Minor Win thread - Life is good!

I put my John Deere generator on FB Marketplace yesterday morning and got the usual flood of inquiries. On one of them the buyer's name was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, so I dismissed it as a Russian scam. Later in the day a second message from the same source and I responded this time. Guy shows up this morning, with the full amount in cash, no dickering. His name is Yuiri, and he's a Ukrainian immigrant . I fire up the generator to prove it works, and he runs around to the side door of his Subaru, grabs a box and whips out a small welder and a chunk of steel, plugs the welder in and starts running beads. He wanted to see if the generator was big enough because he's starting a business with his brother where they do mobile truck repairs. He was tickled when I pointed out that he could connect a 220 welder to the generator. This guy drove five hours from Chicago to buy this thing! Welcome to America, Yuiri, and Good Luck !!

It's early yet, but we may have discovered what was ripping my guts asunder every weekday afternoon. I switched from "thoroughly washed" salad kits to homemade green salads at lunch all week and and we're now at three days straight of feeling like a normal human rather than a hot air balloon. 

Truly, it's the little things...

barefootcyborg5000 said:

This could be a rant I suppose, but I'm looking at it the other way. 
 

Only 359 more payments. 

I know it sounds like a lot but you'll get there and you're building equity the whole time.  If the mortgage amount is anywhere in the same neighborhood of what you had been paying in rent, there's your major win right there.  Again, congratulations!

In reply to 11GTCS :

It is within a few hundred of what our rent would have been at the next lease renewal. It is also 860' bigger, twice the bedrooms, twice the garage, and an extra throne. Zero extra commute time, though it is a few more miles. 
 

In a roundabout way, I have this community to blame for my good fortune. Certain place, certain time, followed by a few years of negotiations, and here we are.
 

Oh, and I missed a message earlier from BFW. A couple weeks early, but the count is now 358. 

Siding is done, dumpster is gone, patio is being poured. And I didn't have to use my AK.

Today I make the final payment on a very dumb, very expensive mistake in trusting character. After this, life gets easier. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Nice! 
 

We stretched ourselves in 2016 when we bought. I have some minor regrets with the way we did things but I'm very happy we bought a house and aren't renting. 

I've spent the last several months in a pretty deep work-funk (Minor Rant Thread, p2024).  In the last couple of days, I've reached out to a number of people that I have either reported to or worked with over the years to ask for networking assistance and/or references.  Every one of them has offered to be a reference and to talk to hiring managers, neighbors who know hiring managers, and all sorts of stuff.  It's good to be reminded that you've got worth even when your current employer doesn't see it.

The water pump started leaking heavily in my Volvo.

This is a win because it forced me to look down at the water pump and see...

And

And

Disaster averted!

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

We work on other peoples cars, we just drive our own...

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Belt is only three years old or so.

Engine went in 110k ago (belt had been replaced since then, after a camseal failure oiled down the existing one) and at the time I used the best of the three dampers that I had.  Looked fine, no cracks.

BIL tells me: "I have this gravel bike I'm not using, do you want to ride it, long term?" 
Sure!

Titanium frame and carbon wheels. It's fun. 

Saw a bald eagle flying over the freeway on my drive home from work today.

Win 1: My son got a PS5 for his birthday this year.

Win 2: I came home yesterday and my wife had bought me Gran Turismo 7. 

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

Is there anything good for the PS5 beside GT7?  Does it play PS4 and/or PS3 games?

I'd like to get one but I don't know if there are any compelling titles for DW and I to play.

In reply to Duke :

Sorry I'm not a gamer so I can't really help out.  My kids have a Switch but I don't really play it.  I will say the games I've saw on the PS5 are unbelievable but I base this comparison off playing xbox in college over 20 years ago. 

I've got a phone interview with a company that I've been wanting to work for.  Granted, it's only a first step, but I'm stoked.

Maybe not a minor win, but a weird coincidence? 

Today I stayed home from work with a bad sinus headache. I fired up my gaming PC for the first time in months.

