The "M" word

Ryanb said:
There’s a couple individuals on this forum who enjoy acting like dicks and taking intentional jabs at myself and a couple others who are in my age bracket. It isn’t funny and it’s a great way to compromise all of the respect that I have for you.
Click to expand...

Can I take a jab at you for using 'myself' incorrectly? I'm sorry, I really don't think I'm a dick in general but that is one of my very few pet peeves...
 
Timbeck2 said:
Where to find the jack, the special lock key for the lug nuts and where the lug wrench is.
Click to expand...

Also where not to place the jack when lifting the car. Unibody cars don’t fare too well when the jack is placed anywhere but those reinforced notches. Also of importance is not crushing yourself by getting underneath a car while it’s sitting on a cheap Chinese-made scissor jack sitting on likely-uneven ground, lol.
 
RudyP said:
Can I take a jab at you for using 'myself' incorrectly? I'm sorry, I really don't think I'm a dick in general but that is one of my very few pet peeves...
Click to expand...

Yeah that^^^

So many people use “myself” incorrctly.

“She or myself will do something”

“Give it to myself...”

Arghh!

When my son started middle school, we went to a parents’ meeting in which the principal was the main presenter. I lost count of how many times my wife elbowed me to stop me from rolling my eyes when the principal used “myself” wrong. Think goodness she wasn’t an English teacher at the school.

One wonders if the person using “myself” incorrectly just wasn’t taught right, or if they think it makes them seem intelligent...

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-use-myself-and-other-reflexive-pronouns
 
jimhorner said:
Yeah that^^^

So many people use “myself” incorrctly.

“She or myself will do something”

“Give it to myself...”

Arghh!

When my son started middle school, we went to a parents’ meeting in which the principal was the main presenter. I lost count of how many times my wife elbowed me to stop me from rolling my eyes when the principal used “myself” wrong. Think goodness she wasn’t an English teacher at the school.

One wonders if the person using “myself” incorrectly just wasn’t taught right, or if they think it makes them seem intelligent...

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-use-myself-and-other-reflexive-pronouns
Click to expand...

Thread drift but my impression is that a shocking number of people (especially in the business world) think ‘myself’ is some sort of formal form of ‘me’ or ‘I.’
 
...and break the lug nuts loose BEFORE jacking the tire off the ground ...
 
Tantalum said:
Most of my peers make somewhere in the 80 to 120 range, have close to half-a-million dollars in education debt, and...
Click to expand...

Why in the world would you take on that much debt for a $100k/yr job? Best I can tell, the better state colleges in many (most?) places are about $25k/yr all-in. So your debt at graduation should be no more than ~$100k.
 
kyleb said:
Why in the world would you take on that much debt for a $100k/yr job? Best I can tell, the better state colleges in many (most?) places are about $25k/yr all-in. So your debt at graduation should be no more than ~$100k.
Click to expand...
You can’t put a price on the glamour of an aviation career.
 
Timbeck2 said:
It does have an impact on me. I have to hear it and play daddy/directory assistance. I have to get the phone call, "hey, I'm going to be late for work because I (insert problem here) and I don't know what to do. I have to take the phone call from someone asking for someone else's phone number because they didn't take a copy of the roster home with them so that they can get a ride to the airport because they don't know how to Uber, Lift, park in long term, ask someone who work doesn't impact or otherwise know how to take care of themselves. I could go on but I choose not to.
Click to expand...
My apologies and condolences. Its a miracle you can still function at all the unbelievable burden you've had to bare.
 
RudyP said:
Thread drift but my impression is that a shocking number of people (especially in the business world) think ‘myself’ is some sort of formal form of ‘me’ or ‘I.’
Click to expand...
You can roast me for that.

That’s what I get for not proofreading.
 
I'm a little outside the millennial range, but can't talk crap because I'm married to one, and she works harder than anyone I've ever known. Probably can't change a tire though. Heh!

