Minor Win thread - Life is good!

I was bored so I taught myself to go up and down the gears without using the clutch in the Ranger today.

Our lawn mower has been hard to start lately. I walked my 13 year old son through pulling, cleaning and gaping the spark plug and replacing the gaskets for the card. It now starts on the 2nd pull, he is very happy about that.

Last night I dreamed that I was driving solo in a hill climb event (never done one of those) in a DB-9 (never driven one of those) and I was really enjoying it. Best night of sleep I've had in a while.

Secured hotel reservations at Fontana Village for Miatas At The Gap 2017. Missed out on '16, not doing a repeat this year

Took the wife and kids out for dinner at a local diner with the wife's parents and grandparents tonight.

After receiving my main course I looked over at my daughter who was seated at the corner of the table. She had just finished using the ketchup and it was just out of my reach.

I said, "Could you pass the ketchup, please?"

She smiled her "I'm about to be a E36 M3head" smile said "Sure." then set the ketchup right on the edge of the table, even further away. Puzzled, I raised an eyebrow. She then stood up and proceeded to walk right by the ketchup bottle.

She cut loose with maniacal laughter as she sat back down.

Yep, she passed it.

3M windshield sealant FTW! Saturday I despaired of being unable to remove and replace the rear/middle motor mount on the beater 200,000 Altima. A trip to the 'zone for heavy duty sealant and a few minutes filling front and rear mounts solid paid off. This morning was my first drive (gave it plenty of time to set up in the garage) and I swear it took 100,000 miles off the feel of the knackered old beast. I even built up the hood bumpers with some and the hood is now secure and non-vibratey whilst driving along. Yay for stupid fixes!

In reply to The_Jed:

Where could she EVER get that sense of humor.

I suppose this belongs here although it could almost go over in minor rants. I'm trying to see the glass as half full here.

Worked overtime Monday and Tuesday, 4.5 hours extra each day. Next week we do Mon-Thursday same. It was rough putting in 13 hour days but just before Christmas it's a good thing.

On the car front the Passat is back! Shop charged me $85 to diagnose the sick high pressure fuel circuit back to a blown fuse. Wish I had taken the damnable thing in BEFORE I replaced the high pressure sensor ($30), high pressure fuel pump ($225), and low pressure fuel pump ($225).

Glass half full thought is that it is 9 years old and has 115K on the clock, planning to keep the car another 10 years means it's good to have gotten those repairs out of the way. I kinda suck at diagnostics

This year a friends car was down for a very long rebuild (rotaries ) so he co-drove the CSPish Miata almost the entire season of autocross. He even beat me once, it was a most excellent time! As a thank you he just bought me a new MOMO steering wheel! It'll be a nice upgrade from the ricey-as-heck Grip Royal eBay special flexy flyer POS that the car came with. Yay!!

Patent 9,506,357 went live yesterday.

I drove the RXh8 to work on 30 November 2016.

If you know what my life has been like for the last six years and where I live this is more than a few minor wins each stacked up on the next!

Well the most recent plumbing issue, should be in the rant of the day thread.....but once the hardware store opened, it had all the correct parts. The repair went without issue, which is a huge win. There is always a hiccup when I'm involved with a plumbing project.

Just finished my last shift at work. Finally. No more whiny lazy teenagers, no more pop music, no more hot water spraying down my back every 30 seconds. I'm still a bit mad about starting this job so close to 5 years without one, so it's going to be fun racking up that streak again.

BlueInGreen44 wrote: I was bored so I taught myself to go up and down the gears without using the clutch in the Ranger today.

I did that years ago in one of my rx7s. A while later I learned how to change syncros in Mazda transmission's.

Got jerked around by CLers for the last week. Stupid email offers... $100 sight unseen, $200 as is, any wiggle room on price? Two no shows. Yea, ya know the CL routine but beat your head against the berkeleying wall anyway. Priced at $300 for quick sale btw.

