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

Wife is not making job hunting easier. When we talked about the decision for me to look for another job, we talked about the potential for relocating. She was open to the idea for a cool area. North Carolina topped that list of potential spots.

Now, she's complaining about how strongly I'm interested by the potential for a great job in North Carolina because it's a 5:30 hour drive to my brother and his family in Alexandria, just outside DC. (Columbus is 6:45.) We looked at Richmond, VA and liked it, and she thought I was trying to get a job there.

I am. I'd rather be day-drive distance to my brother. I'm weighing being close to my brother against what jobs are out there and what the cost of living is like.

Fortunately, that conversation ended with her recognizing that she actually had to think about and let me know what it is she wants and what her priorities are for what jobs I'm looking for and where.

In reply to wae :

Thank you but.... Canada, and I've been working with a similar organization here, with not a great deal of luck. They're good at setting appointments, having meetings and making reports. Actually getting things done, not so much.

Saturday was a tough one, leaving work a few hours into my shift and driving to Mom's because she was wandering. I think because she doesn't get much (any) mental stimulation at home she deteriorates until she does something and I get the call. I speak to her for an hour or two, and she's back to manageable. I did that Saturday and left after 5 hrs knowing Stepdad's daughter was coming over later so she should be fine. And it went like this:

8:30 I'm exhausted and go to bed so I don't feel like E36 M3 at 4:30am

10:00  I'm awakened by fireworks and can't get back to sleep because... fireworks

10:30 Phone rings. Not good. I don't get to it in time, but they leave a message. I see my phone is loaded with text messages from SD's daughter. Your mom doesn't recognize Roy, and is trying to kick him out of the house before her husband and kids come home, I may call the cops. Phone message was from a social worker at the hospital but I can't make out the number so I go back to bed.  She is safe there, I need to work  tomorrow, it can wait till the morning.

11:00 Still can't sleep because... fireworks. Phone rings. I don't get to it, it's the social worker again and he leaves a clear message with his number. I call back and get the details. He's very helpful, and Mom is safe, she'll be in, at very least, overnight. I can call for an update in the morning.

12:00 The fireworks finally stop, the last time I looked at te clock it was 12:30. Oh, good, I might get 4hrs sleep.

It was a very quiet day at work, which was good because I was running on fumes all day. But I got through to the Hospital and they said, no rush, she will be assessed and someone will call you. Between updates, and hospital workers looking for info on Mom I got a half dozen calls yesterday. She's being admitted, and that's a good thing, she's safe there, and I don't have to worry about her wandering, or doing something she shouldn't. And this may get the ball rolling, as I've been trying to get her into a home, nursing, retirement, assisted living, or long term care, I'll work with anybody to see that she's looked after, but not getting any call backs.

I'm done venting, it was therapeutic.

Is it bad that I'm actually kind of glad to be back to work today, since it means that the majority of the rest of the city should be as well and will stop blowing E36 M3 up and scaring The Dog E36 M3less? At least set- and berking enforce- a cut-off in the evening after which anyone shooting anything off is cited and fined, there were still fireworks going off when we finally coaxed The Dog outside to pee before we went to bed at 12:30.

Next year we know to plan way ahead and make sure we have our cabin blocked off so we can stay there over the 4th. It sucks, because it always gets booked over the holiday and since it's a holiday we make bank off of the summer holiday rates the rental place charges- but the cabin is in a holler about halfway surrounded by rock wall and most of the other places nearby are also rentals where fireworks aren't allowed, so it's far less explodey than home.

Frankly, I'm kind of surprised there wasn't a ban non-professional fireworks this year given how dry things are here. Our neighbors across the street bought a bunch of big fireworks to shoot off from the street and The Dancer was super paranoid that they were going to start the whole neighborhood on fire (and I'm kind of surprised they didn't, some of the shells exploded far lower than seemed remotely wise).

Non-4th-of-July rant... over the weekend between trying to fix the beds for The Dancer's summer show (long story) and keeping The Dog from freaking out too much, I got the suspension work done on the QX4. Had a few non-fun parts of it, but overall got it done without as much fuss as some past suspension work. Unfortunately it still didn't resolve the noise in the front end, but it does ride better.

More unfortunately, one of the things I discovered I needed to do in the past weeks was (I presumed) recharge the AC system since the aircon wasn't doing anything useful. Fire the engine up, turn the AC on, and hook up a bottle to the low side to add refrigerant. I can tell from the fittings not getting cool at all that no refrigerant is flowing from the bottle into the system, and the compressor is engaging properly so it appears that perhaps low refrigerant isn't the problem. Dig out the set of AC gauges I picked up a ways back, get them assembled and put them on the system and... yeah, roughly 5psi on both the high and low side with the engine running and the AC on... so the compressor isn't doing anything appears to be shot.

