Oregon traffic school online quiz answers

United States Army on Reddit

2009.02.24 13:37 4rugga United States Army on Reddit

United States Army on Reddit

2008.04.14 11:56 the r/California subreddit — for all things Californian

The subreddit for the Golden State of California -- for news and info on what's happening all across the state.

2015.03.31 20:52 GOptOutGLE = Google Opt-Out

*What happens when a dynamic company, started by a couple of idealistic friends in grad school, succeeds so wildly that it becomes a mega-corporation that pervades the lives of hundreds of millions?* [-Google and the Security State](https://medium.com/@DanSanchezV/don-t-see-evil-148ae18bc9fe)

[link]

2024.06.07 22:16 aireviwer Systeme.io Certification Course Quiz Answers - Want to become a certified Systeme.io expert… for FREE? 🤯

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Systeme.io Certification Course Quiz Answers

Main dashboard and contacts

What is the specific feature called in Systeme io that allows you to categorize your contact list into different groups?

[ ] Segments
✅ Tags
[ ] Groups
[ ] Lists

2. As a systeme.io affiliate with the affiliate ID “so00429112924b15f8b38622698484,” which of the following URLs should you use to correctly promote the systeme.io home page?

3. Which of the following statements are true about the marketplace in Systeme.io?

✅ The marketplace is a virtual space where vendors publish their offers for affiliates to promote.
✅ The marketplace is a platform where affiliates can find offers to promote and earn commissions.
✅ The marketplace offers a search bar to easily find specific offers or vendors.
[ ] Affiliates can only promote offers through opt-in pages, not sales pages.

4. Which of the following features is missing from the contacts tab in Systeme.io?

[ ] Viewing the date and time when a contact was added to the list.
[ ] Accessing the contact page to view detailed information about a specific contact.
[ ] Unsubscribing a contact from marketing emails.
✅ Sending emails directly to contacts from the contact tab.

5. What does the “Email Activity” filter allow you to do in the contact list?

✅ Identify contacts who haven’t opened or clicked your emails since a specific date.
[ ] Search contacts based on their email address.
[ ] Organize contacts based on their tags.
[ ] Filter contacts based on the date they were added.

Funnels

1. What is the purpose of the squeeze page in the funnel?

✅ To collect and save leads.
[ ] To sell a product or service.
[ ] To run an evergreen webinar.
[ ] To thank the customer for their subscription.

2. What are blocks in the context of building pages in Systeme.io?

✅ Pre-made elements to help you build your pages quickly and easily.
[ ] Sections of code for customizing pages.
[ ] Templates for creating pop-up windows.
[ ] Default settings for page elements.

3. What is the difference between a simple block and a master block?

[ ] Simple blocks cannot be saved for future use, while master blocks can.
✅ Simple blocks do not change across all pages when edited, while master blocks do.
[ ] Simple blocks can be customized in detail, while master blocks are fixed.
[ ] Simple blocks are pre-made elements, while master blocks are user-created.

4. What is the purpose of Systeme.io’s A/B test feature?

[ ] To test different automation rules and triggers for lead collection.
[ ] To track and analyze the statistics and earnings per page view.
✅ To test two different versions of a page and split your incoming traffic between them evenly to determine which one performs better.

5. Which page is typically used to present the main offer in detail and contains text blocks and buttons?

[ ] Upsell page
[ ] Downsell page
✅ Sales page
[ ] Thank you page

6.Which payment option in the order form allows customers to make indefinite recurring payments?

[ ] One-time payment
✅ Subscription
[ ] Payment plan
[ ] Trial period

7. What is the purpose of using available substitutes in the email editor?

[ ] To share the webinar registration page link.
[ ] To remind subscribers about the event they registered for.
[ ] To create urgency by showing time slots for the webinar.
✅ To provide personalized information to subscribers.

Blogs

1. What is the purpose of the blog layout editor in Systeme.io?

[ ] Adding elements that appear across all pages of the blog.
✅ Customizing the appearance of individual blog posts.
[ ] Redirecting menu items to external websites.
[ ] Creating pop-ups for visitor engagement.

2. What is the purpose of the “blog post listing” element?

[ ] It allows visitors to send messages to the blog owner.
[ ] It provides a form for visitors to contact the blog owner.
[ ] It customizes the layout of the post list page.
✅ It displays the latest posts published on the blog.

3. What is the purpose of the “categories” feature in the blog?

[ ] It allows visitors to subscribe to specific categories.
✅ It organizes posts into different topics or themes.
[ ] It provides a form for visitors to leave comments.
[ ] It customizes the layout of the blog’s homepage.

4. Which page on the blog allows visitors to send messages to the owner?

[ ] Home page
[ ] Post list page
[ ] About page
✅ Contact page

Automations

1. Which trigger can be used to set an automatic action when a contact completes an email campaign?

[ ] Register to webinar
✅ Campaign completed
[ ] Tag added
[ ] Email link clicked

2. Which trigger should you use if you want to set an automatic action when someone clicks on a link in an email?

[ ] Tag added
[ ] Page visited
✅ Email link clicked

3. Which option allows you to split the path of an action in a workflow?

✅ Add a decision
[ ] Add an action
[ ] Add a trigger
[ ] Add a delay

4. In the workflow example, what is the purpose of adding a delay after checking if a contact has a specific tag?

[ ] To send them an email
[ ] To unsubscribe them from the campaign
[ ] To check their contact fields
✅ To wait for one day

Products

1. In the products tab, what information can be accessed in the “Orders” section?

[ ] Product descriptions and SKU.
✅ Customer email addresses, information about the product and the order’s fulfillment status.
[ ] Shipping label creation options.
[ ] Integration with external platforms.

2. When creating a coupon in Systeme.io, what is the purpose of setting a limit of use?

[ ] It determines the discount type (fixed amount or percentage).
[ ] It specifies the expiration date for the coupon.
✅ It restricts the number of times the coupon can be used.
[ ] It defines the products eligible for the coupon.

3. What is the purpose of the “automatic post approval” setting when creating a community?

[ ] To customize the URL path for the community.
[ ] To grant access to the community to new members.
[ ] To categorize the community’s posts into topics.
✅ To determine whether members can publish posts without approval.

4. What must be chosen in the order form to enable the delay feature for courses within a course bundle?

[ ] Full access
✅ Drip content
[ ] Bundle pricing
[ ] Student enrollment

5. Which of the following is unnecessary when creating a course in Systeme.io?

[ ] Adding a course description.
[ ] Choosing a theme color.
[ ] Uploading a logo.
✅ All of the above

6. In Systeme.io which option(s) are available when editing a lecture?

[ ] Deactivate the lecture
[ ] Duplicate the lecture
[ ] Remove the lecture
✅ All of the above

Sales

1. In Systeme.io, which options are available on the “Subscriptions” page when canceling a customer’s subscription?

✅ Cancel immediately or cancel on the next payment date
[ ] Cancel and provide a credit towards future purchases
[ ] Cancel and offer an alternative subscription plan

2. Which of the following allows you to view the payments made by your customers through your funnel’s order forms?

✅ Transactions
[ ] Subscriptions
[ ] Affiliate invoices
[ ] My Affiliate Program

3. On the subscription page, what are the three status options available to filter subscriptions?

[ ] Active, Pending, Complete
[ ] Active, Canceled, Refunded
✅ Active, Canceled, Completed
[ ] Active, Suspended, Expired

Emails

1. What option allows you to preview how your newsletter will look in your inbox before sending it to all of your contacts?

[ ] Save and schedule
[ ] Save as a draft
✅ Save and send a test email
[ ] Schedule the newsletter

2. Which email addresses are allowed to be used as the sender’s email address?

✅ Email addresses from the main email providers, but it’s highly advised to use professional email addresses connected to a custom domain name
[ ] Any email address from Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, or Hotmail
[ ] Any email address, regardless of the provider
[ ] Only email addresses ending in “.com”

3. How can you add contacts to an email campaign in Systeme.io?

[ ] Contacts can only be added manually by selecting them from the contact list.
✅ Contacts can be added manually by selecting their tag group from the list or automatically through automation rules or workflows.
[ ] Contacts can only be added automatically through automation rules or workflows.
[ ] Contacts can only be added by sharing the campaign link and having recipients open the link.

4. What is the main difference between newsletters and email campaigns?

[ ] Newsletters are sent across a specific period of time with one specific purpose, while email campaigns are more dispersed and don’t follow a sequence.
[ ] Newsletters require a visual editor, while email campaigns require a classic editor.
[ ] Newsletters are sent to a specific target audience, while email campaigns are sent to a broad audience.
✅ Newsletters are more dispersed and don’t necessarily follow a sequence, while email campaigns are coordinated sets of individual emails sent across a specific period of time with one specific purpose.

5. Why does Systeme.io monitor the specific email statistics of each account?

[ ] To track the number of emails sent from the account.
[ ] To determine the average percentage of open emails.
[ ] To prevent contacts from marking emails as spam.
✅ To identify the risk category of the account based on email performance.

Account settings

1. Where can you add your personal information like display name, first name, last name, country, and city in Systeme.io?

[ ] Account settings
✅ Profile settings
[ ] Manage my subscription
[ ] Mailing settings

2. Which setting allows you to add a tracking code like Facebook pixel or Google tag to all of your funnel pages?

[ ] Payment page settings
[ ] Course settings
✅ Sales funnel settings
[ ] Mailing settings

3. What is the purpose of the “Affiliate program settings” tab in Systeme.io?

[ ] To set up a custom domain for affiliate programs.
[ ] To configure notification settings for affiliates.
[ ] To integrate your account with ActiveCampaign.
✅ To establish commission percentages and payout conditions for affiliate programs.

4. How can workspace members be invited to collaborate in Systeme.io?

[ ] By clicking on the “Change password” step and entering their email addresses.
✅ By clicking on the “Workspace members settings” tab, creating an invitation, and providing their email addresses.
[ ] By adding custom domains in the “Affiliate program settings” tab.
[ ] By selecting the payment method for affiliate commissions.

Congratulations on completing the Systeme.io certification quiz! You’re now a step closer to obtaining your official Systeme.io certificate. Here’s how you can get it:

Contact the support team on this page.
Provide the exact email address you used to register for this certification.
Give your full name as you want it to be displayed on your certificate.

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Systeme team will then be in touch shortly with your personalized certificate.
Remember, if you were unable to complete the quiz yourself, you should go back and try again. Completing the quiz on your own will give you a deeper understanding of how to use Systeme.io effectively for your needs. Once you’ve successfully completed the quiz, follow the instructions above to receive your certificate.
Congratulations once again, and best of luck in your future endeavors with Systeme.io certification !

Get certified with Systeme.io NOW!

submitted by aireviwer to systemeiotutorial [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 21:52 lopata7 I am insecure after my first date

So i went on a date with one girl and after that i am insecure about how does she feel towards me. Before the date she was very interested into me, would want to talk to me and even she asked me if i have a girlfriend before the date. She first followed me on the instagram right on her birthday morning because she saw me on the geography quiz so she definetly had some feelings for me. She was also flirty before the date. On the date we sat together and she had positive and shy body language. She was resting her arms on her knees and rotating phone. She would look at me from time to time with widened eyes. She seemed nervous thought. We had a pretty good conversation, both of us were asking questions to each other and i even did manage to make her laugh few times. Apart from school she was mostly interested into my job and my scholarship. I did everything perfect. I was well dressed, i did take a bath before the date and i was confident and wasnt nervous at all. I talked to her like i would to my friend, i even gave her support and advices on her problems. I invited her to go for a drink but she rejected it two times. Her excuse was that her parents think shes not for drinking. Conversation lasted half an hour where she needed to go to meet with her friend. She just stood up, walked away and said "see you". She didnt even looked at me in the eyes. I was surprised it lasted so short and that she left so quickly. Since then i am insecure about her. I texted her after the date that i had good time when we were together and she just left a heart on it, no response. I got even more insecure because she didnt say "me too" or something like that. Next day i asked her what she i doing and she just answered like "nothing much, i am at my aunts house" but didnt ask what i am doing. I asked her when her graduation is and she said it is tomorrow and asked me why i ask, is it informative or i want to come. I said that i depends and that i understand if she doesnt want me to come. She basically rejected by saying "well fuck, my whole family will be there" (btw her graduation is a public event in my city so anyone can come). My head started to hurt after that and i started overdosing on antianxiety meds. I am also becoming more depressive. What did i do wrong?? Why is she so cold towards me now and isnt texting me? I am scared i did something bad on our date but i just cannot think of a thing. Btw i am 17 and shes 15. Thanks for reading

submitted by lopata7 to teenagers [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 21:23 Yurii_S_Kh “The most powerful answer to the problem of evil in the world is Christ Himself.” - Bishop Job of Stuttgart on the path to Orthodoxy, Vladyka Mark and theodicy

Tatiana Veselkina
Named John at birth, he was baptized John in honor of the Baptist of the Lord. In monasticism he was named Joseph in honor of the Joseph the Betrothed, and in monasticism - Job in honor of St. Job of Pochaev, one of the saints especially revered by the Russian Church Abroad, who became the patron saint of publishing in the Russian dispersion. From the Slovakian town of Laromiroff came the printing house of St. Job of Pochaev, which still exists today. This is how the publishing business began, thanks to which for many years the Jordanville printing house supplied books and other printed products to the faithful in the historical homeland.
Bishop Job of Stuttgart (Bandmann)
We recorded this interview on the second day after the episcopal ordination of Vladyka Job (Bandmann).
“I am lucky to have bishop-colleagues,” I thought. And in general, this is the first bishop whom I interviewed just one day after his consecration, when he was not yet accustomed to the address “Vladyka” and remarked: “If someone from behind says: ‘Vladyka Job!’, I think: who is it? Who is it addressed to?”
In general, this chiarotony should have taken place two years ago in the monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Munich, two years after the death of Archbishop Agapit (Horacek) of Stuttgart, also a hereditary journalist, who was dearly loved by his Russian flock in Germany. The meeting of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad and the celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of its foundation were also to be held there. But the virus closed the road. And so in the interval between virus waves, when it seemed that the virus had receded, the traditional crowded - except for last year - celebration in honor of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God was timed to coincide with both the meeting of the Synod (no longer online, but “in-person”) and the hierarchal chastening, which in the presence of the Guide of the Russian Dispersion, as parishioners noted, was “solemn to the point of tears”.
https://preview.redd.it/qcu0gny0175d1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=36faf9e87d2718eb0ab55357e4db59a37507eb04
“In what language shall we write the interview?” - I ask the Vladyka. His native language is German, his second language is English, and Russian is his third. We started in Russian, and if anything happened, we decided that we would switch to English. “If anything” did not happen. Vladyka Job answered wonderfully in Russian, with the familiar timbre and intonation of Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany, next to whom, starting with his acquaintance as a teenager, he has been with for 24 years.

The only child of my parents, I was born in Berlin, where we lived for most of my life. My dad made reports and documentaries, mostly on automotive subjects. He was looking for interesting subjects for his films, and one day during summer vacation he took me on a shoot and we went to America. There we traveled 4,000 kilometers along the famous US 66 route.

Road 66 was opened back in 1926 and back then it started in Chicago, went through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and ended in Los Angeles, California. At that time, my dad was making a movie about the major shopping malls in the United States. Later, my mother started making movies too. Only already on religious themes.
About the apartment temple and baptism on the Jordan
John Bandmann with his parents

Was mom a person of faith?
My mom came from the former East Germany, where atheism was taught in schools. She recalled that as a child she believed in God, which is natural for children, until she was told that God was not to be believed in, just like Santa Claus. She was saddened, and already in the West it was important for her to find an answer to the question: where is God, where is the truth? And she actively searched for Him almost all her life.

We did not find the Truth and continued our search, and through trips to Greece and the Holy Land we came to Orthodoxy

When I was about 12-13 years old, I also took part in her search, and together with her we first converted to Catholicism, but noticing that we did not reach the roots of Christianity and did not find the Truth, we continued our search, and through trips to Greece and the Holy Land came to Orthodoxy.
I was very impressed by the trip to the Holy Land, I was about 14-15 years old at that time. We decided to go on a pilgrimage without a specific plan, with backpacks, and there to orient ourselves on the spot: how God will lead us. In the same way we traveled around Greece. It was an interesting form of travel, helping us to get to know the country and people well.
On Mount Sinai in Egypt, where we were going to meet the dawn, we slept in a tent we had brought with us. It was very cold, we got very cold and at night we got up and went to one of the houses on the top and asked the owners for blankets.
At Sinai in the Catherine Monastery we met one monk who was the keeper of the ossuary. He used to be a Catholic, then converted to Orthodoxy and for us in the monastery library he found books in German - the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh and two books on Orthodoxy - and made us photocopies.
He also gave us the address of the Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Munich, which he knew about because Vladyka Mark came every year with pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Munich
I was still a schoolboy, and my mother brought me to the monastery to get acquainted. For two weeks I helped there: I made incense, candles, and watched how the monks lived. After the monastery I decided to become Orthodox. My mother also decided to be baptized with me.

After the monastery I decided to become Orthodox.

Vladyka Mark told us about Orthodox parishes in Germany of different jurisdictions - Serbian, Romanian, Greek - and advised us to go to their services and choose one that would be to our liking, but did not force us to go to Russian parishes abroad. However, my mother and I decided to go where God had originally led us.
In Berlin, we began to go every Sunday to a small church that was located in an ordinary apartment. There was not even a regular choir. We immediately took everything seriously and it was already clear to us that we would not only pray, but also help at the parish.
The parish was Russian-speaking, and at first we did not understand anything, everything was difficult for us. We immediately began to learn Russian, and a parishioner helped us with Russian and Church Slavonic so that we could read on the choir. We learned singing, we learned the Typikon, and I also served in the altar, and then I began to sing on the choir. We understood that Orthodoxy can be learned through living tradition, not only through books.
Already after entering the monastery, I thanked God for bringing me to Orthodoxy, to which I decided to devote my life, because at that time nothing in the world attracted me.

When did the baptism itself take place?

My mother and I were baptized by Vladyka Mark at the Jordan River

In 1998 Vladyka Mark offered us to go on a pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land, and there on the Jordan the Vladyka baptized my mother and me. God arranged everything for us very simply. He pointed me to the monastery and to Vladyka Mark, who became my second - spiritual - father.

