Karaoke cd rental chicago

Overview

		⚽
Home	Chicago Fire FC	0
Away	Charlotte FC	1
Status	Full Time
Venue	Soldier Field
City	Chicago, Illinois
Date	Wednesday May 15, 2024
Time	07:30 PM CDT

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Lineups

	Chicago Fire FC	Pos		Charlotte FC	Pos
	Chris Brady, #34	G		Kristijan Kahlina, #1	G
	Rafael Czichos, #5	CD-L		Andrew Privett, #34	CD-L
	Carlos Terán, #4	CD-R		Adilson Malanda, #29	CD-R
	Andrew Gutman, #15	LB		Joao Pedro, #20	LB
	Arnaud Souquet, #2	RB		Nathan Byrne, #14	RB
	Xherdan Shaqiri, #10	AM		Nikola Petkovic, #23	AM
	Federico Navarro, #31	LM		Júnior Urso, #30	LM
	Kellyn Acosta, #23	RM		Ashley Westwood, #8	RM
	Hugo Cuypers, #9	F		Patrick Agyemang, #33	F
	Brian Gutierrez, #17	AM-L		Kerwin Vargas, #18	AM-L
	Christopher Mueller, #8	AM-R		Tyger Smalls, #25	AM-R
	Mauricio Pineda, #22	SUB		Hamady Diop, #32	SUB
	Georgios Koutsias, #19	SUB		Brecht Dejaegere, #10	SUB
	Wyatt Omsberg, #16	SUB		David Bingham, #22	SUB
	Gastón Giménez, #30	SUB		Iuri Tavares, #38	SUB
	Omari Glasgow, #55	SUB		Jaylin Lindsey, #24	SUB
	Jonathan Dean, #24	SUB		Brandt Bronico, #13	SUB
	Spencer Richey, #18	SUB		Bill Tuiloma, #6	SUB
	Allan Arigoni, #27	SUB		Scott Arfield, #37	SUB
	Tom Barlow, #12	SUB		Djibril Diani, #28	SUB
	Fabian Herbers, #21	SUB

Match events via ESPN

• Kickoff
  
• 34' 🟨 Carlos Terán (Chicago Fire FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
  
• 45'+6' First Half ends, Chicago Fire FC 0, Charlotte FC 0.
  
• 45' Start 2nd Half
  
• 50' 🟨 Rafael Czichos (Chicago Fire FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
  
• 60' ⚽ Goal! Chicago Fire FC 0, Charlotte FC 1. Ashley Westwood (Charlotte FC) from a free kick with a right footed shot to the top right corner.
  
• 60' 🔄 Substitution, Charlotte FC. Brandt Bronico replaces Júnior Urso.
  
• 64' 🟨 Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC) is shown the yellow card.
  
• 67' 🔄 Substitution, Chicago Fire FC. Omari Glasgow replaces Xherdan Shaqiri.
  
• 67' 🔄 Substitution, Chicago Fire FC. Gastón Giménez replaces Kellyn Acosta.
  
• 70' 🔄 Substitution, Charlotte FC. Iuri Tavares replaces Patrick Agyemang.
  
• 70' 🔄 Substitution, Charlotte FC. Brecht Dejaegere replaces Tyger Smalls.
  
• 70' 🔄 Substitution, Charlotte FC. Scott Arfield replaces Nikola Petkovic.
  
• 73' 🟨 Brecht Dejaegere (Charlotte FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
  
• 78' 🔄 Substitution, Chicago Fire FC. Fabian Herbers replaces Federico Navarro.
  
• 78' 🔄 Substitution, Chicago Fire FC. Georgios Koutsias replaces Arnaud Souquet.
  
• 78' 🔄 Substitution, Chicago Fire FC. Mauricio Pineda replaces Andrew Gutman.
  
• 87' 🔄 Substitution, Charlotte FC. Jaylin Lindsey replaces João Pedro.
  

^{This thread is managed by a bot running on AWS Lambda. All data is sourced from ESPN APIs. The project can be found on GitHub at mrundle/mls-reddit-bot. This post was last updated at 2024-05-15 21:42:15 CDT.}

Hi Everyone!
I wanted to take the time to give my personal experience while rotating with Clerkships.Org. Miss Jacquelyn is the founder of this clinical placement agency. She has worked in the industry for over 15 years and when the previous company shut its doors she founded her own company and the majority of physicians decided to work with her to precept. Her mission is to keep clinicals affordable to the medical student and graduate community along with donating 5% of profits to women's health and educational non-profits.
While she has over 375 different clinical sites. I rotated at 2 of her sites and have just enrolled in a 3rd site. She is very easy to communicate with and is very pleased to help in anyway possible.
Payment plans are available depending on your timeline booked.
Document requirements depend on the site you choose to rotate at.
Rotation 1:
Location: Chicago, IL
Price: $1,200
Housing: Used her referral. The referral is an FM Physician in Chicago that rents out her rental units as short term housing for student and graduates. $1,890
Transportation: Rented a car so I could have maximum exposure to all the hospitals.
This attending physician loves to teach and encourages active participation. If you need to take time off to study or have other commitments that you need to attend to he will work with your schedule completely. He is very detailed in his LORs. There is a full curriculum presented to you for your rotation. I was even able to attend luncheons to help network further.
Rotation 2:
Location: Newark, NJ
Price: $3,000
Housing: Air BNB
Transportation: UBER
This attending physician is an IM program director. I did receive an interview from him during SOAP. It is a very fast paced rotation that is challenging. He expects a lot from you during your clinical. You will rotate with the physician and his residents. Lor is detailed. I was expected to do 2-3 12 hour days per week.
Feel Free to DM me at anytime!

A classic Greystone building at 1408 West Belle Plaine Avenue in Chicago was sold for $1,050,000. The property features three spacious apartments with vintage details, separate living rooms and dining rooms, updated kitchens, and enclosed rear porches. It offers potential for owner occupancy, rental income, or conversion to a single-family home, with opportunities to expand or modify the units.

Summary of transaction details:

• Property Type: Multifamily
• Transaction Amount: $1,050,000
• Units: 3
• Price Per Unit: $350,000
• Address: 1408 West Belle Plaine Avenue
• Market: Chicago

Megan Honda, Susanna Cherubin-Delisi, and Michael Decker of Compass represented the transaction.
Learn More: Compass Sells Multifamily Property In Chicago For $1,050,000

