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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2024

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  • Yea, embrace it. Think about the most ridiculous things you’ve ever heard other people say. Oh, you can only remember maybe 5? 10? Realize that the one dumb thing you said is most likely not on the list.

    And if it is? Congratulations you made an imprint on someone else. You’ll be remembered.




  • As long as you both consent to it and he is willing to also put in the work it takes to raise a child then what’s the problem?

    Malcolm Gladwell just recently had a child in his late 50s/early 60s and so did Peter Sagal of Wait Wait fame. People have kids later in life all the time.

    My wife and I had our first child when I was 39 because that’s finally when it happened for us and we had the means to support our kid the way we wanted.

    I’m in my mid 40s now and would love another. I still have the energy to swing our kid around and throw her up in the air. Now she’s getting into the ages where she can hike with us, it’s a wonderful journey watching her grow and learn.

    One thing I would just ask of you, personally, is just make the commitment to read to your child. Read to them every night. Read to them as much as they want. Read to them even when you’re tired. It’s so important for their development.



  • You’re up north? I’d be thinking of ways to keep the house insulated, warm and with pipes unfrozen.

    Pipewrap. They come in a few different options. The cheap foam works ok, but can be a pain around elbows and expansions. The insulation roll is a bit easier to get done well but takes more time.

    Pipe heaters - relatively cheap, somewhere around $20-40. Run it along the pipe and plug it in.

    Do you have a well or city water? If a well, make sure that cement encasement is lodged in the ground good and then stuff insulation all in it. Pipe warmer may serve you well here too. If city, then you’re in a bit of an easier situation.

    If you have a crawl space, seal the door well. Don’t forget to open the vents in the summer and for sure close them in the winter. If you have a basement, make sure your water barrier is doing its job and get a dehumidifier to prevent mold. Try to get one with a drain tube so you don’t have to empty it all the freaking time like I currently do.

    Get one of those foam dohickeys for your outdoor faucets and for the love of all that is unfrozen do not leave your hoses attached in the winter.

    Get a preventive maintenance plan on your big ticket items like furnaces boilers and aircons. People neglect these and then end up with an eventual $8k unexpected bill. At least the pms will tell you if you’re close to their expiry so you can prepare. They may also help you prevent mold in your aircon before it becomes a problem.

    Get pest control, we do monthly. It’ll help keep out the ants, mice, bats and squirrels.

    Get yourself a backup battery that can run a fridge for a day. Or invest in a backup generator.

    Figure out what your secondary source of heat will be (e.g wood stove, propane, kerosene.) Make sure you have it stocked. If you burn anything, make sure to get a CO sensor and that your fire alarms are working. Houses are so tightly built nowadays that you’ll need to ensure anything burned has proper ventilation.

    Change your air filters every 3 months depending on use. Make sure to clean your fridge air filter every 6 months. If you have a kitchen stove exhaust fan, make sure to clean that up every few months as well.

    Invest in some salt and a snow shovel if you don’t already have one. You’ll need it. .

    Change out your locks. Who knows who the previous owners gave a key. If your doors have the smart key system, then it’s very easy to do nowadays.

    Learn where your electric panel is, make sure you don’t have two or even three elsewhere around the house, sometimes inside, sometimes out.

    Don’t be a stranger, talk to your neighbors. They’re your best resource in a pinch

    Congrats on owning your own castle. It’s a lot of upkeep but it’s a lot of piece of mind too.



  • There’s a growing wisdom gap coming in America. The people who are already well versed in company practices and culture are going to use AI to complete the tasks that they would have otherwise given to assistants and junior resources.

    The junior resources are going to struggle to find jobs because they are lacking in the KSAs that schools simply cannot provide training for. And that means when us Gen Xers and later Millenials retire there could be a major gap where we have few people with that inherent knowledge to replace us. And where there’s no work and no hope, you get something akin to what is starting to occur in China right now…or revolt.

    My hope is that schools will be rethought and there will be a lot more focus on getting an internship early and for the long term. Something more like apprenticeships, which the blue collar workforce maintained, but it’s something we’ll likely need to bring back to white collar jobs.

    This isn’t to say that schools should diminish a well rounded education. I think it’s extremely important for students to take electives outside of their focus for a multitude of reasons, one being that it helps students realize the importance of how others contribute to society.

    Apprenticeships can help to fill the knowledge gap, but the white collars that are in the jobs now will also need to be retrained and made comfortable to work with a large influx of apprentices to make this approach a success.