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

stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) said:

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

That's the plan exactly. The house shutoff is in a terrible place; halfway in the wall behind the water heater. I'll pay $275 so someone else can deal with it but I thought it would be like an extra $20 to swap the washing machine valves out. $140 is just insulting as I already have the parts and it's literally unscrew the old valves and screw the new ones in. 

A lot of times you aren't really paying a guy to do a 15 min job, you are paying the guy all the years he has accumulated to make sure he can do a job in 15min.

I would definitely do the valve yourself though, and really......they gave you a price so you'd do that too so everyone is happy

GameboyRMH said:

Just stopped by my cousin's house and everyone had "the sniffles," which these days tends to mean "the latest COVID strain as long as you don't test for COVID." I guess if I start feeling sick I'll pull out a test kit and let them know...

Update: Same cousin is now hospitalized with COVID. I didn't mention that he has a metric berkeleyton of other health problems and had nearly died dozens of times from one of the nastier variants - not in any of the usual ways, but from having coughing fits so bad that they stopped his heart and his pacemaker had to restart it.

Seems I got lucky so far, don't feel any different from usual...

Peabody said in the minor win thread:

A day or two before Christmas my battery went dead with my hazards on as I took a short walk in the woods. A few days after Christmas, after sitting, and in 10C weather it wouldn't start. I thought I'd try a bunch of charge/discharge cycles with my smart charger, and now, on the coldest days of the year, it's been starting fine.

Stupid car takes an unusual and expensive battery. Not really feeling it.

I should know better

Follow up to  my previous rant about the body shop that threw a bald used tire on my son's car:

I tried to order a replacement from Tire Rack but it wouldn't have been delivered until Friday. My son needs to leave Friday morning. I found that TR had a higher speed rated version of the same tire so I ordered a pair (so they would match) that were supposed to be delivered today. I woke up to a text that the warehouse found that the tires had 2020 date codes so they didn't ship them. Well berkeley. Now WTF do I do? I went back on TR's site and now the tire I originally wanted to order can be delivered tomorrow. Fine. I ordered a single AGAIN and I canceled the other order AGAIN. I made a 5PM appointment to have the tire installed This tire had better show up or I'm going to have a berkeleying conniption.

After looking at the "Hmm, what are you wearing? (watch related topic) thread, I thought of dad's Bulova Accutron. Can't seem to find it!

In reply to Toyman! :

It was cold and evening. I might have paid 5x pricing. I wasn't going to pay more than 10x pricing for that.

Again, had no issue with the service call fee and if I had not 100% diagnosed it correctly I wouldn't be bitching this much.

But I'll never call that company again, ever.

berkeley Chevy and their stupid little clips on the oil cooler lines.

I've lived 58 of my 61 years in California and try to look at the bright side - it's many virtues outweighing it's abundant foolishness. But sometimes I just need to vent. Our DMVs are hell-holes. I've spent up to 6 hours at them in the past. So what does Cali do? They just shut down one of the larger branches near me! Meanwhile they are still funding the high-speed rail foolishness that few people actually want and need.  I'm invested in this place and have enough means to live well. But if I was a shiny twenty-something without a tech or law degree I doubt that this would be my home.  

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

Meanwhile they are still funding the high-speed rail foolishness that few people actually want and need.

WTAF?!? Really? STILL?!?

I briefly worked at a consulting company after graduating college back in '07. We had a few things to do with that project and even back then it was obviously a terrible idea that was poorly scoped and that no one was ever going to agree on what it should be, let alone how to do it.

There are things I miss about California, but I'm quite happy to have moved to Ohio.

If I could get more than 3 hours of sleep for the first time since motherberkeleying September, that would be berkeleying awesome

my girlfriend has been trying to get up super early every day this week. She has been so far unsuccesful, however, I have been very successful getting woken up early by her alarm

In reply to RevRico :

Try taking 400 mg of magnesium. It does a couple of things like reducing anxiety and regulating certain hormones that regulate sleep. 

