What's NOT bugging you? (2020s edition)

[LouisEly]

Finally, after 7 months and almost 300 job applications, I start my new job on Monday.  20% pay cut from last role, benefits cut (fewer vacation days, fewer holidays, higher deductible on health insurance options), but fully remote and that's not going to change because their HQ is in a smallish town not near any major metropolitan area.

Surprised I got it - applied on a what-the-hell, haven't directly done that type of role in seven years, didn't put any effort into networking into them, and it's remote so I thought there would be hundreds of applicants.  Company is employee-owned so no irascible CEO or PE firm overreacting to quarterly results.  Almost everyone I interviewed with has been there for at least eight years.

Smaller company, less opportunity for promotion, but seems like a lower-pressure environment where I can hopefully ride out the next 10 years to retirement.

[Joseph Zarr]

On 1/19/2024 at 3:25 PM, LouisEly said:

Finally, after 7 months and almost 300 job applications, I start my new job on Monday.  20% pay cut from last role, benefits cut (fewer vacation days, fewer holidays, higher deductible on health insurance options), but fully remote and that's not going to change because their HQ is in a smallish town not near any major metropolitan area.

Surprised I got it - applied on a what-the-hell, haven't directly done that type of role in seven years, didn't put any effort into networking into them, and it's remote so I thought there would be hundreds of applicants.  Company is employee-owned so no irascible CEO or PE firm overreacting to quarterly results.  Almost everyone I interviewed with has been there for at least eight years.

Smaller company, less opportunity for promotion, but seems like a lower-pressure environment where I can hopefully ride out the next 10 years to retirement.

Congratulations are in order! I hope it fills the bill for you and you can sail smoothly into your promised land. Best of luck!

[nate82]

I finally decided to book a vacation and well it is for next year.  Going to do a cruise through NCL from Barcelona to Venice in May of next year.

Anyone gone on a cruise in Europe on NCL?  Was this a good decision?  Any pros or cons for something like this?  I still need to get my passport. 

[LouisEly]

Progressive insurance.

I had a "minor" fender bender back in December.  With repair costs skyrocketing, there isn't really any such thing as "minor" anymore as the total was over $5k and I have a $1000 deductible.  Thought that when my renewal hit that I was going to get jacked up.

Nope.  Because I've been with them for over 5 years and because I have four lines with them (home, auto, business/rental property, umbrella liability) I'm at the Diamond+ reward level which includes minor and major accident forgiveness.  Got my renewal and my 6-month premium increased by $25.  Not $25/mo - a total of $25.

[TURBO]

14 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Progressive insurance.

I had a "minor" fender bender back in December.  With repair costs skyrocketing, there isn't really any such thing as "minor" anymore as the total was over $5k and I have a $1000 deductible.  Thought that when my renewal hit that I was going to get jacked up.

Nope.  Because I've been with them for over 5 years and because I have four lines with them (home, auto, business/rental property, umbrella liability) I'm at the Diamond+ reward level which includes minor and major accident forgiveness.  Got my renewal and my 6-month premium increased by $25.  Not $25/mo - a total of $25.

Don't want to rain on your parade, but that price hike might catch up to you next time since you accident happened in December.  Maybe not, but I don't trust anything insurance companies say or do, nothing.

[LouisEly]

It was early December.  They had plenty of time to include that in their algorithms for the renewal

They already got me with a 56% cumulative increase since 09/2020.

[MrTPlush]

On 3/23/2024 at 11:34 AM, LouisEly said:

Progressive insurance.

I had a "minor" fender bender back in December.  With repair costs skyrocketing, there isn't really any such thing as "minor" anymore as the total was over $5k and I have a $1000 deductible.  Thought that when my renewal hit that I was going to get jacked up.

Nope.  Because I've been with them for over 5 years and because I have four lines with them (home, auto, business/rental property, umbrella liability) I'm at the Diamond+ reward level which includes minor and major accident forgiveness.  Got my renewal and my 6-month premium increased by $25.  Not $25/mo - a total of $25.

