Random thoughts that are pointless and too dumb to say anywhere else thread: * 2023 *

[SeaBass]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:58 PM, LouisEly said:

Cologuard.  Not sure if you're high risk, but for people who are average risk the American Cancer Society says that either a colonoscopy or a stool-based test (i.e. Cologuard) is fine.  And Cologuard is covered 100% on my health plan, whereas a colonoscopy isn't - and I have a high deductible health plan.

Unfortunately my doctor knows little about Cologuard and fought me on my insistence on Cologuard even though I'm low risk.

I'm higher risk. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer early 2021. She's doing great now, they found it probably as early as they possibly could have. But in the early going after her diagnosis they ran a bunch of additional tests on her and they found that she had a CHEK2 gene mutation that made her more at risk for cancer. She went from only having to have a couple lymph nodes removed to the doctor recommending a full double mastectomy. It was a big bummer for her but it's a no brainer to eliminate as much risk of a relapse as possible.

CHEK2 is hereditary so the doctor also told her to have all her siblings and her kids (me and my brother) to get tested to see if we had the mutation as well. We both do and I'm pretty sure at least 2 of her sibs did as well. In men with CHEK2 the cancer risk is higher for the prostate and colon. I also had 6 polyps removed which was a bit more than normal and the nurse told me that will bump me up from getting a colonoscopy every 10 years to every 5 instead, or at least unless the next test shows fewer polyps I guess.

EDIT: Well a couple hours later I got a call from the doctor's office with results of my colonoscopy. They said all of the polyps were benign and I won't have to have another for 10 years. So there ya go. Still feel like I'm probably better off going the old fashioned route but who knows what advancements may happen in the next decade.

Edited February 2, 2023 by SeaBass
Updated info.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, GAME05 said:

I have to qualify every year with day/night pistol and shotgun as well as day/night combat course. I'm a good shot, but once you add that element of "You better pass all six of these courses of fire to keep your job" the anxiety ramps up a little. Mostly because you have to shoot in specific ways and I don't want to forget something like the last two rounds as support-hand only.

Your training is more complex than the Air National Guard.  At least what my friend in Hawaii who is a fire arms instructor for the Air National Guard explains it.  

[homer]

I never realize how dirty my car is until I get it washed and then I take a look at it and say  "wow, was my car dirty".

[nate82]

4 hours ago, homer said:

I never realize how dirty my car is until I get it washed and then I take a look at it and say  "wow, was my car dirty".

I have given up on washing my car in Arizona.  I would have to go every weekend to get it washed just to keep it clean.

Now I just do it after each oil change.  It is impossible to keep a car clean in Arizona.

[homer]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

I have given up on washing my car in Arizona.  I would have to go every weekend to get it washed just to keep it clean.

Now I just do it after each oil change.  It is impossible to keep a car clean in Arizona.

Yep, I used to do the Danny's Carousel thing every two weeks when I lived down there.

[Thurston Fluff]

I took an order to do a delivery to a kid in the stands at a hockey game. This is the conversation that followed.

Mom: How will you know where we're sitting.

ME:  When I get there I'll text you so you can show me where she's sitting

Mom: How will I know who you are?

Me: (after a bit of a pause) I'll be the unicorn holding balloons.

[wallus]

62% of people 25 and under do not have a college degree. That is shocking to me as I don't know/hang out with anyone around my age that doesn't have one.

[hawing]

25 and under?  Wouldn't that include a majority of people not old enough to even start college?

[wallus]

Yes, I am sure I misread the article and it should be 25 and older. 

[zurch1818]

I'm guessing a lot of those people without college degrees may be in the trades where a degree isn't technically required.  They may have gone through an apprenticeship or some other training/certification.  Also, I know there are coding boot camps that people can go though that aren't technically a degree but you can get a great paying job.

Just speaking in facts (don't want to get political), the cost of a 4 year college degree has gone up from the time I received my BS in 2009 and MS in 2011.  I can only imagine what my parents would have had to pay for the same degree and credentials I have.  I was lucky to have my parents pay for my BS and fortunate enough to have my MS funded through a research project but I can completely understand people not wanting to get a huge student loan.  Maybe people are starting to comprehend that a 4 year degree is expensive?

