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

I thought I was all ready to head to Daytona Beach and all I needed to do yet was go grocery shopping, put 20 or 30 gallons of water in the fresh tank, and then fill up with gas and LP at the truck stop on the way out of town. But tonight as I was wrapping up the prep of the RV so those were the only things left to do, I looked back and realized that yesterday when I was backing the coach and trailer back down the driveway at my dad's store, the noise and resistance wasn't the hitch dragging on the concrete. It was the trailer fender getting crushed under the back of his straight truck. Apparently I need a bigger monitor for my rear view camera because it really didn't look like I was under the truck -- close, yes, but not actually hitting it.

The good news, I guess, is that because of the crappy weather in the southeast, we're going to leave on Tuesday morning instead of tomorrow, so I've got time to go take the wheel off the trailer and clearance the fender.

Stumc wrote: text books for college students. bought one for my wife today, $70 dollars for used book about american history, and that was one of the cheaper ones. WTF?! extortionists. its disgusting.

if you think that is bad.. try selling one back. $100+ to buy new, and pennies to sell it back. I once got $10 back on a book I NEVER opened.

The Toyota service manual for the 1988 4Runner contains over 50 pages to rebuilding the automatic transmission. It contains not one page to the HVAC system save for one sad black and white drawing of the AC evaporator. Because no one will ever need to remove the heater core.

Appleseed wrote: The Toyota service manual for the 1988 4Runner contains over 50 pages to rebuilding the automatic transmission. It contains not one page to the HVAC system save for one sad black and white drawing of the AC evaporator. Because no one will ever need to remove the heater core.

Its not just Toyota. Check any manufacturer for heater related function or service bulletins, and there will be a half dozen things about stinky air conditioners, but nothing about how the heater actually works.

Well, I suppose I should have seen this coming. The tea I ordered from Amazon showed up over the weekend, and I made the first cup of it this morning. Unfortunately it seems that not all companies make Golden Monkey black tea the same way as this company's is not undrinkable, but very definitely not the same as what I've gotten in the past from Teavana and our local tea shop. So I effectively wasted $20 since I have to order another package of the actual Teavana Golden Monkey tea.

I'm also thoroughly confused by my new Apple Watch's calorie tracking. Three days last week I went to the gym and worked out- and yet it says I burned more calories yesterday working in the garage (cleaning and organizing) for a few hours and going for a mile or so walk with SWMBO and the dog.

mad_machine wrote:

Stumc wrote: text books for college students. bought one for my wife today, $70 dollars for used book about american history, and that was one of the cheaper ones. WTF?! extortionists. its disgusting.

if you think that is bad.. try selling one back. $100+ to buy new, and pennies to sell it back. I once got $10 back on a book I NEVER opened.

A surprising number of books can be found in pdf form online... free if you aren't concerned about legality. If you need a hard copy just print it at school, tuition is high enough to cover some paper and ink.

This E36 M3 is gettin' outta hand.

PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh police were called Monday morning to a gas station on Baum Boulevard in East Liberty for a report of a man who had been assaulted.

According to police, the 30-year-old victim told officers he had been assaulted in his apartment on Amber Street when an argument about President Donald Trump turned physical.

The man told investigators that his right ear was bitten off, and he ran to the gas station for help. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Officers recovered the ear in the apartment.

Police say they know who the ear-biting suspect is, but have declined to name him while they searched for the suspect and continued to investigate.

A police spokeswoman says she's unable to say at this point whether the victim was pro- or anti-Trump, or which position motivated the attacker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WTF

In reply to fasted58:

In reply to fasted58:

Messed up people have been doing dumb E36 M3 forever. Had there been no Donald Trump the ear would have been bitten off in an argument about whether oxy is better snorted or stuck up your butt. Or something else similarly enlightening.

The Fiat is going to my friend's shop next Monday for a timing belt and related bits. I'm planning on staying down at my parents house Monday night to get to work on Tuesday in case the car isn't done in one day. My mother in law is now hounding my wife to get rid of the car since it's old and needs work. There's no way my wife is parting with this car. I've never seen anyone love a car as much as my wife loved this one. She doesn't need to hear about how it's unreliable just because it's going for routine Maintainance. In 100,000 miles its needed two wheel bearings, a gas cap, and now this. I don't know how much more reliable you can expect a cheap little car to be. All this is doing is aggravating my wife.

In reply to dculberson:

Several years ago I worked with a guy who later wound up murdering his roommate because they had a disagreement about whose turn it was to go buy beer. He won the battle, I suppose, but he still had to go buy the beer so it was a hollow victory. So yeah, stupid always finds a way.

Dont drive with your berkeleying led light bar (or pods) on!! Jesus. They are getting so cheap everyone has one. I got stuck in front of a Honda Element with a light bar on it, they drove with it on ALL the way up to the pass.....

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote:

mad_machine wrote:

Stumc wrote: text books for college students. bought one for my wife today, $70 dollars for used book about american history, and that was one of the cheaper ones. WTF?! extortionists. its disgusting.

if you think that is bad.. try selling one back. $100+ to buy new, and pennies to sell it back. I once got $10 back on a book I NEVER opened.

