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

I have a guy that wants us to build him a shop, he has no real plans but it's basic enough to give him what I call an "idea bid" . He's a good friend of the guy I've worked with forever so even though I hate "idea bids" I give him a basic one with the caveat that it's +/-25 percent and until I get an actual plan that's as close as it gets. He seems fine.

But really as far as I can tell he has held this number to his bosum and it is now the Very Perfect Thing and he'd like to skip the steps needed to get an actual bid. Also " he has several people that want to do the job".

He does not have anyone able to do the job, it's total bullE36 M3. What he's trying to do is talk me down. What he really wants is the stupid dance where the 2 parties try to berkeley each other over for the maximum profit/savings. I don't do these sorts of jobs, bullE36 M3 is at the absolute minimum at all times if I'm involved.

I told him that bluntly, I didn't want him as a client.......and now he's much nicer and really trying to meet with me. So much for all those people lining up to to his job, right?

This is why "idea bid" is a high bid.....

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Also, to top it off, the organization that i was running with for cheap track time, and volunteering with for free track time, has folded. I cannot afford track time more than autocross, as an hpde weekend entry is now $600 around here and thats just not realistic in my budget. Which makes mu nascar build pointless. 

Kinda a kick in the emotional nuts tonight. And my friend is in my prayers. He's hurting worse than i am. My problems are nothing compared to his.

Tarheel and others run track days, and I'm pretty sure it isn't $600.

My mailbox was hit *again*

I'm really going to put a game camera out front so I can see what's happening this time.

Rodan said:

Drove to the dump only to remember it's a holiday and they're closed.  Drove home and found a screw in my tire.

Are they open on Thanksgiving?

wae said:

Rodan said:

Drove to the dump only to remember it's a holiday and they're closed.  Drove home and found a screw in my tire.

Are they open on Thanksgiving?

I was halfway out the door with the first load before Tunawife reminded me. Bank holidays...

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

You'all get snow?  Up here people think the plows hit the mailboxes when it's really the snow force from the plow.  

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Also, to top it off, the organization that i was running with for cheap track time, and volunteering with for free track time, has folded. I cannot afford track time more than autocross, as an hpde weekend entry is now $600 around here and thats just not realistic in my budget. Which makes mu nascar build pointless. 

Kinda a kick in the emotional nuts tonight. And my friend is in my prayers. He's hurting worse than i am. My problems are nothing compared to his.

Tarheel and others run track days, and I'm pretty sure it isn't $600.

They're running 475ish. For clarity, i should have said ~5-600 an event. The nascar build had been based on entries ranging fron 1/2 that to free for volunteering at other events. 

The new financial realities of my career change and organizations shutdown is hitting hard. 

Time to stop thinking about it for a bit. Hopefully another avenue will present itself before the car is done.

wae said:

Rodan said:

Drove to the dump only to remember it's a holiday and they're closed.  Drove home and found a screw in my tire.

Are they open on Thanksgiving?

No they weren't, Alice. 

wae said:

Rodan said:

Drove to the dump only to remember it's a holiday and they're closed.  Drove home and found a screw in my tire.

Are they open on Thanksgiving?

Well, one big pile is better than two little piles...

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

Haven't checked codes but it sure seemed like 50% of the engine was missing.

Battery isn't the newest so could be the issue.

Toyman! said:

In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :

I refuse to paint wood furniture. Under no circumstance will I cover up the beauty of wood with something boring like paint. To me, it makes it look cheap. 

 

 

I agree 100%. But after learning the hard way multiple times (and one failed marriage later), I choose to pick my battles.

Sometimes it's better to bitch to strangers on the internet and just do the thing than it is to argue with someone who has already made their mind up. There is already an enormous amount of stress surrounding this move. I don't want to make it worse. 

wae said:

Rodan said:

Drove to the dump only to remember it's a holiday and they're closed.  Drove home and found a screw in my tire.

Are they open on Thanksgiving?

My whole career, if a holiday fell on a scheduled work day for me, I worked.  So I never paid a lot of attention to federal holidays.  Now that I'm retired, I pay even less attention.  Sometimes, like today, that bites me on the ass.

Apparently the super rare amp that I've been waiting for......was shipped Fed Ex

And they can't find it right now

Datsun240ZGuy said:

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

You'all get snow?  Up here people think the plows hit the mailboxes when it's really the snow force from the plow.  

Nothing to speak of, nah.

It's happened twice now that they built a house across the street and put the driveway right across from my mailbox. It happened *once* while they were building the house, but I'm pretty sure that was the contractors.



