GAME05

I heavily lean toward Rodgers coming back next season and I wonder how that might effect the team's drafting strategy. If you're figuring one more year of Rodgers do you draft a TE which may be the biggest need, but it's a position which usually takes a couple years before they get a handle on things? WRs have their own acclimation period but they tend to contribute more their first year. I think one of those TEs is something of a Marcedes Lewis clone and just maybe might fall to later in the 2nd. It'd be odd, but I wouldn't be upset with two TEs in the first two rounds.

There's no way I'd ever have the self-confidence nor the job skills to go on a vacation after getting laid off.

Sometime in April Giannis and Middleton will both be on the court, look at each other and say "Don't I know you?"

When it comes to football players both professional and semi-pro NCAA there's two or three posters here whose knowledge eclipses any journalism site. You're going to love this place come draft-time.

>“They are done with Rodgers,” McGinn said, citing his own instincts, his knowledge of the league, and “discussions with someone who [has] first-hand knowledge” So basically the source is his butt. "Someone with firsthand knowledge" could well be Jordan Love's girlfriend. >"McGinn predicts that, if Rodgers does insist on returning, he’ll be the backup to Love." Yeah that totally makes sense. A year after the Packers give Rodgers an extension with cap hits which really hurt even if he were to retire, they've just done a 180 after his good-not-great season to the degree that they'd bench a HoFer out of spite. This is all Twitter-level "journalism".

I think I've solved for my savings issue. I will self-direct in an IRA and then eventually transfer that into the 401k. It seems to be the best way of using the taxed-once retirement plans while also best taking advantage of the early-withdrawal benefit I have. I'll just have to be mindful of the $23,000 401k individual contribution limit.

The more I think about it, the more I will indeed go the IRA route and really up the 401k. I need about another $1,000 per month to supplement my pension, so even a 100k 401k would be able to do that. That would get me to my current salary, though that's still just 'getting-by' money. And it's not like I can't still have an emergency fund personal savings. I got into this job really late in life, myself, and so I'll only be getting about 65% of a full pension and medical. But the nature of law enforcement work is such that I don't want to be doing it when I'm older. Hoping for my state to change LEO retirement to 25 years which would help. Or some sort of "please retire" lump offer since my Division doesn't really want LEOs in the first place (I'm not a typical County or Municipal officer).

The expectation right now is to retire at 55. It's when I hit the next five-year tier and it only goes up about $30/month for each additional year unless I worked to 60 (I won't, or at least not as an LEO). So my main concern is supplementing my income between 55 and when social security benefits kick in because my pension alone won't be enough to live on. Right now my crypto and some % of stocks are in a regular, taxable account. The thought is moving them both entirely to an IRA which I then couldn't touch until 62. And then my age 55-62 income would be pension+401k. I currently contribute to my 401k, but I'd have to significantly up it beyond the matching amount to meet my income needs. Before this "you can withdraw early" news it was going to be pension+personal savings. Also the current plan is to move to Belize when I retire, and that country has no capital gains taxes. I still couldn't withdraw a personal IRA early because of US taxes, but that may otherwise make a difference especially in terms of using income from dividend payments and not paying taxes on those after I get there.

More of a personal finance question but it relates and I'm curious the thoughts on the matter: I learned recently that I have a work benefit where I can withdraw my 401k early, at retirement, without incurring the early-withdrawal penalty. I've been doing personal savings outside of an IRA since I'll not only be homeless at retirement (live in work housing, though I expect to rent for a while after retiring), but my pension won't be enough to live off of, especially without social security benefits kicking in yet (which'll likely be pushed back soon enough, too). But learning this, all of a sudden what I'm thinking is that I could put all my personal savings (and crypto) into an IRA because I'd have the 401k money. Likely up that contribution, too. That way my savings will be subject to taxes once instead of yearly capital gains taxes. And then 401k+pension would (hopefully) be enough for the seven years between retirement and 62 (yes I could work longer but that's probably another post). The downsides to this, at least that I can see, is that I'm a better investor than the mutual fund company. But maybe/probably not so much considering capital gains taxes. I'm also more subject to the value of the 401k plummeting due to a market crash right before retirement, whereas via personal investing I can mitigate that risk. Investing completely within IRAs seems like the smartest way to go, but I still wonder if there's considerations I'm not thinking of. Especially since I can't dump a bunch of money in an IRA and just change my mind and remove it.