Please note this is the original submission I sent Refinery29. In the current post,they have given me a second credit card with a 100$ balance, as well as generational trauma from World War II and cut context for other things. I am trying to get that fixed.
Per previous discussion in comments here: The espresso machine is a Bezzera, which ranges from 2-5K. We got ours on sale for 1.7K, it’s a work house and we use it everyday, still hurts that we spent that money on a coffee maker.
I do understand mortgage is debt but when you compare it to rent to a lesser value condo in Vancouver it feels like not debt at all, which is how I tend to think of it. Yes I owe my mortgage but also I get my house instead of renting-which may not have become clear.
Please see in full the diary, below (edit for formatting via mobile)
Occupation: Sr Business Analyst
Industry: Tech
Age: 30
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Salary: 92,000$ (Spouse makes 60,000$ for a combined income of 152,000$ before tax)
Net Worth: ~ 1.2 Million ( house is valued at 989,000$ currently, we have a combined 150,000 in pension, and ~60,000 in various company stocks, and GICs)
Debt: 3,000$ in a zero interest credit card for a 10 month period. We balanced transferred and pay 400$/month. Debt was acquired in Q4 2023 when we had to buy Snow Tires, and do a full break replacement as well as Christmas. 480,000$ in a mortgage, we refinanced in September 2023 for five years fixed rate at accelerated biweekly, however I don’t consider our mortgage debt due to the equity we are gaining, and that our mortgage for a five bedroom, 3 bath single family home is less than rent for a two bedroom condo in Vancouver
Paycheck Amount (Every 2 Weeks): 2,555$ after taxes. (Just mine). Spouse makes 2,308$ after taxes. Our pay periods are alternating.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses Mortgage: 1450$ biweekly (100$ extra to the principal).
Utilities: ~200$ (includes water [paid quarterly], hydro [paid bimonthly], gas, sewetrash [paid quarterly] phone [highly discounted due to work plans for spouse and myself] and car gas) Loan Payments: 400$/Credit Card
Car Insurance: 84$
Life Insurance: 167$ combined (67$ me, 100$ spouse)
Health & Dental Insurance: 60$ deducted from pay (coverage for myself and spouse from my employer. Spouse also has coverage for both of us deducted from pay)
Retirement Contribution: 400$ (Employee matches me), (Spouse has a defined pension through work and contributes ~200$ month)
Union fees: 70$ Spouse
Subscriptions: Crave 22$/month (Recent splurge for Binge watching the Rookie), Playstation Plus 100$ (annual bought on Black Friday Deal), Amazon Prime 80$ (Annual), BCAA 120$ (annual) Gym 30$/month (we both have one so 15$/pp)
Note: My spouse and I have completely commingled finances. I will be tracking both as it’s essentially I spent whatever they spent
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
There was always the expectation. My father was very clear, we were very smart. There was no way we’d be wasting our potential. He wanted me to be a lawyer, but unlike other immigrant parents, I got to choose my major and went into social sciences and got my masters in history. I deferred my PhD too much so I got dropped by the program.
I chose my university by where I got a full first year scholarship and then after that took about 15k in student loans for my undergraduate. My parents paid my rent and I got a part time job for food.
For my masters, I had a student line of credit and 5 k student loans otherwise it was all my savings and scholarships. With the line of credit, I had a total of 30K in student loans and paid it off in about four years.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Save. We talked about how you get a dollar allowance and half of it goes into long term saving with 25% in short term and 25% in spend.
Investing came after I was eighteen. Family would like us to invest in property, however I don’t really want to be a landlord, but also we wouldn’t get to really enjoy profit of owning a rental property due to other family circumstances.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Ice cream parlour I was twelve and my parents made me get it for responsibility. I lasted three weeks because I hated it.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I grew up thinking we were not rich, because we didn’t get big plane vacations (I didn’t count flying from Toronto to Vancouver every summer as a vacation since we were just seeing family but staying in a house my parents owned) and I had only been to Disney twice.
But we had a big new build house in the rich end of town, my mom stayed home to raise all of us. We had to work for things (like going to see a movie opening night or a new CD) but we always had money and got what we wanted. In retrospect, my family was/is fairly well off.
Both my parents grew up poor, with parents working multiple jobs and different shifts to make ends meet, the strive/drive to not have that childhood, and for my father to be able to retire his parents really impacted mine and my siblings and cousins lives. My father showed me the apartment he grew up in Chinatown a few years back. It’s light years away from the house my grandparents owned when I was a kid and how I grew up.
Do you worry about money now?
Of course. Inflation is real and we are actively planning a wedding for the next year, as well as a baby in the next few years. We also need to buy a second car, so we’re saving for that.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Fully financially responsible? Twenty five. I lived in a family property where I didn’t pay rent in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, so even though I paid all my bills (food and phone), I didn’t have to pay rent. I in fact made money, as I rented rooms out and used the income for house utilities, and paying my student loans down faster. When I moved in with my spouse, I just paid condo fees until we bought our house two years ago which gave me plenty of time to save.
Our financial safety net is family, and our savings. I know my family would bail us out. My spouse’s father would as well. Conversely, we are my spouse’s mother's safety net and we have to keep all our plans in mind that we will be subsidising her.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain. Yes, I received 50K from my parents once they sold my childhood home, as did both of my siblings. I have also received 10K from one set of grandparents which paid off my car and part of my student loans when I was 21. I will be receiving another inheritance when probate is done for around ~100K. My spouse also has received inheritance which allowed them to buy their first condo in their early twenties when the market was much better. That condo, 50k, and the subsequent upgrading helped us afford our house.
Day 1
10 AM: I drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Not how I want to start my Sunday morning but y’know. Normally I’d walk since it’s about 20 minutes but I have a UTI. I’m “lucky” that despite not having a dr because of the health care shortage, my work pays for the Maple app so I could get a dr to write the prescription and order the lab work at 1 am. I’ll do the lab work later this week when I can get an appointment but will take the relief now. Insurance makes the antibiotics free, but I also buy hydrogen peroxide because we’re out and we have a dog that thinks everything is meant to be in her mouth. We’ll buy a bigger one at Costco later. I also bought some oral wound mouthwash because we were out. I come home and my spouse made us breakfast.
Total: 15.90$ paid with debit.
1-2:30 PM: We do our taxes. I have a mini meltdown when I realize the part time bakery job I had for a few months didn’t take off income tax last year, so I owe 800$. Luckily, my partner is getting a refund so we net out positive 400$. The bakery took off income tax in 2022, so unsure why they didn’t in 2023. I made us lunch.
3-6:30 PM: We walk the dog, and watch the Rookie. Some time during that time period, a venue emails us back and is surprisingly affordable at 3k. I also get told that the tattoo artist I want to book with, has not chosen me.
6:30-7:30 PM: I explain what lazy girl dinner is to my spouse and make a lazy girl dinner. After not really grocery shopping since Feb for things besides fresh veg, we need to do a big pantry shop and neither of us want that. We debate about buying a food saver and if we should wait for a sale. My spouse is more frugal than me and has determined we should.
8-9:30 PM: We start season 3 of The Rookie, and then after two episodes we go to bed
Day One Total: 15.90$
Day Two
5:45-8 AM: Wake up and start work. I get up to date with what’s happened on the weekend and check that my automated reports. Sometime before 6:30, I get the kettle on for my spouse’s pour over before I go back to my meetings. There’s a twenty minute gap where I get changed and do my skin care and brush my teeth. I’d love to be a skin care person but honestly I’ve spent too much money on product that I don’t use and that just goes bad. Washing my face and using sun screen is a win.
I also make sure that Spouse’s lunch is in his bag and I get our travel mugs ready. Before, we used to go to Starbucks every day. Starbucks used to do free refills on coffee and tea if you were a rewards member if you bought a coffee or tea so it would cost us $5/day (2.5/pp), and we could get refills all day. While that’s 20$/week, 80$/a month and yes, we could have saved it but back then, that 80$ wasn’t turning the dial anywhere significantly for us—a privileged view.
But now, after COVID where I stopped drinking tea after one day working from home having like 10 cups and thinking I was dying, and Spouse has bought a good grinder and we recently splurged on a stupidly expensive espresso machine we call his Engagement Espresso since it costs the same price as my stupidly expensive ring, we bring our coffees.
8-8:30 AM: We drive to work. Prior to buying our house, we were both work from home and lived in a city with amazing transit. We only needed the one car. Since buying the house and moving to a city where public transit is a joke (the one bus goes past our house every 1.5h), Spouse changed jobs and is in office every day and I have to go in 3 days a week. We need a second car or the e-bike rebate to come through. We debate this in the car, since I’m done at 1 pm, and Spouse works normal hours, I either have to take the bus home, or go to the gym for three hours. Today though, I drop Spouse off. I will pick him up later as he has a half day because of the dentist
8:30-12:30 AM/PM: Work. I find a tech manager and ask them to get me more triple a batteries. Work won’t provide or let me expense batteries for my mouse, despite them replacing my usb mouse with a battery one. The poor admin had to tell me the decision is that we’ll all supply our own batteries. Luckily the tech managers have to have batteries on hand and give them out freely.
I ask my boss how the work from home tax forms work, and he is going to find out.
I run more meetings and work on a request for a dashboard and a business case for a new feature that I have to convince leadership to spend money on.
12:30-1 PM: I drive back to my Spouse because he has a dentist appointment.
While I wait for a spouse, I am incredibly hungry. I’m usually not hungry/don’t eat a proper meal until around 1 in the afternoon and my two granola bars I already ate at the office. I go to the bakery by Spouse’s work and buy a cheese bun for me (3.65$), and an apple pie scone (2.55$) for Spouse as a snack. Spouse points out he won’t be able to eat until after his appointment.
Total: 6.20$ debit
1-1:30 PM: I drop Spouse off, and the car stops working. The engine won’t catch. I try multiple times and then run into the dentist to dramatically announce to Spouse and the receptionists that the car won’t start. Spouse asks me what he wants me to do about this, since he’s about to go into an appointment. A very kind receptionist tells me it might be the alternator. I don’t know what that is.
I go back to the car to Facetime my father. He also asks what I think he can do to help since he lives 3000 km away. Weirdly, and sexistly, I thought a man who grew up at race tracks, in a racing family, or the man who has collected and worked on sports cars for forty years might be able to help.
Spouse texts me to remind me we have BCAA while my father also tells me that. I finally get the engine to catch and drive the very long way home, going the speed limit and getting stuck in traffic, construction and a bus. It takes me 20 minutes to get home instead of 10.
1:30-2:30 PM: I walk the dog, mail a (late) birthday card and then start researching what an alternator is. The car is over a decade old and until the house, the most expensive thing I ever bought at 12K back in 2015. We have the funds for the cost, but it’s my first car and the fact it might be the end of its life is scary.
Alternators can cost between 400-800$ repair with labour, so that’s fun.
My dad calls me back and apologises for asking me what he could do away. He advises me that there’s probably a bald spot on the alternator and advises me to go to the mechanic to check or replace it, if the car doesn’t start again.
