New England B.S. Thread

Sorry Jason. I still think about Moose all the time.

 

I still am in awe of this place. In a few minutes we are taking the boat over to an private island to go to a secluded beach.

So this is how they live on the other side!

 

So sorry to hear the news. My condolences.

 

So sorry for you and your family's loss. The unconditional love of a dog it the greatest.

 

The scary part is this wouldn’t even be a glimpse into how they live on the otherside! Sounds like a great trip for you and the family!

 

@mach1man001
I can tell you some insight on private flights lol

 

I'm sure you are correct. I can't even imagine, but thanks it's been great!

 

Do tell!

 

There are islands where billionaires go to avoid millionaires.

 

Those damn annoying millionaires!

 

Back to work today! ):

 

Dislike, but I had to return to work Monday after being on the road for 24 days, it was a hard Monday landing.

 

Sucks, so sorry. Only time they hurt us is when they leave..though I try to think of it as they only leave so another can have a great human

Hey now, I just cracked that club..don't shame me

 

Ha, at 33 I've got a ways to go! Mortgage balance just dropped below $100k, though, so that was a nice milestone - 8 years left on that!

I had a long and frank financial discussion with my mom the other day, who I'm desperately trying to get to make the right decisions so she can cover her expenses in retirement. It's crazy how the tables turn from advisee to advisor as we get older.

 

I've said this before so, as usual, I might be repeating myself. Also since we're the same age....

We went from "Having to explain to Boomers how the internet and computers work" to "Having to explain to the Zoomers how the internet and computers work". Millenials are smack dab in the middle of getting shafted by understanding computer infrastructure and the internet.

At least the Boomers knew they were confused and the new fangled tech is confusing, but needed, and they'll try their hardest. The Zoomers clap back and tell us that we're wrong, the little shits.





Our mortgage went under 200k this year, but at 2.6%, it's staying for another 26 years, no reason to pay that down early!

 

Most of you know I'm a K-12 technology director. In many cases, the teachers in their 30s - 50s are much more tech savvy than our newer younger ones. When I've given some of them a laptop it's like I'm showing them how to use a new invention - I think some of them got used to just using their phones for absolutely everything.

I haven't been paying any extra, but I refinanced mine in 2020 and it's a 3% biweekly 15 year, meaning it'll actually be paid in 13 years and change from the refinance date.

 

I have this conversation with my buddies all time about tech literacy. I understand the older generation(s) struggling to understand computers and troubleshooting issues, but the younger generation has perplexed me a bit. Think it revolves around they grew up with computers already a major part of life and all the kinks were already ironed out. The generation in the middle grew up with computers evolving - when I was a kid there was no family computer, then in middle school we got one that was clunky and ran solely on MS-DOS - had to enter a command to actually run windows. Through the evolution of computers we had to learn to problem solve and make it work. I don't know how many times i had to reformat the family computer from Napster and Kazaa viruses. Installing games on the C drive and having to insert each floppy disk in the correct order, otherwise it all went haywire.

Now computers are part of every young kids life and they just work - the IT department solves any corrupt files or computer ailments. Easier to make a call for a helpdesk ticket than it is to just fix it, getting into the computer registry files is an alien landscape.

Now, get off my lawn!

 

Refi'd Jan of 2021 on a 30 year, 2.6%. I can pay it early and aggressive but... why would I?
I started to a little bit aiming to have it paid off when we turn 50 but then stopped that, since 2.6% is too enticing.

ALL. LUCK. I've said that before too, I tout this 2.6% but it was all luck, no skill, in when we bought and when we refi'd. (Only skill being that when we bought, adding PMI with <20% down, included in PITI, the "unrecovered" (not principal) costs was less than rent, so, made sense to buy even with PMI).

^^^ And to @js312

We grew up in the times of figuring it all out, buy-it-own-it, local storage, applications are .exe, etc.

Nowadays it's all apps from the app store, cloud storage, folder structures make no difference, and everything is subscription based and you get it through the app which is basically a fancy browser interface.

The younger generations grew up with technology, but not computers. Not in the same way we did, but now in industry, you need to use them that way. You don't app-store your solidworks files to the Haas machine (but it wouldn't surprise me if we're heading that way).

On the plus side, I do think Apple has done good on the iphone. There's a couple buttons. On, volume up, volume down, and then a home button that undoes everything and brings you back to it. iOS was really built around the boomer generation and making their devices accessible to the boomahs.

But now the kids grew up iPad kids, and all their games and computer literacy was locked-down file systems and mobile devices, a laptop/desktop is a wild foreign concept. I regularly forget my laptop is a touch screen....

And here we are, shafted, in the middle, having spent the past 20-ish years explaining computers to boomers, and now we're going to spend the next 20-ish years of our careers explaining computers to the zoomers.



Joe you're in a unique situation of having to actual teach this as part of your job description.

 

Bought in winter of 2022.....

 

Had I waited until that winter, I might have gotten my 15 year at 2% or even lower, but who knew the rates would keep dropping!

I used to have my own Windows file/print server and Active Directory domain when I was a teenager. I wired my parents' house with CAT5 with a patch panel and network rack and everything. Now, my home setup is super basic. The network is a consumer grade wireless router connected to the ISP's cable modem and that's it. I do have a ThinkPad T-series laptop and a dock with two monitors at home because consumer grade laptops are mostly trash. And a midrange Canon color laser MFP because consumer grade printers are pure evil but it would be too annoying to have no printer at home for the 5 times per year I need to print something.

Fortunately, most of my job is infrastructure, planning/budgeting/purchasing, policy, etc. I admittedly get mildly annoyed when I have to teach someone younger than me the basics of using a Windows PC.