[The Most Loathed] learns....slowly

[The Most Loathed]

On 4/24/2018 at 6:26 PM, Elastigirl said:

Funny, you are doing something in Seattle I've never even heard of-make your own Sushi. Sounds fun. Pike Place Market is super cool.Sounds like your weekend is full, but if you like Marvel comics, the MoPop museum is having a Marvel comic exhibit. Wish that we could have met-up, hopefully next time.

 

The Sushi thing was awesome. AirBnB now offers "experiences" and that's what this was. We spent three hours going from raw ingredients including going to pick out the fish we would use, through rolling the rolls and sitting down for a nice meal of miso soup and sushi rolls. She also talked a lot about the neighborhood we were walking through and sushi making. I highly recommend the class. I plan on taking her potsticker class next time we visit.

We didn't do MoPop just because the timing didn't work out and it's pricy. We did hit up the market and so on. It was a short trip but there will be another, maybe next year.

 

On 4/25/2018 at 12:15 AM, WhiteGhost said:

Fedora?

Probably not a fedora

 

On 4/27/2018 at 2:33 PM, LadyShello said:

I used that referral discount for Stitch Fix.  It arrived yesterday.  I was pretty excited to get home and find new clothes waiting for me, without needing to go to the store.   I am buying at least 1 thing and I'm on the fence about another.  I'm definitely going to continue.  Thanks! 

That's awesome. I got an email when you signed up that told me that you had. Maybe I've spent too much time around banking and healthcare but my first thought was "they really shouldn't be telling me this". I didn't get any info about you or your fixes but still, it felt like a minor invasion of privacy. 

Still, thanks for using the link and I'm glad you're liking what you got. I am loving the three thing I kept. I'm wearing the jeans as I type this and the sweatshirt has become my go-to in slightly cool weather.

[The Most Loathed]

It's been a bit since my last note. Officially, it's because I was in Seattle. If I'm honest though, I just haven't felt like sitting down and typing something out in my free time. I also just haven't felt like I've had a good solid hour of good internet and nothing else on the docket but very soon I'll catch up

 

[The Most Loathed]

Went and threw my back out on Sunday. I was doing my set and got to the end of the second to last rep, start of last rep and *pop*. I set the bells down and tried to stretch out. It doesn't even hurt in the moment, just makes me angry. The cause was almost certainly a lot of sitting on Saturday as we flew back from Seattle then Sunday I chatted more than I warmed up and I guess I'm an old man now so my body kicked me for not being on top of things. 

I think I managed to not be totally insufferable this week because of the back thing but you should ask Laura when I'm not around it you want confirmation.

 

I finally finished the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It took me over a year and a half. I didn't read any other books except a couple weeks ago, when we were headed to Iowa, when I read the entire first book of the Iron Druid series in three days. I'm not entirely convinced the series was worth the effort. I loved the books I reread. As I got into the new books it became a lot of work again. The last two books really weren't much fun. If I didn't feel seriously committed to this project I would have dropped out in book 9 and probably never tried to finish the series again. 

I am certain that I will reread the first four or five books sometime, probably not in a row like I did this time but I'll reread them. It's up for grabs whether I'll ever pick up the last couple. There were a few books in the first half of the series that I hated the first time but loved on reread so I'm (not so) secretly hoping that will happen with the last couple books. But if they feel as difficult when I read them again, I'll just set them down and not return.

 

I feel like I'm supposed to have more to say here but I don't. 

 

Tomorrow I will work out again and then go climbing. The guy that I climb with is the husband in the couple with whom we're heading to Yellowstone in a couple weeks. What was climbing then wings is now climbing while the wives go to a cocktail making class then we meet up at their place to make a fajita/taco bar then sit around and discuss the trip and have drinks until God knows when. I'll be peopled out by the end.

 

Sunday will be workout then groceries then have a little down time.

 

Laura is super busy next week which is funny because she's not normally the busy one. I'm just planning to workout and relax for the most part.

 

I'll try to be more articulate Sunday.

[The Most Loathed]

Back seems to be bounced back. I was able to lift over the weekend albeit a little cautiously. I don't have to workouts handy but it was programmed as two workouts. I broke it into three. I did two kettlebell workouts, one on Friday and one on Sunday. Both went well. 

One of the workouts had a front squat component, a heavy front squat component. I broke this off into its own workout both to keep an eye on the back and because of time. It worked out pretty well, breaking it up did. The workout itself felt a little dubious but the bum back so I didn't do the heaviest sets, just called it and counted it a win that I got to lift again the next day. 

I've never put the time and effort into front squats that I did for back squats. I think that this is pretty normal. It's easier, I think the push your max up on back squats and you can get away with some lazy tactics. Front squats don't seem to give as much leeway to use the posterior chain or shorten the range of motion. 

Like a lot of dudes, my rack sucks. Some days I'm too tight to get into a proper front rack and have to look like a newbie and cross my arms over my chest. I hate doing just because it's so amateur. I hope that if I keep training the movement I can get to a place where I can sit in the front rack like a pro. It'd be nice to walk up to some dude's deadlift bar, rip it from the floor into a nice front rack for reps of squat.

 

Last night I got in a full workout:

• Static Jerk 2 x 26 kg, 3 x 5
• Jerk and Long Cycle, 1:00 on, 1:00 off
  • Jerk, 2 x 16 kg, 12
  • Long Cycle 2 x 16 kg, 8
  • Jerk, 2 x 18 kg, 12
  • Long Cycle 2 x 18 kg, 8
  • Jerk, 2 x 20 kg, 12
  • Long Cycle 2 x 20 kg, 8
  • Jerk, 2 x 22 kg, 12
  • Long Cycle 2 x 22 kg, 8
  • Jerk, 2 x 24 kg, 12
  • Long Cycle 2 x 24 kg, 8
  • Jerk, 2 x 26 kg, 12
  • Long Cycle 2 x 26 kg, 8
• Chin up 5 x 4 - missed the last rep and went back for it as a single
• Barbell Ros 60 kg, 5 x 5 

It was nice to have a full and uneventful workout.

