smccrory

I grew up in #5 and moved to #1 25 years ago. That explains everything! Now get off my damned lawn.

Stockholm syndrome?

Ha!

Forwarding to a fellow rider in Westerville... Thanks Jim.

You must make too much money. ;-). Federal financial aid is no joke to households making under $50-75k/yr with low (to no) savings but still want to give their kids a step up. I have a friend who's a single mom with 3 kids and a deadbeat dad, making under $40k. Fafsa helped to send her straight As daughter to Berkeley medical school last year.

What sucks is that 529 holdings count against you in FASFA (federal student aid) calculations. In that regard it's no worse than having private savings for college, and there is a tax savings benefit, but like folks have mentioned, the investment choices are narrow and it's a bad deal if you don't use the funds for education. Alternatively, most college financial planners will recommend whole life insurance policies with investment riders. Weirdly, these don't count against you in the FASFA calcs, which can really help if you're in the $50k-100k/yr earnings bracket, but there are risks in those too. After looking long and hard at all my options over nearly 18 years, I've repeatedly shied away from 529 and whole life vehicles, preferring instead a balanced investment portfolio. YOUR mileage may vary though, so don't take my word any anything except just sharing what I've done.

Exactly, but then again I'm an IT guy who builds system interfaces for a living, so what do I know.

I totally agree with you, but then how would you pin financial responsibility for accidents to drivers?

Are you more a fan of debtor's prison?

I would seriously turn into Gollum in that room.

Where I work (technology wing of a regional bank), we care less about the gap than we do an individual's skill currency, motivation, prior job performance, optimism and willingness to git er done above and beyond stated expectations. We let others hire the rest.

I'm glad he wasn't ticketed for being accountable. I think a better solution would be to have an integrated verification process but a lot of you guys don't believe in government intervention.

I don't have a submission, but I'm looking forward to the series, especially if it's sprinkled with tips.

I know you're being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but if taken seriously, I wouldn't omit Cheney and Rumsfeld from the blame game. Bush trusted those guys implicitly to guide his policies every step of the way. Look at how Bush's position on torture changed once his DOJ defied Cheney.

It's OhioRiders. And it's winter. ;-)

I just don't think the Ukraine situation has played out to the bottom yet...

Well, dammit! Guess that's why I don't drive a Porsche.

Whether we admit it here or not, we all know the feeling. I paid $500 last fall for landscaping over a filled trench that hadn't settled yet. Everyone told me I was being too quick, but the mound of dirt was hideous. Guess what? Yea, the dirt settled and now I'll have to spend another $750 to haul in dirt, grade it, wait a month for it to settle then reset the pavers. I could try to blame the contractor but the reality is that I have nobody else to blame but myself. Do the right thing and take your situation as a learning lesson. And review all your other insurance documents while you're at it!

Plus, working above the quota is a good way to validate that you're better than the current situation. It's a nice selling point to future opportunities too.

Sounds like you have your head about you, excellent!

Sorry to hear man. I don't have any specific advice, just to stay as positive as possible and turn the situation into an advantage. I know that sounds like new agey bullshit but I it's exceedingly easy to let stuff like this get into your sweat, and hiring managers can smell it, and will avoid it. Anyway, good luck and hang in there!

Of course, they're all hopped up on sugar and caffeine! ;-) +1

I hope a cardiologist will be on hand with business cards... ;-)

Not. Quite. Yet...

That's an awesome analogy! Though, how do we know that YOU, redkow97, if that's your real name, aren't stockpiling TP to bury the neighbor's house in some sick adolescent prank?