Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

RX Reven' said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Damn you

I did 30 years rather than 25 years as it's more common and I put 20% down on both as that's

the typical minimum so apples-to-apples, you'd have to factor in the additional 42K down on the 300K home.

Having said that, the 300K home "only" has $13,640 more in interest.

72K for 30year at 15% = $327,744...240K for 30 years at 2.5% = $341,384

Interest is the killer.  I remember the first year of paying for my $72,300 house that we put $10k down...I had paid less than $100 on the principal with a $800ish monthly.  Everything else went on interest...

Figured out how to make extra principal payments quick-like.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Word!

I've owned four homes over the course of 38 years (20 to 58) to battle my way up the niceness scale in Southern California's high home price environment and I just paid off my mortgage last month.

As I mentioned in another thread, I know I'm doing it "wrong" by having my money tied up in a house that appreciates at 4% per year rather than having my money in the stock market that appreciates at 10.5% per year but when I see this...

which is a mile from my home and is typical of my area, I just want to go off grid financially so to speak.  Honestly, these apartments aren't even high-end, they're 40+ years old and haven't had any major renovations and yet people are paying just over $3,000 a month for 771 Sq. Ft...that's $46.84 per Sq. Ft., per year which is around $60 in gross earnings.

Imagine having to place a five dollar bill on each Sq. Ft. of your home's floor every month knowing that when the month ends, it completely blows away with nothing of value left. 

Yikes, I'm out.

Streetwiseguy said:

If a half dozen refugee Polish mechanics were to show up in Saskatoon, I could place them all immediately.

I'm a small shop.  At one point, four and a half positions.  Now, three.  My best guy is tired of pulling wrenches and figuring out which potentiometer in that Volvo convertible top is out of range, and has taken a shop facilitator, I guess, position at a big bodyshop in town.  I'd hired an 18 year old a few days before he gave his notice, so I guess that's good, but in ten years  he will be half trained up...

So, since there are exactly zero techs looking for work, I'm going to have to hike my 62 year old ass back into the shop, and try to find somebody smart enough to answer a telephone, not piss off too many people, and show up for 40 hours a week.  Best'o'luck with that...

Mike Rowe knows what's going on.

https://www.mikeroweworks.org/

If it was a few weeks ago I would have offered to send you my 18 yo ( just graduated from the auto tech program at the local Voc HS) as the automotive equivalent of a hockey billet. 

But in the past two weeks, all on his own,  he managed to get his foot in the door at the Ford dealership in town and starts early July. 
 

Streetwiseguy said:

GameboyRMH said:

Streetwiseguy said:

Peabody said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

The flip side of that, and my rant. I'm about to retire and there's never been a better time to find work, and the pay has never been better. 
Now is the time to cash in just as I'm cashing out

And, when you were buying your house 30+ years ago, interest rates were double digits.  Once you had some cash to save for retirement, interest rates were at historical lows...

I'm sure lots of people today would jump at the chance to buy a house at '90s prices with double-digit interest rates. Or maybe stretch the down-payment a bit and buy it outright?

I'm not going to do the math, but a $90,000 house at 15% over 25 years is probably very, very close to a $300,000 house at 2.5% over the same period.  Did you know that you could get a 100 year mortgage in Tokyo in the early 80"s?

But, wait until that $300,000 house mortgage hits double digits if you want to see some excitement.

(I'm not doing the math because I know someone here will do it for me... They won't be able to resist.)

The house was $110,000 at 11.75%.

But a few years in the rates dropped to between 4% - 5%. At which point I felt smug about going short when everybody told me to go 5 years.

Let's just say that in the end it all worked out

Wife: here's my friend's husband's number. She says he likes to run games, and I have two other people lined up who want to play with us. 

me: uh, why don't you call him and set it up because I don't know any of them and I don't want to be responsible for organizing everyone's schedules and figuring out all the details.

w: I don't want to talk to him, I only know his wife. These other people are super interested and 100% on board. 
 

m: sounds like you have everything settled, so just call or text him and it's that easy.

w: can't you just do it?

so I did. He's a nice guy. Great. So let's figure out details... uh, I don't know these other people or have their info, so I ask wife and apparently they are no longer responding. So now he's after me for everyone's numbers so we can get a group chat and settle everything Great, I promised butts in seats and now I can't deliver. I really wish there was some way I could have avoided being the middle man. 

