OT 21: DFD Giveth and DFD Taketh Away

[Desertbreh]

Two weeks in New Zealand. Old friend of mine is a Boeing manager and is doing a tour of duty @ Boeing Australia in Melbourne. We rented a car and drove around both islands. Pretty kick ass.
Sprang for a Defender on the South Island. Diesel! Errthang is deez in NZ. Diesel is $ NZ 2.20/liter. Gas starts a dollar higher for 87.

NZ is gorgeous, clean, and devoid of any of the maladies which afflict society, which speaks to a social safety net that could span the Grand Canyon. Not sure where all the homeless are, but they aren't on the streets. Like most of the rest of Oceania, (Hawaii, Australia) your average New Zealander is quite content with his lot in life to be average, fat and happy. Don't look for five star service anywhere the owner is not the operator. The Elon Musk lifestyle is big time down there.

The summer weather was perfect (for me), between 60 and 70 errday. That would not be the case in July. Wellington is a lovely town, as is Christchurch. Two weeks is not enough, in retirement I would book one month were I to return, and I likely will. Travel was PERFECT. Business lie flats, SIXT car rental performed magnificently, every hotel reservation was smooth sailing. Great trip.

That sounds kick ass! I spent a lot of time with a New Zealander at a recent work networking function in Vancouver and he was indeed the most chill guy there (bunch of business owners). I hope to get over there one day, although brutal flights from Flyover country aka the East Coast.

Yeah coach would not really be an option from the East Coast, at least for my old bones. Almost 18 hour flight from NY to NZ.

[CaleDeRoo]

Was the business class ticket at least under 5 figs?

[Desertbreh]

Was the business class ticket at least under 5 figs?

My spouse is a bit of an expert at working points and travel deals. I had accumulated over 450K Alaska miles. Fiji Air is an Alaska partner. The fly and return dates that you can use miles is limited to about 6 total days in a given month. By selecting those days I flew business for.........drumroll........only 120K miles, which is nothing because yes, to book a business ticket to far Oceania is $10K-$12K if you just book it. So free to me, and pretty much free period 120K miles for that ticket is peanuts. Combine that with the fact that two households were sharing hotel, cars and gas AND the fact that my buddy has had his lifetime supply of alcohol so I kept that expense to a dull roar.......the whole trip cost me about $4500. Not including a bunch of lost $ by not working but at this point in my life it's time to get out there and experience things while I can.

[Desertbreh]

My buddy and I shared a room at the Intercontinental in Wellington and the Hilton in Aukland but otherwise I booked either separate rooms or two room suites, which are plentiful in NZ and really worked for us.

[Desertbreh]

My buddy and I shared a room at the Intercontinental in Wellington and the Hilton in Aukland but otherwise I booked either separate rooms or two room suites, which are plentiful in NZ and really worked for us. We stayed at a couple of motels that were really quite kick ass.

[CaleDeRoo]

Was the business class ticket at least under 5 figs?

My spouse is a bit of an expert at working points and travel deals. I had accumulated over 450K Alaska miles. Fiji Air is an Alaska partner. The fly and return dates that you can use miles is limited to about 6 total days in a given month. By selecting those days I flew business for.........drumroll........only 120K miles, which is nothing because yes, to book a business ticket to far Oceania is $10K-$12K if you just book it. So free to me, and pretty much free period 120K miles for that ticket is peanuts. Combine that with the fact that two households were sharing hotel, cars and gas AND the fact that my buddy has had his lifetime supply of alcohol so I kept that expense to a dull roar.......the whole trip cost me about $4500. Not including a bunch of lost $ by not working but at this point in my life it's time to get out there and experience things while I can.

Damn dude that's so cheap. Good info about the Alaska -> Fiji points transfer in case I ever need it in the future.

[Johnny_P]

Liquefaction and storage, vaporization as needed.

I'd consider it. Since the idiots wont allow more NG pipelines over the appalachian mountains, the east coast in general will always be in NG deficit. Therefore, unless that changes, as you said the plant won't run much.

On the other side of that.... the plant might get decommissioned or sold and then what.... but plant manager on the olde resume will go a long way to secure a new position.