I call the mechanic to book an appointment, and to also get the snow tires off and to buy new rims for the snow tires. The mechanic lets me know that the alternator part is 500$, and an hour of labour so with taxes we’re looking at around 700$
That future appointment next week (we’re going down a highway this weekend which requires snow tires) will cost ~1.5K, assuming we replace the alternator.
I make lunch and sigh.
2:30 PM: The car starts thankfully. I drive incredibly slow. I pick up Spouse by idling the car. We get an email back from a venue saying they cost 75,000$ minimum. The timing is hysterical.
Due to the nature of the dentist, Spouse owes 618$, as they haven’t flipped it under my insurance. They split it in half, as he has a follow up in two weeks. After the next appointment they will flip the whole amount under me and we’ll get reimbursed for the whole amount.
Total 309$/credit card.
3-10 PM: We walk the dog, make dinner (Spouse makes white sauce pasta, with chicken and peas) and watch The Rookie. There are thirteen episodes in season three, and we will be busy every night this week besides Friday and Sunday, and I would like to finish season three so we can start season 4 next Monday. I don’t want to pay for more than one month of Crave. We have five episodes left
Day Two Total: 315.2$
Day Three
1 AM: 100$ is automatically transferred from our account to the credit card debit. We have an auto transfer of 100$/every Tuesday to a Visa where we balance transferred both our cards. We have an offer for 0 interest for 10 months, so we did that for some of the bigger expenses (snow tires, break replacement and general Christmas) and are on track to pay it back within the next 6 months. That visa is our emergency card that we just have in the back end and utilise for promos like this. It allows us to keep our two cards balances manageable and lets us pay in an easier way than taking big chunks out of our various savings.
Total: 100$/direct deposit
5:45-9 AM: Work. Meetings, reports, trying to convince a colleague that the process does include them and refusal to follow it means that their requests won’t be done. Spouse has another half day so I can go into the office at my leisure—if the car starts
9-9:20 AM: The car starts, I get into the office and refresh a data flow before a meeting with a new stake holder. It takes longer to drive into work today because the tourists are starting to come and their van builds or campers are not exactly highway speed and with a two lane highway, if you don’t merge over fast enough you’re stuck.
10:05-10:20 AM: Meeting done, car starts again and I drive home for more meetings. The least amount of time in the office is preferable for me.
10:30-11AM : Meeting with my manager where we discuss future salary and promotion. I am due for a promotion in the start of Q2, which would push me to six figures. I’ll believe it when I see it but, I’m really excited at that possibility for my family.
11:15 AM: Spouse leaves for work, we discuss what groceries are needed, as well if he’ll go to Home Depot tonight to buy more clover seeds for the yard, as we need to reseed before it starts raining. I eat a muffin and my dog and cat decide to try and eat each other.
11:15-1:30 PM: Work runs late. There’s some issues with the data and we can’t figure it out. We call it a night, and I’ll record the video presentations tomorrow, once we fix the data.
1:30-4 PM: Nap time! It’s bad for me, but honestly I don’t sleep well during the night so naps are what keep me alive.
4-6 PM I prep dinner (smash burgers and fries), and get chores done and walk the dog.
6-7:30 PM: Spouse comes home, we eat dinner. Groceries come to 96.83 for two 7 pound pork loins, two packs of bacon, chicken nuggets, coffee, pop, 8 pack of peppers, milk, tomato, pickles, rice, avocado, mushrooms, sour cream and lettuce.
Not too bad, we average about 300$/month in groceries because we can buy bulk and have a second freezer.
For the month of March we are currently at 123.61$ for groceries and there is twelve days left. We went on a small weekend away, so we ate out a fair bit but even then our current food budget is 272.27$ today.
Total: 96.83/ debit
7:30-10 PM: Spouse makes a coffee and plays video games with his friends. They do it every week. I have a shower, fold and put away laundry and read in bed.
Day Three Total: 196.83
Day Four
1AM: Our biweekly accelerated mortgage payment comes out of 1450$. I’m tracking it here to be honest on our spending but I tend not to think of it as money spent because in my head it’s already money gone. To pay for a house equivalent in Vancouver, the mortgage would be over 6k. Renting a two bedroom condo would be 3K. It feels like the mortgage is just cheaper rent, even though each time I own more of my house.
5:45-9 AM: Work. I find out the limits of how many people I can invite to a Teams Meeting as well as that the Thursday before Good Friday is a catholic holiday when a few people ask me to reschedule a training forum for over a thousand people. Sometime in there I make us coffee, make sure Spouse has lunch packed (leftovers). Spouse has walked the dog and has the recycling and compost out for pick up. I drop Spouse off at work.
10-11:45 AM: I leave the office for home and more meetings. I walk the dog and go record training videos. I get an email that Amazon is doing their big spring sale. I send a link to a robot mop and vaccum that’s on a big discount to Spouse. We want one, but I’m not in charge of the research on it. I send links to play grounds to my friends with toddlers
11:45-12:30 PM : I shove lunch in my mouth, last night’s left overs. I’m running late, and decide to get myself later by collecting all the random dishes and mugs that just show up places and start the dishwasher. I get to the lab ten minutes early but need to buy gas on the way home.
I tell my team I’ll be MIA for a bit and leave the work phone in the car.
I buy 15.6L of gas for 30$ at 1.879/l it sucks. I don’t fill up because we’re going to my in laws this weekend and there’s a Costco Gas Bar there.
Total: 30$/credit card
12:30-1:30 PM: Work goes long again.
1:30-2:30 PM: Nap!
2:30-4:30 PM: Walk the dog and drive to the gym. I usually go three times a week but with last week’s weekend away and this week’s weird half days from Spouse, today’s the only day. I make it up by doing both upper and lower body and a 30 minute circuit.
4:30-7:30 PM: I pick up Spouse and we go to Costco. We pick up nachos, ham, cheese buns and some other items. We debate buying our friend’s kid a toddler set of clothes and decide no. We end up buying work pants for Spouse, and a garden hose. It comes out to 116.90
I order our Costco dinner of hot dogs and fries for a grand total date night of 6.41$
Total: 123.31/ credit card
8-9 PM: Dance class! We bought a series of six lessons of introduction to ballroom back in December for a new date night idea. We paid 60$/pp and this is the fifth lesson tonight.
9 pm: We’re home, we let the dog out. Spouse spends an undetermined amount of time watching ballroom videos while I sleep.
Day Four Total: 1603.31$ or 153.31 excluding the mortgage payment.
Day Five
5:45-9 AM: Work. All the meetings. Thursday is the meeting day. I debate with a friend what’s the earliest call we’ve had. 4:30 am still wins. I pack lunch for Spouse and his coffee and he leaves. I end up cleaning up cat puke as the cat decides to drink milk from Spouse’s cereal and vomit it up on camera in a meeting.
9-9:30 AM: I make myself a matcha and walk the dog.
9:30-1 PM: Work and I treat myself to a lunch of a cheese bun and ham sandwhich. We used to eat it every Sunday while growing up but the cost of ham has been outrageous. The deal at Costco yesterday was 1.5$/100 g which is really good.
1-1:30 PM: I seal the wooden deer Christmas decoration we bought last year. It sits outside our front door and needs to be weather proofed, and I’ve been putting it off for five months. But the weather is good and we have newspapers. We have left over wood sealer after the sign we bought a year ago so I use that. The dog and the cat both don’t like my wooden deer.
1:30-4 PM: Nap!
4-5 PM: I basically just watch youtube and drink a root beer. I have no energy.
5-6:30 PM: Spouse comes home, we walk the dog and I make dinner (Kraft Dinner and nuggets–I swear we eat veggies but today is not that day). We discuss the possibility of our dog at our wedding as a flower girl, and if she’ll be in a tutu or a cheongsam like me. I am now researching if they make dog cheongsams and if she can match us. The cat, despite all my heart wanting it, won’t physically be there because he will have an anxiety attack and probably die.
6:30-10:30 PM: Board game night! We go to a friend’s to repeat the same scenario we’ve lost two weeks in a row.
10:30-11 PM: I pack Spouse’s breakfast (oatmeal and frozen berries), lunch (spicy tuna and mayo) since he’s trying to go to the gym before work, and feed the animals before we go to bed.
Day Five Total: 0$
Day Six Friday
5:45-9 AM: Work. I have a deep focus block which means I can get the script for the training I have to run. Public speaking is not my strong suit and it’s a group of a thousand people so I’m not looking forward to it. Spouse almost makes it to the gym. I get an email that my new work phone has shipped. I’m surprised because they wouldn’t order us any for the past four years, but I guess my new iPhone will show up next week. I might give my old work phone to my mother in law, since she smashed the camera on the phone we bought her last year.
9-9:30 AM: I walk the dog, make a matcha and make a todo list for what we have to get done before we leave to my in laws tomorrow. I text my mother in law happy birthday, and hope that she got the card in time. She did.
9:30-11:30 AM: My last meeting for the week ends and I’m debating calling it a day so I can nap. Instead I make lunch (cheese bun and ham), text my other mother in law our plan for Saturday, and unload and reload the dishwasher and go back to work for at least another hour.
12:30-1 PM: I shower and do skin care
1-3 PM: Nap! Somewhere in this time FedEx comes and since I’m sleeping, we have to pick up on Monday. I’m not too sure what it is, I assume it’s our custom address stamp from Etsy because that’s the only thing I’ve bought recently but not too sure. I just realized in retrospect, this might be my new work phone.
3-5 PM: I prep dinner (nachos), unload the dishwasher, pack my overnight bag and confirm all our venue tours by email. I start a load of laundry and do a quick clean. I feel like this is not the best image of our diet. I swear we generally eat healthy but we both have been feeling really blah over the past two weeks so have been going for quick and easy over healthy and balanced. I do have three whole peppers and two whole avocados in the nachos though.
5-7 PM: Spouse comes home, we walk the dog, have dinner, and plan out next week. We have a big Wednesday next week (mechanic, I have a nails appointment, dance class), and we are having our friends over for Easter so we need to prep for that. We pack the car so tomorrow is a very easy start.
Spouse also gets paid today. We’re lucky that we’re on alternating pay periods, we used to be on the same and it always felt stressful. Spouse also lets me know his union has secured a 3% cost of living raise to start in Q3. I really like his union for negotiating a base 2% year of cost of living raise, with potential addition raises depending on inflation. It’s a bit away but that’s still good news.
7:30-10:30 PM: We finish The Rookie Season 3 and head to bed. Crave reminds me that I have 10 days until I’m charged again. Sadly, I think we’ll have to pay for 2 months.
Day Six Total: 0
Day Seven Saturday
8:30-9:30 AM: Wake up. No one (except the dog) slept well so we’re not in a morning mood. Spouse makes coffee and walks the dog, while I finish packing the car and give the cat a lot of attention. Our first venue tour is at 11 and the one that is the most expensive (8-10K), but also the one we probably want the most. We live about an hour away but the highway is two lanes and one accident can back everything up for hours.
10:40-1 PM: We visit our dream venue. We stay way longer than expected. Basically if the quote is under 10K, we’ll get it. Just waiting now.
1-2 PM: We get to our in-laws and have a lunch of egg salad sandwhichs. We need to buy gas. My in laws drive us to a pottery painting store.
2-4 PM: We paint pottery. My mother in law only wanted to do this for her birthday. They’ll pick it up in a week after it’s been thrown. I paint a vase (28$), Spouse paints an Easter egg (18$), father in law paints a mug (30$), and mother in law paints a plate (50$)
Total:143.36/credit card
4-5 Pm: We see another venue. It’s an instant no. My in laws decide they want to try Korean fried chicken. We call ahead for take out to get two fries and 16 pieces of half and half. It comes to 50.83$ that my in laws pay for.
5-10 PM: We come back and see that our dog has pooped in their house and also has gotten into their pantry and eaten an entire bag of dog food. It is not a fun night.
We spend the night drinking wine and discussing the wedding and watching TV.
10PM: We go to bed. That’s the end of this week, but tomorrow we will be buying gas and probably lunch for my other mother in law as we will be touring another venue.
Day Seven Total: 143.36$

