u/fisho0o

I'm narrowing my search for a ukulele and I'm down to a mahogany tenor but I'm stuck on acoustic or acoustic/electric. I'm a beginner and my goal is to learn some on my own and then sit in with some local community jams. Part of me is thinking I should start with the acoustic and go from there. But then I think it might be fun to put on some headphones and plug a NUX Mighty Plug Pro into the instrument and enrich the acoustic sound or turn it electric. I figure anything that makes practicing more fun is a good thing. Having to change a battery periodically and the extra weight the electronic pickup w/EQ and tuner adds (looks to be 4-5 ounces) isn't much and so those two things don't bother me. But what I'm wondering is if the electronics will maybe change the balance of the ukulele and make it difficult or awkward to hold, or if it causes the instrument's acoustic sound to change when playing unplugged.

My meditation practice is basic. I either sit or lie, and I do a very quick body scan, just a couple of minutes to get in touch with my body and calm myself a little. Then I set a timer, close my eyes and focus on my breath. Sometimes I repeat a mantra on the exhale and sometimes I don’t. You all know how this part goes. Now the problem. I deal with Illness Anxiety Disorder and when I’m triggered for whatever reason I can spiral into a bad place very quickly. I know the power of the breath and the need to activate the parasympathetic nervous system so that's what I immediately start, but once I’ve gone down that ‘what if’ health/illness rabbit hole, the thoughts are so invasive and frequent that it’s difficult for me to stay focused on the breath for any length of time. I know it’s up to me to find the answers, but I’m wondering if anyone here has any methods beyond their regular meditation routine (that doesn't involve medication) that helps them during full blown panic attack?

I think I figured it out. I approach meditation from a purely secular perspective and I've been somewhat focused for a while on knowing what the differences and similarities between sati, samatha, and vipassana meditation are, and how everything relates to what seems to be the umbrella term for everything: mindfulness. What am I doing? I sit, I breath, I experience (sometimes) calm, so what am I doing, what do I call it? If I don't know what to call it then how can I know if I'm doing it right? If I don't know if I'm doing it right, if there's no guide - or name - why am I bothering? I didn't meditate on any of this, but I did sit around and think about it at times during the day and then last night I finally asked myself the only important question which was "What difference does it make?" The only answers I had to that question all pointed to perfectionism and I realized that I didn't really need to know anything about meditation, but I needed to know everything about meditation if that makes sense? The answer, the perfectionism, is the problem, not what I'm doing when I'm sitting. So what's changed? I'm not sure yet, it's only been about a day, but I feel more relaxed with the thought of meditation now, and I feel a sense of freedom that I can do with meditation whatever I want. Maybe this isn't the right forum for this, and if it is, I apologize. But it felt good and I felt like sharing.

SCHD holds a significant percentage of my portfolio. I’m a retiree and I like the fact that SCHD is steady and boring. I like steady and boring a lot. I’ve been thinking about opening a position of DON, also nicely steady and boring, to add some diversification through mid-caps, but the finances are throwing me off. I look at SCHD with a much lower expense ratio and a higher yield, and I see DON, between expense ratio and yield, with a significant drag and looking out into the future that drag would add up. As a mid-cap, DON also carries a slight risk in terms of volatility which makes me think that should I have to sell for any reason, with a more volatile mid-cap, the odds are higher than I could be selling at a lower value than I’d like. Probably low odds with that possibility, but still a small factor. Finally, DON is a little less tax efficient than SCHD.

My original thought was a 7-10% position in DON and now I'm trying to figure out what DON, or mid-caps in general, really brings to my portfolio that I’m not seeing. What makes the drag over 20 years worth it, and why is mid-cap diversification, held long term, necessary or important for a retiree who's only willing to commit to a smaller allocation? Why isn't just splitting the money I set aside for DON into SCHD and VOO a more sensible move?

I'm hoping this question is on topic enough here since SCHY is a sibling to SCHD. I'm a retiree and SCHD is one of my 2 core accounts and I'm very happy with it. I recently started buying SCHY as an international diversifier and I hold a 5% position right now with the thought of moving it up to 10%. But even 10% really won't be enough to move the needle in any kind of domestic downturn or slump and I'm not willing to invest 40% of my portfolio into SCHY. I'm currently running a little underwater on SCHY and am thinking of just exiting the position altogether and forgetting an international investment. I'm wondering what others think about SCHY, other international funds, and the positions needed to offset any kind of market volatility.

Hi, I was gifted an 11" nonstick cast iron skillet and a 9.5" nonstick cast iron skillet, both Zakarian by Dash and both titanium ceramic coated. Does anyone know if these are decent pans or are they something I should maybe donate or re-gift?