Tonight I have a jog and snatch

[Bearlee]

Man I’m glad the back is okay. Thought it was going to be another Sloth situation where you would be laid up for a while and have long term troubles, but hopefully only a one time pang.

 

Can’t remember if I’ve asked or not yet, but did the Nerd meet up ever happen for Ready Player One? On the Facebook page it seemed like trying to herd cats. I personally thought the movie was okay but of course the book is so much better. The best thing I can say for the film is that I was surprised at how many pop culture references they could get into it. That probably had to be like herding cats also to get permission to use characters and items from so many places.

 

I also finally got around to watching The Dark Tower. It was kind of a disappointing film. It felt rushed and unexplained and surprisingly felt like a low budget film (felt like it could have been a SyFy channel film only with some big names). Actually it seemed like it might have worked better as a cable/streaming mini-series and explained a little more about what was going on (something like Altered Carbon). But I’ve been watching so many good films lately that this one will quickly fade from memory.

 

A jog and snatch, is that a gym rats version of Netflix and chill?

[The Most Loathed]

14 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Man I’m glad the back is okay. Thought it was going to be another Sloth situation where you would be laid up for a while and have long term troubles, but hopefully only a one time pang.

I throw my back out occasionally. When I was heavier and less mobile it was every few months, lately it's been closer to annually. As long as I spot it for what it is and just walk away, I can heal up in a week.

 

14 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Can’t remember if I’ve asked or not yet, but did the Nerd meet up ever happen for Ready Player One?

No, it came apart at the end. I was just going to see folks. I've read the book and enjoyed it but wasn't super psyched about trying to make a movie of it, it seems like an impossible task. The original book was just 80s reference upon 80s reference with a bit of dystopian cyberpunk mixed in. Which is kind of 80s in its own right. 

 

14 hours ago, Bearlee said:

I also finally got around to watching The Dark Tower. It was kind of a disappointing film. It felt rushed and unexplained and surprisingly felt like a low budget film (felt like it could have been a SyFy channel film only with some big names). Actually it seemed like it might have worked better as a cable/streaming mini-series and explained a little more about what was going on (something like Altered Carbon). But I’ve been watching so many good films lately that this one will quickly fade from memory.

The Dark Tower would make a good series. Interestingly, someone is supposed to be making one but it was going to follow party member from the book who weren't really in the movie. The movie was supposed to be a kick off but given that I think it was a box office failure, I wonder if that ended the TV series plan. 

I just finished the first season of American Gods, I'll be watching Season 2. I think it's a great adaptation so far. I decided to start West World this week so I'll be working on that now. 

 

14 hours ago, Bearlee said:

A jog and snatch, is that a gym rats version of Netflix and chill?

So much so that I did it again yesterday:

jog 7.5 km

swing, snatch 16 kg 8:30 ( hand switch at 3:30) - my hands were fried

 

Today was an off day, I managed to get time with my massage therapist. Everything felt lie it had a little bit of DOMS but I think he helped that out a lot.

 

 

I actually have stuff I want to talk about but it's 9 so I need to head towards bed. I have to actually visit the office tomorrow. 

My current bedtime reading is Consider Phleabas.

[The Most Loathed]

Volbeat remains one of my favorite recent finds

 

 

Nothing More is right up there too

 

Life is good. 

Don't misunderstand, my job sucks, I'm heavier than I want to be, I wish we didn't have a clown as a national leader...but seriously, life is good for me. My worst day is the kind of day that a lot of people wish that they could have. 

 

I keep putting in applications at Target, Deloitte and other local companies. One night I got slightly drunk and applied for jobs in Europe. Predictably, not positive responses there. In the meantime, my company sent me a gift card loaded with $150 to say "thanks" for my "can do attitude". 

I have this theory that remains to be disproven, any major award for a project completed is full of shit. I've received some, I have friends who have received some. In every case I have seen to date someone made a bunch of people miserable by being a dictator and not listening to more well reasoned opinions. Also, to a a one, the project isn't really done by the the time that the awards are handed out.  Some poor bastard, usually the last name or two listed on the award still spends half or more of their time trying to clean up the mess that everyone left behind.

I'll be the first to say that this is probably the only way that business advances. Things have to be done that won't be right or clean on the first pass. Someone get's stuck making it sustainable . I just wish that there were more recognition of this. Some folks plunked 1,000 hours each into getting something shakily complete. There are other folks who spent years nursing that thing along to make it actually viable. 

In that spirit, I had a conversation with our Senior Architects, who I consider the shadow leader of our department. In short, she expects me to be the nursemaid. She wants me to lead the people who will bring all of her lame efforts to fruition. It's nice to have someone finally put a direction forward for this group but I definitely don't want to do that. 

That's just me being a whiny bitch to some extent. I could easily spin this into being manager then a senior manager and gods know what beyond that. I could make a lot of money taking her malformed and ill-conceived children and nurturing them into productive members of society. I just don't want to. It's neither interesting and fun. Also, I believe that she is trying to birth psychopaths and that it's only through monumental effort that I will change their DNA and make them worth damn. 

This next week will be me vetting her take through other leaders. If they bear it out then I need to broadcast it back to my team because this is not the job that we are gearing up to do. Finally, I need to talk to my direct manager and make it clear that I have 0 interest in this gig and that he owes it to me to help me transfer.

None of that will go how I want so I keep looking elsewhere.  I'm just really struggling the get a bite due to my restrictions on location, the fact that my easiest target keeps doing internal hires and that every month that passes in this role makes me outdated that much more. Laura even has me thinking about and MBA, which I always said I would never do

 

This next week is short for me then I'm gone for almost a week and a half. I've never felt uncomfortable leaving my coworkers at the helm before. It sucks. I really don't know what I'll walk back into. 

