In a thread: Success

[deterioration 443]

Flip side of the coin vs. the grinding gears thread I feel we need a positive story outlet. It might be misconstrued into a "cool story bro" brag post thread but I'm chill with it because I like hearing other peoples triumphs, any size, be them personal, professional, financial or otherwise. < That rhymes At times reading about others good fortune picks me up if I'm feeling down. Like Bees winning loot on scratchies. Thats awesome!

 

 

I’ll start by sharing: last night I officially converted from oil to natural gas as my primary heating fossil fuel. I’ve been in my house 4 years last month and the rising cost of oil has shit hammered me into investing in an alternative. Our oil boiler, which did heat and hot water - I have radiator heat, was running well below 70% efficiency. I got a Rinnai combi unit that does both heat and hot water at 95% efficiency. Which is awesome because if we’re using hot water it will only fire up for what we use and then turn off; also it will burn at a lower percentage if we aren’t hard on the hot water. The old boiler burned at 100% every time it kicked on. My plumber was curious so I got my pay slips and calculated it cost me $4,800 in oil last year. I never let the tank get below 1/2 so sludge wouldn’t get sucked through the line, clog the filter and have me stinking like oil for 2 days because I had to do minor maintenance, but in the winter I was calling every month for deliveries. Now I don’t have to call anyone! Very excited and can’t wait to see what the savings will be!

 

[Sennex 1,903]

Most likely not exciting for you blokes at all, but here is my FUCK YEA!!!!

 

Years ago the Dept of Education created the "90/10 rule"

"The 90/10 rule requires for-profit colleges to get no more than 90% of their revenues from Title IV federal student aid."

 

For years now at work, we have been asking the bean counters to let us run the numbers for this, but they wouldn't, it was to important for "IT" to get a hold of, and to screw up. There was also some moaning that SQL databases couldn't handle the # of equations involved in this and only Excel could accurately handle it. (Actual quote from the head Accountant, OMG I laughed so hard, in his face when he said it to me.

 

So the Accounting department created this huge series of spreadsheets that pull data from our Financial Aid database (SQL), then they perform this huge series of really poorly written calculations against it, and let it chug along.

A 3.2ghz quad core, 12gb Ramm system, with nothing on it but Office, takes about 36 hours for Excel to finish running and spit out the final answer. God help you, if you try to even move the mouse in that period of time as the whole thing could screw up.

 

Figure this thing is parsing a grand total of 556732 payments and invoices, sorting them down into one record for every student for 40869 total records (Yes, these are actual number of records). Then it Codes each item to what type it is, and then tallies it all.

From there it starts breaking things apart by Pell, Sub, Unsub, Credit Card, GAE, DANTES, Cash, Scholarship, etc...

 

Super complex to say the least.

 

About 3 weeks ago, I finally had enough of all the bitching about this report, and how hard it is. So I swiped a copy of all of it, and I started recreating it all in SQL.

 

I finished it Wednesday, and presented it to the Presidents Council yesterday morning. While there, we all caught a change from the DoE that was missed and that I didn't know about. They asked me to correct the report and come back next week when the re-run was complete. I changed it on the spot, reran all the numbers, and had a new answer for them within 5 minutes.

 

The accountants didnt' believe me that it could be run that fast, so I ran it again with them watching. And then again, and again, etc.... It only takes about 27 seconds (Depending on server load) for SQL to do what it took Excel 36+ hours.

 

They were not happy with me to say the least.

 

But my boss, and the CIO grabbed me for lunch and want to send me to DBA classes so I can be a proper SQL admin.

[Dattebayo 446]

Uh... mine is that I've killed alot of cockroaches in my quest to roach-proof my house.

Nothing compared to winning the lotto or switching to natural gas... xD

[Plumbers Crack 4,062]

Flip side of the coin vs. the grinding gears thread I feel we need a positive story outlet. It might be misconstrued into a "cool story bro" brag post thread but I'm chill with it because I like hearing other peoples triumphs, any size, be them personal, professional, financial or otherwise. < That rhymes At times reading about others good fortune picks me up if I'm feeling down. Like Bees winning loot on scratchies. Thats awesome!

