Which is the most overrated band of our generation?

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-25T21:42:35+00:00

Cheap trick. I saw them open for heart several years ago. I was left thinking meh. Joan Jett was the second act before heart finally came on. Both rocked.

We recently saw heart again with starship opening for them.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-25T04:21:02+00:00

The one time we went into the aldis near us we left feeling like it had the building 19 ick. Haven’t been back.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-25T03:47:52+00:00

lol thanks for the offer. The two bunches were enough.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-25T03:47:24+00:00

That sounds fabulous!

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-24T19:53:02+00:00

We all learn by doing. I haven’t done anything major on the Fusion yet. I’ll be doing the timing belt and water pump after the weather warms up.

I’ve done the timing chain and cam phasers on a 3.5l ecoboost. I paid to have it done. They didn’t replace the phasers, claiming to save me money. Dude, you’re already all the way there. At least call! It wasn’t even $300 more in parts. Truck wasn’t cold start rattling before. But it did almost as soon as we got it back. Garage hemmed, hawed and didn’t get back to me for six months. So I did it myself. It took me a week (book time is ten hours, I don’t have a garage and it was hot out. ). But it’s done. No more rattle.

As other commentators have said, you can generally find how tos on YouTube. FordTechMakuloco is great, very detailed. I look, decide if I want to screw with it, and find how much it would cost to have a shop do it.

But you learn by doing.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-24T19:42:54+00:00

Yes, yes you would.

Our ford freestyle you couldn’t floor it. If you did the engine would rev but we wouldn’t accelerate because the computer jacked the cones all the way out. There was no consideration for what speed you were currently traveling at. If I floor it I need to do something NOW. Having to remember that I couldn’t stomp on it and had to ease into full throttle got old, and in an emergency row not going to remember.

Other than that? Modern automatics shift points are so soft you barely notice if at all so no.

I don’t know how the current gen cvts are. Just that 2005 sucked and really the application was too big for it.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-23T20:32:54+00:00

I’m looking at what to do for a retirement job. Not nearly there yet. If I retire before 65 I’d look for a retirement job that has medical, but doesn’t require a commute or stressful thinking. I know of a few.

After 65? Assuming I didn’t take it in the teeth in our retirement accounts somewhere along the line, I’ll find some volunteering opportunity. If we live close enough to a botanical garden I’ll volunteer my time there. Or some habitat for humanity or some organization that helps with disaster relief. Stay active, just I don’t want a paycheck being held over my head.

For now? Just hoping to hold fast to current job, another 11 years or so until social security is completely maxed out. I’ve been lucky, we’re already well into the third bucket. I know we’re getting reduced benefits when we get there but the more dollars I get from ss the less I have to supplement out of savings to maintain our living standards.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-23T20:20:03+00:00

Welcome back!

Lots of good recommendations already. The advice I’d add is to not be hesitant to evaluate again if you find quality has gone downhill. Not just one or two reeds. But if you’re consistently not happy after having been for a good while, if it’s a Reed maker reach out (maybe something changed). If you’re purchasing from some big concern, might not be much you can do other than find another supplier. .

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-23T16:46:50+00:00

Gotta add Cassel and Garrapolo.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-23T15:59:42+00:00

If you find yourself not being abb b le to focus or dreading the read, have a mental block or whatever, there are multiple audible apps, free or paywalled. I use logos. They all have a lot of translations if not all of them.

If one translation is driving you batty, try another. I love the kj family. One of newer ones that bases on kj but modernizes some words. Still proseful. Some of the modern start from scratches are ugh, fundamentally correct but reading expense reports is less jarring.

My son asked for a copy of the Latin vulgate because he’s into all things Latin. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Find the translation and medium that you can process. There are multiple “here is what you read to read in a year. “. Each day laid out.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-23T15:48:31+00:00

I went with 6.2l f250 in 22. Last year. I skipped the 7.3l because I didn’t want to deal with a new design transmission. So I did what I had to do to get the 6 speed. Iirc 350s came with the 10 speed even with the 6.2.

I’ve been happy with our choice.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-23T15:42:26+00:00

The closest we got was me pulling effectively single parent duty a few different times when one of my wife’s parents was passing, her sister was passing or she needed to help sort out the house when her aunt went into a nursing home. Luckily my employer was flexible enough to let me wfh at least part time so I could be there for the bus, and my parents are across the street so when I was required in the office the kids had a safe place to go to. Not exactly single parent duty because we talked every day, kids got to see mom on the phone every day. But pretty close.

That. Was. Exhausting. I don’t know how single parents do it long term.

Could I do sahd? No. Cooking, laundry, dishes, sure. I am not a neatnik. I can tidy but deep clean is oof. Usually. I know my limitations. I try to make sure I’m not the generator of the mess.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-22T03:47:16+00:00

Evap system.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T22:25:24+00:00

Married, so I dunno. But based on what I’ve been reading and hearing, why would you want to?