The almost 2 year old added "no" and "mine" to her vocabulary this week.

Here we go...

Company didn't call me yesterday at the scheduled time for a phone interview. No communication yet to explain why or reschedule.

Think I'll probably shoot them an e-mail to prompt them, but this does not bode well for them being a good employer.

Other company has been quite professional in their communications, though.

"What do you mean this customer's vehicle needs an AC compressor and we can't get one for two days? He's leaving for Georgia tomorrow morning and he needs AC." 

Hey, maybe he shouldn't have waited until 24 hours before he left to has his AC looked at. Guess he'll have to go without. I lived in Tennessee for 2 years with a car without AC, I survived.

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

 

I wish this would stop. It's an expensive piece of electronics that will break, greatly reduce the functionality of the vehicle overall,  and it isn't like you can just go into your local junkyard and get another one.
 

I just saw an article on the The Drive today that talked about how two teams running Teslas up Pikes Peak had problems with the windshield fogging up and having to try to navigate the touchscreen while also navigating the mountain proved problematic.  Randy Pobst resorted to just wiping the condensation off with his hands, which doesn't sound very safe to me.

In reply to Peabody :

We scored a 30 year mortgage at 9.00% in 1987 and people were patting me on the back telling me I did well to get under 10%. 

Just got back from the tire & alignment place and I'm aggravated enough to vent here since SWMBO isn't home from work yet.

Got RT660s on the Miata about 10 days ago, and the alignment guy called me out after about 10 minutes (not a good sign) to point out that two bushings were sliding out of the control arm, and the driver's side front bearing was really sloppy.  Fast forward four days of spare time work, a full set of bushings and new hub assemblies are installed and it went back to the shop today.  Alignment guy calls me out to the rack after about 10 minutes to point out that the NEW hub/bearing assemblies are about as sloppy as the old bad one.  Actually, the 146K mile passenger side bearing was tighter than the new one.  ARGH.

These are Raybestos parts from Amazon, which the Miata racers seem to approve of, but the hubs are stamped 513152 while the Raybestos PN is 713152 and the new hubs don't look like any of the Raybestos parts I can find online - the rear of the hub is machined in two places instead of one.  Now I have to decide whether I want to track the car on Saturday, or just pull the hubs now to return them. 

A 6/0 pair of doors means 2 panels at 35-3/4, not one at 35-1/2 and one at 35-7/16. 1/2 inch gaps in fire doors wont cut it.

Now make another set the correct size. 

mtn said:

In reply to Appleseed :

Assuming they're a DO or MD, and probably even a Nurse Practitioner can write the script. There is the chance that they won't, of course, but they definitely CAN do it. 

*update*

You were, thankfully, 100% correct.  Still a massive pain in the ass, but I have insulin. I just hate how everything dealing with this disease makes me sweat with anxiety.

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

These are Raybestos parts from Amazon, which the Miata racers seem to approve of, but the hubs are stamped 513152 while the Raybestos PN is 713152 and the new hubs don't look like any of the Raybestos parts I can find online - the rear of the hub is machined in two places instead of one.  Now I have to decide whether I want to track the car on Saturday, or just pull the hubs now to return them. 

I think Amazon still bins all their "same" parts together, regardless of the vendor who shipped them to their warehouse.  So real and counterfeit parts can get mixed together.  I refuse to buy any brand name car parts from Amazon that are safety related because of this.

Appleseed said:

mtn said:

In reply to Appleseed :

Assuming they're a DO or MD, and probably even a Nurse Practitioner can write the script. There is the chance that they won't, of course, but they definitely CAN do it. 

*update*

You were, thankfully, 100% correct.  Still a massive pain in the ass, but I have insulin. I just hate how everything dealing with this disease makes me sweat with anxiety.

I am constantly surprised at how cavalier society is about giving people things they need to survive. It's mother berkeleying insulin for berkeley sakes, it's not like you can get high off it.

It's the same for my dad's oxygen, very cavalier about it all.

Scotty Con Queso said:

In reply to Antihero :

Sounds like you and I are living similar lives right now, except I'm not helping any widows out. 

Also - I agree about the writing it down part. I now understand why people journal. I've never had a desire to until recently. There is something to be said about writing out how you feel. It helps. I've written things out in this thread and decided not to post because it's a little too personal. But even still, I feel better to get it out of my head and onto "paper". 

It does and I deleted it too.