My own father was not particularly pleased, because he always hoped that I would be of “use” to society. But now, as it often happens, he has accepted it.

Finished school and went to a monastery?
After school we in Germany are obliged to serve in the army for six months or to pass social service, which I chose. I served in a home for the disabled not far from the monastery in Munich, not intending to enter it at that time. And I lived in the convent.

During the service I realized that I wanted to stay in the monastery. My decision was hard for my mother, but she accepted my choice, blessed me and decided to drive me from Berlin to Munich herself. It was the year 2003.
Kursk Root Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God
At that time, the Kursk Root Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was in Berlin, and when the local bishop heard that we were going to Munich, he asked us to take the icon with us. And so I went to the monastery in the car on my knees with the icon. Six hundred kilometers of the way, about 8 hours we drove. Then I realized that it was the Most Holy Mother of God who brought me to the monastery.
The next day I was sent to obedience in the candle workshop. There on the wall I also saw the Kursk-Korena icon. And years later, during the festive liturgy on the day of commemoration of the icon “The Sign”, when the icon itself was in the church, I was elevated to the episcopal dignity in Her house, in the Cathedral of the Sign in New York.

Let us return to your arrival at the monastery. How much time passed from the time of your arrival there to your tonsure?
Vladyka Mark immediately told me to enter the theological faculty at the University of Munich. I asked for six months to get used to monastic life, and then I went to study. Even though I had been and lived in the monastery, I still had to adjust to the monastery in my new capacity.

Monk Job (Bandmann)
In connection with my studies, I was a novice and then a monk for quite a long time. I was tonsured into monasticism in 2006 with the name Joseph in honor of Joseph the Betrothed, and ten years later I was tonsured into monasticism with the name Job in honor of St. Job of Pochaev. In the same year I was ordained a deacon, and almost two years later I became a hieromonk.

To what obedience were you assigned?
In our monastery it is customary to fulfill all obediences. I was regent of the monastery choir, editor of the Orthodox magazine “Der Bote” (“The Messenger”), did layout and preparation for printing of Orthodox literature, but in the end my main obedience was to work in the printing house as a printer. In our publishing house we have a full circle of preparation and printing of books, except for hard binding.

Our printing house publishes books in Russian, German and English. There was a period when we only republished books: we republished the textbook on dogmatic theology by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky, the book by Fr. Seraphim Rose's book “The Soul after Death,” and a collection of reports in German by the famous professor John Ponagopoulos.
We distribute our books at parishes in Germany, and in recent years through an online store, almost half of whose catalog is taken up by our books. Unfortunately, it is not a monastery store, because we don't even have a separate room for a bookstore. In fact, the monastery has long since become small for our needs.....
About asceticism and using the head for its intended purpose

Vladyka, tell us more about the monastery....
Now we have 8 monks and novices from different countries. There are Germans, Russians from Kazakhstan, Ukrainians. One of our fellow monks is currently living in a hermitage in France.

The monastery has existed since 1945, when after the war the brethren gathered from Russian refugees and rented a house in which we still ascend.

In 1980. Vladyka Mark introduced the Athonite statutes to the monastery

This is the only men's monastery in Western Europe where the liturgy is celebrated daily. Vladyka Mark, when he became bishop in 1980, brought his colleague - then a novice and later Archbishop Agapit - to the monastery and introduced the Athonite statutes.
Our main labor is in publishing. We also make candles, incense, we have a small jewelry workshop and apiary.
The motto of our monastery is the Latin phrase that was the motto and spiritual basis of the monastic statutes written by St. Benedict of Nursia - “Ora et labora” (“Pray and labor”). St. Benedict believed in the necessity of combining prayer and work in monastic conditions, that is, combining contemplation and action.
Brethen of St Job of Pochaev monastery in Munich
We get up at half past four in the morning, from 4 to 8 a.m. we serve midnight, Matins and Liturgy. After breakfast and obedience - at 12 noon - rest. After dinner - cell prayer. In the evening - at 18:00 - Vespers and at 20:00 - Vespers. Between the services - work. It is a very difficult rhythm, not everyone can withstand it. I think my brethren will agree that the most difficult thing is to get up early in the morning. But it is not difficult at all for Vladyka Mark, our most faithful monk.
Vladyka Mark used to be able to return from a trip at 1:00 a.m. and at 4:00 a.m. he was already serving. This is a role model for me. Asceticism helps in the kind of monastic life that Vladyka Mark has chosen for himself. He has practically no hobbies other than translations. He mainly translates the works of his spiritual father, St. Justin (Popovich), from Serbian into Russian and German at the same time. We have already published his translations.

If you were asked what kind of rector Vladyka Mark is, what traits of his character would you first of all note?

Vladyka Mark is an ascetic. Absolute. Very strict about himself

He is an ascetic. Absolute. Very strict with regard to himself and he strictly educates us, but he always does it with love.

Vladyka is a man of a different generation than the rest of the brethren. He is now in his 80s, he lived through World War II as a boy, saw socialism in East Germany, starved. He has been through terrible times, and all this has affected him. Sometimes we do not understand why he can react harshly if we throw something away, because he himself survived the famine. But Vladyka understands that we are different generations and he gives us leniency.
Mark, Metropolitan of Berlin and All Germany

Does he treat you as monks, children or... how?
From the very beginning Vladyka has perceived us all as responsible adults and always expects that we can take care of our own basic needs, that we as adults understand the responsibility for our souls and for our salvation. This may be unusual for monastic life. After all, there are spiritual fathers who determine everything for the novice and completely forbid him to think for himself.

Since Vladyka Mark deals with the diocese, parishes and cannot follow our every step, he always relies on us. In fact, this is very helpful. But it depends, of course, on what kind of novice is of character and disposition. Not everyone succeeds. There are people who need to be shown and pointed out, and we, brothers, help and support each other in everything.

Vladyka, can you call your monastery Russian Orthodox? Or how would you characterize it?
Exactly so: it is a Russian monastery. True, I don't know how many monasteries in Russia have such an Athonite charter as ours.

Job (Bandmann), bishop of Stuttgart

What worldly activities are allowed in your monastery?
As in all monasteries nowadays, it is difficult for us to define how and how much we can use the various possibilities of the Internet and social networks. At least we rely on the prudence of the brethren and do not forbid these things.
What social network can you be found on?
I have an open account on Instagram.
What are your hobbies?

I write music, mostly liturgical

I have many monastic obediences, which are my hobbies, you could say. Music, for example. In the monastery I was a regent and now I sometimes regent, I try to give a voice to future singers. I write music, mostly liturgical music. But I write such difficult things that we cannot sing in our monastery. I am waiting for a worthy choir! I also love photography.
What kind of secular music do you allow yourself to listen to?
I believe that one should not be limited by genres, but rather by the time of listening and the emotionality of the piece of music. There is music that disturbs the soul too much, excites its low feelings and even openly provokes evil, works against God and faith. Such music would not be recommended for anyone to listen to.
What do you read from secular literature?
I very rarely read, and if I do, I read science fiction, novels with philosophical or psychological overtones, for example, Dostoevsky, Herman Hesse.

About a worthy castle for a Russian monastery
Seifridsberg Castle

Vladyka, do pilgrims come to you for spiritual help?
Constantly, all the cells are occupied.
And specifically to you? Do you have spiritual children?
Not many. God has not sent me such people who would ask for spiritual children, and I do not consider myself an elder. I have some experience, but it is not for me to judge whether I can help a person as a real spiritual father. I am a little afraid of that. There are people who come and ask. I can give advice, but, of course, not in the way that Vladyka Mark does, for example.

In general, you need to be a saint, like John of Kronstadt or the elders of Optina, who could look into people's souls and see their past and future. But I cannot dispose of people's lives in this way.

Lately the monastery cannot accept all the pilgrims, but now you have found a place absolutely suitable for the monastery, where you can expand ...
We tried for a long time to agree with the Munich city administration to expand the monastery on our present site. But they did not want to understand us.

Originally the monastery was located in a relatively isolated area on rented land. As time went on, houses were built around it, and young people began to gather in the nearby parks at night and disturb the brethren, who already had only 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. to rest. Not only was garbage thrown onto the monastery grounds, but there were even a few arson attacks. As a result, our garage almost completely burned down.

We found a place that is perfect for a monastery. This is Seifriedsberg Castle

And finally we found a place that is perfect for a monastery because it is located in a secluded place and surrounded by nature. This is Seifridsberg Castle. Now we have to buy it. And then it will be monastery property.
The first mention of the castle dates back to 1251. It was built by Bishop Siegfried III, Count von Rehberg. The castle consists of a three-storey main building and a side wing. The main building and the entrance are connected by a wall with a tiled roof, forming an enclosed courtyard.
In 1851, a forest park was laid out in front of the palace, in which shrubs and trees from all over the world were planted, including a ginkgo tree known for its healing properties, sequoias, rhododendron bushes, which are now more than 100 years old and are a natural wonder when they bloom in May and June.
Seifridsberg Castle
The castle is conveniently located an hour's drive from Munich, and the number of brethren will hopefully increase. We will finally be able to build a real church instead of a house church, a monastic building for the brethren, a hotel for pilgrims, additional workshops, and further development of our production. We also plan to place there a diocesan center, a center for youth missionary work, an educational center for courses for clergy.
Both financially and in terms of the sheer size of the area and what needs to be done, neither our monastery nor our diocese has ever undertaken such a large project before.
The Russian Church Abroad is not a wealthy church at all, and we continue to bargain with the owners of the castle and the grounds. We have also established a fund through which we intend to raise money for the purchase and renovation, which will be expensive. To carry it out we will need volunteers in addition to specialists.

How much money will be needed to buy the castle?
Approximately 2.5 million euros, the renovation will cost at least 1.5 million or even more. And only then can we plan the move. It won't be easy for the monastery.

Vladyka Mark has entrusted me with this project, and I am working on it at the same time as I am completing my doctoral thesis.

On the topic?
“Theodicy in the New Testament” - why is there evil and suffering on earth?

On communicating “face to face” with God and the headship of men
Christ the Pantocrator. Mosaic

Remind me, what does the word “theodicy” mean?
It is a set of religious and philosophical doctrines designed to justify the governance of the universe by a good God, despite the presence of evil in the world: the so-called problem of evil.

I wanted to find an answer to this question in the New Testament, because I have been familiar with this subject since childhood, because it is a favorite question of people who do not believe. I came to faith and had many conversations and debates with my unbelieving friends on this subject. It was important for me to find the answer myself and explain it to them.
During my studies, I realized that while the Old Testament is present on this subject and even attempts to give answers, it does not solve the problem as a whole. But in the holy fathers and in Christian literature this subject is not so much covered. This means that the problem is solved through the New Testament, through Christ.
I think that the strongest answer that God has given us is Christ. He not only suffered, but overcame both suffering and death. The apostle Paul writes very well about this in his letter to the Romans: “Christ Jesus died, but He also rose again: He is at the right hand of God, He also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).

After the resurrection of Christ, everything is defeated: suffering, the devil, death, and human corruption

In his epistle he addresses the Christians of Rome, who were mostly Gentiles, and speaks a lot about the “truth of God” which is received by faith. This truth is inherent in God and is manifested in all His actions. God reaches out His divine hand to man and gives this truth, this answer, through faith. He shows that after the resurrection of Christ all things are conquered: suffering, the devil, death, and human corruption.
This may not be clear to us now, but gradually we begin to feel the grace that draws us into a new world where evil, suffering, and death themselves will be absent. “If with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart you believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth you confess unto salvation” (Rom. 10: 9-10).

So man can only get the answer to this question after he comes to the true God, as he meets Him personally?
Yes. God did not just give the answer as a written explanation, He gave us Christ. That is the answer. God has shown that every person can personally meet Christ the Savior and personally receive Him into his life and into his heart. And the more sincerely we do this, the more the question of the presence of evil and suffering in the world will no longer exist for us.

Bishop Job (Bandmann) of Stuttgart

What are the paths that lead a person to a personal encounter with God? Or are these paths inscrutable and the way to a personal encounter is the whole life of a believer? Can God come into a person's heart unexpectedly?

If you are not interested in God, what kind of personal meeting can we talk about?

There is one way, and that is prayer. Prayer is communication with God. If you are not interested in God, what personal meeting can we talk about? And this prayerful fellowship is higher than thinking or talking about God, that is, “theologizing.” That's why we must set our whole life on prayer and build our life around it. Although any child can pray, perfect unceasing prayer, which no longer needs words, no longer needs ideas, is a “face-to-face” communication with God, and is the result of a person's great feat and endeavor.
A person goes to church, reads spiritual books, confesses and receives communion regularly, and even teaches others. Is it possible to determine whether this person lives with God? What, in your opinion, are the signs of a “man of God”?
Hardly anyone dares to evaluate a person's spirituality from the outside. Even in confession one cannot always see what is really going on in the soul. Some may show, of course, obvious holiness, which cannot be hidden from the one who knows how to recognize it, but this is an exception. And a rare one at that.
Do you teach the Law of God to young people?

I teach Orthodoxy to high school children

In some schools in Germany, where there are many Orthodox children, they hire a special teacher. I teach Orthodoxy to high school children in different schools. Now I have 13 people in my class - these are children of parishioners, but in the current conditions of coronavirus and restrictions, of course, this is not all who could and wanted to go to class.
And how is the monastery itself living during the pandemic?
One of the temptations of Jesus Christ in the desert was to use spiritual power and neglect danger: “Throw yourself down and the angels will catch you.” But that's not about us. We try to live peacefully and without unnecessary fear. But it is easier for us than it is for the laity to cope with this situation. Before the quarantine, it was as if we were living in quarantine: our temple and workplace are located where our cells are.
Vladyka, what, in your opinion, will be the most difficult for you as a bishop at first?
I think everything at the beginning will not be easy. Everything is new, even though I have lived close to the bishop for a long time and theoretically understand what the bishop does. They say that traveling to parishes is exhausting and draining, but I think it also gives a lot of grace and strength. At least for me, it won't be the worst thing.
Now I will list several qualities of human character: education, humility, asceticism, wisdom, kindness, sense of humor. In what order do you think they are important for a bishop?
Wisdom, prudence are the main helpers in everything. Then, in my opinion, humility and asceticism. A bishop cannot do without education. And the final place is shared, I think, by kindness and a sense of humor.

And the main thing for a bishop, despite the fact that he has to deal with paperwork, real estate and money, is that he is in direct contact with people. And first of all, he must see what kind of person is in front of him, what this person is capable of, how he can be led and how not; what to entrust, what obedience to direct him to, how to behave towards him and how not to behave. This, I think, is the most important and the most difficult.
Bishop Job (Bandmann) of Stuttgart
spoke with Tatiana Veselkina

submitted by Yurii_S_Kh to SophiaWisdomOfGod [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 20:57 Silly_Elk8333 Western-Fanshawe nursing vs. MoMac nursing

Hey!! I got into both programs but I’m super conflicted on what I should choose. Could anyone reply and answer some of the questions I have?

How are the placements like in both schools
I heard some of the classes at the western Fanshawe program were online, but i wasn’t sure wether that was for the western main site or for the one I’m considering
Which one is more harder

please let me know what ur thoughts are on these 2 programs, and get back to me please💕

submitted by Silly_Elk8333 to OntarioUniversities [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 20:41 Alternative-Ice-6549 Passed CLEP Principles of Business Management Today- here’s a list of tips- EASIEST CLEP EXAM

I just finished the CLEP Principles of mgmt exam about an hour go. Got a 65 which is about 75-80 correct answers. I paid for the online REA prac tests and took Modern States course for free. They give you a voucher at the end so you don't pay the $80 CLEP fee. Bought REA prac tests and took exam at school. Total cost $45 and a few days of study.
I Didn’t watch all of the Modern states videos tbh. I just clicked to the end to move along faster. Their readings are good but you can get by without them. I just built out my study from incorrect REA answers. Copy and pasted those questions into Quizlet sets and practiced a couple hours each night for three nights and used a couple of other Quizlets that were already in there. Also followed the advice on the “Free CLEP Prep” site which helped to streamline. I used Claude AI for an hour this morning asking questions to connect any gaps Eg “What are the notable difference between the schools of thought and where do they overlap?”
I had some previous knowledge from being in the workplace for a long time. With zero prior knowledge you still probably only need two weeks of light study or one solid week.
This is my 4th CLEP and by far the easiest. Highly recommend!! Good luck and cheers to saving thousands of bucks on basic college courses:
TEST CONTENT RECURRING TOPICS: Three or more scenarios asking whether the person in question was planning, leading, organizing or controlling
Three or more questions asking to identify stages of conflict and conflict resolution Eg. -perceived -felt -manifest
Three or more questions on legislation (acts and commissions).
Several questions asking which stage a group is in eg forming, storming etc
Three or more scenarios about contract negotiation. Arbitration Mediation
Four or more questions about org structure. Know ALL of these -divisional -matrix -functioning -org charts -tall -flat -centralized -decentralized
Know these theories and corresponding names - theory x and y - Maslow - two factor -path to goal -zero defect
Three or more questions on management approaches -objective
Three questions about decision making -procedures - various schools of mgmt though regarding decision making
Know the difference between -scientific management -admin mgmt -humanistic -behavioral
Know difference between Ohio and Michigan (Ohio is “initiating structures and consideration” v. Michigan identifies effective leadership)
Three questions on international stuff.
Three or more questions on contingency related things.
Zero questions on make to order, assemble to order etc (which seemed weird).

submitted by Alternative-Ice-6549 to clep [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 20:37 Ok_Connection1743 AITA Apparently I broke up a couple

AITA for breaking up a couple i barely know? Here’s this guy i’ll call him John M23. I F23 used to like in high school and recently I saw in the supermarket and I said hi to him and I was like do you know me and he was like no and I’m like do you know me from this club and he was like oh yeah and then I was like can I follow your Instagram and he said yeah sure so we talked like once because he swiped up my story HE swiped up I didn’t do anything and we talked about music and how he wanted to “catch up sometime”. Meanwhile his entire instagram is his GIRLFRIEND of 3 YEARS. We stopped talking because he never answered in March. and now it’s June and I swiped up on his note because I like the song he put. We’re talking normally and at some point he said oh I need to tell you something, but I need to say it in person. So he comes to my job yesterday and says yeah I need to tell you about my girlfriend. “She kind of thinks that we’re dating and I’m cheating on her with you and we’re going to break up tonight”
and I’m like what? we had TWO conversations. We can’t text online but we can meet in person cause she looks at his texts. But our texts atleast mine are innocent so i feel like something else happened for her to BREAK UP WITH HIM over this. Did i do something wrong?? I had no intention of dating him once i knew he had a gf. So she won’t let him talk to me but he said he still wants to catch up and be friends so idk what to do now..?

submitted by Ok_Connection1743 to AmItheAsshole [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 20:14 Spikebolt_100 I am too lonely rn. I hate My friends they are toxic and asshole. 2 best friends are getting away from me. (Basically a part of my life in a nutshell )

My life in a (not so)Nutshell:-

[too long but you GOTTA READ!!]