She has a ton of med school debt and that worries me, but supposedly there's enough financial upside that it'll be worth it eventually. As a dude with a flying job it's an attitude that scares the hell out of me, since it was beat into me at an early age to never count on the "upside". I guess we'll have to see. :eek:
 
kyleb said:
Why in the world would you take on that much debt for a $100k/yr job? Best I can tell, the better state colleges in many (most?) places are about $25k/yr all-in. So your debt at graduation should be no more than ~$100k.
Click to expand...
-couple reasons:
--spend a few minutes looking for any job on Indeed.com or any of the sites that pay any type of reasonable actual wage (~$100K or higher) and they'll require more than just a generic degree, most will require graduate level coursework
--that tuition figure is bare minimum, once you factor in room & board, books, a meal plan, campus parking pass, etc., you end up close to $40K / yr. I think Harvard and MIT are something like $80K/yr all in now, or higher. Colleges love to nickel and dime their students
--there is very little you can actually do with a standard four year degree. Most of my friends had to go and get an MBA, JD, or some kind of masters to have a shot at a six figure salary.. and for some fields, like psychology, medicine, etc., are going to require tons of grad school. And guys, I know "six figures" sounds like a lot of money, but it's not at all, maybe single living in the middle of nowhere, but if you live where the actual jobs and people are, and then you combine that with hoping to afford your own kids, etc., the money goes fast. Many big cities require that you earn upwards of $200K/yr to be able to afford a typical house in that region
--there is zero incentive to keep the cost of education down since they'll give anybody a student loan, for any amount, because a student loan is never forgiven, not through even death or bankruptcy, so the bank is guaranteed their money back one way or another
--back to your earlier point though, even graduating with a "small" $100K debt is absurd... imagine you're 22 and you already have $100K in debt to your name. That state school engineering job will land you $50K/yr... or about $750/wk after taxes. Most urban areas you will pay at least $2K/mo in rent.. so almost 3 of your paychecks are going to go just to paying that off... the struggle is real folks. Also, people no longer get a pension, and chances are we'll never retire either. Less than half of salaried jobs offer a 401K program, and about half of the ones that do offer a match

Juliet Hotel said:
My apologies and condolences. Its a miracle you can still function at all the unbelievable burden you've had to bare.
Click to expand...
almost sounds like the kind of complaining a millennial would do, right?

kayoh190 said:
works harder than anyone I've ever known
Click to expand...
For sure. The hardest working people I know are 25-35 age group. They'll work a "real" 9-5 as a chemist in a lab somewhere then go wait on tables at night, all while working through a graduate program

The millennial trashing get's old, the economists have proven it out, for the first time in US history people are now making less than their parents, and will continue to do so, all while piling on more and more debt. Mind you, I know plenty of people 50+ who don't know how to change a flat tire, and many new cars today don't even come with a spare. Our BMW came with run flats and a "repair kit" (just goop you squirt in the tire) but no actual spare
 
Tantalum said:
-couple reasons:
--spend a few minutes looking for any job on Indeed.com or any of the sites that pay any type of reasonable actual wage (~$100K or higher) and they'll require more than just a generic degree, most will require graduate level coursework
--that tuition figure is bare minimum, once you factor in room & board, books, a meal plan, campus parking pass, etc., you end up close to $40K / yr. I think Harvard and MIT are something like $80K/yr all in now, or higher. Colleges love to nickel and dime their students
--there is very little you can actually do with a standard four year degree. Most of my friends had to go and get an MBA, JD, or some kind of masters to have a shot at a six figure salary.. and for some fields, like psychology, medicine, etc., are going to require tons of grad school. And guys, I know "six figures" sounds like a lot of money, but it's not at all, maybe single living in the middle of nowhere, but if you live where the actual jobs and people are, and then you combine that with hoping to afford your own kids, etc., the money goes fast. Many big cities require that you earn upwards of $200K/yr to be able to afford a typical house in that region
--there is zero incentive to keep the cost of education down since they'll give anybody a student loan, for any amount, because a student loan is never forgiven, not through even death or bankruptcy, so the bank is guaranteed their money back one way or another
--back to your earlier point though, even graduating with a "small" $100K debt is absurd... imagine you're 22 and you already have $100K in debt to your name. That state school engineering job will land you $50K/yr... or about $750/wk after taxes. Most urban areas you will pay at least $2K/mo in rent.. so almost 3 of your paychecks are going to go just to paying that off... the struggle is real folks. Also, people no longer get a pension, and chances are we'll never retire either. Less than half of salaried jobs offer a 401K program, and about half of the ones that do offer a match
Click to expand...

I checked the "all in" costs provided by Clemson, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Auburn, University of Florida, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State. Florida was $21k/yr, Miss State was $24k/yr. The others were all right around $30k/yr. Work a part time job, and there's no excuse to leave college with more than about $80k in debt. Still, a lot, but not hundreds of thousands. With some belt tightening, you can pay it off in 3-5 years unless you're one of those graduates who needs a new Audi as your graduation present to yourself.

