Otherbarry

Not really, sorry. My understanding is that most people get rejected when applying for SSDI, the approval rates are quite low across the country. Maybe it’s easier in some states not too sure how or why that is.

https://www.atticus.com/advice/general/social-security-disability-approval-rates-by-state

In the U.S. it seems easier to go on disability when you’re a police officer or firefighter, I’ve run into those types of people on “disability” while still going out and partying in the local bars. But I think for them the disability pension is paid through the state and/or their union.

Hopefully someone actually receiving SSDI can comment/answer on your topic, they would know more about the exact process.

Can’t offer any information/advice on SSDI, however the general info is all there online

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/credits.html

Is there a way to keep track of all the credits you have?

Register and log into your social security account at https://www.ssa.gov/, it tells you how many work credits you have. Or barring that you could go to your nearest SSA office or try calling Social Security to request that info. Though TBH with all the recent cutbacks/layoffs I’m not too sure how easily you can get help from anyone at the SSA.

EDIT: When you log into your account at ssa.gov it also tells you if you are eligible to apply for disability benefits (and can apply through there).

You need to talk to HR at the company you work for.

Not sure if you meant like cleaning them all out with the dishes using soap/sponges/etc. Just rinsing them out is fine.

But either option is better than just dumping dirty cans/bottles into your recycling pile. I had a friend who was living in a shared apartment with 3-4 other people and there was this one guy that never ever cleaned or rinsed any of his recycling. Apparently the shared kitchen area where the recycling was stored would reek and attract flies and other insects all because of that guy.

A few times a year, probably around 5-6 I’d guess. Some months I end up going to more than one and other months it’s quiet.

Almost always buy merch… I have a lot of t-shirts haha.

Great band! Been listening to them for years, first heard them live when they toured opening for MSI years ago. They’re doing a headline tour right now in the U.S. for those looking to see them live. For this tour I managed to see their NYC show on their first night of the tour and they sounded great!

Still need to listen to the new record (had just listened to the 1-2 songs they put out before the release), thanks for the reminder :)

So much so that I once wore a Birthday Massacre shirt not even thinking about it to one of my niece’s birthday parties lol.

Happy birthday indeed, LOL.

I really hate the idea of people not liking something and it being scrubbed from the internet.

It’s not, the devs themselves took it off Steam (and honestly I would have thought Valve might have removed it eventually). But it’s not like the devs disappeared from the internet, searching around I saw they still sell the game on at least one game platform outside of Steam. And those same devs could choose to sell it directly themselves if they wanted, to say they’ve been scrubbed from the internet is a bit of a stretch.

More Tor friendly instances would be nice. Most Lemmy instances use things like Cloudflare that freak out over Tor connections so just registering/logging into the instance is a PITA, let alone browsing. Extra bonus if the instance actually hosts the Lemmy instance in Tor itself (though realistically the rest of the Lemmy instance would still run on the clearnet since it still needs to communicate with the rest of the Fediverse).

Probably just need an executive order from the current U.S. president to rename the country “United States of Trump”. Going forward citizens would be called Trumpians.

Google will happily go ahead and update Google Maps with the new name.

What’s the elvish word for “hunter2”?

Misleading headline on the Daily Mail site, both articles say he might be stepping down “soon”. So that might happen eventually but I can’t find any news reports saying it actually happened.

Like the other commenter I pronounce it sen-tor. Just like the word “dinosaur” I would pronounce die-no-sor if that makes sense. Both words end in “aur”.

…though now you’ve got me curious about how you and your wife pronounce dinosaur :)

Debt consolidation feels like it was a scam.

Sounds like it, whatever that was that you signed up for does not sound like anything people recommend doing. If anything you could try doing promotional balance transfers onto a lower interest rate credit card if it gives you say 12-24 months 0 interest rate - that strategy is only temporary to give you some more time to pay things off.

When struggling with multiple credit card balances you essentially need to decide how you want to pay them off (debt avalanche vs snowball method) e.g. pay the minimum on all the cards except one of them, that one you pay as much as you can until it is paid off, then keep repeating until you’re done with all the cards.

https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/debt-avalanche

or

https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/what-is-the-snowball-method

And in the meantime obvs stop using them until it’s all paid off.

But I have such a poor credit score now that I cant imagine anyone renting to me now.

Yeah that might be tough. Maybe living with roommates or temporary prepaid subletting is an option? Those sort of arrangements are less likely to run credit checks.

Broadcom is pretty bad, I’ve had to migrate away from products after Broadcom bought them and jacked up prices, changed licensing, etc. Generally speaking it feels like Oracle and Broadcom are the worst of the worst IMO.

Does your employer offer you a match on your 401k contributions? That’s free money regardless of how the 401k is invested so you definitely want to keep that going.

Even without that generally speaking you’ll still want to continue contributing to your 401k. Remember that a 401k is long term retirement savings, the market will continue to rise/fall during your employment over the next x years. You’re not required to invest 100% in U.S. specific index funds, in fact most people would recommend allocating a mix of U.S. / International / Bonds e.g. the “lazy” portfolio is one of the more famous recommendations https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Asset_allocation

Or for just set-and-forget you can invest in target date retirement index funds if your 401k offers them (most 401k plans offer those nowadays).

Cash back rewards cards work well, I end up with at least 2% - 5% cash back on all my shopping.

The key is to treat credit cards like cash e.g. pay your bill in full every month, never ever carry a balance. It doesn’t work for everyone and that’s okay, some people just can’t help themselves and get too spendy and end up in debt.

Other nice thing is that fraud is handled better with credit cards, if my card is lost/stolen no one has a direct line to my bank account and can’t try to drain my bank balance with debit purchases. Sure your bank may/may not void those transactions but in the time it takes for them to “investigate” you’re going to be out real money in your bank account. With a credit card you just dispute those fraud charges and never actually pay for them.

In NYC people never thought he was cool, he was just another rich blowhard in the NYC area. He has spent pretty much his whole life desiring some sort of celebrity coolness he never really attained.

I don’t know about people outside the NYC area, maybe they always thought he was some sort of cool real estate rich guy? Do people down south idolize that type of person? Seems unlikely then again stranger things have happened.

Usually what I do is put the plate in the oven towards the end of whenever I need to take food out so it heats up a couple of mins or so then take everything out. Use oven mitts in case you left the plate in there a bit too long.

Going through that right now (Leg length discrepancy aka LLD), it’s not fun! For me seems like a hip issue could be an old injury or something else, started seeing doctors about it. Gonna be a long year, ugh.