Bet Record: 32-38 Individual Picks: 33-40

Yesterdays picks 07/06/2023

Phoenix Mercury Vs. Dallas Wings @8PM

Phoenix Mercury +4.5 ❌ F: 84-79 DAL
PHX/DAL OVER 167.5 ❌ T: 163
Phoenix Mercury ML (.5 u) ❌ F: 84-79
Natasha Howard U17.5 PTS✅ T: 9
really thought Phoenix was gonna pull a win out there. Lynx/Liberty postponed to another day due to weather.

Todays Picks 08/06/2023

Las Vegas Aces Vs. Connecticut Sun @7PM

Connecticut Sun +5.5 odds -110
CON/LV OVER 167.5 odds -110
DeWanna Bonner 20+ PTS odds +240
Connecticut Sun ML (.5 u) odds +180
DeWanna Bonner 25+PTS and Connecticut Sun to Win (.5u) odds +1060
BOL if you tail!

My current bill has Ballooned up to $280+/month and I'd like to stay with Xfinity, if possible, although my wife is pressing to just go with Internet Only...which remains an option with YouTube TV or Hulu Plus Live TV.
My account is currently coded oddly and multiple items show-up as DVR - including the HBO/Showtime/Starz premiums for $30 show as "DVR" on the app/web. I believe some of this tracks back to some added DVR charges you're still charging me, even though I don't want the added DVR functionality of the wired 4K X1 box - I only wanted a wired 4K box, since that TV is far enough from the XB7 that it may not work very well with the 4K Wireless box (which we have one of that is close to the router). I'm willing to swap the wired 4K X1 box for another Wireless 4K box and if the signal is too weak for it, then I'd like one of the "free" pods if it doesn't work right.
We also have Xfinity Mobile, but I've never been able to get the additional $30/monthly discount that one is supposed to get with Gigabit Extra.
When I go price out my desired plan as a "new" customer the monthly price (with taxes) is $230 or so - so there should be some combo/deal that can work.
The end-state set of services I'd like to wind-up with is:

• Gigabit Extra
• XFi Complete (Includes the XB7 router)
• TV Ultimate
• HBO Max, Showtime & Starz (3 premiums for $30)
• 2 X1 Wireless 4K Boxes

Really, just removing the $10 DVR charge and adding the $30 Xfinity Mobile discount I've never gotten, would drop the bill $40 and that feels like a good starting point.
I already sent a MOD MAIL message with the above and some account details and was asked to post this publicly - I guess I skipped a step.

Hi there, I'm starting a new job in a few weeks. Filling out the account details for wages form got me to thinking, I'm with AIB all my life for no reason other than my parents picked it when I was a child because thats who they're with. I had no issue with them (never looked at the competition either) until recently I had a negative experience with them while I was abroad and my friend also slated their quarterly fees for being quite high which I didn't realise.
My base salary will be 40k before tax. According to salaryaftertax.com, my take home pay will be €2,742 per month, probably a bit less after pension contributions, I don't know if how much you earn will make a difference to the bank services/rates but said I'd throw this info in.
I also have a Revolut account which is great and handy and all the rest of it however I dont feel I should trust them with a salary although maybe I'm wrong in that.
I suppose I'm wondering what alternatives are there outside of BOI? I've seen An Post and credit unions offering current accounts now but I'm not even sure what I should be looking for in a bank/bank account if that makes sense?
Can anyone provide some reccomendations or advice as to what would be the best course of action, if I should change or remain with AIB? What are the services and things to look out for when selecting a new bank?
​