With limited exceptions, men shouldn't wear shorts. Why don't more men care how they present themselves anymore?

Finney-Smith is good, but I don't know why folks are acting like it'll be the end of the Mavericks if Irving doesn't resign with them. Plus the Mavericks really had to do something to appease Luca so he doesn't leave when his contract is up. The first-round unprotected pick that the Nets got is two years after Luca could choose to sign elsewhere. As I understand it, the big issue with Durant (also Kyrie, to a degree) is that he's been a malcontent on every team he's been on, including a Nets team which did everything they could for him. Tough for any acquiring team to give away their future for a guy who may well demand a trade a year or two later.

A new bank I have wants $7 per month for paper and maintenance fees. Ridiculous.

Even though it was in Texas, surprisingly, no.

Comments I've gotten from campers with Starlink RV is that it usually works just fine but it'll totally drop out now and again. So not necessarily a perfect solution if you're camping but also remote working. I decided not to get the home Starlink version. I have 3mb now and there would still be a lag if I wanted to do online gaming since it's still satellite, and surprisingly I can usually find a workable stream for sports despite the slow internet. So the $500 box and $100/mo price for Starlink becomes too much for little improvement.

Didn't see it. I'm gonna guess "wow" means bad.

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.

When I worked retail the standard greeting was "Hi can I help you" and the standard response was "No, just browsing." But of course the key is to get them chatting so you can help them and in turn, get the commission. So I started greeting people with "What's the good word?" The weird question would throw people off and I got more people to talk that way. Although a lady once chewed me out for it, got really mad at me for asking. My guess is because she couldn't think of an answer she lashed out instead of having to appear confused. Boss told me to stop doing that, but I didn't because it was effective even if one lady got mad.

Hello and goodbye greetings get to be so automatic. A friend told me he was on the phone with his boss once and as he hung up said "k, love you" out of habit. The boss called him back laughing and said he's done the same thing before, too.

I asked my anesthesiologist cousin, and yes I had to look up the spelling on that, for his expert opinion on this. He said that it's important especially for elective things like viagra/cialis. He said when patients know there is a new option for treating a condition they have, whether it be ED or psoriasis or something, they may be prompted to go see a doctor versus just dealing with it. He said patients will often ask for the brand name (where of course big pharma makes the big bucks) verses generic or alternative treatment options. And many doctors will accommodate those requests if there are no contraindications.

That one may have been me. My accountant was pretty impressed at my account when she saw the total value of the transactions until she saw it all balanced out to very little. It's been just the opposite last year as I haven't touched anything since about February.

The guess is that Portis will miss about a month of time. So long as he'd be back and ready before the playoffs there's no need to make major moves in order to replace him.

Cripes. Just logged into my Coinbase account and all my money had been transferred out and it wasn't me who'd done it. Thought I'd been hacked. But I guess Coinbase is scrapping its Coinbase Pro to something else and apparently that's where my money went.

But wouldn't Las Vegas have an easier time selling season boxes to all the casinos who want to keep their whales happy? That matters more than a couple hundred seats in the nosebleeds.

I found The Chosen on Amazon and binged it. I hear it's been popular enough they're going to show the season finale in theaters along with streaming.

Trade clause or no, I still figure Rodgers would have to approve a trade beforehand. And in that case why go to a middling team when he could be on a middling one in GB? But the Jets would easily be the most Superbowl-capable of the bunch and I could see that convincing him. Elijah Moore and a 2nd wouldn't be a haul, but would be reasonable for a guy who may only play one more year. Then maybe a conditional 2nd and 4th if he plays the year after. Plus with their 1st the Jets would be in line to take the Richardson guy from Florida who will need a year or two of bench work before he's ready, anyway.