Modern Vespa

Because 2020... My sister-in-law was also diagnosed with bladder cancer. While not as serious they thought they got it all but now there are more growths.

I am so sorry to hear this flordian and my thoughts are with you and your wife. You will be there for her and provide all the support, strength and love she needs.

Yes, I fuckn hate cancer too.

Sorry to hear that for both of you.

(((hugs)))

Damn, floridan, that just sucks.

While driving the car to the Credit Union after work to make a deposit before they closed, I hit a chunk of metal with my left front tire when I changed lanes on the freeway. I hit it rather hard, so I hoped that nothing happened. As I took the exit, the Low Tire Pressure light came on. I immediately called Discount Tire to see about taking it in. They said that as long as I got there by 6pm, they'd get it fixed/changed same day. Since it was about 4:45, and they were less than 30 minutes away, I was good.

They put a new tire on, and because we always pay for the extended warranty on tires we buy from them, it only cost $23 for the new warranty, instead of $150+. Because the right rear tire had the most wear, they moved the new tire to that position, and put the worn tire on the left front.

I then picked up dinner for my wife and I, and headed home.

As I was crossing the bridge into Irving, I hit a huge pothole. With the left front tire. Again, it was a massive impact, so I hoped there wasn't any tire damage. I made it the rest of the way home, and the tire pressure light never came on.

We ate dinner, then I went out to check to see if there was a bubble in the sidewall or anything.

Good news: no tire damage.

Bad news: massive dent with 2" crack in the rim. The car is now at the shop awaiting a new wheel to be shipped from Chicago, so I'm on the scooter until then.

My collision coverage will cover it, but I have a $500 deductible, so it might not be worth it to file a claim.


The crack is not visible in the photo above.

I don't normally frequent this thread. Reading other's woes isn't very therapeutic in these troubled times.

So sorry that I've only just read this Bob, I really hope your wife gets the best treatment possible and that miracles do happen to good people, especially Mr & Mrs Rocketman!

Take care {hugs}

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This post was not quite
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This post was not quite
What we were hoping to see
Try again, perhaps?

Too stressed to stress eat today.

I'm pissed off because I logged on too late to see what was said in the deleted posts. Damn.
Wouldn't be surprised if Zoomit was involved.

Returning to the aluminum alloy wheel ... here in my area there are repair workshops and the price is generally 70 € per wheel, both for scooters / motorcycles and for cars.
This is also an indication of the state of maintenance of the roads (at least so you piss on the wheel and not on forbidden things...).

So sorry to hear that flordian, the work she did on the jacket you sent me when I was a new member and our first gift exchange still amazes me. Stay strong, as we say here in New Zealand; kia kaha

It seems that optimism is not the ideal feeling but on my example (an 85% removal of the pancreas for cancer in 1989) and three relapses with consequent chemo therapies, I am told that there is always hope, thirty-one years later I'm still here.
It wasn't a walk in the park but there were also happy moments.

Yes, there are shops here that can repair damaged wheels, and I thought about going that route.

I decided against it due to the fact that the wheel is actually cracked (see pic below), and the damage is near the valve stem, which is the weakest point of the wheel, due to the reduced amount of material. It's difficult to see the crack in the image because of the angle of the photo. I've circled the crack. I'm kicking myself for not taking an additional pic of it. It's bad.

Had it just been a dent/bend in the wheel, I'd go the repair route. It's the crack that concerns me.

And as for the state of maintenance of the road, that bridge is notorious for having potholes. At this point, it's probably more patching material than original surface. It's two lanes each direction, and there was a one year period where they had it reduced down to one lane each direction, because the damage was so severe, but the city was unable to get a repair crew out to fix it. The hole I hit is actually an existing repaired hole that was re-damaged.


Crack is circled.

