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

Knurled wrote:

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: Aw E36 M3, guess my time has finally come. My knees are starting to bug me for the first time at the ripe old age of 42. It came out of nowhere this evening during the stop and go rush hour traffic in my manual BMW. Using icy hot. Hope it helps otherwise my fleet of manual cars are going to go bye bye soon.

Learn to shift without the clutch. Makes life loads easier. I have found that seat angle makes a huge difference. I haven't got much issue with, say, the RX-7 or a certain Miata, since I sit all up in the pedal box, but I can't drive VWs or BMWs on anything except good days because they require a full knee extension and toe point since German people apparently have hooves, or size 5 feet max. It also helps that the RX-7 is very easy to shift clutchless up or down, and the certain Miata has a feather-light clutch. Downside is it is mostly my left knee giving trouble. Upside is at least I like automatics.

I'm only thirty damn seven. I just today received the second cortisone shot, this year, in my right knee. Driving more than around an hour absolutely kills me. I would be ruined if not for cruise control. Thankfully riding the bike doesn't bother it at all, unless I need to stand up for any reason.

Torn meniscus in both knees, patella femoral syndrome and now the ortho thinks I have a bulging disk somewhere in the area of L3 and L4 vertebra putting pressure on a nerve.

It's fun when your body quits before you do ain't it?

KyAllroad wrote: 6 weeks ago when my truck was broken into they smashed the back glass to gain entry. Ripped out the stereo and all the change from the ash tray. For what they got I feel leaving the doors unlocked and a $20 on the console clipped to a note saying "here, have one on me please don't destroy my E36 M3." would have been the better choice.

I had an Escort wagon with nothing of value in it that I parked on the street in Brooklyn while I was out work. I left the doors unlocked and one day came out to find someone ripped the lock cylinder out of the door and stole my lunch bag.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I'm only thirty damn seven. I just today received the second cortisone shot, this year, in my right knee. Driving more than around an hour absolutely kills me. I would be ruined if not for cruise control. Thankfully riding the bike doesn't bother it at all, unless I need to stand up for any reason. Torn meniscus in both knees, patella femoral syndrome and now the ortho thinks I have a bulging disk somewhere in the area of L3 and L4 vertebra putting pressure on a nerve. It's fun when your body quits before you do ain't it?

I'm 38. I haven't bent at the knees to lift anything since I was in my teens, maybe early twenties at the latest. Can't do it. On the bright side, this has forced my back to be awesome. I can still touch my toes without bending my knees, and I can lift a hundred pounds off the ground from that point. Because that's the only way I can.

Fortunately, I suppose, I haven't seen need yet to seek medical help for anything. I do get crap about how I lift things at work, though, like the 4R100 today. No, I am going to lift my half of this trans off the ground with my back. I will not lift with my knees because I assume you want me to continue to be productive for the rest of the day and most of next week.

I also get crap over my habit of using a cherrypicker or the forklift to set a lighter trans like a 4L60 onto the trans jack. Maybe takes a little longer, but it is a hell of a lot easier on the body.

And I'm the youngest one there by about nine years!

Knurled wrote:

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I'm only thirty damn seven. I just today received the second cortisone shot, this year, in my right knee. Driving more than around an hour absolutely kills me. I would be ruined if not for cruise control. Thankfully riding the bike doesn't bother it at all, unless I need to stand up for any reason. Torn meniscus in both knees, patella femoral syndrome and now the ortho thinks I have a bulging disk somewhere in the area of L3 and L4 vertebra putting pressure on a nerve. It's fun when your body quits before you do ain't it?

I'm 38. I haven't bent at the knees to lift anything since I was in my teens, maybe early twenties at the latest. Can't do it. On the bright side, this has forced my back to be awesome. I can still touch my toes without bending my knees, and I can lift a hundred pounds off the ground from that point. *Because that's the only way I can.* Fortunately, I suppose, I haven't seen need yet to seek medical help for anything. I do get crap about how I lift things at work, though, like the 4R100 today. No, I am going to lift my half of this trans off the ground with my back. I will not lift with my knees because I assume you want me to continue to be productive for the rest of the day and most of next week.

That's how I hurt my back last year. I always lifted from a comfortable position that I could get without bending my knees too far. My boss yelled at me and told me to grip my half of the 300 lbs. piece lower, which was fine off the cart, however we had to sit it down 8" lower than the cart onto the ground due to the piece being too long to fit in the hallway on the cart. I went down as far as my knees would allow and had to go the rest of the way with my back. I didn't get back up. If I had gripped it where I normally would have, I would have been fine sitting it all the way down. I'll never allow someone else to tell me how to lift anything again. I don't know why I listened to him that time.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: If I had gripped it where I normally would have, I would have been fine sitting it all the way down. I'll never allow someone else to tell me how to lift anything again. I don't know why I listened to him that time.

