Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Off-topic posts, quotes of the day and anything else you just would like to vent to the world. PG-13 or below PLEASE!
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by AHTOXA »

watkins wrote: Tue Aug 07, 2018 9:18 am Lets see.....

One car, two adults, and two dogs, so I had to fit a lot in without the benefit of folding down the whole rear seat.

-Get both kayaks on the roof and secured, including making new coated steel cable bow lines.
-Minimize from the four rubbermaid bins we keep everything loose in down to the one we need for just us for a weekend. We own and store everything for a long weekend of glamping with 15 people, so cutting down to normal supplies takes some reorganization.
-Condense food and booze in to just one cooler, and get ice for it.
-Play serious tetris to stuff everything in to a limited area while still keeping things below the window line as much as possible.
That's too much work.

Everything I bring for a weekend of camping fits into a 65L backpack with the exception of booze. This includes a tent and hammock (sometimes no tent and just a hammock), sleeping pad, one fixed blade knife, one stove (2oz ultralight), once midsize can of gas, headlamp, fire starting stuffs, clothes, about 100ft of cordage/rope, lightweight spork and maybe my Kindle. Dog food goes in there, too.

Booze cooler if necessary and a small bin of MTB gear if I've got a bike along.

Outside getting ice for the cooler, I am packed in less than 30 minutes.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by AHTOXA »

Rope-Pusher wrote: Sun Aug 05, 2018 12:21 pm
AHTOXA wrote: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:21 am
watkins wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:02 pm Every time I nearly finish a project, something gets in the way. My new bumper is just a clear coat or two away from done, but Im spending my day off minimizing and packing camping supplies for a weekend in the woods
It takes you a day to gather what you need for a weekend?
It's the minimizing that takes all the time.
You make three piles:
Pile 1 is the stuff you would turn back for if you had already driven 100 miles toward your destination before you realized you forgot to bring it.
Pile 2 is stuff you really want to bring, but wouldn't turn back for if you forgot it.
Pile 3 is the fun stuff, binoculars, a telescope, a waffle iron, an RC car, a video drone, squirt guns, etc.

When you pack, take everything from Pile 1 and one item from Pile 3.
I guess I've gotten efficient over the years as I'm already pre-minimized. The only things I'd turn back for after 100 miles would be my tent, sleeping bag or sleeping pad. Pretty much everything else can be substituted cheaper than driving extra 200 miles.

Camping to me has become a matter of simplicity. I don't want to bring everything and the kitchen sink with me when I go, especially for the weekend. If it's a longer trip where I'm closet to the truck, I'll bring more.

The GF and I spent nearly 2 weeks trekking through CO, UT and NM a few months ago. We had two rubbermaid bins with us - one for dry non-perishable food and cooking paraphernalia, the other with camping gear - tent, bags, pads as well as MTB gear. We had some extra gear due to varied expected night time temperatures, but kept it overall compact. All this, plus one large cooler and our 65 and 55L backpacks is all it was.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
watkins
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 15880
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:42 am
Cars: '08 Saab 9-5 Aero wagon
Location: Salem, MA

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by watkins »

Rope-Pusher wrote: Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:42 pm Eyed half thought ewed putt the kayaks in ewer utility trailer.
Nah. Thats for the canoe, when I bring it. Kayaks always go on the roof

Image


AHTOXA wrote: Wed Aug 08, 2018 10:05 am That's too much work.

Everything I bring for a weekend of camping fits into a 65L backpack with the exception of booze. This includes a tent and hammock (sometimes no tent and just a hammock), sleeping pad, one fixed blade knife, one stove (2oz ultralight), once midsize can of gas, headlamp, fire starting stuffs, clothes, about 100ft of cordage/rope, lightweight spork and maybe my Kindle. Dog food goes in there, too.

Booze cooler if necessary and a small bin of MTB gear if I've got a bike along.