As you can tell, this is a topic I am very passionate about and I can probably discuss more.  Would I do what I am doing right now if I had to pay for my education?  I don't know.  Over the last 5 years, I learned that I really like coding and I have automated a lot of my current job.  I find coding to be way more fun than my current job (not that I hate what I'm doing).  I would probably give a hard look at doing a coding boot camp instead of going to college.  I probably could get to my same income level I'm at now at a fraction of the cost (if I had to pay for my school).

[owbc]

12 hours ago, zurch1818 said:

I'm guessing a lot of those people without college degrees may be in the trades where a degree isn't technically required.  They may have gone through an apprenticeship or some other training/certification.  Also, I know there are coding boot camps that people can go though that aren't technically a degree but you can get a great paying job.

Just speaking in facts (don't want to get political), the cost of a 4 year college degree has gone up from the time I received my BS in 2009 and MS in 2011.  I can only imagine what my parents would have had to pay for the same degree and credentials I have.  I was lucky to have my parents pay for my BS and fortunate enough to have my MS funded through a research project but I can completely understand people not wanting to get a huge student loan.  Maybe people are starting to comprehend that a 4 year degree is expensive?

As you can tell, this is a topic I am very passionate about and I can probably discuss more.  Would I do what I am doing right now if I had to pay for my education?  I don't know.  Over the last 5 years, I learned that I really like coding and I have automated a lot of my current job.  I find coding to be way more fun than my current job (not that I hate what I'm doing).  I would probably give a hard look at doing a coding boot camp instead of going to college.  I probably could get to my same income level I'm at now at a fraction of the cost (if I had to pay for my school).

As a society I think we learned a lesson that 4-year college is not for everyone. My experience teaching at a 4-year public university a few years ago suggested that a large portion of the students were unmotivated and/or unprepared for a college education. It was a real shame to see them wasting a ton of money on something they weren't that interested in. The top third of the classes, however, were incredibly awesome to work with and took advantage of the numerous opportunities that would not be possible elsewhere. 

When I think about what I want for my daughter, the ideal is for her to go to a 4-year college, be one of those top tier motivated students, and obtain additional advanced degrees on top of that. The key as a parent is just to recognize that she may not be interested in that and to not force her into it if she isn't. 

 

[jerichoholicninja]

There's a lot of difficult conversations you have to have with your children - death, sex, drugs, etc. and you're never fully prepared for how to handle it. My 6 year old asked me to explain to him what space is. That was by far most the difficult conversation I've had so far.

[Samurai Bucky]

For some reason, the music from the pinball game Black Knight 2000 has always stuck in my head.  Yes, for 30+ years 😢.  I found a cover of it on Spotify.  Crazy.

[Thurston Fluff]

AM I the only one who just doesn't care about the NCAA basketball tournament?

[jerichoholicninja]

51 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

AM I the only one who just doesn't care about the NCAA basketball tournament?

No. But I don't care about any college sports even the tiniest bit.

[Samurai Bucky]

23 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

AM I the only one who just doesn't care about the NCAA basketball tournament?

Searching for the ignore button...

Just kidding.  I didn't fill out a bracket this year.  Mostly because I'm so busy and also because Wisconsin isn't in it.

[pitchleague]

I can’t believe Barstool Sports has been using a “Rage Room” (sponsored by Jack Links) to smash stuff up with a baseball bat on camera.

I’m clearly getting too old to understand things anymore.  (Of course, half the guys going in to smash stuff look just about my age or a little less.)

Ugh.  How old are we, really?

[jerichoholicninja]

This is neither "bugging me" nor "not bugging me" but the housing market is crazy. Our neighbors put their house on the market on Friday. They had a few showings on Friday and six on Saturday. They received three offers on Saturday and accepted one of them. I don't know how much they sold it for but they listed it for $70,000 more than they bought it for six years ago despite not having done a thing to actually improve the house.

