Minor Win thread - Life is good!

In reply to Recon1342 :

That might be considered a major win.

In reply to Chesterfield :

Probably. 

My dad got to come home today!

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

Outstanding news!

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

berkeley Yeah!

My Husqvarna saw finally laid down last week and while it's getting a new piston I figured I'd keep an eye out for another saw to have as a backup.  Found an Echo 6700 on CL for $190.  Go to the dudes house and this saw is a bruiser!  Comes with two extra bars and 6 extra chains and a pile of other spare parts.  Starts on the third pull and I'm happy to hand over his full asking price.  He has a Stihl MS250 sitting there as well and I ask him how much.  $160 and I'll have that as well thank you.

These older, heavily built saws kick ass.

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) :

That Stihl is a killer saw. I woulda bought that over anything. But...since you bought all the saws.   

I just want to thank my parents for instilling in me a level of cheapness that has served me well so far in my four decades. Dad told me years ago Social Security won't exist for me, so start saving now. I started saving for retirement at 20. I haven't been able to contribute anything in the last five years due to getting my own business off the ground, but thanks to the head start decades ago we're still looking good. I just refinanced my house and it felt damn good being able to supply all those bank statements. I've never made the big bucks, but I always took full advantage of any retirement plan offered at my jobs. Thanks Dad.

Watching Hot Rod Garage last night I heard my wife actually crack up at some goofy comment that Lucky Costa said. 

It kind of made a crappy day better for me.  

Lawn tractors both ran fine today, dirt bikes ran fine today, tractor ran fine today. I was feeling optimistic so I decided to fire up the snowmobiles for their mid summer check. They ran fine too. I may be cursing myself here.

I have been holding off on posting this, just wanting to be sure it was actually happening. I applied for and got a new job. It's pretty berkeleying cool and I don't have to deal with grocery store bs anymore. I'm not 100% sure that I'm not dreaming. 

In reply to EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) :

Congrats!

In reply to stanger_mussle (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks man! 

Yeah, that's awesome!  I hope it's everything you want it to be. 
 

EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) said:

 I applied for and got a new job. 

Congrats!

I got 4th fastest raw time at the autocross yesterday 

Neon just did a mile under it's own power!!!

500 miles on the cars Facebook marketplace special engine swap. Everything still looks and sounds good. Apparently sitting 25 years didn't kill the ol 302 

My Miata is all one color and back in one piece!

Of course, I can only see its flaws, but I'm super happy to be able to drive it again!

Minor rant:  Lost a 10 mm Kobalt socket at the rally this last weekend.  Lowe’s is phasing our sales of individual sockets (and maybe Kobalt socket sets in general).

Minor Win:  Someone on eBay appears to have bought a bunch of closeout sets and is selling them piecemeal.  My new, matching 10mm socket should be here by the end of the week.

My company just guaranteed 3rd quarter bonuses for management. That's a big commitment

It's coming up on show time for The Dancer's non-profit (assuming things don't go back to hell and they shut the state back down...), so we had a few late nights banging out all of the media for it: posters, fliers, a few banners since it's an outdoor venue, and yard signs (the last two we'd never done before). Got the files sent off to the printing company and crossed my fingers that they didn't come back and complain about bleeds, file dimensions, etc.

Got an email back from them the next day. The company had changed hands and we're now dealing with the new owner, who so far had not exactly endeared himself to The Dancer since almost right off the bat he'd told her that after this round he might have to look at charging more for our printing (which honestly if it wasn't a huge increase I didn't think was out of line since we've paid pretty much the same price for things for like 5 years). But the email he sent back in response to the files we sent was almost embarrassingly glowing in its praise- apparently we're the first group that has sent him completely print-ready files that don't require them to do more work to tweak before printing, and he also thought that the posters were some of the best looking he'd seen and said, "You guys must have one of the best graphic designers I've seen work from."

Given that said graphic designer is me (with The Dancer sitting behind me explaining what she wants) and I've had zero truly formal training in it, that felt pretty good.

Cycled with some friends from the Mt Hood (EDIT: Mt St Helens! D'oh.) Learning Center to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, parking at the former. All groups had driven separately, of course, and two of us left our cars there while the third group had some non-cyclists who went to the observatory to hike and take water and food up for us.

That's already a win, but what really restored some faith in humanity was the end of the day: One of the riders had bitten off rather more than expected, so we were pretty far behind schedule. When we got back to the learning center, the parking lot gate was shut. We were looking at the several-hundred-pound rocks on either side and thinking silly thoughts, looking about for some kind of after-hours, "who to contact now that you've blown it" sort of info... My buddy and I rode over to our cars across the lot and I saw what I assumed was tickets on the windshields. We had, after all, left them beyond the 5:00 closing...

He picked his up and read it to me.

Hi there. The learning center and parking lot close at 5:00. We tried to find you but were unable to. The gate is closed, but not locked. If you are the last car leaving, please lock the gate after you.

Not only did they not ruin our evening, they prevented us from ruining our own evening. And given the general mood and feelings on humanity in general so much of the time, I'm just so grateful that they had enough faith in humanity to leave us to lock up, which we of course did. Our locking up is a much smaller contribution to good will than their extension of trust, but hopefully it's positive feedback. I'm trying to figure out whether I can send donuts or something without getting anyone in trouble... (hoping the anecdote in a random car forum isn't going to, either )

Decided to turn in my coffee can of change that I've been filling for the past two years, hoping to help with the coin shortage going on. Netted a nice $156.42 for it. All those coins add up.