Tamarillo posted:

We bought Gloomhaven and didn't open it for 2 years. We've played 4 maps I think?

Krispy Wafer posted:

"I have a Jack so I get an extra point like you did, right?"

"Nope, wrong kind of Jack."

Dip Viscous posted:

Cribbage is way more fun that you'd expect, but be forewarned that if you ask someone to teach you how to play it's absolutely going to sound like they are making up bullshit as they go to screw with you even if they really are trying to teach you.

oopsie rock posted:

quote:

I’ve (19m) been dating my girlfriend (19f) for about 3 months and it’s approaching her birthday but I’m conflicted on what to get her.

Originally my plan was to go out for dinner in which I’d cover the entire cheque and then give her a envelope with around $100-200 in it, haven’t decided yet.

However, my two friends who both have girlfriends are giving me major poo poo. For starters, they think I should go out and get her an actual present, not money. Secondly, they think I’m being way too cheap as my families not broke, more-so upper middle class.

From what I remember, I think both of them spent around $300-400 on their girlfriends, buying gifts from designer brands etc. Whilst I think this is a nice gesture, I don’t think this is financially reasonable for people our age and I think it’s kinda stupid that I’m expected to spend hundreds of dollars every time a special event comes around, that rubs me the wrong way. Shouldn’t my company plus a gift of some sort be enough? It’s not like I’m giving her $10 or some poo poo.

Lastly, they say because I wear expensive brands like Kenzo or Yeezy that I’ll look like a gypsy going with my original plan. Btw, I didn’t mean to brag by listing those brands, please don’t take it the wrong way, it’s for context.

TL;DR planning to give my girlfriend for her birthday around $100-200 dollars (haven’t decided on the amount yet) + take her out for dinner at a nice restaurant, friends say I’m being cheap and should be spending way more due to my family being more well off than others

quote:

I’ve already mentioned it in another reply but I feel like my friends are honestly just engaging in dick measuring contests with their girlfriends, making sure to one up them all the time. In my opinion that’s kinda wrong, rubs me off as shallow and not genuine Idk.

quote:

I know the latter has spent between December and now because of his girlfriends birthday and Valentines, Christmas, around $1000. Imo that’s financially irresponsible, especially as he’s not from a well off family where spending that much doesn’t really affect him. Plus he’s constantly complaining about how he’s struggling financially cuz of all the gifts he’s had to get her.

quote:

I’d say she’s middle class, she wears canada goose for example and has some designer pieces but nothing extreme.

Alan Smithee posted:

coming to Netflix: Horse Queen

CmdrRiker posted:

I'd watch that. I'm probably the only one in this thread that adores horses.

Porfiriato posted:

Someone did a Twitter deep dive and unearthed a rabbit hole of BWM/BWL around the New York Magazine's lead art critic, who would rather do stuff like load up 18 cups of gas station coffee and stash them in his fridge for future consumption than learn how to make coffee:

https://danozzi.substack.com/p/the-worlds-most-insane-coffee-drinker

https://twitter.com/LLW902/status/1246184288778964998

It's like zaurg and ice cubes dialed up to about 12.

Motronic posted:

Nope. I've previously stated that I love horses, have owned horses, but was on the right side of that business (I leased the barn and fields, charged others for board, charged some of them for ground training their disasters - because apparently I'm a masochist that like dodging cow kicks- paid people to do the day to day work, made money). But I learned from someone else who was extremely good at money and had a horse hobby. Otherwise I would have cocked it all up and been fodder for this thread.

Moneyball posted:

I think they prefer to be called centaurs

Moneyball posted:

I think they prefer to be called centaurs

Frank Dillinger posted:

Horse People, though....hooo boy.

quote:

Hello Sirotan,

I hope you and your family are safe as we all wait for this crisis to pass. These are very difficult times for us all and it’s important that we stick together to get through them. I'm the meantime, we feel it is very important to also understand the effects that this virus will have on our US economy and housing market moving forward.

