Not as beautiful anymore, the inversion/air pollution is so bad in SLC you can’t see the mountains clearly most of the time.

Anecdotal, but I think this tracks with what you’re asking. I have never been obese, but due to family history of both connective tissue disorders and diabetes it has always been extremely important to me that I keep my weight in a normal range. It took an intense amount of mental effort on my part, religious food tracking and extensive exercise for decades.

When I started on a GLP-1 (due to a weird health situation that’s not really relevant), the amount of mental energy I needed to expend to maintain my weight was suddenly gone. I don’t feel sugar cravings like I used to, so I don’t need to stay so vigilant about my diet. I don’t spend my days monitoring my intake, planning out a rigorous fasting schedule, working out more than I’m naturally inclined to just to counteract that brownie I couldn’t stop myself from eating. It’s both a literal and emotional weight off. I am taking a very low dose but even so I honestly can’t believe the difference. I am one of the ones who was will-powering through calories in/calories out and it was miserable. Now it’s just…not.

I was finally in a position to buy my first home just after the 2008 recession. Just a fluke of timing, and just enough to afford a hundred year old bungalow, but that luck gave me leverage. Sold the house 5 years later when I had a kid, paid off my college debt, and moved to a lower COL area. Never could have happened if I’d bought earlier or later.

Same. I also expected to like all children more after having mine, but I don’t. Even though I adore my kid, I still dislike children.

I was recently hand-picked for a promotion to backfill my boss, but when HR came to give me the offer they told me my old pay grade was identical to the new one (yeah, I know, that’s weird as hell). Anyway, they told me it would be a lateral move, BUT I would be moved into the management bonus structure which historically has been 8% quarterly. Once I accepted (yeah, I know, I’m looking at other options) they told me I didn’t actually qualify for any bonus payout until April of 2026.

I’ve had bonuses in the past that were as low as $5, this is by far the worst and will be the reason I leave.

I’m envious. I have a path to potential dual citizenship in the EU through my father, but we don’t speak the language (yet, I’ve been studying for about a year but it’s slow going). It will be a few years before we could get the legal representation and paperwork in order and I’m worried it’ll be too late. I wish you and your family the best!

I’m envious. I have a path to potential dual citizenship in the EU through my father, but we don’t speak the language (yet, I’ve been studying for about a year but it’s slow going). It will be a few years before we could get the legal representation and paperwork in order and I’m worried it’ll be too late. I wish you and your family the best!

I’ve worked for the non-profit insurance subsidiary of a charity hospital system, and part of the problem is that ANY of the competition is for profit. What that means is that the for-profit companies are effectively setting the baseline of coverage. Healthy people (or the HR department at the company) aren’t as concerned with richness of benefit as they are with the lowest premium. Sick people, though? They’ve got a list of doctors and drugs they want to make sure are covered. So if the non-profit benefit is too rich it attracts all the sick people and suddenly the operating costs of the non-profit skyrocket and they go out of business. It’s a weird model that can’t be AS good as the mission wants to be.

In my case the hospital system actually created a generic drug manufacturer themselves to undercut for-profit drug manufacturers. THAT was less daunting than trying to impact the insurance side any more than they already do.

Yep, my dad and I are currently working with a lawyer to get our documents in order for dual citizenship. Once one of us qualifies my son becomes eligible and we can more easily emigrate to an EU country.

This hurts my heart as an elder Millennial who took AP Civics in high school. We are failing the kids so completely…

I got on-the-job training to be a pharmacy tech at a Walgreens while I was in college. My state required that you be licensed at the national and state level, but it was just a test and some continuing education credits.

My current state doesn’t require either, so the techs are definitely skewed younger. Thankfully I finished college and work elsewhere now so I can only guess at their ages but teenagers seems accurate.

Kindness has no place on the road. Follow the f$%^*%$ rules to prevent accidents.