I am about to begin receiving a benefit to the tune of an extra $2k per month that I don't have a need for. I'm fortunate enough that all my needs are met financially and this is truly bonus income. If it didn't exist, my life wouldn't change significantly, and it's not enough to quit my job. Trying to get others thoughts on what would be good uses of this money that would benefit me and my family.

Thoughts:

• ALL_IN_VTSAX - hit FIRE goal earlier than planned
• kiddo's college fund - hit funding goal earlier than planned
• do fun things - vacation fund, memories with family
• fund hobbies - buy things I don't need but "lower-guilt" use of spare funds

Probably a combination of all of the above, but interested to hear the thoughts of others.

I'm also reminded of:

When you have more than you need, build a bigger table.

Curious of ways to help influence things in a bubble larger than my family too.

I've been stuck in the work, recharge, repeat cycle for about a decade now. I'm looking to get back into hobbies and activities to enjoy my free time and possibly meet other folks.

I've heard you should have 3 types of hobbies: something to keep you fit, something to keep you creative, and something that can make some money. I've considered gym/triathlon (fitness) and woodworking (creative/income).

What are your hobbies? Anything you recommend I try out?

1 hour @ 250F on the smoker. Finished at 425 in the oven to crisp up. Gonna toss them in homemade buffalo sauce and serve with curly fries.

Shuffling around my peppers to make room for the tomatoes I just planted up.

We're at the hospital now and we can't wait to meet our little one. Mom's doing great after they placed the epidural. Excited to join the Dad crew with you all. :)

I have a unique name, think John Doe, and I'm hoping to create a unique and "professional" looking email account like johndoe@gmail.com or john@doe.com. Since my name is common, all reasonable permutations are taken. I was considering purchasing a domain with something unique, then making personal family email accounts for john@mydoe.com jane@mydoe.com etc.

Consider that I'm starting from scratch (I am). Is there a preferred domain registrar, are GoDaddy or NameCheap good enough? Are there prebuilt services I can just point my domain to or do I need to spin up a VPS and install my own services? Are there concerns tying my accounts to a service that might go under or are some "too big to fail"?

I can expand what hangs off the domain later, but for now I just need a way to make my own email addresses and use them with the relative ease of Gmail or others. Thanks in advance!!

Noticed today in the daily check-in that someone stumbled into the community and committed to not drinking today. Pretty cool!

Are we able to drum something up to encourage a larger participation in a Dry January across the fediverse? I'm not sure how to spread the word, but I've always been a fan of pairing new years resolutions with sober curiosity.

I'd certainly be motivated to actively participate.

...and it was amazing!! The fact that this delicious treat is reserved for camping trips is a shame. A bit too rich to have more than one, so the bright side is we have extras to do it again!