Hey! Jinesh (Spikebolt_100) here!
I am 17 y/o guy. I have hobbies like physics books, science stuff (fav y-tuber: Veritasium), listening to music like video game soundtracks and many good artists like C418,Yoann Laulan, Post Malone, Lynyrd Skynyrd, AURORA, Imagine Dragons,Glass Animals, Gym class heroes, OneRepublic, Coldplay, 21 pilots, Weeknd, dua lipa,ed sheeran. I love doing pixel art, have started learning Blender (3D modelling software), I love reading about history too. My fav games are Minecraft, Dead cells, gta 4, terraria, Hollow Knight. As a kid I used to mess with computers too, but bcz of my "study reasons" I did not get any console, good pc or laptop (as i have now) nor i ever had tv connection that have interesting channels. Its not like our financial situation was bad. I love coding! I am gonna take Computer Science in uni so i can get into game development/design! (btw rate me for all of these :)
I am Indian, and indian parents are toxic and do not understand today's generation. Recently my dad bought me a good laptop but threatened me seriously (i know my dad, he wasn't joking) that he won't pay my college fees and will take my laptop from me if i play even a single game or movies or waste time on youtube. So.... I have to be "smOOth like a criminal..." in terms of enjoying me-time. I can not get out of my country bcz of lakck of skills and i am learning them, my dad never let me do any of extracurriculars so i could go into US-uni. In india its fucking cutthrost competition. Nor any of my schools had activities.
so now i guess you know me, what type of person i am.
Now coming to the main point: My deepshit dickhead friends. Let's call 1st friend F1 and 2nd F2. These two were them whom i considered to be BFF. But today, after contemplation, I confirm that these are the biggest assholes in my life.
I grew up having several friends. Most of the time best friend had to leave each other bcz of town reasons etc. Fast forwarding to 7th grade, i met this guy [F1], gosh i could not live a moment without having voice chat. we did homeworks together, we had lotssss of same interests. but after the same grade we had to leave each other bcz of different tutions. His dad wanted to give other tutions and in hostel idk why. ( i don't want to go into details on how indian fucking education system works, basically its worst and will make you cry if u read abt it ;) still we were in contact thru phone.
NOTE THAT with each friend, I had problems, but i always ignored every single of them and you should too, bcz nobody is perfect.
then in 8th grade, i met this hella chill dude [F2]. We quickly became friends. But little did i know he has this worst habit to LIE ABOUT THINGS WHICH HE MAY OR MAY NOT AFFORD BUT ALSO HE HAS NO MOTIVE TO HARM ANYBODY AS WELL AS NO PERSONAL ADVANTAGE OF THAT. Second, liying that his dad has lot of power, he can do some "settings" when something doesn't work out,money power and have many connections. He also have a habit to show off things a lot. I guess its a mentally disorder case. I ignored that. I still always felt in way that what the fuck is this, why would you need to lie about things like that to your BEST FRIEND. Some examples are: He said i will get in that university, its confirmed, his dad arranged everything. But some days later i found out he is struggling with a very bad uni. Once he said he bought galaxy S24 ulta, in serious tone. I thought okay its good, his family has good money anyway. Two days later i met him on road, the phone is JUST S22. His answer was "I mistakenly said it". One more bonus: said i managed to get rdr 2. days later he said "i can't play online bcz i dont have it, i mistakenly may have said that." Fuck it, the list is miles long. Still to this day he is doing it. Motherfcker made punks as friends when i left him in 10th. All of them are just like him. Insta-reeler assholes, clueless dipshits, show offff. Can't afford fucking nothing but always behind luxury and lying is their team's Motto.
If i tell you about issues with F1. He could understand me like nobody else. But I think he's lonely rn too. Idk if he has other friends, but he has a huge love for Blood-gore shitty cheap indian bollywood movies. he says he loves psycho killer movies. I mean he talks something about that in serious tone. His family said to me that F1 has this very short temper problem too. I tried couple of times to tell him about these in very easy way, like not having a serious conversation but he actually does not give a fck about that. He has a very bad view on girls. And all credit goes to those sitty movies. Sexually objectifying is what he do when he sees a girl on road. After this(last month) i was very concerned abt him. He has corn addiction asswell. I would say he has good looks but has no standards for himself. (idk i might me writing this on rage)
From past 3 months, he does not seem as good as before to me. I know there is nothing going on with him that i should concern since he /is?was?/ my best friend, bcz in 11th and 12th grade we talked on everything about each other. We shared feelings and thoughts with each other.
Now i'm gonna tell you this incident: 2 months ago, i had to replace my laptop bcz of manufacturing fault, i asked him {F1} kindly, if he wanted to come with me in a 58 miles distant city for that. Giving no reason he said ''nah i don't wanna come.'' I had no impact for that answer, i was chill as f. No problems i mean its his choice btw why would he like to. 3 days ago he asked me to come to a 300 miles distant district for his admission in university. He was going in a bus with some of his other friends. My strict parents denied for that. and i told him i won't be able to come with you bcz my parents denied. My parents also knew about F1's "VERY PLEASANT" friends. And then on call, he DID NOT seem well.
After that he has not received my single call and he did not even call me back !
I guess he thinks I got my "revenge" bcz i did not go with him.
Once (a year ago) F1 got home from the town he was studying, i visited his home at 10 o'clock morning. He lives 3 miles away from me. We had talked about it that we will meet in the morning. I called him first rather than running directly to the doorstep. He received my calls and said he was asleep, i asked should i come later, "he said that yeah no problem you can go ." like perfectly fine!!!
I could not find a good friend in my 11th and 12th when both F1 and F2 were far away from me. Reasons are that every person in my class was deepshit asshole, bcz their mentality! They are toxic, interests and cultures seem different to me. Their mentality can make you cry lmao. Its india and the town i live in is the most basic.

I was in touch of internet my whole life, as i mentioned i found out that what was the best for me, my interests and knew about what is wrong or right.

MY BOTH FRIENDS HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF TOPICS LIKE RACISM, ..ETC, As I told you, F1 has gotten the worst.

and that's why I found reddit my most fav place, i can share my thoughts and THE MOST IMPORTANTLY I AM FINDING PEOPLE LIKE ME HERE.

If you have read everything, please give advice or give your opinions, thoughts.
F1 and F2 are on smack for real right now. I want to leave them and get away from them.

I just want people who love me and i do the same back. I am feeling too lonely tbh.

submitted by Spikebolt_100 to lonely [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 19:43 Mr_Konfused Is It My Responsibility To Sacrifice For My Girlfriend's Child?

I have been in a two-year long relationship with my girlfriend. We live about an hour and a half to two hours apart in Texas, depending on traffic. I am 24 and she is 26 years old. I am in college and work when I have the availability to, mainly in the summers so I can pay my bills and whatnot. The child is not mine, but I seem to be expected to pick up the slack that she cannot. The father is somewhat in the picture, but there is a toxic situation of gaslighting and even physical violence that can occur between my girlfriend, her child's father, and his new girlfriend. My girlfriend refuses to ask for more help from the guy, whether it be more child support for childcare, or for him to just watch him when he is out of school because she does not want to deal with any extra drama with them. She expects me to just stop everything that I have going on to watch him. As if I don't have my own responsibilities. As if I was not pursing a degree before I met her. She has mentioned to me that she feels like she is alone and has to do everything on her own and because of it, does not want to be with me because she can not rely on me. Mind you, the previous summer, I chose to not work full time like I planned, because she was on my back about watching him. I would work 3 days, then go to her place for the last two days in the week to watch him while she worked. This summer I planned to work full time, but again, she's on my back about who is going to watch him. I've tried for months prior to this to find a solution so I can finally make some money during the summer, whether its daycare or whatever, but it doesn't seem to matter what I have going on. I was asked a few weeks ago that if we lived together, would I work nights and she work during the day so someone could watch him. I said I would. But I also said that if my career required me to work days, just like hers does, we would need to figure something out and it would not be fair for her to ask me to work nights. I was thinking sending him to daycare. I also said that it would not be fair for me to ask the same of her. I am responding to her the same way I would if the child was actually mine. What should I do? I'm at my wits end with her, but I really do care about her and her child.
TL;DR: My gf is on my back about watching her child for the summer and I live an hour to two hours away with my own plans and goals to make money and finish university. What should I do?
Feel free to ask me any questions if you need more clarification or anything. I'm happy to answer! Thank you for your time!

submitted by Mr_Konfused to relationships [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 19:39 Living_Device_8261 AI ruined my ability to write, how can I become better

Hello,
I recently graduated from university in may 2024. I used to be such a great writer when I graduated high school, I felt like writing was my strongest skill.
I now feel that my writing has become very lackluster and that I actually write worse than I did 4 years ago when I used to write entire essays in 45 minutes in my AP English and history classes. All because I started using chatgpt to assist in most of my assignments my last year in university.
How can I become a good writer again, are there any free online courses I can use to help me become a better writer? I feel like I need a structured class because I forgot the basic set up of writing like how to incorporate analysis and properly set up a thesis and conclusion literally sllt just because I haven’t done in on my own in years. Please let me know what I can do other than the obvious answer which is to read more

submitted by Living_Device_8261 to writers [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 19:37 Ok_Measurement_5757 New Student

I am wondering if this is generally a good idea or not. Currently I have a passion for engineering, specifically environmental engineering. I tried to get into an engineering school after a year of cc but haven't gotten accepted yet and am scared I won't get accepted (my gpa took a dip and is resting at 3.27 but I am taking courses now in the summer to try and boost my gpa back up to a 3.51). I applied to another school and got in for what I think is an amazing program. Its a 5 year dual degree program, where I would major in Mathematics first for 3 years then transfer and pursue Environmental Engineering at the engineering school I have been wanting to go to.
I chose the second school (5 year program) because it is overall cheaper and I would get scholarships because of being a transfer student and my gpa. I'm hoping a strong background in math will help me when it comes time for the engineering courses.
I am struggling in my current school (cc) because of a lot of factors. One is that I have to work, I am working around 30 hour weeks which is taking up a lot of my time. Also, I have no idea how to college and some of my professors want so much work for a 101 class its actually insane. I did good my first semester (3.7 gpa 3 A's and a B) but second semester I got my heart broken (oopsies) around finals and just tanked every class (3.27 gpa, 2 B's, a C, and a W). I also had so many professors that wouldn't answer my questions, offer office hours, or even reply to my emails. I had no support as a first generation college student and my school's tutoring didn't offer help in the classes I was taking. I tried online tutoring but that gets expensive. I find myself stating a lot of excuses but it was really difficult with little to no help, and I am stating now that yes I most definitely need help. I started asking my co-worker (who is a mechanical engineering student) for help but he's also really busy so I felt bad asking him to help tutor me.
I find it so weird because I was a straight A, honors student in high school but also I didn't work or have an personal issues to face. Currently I am halfway through summer semester and I can feel myself starting to slip, I am still working and facing some medical issues. I am hoping that once I go to university, since I won't have to work and I will be away from the main issues along with having better resources, I can have all of my focus on school.
I am just so scared that I am gonna end up failing and having to drop out or switch my major to something like ... business...

submitted by Ok_Measurement_5757 to EngineeringStudents [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 19:28 Mr_Konfused Is It My(24M) Responsibility To Sacrifice For My Girlfriend's(26F) Child?

I have been in a two-year long relationship with my girlfriend. We live about an hour and a half to two hours apart in Texas, depending on traffic. I am 24 and she is 26 years old. I am in college and work when I have the availability to, mainly in the summers so I can pay my bills and whatnot. The child is not mine, but I seem to be expected to pick up the slack that she cannot. The father is somewhat in the picture, but there is a toxic situation of gaslighting and even physical violence that can occur between my girlfriend, her child's father, and his new girlfriend. My girlfriend refuses to ask for more help from the guy, whether it be more child support for childcare, or for him to just watch him when he is out of school because she does not want to deal with any extra drama with them. She expects me to just stop everything that I have going on to watch him. As if I don't have my own responsibilities. As if I was not pursing a degree before I met her. She has mentioned to me that she feels like she is alone and has to do everything on her own and because of it, does not want to be with me because she can not rely on me. Mind you, the previous summer, I chose to not work full time like I planned, because she was on my back about watching him. I would work 3 days, then go to her place for the last two days in the week to watch him while she worked. This summer I planned to work full time, but again, she's on my back about who is going to watch him. I've tried for months prior to this to find a solution so I can finally make some money during the summer, whether its daycare or whatever, but it doesn't seem to matter what I have going on. I was asked a few weeks ago that if we lived together, would I work nights and she work during the day so someone could watch him. I said I would. But I also said that if my career required me to work days, just like hers does, we would need to figure something out and it would not be fair for her to ask me to work nights. I was thinking sending him to daycare. I also said that it would not be fair for me to ask the same of her. I am responding to her the same way I would if the child was actually mine. What should I do? I'm at my wits end with her, but I really do care about her and her child.
Feel free to ask me any questions if you need more clarification or anything. I'm happy to answer! Thank you for your time!

submitted by Mr_Konfused to relationship_advice [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 18:54 No_Search_1668 Brand new: tips/what do I need?

Hi! I decided that I want to run a marathon, and I have some questions. I used to be a long-ish distance runner, but I haven’t in a long time (nearly ten years) and I didn’t take great care of myself as a runner then (dumb teenager, wanted to Just Do It™️, without all the hard work). My longest race was 10km, it took me an 1h5m, but generally I predominantly ran 5k and under back then, and my 10k was definitely hard because I didn’t train at all and didn’t do anything to take care of myself before, during, or after. I know that I’m pushing 30 and my body requires more care, I haven’t been a runner in 10 years, and 42k is literally more than quadruple my longest run so I cannot do that again. Here are my questions:
1) Shoes! As a teen I had second hand Nikes. Right now I have two pairs of runners, 1 I would never wear for actual running (Vans running shoes) and 1 I would consider (New Balance idk what kind), but idk how they would be for long distance running. I am tempted by the LuLus Blissfeels, partially because I’ve heard good things, partially because they’re on sale right now, and partially because they actually make my size (5.5) does anyone have experience with these? Or others they recommend?
2) Shorts! I see nearly everyone who’s training for a marathon wear like loose shorts, I have only ever run in spandex/lycra/etc because it was trendy then. Do loose shorts not like bunch up or cause chafing? Is there any specific reason I should avoid a biker short and go for the loose style, or is it more just preference?
3) belts and vests and pockets! As a teen I didn’t even drink water, much less carry it with me and the school team didn’t allow MP3/phone/music. Going for longer runs I am going to want water, and music so I want to wear something to carry that stuff (because I hate, HATE running with things in my hand). Do belts have a tendency to ride up or bounce around? Do vests chafe your arms? Are pockets on clothes a viable option? What do ppl prefer?
4) Nutrition/fuel: I am planning to work with my GP on ensuring I have good nutrition for training, but I have questions about like chews and gels: are there any people recommend? Are they necessary? Most protein bars and snacks intended for exercise are not options for me (due to nut allergies), but if I can find something people like and won’t kill me I am intrigued.
5) bathroom breaks! This may be my dumbest question: How do you go to the bathroom?? It’s long as hell, ppl must need to go! And I am aware that rllly hardcore runners will just like pee themselves, but I don’t care about my time and do NOT want to do that. I know realistically, it is not always in people’s control, but if I can avoid it I would like to. Are there bathrooms along a race?
6) Body! I am not a natural runner with a runner’s physique, I have weak ankles and heels (from never caring for myself when I ran as a teen), my legs are very short and stubby, I have exercise-induced asthma, and I used to throw up after every race as a kid and teen. Is this stupid? I really want to do this, more as a bucket list thing/accomplishment. If it turns into something I do every year, then so be it, but really at this point I am just looking to say I’ve done it. Am I crazy lol? That’s probably not a question ppl can answer but I guess what I’m looking for is are there ppl on here that we’re able to do it, that maybe weren’t naturally buikt for it, and what was your experience?
7) training plan!! My plan was to train for a marathon, starting in two weeks and running the race in October, using a training plan I found online that is intended for beginners. That being said, I am also trying to be realistic and so my plan was to train as though I am GOING to do the full marathon, but in case I don’t take to it or I struggle or get sick or any other kind of setback, have a back up plan of running a half in October. Which is also obviously very hard, but maybe more attainable. Is that a bad plan?? Is the training for a half so incredibly different that I would be terribly unprepared?

submitted by No_Search_1668 to Marathon_Training [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 18:20 spaghettirhymes Path to teaching in North Carolina?

Hey y’all! I moved to NC a year ago and I’m looking to ideally become a middle school English/humanities teacher or possibly elementary teacher. I’m currently in early education childcare and looking to get out. I have truly no idea what the path is, without a bachelor’s in education. I know a license/certificate is needed, but all of the info online is not answering my questions. Even people outside of NC, i’d love to know a typical path! Can I realistically get any kind of teaching job before my certification? Do I have to take multiple years of classes for the certificate? How much does it usually cost? Will I have to do student teaching as well? What are some differences in getting hired at private vs. public schools? Are there any other things needed in NC I should know about? I just need some direction to know where to start. Thank you!

submitted by spaghettirhymes to Teachers [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 18:17 MD_thrway_AfterPea I am 31 years old, make $92,600 base, live in Northern Alberta, work in Forestry and recently returned to work after a year off for maternity leave

Title: I am 31 years old, make $92,600 base, live in Northern Alberta, work in Forestry, and recently returned to work after a year off for maternity leave.

All $ in CAD. $1 CAD to $0.73 US.
I will call my spouse H.
We aren’t looking to change spending habits too much, this was more a fun exercise to see what we spend and how we’re doing financially now that I am back to work.