Had a mild argument with my boss's dad about this last year. The company I work for is two locations, the regular repair facility, and the "race shop" aka machine shop. Machine shop was originally boss's dad's business going back to the 60s, he is in sort of semi-retirement now after selling the business to his son, but there's a very real sensation of being around one of the Great Masters when working around him.

Anyway, we don't work together often, and we're both wresting an engine block or something out of the bed of the shop truck, and he keeps telling me "Lift with your knees" and isn't doing anything on his end until I comply. It's a difficult spot, because out of respect I really don't want to argue about it, but I keep insisting that I can NOT lift anything that way. This goes on for maybe one actual minute (feels like fifteen) and I forget how it ended.

The problem is, we're both the same kind of stubborn

Mice chew chamois... who knew

war is on bitches

I don't remember this song from when it was new but I've heard it in two different stores this morning. It's as annoying as all berkeley but stuck in my head. I'm walking around humming Bob Dobilina, Mista Bob Dobilina

In reply to Wall-e:

My first job out of High school the boss's name was Bob. Every time my coworker would address him he would say Bob Dobilina and I would add in Mista Bob Dobilina. That coworker later became the best man at my wedding.

berkeley you Firestone Tire and Auto Service. You bastards torqued my lug nuts to approximately 5000 lb-ft when you mounted my tires and now I've stripped 2/10 lug nuts on the front taking them off. Got one off with vice grips and lots of swearing. I've resorted to chisel and grinder on the other

All I wanted to do is paint my damn wheels.

Why do you have to remove the wheel to get the oil filter off my damn miata???

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Because that is the easy way!

Rant: Got stuff to do, got good weather, and I can't do any of it because I don't want to get any crap in my thumb. At least the throbbing is localized to the thumb now instead of radiating to my first three fingers and wrist.

In reply to Knurled: Dude, don't cut yourself like that!!

Mild rant: replaced motor mounts on the ancient Altima today (weather was nice, I had the appropriate tools, no pressure) the two side ones went well enough. The front one fought a bit but wasn't terrible. The rear mount isn't getting changed. Nope, not by me, that's just an impossible spot. Three is enough.

Knurled wrote: I don't think I've been in this much pain since the testicle incident.

This one time, some dude on the internet said something very interesting that I was afraid to ask about.

Even the cheapest cell phones have pretty decent cameras nowadays.

So why do half the photos on Craigslist look like they were shot by drunk Parkinson's patients on a 1973 Kodak Instamatic?

Bought a cheap (for its age) 2007 Jeep Patriot 4x4 on Thursday to use for the winter. Was reported to have a few problems, none of which bothered me enough to scare me off. Got into working on it this morning and found this....

Some quick googling found that Jeep apparently used the cheapest, crappiest Chinese steel possible for the subframes on these vehicles and at only 10 years old is in worse than the DeLorean's frame at 33 years old such that they had to extend the warranty on replacing it. Which of course does berk-all good for me.

I'm pretty pissed off- but mostly at myself for not inspecting the car more closely and running away from it as fast as possible. Now I have to buy a replacement subframe and swap it in... on a vehicle that was supposed to be a quick fix.

This was one of the most roller-coaster weekends I've had in a long time, and the week itself isn't looking to get any better. Stomach did NOT want me getting out the door this morning (but I was also NOT staying home, have both done that too much in the last few months and frankly I NEEDED to be here at work where I can bury my mind working problems I can actually SOLVE)- and then when I did I found that the front tire on the scooter was flat. Thankfully it was just because the valve core hadn't sealed properly and it inflated just fine. And of course it's not like my nerves are going to get any relief until after Tuesday night either.

There aren't many times when I wish I liked drinking, but this week is shaping up to be one of them.

I can't get drunk anymore. Most of the time I'm fine with it, but it's really frustrating with weeks like this. It's not to say I am not affected by alcohol, that is NOT the case. But I can't get drunk and sleep it off. Or drink myself to sleep anymore. I go from falling down drunk to bed, and wake up about 4 hours later completely wired like I was chugging cans of Monster and stone sober. Not hungover, not still drunk, sober and wide the berk awake.