They just invested millions into new equipment. They’re keeping it for at least 10 years.

[wap]

Was the business class ticket at least under 5 figs?

My spouse is a bit of an expert at working points and travel deals. I had accumulated over 450K Alaska miles. Fiji Air is an Alaska partner. The fly and return dates that you can use miles is limited to about 6 total days in a given month. By selecting those days I flew business for.........drumroll........only 120K miles, which is nothing because yes, to book a business ticket to far Oceania is $10K-$12K if you just book it. So free to me, and pretty much free period 120K miles for that ticket is peanuts. Combine that with the fact that two households were sharing hotel, cars and gas AND the fact that my buddy has had his lifetime supply of alcohol so I kept that expense to a dull roar.......the whole trip cost me about $4500. Not including a bunch of lost $ by not working but at this point in my life it's time to get out there and experience things while I can.

Good on you.

[Johnny_P]

LNG
Its a plant that is always on call but essentially never operates. I think its been used twice in the last 3 years. Downside is its all hands on deck when its online which could be at any time of the day or night.

How much of a pay bump?

Not sure. Apparently they can only bump base salary up to $10k at a time. So no more than that. Likely more like $5k, but yearly bonus target goes from 15% of base salary to 20%. Additionally, the city wage tax no longer would apply and my effective tax rate would drop by 2.5%. Income tax savings and lack of a train pass alone will pay for a car and insurance on it.

Downsides are having to be in the plant super early every day. So 5 days in office vs 3. But commute is only 15 min so maybe not a huge issue. But wouldn’t see the kids in the morning. And it’s an industrial facility versus the professional environment that I work in now. I’m not big on working in cancer environments anymore.

This job would position me really well for future growth in the company and an eventual switch out of the gas organization and into electric.

[Johnny_P]

Was the business class ticket at least under 5 figs?

My spouse is a bit of an expert at working points and travel deals. I had accumulated over 450K Alaska miles. Fiji Air is an Alaska partner. The fly and return dates that you can use miles is limited to about 6 total days in a given month. By selecting those days I flew business for.........drumroll........only 120K miles, which is nothing because yes, to book a business ticket to far Oceania is $10K-$12K if you just book it. So free to me, and pretty much free period 120K miles for that ticket is peanuts. Combine that with the fact that two households were sharing hotel, cars and gas AND the fact that my buddy has had his lifetime supply of alcohol so I kept that expense to a dull roar.......the whole trip cost me about $4500. Not including a bunch of lost $ by not working but at this point in my life it's time to get out there and experience things while I can.

Hell yeah on experience. Work is over rated.

[Desertbreh]

How much of a pay bump?

Not sure. Apparently they can only bump base salary up to $10k at a time. So no more than that. Likely more like $5k, but yearly bonus target goes from 15% of base salary to 20%. Additionally, the city wage tax no longer would apply and my effective tax rate would drop by 2.5%. Income tax savings and lack of a train pass alone will pay for a car and insurance on it.

Downsides are having to be in the plant super early every day. So 5 days in office vs 3. But commute is only 15 min so maybe not a huge issue. But wouldn’t see the kids in the morning. And it’s an industrial facility versus the professional environment that I work in now. I’m not big on working in cancer environments anymore.

This job would position me really well for future growth in the company and an eventual switch out of the gas organization and into electric.

Sounds ayaight. Somebody's gotta plow the fields dude. Your kids have a SAHM that's gonna have to do.

[D Griff]

Damn $4500 to go to New Zealand for two weeks is pretty epic.

I’m actually about to fly first class from PHL to CLT because no one travels for work at this time I guess. I ended up loving my flight later and taking PTO today - got drunk with my college buddy and crushed Eastern European food last night and then rode bikes all day in NJ/PA with he who must not be named.

Pretty 5/7 trip TBH. Makes work feel a bit less sucky.

[D Griff]

Not sure. Apparently they can only bump base salary up to $10k at a time. So no more than that. Likely more like $5k, but yearly bonus target goes from 15% of base salary to 20%. Additionally, the city wage tax no longer would apply and my effective tax rate would drop by 2.5%. Income tax savings and lack of a train pass alone will pay for a car and insurance on it.