HHI: $166,000
Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: Total $76,431 (joint)

My retirement accounts include a DCPP of $62,495, an RRSP of $8125, and a TFSA of $130
H’s only has a spousal RRSP of $5631
DCPP amount is from a 5% base contribution plus 2% matching from my employer, and 3% from me. I have had this account since 25 (when I started at the company) and have done the matching the entire time except during my maternity leave. They continued the 5% base while I was off on maternity leave, I had the option to get the matching as well but we couldn’t swing the cost while I was only on EI.
RRSPs are mostly from excess benefits money. I have flex benefits and get an annual amount to “spend”. Before we had our kid there was about $500/month split going into our RRSPs. Now we do $42.30/month split ($21.15 for each). The spousal RRSP means I can claim this on my taxes, instead of him claiming on his.
TFSAs will be our next focus once we’ve caught up on the annual bills from May to July - annual house insurance and two vehicle insurances. We haven’t been consistent with depositing into our TFSA’s, so we have $80K+ room in each.

Equity: The house is worth $400,000. We owe $303,000. Equity is $97,000.
Savings account balance: $450 in emergency savings (this is a priority starting in August to beef up), $2000 in property taxes sinking fund (to be spent by July)
Checking account balance: $5288.15 - we both got paid today so I will be moving money around and this number will be down a lot by the end of the day.
Credit card debt: $16,635

$12,855 LOC. This is entirely from vehicles - before I went on maternity leave H sold his truck and we took a $9500 loss - pulled the money out of the LOC to pay off the lien. In April, we needed a different vehicle so we took $6500 out of the LOC to purchase a new-to-us car. We have yet to sell the vehicle we replaced, but when we do that money will either go onto LOC or into emergency savings. We’re aiming to get $3000 for the sale.
$530 My CC. This is from not budgeting for two road trips I took in the last two weeks, plus some other overspending on random things.
$3250 H CC. This is from overspending on groceries/gas and vehicle expenses.

Student loan debt: $0

H went to trade school (8 weeks/year for 4 years) to become a journeyman mechanic
I took a 2-year diploma program that cost $12,000 (including books and random spending). My parents saved up $20K for me to go to college/university, so I got about $8,000 in cash from my mum once I graduated as I didn’t use all of the savings for school.
I lived with my mum while in college and H lived with roommates so his income went to rent/groceries/bills and I had basically no living expenses as my mum covered everything.
When he went to trade school I was working, so I covered our bills while he was off (and he got EI and some grants during that time frame).

Other Info:

H and I have had combined finances since we were 19 when we married. This has greatly changed our financial situation.
I have access to an employee stock purchase plan - I have about $1400 in my company stocks with no plan for them at the moment.
I got a salary top-up when I went on maternity leave. My employer covered my 1 week EI waiting period and topped up to 100% salary for 11 weeks. The rest of the time I was off I was getting $1158 biweekly from EI.
We qualify for the Climate Action Incentive from the federal government. This is about $1200/year.
We get CCB for our kid of $140.61/month. This will increase to $273.74/month come July as our annual income was less in 2023 compared to 2022.

Net Worth: $164,484
Section Two: Income
Income Progression (Post College/Trade School):

H has been in his field for roughly 8 years and his starting salary was about $37,000 ($19/hr). Two years ago, he took a $20/hour pay cut moving from a journeyman mechanic ($45/hr) to a service advisor ($25/hr). He’s since gotten a $10/hr pay increase from switching employers and switching roles/getting a raise. H now makes $72,800 not including any overtime, which he does get fairly regularly.
I've been working in my field for 8 years, and my starting salary was about $41,000. I have not changed careers, but I have changed employers. I got two raises when at my first job post-college from $20/hr (41,000) to $23/hr ($47,800) to $30/hr ($62,400). When I started at my current employer in 2018 I was offered $78,000 annually, plus moving benefits (approx $2000). I’ve consistently gotten a 2-5% raise every year (except this year - but I did get a raise 2 weeks before going on leave) or have gotten promoted and am now making $92,600 before bonuses. I get two bonuses a year, one is based on company performance and has been $0 to $10,000. My other bonus is performance-based and has been anywhere from $1200 to $4000. I got both bonuses while on maternity leave, the company performance one was cut in half based on hours worked. I also had to pay back EI because of my bonus income.

Main Job Monthly Take-Home:
Mine: $4768.90 (two paycheck months)

My monthly deductions include ESPP $213.60, DCPP matching $213.60, social club $5, flex benefits $26, plus taxes $701.27, CPP $203.97 and EI $59.14. In September I usually have an increase in my monthly take home as my CPP/EI is maxed out, but this might not happen this year as my RTW date was the end of April.

H: $3687.28

H gets an advance on the 15th of $1000 and at the end of the month gets the rest of his pay. His end-of-the-month pay has ranged from $2600 to $3900 already this year because of illness, time off and short months.
H’s deductions include taxes $623.25, EI $78.23, CPP $263.07, and $61.10 of HCP, but we’re not 100% sure what the HCP is cause he declined his benefits. This reminds me he should talk to payroll and see what’s up with that. He hits his 1st anniversary in August so we’ll see if he ends up maxing out CPP/EI in September or so.

Side Gig Monthly Take-Home:

I craft and go to some markets and things, but don’t make much after counting all my costs. If I didn’t sell things I made, I’d have no room for craft storage!
I am working on a custom quilt that when finished will bring in $275.

Any Other Monthly Income Here:

As said above, we qualify for the CAI and CCB. CCB is $140/month currently and CAI is $400 quarterly.
I get $500/year from my benefits to spend wherever and however I want. So far this year I’ve spent it on clothes and hiking boots. I have $190 left.

Section Three: Expenses

Mortgage: $950 bi-weekly - $1900/month on 2 pay period months.
Property Taxes: Sinking fund of $185/biweekly (we pay this annually in June. It is $2250 this year, last year was $1950).
Home Insurance: $1640 annually. We pay this in full in July. I expect it to increase this year, but I’m unsure how much.
Retirement Contribution: In addition to pre-tax contributions above, starting in August, biweekly contributions will be $377 to H’s TFSA and $226 to mine. H’s is more as I have my DCPP and when H’s total is closer to even or maxed out, I’ll max out mine.
Savings Contribution: $200/biweekly starting in July, we also will have a home maintenance fund and will save $425/month.
Debt Payments: LOC minimum is $130/month. We pay anywhere from $200 to $2000/month. This will increase come August, and the LOC will be paid off in May 2025. Both CCs should be paid off by September.
Donations: $20/month to the animal shelter, and $20/month to SOS, I also volunteer at least 5-15 hours a month to a local sports group and to the foundation my MIL set up after my BIL passed. I sit on the board for both non-profits. We also randomly donate money to other things, or go in on 50/50 raffles different nonprofits have.
Utilities: In the winter $600/month, the summer around $300/month. Gas and electricity combined. I live somewhere where it hits -40C and +40C depending on the time of the year.
Garbage Rental: $40/month, $120/month when we get it dumped - approximately every 4 months. We live on an acreage and instead of carting garbage bags to work every week or going to the dump, we rent a dumpster for the driveway and call to have it dumped when it's full.
Septic System Inspection/Cleaning: $400/year
Internet: $105/month for unlimited fibre optic.
Cellphone: $70/month for H. I have a work phone at no charge.
Subscriptions: Amazon Prime $99/year, Spotify $11.54/month, Patreon $10.50/month (Money Feels <3), PlayStation Plus $32/quarter, Kindle Unlimited $10/month, Crunchyroll $9.99/month ($60.95/month total)
Pet expenses: Roughly $100/month for food and litter for our two cats. Plus $400/year for an annual checkup. This will go up some as they age and probably have to have dental cleanings done.
Car Insurance/Registration: No payments we own both vehicles outright. Insurance is $1500/year for both vehicles, we pay this in May/July. H spends around $300/month on gas as we live 30 min out of town. I have a work truck so I have no commuting costs. Annually we spend $160 on registration. AMA is 262.50 annually in July.
Paid Hobbies: Don’t have fixed costs for these right now as we cut them out while I was on maternity leave. In January though, we’ll each get $100-200/month for hobbies.
Daycare: $900/month ($450 the 1st and 15th). This is slightly more expensive than some others we found and does not qualify for subsidy or grants, but L loves her day home and the caretaker is great.
Life/Disability Insurance: $125/month for both of us. This is $500K each for life and $100K each for critical illness.
Food: Roughly $800/month in groceries and I’m not sure about eating out. Since going back to work a month ago life has been hectic so we’re spending more than usual on eating out/convenient foods. H has ADHD and forgets his lunch at home or in the car every day which is a waste, so he buys lunch either at the nearby grocery store or restaurants. I sometimes pack leftovers and sometimes go get food. I’ve been trying to get freezer meals and leave them at the office so I don’t have to pack things back and forth and we haven’t been making meals with leftovers.
L’s Baby Supplies: $75/month? We have to buy diapers and wipes monthly pretty much.
House Cleaners: This is an expense we had before H took his pay cut, and we’ve been slowly putting it back in the budget on and off. Roughly $200/clean which happens sporadically as the house is a mess and there is no time for two working parents to clean with an 11-month-old butt scooting everywhere. She always manages to find floor snacks
Family: We send my sister-in-law money on a fairly regular basis, anywhere from $20-$100. She always pays us back, but we treat this as a write-off in case she doesn’t.

