u/bitz-the-ninjapig

Going on a backpacking trip this weekend, my first major hike since getting my FR570.

We are doing about 20 miles and 6000ft of elevation across 2 days, so I am expecting something like 13-15 total hours of hiking, including breaks but not sleeping/time at camp.

Right now my watch is at 57% and it says I have 8 hours of battery if I use the hike activity without changing any settings, so hypothetically should be fine for the trip, but I would like to also use this trip to figure out what I like/don’t like for longer trips in the future.

Here are the things I am planning to change before we get started:

- Switch out my custom watch f@ce for a stock face

- Switch the default to GPS only (sounds like UltraTrac is not very useful and as a data nerd I want something sorta accurate)

- Turn off phone connectivity

- Lower backlight brightness

Any other changes you like to make for trips like this, or other things you set up prior to a hike? Does the built in hike program “pause” when it notices you aren’t moving such as when you stop for lunch, or should I manually pause if I care? Thanks!

Looking to do my first trip in the Catskills this weekend. I have plenty of experience hiking and backpacking in the White Mountains and ADK High Peaks, so my only real concern is water sources.

Current plan is to park at Slide Mountain Parking Area, do the WCS loop counterclockwise, set up camp at the primitive sites near the spur for Giant Ledge/Panther, we will play it by ear on doing Panther day 1/day 2/not at all, and then finish the loop back to our car.

The most recent trail reports I am finding were from June and mention not a lot of water sources, and only at Slide, so I am trying to see if we can even safely take this trip or if it is better to do something else. It looks like Woodland Creek near Woodland Valley Campground is a source but I am not sure if it is all dried up or not. I have 2 CNOC bags that can be used to carry some water to the campsite (2x2L bags, plus me and my hiking buddy will each have 2 1L bottles) from Woodland Creek, but that requires there to be any water in the creek.

Anyone have any more recent experiences with water sources on this loop? I want to be sure we do not do something stupid/dangerous

The gym I workout at is in need of some new 5's. We currently have two sets (one is Rogue HG or similar, the other is Eleiko and sort of a "foam" like material). One of the Rogue plates recently cracked, and the Eleiko plates are old already in sorta rough condition. We have also recently seen an influx of women in the program who are also beginners, so having 2-3 sets is ideal because a lot of them are going to be using the 5s for the majority of their snatch work for the next few months. We also have a master's athlete who uses 5s for a lot of her snatch work as well. The weightlifting program's primary coach wants these athletes to be able to drop the bar from overhead like those of us who are working with weights above 35kg.

Gym owner said he can get another few pairs, and I suggested we look into technique plates (our club is within a CrossFit gym, so the owner is not a weightlifter) since those seem to be more durable, especially if dropped from overhead ...and then I saw the price. Our program is small, probably somewhere around 12 athletes, so in the scope of a gym with much bigger CrossFit, Hyrox, and Powerlifting programs I do not see a $500 purchase on 2 sets of technique plates that will only be used by a handful of athletes.

Does anyone have any recommendations of plates that I can look into and recommend? Hoping for something durable that athletes can drop from overhead. I know "you get what you pay for" so there might not be a great option, but maybe there is something that I am not thinking of. Thanks!

Not directly YNAB, but hoping like minded people can chime in.

Because of how my brain works, I have been working to get 1-2 months ahead. I wanted to be a month ahead at any point and time, so on August 1st, September would already be fully funded. Today my paycheck hit my account and I realized that I fully funded September (I use categories names for each month, stuff is not actually assigned in September), and am in a good spot to stay 1-2 months ahead with my income.

I am now in a “what next” spot. I am maxing out my Roth IRA and 401k, investing 10% of my salary to buy a house eventually, and setting aside $300-400/month to get a new car for whenever my beater car gives up. I already have an emergency fund that will cover at least 3 months of expenses, likely closer to 5 if I were to lose my job

With my current setup I am able to spend a good amount on a sport I play, have a solid sinking fund for fun stuff/hobbies, and set aside more for dining out than I generally use (I just don’t enjoy eating out much). Mentioning this so that it is clear that I am allocating funds to enjoy myself, not just saving. I also just got my annual bonus at work and allocated about half of it to wish farm/travel so right now I am not feeling especially deprived of discretionary funds, and think starting my next savings goal would be good.

I feel like there are probably “adult” things I could be saving/preparing for but I don’t even know what those things would be. I graduated college a year ago so I have only truly been supporting myself for a year. My parents aren’t great with money so they also aren’t a good resource here.

