What's under your lip/in your nose right now? - Part 2

[rothenbj]

Hitt, for certain, like I said to Burnie, they only get more expensive as they age if you're still supporting them. College has just gotten ungodly expensive and, depending on major, not price justified. If I was a parent with a son today, I'd suggest other avenues unless they were planning something in the medical, sciences or engineering fields. Even law is a risky deal with so many entering the field. You can take up a trade and, if so inclined, take some business classes or go to a business school if you want to become independent of having a boss.

 

[hittman]

You don't have to have a degree to make good money. I was talking to a guy yesterday that I worked for about 20 years ago and he was telling me how his son got in the pipefitters union as an apprentice. He was telling me about how much scale was for journeyman and I about fell over. Not to mention they have pretty good benefits too. There are tons of different opportunities out there. There is a shortage of quality welders right now. A young person that goes to a tech school to learn and gets good at it can make pretty good money.

 

[Waho]

They've been drilling "Go to college" for so long that there's shortages in many of the skilled trades. If you're willing to follow the work you can make a killing.

I took a 2 year residential/commercial electricians and electronics tech class at the tech center in high school. Multiple times throughout the class reps from different companies came in looking for interns/apprentices paying $13-$15/hour during school and provided you were willing to move after high school graduation you'd be making upwards of $20/hour fresh out of school and be making well over $30/hour in a few years. Not to mention most were paying for any classroom time you might need.

A good friend of mine took the welding certification class at that same tech center and was making $16/hour right out of school. He moved to Virginia recently to work at the naval docks and makes well over $40/hour now.

It sucks watching my sister in law struggle with $80k in debt from her art history degree (she did it to herself with that choice really) and is now adding up more debt with going back to school for early childhood development to actually qualify for her $35k a year job.

 

[hittman]

I honestly can’t imagine my oldest daughter doing anything different. She started with theatre in the park in elementary school and has been acting ever since. I do worry a little bit about her getting a job with an acting degree but she’s also doing a minor in English. She’s a very good writer too. Who knows what she’ll end up doing.

 

[rothenbj]

Yup, the trades are where the money is today and it's the type of stuff that there's always work available. You may have to move to find what you want, but that's been the case in every profession. I could have made a lot more money in computers had I been willing to become a nomad but I chose to stay relatively local. I went from having a commute as low as 2 minutes then 15 to one pushing an hour. That took some adjustments.

I sort of felt I wasted my years in college when ten years later I decided I didn't like what I was doing and went to a computer trade school, but I was pretty sure that it would be something I'd enjoy. I couldn't have gone a better direction. I'd work 60 hour weeks and it was stressful but fulfilling and that's what makes work not feel like it. There were things like the 36 hour day I did before a trip to Ohio that I could have lived without, but overall, I have no complaints. Of course when I went to school, my major was in business and had enough credits to major in psychology or sociology and all that stuff was transferable to any job.

My two best friends were high school graduates. One is the most talented jack of all trades I know, probably from growing up on a farm. He did carpentry, metal fabricating and ended up doing service in a marina. Now he's running operations of construction in his companies network of close to a hundred marinas across the country. The other stumbled around selling cars, insurance and some auto maintenance stuff. He then got a job maintaining equipment for a paving company. When that went belly up, he got a job maintaining generators for a guy that had no clue how to run a business.

I think it's been close to 5 years since he decided to go it alone out of the back of his small town barn (like a 2 car garage with steps up to a room). He's grossing over a quarter million a year and most of that is profit.

The big thing is to find something that has a need that your personality will enjoy getting up to do every morning.

 

[rothenbj]

Well lets hope it's the shoveling Roth and not the other. Nothing but sunny and 40s here in Michigan for the next few days. Chance of some wet snow on Saturday but right back in the 40s and sunny for Sunday. I need to get my crabgrass inhibitor put down soon and the ants are starting to show up in the kitchen so I'll need to put a dose of the barrier down as well. If the weather holds, I may just get a jump start on sanding and staining the deck.

