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Vampire Selfies

Craptastic recollections from an observant overthinker

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Work freaks24 Opinions21 Drugs & drink10 Personal shitshows10 Life in other cities9 Finances8 Wimminfolk8 Bicycling7 School days7 Travel stories7

Music6 Teenager6 Ignorance5 Breeders4 Race & religion3

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Posts

Cascading dominos of friendship cancellations

on June 09, 2024

Personal shitshows

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Ambushed at the family cabin

on May 22, 2024

Personal shitshows

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2023 year in review: goodbye and good riddance

on January 09, 2024

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Wait an hour for a dinner table? How empty is your life?

on December 02, 2023

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Reached out to former buddy. Did not go well.

on November 28, 2023

Personal shitshows

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Drunken ladyfriend freakouts

on October 26, 2023

Drugs & drink Wimminfolk

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Hosted a bicycle tourist. Turns out he was a homeless guy.

on October 05, 2023

Bicycling Personal shitshows

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Part 3 of 3: HR warning 'into the bush', 3M's 400 question RFP, 4 for 4 on failed hires

on August 11, 2023

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Why I fired my financial advisor (and you should too)

I was with an Ameriprise money guy starting 20ish years ago. Lasted 10ish years. They also provided my insurance policies which is why I stayed with them so long. Mainly I recall 3 items. 1) They used primarily American mutual funds. 2) He only recommended one stock during this time: ENZN (drug stock). I moved $10k over to this single stock. It soon lost 90% of it's value (and never recovered). It currently trades at 17 cents. Not sure it even exists. 3) They charge 1.4% portfolio balance annually (this is normal). I started doing the math on the 1.4%, along with that single reco blunder, and my modest returns, and realized all this is beneficial, for them not me. One sweltering summer day in Minneapolis, around 10 yrs ago, I was pulling into my driveway and a bloke in a suit was walking down it. We chatted. He was going door to door, introducing himself as an Ed Jones financial advisor. I was impressed with his commitment, and we had an intro chat at his office. I told him I was

It's not a party until someone gets stabbed

Dateline: college. In my earlier fraternity pledge hell week blurb I wrote about my 2 'pledge brothers' Tom & Marty. The following revolves around both. Read that blurb if you haven't, it's a barnburner. Both were, ah, unique people. Marty had been an MP in the Army, in Germany. Years older than typical college student, he was mid 20s. Tom was also a few years older than me, unusually thoughtful & well-spoken for a college freshman, relative to me anyhoots in my own semi-'bro' full on stupid / impulsive phase (which lasted years). Tom came from a farm. Started most of his sentences with 'I'm not naming names but here's a good story...'. He was good like that. Not naming names. Tom knew odd people as friends. Maybe from his job, at a nearby warehouse or tooling plant. He worked & went to college. I guess I did that also. Let's focus. Our story revolves around a Tom friend. Tom brought his friend to the fraternity house one day.

College job: Alzheimer's unit

Dateline: college. For 2 years I worked as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) at a pair of nursing homes in the Minneapolis suburbs. This was eye opening in a permanent way. To this day I'm reminded how influential those 2 years were. How so? A front row seat to mortality. As a 20 year old. We all end up in the same place. Rich or poor. City or country. College or no. Might not be a nursing home but we all age & get old(er). No escaping it. So, what's it like to help people at the tail end of their lives? Here's my story. Initially I had to take the classes to get certified. CPR stuff, taking blood pressure, but mostly how to work with the bed ridden, stroke victims, etc. And glamourous stuff like how to brush dentures. Jelly? My very first day on the job, first hour actually, I was called to help a few others moving a very large patient from bed to a big hanging chair thingy on wheels. Like a big hammock inside a steel frame on wheels. There were 4 of us to give you

Francis Mcgillicuddy

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