SundayZip

You could try my favorite hotel, Hotel Beacon on Broadway and W 75th. Get a room on a higher floor facing away from Broadway (facing towards Central Park). I've always found those rooms to be quiet at night. I also like that the hotel is away from more touristy, overly crowded mid-town and a couple blocks from a red line subway stop.

I got my first Delta American Express card a few years back to get bonus frequent flyer miles. I then closed it less then a year later. A few year later, I did the same thing and got more Delta bonus miles. The third time I tried it, they said: You can have the card but no more "new card member" bonus miles for you, buddy. I've done some credit card churn since, but not a lot. For the most part, I stick with a couple cards with good reward programs and no fees on international transactions.

The saying is, "Time in the market beats timing the market." This is a good read: Market Timing Fails As a Money Maker WWW.INVESTOPEDIA.COM Market timing is a strategy where investors try to predict market movements in order to make a profit. Read about the risks of market timing.

Yes, I'm also put off by the cameras broadcasting customers on live feeds. It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was only on the live feeds, but Stock keeps video clips that include customers in the background and makes them available on their website. We all know that when things are posted to internet sites, it's hard to keep them from migrating to social media sites. Ugh.

The rate cut is a big deal for people holding bond mutual funds. Bond funds, which are usually pretty stable, lost value in 2022 when interest rates went up. They should recover as rates decrease. I got lucky because I had moved a lot of my bond investments to individual bonds instead of mutual funds. But the bond funds that I did keep definitely reflect the change interest rates.

Ha ha! I was going to say Frat Boys would be marginally better than women if the frat boys also gave lap dances, but I didn't want to give anyone ammunition to shoot down my point.

I have nothing against women in gay strip clubs. But I do object to any group of people, regardless of sex, age or sexual orientation, coming in and changing the tenor of the place. When a group of women come to a gay strip club and take over prime space near the dance floor, or dominate the atmosphere with hooting and hollering, it's not the fact that they're women that bothers me. It's how they they change the spirit of the place and turn the focus away from the more traditional patrons. It's also their insensitivity to the other patron. If a group of frat boys came in, insisted on tuning the TVs to ESPN, then hooted and hollered every time their favorite team scored a point, I'd object to that as well (not a perfect example but hopefully you get my point).

Two factors have the greatest impact on your credit score; payment history and credit utilization. My credit score bounces up and down due to credit utilization, which is the difference between aggregate credit limit and outstanding balances on credit accounts. If, for example, I have a $30K limit on a Visa card and make a $10K purchase, my credit utilization will suddenly increase which lowers my credit score. When I pay the balance on the Visa card, my credit utilization decreases and credit score goes back up. As long as my over-all score remains good, I ignore these little bounces.

Maybe my memory is wrong, but it seems like there used to be a lot more posting about the Montreal strip clubs. Now there's very little. I'm wondering why. Could it be that the Stock Bar has lost its appeal to guys like us and we're not going there anymore? From what I’ve read in forum threads, Stock has become a magnet for 'girls night out'... it's now more of a loud, bachelorette party atmosphere. That, and drag shows. It least that's what it sounds like from what I'm reading on this site. That leaves the Campus. It sounds like it's going strong. Someone posted that there are more female clients, but it still has more of a chill atmosphere and is a fun, comfortable place for guys like me who like chatting with the dancers and, of course, spending money on sexy lap dances. I haven't been to Montreal since before the pandemic and am considering a return trip, but the infrequent postings about the strip clubs make me wonder if a trip is worth it. Any insights?

Many people are saying that The Global Union of Escorts (GUE) has negotiated a new contract that establishes a lower baseline for non-discretional client services. You could check the GUE website for an updated listing of non-discretional services, but the site is currently down.

I believe you're misinterpreting my statement in a way that supports your presupposition that I have a hypocritical point of view. Let me paraphrase what I said in I way that you might understand: "A white actor planning Malcom X would be jarring; the color of his skin is essential to Malcom X's role in US history." In this instance, I would not like to see a white actor playing a black character: "On the flip side, I would not like to see a black actor playing George Wallace as governor of Alabama." In this instance, I would not like to see a black actor playing a white character:

"<...> are you aware of the hypocrisy in your overall philosophy? Which is: ok for people of color to play white but not ok for white people to play people of color." Huh? What made you think this is my philosophy?