A surprising number of books can be found in pdf form online... free if you aren't concerned about legality. If you need a hard copy just print it at school, tuition is high enough to cover some paper and ink.

Think twice about printing an entire book at school. 20% of our tuition increases every year were attributed to paper useage.

fasted58 wrote: This E36 M3 is gettin' outta hand. PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh police were called Monday morning to a gas station on Baum Boulevard in East Liberty for a report of a man who had been assaulted. According to police, the 30-year-old victim told officers he had been assaulted in his apartment on Amber Street when an argument about President Donald Trump turned physical. The man told investigators that his right ear was bitten off, and he ran to the gas station for help. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Officers recovered the ear in the apartment. Police say they know who the ear-biting suspect is, but have declined to name him while they searched for the suspect and continued to investigate. A police spokeswoman says she's unable to say at this point whether the victim was pro- or anti-Trump, or which position motivated the attacker. The Associated Press contributed to this report. WTF

I could maybe bite the ear off of anyone that doesn't think the NE Patriots are a lowdown bunch of lying cheaters, but I could never get that worked up over politics.

Wall-e wrote: The Fiat is going to my friend's shop next Monday for a timing belt and related bits. I'm planning on staying down at my parents house Monday night to get to work on Tuesday in case the car isn't done in one day. My mother in law is now hounding my wife to get rid of the car since it's old and needs work. There's no way my wife is parting with this car. I've never seen anyone love a car as much as my wife loved this one. She doesn't need to hear about how it's unreliable just because it's going for routine Maintainance. In 100,000 miles its needed two wheel bearings, a gas cap, and now this. I don't know how much more reliable you can expect a cheap little car to be. All this is doing is aggravating my wife.

The general public still thinks cars are on deathwatch at 100,000 miles. Even DW, who should know better, lets this color her thinking as I search for a reliable but aging car for DD#2.

There are, unfortunately, 2 problems with this:

• People tend to defer major maintenance because they think the car will explode at 100,000 miles anyway.

• 100,000-mile used cars still aren't cheap when you have to budget for the maintenance that was deferred because the PO knew they were going to unload it before it exploded at 100,000 miles.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote:

mad_machine wrote:

Stumc wrote: text books for college students. bought one for my wife today, $70 dollars for used book about american history, and that was one of the cheaper ones. WTF?! extortionists. its disgusting.

if you think that is bad.. try selling one back. $100+ to buy new, and pennies to sell it back. I once got $10 back on a book I NEVER opened.

A surprising number of books can be found in pdf form online... free if you aren't concerned about legality. If you need a hard copy just print it at school, tuition is high enough to cover some paper and ink.

Textbooks have to be one of the biggest rackets going. They roll out new editions and revisions so frequently you're lucky to get ANYTHING selling books back.

I'm sorry, but I highly doubt there is enough that's changed in the fields of basic calculus or physics that requires the text book be revised every other damn year. And of course, if you don't have the latest and greatest edition, your Chapter 7, problem 44 question that was assigned for homework is not going to be the same as the rest of the class (and therefore your assignment will be wrong.)

Complete ripoff.

In reply to Duke:

It doesn't help that my M-I-L spent years driving VWs so she's never kept one past 70,000 miles because that's generally about the point that they are cheaper to trade in than to fix. She was in the Fiat with my wife for it's only serious CEL. My wife stopped at the first Autozone she saw and had the code read, googled the code and drove down the block to the dealer and bought a gas cap. The light went out and she never missed a beat but since then her mother has been calling it an unreliable death trap.

fasted58 wrote: This E36 M3 is gettin' outta hand. PITTSBURGH - Pittsburgh police were called Monday morning to a gas station on Baum Boulevard in East Liberty for a report of a man who had been assaulted. According to police, the 30-year-old victim told officers he had been assaulted in his apartment on Amber Street when an argument about President Donald Trump turned physical. The man told investigators that his right ear was bitten off, and he ran to the gas station for help. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Officers recovered the ear in the apartment. Police say they know who the ear-biting suspect is, but have declined to name him while they searched for the suspect and continued to investigate. A police spokeswoman says she's unable to say at this point whether the victim was pro- or anti-Trump, or which position motivated the attacker. The Associated Press contributed to this report. WTF

My wife is the leader of two Girl Scout troops.

The mother of one of the Scouts called my wife the day after the election to vent her frustration over the outcome. When she didn’t get as much condolence, or agreement, or whatever it is she wanted, she began pressing my wife to say who she voted for. My wife kept saying stuff like “let’s not go there, no good can come from this, let’s keep politics out of the troop” – you’d be proud Margie.

Anyway, the woman wound up screaming at my wife, hung up, and started missing troop meetings.

Well, my wife hosted a troop meeting two Sunday’s ago and while cleaning the pool, I was pleased to look in through the window and see that this woman had returned with her daughter to begin participating in the troop meetings again.

I made a point to casually talk to her in a way that would avoid making it obvious that I knew what had happened while making sure she knew we were good (our two families have camped together multiple times and stuff).

