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

In reply to jfryjfry :

I'd say we don't really have a resolution yet. They towed it in, looked it over, saw that it had recorded an incident, and then it passed all their tests so they handed it back. I'm awaiting a call from a lead tech to go over some of their explanation. I'll fill in more later, once they've had a chance to clarify, expand, and hopefully do something about it.

In reply to DjGreggieP :

I bought a Z like you'd get in 1982 - some rocker rust and one side of the floor pan. I'm getting it running first and driving then I might paint it in Q1 2026. It doesn't have major cancer yet and both rear quarters look great.

I'll never do a rotisserie because I know I'll get bogged down and 7 years later......you know the drill.  

Shoot, I might push some tinfoil into the holes and load up some bondo........

TheRyGuy said:

I have no idea what to get the wife for Christmas, the only day I have free this week for shopping is Saturday... And I'll have my 17 month old with me... 

Definitely a first world problem, and my fault for not figuring it out earlier, but...

The Dancer is surprisingly adamant that we not get each other Christmas presents- which is difficult because I love finding things to get for her throughout the year... but now I just get them when I find them (as I have) and then give them to her pretty much right away. 

No Time said:

Insurance company #1 had my auto and homeowner policy since 2017ish. They decided to non-renew the auto based on claims due to my son and wife. 

The best rate I got was with Flo, and moved my auto insurance. So far so good...

My wife's employer had a benefits fair and there was an insurance agent she spoke with that was a local rep for Flo and could provide quotes for moving homeowners to Florida to get more of a discount on the auto. Great, any savings helps with the current cost. 

Quote looks good, move to Flo and cancel insurance company #1. Flo send an inspector out to look at the house the week of Thanksgiving with no notice. 

Today I get a call saying I need to replace my roof to maintain coverage. After a bit of discussion the rep tells me the inspectors photos show tarps on the roof and deteriorated shingles. She sends me an email with the description saying ther shingles are discolored, missing aggregate, missing shingles, and shrinking (huh?).

I know why the shingles missing aggregate and look discolored. The inspector and underwriter had no clue what they were looking at and made assumptions. 

The roof covering is a rubber membrane. The previous owner had an issue with ice dams, and due to the unfamiliarity of contractors with the roofing system (2' wide insulated panels with sheathing that run parallel to the ridge and secured to 4x6 beams spaced on 24"), they went with the membrane. 

I call back and explain the situation to the rep. She puts me on hold to contact the underwriter to find out how to resolve this misunderstanding. When she comes back on the line the resolution is the Flo is cancelling my homeowners because they will not sure home with a membrane roof. 

So I cancelled my previous policy that wasn't an issue, and now Flo Is cancelling me. I chose to email the local agent rather than calling to avoid saying something that would be unhelpful. 

They couldn't have figured this out when I gave the info to the agent about roof when getting the quote?

Of course I haven't received the refund for the previous policy, will need to pay for a new policy up front, and will probably get a bill from Flo for an increase in my auto insurance since it's no longer bundled with my homeowners. 

Have you made any headway on this? Just today a coworker mentioned that his insurance carrier threatened him with cancellation if he didn't replace his aged but intact roof within about four months. Sure enough, he just recently switched to Flo.

I'm sure there are sketchier carriers, but that's the only one I've ever felt was openly, shamelessly trying to rob me.

I've been struggling mentally with a bunch of things the past year +. One of the many things I don't do well is read bills. They come in, I pay them and go on with trying to function like a person. I got an oil delivery today, my second this winter, and somehow if I don't have a contract with the company anymore they still make automatic deliveries but charge $4.98 a gallon.  How is heating oil, with no highway taxes or anything almost $2/gallon more than diesel?  

ugh. am I sick again? Been coughing since Saturday, now feels like I have bronchitis but without feeling sick. I've also been on antibiotics for the root canal since Thursday so if I am sick it's not bacterial.

Show me how much you care about your job quality...

Awesome! That's some top-notch I don't give a E36 M3.

I always dread the run-up to the holidays. 

We leave in a few days for our usual circuit of the region to visit my relatives West a bit and The Dancer's up North. 

