Yeah, most online stores don’t accept gift cards, unfortunately. 🙁 Especially Amazon…tried to order some much needed products with Amazon cards, and they require a bank card.

IME, (on Amazon at least…and a few others I’ve tried) masked cards are usually accepted as bank cards. Gift cards are not.

I’d love to build myself a privacy-respecting online store that accepts everything from Monero to cash to Apple pay (for the general populous that doesn’t care), but I sort of lack the capital. 😅

I mean, yeah, it would be great if Amazon took Monero, but I don’t see them ever even considering that.

They also make filling up your gas tank an even more unbearable experience.

I always called it a sweat jacket.

Yes! Thank you! That’s what i was looking for.

Although, yeah, Ramsey definitely has had his share of controversy, so I listen to the episodes with a grain of salt.

Yeah, I tried a few episodes. Couldn’t really get into it for some reason. Maybe I’ll try again.

I currently can only read free books (open for recommendations, although I think I wrung the classics dry for all their worth), but I found a book in one of those mobile libraries that does actually have me hooked: The Innocent by Harlan Coben.

It’s not even close to being the best book I ever read. But it’s well written enough and well plotted enough to keep me hooked. Probably my biggest gripe is the author’s description of the women is how attractive they are. Even when he’s describing the protagonists’ wife, he only describes how much the main character thinks she’s hot. Not a complete turn-off, but still a gripe. 😅

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It wasn’t terrible by any means. But I kept being told how-fast paced and gripping it was.

The fastest the pace went was the main character ducking behind a barrier in a very brief firefight.

I’m not one of those action junkies, but I was kind of expecting more.

I was living at or below the poverty line for years before COVID. As a senior developer, I wasn’t finding any work. Then when COVID hit, I wasn’t able to keep up with the work. I was finally earning 6 figures. I was able to travel (like in a jet, legitimate travel) for the first time–just because. It was amazing. I was able to network with people and provide value for people. I felt like my career was suddenly moving!

Then around 2021-2022 all my clients abandoned me, my network ghosted me, and I was back to square one. That’s where I am today.

I’m working on having a breakthrough because someone college-educated with a GitHub profile should not be standing at food bank lines every month.

Years ago I think I would have been in the same boat about not being a fan of something like this being paid, but I think the main reason why big tech platforms have become enshittified is because we haven’t demanded value and instead demanded free. And because we’ve demanded free we have two camps: big tech that can yank our chain, and free/libre solutions that may survive just barely on donations and the good will of people (and wanting it to be free as in $ IMO is devaluing the importance of the fediverse). I think a good solution to promote software freedom and the fediverse is for some paid instances to be part of it.

True, and thanks.

Ah, I see. Yeah, I keep forgetting that a lot of people use LinkedIn for job-searching (I mean, I kinda do too, but been active on it like 7 years without a single follow-through). I see it as a networking tool. Job-searching may be part of it, but business leaders and ultra wealthy use it to make connections and support each other (theoretically). Businesses/creators would be the target market. Maybe some job-search aspect to it at some point.

Haha, this is true. Hence why I was looking for a way to serve people.

Yeah, that’s why I was kinda wondering.

Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for. I’m a believer that money = value. If something or someone is valuable, it should be paid for and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’m also a believer that you can operate in FOSS/Fedi-mode and still make money.

Yup, an instance would be paid, but if someone wanted to launch a service of their own they totally could…they just won’t have the upstream features and the primary support from the paid instance.

Job-seeker/employer is only a drop in the ocean of what professional networking (and LinkedIn) is about. It’s a community of businesses that all help each other collaborate and build…a way to share ideas and make new connections…at least, I think that’s what everyone wants it to be.

Nope, no verification system…complete opposite…you’d just need to pay an I don’t care who you are (I’d even take crypto like Monero). I think being on week 4 of wrestling with LinkedIn’s verification system (being in LI jail for the 3rd time!) has made me sick of it.

One thing I like about the fediverse is it’s very community-driven. If I come across a spam message on Mastodon, I’ll start to report it to the community but find 10 others who are saying the same thing and within 5 minutes the dude is out. Meanwhile LinkedIn has a draconian verification system that treats its users like toddlers, while every other week I have someone asking to take over my UpWork account (and LI doesn’t ban them).

With me it depends on quality & depth.

If I socialize with a really good friend (or a romantic interest–which hasn’t been for a while 🙁 ) every day, that invigorates me.

But if I drag myself out to even one hour long social event for a week I have to spend 8 weeks recovering. 🤣 (OK, maybe not that long, but you get the idea).