 

Laura has being trying to reengage in the music scene. She's had two auditions this week and has two more in the near future. It's cool to see her going back out there. It's been tough for her in some ways, dusting off an old skillset and stepping in front of experts and trying it out. It's a brutal idea, imagine talking to experts in a field in which you've only dabbled for the past ten years (having been an expert before) and trying to pull your own weight It's not easy.

In other ways it has been, if not easy, not brutal for her. She spent years training her voice. It comes back faster than you'd think. The analogy around our house has always been professional performance = sports. I've spent years training. I can take a few months off and come back 10% off where I left but multiple times stronger than someone untrained. Someone untrained might get 100% stronger in their first months where I might only achieve the place I was a before I quite, but I'll still be stronger. It's the same with voice. With a trivial amount of effort she will be better than I could ever be.

However, as with the training example, you can only every think about those lost days. You only compare yourself with the 1op few percent and thing "If I hadn't taken that time off, would we be at the same place?" The truth is that you can't know. You still can't stop thinking about it. 

 

Last, and half-baked thought:

I've been thinking about finding some method of tracking daily progress again. I'm struggling a bit here. My workouts are programmed for me. I don't seem to have the spare time to do much more than work, dinner, light cleaning, workout, and a bit of reading before bed, on most days.  I hate the idea of just checking off the things I'm doing anyway. I could try to  pile more stuff on as I see so many people do here but it's a recipe for disaster. To do something, something else has to give. 

So what do I sacrifice and to what end and how do I make a system of it all?

I don't know but I continue to think and wonder at your thoughts. 

[Bearlee]

Seal the Deal was awesome. It led me down a Rocky motivational montage spiral.

 

Awesome Laura is getting back into music. What is she trying to do? I see singing but opera,  chorus, back up singer, lead singer?

 

I was hoping someone would have said something by now becuase others on your thread are more astute to your situation. All I can offer is what is it that you want to do? If you went to another company would things change? This is your third or fourth company in the past 3 years and it seems like it’s about the same story of I don’t like the management and the work is kind of dull. Seems like some of your options would be to move into management and do things the way you want to (which I know you don’t want to do). Have you thought about side gigs and see if you can make something out of that? If you are trying to get back to Target do you still stay in contact with your gaming buddies from there? Do they have any leads for you or could put in the good word for you? None of this is very helpful but I’m interested in seeing how this goes.

[The Most Loathed]

3 hours ago, Bearlee said:

I was hoping someone would have said something by now becuase others on your thread are more astute to your situation. All I can offer is what is it that you want to do? If you went to another company would things change? This is your third or fourth company in the past 3 years and it seems like it’s about the same story of I don’t like the management and the work is kind of dull. Seems like some of your options would be to move into management and do things the way you want to (which I know you don’t want to do). Have you thought about side gigs and see if you can make something out of that? 

This is pretty much my internal dialog.

Target was good, it was better than the last couple companies but I try to remind myself that I was ready to leave at the time. That said, it was way more Goldilocks than my current gig. At Health Catalyst, management was cool, I like what they were trying to do and how they were trying to do it. It was the lifers that were a nightmare. Getting yelled at by a peer in a meeting is unacceptable. It happened twice. 

At US Bank, at least where I am in the company, management is as clueless as they come. I asked what we should be preparing for in 1-3 years and I got back "What do you think we should be preparing for in 1-3 years?" As I probed deeper, it didn't appear to be a rhetorical device but a genuine request for input. That's scary. My current peers are totally demoralized so although the look at me as the defacto leader, a lot of my time is spent, frankly, listening to them complain about our real leaders. They get a half a day's work done, at best, most days. One of them has told me that he's going to do as little work as possible to just stay in his role for the next 10 years then retire. 

That said, I have the mental conversation about once a week of "should I give up on interesting and go managment and try to fix this mess?" The issue I keep running into is that if I have one or two peers our of 10-15 who are trying to do the same, we have horrible leverage. That is the issue, do I throw myself at a pointless cause, just because it's, honestly, easier?

I could go the MBA route which costs time and money but gives me a little more leverage as to where I go and what I do. We have two local MBA programs that focus on data and analytics and that is what I truly enjoy. But it means, probably, 2 years with less sleep and 0 free time. Is that a price I want to pay? I don't know. Right now I'm feeling yes. 

A part of the conversation has to be retirement too. Regardless of where I work. If I just keep doing what I'm doing I can retire a little later than my desired 55, depending on a ton of variables. So, we're talking 15 years. What do I want to spend in terms of time, effort, and money, and does it come back to me in that window. Also, if I stay where I am and go management, maybe I could hit 55 and just bail. Still, it's 15 years of my life, 30,000 hours.

I have thought about spinning side gigs into something. Right now, it's not practical. I need to get back into at least putting the time in to work on it though.

3 hours ago, Bearlee said:

If you are trying to get back to Target do you still stay in contact with your gaming buddies from there? Do they have any leads for you or could put in the good word for you?

Yep, I'm still in contact with them. For the most part, no they don't work in my area. I have one friend who has the insight and is aware and is keeping his eyes open. Also, I have a recruiter that who I'm working with.

 

My general take right now is:

• Sit tight and do a good job.
  • I've more or less sorted things with the Sr. Architect who doesn't like me. We're not friends but she's openly acknowedged that I've advanced our department more than any other individual contributor. 
  • I'm recognized both internally and externally as the guy to go to who can tell you what's going on and why and will start things moving
  • I continue to build my network within US Bank, I have the support I would need if I want to jump to manager. I'm also working on building a network to get me moved to the automation and/or enterprise reporting team, either of which would suit me better than what I'm doing. 
  • At US Bank, you're not allowed to change jobs until you've been in your role for 1 year. At 1 year I plan to talk to my manager about helping me move to an analytics team or the automation team. 
• Keep working on your options
  • I continue to submit applications as Target and talk to my friends and recruiter
  • I've expanded into a couple other downtown companies
  • Laura and I have talked about whether we should just bite the bullet and get a second car so I can expand into other companies
  • The MBA question is on the table
  • I go to professional organization meetings and talk to friends and peers there
• Find things outside of work that make you happy
  • I've been writing a lot more because I enjoy the process
  • We've been traveling a lot this year

 

So, that's a long winded answer but you're asking a question I think about often. Part of me says "You can do better, go get it" and part of me says " they pay you a lot to do very little, shut up and take the money and skate by". The problem is that deep down in the core of my person is a core that says that I should never just "skate by". I mean, look at me, I'm nearly 40 and continue to train as often as I can. I retaught myself handwriting. I'm almost always working on a new skill or knowledge. I'm not a "do the minimum" kind of person. The result of that is the strife you see above but I also get a lot of value from this. Just figuring out how to manage it is my challenge right now.