Over the past few weeks, when the government decided to shutdown the country in various ways, the stock market became extremely volatile swinging over 1,000 points in a single day. This also affected the bond market where MBS (Mortgage Backed Securities) get traded. This combination created an extremely difficult situation for mortgage banks and servicers for a few different reasons.

First, investors typically invest in the stock market when the market is good, and at times of uncertainty, they move their money from stocks to bonds, because they generally carry less risk and are a safer bet. When the government announced the shutdown, investors ran for the door and the flow of liquidity completely stopped in the bond market because of the uncertainty of the health of the housing market. If people cannot work, then unemployment increases and many people will foreclose which will turn that investment which is usually a safe one, into a much riskier one.

Second, the sudden swing of the stock market in such a short period of time caused mortgage interest rates to move by almost 1% in a period of less than one week. This also causes major issues for mortgage lenders and servicers. For example, when a lender like Quicken Loans speaks to clients and locks their rates in today, those rates are based on the current market conditions. Meaning, they may sell a client a rate today of 3.0% on a 30-year fixed mortgage.

Those rate-locks are instantly pooled together and are being sold prior to the loan closing and funding to an investor on the market. The largest lenders and servicers found themselves in huge margin call situations as they pre-sold MBS packages on the bond market when the rates dropped to 3% on a 30-year fixed and almost 2.5% on 15-year fixed loans for a short window of 3 days. This caused an unprecedented amount of volume in such a short period of time.

When the government announced they are shutting down the country, those rates shot back up instantly bringing rates back up to the 4% range because the investors pulled out of the bond market with fears of foreclosures and unemployment increasing. Now, lenders are holding billions of loan lock commitments that are paying only 3% when the market rate is 4% because of the lack of interest given the circumstances.

The best way to explain this is, imagine you purchased a home in a subdivision from a seller for $300,000 that originally purchased the home in 2018 for $280,000. Then, the builder who still has lots in the subdivision decided to drop his prices to $200,000 because there were no buyers in the market. You would instantly lose $100,000 in home value. Now imagine you purchased every home in that subdivision for $300,000 from all the people that bought those homes in the past years.

Even though you may have not closed on the home at $300,000, you have committed to buying it and must move forward with that commitment. This caused major lenders who do incredible loan volume monthly to come up with the difference instantly between the current market rate and what their loan lock commitments were. Some lenders had to come up with cash in the range of $500 million to $1 billion dollar margin calls which can put many companies out of business.

The government stepped in and created a liquidity market to purchase those (MBS) securities to help free up capital to keep our industry moving forward. However, now the issue is they also came out to tell the public that they can skip making their mortgage payment and go into a forbearance situation for up to 1 year. Forbearance does not eliminate those payments but allows home owners to skip payments and pay them all back at a later date.

In a situation like this, even though the home owner is not making his payments, servicers are still required to pass through the interest payments to the investor that holds the security. This is also a major problem, because if servicers are holding just $100 billion in loans that they collect payments on, and if 10% of the public decide to take the forbearance until they get back to work, they may have to pay $30-50 million a month from their operating income to investors of monies they are not receiving. This is also very difficult because many lenders and servicers do not have this type of liquidity to sustain a period of more than 2 months of reserves before they have to close their doors.

For weeks, mortgage industry lobbyists have been trying to convince the FHFA, or the housing commission, to put together a liquidity vehicle that allows servicers who have huge servicing portfolios to have access to capital in a situation where they may not have the funds to pass through those forbearance payments to investors until the economy gets back to normal. The government is refusing to back non-bank lenders and is only helping traditional depository banks. Non-bank lenders control over 60-65% of all housing servicing and this may cause serious issues to our US economy if many companies go out of business.

