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

mad_machine said:

Grizz said:

In reply to Toyman01 :

My issues are the exact opposite. It's home depot that's garbage for me and lowes that's great, except all the lowes are usually well out of the way 

I have two home depots and a lowes close to me. The Lowes is great, clean, well laid out, and people know the store. The Home Depots, while well stocked and staffed with good people, are set up totally different and if you talk to the employees.. the other store is set up wrong.

Our Home Depots are similar- both are set up as pretty much mirror images and are REALLY confusing.

We tend to shop more at Lowes simply for the convenience of one being closer as well as being able to use my Dad's discount for the cabin stuff and their being the store that is more generous in donating materials for the Dancer's shows, but I don't have many issues shopping at HD when it's more convenient. The biggest gripe I have with Lowe's is that they don't rent tools like HD does, so when I need to rent something that I'm not going to need to use enough to justify buying myself I have to drive 30 minutes across town to the only HD in town that rents things...

This last weekend was the Dancer's sister's wedding, so we drove up Thursday and back yesterday for the Saturday evening wedding. All told, we probably would have been happier having just stayed here and worked on things at the cabin than up there for all of the things that went wrong and how frustrated things there got my wife. I think that almost every wedding I've attended has strongly reinforced that our choice to get married at the courthouse and have a party for our friends & family to celebrate it a month or so later was absolutely the right choice.

Robbie said:

eastsideTim said:

Thinking that right now I do not have the skill, time, space, motivation, and possibly aptitude, to put together an even mid-pack challenge car right now.

Sometimes the challenge can be a weird beast. The first year I went is still my best placing car. It seems the harder I try the worse I do. Hope to change that this year of course! But remember this is NOT easy. Also, come to the challenge if you haven't been. It can be very helpful to see what the top ten are doing and then how the rest of the cars look. (One will show you how far you have to go and the other will show you how good you already are). 

I think my first was the best I did, too.  Back in 2005, we finished around the top third in a CRX.  I don’t think I’ve done that well since, and at one point I finished second to last.  I built the S10 to run in the truck class in 2017, so if I’d finished it in time for that, there might have been some reasonable competition.  Presumably, I’ll be entering something next year, since I plan on rolling my entry fee forward, but I’ll probably go for the sub-$1000 or gastropod (if it becomes a recurring thing) class next year, and go with something much simpler, so it doesn’t take as much time or space to get ready.  I’ll also be on the lookout for a dual-use vehicle, something that would also be appropriate for a Lemons rally.

Go to doctor on Saturday for lower back pain. Get x-rays done. They think I just need to chill on working out for a week or so. Give me anti-inflammatorys and muscle relaxers.

Get a call today.

"Hi Mr. Wuzzy. We got your xrays back from radiology and it looks like you might have a kidney stone"

#AwE36 M3HereWeGoAgain

Back story: Have had kidney stones since 12. Latest bout of kidney stones happened 2-ish years ago; almost died. No biggie.

If I registered my Cougar as an antique vehicle, I wouldn't have to deal with annual inspections anymore, which would allow me to ignore the fact that the turn signals hardly ever work anymore. There's two problems though. Vintage vehicles in PA are only supposed to be used for "occasional" transportation (defined as one day per week) and special events like car cruises, etc. The second problem is that antique plates only have 4 characters, which means I wouldn't be able to have it say "SLOW CAT" as the current plate does. So I guess I'm going to have to fix those turn signals. 

eastsideTim said:

Robbie said:

eastsideTim said:

Thinking that right now I do not have the skill, time, space, motivation, and possibly aptitude, to put together an even mid-pack challenge car right now.

Sometimes the challenge can be a weird beast. The first year I went is still my best placing car. It seems the harder I try the worse I do. Hope to change that this year of course! But remember this is NOT easy. Also, come to the challenge if you haven't been. It can be very helpful to see what the top ten are doing and then how the rest of the cars look. (One will show you how far you have to go and the other will show you how good you already are). 

I think my first was the best I did, too.  Back in 2005, we finished around the top third in a CRX.  I don’t think I’ve done that well since, and at one point I finished second to last.  I built the S10 to run in the truck class in 2017, so if I’d finished it in time for that, there might have been some reasonable competition.  Presumably, I’ll be entering something next year, since I plan on rolling my entry fee forward, but I’ll probably go for the sub-$1000 or gastropod (if it becomes a recurring thing) class next year, and go with something much simpler, so it doesn’t take as much time or space to get ready.  I’ll also be on the lookout for a dual-use vehicle, something that would also be appropriate for a Lemons rally.

 

Building what you want to OWN is key.one trick ponies tend to be wrought with frustration and disappointment .

I feel your pain on the truck . Been there more than once .

Bought the wrong kind of shaver head.  Thought I had a Mach 3, actually have a Fusion. (Or maybe it is the other way around)  And of course the handles are different.  And I found out after I threw the last of my old blades out because it was dull as a bowling ball.

So, I tried shaving by just holding the blade.  There is a learning curve.

Also  when you accidentally swipe the razor sideways, having 4 or 5 blades means that many more cuts that refuse to stop bleeding.

