nicolethenerd

Yup - credit cards offer incentives (for example, 2% cash back) - I can't think of any good reason not to get one and have it set up so that it automatically deducts the balance from your bank account once a month - this makes it effectively a debit card where everything you purchase is 2% cheaper.

Startups fail all the time. Just say it didn't work out - you don't need to give all the details.

There is a distinction between the pressure that comes from growing up in a "tiger family" and the consequences of growing up with the "smart" label, and I feel like the author is conflating the two. Personally, growing up with the label (but not the parental pressure) was one of the best things that could have happened for me and my education - the fact that others believed (whether true or not) that I was lightyears ahead of the class afforded me numerous opportunities - special classes, programs, etc. And more importantly, the fact that I believed it meant that I was able to operate free of insecurities or imposter syndrome that so many of my peers faced. Did it inflate my ego a bit as a kid? Sure - but I had good role models to look up to who helped me tamp that down a bit, and I had plenty of time to figure out that I wasn't the smartest kid in the world once I got to MIT (which I might not have gotten into had I not so fervently believed I would!).

I can't comment on what it's like to grow up with the extreme parental pressure the author describes - I didn't experience that, and I'm sorry she had to go through that. But I think that's an entirely separate issue from growing up with the "gifted" label.

With my HSA, auto payment is apparently a setting you can turn on or off. I highly recommend having this turned off if your HSA allows.

I keep hearing this "negotiate" thing, but I tried it when I was billed $254 for a strep test (after being quoted $25 at the walk-in clinic), and the provider refused to negotiate. I appealed with my insurance, the appeal sort of disappeared (I received a letter saying it had failed the first round of review, and they were sending it elsewhere, and then I never heard back again) - and after fighting it for four months, I gave up and paid. Should I not have?

"Affordable housing" is a very specific term - it means city-subsidized housing that is restricted to tenants within a certain income bracket (and usually applicants are selected by lottery). There are sometimes requirements that new developments must set aside a certain % of units as affordable housing.

Real academy, fake COBOL bootcamp. It's just that one page that's the joke - the rest of the site is about their real JavaScript bootcamp.

In case people are confused - the Grace Hopper Program at Fullstack Academy is a real bootcamp. They do not teach COBOL - that's the April Fool's joke.

Thanks! Or a turtle being drawn by a turtle being drawn by a turtle... turtles all the way down! ^_^

Seriously, though - I appreciate the suggestion - I was thinking of triangles drawing triangles, and turtles drawing turtles - but it didn't occur to me to mix the two. Great idea!

This is a bit of a tangent, but you guys seem like the right crowd. Logo has been on my mind the past few days, as I'm rapidly approaching my 20th "codeversary" (ie. 20 years since my very first programming lesson, in what I believe was Berkeley Logo). To mark the occasion, I've been trying to figure out what a Logo tribute tattoo might look like - the "turtle" is the obvious thing that comes to mind, but in the version of Logo I learned on, the "turtle" was just a triangle. I'm trying to come up with an image that's aesthetically pleasing, doesn't actually include any code, and is recognizable as Logo. So maybe the "turtle" drawing something, but what? (No idea whether I'll actually muster the courage to get this inked on my body, but it's a fun thought exercise either way.) Any ideas?