I don't think casting should [always] be 100% color blind. In some instances, the color of the actor's skin makes a difference to me. A white actor planning Malcom X would be jarring; the color of his skin is essential to Malcom X's role in US history. On the flip side, I would not like to see a black actor playing George Wallace as governor of Alabama. But the color of an actor's skin playing the Abbess in the Sound of Music or Curly in Oklahoma is not so relevant to the story or to their performance.

Were you bothered by the Abbess singing in English in 1930's Austria? How about Maria's cute 1960's pixie haircut? Or what about the full orchestra (just out of sight) that followed Maria and the Von Trapp children on their bicycles and into Maria's bedroom? Which deviations from reality are okay and which are not?

I'm usually reluctant to commit to more than an hour for my first time with an escort. Sometimes the chemistry is not there even when the pre-meeting communication has been positive. But I frequently ask to extend the date to 2 hours within the first few minutes, assuming there's chemistry. I don't recall a time when an escort hasn't been willing to extend the time.

The OP may have a good reason to not post the provider's identify or even the city. I had an unfortunate interaction with a provider a few years ago after which he did something very vindictive. I did not want to post his identify or even what happened for fear that he would recognize me and retaliate. I've since learned that he is that sort of person. Although, I too, would like to know the identify of the provider, I'm inclined to respect the OPs decision to not post it.

Thanks for answering 😊 It matters to people like me who visit the clubs on weekends and rarely go earlier in the week.

@12is12 I'm curious... What day of the week did you go? You posted on Monday. Is that when you went? Thanks!

Maybe I'm an aberration but I've gone through Canadian customs at least 30 times (Vancouver, Alberta, Toronto, Montreal) and have never been inconvenienced any more than in any other countries. There's been long lines when several international flights have landed at about the same time, but that happens everywhere.

IncomeStrategy.com looks interesting. Thanks @jrhoutex! I've been doing annual Roth Conversion since 2016. My financial advisor recommended an amount based on my finances and income tax brackets at the time and I haven't varied from that amount (probably a mistake). Going forward, I want to be a smarter about the amount. I've started a spreadsheet to help me do some forecasting scenarios, but it's not likely to be as sophisticated as incomeStrategy.com. I'll investigate.

My taxable income is going to explode when I turn 73. Yikes! 😵 Required Minimum Distributions (RMD)s from a tax-deferred IRA account are the biggest culprits. When I add RMDs to existing pension income and social security, which I'll start taking at age 70, my taxable, ordinary income (excludes capital gains) will be the highest of my entire life. And, of course, Medicare part B and D premiums will go way up due to the Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) adjustments. This pains me. I'd interested in hearing what others are doing (or have done) to mitigate or reduce their RMD driven tax bomb?

I frequently read statements from health experts that we need, at minimum, 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. They say that less than that has negative consequences such as lower cognitive ability, increased cancer risk, a shorter life span, impaired immune system and more. If I sleep 7 hours (or more) it's probably because I'm ill or have been sleep deprived. for a day or two... so I find all warnings about my supposed sleep deprivation disconcerting. From reading the Lunesta/sleep aides thread, I know that others struggle with getting enough sleep. Do you have a target number of hours you feel you should be sleeping every night? If so, how does that compare to the number of hours you actually get? I'm usually at under 6 hours per night but feel that I should be at 7.

Being a fan of Neil Patrick Harris, I had looked forward to watching this series but after the first couple episodes, was asking myself, do these characters actually represent a segment of the NYC gay community? Not being a New Yorker myself, I thought, well... maybe this is want is meant by A-List gays. If so, put me in the D-list (no, make that the Z-list). I forced myself to watch all 8 episodes of season 1 although there were several times I had to mute the TV and look away, it was just that insipid and cliched. I have no plans to watch season 2.

Apparently he removed his suit and glasses at the end of the hearing.

This is NOT a political post but I have say, I was surprised to see Clark Kent at the Jan 6 congressional hearing. Twitter was going nuts trying to figure out, who is this guy? Wow, what a hunk!