I’m in my forties and what you’re describing doesn’t sound normal at all. I beat myself up good in my younger years with sports and still do somewhat regular cardio and weightlifting. I have a bum knee and hip problem, shoulder issues from weightlifting injuries, and my back gets stiff and sore on a good day.

None of that stops me from functionally living, and none of its anything the occasional ibuprofen or toke won’t fix in the short term. I can still exercise, do physical labor, open all the jars, and be generally active, and without pain the majority of the time.

What you’re describing sounds more like an inflammatory disease or auto-immune disorder. 110% get a second opinion from a different doc, or a third if needed.

One Punch Man looking daring this week.

Generally speaking, idle unpaid accounts like this are either sold by the creditors to a third party debt collector, resetting the clock, or they will sue you for the non-payment to get a judgment or lien, resetting the clock.

The only sure bet is bankruptcy, which will drop off your report after a period of time that varies from state to state in the U.S. (generally from 7 to 10 years). Not sure is this applies outside the U.S.

Regarding the heating/cooling, if you’re home is decently insulated look into supercooling in the summer months. At higher temperatures your heat pump has to work harder to cool down the home. By running cooling overnight when temperatures are lower, it uses less power to the same result.

I cool my home to 68f from 2 am until 8 am on a schedule, and then the heat pump stays off until the indoor temps reach 74f. It’s provided a good amount of energy savings and helped me exceed the quoted power offset on my solar setup.

Use credit cards as cash, and pay off the balance weekly. This protects your bank account from fraud, as chargebacks and fraud are more easily dealt with on credit, and they tend to have better account monitoring and security than banks and credit unions. Even better if you have a cash-back/points card, that’s basically free money.

This also makes it easy to track spending if you have specific purpose credit cards. E.g, one card for groceries and gas, another for recurring bills or service payments, another for frivolous stuff, etc.

——————

Even if you have no other investments, open a high yield savings account and keep the bulk of your funds there, other than what you need for a general emergency fund and monthly bills. Current yields are over 4%, generally better than inflation, without any risk.

It’s not a picnic, and doesn’t have to be. Without the bad we wouldn’t always appreciate the good things in life. I’ve been fortunate, I’m living well these days, happily married, and haven’t suffered from depression in probably over a decade now (though anxiety is an ever present low buzz in the background. I’m used to it).

But that phrase is irksome. What doesn’t kill you doesn’t always make you stronger. Sometimes it fucks up your life. Sometimes it’s a roadblock, other times it’s life altering in unforeseen ways, and occasionally the consequences of what doesn’t kill is a tragic fate worse than death.

Tripping and falling might not kill me, might just lead to embarrassment. Or it could lead to CTE or irreversible brain damage from head trauma. Certainly not stronger for that sort of thing.

I’m a fan of “what doesn’t kill you only serves to postpone the inevitable.” But maybe that’s a bit fatalistic.

I mean she’s not dem leader anymore. I know she still represents CA as dean . I just find it strange I’ve seen so many articles mentioning her as though she’s still in charge.

———

Edit - and now the recent articles claiming Obama wants Biden to step down too, which is supposedly conjecture and hearsay. It all reads like a hit campaign of known democratic leadership names, and it seems really odd how little coverage there is of the various democratic representatives in full support of Biden.

Regardless of what Biden does or doesn’t do, what is with this Pelosi kingmaker bullshit, and why does she have so much standing and influence despite having retired?

That’s fair. For me, I don’t have enough roof space or space for battery to do a fully off-grid system. I would have liked to, but I’ve got mountains to the west and I only get good sun on the southeast facing side of the house, so unless I do a porch expansion and battery capacity to size ratio improves, grid-tied was my best option.

My power company is a not-for-profit co-op and offers 1:1 net-metering, as well as reduced costs for off-peak hours for solar and heat pump users. I’ve managed my energy use to the point I’m at net-zero usage (101.5% production to my usage), but there are low production days where I have to tap the grid and high production days where I produce way more than I draw.