Which poses me with a problem: what do I do about it. Now I'm not in the least bit uncomfortable with replacing the compressor- but as I noted, the system is somehow still pretty much fully charged, and I'm not one to just say, "Berk it." and vent the whole thing to atmosphere. So... either I pony up the likely at least $500 for a shop to recover the refrigerant, replace the compressor, and recharge it, or just suck it up and deal with not having AC (and a less-capable defroster in cooler months).

Or take the 3rd more nuclear option: sell the QX4 and get something either new or far closer to it so I have one less vehicle to worry about maintaining- which has a lot of appeal. The problems with this are a) finding something that is a suitable replacement for the QX4, which is far more capable and versatile than most might expect and b) I would really like whatever I get next to be a hybrid or outright electric... but with the way our driveway and garage is set up, I don't have a good place to put a charger...

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

When I've done AC work in the past, I've gone to the shop around the corner and had them evacuate the system for me.  I think it was something like $40 and it only took them a couple minutes.  Then I drove the car back to the shop and did all the unbolting and bolting work, pulled a vacuum, and then filled it back up myself.

wae said:

One of the hydraulic cylinders on my lift is spewing fluid.  I guess now I get to test out the warranty...

Rant becomes win: The warranty works pretty well!  I called the number, a very helpful human being answered the phone, he asked for the serial number, my address, and a seal kit is going in the mail today!  He even gave me a quick how-to on the phone.  Good on Titan Lifts!

$2500 for a regular old hydraulic steering gear and it doesn't even come with inner tie rods or boots?! What the hell, Audi? This should be like a $750 part, tops.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Yeah, have a shop do the evacuation part. You want working AC on that thing, even if you're going to sell it.

My sister and her long term boyfriend are breaking up.  They have a kid together, she's gonna be devastated.

Less a rant, more a sad.

wae said:

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

When I've done AC work in the past, I've gone to the shop around the corner and had them evacuate the system for me.  I think it was something like $40 and it only took them a couple minutes.  Then I drove the car back to the shop and did all the unbolting and bolting work, pulled a vacuum, and then filled it back up myself.

I just called up one of the local independent places (was trying to call the smaller chain shop that's closest to me, but none of the numbers for them go through...), and they said it would be about $100 to pull out the refrigerant and then once I'd replaced everything and sealed it back up bring it down to vacuum and put it back in (assuming they didn't need to add any in)- which is pretty good since the refrigerant alone would likely run near that. 

slefain said:

Holy crap this is insane.

I made an open records request to my city for records on a city project. I already have SOME of the records, but I asked for everything just in case.

Today I got a response that the city has zero records. None. My ORR was closed.

I respond that they might want to rethink that answer because I am already in possession of some records that would fall under my ORR. Hey look at that my ORR request has been reopened!

Part of me REALLY wants to chalk this up as just a stupid mistake. But part of me wants to know what they don't want me to see.

Welp at the close of business today without a single word back on my request after three business days, I filed a formal complaint with the state attorney general's office for open records violations. That's the office that can levy fines of $1,000 per infraction for interfering with an open records request. And tonight at the city council meeting I'm going scorched Earth for the public and press to hear. Last time I aired dirty laundry the city shaped up some of their practices. I hate that it takes swinging this hard to make things right.

In reply to slefain :

What all are you checking into?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Our city is doing a zoning rewrite. When we got the draft document it was missing stuff that the public had asked for, and somehow included stuff that nobody asked for. Including some stuff that was snuck in as a favor for someone well connected. I asked for the communications showing where the input came from (or died in transit). I'm pretty sure the city buried the public input they didn't like regardless of popularity, and put in stuff they wanted themselves.

And I have receipts.

(update)

Got a phone call and an apology from the Mayor. Guess I hit a nerve with my public comment.

(update update)

They just doubled down claiming they can't find any records. I replied by sending them a sample of a record I already have. At this point I'm just going to turn it over to the state attorney general's office who is already on the case.

I have......multiple people calling me with what my dad always called Concreteitis. Symptoms include a desperate need to pour concrete that mere moments ago you had no idea you could get done and frenzied phone calls to a contractor that 7 minutes ago you didn't know they existed.

