TIL that sim racing with a VR headset gives you Covid. Someone tell Jimmy Broadbent.
Minor rant: I finished up work like 2hr early so I went to the Batcave and got the RX-7 out of hibernation for its spring oil change and once over at work.
The RX-7 has a single key on its ring.
I am pretty sure that I left my other set of keys at work, so I can't get in to my house. I only just now realized this.
I don't have a key for the shop, and even if I did, it would be on the other set of keys.
Little bro is in a difficult spot. I think he knows the right thing to do, but is understandably hesitant. I can't imagine needing to make these decisions.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Best home improvement we've ever made is a push-code front lock. Landlord was totally cool with it, and you can bet we'll be putting another on our next place.
I know he's not technically a one-hit-wonder, but Don McLean totally is that. American Pie is a masterpiece of a song, and nothing he has ever written or sang comes within the same hemisphere of that level of brilliance.
I was listening to another one-hit-wonder a few days ago, many gen Xers will remember it, and try to sing along to the inexplicable lyrics of Marc and Sharon's word salad.
[Marc:]
I was lying on the grass
On Sunday morning of last week
Indulging in my self-defeat
My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged
All twisted wrong and beat
A comfortable in three feet deep
Now the fuzzy stare from not being there
On a confusing morning week
Impaired my tribal lunar speak
And of course you can't become if you only say
What you would have done
So I missed a million miles of fun
[Marc (Sharon):]
I know it's up for me
(If you steal my sunshine)
Making sure I'm not in too deep
(If you steal my sunshine)
Keeping versed and on my feet
(If you steal my sunshine)
[Spoken (on album version):]
[Tim:]
Chad, come here come here, come here
[Chad:]
Wow, look at her
[Tim:]
I know
[Chad:]
Wow, I've never seen Sharon look so bad before
[Tim:]
I did once before but this is pretty bad
[Chad:]
Yeah, what do you think she got up to last night?
[Tim:]
Well, I, "Jared, I love you!"
[Sharon:]
I was lying on the bench slide
In the park across the street
L-A-T-E-R that week
My sticky paws were in to making straws
Out of big fat Slurpee treats
An incredible eight foot heap
Now the funny glare to pay a gleaming tare
In a staring under heat
Involved an under usual feat
And I'm not only among
But I invite who I want to come
So I missed a million miles of fun
[Marc (Sharon):]
I know it's up for me
(If you steal my sunshine)
Making sure I'm not in too deep
(If you steal my sunshine)
Keeping versed and on my feet
(If you steal my sunshine)
I know it's done for me
(If you steal my sunshine)
Not as some and hard to see
(If you steal my sunshine)
Keeping dumb and built to beat
(If you steal my sunshine)
So you listen to that song. It has no melody. It has like two chords. It's lyrics are utter nonsense. They spent $100K filming that video, most on booze, by their own estimation. You can say "Yup, that has one hit wonder all over it. It's catchy, silly, and we all have some nostalgia. Check check and check."
But why Don? Why can't the writer of American Pie come up with anything else? It's like Paul Simon just wrote the Boxer and then that was it.
gixxeropa said:In reply to Duke :
An old dude ripping around on a liter bike may actually be cooler than the Europa
My mom turns 76 in July. She still rides her 1983 CB1000 custom when the weather is nice.
She would also approve wholeheartedly of your Europa.
Finally fully recovered from pulling a hamstring months ago. Building up my lifts. Crushed squats at 305 lbs.
Immediately threw my back out doing a relatively light and stable supplementary exercise (landmine RDL's).
Why can't the writer of American Pie come up with anything else?
He has, but such is the business of pop music.
And even though American pie still makes him a lot of money, it's not even his most financially successful song. Don Mclean is not a one hit wonder by any stretch.
Peabody said:Why can't the writer of American Pie come up with anything else?
He has, but such is the business of pop music.
And even though American pie still makes him a lot of money, it's not even his most financially successful song. Don Mclean is not a one hit wonder by any stretch.
I know, I have heard that. But he still pretty much behaved that way.
Rant: Chest pains when exercising. 3 months of messing around with a cardiologist. 3 expensive tests. Then does a treadmill test last week. Tells me I need a Nuclear Stress Test. Er... Doc, that was the first test I did that was ordered by my primary doctor 4 months ago. That's why I came to you in the first place. Deer in headlights look. Assistant runs out the room and is back in 3 minutes with a printout of those results. Doc looks at it and tells me I need an angiogram. You might need a stent or bypass surgery. Duh, I have been knowing I needed an angiogram for months and the discomfort is getting scary. Then I ask if he does the femoral or wrist method for the catheterization. Femoral he says. Strike two. I'm not waiting for strike three. I was done with him.
Good news is I told my best friend this and he gave me the name of another cardiologist, that did a repair to a hole in his heart via catheterization, and I am going to the new doctor for my angiogram. My primary doc sent the referral to pave the way.
In reply to jharry3 :
I'm curious about the detail of femoral vs. wrist...
