Apparently my insurance people learned I'm no longer a 21 year old male (a 22 year old male now incase you were wondering), so my insurance went way down. I'm perfectly ok with this.
Apparently my insurance people learned I'm no longer a 21 year old male (a 22 year old male now incase you were wondering), so my insurance went way down. I'm perfectly ok with this.
In reply to Daylan C :
Good, tell mine. I'm almost 40 and I'm at $2000/yr with a clean record.
In reply to Knurled. :
Sounds like you need to find a better zip code or different vehicle...
My vacation has been good for my soul.
Hung out with stafford1500 all day.
Chili for dinner, and fixing to watch fast 8.
See stampie and asa in the morning.
Just in a good place again
Finally.
In reply to Knurled. :
Dude, insuring what?? I’ve got two cars and a scooter and my classic truck insured for about $1100/yr. only full coverage is the truck. How’s your credit? That can knock it about sometimes which is BS in my opinion.
WHOOPEEEE! I just bought winning tickets for tonight's MegaMillions Lottery And tomorrow's Powerball!!!
dculberson said:In reply to Knurled. :
Dude, insuring what?? I’ve got two cars and a scooter and my classic truck insured for about $1100/yr. only full coverage is the truck. How’s your credit? That can knock it about sometimes which is BS in my opinion.
I am 39, single, not a homeowner, and I have a single Volvo on full coverage at 15k/yr and a single RX-7 driven 5000mi/yr stored not at my place of residence, on liability.
Liability only, I'd be at $1200/yr. Insurance was the same for the S40 as the S60R, as far as they seem to be concerned it's just an S60.
If you are not married and not a home owner, you are a piggybank.
In reply to Knurled. :
I'm insuring my '99 Malibu liability only and my '91 Bravada shell purely so I get multi car discount. Probably going to change again next week as the Bravada I just sold comes off and the 2000 Dodge beater truck goes on. I'm single, not a homeowner, but I'm also a student. I've got one at fault accident on my record from like 3 years ago. That puts me at roughly $97 a month. It was $138 until this month.
In reply to Knurled. :
Any chance you can get renters insurance and end up with a lower overall bill? Multiline discounts really add up sometimes. What carrier are you with?
Engine is in the miata!!!!!
I've been off from work for almost two full weeks for the holidays (last day I worked was Dec. 23), and today was my first day back at work. I spent almost all of the time off from work with my wife, nearly a full 24 hours' worth of that time in a car (along with our dog)- probably no more than 8 hours total out of the nearly 2 weeks time was spent apart from her between our time at her parents' over Christmas (and the 10-hour drive to and from there), time spent at home (most of it, unfortunately, fairly sick) between Christmas and New Years, and our 3 nights out in a Yurt in a nearby nature area over New Years.
Now that I'm finally back in at work- I'm sad to not be spending as much time with her, and while this itself makes me a bit sad the fact that this is still the case after over 3 1/2 years of marriage makes me pretty happy.
Toyman01 said:The long version.
We went to a pre-bid meeting at the largest hospital in the area this morning. They were accepting bids for the maintenance contract for all of their doors. About 10 thousand of them.
It's a hospital we used to serve, but when they went to a contract basis, we decided to not bid the contract, due to some ridiculous contract requirements we felt were beyond our capabilities. I told the engineering department at the time, I didn't think any company could provide what they wanted, because there weren't enough qualified techs in the state to satisfy the contract and the penalties for defaulting were extreme. The only contractor to bid was owned by a fishing buddy of the head of facilities management for the hospital. Naturally they got it. That was three years ago. It turns out I was right. There weren't enough people in the state. The contractor that won the bid did a poor job of servicing the contract. They were constantly behind schedule, and constantly failing to repair things properly. They ended up in a pissing match with the security company. The engineering department couldn't fire the contractor because they facilities manager protected them, and engineering works for facilities. The entire situation turned into corporate politics and cover your ass. I was glad we were out of it, there was enough mud slung that everyone ended up covered. Every time the contract came up for bid, engineering would call begging us to bid it. Every year we refused. Stale mate, with the hospital getting screwed.
Then the head facilities manager left for another job...
Three months ago, the contract came up for bid again, unchanged. And again, nobody bid it except the same contractor that everyone hated. We got a call from the new facilities manager asking us why, so we had a sit down meeting and discussed with them exactly what the problem was and why they weren't getting any bids.
We got a call last week asking if we would please review the new contract. They were putting it up for bid again. This time they rewrote the contract and removed all the requirements that were causing most companies to not bid. They set up a pre-bid meeting with a requirement that if you were going to bid, you had to be present for the meeting at 10am. We showed early as did two other companies. The contractor that has had the contract showed up 10 minutes late. They were kicked out of the meeting and are no longer allowed to bid. That may have been the happiest meeting I have ever had with hospital employees. I'm pretty sure every engineer and maintenance tech for the hospital, found a empty room and danced a jig.
One of the companies that was present, has elected to not bid. They are a supplier, not a service company.
The other company is a international outfit with one local tech. One of the requirement of the new contract is the ability to provide manpower for two separate after hours emergency calls with in 4 hours of dispatch. They can't do it. We can.
We might be in like Flynn and this will be a big one with a automatic renewal for 5 years. It will also give us all of the hospitals in town and half of them on this side of the state.
