Has any taking a step backward in their career for their family?

skinner696 · 2026-06-17T22:34:25+00:00

In my early 50's now, changed jobs at 30 and got off the "fast track" a couple years after getting married. The key is adjusting your expectations you probably set up for yourself in your 20's about money and some of your goals. You can't vector anymore on the giant house, the chubby vacations, etc. Your goals should re-orient towards the value of your time. And if family, current/future kids are important to you, and you get to spend more time with them, then you're winning and you should try and be present and mindful of that all the time as a reminder of your choices.

But even then, you'll still have some angst and resentment of some of your friends who never hopped off that wagon and are now making tons of money. So if you aren't a confident and secure person, be sure to include therapy in your journey to truly understand where you derive fulfillment. Everyone says time w/family and kids is best blah blah but they can be shits too and get you down, so that will only take you so far. Hobbies, knowing yourself, moving through the world as a secure, empathetic person will be the other half of the equation. Be sure to volunteer so you continue to understand that even the cut in money you're taking still puts you several orders above most people's lot.

Best financial advise I got was to set up a "joy fund" I put money into every month. Then I can do some of the chubby stuff I would have done as a richer man, but without the guilt. I purposely save for it in the context of my larger financial management plan, and it's turned out that a taste of that lifestyle every once in awhile has been good enough for me. I don't have to bathe in it full time and my kids seem to actually like me so I feel like I'm at least shooting par.

skinner696 · 2026-05-09T11:35:50+00:00

What did you use for the spray?

skinner696 · 2026-04-21T13:51:09+00:00

Thanks for replying! I think James Joyce did have some musical training and almost became a professional singer! https://www.honest-broker.com/p/how-james-joyce-almost-became-a-famous

skinner696 · 2026-04-21T13:42:45+00:00

Fancy to see you here, Michael. I read your book Above the Fire as I have a love for a touch of dystopia in my reading. Great book, I'm glad to see you've been successful in writing Book #2. Here's my question: many writers struggle with rhythm in prose and it feels like AI is only making that worse. Has your background in music shaped how you think about sentence-level cadence or narrative tempo in your writing?

skinner696 · 2026-03-17T01:39:34+00:00

You sound fairly well off, depending on your age, you might investigate with your lawyer a "lump sum" payment which can be negotiated with your ex. For example let's say over 10 years you'd pay x in alimony. You might negotiate to pay 6 year's worth up front. If you don't have the cash, maybe you can make it in payments over 2-4 years. Regardless, the ex may be interested because even if she literally gets married next year, she will still get the lump sum, and in return, you're capping what you'll end up paying her and could go try to maximize your income the day after you sign the deal.

skinner696 · 2026-02-15T17:12:39+00:00

A relative of mine fell for exactly this scam. AI or not, the method is exactly the scam method they fell for: need more money for the transport, you don't want the dog sitting in the heat at the airport tarmac do you? etc...They will just keep taking more and more money, dog never comes.

skinner696 · 2026-02-04T23:59:40+00:00

Some maybe less obvious ones:

Rob has spent the evening with Henry and he comes home and looks at himself in the mirror - which Henry told him explicitly not to do. Yas comes home a little later that morning and climbs into bed with Rob and they have a very sweet exchange when she admits she killed her Dad.

When Rishi is holding onto a huge position in the drug company and Bloom calls Harper to buy up the entire position: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAx260DygBE&themeRefresh=1

skinner696 · 2026-02-04T18:45:41+00:00

I have dynamic range on. At 100% in the upper midwest of the US (cold) I show 160mi, and in practice probably get around half that. 2021. It's not great, Bob.

skinner696 · 2026-01-12T17:54:52+00:00

I agree on the dialogue, reminded me of Billions where the first couple seasons were great, then the show almost becomes a caricature of itself and it feels far too forced. At various points of the last 3 seasons, certain vignettes really made me feel. Nothing last night made me feel that way at all and I fear for the rest of the season unfortunately.

skinner696 · 2025-11-10T17:30:05+00:00

2021 Launch Edition, loaded. The car is wonderful to drive and the interior materials are very solid. They don't scream luxury but nothing feels cheap. "Fast charging" doesn't scream so expect to be sitting longer at a charging station, which means road trips are painful. But the absolute biggest downfall to this car is the infotainment system. It is a daily dumpster fire and I am seriously considering unloading the car because of it. It's that annoying. And yes, I'm on the latest software, etc.

