Minor Win thread - Life is good!

Mndsm said:

Kids are shady. Mine used to use his looks to con strangers out of snacks on a regular basis. We fed him PLENTY, but man he was always up for someone else's food. 

Yes, they are crafty. Ours has developed a habit of giving us a sweet smile and a warm hug accompanied by, "oh, I love you so much, Mommy/Daddy" when we're reminding him for the 9th time that the couch is for sitting and not jumping. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing.

Another fairly major minor win here: we are now piling the aforementioned kid into a Mazda 5 rather than the old Matrix.  Taking him places is suddenly much, much easier.

Eight years ago today I walked out of the corporate mega-conglomerate career world and started working for myself as a consultant. I couldn't have done it without the help of a lot of amazing people who believed in me. Only my oldest son remembers me working an office job, my other two kids just think it is normal for me to be in my home office to work. I've probably missed out of some big corporate bonuses or job titles, but I haven't missed out on my kids growing up.

I have a new to me 2004 Volvo S60 beater that I picked up cheap.  I know from previous Volvos that it will need a suspension refresh.  After registering it yesterday I stopped at the pick and pull in search of a couple of trim pieces.  After finding the pieces I needed, I checked the trunk of a 2002 S60 and found it was full of new in the box S60 parts: 1 loaded front strut assembly, 2 control arms, 2 ball joints, 1 sway bar link, a complete tie rod set (both sides with bellows), rear shock mounts, all 5 engine mounts , a coil set and a front wheel hub.  Pick and pull charged me $130, retail would have been $550.  I went home and ordered the missing strut and sway bar link on Ebay for $125.  The parts are aftermarket, but they are probably good enough for the 30,000 miles I hope to get out of the car.

4700$ a year for the house and all the cars and all the motorcycles with AAA. Minus the Baja. 

Been with Mercury for so long I forgot exactly what helpful insurance people were like.  

The new Beavis and Butt-Head is really funny. To me anyhow. 

I was already excited about the Tri-State Excursion between Edon, Ohio and Hillsdale, Michigan behind Nickel Plate Road #765 on August 28th, but then it got better last night when the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society announced that Little River Railroad is bringing their steam locomotive over from Coldwater to Hillsdale for 25-minute round-trips during the 3 hour layover.

So- after three days in a row of very nearly getting struck by lightning (my building got hit at least twice, and I was at a store at it hit close enough they asked me to leave- jokingly) I had an odd turn of luck. 

Swmbo ordered herself some treats from Microsoft. A new headset, and a couple of Xbox batteries. They're the only ones that have them. Package shows delivered, to 301. We're 103. Someone misprints the label- we verified our invoice. After some back and forth they decide to refund. They get the refund WRONG. they show on their invoice they refunded is for both batteries and the headset, and we were only compensated one of the batteries (and the headset) cue swmbo putting on her best berkeley around and find out mouse ears and digging into offshore support. It took THREE support idiots, two phone calls, about two hours of "thank you for your patience" to get them to understand even what happened. A week goes by, they finally unberkeley the refund. 

In the meantime swmbo has put an apb out on the box on our local apt nextdoor or whatever. We figured someone got it, saw what it was, and kept it. No word.

An hour ago she got a text. The guy in 301 has the package. Go up and retrieve it. Sure enough someone monkey berkeleyed the label. But the package is intact. 

So now, we have our batteries, our headset, AND our money. Good thing too- because I spent the entire week hunting the headset she ordered and they are OUT. 

Spent the morning on the river. Was totally worth it.

I blew a trans line on my Escalade while towing my camper. I think I stopped it before I hurt it but I sent it to the shop to get repaired and checked out. 
I "need" to tow my picnic table To a tractor show on Thursday and it will be close on the truck so I ordered a hitch for my wife's CRV. Ordered Thursday at 1:30 from eTrailer.com, they said it would be here Monday or Tuesday. It came Saturday! Went out this morning and it went on in 2 hours from start to finish including the lights. I think the CRV is better to tow it with than the Caddy. Win on delivery, win on install. 