The rift between them has caused a lot of tension in my family and now my mom wants to be in the life of her newborn grandson but refuses to address or try to mend things with my wife.
Little history: I probably introduced them too quickly. My grandmother was in town in south Florida about to move here from Illinois for a retirement community. My wife, girlfriend at the time, came with cookies or some form of baked goods like she usually does when visiting someone as a sign of affection and respect. Where it went wrong from here I have no idea. I suppose the initial crack was when wife scheduled a skitrip for her and I to have as a 1 year of dating anniversary present. We are not rich, this is a huge gift that made sense to her since I refused to let her pay rent. Our combines salaries are barely over 120k. So wife calls mom 6 months in advance because she is a planner for the sole purpose of asking my mom to watch one of our four dogs. Wife has already paid in full for the trip. Yet Mom decides it is a great idea to instead use the opportunity to hop on and take a family trip because it is the last time the family will have for a family vacation - I am the oldest of two boys and two stepsisters, my mom married the guy she left my father for who has twin girls of his own that were in the womb during the infidelity. Anyway mom completely takes over and decides to make our one year gift a family vacation, so she books tickets for a hotel nearby. Wife is bold but at the time not bold enough to stop my mom in her tracks for overstepping a boundary. At this time she still respected my mother and kind of let herself get steamrolled.
Probably skippable Family history: Now I have always had issues with my mother, resentment for leaving my father for my stepdad behind my own fathers back and constantly trying to keep brother and I from seeing “Disneyland dad who doesn’t do any of the work but gets all the fun.” my mother was very strict growing up, always bringing us to church and making my father feel guilty for not bringing brother and I on his weekend. So mom marries stepdad age 11, divorces him around 13 after asking me advice for her relationship and i encourage her to move out. Then remarries him and moves us back into his house age 15. Here I begin rebellion and normal teeenager stuff but stepdad won’t butt in because he isn’t my “biological father” so would have my mom intervene brother and i from behind the scenes. For example, I am young and messing around on the piano because music is important and I never had any formal training and mom comes in to tell me stepdad “wants to know when the concert is going to end because it is a little annoying.” Anyway, they have me prescribed adderall at 16 and in the parking lot holding my first prescription I am told that they would like me to move out and in with my father, who had chased us every time mom and stepdad moved several miles away (5 moves from age 5-15 all in one county). Anyway, brother and I are recovering alcoholics with (my) slipups triggered from interactions or visiting my mom, which mom claims is genetics from my father alone and has nothing to do with her. Maternal grandfather, mother, and I have some nasty temper problems which certainly are exacerbated by drinking (at least mine and moms).
Skitrip revelations: Wife and I are on the way to brothers graduation in Chicago, and wife has yet to reveal to me that my mother has taken over her massive investment of a couples ski vacation and it will now be a family vacation for mom, stepdad, brother, two stepsisters who are all getting out of gradschool. On the way to the airport I am told the news by future wife of my one year surprise. So I get upset and call my mom to call it off. She obliges my request and now holds resentment against me and now wife for “ruining her last family vacation.” Fine, whatever. Mother never says a word about it for months until we are out for a distant family members birthday dinner and at a table of about 8-10 people that are having a group conversation and gets real close to my wife’s ear and tells her privately along the lines of “you deprived our family of our last family vacation.” During this time my wife is frantically tapping my leg under the table because my mom can get a little aggressive. My mom saw this and later (privately to me) mocked her for doing it to my leg under the table.
Christmas blessings: Closer to Christmas maybe 2/3 weeks later we went to go see my mom and my mom had a couple drinks in her (not an alcoholic like brother and I just very sensitive to a couple glasses of wine and occasionally some hidden sips of wine or something) and invites my wife to Christmas church and out to dinner after because the family needs photos for a Christmas card and future wife “will be the photographer for it.” Now this can easily be a nothing comment but given the way my mom had been making future wife feel, it was taken as an insult. So wife declined church and showed up to family dinner just in time for photography session to be over.
The distance: Then mom moves to a fancy house up the coast and invites us up to visit. At first it is ok to bring the 4 dogs then the day before she says they will not have dogs at the house and we can easily find a sitter. 2 Dogs don’t get along, they need to be separated always as there has been two attacks on one from the other, so we can’t trust someone to come to the house and keep them separate and we won’t board 4 dogs it’s too expensive for us. Anyway we go back and forth being invited with the dogs then they retract the offer and say pick one dog to bring and leave the others and it’s just annoying, so we say forget it and don’t go. But my brother becomes engaged and decides to throw his engagement party at my mom’s new place near the beach. Great. First all the dogs are welcome, then day before they say it is too chaotic and she will pay for a small hotel room for one night for future wife and her dogs and my one (the attack dog) can stay in a crate at the house with me but I may not leave the dog to stay with her. And no reasonable cheap hotel in the area is going to accommodate 4 dogs. Anyway wife is stressed but feels obligated to come because I am the best man and I stay at the house while she checks her dogs into the hotel. Wife had made a cheesecake and brought it up in a separate car from me, 4 hour drive by the way, and night of.. my mom says no desserts for engagement party dinner, the dessert is themed or some crazy stuff. Wife shows up to dinner a little later and very flustered because of the situation plus I had relapsed on a bottle of whiskey a couple days prior to seeing my mom. Related, I don’t know. Anyway. Mom has had a couple drinks and future wife and I are talking about having children and religion comes up. Mom asks what we were thinking of doing about baptism or not and I jokingly said (guiltily to get on my moms nerves a bit) that he would have a bris and would love it if she would come to the bar mitzvah. now my wife’s mom was forced to convert from Catholicism to Judaism for her own mother in laws acceptance for a failed marriage so wife is not religious, but it hurt my wife and reasonably so when my mom replied “oh, son, I raised you better than that.” Still no acknowlegement of fault from that comment and mom thinks wife is “overly sensitive, dramatic, and childish” for wanting an apology for it.
Weddings: Future wife becomes current wife. We had gotten engaged on our next anniversary trip she planned for us. I proposed on our bike and barge through tulip season in holland with our feet in the water of the North Sea after a picnic in the dunes. her family business manufactures photo albums for professional photographers, so aside from our families all being divorced, estranged, difficult, and us trying to save money, we did not have a wedding, we just did the paperwork within a month of the proposal. I had already decided to have a baby with her before the trip so we were trying. 2 weeks before brothers wedding in Tennessee we become pregnant, so we break news immediately as to not steal limelight from brothers expensive wedding. Mom says she will cover cost of rental car so we can save money. Ok great. She books the tiny car and we pack it and head up the Smokey mountains to the cabins we are staying at. Two cabins for grooms family, one for his mother and one for his father, ten paces from each other: they havnt spoken but twice im since divorce in 1995 but through lawyers. Grandmother, mother, stepdad, 2 stepsisters and one boyfriend stayed in mom’s side. Wife and I stay at father’s side cabin with just his wife. His Wife’s 3 daughters and family’s stayed a town away down the mountain among extended family. Anyway, beautiful wedding takes place. My wife is sent into town to collect flowers and run errands for my mom which she happily obliged to since she is a solitary person and did not want wedding day drama. Day after, we are loading our rental sedan with our bags. Mom and grandma need a ride to the airport and our flight is before theirs so they will drop off the car for us 4 hours or so after we go to the airport 5 hours from current time. We’re loading the car. Stepcousin passed out in mother’s cabin night before and needed a ride. Disorganized brunch for 20 people is trying to be made. Father’s wife’s daughter books a reservation for 10 people which include her family, her sisters, me, my wife, dad, and their mom. My stepdad had left for home at this point as he had taken his own suv instead of flying with my mom and 90 year old grandma. So mom is trying to pack grandma in the car with bags and my wife and stepcousin. At this point mother asks stepmother if she and grandma are on reservation for the brunch. Stepmom says no they are not, she wasn’t sure of their plans. Mom says under her breath “fucking assholes, so typical,” and she goes into a bit of a rage to which my stepmom says here “it’s ok I will call and add you two it’s no big deal.” So we continue packing the car and realize we won’t all fit. So my wife tells my stepcousin to go ride with my father to the restaurant 10 minutes away we will meet you there. Mom says to wife, “no you go with the father.” Wife says “no I am going to ride with my husband” mom gets close to her face with her finger and says “this is my car, you can fucking Uber!” Wife is 6 weeks pregnant at this point and it all escalated from here. wife and mother start yelling at each other swearing at each other and we get into the car, mom behind wife who was in shotgun. 2 occasions on the trip I had to stop the car because mom had taken off her seatbelt to stand over the seat and scream in my wife’s face with so much vigor that spit came on to her face multiple times. I’m trying to tell them both to behave and mom sit down shut the f up. Mom is telling wife to get the f out of the car and find a ride, she has no right to speak because she’s “new here” (dating and living together for 3 years at this point). The following brunch she apologized in a crowd with a hushed voice at a table of 20 people trying to have a group conversation again privately to my wife “I’m sorry you get so upset” and my wife told her “that is not an apology.” The following several hours in the car with grandma and stepcousin and wife were some of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. At a gas station I pulled my mom aside and said I need ther to give a huge apology, that it was so nasty and inappropriate, my brother and I are used to abusive language and aggressive behavior but to my pregnant wife and any other human being it is disgusting and unacceptable. Sitting in the car was quiet for many hours until we got to the airport. No speaking about what happened just mom happy go lucky about Tennessee and Dollywood and wife and I in shock, cousin still half in the bag from a fun wedding, grandma 90 years old probably confused about what happened.
The family groupchat: Im waiting on an apology from my mother to my wife who is extremely hurt and expressed to my mom loads of time she needs to reach out and apologize. We’re not talking until she will do so. It is bugging me and keeping me up at night. My appendix flares up and I am admitted to the hospital with emergency appendectomy. Still pregnant Wife suggests I reach out to mom to let her know what’s going on. So I text mom I’m at the hospital and will have surgery. I send a pic or something that on my end says hasn’t gone through. Mom group texts our family group with stepdad, his daughters, brother and his wife, and grandma that I am in the hospital and attaches the pic I sent of me in there. Then she continues to rave about the success of her startup company and how they got FDA approved clinical trials finally completed or some pivotal moment that made the text about her. Wife and I are in a hospital so the picture comes up on moms end as unable to have been sent. Mom assumes that my wife has blocked her phone, so mom removes my wife from the chat. Wife is rushing home to take care of the dogs at this point and is not alerted on her phone, but on everyone else’s phone it clearly reads “(mom) has removed (wife) from the chat.” Immediately I text my mom and basically say how dare you do that to her she is the one who insisted I let you know out of respect and mom responds with blah blah she did this she did that I will not have it. So I go back to the family chat and remove mother. At this point I let everyone in the chat know what my mother has done and how she refuses to take responsibility for how she made my wife feel, address her feelings, apologize or do anything at all to reach out about the wedding incident or even inquire about the wellbeing of the pregnancy for her first grandchild. Stepdad finally steps in and tells me “enough.” Grandma says “shame on you.” I am dumbfounded. This is a hush hush family that hates to have anything out in the open and likes to maintain a picture perfect image. For examples; 1) I and wife were on the family Christmas card of a photo taken at the wedding that the whole world received except for wife and I. 2)brothers alcoholism was to remain hidden from the family as was his rehab treatment and how it affected his career. Now understand that they like to keep things quiet but that is not how I want to handle my problems, these things trigger alcohol use and violent outbursts on my part that I no longer wish to live through. Now appendectomy’s are pretty simple so I recovered quickly (it don’t rupture we just took it out). But during the time I was scheduled to be under anesthesia, stepdad reaches out to wife to have a chat and clear the air. Wife waits until I come to so i can be there and I hear the conversation. He claims to be here as a middleman like a business meeting to fix things once and for all. Wife and I are like wow great. He then proceeds to double down on my moms behalf that they will not be apologizing or meet any of her demands as she had already apologized as confirmed by 90yo grandma who was in the car and my mother herself. The term he used was stalemate to describe the situation. Wife and I are shocked but she has me keep quiet to show me what he will say. He proceeds to yell at her and they were screaming at each other, again steamrolling the conversation assuring us that he was down the middle yet maintains that mom has made a sufficient apology that needs to be accepted and wife needs to grow up and move on, then wishing her luck with the baby and a nice life. Next day I call stepdad to see how it went. He reassures me that he has done all he can and everything is back to normal. At this point I call him out and tell him I was conscious and explain to him what an apology is. But there is no dialogue with this guy like there is no dialogue with my mother. He proceeds to talk loudly over me like she does and basically call me a piece of shit for the amount he and mother have done for me. I speak to him first time like I never have before by calling him a hands off father and a pussy of a man who finally reaches out while he thinks I am under anesthesia to yell at my wife then pretend it’s cool, and I basically tell him he has never done a single thing for me to try and develop me into a man or nurture me as a child into an adult, but he thinks taking me on fishing trips and ski vacations are equivalent to love and nurturing growth and development just like my mom does. I reassure him that he has no right to talk about family being that he ruined his own as well as mine and couldn’t even tell my dad to his face that it was him who was sleeping with my mom behind his back when my dad came to him very upset as a friend when he got an anonymous phone tip at work one day. Then him and my mom laughed about it in court when my dad brought it up during the divorce. We ended with swearing and I felt very happy for finally giving my true feelings to him.
The birth: Months go by and nobody has said a thing. I can’t sleep at night seeing how much love I am getting from my father and his side for the baby, and my wife’s family, then thinking about how my own mother hasn’t reached out a single time. I’m dreaming about beating up my stepdad and it’s driving me mad. So weeks before the due date I reach out to my mom begging her to clear things up and apologize to my wife. Nothing. A week later i tell her how disappointed and abandoned I feel and want her in the family. Nothing. Baby comes a couple days early. Everyone is excited. Mom texts me begging for photos and to let everyone know. I tell her my brother and two stepsisters have received photos. I ask her to please reach out to wife she still needs to make amends for what’s happened between them and all she needs to do is reach out. Mom’s responses have been defensive, derisive, projecting, playing victim and referring to herself as a kicked puppy. Telling me my wife needs to apologize to her and making the conversation about mother son instead. She is beating around the bush. And she is sending me photos of my own baby that I did not send her. Her friends are congratulating me that I did not tell. Again she is pretending that everything is ok and it is not. She asked me to apologize to her husband for what I said on the phone that day. I said ok, watch this. So I sent the guy a message that was very apologetic and not passive aggressive or backhanded comments in any way. Still my mom won’t say anything.
Now: Baby is 6 days old. He is the best thing in my life and I wish my family were involved but it seems like I am living in a fantasy world where everyone can be happy together. I can be a jerk and have a terrible relationship with my mom, but I want more than anything to just feel loved enough where she can swallow her pride and make amends with my wife. Thats it. And she asked the other day to put a family group chat so everyone can be involved… for real? I know she is stressed with a high pressure job, but it seems heartless to me. She asks what big items she can get for the baby. Mom, baby is here we have everything for a couple months already. I said the biggest thing you can do is reach out and have a heart to heart with my wife so this rift can end and we can at least be cordial if you two can’t get along. I don’t think it will happen.

