GameboyRMH said:Well the person complaining should really keep their mouth shut because of the 3 new cars (and other upper-middle-class luxuries), but on the other hand, if you have a specific aversion to letting younger people have things easier than you, that's crabs-in-a-bucket thinking.
See my follow up post.
^I find your proposals reasonable.
I muted a total of five people on our neighborhood NextDoor site to take a week off the insane rhetoric going on about our potential zoning changes. In that time my entire newsfeed transformed back into lost pets, yard sales, and people needing a plumber. Today I unmuted those five people and it returned to being a scorched Earth warzone. Amazing how such a small group of people can poison a community.
I stopped at a stop sign and let a lady with a stroller cross. The jackass behind me instantly hit his horn and now we may sit here the rest of the night.
Did you get out and check each tire closely with a look of confusion and concern on your face? For a really long time?
In reply to Appleseed :
I took a map out of my glove compartment and just kept unfolding it and turning it around for 6 minutes until a third car pulled up.
mtn said:FLOUNDER ALERT
A presidential candidate has proposed forgiveness of student loans. I have an acquaintance that keeps posting on Facebook about how this needs to happen, the student loan system is out of hand, etc., basically implying that her loans NEED to be forgiven.
This infuriates me. I worked my ass off through MIDDLE SCHOOL, high school, and college. I went to a state school. I have had at least 2 jobs since I was 18. I'm 29 now, and I STILL have 2 jobs. My wife has 2 jobs. I also try to pick up money where I can by buying things at estate sales and selling on eBay. In 2018, when we were 28 and 29, we bought my wife a brand new van... that was a year old. Prior to that, our two cars were an average of 13 years old and worth a combined $6000. I still am driving an 18 year old car with 290k miles on it.
This person who is touting this loan forgiveness on facebook, has bought 3 new cars since college (same age as us). They went on numerous vacations each year. They had brand new phones. They ate out every meal in college. They "deserved" all this nice stuff, they said, because they were working hard in school. Now, they "deserve" to have their student loans forgiven.
Where the berkeley is my free lunch?
I don't deny that I have been fortunate. I don't deny that there is a HUGE problem with financial education for teenagers and college students. I don't deny that SOMETHING needs to be done about the student debt crisis. But forgiveness of the loans? Are you going to double my hard work during MIDDLE SCHOOL, high school, and college? Or the second jobs that my wife and I have had? Do we get a free vacation or 6? Where the berkeley is my free lunch?
Don't worry. Your free lunch will take effect between somewhere 40 and 60 and will last the rest of your life (likely 50 years or more). They will still be working and still complaining, regardless of what their student loan balance happens to be at age 100.
Wally said:I stopped at a stop sign and let a lady with a stroller cross. The jackass behind me instantly hit his horn and now we may sit here the rest of the night.
that was me you shiny happy person.
In reply to mtn :
I liked your comments, but I also have to add my own: "berkeleying-Aye Right"
I've been working since I was 15, took out student loans to pay for college (at a not-a-state school), paid them off, and just bought my first new car last year- shortly after I turned 40. Oh, and I bought a house right in the middle of the housing bubble in 2005. Guess what? I kept paying on it, didn't get foreclosed, and still own it.
Yes, I have been fortunate that I've been consistently employed. But I've also done side jobs to make extra cash, like you have, and my personal savings rate has always been at least 10% of my gross income.
FLOUDER, but not really- politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle are simply pandering to whoever their perceived constituency is, more and more, by simply tossing (or, promising to toss) "free" money at them.
berkeley 'em all. I'm off to work.
In reply to Robbie :
Next time don’t be so quick with the horn.
Why, in 1998, would any manufacturers use a v belt on a fwd car to drive an ac compressor and power steering pump? On the same belt? But use a serpentine belt on the alternator?
Just had to retension the belt AGAIN so it doesn't squeal like a pig when i turn the ac on. Third time this week. This design sucks donkey balls.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Mrs. VCH's '91 Suburban uses a serpentine belt for everything. If G-berkeleying-M could figure out how to do it in the early 90's, there's no excuse for any manufacturer.