 

so, still long winded

 

In other news, Reddit Gift Exchange had a pen and paper exchange and I signed up. I got a young woman in Florida who does a lot of sketch work with colored pencils. Given that it's a Pen and Paper exhange, the first thing I did is write her a letter. That seemed likes something that someone in a pen and paper exchange would enjoy. 

I also messaged with her a bit through the built in system to try and dial in on what to get her. She mentioned good paper and gel pens so I started there, I got her a Rhodia notepad and a small selection of colored gel pens. She also mentioned that she is learning calligraphy. So I bought her a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen with an italic nib, which should, at least theoretically, work for calligraphy practice. In truth, it was a bit of indulging myself in getting a fountain pen for another person. I do, though, hope that she finds it to be a fun toy.

 

I haven't been posting much but I have been working out. KB Coach continues to program my workouts and do a really great job of it. Last night was a "meditation" set. It's a set that is relatively easy but runs for 12 minutes. I also got to do some more front squats. I shifted to a narrower stance and could maintain a legitimate rack. I felt really powerful in this position which is new for me in front squats. I usually feel week and out of position. So, I'm having fun and optimistic.

 

Tonight I'm meeting up with most of the Arkham Horror group but I don't actually know what we're playing. One of the guys is out and given the campaign nature of the game, this usually means that we don't play Arkham. It'll be fun regardless. We're all headed up to Fantasy Flight partially because the new storyline launched last week and we need to buy our copies.

I'm also taking Arkham Horror on the trip with me. I'm going to introduce it to one of my travel companions. 

 

I had more but my day is taking off so I'll shut up now.

[Rooks]

On 5/12/2018 at 9:28 PM, The Most Loathed said:

Volbeat remains one of my favorite recent finds

 

Always enjoyed them. Random story from me. I remember sitting in airport once, I overhead a gentleman talking about Volbeat, almost like he was their agent trying to get them a gig. This was shortly after their 2008 album came out which I someone got plugged into right away. Wish I had struck up a conversation with that guy. 

 

On 5/12/2018 at 9:28 PM, The Most Loathed said:

I've been thinking about finding some method of tracking daily progress again. I'm struggling a bit here. My workouts are programmed for me. I don't seem to have the spare time to do much more than work, dinner, light cleaning, workout, and a bit of reading before bed, on most days.  I hate the idea of just checking off the things I'm doing anyway. I could try to  pile more stuff on as I see so many people do here but it's a recipe for disaster. To do something, something else has to give. 

So what do I sacrifice and to what end and how do I make a system of it all?

I don't know but I continue to think and wonder at your thoughts. 

 

Much the same, I've struggled with a system for a long time. I've tried daily to-do lists, and various means of getting everything down to one list, and everything always seems like it just creates more overhead, instead of keeping me on task. Basically, I keep work straight through e-mails and JIRAs. I keep life straight through reminders in Google calendar. The rest is just fluff. I think I've mostly settled on tracking my workouts in a book so I can reference the various workouts when I get back to them, but that's not even a concern for you with the coach already programming for you. 

 

Sorry work seems disheartening right now. Hopefully you can get things figured out soon and get into a position that seems solid.

 

EDIT: And of course I never refreshed after this morning so I missed your big post about work after the fact. Good to hear that you've got a lot of stuff thought out. Not surprising, but I like seeing how we have so many similar thoughts. Sadly, when it comes to work, I've started leaning more and more towards the skate by at work, so that I can apply my true efforts to things I do care about like my family and fitness. Mainly because I feel like I just don't care about the corporate world. I'm not saying I'm going to do a bad job, but I'm not going to focus all my time and effort there, especially if they are telling me I'm doing good work as is. 

[RisenPhoenix]

On 5/10/2018 at 9:57 PM, The Most Loathed said:

My current bedtime reading is Consider Phleabas.

 

Thoughts on Consider Phleabas?

 

I read a preview chapter for it a while back and enjoyed it, but it's 1) a thick book, 2) an entry to a long series, and 3) I'm a scrooge and it's price makes me wonder if I'd like the whole thing enough to warrant a purchase.

 

Then again, Space Opera.

[The Most Loathed]

On 5/16/2018 at 8:13 PM, Rooks said:

 

Always enjoyed them. Random story from me. I remember sitting in airport once, I overhead a gentleman talking about Volbeat, almost like he was their agent trying to get them a gig. This was shortly after their 2008 album came out which I someone got plugged into right away. Wish I had struck up a conversation with that guy. 

Ah those little moments. It would have netted you nothing but you end up feeling like you missed something, like when I said "hi" to the drummer of Five Finger Death Punch. It almost makes me understand people who collect autographs. Almost.

Is that even a thing anymore?

 

On 5/23/2018 at 7:58 AM, RisenPhoenix said:

Thoughts on Consider Phleabas?

Not quite through it but Meh. I read it one before and felt about the same. There are some nice hard sci-fi moments in the there but I have a really hard time getting excited about the characters. I've heard that it is in no way indicative of the rest of the series. I'll read Player of Games next. If I love it, I'll let you know. It might mean that you just skip the first first book

 

Speaking of books, I also started Triggers on the drive this week. So far I am 100% on board with his logic and style. I'll get back to you all.