Had a guy call me 4 times today about a tiny slab, he wants a number over the phone. I don't give numbers over the phone. He assured me that it's a super simple and easily figured out because "it's just a slab".

He then tell me that it's not a pole barn. Ok.... Also that it needs a wall for the water problem but " we can just dribble the concrete down along the sides of the poles...but there aren't that many poles. It's only a few feet high wall". This is a WTF moment because it sounds a lot like a retaining wall with a slab and a pole structure being built on it. I mention that I'm gonna look at it before giving any figures. He says..." Oh......well I'm a teacher and I only have the summer to get this done " This is odd because I haven't mentioned a timetable yet.

I tell him that I'm at least a month out and anything faster is gonna be a happy accident. I tell him that that timetable is only if it's a simple small job and it doesn't sound simple to me. He says "ok so about 2 weeks then?" I tell him again a month is more likely and I'm literally on the job right now.

He then asks when I can see it, I tell him a few days minimum because I'm on the job. He tells me he's leaving the lumber yard now and could be on the job in 10 minutes and I can see it then. FFS.....

Listen, I understand, everyone is busy but I'm literally doing jobs that were planned last year. I've turned down dozens of jobs because I'm so busy. I literally cannot do more work than I'm doing now. I know you want a slab tomorrow but Im not pulling off jobs that are 10 times more money for me from people that have given me many jobs other than the one. I'm not gonna screw over a bunch of people because you are a school teacher either, which is just weird to mention.

Plus I got another call from a guy that feels that gravity isn't reliable enough to drain water

In reply to Antihero :

These are not customers you want.

In reply to Antihero :

Whatever you do, make it expensive enough you don't mind the PITA it's going to bring with it. 

I have one customer I will drop anything for. They pay $5k a month for that privilege. 

My wife has covid. I am feeling a little yucky. Oh boy here we go.

Appleseed said:

In reply to Antihero :

These are not customers you want.

You are totally right. 

I wouldn't even look at this job except it's a referral from a guy that has given us tons of work. I will at least look at it but I'm probably gonna pass on it.

Toyman! said:

In reply to Antihero :

Whatever you do, make it expensive enough you don't mind the PITA it's going to bring with it. 

I have one customer I will drop anything for. They pay $5k a month for that privilege. 

I plan on it, I'm not even sure I want either job anyway. 

But if I get it, I want to smile at the money I'm getting 

93EXCivic said:

My wife has covid. I am feeling a little yucky. Oh boy here we go.

No promises, but current cases seem pretty mild, especially if you've been vaccinated.  Sister and BIL managed to avoid it until a month or two ago (both in early 70s) and it was mostly a non-event for them, other than lack of energy.

Hopefully you folks will have the same luck!

Duke said:

93EXCivic said:

My wife has covid. I am feeling a little yucky. Oh boy here we go.

No promises, but current cases seem pretty mild, especially if you've been vaccinated.  Sister and BIL managed to avoid it until a month or two ago (both in early 70s) and it was mostly a non-event for them, other than lack of energy.

Hopefully you folks will have the same luck!

 

We had a family gathering for the 4th. Of the 28 people that attended, 13 now have covid. We are pretty sure my brother brought it home from a conference.

All were vaccinated. All are already pretty much over it. Between the virus mutations and the vaccines, covid doesn't seem to last as long as the common cold for most people.

Unfortunately, it's not the case for everyone.  My mom was vaccinated and double boosted.  It took about four weeks, a trip to the ER, and multiple trips to urgent care before she was feeling better.

Duke said:

93EXCivic said:

My wife has covid. I am feeling a little yucky. Oh boy here we go.

No promises, but current cases seem pretty mild, especially if you've been vaccinated.  Sister and BIL managed to avoid it until a month or two ago (both in early 70s) and it was mostly a non-event for them, other than lack of energy.

Hopefully you folks will have the same luck!

 

I hope so. My wife does feel that bad at all. I have a sore throat, a tiny bit of a cough and sore shoulders.

I had it prior to vaccinations being widely available and it wasn't that bad then. So hopefully it won't be bad this go round.

It is more the inconvience of it all.

In reply to eastsideTim :

It's pretty weird how it differs from person to person. My parents have both had it and even at 83 with COPD and a history of heart problems, it was a non issue for both of them. My eldest is 35 and when he had it, he was sick as a dog for over a week and it was probably a month before he was back to 100 percent. 

Hazzard Fraught hitch cargo carrier .

Steel one is 30lbs.

Aluminum one is...31lbs.

Dafuq?