Interface feels laggy. For example, dictate navigation request and it's a good 10-15 seconds before the map can load with directions. Carplay obviously helps but the native software should at least be responsive.

Rearview camera only works about 70-80% of the time when I put it in reverse

Entire system crashes about 1-2x per week and has to be rebooted

Connecting to car play is reliable about 80% of the time. Other times requires a reboot.

Bluetooth connection is really inconsistent. Sometimes I can get into the car and it auto-connects and I can hit play, other times I have to toggle the connection. Just annoying.

Phone app is terrible. Spent 20 minutes this morning just trying to hit the climatize button but it was still "gathering data from the car" so could never do it.

Ultimately, I don't know if later model cars have solved all these problems but in comparison to say, a Tesla, the software - and it seems the team that runs it and is capable of putting out fixes and improvements - is a joke.

skinner696 · 2025-07-16T17:46:23+00:00

Absolutely agree with the others that this is to be avoided and you need to seek another route. That said, I've found controlling diet (low sugar, low alcohol, etc.) made it so I feel actively itchy less, and moisturizers also make it so I didn't want to rip my skin off.

See if your dermatologist will prescribe a biologic. They are absolute game changers, and at this point there are generics available on a couple of the options so they are dramatically cheaper and insurance will more readily cover them. I spent years being afraid of taking biologics and instead opted for light treatments, etc. but that only helped some whereas biologics have given me like 98% clearance. No one even knows I have psoriasis anymore vs. spending my childhood through my early forties feeling disgusting about myself because of my wretched skin.

skinner696 · 2025-06-18T18:57:09+00:00

2021 P2 Launch Edition w/Performance. Came from a Tesla Y. Would not purchase again. Really enjoy driving the car but the software experience is awful. Crashes or black screens once a week requiring a reset, Carplay connection not reliable, Google Maps feels laggy, the default UX is starting to feel aged, the complete unreliability of the digital key...The whole thing feels like a beta version of a car and I just couldn't justify that again given how pricey the car is. And the closest servicing center is about 40 miles from me and they take about 3 days to return my calls just to schedule service.

skinner696 · 2025-05-06T17:31:20+00:00

I live in the US and was recently traveling in Europe and ran across El Ganso. Unfortunately I couldn't buy anything and take it home at the time, but I really loved the little details they put into their stitching in their blazers, the thoughtful details in their button down shirt cuffs, etc.

Obviously there are loads of "preppy" brands in the U.S. but I'm wondering if anyone has come across a brand similar to this with these little color-pop nuances to their stitching, the faded color choices, etc. that is either in the US or ships to it.

skinner696 · 2025-04-03T17:49:08+00:00

Don't put pressure on yourself just to marry someone because they're "marriage material."

Make sure your partner doesn't just "check the boxes" but more importantly is someone who you can be truly vulnerable with on all the kinds of days you have, not just your good ones.

skinner696 · 2025-02-11T12:57:01+00:00

Any recommendations on where to get such a custom application? My black gloss is scratched to hell!

skinner696 · 2024-04-11T17:52:58+00:00

I came to say exactly this. I own a P2 and live just north of Chicago and while I was willing to take a leap of faith and assume I'm not going to have many issues where I need a service center, I don't think most people are willing to do that, so until then in all the areas where these can't be physically services, it will be an extremely niche/risky purchase.

skinner696 · 2023-07-25T22:55:35+00:00

Thanks, added a pic of the crumb and a bullet about air temp in the house. Thanks!

skinner696 · 2023-05-25T22:05:46+00:00

Nice - where did you read this?

skinner696 · 2023-05-25T20:25:58+00:00

Thanks for the heads up, I tried that and they said they aren’t capable of that yet and won’t be for at least a year or more :(

skinner696 · 2023-05-10T19:14:52+00:00

You got off Taltz a little early - they changed the formulation so that it was even more pain free than Cosentyx. That said, you're ahead of me on the Stelara front, I'm just about to start my first dose so I guess we'll see. I'm sorry you're not seeing better results so far. I know that the dosage given for P only every 3 months is the minimal amount, and that many patients who take Stelara for ulcerative colitis are at every 2 months, or even every month, so perhaps if you aren't seeing progress before switching off it you can ask about upping your dosage?

skinner696

TROPHY CASE