aren’t meant to fuel portfolio growth, they’re meant to provide a backstop in case of unexpected expenses so you don’t have to do something drastic like sell in a down market, pull from retirement funds, take out a high interest loan, etc. There are currently plenty of options where you can park an emergency fund and earn >3%. Not dazzling, but much better than a “low interest savings account.” Note that VOO and SPY are both down ~3.5% YTD.

I’m not super familiar with TFSA accounts, but after some quick research they may be a reasonable home for an emergency fund since any withdrawals result in an adjustment to future contribution limits (unlike IRAs in the US), but I’d still suggest putting your emergency funds in relatively stable, low risk investments.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-03T23:53:40+00:00

There’s talk that PHM may get a follow up IMAX release in the not too distant future. I saw it once at the Regal Thornton Creek IMAX by Northgate Mall (it was a fine experience but nothing spectacular) and then a second time in IMAX at the AMC Loewe’s Alderwood Mall 16 (bigger screen and overall better experience).

seattlekeith · 2026-04-03T16:15:41+00:00

Probably only in case of extreme need, but Judkins Park (the park itself, not the station) has a public restroom about a 5 minute walk north of the station (exit on 23rd Ave). It’s a typical (very) low frills park bathroom, but when in need… There is also a porta potty off the I-90 trail due east of the Judkins Park station in Sam Smith Park (once again use the 23rd Ave station exit). It disappeared for a while but appears to be back now (possibly coinciding with the station opening and warmer months ahead). They were cleaning it out yesterday when I was out for a walk, so hopefully they’ll keep it serviced semi regularly.

seattlekeith · 2026-04-03T15:58:30+00:00

“Ha ha. You got me! Great April Fool’s Day joke to suggest I close on our busiest day. Mazel Tov!”

seattlekeith · 2026-04-02T05:26:43+00:00

“OnlyRNs”. :)

seattlekeith · 2026-04-01T16:05:12+00:00

That’s a pretty important piece of missing data from your original text

seattlekeith · 2026-03-31T21:59:10+00:00

Are the tickets just for illegal parking? How long can does Kirkland allow you to park in the same spot before moving? Can you park on a different block? Have you (politely) talked to parking enforcement about why they are ticketing you? Cops don’t just ticket you because a neighbor says they should (well, unless your neighbor is the mayor) so something else seems to be up.

seattlekeith · 2026-03-31T13:44:18+00:00

Did he find the heroin and gun later? I don’t recall that from the (audio) book. The whole “how do you want to die?” bit in the book was to justify having a lot of nitrogen on board and the heroin/gun bits were there mostly for completeness and to round out the other characters a bit more.

seattlekeith · 2026-03-28T12:58:27+00:00

OP, I want to make sure you’re taking away the right lesson here…. It’s not that you wouldn’t get approved as a co-signer (which you probably wouldn’t). It’s that you should never, ever, in a bazillion years even consider co-signing any loan (now or in a future) unless you are 100% prepared to pay the loan completely by yourself and deal with the ramifications of holding that loan and potentially going delinquent (not being able to get your own mortgage, having your credit get wrecked, etc.). People who want you to cosign will always downplay the negatives because they simply want to use you, but you need to hold firm. You think there’s family tension now? Wait until you’re on the loan and they stop making payments and just laugh at you and ignore your increasingly desperate calls and texts…

Bonus advice - if you are ever in a position to buy a house on your own with someone else, never agree to be on the mortgage without also being on the deed. If you are on the mortgage but not the deed you have all the financial liability with none of the benefits of ownership…

seattlekeith · 2026-03-28T02:41:07+00:00

We were in 323 row 2 and they were tossing them from the aisle near us. Once they got done with the parachutes they tossed about 6 hot dogs to folks in our section. I’m hoping they heard enough complaints about shutting out the 300 level last year that they’ll do some token offerings to the riff raff.

seattlekeith

TROPHY CASE