I must be lucky in the RV world. I've had two. Both of them have been mostly flawless beyond normal maintenance.
I can picture myself without a house. I can't imagine not having an RV. If I could talk my wife into it, I'd sell the house tomorrow and go full-time.
The Blunder Bus: 1996 Tiffin Allegro Star. Old school. My son has it now and it's still pretty trouble-free.
The EndOver: 2007 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40SFT. 1.5 years, 7000 miles. It has been awesome!
So let's recap my automotive luck this week
1. Trying to get the wife's 98 explorer up and running for the winter. The fuel pump went out and that's not hard right?
Nope, the quick disconnects will not disconnect. No worries I'll just buy a nylon line fix kit and be on my way. Nope, both need replaced. Ok no worries I'll just use the second line....and it's not the right size. Ford apparently decided to use 5/16th hard line and 3/8ths to hook to the pump so I jury rig something from parts I have and.......nope not gonna work.
So I go to several local parts stores and see if I can get something that goes from 5/16ths to 3/8. Find something that could work and take it home and.....not gonna work
Order a part off Amazon that says it's the right size, nope and I can't stretch the line enough to get it to work. So I cobble together something with plastic barbs that is just slightly too small for the 3/8ths side and it works......
Except that it's getting kinked when the tank goes in enough that the cobbled together adapter leaks.
No problem, I'll just get some fuel line and .....I have nothing that is fuel injection psi safe. Not really worth it to have a ticking time bomb underneath the car so I'll just run to town the next day and get some rubber line.
2. Since it's gonna snow and studs are legal I'll just swap them on to my truck. Gives me a chance to look at the front end a bit since I've got some noise, sounds like shock noise.
It's not shock noise, it's bearing-about-to-fall-apart noise. And of course the only one in stock around me is roughly 10 times as expensive as the one I can get ordered. I can wait a few days. My wife can drive her car.
3. But wait ....her Golf won't start. It has a n80 purge valve issue so I replace it and it starts fine.
Until it falls flat on its face and will only start on ether. So that's something I gotta spend time on.
4. So it's onto the ZX2 backup car. Starts fine but it has a PCV hose failing so it'll try to die on you. It's a fairly common zx2 problem and I got the part but no time to put it in before the wife has to use it for work.
But it's gonna snow and the winter tires are gone on it. Oh also it's a clutch and since I've apparently got a gout flair up randomly it's excruciating to drive it.
5. The generator I use to charge up my batteries when its not sunny and for my well pump decides to have an issue too, runs for a bit and falls flat on its face. I think it might have something to do with the low oil shutoff? Oil is fine but the generator is old and it's been pissy before.
So listen, I'm not the greatest mechanic in the world but goddamn 5 mechanical things in a week all at once? berkeley me....
I just received my first advertisement in the mail from a reverse mortgage company.
I actually left the Oregon DMV today without having successfully registered my truck because the clerk refused to recognize the "wsdot" part of the release signature ("[name] for wsdot") as the same entity as "transportation department of" in the owner field on a Washington title. Yes, the proper and official acronym for the Washington Department of Transportation is WSDOT ("Washington State DOT").
Now I've been given the task of finding someone at WSDOT willing to write me a letter on official letterhead stating that these are the same entity. I've got three ten-day trip permits to do it.
Doing some math, it looks like I'll actually be able to retire!
At 70.
Assuming, of course, I can maintain my current abysmal standard of living, as befits the kind of person who's going to have to work until he's 70.
Swears. Swears for the rest of my life.
I managed to push the latest Challenge donor onto the trailer without a winch.
My leg strength and buns of steel exceed the flex point of WRX sheet metal:
Before:
After:
Luckily I think that's able to be mostly sorted with a rubber mallet.
Nothing is "conveniently located" in the "heart of Downtown Toronto." I think the description you're looking for is "unfortunately stuck." Your coworking space would be less inconveniently located for me and everyone else who isn't also unfortunately stuck in the heart of downtown Toronto if it was in the ass end of nowhere someplace away from the city that took 2x as long to reach by far less stressful means.
Some days. Some days I just suck at my job. Today is one of those days. Tomorrow isn't looking good either.
In other news, I'm sick with a mild head cold for the 17th time this year. Sick season spans from October to June in the Queso house. We gots a long ways to go.
My daughters ballet class is in the same building as a polling location.
1: You can't wear any garb supporting any candidate. That's been a law for a long time. Act like an adult and zip up your jacket or go to the bathroom and turn the shirt inside out. (This has happened twice, once for each candidate, only one of them made an issue of it)
2: Different person, but I suspect that the irony of wearing a Gadsden snake on top of THAT particular flag was lost on him.
