Nothing outside of probably not going out drinking as much in my early 20's.

I've kicked myself once or twice thinking I probably should have/should be more selfish when it comes to family priorities. With all of my older kids leaving the nest within the next 4 years, I feel like I'll have the time to do all the things that I "sacrificed" and likely make better decisions than I would have made.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Don't wait until age 23 to lose 80 lbs.

Those extra 3 years of less stress on my body might've saved me from all the back issues that have dominated my life for the past 20 years.

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80 pounds? How big were you before 23?

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

That makes me sad for you. You seem to have an adventurous spirit and some really great experiences.

I try not to think too much of this as it can be depressing. Wish I would have taken advice from friends and didn't stay with my high school sweetheart. That ate up years 17 thru 34. She just wasn't the right person for me and I just didn't see it or want to believe it. I also wish I would have tried harder to stay an athlete instead of getting lazy and drinking too much beer. I'm working on that part now but at 45 years old some of the damage has been done. Just happy I finally found the right woman and in a few months I will have no more kids living here. Dreams do come true.

Edit -- I just want it clear that I don't hate my step kids, I do find them annoying but having a child that lives 1/3 of the time with us and 2/3 with his dad has been tough. He is a veteran and police officer and a very difficult person to deal with. The less we have to check in with the "other parents" the better off things will be in my mind and my wife is in agreement.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I was 5'10, 250. Problem was I was that fat and playing basketball 6-7x per week and eating like crap. I think the fact that I was that fat and also that active is what caused the degeneration in my back that led to my first back surgery at age 26. It fits, my first surgery wasn't from any sort of trauma. I had just finished playing ball, was walking off the court and felt a sharp twinge in my back. That was all it took.

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Similar. Not a HS Sweetheart, but met my first wife in college. It should have been so obvious, but I just didn't give things a practical analysis. Cost me ages 22-40 and truck loads of money. The advice I'd give is slow down, listen more, and imagine 10 years down the road.

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That is good advice.... Don't settle for something you aren't sure about 100%. I think I got caught up in thinking it was the best I could do and that I couldn't do any better but that was flawed in many ways.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

If my dad could do one of these it would be to take it seriously when his cousin Jerry came to his house and told him him and his partner Rich were opening a restaurant and they were offering him 10% for $25,000. My dad was in law school and driving a cab at the time and $25,000 might as well have been a million so it didn't matter anyway, but him and my wife laughed at the idea at the time and were sure it was going to fail.

Of course that restaurant was RJ Grunts and the company was Lettuce Entertain You. I can't even begin to imagine what that 10% would be worth today.

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If my dad was really doing this thread he would say his biggest one would be to tell his mom to F off when she asked him if she could throw away all his baseball cards when he got married. He said go ahead.

He has since built one of the more impressive private card collections in the country, but he always says how much he regrets letting his mom do that.

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If I were really to do this, I'd tell Ken to take that VP-Finance job with Chicago Social magazine. It will seem like a big risk for a guy with a young family but a year into it Roy Disney will invest $100 million into it and take it national.

And that guy who offered you the job just sold his Santa Barbara seaside ranch for $14 million complete with 2 five-bedroom yurts on the property (they're deluxe permanent Mongolian huts - I had to look it up too).

I'd probably be a much more stylish person, too, by osmosis alone.

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You know me like that.

I wouldn't have gone for the crossover move that gave me the high ankle sprain that sidelined me long enough to stop playing active sports.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

so who did you end up with?

A fraudster who wanted to be Pablo Escobar. Honestly.

invest in bitcoin when it was fractions of a penny, a couple years later buy an island and throw weekly parties with supermodels

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Revel in the greatest defensive season in NFL history about to take place.

I'm going back to high school on this one: take Spanish for four years and keep up on it, do not take up music/instrument (even though I was pretty good at it), play only one sport and work as hard as you can at it.

In college: Change major from chemistry to meteorology.

Honestly, though, I wouldn't change anything in my life. I way outkicked my coverage with regards to my wife (as most men do), I lived in three countries outside of the US and traveled to places I would have never thought possible when I was 18. I'm healthy and will retire from work in ten years.

did you stay w/ her or split?

not have gone to the Show of Shows

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

hnd's post reminded me...


I would learn to do more home improvements. I suck at most everything related to that. I can barely hang a picture straight. Knowing how to do some basic thing would have saved untold headaches over the years.

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I would have taken the assistant pro job I was offered at 19 and not gotten married.

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"I give you my word as a Biden"

I have this book. Its extremely easy to understand and everything a homeowner would need to do is in there. From building a deck to swapping out a lightswitch is clearly outlined. I'd recommend buying it. It takes one completed project to pay for itself.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Book, eh? I have a few of those gathering dust in my attic. There’s also a thing called YouTube which pretty much walks you through the repair or installation of anything ever invented. Free too.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Bought the Home Depot one. Used it once. Professionals are better than me.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yeah ok. I'll just say that the YouTube warriors repping the furnace repair clan are fucking dangerous and stupid. I couldn't speak for other trades. But mercy! I get to a site and find a torn apart piece of shit and some asshole telling me that YouTube told him his hot surface ignitor needs replacement but he has a spark ignitor.

I guess some stuff YouTube can help. I've never tried.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

That's fair.
Just don't bitch about the price.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Don't drink so much and study harder.

Was that aimed at Brick or Darko??

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

When we were living through them we called them bad times and thought that we were poor. Only after we had all grown up were we to realise what good times they had been and how very rich we were.

Oh man....

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014