Something new pissing me off:

I've been "volunteered" to be an evaluator of various bids from vendors for printers for work. The buyer who gave us the evaluation sheet is having us score up to 15 points for each category, but the categories are yes/no questions. So the evaluation ends up being meaningless. This is the third evaluation I've been asked to do for her, and it's the same every time. A few of us have even told her that it doesn't make sense. (I should mention, we're allowed to collaborate on the evaluations, we just can't share our individual scores with each other. So we can help each other find the information.)

That was a hard day for me too.

Surviving 31 years with pancreatic cancer tells me that there is indeed hope! Keep pluggin', Atilla!

Grr... Just spent a couple of fruitless hours trying to get a Win 7 and a Win 10 computer to network happily together. Sod it, just email the files...

If the files aren't big, you have a landline phone and an old analog modem, you can use them to do this.

That's why I always have a USB flash drive handy.

A few things from the weekend, that have carried over to today:

(1) I hadn't heard from the dealership on Friday as to the status of the wheel replacement on my car, so I called them when I got home. I learned that they received the wheel, but that they need a valve stem for it, and they had to order it, and that it'd be Monday (today) before they'd have it. I was incredulous that they didn't have something as basic as a valve stem in stock. I asked if they had a loaner vehicle available, because we needed to go grocery shopping, and I wouldn't be able to do so on my scooter (we needed 8 gallons of water for my wife's aquaria). They said they did, so I went to get it. When I got there, I learned why there hadn't been any communication from them about the repair status. Their entire 7 location dealership group, across two states, had been hit by ransomware, and had no access to their computers. The service manager had gone to Staples and picked up generic carbonless service ticket forms so they could do repairs. They were using his personal laptop to be able to check out people and process loaner vehicles. They were using personal phones to make calls. I felt bad for them. They gave me a 2021 Hyundai Sonata with less than 500 miles on it. It's a nice car, with lots of nice features (heated seats, lots of safety features), but we'd rather have our Veloster.

(2) I got an email Friday afternoon from the purchasing department at work, questioning my evaluation rankings. So I spent another hour going through the proposals, page by page, to find justification for my rankings. I notated the justification in my response email. I did adjust a few of them (lowered a few, but also raised a few), and was sure to thank them for allowing me to do a better job. An hour later (while riding home), I received a reply questioning my justification. Since I am paid hourly, and it was the weekend, I ignored it until this morning. There were 4 vendors that I stated that they had provided their website. There were 5 vendors that provided data sheets. There were 4 that provided neither. The purchasing persons reply to me was that not all vendors provided the link to their website. So this morning, I went through the 4 vendors and indicated on which page I found the website.

(edit)
ARRRGH!!!
She kept pushing back on my evaluation scores. I spoke with another, more experienced evaluator, and he said she emailed him about his, too. He said she sent him a list with page numbers. Turns out, it is the list I created to justify my scores, and she's using it to force others to change their scores.

I finally had to make an implied threat of an ethics violation to get her to back off. ("It seems unethical to me that I’m being asked to change my evaluation score, when I can justify it based on the discussions that were had during the evaluation meeting, and the information provided." and "My scores will not change, as I will not compromise my ethics by changing them to something I do not agree with.")

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Bushfire close by, haven't been told to evacuate yet but the next suburb has. Neighbours have already left. Scooter is ready to go to safe refuge.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-25/cherry-gardens-fire-burning-but-rain-expected/13087720
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-24/man-arrested-near-cherry-gardens-bushfire-adelaide-hills/13087356

Haven't hear back....did you emerge unscathed, hopefully?

My irritation of the moment....my plumbing adventures. Maybe a year ago, kitchen faucet was dripping, so got parts from the hardware store, rebuilt it, and while it was better, still leaked unless the lever was in a sweet spot. Pretty annoying, but put up with it.....plumber was around a few months ago for another job, and nearly asked him to check it, but didn't. Last weekend, decided to tackle my mother's leaky faucet (you think I'd learn ) which actually turned out well. Decided that mine needed another look, (after a year wasn't going to fix itself), and turns out I'chosen not to fully tighten a nylon ring enough. So just like that, fixed.

