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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Starlink upselling their (extra fee) "Starlink for RVs" service even in areas where one is on the waitlist, like me and the mountain house. I'll spring for this in November if I'm still on the waitlist, but no sense in paying for it over the summer months while we'll not be there. Recall it has 60 Mbps DSL service now, which is adequate for non-radiology uses.

Screen Shot 2022-05-23 at 4.47.23 PM.png
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
TIL that 0 fee, 0% APR (x promo months) balance transfers are still a thing, even in this current rate environment. I don't carry balances month to month, but I'm going to shunt my current month's statement to this--assuming they want someone like me--and invest more instead.
https://twitter.com/maximumcharacte/status/1529513312974684162/photo/1
(otherwise this would be a month where I withdraw from my slush fund, as several one-time expenses hit, namely half of the Hawaii shared rental house for July, the garage epoxy job, and who knows what else exactly)

 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
0D211DA0-040B-4D22-BEC9-75FD8BFA028D.jpeg


I’m still not going to the graduation ceremony. Getting dressed up and getting a babysitter and all, meh
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
"I'm not particularly motivated by goals, awards, or other nonsense. How much money will this net me?"
$0. Same reward as if I submit a bunch of paperwork and eventually get promoted to (full) Professor from my current rank as Associate Professor.

Ranks:

Instructor: some snooty places start you out here

Assistant Professor: most start here. Need to get promoted out of this rank within 7 years in theory.

Associate Professor: no more publish or perish here. Can stay at this rank indefinitely.

Professor: no tangible benefits from prior rank

Distinguished Professor: if you win a Nobel Prize you might go up for this rank. Which also gets you nothing tangible.

NB: in some places rank determines pay. We used to be like that. But in the past few years it’s all just seniority, maxing out at year 6 and then capped.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Saw an Ioniq 5 on the street today. Looks good.

Too bad it doesn’t fit 3 kids well in that second row (two boosters and a rear facing convertible). My Land Cruiser will just have to soldier on.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Ya. Rawhide. A good trail to hike on with little kids. But why are adults riding their fancy mountain bikes on it? :D
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Attention photographer-peoples: I'm selling my complete dSLR setup. I just never bust it out these days.

5DII, 135/2L, 24-105/4L, 40 mm pancake, Sigma 12-24, 420EX. 1 cent starting bid, no reserve, $100 shipping. Please spread the word.

 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,194
4,419
$0. Same reward as if I submit a bunch of paperwork and eventually get promoted to (full) Professor from my current rank as Associate Professor.

Ranks:

Instructor: some snooty places start you out here

Assistant Professor: most start here. Need to get promoted out of this rank within 7 years in theory.

Associate Professor: no more publish or perish here. Can stay at this rank indefinitely.

Professor: no tangible benefits from prior rank

Distinguished Professor: if you win a Nobel Prize you might go up for this rank. Which also gets you nothing tangible.

NB: in some places rank determines pay. We used to be like that. But in the past few years it’s all just seniority, maxing out at year 6 and then capped.
At my wife’s university, rank put you on different payscale ladders. Certain positions were tenure track, others were not.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550

"finished in paint-to-sample Amethyst Metallic over special-order Magenta full leather"

a bold move there. Exterior looks gorgeous, though.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,194
4,419

"finished in paint-to-sample Amethyst Metallic over special-order Magenta full leather"

a bold move there. Exterior looks gorgeous, though.
I would definitely rock that, no questions asked. Whoever ordered this understood the assignment :)
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
TIL that 0 fee, 0% APR (x promo months) balance transfers are still a thing, even in this current rate environment. I don't carry balances month to month, but I'm going to shunt my current month's statement to this--assuming they want someone like me--and invest more instead.
https://twitter.com/maximumcharacte/status/1529513312974684162/photo/1
(otherwise this would be a month where I withdraw from my slush fund, as several one-time expenses hit, namely half of the Hawaii shared rental house for July, the garage epoxy job, and who knows what else exactly)

Hmph. So this credit union turns out to be for the Rochester, NY area and has pretty strict eligibility criteria (unlike DCU which is all "ok, then donate $10 to this local charity and we're good").
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Hey, man... free money ain't NEVER free. :D
These ones look to be actually free (no annual fee, no transfer fee, 0% APR on transfers for some months, no membership restrictions):



Edit: Gah, M&T also location restricted to the east coast even though it's not a credit union.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
M&T a bust. Union Bank appears legit, though. Got the 20 questions from the automated system verifying my identity, even asking about old auto loan amounts and the like from 2019.

union.PNG


Therefore I shall balance transfer over $17,500 from my monthly Chase Sapphire bill and enjoy that sweet, free money x some months.

@stoney
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,827
13,063
wtf level of CC debt do you have to be transferring 17.5k of it and still more on top?

I think I've paid CC interest twice in my life when I accidentally paid against charges later than I intended.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
wtf level of CC debt do you have to be transferring 17.5k of it and still more on top?

I think I've paid CC interest twice in my life when I accidentally paid against charges later than I intended.
I carry no balances from month to month and pay no interest.

This was just an expensive $21k Chase-bill for the current month: second half of rented Hawaii big house for July, the garage epoxy, a new garage opener for the mountain house, two Litter Robot 3s (! not cheap), kids camps posting, expensive restaurants, etc.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,064
Colorado
wtf level of CC debt do you have to be transferring 17.5k of it and still more on top?

I think I've paid CC interest twice in my life when I accidentally paid against charges later than I intended.
Yeah. Gonzo's. We'll float $8-10k on our primary card during our monthly cycles, but that's huge
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
wtf level of CC debt do you have to be transferring 17.5k of it and still more on top?

I think I've paid CC interest twice in my life when I accidentally paid against charges later than I intended.
Only time I ever carried a balance was after I got a job offer in college until my first paycheck. I had also quit my $5/hr part time job cuz with that $14.00/hr job coming up it made no sense.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
Only time I ever carried a balance was after I got a job offer in college until my first paycheck. I had also quit my $5/hr part time job cuz with that $14.00/hr job coming up it made no sense.
I think I carried a small balance that first month, too, between finishing fellowship, moving to Denver, and then getting paid at the end of the month (but not reimbursed for moving expenses for another month!).
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,031
7,550
With a few exceptions, I put everything on a CC with cash back, then pay it to $0 at the end of each week or at least monthly.
Why not just pay it monthly, assuming you don't get paid weekly yourself?