Outside getting ice for the cooler, I am packed in less than 30 minutes.
The big problem was that everything was still a mess from our aforementioned 15 person long weekend shitshow. Things are also much easier when I go without Amanda. I took a picture of this trip to compare to one Im going on with a few friends next month that will be wife-free. Ill take significantly less, Im sure.
Teamwork
Senior Standardshifter
Posts: 538
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 9:49 pm
Cars: 2015 VW GTI

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by Teamwork »

I guess it's time for me to come back and have my honorary lifer post. It's long overdue but I wanted to really get everything covered all at once in all areas.

Let's start with the good: The GTI is still going strong and now out of warranty so a bit of holding breathe but has been okay so far. I'm nearly at 40K on the odometer now which is pretty insane to think about. Back in July I installed my shifter linkage bushings which I definitely talked about here awhile back and they made quite a big difference in the feel. Very positive for me and they weren't too hard to install... kind of like the custom knob it's hard for me to remember what it was like prior. The car cosmetically has held up quite a bit better then my KIA lease but I'm really not so surprised by that. The only really oddity is some of the paint on the door handle seems to be wearing / chipping in random spots. I don't wear any rings or jewelry on my hands so I'm not really sure what's up with that. I've touched it up with the paint but that is really it...

The neutral: Less then 5 months until I get married in January now... this you would think should be on the good side but a lot of the cost crunching now is going into the final quarter. I'm getting reassurance from a lot of people around me who went through weddings recently and I think I'll be following suit where I'm the guy that on the day of has just another money in the account to buy an XBOX and nothing more. I'm really not too sure what kind of holiday I'm going to have this year but it might be ramen through December. I was really hoping to have my fiancee learn how to drive my car before the wedding but I'm unsure if that can realistically happen :)

The bad: I've been having a pretty tough outing with my job. I know I vented a bit on this earlier this year but things seem to have grown worse. The job itself just has been very taxing... Essentially I'm getting in at 7:45 AM and leaving 6:30 PM and sometimes logging in after hours and on the weekend. It's been easily 53-55 hour weeks on average and I've peaked at 60-61 hour weeks. I literally feel like a zombie by Friday nights and can barely get through the weekend without serious recharging. The problem I have mostly with this is the ask and daily functions are only growing along side an ever growing portfolio size but nothing is being done in terms of pay increases or better overtime compensation. It's been pretty miserable for the last few months and I'm in a really tight place right now if I wanted to jump ship. This is mostly due to the wedding... I have a ton of wedding days off for the rest of the year for preparation things, the wedding date, the honey moon for January are all booked and approved for off days. To go to a new job at this point and have this baggage with me might make me a pretty unideal candidate. I'd also be losing my end of year bonus after working my ass off for the majority of the year for this job and losing a lot of PTO on the table. An additional negative here is how whenever you take PTO and do more then 2 days you just have a huge PILE of work and unrealistic expectations waiting for you when you get back... so it's that much harder. Not too sure what I'm going to do here - I know I'm pretty well versed and qualified if I wanted to jump ship but the timing is just horrible.

Hope all has been well here. Glad this place is still going!
User avatar
potownrob
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 7833
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:35 pm
Cars: '17 CX-5 GT
Location: Dutchess County

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by potownrob »

Teamwork wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:47 pm I guess it's time for me to come back and have my honorary lifer post. It's long overdue but I wanted to really get everything covered all at once in all areas.