 

I've been gone for a while. We went to Yellowstone. It was beautiful and awesome. It was not, however, an especially good trip. It had good parts though. 

 

Pro: I tried written journaling for the first time and really liked it. I didn't quite do every single day but I also did two on some days so it works out to be about 2 pages of handwritten journal per day.

Con: Driving all the time. It took 30 minutes to drive to Yellowstone but they it was typically hours of driving from place to place. I doubt that we walked one mile per hour of driving.

Pro: The one hike we went on was amazing. We hiked along a ridgeline that looked down on the Yellowstone river and saw an antelope relatively close, a bunch of marmots, a fox, red winged falcons and assorted smaller animals

Con: we may have been in danger of electrocution on that hike. We reached the turn around point and watched some light rain roll on. That's when we noticed that the womens' hair was standing on end (they had inches of hair). We got down quickly and never saw any lightning.

Pro: I took my kettlebells and got in three workouts

Con: I missed a workout and I didn't feel like the ones I did were as good as they should be

Pro: I only gained two pounds, probably mostly water

Con: I feel like I got fat and sludgey

 

A couple take-aways:

I've convinced Laura that she and I should go back, without our friends and actually go backpacking and she agreed. She has historically taken a hard line on no plumbed toilets but this won her over as an idea. The concept I sold was a couple days near the park, like where we stayed. Park in the park and, with permission, hike a couple connected trails and over a ridgeline over the course of three days (two nights), end at the Old Faithful Inn and spend a couple more nights there, finally, get a ride back to our car. We both like this idea and plan to revisit it. I plan to try and get us out to do some warm up hikes and even see if I can't get her to camp out a couple single nights next summer as warm up.

 

Laura wants to move to Montana. This competes with her desire to move to The Netherlands. She spun up a fantasy where we run a BNB together. I do the cooking, workout, help around the the BNB while she does some gardening and works to bring in local artists of varying stripes to give them a place to stay at a discounted price while they work on art stuff. Neither of us knows if it will ever be a real thing but it's a fun fantasy in the meantime. We're both using it as an excuse to try and work on our particular niches of the the fantasy ( I on some new recipes, her on some grant writing and arts networking). Even if it never goes anywhere, we're better for the push. 

 

That's it for the moment. I'm back and alive. Off to shower and bed. No work tomorrow but busy day regardless. 

[Bearlee]

I saw some of your pics on FB and they looked “awesome”. Training out in the mountain ranges like that would be something special.

 

Would there be room for NFers at this B&B? And you could bring in another clientele by offering exercise classes like kettle bell training or Pilates or which ever class you were teaching at your gym. If you had a gym with views like you had on your FB page, people would probably pay through the nose for that. Though the artist could probably use some exercise as well. Do you know how to teach yoga?

 

You left out some important details, did you happen to see stars? Did you take your binoculars and star book with you? Were you able to identify anything?

[The Most Loathed]

11 hours ago, Bearlee said:

 

Would there be room for NFers at this B&B? And you could bring in another clientele by offering exercise classes like kettle bell training or Pilates or which ever class you were teaching at your gym. If you had a gym with views like you had on your FB page, people would probably pay through the nose for that. Though the artist could probably use some exercise as well. Do you know how to teach yoga?

Laura mentioned something to this effect as well. I said I didn't think that many people would drive hours and hours and pay a bunch just to lift kettlebells. I figured, though, that we'd be the only BnB with a full gym so we could try to use that as a selling point.

 

11 hours ago, Bearlee said:

You left out some important details, did you happen to see stars? Did you take your binoculars and star book with you? Were you able to identify anything?

There was very little dark, being in a northern lattitude. The sun set around 11 pm and rose sometime well before 6 am so we didn't see much dark. When it was dark, it was cloudy most nights. The one night that it was clear enough we went out and looked at the stars. I can't recall, is it Jupiter that's visible right now. We saw Jupiter or Saturn, whichever is up. We didn't even use the binoculars, we just looked. One of our friends bought a new camera trigger for sky photography but ended up taking no pictures.

 

 

Back to work today and it's killing me. In my absense no one did the assignments I asked them to cover. They did manage, however, to make several customers confused and frustrated. So I'm trying to pick up the pieces. It's really aggravating. Laura is pushing me to consider driving to commute for work so I can move on. I hate the idea of commuting by car but today she feel really right. 

 

Tonight is Arkham Horror so that should be fun.

[The Most Loathed]

Very short update because I'm kind of swamped at the moment

 

This week has been pretty good. I got all my workouts in and complete. It was indicated as to not quite be an "off" week but also not 100%. The kettlebell portion seemed a little easy but the GPP seemed ratcheted up including front squats 79 kg 5 x5 and lunge 5 x 100 m. I also got to juggle with Kristjian today.

 

Work has been work. Laura has encouraged to expand my search for new work to include options I have to drive to. I'm not excited about the drive but the expansion seems to have served me well. I had two phone interviews this week for two different, promising roles. I have an on site set up for next week and will probably have a second.

Thursday I will interview with a wealth management company for Tableau developer role. This weekend I've been trying to give myself a crash course on Tableau so I can have something to share with them in the interview. It will really come down to how much they want me to know day one and who else they interview. This role would set me up to jump to being a consultant in a few years if I want. This company is downtown so it's walkable.

Later next week I will interview at a retailer that isn't Target for a Lead BI role. I have a friend in the company who is passing around good words on my behalf. This role is more in line with where I was when I left Target. I would have to drive to this job. This could mean we can't remain a one car family. 

First, it will boil down to whether I get 0-2 offers. Second will be the vibe I get from the interviewers. If I get two offers and everyone gives me god vibes and assuming they are basically the same compensation I have to make a judgement call. We'll just see.

 

Today I'm making pizza from scratch again for the first time in a very long time. I also need to get back to working on Tableau.

