Posts by Melissa Cruz2

I know for a fact you could pull $20k $0.00 out through American Express over a couple of years... maybe the terms are even better now.

you're just confusing this poor girl😁

-no kids claimed on your taxes
-no dependents listed on your return
-not disabled
-no extra contributions to your 401(k) or health insurance
-no life insurance premiums being deducted
-you live in Washington, D.C.
If you actually meet any of those other criteria, or if you aren't living in D.C., then your take-home pay would be a bit higher

That seems to be the situation here. So what's the deal with that $17.50 net amount?
(just???)

$34,000 gross... what does that actually look like after taxes hit the paycheck?

thanks!

wait, what? what am I even supposed to do here? 🙏

So I’m downloading the software and unzipping the folder... then I head over to the Control Panel, go into the Camera Wizard, and it asks me to locate the software. I hit browse, find the file we downloaded, click it, and absolutely nothing happens. It just won't open. Down at the bottom, it lists the available files, but all I'm seeing is an .inf extension and nothing else. My file is supposed to be an .exe...

So, I picked up a USB cable at Best Buy to transfer some photos from my Apple iPhone to my computer. I'm following the instructions and even set up the port—COM 4, or whatever—but the disc they gave me doesn't even have the software for the Apple iPhone on it!
Okay, the retailer admitted they messed up the shipment. So I went ahead and tried to download the software directly from Apple.com, but now I can't even get it to run... what gives? Is it possible the download itself is corrupted or something?
Someone please help me out here...

So, I’m basically a total wimp when it comes to the cold, but somehow I still absolutely love winter and all that snow... I’m already layering up with two pairs of sweatpants. Once things get truly freezing, I might just have to throw on some fishnets too 😁
My go-to setup involves an undershirt, a T-shirt, a long-sleeve shirt, a heavy sweater, and then a coat. Plus a hat, scarf, and gloves. I run pretty much every single day... I've gotten so hooked on it that there's really no stopping me now.

At home, I always need to be wearing capri leggings because the chill always seems to creep up from my legs...
Anyway, my blood pressure is naturally pretty low.

I spent some time working over in the Netherlands back in the day. A little bit there, a little bit here, mostly catering to expats during that whole early 90s era... You can never have enough money, obviously, and I was pretty much obsessed with being over there. But honestly? I never felt like an outsider.

Luckily, I’ve got a great gig here now with a solid paycheck, so there’s zero chance I’d ever move back across the pond for work. Living in the States with a decent income feels like hitting the jackpot to me. Plus, I’m getting too old for that lifestyle anyway...

Personally, I think the best move for young people is to get a really solid education and try to land a spot at one of those major corporations—and man, they are popping up everywhere these days!

Lawrence Garcia93 said:Melissa Cruz2, I don't know how you handle being hungry... if it were me, I'd probably lose it.
I'm just starving...
It honestly hits me out of nowhere—like, once that hunger kicks in, I feel like I just need to grab whatever is closest to me immediately. Just some chips or something...
And I can always just burn it off with sports or 😉

In moderation, I guess. It's not like I couldn't eat, it's just that it doesn't really bother me too much. I usually get hungry around noon, then hit lunch around 1:00, so it works out fine. Once I'm busy working through the afternoon until evening, I don't even feel it. It's just that empty feeling in my stomach when I finally unwind after work and a shower, and then I'll have dinner whenever it makes sense...

Edward Green said:until lunch?
I’m doing a bowl... just a decent bowl of muesli with fruit, plus a blended apple and banana, some honey, and a bit of milk. Honestly, it won't hold me over until lunch...

Look, I’d be shaped like an elephant if I ate every single time I felt hungry. I just power through... have a coffee, grab a piece of fruit...

Yeah, I’ve got one of those diet books for the zone, too... but honestly, I can't stand measuring everything and weighing my food. I just kind of eye-ball it a little bit, haha.
So, yesterday I had some cereal in the morning, then beef with a green salad and cucumbers for lunch, a banana in the afternoon, and stuffed cabbage rolls for dinner. That was pretty much it. I'll grab some whole wheat bread before a workout if I feel like I need an extra boost. Today, breakfast and dinner will be the same thing, but for lunch, it really just depends on whatever they're serving at the local diner.
Once I finish off the leftovers from the cabbage rolls, I'll move on to carrots, chicken, eggs, cheese... basically whatever happens to be in the fridge!