I got my highest-ever finish at an autocross, 2nd overall. It was a CNY out-of-region with Watkins Glen Region and I did a codrive in my friend Mark's E/Street MR2 Spyder. He got first on PAX, I was only 0.030 seconds behind. Places 1 through 5 were all CNY guys and we were separated by less than .100 seconds total, so it was a dogfight. 

In reply to Recon1342 :

Snake river?

So, one of the little dances that The Dancer and I do in our marriage involves my love of LEGO and her, well, general ambivalence to it. For the most part, my LEGO sets are confined to my 'office' along with pretty everything else non-car-related-hobby of mine. I however would love to have more things out around the house, if for no other reason than I have a limited amount of space in this one room and am pretty close to not having any more. I don't argue that some things belong here- all of my childhood sets, my fairly large LEGO mecha collection, my small town setup- all aren't things that an 'adult' would have sitting around the living room or such. However there are a number that I have argued would not be out of place- but so far there have been only 4 (5 if you count the fact that there are 2 flower bouquets together) that had passed muster- and only one wasn't one of the Botanical collection (the Brickheadz goldfish- and those had a slightly unusual condition to their being out on display: I had to get a fishbowl that they would fit into, which I of course did). 

So I was quite pleased when I was able to add another set to the list that are allowed to be out on display: I Am Groot. She really likes Baby Groot, so it wasn't a huge surprise- but it was still a gamble when I found a place for it on the built-ins around our main TV in the den and waited for her to notice it (it's not exactly a subtle location, so I wasn't wholly surprised that she notices it within an hour of being up this morning). Thankfully she thinks it's adorable and didn't tell me to move it. 

The minor irony here? I ordered the set on a whim to get an order from LEGO to be enough to get one of the free 'Gift with Purchase' sets.

barefootcyborg5000 said:

In reply to Recon1342 :

Snake river?

Yup. Kayaked from Centennial waterfront park to Shoshone Falls. 

As an added bonus, the photo I posted further upthread was featured on a tourism outfit's Instagram page. 

One day into quitting caffeine for the umpteenth time.  I have a headache, and really want a Coke right now, but on the bright side, I can actually feel my blood pressure being lower, and my heart rate doesn't spike as much when something stressful at work happens.

Some days, work isn't so bad. 

NickD said:

I got my highest-ever finish at an autocross, 2nd overall. It was a CNY out-of-region with Watkins Glen Region and I did a codrive in my friend Mark's E/Street MR2 Spyder. He got first on PAX, I was only 0.030 seconds behind. Places 1 through 5 were all CNY guys and we were separated by less than .100 seconds total, so it was a dogfight. 

Holy E36 M3, the updated points standings were posted for the season, and six events in I'm sitting 2nd. Granted, next event, drops will start coming into play and standings will shuffle around a little as people shrug off zeros or some bad events. But for right now I'm revelling in the highest standing I've ever had.

I have an interview today! And my applications are finally starting to get responses. Maybe im employable outside of mental health after all!

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Good luck!

my minor win. I have the day off and I am loaded up and heading to a steam tractor show with my kid! It's always a blast!

NY Nick said:

my minor win. I have the day off and I am loaded up and heading to a steam tractor show with my kid! It's always a blast!

Rough and Tumble in Gap, PA?

In reply to NY Nick :

Thanks! We'll see what happens!

Duke said:

NY Nick said:

my minor win. I have the day off and I am loaded up and heading to a steam tractor show with my kid! It's always a blast!

Rough and Tumble in Gap, PA?

I'm betting Pageant Of Steam in Canandaigua, NY.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Drink more water! 

In reply to NickD :

NickD for the win. Great show this year. Bigger than years last. Weather was great. Accidentally bought the kid a go kart. Had to put it on top of my picnic table to get it home. 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to NY Nick :

Thanks! We'll see what happens!

Offered on the spot. Im praying about it. But, i have proven i am employable outside mental health!

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

That's great. It's always good to have options! Was this with Charlotte pipe?