Being from Michigan, I’m extremely proud to say we are home to the #1 Wholesale Lender (United Wholesale Mortgage) and #1 Retail lender (Quicken Loans) in the country. We also have many other important companies that started here like Flagstar Bank, and Home Point Financial in Ann Arbor. Although Michigan is known as being the Motor City because of the Big 3, we also now dominate the mortgage market as well. It’s important to educate your friends and family to NOT take advantage of some of these programs if they are truly not needed because they can affect us all regardless of what industry we are in.

Over the next few weeks as unemployment numbers continue to increase, we will begin to see just how much this shutdown will affect us as many small businesses will not re-open, many lenders are expected to not make it through this, and many things will change for many of us...for good. I am, however, optimistic we will come out stronger. Worst case, it’s given us a different appreciation for family and friends that we all have taken for granted for so long.

I hope you and your family stay as safe as possible during these difficult times. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you or anyone you know is experiencing extreme hardships because of these difficult times. I’ll be happy to help in any way I can or connect you with someone in my network who may also be able to assist.

CmdrRiker posted:

How about no derail, no title change, and just more BWM content. I had a very stressful and emotional week and I could really use some laughter from out of touch rich people or people with naive and hopeless consumption habits.

Alan Smithee posted:

I already said it

Board With Monopoly

Sirotan posted:

Sorry, didn't know what to bold there. But yes, the non-bank lenders are not getting federal bailouts and over leveraged themselves and now might not be able to cover their margin calls. And because they are in Michigan, where coincidentally other companies exist that you may have heard of, please please pay us and don't take advantage of forbearance!!

Sirotan posted:

please think of the poor lenders during this difficult time

Sirotan posted:

Sorry, didn't know what to bold there. But yes, the non-bank lenders are not getting federal bailouts and over leveraged themselves and now might not be able to cover their margin calls. And because they are in Michigan, where coincidentally other companies exist that you may have heard of, please please pay us and don't take advantage of forbearance!!

Moneyball posted:

I hope things get better for you. This thread ebbs and flows. Sometimes there's no content, and then sometimes Leon is let off permban and comes back with tons of it. I've relaxed the rules a little bit since times are tough at the moment. Maybe the daily discussion thread is more appropriate for the derails.

Vice President posted:

In Seattle (and probably the bay area) it sure seems like every quirky vintage boutique or collectable toy store which are all pretty much two steps above a nice-looking Goodwill in a better neighborhood are pretty much guaranteed to be run by the spouse of someone in the tech industry who wants them to keep them busy, or someone who just cashed out their portfolio and is now retired at age 40 and looking to relive their childhood.

But then there's the super sketchy. I once lived near a barbershop/hair salon place on a pretty high traffic corner of a recently gentrified neighborhood. It's not like this was skid row. The lights were on, it was fully stocked with product. Delivery trucks would deliver things every couple weeks. People I assumed to be employees would be inside and I'd see them reading the paper or sitting at the desk on the phone. The door was always locked, had a closed sign posted with no business hours, and if you shook the door thinking it was open as many many many people did one of them would just shout "We're closed" and go back to ignoring you. I never saw anyone go in.

Moneyball posted:

It's all fun and games (har) until someone busts out some Cones of Dunshire style over-complicated game, and then you're stuck for 90 minutes playing that, while other people are having fun around you and the guy who brought it is just crushing you.
I'm looking at you, Brass

Healthcare expenses from HSA account - can a toilet mount for a bidet count as “medical” posted:

Serious replies only. Sorry if this is silly or the wrong place.

In any case, I suffer from hemorrhoids that severely impacts my life. I speak with my doctor about it and we talk about improving diet, exercise, reducing sitting, applying prep H and wipes etc - all of it. Over the last 10 years I’ve come to realize it may not be about my poo poo, but really HOW I poo poo. I’d love to install a bidet feature on my toilet, as I am confident my hairy rear end and left over dingle berries are a irritant and a root cause of my life’s agitation.

My question: does paying for a Bidet from an old HSA qualify as a medical expenses?

Thanks. Sorry if wrong sub and if I ruined your dinner experience.

