u/throwawaycape

CS grad student who was all doom and gloom. I have been underemployed for the last 1-2 years roughly.

Finally got a job through sheer good luck (personal connections)

I'm now doing data analysis fully remote for about $70k/year.

I know I know, this subreddit probably considers that impoverished. To me, it is the cushiest job I've ever had writing lots of Python and pandas scripts to help a non-technical marketing team.

Prior to this job I only had about 1 yoe in CS.

I'm making some tombstones, and someone suggested blacklight paint for the lettering so that the inscriptions pop.

However, I also want them to look authentic so I had originally planned to do the inscriptions in black.

What kind of paint do you use for the lettering when you're making tombstones?

Alright, I already know the answer is yes, but hear me out.

I've already owned a sailboat so I know that generally, buying one is a stupid idea unless you really really like sailboats.

I live inland now, but grew up with access to many lakes. My family still lives in that area and I spend significant time back home visiting family.

I sold a San Juan 21 before I moved, which I sailed quite a bit. Every time I'm home I think, man it'd be nice to have something to rip around on.

My family has a cottage about a block from a lake, with a yard, free storage, and easy launch access. I've been casually looking at marketplace for a cheap dinghy or day sailor. The problem is, I'm only home a month or two of sailable weather per year. On the other hand, every time I'm home I wish I could do some sailing.

I know eventually I'm going to pull the trigger.

According to old posts, this class gets a nice curve at the end and everyone struggles on the projects.

However, the distribution of project grades this summer is quite high. Most people are within an 80-90% range. I am still sitting in the 70s for most of my projects, and my overall grade is a 75%.

I'm worried that because of the high class average this summer, there will be no curve and I'll end up with a C.

How big is the gap between road racing fitness and XC racing fitness?

I'll ride with the roadies on the road, and I have a hard time keeping up. Those same roadies will ride with me on punchy up and down single track, and the roles flip (technical riding notwithstanding).

I've had the best season of my life racing mountain bikes, but I go to a roadie hammerfest and I feel like I'm barely hanging on for dear life.

Am I just not as fit as I think I am? Is this normal?

For reference I DO spend a lot of hours in the road doing mostly z2 stuff, and I put in quite a lot of weekly hours. But it's probably 70/30 MTB to road split.

Yesterday I had the joy of helping a bunch of kids surf for the first time.

What an eye opening experience that was. We may as well have just handed these kids a bunch of vapes. Getting the first 2-3 waves as a kid must be absolute dopamine overload.

We had them in the water for a few hours and they were running themselves ragged dragging their boards back/getting pummeled just trying to get to the outside for just One. More. Hit.

It's like we created a bunch of little addicts.

I grew up in Michigan, but I live in Colorado now. Competitive mountain bike racer. Home for a while to race ore 2 shore and some other events.

I'll be staying in the Traverse City area for a while, but I haven't done a ton of mountain biking up there. Excited to see what there is to ride when the smoke clears!

Wondering if anyone has recommendations for a good mountain bike centric shop up in that area. I'm going to be putting in a lot of miles up in that area in the coming weeks.

Also would be open to trail/gravel recs!

Thanks!

I have lived in the southwest, not terribly far from Albuquerque. I love seeing the southwest depicted in a major TV series.

The sun and the heat here is fuckin' GNARLY though. I'm fair skinned, probably about the same complexion as Jesse or Walt. If I spent that much time in the sun, with a shaved head, I'd be constantly fried. The sun here is no joke.

In the show, people are always walking around bald headed, no water in the desert. I can't imagine how hot the inside of that RV must have been.

I'm not saying they would instantly die or anything. But I am constantly wearing a hat, sunscreen, and sun shirts any time I go outside for more than a few minutes.

As a resident of the southwest, the raw sun exposure makes me cringe.

Hello folks!

I've gotten into making latex props, animatronics, masks, etc.

My process is based on the Monster Lab/distortions unlimited YouTube series. I make a clay mold, dry it and seal it in enamel paint, then use plaster to make a mold. I've done this process several times now so I've gotten it somewhat down.

The next thing I'd like to do is make some props. Right now I can make masks or other casts that are basically just a non rigid exterior layer. But say I wanted to make something like a severed arm, or some other latex prop that needs to be filled/have rigidity.

I've looked into 2 part expanding foam, but the more I read about it the more I worry about the expansion cracking the plaster mold. I envision making the latex prop like normal, using a 2 part mold, then filling it with some kind of expanding foam while a few layers of latex are in the mold.

Is there a certain kind of foam that works better for this process? How much does it expand and should I be worried about my molds cracking from the expansion?

Thanks so much! Happy propmaking.

I was averaging about 10 hours a week, and had a great start to the season. Scored many points and was on track for a cat 1 (MTB) upgrade by the end of the summer.

I broke my collarbone in early May during my first A race, and had surgery. Ortho told me I'd potentially be cleared to ride the road/trainer in the coming weeks. He told me no mountain biking for 6 weeks, so optimistically I might be able to make a comeback in early or mid July.

Because it's still so early in the season, I'd like to think I may be able to race XC again in August. My second A race isn't until early August so I may still be able to ride.

I've been following Joe Friel's book pretty closely, and it's given me great results. However, these training books don't really address what to do when you're suddenly forced to take 3-4 weeks completely off with an injury right after a peak.

My loose plan is to just go back to something like a base, and just focus on getting a decent volume of longer rides through mid summer. I'm curious to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation. Lots of folks I know seem to have come back from collarbone surgery pretty quickly.

I know this isn't the first Reddit thread on the subject, but I'm curious to hear people's experiences regardless.

In addition to surfing, I am a fairly competitive mountain bike racer. A few weeks ago I went over the bars during a race and broke my clavicle in four places. Had surgery Monday and now I have some nice titanium hardware.

This is like the common cold of bike racing, so I know I'll be fine and I'll be able to race again. However, surfing is a little more intensive for the shoulder and I am curious to hear how this injury affects people's ability to paddle. Am I going to sink to the bottom now because my bones are made of metal?

Also, on a more annoying note; Does anyone else get those surf anxiety dreams where you want to go surfing, but you can't find your wetsuit? In the two weeks since I broke my collarbone, the new version of the dream is that I am on a surf trip but my collarbone is broken and I am wondering if its too soon to surf. Even in my dreams, my collarbone is broken now. Wtf.

I'm a relatively new Etsy shop.

Over the last month or so I have put a lot more time into developing products, updating listings, etc to try and get my sales up on my Etsy shop.

This weekend I had a minor medical emergency while away for a weekend (pretty badly broken collarbone). I'm gonna be totally fine but I will need surgery in the next few days, and logistics of getting home are a bit tricky. Working on products will also be a bit tricky but I'll figure that out I think.

The irony is, my Etsy shop has started to "blow up" a little bit (From like <1 sale a month to 3-4 sales a week). I literally got an order while I was getting x-rayed, and I have another order I need to ship by Monday. I'll likely miss that deadline now.

I should still be able to get these orders out, but they may be late by a day or two. I'm usually pretty timely and I'm worried that it may negatively impact the customers experience and my shop as a whole.

I'm thinking I might just message the customers to give them a heads up, and maybe offer a small discount in the future or something since they may get their order later than expected. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any advice?

Thanks