[MrTPlush]

3 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

This is neither "bugging me" nor "not bugging me" but the housing market is crazy. Our neighbors put their house on the market on Friday. They had a few showings on Friday and six on Saturday. They received three offers on Saturday and accepted one of them. I don't know how much they sold it for but they listed it for $70,000 more than they bought it for six years ago despite not having done a thing to actually improve the house.

Housing market in my area (in WI) is still pretty healthy. Houses must still have a lot of competition for them because they typically go for about 5% over asking. 

The craziest yet was one side of a zero lot line house/duplex. There are other twin home things around it, but they are all rentals and run down/outdated. I couldn't believe how much they ended up paying for it and it even went over the asking price. 

[zurch1818]

15 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

I don't know how much they sold it for but they listed it for $70,000 more than they bought it for six years ago despite not having done a thing to actually improve the house.

The Zestimate of our house in the Madison area has gone up in value by almost 45% from the time we bought it 4.5 years ago and we have done nothing to the house to increase its value. I'm not even certain we would purchase our home today if we were on the market given our budget. However, we would have had more time to save...but I'm guessing the rent prices have also gone way up.

 

 

[homer]

 

 

[Thurston Fluff]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:58 PM, LouisEly said:

Cologuard.  Not sure if you're high risk, but for people who are average risk the American Cancer Society says that either a colonoscopy or a stool-based test (i.e. Cologuard) is fine.  And Cologuard is covered 100% on my health plan, whereas a colonoscopy isn't - and I have a high deductible health plan.

Unfortunately my doctor knows little about Cologuard and fought me on my insistence on Cologuard even though I'm low risk.

My brother used cologuard as prescribed by his doctor. It came back in December of 2021 as problematic and had to get a colonoscopy where they discovered he had terminal colon cancer. He passed away last March. He had a colonoscopy at 50 and was told cologuard was a safe alternative. He was 55 when he passed away. I don't know if the doctor prescribed because he found troubling signs at 50 and thought it was best to check with cologuard annually as opposed to having a colonoscopy in a few years, if it was in combination with the three year plan or he didn't find any problems and thought cologuard was enough. Another brother, who is his natural born sibling lives with me. Our doctor recommended every three years because he found some worrisome polyps but didn't mention cologuard. Now that I read your doctor didn't really know much about it I'm going to ask. If he doesn't know much about it and thinks it's a good idea you may have helped save another's life just by a random comment. 

[Thurston Fluff]

Coming into work this morning and the street in front of the shop was blocked off. No problem park a couple blocks away and walk. Get closer and there's a squad car blocking the road. I ask if it's ok to get to the store, he asks if I work there, I say yes and he says no. I ask how long he says he doesn't know. He then asked for my number and said he'd call when all was clear and he did. Still don't know what the hell happened but I thought it was cool of him to go the extra mile to take my number then call when all was clear.

[TURBO]

18 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

Coming into work this morning and the street in front of the shop was blocked off. No problem park a couple blocks away and walk. Get closer and there's a squad car blocking the road. I ask if it's ok to get to the store, he asks if I work there, I say yes and he says no. I ask how long he says he doesn't know. He then asked for my number and said he'd call when all was clear and he did. Still don't know what the hell happened but I thought it was cool of him to go the extra mile to take my number then call when all was clear.

A lot of people tend to forget, or ignore, all the great cops out there.  They have a thankless, dangerous job, and do not get enough kudos for what they do day in and day out.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 4/27/2023 at 1:39 AM, zurch1818 said:

The Zestimate of our house in the Madison area has gone up in value by almost 45% from the time we bought it 4.5 years ago and we have done nothing to the house to increase its value. I'm not even certain we would purchase our home today if we were on the market given our budget. However, we would have had more time to save...but I'm guessing the rent prices have also gone way up.

 

 

We sold our house (in Brookfield) a couple months ago. During the 2-day open house, I had to stop by briefly to grab something and the outside was almost like one of those '80s movies where the parents are gone & there's a teen party--cars parked & double-parked, people congregating outside, coming & going through the front door. It's gotten to the point where you're disappointed if you don't get multiple offers & a bidding war ensues. And we wrapped up the deal on the condo we purchased w/o any competition.

We're blessed 😇😁.