Random Thoughts X: Impromptu Interpretations

[The_J]

Do it anyway.

Oh, doing already.
Just found it curious when I went through the list and didn't stumble upon it.
Guess I'll go through wikipedia's list of hobbies, to see if I'll find anything to my taste.
Already need to rule out anything what's competitive (e.g. team sports or martial arts), what will make me puke (just went diving, and the boat...), or what's related enough to things I do (running, weight lifting, dancing; so will e.g. not put obstacle runs on the list, I did that already [is fun enough], but I'd not put it as separate category to the things I do)
Right now the possible list has roller skating (never learned), or maybe model airplanes, but I'd rather do something which involved people.


Also: TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing is a thing.

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm, Egypt and Greece sign deal regarding the sea border/economic zone.
Was a bit unexpected, tbh. Although the deal is about roughly half the sea border, it blocks Turkey from its own ridiculous claim it has a sea border with far-away Libya.
Maybe Turkey should sign a sea border deal with Finland next, @r16 ?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Belching inside your coronavirus mask: I don't recommend it.

 

[GenMarshall]

Belching inside your coronavirus mask: I don't recommend it.

Sounds more like a rant to me

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Already need to rule out anything what's competitive...

Right now the possible list has roller skating (never learned), or maybe model airplanes, but I'd rather do something which involved people.

You've never heard of roller derby?

I remember a snip of a casual conversation in my Classical History class in college before the lecture started, back in the '90s, when someone mentioned roller derby. About 3 of us were old enough to understand the reference to "Skinny Minnie Miller."

(roller derby was one of the things my dad and his girlfriend's oldest son used to watch on TV in the '70s; we had one TV and only two channels, so it was watch that or leave the room)

About the closest Olympic equivalent I can think of is short-track speed skating (4 skaters/team; it can get a bit violent).

 

[The_J]

Oh, yeah, I saw that recently on Netflix, and no, would not try that .

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

In the book I'm reading, there's a puppy who must have some sort of crisis with gender identity because the pronoun switched from "him" to "her" in the same sentence.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

In the book I'm reading, there's a puppy who must have some sort of crisis with gender identity because the pronoun switched from "him" to "her" in the same sentence.

Until the age of about 5 or 6 months, puppies and kittens don't tend to notice stuff like that.

 

[CKS]

Right now the possible list has roller skating (never learned), or maybe model airplanes, but I'd rather do something which involved people.

Roller skating is great fun. It has plenty of opportunity to involve people but it doesn't have to. There are lots of different types - quads, inlines, dancing, slalom, speed, aggressive, etc. - so there is something for almost everyone. I learned in my mid-40's (which I don't recommend) and it has changed my life in ways I'd never have imagined.

I was hoping to learn to ride a unicycle this summer, but I've not made much progress on that.

 

[Mouthwash]

Just saw Why Beauty Matters and it's much better than I expected. I really like Scruton; it's a pity he doesn't draw the connection between the loss of higher purpose in art in favor of the appreciation of art on its own terms as the catalyst for our situation.

 

[amadeus]

I can’t see Wooly Willy without seeing G. Gordon Liddy.

And the other way around.

 

[amadeus]

If they ever change the rules of baseball to include crying that scene from A League of Their Own isn’t going to make sense to future generations.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I find, many years after I quit smoking, that I still like to go outside mid-morning, just to 'stretch my legs.' But I find I miss the social aspect of being a smoker. ~20 years ago, at a company holiday party, a colleague remarked that the only people socializing outside of their departments were the smokers, 'cause we all knew each other from the loading dock, every morning 10-10:30. Was there some correlation between smoking and sociability? Dunno. Today, of course, almost everybody has quit smoking, so even when I do go outside, there's nobody there. Anyway, I don't miss the actual smoking, and I can't remember the last time I even wanted a cigarette. I'm struck by how much I dislike the smell now, although there are moments, when some combination of odor trips a switch in my head, sometimes a specific memory, sometimes just a vague nostalgia, of shooting pool and drinking Rolling Rocks in a dive bar, with Jane's Addiction and NIN on the jukebox. Do they even make Rolling Rock anymore? What about Lion's Head? Glacier Bay? Red Dog? I suspect I'd find they're all awful now. Some things may be better left in the past.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Once smokers were banned from inside, they had to band together at the designated smoking spots. Forced association created a social atmosphere and social clique.
Congrats on quitting.

 

[Commodore]

Thinking of changing careers. I'm still young enough to manage it and I'm just getting tired of being in security. It's also not really where I saw myself at this point in my life and it's making me miserable. And since my dream career is no longer an option for me, I need to find something else that's going to make me happy instead of just doing something because it "pays the bills".

