There were important things I wanted to tell you about tonight, but I got sidetracked by an all-consuming desire to plumb. So you’re on your own tonight… The site is yours… Have fun… Talk about whatever you like… Inspiring plumbing stories… Hilarious anecdotes about home repair projects gone awry… Restaurant reviews… Anonymous confessions… MarkMaynard.com fan fiction… Personal ads… As I’ll likely be stuck under the sink for the foreseeable future, I’ll leave it in your hands. All I ask is that you’re kind to one another and clean up after yourselves. Assuming you can do that, the floor is yours.
[note: The above photo was taken by my daughter, Clementine, who was keeping me company as I removed our leaky, old kitchen faucet.]
17 Comments
I heard that Go Ice Cream is expanding “around the corner”. Does that mean that Betty Green is leaving their spot on Washington?
I’m intrigued by the idea of http://www.markmaynard.com fan faction, but nothing immediately come to mind. I’ve got a glimmer of an idea about Mark hunting down his trolls and turning them into a Human Centipede type of creature, but there’s nothing firm yet.
The Independent: “Former CIA director James Woolsey quits Trump transition team day before president-elect speaks on Russia hack”
Read more:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-transition-team-james-woolsey-quits-former-cia-director-russia-hack-could-be-playing-us-a7512296.html
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@A.N.
Betty Green isn’t moving, the personal trainer moved out.
Completely unrelated to plumbing, what ever happened to the word “twat”? It’s still big in England, but it seems to have disappeared here in the colonies in favor of “cunt”. Maybe it’s the circles I travel in but I haven’t heard it used in decades. It isn’t something I loose sleep over but I’m curious.
Maybe people would like to discuss the fact that the Senate voted to repeal Obamacare.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4641262/senate-votes-51-48-repeal-obamacare
I heard that our Mayor may be planning to run for the State Senate. If she did, would any of you vote for her?
Thank you, Andrew. I’m happy to hear that Betty Green isn’t going anywhere.
Who likes Gretchen Whitmer’s chances for Governor?
It sounds so dirty when you say you’re taking the night off to “plumb”.
@ Elf, I think Gretchen Whitmer’s chances are pretty good. I hear Rep. Kildee is sitting on the fence and if he decides not to run she should win the Democratic nomination.
Bill Schutte is likely to be the Republican nominee and there is a lot not to like with him. I see the dems fully supporting Whitmer, but I don’t think the republicans will be as enthusiastic with Schutte as their candidate.
The current pension system reads like a Ponzi scheme. We need leadership to start making difficult changes to the current system. This is going to crush communities, our schools, and state. It seems as though leadership has been aware of this problem, but they are kicking the can down the road expecting the next generation to solve the problems they created.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2017/01/05/pension-liabilities/96227612/
Yup. Here is the thing, pension systems should be funded 100% but there are incentives to mismanage things. That was one of the things that really pissed me off about Kwame Kilpatrick. He straight up stole pension money! But even when you are dealing with more honest politicians, there is still leeway with pension contributions and when budgets are tight, it is easy to choose to underfund the pension in order to keep current services working with diminished revenue.
I would prefer a strict requirement that public pensions be funded at 100% over other proposed solutions such as moving people to 401(k) type plans. I don’t think that is likely at the moment though. I could live with it if enrollment was the default, the match was adequate, and if low fee index funds were the default.
@Lynne, I agree pension funds should have been required to be funded 100%, but it didn’t happen. I don’t trust politicians from either party to manage or oversee pensions.
I do believe a 401k program is the best solution going forward and agree with your conditions. I was speaking with a public school teacher and she is very upset with the current status of the pension system. If I am remembering what she said correctly, she is required to pay into a severely underfunded pension plan and isn’t fully vested until she has been with the district for 10 years. She feels trapped into working for a school district she is unhappy with, because she needs to maintain her salary and vest into a pension system. She is skeptical her pension will be around when she needs it. On top of that, she doesn’t believe she can count on social security to be around when she retires.
With a 401k she will own the contributions she makes into the fund and the matching amounts will be vested within a reasonable time frame.
I had a great plumber at my business. He lived up the street. Would respond to a service call immediately– day, nights or weekends. He always gave me a great deal. “I’m going to cut you a break today Jean because you were a sucker and got into the food business.” I usually paid at time of service but was out of town once and I guess the bill he left went missing. He left a note a month later saying, “Please pay your bill, I need to put gas in my Porsche.” Rick sold his OWS home for a mint and retired to Florida. He does in fact own a Porsche.
If I owned a home on the OWS, it would be hard to give up, but I too might consider trading it for a secure retirement in Ypsi, Whitmore Lake, or some place nearby.