BeamerBikes

Christopher Daniel's wrote a memoir of "Money's on the dresser" it's been a while since I read it. Covers the escort life in Vegas in the early 2000s-2010s. It was an easy enjoyable read, but I can't remember any deep insights from it.

Mid 40s, currently working - not hiring much at all these days. My vices are light gambling and strippers. At the moment, I joke that best case scenario my iBonds will be used for Whiskey and Whores (as in the Grand Budapest Hotel). My current plan is I will not have a mortgage payment to worry about in a decade. I max out my 401k and IRA. In the worse case, the iBonds represent the last resort funds to keep me from eating alpo. The real question can I push back from full-time work to enjoy quality years in semi-retirement. I'd hate to have saved up all for little real enjoyment. It'll be hard to switch from savings to spending. My mom's perspective on retirement wealth after her stroke haunt me - what good does this do me now? It can't fix this. Reminder that you can't take it with you and live while you're healthy too.

Don't look back! Enjoy the new car AND more importantly enjoy no car payment! I don't subscribe the idea of cheap money loans on a depreciating asset. Oh but cash flow, capital preservation, etc. When it comes to personal finance, it's much ado about nothing. Car payment = another bill I have to pay and paying interest to a bank on top what I paid for the car. On top of that you used an RMD, which tells me you are fortunate enough to be required/forced to pull from accounts. Just another reason to buy the car outright. My advice would be different if you voluntarily pulled the last of your emergency fund to buy the car outright. That's not the case here.

Yeah I'm more worried this time around about brinkmanship and grandstanding resulting in an accidental/unintended default. Still also a likely recession. I'm in the tech sector and they are pulling back so it'll affect my employers bottom line. All that being said. Fundamentals for most folks. If you don't have an emergency fund, stop reading and figure out a way to build one before doing anything else. Don't carry any bad debt - credit cards - big car notes with any non promo interest rates - etc. Don't go crazy on big purchases. Rent toys (boat/camper) than own them. Rest of the advice is age dependent. Sock money away in index funds. Watch fees. Read the fine print. If you can't understand how they make money, don't invest in it. Sock more money away. I still have faith in the US market as least as in the best bad plan we have out there. I'm personally done with trying to pick the winners. Index funds for the big money and dollar cost averaging.

I dont buy eggs often. As a result, Eggs aren't much of a direct concern, but its adding to baked goods in general. Eggs pricing has gone nuts because of bird flu outbreak causing a shortage so I hear.

Yeah I don't endorse the comments. It's one of the main reasons I push back against any of hint of the narrative that gay men are preying on underage. It's now seemingly acceptable to make that implication in the open again.

Matt Heinz from Tuscon openly gay had a gentlemen caller getting dressed in the zoom background of a meeting. Impressive!

Also, after Ryan Rose's incident, that's enough to scare me into less invasive options when the need arises (or not rises in this case)

Meh, as for Geffen, he's set in his ways. Short term transactional is in a different class than medium to long term transactional. Folks can catch feelings - grow dependent on another in other ways. Just as there's always a richer daddy up the hill, there's usually a fresh out of college/beefier sugar baby fresh off the bus. Something something leave before it makes you soft; leave before it makes you cold. Cue the Another Suitcase Another Hall from Evita!

There's a qualifier in there as "may" Also, swap out exploitative for unhealthy/manipulative as you see fit. From previous posters above, it sounds as if Geffen cycles through them as their looks age out. Hardly, an admirable quality for a stable healthy relationship.

Yeah, it's a smaller government agency that's been making due with less since the 80s and now all the boomers are retiring. It's next to impossible to scale to demand in older private companies, I can't imagine how the Treasury has been managing with this demand. I'm sure the purchase limits on iBonds are in place to prevent the government from competing with private banks and the stock market/investment industry. I'll tolerate it the poor customer service for the stability. There's very little overhead / no service fees other than the 12 month lock in and 3 month early withdrawal penalty. In exchange, there's going to be some customer service pains.

