u/robp719

Hey there,

My family (wife +2 dogs) is thinking about driving from San Francisco to Moab, UT and back (let's say 2300 miles) to meet up with her family for ten days around Thanksgiving this year. Plan is to go (generally) SF - Yosemite - Death Valley - Zion / Bryce - Moab - Great Basin - Pyramid Lake / Tahoe - SF. I'm a seasoned camper but have spent exceedingly little time in RVs and I'm realizing I know almost nothing about them–so I'm hoping maybe this group can help set me in the right direction.

First–in my research, it seems like there's 2-3 big RV companies (El Monte, Cruise America, and Roadsurfer) and then sites like Outdoorsy to rent RVs. It seems like Outdoorsy is more prone to hiccups–not sure if this group agrees–but I guess the more pressing issue is: Are either of the other three companies much different in how they operate? They all seem relatively similar prices (when calculating miles / pet fees / etc), not sure if one has a better reputation or not.

Second, and perhaps more pressing are the logistics: Has anyone rented an RV out through the mountains of CA / NV / UT in November? It seems most rentals are 2WD–is that likely an issue with getting to campgrounds with a rental RV? I'm used to driving in snow and have my entire life, but I have typically done so in an AWD. I also read that water in the RV might freeze? Do a lot of western US RV campsites close in the winter? Also, is there any one particular app for finding campsites? Seems like the RV planning apps like Campendium cost money which seems a bit odd.

Sorry for the mountain of questions: I have camped outside in the winter and in the snow plenty, but never with an RV. It seems like that adds a layer of logistics. Let me know if our family's roadtrip idea is wise or foolhardy. I love late fall in the desert and the mountains but I can't seem to make heads or tails of what I'm reading online. Thanks for any and all advice

Hey there,

I'm visiting Hokkaido for 5 days in February with my wife and figured I'd get some advice on how to maximize our time there from folks who have been. As of now we're staying in a hotel in Niseko but that's just because I could get it on points.

Our background: I started skiing when I was 2 and worked in the ski industry for 12 years. She grew up in Florida but has really fallen in love with it across the last couple years and has dramatically improved. She's been out in the mellower Tahoe backcountry with me but I typically wouldn't take her into anything too hairy.

With that said, while most of my knowledge of Japan is of backcountry skiing I don't know a ton about the reputation and/or value of various cat operations/guides/resorts. If we were skiing 4-5 days would it be worth trying to ski Kiroro, Rusutsu, Niseko, and then do a day of cat / a day with a guide or is that too much hopping around? Anyone cat skied Iwanai versus Rising Sun and have any recommendations on them? Would love to hear the opinions of folks here as it seems hard to get any kind of consensus / nonmarketing opinion when I search online.

Also, how good is Hokkaido at keeping its roads open in storms? I grew up in the mountains so I'm not worried about my driving but I guess that might impact how much we can travel between different mountains mid February?

Hello,

Have been really in my head about work of late and would love some clarity from the people here. Let me start out with a clarifying statement: I know what I'm about to say is probably insane and out of touch with reality. I grew up working class in a working class area where a lot of my best friends are tradesmen. If my 15 year old self could see my current self asking this question to a bunch of strangers on the internet, he would tell current me that I'm an idiot.

With that said, I work in tech in the Bay, so the reality I'm in is extremely skewed, but I need to navigate it.

So my background: I'm a 34 yo man working as a mid-senior nontechnical marketing manager at a nonpublic tech company. 12 years professional experience. My total comp is 215K plus options. Should the company IPO, they could maybe be worth, at most, up to another 200K. It could also very easily be worth absolutely nothing.

I came into the tech world from big brand marketing and it is significantly less intensive–the pay is better and work life balance is better. I'm probably not doing more than 30 hours of true hard work in any week. I have total flexibility and autonomy. The company is maybe not the most interesting, marketing it isn't the easiest because our competitors have way more resources in marketing, but my team are all very kind and respect boundaries. Compared to the world of big brand marketing, this is a walk in the park. I live a pretty leisurely life. Every time I find myself complaining about something trivial laugh at how stupid I sound.

And yet, in spite of all of that I can't shake this feeling: Am I being underpaid?

I see more and more job openings that seem like outliers for other midsenior marketing managers at tech giants / AI unicorns that list bases of 250 (or sometimes more) plus bonus and equity to the point that I'm now wondering: Am I being underpaid? Are the majority of 12-year marketing pros in tech in the Bay clearing 250 plus or is that just my selective bias in the job postings that are catching my eye? Truthfully, I have been considering maybe trying to leave marketing to get into sales because I have been feeling self-conscious about being stuck in the low 200s for a few years now.

Hello,

Let me start of by saying that I know absolutely nothing when it comes to pests, but I'm hoping this sub can help me gain some general knowledge.