But, plus side, I look like I'm wearing makeup for Halloween, so there's that.

NickD said:

I'm 4 hours from home for a 2-day autocross. Car ran great both days. Go to get dinner tonight and the charging light is intermittently flickering. berkeleying terrific. Do I chance it and try to cannonball home tomorrow or try to hunt down an alternator and parking lot swap it and hope that's the issue?

So, went to diagnose it after dinner, checking belt tension and connections and everything, and the berkeleying ring terminal for the power wire to the alternator is broken. Awesome. So, I ended up vice-gripping the wire to the stud and wrapping the vice-grip with a rag that I zip-tied on. Limped back to the hotel and then found a Lowes this morning, crimped a new ring terminal on and headed home. Between that, the pretty loud exhaust (even with a baffle in the tail-pipe and a resonated mid-pipe) and the ride, I think it may be time to restrict this car to just short jaunts. I'm 1-4 on long roadtrips without mechanical failures over the past 12 months.

slowbird said:

If I registered my Cougar as an antique vehicle, I wouldn't have to deal with annual inspections anymore, which would allow me to ignore the fact that the turn signals hardly ever work anymore. There's two problems though. Vintage vehicles in PA are only supposed to be used for "occasional" transportation (defined as one day per week) and special events like car cruises, etc. The second problem is that antique plates only have 4 characters, which means I wouldn't be able to have it say "SLOW CAT" as the current plate does. So I guess I'm going to have to fix those turn signals. 

At least you can use them one day per week, here in WV it's weekends and public holidays only.

BoxheadTim said:

slowbird said:

If I registered my Cougar as an antique vehicle, I wouldn't have to deal with annual inspections anymore, which would allow me to ignore the fact that the turn signals hardly ever work anymore. There's two problems though. Vintage vehicles in PA are only supposed to be used for "occasional" transportation (defined as one day per week) and special events like car cruises, etc. The second problem is that antique plates only have 4 characters, which means I wouldn't be able to have it say "SLOW CAT" as the current plate does. So I guess I'm going to have to fix those turn signals. 

At least you can use them one day per week, here in WV it's weekends and public holidays only.

Wow, that means Illinois is better at something than at least 2 other states! We have one plate that is fairly restrictive , and "may only be driven to and from an antique auto show or exhibition, service station or demonstration" - but since they said "service station", it is generally agreed upon from those I've talked to that "gas station" can be included in that, and the LEO's just do not care about this at all. 

Then, we have an expanded use plate - they basically can go anywhere for anything from April through October. November through March it is the same restrictions as the normal one, but in most of Illinois you aren't driving it November through March anyways, unless it is to go to a show/demonstration/etc.

In reply to slowbird :

Unless you have a cop living on your street or take the turnpike fairly regularly, I can't imagine it being much of a problem. Look around online, hard, and I'm sure you can find a list of events for most nights. Pretty sure sonic still has a weekly car cruise. Just keep the list in the car, so if you are stopped you're "heading to Carnegie cars n coffee" or whatever. 

Our local laws about classic plates have me confused.  Most of it makes pretty good sense- You need to own a properly registered vehicle, so the classic isn't your main transportation. Limited insurance, so you need to add personal collision coverage, but liability and such is still included. Makes sense.  You are limited to mileage, but its 5k a year, and is written so far down the fine print I doubt anybody cares.

The thing that seems very odd to me, though- The rule used to be, any car or truck at 30 years old can be plated as a classic, but they decided in 2008 that 1988 is the cutoff.  Nothing newer than that can ever be a classic... So, your 1999 Mustang with 8 miles on it and the original tires will never be a classic car.  I'm not sure what bee stung which bureaucrats balls, but I can assure you I don't see a whole bunch of 30+ year old cars on my morning commute.

The explanation, I presume, has to do with the fact that our required insurance provider is a government agency, and who can explain their rationale for anything.

I want people to go back to having blogs. I want to know what my friends are up to and what they're thinking about, but only stuff they want to say badly enough to write a full post for their own blog, and not in a place that invites a snarl of commentary from folks who they only know in passing and just happen to be there because FB...

There's still enough stuff there that's useful that I'm not quite ready to leave, but I'm sick of stopping in to check a direct message or something and just losing twenty minutes in the name of feeling like complete E36 M3 about humanity.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Building what you want to OWN is key.one trick ponies tend to be wrought with frustration and disappointment .

I feel your pain on the truck . Been there more than once .

That's why I quit entering the challenge for a while - I wouldn't have a use for the car afterwards.  That is one upside - I wanted a lowered, V8 S10 anyway, so I have one for now, if I keep it.

In reply to RevRico :

Yeah, it's fairly unlikely I'd ever get in trouble. The only 4 character plate thing is more of a deterrent to me actually. 

This morning I had one good Phillips driver in my tool box. The rest have been borrowed, stolen, broken or gone “full 10mm” on me. Tried digging into the bike to figure out wtf and my one good driver decided to snap. At least I got the mudstain’s carb rebuilt first or I’d have gotten nothing accomplished today. Anyone have a good recommendation for a decent driver set?