 

 

I’ll start by sharing: last night I officially converted from oil to natural gas as my primary heating fossil fuel. I’ve been in my house 4 years last month and the rising cost of oil has shit hammered me into investing in an alternative. Our oil boiler, which did heat and hot water - I have radiator heat, was running well below 70% efficiency. I got a Rinnai combi unit that does both heat and hot water at 95% efficiency. Which is awesome because if we’re using hot water it will only fire up for what we use and then turn off; also it will burn at a lower percentage if we aren’t hard on the hot water. The old boiler burned at 100% every time it kicked on. My plumber was curious so I got my pay slips and calculated it cost me $4,800 in oil last year. I never let the tank get below 1/2 so sludge wouldn’t get sucked through the line, clog the filter and have me stinking like oil for 2 days because I had to do minor maintenance, but in the winter I was calling every month for deliveries. Now I don’t have to call anyone! Very excited and can’t wait to see what the savings will be! Ill post a pic soon of the boiler…

And if you can get weather compensation controls.....happy days!

[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

Awesome thread idea, dude!

 

 

 

Uh... mine is that I've killed alot of cockroaches in my quest to roach-proof my house.
Nothing compared to winning the lotto or switching to natural gas... xD

Dude.  I understand you're in a tough situation.  Many of us have been there.  But... this is a thread for accomplishments, feel good stories, etc.  If you want a thread that is about your situation, and how crap it makes you feel, create it.  But this isn't really the place.  

 

Don't rain on this parade.

 

 

 

I recently found out that I'm moving to day shift after 6-1/2 years of night shift.  That's really exciting for me.  I'll get to sleep in the same bed as my wife more than 1 night a week.  I'll get to be there at night and make my family feel safe.  I'll feel better physically and emotionally.   I'm very excited to move to days.  The guy I'll be working with is a good dude too, so that's a bonus. 

[Dattebayo 446]

I am a lean mean cockroach killing machine!

I finally got my hands on some top-shelf roach spray and I went into the kitchen and was all like "Theres a new sheriff in town".

I flipped the lights, and an army of roaches scattered, but not before getting a deadly dose of spray.

Then I proceeded to spray the roach-poop-covered corners, ledges, and cracks that I was 100 percent certain were high traffic areas.

The many that scurried out in a poisoned daze were dealt with with my special custom roach spray (rubbing alchohol, bleach, and water).

I then set up a makeshift roach trap (a sodda bottle with the top cut off and inverted with wine at the bottom) near the hole in the cabinet that I suspect is their nest.

Finally, I applied home made roach bait (flour, sugar, and powdered roach poison tablets) in the counters.

I gotta say...

After a life of co-existing with roaches, finally having the means nessecary to kill the rotten bastards feels good.

I could make a living out of this if I wasnt so creeped out by bugs. x)

@BB

I was not aware I was raining on anyone's parade.

I'd have to put his achievements down to do that.

[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

Uh... mine is that I've killed alot of cockroaches in my quest to roach-proof my house.

Nothing compared to winning the lotto or switching to natural gas... xD

Don't rain on this parade.

 

 

@BB

I was not aware I was raining on anyone's parade.

I'd have to put his achievements down to do that.

 

This thread's parade, not anyone in particular.  So, no, you wouldn't need to put down anyone's achievements.  You just shit on the thread in general.  This thread is meant for positive stories... you came in with an "poor me" story.  That's raining on this thread's parade. 

 

But semantics aside... you get the point. 

[Dattebayo 446]

This thread's parade, not anyone in particular. So, no, you wouldn't need to put down anyone's achievements. You just shit on the thread in general. This thread is meant for positive stories... you came in with an "poor me" story. That's raining on this thread's parade.

But semantics aside... you get the point.

Well sh*t, sorry. >_>

I certainly didnt mean it like that (I came in feeling good about being a roach annihilator and saw my achievement paled in comparison to winning the lotto, hence the sad face).

That's sad that you think of me as being so petty.

But take it how you want, idgaf.

[Docwagon 856]

I don't know if its much of a story, but I've increased my net worth by a fuzz over $200,000 since I started keeping track in '02.

 

I grew up without much money and was completely ignorant as to how to handle it.  At that time, I had owned three Camaros and a Corvette (one at a time, I traded "up" often), was about $36k in debt, and living off of the GI Bill and an entry level IT job.  I was actually living off of credit, but too ignorant to realize (or possibly to depressed and drunk to care) the long term impact.