Took up brewing beer with a couple of the neighbor guys about a month ago. Our first batch has been bottled and is almost ready to sample. We'll give it a try this weekend to see how it came out. These are the same guys who tap maple trees every spring and make their own maple syrup so beer, of course, was the next logical step. They dragged me into it because I can read and follow a recipe. Our first batch is a German Hefeweizen beer which is one of my favorites so I'm eager to see how it came out. I've been loving a PB&J brew lately that one of our local breweries makes. Hard to imagine that you can brew a beer with peanut butter and jelly qualities but this place pulled it off and it is downright delicious. I'm going to see if I can find a recipe for our next batch of homebrew.

Rebel, is that counter working? Mine seems to have died. It's now off 14 days and I don't think it's worked since the last time I noticed it wasn't updating.

 

[hittman]

I don't have a counter but have noticed that sometimes my banner doesn't show up.

 

[The Rebel]

Roth, it appears as though it has stopped. I should be over 5 years now and it still shows under that. They just don't make them like they use to.

On a different note, our first foray into home brewing was a success. Did some taste testing last weekend and it turned out to be a very good, smooth drinking hefeweizen with some notes of banana and clove. Just the way I planned it, yeah right. So the next batch, which is an clone of the Two Hearted Ale, has been bottled and is resting comfortably for a couple weeks. Then we'll have another taste testing to see how it turned out. I kind of like this home brewing, couldn't see making a career out of it. But it's fun as a hobby.

 

[hittman]

That's great that it came out tasting good rebel. Kinda reminds me a little of when I was in Saudi during the gulf war and we would get glass bottles of grape juice and try to make wine. We didn't have as good of results as you did.

 

[The Rebel]

It's all about the yeast Hitt. A good yeast will produce a good alcohol. We used a Weihenetephan Weizen yeast which is a German yeast strain that will produce some nice banana and clove flavors depending on the fermentation temperature. Too cold and the flavors are very muted, too warm and they overpower the beer. The trick is to find the right balance which for us was right around 66/68 degrees while it was fermenting. My next try will be the PB&J brew but just a small one gallon batch. I found a nice Blond ale to use and some brewers extracts to add during the bottling process that should give me the flavors I'm looking for. Pretty excited for this one, hope it turns out.

 

[hittman]

I got out an old snuff that I hadn't used in ages today. I stayed up too late last night visiting with my oldest daughter who is home until today and has to go back to college for something tomorrow. Anyway, I was feeling tired and felt like I needed a jolt of something so I got out some Swisher Square snuff. I always liked the smokey smell of it but forgot how light and dry it is. I took a couple of big sniffs and felt like my nose was on fire for a minute or two.

 

[rothenbj]

Home brewing flashed me back to my real estate years. I got a lead on a house in town that was owned by an Italian fellow. He showed be around and eventually ended up in the basement that was set up with rows of tables and chairs, I don't know if that was a standard set up or for either a previous or future party.

He started talking passionately about the wine he brewed and insisted that I try it. It was a Saturday and I wasn't planning to work other than this appointment so I agreed. The wine was okay, certainly stronger than what you'd generally get at the liquor store. We talked about the house and he talked about his wine and insisted one at the bottom of a glass that another followed.

I must have been down there for nearly an hour and three, maybe four, glasses later, I managed to escape. I went home with a definite buzz and a headache from an afternoon nap. I contacted him early the next week to meet again to show him some comparables and attempt to get the listing. He let me know he thought about it over the weekend and decided they weren't going to move after all.

The house never came up for sale so I know he wasn't just blowing me off. However, it did hit my mind that he might just be lonely and wanted to have someone sit there with him, have some wine and chat. I never bothered to ask other agents around town if they were ever called about selling his property.

 

[Burnie]

Home brewing

Used to brew quite a lot, but just haven't had the time for years.

