January 4, 2018

Just a little (link) love: Christmas puppy edition

Who you sit near matters – bad or good

Felicity funded their Donor Advised Fund (DAF) and talks details.

Mostly military but not all: Predictions for 2018

SP says the FIRE community doesn’t feel like my community and I mostly agree with her. I don’t feel like our family fits the FIRE mold, such as it is.

I knew it I knew it I knew it!: Ad targeters are pulling data from your browser’s password manager

I tried to leave a comment on Four Pillar Freedom’s post about meaningful lives but it rejected me so here are my thoughts: I loved that documentary as well, though as a small person with a big appetite, I slightly took exception to the idea I’d be served a smaller portion since I can eat as fast as my bigger dining companions. I hope that if we ever had the pleasure of dining at Jiro’s, he’d notice and adjust accordingly. 😉

As a longtime money blogger, I’ve noticed the trend of romanticizing the digital nomad life. I think it works wonderfully for Michelle from Sense of Cents who works from an RV, who has also had resounding success with her money blog, but the most important component of building a successful life is to know yourself. I love the digital part of her life, and have made that happen in my life, but I’m not built to be a nomad so I’ve instead built a home base that I love working from and living in. I enjoy short stints on the road but not much more than that!

What a Christmas surprise!

December 28, 2017

Just a little (link) love: hakuna matata edition

Looks like I’m not the only one in the clutches of bad parents. Piggy and Kitty talk to a young lady who’s spent years taking care of an abusive parent. Sounds … familiar.

Interesting: Hungarian mushroom soup. For completely random reasons (which I don’t remember), I was trying to think of Hungarian culinary specialties. Maybe it was floated as a possible vacation destination? That would make sense. I travel by stomach so the first thing I’d do is research the foods of the region to see if I must eat there.

SPOILERS WITHIN. Carrie Fisher, the Last Jedi, and her fantastic wit at play.

Looks like neither Linda or we will be able to fully deduct our SALT and property taxes with the new cap. Neither of us deliberately chose our homes at the prices they were because we counted on the deductions, but having them did help relieve the sting of our HCOLAs.

GYM on finding happiness after heartbreak. In relationships, I think it’s always important to value yourself more than you worry about whether you can find someone else, lest you settle.

Hakuna Matata

(to get me through the holidays)

December 21, 2017

Just a little (link) love: oh those cats edition

First glitter, now microfleece? Should we just assume that anything synthetic and manmade is going to make it’s way into the environment and our food? Seems like the safest bet. Also yuck.

Square dancing has a political history? What on earth.

This is absolutely heartbreaking: “There’s something inherently wrong with the system that’s not valuing the lives of black women equally to white women.

Many thanks to Emily for sharing this article about Jolabokaflod. I’d love this to replace our Christmas gifting tradition, I’d even accept it in the face of my stocks-only rule.

Ew, no thank you: The principal’s words of praise were directed entirely at his adult listeners: If our children were prepared for Stuyvesant, he told us, it was because we had been “preparing them for academic excellence since they were in utero.”

Jim built a banking firewall. I have something similar.

This Pope never ceases to amaze me. A recent address tackles the resistance to reform head on.

I didn’t faint but these were funny anyway

December 14, 2017

Just a little (link) love: Thor Ragnorak edition

This made me laugh a little: Nobody Wants to See your Dick — A Guide to Handling your Newfound Wealth and Influence. “You may not have noticed during your climb to the top, but your dynamic with others in your field has undergone a significant change (you may feel like the Zack Morris of your industry, but you’re actually Mr. Belding — keep that in mind at all times). ”

Wayward Sisters – I’m into this.

Much good here at Done by Forty’s PF Chat: Diversity in Personal Finance

Debuting at 42 reminds me of my favorite English teacher: keep writing. Keep trying. It’s never too late! Look at Amy Tan.

I love that we have other examples of writers starting out later in life. Right now, I’m around this stage: “Why even try? No one wanted stories like mine.” My life is what I know. But my life is boring. The stories of my family were interesting to me but they may yet be poison now.

We need farmers to grow our food, so why are we ignoring their well-being? Even if I didn’t have farming friends, which I do, this would be important.