Hi there. Moving from Tampa to Minneapolis next month (originally from Chicago - moving to get away from the Florida heat, humidity, and mold).
Looking for a nice 2 br (apt, townhouse, or house rental) with at least 1000 square feet in the metro area, suburb (prefer first ring), city, or small town is fine although prefer to avoid any apt with more than 3 floors. Would prefer hardwood floors, nice greenery landscaping, and pet friendly is a must. An on-site sauna and fitness facilities would be a nice bonus. The only apartment that comes close to my requirement is Cedars of Edina (nice pool and sauna, good suburb area) although the carpet looks really old and nasty and crazily there is no in unit washer and dryer (for almost $2000!!).
Can spend up to $2200 but prefer $18-2200 range. Any recommendations would be appreciated. I am having a hard time finding a decent 2 BR apartment with hardwood floors.
I thought Minneapolis would be more affordable than Tampa but seems like most apartments in the metro are overpriced and you really do not get much for your money. Right now I am living in a 2 BR with attached garage, 1300 square feet with a nice pool, gym, and lakeside trail in one of the fanciest suburbs of Tampa for only $1900.

Edit: Being downvoted makes me sad. I'm just trying to find a place to live and the downvotes are exactly why I'm being cautious. I'm legit just trying to get myself a better life. This is why Ive lost my faith in humanity
Been on Apartments, Zillow, and Domu, etc
Could use advice, encouragement, sanity check
To elaborate, I moved from small town Ohio to Columbus last February. Finally got my professional license and job transfer approved. Ultimate goal was always Chicago. I love the city when I visit. I'm gonna be traveling around the city for my job to several different locations. Single queer guy, no pets (I might eventually break down and get a cat). I'm wavering on neighborhoods vs high rise with a gym.
I live in a 1 bedroom apartment now and, in the year that I have, my next door neighbors have both flooded my apartment with the smells of their smoking and a freshly hatched baby crying at all hours. I don't mind city noise, but crying babies are my limit.
I am tired of dealing with the transphobia that's happening in Ohio and need to find my family.
Looking for rental 1+ Bedrooms/bathrooms.
Budget is 16-2400 per month depending on what's included in rent. Trying not to blow my budget. I love sports but also love theater and arts. I'd be happy as long as the area isn't full of young families and/or loud, drunk party dudes (looking at you, Wrigleyville)
NEEDS:
Safe
Air Conditioning
Close to public transit (I have narcolepsy and, while I can drive, I have to limit my distance driving)
Parking
In-unit washedryer
DESIRES:
Room to set up an art/gaming space
Smoke-Free
Place for a hammock (balcony, porch, etc)
Good internet access
Hardwood floors
Smart Thermostat
Walkable/Bikable safe area to wanderun and eat (it's hard to cook for one yo)

Hi, me (46f) and my husband (43m), no kid and don’t plan to have kid, have been planning for FIRE for several years and hope to pick your brain for a status check.
Regarding real estate, We now own a $740k residence with $107k mortgage, which will rent out after FIRE, current rent at market rate is about $2800-$3000/month (we will move to Taiwan, and live with my in-laws, at least at the beginning); an office unit, about $300k FMV, paid off, currently used for our own business, will rent out after FIRE, current rent at market rate is about $1200-$1500/month; a rental SFH, about $400k value, paid off, currently rent out for $1900/month.
In addition, we have about $500k in various Roth/Traditional IRA accounts, $87k in taxable brokerage account, $200k in various CD/bond/checking/savings accounts, and another $330k invested in two real estate development projects, which will return funds by end of 2026.
Hopefully, our own business can sell for $200k-$500k. we can accept if no buyer, and just close it. Currently it brings in around $400-$500k/yr, but we work very hard.
So, our current net worth is around 2.4M. Our expected annual expense after FIRE is around $66k-$100k in Taiwan. Fortunately, Taiwan has very affordable living expenses and health insurance.
This is our financials. I don’t see many posts discussing FIRE with rental properties. Probably because of maintenance costs, taxes, management fees, rent fluctuations, etc. But we are reluctant to sell them, and would rather rely on the rents as income, at least partially, during FIRE.
What do you think, my fellow FIRE seekers? Thank you in advance for any input!

My wife and I have finished up our 2 week honeymoon and man was it a blast. We were lucky enough to follow up 10 days in Croatia with 3 days in Dublin before coming home (stayed near Dartry.. beautiful, quiet area). Here are my takeaways:
The people are wonderful
From our first Uber driver to the friendly pubs and the considerate strangers on the Dart.. most everyone was so welcoming and willing to help if we had any questions. It reminded me of the Midwest nice that we experience here in the states. The main highlight here was having a great conversation with the gentlemen that played at Trinity Bar on Sunday night - I believe they are called Shamrock(?). We told them about out little girl coming in September and they were nice enough to give us a CD.. so cool!
Temple Bar area is cool in moderation
This area provided the energy, for sure. But it was a weekend, very nice out, so you had a lot of numbskulls out and about. But really really fun nonetheless. Trinity Bar was the perfect stop for us because it was very close, but not nearly as busy or outrageously priced in comparison.
Doheny Nesbits & Devitts ... A+
Two really enjoyable experiences we had were at these pubs. Loved the general vibe, as well as the food and drink quality. I will definitely be back.
Public transport is fairly easy (TFI Live app.. meh)
We bought two Ubers our entire time in Dublin. The public transportation is great. But I have one gripe. The TFI Live app is only 1 or 2 really smart tech people from becoming an amazing app. Why hasn't anyone figured that out? The user experience is quite poor. While learning the system, it's a headache trying to figure out exactly where each stop is, having to bounce around between 2 sections of the app, as well as looking at Google Maps at the same time.
On the topic of transportation.....
GET THE VISITOR LEAP CARD
Just do it.
Wonderful breakfasts
Beanhive Coffee (right near Stephen's Green), and Lark Cafe. DELICIOUS.
EPIC Museum
The emigration history of Ireland was very fascinating to both of us. Ireland has such a complicated history, and I'm not sure there's any other history like it in the world (granted, I'm no expert). I would love to do more research sometime into this stuff because my wife has lots of Irish in her family tree, and I believe I would find a little bit of it in mine.
Final thoughts...
I just really wish we had more time there, but I think this solidified one thing for me, and that's that I will definitely be coming back to Ireland. From south of Dublin, to the Guinness tour, to our Howth adventure.. everything was different, but a lot of fun. Makes me excited to see what else Ireland has to offer. I'm also a huge lover of golf and golf history, so this is another reason I want to come back.
EDIT: 1 addition.. we kept noticing that the Irish are fit and healthy. It was refreshing seeing human beings that take care of themselves. Meanwhile I sit here in Chicago at breakfast and 1/3 of the people around me are obese.
I think the Irish life expectancy is like 5 years longer than in the US, and it’s easy to understand why.
UNTIL NEXT TIME!

Hi everyone, I'm getting rid of some items from my collection that I haven't used in a while/don't see myself ever playing. Everything is CIB unless noted. Shipping is free for anything over $25, otherwise it'll be $5. I am only taking FF. For consoles & larger items, I'll split shipping halfway.
I will be shipping via the cheapest method, if you would like a specific carrier or method of shipping, I can send a quote for the difference in cost.