Starting engineers from any of those universities will earn $65-70k/year, with the better engineers from the better programs earning 6 figures or more, leading to jobs that pay well into 6 figures. Certainly, if you major in history, you're Effed with just an undergrad degree, but that's your choice. Same with teaching and a bunch more non-STEM degrees, but those can be had for 1/3 the cost at a commuter college. From a pure economic perspective, if you're in a commodity trade, get a degree from a commodity (i.e. cheap) school.

Using Harvard and MIT as examples is a red herring. Those are two of the most exclusive and expensive private schools around. They aren't relevant unless you're a 1%'er both academically and financially. They just aren't relevant for 99.9% of the population.

Yes, some trades require grad school. Pick another trade if that's a concern, because you can make big money without a graduate degree. I work for a subsidiary of Berkshire. I think one of the people between me and our CEO has a graduate degree, and all of the people in that chain make well into 6 figures, some well into 7 figures.
 
kyleb said:
I think one of the people between me and our CEO has a graduate degree, and all of the people in that chain make well into 6 figures, some well into 7 figures.
Click to expand...
Can any of them replace a flat tire, or have they taught their kids to do so?
 
@kyleb you gave a well researched and thoughtful reply, you deserve the same from me. I agree with many of your points actually, and I think it's borderline criminal that students are given loans for throwaway degrees.. I got lucky and many of my friends did too but that doesn't change the fact that there are tons of these people going to expensive colleges and majoring in things like "Mongolian Literature" .. for whatever reason the parents of my generation must have smoked a ton of pot in the 60s and told her kids that they can do and be whatever they want and they'll be perfectly rich and happy with it, even if that means majoring in a throwaway degree.. or attending the most expensive school you got into that didn't offer any aid or assistance.. many people go to the "fancy" school because they're happy they got in and figured they'll find a way to pay the debt off

You can blame the "M" crowd but there was also a crisis in parenting that lead these people astray..
 
Tantalum said:
@kyleb you gave a well researched and thoughtful reply, you deserve the same from me. I agree with many of your points actually, and I think it's borderline criminal that students are given loans for throwaway degrees.. I got lucky and many of my friends did too but that doesn't change the fact that there are tons of these people going to expensive colleges and majoring in things like "Mongolian Literature" ..
Click to expand...

One of the big boy jobs of parenting is teaching economics. Our God-Daughter went to Baylor for a couple of years paying astronomical tuition. All for a degree that was gonna pay $50k/yr after (!) getting a Masters degree and doing some sort of lengthy internship thing. She racked up huge debt in those two years before wising up and moving to a reasonably priced public school. I have no idea how her parents allowed her to pursue that path - it never made sense from her financial standpoint, and they weren't in position to fund it either. They owed it to her to run the numbers on that path and others before she made a decision on her college career.

I think one of the challenges is that many parents never learned to say "No!" and put their foot down or at least wash their hands of a bad decision. Also, there's the problem that there is money to be made on the front end by selling student loans, so there are motivated sellers out there who have no interest in the good of the borrower. That's also a problem with some private schools where the school will help you borrow a gazillion dollars, all of which goes almost directly to the school. The student gets a degree that is way over-priced and a huge debt, and whoever is behind the school gets paid a large salary. We had a chiropractic school right down the street here that turned its owners into very wealthy people, but left a long, long list of graduates and non-graduates owing a lot more money than they will be able to repay. Effectively, they turned loan programs into a conduit directly into the school's (and their) pockets. Extremely shady, but the racket lasted for decades.

As to the people between me and our CEO? They are mostly ex-engineers and can hold their own with a lug wrench. Their kids... about 50/50, I'd guess. ;-)
 
I've rebuilt nearly every major part of my car, but I don't like to change oil. Its messy, disposal is a hassle and I hate hot oil dripping on my face. The $20 oil change at Pepboys is a very attractive option for me. I am certain that the mechanics there must be assuming that I am an idiot who doesn't know how to change oil.
 
timwinters said:
You can't have this thread without this!:
Click to expand...

My car has a manual transmission; prior cars I've owed as well. I've had to park it as valet guys couldn't; that's not normal, typically at least one of them can drive a stick. I've also had to pull it up at the car wash as neither of the guys on the front side could drive stick.
 
