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

After a good while of not going anywhere in it, when I went to make a quick grocery run in the E46 last week I found that the cluster was again not working- and this is the replacement one (I've still not taken apart the old one to try and figure out what its deal is). Great, I both need to find another one (not easy/cheap) and figure out what keeps killing them. Then I went out to get groceries again last night- and it was working perfectly. Can't really complain- but at least some consistency would be nice. Also can't tell whether or not tightening up the bolts on the exhaust junction helped with the leak or not- I don't think it solved it, but i think it's tighter now and only is a problem when the exhaust really heats up after driving for a bit (which doesn't happen on the short grocery runs I make most of the time). I have the gaskets to hopefully fix it- but it's either been below freezing or raining for the last 3-4 days and I have to do the work in the driveway since the Infiniti is in the garage to (still) find time to replace the metal on the rear fenders.

Over New Years, The Dancer decided that what we should use the money she inherited from her grandparents for was to buy land to build another rental cabin since her Granddad had loved the outdoors and was really happy about the cabin we already have. After looking around for a while and not finding anything we liked in our price range in the area near the current cabin in Red River Gorge, she found a property that looked surprisingly good and was well within our budget near Mammoth Cave about 2 hours away. After driving out and looking it over and doing our homework on the property and area, we negotiated on the price and accepted the seller's counter. But since the seller lives a few states away and doesn't use email, everything has to be done over snail mail, so we have to wait a while to close- and when we do, we'll likely have to drive an hour and a half to where the closing will be- meaning we have to put it sometime when The Dancer doesn't have classes to teach and I have to either use vacation time or convince my boss to let me use excused absence time (which I should be able to since this is a legal matter- but I've never tried getting approval for something non-medical before).

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Mike (Forum Supporter) :

For shoveling, take a page out of Bernies book and get some mittens. If you need dexterity for short amounts of time, glittens. 
 

They're probably going back. With a clear head, looking at it this morning, I am nearly certain the battery holders were assembled wrong. I reached out to Milwaukee on Twitter, pointed out that the lid on the holder is popping out of the molded in catch when the battery is in, and they just gave me a list of components and a URL for their service center locator.

I have not tried mittens yet, just some really thick gloves. My hands get cold at nearly the same rate with or without gloves. I may give mittens a shot, regardless of whether I buy heated gloves. I was hoping for something driving friendly, and I don't know if mittens work for that.

In reply to wae :

LOL.  I was looking at that very part (or one just like it) while researching my NB2 bumper conversion the other day, wondering WTF?

I thought it was supposed to be a screw of some kind....

Rant #1... still amazed that our little mountain town pretty much closes down with 3-4" of snow.

Rant #2... "stimulus" $$$.  Why can't you just send me a berkeleying check?  Now I have spend 20 minutes setting up an account, providing personal information, and logging into a 3rd party site.  All so I can just transfer the $$ from this debit card to my bank account.  So now I have a $0 account, with all my personal info linked to it in a database it never needed to be in.  Just send me a berkeleying check!  

Duke said:

Came home to find the house 8 degrees below set point and the furnace not running.

Took it apart, removed, and correctly diagnosed a bad inducer motor. I can order the OE part for $130 online but it will be Tuesday before I can get it here.

Called the company that installed the furnace, told them the problem, and gave them the p/n. No problem, they have one on the truck, tech will be there in an hour. There's a $149 service call fee. No problemo.

Tech arrives, immediately confirms my diagnosis, and goes to his iPad to quite the repair.

$1100 PLUS the service call fee.

You're berking kidding me. No problem with the service charge; trucks and techs are not free. But there is no berking way I am paying $950 in labor for 10 minutes' work. It is literally attached to the furnace with 4 screws immediately behind the front panel.

if he had quoted me $500 to install it I would have happily paid. Hell, I'd have paid him $500 for the part and installed it myself.  Instead I thanked him for his time and told him his bosses are morons.

Guess we're sleeping with all the cats tonight.

Update:

Woke up at 6:30a to the house at 55dF.  No surprise since I left the furnace apart and depowered.

Got on the phone at 7:00a.  Had the part in hand by 8:30a for $102.

Part installed and furnace running by 9:30a.  So I just paid myself $380 an hour.

In reply to Mike (Forum Supporter) :

https://www.aerostich.com/clothing/gloves/heated-gloves

Just in case you want other glove options if you have the option to return ones that were not built well. I have not found any really great options.

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:

Duke said:

Came home to find the house 8 degrees below set point and the furnace not running.

Took it apart, removed, and correctly diagnosed a bad inducer motor. I can order the OE part for $130 online but it will be Tuesday before I can get it here.