Beer Baron 🍺 said:In reply to jharry3 :
I'm curious about the detail of femoral vs. wrist...
Its the puncture site for the catheter they use to thread the probe to the heart. Femoral artery is in the leg, very large, higher risk, more bruising, more painful and frankly scary if I am in the 3% with complications in the artery plug/clamp area. Arm artery entry is the latest technology being used by the more advanced cardiologists. Plus the original doc said he does 160 angiograms a year. The guy I am going to does over 500 a year. Experience and skill set is very important. Finally the original doc's undergraduate degree is a BA in Economics. New doc got an Electrical Engineering degree, did that for a few years, then started Medical School. Being an engineer I like the engineering background.
Final payment on student loan was today. Checked balance and shows payoff of $0.83, but online can only pay $0.82 🤨
Paid $0.82 and now balance is $0.00, Payoff says $0.01, and customer service can't do anything until their system updates.
I just want it to showed Paid off, it's been over 2 decades of paying, and a couple days shouldn't matter, but it irritates me🤬
Damn. I had a small (and respectful) point I wanted to make, but I got interrupted before I could post it, and missed the lock.
In reply to Duke :
And it's those kinds of threads, and there seems to be no shortage of them lately, that I almost never respond to because I know my posts will cause nothing but a E36 M3storm.
What has become of me?
No shortage of rants from the last few weeks I've not been on much, but for now will limit it to the one really irritating me right now.
I'm a structural analyst. In theory, that means my job is to do the calculations and ensure that what we built isn't going to fail unexpectedly and cause injury, death, or costly damage. In practice of course, my job also requires a modest bit of what would be termed Technical Writing- because I have to be able to put the results of those calculations & analyses into reports that convincingly make the case that my work shows what I say it does. I'm good with that- it makes sense and is necessary.
BUT- I am not a Tech Writer. I have nothing against them- but the line between what I should be doing and what they should be is pretty clear. I should not have to be trying to resolve issues and track down information for documents that a) I have not worked on and (more importantly) b) do not include any structural analysis. Expecting me to do so is a waste of my time, especially when I have no shortage of actual analysis work that needs to be done. In short: stop asking me to do your berking job and do it your own berking self.
First really nice day of the spring and I'm stuck driving home behind some shiny happy person cigar enthusiast.
In reply to No Time :
Ouch. I have a similar 'carport', and when it snowed earlier this winter I was very conscientious about going out and using a shop broom to push the 'roof' up from below to get the snow to slide off. I've kind of resolved that I need to figure out a way to reinforce it and keep it from sagging so the snow slides off on its own on the chance it snows a hell of a lot when I don't happen to be in town (i.e., over Christmas).
In reply to gixxeropa :
The DMC's horn is the same way- on the turn signal stalk (well, you push it in- which is even more annoying than a button) and the stock horn was a joke. I put in a much louder HF horn a ways back, but when I re-do a lot of things when I (eventually) put it back together putting a steering wheel with a normal horn button is on the list. As low as that thing is (and as distracted as people can be when they see it) having- and being able to quickly use- a horn is a must.
In reply to tuna55 :
When "Steal my Sunshine" comes on, I hurl the radio on the floor, and beat it with any large object I have available.
What a piece of E36 M3.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Funny, I react the same way with American Pie. 
In reply to jharry3 :
My angio was wrist, no trouble at all. Unless you include the part where the cardiologist said, as I was lying on the table, "We'll keep that picture for the surgeon." Which is how I found out I was getting a bypass.
Streetwiseguy said:In reply to tuna55 :
When "Steal my Sunshine" comes on, I hurl the radio on the floor, and beat it with any large object I have available.
What a piece of E36 M3.
Appleseed said:In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Funny, I react the same way with American Pie.
Funny, I feel the same way about both of them.
Luckily it's been a decade since I've heard either one.
In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :
I really can't complain, it's lasted three winters here in Mass including being lifted up during a blizzard and blown across the yard to land upside down.
I usually use a push broom from the inside to get the snow to slide off, and just hadn't gotten out there first thing in the morning because I wasn't feeling well and it only had about 3" of "snow" on it. In reality it was 3" of mashed potatoes, but I didn't realize until it was too late.
Yes there were a couple of red flags before and during onboarding but I'm an optimist.
A few weird things in my first quarter- but again, I'll keep working hard and it will work out.
10 days into my first quota quarter- one deal in contract that will make my quarter and another moving along. Leading the team by far in every outbound metric. Laid off at 5pm effective immediately because I'm not a fit. Bs. I negotiated a higher base salary than everyone else and you missed your number last quarter so you got rid of three of us to raise EBITDA.
I'm very tempted to get out of software sales. It's the Wild West.
Customer: That room you have been trying to repair the door on is empty. You can get in there to repair it.
Me: Pulls 2 guys off another job and sends them down with the parts to make the repairs.
Customer: Never mind, they already put another person in the room.
Me: *@#&
That's 4 man hours you will be billed for.
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