Some unknown person deposited a baggy full of dog E36 M3 in my home's recycling bin. Every house in my town has an identicle green bin with a large recycle symbol emblazoned on the side. What berkeleying monster tosses dog E36 M3 in someine elses RECYCLE bin???? Yesterday was trash day, so it must have happened in the brief interval it was near the curb after the recycling was picked up and when I wheeled it back to the garage a few hours later. Needless to say, I was quite shocked when I opened the lid to deposit my nicely cleaned glass and plastic this morning and took a vile wave of rancid E36 M3 vapor right in the face.
I am very upset about this. Probably irrationaly so, but my feelings are valid.
Just found out the the 18 year old step daughter has had a secret boyfriend for the past 2 months. Why a secret? Because she was afraid we might not approve. Why might we not approve?
He’s 31
He has a neck tattoo.
He’s berkeleying married.
I swear this child is gonna be the death of me. We had a nice chat with her about timing, age appropriateness, life experience and all that so theoretically she’ll end it today. If not, he and I may have a much less pleasant conversation.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
I'd be intrigued to find out in what setting/forum your 18 year old stepdaughter got to know this perfect son in law.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
As a 31 year old, I think maybe you should have a conversation with him, or maybe his wife, about age appropriate relationships.
@mtn, volvoclearinghouse:
You can guess how I feel about that, too. My wife and I had two professional incomes and lived in a hour 1/2 the area average cost for TEN YEARS to pay off student loans. We drove cheap used cars. It wasn't a bad experience at all - I look back on the house and neighbors fondly. And I guaran-damn-tee that anyone with 3 new cars could have instead paid off their student loans by now. People are so brain dead about debt. A degree that promises a million+ in additional earnings over a lifetime, and for some reason having to pay for it is a struggle?
How about this: forgive the student loan debt but make them turn in the degree and work at McDonalds for 20 years. Better?
Duke said:Duke said:ARE YOU BERKING KIDDING ME
I've been working 10-hour days all week on a crush deadline. Next week won't be any better due to backlogged projects put aside for this one.
I'm having 20 people, mostly family, to my house on Sunday. Some of the fun ones aren't coming and some of the not-fun ones are. Typically the last folks trickle out around 9:00p, and the place is a wreck with dirty dishes, leftovers, etc.
Monday morning I have to be on site, 2 hours' drive away, at 9:00a.
Next Saturday is our first autocross of the season, and I have to finish prepping the car and getting the T&S equipment ready. And find somebody to tow the trailer to the site.
IT NEVER BERKING FAILS
A week later, now I'm stressed twice as much:
- Workload hasn't slowed down. At all. Everything is overdue.
- Got 2 extra tasks dumped on me today. Only a couple hours each, but every minute of every day is already spoken for.
- First autocross of the season is Saturday. I'm program chair. Season opener is always stressful. This one especially so because:
A) It's our first with the "grand re-re-opening" system that I put together after the main bits of the previous system got destroyed in a microburst last August, and I am not 100% (or even 90%) confident in it;
B) It's our first at a new venue where I've never run before, which has some quirky terrain;
C) Preregistrations were down enough to worry me 10 days ago, but now they are up enough to worry me - we're about at what I consider comfortable capacity (75 cars) even without walkups, and I know we'll get some;
D) At least half of those are names I have never seen before, and are therefore unknown quantities;
E) A bunch of my regulars are not coming, so I may be shorthanded for experienced workers and setup help;
F) Program budget is tight, and I had to buy a new mobile hotspot because our old NetZero 3G dongle (which was perfectly adequate) is no longer supported, so that's an entry and a half in break-even money lost;
G) I still have a bunch of data gathering and printing to do for the event;
H) The course draft design still isn't finished.
At least Easter is over. It was fun (as always) but a lot of work.