 

For person reasons I think I've explained in the past, I wanted to hit the "reset" button and went overseas as a contractor.  I was instantly making a lot more money and having a lot fewer temptations to spend.  I realized that I now had surplus money and had no idea what to do with it.  I decided I should educate myself and started with Ric Edelman's book, "The Truth About Money."  That book fascinated me and lead me to "The Richest Man in Babylon."  Both books contain the simple concept of "no matter what you make, someone is getting by on 10% less.  Find out how, live like that, and invest that 10% in your future."  So, I did.

 

Because I seldom half ass get interested in anything, I continued to educate myself.  I read more books, I took online classes, I subscribed to a few periodicals on personal finance, etc.  This was the single most important thing I've done educationally speaking.

 

Now some will doubtlessly say, well of course its easy to increase your net worth when you suddenly get a high paying job.  is is easy to continue that when your pay is cut dramatically?  Because that's what happens next.

 

I contracted for two years, which let me put the lid on a lot of my debt and get some emergency savings put up.  I came home with about $40k net worth, including the equity in a house that I put a reasonable down payment on, cash savings, and the starts of my investment funds.

 

When I came back stateside I worked two part time jobs.  My total income was less than $22k for the year, and I had a new wife and son.  I still increased my net worth by $5k that year.

 

After that year I got on the police department, which required a move to a new city. While the salary was reasonable (especially after the first two years), I couldn't sell my old house and it sat on the market for a year.  Plus I had the expenses of moving.  I reluctantly became a landlord.

 

Today, not including my pension and 300 hours of accumulated time off the dept has to pay me for if I leave or retire, my net worth sits at around $165k.  $8300 in ready cash, $66,000 in stocks, gov't bonds, and other investments, and $91,000 in equity in real estate.  I have one property paid off, and two still with a mortgage.  The only non-mortgage debt I have is my 2012 Dodge Ram truck loan at 1.39%, the first brand new vehicle I ever bought.  Not bad for a single income household.

 

Some of it has been skill and education, without that I couldn't have continued to be disciplined and invested, but I've also had some great luck.  I've wasted money, I've made mistakes, but overall the past 10 years has been a success.  At this point in my life, I could save more if I wanted to, but I've struck a nice balance between saving for the future and spending on today, but without the knowledge and discipline that would be a lot harder to do.

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

In my case I say it's my education which lead to my current job

 

From 1982-1985  Achieved mu BSEE (engineering bachelor's in just over 2 years and graduated 1st in Class). 

From 1992-1994  MSEE (masters) + PhD

 

 

This lead to Jobs with ATI (now AMD), Cisco systems and Intel and a pretty darn good living for me a my family.

 

With this we were able to instill the importance of education to our kids. My son should be going to University next year and has been accepted (already) in Canada's top 5 University. my daughter is looking into engineer. 

[Dattebayo 446]

God damn it Doc, stop winning at everything you do. xD

And smart kids youve got there, Cyber.

[TigerBurge 2,375]

God damn it Doc, stop winning at everything you do. xD

And smart kids youve got there, Cyber.

Its not that he's winning its that he has busted his ass to get where he's at. Making the best if his situation and not giving up

[Dattebayo 446]

Hence...winning at life.

What an example of a man. x)

[Docwagon 856]

God damn it Doc, stop winning at everything you do. xD

And smart kids youve got there, Cyber.

 

To be perfectly honest, I win now because I fucked up so dramatically early on but eventually learned from it.  I've worked hard, but I've also had some lucky breaks and God, whatever that may encompass, has smiled on me at some pivotal moments.

 

Tiger's wrong.  I did give up. For about three years, give or take.  I just didn't stay there. 

 

I typed out a bunch of stuff, and then realized that it didn't matter and it didn't fit this thread.  So, instead, just let me tell you a story Wayne Carter, a teacher who influenced me greatly in high school, once told me.

 

A traveling salesman approaches an old farmer on his porch.  The saleman hears a dog whimpering and moaning, and as he steps on the porch he sees a hound pup laying on the porch near the old farmer's rocking chair.  He ignores the pup and starts talking to farmer about his wares, but the dogs moaning and whimpering grow and grow.  The farmer never mentions the dog or pays any mind to the sounds, but the salesman has finally had enough.