nimbledriver81 said:[BVoice besides whole grains also includes fiber, which slows down sugar absorption—meaning your blood sugar levels stay more stable. I mentioned cheese as a source of protein and fat. And since cottage cheese doesn't have much actual fat, the calorie count stays pretty moderate. I mean, sure, you could eat a slice of full-fat cheese too...
(By the way, sugar = glucose, but I always just use the short version. 🙂 ) [/B]

Yeah, I get that fruit has fiber, but the real struggle is fighting off that hunger pang. If I just have cheese and fruit for breakfast, I'm starving. Oatmeal keeps me full way longer. My afternoons are usually fine, but that morning hunger is brutal, especially when my dinner the night before was light. For example, I usually just have some stuffed cabbage rolls without any sides and a side salad of tomatoes. (I'm basically a pro at eating the exact same thing every single day)

Personally, I’m a big believer in sticking to slow-burning carbs in the morning. You want that sustained energy and to actually feel full... say, a chopped-up orange, maybe a couple of tablespoons of oats, and a splash of milk or some yogurt on the side. It usually keeps me going until lunch without that massive hunger crash. On the other hand, if you go with cheese and fruit, it’s super light and you’ll probably be ready to eat again r
I'd love to hear from someone who actually knows what they're talking about "

ella_zg said:So, folks, it’s been three days since I started this "diet" (if you can even call it that). For breakfast, it's just fruit—I've got plenty of tangerines, grapes, and apples sitting around the house, so I might as well use them up, though obviously not all at once. Lunch is whatever my mom whips up, but I'm skipping the heavy carbs and proteins, and if I absolutely have to have bread, it's strictly whole wheat. Dinner is usually just more fruit or maybe some yogurt. Basically, I'm just shaking up my eating habits... we'll see how long this actually lasts. Oh, and zero sweets. I'm suffering.😢 😢 I've been working out too... a little movement in the morning and then a longer session in the evening... feels okay so far.👍

Wish me luck!!!👋 👋

ella, don't do that to yourself. Just grab some oatmeal for breakfast, maybe mix it with some fruit yogurt if you need flavor. For lunch, eat what your mom makes but pile on the salad and cut back on the carbs. For dinner, go even lighter on the carbs—maybe some cottage cheese with fruit, eggs, or some ham...
In between meals, stick to fruit and yogurt.

Don't burn yourself out like this, because you won't last... A solid breakfast helps keep you from overeating at lunch, which then makes it easier to have a light dinner.

coppercrane89 said:Starving yourself isn't the answer, but you definitely need to overhaul your diet and pay attention to food pairings—basically, what you eat with what.

Look, it's no pain, no gain. Don't kid yourselves into thinking you can just swap out empty calories for "healthy" ones and expect magic to happen. If someone actually needs about 1,500 calories a day to function but they're slamming 3,000, they’re going to have a rough start... we could pretty much call that starving the body of what it actually needs. But the reality is you have to eat what your body requires, which is usually WAY less than what we're used to.
Hit the gym a couple times a week and that's basically it...

So, here it is... a real beauty.

The Hunger Games (1969)

If you're looking for a total sob story, this one hits hard. It basically mixes a little Christmas miracle vibe with a pretty grim warning about the threat of nuclear war.
After his 10-year-old son, Pascal, gets diagnosed with terminal leukemia following an accidental exposure to radiation fallout, a wealthy French-American businessman named Lawrence realizes he’s actually been a stranger to his own kid.
Lawrence withdraws the child from school and decides to devote himself entirely to the boy during his final months. He grants all of Pascal's wishes in their New New York Mansion, going as far as buying him things like a pair of wolves for Christmas...

Awesome, that’s the first one. Thanks!
Now I'm gonna go digging around to see if I can track down the second...

Both feature Alain Delon
In the first one, he dies in a car wreck, and Death basically claims him just to turn his life into some twisted comic strip about the apocalypse. He ends up drawing this woman walking home alone at night, gets jumped, and suddenly blood is flooding the entire world.
He leaves behind a tape with his final message for his son, who sits there watching it and just breaks down. In the end, they find each other... I think they're on Earth.

The second one features Blaise Pascal’s son, who ends up being gassed after a plane explosion involving some cargo. The kid is slowly dying and develops this obsession with wanting wolves. So, the dad goes out and gets him some wolves...

Does anyone actually know the titles of these movies before I waste my time digging through the internet?

goldengull3 said:Remember when we were going in circles about how only Canadians manage to label their first aid kits according to American standards?

Are we actually talking about some niche local regulations here, or just general European Union standards? Because if it’s just the EU playbook, then I’m totally eating my words regarding PP...

gizmo 😍

They’re pitching this thing as some kind of family horror comedy or whatever... 😂