How close is the site to Bear? Can't stay all day, but I can put in an hour or two for setup saturday morning before the horde shows up.
dculberson said:@mtn, volvoclearinghouse:
You can guess how I feel about that, too. My wife and I had two professional incomes and lived in a hour 1/2 the area average cost for TEN YEARS to pay off student loans. We drove cheap used cars. It wasn't a bad experience at all - I look back on the house and neighbors fondly. And I guaran-damn-tee that anyone with 3 new cars could have instead paid off their student loans by now. People are so brain dead about debt. A degree that promises a million+ in additional earnings over a lifetime, and for some reason having to pay for it is a struggle?
How about this: forgive the student loan debt but make them turn in the degree and work at McDonalds for 20 years. Better?
Problem is that the degree doesn't "promise" anything these days, so people with degrees aren't terribly likely to be making money that can pay off that debt - many of them are well on their way to putting in 20 years at McDonald's and similar.
A friend of my sister is the granddaughter of a Nobel prizewinner and has a MSc in microbiology, aiming for a job at a pharma company. Last I heard, she was working as a Starbucks barista.
GameboyRMH said:Problem is that the degree doesn't "promise" anything these days, so people with degrees aren't terribly likely to be making money that can pay off that debt - many of them are well on their way to putting in 20 years at McDonald's and similar.
A friend of my sister is the granddaughter of a Nobel prizewinner and has a MSc in microbiology, aiming for a job at a pharma company. Last I heard, she was working as a Starbucks barista.
Millions of people in the US get degrees and go on to successful high paying jobs they couldn't get without the degree. Anecdotes one way or another aren't really useful, honestly. There are just too many variables to get any useful information from a family member that did or didn't do well with or without a degree. But a degree is still a path to a higher earning career. (Note, I never said the only path, or a guaranteed path. The path is still yours to make, nothing is handed to you. Also note I used promise in the sense of "to suggest beforehand," not to guarantee.)
dculberson said:GameboyRMH said:Problem is that the degree doesn't "promise" anything these days, so people with degrees aren't terribly likely to be making money that can pay off that debt - many of them are well on their way to putting in 20 years at McDonald's and similar.
A friend of my sister is the granddaughter of a Nobel prizewinner and has a MSc in microbiology, aiming for a job at a pharma company. Last I heard, she was working as a Starbucks barista.
Millions of people in the US get degrees and go on to successful high paying jobs they couldn't get without the degree. Anecdotes one way or another aren't really useful, honestly. There are just too many variables to get any useful information from a family member that did or didn't do well with or without a degree. But a degree is still a path to a higher earning career. (Note, I never said the only path, or a guaranteed path. The path is still yours to make, nothing is handed to you. Also note I used promise in the sense of "to suggest beforehand," not to guarantee.)
Also: Nobody forced these people to go to the university that cost 3x as much as their local state school and take a course of study with no job prospects. That seems to be the common path for the "woe is me" high debt people working in restaurants. If we are sharing anecdotes, the people I personally have known complain about student loan debt are indeed also the people who bought a bigger house than me and have always been driving new/leased cars. They also have chosen to have kids to fill their Mcmansions. I'm not interested in further subsidizing their poor life choices.
How about breaking our high school educators (and parents, to be fair) of the habit of pushing the "if you don't spend years in college getting a degree, you might as well get yourself a shopping cart and start picking up bottles and beer cans to take the the recycling center" mentality.
Teach kids to analyze the situation and plan accordingly.
That's as floundery as I'm getting. Have a good day, y'all.
berkeley Michigan potholes
In reply to dculberson :
Oh, I knew you were in the same plane of reasoning. Like at least one other guy here, I'm pretty sure we're brothers from another mother.
Not to get all up on my high horse, but I've tried to be flexible and not have unrealistic expectations. I have a master's degree in engineering, and make a commesurate salary. Today I spent crawling around on gravel underneath a rail car.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
then i just LOL'd because look at how that shiny happy person BMW driver parked!
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