Being on time, doing what's asked, no whining, being helpful, basic job E36 M3 have finally paid off for the first time in 38 years of work. Job evaluations were done last week. I'm the highest paid mechanic II on the 9 speed line.
Being on time, doing what's asked, no whining, being helpful, basic job E36 M3 have finally paid off for the first time in 38 years of work. Job evaluations were done last week. I'm the highest paid mechanic II on the 9 speed line.
I just more or less impulse-purchased an expensive sports car. Maybe this will make me happy?
brandonsmash said:I just more or less impulse-purchased an expensive sports car. Maybe this will make me happy?
You can't buy happiness but you can rent it for a short time.
In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :
It's true!
I already have a Z06. It's a great car and it feels like an event to drive it. Running it on track, however, is stupid expensive and much of the power seems kind of wasted on the street. Plus, I'm working on a couple of track-only builds.
Because I'm dumb and acquisutive, I figured that maybe something with a different driving dynamic would be interesting; for the past 10 years I've had a series of somewhat-heavy front-engine, RWD sports cars in the garage (S550 Mustang GT, C7 Stingray, C7 Z06).
My Emira should arrive in a week or two.
I haven't messed around with bikes for about 35 years, give or take. My wife has accumulated a collection of crap cycles from the thrift shop that are all in need of work and they've just been taking up space in the garage. My middlest daughter and I are going to take the motorhome out for a couple days and rather than screw around with trailering a car, I thought it would be easier to grab a couple bikes. I've got mine which is basically ready to go, and then I figured I could get at least one of the other three squared away.
One of them just needed a little adjustment and some air in the tires and it's ready to go. It's some sort of weird cheap 7 speed retro Schwinn that is just odd to ride.
The next one is a more normal Schwinn that appears to have been crashed or parked on. The rear wheel was all bent out of shape and the derailleur was all out of kilter. Despite not having trued a wheel since I was in high school, I was able to build a crude stand and got it pretty good enough. Then some percussive maintenance on the derailleur and a reindexing of the shifter got everything working nicely. All it needs now is a new tube in the rear and brake pads in the front. The tube is metric, though, so I think I have to go to an actual bike shop for that.
Finally, there was something called a "Gary Fisher"? I know absolutely nothing about it, but it came without pedals. I assume that the previous owner had some sort of clipless system that he or she wanted to move to a new bike. I put some pedals on it, gave the rear derailleur a very minor adjustment, lubed up the index shifter for the front, and now it's shifting quite well. It, too, needs a new rear tube but other than that, it's good to go.
So now, all I need to do tomorrow morning is grab a couple tubes and some brake pads and I'll have four bikes from which we can choose for the week.
Gary Fishers were the Acura to Trek's Honda. I think it was Trek, at least. They were usually better equipped, and some fuzzy memory says they were made in the US and not overseas.
Given the other things you mentioned, it sounds like your wife has a good eye for thrift shop deals.
It is official! I have the actual offer, I've signed it, and I have a start date!
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Gary Fishers were the Acura to Trek's Honda. I think it was Trek, at least. They were usually better equipped, and some fuzzy memory says they were made in the US and not overseas.
Yeah that's roughly the story. Gary Fisher was one of the early 80's "Mt. Tam" racers and a very early MTB frame builder. Trek bought the company in the early 90's and indeed those were a bit high-end.
Later - early 2000's - they were one of the first mainstream adopters of 29er wheels.
Or something close to that...
wae said:It is official! I have the actual offer, I've signed it, and I have a start date!
berkeley yeah you do! Congratulations!
Took a vacation day today. Was able to get and enjoy a breakfast wrap, some chips, and a Monster Energy. So far so good.
With some stomach issues I've been having, I may be paying for this later but for now it's good.
Yay, I'm a dork. Now I can legally buy one of those fancy decals.
I had a few dozen or more posts under a previous identity, but I was away for a long time. I don't remember the username, let alone the login info.
Miami University graduation is tomorrow and Sunday and my daughter finds out at 4:30pm today that they will let her walk and attend the ceremony?
Well, life is good but we were sweating it this morning......
TVR Scott said:Pete. (l33t FS) said:Gary Fishers were the Acura to Trek's Honda. I think it was Trek, at least. They were usually better equipped, and some fuzzy memory says they were made in the US and not overseas.
Yeah that's roughly the story. Gary Fisher was one of the early 80's "Mt. Tam" racers and a very early MTB frame builder. Trek bought the company in the early 90's and indeed those were a bit high-end.
Later - early 2000's - they were one of the first mainstream adopters of 29er wheels.
Or something close to that...
I did a little more reading, and while there are two or four different phases of the Gary Fisher bicycle company, I stand by my initial assumption because being found in a thrift store while also having indexed shifting front and rear puts it at around the Trek timeframe.
I was accidentally probably right 
I never paid much attention to them because I didn't like Trek's frame geometries and they seemed rather heavy for the era, but a local bike shop had one of the Gary Fisher hand painted special editions (Grateful Dead?) that I had to admit looked pretty sweet...
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
I think it's a fairly old Marlin model with an aluminum frame and Shimano Altus drivetrain components. My daughter rode it around all weekend and it worked out pretty well for her. I don't know what my wife paid for it, but I'm sure it wasn't a lot. All I had to do is put a tube in it, some cheap 9/16" pedals, and give it a little alignment. The only downside is that the saddle appears to be made of stone.
So not great, but certainly not bad.
Loss was paying for the car to get fixed (how can ppl afford to own cars if they don't do their own work!?!) but the win is I can almost TASTE it being sold! And THEN I get to do USED CAR SHOPPING! My favorite time of year!! Hehe!
This one will be a first, looking for a 4x4 truck
Couldn't help buying a garage banner on Amazon with some other stuff I ordered.
I love those "because we thought it would be easy" banners...
My Minor Wins lately (of varying size)
This is now mine, so that's pretty neat!
In reply to brandonsmash :
WOW
Seriously great color.
In reply to brandonsmash :
Neat Corvette. 
In reply to Appleseed :
Well, the Corvette needs to go up for sale to fund this one anyway!
In reply to brandonsmash :
Best looking lotus since the Esprit!
It took more time than I'd like to admit, but I have successfully repaired the washing machine by replacing its transmission.
My dad bought me a grill as a housewarming gift. Its been in the box for over a year. Well tonight I decided to finally assemble it. The GF and I decided over beers tonight that kebabs would be a good way to break it in.
They turned out F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. I'm not a good cook and even worse on the grill but I was pleasantly surprised how they turned out. Its given me more confidence to cook more stuff on the grill.
Next will be steaks
What a weekend. Saturday Morning Mrs. G and me went to look at a 2010 BMW 328i with a swapped T 56 6 speed, LS v8 and a big honking turbo. And we bought it. If its the last car I ever buy, life is either amazing, or gone way way wrong. We will assume its going to be amazing. Then Sunday we scored 400 lbs of brand new Rogue bumper weights for $1.00 a pound. Monday we took the day off.
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