The other meeting I had today was with Boeing. It was also a good meeting. They replaced a 20 something with a 50 something. We now have a process for tracking work orders that will work for everyone rather than just the 20 something. No more texting stuff. No more lost work orders.
Today was a good day.
TLDR:
Say no when it's required. Money isn't everything and sometimes the customer is wrong.
Bide your time, what goes around, comes back around.
Don't stoop to their level, even if it costs you. Corporate politics are just as vicious as the public version. When the E36 M3 flies, you want to be elsewhere, smelling like a rose.
Don't be late to a meeting that can be lucrative, it can cost you dearly.
Being right can be a wonderful feeling. My wife is gong to think I'm impossible for the next few days.
So, this has come up again. We were high bidder and did not get the contract. It was awarded December the 1st.
Fast forward to January 23rd. We get a phone call, could we please come to a meeting on the 24th in reference to the door contract.
It seems that the winning bidder has decided they can no longer meet the terms of the contract and has backed out. What a shame.
Yesterday I installed, in 2 of my Nerf dart blasters, replacement spring upgrade kits going from the stock Hasbro springs of 2.5kg, to 7kg springs. The Sharpfire (smaller single shot blaster) went from a maximum useful point-blank range of maybe 18 feet to about 40 feet!!! And, when using proper nose-heavy darts (Ekind Waffle tips, for anyone who cares) I can hit a "person" sized target 10 out of 10 shots at ranges from 0 to 40 feet with using a single COM aim point, flyer darts not withstanding. And if that isn't impressive enough, at 30 feet it is shooting 6 inch groups (in Nerf blaster terms, this thing is now shooting laser beams).
For the Retaliator (big blaster with a big and efficient cylinder/plunger) I installed the Orange Mod Works Stage 1 and Stage 2 kits with a 7kg spring. This thing is going to sting a bit at 30 feet and leave red marks on bare skin at any range under that. But wowsers!!! Using the NF Strike V5.0 darts (the purple ones) it now has an effective direct-fire range of about 50 feet with better than 50% hits at that distance, COM dead hold range of 0 to 45 feet, and can provide effective covering fire and area denial fire at 75 to 80 feet. I'm still giggling to myself about what it possible when grownups start playing with kid toys.
Now, if I can just find enough like-minded folks ,from about ages 12 and up, to get a Tulsa/north-east Oklahoma based Nerf war club started... I was surprised to discover there isn't one. Most major metropolitan areas have huge active clubs.
Ran out today to do a side hustle gig. Left the house at 2 and was home by 3:30 and made $125. I need to do more of those.
Texas Tech and NC State both won against big opponents on the road. Always root for the cow colleges when you get a chance.
In reply to WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed :
Have you tried the scar barrel mod yet? Slows down the darts slightly, but the added spin does improve accuracy /consistency substantially. Sounds like you have achieved some pretty decent accuracy anyway, but it's a fun & easy mod. We've done it to a sledgefire and plan to add one to the zombiestrike longfire that is currently getting the jetblaster alpha kit (workermod 14kg spring + stock spring).
Saw a college buddy last night, had a couple beverages and caught up on life. Started today with an 8-mile run. Negative splits the whole way, last mile was an 8:19 which is the fastest mile I've done in a while. I'm in pretty good shape for a 51-year-old.
In reply to Crxpilot :
Hokies beat 10th ranked UNC last week! Moo!!! 
Went for a hike today with Tiger Mom and our new 4 legged kid.
A neat little trail system down by Asbury College. A bit muddy but really pretty. And the dog behaved herself when meeting her canine brethren.
Finally got to start seeing The Grand Tour today. I missed those guys.
In reply to EastCoastMojo :
Haven't started any scratch-built mods yet. I'm still figuring out what's possible with manufactured upgrade kits. Although, just this morning before heading to work, I took apart the little Snapfire I got last night for $5 removed the AR and installed a leftover Firestrike spring (with 2 coils cut off) on top of the stock spring. HOLY CRRAPPP!!!!! This little thing shot an accufake dart from my garage door all the way across the street and hit the neighbor's car in his garage!!! That was about 85 feet with no more than a 20* elevation 
In reply to WildScotsRacingCampbellCougarSeed :
Nice! It's amazing what a hopped up nerf gun can do. The longfire that we just modded now has a range that is greater than our yard (1.5 acres) and leaves a welt at ~30ft (yes, I shot my hubby in the back. Full disclosure, he asked for it). We are going to have to take it to a local park to see just how far it will shoot.
After 2.5 years of hard budgeting and scrimping and a couple of generous inheritances we've finally done it and have the paperwork to prove it. We're DEBT FREE!
I own everything in my possession. And now when I make car payments (to myself, in my savings accounts) I'll be earning interest instead of paying it. And now my wife has the ability to be the stay at home mom she wants to be once we have kids. No need for her to keep working outside the home.
If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited.
That is absolutely berkeleying amazing!!!!
ShawneeCreek said:
After 2.5 years of hard budgeting and scrimping and a couple of generous inheritances we've finally done it and have the paperwork to prove it. We're DEBT FREE!
I own everything in my possession. And now when I make car payments (to myself, in my savings accounts) I'll be earning interest instead of paying it. And now my wife has the ability to be the stay at home mom she wants to be once we have kids. No need for her to keep working outside the home.
If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited.
berkeley. Yes!
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