Game	Info	Price
Consoles & Accessories
Genesis controllers	Various 3rd party, multitap, arcade stick	$5
Genesis power cable	MK-2103	$15
Genesis RF Cable		$2
Dreamcast RF cable		$2
Sega CD Model 2	loose with power cable	$150
Sega CD Model 2	CIB	$300
Generic N64 USB Controller		$5
SNES
Actraiser	loose https://imgur.com/a/1qOugTW	$35
Arkanoid	SEALED	$73
Demon's Crest	loose	$155
Demon's Crest	still has seal from blockbuster on https://imgur.com/a/SkWWcZ3	$500
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest	Mint	$105
Incantaion		$510
Mega Man X	first print	$125
Robocop vs Terminator		$115
Super Metroid	First print, Includes poster https://imgur.com/a/HFmsDM1	$330
Xardion	loose	$35
Zombies Ate My Neighbors		$108
N64
Crusin USA	loose	$15
Diddy Kong Racing	loose	$30
Diddy Kong Racing		$95
Ogre Battle 64	loose	$98
Resident Evil 2		$130
Star Fox 64	tear on front of box, no rumble or insert	$62
Tony Hawk Pro Skater	loose	$12
Gameboy & GBC
Adventure Island II	loose	$25
The Flash		$70
Interstellar Assault	loose	$35
James Bond 007		$70
Woody Woodpecker	Graded 9.0 A+	$295
Gameboy Advance
Castlevania Double Pack	Graded 8.5 A+	$400
Final Fantasy I & II Dawn of Souls	Missing cart holder https://imgur.com/a/beVqX9X	$48
Mario Tennis Power Tour	SEALED	$120
Mega Man Battle Network 4 Blue Moon	no cart holder https://imgur.com/a/wT3aBYu	$95
Mega Man Battle Network 4 Red Sun		$98
Mega Man Zero 2		$95
Ninja Five-O	loose, label damage https://imgur.com/a/81gCA0b	$325
Rebelstar Tactical Command	SEALED	$89
Sonic Advance 3		$77
DS
Ace Attorney Apollo Justice	SEALED	$105
Bleach the 3rd Phantom	SEALED https://imgur.com/a/ZZi8Wb6	$150
Chibi Robo: Park Patrol	SEALED	$95
Children of Mana	SEALED	$75
Chrono Trigger	loose https://imgur.com/a/hxKCrOR	$73
Chrono Trigger	CIB	$120
Dragon Quest IX	loose	$36
Magicians Quest	Loose	$140
Mario & Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story	SEALED https://imgur.com/a/1GoouU3	$60
Mario & Luigi Partners in Time	SEALED	$140
Mega Man Battle Network 5 Double Team	Graded 85+	$200
Monster Tale	SEALED https://imgur.com/a/yMlHxGf	$100
Pokemon Conquest	loose	$62
Pokemon Conquest		$105
Pokemon Soulsilver	loose	$122so
Sonic Colors	SEALED https://imgur.com/a/Hcukcvz	$40
Zelda: Spirit Tracks	Loose	$55
3DS
3DS & DS lot Battle of Giants Dragons, Brain Age, Brain Age 2, Club Penguin Herberts Revenge, Flash Focus, LEGO Batman 2, Ninja Turtles, Puzzle Quest, Sonic Colors, Touchmaster 2	All loose	$43
Gamecube
Phantasy Star Online Episode I&II Plus		$190
Pokemon Colosseum	loose	$127
Ribbit King	no manual	$160
Spawn: Armageddon	SEALED	$87
Super Mario Sunshine	loose https://imgur.com/a/LnzMttT	$30
Viewtiful Joe	SEALED	$100
Viewtiful Joe 2	SEALED	$80
Zelda Collector's Edition	https://imgur.com/a/n2cr9Fx	$66
Wii
Kirby’s Epic Yarn	SEALED https://imgur.com/a/v0L7KL5	$35
No More Heroes 2	SEALED	$32
Resident Evil 4	SEALED	$35
Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles	https://imgur.com/a/L9fp8v2	$35
Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles	no manual, https://imgur.com/a/L9fp8v2	$9
Rune Factory Frontier		$35
Master System
Miracle Warriors		$48
Genesis
LOT 1, Earthworm Jim, Garfield caught in the act, Krustys fun house, monopoly	all loose, some have label wear https://imgur.com/a/xDt7jtC	$30
LOT 2, College Football USA 97, NBA Live 96, World Series Baseball 95	All CIB	$25
Arcus Odyssey	No Manual	$155
Batman	no manual	$90
Battletoads Double Dragon	Loose	$22
Bimini Run	No manual	$35
Captain America	no manual	$45
Contra Hard Corps	No manual	$98
Crusader of Centy	loose, former rental, super glue on back screws	$445
Double Dragon 3	loose	$12
Eternal Champions	loose	$6
Fire Shark	No manual	$58
Ghouls N Ghosts	No manual	$60
Gunstar Heroes	no manual https://imgur.com/a/Tg7fYyP	$120
Jeopardy	SEALED	$30
Landstalker	Loose, sharpie on label	$24
The Lost Vikings	SEALED, cart is loose	$180
Mega Turrican	no manual	$140
Pac-Mania		$26
Predator 2		$60
The Punisher		$350
Red Zone	No manual	$63
Robocop vs Terminator	no manual	$55
Shadow Dancer Secret of Shinobi	no manual	$48
Shining force II		$150
Spider-Man X-Men Arcade's Revenge		$24
Sonic the Hedgehog		$30
Sunset Riders	no manual	$90
Time Killers	no manual	$125
Toki Going Ape Spit	no manual	$56
Ultimate Qix	No Manual	$55
Zombies Ate My Neighbors	no manual	$42
Zombies Ate My Neighbors	loose	$21
Sega CD
Adventures of Willy Beamish	loose	$10
Bram Stoker's Dracula	Manual only has cover https://imgur.com/a/Fo4IyXY	$10
Dungeon Master II Skullkeep		$40
Ecco The Dolphin		$35
Ground Zero Texas		$16
Joe Montana's NFL Football		$6
Lunar the Silver Star	https://imgur.com/a/lh9n8Lt	$200
Midnight Raiders	loose	$9
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers		$24
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers	Graded 8.5 A+	$220
NHL 94	loose	$5
Novastorm		$140
Robo Aleste	No manual	$106
Sewer Shark	loose	$5
Stellar Fire	loose	$7
Supreme Warrior	SEALED	$100
Vay	Some wear on manual & case https://imgur.com/a/f3Bgb3v	$120
32x
Kolibri	No Manual	$220
Night Trap		$100
Saturn
Enemy Zero	Generic disc sleeves https://imgur.com/a/yyV6NNg	$155
Panzer Dragoon		$73
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei	loose https://imgur.com/a/MJ2jhw5	$47
Dreamcast
Gameshark CDX	loose	$4
D+vine[Luv]	disc & manual	$2
Illbleed	SEALED	$420
Industrial Spy: Operation Espionage	SEALED	$125
Maken X	SEALED	$70
Marvel vs Capcom	loose	$54
Marvel vs Capcom 2	loose	$110
Q*Bert	SEALED	$40
Sports Jam	SEALED	$70
Star Wars Demolition	SEALED	$50
PS1
The Adventures of Lomax		$210
Alundra	loose	$64
Alundra 2		$40
Beyond the Beyond		$50
Bloody Roar 2	loose	$30
Breath of Fire IV	loose	$56
Castlevania Symphony of the Night	loose	$70
Contra Legacy of War		$20
Dino Crisis 2	loose	$59
Doom	longbox	$72
Einhander	Loose	$85
Elemenetal Gearbolt	https://imgur.com/a/EuSfZYc	$225
Evil Zone	loose	$20
Fear Effect	No manual https://imgur.com/a/rUqjVfW	$25
Fighter Maker	SEALED	$55
Final Fantasy Tactics	loose	$15
Final Fantasy VII	GH https://imgur.com/a/Wj98fSs	$38
Final Fantasy VIII	SEALED (GH)	$60
Hellboy Asylum Seeker	SEALED	$125
Kartia	loose	$35
Koudelka	SEALED, https://imgur.com/a/1NNkrll	$430
Lunar Silver Star Story	loose, game discs	$60
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue	Case, 4 discs, & map	$120
Master of Monsters	SEALED	$70
MDK		$19
Mega Man X6	SEALED, black label	$115
Mortal Kombat Trilogy	loose	$25
Parasite Eve 2	https://imgur.com/a/B189quy	$112
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment	No bonus disc	$350
Point Blank 3	SEALED	$80
Raiden Project	loose	$23
Rascal	SEALED, some wear	$38
Resident Evil 2	loose	$30
Resident Evil 2		$49
Star Ocean The Second Story	No manual	$40
Strider 2	both discs, loose	$62
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo	loose	$17
Tactics Ogre	Loose, has rental stickers on top	$60
Thousand Arms	loose	$85
TigerShark	SEALED https://imgur.com/a/9ANOk4Y	$20
Tomba		$135
Tomba	SEALED, promo copy w/ drill hole	$435
Treasures of the Deep	loose	$6
Vagrant Story		$95
Vandal Hearts 2		$90
Xenogears	https://imgur.com/a/OXTu3gy	$140
PS2
Big Mutha Truckers		$8
Blood Will Tell		$380
Bloody Roar 4	loose	$62
The Fast & the Furious	SEALED	$35
Fatal Frame II		$92
Family Guy Video Game		$25
Grand Theft Auto III	SEALED, https://imgur.com/a/neMZAcO	$15
Gungrave	loose	$35
Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction		$25
Jak 3		$8
Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al Revis Premium Box Set	Graded, 9.4 A+	$240
Medal of Honor Vanguard	no manual	$5
Need for Speed most wanted	no manual	$11
Parappa The Rapper 2	no manual	$68
Rule of Rose	No manual	$550
Silent Hill 3	no manual	$150
Silent Hill 4 The Room		$140
The Warriors	loose	$47
PS3
Eye of Judgement, Def Jam Rapstar, DJ Hero 1 & 2, PES 2011 lot		$13
Digimon All Star Rumble	no manual	$20
Xbox
Conker: Live & Reloaded	loose	$30
Def Jam Fight for NY	no manual	$97
Godzilla Destroy all Monsters Melee	no manual	$75
Marvel vs Capcom 2	no manual	$106
Mortal Kombat Armageddon	no manual	$30
(360) Digimon All Star Rumble	no manual	$13
(360) Halo Reach	SEALED, white label https://imgur.com/a/nQ4aaBY	$37
(360) Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain	SEALED, Day one edition	$15
Other
(PC) Half Life Game of the year edition		$12
(PSP) Final Fantasy IV	SEALED	$55
(PSP) Gungnir	SEALED	$85
(PSP) Star Wars Force Unleashed	loose	$3
Boxes & Manuals Only
(NES) Widget	Box	$73
(NES) Mighty Final Fight	Cut box & case	$88
(SNES) Ignition Factor	Box	$25
(SNES) Lufia II	Box	$150
(SNES) Shadowrun	Box (has wear)	$60
(SNES) Star Trek the Next Generation	Box & manual (has wear)	$20
(N64) Mario Party	box, one flap is torn	$40
(GC) Pokemon XD	Case https://imgur.com/a/xaoZwWN	$40
(SCD) Dark Wizard	case	$35
(Dreamcast) - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike	Case	$40
(PS1) Tomba	Case	$40
Guides
(SNES) Earthbound	no scratch n sniff	$210
(PC) World of Warcraft Dungeon Companion		$2
(DC) Power Stone		$22
(PS1) Driver 2		$10
(PS1) Wild Arms 2	w/ poster	$45
(PS2) 007 Everything or Nothing		$7
(PS2) Nano Breaker	BradyGames, new in plastic	$15
(PS2) Project Snowblind	BradyGames	$11
(PS2) Samurai Warriors	Prima	$3
(PS2) Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow	Prima	$3
(Xbox) Thief Deadly Shadows	Prima	$10

Are there any karaoke lounges in the Chicago metro area (yes, I'm willing to drive), with private rooms, that are open up at 10am on a Saturday?

I remember my introduction to the existence of backing tracks. I was at a goth/industrial show and the opening band had to cut their set to about half a song. Because the cd player handling the backing tracks failed. I have seen goth bands tour my city and the first show had a full band. The next show had a missing bassist who had now been absorbed into the backing track. It felt like Alice in Wonderland but lame. Many shows I see people freaking out over are literally just a karaoke show with a keyboard playing single notes.
I understand it isn't easy to tour in this economic climate and make sure everybody gets paid decent, but it's reaching the point where I think the audience have lowered their own standards to accommodate what they are oversaturated with. Curious what other people think based on shows they have been to.

"Experience luxury in motion with Mega Limo Rental, your premier choice for limousine service in Chicago. Whether it's a glamorous night out or a corporate event, our fleet of elegant vehicles ensures style and comfort at every turn. Trust us to elevate your journey with impeccable service and unforgettable experiences."

My father in law passed away in December and my wife and I (who live in Chicago) inherited his quaint summer home on Cape Cod. We have been paying two mortgages for the last 5 months while we clean out the place of his belongings and hopefully rent it out. We were planning on using Vacasa, but the recent news/ reviews has us very nervous to continue down that path. Anyone have any experience or advice with rental management company’s on the Cape? Or has anyone been able to be a host living out of state? How do you do it? We have a baby on the way and aren’t able to go out there much to check on it.
Specifically near the East Ham area.
We would love to keep the house in our family (the mortgage is low enough where we will break even if we generate about $1800 of income a month on average).