1. Only a handful of the mountain of presents we need to wrap (at least half of which need to be done before we leave- the other half can, in theory, be wrapped when we're at my relatives' since we don't need them wrapped until we get up North a few days later) are wrapped. I've wrapped all of the ones that have been done- and despite the fact that I know she'll complain about not getting to wrap many/any, I know that The Dancer's schedule for the time until we leave is packed full and she'll be unlikely to have time to do much of it. Which isn't entirely a bad thing, since I'm actually a bit better at wrapping (writing the tags not so much...).
2. On Monday her truck started behaving weirdly and threw a CEL. We made an appointment to take it to the dealership as it's still under warranty and the problem sounded to me like it was something with the cooling system which a) is under warranty and b) as such I'm not going to being to berk with. When we got there (I met here there to drive her home), they told her it would likely be 48 hours before they could look at it. She'd done a bunch of Googling and found a thread that seemed to match up with what was happening, and when they pulled the code it seemed to corroborate what she'd found: disconnect the battery for 15 minutes and clear the code and it will be fine (for a while) so she decided that was what we were going to do. To her credit, that did get the truck working normally again... but the underlying problem was almost certainly that the thermostat had stuck open and I know that's not something disconnecting and reconnecting a battery will fix permanently, so I worry that it's going to start acting up again right before we leave. 
3. One of the cousin's kids requested another of the articulated 3D printed dragons like she had asked for last year and I'd printed for her, and it was hinted that her sister would really like one as well. Printed the first one out without any issues, but could not get the 2nd one to get more than a few layers without the extruder refusing the properly feed filament. After a few days of messing with the printer when I had time, I narrowed it down to the nozzle apparently being partially clogged- and of course I didn't have any replacement nozzles of the style that the newer extruders needed. So I found some that Amazon would deliver overnight and ordered a few other things I could use to push the order total up high enough for it to be free. The delivery time was to be between 4am and 8am... and of course they came right at 4am, waking up The Bat who decided that she needed to go out since she was already up. 
4. The Dancer is still not fully recovered from the flu (presumably) that she got really bad just before Thanksgiving, and I worry a bit that I'm starting to come down with something as well. If I've finally managed to catch what she has/had and it hits me anywhere near as hard as it did her, this trip is going to suuuuuck. Hopefully I'm just run-down from not getting enough sleep and the stress of trying to make sure that everything we need to do/get before we leave gets done/gotten.

What's up with Zillow?

On November 18th, they reduced the estimated value of my home by 16.5%.

Nothing significant has happened to affect property values in my area and they were already 5.2% lower than Red Fin's estimate before the reduction.

My dad lives just a few miles away from me and the house next door to his is about to close escrow. 

Um, it listed at 1.58M and Zillow is currently estimating its value to be 631K...that's 60% below the list price and given that the house was only on the market for three days, it likely sold for at or above the list price.

I know, I know, Zillow, Red Fin, etc. are just toys but I'm seeing numbers that are so wildly far off that I have to wonder what Zillow is up to.

BTW, I've long known that Zillow revises history...for example, they'll say "we think XYZ house was worth XYZ on XYZ date" but I keep records and no, no that is not even close to what you claimed on that date. 

In reply to RX Reven' :

Zillow is a silly toy, but if they're taking part in a conspiracy to deorbit home prices back to sanity I'll root for them

I really dislike being around people with zero wheelchair etiquette. Earlier in the week I was pushing my wife's wheelchair through an amusement park, and I had to deal with: 

1) groups of people who come to a complete stop in the middle of a road or sidewalk instead of moving their butts off to the side so they don't impede traffic. That's bad enough for foot traffic, but it's *really* a problem when you're pushing a wheelchair. 

2) tourists letting their kids run rampant, darting in and around the wheelchair and changing directions quickly in front of it.... Even letting them change directions multiple times in front of it when I have already alter my path to go around them, the little rugrats get in the way *again*.

I literally ran over some feet by accident

Why are some pickle ball players so militant?  Its a freaking game. 

JoeyM said:

 

I literally ran over some feet by "accident".

I hope this is closer to the truth.  Pain is an excellent teacher.

My friend likes to say "Ignorance should be painful".

In reply to JoeyM :

Some people need running over.  One night we were struggling to get out of a mall and she kept saying excuse us while I pushed over and through people. 

