Questions you want answered.

mooosicle wrote:

Umm does anyone have any opinions on http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-Cole-R...

Well, at $30, if you didn't particularly like it, you can use it for exercise/work wear.

I usually stick to my $12 Fruit of the Loom hoodies from Walmart, personally.

dhelor wrote:

I usually stick to my $12 Fruit of the Loom hoodies from Walmart, personally.

You wear underwear for a hoodie?!

Citizen86 wrote:
dhelor wrote:

I usually stick to my $12 Fruit of the Loom hoodies from Walmart, personally.

You wear underwear for a hoodie?!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-of-t...

dhelor wrote:
Citizen86 wrote:
dhelor wrote:

I usually stick to my $12 Fruit of the Loom hoodies from Walmart, personally.

You wear underwear for a hoodie?!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-of-t...

Spend more once on higher quality, save in the long run.

Coldstream wrote:
dhelor wrote:
Citizen86 wrote:
dhelor wrote:

I usually stick to my $12 Fruit of the Loom hoodies from Walmart, personally.

You wear underwear for a hoodie?!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-of-t...

Spend more once on higher quality, save in the long run. :)

I've had one of my hoodies for... oh, about two years I think, and it's got very little wear on it for the amount I've actually WORN it. Plus, I'm reluctant to pay more than $50 for ANY piece of clothing, regardless of the quality to cost ratio.

And I'm sorry, $30 for a fricking t-shirt? That's just ridiculous. And I'm not even going to comment on the $69 sweat pants...

That is nothing for a decent t-shirt.

carrotpanic wrote:

That is nothing for a decent t-shirt.

I can see both sides to this conversation and agree with both sentiments.

For myself I tend to lean more toward spending the money on quality gear, but for my 11 and 6 year old boys I will get the less expensive clothing since they both are growing like crazy and will only get a season out of any shirt. I will spend money on their shoes though, since cheap shoes are just utter crap.

That's a good point. I'm done growing, except out, maybe

In the process of buying a home... How stupid of an idea is it to buy a new car during this process?
Background:
The car I have now is on a 36 month 0.9% finance plan. 1 year in. It SHOULD be worth a little over twice what I still owe (according to the Internets/BlueBook).
The promotions that are running until the beginning of April would let me step up one model year and finance for 63 months at 0% interest. My brain thinks it would be a great idea because I should be able to use just a little bit of the trade-in as a down-payment for the car... and apply the difference to the home down payment which should secure us a lower interest rate on that loan.
Am I crazy?

Rezzy wrote:

In the process of buying a home... How stupid of an idea is it to buy a new car during this process?

I'd recommend waiting to purchase a car until your home loan is 100% complete and the wire transfer is done. Title companies don't like seeing new loans show up while they're still in the underwriting process. You really don't want closing delayed because the title company starts demanding additional documentation and reports.

Elycion wrote:

Title companies don't like seeing new loans show up while they're still in the underwriting process. You really don't want closing delayed because the title company starts demanding additional documentation and reports.

At this point we've signed an offer and are starting the inspection process... we don't close until the first week of April... is the timing still too close? Credit scores are a mystery to me, but both I and my partner in crime are currently sitting on scores well above 800.

Rezzy wrote:

At this point we've signed an offer and are starting the inspection process... we don't close until the first week of April... is the timing still too close? Credit scores are a mystery to me, but both I and my partner in crime are currently sitting on scores well above 800.

The credit score isn't relevant to the situation. Part of what you signed off on for your title company was a full and complete accounting of all outstanding loans, debts, and credit balances. Any change in that can flag your loan for review. If your closing date isn't until April then your loan likely hasn't even been sent off to underwriting yet, much less cleared it.

A month's patience right now could likely save you a lot of headache. You should also consider the fact that right now auto dealers are raising their prices and reducing what they offer on trade-ins. They do this every year around tax return time because they know folks have extra money and it's a good time to gouge. It's better to wait until May on car purchases in any event.

Elycion wrote:

A month's patience right now could likely save you a lot of headache.

Exactly what I think I needed to hear. Thanks!

Question for Jonman and his ilk: I'm looking at signing up for a Tough Mudder happening on April 20th. Haven't done a lot of training recently, but I can knock out about 50 pushups, 5-6 overhand pull-ups, and (when the mood strikes me) routinely knock out 10 miles of running at a jogging pace. Do I have enough time to get in reasonable shape to complete a TM? I'm in desperate need of motivation to get off my ass and putting this squarely in front of me might just do it, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't give a rat's arse about time; I just want to finish. Any advice?

