TonyDown

My dad did not reach 70. At the end he regretted not having more fun in life. Not sure what kind of "fun" he meant. At least Dad left Mom a comfortable life. It's a gamble though, having enough money until the end. So maybe there is not a perfect answer to your question, how much $$ to spend on "fun". For me, I spend nothing on casinos or ocean cruises. I'm happier supporting a nice provider with my business. I do like the above idea that someone drove Uber to pay for his "fun".

I'm in the minority. I will watch movies like My Policeman and Benediction again but Saltburn, no. Big disappointment. That said Jacob Elordi will host SNL tonight.

With the widespread wintry weather I'm curious what temperature everyone sets their furnace thermostat. I have a gas furnace. With rates going up in recent years I have dialed down the temperature and made sure to dress appropriately. This winter I've set my thermostat at 67 when at home, 61 overnight, and 56 when out of the house. My housemate is fine with that. I live on the West Coast. It's fair to say my house is not nearly as well insulated as homes in the Midwest so keeping the air toasty warm would be quite costly.

May I ask what is the other Site you mentioned having a similar thread? I dropped Apple in December and dropped Netflix awhile back. I still have Prime and Hulu. I've also tried free streaming on Kanopy, Hoopladigital, and TubiTv. I may return to Netflix.

I read an article linked on Yahoo Finance today that Citi was planning to cut thousands of jobs. The article reported Citi had a loss. My initial reaction was how could that be possible with the high interest they charge on credit cards. Thus this thread caught my interest. The average credit card debt reported in the article did not seem too astounding compared to all of the credit card debt horror stories one hears about. So, I wonder if the median debt metric is quite a bit higher than the average. That said, I pay off my credit card balances every week. My car I bought used at Enterprise, with cash. I basically keep no debt.

The gossip rags claim Timothee Chalamet was considered for the lead in Saltburn. If so, I believe he dodged a bullet. I thought it was awful. Side note: there would not have been any peen if T.C. had been cast.

Some real world data, be it limited, was a news piece this week about businesses closing in LA including several along Melrose. One factor is high rents for leased commercial space. Does this point to a recession coming? Even though employees are finding new jobs, how will rising commercial vacancies affect local economies?

Sharing thousands of texts is something lovers or very close friends do. That you traveled far to be with him also sounds like you loved him. So if this describes what he meant to you, then it makes sense you might be grieving over the loss of your connection with him. IMO it's OK to fall in love with a provider as long as you're being honest with yourself what is going on. That he believed you owed him money sounds like a huge misunderstanding between you two or else his circumstances changed. From the little you described about legal issues, suggests he might not be good at making choices. That he blocked you could mean he doesn't know how to say good bye. But it does sound like he has.

I also hated the film. Thought it was predictable and shallow. Love the cast but that's about it.

Kudos for asking about selecting the right advisor. Some folks claim you can't outperform high quality no-load index funds over the long term. I hired a financial planner after college. She turned out to be lesbian. I am very satisfied. She follows the rules, doesn't let emotions change the strategy, doesn't believe in timing the market and does not get involved in crypto. So yeah do some research and don't hire anyone that seems driven by emotion.

In those articles, they quote Jamie Dimon predicting economic "headwinds" coming and more recently that economic "storms" are approaching, which sounds worse, right? One thing for sure, we might all agree with Dimon when he warns “...you can’t talk about the economy without talking about stuff in the future — and this is serious stuff,” No wonder he leads the biggest of the big banks. I recall the last recession followed a financial implosion that was caused by misbehavior of large institutions after shadow investments on Wall Street were deregulated. In more recent times, bank failures were in the news. Were those an anomaly? Perhaps so, because GDP has been rising since those failures. That said, I believe a recession will come. They always do, right? Frankly, I don't believe the big banks or Jamie Dimon know what stuff will ultimately be the cause. Hopefully he will just stay out of the way and not add to the "stuff" our economy encounters.

Maybe this kind of behavior has always existed. But now the internet spreads our viral news everywhere, such as this thread. That we are now a heavily armed society seems to be a factor as well, how violent behavior is more apt to involve gunplay.

OK, I'll go. The most flamboyant homophobe on campus lived in my house. I would have enjoyed those college years more if he had kept his homophobic agenda to himself. I was not out. I had nice friends in the house and grew close to a particular housemate. There were some strong feelings and we shared some playfulness and groping in the dark. But the stigma of homophobia impacted our relationship. Since nothing was ever seriously spoken about the affection we felt, the relationship wasn't easy for me to understand. At the end I kept my distance and he flippantly asked if we were getting a divorce. After college he wanted to try again. By then he had dated several women. At that point I didn't want to play. Both of these guys ultimately married women. The flamboyant homophobe convinced some woman to marry him against her better judgment. He is gay as a picnic basket, as some are apt to say. The homophobe and wife have no children. He finally came out. They are basically roommates now. My close friend married twice and has children. I would guess he is bisexual but closer to the "straight" end of the spectrum. The closet prevents having honest conversations to clarify those things, right? Both of these fellows have been in touch with me in recent years when our house was planning a reunion. I decided not to go for various reasons. I will always think of the flamboyant homophobe as somewhat of a jerk. He now claims he was always an ally before springing out from his closet. So he is still in denial about that piece. I admit I could have been a much better friend than I was to this special guy I knew during college. Being closeted was no fun. I wish I had been better equipped to deal with that situation and will always be sorry for hurting him.

I have a friend in the restaurant business in La Quinta that mentioned the snowbird population had trended down so that restaurant business has dropped in his area. Has anyone else noticed or heard that? So make it a point to patronize some of the favorite eateries while in PS. I enjoyed seeing the Marilyn Monroe statue earlier this year. We picked up delicious ice coffees (was a very hot day) at the newer Starbucks nearby.

Maangchi has been around a long time with millions of fans. She is so sweet. Her recipes look delicious.

That is a good point @BuffaloKyle I'll take a closer look at their incentives. Thanks!

God fortsättning.

Thank you @Ali Gator ! I'm not surprised to hear there is a financial agenda. I had a hunch, the way they have warned me my "time is running out", to switch to their rewards card. I'm anxious to see what they say next. Probably will offer to extend the deadline. 😁

I still have the original credit card account I signed up for when I graduated from college, from one of the big banks. During the last year, the bank has been encouraging me to switch my account to one of their awards card accounts. While visiting to sign up for a CD, the cute young banker mentioned he hasn't seen my old style account for awhile. He also recommended switching to their rewards card. What I am curious about is why so anxious to have me switch? I already have a rewards card from another institution used for most of my spends. So I hesitate to drop this legacy account. My question is, what is the benefit for the bank to have me switch?

There was so much going on and so much to take away from Fellow Travelers. Too much? One aspect I think about is the bad wrought by gay men against other gay men. I'm not judging. But perhaps it is food for thought how we might choose to treat each other now. What struck me the most was the conversation between Tim and Mary, when Mary quotes from "Catcher in the Rye". How that applied to Tim and Mary was terribly poignant. Watch the final epi and see what you think about that. 😉

I'm headin' down the Atlanta highway Lookin' for the love getaway Headed for the love getaway ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Huggin' and a-kissin', dancin' and a-lovin' Wearin' next to nothing 'cause it's hot as an oven Not Guilty! 😍

I will miss her. She is awesome.