Edit to add: I was only there for an hour. God bless those poll workers.
Traffic lights that stop all through traffic - because a car came to the light, stopped for two seconds, and turned right. The car is gone, absent, vammosed, but it's too late. The dumb traffic control computer saw a car appear - never mind that it's gone now - and stops all traffic to let this mythical car cross. We all sit there, waiting for nothing.
The most annoying aspect of this is that all the sensor inputs to do this the right way are already present. It's just lazy programming that they don't have the program start a timer when a car arrives, and if it's still there after, oh, say, 10 seconds, THEN start the whole red light cycle. If it appears for four seconds and then vanishes, do nothing. They very likely can update the code in situ, but don't (see lazy, above). UGH!
Godzilla and election night do not mix.
in 2016 there was a storm that caused a power outage that finally killed my VCR with my Godzilla vs. Gigan tape inside. It's a stupid movie, I wasn't going to buy another copy until I got the Criterion Godzilla bluray collection a couple years ago.
tonight I'm watching the OG 1954 film (Nov. 3rd is the 70th anniversary) and the bluray disc is scratched in the middle. Hadn't taken the disc out until now.
Scotty Con Queso said:Some days. Some days I just suck at my job. Today is one of those days.
I had a small customer call me and said my name was given to him by a past coworker. He says to come in and let's talk about we together can sell some product and make some money.
I go in thinking it's a sales call to realize 10 minutes into it they want to come work for them......major tap dancing in my end.
Remember when, "Who'd you vote for?" was met with "None of your berkeleying business?"
I planned on probably getting different brake pads for the GR Corolla at some point, maybe around the beginning of AX next year. But damn the dust from the OEM pads is crazy. I clean them by hand on Sunday, by Tuesday and about 50 miles they look untouched. (This seems to be a common complaint on the forums.)
Changing Model T tires for a client today.
They're clinchers, so no drop center, so they can't be done on a tire machine.
In case you didn't know, clinchers have to be stretched onto the rim.
5 wheels and I've done 7 tire changes because it's real easy to pinch a tube with the irons.
I read somewhere that a guy in Henry's factory could install 300 tires in a day. I'd be scared to shake hands with that guy.
8 times
Saved 4 or 5 jobs to apply to over the last day or two, tonight 3 are expired...
Multipart rant:
My manager is leaving the company effective December 2nd. Somehow, that has translated into me being in the office, all of the time, right now! I was working from home on Friday... when the E36 M3 hit the fan.
The reality is the former manager checked out several weeks ago based on what I am seeing. It would almost be easier if he made it effective immediately. Too much stuff is lingering waiting on decisions or actions from him.
We were limited to 40ish hours per week until this week. I have the feeling that this is going to not go over too well when upper management sees 50+ hours on the clock for several folks in the department. Then again, we are actually getting things done.
My E36 M3ass property management company informed me that they would be sending someone to do the annual inspection of the apartment today. I said "cool, I'll be off work at 4, I usually get home at 5. Be glad to let you in."
"No, we'll be there in the morning"
More back and forth and me calling the manager's to complain that I've already lost two weeks of work because of their dumbass scheduling and other bullE36 M3. No change, still gonna be here in the morning.
I just got a text that this clown is going to be here at 1130.
I berkeleying hate it here.
Jerry said:I planned on probably getting different brake pads for the GR Corolla at some point, maybe around the beginning of AX next year. But damn the dust from the OEM pads is crazy. I clean them by hand on Sunday, by Tuesday and about 50 miles they look untouched. (This seems to be a common complaint on the forums.)
Like OE BMW pads. They may (or may not) give you perfect bite at 20dF on your first application, but damn, they will permanently blacken your wheels unless cleaned on a semi-weekly basis.
My go-to for street-driven cars is the Akebono Euro Pro. 90% of the cold performance and 5% of the dust.
The Volvos dust a bit, but not as badly as the BMW. On the other hand, they last about 20,000 miles.
Not a rant, but a head-shaker. Looking for reviews on an aftermarket motorcycle seat. AI pops up and tells me how much riders love a specific seat. I follow the link to the source, and the link got it exactly backwards! Reviews were mixed from meh to yech. There was one fellow raving about how great a competitors seat was, and good, ol' AI assigned the rave to the wrong product.
In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :
AI is a massive E36 M3 show.
In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :
AI is a massive E36 M3 show.
Car insurance bill just came in. Up 20% since June, despite no claims, not adding the teenager, and both of us being in the lowest annual mileage tier.
Guess it's time to start shopping. Yay.
In reply to Duke :
I prefer BMW pads for this reason. They always work. They also don't rust the rotors very much.
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