[Bearlee]

I’ve been meaning to ask about something you mentioned earlier but wanted to wait since you were getting ready for you trip. What is your plan for retiring at 55? I’m toying with the idea of retiring at 60 because that is when my pension kicks in but I can’t dip into my 401k until I’m 62.5 and I won’t get my wife’s portion of the pension until I’m 65 (that is when the wife turns 60 and is eligible for the extra pension 50% of my pension). Plus I worry about insurance and I don’t think I’ll be eligible for Medicare until I’m 65 or 67 and Cobra from what I understand is quite expensive. So just curious on what your plans are. And even what you might do afterwards because I don’t see you as a guy sitting around the house reading a newspaper all day and taking a light stroll around the neighborhood for a couple of decades.

[Rooks]

I'm super jealous of that view. Makes me hope someday I'll have some sort of view from my own place to do outdoor workouts. The other day I was scrolling through some sort of social media and saw a picture of a lifting platform built into some landscaping in a very tropical yard. Can't find the picture now, but it looked awesome. Long term ideas... although might not work super well in Minnesota. Either too damn cold, or you'll get eaten alive by mosquitos. Although this does look kinda cool.

 

[The Most Loathed]

It has been a week.

• Monday - Pre-interview for a Thursday interview for a new job. This is the first time I've had a headhunter do the up front work. Boy Scouts that evening
• Tuesday - Big Data Tech Conference that I spent my day at. I was still wrapping up a work sample for my Thursday interview. Worked out
• Wednesday - Interview with big retailer (not target). The people were awesome but the job was less technical than I wanted. I was told I'd hear about whether I made it to the second round (next week). Met someone new and played Arkham Horror
• Thursday - Interview at a wealth management firm, the one I did some sample work for. I was told I would hear back about second round interviews next week. Did another workout
• Friday - Both jobs called and wanted to waive the second round interview. Both extended and offer within a couple hours of each other. Skipped workout to do the paperwork so I could get my paperwork in and change jobs

The two different offers I had were interesting. The big retailer was offering more money and more PTO however I liked the sound of the job less. I also would have to drive to work which has been a real hang up for me this whole time. That said, if the other offer hadn't come through, I would have taken it. The wealth management firm offered a signing bonus but mostly offset the difference in income for the first year. They are walkably downtown which I love. I loved everyone on my team when I met them. Finally, and most importantly, they are going to pay for me to get certified on Tableau, a data visualization program that will give me a very marketable skill to use in the future, including, possibly, as a freelance consultant. It was tat last thing mixed with the walkability that really put me over the top

 

21 hours ago, Rooks said:

 

 

As someone who has trained outdoor, in the sun and snow, I have to admit that there is a certain energy that comes from it. On beautiful days, it just seems that much more beautiful, when it snows a bit or the sun is hot, I felt charged up, like I was extra committed. Rain and super cold suck no matter what so you do need some indoor space as well. I think my garage gym was a the best combo of this because I could open the big doors half of the year and really revel in it, even take my stuff out onto the driveway. There rest of the time, keep things buttoned up. 

 

On 6/4/2018 at 4:37 AM, Bearlee said:

I’ve been meaning to ask about something you mentioned earlier but wanted to wait since you were getting ready for you trip. What is your plan for retiring at 55? I’m toying with the idea of retiring at 60 because that is when my pension kicks in but I can’t dip into my 401k until I’m 62.5 and I won’t get my wife’s portion of the pension until I’m 65 (that is when the wife turns 60 and is eligible for the extra pension 50% of my pension). Plus I worry about insurance and I don’t think I’ll be eligible for Medicare until I’m 65 or 67 and Cobra from what I understand is quite expensive. So just curious on what your plans are. And even what you might do afterwards because I don’t see you as a guy sitting around the house reading a newspaper all day and taking a light stroll around the neighborhood for a couple of decades.

I started a reply for this a while ago but I set the computer down because ran out of time and just could never pick up the thread. So I'm going to try and answer in discrete chunks and it may get spread out over a couple posts. If I miss anything, don't hesitate to ask again for that thing. I'll mostly go in reverse order

 

" So just curious on what your plans are. And even what you might do afterwards because I don’t see you as a guy sitting around the house reading a newspaper all day and taking a light stroll around the neighborhood for a couple of decades."

You're totally right. There are parts of me that want to say "no, I could relax" but I think that if I'm honest with myself, relaxing for me is having something to do that I want to do. You're probably right to think that I won't totally stop working until very close to the end of my life. When I talk abut retirement, I'm mostly thinking about going to some kind of part-time / flexible work schedule. Working half days or only a couple days a week and just shutting down work periodically to travel or have a week off because I want to, without worrying about PTO counts.

This most recent job switch included a lot of consideration of this. The role I'm taking will tee me up to do freelance work and get a pretty penny for my efforts. So retirement might mean that I step away from 5 days a week and take on one project at a time. I would charge a little less than others but give longer timelines so I don't feel crunched. It could also mean that I step out of tech work entirely and go work for peanuts at the library or a book store or maybe I teach computer classes for high school kids or become an associate professor at the University. Laura's latest fantasy for my retirement is that we open a bed and breakfast and I handle food and room prep while she does all of the outdoor work. I guess you could say that my definition of retirement is more about a very high degree of flexibility and not at all about not doing anything. 

 

"Plus I worry about insurance and I don’t think I’ll be eligible for Medicare until I’m 65 or 67 and Cobra from what I understand is quite expensive. "

Insurance is stupid expensive. Until I'm ready for Medicare, but also as my needs rise, I do have to pay out for it. I have two approaches in mind, both work and it just depends on what I feel as I get closer. One option is to take some menial part-time job just for the insurance. For example, Starbucks lets a barista use their insurance if they work 20 or more hours a week. It's less than ideally flexible but it's also not awful. The second option is whether I'm a consultant or not, treat myself as a consultant. Do a budget that includes insurance and make sure I think about other expenses that I may not be thinking about before I "retire". The public market that each state has is where I would start but there are also some credit unions and social organizations that allow you to buy into an insurance plan with them as well. Bottom of the barrel (in my estimation) would be to get the lowest cost insurance you can and have several tens of thousands sitting around "in case". This works better, though, at 20 than at 60.