Beer Baron said:

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

Meanwhile they are still funding the high-speed rail foolishness that few people actually want and need.

WTAF?!? Really? STILL?!?

I briefly worked at a consulting company after graduating college back in '07. We had a few things to do with that project and even back then it was obviously a terrible idea that was poorly scoped and that no one was ever going to agree on what it should be, let alone how to do it.

There are things I miss about California, but I'm quite happy to have moved to Ohio.

Funny, the three years I spent out of state were in Akron Ohio. Awesomely nice people and low cost of living. Terrible weather.

The high-speed rail is utopian hogwash. One of the reasons that its proponents are so down with it is that they see it as a trunk that will grow a multitude of branches, creating a network of busses and trolleys as if it were 1932 and nobody could afford cars. Meanwhile, ridership on the existing trains, subways, busses and such are in the dumper - 90 percent of them existing solely because of subsidies.

Antihero said:

stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) said:

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

That's the plan exactly. The house shutoff is in a terrible place; halfway in the wall behind the water heater. I'll pay $275 so someone else can deal with it but I thought it would be like an extra $20 to swap the washing machine valves out. $140 is just insulting as I already have the parts and it's literally unscrew the old valves and screw the new ones in. 

A lot of times you aren't really paying a guy to do a 15 min job, you are paying the guy all the years he has accumulated to make sure he can do a job in 15min.

 

I would definitely do the valve yourself though, and really......they gave you a price so you'd do that too so everyone is happy

The plumber came over today. The valve by the water heater is just the shutoff for the water heater, not the house supply. Both he and I scoured everywhere and could not locate the house supply valve. He asked if I still wanted the valve replaced since it wasn't the house supply.  I had him do it anyway but he couldn't access the valve by the water heater so he just installed another valve downstream. I also had him replace both washer supply valves.

Total cost: $400

When the GF bought this house in 2020, the inspector stated that he inspected the main shutoff in the report:

He completely wrong. This directly contributed to massive water damage when a pipe broke in the kitchen wall and flooded ~80% of the house. My GF could not get the water to stop so she had to call the city and have them shut the water off at the street which took like an hour. So berkeley that guy. 

In reply to stanger_mussle (Supported by GRM undergarments) :

If the inspector made a claim, he may legally have to back the claim. At the very least, have him verify that he located the valve.

I'm sure people have posted this complaint before, but good lord, the number of extended warranty ads for your car is getting OUT OF HAND.  

And out of curiosity, I did some searching....  From what I can see, the cost of that plan is $85-250 per month.   And it seems that the average is somewhere around $2000 per year.  On the other hand, it looks like the average repair costs is less than $1000/ year.  

Not sure if the maintenance cost for cars is included in the warranty plans, but I don't see wear items included like brakes or tires- I've heard some claim that they include oil changes.   But even with dealer oil changes 3 times a year will you get near the price of having an extended warranty program.

It's SO very much smarter to set up your own car escrow account, and some of that can be tied up in long term CD's after you get to some limits.  

It's crazy to me that people refuse to do the math and see that these warranty programs are more scam that protection.

In reply to alfadriver :

I know a guy that couldn't afford the "diagnostic cost" that wasn't covered. Something like $3500 on a c5 Corvette with a bad engine at the Chevy dealer.

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

Beer Baron said:

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

Meanwhile they are still funding the high-speed rail foolishness that few people actually want and need.

WTAF?!? Really? STILL?!?

I briefly worked at a consulting company after graduating college back in '07. We had a few things to do with that project and even back then it was obviously a terrible idea that was poorly scoped and that no one was ever going to agree on what it should be, let alone how to do it.

There are things I miss about California, but I'm quite happy to have moved to Ohio.

Funny, the three years I spent out of state were in Akron Ohio. Awesomely nice people and low cost of living. Terrible weather.