 

The salesman asks, "what's wrong with your dog, mister?"

The farmer replies, "he's laying on a tack."

The salesman mulls this over and says, "well, why doesn't he move off of it?"

The farmer replies, "I guess he hasn't experienced enough pain yet."

 

That's it.  No moral was given.  In the brashness of youth I thought the lesson was "stop bitching and moaning, fix the problem."  I still think that's part of it.  The other part took me some years and experience to truly grasp.  How much pain will you put up with because the surroundings are familiar?  Because its the status quo, because its the easiest course of action, because its all you know up to that point and you aren't willing to expand your horizons or upset the routine?  Probably more than you think.  Once you adapt your worldview its no longer about complain or fix it.  Its discovering what the tacks are, if they are big enough to make you move, and what moving entails.  Some tacks you'll live with.  Some you won't.  How much pain will it take you to move?

[Docwagon 856]

Ok, I'm proud of myself on this one.  We had guests over yesterday and after everything was done I put my son to bed.  He's 8 and big into zombies and monsters and whatnot, but lately he's scared himself and started wanting a night light on again.  Last night he asked if I would sleep in his room with him, so I talked with him and had him tell me exactly what he was afraid of.  It was mostly the imaginary monsters, with a little bit of old house noises and an odd shadow on his wall.  We fixed the shadow issue by moving some stuff around, explained the house noises and the imaginary nature of monsters.  I could tell this helped a little, and even though he accepted it was imaginary, he was still scared.

 

So, imaginary guardians to combat imaginary monsters.  I told him that if the bad guys are imaginary, then imaginary good guys could protect him.  He agreed to this concept.  I took a bunch of his stuffed toys and put them in the bed with him.  We talked about the fighting prowess of the various species (shark, dragon, bear, etc.)  The chicken ended up being a lookout.  Santa and the Cat in the Hat were the captains.  I told him he was now the general of a stuffed animal army, and not only was he excited about the "game", he was ready to go to sleep by himself.

 

He's in there explaining his defense to his mom now.

[Stretch616 697]

Ok, I'm proud of myself on this one. We had guests over yesterday and after everything was done I put my son to bed. He's 8 and big into zombies and monsters and whatnot, but lately he's scared himself and started wanting a night light on again. Last night he asked if I would sleep in his room with him, so I talked with him and had him tell me exactly what he was afraid of. It was mostly the imaginary monsters, with a little bit of old house noises and an odd shadow on his wall. We fixed the shadow issue by moving some stuff around, explained the house noises and the imaginary nature of monsters. I could tell this helped a little, and even though he accepted it was imaginary, he was still scared.

So, imaginary guardians to combat imaginary monsters. I told him that if the bad guys are imaginary, then imaginary good guys could protect him. He agreed to this concept. I took a bunch of his stuffed toys and put them in the bed with him. We talked about the fighting prowess of the various species (shark, dragon, bear, etc.) The chicken ended up being a lookout. Santa and the Cat in the Hat were the captains. I told him he was now the general of a stuffed animal army, and not only was he excited about the "game", he was ready to go to sleep by himself.

He's in there explaining his defense to his mom now.

Pure win! Good work Doc, i'm gonna remember this for future times!

[TigerBurge 2,375]

Ok, I'm proud of myself on this one. We had guests over yesterday and after everything was done I put my son to bed. He's 8 and big into zombies and monsters and whatnot, but lately he's scared himself and started wanting a night light on again. Last night he asked if I would sleep in his room with him, so I talked with him and had him tell me exactly what he was afraid of. It was mostly the imaginary monsters, with a little bit of old house noises and an odd shadow on his wall. We fixed the shadow issue by moving some stuff around, explained the house noises and the imaginary nature of monsters. I could tell this helped a little, and even though he accepted it was imaginary, he was still scared.

So, imaginary guardians to combat imaginary monsters. I told him that if the bad guys are imaginary, then imaginary good guys could protect him. He agreed to this concept. I took a bunch of his stuffed toys and put them in the bed with him. We talked about the fighting prowess of the various species (shark, dragon, bear, etc.) The chicken ended up being a lookout. Santa and the Cat in the Hat were the captains. I told him he was now the general of a stuffed animal army, and not only was he excited about the "game", he was ready to go to sleep by himself.