—
Day 1 - Friday
2 am - L wakes up and I get her back down 3 times before 3 am. At 3, H takes her out of the room to burn some energy before they both come back to bed roughly an hour later. Thanks, L. Thank you, H I was getting pretty frustrated with our darling child.
6:30 am - The first alarm goes off and I grab L for a cuddle and morning nursing session. Once she’s done, she rolls around and tries to climb both of us to get our phones before we all get out of bed at 7. Today is a PJ movie day at daycare so we don’t bother dressing her only changing the diaper and then H and L are out the door by 7:15. I leave for work at about 7:45 after doing some putting around.
8:15 am - I get to work and my first stop is the coffee machine. I get back to my office after talking to a few coworkers about our social club golf event next weekend. I see that an industry-specific mentor cohort program is open for applications so I find my most recent resume (2021!) and do a major update before applying. This year one of my goals is to work on leadership skills and mentoring so why not apply?
9 am - I had a hard time finding a bra this morning so I go online and purchase two new ones from the local bra-tique for pickup. My total is $170 after my 10% discount for signing up for their email list. This money is coming from my $500 annual work benefit for whatever I want and I now have $20 left. I eat my breakfast at my desk - yoghurt and homemade granola today.
11 am - I have a webinar on caribou to attend so I log into Zoom and while it's loading, pull up our cashflow forecaster to get the payday finances done before the weekend. $1750 to H’s cc to cover some overspending/vehicle expenses, $100 to the LOC, $373.10 for utilities, and $450 for daycare. Total is $2673.10 I’m not sure if I should include the bills in the daily writeups, but ah well. Day 1 spending is off to a great start.
1 pm - I get the notification that my bras are ready for pickup. Woohoo! I get new bras for the weekend! I send $50 to H’s TFSA once I confirm the bank account is connected.
2:30 pm - Eating lunch now as breakfast was so late. Freezer butter chicken with broccoli. I only have 1 more freezer meal at work so I make a note to restock.
3:30 pm - I work on some cycle times for the log haul for this coming logging season. It takes me a few minutes to remember exactly what I’m doing and how to do it. I am super glad I came back to work at the end of April as I get 3-ish months of slow time to get back into the swing of things before work starts to pick up.
4 pm - I am struggling to do any more than format my Excel sheets so I figure it’s time to pack it up and head home.
4:30 pm - After picking up my bras, I go to Once Upon A Child for some cheap baby clothes. L is in between sizes and we somehow managed to misplace all her more summery sleepwear so I’ve been grabbing a few here and there. OUAC has a sale on, 5 sleepers for $15 so I grab 5 of those and 4 other onesies for summer. We have a family photoshoot on Canada Day and I’ve been hunting for something that’ll match L’s ribbon skirt. $30.45
5 pm - I stop at the store to check the mail and grab a 12-pack of mixed tequila smashes. $37.55
5:30 pm - H calls. He’s off work and headed to get L. I pull burgers and fries out of the freezer, start up the BBQ and get the air fryer going.
6:05 pm - H and L arrive home in perfect time as the burgers and fries just finished cooking. I have an open Pineapple Tequila Smash and I hand H one to drink with supper too. L also has a veggie pouch with the burgers and fries.
7:20 pm - L is in bed nursing to sleep after her bath while H preps episode 4 of Obi-Wan Kenobi for us to watch. We watched it when it was first coming out, but he saw the discs at Walmart last week and figured to grab them. We thought we hadn’t seen all the episodes, but so far we’re 3:3 so we might’ve seen them all.
7:40 pm - L is down and out and I sneak out of the bedroom. I start a load of laundry and find the two bras I couldn’t this morning and handwash them. I sit down with H and we watch some Obi-Wan Kenobi.
10 pm - I check my email and see one from a local photographer group I really like. I’ve done at least two shoots with all 3 of them separately before and they’ve now joined forces. I went to their open house yesterday and won 50% off a boudoir package in 2024. I’ve wanted to book in since they announced their group, so I go through their open spots and book for November. My initial deposit is $262.50.
10:30 pm - We finished the last 3 episodes and watched all previously except for the finale. Of course. It was pretty good, but near the end, I started to scroll on my phone more than pay attention to the show. I swap the laundry, shower and head to bed at 11 pm.
H’s spending Day 1: $7.54 for lunch, $267.58 on vehicle parts/oil change that we didn’t budget for. Normally we would’ve, but communication is kinda crappy atm, and I think that’s due to sleep deprivation.
Day 1 total: $775.62 spending + $50 to TFSA. Oof off to a spendy start for the pay period.
—
Day 2 - Saturday
2:40 am - L is awake again and not going back down. This time it’s my turn. It’s already been a not-great night, hopefully, this 2 am party time doesn't keep happening.
4 am - We go back to bed. Our internet is on autopay and the notification comes through for my credit card. $105
7:20 am - L is up for the day. I don’t want to get out of bed yet, so I cuddle H and L rolls around, tries to stand and almost deletes everything on my phone. Then she notices my boobs so it’s time for a quick nurse.
8 am - I run the coffee machine and get breakfast going. We’re having pancakes this morning. While they’re cooking I pop some milk in the frother to make a fancy coffee. TBD if I drink it while it’s still hot. I feed the cats their morning meal.
8:30 am - H gets up and I’m still cooking. He grabs a coffee and takes L into the living room so I don’t trip over her and the plastic container horde.
9:30 am - H plays some Baldurs Gate 3 and L watches while I sort through the laundry I did last night. I try to get dressed and none of my shorts fit anymore so off in the donation bag they go. It’ll be a summer of dresses I guess! I start another load of laundry.
9:50 am - L is ready for a nap. Just kidding she just wanted some boob instead. We go outside afterwards to get some morning sun. Hopefully, this will tire her out and she will go down for a nap later! She hasn’t been big on sleep since she was born and gets major FOMO so we have no semblance of a schedule on weekends.
10:45 am - I bring L back inside and change her into outfit #3 for the day. Her trike got rained on and she gets soaked when she sits in it. I switch the laundry over, start yet another load and then pass L to H so I can head to the store, fill the Jerry can with gas for the lawnmower and do the recycling. 20 L of gas is $32.78 and I grab two lime slushes for H and I ($5.19). It’s +20 already and gorgeous. Total $37.97
11:30 am - L is ready for a nap! By 11:50 she’s down and I head outside to mow some of the lawn. It’s usually a 4 hr job so I don’t think I’ll get it all done today.
1 pm - I head inside for lunch, we’re having tuna sandwiches. L napped for 20 min and I didn’t get more than half the lawn mowed. After lunch, we head into town to hang out with my friend K and her two kids. We met in college back in 2014 and have babies of a similar age so it’s always nice to go over and visit.
4:30 pm - We leave K’s house and I swing by Wendy’s for a cold coffee-type drink for the drive home. I try the chocolate frosty-cinno and it’s terrible. Should’ve just gone to Tim’s for an ice cap. $4.19
5:05 pm - L fell asleep on the drive home so I hang out in the car with the windows down for another 5-10 minutes before moving things inside. She wakes up and we head in. H picks a meal and starts making dinner. L is fussy and still tired so I nurse her and we hang out in the cool basement while H cooks. I sort through the laundry that finished off today.
6 pm - H is still cooking our dinner, I reheat leftover pasta for L. H runs her bath and I bath her. She’s still grumpy on and off so she’ll probably be going to bed right after this.
6:45 pm - H and I eat chicken wings and shrimp poppers. L has decided it’s not bedtime yet, I tried to put her down and she got a second wind instead.
9:30 pm - I work on the website for one of the non-profits I volunteer for once L goes to bed at 8. After I’m done, I head into the craft room and work on the custom rag quilt project. One row left to sew together, then to put the final 5 rows together, figure out my borders and start cutting all the edges! It’s not ‘due’ until mid-July but I’d rather get it done sooner and not have to rush. My SIL texts and asks to borrow $50 till Thursday, I send it over out of my spending.
11 pm - H and I both go to bed after some kitty snuggles
Day 2 total: $92.16 (not counting $105 for internet)
—
Day 3 - Sunday
7 am - L is awake and I nurse her a couple of times cause she can’t decide if she’s happy or not. It was a decent night, but she must still be tired from not napping much yesterday. It’s my day to sleep in so H takes her out of the room by 7:30.
9:30 am - I get up make some coffee and slowly start on breakfast
10:30 am - L and I are eating breakfast, I made scrambled eggs, fried up leftover sausage, tomato and she also has two crackers with cream cheese. H and I wrote up a grocery list before I sat down and he’s off to town to get groceries and fuel up the car before the work week starts. Usually, H and his best friend C have a grocery shopping bro-date every Sunday, but C and his family are out camping this weekend so H heads in alone.
11 am - L is ready for a nap. I put her down and fold her laundry and the house laundry, taking a few breaks to scroll Reddit or Facebook and drink more coffee.
12:30 pm - L woke up and is kinda grouchy so we have a dance party to elicit baby giggles. H gets back from shopping and we put the groceries away, they cost $374.03. This is actually cheaper than the last few times we did a stock up so that’s nice! Groceries include ground beef, frozen chicken, wings, fries, cucumber, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, yoghurt, frozen lunches, macaroni, Ichiban, burgers, buttermilk, perogies, frozen fruit, frozen veggies, gravy mix, hollandaise mix, and more. We’ve been buying more convenience foods lately, but I do have 3 suppers planned for the week. He also grabbed me a big coffee mug for $6. He got gas for $60.83, and once we unload the groceries, he runs to the store for bacon, 2 jars of our favourite cowboy candy (pickled sweetened jalapeños), chips and a Starbucks frappe drink for $41.93. I make some sandwiches for lunch for tomorrow so I don’t have to scramble in the morning.
1 pm - Lunch is Ichiban noodles for H and I and baby charcuterie for L - strawberries, grapes, ham, cheese, and cucumber. We head outside afterwards to enjoy the weather, L is so close to walking, she pulls herself up onto everything right now. She has an after-lunch snack of mown grass and dandelions.
3 pm - We’re back inside and H puts on Die Hart 2. L goes down for her second nap at 4:15 and we finish the movie. I wake L up at 5:45 so she doesn’t sleep too long. When she wakes up she makes a face identical to her dad’s and it’s hilarious.
7 pm - H is cooking dinner, we’re having eggs Benny and bacon for supper. I prep L’s diaper bag for tomorrow and we run it out to the car. I also put all my laundry away so the closet is ready for the week. H sits on the chair once we’re done dinner and both cats flock to him and spread themselves over his legs.
9:45 pm - I finish off piecing the quilt top and head downstairs to shower. L is getting tired too so as soon as I’m done we head to bed. H is not far behind us.
Daily 3 total: $482.79. This is pretty usual for a grocery shop day.
—
Day 4 - Monday
6:35 am - My alarm goes off. Can’t lay in bed today as I need to meet my coworkers at the office at 7:30 am. We’re doing a team bonding mountain hike and it’s a 2.5 hrs drive away. I grab a banana, toast a bagel, add cream cheese and I’m out the door before 7 after filling up the cats' food.
7:30 am - I get to the office, fill up a water bottle, make a coffee and grab a few things from my office. Almost everyone is there, and we leave at 7:45
9:45 am - We’re there! I’ve seen 2 moose, 1 mule deer, 1 elk and almost hit 2 caribou on the highway already today! We start up the trailhead at about 10 am
1:00 pm - This mountain is much steeper than anticipated. A coworker and I decide at about 300 metres to the top that we shouldn’t push it. The last km has been extremely steep and we’ve hit our max. The rest of the group has gone ahead and summitted. We eat our lunch with a great view and start the trek back down.
3:30 pm - We’re back at the trucks! 11.2 km round trip. We hit the road to head home and stop at Dairy Queen for a celebratory ice cream. I spend $4.92 on a medium dip cone.
6 pm - Back at the office. I call H and let him know I’m headed home now and he suggests chicken wings for supper. I’m down for anything as long as I don’t have to cook.
7 pm - We all eat dinner. L has some veggie pouch, chicken wings/nuggets and leftover pasta. I am almost too tired to eat. One cat keeps trying to get L’s nuggets so he gets in trouble and shooed out of the dining room.
8:15 pm - I try to put L to bed and she goes down for a bit but decides ultimately that it’s not actually time for bed.
8:40 pm - I go and have a hot, hot shower, my muscles are sore and tomorrow might not be fun. L and H party in the TV area, she’s pulling herself up onto everything and trying to crawl up the couch. Not sure where she got this energy from! One of our cats comes for some aggressive cuddles and pets and H puts his dirty t-shirt on the chair for him. Our cat loves dirty laundry it’s hilarious.
9:20 pm - Time for bed for everyone. Hope tonight is a good night and we all can get some rest.
Day 4 Total: $4.92 (this would have been covered by one of the superintendents but a few people got ahead of her in line so she couldn’t pay for us all). My card is also charged by the garbage disposal company for the dumpster ($40.43 - counted in the bills above).
H didn’t spend any money today.
—
Day 5 - Tuesday
7 am - The first alarm went off at 6:30, but we are all tired and don’t want to wake up. I nurse L for a bit then we get up at 7. I’m pretty sore this morning so I’m not moving too fast. Get her dressed and H and L leave by 7:10. H fed the cats this morning so I don’t have to.
7:30 am - I forgot to pay H’s other cc and it’s due in 4 days so I pay it off now - $93.80 (random Amazon purchases and my KU). I pull some chicken out of the freezer to defrost and make my breakfast of homemade granola, hemp hearts and yoghurt. I leave the house around 7:45 to head to work.
8:20 am - I get to the office and immediately get asked some questions about blocks we have slated for this Fall/Winter. I’m not 100% sure of the answer and have to double-check with my boss. I grab a coffee and chat with the head boss before my boss arrives. I clarify what I need and relay the info back to my coworkers.
9:30 am - I eat my breakfast while I scroll through online courses offered by my company. I got an email yesterday of one I’m supposed to take so I book into that.
11 am - I book H and myself massages, 2 each - one this month and one next month.
12:30 pm - I took a long time to eat breakfast so I’m not quite hungry yet. I grab my running shoes from the truck and take a slow walk on the elliptical to help my sore muscles. This morning hasn’t been too busy, but I’m having a hard time starting my next big task (cycle time calculations) so hopefully the slow walk helps some.
1:30 pm - I’m back at my desk and diving into cycle time calculations. H grabs KFC for lunch $24.12
2 pm - Lunch time, I’m having a leftover sandwich from yesterday, a grapefruit cup, grapes and strawberries. I also grab a chai with milk from the coffee machine. I eat while I plug away at the cycle times.
3:45 pm - I finish off one section of cycle times and my brain has had enough. I go fill my water bottle and chat with a few coworkers. At 4:15 pm someone comes by to sign a few cheques I asked for and I leave the office at 4:30 pm
4:40 pm - H grabbed buttermilk instead of heavy cream and I need it for supper tonight so I swing by the grocery store. Then, I head out of town to a colleague’s house to drop off one of the cheques. $4.95
5:15 pm - I check the mail, get home and start cooking. We’re having Skillet Dijon Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms for supper. I also make some macaroni for a side. H and L get home about 5:45 to the cats waiting at the door.
6:20 pm - Supper is served! It is delicious. L and H aren’t fans of the asparagus, but the chicken, macaroni and sauce are perfection! H also riggs up a tie to L’s water bottle so it doesn’t hit the ground every 30 seconds. We fed the cats at the same time and they’re not begging for food quite so much tonight.
6:50 pm - We’re finished supper, H cleans up and I bath L.
7:30 pm - H calls my/our best friend J via FaceTime and we chat with her and her daughter R for a few minutes. L tried to steal the phone and gets mad when we don’t let her. J’s daughter requests a morning call so I promise to call at 7 am. J doesn’t think R will be awake yet so we’ll see!
8 pm - L is tired and ready to go to sleep. I put her down, have a hot bath, throw in some epsom salts, and read a bit on my KU.
9:40 pm - Bedtime!
Day 5 Total: $112.17 (removed $10 for my KU - counted in subscriptions)
—
Day 6 - Wednesday
7 am - I nurse L, she had a weird wake-up last night so we’re tossing the idea of taking her into daycare today. I’ll probably take her in a bit later and H will take his truck so if I have to WFH for the afternoon I can. Try calling J and R and there is no response - I am not surprised.
7:45 am - L and I leave the house, she’s not coughing much and doesn’t have a fever or anything so she’s good to go to daycare today
8:15 am - I drop L off at daycare
8:30 am - I get to the office. I talk with a few coworkers and ask our admin if my new phone has been dropped off yet.
9 am - My new phone is here! Now to start the setup process, everything takes forever with all the authentication apps we need. I also go through all my iCloud photos and organize/save them to my OneDrive while the phone is getting set up.
12:30 pm - I think the phone is finally done. Now to eat some lunch, I’m having leftovers from 2 nights ago - chicken nuggets, strawberries, grapes and a Cherry Bubly.
1:30 pm - H goes to a food truck for lunch. $35.01. This includes the tip.
3 pm - I had some more phone set-up to do. Might be finished now? Get an email about the cats’ annual checkups and vaccinations so I book their appointments for August.
4 pm - SIL paid me back the $50, plus another $50 she’d borrowed earlier. (+$100) I work on the photo garland for L’s first birthday for a bit.
5 pm - I haven’t gotten much done today beyond setting up my phone. I leave the office and pick up L at 5:20. I talk to her day home provider for about 15 min about how she’s been doing, etc.
6 pm - We get home! H has cooked supper already, so as soon as we get in the door we sit down to eat. Supper tonight is perogies and garlic bread. L also has a veggie pouch. H tells me the old vehicle was sold, and the buyers are doing a payment plan. We will get $300/month for the next 10 months. A lump sum would be nice, but H’s coworkers will handle all the paperwork so it’s no more work for us.
6:45 pm - Time for a bath! H cleans up supper, cleans the litter boxes (we have 3) and starts some laundry while I take L and get her cleaned up.
7 pm - All finished in the bath. We head downstairs and hang out until L is ready for sleep. I mostly scroll my phone and H plays on his Rog Ally. L climbs the couch and me and scoots around on the floor hunting for different treasures.
8:40 pm - L is ready for bed. I put her down and read some more KU
10 pm - H and I head to bed. I washed and dried a baby quilt to bring to work in the morning for a coworker.
Day 6 Total: $35.01 for H’s lunch. I spend $0, and ‘make’ $100
—
Day 7 - Thursday
6:35 am - The first alarm goes off. It’s a new one on the phone and nice to wake up to! L doesn’t want to wake up and she grumbles and rolls around.
7 am - We all get out of bed. I get L dressed while H packs up what he needs for the day. I get her milk together and they’re out the door by 7:15
7:50 am - I leave the house. After H and L left, I did the dishes and packed up my stuff for the day. Made a smoothie for breakfast (yoghurt, flax seed, orange, banana, rhubarb jam, frozen berries, watermelon, cranberry juice and milk) and there’s lots left over so I pop that into the fridge for tomorrow. I need gas in the work truck, so I head there before going to the office. I have a fuel card so I don’t spend any $ on fuel.
8:30 am - Get to the office and it’s time to make a coffee. I have some things to get done before my webinar at 11 am.
9 am - I show the quilt to my coworker, she loves it and buys it! (+$100)
11 am - Oops. I didn’t get the login link earlier and don’t know who to contact to get it so no webinar for me. I scroll Reddit and my socials and work a bit more on my cycle times. I snack on some grapes and drink another coffee.
1 pm - Lunch time! I’m having leftover skillet Dijon chicken and macaroni. It is still delicious, that recipe is going into the rotation for sure! H goes to McDonalds for lunch and spends $35.66. He bought a coworker lunch as well, she was having a rough day.
2 pm - Chat with a few coworkers about different projects/things we need to think of for this next year.
3 pm - I have an afternoon pick-me-up snack of Brookside pomegranate-flavoured chocolate and a ginger ale.
4:30 pm - I’m tired and don’t feel like doing anything else. I leave the office and call H to see what we should do for supper. We decide on potstickers and veggies, I’ll start cooking when I get home. I stop and check the mail on my way home too.
5:45 pm - H and L arrive home. I take L into the spare room and we call my mum and grandma for a video chat. L rolls around the bed and shows off how she’s almost standing!
6:10 pm - We sit down to eat, L isn’t that interested in either the potstickers or veggies so we pull out some leftover macaroni and she goes to town on that.
7 pm - Bath time! H cleans up and does some more laundry. It just seems to never end.
7:30 pm - Bedtime for L. I read some of my book while I put her down.
8:30 pm - SIL texts again to borrow $50. I send it over out of my spending. I get all of the borders cut for the custom quilt.
9 pm - H has SING on so I sit down to watch it, he’s also playing his Rog Aloy and I’m reading some more of my book.
10 pm - We go to bed.
Day 7 Total: $35.66 for H’s lunch. I spend $50, and ‘make’ $100
—
Weekly Expenses:

Food + Drink: 575.09
Fun/Entertainment: $0
Home + Health: $38.78 (includes gas for lawn mower)
Clothes + Beauty: $200.45
Transport/Vehicle Expenses: $328.41
Other: $496.30 (CC payment, photoshoot, TFSA and $ to SIL)

Total Spending: $1639.03
Reflection:

This was a more expensive week for sure. I don’t usually spend money on clothes and the photo shoot deposit was a random impulsive spend. The vehicle expenses were also a bit different, usually, they’re budgeted for but not this time.
Honestly surprised we didn’t order dinner at least once this week - usually we do!
Events-wise, it was a typical week except for the mountain hike, those are not part of my usual work day. This time of year is slow and mostly involves prep for the coming winter.
This was a fun experiment to write! I did have to cut some things as my word count kept increasing and I didn’t want it to be too long - is this too long even still? Too much detail on baby routines?

submitted by MD_thrway_AfterPea to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 18:11 saumikn Why St. Louis should not build the Green Line

Note: This post was copy-pasted from my blog, but I’ve put the full text (minus images) here so it’s easier to engage with. I wrote this so it's more general about light rail, but this post was directly inspired by the St. Louis North-South Metrolink (i.e. Green Line), since I think it's a really bad use case for light rail and I want to advocate against its construction. Most of the examples I reference in the article come from St. Louis, when possible.
If you're not interested in the general bus/light rail debate and only care about the relevancy to St. Louis, I essentially want our city to create something like this 100 mile BRT network instead, which will cost about half the price of the 5.6 mile Green Line and be exponentially more useful to all St. Louis residents.

Introduction

Light rail (or LRT) is a type of transit which uses street-running, at-grade trains to transport passengers. It’s been seeing a growing surge of interest in American cities over the last few decades, and politicians across the country are proposing light rail as a solution to their cities’ transit challenges. The reason is that light rail is seen as a technology which can improve a city’s transportation network at a fraction of the cost of heavy rail (i.e. subways or elevated rail).
However, I strongly feel that we should not be pursuing the construction of new light rail (and the related mode of streetcars) systems in America. The simple reason for this is cost - new light rail lines cost anywhere between $100 million to $200 million per mile to construct. As an example, the proposed 5.6 mile St. Louis Green Line) is projected to cost $1.1 billion.
This high price tag isn’t inherently a bad thing. There have been many expensive projects over history which were well worth the cost. The problem with light rail specifically is that we get almost no value back from its construction. For transit riders, there are almost no benefits to a light rail line over a simple bus line, and in a lot of respects, light rail is even worse for riders. And for cities as a whole, light rail does lead to some improvements and increased development, but at a scale which is very out of line with its high cost.
Instead of light rail or streetcars, I propose that transit agencies invest heavily in a different mode of transit - “Light BRT”. If you haven’t heard of this term before, it’s because I invented it for the purposes of this article, as there is no single widespread term which characterizes this mode. I’m personally hoping that the phrase Light BRT catches on, as it’s a very convenient nomenclature to describe these existing transit lines and in a way which is easily distinguishable from the more traditional Gold-Standard or Heavy BRT.
So what is Light BRT? Essentially, Light BRT is a type of city bus which includes many infrastructure upgrades to increase the speed and reliability of the bus line. While not every light BRT line has all of these features, in general, light BRT lines are characterized by the following:

Wider stop spacing: Light BRT buses have stops every 1/4 to 1/2 miles, rather than the 1/8 to 1/4 mile stop spacing of regular city buses. This reduces the amount of time the bus spends at stops.
High frequency: Light BRT lines come frequently, ideally at least every 10 minutes. This reduces passenger waiting time.
Signal priority: Light BRT buses have technology which integrates with city traffic lights. This reduces the amount of time the bus is waiting at a red light.
Off-board fare collection: Instead of the bus operator collecting fares for each passenger, passengers pay at the station itself, and fares are validated using a proof-of-payment system. This reduces the amount of time the bus spends at stops.
Bus lanes: Light BRT may operate either entirely or partially in dedicated transit lanes. This increases bus travel speeds while in motion.
Larger buses: Light BRT takes advantage of larger buses with many doors, such as articulated or bi-articulated buses. This increases the capacity of the system and reduces the amount of time the bus spends at stops.

Each of these improvements leads to a much nicer transit experience for passengers, directly leading to faster trips and higher ridership. For example, in Minneapolis, the D Line launched in late 2022, where they implemented most of the above features on the existing #5 local bus. The D Line was a huge success, well beyond anyone’s expectations. In the first month alone, ridership on the D Line increased 50% when compared with the previous city bus. And by the end of the first year, ridership had nearly doubled! As of early 2024, the D Line has a ridership of over 13,000 daily riders, a number which is actually higher than many light rail systems, and this number is projected to hit 23,000 riders by 2030.
And the best part? This line was incredibly cheap. The 18 mile D Line cost about $75 million in total to construct, for an average cost of about $4 million per mile. Compared to light rail, which can cost $200 million per mile, light BRT is a steal. Or in other words, for the same cost it would take to build a 5 mile LRT line, we could build over 200 miles of light BRT, leading to a much better transit network for an entire city.
As a side note, I want to contrast Light BRT with the more traditional form of BRT (which I’ll denote as “Heavy BRT”) which features very prominently in the transit systems of many international cities like Istanbul, Jakarta, and Bogota. Heavy BRT is also growing in popularity in the US in cities like Albuquerque, Richmond, and Cleveland. It is characterized by a dedicated concrete guideway which separates the bus from car traffic, and often features center running operations. There is a wide range of intensity of BRT operations (hence the need for the BRT Standard rubric). But in general, heavy BRT can cost anywhere between $8 million to $50 million per mile to construct, with the lower end of this spectrum mostly resembling light BRT.
In the rest of this post, I hope to make a convincing argument on why we should stop building new light rail and streetcar lines, and instead transition to prioritizing light BRT. First, I will give a brief overview on the various forms of transit so that we have a common set of definitions to work off of. Next, I will provide an objective set of differences between light rail and light BRT, going over the benefits and drawbacks of each mode for both transit riders and non-riders. Finally, I will give my personal opinions on each of these differences, and why I believe that we should not pursue light rail in America.
In many of the examples and discussions, I will specifically reference the example of the proposed St. Louis Green Line LRT, since it’s one I’m more familiar with and I think it’s an example of an egregiously bad light rail line. But my comments are generally applicable to any new light rail or streetcar line in the US.