I just got super annoyed when someone slipped in a gay men are predators trope over a discussion of what does the term "chicken hawk" mean? Chicken hawk was always synonymous with Twink lover, as I understood it when I was still a twink. Geffen doesn't even seem to be a chicken hawk. If the model pictured is typical of his "type", not sure what Geffen's camp term would be but he falls under the Abercrombie CEO / Bruce Weber model / "twunk" type.

Continuing the technical hair splitting seems self-defeating. He's an older guy who prefers college age+ but regardless still ADULT men. No different than any other older man chasing college+ adult women. Both may end up exploiting each other depending on the power dynamic, but it's between consenting adults. Pushback against the narrative that older gay men are preying on underage. It's a trope that has come back around. Unless someone knows Geffen has crossed that line, it's self-defeating to our overall group to continue to split hairs for purposes of this thread.

Well, this post took a turn. Here I giggled with glee at the "My business associate Benji and I... " comparison. Folks remember avoid the personal attacks on each other.

Looks like Kevin missed this... yes there is such a thing. Unsure what all the catches are. One you can't double dip over the contribution limits between solo Roth 401k and a solo 401k. Etc

Tobin Bell from the SAW movie franchise https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(Saw_character)

I think he was around 29. 😕 IIRC, He also had a stint dancing at the Shoe early on. It was after my regular weekly outings tho. Very sad. Never met, but id see him on grindr cause he was local to my area. Seemed like a nice guy.

Sadly, Southwest is still my go-to. My closest airport is one of their major hubs. I got disillusioned with United after they devalued their miles and stratified their loyalty program. Meanwhile, Southwest feels honest about the process. Everyone is equally worthless. You want to cash in miles, corresponds to real time pricing. You want to fly standby or change plans no change fees. No bag fees. Yes it's the Greyhound/Megabus of the sky. Let's face it though most of the big airlines are the same experience if you don't have ongoing spend/status. If you want to upgrade to Economy Premium Plus Super, it'll cost you but you will still be on the same plane as everyone else. About the only thing I'll say... I'd pay to have an empty seat next to me on most longer flights on Southwest, but that's the same for any other airline unless you are flying business or first(if there still a first class cabin)

Here tonight for the customer appreciation party. Good mix of customers. Busy for Tuesday night prolly due to Holidays and $3/drink special. Good mix of dancers from what I tell so far. The shoe goes in phases. I'm hopeful it's in one of the upswing. I liken it a bit to a gay Cheers with gogo boys. In amusement, I've invited multiple friends out who then caught other friends who vowed they were staying in. LOL.

I am planning another round next year. I'm viewing I bonds as my eventual last resort emergency funds. I never thought I'd be back in US savings bonds, but here we are. I'll stagger the amounts throughout the year so if/when the fixed interest rates inch higher, I'll step the older bonds into newer rates in the future. Borrowing from The Grand Budapest Hotel... I-Bonds will be my "Whiskey and whores" funds into my 60s with any luck.

Eh the shuttle busses weren't an option for my building during that time. Union Station to IBM now AMA building at 330 N Wabash just on the edge of reasonable walk in your 20s everyday. The water taxi in the summer was a nice option though. Moving into the city was seriously considered during that time period. Ended up subleasing a couple places to make my commute reasonable during busier work/school times.

@Cooper @RadioRob tried updating the Lucky Horseshoe post and it shows a status of archived and closed to new comments.

Permanently closed

Also, it's not eradicated either. The African doctor who first raised this as having a sexual component in transmission will confirm. It never went away in Africa. It's hard to say if it never got a firm foothold in Northern climates before the most active summer flesh on flesh events started to become more infrequent vs how much was due to vaccinations. End of the day, it can still hop a ride on plane from an outbreak site to Europe and/or US center next summer. I dont know if we seen the last of it. Hopefully there's enough vaccinated in the highest risk base to make sure it won't cluster up again anytime soon. Either way, I don't regret my decision to get the vaccine even late.

Followed by a mile long walk to your downtown building where you have to cross the river wind tunnel TWICE! Coworkers would wonder why I'd spend the money for a monthly parking pass.