I don't know .......life sucks some times 

My Mom is not in a good place mentally right now, and she needs help. She has Alzheimer’s,  knows it, and is really struggling. 
And my Wife is refusing to get involved or help. 

In reply to Peabody :

Sorry, man.  That's going to be a tough road you have to go down.

In reply to Peabody :

Sorry man. My MIL is on this path and as if that's not bad enough it's turned my FIL into a selfish psychopath. I don't wish it on anyone.

I drove 30 miles to sell a set of wheels to one guy and buy a FabSpeed X pipe for the Cayman from another. My buyer showed up on time. The seller ghosted me. I HATE people that waste my time.

In reply to CAinCA :

Well, we have some of that too. Stepdad calls whenever there's a problem. Your Mom's acting up, you need to do something...

Mom called last night, half an hour before bed, and I'm working today, wants me to come down, an hour drive. I told her I couldn't. But you're the only who will help me. She's not wrong. 
I need to get her out of that house, he's not helping and she hates him for it.  And she's getting aggressive. But I can't bring her to my place because of my wife. I don't know what to do. I always know what to do. I'm stuck this time

My dad has cataracts and popped a 20/100 vision score at the optometrist last month.

Dad looks across the room at a monitor with a fricken' gigantic "E" displayed in it and enthusiastically sez' "I see the box!"

Optometrist "good, now sir, can you read the letter in the box."

Dad "there's a letter in the box?"

Optometist just ROFLHAO 

He's always been horrible about receiving any kind of medical attention but he turning 84 in early June and his drivers license was up for renewal so I thought the situation would self correct by him either getting cataract surgery or the DMV taking him off the road before he hurt himself or others.

Nope, he called up the DMV and the "nice" lady issued him a full renewal with no questions asked.

Jesus, he has always been so stubborn...I remember being at the hospital 4.5 years ago when my mom died and immediately thinking to myself "mom, do you realize what a nightmare you've left me to deal with."  I know, I know, really selfish of me but it's true...maybe this belongs in the Minor Confession thread.

eastsideTim said:

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

These are Raybestos parts from Amazon, which the Miata racers seem to approve of, but the hubs are stamped 513152 while the Raybestos PN is 713152 and the new hubs don't look like any of the Raybestos parts I can find online - the rear of the hub is machined in two places instead of one.  Now I have to decide whether I want to track the car on Saturday, or just pull the hubs now to return them. 

I think Amazon still bins all their "same" parts together, regardless of the vendor who shipped them to their warehouse.  So real and counterfeit parts can get mixed together.  I refuse to buy any brand name car parts from Amazon that are safety related because of this.

Update and another Argh...  Called Raybestos and they said just return them to Amazon.  Explained that they are new parts and way out of tolerance.  They don't care.  Asked about the possibility that they are counterfeit.  They don't care.  Just send 'em back.

New heavy hub duty assemblies ordered from Mazda Motorsports.  No more Amazon for parts of any importance.

Peabody said:

In reply to CAinCA :

Well, we have some of that too. Stepdad calls whenever there's a problem. Your Mom's acting up, you need to do something...

Mom called last night, half an hour before bed, and I'm working today, wants me to come down, an hour drive. I told her I couldn't. But you're the only who will help me. She's not wrong. 
I need to get her out of that house, he's not helping and she hates him for it.  And she's getting aggressive. But I can't bring her to my place because of my wife. I don't know what to do. I always know what to do. I'm stuck this time

We have had to deal with my narcisistic BIL and SIL for years. MIL/FIL complained about them never calling or returning calls, showing up late to family events etc. About 5 years ago BIL/SIL decided that now that their kids were out of the house they had some time for MIL/FIL. Now they are national heros and can do no wrong. Meanwhile BIL mistreats my wife, kids and I but we're supposed to take it because we have to act like one big happy family so that MIL/FIL can tell themselves that they did a great job. MIL used to buffer FIL's worst impulses but not anymore. He's turned into a real shiny happy person. So much so that my kids have taken notice. My wife loves her mom but it's getting harder and harder to deal with the constant family drama. 

Ever get behind somebody in the supermarket that isn't doing anything wrong but:

They're walking slow, have a list of things to get that matches yours, so they're going the same way as you and they manage to be in your way the entire time? Even if you skip an aisle, because they move into that aisle, too?

I had that person in the store with me all though the store, into the single checkout lane that was open and- guess what? About three miles down the road. They drove exactly like they shopped.