Downsides are having to be in the plant super early every day. So 5 days in office vs 3. But commute is only 15 min so maybe not a huge issue. But wouldn’t see the kids in the morning. And it’s an industrial facility versus the professional environment that I work in now. I’m not big on working in cancer environments anymore.

This job would position me really well for future growth in the company and an eventual switch out of the gas organization and into electric.

Sounds ayaight. Somebody's gotta plow the fields dude. Your kids have a SAHM that's gonna have to do.

The tough thing to me with these career moves is that short term you don’t make that much more dough. Like taking on a huge amount more responsibility to make 10% more is not appealing in the least. That said maybe worth it for the long haul.

I used to work 6AM to 3PM and I thought it was great.8-5 is kinda the worst as you miss daylight for half the year. Fortunately my hours are pretty flexible, but I really didn’t hate 10-7 when I was doing west coast inside sales either. It’s nice having time when everyone else is working.

[wap]

Damn $4500 to go to New Zealand for two weeks is pretty epic.

I’m actually about to fly first class from PHL to CLT because no one travels for work at this time I guess. I ended up loving my flight later and taking PTO today - got drunk with my college buddy and crushed Eastern European food last night and then rode bikes all day in NJ/PA with he who must not be named.

Pretty 5/7 trip TBH. Makes work feel a bit less sucky.

How's Zil-dor doing?

[adoob]

Damn $4500 to go to New Zealand for two weeks is pretty epic.

I’m actually about to fly first class from PHL to CLT because no one travels for work at this time I guess. I ended up loving my flight later and taking PTO today - got drunk with my college buddy and crushed Eastern European food last night and then rode bikes all day in NJ/PA with he who must not be named.

Pretty 5/7 trip TBH. Makes work feel a bit less sucky.

How's Zil-dor doing?

Talked to him a bit about car stuff not long ago but not really anything more.

[Johnny_P]

House was listed on Wednesday. Signed an offer today. Wild. We had 5 offers for it.
Ignored a few cash offers for someone who needed a mortgage. So there's that.

[golftdibrad1]

House was listed on Wednesday. Signed an offer today. Wild. We had 5 offers for it.
Ignored a few cash offers for someone who needed a mortgage. So there's that.

old house or new one?

[Johnny_P]

House was listed on Wednesday. Signed an offer today. Wild. We had 5 offers for it.
Ignored a few cash offers for someone who needed a mortgage. So there's that.

old house or new one?

The old one in Philly. Finally offloading it.

[wap]

old house or new one?

The old one in Philly. Finally offloading it.

[SAWCE]

old house or new one?

The old one in Philly. Finally offloading it.

[max225]

House was listed on Wednesday. Signed an offer today. Wild. We had 5 offers for it.
Ignored a few cash offers for someone who needed a mortgage. So there's that.

Do you know your buyers financial situation ? That can be a gamble unless they already have the funds secured.

[wap]

How's Zil-dor doing?

Talked to him a bit about car stuff not long ago but not really anything more.

Hoping he's doing great.

[Johnny_P]

House was listed on Wednesday. Signed an offer today. Wild. We had 5 offers for it.
Ignored a few cash offers for someone who needed a mortgage. So there's that.

Do you know your buyers financial situation ? That can be a gamble unless they already have the funds secured.

Fully pre approved at a much higher amount than they offered. So looks dece.

[Desertbreh]

Do you know your buyers financial situation ? That can be a gamble unless they already have the funds secured.

Fully pre approved at a much higher amount than they offered. So looks dece.

So is there enough equity in this deal to provide some financial cushion for you guys? This new place of yours has been a bit more costly than anticipated.

[D Griff]

Talked to him a bit about car stuff not long ago but not really anything more.

Hoping he's doing great.

I think all is mostly well on his end, still has the R53 and Taco, his wife got a new Mini Pooper S He’s doing a lot of bike stuff and an animal in fitness. It was a fun time. Also got to see the house and rock, pet the , etc.