I'm looking at becoming a home inspector. The pay is pretty good (average of $72,000 a year in Ohio) and the training/certification seems relatively cheap and quick to obtain. I've also looked into what the job entails and it seems like the kind of work I would really enjoy. The best part being that most home inspectors are self-employed and I really want the freedom that comes with that.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Thinking of changing careers. I'm still young enough to manage it and I'm just getting tired of being in security. It's also not really where I saw myself at this point in my life and it's making me miserable. And since my dream career is no longer an option for me, I need to find something else that's going to make me happy instead of just doing something because it "pays the bills".

I'm looking at becoming a home inspector. The pay is pretty good (average of $72,000 a year in Ohio) and the training/certification seems relatively cheap and quick to obtain. I've also looked into what the job entails and it seems like the kind of work I would really enjoy. The best part being that most home inspectors are self-employed and I really want the freedom that comes with that.

Keep in mind whether or not you will have to sell your services or if someone else will be selling you into the work. If you are the seller who interfaces with customers, that changes the dynamic about how much money you can make. Will your customers (the people who hand you a check) be the home owners, real estate agents, or some other entity or company? If you are self employed in this venture, you need to understand all the dynamics of how it works.

Key questions:
What is the average charge for an inspection? Do you get all of that or just a portion?
Can you run this business from your home?
When you have completed an inspection and get a check for the work, is any of that money needed to pay hard costs incurred during the inspection?

In Ohio average home inspections cost between $300 and $500. Call it $400 average. If there are no hard cost associated with an inspection and you get to keep all of the $400, then we can do some calculating. To earn $70,000 a year gross income you would need to do 175 inspections a year (70,000/400). That comes to 3.5 inspections per week for 50 weeks on average. If you're the salesman, can you sell 3.5 jobs a week? Can you perform 3.5 jobs a week including the follow up paperwork? If you are performing 3.5 jobs a week, will you have time to market your services to get more customers?

This kind of quick and dirty analysis is a good way to get a handle on the feasibility of taking on a new job or business. If you change your income expectations or the amount you earn per job, you change the dynamics of the business. Now if as a home inspector you are employed by a company, then things change depending upon exactly what your relationship with the company is. Would you be under contract? Would you do the selling or the company? Would you be salaried or commission? etc.

 

[Commodore]

Keep in mind whether or not you will have to sell your services or if someone else will be selling you into the work. If you are the seller who interfaces with customers, that changes the dynamic about how much money you can make. Will your customers (the people who hand you a check) be the home owners, real estate agents, or some other entity or company? If you are self employed in this venture, you need to understand all the dynamics of how it works.

Key questions:
What is the average charge for an inspection? Do you get all of that or just a portion?
Can you run this business from your home?
When you have completed an inspection and get a check for the work, is any of that money needed to pay hard costs incurred during the inspection?

In Ohio average home inspections cost between $300 and $500. Call it $400 average. If there are no hard cost associated with an inspection and you get to keep all of the $400, then we can do some calculating. To earn $70,000 a year gross income you would need to do 175 inspections a year (70,000/400). That comes to 3.5 inspections per week for 50 weeks on average. If you're the salesman, can you sell 3.5 jobs a week? Can you perform 3.5 jobs a week including the follow up paperwork? If you are performing 3.5 jobs a week, will you have time to market your services to get more customers?

This kind of quick and dirty analysis is a good way to get a handle on the feasibility of taking on a new job or business. If you change your income expectations or the amount you earn per job, you change the dynamics of the business. Now if as a home inspector you are employed by a company, then things change depending upon exactly what your relationship with the company is. Would you be under contract? Would you do the selling or the company? Would you be salaried or commission? etc.

I'm still doing the research, but from what I've seen it seems home inspectors get to keep all of what they are paid if they are self employed. The "standard" charge for an inspection in Ohio is $375. Established home inspectors can have three or four inspections per day. Obviously it will take a while to get up to that. As for clients, it seems the best route for a self-employed inspector to go is to network with real estate agents so they will recommend you to their clients, essentially feeding you business.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

As for clients, it seems the best route for a self-employed inspector to go is to network with real estate agents so they will recommend you to their clients, essentially feeding you business.

But what if they sell bad houses? If you tell the customers the houses are bad the real estate agent might not want to recommend you anymore.

 

[Commodore]

But what if they sell bad houses? If you tell the customers the houses are bad the real estate agent might not want to recommend you anymore

Usually it's the real estate agent for the buyer that sets up the inspection. That's how it was when I bought my house, and the inspector our agent recommended was awesome. He found a bunch of issues that the seller had to fix and gave us the leverage to demand a lower price.

 

[amadeus]

The nice thing about being a home inspector too is that you get to horn in on people’s business and you can judge their personal taste and you get paid for it!