This clip is amazing

December 7, 2017

Just a little (link) love: Chief Bogo edition

Carb emergencies are real. Don’t believe me? Let me regale you with the tale of running out of carbs one day. I went to Trader Joe’s just to get a load of bread and some English muffins so we could breakfast like civilized humans and returned with every single carb they sold from hash browns and French bread to something called a babka that doesn’t remotely resemble a Russian grandmother so I don’t know what they’re talking about but it had flour, butter, and chocolate and in that extended moment of carbohydrate-deprivation enhanced madness it had to come home with me. *deep breath* Don’t be like me, y’all. Keep your pantries reasonably well stocked. Also your bank accounts because that part was more the whole point of the linked post. On that note, we’ve only used our emergency fund to buy and renovate this house which was absolutely not its purpose but it’s back to being lonely liquid cash that’ll never know the warm touch of human hand so long as we are hale, hearty, and employed.

Ew, we’re eating glitter?

I like checking into the habits of rich folks to see if I have developed any of the same habits or signs. We’re not into the status symbols life but we do have a really expensive home simply by virtue of living in the armpit of Silicon Valley. Anatomically inaccurate but accurate insofar as the location’s value is concerned. I’m good on the clothing front – we spent an average of $100 per person this year, and I spend about 3 minutes deciding what to wear each morning. Grey or blue jeans, or purely at home lounging pants? And short sleeve or long sleeve? I’m working on the multiple income streams, though. We have 2 jobs, a rental property, and dividend income, but the day jobs are what keep the lights on and food in the fridge. (*cough* carbs)

Do you travel to see family over the holidays?

To this, I can only say, duh? That women are “inferior” is pretty much their platform and belief system: “Alt-right” women are upset that “alt-right” men are treating them terribly. Also, no kidding they’re part of the alt-right, or more straightforwardly, white supremacist movement:
“By the end of the thread, McCarthy made it clear that these trolls are part of the “alt-right.” “The problem I’m stating here is not that ‘there are trolls on the internet’ but that people who proclaim to be on our side are trying to tear down women in our in-group,” she wrote.”

November 30, 2017

Just a little (link) love: glasses edition

This is a really old news bit but it made me laugh inside so here is yet another good argument for my not dressing up in costume ever – this women’s group dressed up as pirates to get in the spirit for a talk they were hearing about pirates. Specifically the man who was held hostage by them….

My beloved Grandma (not to be confused with the mean abusive or negligent ones) ate this every morning: “Diep Tran, the Vietnamese-American chef of Good Girl Dinette in Los Angeles, told me that she wishes she could serve a breakfast of nothing but baguette accompanied by condensed milk diluted with hot water, for dipping. “It’s refugee food,” she said. “Proustian, kind of like Spam. But people get upset; they think they’re being ripped off.””

Representation matters: “The whole reason why it’s so difficult to raise a child and have a career in Japan is because there are no women with children involved in the decision-making process,” she said. “I’m determined to change that.

I Shalane my professional relationships to help young women grow in the field even while I build my career. There’s every good reason to give support this way – the people you nurture will do the same for others and create a far better community.

Ohh I’m excited for Marvel’s Runaways, and Nico! She’s a fantastic character.

Kieran Gillan on plots that twist and audiences that guess what’s next.

Lucy Bellwood’s post on how and how much she made from an illustration gone viral is greatly relevant to my interests. It’s pretty fascinating to see how conversion happens and how little it happens.

November 23, 2017

Just a little (link) love: how we are defined edition

Opera is a mystery to me but this article on the highest notes sung at the Met was still fascinating. I’d like to see an opera just to experience it but I wonder what I should bone up on to be able to follow it.

How many more players have to die of or suffer from CTE before this country stops worshiping football, I wonder.

Educators who don’t think they have a professional and moral obligation not to pursue their students as dating material make me sick and should be fired. It’s appalling full stop.

This spoiler free movie review of Thor:Ragnorak is beautiful and now I want to see it.

As someone who views the ocean with a whole lot of suspicion, this perspective on expected sea level rises makes me want to sell and move to the middle of the country.

This is an oldie but goodie from Bitches Get Riches on the Subjectivity of Wealth.

Lobstering in Maine, a legacy and identity

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