Overview of Transit Modes

In this section, I’ll give a brief overview of the various types of transit modes which are built with rail and buses.

Types of Rail

Heavy Rail: This is the highest capacity and most expensive transit mode, consisting of long train sets operating in an entirely grade-separated right-of-way. Examples include the New York Subway or the Chicago L.
Light Rail: This is a lower capacity mode and less expensive than heavy rail. LRT systems are mostly not grade-separated, but run alongside street corridors, usually operating in a dedicated lane outside mixed traffic. Examples of light rail are the Minneapolis Light Rail or the San Diego Trolley.
Heavy+Light Rail: As a side note, there are many LRT systems which are very close to heavy rail but are still considered light rail. In these systems, where the vast majority of the system is grade-separated and operates like heavy rail, but there are still a few at-grade crossings. Examples of this are the Seattle Link or the St. Louis MetroLink.
Streetcars: In America, the distinction between LRT and streetcars is very fuzzy, but in general, streetcars usually refer to at-grade trains which run in mixed traffic, and are essentially treated like a city bus on rails instead of tires. Examples of streetcars include the Portland Streetcar or the Kansas City Streetcar.

Types of Buses

"Heavy" BRT: Heavy BRT aims to replicate heavy or light rail with buses as much as possible, with dedicated concrete guideways separated from mixed traffic and rail-like stations. Examples of heavy BRT include the Albuquerque ART or the Cleveland HealthLine.
"Light" BRT: Light BRT can be thought of as an upgraded city bus, with features like transit signal priority, optimized stop spacing, and off-board fare collection. Examples of light BRT include the Minneapolis aBRT, the New York SBS, or the Seattle RapidRide.
City Buses: This is the standard mode bus which operates in every major city, operating in mixed traffic without any extra features to improve transit operations. It’s possible for buses to use special propulsion technology like electric engines with batteries, or elevated wires (i.e. trolleybuses).

Light Rail vs Light BRT

Next, I will go over the differences between light rail and light BRT. Because there are a lot of differences, I’m going to organize my thoughts into two sections. First, I will discuss the difference between modes in terms of the experiences that actual riders on the system will encounter. Second, I will discuss the difference between modes for everybody else - how it affects non-riders, government officials, citizens, etc. In both of these sections, I’ll describe what makes LRT better than light BRT, and vice versa, and I will do my best to make these sections as objective as possible.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that many of these thoughts come from my reading on transit modes and systems around the country. In particular, Jarrett Walker’s post on Rail-Bus Differences was a very useful starting point for this post. Also, I'd like to acknowledge the discussions I’ve had with other transit enthusiasts for pointing out things I've missed (shout-out St. Louis Urbanists!)

Differences for Transit Riders

How Light Rail is better than Light BRT

Overall Capacity: This is the biggest, most-cited reason why light rail is better than light BRT. Most common LRT vehicles have a carrying capacity of 200 to 300 passengers per car and can be connected in sets of two or three cars. Assuming a maximum of 2 minute frequency, this gives us a potential capacity of 27k passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD). On the other hand, the largest bi-articulated buses can carry 300 passengers at most. With no ability to combine buses together, this means a maximum capacity of 9k PPHPD.
Bike/Wheelchair Capacity: On a related note, LRT can carry not only more passengers, but more large mobility aids like bikes, wheelchairs, or strollers. A single bus can only really hold 3 bikes on the front racks, while the interiors of LRT can be arranged to accommodate more bikes. The extra space on LRT also allows for more space for wheelchairs, strollers, scooters, and other types of mobility devices, or even just large items in general like suitcases or furniture.
Ride Smoothness: Because LRT is on metal rails, it is more smooth while accelerating, decelerating, and driving. This can be mitigated for buses by ensuring the street is well-paved and using bulb stations so that buses don't have to switch lanes every other block, but some intrinsic difference remains.

How Light Rail is equal to Light BRT

Speed: Overall, the speed of buses and trains on city streets are approximately the same. I've seen some claims that buses are slightly faster at accelerating/decelerating, but most of the speed differences are due to the infrastructure supporting the transit, not the vehicles themselves. If both modes have dedicated lanes, signal priority, equal stop spacing, and off-board fare collection, they will both be roughly the same speed.
System Legibility: For new riders who have never taken transit, learning how to take the train is generally easier to learn how to take the bus. However, with enough effort, transit operators can make buses just as legible. Well-designed maps can highlight BRT routes, and bright, continuous, red-painted lanes make it equally easy to understand the direction of a bus and a physical rail line.

How Light Rail is worse than Light BRT

Operating Costs: The data shows that LRT generally has higher operating costs than buses. According to analysis by Christopher MacKechnie in 2020, in America, buses have an hourly operating cost of $122, while LRT has an hourly operating cost of costs $233 per hour. What this means for riders is that transit operators can afford to run more buses than trains under a fixed operating budget. As an example, if an agency is planning to run an LRT with 15 minute frequency, they could afford to run a bus with 8 minute frequency for the same cost, providing a much more useful service.
Dealing with Obstacles: Because LRT is on rails, there is essentially no way for it to maneuver around obstacles or go in places where there is no rail. This is most obviously a problem if there is an accident or the rails are blocked by e.g. a parked car. But even more importantly, this is a long-term issue that can prevent full service. For example, the 2022 St. Louis floods damaged the light rail signal box at one station, causing all trains to be plagued with single-tracking and slow speeds for nearly two years! If this were a BRT, the bus could just pick an alternate road to go around without harming operations.
Fewer Transfers: Because LRT is limited to rails, it makes it much more difficult to extend a route once it’s created. This forces passengers from outside to the immediate vicinity of the rails to transfer from a bus. For example, in St. Louis, we currently have the #4 and #11 buses which go from the edge of the city to downtown. But when the Green Line is built, these passengers will mostly likely be forced to get off the bus and transfer to the new LRT, and then transfer again to get to downtown. On the other hand, in an open BRT system, buses can easily be extended to continue past the end of the line, reducing transfers for customers.
Ease of Expansion: On a related note, the high costs of construction can make it difficult to ever expand an LRT system in the future. In St. Louis, there have been plans floating to extend the Green Line north, to cover the rest of the #4 bus route. But just this week, a new report suggested that this extension might not be politically feasible. And there is essentially no discussion at all about a potential southern expansion to cover the rest of the #11’s route. On the other hand, light BRT coverage is much easier to expand, since the base road network already exists.

Differences for non-Transit Riders

How Light Rail is better than Light BRT

Energy Efficiency: Trains are more energy efficient than buses, because of the gains of efficiency by using rails. This difference is reduced to some degree if you consider the energy usage of a three-car light rail vs a single bus, but overall, trains are more efficient on a per-passenger basis. Unfortunately, I can’t actually find hard numbers on how much energy exactly is being saved.
Maintenance: Trains require less maintenance than buses, and an electric train car will last longer than an electric bus. Additionally, trains cause less damage to roads, so you don’t have to maintain the steel rails as often as you do with the concrete pavement.
Development: An investment of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars into LRT signifies a huge commitment that a government has towards improving that corridor. As a result, new train lines tend to lead to more private development surrounding the stations than new bus lines. However, the magnitude of this effect is quite unclear. For instance, a report from the St. Louis Fed concluded, “The general consensus from the academic literature and the findings presented in this report is that light rail is not a catalyst for economic development, but rather light rail can help guide economic development.”
Rail Bias: Possibly as a result of the above intrinsic differences mentioned, because of differences in actual implementation, or some unknown psychological difference, people tend to prefer trains over an equally useful bus. This leads to both higher ridership, and more prestige for a region (e.g. “We’re not a real city until we have a few train lines”)

How Light Rail is worse than Light BRT

Construction Cost: This is the biggest reason that Light BRT is better than Light Rail. In America, Light Rail tends to cost $100M-200M per mile to construct (e.g. the proposed St. Louis Green Line will cost $196M per mile for the 5.6 mile route). On the other hand, Light BRT costs maybe $5M per mile (e.g. the recently built Minneapolis D Line cost $75M for an 18 mile route).

Conclusion

Finally, I will conclude this article with some of my opinions on the facts described above, going over each of the major differences between Light Rail and Light BRT.

Why LRT is not better than Light BRT

The biggest factor in favor of LRT, capacity, is not a relevant distinction for essentially any new project, as light BRT has enough capacity to operate most LRT routes. For example, the proposed Green Line LRT in St. Louis has a projected daily ridership of 5k. A hypothetical light BRT could carry nearly 9k passengers every hour, well above the needed capacity. I actually couldn’t find a single example of a light rail system in the entire United States which needs the capacity of light rail and couldn’t get by with buses. If somebody has a counterexample in the comments, I’d love to see it.
One thing to note is that the ongoing driver shortage might change this math. For example, one could imagine a corridor where an LRT with 15-minute frequency has enough capacity but a bus with 15-minute frequency doesn’t. My two comments about this is that (1) If the driver shortage is such a big deal that it’s limiting frequency, that should definitely be the priority for where to spend money, and (2) If you’re only running 15-minute headways, then this is not exactly a corridor that needs significant transit investment in the first place.
Another note is that buses generally have enough capacity for day to day operations, but occasional large events like sports games or concerts might overrun this capacity. I would suggest in these cases to run special express buses on these days to transport passengers, rather than overbuilding rail capacity for most of the year.
I ride my bike and take it onto transit often, so I understand the appeal of bringing your bike on board to a light rail. But in reality, if our goal is to help urban cyclists, we would be much better off actually building protected bike lanes for a fraction of the cost of light rail. Alternatively, if St. Louis had an effective bus network, I wouldn’t even need to take my bike onto trains; I could just use the bus system to make connections!
Every other factor for transit riders actually favors light BRT over light rail. The smoothness of trains is nice, and makes it easier to read or work or relax while on it. But if I had to decide between a smooth LRT with 15-minute frequency and a less smooth light BRT with 8-minute frequency, I would definitely prefer the light BRT. And then when you consider that LRT usually leads to additional transfers for riders (usually to buses anyways), this only makes light BRT more attractive.
In terms of non-transit factors, I agree that rail leads to more development than buses. But if development is really our goal, we have much more effective and targeted methods for actually inducing development. For example, we could subsidize private development through upzoning and tax abatements or even take the money to build public development directly.
The factor of permanence is easily overcome - you could simply take the $200 million per mile which would have been used to construct the LRT and put it in a trust which can legally only be spent on transit operations in this corridor. The consideration of maintenance and efficiency also goes away based on LRT cost, as the interest alone from saved construction costs could be used to pay for maintenance and green energy technology many times over.

What should we do instead of Light Rail?

I’ve spent this entire post talking about reasons we shouldn’t build light rail. So what should we do instead? The short answer: it depends entirely on your priorities and why you even want to build light rail in the first place. If you’re going to spend $1.1 billion on a light rail line (as St. Louis has proposed to do), here are some things you could do with it instead:
Transit: If your priority is to help transit riders, you would be much better off by building Light BRT instead, for 1/40th of the cost. (i.e. for every mile of LRT you build, you could afford to build 40 miles of Light BRT). The above image is an quick example of what a potential 100 mile Light BRT system could look like in St. Louis. It would cost $400 million to build, instead of the $1 billion, 5 mile Green Line. You could then take the remaining $600 million to place in a trust fund for guaranteeing high frequency service along all these routes for years to come.
If you consider federal matching as part of your calculation, it’s roughly the case that the FTA will cover 80% of the cost of new light rail projects, and 50% of the cost of bus projects. For St. Louis specifically, both the 5.6 mile Green Line and my proposed 100 mile light BRT network would both cost $200 million in local funding, with the federal government picking up the rest of the costs. I would definitely argue that the 100 mile BRT network provides a much higher value for $200 million than the 5 mile train line.
Long-Term Savings: If your goal is to reduce long term costs on street maintenance with LRT, you could instead take the $1 billion and put it in a fund to gain interest. The $40M you would get every year would be enough to quintuple current city street maintenance (we currently spend about $9M every year across the entire city).
Environmental Impact: I don’t have any numbers to back this up, but I imagine that the difference in emissions between an electric LRV and electric bus is not that high to begin with. On the other hand, you could just take the $1 billion and give a free 3kW solar system to every single household in the city, which would save many orders of magnitude more emissions.
Development: If your priority is to spur development, you should just take the $1 billion and use it to directly incentivize new construction. This could be done with tax abatements, paid-for without hurting school budgets. A very back-of-the-napkin estimate is that if $10 million is enough to cover this abatement, then $1.1 billion would be enough to pay for almost $16 billion in new development projects, 32,000 new housing units and 165,000 sqft of commercial space. For some context, in the last 10 years (2014-2023), St. Louis gained only gained 7,034 new housing units total. I haven’t seen any direct numbers as to how much development is expected from the Green Line, but I would expect this amount is far less than $16 billion, considering the state of the literature on LRT development referenced above. As a specific example, the Wellston station in St. Louis has been open for more than 20 years and still borders a huge undeveloped plot of grass.
Bus Network Externalities: Some may object to my previous two recommendations of using the money to build solar panels and create tax abatements, rather than building transit, since funding sources are often not transferable like this, and rail funding might only be usable for transit projects. In these cases, I would still suggest building a large 100 mile light BRT transit network instead of a 5 mile light rail line. While I don’t have numbers to support this, I would strongly expect that this 100 mile network would lead to more emission reductions and more economic development than the 5 mile LRT line.

Takeaway

In my opinion, when you consider all of the differences, there is really no reason why we should be building Light Rail or Streetcars anywhere in America. For transit riders, light BRT provides an arguably more useful service than LRT, at a fraction of the cost. For non transit-riders, LRT does have some positive effects, but in an incredibly cost-inefficient manner.
I’m sure this post has some very controversial opinions. If you disagree with me, and think I’m missing some broader point about LRT, feel free to let me know in the comments. I’m especially interested in actual case studies where the capacity of LRT was necessary over light BRT, or where LRT demonstrably led to increased development.

submitted by saumikn to StLouis [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 18:06 IsThisAJoke90 6 weeks post Op Hemorrhoidectomy

I (44m) had two large hemorrhoidal columns excised about 6.5 weeks ago, with both internal and external involvement. I’d dealt with symptoms for about 20 years, with increasingly frequent episodes of external swelling, which caused pain and discomfort, followed by bright red stools with obvious chunks of blood clots. The bleeding started and became more frequent over the last 1-2 years. Even when external swelling wasn’t present, the external hemorrhoid tissue was substantial, making good hygiene increasingly difficult.
Because of my long history with hemorrhoid disease, I was advised by both my PCP and my colorectal surgeon that even with lifestyle changes, I would still be predisposed to recurrence. I decided to go through with the surgery, in spite of reading some horror stories online, including in this subreddit, because there were enough success stories to give me confidence that the surgery would most likely improve my quality of life. And it has.
Was the pain bad at times, during the first 1-2 weeks? Absolutely. But was it manageable? 100% yes. I was definitely not in constant pain. The first few days the gelfoam soaked in Exparel packed in my butt, along with all the injections at the site, do wonders. The worst pain I felt was during and following my first poo, on day 4. I was loading up on fiber and stool softeners for the first three days, but they weren’t breaking through the Oxycodone-induced constipation, so I increased my Miralax dosing. My poor, wounded, angry anus was not ready to let anything through, but eventually my colon won. The poo itself was soft, fortunately, but it was substantial, and it happened so quickly and forcefully that I had excruciating anal spasms for hours afterward. Even with sitz baths, Oxycodone, ibuprofen, and tylenol. Nothing touched the pain, except time. A muscle relaxer might’ve helped, but I wasn’t prescribed any, and didn’t find the ones I had for a previous injury until days later.
For the first 2-3 weeks, I was mostly fine unless I was pooping or had recently pooped. The consistency of the poop, and how much straining was necessary, made all the difference in how the rest of my day went. Fiber, fiber, fiber. I’ve found that about 4 tsp of Konsyl per day, split between lunch and dinner (I don’t eat breakfast), is my sweet spot. That’s about 20g per day, plus another 10-20g I’m getting from my diet, so 30-40g/day.
There are tons of great post-op recovery posts in this subreddit, so I don’t want to repeat too much of what you can find in those, but did want to address a couple of questions that I had trouble finding answers to before my surgery.
Can you recover without help if you live alone? I was able to. I’m a fit, pretty active, and very independent guy. Other than having a family member sit with me for an hour or two after I got home from the procedure, I was alone for my recovery. Stock up on groceries and easy to prep food in the week before the surgery. If you have friends/family who can drop meals off for you, take advantage of it. Get groceries or meals delivered. Etc. It’s 100% do-able. Just rest and let your body heal.
Can you take care of kids during your recovery? I have 50/50 custody of my elementary school aged child, and was fortunate that her mom was able to keep them my entire first week of recovery. I could’ve done things around the house for them if needed, but I was on Oxycodone for the first 4 days straight, and intermittently for the first 6 days, so I would not have been able to drive them anywhere. Because of that, it would have been hard for them to stay with me. It was helpful not to have anyone else to take care of other than myself.
When can you go back to work? I took three weeks off. I initially planned for two weeks off from my desk job, and then added a week because my bathroom routine was still so unpredictable and intensive that it wouldn’t have been practical for me to be at work. If I worked from home it might’ve been do-able, but I don’t.
Am I completely healed at 6.5 weeks? No, not completely. Leakage is my number one residual issue right now. I’m still wearing a thin panty-liner 24/7. The leakage is primarily that clear, funky/fishy-smelling mucosa, but I will also have some brown mixed in the hours after a poo. I’ve read from others here that this may continue for 2-3 months. I also have some residual skin tags that may still shrink some. My colorectal surgeon discussed the possibility of removing them later on if they continue to bother me, but cautioned that he can’t guarantee “a perfect butthole” because the scarring from skin tag removal may result in more skin tags. I feel like they’re smaller than they were last week, so hopefully it’s just an ongoing healing process.
It has been a long road, but it goes by fast, and is definitely manageable. I’m 100% glad I did it. Even with the residual issues, my quality of life is better than it was 2 months ago. I see light at the end of the tunnel. If you’re having major or chronic issues, definitely consider surgery if your doctor says you’re a candidate. At my post-op appointment, my surgeon said he typically doesn’t recommend surgery for hemorrhoidal disease, but with my presentation, he thought I made the right decision.

submitted by IsThisAJoke90 to hemorrhoid [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 17:54 saumikn Why America should not build Light Rail

Note: This post was copy-pasted from my blog, but I’ve put the full text (minus images) here so it’s easier to engage with and meets the urbanplanning posting rules.

