We bring you a fascinating letter by Ryan Leaf to his younger self, why we like renting experiences, how change is not easy & that’s it!
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I was going to take a day off. I have gathered some really great stuff I was going to post on Sunday as I usually do but I changed my mind. Why? Because I had a a great idea! The idea was to split that post between Saturday and Sunday<——-genius?
I keep it light in the weekends around here. Get away from the usual craziness of this hobby. Have something longer and deeper. Hmmm, not sure that came out right. Evil lol.
Click on the headlines for the links to original articles.
Enjoy your weekend!
Letter to my younger self
No, this is not one of them boring reads by some random dude. This is by Ryan Leaf. If you are an NFL fan, you know about him. The biggest draft bust ever perhaps in the history of professional sports! And what an asshole that guy was! If there was an Asshole Hall of Fame he would be “First”. But this read blew my mind. He goes through his life and how he hit bottom. And how he has recovered. Then again, we are talking about Ryan Leaf here…he may relapse again! One of those reads that I could not stop until the end.
Actually … there is one thing I think I would change. I would treat people better.
From Netflix to rented homes: Why are we less interested in ownership?
“Instead of owning things, we are renting experiences”. Isn’t that true! I am not sure how this developed over time. You can tell with the two new premium credit cards in the market, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the US Bank Altitude premium travel rewards credit cards: it is all about experiences and being “mobile”. I know some people who do not own a car, just Uber/Lyft everywhere! This article takes this deeper and it is fascinating.
Despite all this, human nature has not changed: we are still apes with status anxiety, endlessly preoccupied by our position in any given hierarchy, eager for ways to convey our aspirations and allegiances. So we find other ways to signal. Rather than deploy what we own to say who we are, we use our photo streams and status updates to show it, even going so far as to arrange our meals and holidays with the aim of generating impressive on-brand content.
The vacuum of meaning opened up by the disappearance of stuff may even have increased the stridency of our political debate. One way I can let people know who I am is by loudly asserting my membership of a political tribe.
If I can’t show off my possessions, I will show off my beliefs.
Change Is Not Easy
Fascinating read about change. Especially with technology. Which fascinates me…
Part of the terror stems from people being exposed. If you are playing the game and not trying to standout, you don’t want automation. If you are striving and trying to go for the stratosphere, automation helps you get there.
And then he goes through his life when he was automated out of a job (floor trader) and you can somehow justify all those factory workers in the midwest voting for Trump.
Inside, you burn. You were/are insanely competitive and now you can’t compete. You feel hate, anger and all the emotions that one would associate with a death in the family. You feel trapped. Caged. You try to find a normal routine like you had but you can’t. Frustration sets in and you lose hope. I know it and had to work through it. To say it’s brutal is an understatement.
And I leave you with this…
And then the internet did this…
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Gold?
Saturday silver.
I doubt remember if I asked on here, but does anyone have a better recommendation for getting to ORD than the train or Uber/Lyft? I have six hours between flights, but neither option is amazing to me…
If you’re close to a blue line station, makes sense to take the train since it’s cheap, $2.25, and drops you off right at the terminal. If you’re on a time crunch, take Uber/Lyft. These are your best options.
TBBManagement: Decision effective immediately——> Due to the recent rise in commodities used for the production of medals, we regret to inform that medals will no longer be awarded on the weekend. The decision is final but we will reconsider to extend the medals for the next three months to prevent you from reporting us to some pesky government authority for violating terms and conditions (which, we did not have in the first place, ok!).
I think train is best option.
Left out vital information. Flying into MDW. We land 6 hours before the next flight. Uber and Lyft will be ~$42 for 2 people and take 45 minutes. The train will be $6, take about 1:35 with a transfer in the loop. It’ll be after 10AM, and I’m all for the cheapest option, but… I wish there was a better choice.
Not sure there is…I think that line requires a train transfer as well…anyone in Chicago?
Silver, intentionally.
The experience of being so selfless that I gave Peteco the opportunity for Gold, well, it was amazing and it made me a better person…than Peteco 😛
Seriously, though…I am from the Consumer generation, that wanted to accumulate all the best toys, like cars & trucks, jet skis & boats, etc. to “Keep up with the Joneses”. My children are of the Experience generation, and instead of stuff, that generation brags about the “most amazing festival” or “I homestayed with a poor Honduran family and helped them cook”. But it’s all still about “Keeping up with the Moonflowers”.
I turned my back on accumulating things, and instead accumulated experiences and family. Best decision!
I’m not sure what to teach the kids. Should I be happy they’re accumulating experiences, or sad that they might end up paying more in rent money and Ubering than if they bought a house and cars? Discussion?
At least in terms of cars, I think an important lesson is that they only get you from point A to B. My in-laws bought a Buick lacrosse new, paid $36k for a car that 5 years and 80,000 miles later was going to get them $11,500 on a trade in. At the time I was driving an 8 year old Mazda 3, but had a new kid and barely had room for the car seat, so I bought it from them. But still, anytime I actually think about it, the new car isn’t any better than my old one.