Anyone else having issues with the latest Flash Player? Either it is crashing my browser, or if I can get a video to load I get a blank green screen, 2 seconds of sound, and then it crashes.

Coldstream wrote:

Question for Jonman and his ilk: I'm looking at signing up for a Tough Mudder happening on April 20th. Haven't done a lot of training recently, but I can knock out about 50 pushups, 5-6 overhand pull-ups, and (when the mood strikes me) routinely knock out 10 miles of running at a jogging pace. Do I have enough time to get in reasonable shape to complete a TM? I'm in desperate need of motivation to get off my ass and putting this squarely in front of me might just do it, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't give a rat's arse about time; I just want to finish. Any advice?

SuperDave is another you could reach out to, I know he has run a Tough Mudder.

KingGorilla wrote:

Anyone else having issues with the latest Flash Player? Either it is crashing my browser, or if I can get a video to load I get a blank green screen, 2 seconds of sound, and then it crashes.

I just uninstalled it this morning because I was tired of all the crashes.

Coldstream wrote:

Question for Jonman and his ilk: I'm looking at signing up for a Tough Mudder happening on April 20th. Haven't done a lot of training recently, but I can knock out about 50 pushups, 5-6 overhand pull-ups, and (when the mood strikes me) routinely knock out 10 miles of running at a jogging pace. Do I have enough time to get in reasonable shape to complete a TM? I'm in desperate need of motivation to get off my ass and putting this squarely in front of me might just do it, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't give a rat's arse about time; I just want to finish. Any advice?

You hear that, Jonman? You have ilk. You should probably get that checked out.

edosan wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

Anyone else having issues with the latest Flash Player? Either it is crashing my browser, or if I can get a video to load I get a blank green screen, 2 seconds of sound, and then it crashes.

I just uninstalled it this morning because I was tired of all the crashes.

Is there a third party solution? I tried rolling back to Flash 10, but the videos are encoded for 11.

KingGorilla wrote:

Is there a third party solution? I tried rolling back to Flash 10, but the videos are encoded for 11.

Use Chrome as your browser? It has Flash built-in and seems more stable than the plugin...

Coldstream wrote:

Question for Jonman and his ilk: I'm looking at signing up for a Tough Mudder happening on April 20th. Haven't done a lot of training recently, but I can knock out about 50 pushups, 5-6 overhand pull-ups, and (when the mood strikes me) routinely knock out 10 miles of running at a jogging pace. Do I have enough time to get in reasonable shape to complete a TM? I'm in desperate need of motivation to get off my ass and putting this squarely in front of me might just do it, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't give a rat's arse about time; I just want to finish. Any advice?

Showed your post to a coworker who's run a sh*tload of them. He says you'll be fine.

This is meant to be an objective question so if it slides to P&C territory my apologies in advance and I'll move it.

The U.S. stock market hits an all-time high the second day of the sequester with no immediate resolution in sight. This seems objectively counter intuitive to me so my question is, where do you put your savings?

1. Interest rates are so low you essentially get no earnings at a bank.
2. Bond rates are tied to interest rates and are also earning almost no return.
3. My mattress is full. (ok, there is actually no money in my mattress)

Are 1, 2, and 3 why money keeps going into the stock market? Or is there something else?
Or is there a better somewhere else?

Ranger Rick wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

Is there a third party solution? I tried rolling back to Flash 10, but the videos are encoded for 11.

Use Chrome as your browser? It has Flash built-in and seems more stable than the plugin...

It is a problem with Chrome too.

KingGorilla wrote:
Ranger Rick wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

Is there a third party solution? I tried rolling back to Flash 10, but the videos are encoded for 11.

Use Chrome as your browser? It has Flash built-in and seems more stable than the plugin...

It is a problem with Chrome too.

A friend of mine was having similar issues and it turned out to be a video card issue (his 8800 finally dying). You tried upgrading drivers and all that fun stuff?

Miashara wrote:
Coldstream wrote:

Question for Jonman and his ilk: I'm looking at signing up for a Tough Mudder happening on April 20th. Haven't done a lot of training recently, but I can knock out about 50 pushups, 5-6 overhand pull-ups, and (when the mood strikes me) routinely knock out 10 miles of running at a jogging pace. Do I have enough time to get in reasonable shape to complete a TM? I'm in desperate need of motivation to get off my ass and putting this squarely in front of me might just do it, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't give a rat's arse about time; I just want to finish. Any advice?

You hear that, Jonman? You have ilk. You should probably get that checked out.

No, no, it's just a birthmark.

To answer Coldstream's question, I'd say that with that base level of fitness, you could do one tomorrow. Probably won't be coming in first, but my guess is that you'll make it to the finish line.