Introduction

Wider stop spacing: Light BRT buses have stops every 1/4 to 1/2 miles, rather than the 1/8 to 1/4 mile stop spacing of regular city buses. This reduces the amount of time the bus spends at stops.
High frequency: Light BRT lines come frequently, ideally at least every 10 minutes. This reduces passenger waiting time.
Signal priority: Light BRT buses have technology which integrates with city traffic lights. This reduces the amount of time the bus is waiting at a red light.
Off-board fare collection: Instead of the bus operator collecting fares for each passenger, passengers pay at the station itself, and fares are validated using a proof-of-payment system. This reduces the amount of time the bus spends at stops.
Bus lanes: Light BRT may operate either entirely or partially in dedicated transit lanes. This increases bus travel speeds while in motion.
Larger buses: Light BRT takes advantage of larger buses with many doors, such as articulated or bi-articulated buses. This increases the capacity of the system and reduces the amount of time the bus spends at stops.

Overview of Transit Modes

In this section, I’ll give a brief overview of the various types of transit modes which are built with rail and buses.

Types of Rail

Heavy Rail: This is the highest capacity and most expensive transit mode, consisting of long train sets operating in an entirely grade-separated right-of-way. Examples include the New York Subway or the Chicago L.
Light Rail: This is a lower capacity mode and less expensive than heavy rail. LRT systems are mostly not grade-separated, but run alongside street corridors, usually operating in a dedicated lane outside mixed traffic. Examples of light rail are the Minneapolis Light Rail or the San Diego Trolley.
Heavy+Light Rail: As a side note, there are many LRT systems which are very close to heavy rail but are still considered light rail. In these systems, where the vast majority of the system is grade-separated and operates like heavy rail, but there are still a few at-grade crossings. Examples of this are the Seattle Link or the St. Louis MetroLink.
Streetcars: In America, the distinction between LRT and streetcars is very fuzzy, but in general, streetcars usually refer to at-grade trains which run in mixed traffic, and are essentially treated like a city bus on rails instead of tires. Examples of streetcars include the Portland Streetcar or the Kansas City Streetcar.

Types of Buses

"Heavy" BRT: Heavy BRT aims to replicate heavy or light rail with buses as much as possible, with dedicated concrete guideways separated from mixed traffic and rail-like stations. Examples of heavy BRT include the Albuquerque ART or the Cleveland HealthLine.
"Light" BRT: Light BRT can be thought of as an upgraded city bus, with features like transit signal priority, optimized stop spacing, and off-board fare collection. Examples of light BRT include the Minneapolis aBRT, the New York SBS, or the Seattle RapidRide.
City Buses: This is the standard mode bus which operates in every major city, operating in mixed traffic without any extra features to improve transit operations. It’s possible for buses to use special propulsion technology like electric engines with batteries, or elevated wires (i.e. trolleybuses).

Light Rail vs Light BRT

Differences for Transit Riders

How Light Rail is better than Light BRT

Overall Capacity: This is the biggest, most-cited reason why light rail is better than light BRT. Most common LRT vehicles have a carrying capacity of 200 to 300 passengers per car and can be connected in sets of two or three cars. Assuming a maximum of 2 minute frequency, this gives us a potential capacity of 27k passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD). On the other hand, the largest bi-articulated buses can carry 300 passengers at most. With no ability to combine buses together, this means a maximum capacity of 9k PPHPD.
Bike/Wheelchair Capacity: On a related note, LRT can carry not only more passengers, but more large mobility aids like bikes, wheelchairs, or strollers. A single bus can only really hold 3 bikes on the front racks, while the interiors of LRT can be arranged to accommodate more bikes. The extra space on LRT also allows for more space for wheelchairs, strollers, scooters, and other types of mobility devices, or even just large items in general like suitcases or furniture.
Ride Smoothness: Because LRT is on metal rails, it is more smooth while accelerating, decelerating, and driving. This can be mitigated for buses by ensuring the street is well-paved and using bulb stations so that buses don't have to switch lanes every other block, but some intrinsic difference remains.

How Light Rail is equal to Light BRT

Speed: Overall, the speed of buses and trains on city streets are approximately the same. I've seen some claims that buses are slightly faster at accelerating/decelerating, but most of the speed differences are due to the infrastructure supporting the transit, not the vehicles themselves. If both modes have dedicated lanes, signal priority, equal stop spacing, and off-board fare collection, they will both be roughly the same speed.
System Legibility: For new riders who have never taken transit, learning how to take the train is generally easier to learn how to take the bus. However, with enough effort, transit operators can make buses just as legible. Well-designed maps can highlight BRT routes, and bright, continuous, red-painted lanes make it equally easy to understand the direction of a bus and a physical rail line.

How Light Rail is worse than Light BRT

Operating Costs: The data shows that LRT generally has higher operating costs than buses. According to analysis by Christopher MacKechnie in 2020, in America, buses have an hourly operating cost of $122, while LRT has an hourly operating cost of costs $233 per hour. What this means for riders is that transit operators can afford to run more buses than trains under a fixed operating budget. As an example, if an agency is planning to run an LRT with 15 minute frequency, they could afford to run a bus with 8 minute frequency for the same cost, providing a much more useful service.
Dealing with Obstacles: Because LRT is on rails, there is essentially no way for it to maneuver around obstacles or go in places where there is no rail. This is most obviously a problem if there is an accident or the rails are blocked by e.g. a parked car. But even more importantly, this is a long-term issue that can prevent full service. For example, the 2022 St. Louis floods damaged the light rail signal box at one station, causing all trains to be plagued with single-tracking and slow speeds for nearly two years! If this were a BRT, the bus could just pick an alternate road to go around without harming operations.
Fewer Transfers: Because LRT is limited to rails, it makes it much more difficult to extend a route once it’s created. This forces passengers from outside to the immediate vicinity of the rails to transfer from a bus. For example, in St. Louis, we currently have the #4 and #11 buses which go from the edge of the city to downtown. But when the Green Line is built, these passengers will mostly likely be forced to get off the bus and transfer to the new LRT, and then transfer again to get to downtown. On the other hand, in an open BRT system, buses can easily be extended to continue past the end of the line, reducing transfers for customers.
Ease of Expansion: On a related note, the high costs of construction can make it difficult to ever expand an LRT system in the future. In St. Louis, there have been plans floating to extend the Green Line north, to cover the rest of the #4 bus route. But just this week, a new report suggested that this extension might not be politically feasible. And there is essentially no discussion at all about a potential southern expansion to cover the rest of the #11’s route. On the other hand, light BRT coverage is much easier to expand, since the base road network already exists.

Differences for non-Transit Riders

How Light Rail is better than Light BRT

Energy Efficiency: Trains are more energy efficient than buses, because of the gains of efficiency by using rails. This difference is reduced to some degree if you consider the energy usage of a three-car light rail vs a single bus, but overall, trains are more efficient on a per-passenger basis. Unfortunately, I can’t actually find hard numbers on how much energy exactly is being saved.
Maintenance: Trains require less maintenance than buses, and an electric train car will last longer than an electric bus. Additionally, trains cause less damage to roads, so you don’t have to maintain the steel rails as often as you do with the concrete pavement.
Development: An investment of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars into LRT signifies a huge commitment that a government has towards improving that corridor. As a result, new train lines tend to lead to more private development surrounding the stations than new bus lines. However, the magnitude of this effect is quite unclear. For instance, a report from the St. Louis Fed concluded, “The general consensus from the academic literature and the findings presented in this report is that light rail is not a catalyst for economic development, but rather light rail can help guide economic development.”
Rail Bias: Possibly as a result of the above intrinsic differences mentioned, because of differences in actual implementation, or some unknown psychological difference, people tend to prefer trains over an equally useful bus. This leads to both higher ridership, and more prestige for a region (e.g. “We’re not a real city until we have a few train lines”)

How Light Rail is worse than Light BRT

Construction Cost: This is the biggest reason that Light BRT is better than Light Rail. In America, Light Rail tends to cost $100M-200M per mile to construct (e.g. the proposed St. Louis Green Line will cost $196M per mile for the 5.6 mile route). On the other hand, Light BRT costs maybe $5M per mile (e.g. the recently built Minneapolis D Line cost $75M for an 18 mile route).

Conclusion

Finally, I will conclude this article with some of my opinions on the facts described above, going over each of the major differences between Light Rail and Light BRT.

Why LRT is not better than Light BRT

What should we do instead of Light Rail?

Takeaway

submitted by saumikn to urbanplanning [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 17:49 Alxaphy Shadows - 2

As I was writing the last part, I remembered this story from my childhood. As a kid, I was always scared of the dark. My mom, being aware of this, always kept a night light on somewhere in my room. I couldn’t sleep without it no matter how hard I tried. It was a comfort knowing that no matter what, when I woke up I could see everything in my room.
This story happened when I was 8 years old. We had just moved to Oregon because my Dad had recently got a job with a local marketing agency. This was great for our family because we were rather on the poor side and didn’t have much to our name. This job was a huge step in the right direction. The house we moved into was your average 2 story family ranch style house out in the middle of a clearing surrounded by woods.
I was fine being surrounded by woods because that meant that, during the day, I could go out there either pretend to have stick sword fights with no one or build a stick fort that I was the sole leader of. There was, however, an area of the woods I was not allowed to enter. My dad told me, “Under no circumstances should I ever see you near that part of the woods.” When I tried to pry him for information as to why, the best answer he could give me was “I want to be able to see you safe at all times.”
From our kitchen, you could see the woods from a window overlooking that area. I understood and promised him that I would stay where he could see me, but a nagging feeling kept coming over me as to why I wasn’t allowed to go back to that area.
I had made a friend at my new school in the couple of months I had been there. He was my best friend, and his name was Aaron. Now if you know anything about Aaron and I, you would know just how nerdy we can be. We both like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, etc. But I introduced Aaron to the wonderful world of the woods. I taught him every broken form of lightsaber combat I knew, and the best way to conquer a fort that no one wanted. I did everything with Aaron. So when my parents were going out for dinner, I asked them if Aaron could stay at the house as they were out. They reluctantly agreed and left.
I called Aaron and told him that my parents had given me the go ahead to have him over. He arrived shortly after with his PS3 and more games than I had ever seen in my life. Between video games, snacks, and board games, we did enough activity for 30 people our age.
Aaron asked me, “What would you like to do now, John?
What did I want to do? I thought about it for a moment before replying to him, “Have I ever told about the area of the woods that I’m not allowed in?”
“I don’t think so.” He replied with a puzzled look littering his face.
“My Dad told me that there is an area in the woods that is completely off limits. He says that he just doesn’t want me to go back there to keep me safe. I’m not sure I completely believe him.”
Aaron laughed before saying, “Probably because there’s aliens back there dude. They might turn you into one of them. E.T would have nothing on alien John.”
We both erupted into laughter at the thought of alien John.
“No seriously,” I said after catching my breath, “lets go explore that part of the woods.”
“Your dad doesn’t want us going back there, bro. He must have a good enough reason.”
Aaron was always a good two shoes. Teacher’s pet.
“Come on, we wont even be gone that long. I just want to have a peak. Now is the perfect time! My parents are gone!”
“Nah man,” Aaron replied, “I think I’m going to sit this one out.”
“Suit yourself, I’ll see you tomorrow as school.” And with that, I headed out with a flashlight to the part of the woods I knew I wasn’t supposed to go.
As I trekked, I grew more and more excited as to what I would find back here. Maybe if was a pot of gold that dad didn’t want us to find, or maybe it was a lifetime pass to the arcade. Both were exceptionally good possibilities. As I got farther out, an uneasy feeling started to sink over me. The sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, and it was becoming harder to see. I pushed forward anyway.
I came to a clearing in the woods and stopped dead in my tracks. I had to blink and rub my eyes to comprehend what I was seeing. There, right in the middle, were the skinned and gutted remains of some of the local wildlife. I didn’t find it incredibly odd, just really disgusting. I moved past it without a second thought. It had become much darker now and I realized that I only had half an hour till my parents were home. I had to wrap this little adventure up.
I started to head back when I heard rustling in the nearby trees. The sound brought me to a dead halt. I was hyperaware of every little sound around me. Every leaf crunch, every twig snap, everything with like a gunshot in my adrenaline induced state.
“Hello, “ I let out with a shaky voice, “Is anyone there?”
The noises didn’t stop though. I shined my flashlight in the direction the noises were coming from. There standing just out of view but just visible enough was a shadow. It looked human and I assumed it could be Aaron coming to join me.
“Aaron, is that you?”
Silence.
“This isn’t funny man, cut it out.”
Again, silence.
The longer I looked at this… thing, the more the feeling of dread starting to wash over me. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, but I knew it wasn’t Aaron. He would’ve at least announced himself at this point.
Suddenly and without warning, a loud noise started all around me. It was deafeningly loud, and it sounded like it was coming from everywhere all at once. I immediately drop the flashlight to cover my ears. It was louder than anything I had ever heard before. And then as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
I picked the flashlight back up and flashed to the direction the figure was standing. It was gone. Where… where did it go? Did that… thing make that noise? I heard a twig snap behind me and there it was. The shadow figure was now much closer than it was before. I immediately bolted for home running as fast as humanly possible. As I ran, I heard it clambering after me. But not just on the ground, it also sounded like it was swinging from the trees. It alternated between these two methods of transportation in split seconds. I had never heard of an animal capable of doing that before.
I kept running. I passed more trees than I could count, a river, a large boulder until I ran out of the forest and into my backyard. I stopped to catch my breath and decided to eye the tree line to see if it was still following me. To my horror, it was standing just inside the tree line watching me. I ran into the house through the back door and almost collided with my father.
“Where have you been?! We almost called the police!”
I looked at my watch. It had been 3 hours since I last checked it. That’s not possible, I just checked my watch 20 minutes ago. I wasn’t out there for that long. At least, I didn’t think I was.
“I was just out in the part of the woods you told me I couldn’t go to,” I said in between labored breaths, “I saw a shadow man, and loud noise came out of nowhere. Dad, I thought Aaron was with me but he wasn’t.”
“You didn’t see any shadow people,” My dad replied angerly, “You need to go to bed, we will discuss your punishment in the morning.”
I walked to my room like a sad dog that walks with its tail between its legs. What my dad didn’t know is that I had seen a shadow person that day. I didn’t know what I was seeing until recently. I didn’t know the importance of what this shadow meant. Not yet anyway.

submitted by Alxaphy to nosleep [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 17:14 BreakNecessary6940 Make money online

Anyone here ever try those weird dropshipping /affiliate marketing / or Amazon side hustles? What about selling make money online courses? I see people our age with all this stuff on social media and yes it can be fake but still. I see scammers/ and drug dealers they all seem to have a “better life”
Of course the simple answer to this is “just work a job” We all know this is false. Legal ways of making money either are next to impossible/require startup/or scammy/ Illegal ways of making money are maybe a bit “easier” but insanely risky.
I don’t think the answer to this is go to McDonalds. Go to trade school. Go to college.
Like we don’t need money to live two three four years from now. We need money to live TODAY. I don’t care if we lack certain “education” or “experience” regardless we still have to eat and more.

submitted by BreakNecessary6940 to depression_help [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 17:12 DjangoID1 One cycle one school one acceptance

I applied to one school last cycle because of my immigration status (I didn’t become a citizen until the end of September). In October I thought about PA and I got my shit together quickly and asked for references while doing that I was working full time taking care of my family (a wife, 2kids, horses, 3-5ft of snow) and I was able to register for quick online A&P I,II. I applied to this specific school in Feb(because it was the only school that still had their application open). After applying through caspa. I had some problems with the Graduate school administration (the person who had my file was very very late to reply to any of my messages, procrastinating, and never actually answered his phone). Despite that I still tried to be in top of my file by calling and emailing.. Anyway, got things sorted out by enrolling in more online courses(that cost me 5K) since I been out of school for 10 years. I got invited to an interview that was held about few days ago, and the next day I got the letter that I was accepted. Also knowing that I have an interview didn’t stop me from applying this cycle. So one cycle, on e school, one acceptance. I’m very blessed and just know that hard work always pays off. The interview process was tense and I can see other candidates were very nervous. I was nervous a little bit but I definitely was more chill than other. I woke up early at the hotel, started listening to Chris Stapleton, got ready and walked in to the school with a big smile. In fact I remember I answered one of the interview questions by saying something a long the line of “life is not fair, and if you think it’s fair just wait” The interviewer looked at me and said “that’s harsh but that’s a plus for you, good job”

submitted by DjangoID1 to prephysicianassistant [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 17:03 robertoblake2 Realistic but BRUTAL Advice for YouTubers with a Full-time Job or Family

YouTube Advice for Creators under 10,000 Subscribers that are struggling… also might apply to anyone under 100K.
This will help you not only grow an audience but make time if you work a full-time job, prioritize the right tools, and that matters most and least.
**IGNORE this advice if you only want to do YouTube as a fun hobby, in which case stop worrying about growth and make whatever you want...
This is an extremely long post with several sections covering MAKING CONTENT FIRST and how to improve the quality of whatever you make, then it will get more deeply into audience growth and strategy later on...
If you want to grow your audience, and you are a working class creator (works 40+ hours and may or ma not have a family, or is a full-time student), then you can't prioritize "Quality over Quantity"...
Now before you stop reading, lets breakdown why.
LACK OF TIME FREEDOM AND RESOURCES.
You need to be getting out 1-2 videos per week, not just to post anything or to post garbage to check a box, but to gain valuable experience and to become a FASTER video editor overall. Aim for at least 100 videos a year, this will become important later in the STRATEGY SECTION.
SPEED is your greatest ally in growth, along side PATIENCE.
When your limitation is scraps of time and scraps of energy you need SPEED and FOCUS to be able to grow as a content creator.
Plan your videos in advance, and your videos need to focus on ONE AUDIENCE.
ONE AUDIENCE, ONE CHANNEL.
Otherwise you spread yourself too thin, the grass grows greener where you water it.
Each video can't take more than 5-10 hours to turn around for now. If you get some free time like a vacation or time off or a holiday, you can make a "banger" video a few times a year that you pour 20-40 hours into.
But this should wait until you have more experience and resources. The YouTubers you admire have 40 hours a week to do nothing but make content and can hire other people.
You can't expect to close that gap with your scraps of spare time and energy after being exhausted at the job all week. You have to do what you can with what you have, until you can do better. And that's okay.
Don't try to OVER EDIT and be fancy when you are starting out as a creator. Edit enough to eliminate distractions and to enhance the best parts and most important parts of a video.
Instead put more thought into the IDEA/TOPIC and who it appeals to. Focus on SCRIPTING, STRUCTURE, and STORYTELLING.
FOR FAST EDITING learn a program that you can grow with, iMovie is TOO LIMITING and takes longer to basic task than it should, its main appeal is that it is FREE.
For Fast Editing, use Adobe Rush or Capcut.
If you want something FREE but really good that can compete with BIG YOUTUBERS and has almost no limitations use DaVinci Resolve.
I am an Adobe power user and have been for 20+ years so I use Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Audition for my editing workflow, and have made several tutorials on it.
The editing techniques you should prioritize:

