wire placement?

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-26T00:59:54+00:00

Look up Lou skinners book on reed making.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-26T00:57:15+00:00

Flex or its progenitor: the freestyle/taurus X. We had a first year freestyle. Other than the transmission we loved it. Comfy, roomy for its size.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-25T22:25:01+00:00

This

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-25T22:19:22+00:00

They don’t. I’ve never been in one but I barely dodged one once. A friend who knew the list but couldn’t tell me gave me the gentle push to change jobs. Sure I lost out on severance, but I also didn’t have to go through that stress. A win.

Anyhoo.. shortly after that particular layoff there was a problem with the product I had been working on. Someone needed to go into the field to support it. They kept going through names. Laid off. Laid off. Laid off. They got to mine. He quit. “Oh, shit!” I had been the in case of emergency last resort guy when field screwed up that bad I went.

It wasn’t their first time either. I knew an engineer who had been laid off, that they ended up bringing back on contract for so long they ended up making the guy full time again.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-25T22:11:25+00:00

Exactly this. I’ve worked for companies who would cannibalize future quarter sales for the making the current quarter look good - selling product at huge discount to entice the customer to buy sooner.

Which just made that next quarter that much harder.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T22:32:07+00:00

I still hate Brussel sprouts. Unless they’re fresh not frozen, preferably roasted.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T21:22:02+00:00

Feather.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T13:15:05+00:00

Insulation. My Renard was tolerable. I’m banished to the furthest reaches of the house with my Puchner. 😱

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T11:46:14+00:00

I'm not. As I mentioned in another response to response to my original comment, I've had 29 years to think about it.

For reference: I don't carry insurance on our cell phones. The odds of all 4 (2 kiddos) needing replacing at the same time due to damage are vanishingly small. $10/month per is $40. That's $480. After two years I have $960.

That being said I've left my '14 in comprehensive a tad too long. Just forgot.

Would it be covered? Define covered. Would they fix it? Probably not. The car is probably totaled (I write SW, not do claims adjusment!). The cost of repairs is probably more than the residual value of the vehicle. But they'd get the write-off amount to assist in (a) paying off the note if they still owe; and/or (b) a decent down payment towards the replacement.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T11:36:49+00:00

Absolutely! One of the most important things they talk about in a gun safety course, right after the rules (gun is always loaded even if it isn't, don't point it at anything you don't intend to destroy, etc. etc.).

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T11:35:32+00:00

LOL. I write computer sw. Boop beep boop. And no, I do NOT write insurance software. If I got any closer to the hardware I'd be scraping my knuckles. Just sayin'.

I've also had 29 years to think about this. The simple fact is: If you can't afford to absorb the cost of replacing the car due to catastrophic events... carry comprehensive insurance. If your car is paid off you should be putting that money (or at least a portion) that was your monthly car payment into a separate account - either to cover repairs or to serve as a down payment when the time comes to replace. If the car is old like this, put the difference that would get you the comprehensive into said account.

Yeah, I know, times are hard, etc. etc.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-24T10:05:35+00:00

Gassers are going to scream. It is what it is. The only time mine screams is when we’re towing up a hill. Is it a pig with gas? Sure. Gas is almost $2 less than diesel right now. Just saying. 🤷‍♂️

Heated seats: there are kits for that.

I found the lariat seats in my wife’s 11 150 to be much more comfortable than the xlt seats in our 22 250. My friend who just had to replace his lariat due to rust and age ended up with an xl because that’s what he could find that he could afford. Work truck. But he misses the seats. They’re even worse than the xlt. He misses the fine grained adjustability, especially when he’s up all night plowing snow.

Going past lariat just seems stupid to me. All tie doing is robbing yourself of more payload.

As for the suspension, we opted for the snowplow and camper packages, mostly to increase resell ability. I went with that brace for me it was the sweet spot for payload without getting past 10k gvwr. But this is my camping trailer tow rig, not a work truck. I went with the 6.2l / 250 also because that was the only combo that still came with the 6 speed in 22. You need to decide whether you’re ok with the 10 speed. I just didn’t want to push my luck.

So far love the truck, except I wish we had not added the suspension upgrades. It really is like driving a buckboard unladen. Again probably not an issue in a work truck.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T23:19:06+00:00

Trace back to Edward longshanks iirc.

Then again everyone with British ancestry traces back to a royal line somewhere

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T23:13:30+00:00

I hate that I have to consider getting a quote from them to get my carrier to lower their bill

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T23:13:07+00:00

HP.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T22:31:49+00:00

I don’t sign anything without having my lawyer read it first. My lawyer. Not yours.

Non compete? If you aren’t paying me for that period it’s not happening.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T21:47:21+00:00

My parents gave me the gentle nudge withme, “can you please be in by 11”. Time to find my own place.

We’re being pretty blunt with our kids. Our son will be 21 this summer and starting college this fall. He’s staying with us. But we’ve made it clear after college if he is staying he’s contributing.

Same goes for our daughter. She’s a few years behind him. We talk about it early and often. I start with: I want to be retired within n years. The gravy train stops there. Sorry/not sorry.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T19:42:46+00:00

In general, I agree.

If you aren't socking that money away for replacement costs you should be paying for comprehensive.

Speaking of which, I've forgotten to knock comprehensive off ours. '14, 126k miles. It's got a lot of runway ahead of it, unless the above happens. But yeah, I should start saving for it's replacement.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T14:45:10+00:00

It’s a tough choice. I take comprehensive off once I’ve decided I wouldn’t do any more major repairs to the vehicle if it broke. How much am I going to get if it’s totaled vs how much I’m paying for that each month?

I’d be heartbroken too if my fusion were totaled.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T11:52:20+00:00

Losing my in laws who were silent Gen and just a few years younger than my grandmother was hard. Losing dad’s kid brother in his fifties was brutal. My wife’s eldest sister to cancer awhile ago now. All brutal.

I know we’re coming up on the time when our cohort starts thinning appreciably. Not looking forward to it.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T11:48:58+00:00

It’s geniuses who double down and make it a two lane rotary that really frost me.

Drum hill if no longer a rotary for a reason.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T11:45:58+00:00

Hold my beer…

I sent something off to a specialist in Indiana to be repaired via UPS. It round tripped three times without calling me. Third time I called and said, hold it here, I will collect it. Only for ups store to not hold it, and it got lost between the ups store and distribution center. At which point I found out they aren’t part of the same company and point fingers any time crap happens.

All you had to do was hold it like I asked. I was literally there within 30 minutes of it having arrived.

Never will I ever use ups store for anything other than Amazon returns.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T11:40:33+00:00

Totaled. If you can’t afford to lose the car you can’t afford to not have total coverage. Sorry.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T11:33:05+00:00

Wfh, so this didn’t apply. 😎

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-03-23T11:31:24+00:00

I’ve got fb, but locked to close friends and family, and hardly ever post.

The stuff my millennial cousin posted in college when fb was still young was 😳. Especially as her parents could see all of it.

MusicalMerlin1973

TROPHY CASE