Very expensive toilet seat sent to my house that I did not buy, scam? posted:

Hey guys, a little backstory. About a year ago, when the equifax breach happened, someone opened a credit line in my name and ordered $2,000+ worth of Samsung phones and sent them to my house. I had no idea what was happening, so on my Capital One app, I was able to see there was a new inquiry and new credit line opened under my name. Many stressful weeks and a police report later, I was able to resolve everything (for now).

Today, we get a very large, heavy box delivered to our doorstep. It’s addressed to our house, my moms phone number, and my moms last name but the first name “Taylor” (there’s no Taylor that we know of). There’s a “receipt” in the box, but it’s really just a piece of paper with a “to:”, “from:”, and order number and description. I looked online, and it’s from Ferguson.com and it’s a $1,400 bidet toilet seat. The phone number on the piece of paper comes up as a bunch of Chinese symbols when googled, and the Ferguson website’s phone number didn’t work as they’re closed on weekends.

Also, the address listed is to a “fulfillment center” in Georgia, but google says the property is currently for lease.

My mom is not internet savvy at all, and actually does all of her billing and whatnot through paper checks. I looked at her checking accounts online, and nothing has been taken out of those, and I signed her up for the Chase thing where you can get a glimpse of your credit score and history. According to that, which was updated today, no new inquiries or credit lines have been opened in at least two years. I don’t know how accurate this is, but going off of how reliable Capital One is, I’m leaning toward that it’s correct.

The next thing we’re going to do is call the 4 or 5 credit companies she has cards through and see if there’s a balance on any of them when she gets home.

My question is, however, what’s next if there isn’t a balance on any of her credit cards? I’ve checked my credit and my bank accounts and everything seems fine. We just find it strange that someone would send a $1400 toilet seat to our house, with our last name and phone number. This has to be some sort of scam, but I’m not sure as to how?

Dwight Eisenhower posted:

Hunting for an intersection between the thread title and current events:

Sorry if this content's too lovely, but I'm having a hard time flushing out any good bidet content.

quote:

I spent $500 on 19 dragonball pops in the last 4 days for my birthday. Should I be ashamed?

(You can skip my sob story and share yours in the comments I'd love go see what ppl went into funko-debt over!)

I started collecting 2 years ago and up till now I been pretty smart with buying, took my time and got alot of the pops (owned about 22 until this week) that were between 2016 & now and never spent more than $40 on a single pop.

ever since SDCC I've been tryna hang with the big boys tryna grab shared exclusives and all the other big name website DB exclusives but outside of dead yamcha shared on HT I missed everyone, it's been impossible for me. (Grabbed Broly and Ouzaroo vegeta for about $40 ea on ebay later)

But then this week happened, for my bday I went to AnimeNYC with the INTENTION to rack up on all the old DB common pops I never grabbed (perfect cell, Piccolo, majin buu, etc), but I love to haggle so I meant this one booth before closing and got:

Autographed Majin Vegeta in protector, Blue Chrome Vegeta TT, GITD SSJ Goku EE, SSJ Vegeta AAA & even threw in DB Bulma I didnt have & a Poster for $260

From the other booths I got Goten & Trunks for $45

Peace Sign Roshi for $15

And 8 commons for $80

Honestly I went home happy (hell, i still am) but the NEXT morning I woke up to a "Flocked Beerus sold out" post when previously noone knew when he was releasing, with little hesitation I just hopped on Ebay and got one for $68 as all beerus love to hit the $100+ range and I dont own any variation of him.

Finally, I already have ssj2 gohan and young goku on preorder but found out SSJ3 was also a preorder and not a mystery box for black Friday but GS closed preorders when I found out. I was gonna play ball and wait it out but someone posted today a 15% coupon on Ebay and welllll it's not every day you get a coupon for flippers lmao, so I got SSJ3 from a known flipper for just $25.

All that together puts me a little under $500 (not counting my GS preorders as I did those weeks prior) if I throw in the vegito I preorder some months ago think I'm officially insane.