Called the company that installed the furnace, told them the problem, and gave them the p/n. No problem, they have one on the truck, tech will be there in an hour. There's a $149 service call fee. No problemo.

Tech arrives, immediately confirms my diagnosis, and goes to his iPad to quite the repair.

$1100 PLUS the service call fee.

This is why I have an emergency source of heat and cooling in my garage. Service companies will absolutely bend you over a barrel when you are in a hurry to get things repaired. The ability to take the time to order parts or shop the price is well worth the $500 in appliances I have sitting in the garage. 

Oh, I totally understand the 'need it done now' upcharge, but the tech specifically stated that they didn't change their pricing for after hours or weekend work.

So I guess their pricing is ridiculous all the time, then.  I didn't say that to the tech because he was a decent guy.

Duke said:

Came home to find the house 8 degrees below set point and the furnace not running.

Took it apart, removed, and correctly diagnosed a bad inducer motor. I can order the OE part for $130 online but it will be Tuesday before I can get it here.

Called the company that installed the furnace, told them the problem, and gave them the p/n. No problem, they have one on the truck, tech will be there in an hour. There's a $149 service call fee. No problemo.

Tech arrives, immediately confirms my diagnosis, and goes to his iPad to quite the repair.

$1100 PLUS the service call fee.

You're berking kidding me. No problem with the service charge; trucks and techs are not free. But there is no berking way I am paying $950 in labor for 10 minutes' work. It is literally attached to the furnace with 4 screws immediately behind the front panel.

if he had quoted me $500 to install it I would have happily paid. Hell, I'd have paid him $500 for the part and installed it myself.  Instead I thanked him for his time and told him his bosses are morons.

Guess we're sleeping with all the cats tonight. 
 

A few years ago my furnace stopped working around Christmas. It was still under warranty so I called the local HVAC guys and the tech said your blower motor's pooched, I think we have one in the shop. They didn't, and couldn't get one until the new year, which was about a week.

I have a wood stove in the basement because I love wood stoves. Mrs. P hates them, but sure appreciated it that week.

A different tech shows up to install the motor and calls me downstairs. Have a look he says, pointing inside the furnace. Your motor's fine. That wire somehow came off the board. I'll have it up in 10 minutes.

So not only was I was down for a week on a faulty diagnosis, Mrs. P still hates the wood stove and freaks out every time I try to use it. At least they didn't quote me $1100 because I would have had to punch somebody

1/25/2021

We made it 25 days into the new year before needing to turn on the A/C. 

Well, it wasn't the furnace but we're pretty certainly going to be paying the 'needed it done NOW surcharge'...

About an hour and a half ago I get a message from The Dancer (messaging works well since yelling between floors gets annoying) that there was an alarm in the basement going off. If it were the Nest, I'd have heard about it on the upstairs Nest as well as on my phone, so that ruled out fire/CO- and the only other alarm down there was not one I wanted to hear going off in the middle of a downpour: the sump pump.

Sure enough- it's the sump pump controller. Last time it had gone off, the backup battery was low on water. Checked that- nope, plenty of water. I can see that the water is higher than usual through the radon system cover over the sump, and feel that there is water flowing through the pipe but it's not the usual strong pump noise and whooosh when it drains the sump- so I grabbed my phone and called around to find a plumber to come look at it. Big, fancy plumbing company that I see ads on TV for fairly frequently were the first that I got an actual person and not an answering machine (albeit a very, very tricky computer answering system that very closely mimicked an actual person...), but they couldn't get anyone out until tomorrow sometime (and the guy who answered the phone asked me where the sump pump was in the house... not encouraging...). But a minute later I got a call back from the company who had the tricksy answering system to get the address and send someone right out. I'm sure when we get the invoice from the office for the work there will be an emergency call surcharge- but it was also barely over an hour between when I called them and when they drove away after finishing replacing the pump, so I think I can deal with that- it would have taken me more time to just drive to Lowes, buy a pump, and drive back home much less get it installed properly. The guys who did the work doted on The Dog, so that was a bonus.

I do not like PayPal.

I have a customer that is out of state that wanted to pay me by PayPal because he loves technology and thinks it's just great.

To send me money, it cost him $41. They are holding it for 3-7 for? It seems like they are heavily policing the funds that go thru them now. I hadn't used them in years and probably won't ever again

My attitude sucks today. No good reason,  just absolutely grumpy and pissed off at everything and everyone. 

Facebook Marketplace flakes ruining my plans. 