Does anyone have any saving categories they have found helpful that I don’t have yet? How has it been valuable to you, and how did you decide how much to save for in it? Thanks!!

I have about 30 claims that I need to submit to my secondary insurance (Blue Shield of CA). All have already been processed and were covered by my primary (UHC), so I am submitting for possible reimbursement on my co-pay. I have claims from three different providers: psychologist out of network with secondary, psychiatrist out of network with secondary, and psychologist in-network with secondary (weird situation where I need to self submit, provider is giving me a supplemental note that we hope will work).

My secondary plan uses Included Health, so I cannot directly talk to someone from the Blue Shield claims department, but they can see the claims that I have submitted. I did a test claim where I submitted one from each provided and they weren't exactly processed as expected; the Included Health representative explained that the EOB was not attached (it was) and we determined that there is some sort of issue in the system where my attachments in electronically submitted claims are not able to be seen, and they said that I need to do a mail in claim.

I am planning to mail in this whole lot of claims at once, and when I started to gather the materials I realized that my EOB from my primary is about 10 pages, so to include a separate copy for each claim would result in my mailing a 350+ page packet. Many of these would be copies of the same EOB. Can I just mail a single copy of an EOB for all claims that are on it?

Additionally, is there anything else that I need to include in these claims? I am planning to include the EOB from my primary insurance, the self submitted claim form, and my receipts/invoices for each payment (that include itemized services, CPT codes, etc)

Does anyone have any experience dealing with this process and know if there is a way that I can submit online without using their portal that may not be working correctly? Mailing seems like a very round-about way to do this...

Thanks!

Graduated in 2025 with a BS in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, and an MEng in biomedical engineering. I have been at my current job for about a year doing R&D work at one of the bigger medical device manufacturers.

In about 2 years I am going to be moving (location TBD, depends on where my partner ends up for grad school). There is a chance that I can stay at my current company and transfer to a new office, but that is location dependent. I hope to stay in the industry, and hopefully stay in R&D. My dream job would be working somewhere adjacent to athletics (wearables, performance insights, injury treatment/prevention, etc) but I would also be happy in medical devices and not going in this direction

Beyond doing my best to grow my skill set and experience in my current role, I am hoping to figure out what else I can do to make myself more hire-able when I am job searching in a few years. I am planning to take any training or certification opportunities that I can in my current role, but am wondering if other education and training would be helpful. Here are a few options that I have identified:

1. Graduate certificate in something manufacturing based (plastics, automation, materials, etc). I am mainly exploring this option because I know it can sometimes be easier to get a job in manufacturing than R&D, and beyond that a certificate in a “cross trained” discipline makes me more well rounded

2. Graduate certification something data related (data analysis, stats, data engineering). I have started doing a little bit of data engineering in my role and found it extremely interesting and would love to pursue it further. Additionally, we use stats everyday in R&D, so a better base might make me a stronger candidate

3. Masters in something data related (data analysis, stats, data engineering). Same reasons as above, more intense degree. This might better support if I moved into more of a stats or data focused position, which I am not opposed to based off my current exposure. I probably wouldn’t complete this degree by the time I am job searching

Open to any other recommendations, ideas, or thoughts. Thank you!

I love my Lone Peaks, my 6's have been my go-to hiking shoe for years and have a couple hundred miles on them. They have also served me great for the occasional trail run. I just got a pair of LP9's since the tread on my LP6's are showing their age and I do not want to be without a backup.

At the same time my road running shoes (a Brooks speed shoe, I hate heavy shoes and love ground feel) are the same pair I have been on since Covid and desperately need to be replaced. Since the Lone Peaks have served me so well, I want to get something similar. Here is what I am looking for:

• wide toe box
• zero drop
• good ground feel (I value this far more than a cushy shoe)

I am hoping for something with decent durability too

It looks like the Escalante's might be my best choice, but I am a little bit concerned about the durability based off what I have seen people say on here. It is supposedly better in the 5's, but I am apprehensive. I don't want to run in LPs since I know the pavement is going to wear them down quick. Any thoughts on a good option for me?

I am attending a wedding for the first time as an adult. I was a guest to plenty of weddings as a kid, but obviously didn’t handle any of the gifts or other logistics.

Looking at their registry, there’s only a couple of items on it, and most have already been purchased. Beyond that they have a “grad school fund” (both are doing their masters degree right now) and a “honeymoon fund” option on their website. Is money really the most appreciated gift? I am fairly close with the bride so I have a couple other gift ideas, but I also want to avoid getting them random crap they don’t need (while close with the bride, we live a 6 hour plane ride apart, so I have not seen their apartment in person to see what they have or need).