This has saved me a lot of money this year, between bar tabs and bad decisions. But it has taken away something I do occasionally enjoy. The good days of summer, waking up to crack a beer and light the smoker at 7am and drinking and eating all day preparing for a good 12 hour nap at the end of the night. Nope. 2 or 3 hours of sleep, wide awake, and sober. Bah.

It doesn't even have to be a marathon drinking session to do this. 3 or 4 beers at bowling or with dinner will have the same affect when I go to bed that night even if I have no realtime affects.

Maybe it's my body dishing out payback for spending every night from 18-25 at the bar. Or spending the better part of the last 18 months not drinking at least on a weekly basis.

Apparently the weather men are forecasting lows around 32 this weekend. I guess I have to finally admit that the summer is well and truly over and winterize the RV this week.

In reply to wae:

I feel you. I've been telling my self "better get that trans mount replaced and oil changes done before it gets cold" for weeks now. I may have missed my chance

My rant: What's worse than problem students? Problem parents. Funny how one seems to go with the other.

In reply to BlueInGreen44:

We've also noted that the pain in the ass cars usually have pain in the ass owners. Not always, and one doesn't necessarily mean the other, but the correlation seems to be quite high.

Rant: Okay, it was funny when a couple days after I think I broke my left index finger, I punched myself in the mouth with the ratchet end of a torque wrench, which made me forget the finger. Then the next day, when I slit my thumb open, I forgot about my fat lip and loose teeth. Today, I twisted my good knee while trying to maneuver a trans jack around in the shop.

Okay, world, you can stop now.

Knurled wrote: In reply to BlueInGreen44: We've also noted that the pain in the ass cars usually have pain in the ass owners. Not always, and one doesn't necessarily mean the other, but the correlation seems to be quite high. Rant: Okay, it was funny when a couple days after I think I broke my left index finger, I punched myself in the mouth with the ratchet end of a torque wrench, which made me forget the finger. Then the next day, when I slit my thumb open, I forgot about my fat lip and loose teeth. Today, I twisted my good knee while trying to maneuver a trans jack around in the shop. Okay, world, you can stop now.

Does your shop have security cameras? I feel like there could be a funny shot to the groin coming as a finale and it would be a shame not to share it.

In reply to Wall-e:

Yes, we do. I think four inside and eight outside, all IP-addressed. I know that they can be viewed with an iPhone and the right app.

Believe you me, I've thought of doing that. Funny things happen at work sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/NSxGz7Dcp2o

Also, while frustrating sometimes, my job is awesome. I built most of that.

mtn wrote:

dropstep wrote: At somepoint last night someone decided to rob everything out of the console of my truck. Not much of value thankfully but still pisses me off. I live in a good neighborhood in a small town for a reason. Hope they enjoy the cheap pocket knife and flashlight.

I live in an upper-middle class suburb that thinks it is an upper class suburb. We have a ton of that going on. Remember to lock your doors; every single theft the car owner forgot to lock the doors.

I spoke too soon. Had a 10-12 year old white kid trying to use a slim Jim on my buddies car parked on the street on Friday night. Wtf is wrong with people?

where I used to live was a rundown neighborhood. Not bad, just low income, but not section 8. Across the street there were half million dollar condos.

All the problems in my neighborhood came from the kids in the condos. They would roam the streets cursing people out, stealing anything left out, breaking into cars, and in one case, breaking into an RV to trash it.

mtn wrote:

mtn wrote:

dropstep wrote: At somepoint last night someone decided to rob everything out of the console of my truck. Not much of value thankfully but still pisses me off. I live in a good neighborhood in a small town for a reason. Hope they enjoy the cheap pocket knife and flashlight.

I live in an upper-middle class suburb that thinks it is an upper class suburb. We have a ton of that going on. Remember to lock your doors; every single theft the car owner forgot to lock the doors.

I spoke too soon. Had a 10-12 year old white kid trying to use a slim Jim on my buddies car parked on the street on Friday night. Wtf is wrong with people?

Lived in the hood, no problems. Lived in a E36 M3hole that ASPIRED to be the hood, no problems. Park may car for one night with a transmission in the back in a "Nice" neighborhood, it gets broken into and the transmission stolen.

Reminds me of when I was in high school in one of those working-middle-class-pretending-to-be-upper-middle-class suburbs, and my girlfriend who lived in one of the richer parts of town (her parents were millionaires, of the "don't spend money" variety) was freaking out because a classmate had been arrested after breaking into a neighboring home with a gun. Carrying a gun, that is, not using it to break in.

My theory is, the richer the neighborhood, the more bored rich idiot kids there are, and the better the job their parents are of covering it up so nobody else hears about it.