I intend to talk to the residents there, but I have two issues:
1. They don't speak English. I'm going to have to use translate on my phone or something.
2. They apparently work really odd hours. Like, gone for two days, home during the day, gone in the evening, at work at night, etc.
3. I'm not sure they are even doing it, because:

• We get people driving down our road thinking it leads somewhere else. 
• Somebody down the street hit a car parked on the road because they weren't paying attention.
• The temporary mail carrier wrecked the mailbox once and didn't say a word. I reported that to the post office, who pretty much shrugged their shoulders, but I never saw that carrier on this route again. Then again, I don't think I've had the same mail carrier for more than two weeks in a row for about three years, now.
• Etc.

This is why I want to put a camera up. I kind of want to just move the mailbox, but that will infuriate my wife, who is ready to die on this hill.

Antihero said:

Apparently the super rare amp that I've been waiting for......was shipped Fed Ex

 

And they can't find it right now

Somehow, fedex makes the federal bois look competent. A truly amazing spectacle of ineptitude. 
 

What amp?

barefootcyborg5000 said:

Antihero said:

Apparently the super rare amp that I've been waiting for......was shipped Fed Ex

 

And they can't find it right now

Somehow, fedex makes the federal bois look competent. A truly amazing spectacle of ineptitude. 
 

What amp?

A Danelectro Thor

An older rant, I interviewed for a company, said I'd want 90k, they said they could do 87, I agreed, offer letter came and it said 82. I did not take that job. (didn't help that they had the worst Glassdoor reviews I've ever seen)

Garage door opener is broken, Applewife's Tucson is getting snow tires because the original Hankooks are spent, one with an irreparable nail in it, and Fester the F-150's rear suicide doors are both frozen shut.  Today has been an expensive, frustrating day.

It's now two nights in a row that the smart thermostat has logic'd itself into cranking the heat up all night till I wake up in the wee hours sweating. I have a remote temperature sensor in the basement, and it really wants that sensor to read higher. I locked it out for sleep mode last night, but tonight someone dialed in an extra 1°F of heat, which I'm guessing serves to kick it out of sleep mode. The face of the thermostat says that mode is heat, desired temp is 63°F, the heater is currently running, and the current temp is 71°F.

Haven't had a rant in awhile, yay.

Yesterday morning was about 4F, everything was fine.

Today it was about 8F or so, got a light snow overnight.  Driving to work and about 5 minutes in my music jumped to the next song on it's own (Youtube music through Android Auto on a cable).  Thought maybe I hit it with my new mittens.  But the next song did the same, halfway through it went to the next.  After 10 minutes I realized the touch screen wouldn't do anything.  I gave up and turned the volume all the way down.

After another 5-10 minutes I noticed the songs were changing like someone was stabbing NEXT repeatedly.  I finally unplugged the cable.  Saturday on the way to the cemetery to volunteer I realized the driver window was frozen shut, luckily I tested it in line at Biggby Coffee before I got to the order window.

I hate winter.

There is a small chunk of me that is laughing uproariously over the complaints about the temperatures people are experiencing, which would be a welcome break for me.

Its either that, or have the tears freeze to my face in the second solid week of -30 daytime highs.

But it's a dry cold.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Not a rant, but that reminded me of something.  You wouldn't believe the number of people I know that sold their SW Ontario home for ludicrous money and moved to New Brunswick to buy a big old farmhouse, or be mortgage free. As they were telling me how smart they were I was thinking... I sure hope you enjoy the long winters.

I wonder how they're making out

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Oh, I'm well aware that griping about temps that aren't below 0F is a bit silly- usually our annual trip up to central WI for Christmas is a very effective reminder of that (and why we live where we do and not there closer to The Dancer's family). But things (and people) here aren't as used to or prepared for these temps as places that more regularly get them, so infrastructure tends to have more problems and people aren't as smart about things (both of us are used to and perfectly comfortable driving in snow- most people here are downright dangerous even when it's just rain). 

GODS I wish the building department could be less draconian. 

Happy now?!  

Why does this bother me so much?

LED foot? LED FOOT?!?!?!?

If I am not mistaken the phrase is lead foot, as it your foot is heavy (like lead, get it? that stuff is heavy) and that weight pushes the accelerator pedal down harder

I don't believe it has anything to do with a light emitting diode foot or perhaps a foot that followed something else. 

Oh well, at least this annoying ad is repeated 4 times per page minimum.