My boyfriend (coming to the wedding) is a phenomenal woodworker and wants to make them something, but again we want to avoid gifting “random” stuff. Are handmade gifts taboo or unappreciated? This wouldn’t be anything huge since we are traveling, but something like a handmade cutting board, coasters, a set of chopsticks, a few small bowls, or a picture frame are a few options we have come up with.

I am a little confused on price range to spend. I have seen the guideline of “pay for your plate” with your gift, but how do I know how much that comes to before the wedding itself? This feels lame, but do I factor in travel costs at all? We are a year out of college and already spending over $1000 to come to this wedding (and staying with my grandparents the whole time to save on a hotel). Just trying to balance my budget vs making sacrifices for a friend I really care about.

Finally, we are going to be at the rehearsal dinner (not in the wedding though). My research shows that there is no need to bring a gift to this, but should I bring a card or little momento for my friend and/or her partner at their rehearsal dinner? They are calling it a grooms dinner if that changes anything

I have been using YNAB for about a year and this is the first time that I have had any sort of issue. I understand how credit cards work in YNAB. Also should note that I am not a big spender, so overspending rarely happens

I have three different credit cards and I pay them all off each month. Amex, Cap1, Discover.

Today I went to check out YNAB as I do nearly everyday and I had an inflow to my Amex because I redeemed cash back, but I also had overspending in that account which I do not know where it came from. When I saw that I knew the next step was to reconcile. Reconciling my Amex account went just fine, YNAB balance matched the account balance and all of my transactions were properly categorized, I did not need to add any transactions during this. If I were to delete the cash back redemption my Amex would show overspent, but none of my categories are overspent. I am not sure how this happened. What else should I be looking for to get to the bottom of this. I am comparing transactions and I am not seeing any differences. I have only had this account for a few months so I went through literally every transaction on the card and they all line up with YNAB.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what else I can look for? At what point do I just give up and say its fine? I am a little bummed because my cash back was $222 but with this mystery overspending I am only getting to assign $178 lol

EDIT: Solved! I don't know why it was showing as overspent, but the root of RTA being wrong was that when I had inflow to my CC account the amount already assigned towards paying my balance was now "overfunding". I reduced overfunding in that category and it was fixed.

For anyone having issues with anything like this, u/pierre_x10 had a great suggestion of deleting the CC cash back inflow, checking for overspending, and then manually adding the cash back inflow in again. Highly recommend!

I am under 26, so I am covered under my parent’s insurance. I have double coverage through my dads plan (UHC) and my moms plan (BCBS, specifically Blue Shield of California). UHC is my primary, BCBS is my secondary.

I have three providers that only submit to primary insurers, so I am self-submitting the claims to my secondary insurance. My self submitted claims have included the superbill from my provider and the EOB containing the claim from my primary insurance. From this I am encountering a couple of issues, after having some claims denied.

Two of the providers (therapists, both licensed psychologists, one a PysD and the other a PhD) use Alma as their billing service. I had asked one of these providers for a superbill and what I was sent was the same receipt that Alma gives after charging my card on file, so since then I have been pulling directly from the emailed receipts. The Tax ID number and NPI number that Alma uses is a generic number that when the insurer pulls it up, comes up as “Alma”. These numbers are the same on the receipts from both providers. One of these two providers is also in-network with my secondary insurance, but is showing up as out of network because of this, leading to claims being processed wrong. The other provider is only in network with primary, but when I search her on the BCBS provider search for my plan, she does show up, so I am a little confused about if she is in network or not.

Of the claims that have come through, they are showing “amount billed by provider” as the remaining balance after my primary paid, not the actual amount billed by my provider which I foresee also causing issues.

What should I be providing when submitting these claims so that the proper information is seen by my insurance? I am not sure how to navigate Alma using a general NPI number.

Spent 4-5 years in rom4s before I got the dreaded split sole and needed to get a new pair of shoes. They were good but I found myself eager to rip off my shoes as soon as I was on my accessories. I got the TYR-L2s in September and the comfort was unmatched. The wider toe box was great. I felt a little less snappy/stable but figured the trade off was fine and I probably would go with a different shoe whenever the L-2s were done. Someone on here explained that the TYR lifters have a flexible forefoot, which in my eyes makes them a glorified CrossFit shoe lol

Less than a year into having the shoes, the out sole is pulling away from the shoe. I am trying to get TYR to warranty them, but am considering selling the replacement and trying something else.