From May 2003

Then I upgraded the area in November 2003

I still have many 12 oz bottles in the closet that have lots of dust on them just waiting to get drank. I only brewed a few beers, mostly I brewed Mead.

I still have all the equipment for that day I get some free time.

 

[firechick]

We have done mostly mead as well, with a few fruit wines here and there. It really is an enjoyable hobby.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[rothenbj]

Well, my excitement over my income tax error just got brought back to earth. lol

I thought I was carrying over $10k plus from 2016 so I had less withheld in 2017. However, the mistake that was made from 2015 wasn't to my advantage as a lot of the 1099R was taxes withheld went away also and instead of having a carry over of $10k, I only had a carry over of $3600.

Because I was trying to bring the number I left with the IRS, I didn't have as much withheld in 2017. So, instead of having a big chunk coming back, I owe a little over $2k including a small penalty. Also, since I thought I'd still have a carry over into 2018, I held back less withholding from my first forced withdraw for this year so I'm going to need to catch up when I withdraw the second half later this year. Looks like I'm going to have to be more frugal the rest of the year. Oh well, it was a fun fantasy. lol, gallows humor style.

 

[hittman]

Sorry it didn’t work out like you had hoped. I think it seldom does with the irs.

 

[rothenbj]

Yeah, if I would have looked at the 2015 1099R when I found out there was an error, I wouldn't have been so excited. However, optimism sometimes abounds.

I did find something I bought quite awhile ago that I forgot about in one of my bikes. I found an almost full can of Camel Winterchill. It must be at least two years old. I remember quite a while ago buying it when I forgot my carrying can for Saturday poker. I put it in my pocket and went to the game today. After having a couple Mints, I decided to try the Camel.

It was actually a nice break. Still in good shape and I actually appreciated the sweetness as a change of pace. I'll probably sneak a portion in now and then until it's used up.

 

[hittman]

I’m surprised it wasn’t dry and hard as a rock.

 

[rothenbj]

I was too! It was in a little pouch, kind of like the size of one of those 3x5 quick shot cameras, and it sat in the trunk on one of my bikes for years which means it had some heat inside that trunk.

I got the new snowblower Thursday. I got a call from the driver and his GPS wouldn't allow him to bring his truck to my place due to it's size. I arranged to meet him about a mile away in the lot of a flea market/auction house. We both arrived within 5 minutes of each other and as he was trying to get it on a hand truck mentioned how heavy it was and when we pushed and pulled it up the ramp of my trailer it was a load. Found out the shipping weight was just short of 300 pounds.

The darn instruction on assembling were nearly unreadable so I quickly got on line and downloaded the PDFs so I could blow them up. Of course the manual handled 4 different machines so it still was a challenge but I got it together. Then came the big question was it drained of oil or partially drained, The gas tank had a small amount of gas in it so I knew it was run before they packed it up and I knew the dip stick showed no oil. I added a little over half a quart but so far when I check, I'm seeing oil on the whole thing. I'm not waiting for it to settle down and if I can't be sure, I'll call them tomorrow.

However, what a beast. It's 3" narrower than my old Craftsman and getting to all the sheer pins looks much easier. In addition, when they break, they're supposed to be loose enough that the broken pin will just fall out. Having it narrower plus having 14hp rather than 9, it should deal with moving the snow much more efficiently. It's supposed to be capable of throwing the snow 50 feet so we'll see.

The neat stuff though makes hoping it snows sometime in the next 5 years desirable. Beside having lights, it has rudders that make turning a breeze. No more brute force to change direction. finally, if it's really, really cold, you can switch on the hand warmers. Oh, and it has 4 way chute control from the cockpit so you don't have to stop to adjust the chute head.

We're getting snow tomorrow but not sure how much and what won't melt on the drive before it builds up, 4" or so total so I'm not expecting much.

 

[hittman]

That sounds like a really nice machine you got. With as much snow as you get I’m sure you’ll give it a good workout.