LA_Nail_Clippers

What are you doing in terms of health insurance, retirement, later working years, etc. (depending on your locale of course)?

I have a few friends who did some less-than-legal work in the cannabis industry for years, and are now in their mid 40s and realized they haven't contributed enough to retirement, and have had a tough time getting 'real' jobs now that they want to go legit. It's an unfortunate circumstance.

Thanks for the response! Good to hear. The social programs we have here in the States aren’t nearly as universal, especially if you’re on the legal fringes - let alone 100% legitimate things as an independent business person. I have a friend who’s a novelist and she constantly struggles with maintaining reasonable health insurance, let alone even thinking of retirement.

Client networking. Duh. While you have an independent job - you meet plenty of new people all the time!

Emory Montague, R&D Engineering Manager for Simpson Strong-Tie (expert on structural engineering during earthquakes.

Well that's just perfect that Emory is here!

With all the power grid issues here in the SF Bay Area this week, I was working on my family's emergency kit, and I ended up stumbling down the rabbit hole of earthquake retrofitting houses.

Simpson Strong-Tie's PDF guide is really excellent for how to DIY reinforce your crawlspace and foundation for earthquake resistance. My 1954 raised foundation house seems like it's an excellent candidate, and my skills can handle it (and budget - hiring someone is $$$$$).

My question is - the guide doesn't show anything tying the posts to the piers under the house. It seems to me that some shaking might cause the posts to slip off the piers, causing the parts of the house sitting on those piers to fall. Is that an oversight or intentional? Does reinforcing the cripple walls help the posts stay on the piers?

(unrelated but relevant - the link to the PDF directly from Simpson Strong-Tie website seems to be down. I had to find an alternate source for the PDF)

My Dr uses propofol.

Is he Conrad Murray?