Almost 2 years ago I found a decent deal on a medium case 4.10 lsd diff for my e30. Didn't need it at the time because I was enjoying the freeway flyer gears since the car was more of a daily. Shipped to me, in a nice plastic crate I tossed it on my shelf. Now that it's more of a secondary or tertiary car I decided to swap the diff in prep for the v8. Well, when I originally got the crate I opened it to verify it was a diff but that's it. I pulled it out this last weekend to find it's a small case diff. It does look like it's an lsd 4.10 but no way in hell would I pay for a small case diff. I'm kicking myself for not inspecting more.

Snow

I think I have to call Lowes about my new dryer.  I bought it back in September and today it took a couple of re-starts before it started to get hot.  This is a gas whirlpool dryer that got good reviews.  Not what I wanted to worry about right about now.  So far in the past 12 months I have replaced the roof, the dryer, the hot water heater, and the furnice.  House is exactly 30 years old and everything is aging out.  I guess I am waiting on the stove next as I replaced the washer a couple of years ago.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

I do not like PayPal.

 

I have a customer that is out of state that wanted to pay me by PayPal because he loves technology and thinks it's just great.

 

To send me money, it cost him $41. They are holding it for 3-7 for? It seems like they are heavily policing the funds that go thru them now. I hadn't used them in years and probably won't ever again

I berkeleying hate PayPal  

I sold a set of forks to a guy in England who’s doing a resto on an old motocross bike. I let them go cheap because it’s a really cool project and I’d never use them anyway. 

He pays then realizes he still has his old address on account. No problem I say, I’ll just refund he money, you change your address and re-pay it. 

I refund the Canadian dollars he paid but since they no longer refund the fees I don’t have enough in my account to cover the refund. So they debit my bank account. It doesn’t matter that I have 40 times the amount in US dollars to cover the difference,  oh, we don’t do exchange on a refund. You sure do when I’m buying something. What’s the difference? 

My head was exploding. I called and flipped out on them. They refunded the fees as a “goodwill gesture “. 

It still took almost two weeks to process the payment. 

I berkeleying hate PayPal 

Waiting in pre-op for total shoulder joint replacement. 
 

Happy it's getting done. But the waiting is a chore-- at least until I get the IV Midazolam. 

Karacticus said:

Waiting in pre-op for total shoulder joint replacement. 
 

Happy it's getting done. But the waiting is a chore-- at least until I get the IV Midazolam. 

Best of luck and medical science to you, man!

In reply to Duke :

Aftermarket parts FTW!

Karacticus said:

In reply to Duke :

Aftermarket parts FTW!

My wife is still waiting to find out when she will be able to make an apointment to get a covid vaccince (supposed to be eligible under state rules but the administration schedule and process is fragmented by counties).  Some of her colleauges have had success by calling around everywhere every day and technically jumping the line.  This process is a mess and I am not happy. 

Sometimes I don't know whether The Dancer is nuts or if I am (OK, probably both). 

We're almost done with our now-somewhat-annual tradition of rewatching The Office, and one of the episodes we watched last night involved one of the characters switching from drinking tea to coffee. The Dancer randomly asks, "So, why do you like drinking tea anyway? And when did you start?" I answered, "I like it a lot better than coffee and need the caffeine kick in the morning, and I don't know- I've been drinking iced tea all my life but don't really remember when I really started drinking hot tea."

"How can you NOT remember when you started drinking hot tea?"

Um.... I'm almost forty-six years old. I've done a LOT of stuff over the course of those years, and remembering when the berk I started drinking a certain beverage that doesn't have any legal restrictions on it is not one of those things that I felt it was important to mark in my memory. It would be like asking her, "When did you first drink Dr. Pepper?" I eventually deduced that it was likely some time in college (and because I'm a huge nerd, it was Earl Grey...), but it was still a pretty ridiculous thing to be giving me a hard time about not remembering. Forgetting what I went into the kitchen to get? That makes sense... but not something unimportant from over 20 years ago. 

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

That reminds me of a rant I have with my wife. She'll ask me a question, and I don't know, so I say "I don't know". She'll ask me a followup or more in depth question, and I'll say "I don't know". And then she'll do it again, and I get annoyed, because the answer is, somehow, still "I don't know".

Sometimes I'll give answer, and state that "I don't know but maybe it was because XYZ?" and state it as a question, as if it could be this because it sounds reasonable, but I don't know if there is any bit of truth to it. She'll then follow up on that and I'll reply "I DON'T KNOW", and she gets annoyed that I don't know. 

Spouses are fun. 

WHY THE HELL NOT?

Ok, fine. Since this leaves a gaping hole in the market, that they themselves refuse to fill, how berkeleyed would I be if I copied their design and made it for sale on my own?