That said, you've got a good 6 weeks to prep for it, which is plenty enough time to give your fitness a boost. If that were me, I'd be looking at starting running regularly, with a weekly mileage for those 6 weeks something like 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 25 miles (assuming you're not running regularly now - if you are, start with more) and throw a bunch of functional strength training in there, squats, burpees, pushups and pullups.

Better yet, using the adage of "train like you're gonna race", mix the strength training in with your runs. Run a mile, stop and rinse out a circuit of squats, burpees and pushups, then immediately start running again.

Make sure you taper the week leading into the race, so you're fresh on the day. Don't do nothing, but reduce intensity and volume to about 50% for that week. No training for the couple of days before.

Rykin wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:
Ranger Rick wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

Is there a third party solution? I tried rolling back to Flash 10, but the videos are encoded for 11.

Use Chrome as your browser? It has Flash built-in and seems more stable than the plugin...

It is a problem with Chrome too.

A friend of mine was having similar issues and it turned out to be a video card issue (his 8800 finally dying). You tried upgrading drivers and all that fun stuff?

That card is going on 3 years old now...Is there a patron saint of computer hardware that I can pray to? I am saving for a new laptop and really do not want to buy a new videocard. I will try uninstalling the ATI drivers when I get home.

Jonman wrote:
Miashara wrote:
Coldstream wrote:

Question for Jonman and his ilk: I'm looking at signing up for a Tough Mudder happening on April 20th. Haven't done a lot of training recently, but I can knock out about 50 pushups, 5-6 overhand pull-ups, and (when the mood strikes me) routinely knock out 10 miles of running at a jogging pace. Do I have enough time to get in reasonable shape to complete a TM? I'm in desperate need of motivation to get off my ass and putting this squarely in front of me might just do it, but I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't give a rat's arse about time; I just want to finish. Any advice?

You hear that, Jonman? You have ilk. You should probably get that checked out.

No, no, it's just a birthmark.

To answer Coldstream's question, I'd say that with that base level of fitness, you could do one tomorrow. Probably won't be coming in first, but my guess is that you'll make it to the finish line.

That said, you've got a good 6 weeks to prep for it, which is plenty enough time to give your fitness a boost. If that were me, I'd be looking at starting running regularly, with a weekly mileage for those 6 weeks something like 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 25 miles (assuming you're not running regularly now - if you are, start with more) and throw a bunch of functional strength training in there, squats, burpees, pushups and pullups.

Better yet, using the adage of "train like you're gonna race", mix the strength training in with your runs. Run a mile, stop and rinse out a circuit of squats, burpees and pushups, then immediately start running again.

Make sure you taper the week leading into the race, so you're fresh on the day. Don't do nothing, but reduce intensity and volume to about 50% for that week. No training for the couple of days before.

Yeah, always do a burpee! Otherwise you'll spit up before you know it.

Once you've moved on to solids, you can drop the burpees.

And don't forget to nap every 2-3 hours too, otherwise you'll get overtired and be a cranky-poo.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

Showed your post to a coworker who's run a sh*tload of them. He says you'll be fine.

Jonman wrote:

I'd say that with that base level of fitness, you could do one tomorrow. Probably won't be coming in first, but my guess is that you'll make it to the finish line.

That said, you've got a good 6 weeks to prep for it, which is plenty enough time to give your fitness a boost. If that were me, I'd be looking at starting running regularly, with a weekly mileage for those 6 weeks something like 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 25 miles (assuming you're not running regularly now - if you are, start with more) and throw a bunch of functional strength training in there, squats, burpees, pushups and pullups.

Better yet, using the adage of "train like you're gonna race", mix the strength training in with your runs. Run a mile, stop and rinse out a circuit of squats, burpees and pushups, then immediately start running again.

Make sure you taper the week leading into the race, so you're fresh on the day. Don't do nothing, but reduce intensity and volume to about 50% for that week. No training for the couple of days before.

Thanks guys, and thanks Jonman for the training suggestions. I hit the gym for the first time in a while tonight (usually prefer to do bodyweight stuff at home) so even the prospect of doing this has improved my motivation. I also talked one of my fellow residents into signing up with me, so I'll have a partner in the pain. Should be a good time.

Well I uninstalled every flash player, for IE, Chrome, and Mozilla, I uninstalled and reinstalled my ATI drivers, and I can now watch videos again in Chrome. I dare not reinstall for IE and Firefox. But Flash has still crashed twice in Chrome in the past 2 hours.

Bummer is that I often need to use FF for work. Government websites often do a browser check for IE only, more enlightened ones will allow FF.