My husband, myself and our 3 kids currently live with (co-own the house) my SIL, her husband, her child and their 3 dogs. It's a 9 bedroom farm house on 18 acres that my husband and SIL inherited years ago. The bills are split as followed: SIL and her husband cover land tax, all streaming services, home insurance and internet ($1400 a month). My husband and I cover water, electric, heat and all food ($1300-$1600 a month). It's usually split pretty evenly. The small chores are split between the kids. The big chores generally fall off on me and me only- as my SIL, her husband and my husband all work 12 hour overnight shifts (they wake up at 4pm, leave for work by 7pm, get home at 6am to sleep), whereas I own and operate my own business from the house that requires very minimal working (though I wouldn't consider it a job because I absolutely fucking love it and it doesn't feel like work). I also take care of their kid and dogs during the day. The arrangement has ALWAYS been that my SIL cooks every meal. Her idea, because her husband won't touch anything unless she cooks it. So I cover all food cost and cover all household chores/her dog and kid maintenance, she cooks all the meals.
Lately she has been complaining every single night about having to cook. For the past 2 weeks alone she has been ordering take out pizza or insisting we have a "fend for yourself" night. On the nights she buys pizza, we all eat together, but on the "fend for yourself" nights, I ONLY cook for my husband and kids (and I usually fed their kid too, I have no problem with that). My husband would cook if I asked but usually he is busy with home or vehicle maintenance or playing with the kids, since he hardly has any time with them. SIL is now complaining about me not cooking for them as well. Saying "you couldn't just cook extra portions?" Or something along those lines. I told her no. I absolutely will not cook for them. As it is, I carry damn near every load in this house so no, I'm not cooking giant meals as well. I mean, I take care of their kid, their dogs, all chores, my own kids, cover all food cost and I work for my business on top of it and all they do is sleep and work. She said she is experiencing burnout and I have no doubt that she's telling the truth. However, I still told her it wasn't my job to prevent that from happening either and I'm not willing to do more just because she's burnt out. My husband and even my BIL are on my side (BIL only because he won't touch food that his wife hasn't prepared) but my SIL is pissed, saying it's a dick move for me to not want to cook for everyone.
ETA: I'm honestly not surprised that this has flipped in to a "sexist" narrative but I will explain further than I already have.
My husband, as I said in the post, would absolutely cook if I asked him to. However, I don't and the reason for that is quite simple. As I stated in my last paragraph, my husband has absolutely no time with our kids. When he is home and awake after working all night, he is either with our kids and getting in as much time with them as he can (because you know, going back to this sexist argument you are creating- it IS important for fathers to be involved with their kids) or he is doing our vehicle and house maintenance. Something that my SILs husband has no idea how to do, so he is constantly trying to fix up our vehicles, get our lawn mowed, tilling my garden that I'm trying to get going, etc. My husband is doing his share in this household beyond working.
My SILs husband "relaxes" when he is here. He sits at his computer playing his video games when he is awake. Him not doing anything is not my issue to address. That is his wife's issue to address. However, she is perfectly fine with HIM not doing anything and simply asks me or my husband instead, using the excuse of "He's a southern boy and wasn't made to work in a kitchen". That is their problem. Not me or my husband's. As I said, I feed their kid on these nights but I will not be feeding her or her husband.

The International Meteor Organization collects fireball reports from all over the world. On May 1 at 06:48 UT, which was 23:48 in Nevada there was a fireball sighting. 21 witnesses reported it and there is one video included, but only of the flash it made. http://fireballs.imo.net/members/imo_view/event/2023/2408
Here's the video of the flash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v55cmvZNrEs
The fireball was seen in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.
I'm pretty sure it's the exact time the Las Vegas 911 caller described seeing a flash (at midnight). The police officer's bodycam shows the green flash at 06:49 (probably UT), so that's probably the same event. It looks like it was a fireball - a meteor. It could also have been another object perhaps. Please let me know what you think.

Just started flying my first real FPV that I built and I’m working one a second using a dji air unit. I know very little about all this and figured friends could be the next step to getting more into it. I fly around Las Vegas and las Angeles

My little LLC business will be 20 years old this year, so I'm not new at this, but despite several different concerted efforts over the years, I never feel like I've solved the cash-flow problem. I'm never not worrying about cash flow, and I'm getting tired of it. :-)
We have a total of 5 employees, including me, and everyone gets a salary. We sell consulting time by the hour as well as physical products for our industry. We make a markup on physical products (average is 30%), and we have a few sources of monthly recurring revenue. In total for the last year, revenue was split as follows:
Consulting time: 40%
Physical products: 30%
Recurring revenue: 30%.
We have both non-commercial and commercial clients. Non-commercial clients pay at the point of service and commercial clients are billed at the end of the month, net-30. Our total revenue is split almost right down the middle with 50% coming from commercial clients and 50% coming from non-commercial clients.
We consistently make a modest profit, although I have learned not to let this build up too much, as I have been caught a few times at year end with a healthy profit but no cash - that makes for an ugly tax season, and increased quarterly tax payments for the next year, etc. It's a tightrope for sure.
As a percentage of gross revenue, our expenses for the last 12 months are:
Salaries/Wages: 61%
COGS: 27%
Overhead: 4%
Merchant Fees: 1%
EE Benefits: 3%
Profit: 4%
Intellectually, I know that keeping more cash in the business is the key to dealing with this whole problem, but it's never as simple as that. One month when a handful of my biggest commercial clients decide to pay late (because THEY are having a bad month) is all it takes until I'm worrying about making payroll again. Then, when I use extra cash or hit the credit line up to cover that payroll, it takes months and months to build the extra cash back up or pay off the credit line again.
I should probably take a pay cut to free up more cash, but I'm finally making a pretty good living and able to fund retirement, see the end of my own mortgage coming up and affording a decent vacation once in a while, so I'm loathe to give any of that up. I don't have an extravagant lifestyle, but I'm comfortable, and I'd like to stay that way. Personally, my only debt is a mortgage, and that should be gone in 18 months. I've got about 8 years left until I retire, and I'd like to feel I've solved this problem before I pass the business on to my progeny (who has been working for me for 10 years now and will take over when I retire).
I'd like to believe there is a magic bullet solution, but I just don't think that's the case. So maybe a big dose of reality from folks who have been down this path before will help...