I always pondered if that would actually shake out to not screw you over. Report back in another 6 months. That would be nice, especially since I have banked a solid $550 in deductible savings bank....so my $1k deductible would be less than half that in actuality. 

[Brian]

Abner Uribe, I feel got screwed by the MLB. 

[nate82]

I always loved fighter jets and WWII fighters as a kid and as an adult I still love them.

 

[TURBO]

On 7/15/2024 at 11:42 AM, Brian said:

Abner Uribe, I feel got screwed by the MLB. 

If so, this doesn't bug you?

I'm confused.

[Brian]

16 minutes ago, TURBO said:

If so, this doesn't bug you?

I'm confused.

He said that not me,  it bugged me at first but after watching the replay months later not as much because Uribe was 90% responsible for the whole thing. 

 

[Brian]

28 minutes ago, TURBO said:

If so, this doesn't bug you?

I'm confused.

Being Suspended for a full season is a long ass time when a PED suspension is only 80 games.  My honest opinion is it should not exceed 80 games either. 

[Samurai Bucky]

Saw the Pentatonix show at Fiserv last night.  It was a good show.

[LouisEly]

On 3/25/2024 at 7:23 AM, MrTPlush said:

I always pondered if that would actually shake out to not screw you over. Report back in another 6 months. That would be nice, especially since I have banked a solid $550 in deductible savings bank....so my $1k deductible would be less than half that in actuality. 

Unfortunately I can't give an apples-to-apples comparison as I moved to Colorado, and Colorado has the 6th highest auto insurance rates in the nation:

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/guides/the-top-10-most-expensive-states-for-car-insurance-486233.aspx

My vehicle insurance went up from ~$600/6-months to $950/6-months.  But according to that article, I'm well below average for Colorado.  According to their research, a 40-year-old driving a 2022 Toyota Camry with an accident caused is paying $4000/year.  I'm a 50-year-old with a 2019 Lincoln Nautilus with an accident and I'm at $2,000/year so I think the accident forgiveness from Progressive is true.

The reason vehicle insurance in Colorado is expensive is due to three factors.  First, it's a top 5 state for auto thefts because post-2020 Denver decriminalized auto thefts for some reason (what did they think would happen when they did that?).  This year they busted two big auto theft rings and thefts are down 30% from last year, so that should help.  Also, Colorado is a top-5 state for hail; I park in a garage but they for some reason don't take that into consideration.  And third, there is some type of liability limit on vehicle insurance that they don't allow in Colorado, so people can sue and get much more than that from insurers.

[hawing]

I got through Christmas Eve with the SO's family without getting sick a few days later!  (though I did mask for part of it)

This is a legit win for me.  Last year it was covid; in 2022 I masked for a terminally ill family member (and didn't get sick); in 2021 I caught something that was not covid.  The pattern goes back much farther (including the mid-2010s year when one relative made a point of hugging everyone as they arrived and then told us all how sick she'd been).  

[OldHeidelberg]

The Scorpions "Arizona" official music video.

[TURBO]

On 1/24/2025 at 8:41 PM, OldHeidelberg said:

The Scorpions "Arizona" official music video.

That is such a great album (Blackout) in general...One of my favs of all time.  Nothing they did after even comes close...

[OldHeidelberg]

On 1/25/2025 at 9:16 PM, TURBO said:

That is such a great album (Blackout) in general...One of my favs of all time.  Nothing they did after even comes close...

I think it's their best album. I have been revisiting them recently after dismissing them in the late 80's like a lot of my early favorite metal bands and think they are a bit underrated. They got sort of lumped in with hair metal as they had some commercial success at the time and Spinal Tap gave them a bad name but they are really more of a hard rock band than metal. The have their own sound, mostly because of Meine's vocals and Schenekers guitar style.

[TURBO]

3 hours ago, OldHeidelberg said:

I think it's their best album. I have been revisiting them recently after dismissing them in the late 80's like a lot of my early favorite metal bands and think they are a bit underrated. They got sort of lumped in with hair metal as they had some commercial success at the time and Spinal Tap gave them a bad name but they are really more of a hard rock band than metal. The have their own sound, mostly because of Meine's vocals and Schenekers guitar style.

