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

Two really, really trivial things that I want to grouse into the void about. Please ignore appropriately.

1. A hatchback with four passenger doors is a four-door or five-door hatchback. I'll take either. It is not a sedan. Same thing's analogue for two/three-door hatch not being a coupe.
2. I hate the term "hat car" for swapping one body onto another chassis. <Gollum>I hates it!</Gollum>

Jesse Ransom said:

Two really, really trivial things that I want to grouse into the void about. Please ignore appropriately.

1. A hatchback with four passenger doors is a four-door or five-door hatchback. I'll take either. It is not a sedan. Same thing's analogue for two/three-door hatch not being a coupe.
2. I hate the term "hat car" for swapping one body onto another chassis. <Gollum>I hates it!</Gollum>

The reason you hate the term "Hat Car" is because it's (word that might offend someone).  It sounds like a phrase David Freiberger came up with, and most of his names for stuff are the same offensive word.

Who the berkeley calls a Malibu a "bu"?

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

Technically, hatchbacks ARE coupes in the original sense of both terms.  A coupe is a cut down car.  Hatchbacks used to be trunk cars (let us not enter into sedan-ness) that had their trunk and part of the roof sliced off at an angle.

Wait, that's what a "hat car" is? I was trying to figure that out. It's called a body swap.  Always has been.

My wife, whom I love endlessly, frequently shops at the local thrift store.  She brings home clothing that is in perfect condition, usually still has the original store tags attached, and is so cheap that it might as well be free.  Occasionally, she buys other things and that's where the wheels seem to come off.  While she did very well on the dining room set - high quality china cabinet with a matching table with two leaves and 6 matching chairs all in like-new condition for around $250-$300 - her other decisions have been less than stellar. 

Last week I had to go pick up this twin bed she got.  Ugly as sin, poorly constructed, beat to hell, and apparently missing some fairly critical pieces. 

Today, she tells me that she bought a desk that I have to go pick up later.  Because, of course, none of this crap she buys will fit in her car and I don't get consulted on it.  She doesn't know anything about furniture and what to look for, so she gets things that are damaged and need repair.  Things that I would have told her to walk away from had I had a chance to review.

So now, on top of everything else I have to do, I've got to go pick up some bit of garbage and drag it back to my house.  Probably after having to fix it in some relatively major way. 

Appleseed said:

Wait, that's what a "hat car" is? I was trying to figure that out. It's called a body swap.  Always has been.

I had assumed this was 'car hat':

wae said:

My wife, whom I love endlessly, frequently shops at the local thrift store.  She brings home clothing that is in perfect condition, usually still has the original store tags attached, and is so cheap that it might as well be free.  Occasionally, she buys other things and that's where the wheels seem to come off.  While she did very well on the dining room set - high quality china cabinet with a matching table with two leaves and 6 matching chairs all in like-new condition for around $250-$300 - her other decisions have been less than stellar. 

Last week I had to go pick up this twin bed she got.  Ugly as sin, poorly constructed, beat to hell, and apparently missing some fairly critical pieces. 

Today, she tells me that she bought a desk that I have to go pick up later.  Because, of course, none of this crap she buys will fit in her car and I don't get consulted on it.  She doesn't know anything about furniture and what to look for, so she gets things that are damaged and need repair.  Things that I would have told her to walk away from had I had a chance to review.

So now, on top of everything else I have to do, I've got to go pick up some bit of garbage and drag it back to my house.  Probably after having to fix it in some relatively major way. 

Have you tried telling her to instead put it under a tarp then go out and look at it every so often while coming up with the perfect plan?

Appleseed said:

Wait, that's what a "hat car" is? I was trying to figure that out. It's called a body swap.  Always has been.

I guess "hat car" is a useful term for "the body donor in a body-swapped car"

Why is it that when you're beat down, overloaded, and stressed to max capacity that people are even less understanding, have no sympathy, and are quick to anger? I don't get it. Give me a break would ya? 

Im out of coffee. 

I bought a limited-edition poster that was on sale for $45. I want to frame it and hang it in my living room. Said poster is 36"x42", and in my searches, I've learned that the cheapest 36"x42" frame is about $150. I really do not want to spend triple what I spent on the poster for a frame.

Art frames are right up there with glasses frames on the "There's Absolutely No Way This Should Cost That Much" scale.

I recently framed several automotive prints and the cost was astounding.  Way more than I paid for the actual art.

Scotty Con Queso said:

Why is it that when you're beat down, overloaded, and stressed to max capacity that people are even less understanding, have no sympathy, and are quick to anger? I don't get it. Give me a break would ya? 

My guess is they are in the same situation and are not handling it as you are. Or they could just be shiny happy people.

You guys need to haunt thrift stores with a tape measure and a cheat sheet of sizes. I've never paid more than $10 for a frame.

I should add that it took considerable digging to find the $150 frames. Most of them were in the $370-$450 range.

NickD said:

I bought a limited-edition poster that was on sale for $45. I want to frame it and hang it in my living room. Said poster is 36"x42", and in my searches, I've learned that the cheapest 36"x42" frame is about $150. I really do not want to spend triple what I spent on the poster for a frame.

You're welcome 

NickD said:

I should add that it took considerable digging to find the $150 frames. Most of them were in the $370-$450 range.

I don't know if they have them where you are but around here they have Michael's craft store that does custom framing. It's expensive, but not THAT expensive. Plus they do 40-50% off custom framing every other quarter. I had 5 or 6 posters of varying sizes (biggest was a foo fighters concert poster roughly 20x35) and it was under 400 for all of them. Nothing extravagent. UV glass and a 1/2" black wood frame.

Michaels did my frames. I had a 70% off coupon and it was still big bucks. No regrets, they look great.

I caught up with an old coworker and he told me his side hustle was that he's a certified picture framer at Michael's in the evenings.  

So somebody has to pay for that training and skill.  

Looks like my wife's winter Explorer E36 M3 the bed. It lost reverse, o/d light flashing and the works.

Best part is it was parked behind my work truck, after a snowstorm and on the only day this week that looks like weather will allow us to work, after I missed a long time from being sick. berkeley.

So I gently rammed it out of the way and had to do all the errands that my wife was gonna do, missing work again.

I have 3 explorers but I've been so damn busy that I didn't get around to fixing the other 2 of them up because, obviously the lowest mileage nicest explorer would be fine for a winter, right?

So now my choices are the Explorer that I've owned forever and has a million miles on it that needs a new rear brake hard line installed, or the AWD explorer that needs a new fuel pump installed. Both are in the woods, out in the open, under feet of snow and it's gonna be damn cold for awhile. My life is so glamorous.

In the meantime I will be activating Emergency Backup Winter Sports Car (zx2) or Emergency Backup Race Car (rampage) for the fastest thing I can get going. And the rampage is really only......car-guy-moderately-safe-with-weak-brakes.

I have got to get some of my projects done and tell everyone else to kindly berkeley off next summer

I just spent an hour chasing a 1/16" error around a computer model of a building I'm designing.

No one but me would ever have noticed it, or cared if they did.

I was holding this little cover in my hand.  My other hand decided it has had enough of my E36 M3 and whacked the cover with the screwdriver I had erroneously trusted it with.  That cover dropped straight down and then vanished.  I've pulled the air box out, fished my inspection camera around, jacked it up and looked underneath.  It's just gone.  I did find a hose clamp that someone else lost at some point, but that doesn't help me.

In reply to wae :

GRM forum is magic.  It just popped out of the wormhole.

Flu - feel like E36 M3.  Can only eat a few grapes.   Did Covid test - no Covid. 

Fricking 'eh.