 

"What is your plan for retiring at 55? I’m toying with the idea of retiring at 60 because that is when my pension kicks in but I can’t dip into my 401k until I’m 62.5 and I won’t get my wife’s portion of the pension until I’m 65 (that is when the wife turns 60 and is eligible for the extra pension 50% of my pension)."

This is where I started my last attempt at a reply but it was long and winding so I wanted to start over. First, I should clarify "retire when I'm 55" is a totally misleading statement that I use. As I talked about above, I will probably not retire in the sense of "do no work" but will likely scale back, do contract or seasonal work, or do some modicum of part time work. I see these as much as excuses to interact with the world as anything. Also, 55 is surprisingly misleading, as it will likely be a bit later. 

"I want to retire when I'm 55" is a phrase I first came up with when I was about 35 or a little younger, we were living in the house at the time. It largely came down to just feeling a little cheated that I sleep 1/3 of my day, I work 1/3 of my day, and I feel like everything I truly love doing gets the left overs, roughly 1/3 but if  you need more sleep or something goes long at work, it's always taken out of the discretionary third of the day. The phrase was more about getting back more of the discretionary part of the day while I'm still young enough to really enjoy it. 

From this I had to work backwards to figure out what it would take to retire. For my early calculations I'm using the traditional definition of retire (no income) as it's the "worst case scenario". In FIRE (Financially Independent Retire Early) forums I have seen, people talk about a "4% safe withdrawal rate". The gist is that starting in the 90s and hundreds of times since, people have run simulations in which they invest a chunk of money throughout historical periods (where the US stock market existed) and with taking 4% of their total nest egg each year, their money can outlast them. Looking at this I pointed at the number $2,000,000 as a safe number, $50,000 is 4% of this. This is a bit of confirmation bias because it was a number I already had in my head somewhat arbitrarily. Having the to align, if loosely made me stick with it. 

Taking my $2,000,000 number I was able to build a spreadsheet that included what I currently had put away and applied a 6% or 8% growth rate, I don't recall exactly anymore. I also built in a column for new contributions. So each year is would take my current nest egg, add x% from growth (over time it averages our to something like a 6-8%, even when you lose in certain years) and add new contributions. I fiddled around with contributions and found that from where I was at, if I increased my contributions by a couple hundred buck a year, I could hit my target right around 57 or 58. So, that has generally been my plan. I did a review in 2017 but haven't looked at it in 2018. I probably won't. Next year I will probably scrutinize my plan a bit more and see where we are. 

This is all predicated on a placid lake of the future, which just isn't a thing. I know this. What it is though, is a course that points me in the direction I want to go. In the next 15 years it is extremely likely that Laura and/or I will hit a health speed bump, it may cost us a chunk of money or limit our ability to work. This will likely impact my retirement date but I'd rather that than go into inescapable medical debt or not afford the care we need. It's also possible (really likely) that in the next 15 years the markets will under go a "correction". Depending on timing that could impact my retire date too. The ideal scenario for me is that it happens in the next 2-3 years and I push more money into it and retire earlier but if it doesn't happen fo 15 years then I may have to work 5 more years, until it recovers.

Other major variables in retirement date include what our annual budget looks like as I get closer. a small change in budget easily means a couple more years of work. By contrast, if I make a shift to freelance or find a part time gig just to cover insurance costs, I could theoretically retire earlier because while my budget would hold steady, my withdrawal amount would plummet. So, when I talk about "retiring at 55" I'm talking in very loose terms with every word in that phrase. 

 

Oh, oh. Other things in your question that I didn't address, 401k is only available at 62.5, absolutely. I don't have a pension so that's not even a question for me. Several years back we got a finance guy. Through him we have something like 4 retirement accounts apiece. We have 401k (503 b ), IRA, Roth IRA, and a life insurance/investment fund. We can withdrawal from our life insurance plan at any time, IRAs become accessible at 59.5 and 401k at 62.5. So, we have an order of operations that we have to follow to get back at our money but the first year or two we will live off of savings mostly, then insurance until 59.5 then IRAs and finally 401k. Reviewing this makes me think that when I do my review of our contributions and growth next year, I should also site down with our finance guy and talk him through it as well and make sure I'm on point there. So, I'm glad that you brought this up. 

 

So, that was a long winded answer that probably didn't help at al but to summarize:

• Retirement, for me, isn't abut not working, it's about having more flexibility and more discretionary time
• Insurance is expensive and it's possible I'll work part time for a few years for coverage
• I backed into a somewhat arbitrary nest egg that I'm working toward and I check it and rebalance every couple of years
• We have a variety of investment vehicle to try and make this possible

[Sloth the Enduring]

Congratulations. Not commuting was the right choice. It frees up a lot of time for living.

[Bearlee]

First thank you for the explanation. In my family no one talks about money and finances for some reason and I always get a little trepidatous about asking people because I don’t know if it’s taboo for them too. Since the family doesn’t talk about it and school doesn’t teach it I always wonder how people are suppose to learn about finances. Only in the past decade or so have I been digging into the topic and come across Dave Ramsey and the “I’ll teach you to be rich” guy whose name eludes me at the moment. Two very different approaches but I seem to make it work. If only I would have come across them earlier in my life would I be better situated and would have avoid some major mistakes. And recently I’ve been working through Tony Robbin’s “Money: Master the Game”. Hopefully I can learn enough to be able to pass on some knowledge to my kids and have open conversations with them about money.

 

I’ve never heard the FIRE term before. Reading through Tony Robbins book and he has 5 different levels of finances from Security (covers basic income needs), Independence (all income needs met), and Freedom (wildest dreams covered). But I’ll have to look into the FIRE term just because I want to know as much as I can and from various angles.