I'd had an outside faucet dripping too, and on attempting to repair it found out it needed a new part, which apparently was no longer available. Despite shutting off the valve in the basement, it still dripped a bit...not a lot, but left a bit of a wet area in summer, and an icicle in winter. I somehow convinced myself that the indoor valve was nearly unreachable and so put up with it. I did mention it to the plumber on his visit and he simply commented on the trouble it would take to replace the outside valve, even though I simply wanted the drip to stop.

So, I finally get around to taking the problem seriously, turns out the inside valve is accessible, if not easily. All it needed was a new washer. Geeze.

Both of these things were so danged easy, but somehow I'd convinced myself otherwise. Could be a testament to how challenging last year was, or, maybe I'm an idiot. I guess "both" an option..

I have had this experience more times than I can recall.

Of course, I have also had the opposite experience, wherein a simple, straightforward job turns into a protracted, complicated exercise in frustration.

The bushfire didn't get any closer , so all good. However as each year passes, summer is a bit hotter, the fires get a bit closer. Spring 2020 was the warmest on record and summers are about 30 days longer. Have been looking at maybe moving to the eastern states where its a bit cooler, perhaps Wellington or Christchurch.
Glad your waterworks had a happy ending.

Lol. Stick around, likely to hear more about those debacles....

That sounds like me attempting to fix my scooter.🧐

Ouch.

28°F=-2°C, -5°F=-22°C.

Shoveling the walkway this morning my fingers felt like frozen carrots.😒

People who post videos on YouTube with the following content:

1. Problems with the product as they use it against manufacturers recommendations.

2. Instructional videos with noise in the background that could be easily avoided...radio, TV, kids, dog, etc.

3. Too damn much talking gibberish instead of about the real story

4. Computer audio voices on videos obviously created by someone simply trying to gain views, followers, advertisement, etc. No thanks

I feel moderately better now.

I'll add to that. Every youtuber's need for a title screen/animation of which 95% are after effects templates purchased online.

My biggest youtuber gripe.. 99% spend 3/4 of the video setting up their video topic, talking about themselves and their viewers, asking for subscribers or non subscribers to ring the bell, and barely get to the point with the purpose of the video.

Just trash 3/4 of the video and get to the point. No one gives a crap about your title screen or your life story.

FMP, thatscooterthing, AvE and Make It Extreme do it right. No "chuffa" just straight to the point.

Doing taxes...yearly royal pain in the ass...

Bob

Stick it to the man and max out your pre-tax retirement account!

That pretty much sums it up.

Fledermaus

I had our current home built 30 years ago. Last year, I had to replace
both outside faucets. They were the cast iron kind and simply could no longer
shut off. I thought they could just simply replace the worn out washers.

I do what you do, turn the water off to the outside faucets from inside the basement. Despite doing this, the faucets were shot and dripped leaked all
summer. The cost of the plumber and two new faucets was $215.00.
The new technology - you do not need to shut them off from inside and drain them.

I have got to sell this place and get into a townhouse.

Bob Copeland
Minnesota

Put them in plastic?

A townhouse can still have issues. As someone who has lived in condos for ages believe me there can be costs. Our penthouse has a private rooftop which has faucets on the deck which are I believe our responsibility. The deck (roof) is not as is the skylight you open at the top of the stairs to get on the deck. I'm assuming a townhome is like a condo here, anything exterior is the corporations responsibility , anything on the interior is yours. We had Kitec plumbing in our building and a LOT of owners were surprised when they found out the plumbing inside the unit was on them. It cost us about $5,000 to replace ours with copper. However if you are planning on renting or moving in to a retirement community that manages the entire property including inside the units then it is their problem.

Our plan is a small house on Vancouver Island with limited outdoor space. Just enough for a jacuzzi tub and a small garden with privacy and a view of the mountains and water.

I'd have replaced with PEX rather than copper, but whatever.