I see that the original Doom and Doom II have been re-released as an enhanced version with a new game engine. Steam has it on sale for $3.99. Doom + Doom II Enhanced

I'm a massive Doom fan, so of course I bought it.

You can choose between the classic midi soundtrack or a new version. The new version absolutely slaps: 

This leads me down a path to find a Doom music album of remixes from 25 years ago. I remember listening to it about a decade ago and loving it. Somehow, I found the original webpage and all of the download links are still active: The Dark Side of Phobos

So I've been listening to the remix album for the past few hours.

And then I see that the rover Perseverance has captured a partial eclipse of Phobos from Mars: 

I mean how perfect is that?

I

Barring any last-minute catastrophes, Halloween was a genuine success. I did not expect a kindergartner to stay composed, let alone cheerful, through a 90-minute house-to-house hike. He surprised me. And somehow here it is way past his bedtime and he's still in a good mood.

I weighed 199.8 today. I think that's the first time I've been under 200 since the mid 90's. I'm down about 55 pounds since my heart attack on Memorial Day.

Got my truck's registration renewed yesterday, 10/31.

3:40pm  Catalyst Monitor finally decides it is 'ready'.  After half a tank of gas trying the mythical OBD Drive Cycle, I finally found the perfect series of local roads to get it right.  Or maybe the Drive Cycle instructions really need to say "run the engine WOT at interstate speeds for 2 minutes" rather than "65% throttle" and "over 55mph".
4:02pm  Arrive at emissions test center.  Zero waiting despite all the warnings that the last days of the month are the busiest.  E-test completed and leaving by 4:10pm!
11:12pm  Online renewal system finally updated with E-test results.  Renewed without any late fee.

"Doesn't your state have a 30-day grace period for renewal?"
Oh, yes, of course it does.  Actual expiration date was 9/30...  It's not my fault the $40 refurb battery died b/c I hadn't driven the truck for 5 weeks.

I really don't know how loud the truck is outside, but if the truck makes any noise at all then it is too slow to be that loud.  Inside it sounds like someone using a tin megaphone to amplify the sound of strangling 5 cows with a trash compactor.  (GMT355, Atlas 3.5L I-5, 'CAI' and elderly cat-back exhaust)
Wouldn't it be really amazing if somewhere online there was some kind of article or forum thread with instructions for repacking a sealed muffler?

Sitting in the park having an important conversation in my car.  The place where I am situated is on a short ring road with lots of corners and hills.

I just heard a car with antilag driving the road.  Not a crackle tune, but actual honest-to-Juha antilag.

I got SWMBO to list the 4 tires I took off the Miata on the book of faces last Monday. She got almost an immediate response from someone who said "I'll take'm. Will you hold them until this weekend? I'm In Tupelo". WTF I'll hold them.

As of yesterday the deal was still on. Drove down to Holly Springs and met the young man. Nice kid and into cars.

Tearing apart the Batcave looking for the exhaust hanger that bolts to the back of a Subaru transmission.  I am tearing the garage apart looking for it.

I didn't find it yet.

I did find the intercooler brackets, which have bellhousing bolts in them that I couldn't find, and I found the starter bolts.

And I found the shift cable bracket, so I can permanently mount the shifter, which has to be done before the downpipe goes in.  Which needs that durn bracket.

Let's see... I probably took it off when we wrestled the trans into the back of the RX-7, let me look in the glovebox...

Wait what's this?

I found the title for the Quantum that has been missing for close to ten years!!!

Wtf?

I was driving the Volvo when I drove to MA to collect the title.  How did it end up in the RX-7??  It wasn't even running yet!

I guess this means that I have TWO cars to finish this winter.  Not being able to title the car was the major stumbling block on the car because it has to be mobile to get a VIN inspection to get an Ohio title.  But I didn't want to pour a bunch of time/money into it if I didn't know that I could title it.

Duke said:

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

Is there anything good for the PS5 beside GT7?  Does it play PS4 and/or PS3 games?

I'd like to get one but I don't know if there are any compelling titles for DW and I to play.

 

what do you like? I can help.