 

Secondly, I think you made a good decision on the job. First, good co-workers which seems to be one of your main detractors at your current job. Second, no commuting which lines up with your values. And third, the chance to learn and expand a new skill. And last, a job that seems more fulfilling. Glad you weren’t thinking only about the money which many would have only focused on.

[Sloth the Enduring]

BearLee, read this guys blog.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/05/20/what-im-teaching-my-son-about-money/

That post just happened to be the random one that popped up tonight.

[The Most Loathed]

On 6/9/2018 at 11:35 PM, Bearlee said:

In my family no one talks about money and finances for some reason

This seems to be he norm. Even families who do talk about money seem to tend to not talk details. Things are couched in terms of "too much", "not enough", and other vagaries. I was raised being told that I needed to put 10% of my income aside for myself but nothing was really attached to that in terms of learning or consequences other than that "someday" I'd be happy that I did it. So, I would occasionally slip a little out of my piggy bank for playing video games or whatever. As soon as I was left to my own devices I didn't save. In fact, in my late teens and early twenties, despite working a lot, I over-drafted my account occasionally.

One of the key experiences that I had in terms of getting my arms around money was a Finance class in college. Officially it was a business class but he made a strong effort to make it personal as often as possible. It was then I that I started to realize that the consequences of not putting aside money sooner than later were worse than I thought. Saving is something a lot of people want to do "when things settle down". Compound interest, however, works the other way around The first dollar(s) you put away get compounded the most and the last see no gain. 

Later on, after I was putting money away for retirement, Laura and I did a finances review and I found that we were worse off than I thought. So we got our act together, limited retirement contributions and cleared all debt except student loan, car, and house. We then went about student loan and car. We didn't move out of the house so that we could have an artificially clear balance sheet but we do now anyway. So now we just maintain that and have our retirement contributions taken out of our accounts. 

Those couple of deep dives into finance were probably pretty life changing. They didn't change things in that very second but they taught me a lot more about how to think and talk about money. I'm lucky that I had that exposure in my 20s and 30s. It gets really hard to put together a nest egg later than that. 

 

On 6/9/2018 at 9:54 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Congratulations. Not commuting was the right choice. It frees up a lot of time for living.

 

On 6/9/2018 at 11:35 PM, Bearlee said:

First, good co-workers which seems to be one of your main detractors at your current job. Second, no commuting which lines up with your values.

 

I'm happy about not driving. The drive, had I gone with the other job would have only been about 20 minutes most days, so not much longer than my walk. I'm just happier getting some steps in  and not having the aggravation of traffic in my life anymore than necessary. I can be a princess about it.

Good coworkers is so key. I've had great ones and I've had ones that were the entire reason I left. Mediocre work with people I can get along and communicate with is good work, at least 

 

[Sylvaa]

On 6/9/2018 at 8:13 AM, The Most Loathed said:

Finally, and most importantly, they are going to pay for me to get certified on Tableau, a data visualization program that will give me a very marketable skill to use in the future, including, possibly, as a freelance consultant. It was tat last thing mixed with the walkability that really put me over the top

 

Sounds like you've had a busy week! Congrats on the new job!

 

FYI - from a consulting perspective - Tableau is kind of tricky, depending on what you are trying to do with it. We went down that road for a while with certain projects, but ultimately scrapped the idea. If the clients you are working with don't use Tableau, it's a pretty expensive undertaking for them to get it up and running and it doesn't translate well between programs. I mean, with your background, this is most likely less of an issue, but something to keep in mind. 

[Rooks]

Good news on the new gig. I'm really enjoying my new gig where I can commute in under 20 minutes with a 8-10 minute walk to get into the office. It's so much better than the 45 - 60 minute commute I did at my last gig. That just flat out sucked. Also, this new place is way more accommodating about working from home whenever I need it. So yeah...

 

As for finance, I'm super glad my wife was super concerned about it when we started getting serious. Prior to meeting her, I was in much the same boat as you guys. I just put away the recommended 6% because that was what the company would match. Figured that'd be good enough. She started asking me questions and telling me what she was doing and that got me thinking and do more when I was only 28. Now I'm sad I'm didn't do more when I started working out of college.

 

Now, I'm putting away about 18% of my income and hope to max out my 401k contributions and Roth IRA contributions within the next year or so. Also, will hopefully be paying off our house in the next 2-3 years and kiddo will hit public school soon (i.e. no more daycare costs). Overall, I think that'll put us on a great path to have a boatload saved up for whatever plans we want. I honestly think I'm much the same as you, where it's get to financial freedom as soon as I can, then figure out what the future is at that point. But that leads to the question of what is freedom to me and what the hell am I going to do when I get there? I think my post "retirement" job is totally going to a custom fabrication gig where I just do contract work with wood and metal for people. And I think financial freedom is basically to have the house paid off and at least 6-9 months worth of salary in savings. At least that's how I see it going in my head currently. Either way, paying off the house has become super important to me with kiddo's health stuff. Just having the freedom of not having any outstanding loans will be beyond fantastic. But I also know that I'm saving way more than pretty much anyone I've chatted with about finances. And we live frugally given our income, where our only splurge money goes to quality food and good beer (more than we should drink) and we limit personal "fun" money to just $50 a month per person (i.e. money you can spend without discussing the expenditure with the other person). That's the one that floors pretty much all my friends and co-workers. I get a lot of "I could never live like that". 

 

So yeah... finances are goofy that we don't focus on them more. I see so many folks around me just buying stuff all the time, and I don't understand how they can afford these things. Then I remember that there's a reason so many people have thousands racked up in debt and the Credit Card institutions make money hand over foot. 

[Rooks]

On 6/10/2018 at 12:18 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

BearLee, read this guys blog.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/05/20/what-im-teaching-my-son-about-money/

That post just happened to be the random one that popped up tonight.

 

Good stuff. I just read through that one and immediately read this one:

 

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/03/12/when-ridiculousness-is-ubiquitious/

 

Both very solid articles. Seems like a very common sense approach to money Mr. Mustache is preaching.