What options do I have that are going to feel similar to the L-2s without the stability and durability issues? I would love something that is not going to be too expensive, especially because I know this may have some trial and error (pls no spending $200+ for a pair of used rom2s lol). I have seen LXJ mentioned, but can anyone comment on the durability? I may just go back to rom4s :/

Thanks!

p.s. I have been having some hurdles with my snatch since around the time I switched to the L-2s. I did not think much of it, but now I am wondering if the shoes were a small factor (me as a lifter being the bigger contributing factor, not going to blame my struggles on a pair of shoes lol). Anyone have any insight?

Doing a little bit of research as I may have the opportunity to get some used attachments for my mixer, specifically bowls, paddles/hooks/whips, and pour shield for a really good price.

I have a KSM55, the 5.5Q bowl lift mixer from Target. I won't be able to see the attachments in person or ask the seller any questions about them, so I am going off the picture I have of the items. I do not know for certain if they are from a residential or commercial mixer but have reason to believe it may be a commercial mixer. My questions are two-fold:

1. Are there any functional differences between the residential and commercial accessories? I know they have different materials and certifications, but as a home baker that does not matter to me.

2. If there are differences between the two and I do get the attachments, what steps should I take once I get the attachments to make sure they are compatible with my mixer so I do not damage it? Is this as simple as holding my current attachments next to the new ones and making sure they are the same size?

Sorry if the info is a little vague, this is a weird situation. Thanks!

I made the choice to do a timing belt replacement on my car this weekend but ran into some issues so I am just putting things back together so I can get to work tomorrow. I can’t manage to get the pivot bolt loose on my power steering pump so that I can put tension back onto the belt as I reinstall. I spent hours trying last night, and a few more hours this morning. All the videos I watch move it was no trouble.

Does anyone have a few minutes (and maybe different tools than I have?) to come help break this bolt? It’s a 12mm bolt on a 2001 camry. I’ve called a few mobile mechanics but no pickup, I am assuming because it’s the weekend

2001 Camry, 2.2L 4cyl engine

I made a mistake. I spent the last couple weeks studying and planning how to replace my timing belt. Somehow in all of that I jumbled two different methods for removing a timing belt: impact gun OR crank pulley holder. I do not have either. I think I saw person 1 do it without the crank pulley holder and person 2 do it without the impact gun, and somehow rationalized that I could do it without either.

I have spent the last hour and a half try to DIY some way to make this happen but it’s not working. My car is halfway apart and I don’t have any friends who live around here to get a ride from to get a tool, so short of putting my car back together and trying the job another weekend I am stuck.

Here is what I have tried so far:

- Jerry-rigging a way to hold the camshaft bolt in place with a box wrench and then using a wack of a mallet on the breaker bar to loosen the crank bolt: Back drove the system in every configuration I tried, could not secure the camshaft well enough

- Positioning breaker bar against the ground and starting the car: Even with the breaker bar in the correct direction it slid out from the ground and went flying

- Having a belt fold onto itself to block the pulley from turning: I just can’t seem to get this one setup right with my old power steering belt

The power steering belt (will be replacing) and the AC belt (replaced like two months ago so I am reusing) are already removed. I don’t own an impact wrench. I don’t have a way to heat up the bolt, but even if I did I have reservations about doing that both to preserve my harmonic balancer and for general safety. I’m really not sure what to do here. Any advice is appreciated.

I know I know. Put the pitchforks down for a moment and let me explain LOL.

I have an amazing saving account that has high interest (even right now I think it is around 4.5%) and no hoops to jump through to maintain that rate, but it’s only for the first $10k. After that the rate drops to like 2%, and which I know I can beat elsewhere. I started a “savings” account at Schwab to avoid needing to add an additional financial institution to my roster. It is a separate account from my personal investments and retirement, and invested in a combo of SGOV and SWVXX (likely slowly becoming all SGOV). There are no risky investments here

For a while I couldn’t figure out how to link it in YNAB so I would input transfers as they happened, and then reconciled monthly to handle any interest. I got the account linked and I think I may have mixed some stuff up along the way so I am hoping to hear how others handle this.

Because the account is linked, whenever a transaction occurs I get some transactions in my account. I have started to just delete the transaction where I purchase shares (which follows a transfer into the account) because it shows as outflow and it not correct in practice. Every so often I will get transactions that is a matching positive and negative transaction, which I believe is my ”dividend reinvestment” from SWVXX. I created a passthrough category called investments where I put these transactions. Ideally the category should always be empty, unless I truly am investing (none right now, between 401k, roth IRA, and my ESPP it’s not in the cards, but one day!).