Let's start with the good: The GTI is still going strong and now out of warranty so a bit of holding breathe but has been okay so far. I'm nearly at 40K on the odometer now which is pretty insane to think about. Back in July I installed my shifter linkage bushings which I definitely talked about here awhile back and they made quite a big difference in the feel. Very positive for me and they weren't too hard to install... kind of like the custom knob it's hard for me to remember what it was like prior. The car cosmetically has held up quite a bit better then my KIA lease but I'm really not so surprised by that. The only really oddity is some of the paint on the door handle seems to be wearing / chipping in random spots. I don't wear any rings or jewelry on my hands so I'm not really sure what's up with that. I've touched it up with the paint but that is really it...
welcome back bro!! congrats on the marriage stuff. glad you still have the gti. after driving more into LI/Queens with the big beast (07 altima v6 6 speed i got as a second car) recently, i am not sure how you still drive manual down there, but keep in mind i'm old and fat and less patient than when i was younger. my little beast (golf) is also out warranty (the bumper to bumper warranty that is), and i have stopped frequenting the dealer. been using a local monro muffler shop lately for inspections etc. with good results so far. must get oil change soon. new engine and cabin air filters waiting in the their boxes in the car to be put in.
The neutral: Less then 5 months until I get married in January now... this you would think should be on the good side but a lot of the cost crunching now is going into the final quarter. I'm getting reassurance from a lot of people around me who went through weddings recently and I think I'll be following suit where I'm the guy that on the day of has just another money in the account to buy an XBOX and nothing more. I'm really not too sure what kind of holiday I'm going to have this year but it might be ramen through December. I was really hoping to have my fiancee learn how to drive my car before the wedding but I'm unsure if that can realistically happen :)
you'll pull through bro. unless you were able to push the wedding to later in next year (like in the spring/summer when most people get married), you should probably just plow through. look for deals on soup (preferably low sodium/organic-ish) and pasta. brand x canned veggies FTW!!

Image
The bad: I've been having a pretty tough outing with my job. I know I vented a bit on this earlier this year but things seem to have grown worse. The job itself just has been very taxing... Essentially I'm getting in at 7:45 AM and leaving 6:30 PM and sometimes logging in after hours and on the weekend. It's been easily 53-55 hour weeks on average and I've peaked at 60-61 hour weeks. I literally feel like a zombie by Friday nights and can barely get through the weekend without serious recharging. The problem I have mostly with this is the ask and daily functions are only growing along side an ever growing portfolio size but nothing is being done in terms of pay increases or better overtime compensation. It's been pretty miserable for the last few months and I'm in a really tight place right now if I wanted to jump ship. This is mostly due to the wedding... I have a ton of wedding days off for the rest of the year for preparation things, the wedding date, the honey moon for January are all booked and approved for off days. To go to a new job at this point and have this baggage with me might make me a pretty unideal candidate. I'd also be losing my end of year bonus after working my ass off for the majority of the year for this job and losing a lot of PTO on the table. An additional negative here is how whenever you take PTO and do more then 2 days you just have a huge PILE of work and unrealistic expectations waiting for you when you get back... so it's that much harder. Not too sure what I'm going to do here - I know I'm pretty well versed and qualified if I wanted to jump ship but the timing is just horrible.
sounds worse than office space man. unless you're able to push the wedding forward a few months at least, i'd just try to plow through for now, as long as you're able to.

Image

Image
Hope all has been well here. Glad this place is still going!
yup, we're still here. and i think we're alive...
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by AHTOXA »

Teamwork wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:47 pm I guess it's time for me to come back and have my honorary lifer post. It's long overdue but I wanted to really get everything covered all at once in all areas.

Let's start with the good: The GTI is still going strong and now out of warranty so a bit of holding breathe but has been okay so far. I'm nearly at 40K on the odometer now which is pretty insane to think about. Back in July I installed my shifter linkage bushings which I definitely talked about here awhile back and they made quite a big difference in the feel. Very positive for me and they weren't too hard to install... kind of like the custom knob it's hard for me to remember what it was like prior. The car cosmetically has held up quite a bit better then my KIA lease but I'm really not so surprised by that. The only really oddity is some of the paint on the door handle seems to be wearing / chipping in random spots. I don't wear any rings or jewelry on my hands so I'm not really sure what's up with that. I've touched it up with the paint but that is really it...