He's in there explaining his defense to his mom now.

That is awesome.

[uberwarrior 373]

My Step Daughter put a pair of Dr Martin's boots on Ebay the other day,  simply because she never wore them and she wanted to try and make some money to fund a new lens for her camera.

 

She paid £120 originally, she sold them for £265!!! Needless to say she's happy, which as a usually grumpy teenager is a BIG bonus!

[Dattebayo 446]

My stove was making a very loud high-pitched beeping noise, so I punched it really hard and it went back to normal.

/swag

[deterioration 443]

Uh... mine is that I've killed alot of cockroaches in my quest to roach-proof my house.

Nothing compared to winning the lotto or switching to natural gas... xD

Last month something died outside or in my basement. I looked. I couldn't find it, but I had 100's of flies downstairs. It was gross. I've reached ninja status at sucking them up with a vacuum wand. *Lightsaber noises* 

 

And if you can get weather compensation controls.....happy days!

It has.

Our thermostat is cool too; wireless with a wireless remote. Whatever room I'm in I can use the remote to read temp and control heat. Helps if I start a fire downstairs. I can bring the remote up and still get heat!

 

Awesome thread idea, dude!

 

I recently found out that I'm moving to day shift after 6-1/2 years of night shift.  That's really exciting for me.  I'll get to sleep in the same bed as my wife more than 1 night a week.  I'll get to be there at night and make my family feel safe.  I'll feel better physically and emotionally.   I'm very excited to move to days.  The guy I'll be working with is a good dude too, so that's a bonus. 

, Thats great news!

 

In my case I say it's my education which lead to my current job

Nice! I'd still love to get an MA. I could do it online

 

He's 8 and big into zombies and monsters and whatnot, but lately he's scared himself and started wanting a night light on again.

That age From Beyond changed my life  The Cat's Eye Troll too My I suggest Airsoft machine pistols & SMG's for the animal army. 

[BO7H B4RRELS 2,453]

Nice! I'd still love to get an MA. I could do it online

 

That's how I did mine.  Working night shift gave me a lot of free time.  I basically did it because I was bored, lol.  Go for it man, it's never too late.

[Dattebayo 446]

Last month something died outside or in my basement. I looked. I couldn't find it, but I had 100's of flies downstairs. It was gross. I've reached ninja status at sucking them up with a vacuum wand. *Lightsaber noises*

Ha! x)

Ever find out what died in there?

I imagine it smelled pretty bad...

[Commander_Undies 618]

Well, I recently put this in my PPR, but it made me so excited I want to contribute it to this thread. 

 

Background: When I was 16, I got into a bad car accident (not my fault) which in the end made me an epileptic. Because of that, I wasn't able to drive anymore, doctors orders. It gradually got worse and I ended up having a temporal lobectomy done (which was all documented in my PPR on the MW2forum). I had some seizures through the healing process of the surgery, but I haven't had a seizure since. So now onto my happy story!

 

Just this past Friday night, for the first time since I was 16 years old (the night of my accident), I actually got the courage up to drive at night. I drove for about an hour with my relative and it made me really happy. For the first time, I wasn't scared of the lights and even though I was really tense the whole time, it made me feel at peace. Needless to say, I can't wait until my next nighttime outing. 

[TigerBurge 2,375]

Well, I recently put this in my PPR, but it made me so excited I want to contribute it to this thread.

Background: When I was 16, I got into a bad car accident (not my fault) which in the end made me an epileptic. Because of that, I wasn't able to drive anymore doctors orders. It gradually got worse and I ended up having a temporal lobectomy done (which was all documented in my PPR on the MW2forum). I had some seizures through the healing process of the surgery, but I haven't had a seizure since. So now onto my happy story!

Just this past Friday night, for the first time since I was 16 years old (the night of my accident), I actually got the courage up to drive at night. I drove for about an hour with my relative and it made me really happy. For the first time I wasn't scared of the lights and even though I was really tense the whole time, it made me feel at peace. Needless to say, I can't wait until my next nighttime outing.

Awesome news mike!

[Dattebayo 446]

Congratulations, Capn!

Baby stepping your way to recovery!