I have somehow managed to accumulate a balance in this category, which I have just ignored (yeah yeah, I am lazy). Today I got a transaction that I think is the root of this mystery money. I got an inflow transaction in this account, which is the result of the SGOV dividend reinvestment being different than SWVXX for some reason.

My plan for 100% of my saving interest is to go into my new car fund. Should I stop putting the SGOV transactions into my investments pass through and instead put them to RTA and then assign to my car fund?

Is there a better way to handle all of this? I could unlink the account, but I do like that my transfers link, and it gives me an extra level of security (money anxiety + ADHD). Open to any suggestions here, and would love to hear how others handle this. Thanks!

Without realizing it I have always preferred minimalist shoes. I (currently 23) did martial arts growing up so I was barefoot for hours everyday, which I think is where it started. I always have preferred being able to feel the ground. I very specifically remember my grandma taking me to get fit for new running shoes and them having me try on Hokas; I thought they were the most awful and uncomfortable thing ever. I ended up in a Brooks "speed" shoe, so it has a low stack height for a non minimalist shoe and is light, that I used for any and all road running. I have not run very much since then (focusing on other sports) but I have decided that I want to get back into some mild running for general health while still lifting as my main focus. Previously I have only run a handful of times a year outside of sports, but given that those runs add up over the 6 years of the shoe, I think it is getting close to time to replace.

After trying some wide toebox shoes I finally took the plunge and got a pair of "barefoot" shoes a few months ago for everyday wear. I was prepared for my feet to be tired/sore like everyone warns but instead my feet had never been more comfortable. No more tearing my shoes off the second I got into my car after work. Days when I spent the whole day standing or walking around felt better than before. I basically have not needed any adjustment to habits and seamlessly transitioned to "barefoot" shoes for everyday wear.

Since I am going to need new running shoes soon I definitely want to go with something minmalist. I was considering Altra Escalante 4s because everyone mentioned easing into minimalist running and they seem to work well for that, but after reading about their durability I would rather choose something else.

• Do you think that it is necessary that I do the typical "ease in" process to barefoot running? I only ask because of how easy the transition to daily minimalist shoes was, and I would rather just integrate the new shoes into my current runs (ranging from 1.5-4 miles, I don't thing there is any chance I run anything over 6 miles for at least the next few months)
• If minimalist shoes are mimicking being barefoot, do I really need any specific running shoe, or could I just get another pair of Whitins and call it a day?
• Any specific recs for shoes? I am mostly running on pavement/sidewalk. Trail runs are few and far between and I just wear my Lone Peak 6s. I would love to keep the cost down if I can. Running is not a passion of mine, and really just something that I am doing to be more healthy. I spend way more than enough on my other sport LOL

2001 Camry, 162,000 miles, 4cyl engine

Ever since I got my car a few years ago (from my grandparents, who had it for the 20 years before that) if I opened my trunk within a few days of it raining, water would drip from the "hatch" of the trunk into the trunk itself. This has been confirmed by my grandparents to be a known thing in the vehicle. While annoying, I keep a strategically placed towel in my trunk and its not a big deal.

About a year ago I hit a pothole and the taillight on that side immediately went out. When I went to replace it, the light in there was totally shattered. Replaced it an no issues since. A few weeks ago the car slightly bottomed out over a speed hump and immediately the same tail light went out. Once again shattered. Yesterday I had a (different) light out, and after replacing it, my car still said that I had a rear light out. Somehow during the process of replacing the first light, that problem tail light went out, but did not shatter.

My guess is that the water getting in is causing an issue here, but I am not really sure of the best way to diagnose and fix the issue, but a light burning out in just two weeks is not something I want to deal with. Any tips or advice here?

EDIT: This morning I picked up a new bulb and replaced it, and I am still getting the dash light that I have a rear light out. i guess my best bet is that somehow I blew a fuse (I don’t have pliers with me at the moment to check — will check this evening)

Gave my grandma a call for mother's day and somehow the topic turned into how I have recently started wearing barefoot shoes and find that they are way more comfortable and my feet are happier. My grandma (75) is very active (goes on walks/hikes nearly everyday, swims 3ish times a week) and takes great care of herself. During this conversation she asked if I could share the shoes I got (Whitin) and any other information about barefoot shoes with her because it "sounds like something [she] should be wearing."

Does anyone have any information about barefoot shoes for older people? I want to set her up for success if she decides to try them out, and give her all of the information that would be best for her. Any considerations that she would need to take that I, a 23 year old, did not need to take? Thanks!