JoeyM said:

 

1) groups of people who come to a complete stop in the middle of a road or sidewalk instead of moving their butts off to the side so they don't impede traffic. That's bad enough for foot traffic, but it's *really* a problem when you're pushing a wheelchair.

This has become epidemic. People stopping at the entrance or exit of stores, or blocking entire sidewalks while they stand there socializing. I was on vacation recently and every evening we'd have to push our way through groups and families who thought it was a good idea to block the entire walk way as they stood around and chatted. WTF is wrong with these people?

In reply to Peabody :

I've hit that exit door at a fast walk, just to prove a point.

Makes me feel all warm inside. 

I mean, self-absorption in general has become epidemic.

berkeley you and your family reunion.  Get the hell out of the isle, I need Funions.

ShawnG said:

In reply to Peabody :

I've hit that exit door at a fast walk, just to prove a point.

Makes me feel all warm inside. 

I have resorted to comments and smart ass remarks when people do things like that. I am always on the ready to tell the woman who stops in the store entrance/exit, this is a walkway DO NOT stop here, or just DO NOT stop here, in a fairly loud voice. Or to the guy/couple/whatever  taking up almost the entire aisle, between them and their cart while they try to decide which flavour of pop tarts to buy, you know, if you move over just a little bit you'll block the entire aisle, and nobody will be able to get by. 

On vacation one night I walked back to the room and stopped at the family that was taking up the entire 20' wide walkway and waited for somebody to move. On of the daughters realized what was going on and did. On the way back I did the same thing, and put my hand on the shoulder of the Dad. You are completely blocking the entire sidewalk when there's an empty area right behind you. Keep up the good work, as I patted him on the back and called him a berkeleying idiot. They didn't move.

When Mrs. O'lady sees somebody acting like that she walks the other way because she knows what's going to happen. I'm getting really nasty in my golden years

You can all get off my berkeleying lawn this week

In reply to Peabody :

You still make comments when people block the aisle? 

I was in a hurry last week and ran through Walmart for something. berkeleying moron was blocking an entire aisle with his cart to play a game on his phone. Not shopping , not talking, playing Pokemon berkeleying Go. I just kept hitting him with my cart until he got the hint to not block the berkeleying aisle. 

I'm done suffering fools. 

I consider it altruism, because maybe the brainless waste of oxygen will think before he decides that the freezer section is his personal lounge the next time. Probably not, because people are berkeleying stupid and don't learn anything if it doesn't hurt severely, but I can hope.

It's probably a good thing I don't have the excursion anymore, I can definitely see me parking it on top of someone's vehicle that's taking up 3 spaces for no reason. 

RevRico said:

In reply to Peabody :

You still make comments when people block the aisle? 

We're too polite up here. Most people won't say anything 

In reply to Peabody :

People are inconsiderate asses. When they are, I don't mind returning the favor.

I'm not a small person. At 6'2" and 360 pounds with a slight case of RBF, I can move through a crowd just by walking. People move. When groups stop in doorways or exit paths, I just keep walking right through the middle of their group. If there is a decent crowd, I frequently have people following in my wake, and that breaks the groups up.

RevRico said:

In reply to Peabody :

You still make comments when people block the aisle? 

I was in a hurry last week and ran through Walmart for something. berkeleying moron was blocking an entire aisle with his cart to play a game on his phone. Not shopping , not talking, playing Pokemon berkeleying Go. I just kept hitting him with my cart until he got the hint to not block the berkeleying aisle. 

I'm done suffering fools. 

I consider it altruism, because maybe the brainless waste of oxygen will think before he decides that the freezer section is his personal lounge the next time. Probably not, because people are berkeleying stupid and don't learn anything if it doesn't hurt severely, but I can hope.

It's probably a good thing I don't have the excursion anymore, I can definitely see me parking it on top of someone's vehicle that's taking up 3 spaces for no reason. 

I've been thinking of joining a gym, but am afraid that I'd end up in jail after throttling someone who has to set up shop on a bench or machine for ten minutes at a time as he sends text mesages between sets.

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

I read that in between sets on the preacher bench...

I have approached people in the past. Are you working out, or are you texting?  We're waiting for this machine. Most have been quite apologetic.

What really pisses me off is when people use a bench as their personal storage shelf when they're not even working out on it.