Never buy Toro mowers.

Not only did the deck of the berkeleying thing fall off the leveller/height bar twice, but now the starter relay has gone bad. On a mower that is less than a year old.

This on top of everything else I hate about the mower means I'm probably trading it in on a better brand once it becomes mine.

In reply to Grizz :

I have that cheapo British Racing Green $140 push mower from Lowe's.

Bought it last year when I bought my house; so far, so good. Didn't even bother winter-prepping it over the winter and thing spun right up.

I wouldn't mind a slightly fancier Honda with a bag or or riding mower, though.

I have a beat to E36 M3 husqvarna push mower that my mom made the mistake of lending to my sister. She left it out in the rain all the time and when it got it back it smoked and stuttered like crazy. That damn thing starts on the second pull for me every time.

I didn't have a say in the toro, my grandfather bought it but I'm the one who has to use it.

barefootskater said:

This morning I had one good Phillips driver in my tool box. The rest have been borrowed, stolen, broken or gone “full 10mm” on me. Tried digging into the bike to figure out wtf and my one good driver decided to snap. At least I got the mudstain’s carb rebuilt first or I’d have gotten nothing accomplished today. Anyone have a good recommendation for a decent driver set?

I'm really liking the hardened tip Craftsman screwdrivers from Lowe's I picked up recently

mtn said:

BoxheadTim said:

slowbird said:

If I registered my Cougar as an antique vehicle, I wouldn't have to deal with annual inspections anymore, which would allow me to ignore the fact that the turn signals hardly ever work anymore. There's two problems though. Vintage vehicles in PA are only supposed to be used for "occasional" transportation (defined as one day per week) and special events like car cruises, etc. The second problem is that antique plates only have 4 characters, which means I wouldn't be able to have it say "SLOW CAT" as the current plate does. So I guess I'm going to have to fix those turn signals. 

At least you can use them one day per week, here in WV it's weekends and public holidays only.

Wow, that means Illinois is better at something than at least 2 other states!

I was rather surprised by that, too. Having only lived in NV before - where you can get a classic plate and still effectively DD a car, but get the perk of not having to smog it if you drive it for less than 2500 miles annually - this feels restrictive. OTOH the two motorcycles that have antique plates haven't done any miles this year the plate is good for quite a long time.

First day back after a week off on vacation, and my truck left me stranded at the gas station with a no crank no start condition. Having no tools on hand, about all I could do in the way of repair and diagnosis was attempt to jump it, check grounds, and beat the starter with a spare hitch ball (the best "hammer" I had handy), none of which produced the desired effect. Had to throw in the towel and send it home on a roll back, eventually making it to work 3 hours late and $72 poorer.

I have a sneaking suspicion the <1 year old battery is toast, or at least that's what I'm hoping for since it's under warranty. It's been stewing on the charger all day, so we'll see if it has any juice when I get home. 

This also means that in all likelihood I won't get around to replacing/priming/painting the fascia board on the addition that got eaten by carpenter bees before the gutter people show up on Thursday to hang new gutters. This was why I drove the truck today in the first place, so I could make a Lowes run over lunch. Oh well, it will certainly be more work to do this after the fact, but it will get done when it gets done, I guess. 

First, a minor confession:

Since moving to Florida last December, I haven't been paying attention to my credit score as much as I probably should be.

Now the rant:

To fund the move, I sold my beloved Wrangler that I had owned for 6 years. I paid that loan off and used some of the money leftover to pay off a long standing personal loan. I also sold my F250 to my aunt for what I owed just to get rid of it. I paid that loan off as well. I also paid my credit card off (Military STAR) and closed the account.

So basically, I paid off 4 lines of credit. I'm making over 3 times as much at this job in Florida than my previous job. Its also more than I made on active duty. My income has never been as high and my debt to income ratio was slashed. In that time I missed one payment on my Chase credit card (totally forgot to make a payment).

I received an email on Friday that my credit score had changed. One of the benefits of having a Chase credit card is their credit monitoring tools. I also use Credit Karma but its not very accurate.

So I looked up my Experian score on Chase's website. My score has dropped 129 points since the beginning of this year. The major factors? The 4 lines of credit that were closed which greatly reduced my age of credit. And the one missed payment on my Chase credit card. No collections. No public records. No hard inquiries. I have opened a new auto loan in that time.

Since my credit score dropped, my car insurance premiums have increased.

I feel like I'm being punished for having a better job and lower debt. Credit ratings are such a subjective metric that really don't make any sense. What a BS system

Remember,  credit scores are like automatic transmissions and shocks. No one knows how they work, and anyone who says they do know is completely full of E36 M3. 

Maybe open a line of credit at your bank, say $1,000. Use that to pay your bills. Then, pay the loan. 

In reply to stanger_missle :

Never close credit cards, if you can avoid it.

its okay to pay them off and never use them and eventually they will close them and it won't ding your credit score.

i know it doesn't make sense, but like Appleseed alluded to, none of it does and that's to their favor, not yours.

get back to paying things on time (setup automatic payments if that helps) and eventually your score will recover.