There’s just no part of this theory that adds up to me.

I moved to a new city a couple years ago and met up with some other devs as a way to make new friends. There were 4 or 5 of us going out for beers and the discussion inevitably turned to crypto. I’ve been a skeptic for many years and when asked about my crypto holdings, I politely said that I wasn’t invested or interested.

One guy in particular kept telling me that I was going to get left behind and that I really needed to buy in before it was too late. I told him that I didn’t trust the market and he went on about how corrupt the Fed is. He was really awkward, and at times, emotional about it.

Needless to say, friends were not made that night and I’m glad that the peer pressure aspect doesn’t bother me because a lot of people would cave in that situation.

Like, it’s understandable that you get a little burned the first time it happens, but then you’ve learned that this is how it all works. “Free” in a SAAS context has always and will always mean “no need to pay us until we decide otherwise, end of negotiation.”

Every time I look at a free account for some product now, I ask myself if I’m willing to pay for it at some point. If the answer is “no”, then sometimes I just don’t even do it.

People can’t even be bothered to think critically about the product situations they put themselves, and I’m sure these people are intelligent in many other aspects of their lives, but this is such a simple concept that I don’t understand how people, especially tech professionals, struggle with.

If traditional adult content isn’t stimulating enough that you need to seek fake video of $CELEBRITY, then that’s a pretty solid indicator that there’s a problem

I sometimes provide feedback as a senior engineer that gets corrected because there was context that I wasn’t given. It’s nobody’s fault but it’s a recognition that we all have a responsibility to understand our systems deeply in order to solve hard problems and I’m not sure that 1 hour per day gets you there.

We looked at almost 2 dozen houses compared to my parents that looked at 2 houses in 2004.

As far as agents you’ve worked with, that’s partially on you for choosing to work with bad people. I had several agents and I wasn’t afraid to drop them when I found the one that worked for me. Given that 87% of agents quit in the first 5 years, I definitely suspect my agent was top of his field, which is why he got my business.

My agent basically picked up all of that admin for me and I never once questioned his commission. Buying a house is basically a part-time job for the buyer now and being able to respond instantly is so important.

The job has changed, just like all jobs have, but good agents get shit done because the market is so competitive. Real estate is a very high-turnover industry with little long-term stability for those that don’t absolutely kill it.

It makes sense that a high-tech barrier is relatively sparsely manned on a given day if the idea is to automate as much of the defense apparatus as possible. And it would be doubly embarrassing if the reports that Israel was warned of a potential attack were true.

There’s no way that the tax burden offsets the equity you would build by owning property vs renting.

95% of my mortgage payment goes toward paying down principal on the loan, which is essentially value I get to keep. Not to mention that my housing costs are much more fixed compared to rent.

Paying rent provides zero value retention in the long run, its only real benefit is flexibility.