The neutral: Less then 5 months until I get married in January now... this you would think should be on the good side but a lot of the cost crunching now is going into the final quarter. I'm getting reassurance from a lot of people around me who went through weddings recently and I think I'll be following suit where I'm the guy that on the day of has just another money in the account to buy an XBOX and nothing more. I'm really not too sure what kind of holiday I'm going to have this year but it might be ramen through December. I was really hoping to have my fiancee learn how to drive my car before the wedding but I'm unsure if that can realistically happen :)

The bad: I've been having a pretty tough outing with my job. I know I vented a bit on this earlier this year but things seem to have grown worse. The job itself just has been very taxing... Essentially I'm getting in at 7:45 AM and leaving 6:30 PM and sometimes logging in after hours and on the weekend. It's been easily 53-55 hour weeks on average and I've peaked at 60-61 hour weeks. I literally feel like a zombie by Friday nights and can barely get through the weekend without serious recharging. The problem I have mostly with this is the ask and daily functions are only growing along side an ever growing portfolio size but nothing is being done in terms of pay increases or better overtime compensation. It's been pretty miserable for the last few months and I'm in a really tight place right now if I wanted to jump ship. This is mostly due to the wedding... I have a ton of wedding days off for the rest of the year for preparation things, the wedding date, the honey moon for January are all booked and approved for off days. To go to a new job at this point and have this baggage with me might make me a pretty unideal candidate. I'd also be losing my end of year bonus after working my ass off for the majority of the year for this job and losing a lot of PTO on the table. An additional negative here is how whenever you take PTO and do more then 2 days you just have a huge PILE of work and unrealistic expectations waiting for you when you get back... so it's that much harder. Not too sure what I'm going to do here - I know I'm pretty well versed and qualified if I wanted to jump ship but the timing is just horrible.

Hope all has been well here. Glad this place is still going!
I wrote a long response with some matters of relation, but I'll spare the details, so PM me if you want to know more. I'm just going to leave the below.

Overall if there's one takeaway from this - change your job and don't feel like you're stuck in it because of the wedding. Your personal well-being is far more important to you and should be to your fiance. You might already have some financial commitments wedding-wise that you can't get out of, but maybe there's a way to scale things down.
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
Teamwork
Senior Standardshifter
Posts: 538
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 9:49 pm
Cars: 2015 VW GTI

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by Teamwork »

welcome back bro!! congrats on the marriage stuff. glad you still have the gti. after driving more into LI/Queens with the big beast (07 altima v6 6 speed i got as a second car) recently, i am not sure how you still drive manual down there, but keep in mind i'm old and fat and less patient than when i was younger.
I still kind of prefer it but my commute is probably going to change drastically in about 6 months. My routes to work right now are kind of against the grain (or the better of two evils) during peak hours. I'm also only doing 11 miles about one way. That's going to increase just about double and going the worse of the two ways (in the AM east to west / PM west to east). Most of my leg is going to be on the 495 LIE too... I've seriously considered an HOV clean pass friendly car just to move on with life. The one downside I really see about this isn't so much the car, the transmission, or the pricing, but more or less that it seems like cars in the HOV lane are the first ones to get picked out and pulled over by the law enforcement (yes, even Prius). At this point I could probably realistically get 15.5 if I tried selling/trading in my GTI tomorrow. I kind of want to ride this thing out a little longer though.

If this is another bad winter on Long Island I may really start considering the compact SUV card as well. I'm already halfway there as this summer has been pretty bad with rain/flooding as well.
you'll pull through bro. unless you were able to push the wedding to later in next year (like in the spring/summer when most people get married), you should probably just plow through. look for deals on soup (preferably low sodium/organic-ish) and pasta. brand x canned veggies FTW!!
It's just kind of crazy to me because I've always been a bit of a saver with money but I feel like I got hands every which way asking for cash this year. My accounts probably have been as diminished as they ever have been since I first opened a savings account sometime in middle school/high school.
sounds worse than office space man. unless you're able to push the wedding forward a few months at least, i'd just try to plow through for now, as long as you're able to.
Overall if there's one takeaway from this - change your job and don't feel like you're stuck in it because of the wedding. Your personal well-being is far more important to you and should be to your fiance. You might already have some financial commitments wedding-wise that you can't get out of, but maybe there's a way to scale things down.
I had a feeling this would happen and people would side either way. I can really see the pros and cons of both but the problem is I'm not painting the picture too detailed. There's a lot more complications and variables... The wedding is a big part of concern but there are some light at the end of the tunnel moments with the job too in a positive way. Might save for painting a better picture at the end of the week but Tony yeah hit me up with a PM if you gotta - I'll def read it.