Purchased a 3 unit multi-family a couple of months ago (I live in one of the units). I inherited tenants in both of the other units. They are pretty easy tenants. The last owner did not raise rent for 7 years and now their current rent is about $800 , per unit, under the market rate for the neighborhood for building units that are virtually the same- I have made several upgrades to the building/units (about $15ks worth).
My question is how much is to much to raise rent? I want to bump each unit up about $400 per month (which is still significantly under comps for the neighborhood).
I would like them to stay but this is an investment and I can not subsidize their rent just because they got a sweet deal for the last 7 years from the previous landlord.
EDIT:
a few things I wanted to add bc I got tired of answering the same questions.

1. There is no rental increase limit in IL OR Chicago. In fact IL passed a law in 1997 specificly banning a cap on rental increase caps for the entire state.
   
2. The only code for rental increases is around the amount of time you have to provide the tenant of the notice based on the amount of time they have lived in the unit.
   
3. THEY DO NOT PAY $800 PER MONTH. They pay $1,100 (per unit) which for my neighborhood is about $800 under the market rate for a 3 bed 1 bath (which is what my units are).
   
4. To all of you who have never owned rental properties and clearly just want to give me shit for wanting to raise rent. Fuck off. I'm not being greedy for wanting them to pay 3/4 of what they should be paying. I'm not a charity. If you are pissed because you are still renting and have no control over your cost to live some where frankly you can suck it up and be pissed at your landlord ( you entitled fucks). Don't want to be subject to the rental market changes? Buy a house. We saved and worked 3 jobs for YEARS To make this investment.
   
5. To the people who actually answered my questions (renters and landlords alike) thank you. It's appreciated.
   

On August 18, 2015 the Boston Red Sox hired the late General Manager of the Detroit Tigers, Dave Dombrowski, to run the team, replacing Ben Cherrington. The development focused Cherrington had failed to follow up the Red Sox miracle 2013 season with even winning records in the two years since, though the farm system ranked among the very best in baseball and a wave of prospects had just hit the majors (among them, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, and Blake Swihart). Thus, the swapping of Cherington for Dombrowski was rightly interpreted as the Red Sox moving to a more assertive phase, to win now even at the expense of the player development system.
Ironically Dombrowski had been fired by the Tigers because of his belief that the organization’s competitive window had closed and that the team needed to rebuild; the Tigers gave the job to his former assistant who got one more winning season out of their aging core before the inevitabilities became insurmountable. By that time the Red Sox were in the midst of their second straight division crown of three, which climaxed with the single greatest season in franchise history. This is how Dombrowski built that team, as well as the fiscal panic that cost the Red Sox the greatest all around player in franchise history following it:
~2015~
November 13, 2015: Traded Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, Javy Guerra and Manuel Margot to the San Diego Padres. Received Craig Kimbrel.
The first major transaction of the Dave Dombrowski era set the pace for the next four years; trading four prospects for a relief pitcher constitutes the classic win-now move. In this case the Red Sox won the deal in both the long and short terms, as only Manuel Margot developed in regular at the major league level, and that at a position where the Red Sox were not in need (center field). Meanwhile Craig Kimbrel made the all-star team in each of his three seasons in Boston, the second of which was one of the greatest relief performances in the game’s history.
December 4, 2015: Signed David Price as a free agent, 217 million dollars over seven years.
At once the most maligned and most underrated move of the Dombrowski era as well as being the biggest, the David Price signing saw the Red Sox for the first time handout a nine figure contract to a free agent pitcher. This was all the more dramatic as they had alienated and traded away their own homegrown southpaw ace (Jon Lester) less than eighteen months before. This was also the first time with the Red Sox that Dave Dombrowski acquired a player he was he previously familiar with, perhaps slightly overpaying for that familiarity. Did we mention that this was largest contract ever given to a pitcher at time, too?
Price had a solid first season in Boston, leading the league in innings pitched with 230 and striking out nearly a man per inning. Nonetheless the first three years of his tenure were marked with mutual hostility towards the ever-ravenous Boston sports media, only alleviated after his fantastic 2018 postseason run. Aging and injuries limited both the quantity and quality of his performance in 2017 and 2019; this trend as well as his 31 million annum salary contributed to owner John Henry’s decision to offload Price even at the cost of Mookie Betts. If only for that last reason alone the David Price signing is one the Red Sox would likely not repeat in hindsight.
December 7, 2015: Traded Jonathan Aro and Wade Miley to the Seattle Mariners. Received Roenis Elías and Carson Smith.
The first of many times Dombrowski would be burned in pursuit of bullpen arms, this deal with Seattle comes down to Wade Miley for Carson Smith. Miley had been signed as a reclamation project by Cherrington before 2015 in the hopes that Miley could serve as a solid mid-rotation option, which he more or less fulfilled with just short of 200 league average innings. Smith on the other hand was coming off his first full season in the majors where he gave the Mariners seventy brilliant innings of high leverage relief pitching (2.31 ERA, 11.8 K/9, and only two home runs allowed).
In a twist of fate, this trade hurt both teams as Smith immediately got injured and only pitched 24 innings in the rest of his career while Miley bombed in Seattle en route to a midseason jettisoning. Yet he rebounded with Baltimore in 2017 and remains an effective if oft-injured starting pitcher to this day, currently with the Milwaukee Brewers.
~2016~
June 10, 2016: Drafted Bobby Dalbec in the 4th round of the 2016 amateur draft.
The once and future Red Sox, Quad A superstar Bobby Dalbec!
July 7, 2016: Traded Wendell Rijo and Aaron Wilkerson to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Aaron Hill and cash.
With Pablo Sandoval well into his career of eating his way out of Boston, the Red Sox carried a gaping hole at third base from August 2012 to July 2017. One of the short term attempts at a fix featured the acquisition of infielder Aaron Hill, hoping that he and Travis Shaw could platoon for the rest of the 2016 season. The thirty four year old Hill had been decent in Milwaukee in the first half after two bad seasons, but he reverted to that form as soon as he put on a Red Sox uniform, posting a 54 OPS+ in 137 plate appearances. After another terrible eighty plate appearances for the Giants in 2017 Hill was done. On the bright side, the two players Dombrowski gave up for him never amounted to anything.
July 9, 2016: Traded Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Brad Ziegler.
Ziegler was an accomplished submarine righty who the Red Sox acquired for basically free to get same-sided batters out, a role which he fulfilled to perfection (1.52 ERA in 30 innings). Another clearly won trade for DD.
July 14, 2016: Traded Anderson Espinoza to the San Diego Padres. Received Drew Pomeranz.
At the time, Anderson Espinoza was a teenager in Single A while Drew Pomeranz had appeared to finally unlock his long-salivated over potential with an all-star appearance. Ideally the Padres were hoping Espinoza could eventually develop to that same quality while the Red Sox expected Pomeranz to fill the fourth spot in the rotation. Neither team got what they wanted, at least in 2016 or for most of thereafter; Espinoza immediately went down with a major arm injury which kept him from pitching professionally for five years. Pomeranz himself reverted to his pre-breakout level for the rest of the season, bounced back with a big 2017 (17-6, 3.32 ERA, a strikeout per inning across 174 frames) and then finally was the forgotten man on the 2018 pitching staff due to injuries and ineffectiveness (6.08 ERA in 74 innings, 66 strikeouts to 44 walks). At this point the thirty year old southpaw looked like the quintessential example of TNSTAAPP (There’s No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect), another electric arm who would never match his potential due to injuries and command woes. Anyways, Pomeranz then seemed to resuscitate his career out of the bullpen for the 2019 Brewers and 2020-21 Padres with a sub-2 ERA across 70 innings in those three seasons…before injuries again struck. Though he has not pitched in the majors in three years he remains in the Dodgers minor league system, currently (where else) on the injured list.
December 6, 2016: Traded Victor Diaz, Luis Alexander Basabe, Michael Kopech and Yoán Moncada to the Chicago White Sox. Received Chris Sale.
It’s easy to forget now, but Moncada was not only a can’t miss prospect but one of the three best in all of baseball at the time, and Kopech was another Top 100 type. I’ve covered Kopech in my previous article on Red Sox pitching prospect busts but Moncada’s own failure to reach his ceiling was due more to injuries and a passive approach at the plate. Thus far into his career, Moncada has had two good seasons out of seven and played in at least 130 games in only three. With a strikeout rate of thirty percent, a declining walk rate, little power and less defense, he’s become a fourteen million dollar albatross even when on the field for the White Sox.
Sale, of course, had two Cy Young Award worthy campaigns before injuries and an ill-advised extension soured his final five seasons as a Red Sox. That extension will be discussed further when we come to it, but the trade on its own was inarguably a major victory.
Traded a player to be named later, Josh Pennington, Mauricio Dubón and Travis Shaw to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Tyler Thornburg. The Boston Red Sox sent Yeison Coca (June 5, 2017) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.
Yet another ill-fated trade for a relief pitcher, this time costing the Red Sox heavily in terms of value lost; Shaw went to become an all-star power bat at second and third base for the next two seasons in Milwaukee before his career petered out. Thornburg on the other hand contracted thoracic outlet syndrome from which he never recovered. Even if he had pitched well, the Red Sox could have used Shaw more than any setup man due to Dustin Pedroia’s career ending knee injury.
December 8, 2016: Signed Mitch Moreland as a free agent.
Mitch Moreland was a decent first baseman, but could Dave really not find someone better to play first over the next three years? Even if they cost more than $18.5 million?
December 20, 2016: Traded Clay Buchholz to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Josh Tobias.
This was more of a psychic relief to Red Sox Nation than anything else, finally alleviating them of the constant confusion over which Bucholz would show up on the mound—the oft-injured and easy to hit version, or the dominating ace? Fittingly Clay’s last three seasons in the majors featured two horrid starts for Philly, sixteen dominating starts in Arizona, and then finally split the difference with a final dozen poor performances as a Blue Jay.
~2017~
June 12, 2017: Drafted Tanner Houck in the 1st round (24th pick) of the 2017 amateur draft.
Houck’s selection constitutes one-third of the total number of draft picks by Dombrowski that made which helped the Red Sox at the major league level (the other two being fourteenth round pick Kutter Crawford in 2016 and fellow first rounder Triston Casas in 2018); inability to find even depth pieces in the draft left the Red Sox farm system utterly void of impact talent by 2018.
June 23, 2017: Selected Doug Fister off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels.
As alluded to in my previous article, veteran GMs tend to reacquire players they were familiar with from previous stops. Fister had been an excellent fourth starter for the Tigers early in the 2010s but by 2017 the end was clearly staring him in the face; a 4.88 ERA in eighteen appearances (fifteen starts) just underlined this inevitable and unenviable conclusion.
July 26, 2017: Traded Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos to the San Francisco Giants. Received Eduardo Núñez.
Nunez was the short-term solution to Pedroia’s knee injury. He turned out to be the medium-term solution too, as the degenerate condition of the incumbent’s affliction led DD to resign Nunez that winter. While fantastic down the stretch in 2017 this was a stretch of the infielder’s capabilities; Nunez suffered his own knee injuries and posted a remarkable -2.3 WAR as Boston’s primary keystone occupant over the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
July 31, 2017: Traded Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan and Stephen Nogosek to the New York Mets. Received Addison Reed.
Another deadline, another deal to reinforce the bullpen. Reed was inconsistent for the Red Sox during his two month stay, which turned out to be the penultimate chapter for his career—a poor 2018 in Minnesota marked the end of his major league career, an astonishingly quick demise even for a reliever.
~2018~
February 26, 2018: Signed J.D. Martinez as a free agent, five years and 110 million dollars.
The best free agent signing of the Dombrowski era, JD provided the power bat the Red Sox sorely lacked after Big Papi’s retirement. In his first and best season in Boston Martinez led the majors in both runs batted in and total bases, placed third in MVP voting, and earned Silver Sluggers at two different positions! He declined linearly from there, but remains a productive member of any team’s lineup to this day; he has spent the last two seasons as the Dodgers and now Mets’ DH, attempting to compensate for declining bat speed by sacrificing contact for power.
March 4, 2018: Signed Ryan Brasier as a free agent.
The quality of Brasier’s pitching is inversely proportional to the quality of the expectations laid upon him. Thus he alternates excellent if limited seasons with ostensibly healthier but more erratic contributions.
March 24, 2018: Traded Deven Marrero to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received a player to be named later. The Arizona Diamondbacks sent Josh Taylor (May 15, 2018) to the Boston Red Sox to complete the trade.
Deven Marrero was the prototypical good-field/no-hit infielder. Taylor is yet another oft-injured reliever, though he at least gave the Red Sox two solid seasons as the primary southpaw in 2019 and 2021. After missing all of 2022, he was traded to the Royals for Adalberto Mondesi and a teenage infielder named Angel Pierre; while Mondesi knee injuries seem to have ended his career Pierre posted a .415 OBP in rookie ball last year. Keep an eye and ear out for him as he climbs through the minor league ranks.
June 4, 2018: Drafted Triston Casas in the 1st round (26th pick) of the 2018 amateur draft.
Get well soon. There’s only so much Bobby Dalbec a fan can take.
June 28, 2018: Traded Santiago Espinal to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Steve Pearce and cash.
Moreland had never and would never hit southpaws, but it took until the middle of his second season in Boston for the Red Sox to provide him with a platoon partner. When they finally did so at least they chose one of the very best platoon players in the major leagues in Steve Pearce; Pearce of course would win the World Series MVP that should have gone to Price later that year.
July 25, 2018: Traded Jalen Beeks to the Tampa Bay Rays. Received Nathan Eovaldi.
Even had he not resigned with the team during the offseason, Eovaldi would have earned his place in Red Sox lore for his heroic six inning relief appearance in the World Series. We’ll discuss the extension later, but also note that Beeks is perhaps the only pitcher who the Rays failed to turn into a Cy Young contender. What’s the opposite of adding insult to injury?
July 30, 2018: Traded Ty Buttrey and Williams Jerez to the Los Angeles Angels. Received Ian Kinsler and cash.
With Nunez playing well below replacement level, the Red Sox needed a replacement for the replacement. Kinsler in his penultimate season at least provided a solid glove; just in case the Red Sox also picked up Brandon Phillips.
November 16, 2018: Signed Steve Pearce as a free agent. AND, December 6, 2018: Signed Nathan Eovaldi as a free agent.
These were covertly two of the worst transactions of the Dave Dombrowski era. Refusing to say goodbye to midseason rentals is risky enough, but the amount of money given to Pearce and Eovaldi also baffled reasonable explanations; a thirty-six-year-old platoon hitter at first base is replaceable enough, even when he’s not the weak side of the arrangement. Had Pearce played well and been healthy in 2019, perhaps the six and quarter million would have seemed mostly worth it; instead, he “hit” .180 in twenty nine games before retiring.
Meanwhile, Eovaldi’s lengthy injury history made it a minor miracle that he was healthy enough for the Red Sox during his three months in Boston—bringing him back for four years and sixty-eight million dollars can only be explained as a sentimental move, an excessive reward for that World Series performance. As could have been reasonably expected in December 2018, Nitro Nate only proved worthy of that contract in one out of four seasons; in the other three he was either injured for most of the season, ineffective, or both.
~2019~
March 23, 2019: Extended Chris Sale for five years, 145 million dollars.
It wasn’t the David Price contract that caused the fiscal panic that cost the Red Sox their best player since at least Carl Yastrzemski, not really. The Red Sox could have eaten that sunken cost, had it been the sole albatross on their pitching staff. But, of course, it was only one of three unnecessary contracts that Dave Dombrowski issued to injury-prone starting pitchers on the wrong side of thirty. Sale had already shown long term red flags in 2018, which argued for letting him play out his walk year in 2019 before possibly ponying up the cash to keep him. After all, the Red Sox also had to extend Xander Bogaerts as well as the inestimable Betts; those two would cost at least sixty million a year to retain. Since they were coming off the most dominant single season in franchise history, perhaps now was the best time to let go some of the chief contributors, before the Red Sox tricked themselves into trying to recapture lightning in a bottle…Well, you know what happened in reality.
Between them, Eovaldi, Sale, and Price cost the Red Sox $52 million in 2019 alone, then $67 million in 2020; accounting for other contracts (JBJ’s arbitration rang up $11 million, Bogey was extended for $20 million, and JD was on the books for about $24 million) that was at least $122 million dollars already assigned to six players entering 2020. Assuming a payroll of effectively $200 million, this would have left about thirty million to spend on the other twenty-odd players required to field a team after giving Mookie his presumed megadeal. Turning back to 2019, just like with the Tigers in 2015, Dave couldn’t even make his customary July trade for pitching; the acquisition of Andrew Cashner from the Orioles felt like a low-budget parody of his previous deadline splashes, which of course it was.
There’s the real reason Dave Dombrowski was fired—just as in Detroit his full throttle commitment to a win-now mandate from ownership eventually led to a top-heavy roster and barren farm system. Have fun while you can, Phillies Phans.
Final Note/Small Self Promotion I forget to add: You could have read this post ten days earlier if you follow my blog