They had me at Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism, but Blackout sent me over the edge!  That album is just plain killer!  I still listen to it to this day.  The stuff that came after Blackout, though not bad, just didn't measure up.  That 3 album stretch from Lovedrive to Blackout was their absolute peak imo.

[Brian]

Dave Roberts just on MLB Network, he said they are to expect one million fans to greet them at the airport. 

Here come the Los Angeles Dodgers, arriving in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, where the entire country of Japan is ready to go bonkers celebrating the return of Shohei Ohtani and pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki in two exhibition games and then two regular-season games against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome.

It may be the hottest ticket in baseball history, costing $900 just to get into the door for the exhibition games at the 55,000-seat stadium and at least $2,000 for standing-room only tickets for the season-opening games.

Full story:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2025/03/12/dodgers-japan-series-schedule-shohei-ohtani/82289139007/

[LouisEly]

Got smoke coming from my brand new grill and opening day is three days away.

Crap, I forgot to get brats yesterday.

[Brian]

Seen 4 or 5 Brewers at the Bucks vs Phoenix game, the only two I recognized was Peralta and Chourio. 

[LouisEly]

On 12/27/2024 at 8:25 AM, LouisEly said:

Unfortunately I can't give an apples-to-apples comparison as I moved to Colorado, and Colorado has the 6th highest auto insurance rates in the nation:

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/guides/the-top-10-most-expensive-states-for-car-insurance-486233.aspx

My vehicle insurance went up from ~$600/6-months to $950/6-months. 

Continuing this.  As previously mentioned, my vehicle insurance went up significantly when moving to Denver.  I was told it was because vehicle insurance in Colorado is expensive (2nd highest vehicle thefts per capita, hail, liability laws, etc.).  Got my renewal... and uninsured/underinsured went up 70% and Liability went up 36%.  However, the discount for paying 6-months in full went up also, so the net increase was 14%.  Called them to understand why the 70%/36% increase. 

Spoke to someone who was a bit difficult to understand, but perhaps the first insurance person I've spoken to on the phone who actually understood what I was asking.  Took an hour to find out that when I moved to Colorado they had to write a new policy because it was a different state (which I knew... they can deregulate that any time now).  But they didn't transfer over my Accident Forgiveness, and she found out that I had four points against me on my policy rate.

She got my policy re-run with the Accident Forgiveness, and got $410 deducted from my renewal premium.  Back down to $680 for 6-months.  An hour well spent.

[TURBO]

I walked past Stephen Pearcy (RATT lead singer) at the Denver Airport on Wednesday.  I saw him coming, and thought it was him, and the closer he got the more I knew it was definitely him.

He was alone, and I so much wanted to go up to him and just tell him how much I have appreciated his music and still do.  I have no clue if he is fan friendly though, so I let him be and just chalked it up to a pretty cool moment.

[LouisEly]

Been thinking about getting some shelves for the garage for months.  Since I rent, I would need to get permission from the landlord to screw anything into the walls, so whenever I thought about it I put it off.

Came down with a cold on Thursday and it was still pretty gnarly on Friday night so I thought that Saturday would be a good day to tackle the long-running home to-do list since I wouldn't be going anywhere.  Not ideal, but decided on a plastic shelf unit, 36" W x 18" D x 72" H, cheap and don't have to ask the landlord, just have to hope it isn't a pain in the arse to put together.  Went to Lowe's early on Saturday when it wasn't busy so as not to come near anybody else and get them sick and got the shelf unit.

Just about home, turned into the alleyway to go to my garage, and what do I see?  I plastic shelf unit similar to the one I just bought that one of my neighbors was apparently throwing out.  6" deeper, had some shelves that were bowed a little bit due to heavy things being placed on them for a while, but otherwise in good enough condition.  Wasn't sure that 6" wider would work, but I dragged it back to my garage and looks like it will fit!

Back to Lowe's this morning, $65 back into my pocket.