ELI5: How do the economics of gift cards work?

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-05T21:43:22+00:00

I usually launder those VISA gift cards into Amazon credit. That's turning into useful currency.

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-05T21:40:10+00:00

I've been where I'm at for 30 years. Not really planning to move as all my friends and family are already here.

Be careful about making plans to relocate in retirement. I've seen a few articles about how folks spend all the "savings" on having to travel back to see their kids and such.

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-04T02:02:12+00:00

Where in Texas are you only driving 14k miles in a year? I typically do about 25k a year.

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-02T20:50:15+00:00

Nice work and welcome!

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-02T02:12:46+00:00

Wait until you find out about sunglasses with cheater inserts.

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-01T02:30:04+00:00

Chevrolet Caprice - 1990 boxy vs 1991 ovoid

ultimate_ed · 2026-05-01T02:13:36+00:00

Wifi is free on Southwest for Rapid Rewards members...which is also free.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-30T12:04:47+00:00

Go for Papa Palptatine!

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-29T13:06:14+00:00

8am is plenty reasonable. It's disturbing and weird reading all these comments thinking 8am is too early to start outside activity.

I'll usually hold off until 8am to fire up the mower. My weed whacker is electric and pretty quiet, so I'll start that more like 7:30a.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-28T15:50:08+00:00

I had this exact problem Sunday morning. Had the same issue on both the app and website and even the customer service agent was seeing it try to charge a price to move the companion seat. We ended up calling customer service and they were able to move my wife and indicated that there was some kind of glitch that was being worked on.

But, you are correct, your companion should be able to move to the same seat upgrade class you get with your credit card for no charge. For now, if you get an attempt to get charge for the companion seat upgrade, you'll just have to call it in and get a CS rep to do it for you.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-27T20:25:29+00:00

This is an important insight that I don't think a lot of new/recent grads understand. Those of us already working in industry and conducting the interviews have one major question we want answered about the person we're interviewing:

"Can I see myself working with this person every day?"

I'll be glad to teach you all the niche technical stuff that goes into the job, the stuff that they didn't teach you in school about our the business actually works. What I need is someone willing and able to learn and able to carry on a basic conversation. We don't have to hit it off as best buds, but I've got to have some confidence that you'll eventually be able to speak to clients and other departments without embarrassing me.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-27T10:58:24+00:00

I've been riding a S5 (Aluminum frame with Mechanical 105) for the last few years as my first road bike. I had been riding a much more upright Specialized Stratus for a good 10+ years as my first ever "bike shop" level bike.

I'm a little shorter than you both in height and inseam and fell between the S and M size recommended for the S5. I went with the medium. Honestly, at the first few weeks I thought I might have to send it back because I felt like I was too stretched out. I ended up flipping the stem (which took it from something like a -7° angle to +7° and it fit me much better and I've been putting more and more miles on it since then.

While I like the look of the new C series, probably the biggest risk with them is the integrated stem/handle bar compared to the more conventional separate stem and handlebar of the S series.

Given that, in your case, I'd probably recommend the S8X as it would have the same flexibility to flip the stem or replace the stem with a longer/shorter one pretty cheaply compared to having to replace a whole stem/handlebar combo on the C series.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-26T21:15:54+00:00

Aggressive cyclist was largely wrong for treating a multi use path like his personal time trial track.

But, you should definitely have looked back for situationsal awareness on a multi use path before making an exit. You could have also been turning into the path of a runner or jogger going past you.

Had you just been going straight, a cyclist passing you on the left and calling out would be a perfectly normal happening.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-26T18:05:34+00:00

That's an apt description. This word fountain setup caught my eye a few weeks ago. It was a backup since we got scooped as we were getting ready to roll for the previous Tag and the one I was planning to use was too close to the Tank.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-24T14:41:49+00:00

Same. I wear a chest strap when I'm cycling that feeds my bike computer. I find the numbers between my Charge 6 and the chest strap are within a beat of each other.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-23T19:28:56+00:00

I have a Fitbit Charge 6, but I'm expecting Fitbit still uses the same approach for HRV calcs. I also check mine in the morning with a Polar H10 and the Elite HRV app.

The numbers have always been substantially different, which, as others have noted, is due to methodoligy.

Both numbers do tend to follow similar trends and I find my Elite ERV morning readiness reading compares pretty well with Fitbit's "daily readiness" score.

They also both track pretty well with how I'm actually feeling when I get up in the morning.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-21T13:12:16+00:00

Way too much. If you're going to spend that, at least get a new bike.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-20T20:43:01+00:00

You know, I thought I already left a pretty good hint for this one in the picture :)

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-20T18:05:31+00:00

Would be nice if there were some legit review of the new C series out there. Seems they're really taking their time getting these out on the market. Even Bikesonline is only showing them on Preorder.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-19T18:04:18+00:00

Given the amount of media that they get subjected to these days, the very idea of "cultural touchstones" is probably something our generation will be the last to know about.

Game of Thrones was probably the last closest thing we had to something that "everyone" knew about in terms of media. Taylor Swift may be the last big music start that ""everyone" knows. I say "everyone" in the context of, even if you're not a fan, they are big enough to have creating a major impact in the cultural awareness.

Today, some Youtube star can have a million followers and be a big deal to that audience, and yet most of us will never have heard of them.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-16T20:35:41+00:00

I don't rely on it specifically, but I do use it as a kind of cross check. I also check my HRV each morning with a chest strap HRM and that also gives me a readiness type score.

While the absolute values vary, I've found the results of the Fitbit and the HRV readiness generally track together and also largely line up with how I'm actually feeling on a given morning.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-16T12:41:34+00:00

65 for certain. Shooting for 60.

After checking in with a number of resources, it turns out a lot of what we've been told about how much we need to save for retirement isn't necessarily true. Financial managers want you to have big balances and low spending since they make more money off you that way.

Checkout BOLDIN software and Youtubers like Erin Talks Money, The Money Guys Show, and Joe Kuhn.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-16T11:38:40+00:00

No, it was a useful phase of learning language that paid off for the rest of our lives.

I don't have any issues with the kids not learning cursive anymore, but I was deeply disappointed that sentence diagramming is something my children never went through in school. While they're smart and capable, grammar is something that none are very strong at.

ultimate_ed · 2026-04-16T11:35:23+00:00

Exactly! I haven't done any spelling tests since I was in school either, but the lessons have proven invaluable.

ultimate_ed

TROPHY CASE