Edit - other considerations as well, e.g. - solar installer guarantees the work for 15 years (panels) and 10 years (battery) and will fix any issues free (if they’re still in business, if not it’s guaranteed by Solaredge given professional installation). And Solaredge tends to not work with individuals. Honestly, I did look into self-installing and IIRC I would have saved maybe $9k or $10k doing a DIY install, but given the tools I would need, knowledge and resources to do it right, time required to do it alone, and the lack of grid access/backfeed… it was very much worth the extra cost to me. And that additional cost was technically refunded to me when I filed taxes.

Not everybody is going to want to do it themselves I get that, it’s actually very easy and straightforward…

Not really. That likely depends entirely on where you live. In my county you’re required to have electrical and construction permits for the work, and the install must be carried out by solar installers with at least one licensed roofing professional and the electrical portion by a licensed electrician. You also can’t connect it back to the grid for net-metering without further inspection by the county once the work is completed. Part of the cost was all the licensing and permitting, as well as submitting the official install plan to the county for approval.

That’s not something I would undertake myself. Not only would I not be able to connect to the grid, but my home would be uninsurable.

Not region specific, but this is relevant: https://www.itekenergy.com/installation/installing-solar-panels-without-a-permit/

Makes sense, that’s like 80% more solar capacity and you’re probably paying the Tesla markup on the batteries. You’d also need a larger inverter, as 2 powerwalls inline would give 10kW output (5kW each). My battery and inverter are Solaredge, and the inverter is only 7.2kW.

Sounds like the price was relatively in line with mine, just different parts and larger scale.

Not sure what the price is elsewhere, but I got 6.4 kW solar panels and a 10kW battery backup last year, and the cost was $33k USD. This was in U.S. Midwest (Colorado) and with a local (not National) Solar provider.

I paid cash to avoid the 6% rate loan and additional fees, and I received a $9k tax credit for it this year, bringing the total cost down to $24k. I think this is an expense beyond many Americans, especially since this system could take over a decade to pay for itself, if it does at all.

No point here, just figured I’d point it out so people are aware of the cost. And bear in mind, this is a small system, in a small (just over 1k sq/ft) home.

I mean, it should be fine, just because the PSU can provide more watts doesn’t mean the system is actually using that much power. I have an 800w PSU in my gaming rig, but its average load is only 240 - 320w during gaming (I’ve measured it by powering the system with a portable Ecoflow battery).

I did read it. But I’m not referring to just this article, but the dozens I’ve seen in just the past week. If the dems are convinced there’s a better candidate, actually convinced, we’d have a name by now. Literally anyone. But there’s been nothing. Just the step down discussion, with no discourse on who should be taking his place.

I have a feeling there may still be bad blood there considering Harris basically acted like she was the one elected president early in Biden’s first term, until he reminded her who was president and who was vice.

The perception of his decline is severe, and there may be some truth to it - it’s certainly not a reputation he’s going to shed in the next five months.

Which even if true, is just absurdist considering his opponent can’t even finish a sentence without switching to a new topic and turning a statement into word salad. 2024 is freaking cursed.

I’m so sick of these articles and headlines about how Biden should step down.

DNC had years to figure this shit out and back another candidate, but instead we had seemingly rushed primaries with no real challengers. At this point with less than four months until the actual election, who the hell do they expect will be a better choice? Because nobody has stepped up to the plate, and for all the talk of how Biden should step down, there’s been no discussion of who should step up in his place.

Just fucking back the man, unify, and rally to convince people to get out and vote. Best case scenario, we get a functional Biden, who is known for his work ethic and general attitude of doing the job without platitudes or bullshit. Alternative not so good cases are we get a diminished Biden who isn’t effective at the job, but also isn’t a fucking fascist, or Biden dies of natural causes at some point and we get a partial term of Harris as president.