Roll the clock forward to yesterday where my wife told me that she had been contacted by the Girl Scout Administrators and was informed that the woman had submitted paperwork to start her own troop…OMG, what a sneak, she was just on a recon mission!!!

It’s so sad, my wife has kept these girls together for seven years (from Daisies to Girl Scouts) and they’re going to age out in just a few years…why, why screw it up now.

For seven years, this woman had no complaints about how my wife managed the troop (activities, events, everything was great, no problem) but now, apparently, she’s unfit to lead.

It’s like if you’ve been good buddies with some guy for years and then one day he decides to confide in you that he’s gay…I think any reasonable, intelligent person would think oh, so straight guys and gay guys can have common interests and enjoy hanging out together…not, oh, you’re not who I thought you were, thanks for wasting my time tool.

Sorry for the somewhat dark and heavy post in the “minor” rant thread…there is one thing we can get a little chuckle out of….she graduated from…wait for it…wait for it…Berkley!

Duke wrote:

Wall-e wrote: The Fiat is going to my friend's shop next Monday for a timing belt and related bits. I'm planning on staying down at my parents house Monday night to get to work on Tuesday in case the car isn't done in one day. My mother in law is now hounding my wife to get rid of the car since it's old and needs work. There's no way my wife is parting with this car. I've never seen anyone love a car as much as my wife loved this one. She doesn't need to hear about how it's unreliable just because it's going for routine Maintainance. In 100,000 miles its needed two wheel bearings, a gas cap, and now this. I don't know how much more reliable you can expect a cheap little car to be. All this is doing is aggravating my wife.

The general public still thinks cars are on deathwatch at 100,000 miles. Even DW, who should know better, lets this color her thinking as I search for a reliable but aging car for DD#2. There are, unfortunately, 2 problems with this: + People tend to defer major maintenance because they think the car will explode at 100,000 miles anyway. + 100,000-mile used cars still aren't cheap when you have to budget for the maintenance that was deferred because the PO knew they were going to unload it before it exploded at 100,000 miles.

Friend of my wife's has always had new cars. A used Toyota Corolla was her first car. That was likely in an accident before they bought it, from the sounds of it I could have identified it from a mile away. Scared her off of used cars; they're all evil now. Before I met her, she bought a new Corolla. She replaced that with a new Matrix. Her husband (came into the picture 3 years ago; I've been in the picture for 8.5 years) has a used Mazda3 that has been in 2 accidents before he got it, and a used but recent truck. They've never had ANY issues with the Dakota or the 3.

He's looking for a new car, I told him that for what he was looking at new he should get something used that will be nicer, and better (Mazda to Lexus). She overheard and said "but what about what I think? I don't want him in a used car!"

I just don't get it. I'm in a car right now that cost me $700 and a battery. Other than the battery cables being worn out, its been dead nuts reliable. His two cars have been the same, other than a tire leak which isn't the fault of the damn car.

So they're going to go and spend $25k on a new Mazda when they could spend $15k on a used Lexus that gets way better gas mileage. Go figure.

In reply to mtn:

My wife has always bought new cars since college but I can't get too upset about it since she keeps them forever. We put a lot of mileage on them and she's only on her third car in 25 years so I can't give her too much grief.

Wall-e wrote: In reply to mtn: My wife has always bought new cars since college but I can't get too upset about it since she keeps them forever. We put a lot of mileage on them and she's only on her third car in 25 years so I can't give her too much grief.

I mean, I agree with that idea--a new car every 10-12 years isn't bad--but jeebers, he's on his 2nd [used] car in 10 years (still has both!) and she thinks used cars are unreliable?

Or, for that matter, she's had her cars about 4 years on average. I just don't get it. But then other than my wifes car (which I bought at 10 years old) I've only had one car built in the 2000's, and the newest that any of my cars in my lifetime have been was 7 years old. Average about 17 years old. I guess I just shouldn't talk.

mtn wrote: Or, for that matter, she's had her cars about 4 years on average.

Those are the people for whom leasing actually approaches starting to consider making sense.

Appleseed wrote: Think twice about printing an entire book at school. 20% of our tuition increases every year were attributed to paper useage.

NO WAY. They might have attributed it to paper usage but there's no way that's true. A ream of paper - 500 pages - is $3.99 at retail, sitting at the counter of FedEx Office. Even adding in toner that's only another $.02 - $.03/page so maybe $15 per 500 sheets. A student printing a new textbook every month would cost the university about $20/mo. Unless tuition was really, really cheap, they were pulling a fast one.

I keep old data on redundant hard drives, to help protect against losing any of my files. Two of my external drives with overlapping data have apparently failed, so I've now lost an unknown about of info, including some excel files I really wanted to use today

I may have some of this data on some drives from my old computer, but I'm going to have to go out and buy an IDE enclosure and a SATA enclosure to see if they even work, since I don't own a desktop computer anymore, just a laptop.

mtn wrote: I just don't get it. I'm in a car right now that cost me $700 and a battery.

I don't get your point. If everybody bought $700 used cars, there would be no more $700 used cars.

You should be HAPPY that people buy new cars. If not, there would be no used cars to buy.