Pushing the wedding forward or backwards is not an option. I think I'll survive this and hopefully be able to laugh about this sometime in the near future... Right now the way I'm playing it out is kind of with fate. My linkedin and resume is updated- I've lightly perused some job openings and listed to recruiters that I can talk shop. If nothing draws to me I'll hold tight- if something is meant to be it'll find a way.
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Image
Victory? Victory you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the Trade War has


Ford scraps plan to import Focus Active amid U.S.-China trade war
http://www.autonews.com/article/2018083 ... ve-tariffs
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Image
Blue Pixies, Get Into Muh Belly in 10 Minutes or Fewer!

http://www.autonews.com/article/2018083 ... 10-minutes
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
tankinbeans
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 4029
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:04 pm
Cars: 17 Mazda6 To, 18 Mazda3 i
Location: Shakopee, MN

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by tankinbeans »

Is there anything to the idea that someday it may be that we pull into a battery swap station and the batteries are changed out and changed onsite, versus waiting for a gazillion years to recharge? That seems to make a lot of sense if the batteries could be standardized somehow.
17 Mazda6 Touring
18 Mazda3 iSport
InlinePaul wrote:The driving force of new fangled features to sell more cars [is to] cater to the masses' abject laziness!
Image
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by Rope-Pusher »

The batteries tend to be built-in, so they are protected and their mass is centrally located and fastened firmly to ride out a crash. They weigh hundreds of pounds as well and are unique to the design of the car. Not ever really intended to be changed on short notice by they guy they hire to sell lottery tickets, cigarettes and snacks.
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
User avatar
theholycow
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 16021
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:36 pm
Cars: '80 Buick LeSabre 4.1 5MT
Location: Glocester, RI
Contact:

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by theholycow »

I don't think anyone expects such an idea to work with existing designs, but it doesn't sound too unrealistic to design a car around a standardized battery pack that slides out from underneath. Pull up next to the robot, it hooks the passenger side rocker panel and yanks out the tray then replaces the battery module with a fresh one and slides it in.

Of course there would be some compromises compared to the current fully integrated proprietary designs, especially with regards to packaging. They could be mitigated by smaller battery packs with reduced range, which would be acceptable if you can just swap 'em out in the time it takes to fill a gas tank.

Commercially it could be setup like a propane tank exchange, perhaps with membership required.
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
IMBoring25
Moderator
Posts: 3418
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 5:01 pm
Location: OK, USA

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by IMBoring25 »

In addition to the component compromises in capacity and CG, electrical connections are designed to a specific number of connect/disconnect cycles and that number is usually small for high-current applications.
tankinbeans
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 4029
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:04 pm
Cars: 17 Mazda6 To, 18 Mazda3 i
Location: Shakopee, MN

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by tankinbeans »

My friend and I are going to be dealing with the headgaskets in my Buick this weekend. They're starting to go south at 135k, which with the 3100 is pretty typical. What else should I be looking for with the engine torn down? My mom, the primary driver of the vehicle is worried it will strand her and I want to deal with as much as I can so I can get some more mileage out of the beast.
17 Mazda6 Touring
18 Mazda3 iSport
InlinePaul wrote:The driving force of new fangled features to sell more cars [is to] cater to the masses' abject laziness!
Image
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

Post by Rope-Pusher »

tankinbeans wrote: Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:13 pm My friend and I are going to be dealing with the headgaskets in my Buick this weekend. They're starting to go south at 135k, which with the 3100 is pretty typical. What else should I be looking for with the engine torn down? My mom, the primary driver of the vehicle is worried it will strand her and I want to deal with as much as I can so I can get some more mileage out of the beast.
In addition to flushing the cooling system,
Image
any replacing all the hoe's,
Image
I'd put on a new water pump - the impeller can degrade over time and not pump so well anymore.
Image
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
Post Reply