COLOR CORRECTION
CORRECTING AUDIO
CUTTING AND VIDEO TRACK LAYERING
ADDING BACKGROUND MUSIC
ADDING B-ROLL
ADDING TRANSITIONS
AUDIO MIXING AND EQ
COLOR GRADING
MOTION GRAPHICS

If you can learn these then you can move on to the following:

SPEED RAMPING (TIMELAPSE/SLOWMO)
MULTI-CAM EDITING
GREEN SCREEN EDITING

Aside from specific special effects or techniques from individual Big YouTubers or Films, these are the only editing techniques the majority of creators will need to know to make their content.
I also recommend learning them in more or less this order of priority, as it will apply to most content.
Beyond that, focus on your PERFORMANCE, PERSONALITY, and PRODUCTION QUALITY.
Good Audio Matters, but so does your on camera delivery. Learn to deliver on camera with confidence and pay attention to your body language, posture, facial expressions, tonality, inflection, speech patterns.
You can improve all of this for FREE and it will cost you $0 and make any video 10X better, just by being a better on-camera personality and working on being a better performer.
If you can either do Toastmasters to learn public speaking, do open mic nights to practice and gain confidence, or look into paying for improv classes.
For production quality, the most important investments even if you're going to use the camera on your phone, are AUDIO and then LIGHTING.
You'll want to buy lighting because then you can control when you film, if you only use natural lighting the window for your ability to film is more limited and you may not have the energy just because the timing was good for the daylight hours.
For Affordable Lighting the best and most reasonable brands are Neweer, Aputure and Godox.
If you don't wear glasses get an $80 Ring Light
If you where glasses avoid ring lights and panel lights and get a COB light from Aputure or Godox Instead for $150-$200. When you can move to a 2x to 3x light setup or use a 1 light setup with a lantern diffuser or dome. Position the light slightly above you and directly in front of you.
If you have to use panel lights and you ear glasses, light from the sides. If you need to film in front a whiteboard for any reason, also light from the sides.
For Audio You want to get a microphone as close to as possible. There are good wireless mics that plug into phones for under $30. Don't avoid getting a dedicated microphone.
If filming at a desk use a podcast mic from Shure or Elgato. These are under $200 but will be one of your best investments.
For Cameras and Lenses, the LENS CONTROLS THE LOOK OF VIDEOS. Remember this rule from now on.
The "cinematic" look with blurry background (depth of field) is a result of "Fast Lenses" lenses capable of a F/1.2, F/1.4, F/1.8, F/2.0 or F/2.8 aperture, sometimes called F STOP.
This allows you or the subject to be in focus and the background to be blurry. This is the "Big YouTuber Look" in videos you admire.
It can be faked with some modern smartphones, but its better with a real camera.
The most affordable cameras to produce this look that change lenses and are decent are the Sony ZVe10 and the Sony a6700. If you want something for under $700 that doesn't have interchangable lenses but can still achieve this look get the Sony ZV1F or the Sony ZV1.
These are your most affordable "Vlog Style" cameras that have a flip out screen and have audio jack inputs for microphones, and have all the modern features a content creator needs.
For camera lenses the most affordable prime lenses (no zoom) for talking head videos with blurry background look are going to be the 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm. For small rooms and the most options including streaming, you will want the 24mm lens.
Vlogger Matt D'avella uses the 24mm look in his videos.
If you like close up shots the 35mm and 50mm are the most flattering. For vloggers the 20mm is best overall.
When you can afford it the most versatile lenses for YouTubers are the f/2.8 16-35mm lens and the f/2.8 24-70mm.
CONTENT STRATEGY
This is the part most of you came for but strategy won't help poorly made content... and even if it could that would be at the audiences expense and unfair to viewers.
Content Strategy revolves around VIEWS, , SUBSCRIBERS, AND MONETIZATION. These are your main YouTube Metrics.
Views = Value to Viewer Subscribers = Support/Status Monetization = Money
Put another way
Views = Traffic Subscribers = Trust Monetization = Transaction
To get to 1,000 Subscribers you generally need to target getting your first 100,000 views from LONG FORM CONTENT.
None of what we discuss here will apply to Short Form Creators.
Usually I tell Creators that for getting 1000 Subscribers and 4000 watch hours in 12 months their target should be to make 100 videos, and average 1000 lifetime views per upload with an average view duration of about 3 minutes. 4000 Watch Hours is 240,000 Minutes, so 300,000 minutes (5000 hours) will give them a safety margin.
100 videos is 2 uploads per week for a whole year, and so it makes math easy and the goal obtainable.
10 Get to 10,000 Subscribers we have to be more aggressive and the goal is not necessarily to go from 0 to 10,000 in one year, if you have a lot of limitations on time and resources and have not learned video production and editing thoroughly.
Realistically your first year of content creation will be struggling to get out 1 video per week, and it will probably not be focused an intentional content, and will be expression.
For most of you the best thing would be to make a "throw away" YouTube channel where you can post everything you're passionate about and get it out of your system so you can not feel stifled and free up your mind. That channel is not about growth. Its about learning.
Most your favorite creators didn't grow until their 2nd or 3rd YouTube channel because they needed to experiment with expression and get some skills under their belt before they could focus on pleasing an audience.
The Strategy for someone FOCUSING on GROWTH and trying to grow to 10,000 subscribers using the 1% rule is to try to get their first 1 MILLION channel views without going viral, and using only LONG FORM CONTENT.
If you wanted to try to achieve this in a year, the goal would be to make 100-150 videos in a year with an average of 8000-10,000 views across these videos.
The most practical way to do that is to focus on ONE AUDIENCE. When we say "niche down" we really don't mean "one topic" so much as ONLY TOPICS THIS ONE GROUP CARES ABOUT.
You can think of this as picking your table at lunch. Are you sitting with the Goth Kids, The Jocks the Chess Club, the Cheerleaders? These groups all have different interest, priorities, preferences and culture.
You would struggle in appeasing and uniting all of them.
For getting Views, you have to know what people give attention to, and attention isn't gained by video editing, its retained by it...
So attention is gained by TOPIC, TITLE, THUMBNAIL, TIMING/TREND.
This is what communicates and demonstrates VALUE FOR THE VIEWER.
We will disqualify you from attention if you're covering a TOPIC we don't care about, it doesn't matter how good the video is.
The TITLE communicates the topic and that and TIMING decide if its MORE RELEVANT TO US than other videos fighting for our attention at the moment.
THUMBNAILS are who you get us to look your way and PAY ATTENTION to you. Dress to Impress.
The Framework I teach my coaching clients for thumbnails is the VIBES Framework:
VISUALLY ATTRACTIVE AT A GLANCE INTERESTING AT A GLANCE BOLD COLORS, CONTRAST AND TEXT EYE CATCHING ELEMENTS SOCIAL PROOF/ STATUS
A thumbnail should have all or most of these elements and you can see MOST thumbnails that get views on YouTube tend to have some of these in common.
The exception(s) to this don't negate the rule (and by rule we mean common pattern or trend), so please stop bringing them up, since it won't apply to you.
Titles are not supposed to be "SEO FRIENDLY" its TOPICS that would be SEO Friendly, this is a common point of confusion.
And SEO or Search Friendly Content isn't really for those of you who want to be entertainers, it is for those of you in niches like tech, beauty, finance, podcasting, product reviewers, tv show reviewers, reaction channels, or those making tutorial content, or covering news/poltiics.
You can worry about it less or not at all if you are an entertainment based YouTuber doing vlogs, pranks, gameplay, storytelling, spectacle, etc..
In general TITLES should be about what the Viewer will value and identify with.
One common method I teach is "Ambition vs Anxiety" Framing. The thing you want be true, or the thing you are afraid is true. Sometimes both in the same title.
Example: "97% of YouTube Channels Fail: How to Succeed as a Small YouTuber".
This video has 93,000 Views.
It frames an anxiety trigger "failure" but also teases and ambition trigger "success" but also uses a very eye catching data point...
The hook at the beginning of the video cites several pieces of data to support the claim in the title.
Titles that use emotional triggers will get more clicks and thumbnails that tell a story in a glace without giving away the whole video but can illustrate the main IDEA, will be a winning combination for a creator.
For this reason you need to focus on the IDEA/TOPIC, and the THUMBNAIL and TITLE combo, before you make the video, it can't be an after thought you spend 5 minutes on.
Should you use templates?
For most of you need templates because you're bad typography (choosing and arranging fonts properly) and bad a color theory and design and don't know what a good layout is and how to make those decisions.
Templates where you can swap out your custom photos and rewrite the text, at least mean that instead of a "unique" thumbnail that is bad, you can have a generic thumbnail that is acceptable.
It is better for you to wear a school uniform and then stand out with a scarf or a pin or a hat... and be just above generic...
Than to be original and have it be tacky, ugly, and be avoided.
So while I understand the logic on custom thumbnails being better. its only better if it comes out looking good.
Good Looking and Generic > Unique and Ugly.
For most of you this already solves a lot of the problem, unless you don't even know what to make or who your audience/niche should be.
For figuring this out I have made several videos and live streams you can watch that explain these things in detail and I do suggest you actually sit through them when you have time.
But a short answer is that you should do the following:
Something you are passionate about but only if you're good at it or can be become good at it reasonably fast. The exception is if you're going to document a journey.
Whatever you pick you should be able to prove that it has a large enough audience.
The way you do this is identify if there are several channels with 100K to 1M subscribers doing this type of content.
IF NOT, and you are determined to build the niche yourself, you can, but don't cry about how hard it is or how slow and painful it is.
You're trying to build an oasis in a desert at that point, and you probably don't have the experience, expertise, resources or support to pull that off... so be self aware.
You want to also consider your own reality and situation, if you want to do this as a career and not a hobby you need to consider if your niche has good money in it and a variety of monetization opportunities.
Are there a lot of sponsors in this niche? IF you struggle to find creators doing sponsored content, and can't name 5-10 sponsors for this sort of content, then it will be very difficult to go full-time.
If you can't think something you can sell to the audience in this niche, you will be beholden to how many views you can get for Adsense and how many brands are willing to work with you... and how long you can stay relevant.
This is why its important to decide if you are going to be a hobby creator, who will go full-time if you're fortunate enough to happen to grow, or if you are building a career as a creator intentionally and are trying to grow and monetize sustainably long-term.
What are you passionate about? What are you good at? What has an audience? What makes money?
It should qualify to check all 4 of those boxes.
Look up my video on IKIGAI.
SUBSCRIBERS?
How to do we turn viewers into subscribers on long form content?
We go off of the 1% rule here which is why for 1000 subscribers you need 100,000 views, and for 10,000 you need 1 Million views and for 100,000 you need 10M views (on average).
Some niches like gaming, are much harder to convert viewers to subscribers and have a Viewer to Subscriber Conversion rate of .3% or .5% instead of the general 1%.
This is a far more important success metric than "view to subscriber ratio on each upload".
Do subscribers matter?
To the ALGORITHM? NO. It doesn't particularly help distribution in a "meaningful way", its marginal.
For most of you reading this if you have viewers at all 50% to 80% of your views on all videos are from NON-SUBSCRIBERS.
Don't be sad about this, as it means you have great growth potential to convert those people.
It just means that we have to accept that in an ALGORITHM driven platform "audience loyalty" is a luxury, since platforms distribute content to viewers based on whats good for the platform, not whats good for the creator...
Its highly likely your subscribers aren't always given the opportunity to even know when you are uploading...
Which is why Creators who upload on a scheduled day and or time and stream on a scheduled day or time, tend to have higher audience loyalty from Returning Viewers in their analytics.
To turn viewers into Subscribers is where HIGH QUALITY content and HIGH EFFORT content can come into play.
If you are a working class creator with limited time, you need to make videos of ACCEPTABLE QUALITY, and this means the audio has to be good, and the editing should focus on accuracy and eliminating distractions.
Here PERSONALITY AND PERFORMANCE are your chance to stand out and shine.
You have to build LIKE AND TRUST with anyone who gives your video a chance.
When you can't out compete on the highest quality in your niche, win on consistency.
If you can make acceptable quality content that only improves a little with every single upload, if you can upload 3-5 times a week and go live once a week, in a niche where the most popular creators only upload 1-2 times per week, you can feed the audience that is HUNGRY FOR MORE.
You content be comes supplemental and support content, for people who aren't satisfied with ONLY what they get from the largest Creators.
You could also position as the alternative point of view to the most popular creators in a niche.
The main thing is to create a QUALITY EXPERIENCE, we will keep coming back to whoever provides a good time, and we will also support someone what we feel provided us VALUE.
The content in terms of production and editing doesn't have to be over the top, if it is acceptable but the PERSONALITY AND PERFORMANCE of the creator are GREAT then we can easily support them and subscribe to them and share their content.
For growth also remember the value of community. If you're small, you should REPLY TO EVERY SINGLE COMMENT and be thoughtful.
Here are also 4 things the ALGORITHM can't do anything about that help growth:

SCHEUDLE
SEARCH
SHARES
SHOUTOUTS

If you're benefiting from these, then the algorithm would have to quite literally shadow ban you for you not grow.
You need to consider NON ALGORITHM EVENTS in your growth strategy and not always "Let YouTube Take the Wheel".
Is there more to growth and content strategy than this? YES.
Is there information here that doesn't apply to your situation? YES.
Does this work for every single creator if they follow it without exception? NO.
Does that matter. NO.
This information, has the highest overall probability of solving most of your issues when it comes to not growing as a content creator.
For most of you... not growing boils down to a HARSH TRUTH that is pretty brutal.
You don't want to server an audience, you want to please yourself with what you are posting, and be validated for it...
Because you are looking for an audience and attention validate you for being you, because you likely haven't experienced that before or enough... and you desperately want to feel seen...
This is human and normal, so I'm not putting you down for it, even if that is what it feels like.
But the BLUNT TRUTH as brutal as it is, will be that NONE OF THAT is the problem of the viewer, and they likely don't care... and that is reflected in the growth you are not getting.
My compromise if for you to SERVE AN AUDIENCE ON YOUTUBE...
And then express yourself on INSTAGRAM/TIKTOK an ask your YouTube audience to support you there where you can post whatever you want, whenever you want and not niche down, and just have people support you no matter what.
As for those of you who want to go full-time, most full-time creators, make their money from sponsors and not Adsense.
Do sponsored content but also UGC (reference my live stream about this for a full guide) and get 3-5x brands that you can work with for a minimum of $1000-$3000 a month each depending on what they need from you.
If you can do that with long-term 12 month contracts you can make a Ful-time living as a content creator.
For early monetization use the Amazon Influencer Program and it's affiliate links and make sure to use these with the YouTube community tab. This is underrated for making money.
YouTube can be a full-time income if you approach it intentionally and strategically.
Treat it with the respect of a real job, because trust me it is TAXED the same as one (actually more due to 15% self employment tax in America)
Keep in mind you also have to make 30% more than your job … because you have to cover your taxes but also pay for private healthcare coverage.
I can make a post about full-time YouTube and healthcare coverage, taxes and insurance coverage for your gear and media insurance if anyone is really interested in that.
I hope you find this helpful.
I will try to reply to questions.

submitted by robertoblake2 to NewTubers [link] [comments]

2024.06.07 16:21 juicykola My Friend M20 Stopped Contacting Me F18 and Is Ignoring Me Out Of No Where, What Does This Mean? What Should I Do?

Long story short, I don't even know what to label us because we have done intimate things before, but for the most part, we are just friends. For the last few months, when school didn't end due to summer break, we would see each other at least once a week. Nothing sexual happened, but I would always sleep over at his place. During spring break, when I had no place to go, I stayed at his small single room dorm for a week. This is the sort of relationship we had. He would talk about other girls too, the ones he likes or whatnot, and despite him doing this, I still had feelings for him. The question is, I don't know if he knows.
Anyway, outside of hanging out once a week, he would text me every day. Not sweet couple stuff, just friends' stuff, updating me on his job, other girls, our humor etc. If he didn't text me, he would at least send me some stupid reel or TikToks... you get the idea. We interacted with each other every day.
Fast forward to a week ago, we were chatting online late at night. He was going through his camera roll, sending me pics of him with women he had things with in the past, and story time of what happened, blah blah. I was very triggered and upset, and because I was also on my period, I started bawling and told him that he ruined my night, I don't wish this to happen to anyone and sent him a paragraph about how I think his unhealed trauma has led to unnecessary heartbreaks of multiple women. (He just replied with wdym and he thinks I was upset because I was bored of his storytime)
So, the next day we didn't talk at all. The day after that, I asked him if he could call because I wanted to confess and ask some questions (I didn't tell him this tho, I just asked him if he could call), and he responded with no because he was traveling with his parents for the weekend. We didn't talk throughout the weekend and Monday. On Tuesday, I decided to ask him again if he could call, to which he did not respond and left me on delivered for a day. I know he is on his phone. So, the next day I texted him that he doesn't need to ignore my messages because I know he is busy; a simple yes or no to answer my question would be fine. Now it's Friday, still no response. Again, I know he is on his phone because he is liking our mutual friends' pictures.
I am just confused about why this happened out of nowhere. What did I do? What does this mean? He gave me some stuff to keep for the summer because he doesn't have enough room to store them. Is he just going to ghost me without blocking me and never get those things back? What is going on?

submitted by juicykola to relationship_advice [link] [comments]

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