I currently live in the hills of the Bay Area which means that the weather is very mild all year round and I am surrounded by foliage / wilderness. My house is 2200 sq foot and two floors in a cereal box style construction. It's probably 40 feet from top to bottom.

About a year ago, I noticed rat droppings in my garage. I installed plastic door sweeps on my garage doors, swept it out, put down a shitload of rat poison, glue, and snap traps, and successfully killed 2-3 rats that looked like sewer rats. I assumed that was the end of it and I was a very happy lad.

Fast forward to today: That was very much not the end of it. There's a lot of rat shit in my garage and a strong smell of urine, so I had a pest control company (Alley cat) come out to visit my house. The traps I have left now aren't working.

The tech was really nice but after looking in my subfloor and attic he saw signs of rats in both areas (chewed up insulation on ductwork, attic insulation, droppings, rat grease) and basically said that in order to really rat proof my house I should

1. Get rid of the olive trees (and maybe the citrus tree) next to my house.
2. Move the garbage as far away from my house as possible and
3. Pay 3-5K for his team to seal off the house entirely, clean all the droppings spray a special solution to get rid of the dirt/grease/smell that attracts them back, and set traps for the rats in the garage, attic, and basement to kill the ones leftover. The 2K difference in quote is regarding replacing all the insulation in my attic: For an additional 2K they'll do that.

My question, to all of you:

1. Is it really necessary to kill all my fruit trees? I will if it's absolutely necessary.
2. Is the abatement something I can realistically handle on my own? I am pretty handy myself–I have built a number of things in my house–and grew up cleaning kitchens for a living so I'm not precious with dirty work. I'm happy to sweep and set traps if that's mostly what is involved and I could reliably do it. I will say these rats have been an absolute bitch to try to get rid of (I successfully got rid of roaches a year ago and this one is much more difficult for whatever reason).
3. Subsequently, if it's not something I can handle (which would also be fine) is 5K a decent price? Certain contractors in the Bay Area have a way of quoting really high prices.

Thanks for any and all advice–I appreciate it. If my answers seem stupid, please forgive my stupidity.

Howdy!

I've been sitting on 150K AA points for a while trying to find that ever-illusive JAL booking for next year to get me from TYO to SFO no avail and have, more or less, consigned myself to the fact I won't be able to book it. Not a big deal, I have plenty of time to find a Polaris redemption on United.

But it got me wondering about some success stories the people in here have had with AA for international travel originating out of West Coast airports. I read a couple people post about Helsinki and Capetown redemptions and it got me dreaming about the next place my wife and I will head to. We're as flexible as can be, want to see more or less every country on Earth, and looking for inspiration.

So what are some of the favorite AA redemptions folks here from the West Coast have found? Doesn't matter if you had to take a repositioning flight to get there, would just love to hear some success stories and what you most enjoyed about the experience / destination.

Howdy!

My wife and I will be spending a week in Maui in September. We’re ecstatic, but looking for some advice on where to stay. It’s our first time on Maui, but have spent a lot of time on the other islands. They’re all wonderful places.

We need to find a place to rest our heads the first five days-we will be spending our final two nights in Hana at a hotel.

For our first five days, we will probably spend 2 days learning to kite (probably at Kite beach), 2 days diving (likely Lanai and Molokini Back wall) and a day exploring. We will have a car, we are good at getting up early, and we’re good at enjoying drives.

Anyhoo, I’m between staying in Paia/Kuau/Haiku,in an Airbnb, Kihei in Maui Coast Hotel/Mana Kai/Maui Kamaole/Aston Maui Hill, or out in Ka’anapali at a Resort like Royal Lahaina. Hoping to spend no more than $1,500 on the five nights, could probably stretch to $2,000 as Maui doesn’t seem particularly cheap. Would love some advice.

If it wasn’t obvious from the description: We are adventurous-we spend all our free time hiking and getting out and getting after it. The most amount of time we have ever been able to sit in one place at a resort pool/beach chilling is about 4 hours. We’d rather head to Foodland, get poke and beers, and drive out to a beach for sunset.

Curious to hear your thoughts. I appreciate any feedback.

Hey there,

My wife and I are planning to head out to Maui in September for a week and are starting to research dive operations out there and–after the fires–information is a bit scattered. Hoping people here might be able to provide some prospective. For perspective, we're both AOW and Nitrox certified w/100+ logged dives.

From what I can tell based off of very basic research, the two best dives near Maui for potentially seeing pelagics would be Molokini Back Wall and Molokai's Mokuhooniki Rock. From what I can tell, it's pretty hard to find operators on Maui that dive the former, and more or less impossible to find any operators on Maui diving the latter at the moment.

So my questions are–is anyone aware of operators that regularly dive Back Wall? Is it worth taking the plane over to Molokai and spending the night to go out to Mokuhookini? Are there operators still crossing Pailolo to dive Molokai that I am just unable to find? Is this too much swimming upstream, and are there dives that are just as enjoyable that are easier to find operators for?