Modern Vespa

my cat tried to steal a car today

I found my favorite screwdriver! This is cheering me up today.

Many of us probably have a "favorite" screwdriver. It's the one we grab first because it's size seems to work well in >80% of cases. Well, a couple weeks ago I misplaced mine. This is unusual for me because I'm kind of OCD about my work area and tend to keep tools organized even as I'm using them. I've felt a loss every time I've looked at the empty spot in my screwdriver drawer.

Yesterday, I was sorting through a bin filled with zip ties and zip tie anchors and POOF! There it was. My lost friend, my flat blade amigo, my missing screwdriver! I must have set it down with the intent of coming back for it and forgot. It felt good to put it back in it's place in the tool chest drawer. All is right in my world once again.

I found my favorite screwdriver! This is cheering me up today.

I replaced the door seal on the washing machine. Cheapest quote we found was $425 parts and labour included.

Bought the new seal for $60, bought the tool needed for $20. Took me 2-3 hours including time to watch a youtube video, gather and put away tools, clean up, and clear out a blocked drain hose that wasn't part of the quote.

Saved $345 for max 3 hours of fairly easy straight forward work, and I got an excuse to buy a new tool. Double win.

What was the tool?

skids friend survived the Maui fires!

... still 1,000 missing.

It's a spring expander, basically.


Either way. Now I have the tool for the job. And I can also replace washing machine door seals with it too.

Guess that's believable. I'd heard that it's likely many of the missing were in the ocean, without even any remains. I'm guessing there's some point in time they just have to declare the missing as dead. But that seems tragically vague.

Now if that were just robust enough for, say, center stand springs.....

Could be. How many inches does that need to expand to, to get on and off?

bionic as fawk.

In June, the School District Board of Trustees approved a 2% raise for exempt campus and central team members; a 3% raise for support staff; increases in select tiers for the teacher, assistant principal and principal excellence initiatives; and an increase to $16 an hour for the district's minimum wage.

These increases amount to $47.4 million in the 2023-2024 budget and focus on the district's compensation priorities: market competitive salaries, advancing equity, strategic compensation and high priority and retention stipends.

These salary increases will be reflected on Sept. 15 paychecks for eligible bi-weekly and monthly team members who are not in an excellence initiative, and on the Oct. 13 paycheck for eligible team members who are on an excellence initiative.

Eligible team members who were hired before May 1, 2023, will also see an additional $500—the first installment of a district retention incentive—in their Sept. 15 paychecks.

This email from HR:
I'm considered Bi-Weekly Support Staff, not on an excellence initiative, and am an Eligible Team Member.

Came home to find my cat dragging a toy around the front yard. It's not his, he stole it from the neighbours cat 😹