1444 North Maplewood Avenue in Chicago was sold for $1,125,000, featuring a six-unit vintage greystone walk-up in the East Humboldt Park neighborhood. The property comprises spacious 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartments with updated kitchens and bathrooms in most units, central heat, individual water heaters, and potential for rental increases with further modernization. Additional opportunities include adding central air conditioning and in-unit laundry.

Summary of transaction details:

• Property Type: Multifamily
• Transaction Amount: $1,125,000
• Units: 6
• Price Per Unit: $187,500
• Square Footage: 5,052
• Price Per Square Foot: $223
• Address: 1444 North Maplewood Avenue
• Market: Chicago

Timothy Ryan of Timothy Ryan Properties Commercial represented the buyer in the transaction, while Jordan Friedman of Landstar Realty Group acted as the seller's representative.
Learn More: Timothy Ryan & Jordan Friedman Close $1.125M Sale Of Chicago Multifamily

Mina was born on November 1980 in Chicago, Illinois. She is 43 years old.
1997 : She gets married to her first husband at the age of 16. It is an arranged marriage. He is 24 years old, comes supposedly from a good muslim family. Her parents don’t want to let this good proposal go. It is not a forced marriage as she seems content to get married. After the marriage, she changes her first and last name at a request of her in-laws. She doesn’t finish high school.
June 2000 : The couple buys a condo.
2002 : She files for divorce. The documents say there were NO minor children. Because of shame, her divorce is hidden from most extended family and friends.
December 2003 : She changes her name back to her original name. The couple sells their condo as they divorce.
March 2004 : Her divorce is finalized. She meets her second husband that same year. She does it the western way. Her parents don’t want her to rush but she doesn’t listen. They get married pretty quickly. (age 23) She gets pregnant right away (which is weird… considering the fact that she gave birth in October it would mean she got pregnant in February ???? ok let’s say it was an 8 months pregnancy…)
August 2004 : She buys her first condo, with her own name.
September 2004 : She files for divorce.
October 2004 : She gives birth to her first son.
2005 : She sells her first condo and buys a high rise condo 6 months later (and flips a series of rental properties)
2006 : Her divorce is finalized. She sells her high rise condo and moves back to her parents’ home.
Early 2008 : Her mom is diagnosed with last stage of ovarian cancer.
June 2008 : Graduates from NWU with a Bachelor of Philosophy in Communication. She meets Irfan, her third husband, a few weeks later on a matrimonial website.
October 2008 : She marries Irfan at the age of 27 (almost 28) and moves to his home in SC.
March 2010 : Her mom dies of cancer. She is 8 months pregnant. She gives birth 6 weeks later of her second son.
January 2011 : Starts her YouTube channel
January 2012 : They move to Houston, TX.
March 2016 : The couple decides to create « TheUniverseGuru LLC »
Feel free to correct/add some points in the comments

Hello Everyone! Here to hip you to a brand new release on the Kool Kat label – AVAILABLE NOW - “undertow” BY THE SECOND SUMMER!! “undertow” is the CD (and Kool Kat label) debut from Chicago’s The Second Summer, whose sound has been compared to The Posies and Teenage Fanclub. As the band describes it, “when family illness, lost jobs, and the world came to its knees a few years ago, we found the inspiration (maybe desperation) to write and record the music that had largely been a side diversion for years.” In a dusty, cold basement they tracked 8 tunes, seeking to express where they were at the time, where they’d been, but most importantly where they might be going. They called themselves The Second Summer, because that is what they needed (and still need) to believe in. As things got back on track and the challenges passed, the band began playing out to enthusiast crowds as they continued to write, record, and perform with urgency, sharing their thoughts, feelings and stories with an authenticity that is both resonant and infectious. What sets this band apart is the striking bittersweetness of their songs … themes of loss, loneliness, regret and “lessons learned the hard way” presented in songs with big sing-along choruses, buzz-saw guitars, sweet harmonies, and an earthquaking rhythm section. And their outlook that there are second summers even when summer seemingly has past, is universally relevant and appealing. "A band that balances edgy with smooth, offsetting ripping guitar riffs with seductive harmony vocals." - Poprock Record "An album like this makes you realize … you were just waiting to be reawakened and this album woke me up clearly." - I Don't Hear A Single “Eight songs of musical beauty.” - The Ice Cream Man Power Pop & More Show You can listen to it here: https://thesecondsummer.bandcamp.com/album/undertow You can order it through the Kool Kat site!

Greetings everyone! In just a few weeks, myself and three friends are embarking on an epic journey along Route 66. With flights from the UK and car rental locked in, along with accommodations booked for Chicago, Vegas, and LA, the anticipation is palpable. However, as we finalize our preparations, the question arises: how much should we budget for this 14-night adventure?
After careful consideration, I've estimated around $2000 for spending money. However, it's important to note that we'll need to account for accommodations for 7 nights between Chicago and Vegas. With that in mind, I'm curious to hear from fellow travelers: based on your experiences, do you think this budget will suffice? Any tips or insights would be greatly appreciated as we gear up for this once-in-a-lifetime road trip. Thanks in advance for your input!