The high-speed rail is utopian hogwash. One of the reasons that its proponents are so down with it is that they see it as a trunk that will grow a multitude of branches, creating a network of busses and trolleys as if it were 1932 and nobody could afford cars. Meanwhile, ridership on the existing trains, subways, busses and such are in the dumper - 90 percent of them existing solely because of subsidies.

I'm really suspicious of the high speed rail plans, and really don't like the constant barrage of critics complaining how great the EU vs the US is for passenger rail- especially when the US WAY out does the EU for freight rail.  Huge margin.

BUT....  if private companies can pull it off, I'm willing to let them.  So far, Brightline in Florida is showing some potential.  And if someone in California can figure out how to use the flat valley to connect central to southern CA- let them.  People are pretty disgusted by plane travel these days, and for many, it's just as fast and cheaper (net) to take a high speed rail to get from SF to LA.   I see it being private far more than public, though.  And CA has some power generation advantages for electrical high speed rail.

In reply to alfadriver :

they've been talking about this forever connecting Atlanta, Athens, and a few other cities. I'm all for it, mostly so when I go to the airport I can take the train instead of paying to park or taking an awful shuttle bus

While I'm here.... I recently decided to get my CDL (back). Like a fool I didn't renew it 10 years ago. The only practical way to do this now is to go through a training school or get hired on with a trucking company that trains. I chose a small tech college near home that was cheap and I like the instructors. All good. The rant: They make them teach double clutching. I drove twenty years ago for a couple of years. First of all NOBODY double clutches. We float'm. Second: Most of the equipment now is automatic. Third: Down shifting from 6th to 5th at 13 mph never happens with an empty rig. Fourth: Double clutching is throwing my timing Wayyyy off. I can shift, just not double clutch and shift worth a flip.

Beer Baron said:

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

Meanwhile they are still funding the high-speed rail foolishness that few people actually want and need.

WTAF?!? Really? STILL?!?

I briefly worked at a consulting company after graduating college back in '07. We had a few things to do with that project and even back then it was obviously a terrible idea that was poorly scoped and that no one was ever going to agree on what it should be, let alone how to do it.

There are things I miss about California, but I'm quite happy to have moved to Ohio.

I think the current high speed rail plan in CA is the SoCal to Las Vegas corridor.  That one actually seems to make a decent amount of sense, compared to the one that was supposed to go up the coast. 

Plus, it sounds like the the Cincy/Columbus/Cleveland high speed rail plan has been revived, with a slight diversion to include Dayton.  I suspect the airlines will do what they can to kill it.  The last thing they need is passengers with the ability to price compare trips from even more airports.

Guess who somehow wound up with one or more napkins in the washing machine?

I swear I checked all of the pockets and such as I was loading the machine, too.

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

Yo, why are you so hard on the laundry machines?

In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :

My wife regularly has at least one item with Kleenex in the pocket. 

alfadriver said:

BUT....  if private companies can pull it off, I'm willing to let them.  So far, Brightline in Florida is showing some potential.  And if someone in California can figure out how to use the flat valley to connect central to southern CA- let them.  People are pretty disgusted by plane travel these days, and for many, it's just as fast and cheaper (net) to take a high speed rail to get from SF to LA.   I see it being private far more than public, though.  And CA has some power generation advantages for electrical high speed rail.

So, having been a bit involved with this, here's where the Northern CA project become a massive mess: the conflict between geography and right-of-way.

There is a lot of mountain range with major settlements in the valleys. It would be completely impractical to construct it over/through the mountains. If you go through the passes though, you cut right through heavily populated areas.

Everyone only wants to allow high speed rail to run through their municipality if it has enough station service to benefit their economy. But if you do that to every municipality... it's not HIGH SPEED any more. If it's not high speed, it no longer brings in the same benefits, and people don't want it anymore.

US Geography is great for freight rail. There is a LOT of empty space crossing long distances. Lots of things that are perfectly fine moving at moderate but efficient speeds.

Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinatti would be a good place for commuter rail because it's not that far, it's flat, and there aren't a lot of heavily populated areas where you have to worry about right-of-way.