I say all this to say, I do not regret my purchases, but have i officially gone off the deep end or have all collectors (especially DB line) experienced one of these moments? If so what was your damage and for what pops?

quote:

WIBTA If I didn't give my boyfriend what he wants for his birthday?

We've been together 4 years and I'm the only income in the house. He doesn't have a job even though he says he's looking, I can't verify anything because I'm out working 10+ hour shifts. Our relationship has been straining for the past couple of years because of it, cause I'm getting tired of being the only one putting bread on the table while he sits at home playing games all day (or that's what it feels like to me). I've been trying to save money to pay off credit card debt and just to have a nest egg, and I don't make all that much money.

He's a good guy who treats me well and never really asks for anything more when it comes to holidays and birthdays, but he does ask for a lot of small things like new games that are coming out or funko pops or whatever and I usually get them for him. His birthday is next month and he's been asking for a new $2000~ range gaming rig. I feel awful, but don't feel like giving him a gift that expensive when for my birthday I got a couple of books that I reminded him I wanted two days prior, and socks. I feel like an rear end in a top hat because I've hit him with the old "we'll see give, me some time", but with the date approaching, I feel more and more resentful and I don't even want to get him the small things he asks for every now and again. I feel like he needs to get a job so he can pay for this himself because I don't want to feel like I'm raising a kid instead of being part of a relationship. Am I the rear end in a top hat for not wanting to spend that much money on my boyfriend on his birthday?

quote:

You suddenly come in to $20k. What are you buying first?

quote:

quote:

Nintendo switch, new computer, and a large amount of funko pops

Nerd alert.

Do you mind giving me some ur funko pops?

No, I am not giving you my 300+ funko pop collection which has lots of chases and exclusives.

quote:

SuperHero Kermit ECCC Exclusive

Hello fellow redditors.

I saw the ECCC Superhero Kermit Funko. And I absolutely want it. Is there anyone who can be so kind to get me that I will be more than happy to pay a finders fee and pay for the pop and shipping. I am looking at some of the "preorders" online and they are killer. If any fellow redditor can help me. I would be forever in debt.

Thank you.

quote:

[1] In this action, two women who barely know one another, and who have rarely met one another in person, sue one another for defamation, breach of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Their claims against one another are the product of a verbal war they have waged against one another in social media for over a decade. After this action was filed, the war intensified, and was played out mostly (but not exclusively) in court filings and very lengthy affidavits. Each represented herself at the trial.

quote:

[301] In summary:

(a) I award damages to Ms. Lu in the sum of $9,000;

(b) I award damages to Ms. Shen in the sum of $8,500;

(c) I make the additional orders set out in paras. 299 and 300 above.

[302] The parties are entitled to interest pursuant to the Court Order Interest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 79.

[303] I am directing that if, by May 31, 2020, a draft of the formal order resulting from these Reasons for Judgment has not been submitted by the parties for my review, settlement (if necessary) and signature, then the draft formal order be prepared by the registrar of the court, and the approval of the form of order by the parties is dispensed with.

[304] With respect to costs, subject to any submissions the parties may wish to make, I consider that neither party has been substantially successful, and therefore I make no order with respect to costs. If the parties wish to make submissions concerning costs, I direct that submissions be made in writing. The written submissions of each party shall be no more than 10 pages, double-spaced and using a font size no smaller than 12 point (except for quotations). Any affidavit evidence shall be limited to 20 pages, including exhibits. Ms. Lu’s material shall be filed and served by not later than June 15, 2020. Ms. Shen’s material shall be filed and served by not later than June 30, 2020.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

What happened in the last 10 years that resulted in so many professional women becoming the breadwinner for men with no income or redeeming features?

And why do so many people enthusiastically ruin their lives over pieces of vinyl?


I don't think there is a drug or self-confidence seminar in the world that could provide someone with enough balls to match this guy.



Nerd alert.