My daughter-in-law worked her way through a BS Chem at CU with no debt, and then a MS Nursing with less than $20k. She insisted on finishing these before they got married. We paid tuition for our son, but he worked to cover everything else and finished a BS at MIT “Metro In Town” :) Denver. He’s now working on a MDiv at Denver Seminary while working.
So, forgive me piling on the M joke. Like every stereotype, not all fit it.
And yes, they can both change tires, and do brake jobs, and drive tractors and bail hay and ... :)
 
Gosh, as a landlord, I thought I'd seen it all as far as debt goes, but clearly not.

I was shocked a few years ago with a tenant that was a Social Worker with the VA, ($40k job) with $85k in student debt. Seriously, all that debt for a job that barely had her eek the income criteria for a single bedroom apartment?

Now I see that was just a warm-up.
 
sarangan said:
I've rebuilt nearly every major part of my car, but I don't like to change oil. Its messy, disposal is a hassle and I hate hot oil dripping on my face. The $20 oil change at Pepboys is a very attractive option for me. I am certain that the mechanics there must be assuming that I am an idiot who doesn't know how to change oil.
Click to expand...

I worked for a VW dealership that used recycled oil for all the customer oil changes. It's the reason that I don't take my vehicles to one of those Quikie oil change places as your'e never sure what you're getting. If they are not pouring oil from a sealed 1 qt. or 5 qt. container but getting it from a 55 gallon drum you're probably getting recycled oil. Oil is the lifeblood of your car and no matter how many people tell me recycled oil "is just as good" I'll keep doing my own oil changes. YMMV
 
sarangan said:
I've rebuilt nearly every major part of my car, but I don't like to change oil. Its messy, disposal is a hassle and I hate hot oil dripping on my face. The $20 oil change at Pepboys is a very attractive option for me. I am certain that the mechanics there must be assuming that I am an idiot who doesn't know how to change oil.
Click to expand...

I don't do most of my vehicle maintenance myself. It isn't that I haven't, or can't, its just a matter of time. Between working three jobs, maintaining an acreage, and a marriage, and multiple hobbies, spending an hour changing my oil isn't a priority. Sure I could do it cheaper, but as a wise man once told me, you have to value your own time, and you can't afford to do everything yourself.
 
NJP_MAN said:
These aren't even Millenials. The thing I wonder is how many people know that Millenials are almost 40 years old. Edit to add, they are not even close to millenials.
Click to expand...

Let's simplify and define "Millenials" as those born only in the year 2000.
 
None of the generations want me. I sit between X and Y (which is really M right?) depending on which lists you believe. No participation trophy for me.

I know how to change a tire but my BMW doesn’t have a spare. I keep run flats on it so I don’t have to worry about trying to speak dialect German if I get a flat somewhere. I am not very handy with cars but I can diagnose a computer issue pretty quick without an IT degree. I didn’t learn much from my Dad probably because I wasn’t interested as a kid. I taught myself mostly off youtube. I have redone two kitchens so I got that going for me.
 
Having been in the the military most of my life, we didn't need names for inept people. Regardless or your birth year, you either are or are not.
 
NJP_MAN said:
I wish we could considering I was born in 82. Then I would be out of the club
Click to expand...

Amen. ‘83 here. I still do all of my own oil changes and routine maintenance. I’ve taken on all sorts of projects that most would outsource. I used to take apart things (VCR, amplifier, etc) just to see how they worked. I would sit and read the manual to my parents new cars as well, lol. If I hadn’t gone Finance as a degree, I probably would have done engineering.

I didn’t have a cell phone until my Sophomore year of college, and honestly, if you took it away I wouldn’t be sad. I am indifferent to social media and wouldn’t bat an eye if Facebook disappeared.

Millennial indeed.
 
RudyP said:
Thread drift but my impression is that a shocking number of people (especially in the business world) think ‘myself’ is some sort of formal form of ‘me’ or ‘I.’
Click to expand...

I call such people "myselfers." For the ones I have a suitably close relationship with, I point it out to them. Most knock it off. But there are people who just can't write "I." They seem fine using I or Me while speaking but somewhere they got the incorrect impression that those pronouns ain't for righting thingz down.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
None of the generations want me. I sit between X and Y (which is really M right?) depending on which lists you believe.
Click to expand...

generation-y.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top