I’ve also bought more Nike and under armour clothes for my son on Craigslist or buy/sell/trade groups, most of which I probably paid 80% off retail or more.
So maybe buy used, have experiences for free, and be useful in order to be happy?
The truth is people with houses and cars have just as many hours in the day and just as many experiences as anybody else. I thought the reason younger people were giving up on the dream of owning a house & car is because jobs no longer pay enough for middle-class people to own these things. It feels like sour grapes when someone who can’t afford to maintain a car says, “oh, I didn’t want a car anyway, I want to have experiences.”
The wealthy are not satisfied to merely rent things, they own assets. They appear to have many and more varied experiences open to them, not fewer.
Peachfront = Jerk
Please, if you’re going to “Anonymous” after me, especially on the same thread, would you distinguish yourself as different. Like “Anonymous2” or something?
peach, I also get my hackles up when an older does a “git those damn slacker kids offa my lawn!”
Here’s a good way to challenge your assumptions. Google an inflation calculator. Now plug in 4 values…what you earned with just a high-school diploma, what you earned as a college graduate (if that applies), what an entry-level house cost, and what a car cost. Anyone that’s honest–and not just pushing bullsh*t–will be pretty dang surprised!
I myself was floored. And it gave me a huge amount of sympathy for those that get called “slackers” and/or those still living at home.
Try it. I dare ya!
You don’t have a claim on anonymous numbnuts.
Guys, it is a free blog and free comments…and you can pick ANY name..so just pick one and stick with it 🙂
Well apparently you have a claim on being the biggest asshole!
Well, good for you and your generosity. If you follow this forum you’ll know I’ve been very steady at making silver. I’ll apply your thoughts retroactively!
Smitten by the hand of Brenton-the-time-traveler, for my hubris, and downgraded to Bronze!! But on the upgrade list for Gold tomorrow…
:-O
The back and forth for the medals is entertaining….Just changed my mind to rescind tbb management’s decision to keep medals awarded in the weekend!
Interesting discussion here. For every time this comes up, I take my “we are all different” approach 🙂
Am I glad I bought first house less than two years r landing first job? You bet.
Am I glad I have maximized retirement plan contributions every year since started working? You bet.
Am I glad I could have diverted those dollars to experiences? Well, not really.
Have miles and points allowed our family to have enough experiences that will be for ever remembered? You bet.
For every young person who keeps experiencing things without a balance of being prudent for what tomorrow brings (and missing all that compounding!!!) I go back to what I said: We are all different. If that is what they want to do with their life, who am I to judge them?
Maybe Ill write a book about my life philosophy and give it to TPG marketing dept to litter with cc affiliate links in every chance they get! Ok, just kidding on that last part lol.
I only had to sign up for six Virgin Atlantic cards every 91 days and MS several million dollars to ride in the virgin delorean, for freeeeeee. Stealing silver from you was well worth it.
What ever happened to Drew’s idea for aving peer-to-peer rentals of everyday items you need but rarely use?
No idea, he has been silent. They have done a few trips in the recent past but other than that…it appears they may be fully engaged in their venture. I hope so anyways.
A few years ago, I received a letter from my older self telling me to bet all of my money that the Cubs would win the world series in 2016. Unfortunately, I thought it was a prank and I didn’t do it 🙁
Lol, well played.
Is VFTW the tabloid blog in this space or what?
Naked women in airports, pilots fighting with passengers, after a dozen posts on Dr. Dao…
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s really gone off the rails. I don’t know if he just doesn’t care anymore and is doing goofy shit just for grins, or if he’s sincerely thinking this is good stuff to blog about.
While GTL used to really know FFPs very well, he has never really been as great of an expert on the “industry” as a whole as he thought. But man when he tries to “branch out” into other areas it’s waaay worse!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Emotional Support PONY in Bulkhead Wearing Socks and United Still Wants to Force You to Fly Them
Well, since I posted my message above…he managed to pull that off….At this point, what can you say, wow!
I think that the main problem we have isn’t whether we own or rent or whatever…I think humanity is more and more lacking something spiritual. And the void is only increasing despite all our stuff and advances and knowledge. We just move from temporary high to temporary high and never face what is needed deep within us. The increasingly rapid rate of change is only making it harder.
Anyway…love the GIFs though! 🙂
100% agree.
We are a family of atheists, but it seems we’re much more ethical, moral, and perhaps “spiritual” (tho there seem to be a million definitions) than any of the religious people we know. And that spans several religions and generations.
I expect to come up with a new blog about discovering yourself when payouts stop from MMS 🙂
Talking about increasingly rapid rate of change….oh yeah, profound changes!
Check sex robot story tomorrow, what you will see will shock you 🙂