Do you mind giving me some ur funko pops?

quote:

How aggressively cute toys for adults became a $686 million business

8,000-plus characters, 29 Conan O’Brien dolls alone: inside the Funko Pop Vinyl phenomenon.

quote:

When 37-year-old Jack recently brought a woman back to his house after a date, she was taken aback by his spare room. Stacked in neat boxes from the floor to the ceiling, exactly 1,080 plastic figurines fill the rec room in Jack’s California home. Over the past four years, the grape farmer — who is identified here by a pseudonym — has spent more than $9,000 on the toys.

quote:

A segment of “Jack’s” collection of 1,080 Funko Pops.

quote:

“We take pride in the fact that we can Popify about anything,” says Sean Wilkinson, Funko’s creative director, who has been with the company since its inception. “There’s nothing we won’t do at this point.”

quote:

In 2018, the company’s net sales increased 33 percent to $686.1 million.

quote:

After the company released its Q2 earnings report in early August, declaring that sales up are 38 percent compared to this time last year, CEO Brian Mariotti called his company “recession proof.”

quote:

“When I walk into my room full of Pops, I like to look around and just be blasted by nostalgia,” Jack says of his collection. “I like that you can have characters from an old Mexican TV show, and you can have a Care Bear, and you can have John Wick and Elvira, and they all look right together. They’re kind of uniform — you can have all these different genres together in one concise collection.”

quote:

Collectors like Jack make up 36 percent of Funko’s customers, while 31 percent are “occasional buyers.” Wilkinson says Funko Pops appeal to both markets because of the “science of cute” behind the figurines’ design.

quote:

Wilkinson says because of these strategic design decisions, there are many “reluctant” Pop collectors. “A lot of people didn’t want to like these … and they’d buy one, they’d buy two, and suddenly they’re hooked.”

quote:

A May 2019 investor presentation from the company boasts that a Pop can be designed and submitted to a licensor in 24 hours, molded into a prototype in 45 days, and “sourced from Asian facilities while maintaining quality control” in just 15 days. Funko also prides itself on its low production costs — each new figure costs between $5,000 and $7,500 to develop.

quote:

After initial investment costs, each figurine costs roughly $1.30 to produce and sells for between $10 and $60.

quote:

Perhaps the greatest trick Funko ever pulled is releasing multiple iterations of the same character, whether in different costumes or poses, or painted with glitter or chrome. On the Funko website, there are currently 29 distinct figurines of TV host Conan O’Brien — you can get the comedian dressed as Jon Snow, an Armenian folk dancer, or Pennywise the clown, or even just painted entirely orange.

quote:

Like Jack, 18-year-old Tristan from Canada has more than 1,000 Funko Pops, and estimates he has spent between $15,000 and $17,000 on the toys (his most expensive purchase was a $110 Jollibee, the mascot of a Filipino fast-food brand). “It’s fun to collect them; they’re everywhere, they’re also neat to look at,” he explains, “Every one has its own kind of features and — not personalities, because that sounds weird, but stuff about them that makes them all unique. They’re simplistic, but they’re detailed at the same time.”

quote:

To encourage collectors, Funko uses many tried-and-tested market tricks, like releasing toys exclusive to certain locations (Mr. Rogers is exclusive to Barnes & Noble) and producing limited-edition runs (only 480 holographic Darth Mauls were released at San Diego Comic-Con in 2012).

quote:

Interestingly, Funko’s average customer is 35 years old — two years younger than Jack, who says his date recovered from seeing his spare room. “The rest of the night went very well and we went on several more dates,” he said. Although it ultimately didn’t work out with her, Jack says his “crazy room of Funko Pops” didn’t have “too much influence on it either way.”

quote:

Wilkinson attended Comic-Con and was blown away to see fans “almost in tears” because of how much they love Funko Pops. “I don’t know that a whole lot of people — maybe doctors and firemen — get that feeling of appreciation for what you do,” he says. “It’s really rewarding. I pinch myself regularly and get tingly, even after all this time. I haven’t gotten any more jaded. It’s been a great ride.”