Compounded the paint late last night plus other detailing, lookin' kinda good. E36 M3, who don't like 4 cylinder industrial engine/ 15KW goodness... maybe I'll just keep this big lump.

Guy drove an hour up from WV this afternoon, knew what he was lookin' at, no haggle, cash in hand. Paid. Load 'er up.

He plans to convert it to VW diesel/ veggie oil, that'd be a cool project. I had planned the same but scrapped my VW diesel to make room in the garage.

Win, now time to put the S197 away for the winter.

Done w/ CL for the year.

Porter Cable buffer was awesome w/ Chemical Guys pads and Norton Ice compound, another win.

In reply to fasted58:

Good lord, man, there's $300 worth of scrap copper in the berkeleying thing. Should have asked for way more.

Streetwiseguy wrote: In reply to fasted58: Good lord, man, there's $300 worth of scrap copper in the berkeleying thing. Should have asked for way more.

Yup, I know. I don't post on CL being a schmuck or anything, stuff is priced dirt berkeleying cheap to move it like yesterday when I need room... and I seriously need room, ain't all about the money. Four years behind schedule to clean out, tear down and rebuild the garage. Somewhat redeeming that he's planning the same diesel conversion I planned on. Callin' that a win in itself.

Grocery store up the street from me (like 1/3 of a mile close) has been undergoing a pretty major facelift and renovation this fall. Today I got to check out their new "wine and spirits" department. Not exactly huge but very nicely stocked, the department manager is a fellow bourbon enthusiast, and prices were excellent.

Unfortunately my particular bourbon was already sold out.

The receiver in the living room (our main music listening space) suddenly changed it's EQ settings and wouldn't accept any attempts at changes. It was a 90's Phillips home theater kit that was sub-optimal but decent enough to not warrant a replacement. Today I got tired of the "wet towel over the speakers" sound and sent browsing CL.

After 15 calls and texts were met with "already sold" (Delete your berking ads!) I changed the search terms from brand names and "receiver" and "amplifier" I just typed stereo and filtered through the hundreds and hundreds of results. Towards the bottom was a 2 month old ad that just said "Stereo $75 OBO" and the text was "Old but sounds kickin Call, no texts" In the fuzzy pic I could see a pile of late 80's Technics and some giant speakers. Called the seller and offered $50 sight unseen.

Came home with a 135 watt per channel SU-G91 amp, separate tuner, dual cassette deck, Graphic EQ, and a non matching 5 disc CD changer. Plus the Giant SB-A34 speakers. Enough 80's style component awesomeness/cheese to make the Memorex guy blush.

The Technics speakers will be a xmas gift to my nephew. I am keeping my Polk Audios and he will appreciate the audacious look

The seller said something about "seems weird no one called me about these, Craigslist is full of losers" I considered telling him his ad could have been a lot more informative but he looked kinda like he might take it as an insult and try and punch me.

The miata is tinted, the stereo is finally dialed in, and the new washer and dryer work far better and faster than the old one. Things are looking up from the middle of the week.

Put snow tires on the E90, then took the mower deck off of the tractor and mounted the wheel weights, chains and snowblower on the tractor Saturday, then it snowed 4" Sunday.

Sometimes things just work out.

Im watching my new carpet go down as I type this. It looks and smells great. Once the carpet guy goes im going to lie in the middle of one of the rooms and enjoy a beer.

Interior in the wifes new van and Christmas present is one seat, and one door of cleaning lubing and sound deadening away from done. Then, fix a leak, add the grille and inner fender, detail and deliver. Only have 4 days left, but im feeling like i might actually make it.

Jumper K. Balls wrote: The Technics speakers will be a xmas gift to my nephew. I am keeping my Polk Audios and he will appreciate the audacious look

Those are awesome!

I have a pair of these in storage that will get dug out once I have a "can make immense amounts of noise" room again:

15" woofers in a sealed box. Man they make a lot of sound. 80s speakers were awesome and audacious like you said.

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Hacent slept much since Thursday night. But the wifes Christmas present is done!!!!