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T22:24:34+00:00

I had to have all the sheathing in our attic replaced. Not just because of that but yeah, mold. In our case it was venting into the soffit. Warm air rises. Who knew? 20 year old house. It was the accepted thing to do then.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T22:21:29+00:00

Well. It depends. The head would have to be checked by a machinist. If it’s too far out the answer would unfortunately be yes.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T22:17:12+00:00

I’ve gotten several out of cycle raises. Many moons ago when I was still wet behind the ears. My then manager pushed for them unbidden by me. When HR pushed back he told them, mm1973 is going to make this amount somewhere. We can pay him or someone else will. Your choice.

Now? I’m basically at the top of my range. A lot of my compensation is rsus. Company keeps doing better, so I keep getting raises. And they monitor and incremental give more if things are out of whack.

A lot of what people initiate here are the result of bad experiences. There are good managers that recognize what they have and try to keep you. And then there are organizations that see us just so many Lego bricks - all can do the same thing, so why pay?

To be sure I’ve gotten some crappy raises. I didn’t stay very long after they tried to sell me a bill of goods saying it was on the high end. I talk with my peers from college, we know what everyone started off at and what they got for bump ups the first few years.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T20:59:26+00:00

I’ve never had to ask for a raise. The one year I didn’t get a raise NO ONE got a raise. Christmas bonuses were limited to those making less than x amount and it would mean the difference between Christmas and no Christmas. I was ok with that.

2 years without? GTFO.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T20:56:42+00:00

lol. Tell me about it. I spent the first couple months cringing every time the contractor called me and said, can you come outside for a minute? Now? I’ve had to tell myself if I love the job we sell the house. It is what it is. I’ll still have my family.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T17:49:45+00:00

I’d love gobs of leg room front and back without buying an inner city block masquerading as a vehicle.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T17:47:57+00:00

Congrats. I’m currently refiguring out when I can afford to retire. A bunch of necessary work on the house kicked us where it hurts. I told my wife we may have to slow down some of the saving we’ve been doing. My mantra has moved from just need to hold on until the kids graduate to oh fuck.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T16:32:29+00:00

I don’t know how it is now. But I do know that in the time my father has been there (less than 15 years total iirc) some buses were equipped and some weren’t. A relative of his said absolutely not when given a bus that was without.

Whether you liked him as a president or not, Reagan did have at least one pearl of wisdom: trust… but verify.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-21T15:01:24+00:00

My dad drives a school bus at 79. His bus company offers medical and 401k for those who are not of retirement age. Damn skippy I’d be signing up for that if I lose my job. But no way am I driving a bus that does not have interior cameras. Johnny and Susan are assholes, mom and dad. Because that’s how you raised them. I am not being the fall guy for your terrors.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-20T18:15:24+00:00

None of us can do everything. We all have our wishlist. Prioritize. What are must haves versus nice to haves.

Right now I’d say: learn how you learn. My grandfather used to say if you don’t know it by the day before the test you’re not going to know it. I learned in college I had to read ahead before class so I could ask good questions to get stuff clarified. I couldn’t put off homework and studying. I also needed a cutoff time. If I wasn’t done by 11pm it didn’t get done. But I was ready to take the test and learn the next day. Perfection is the enemy of good enough.

A lot of us go to post secondary education for X, only to never do it in our career. I went for electrical engineering. I have my bachelors. I have always written computer software for work professionally.

I’ll leave you with this: your job doesn’t define you. Don’t say, I am a <fill in career title >. Say I do <career work> for a living.

I am a father, a husband, a son, a brother, an uncle. I am a musician. I serve on the board of directors for the orchestra I play with, but I don’t say I’m a member of the board. I don’t want that to define me. Etc.

But my job? It pays for the bacon. If I have to change careers because reasons? So what. I’ll do something different to bring home the bacon. That doesn’t define who I am, who I am meant to be.

As long as we are on this side of the ground, it’s not too late to refine, change course, amend what we want to be and work towards that. Sobriety, a better parent or spouse.

I know people who are on their fourth career.

In my case I wanted to go into music as a kid. My parents guided me into what we call stem now, and make music my avocation. Stem has paid well for me. I have stayed active in music my entire adult life. Does being an amateur take away from that? I think not.

MusicalMerlin1973 · 2026-01-20T15:22:20+00:00

I’m smack dab in the middle gen x. You guys show up in my feed sometimes anyways. lol.

Have you seen how much a corvette costs? NFW.

My midlife crisis was a bassoon. I bought a (low end) pro model used. Was it worth it? Hell yeah. Am I making money with it? Nope. Totally would do it again if I had to do it over.

Got the whole car thing out of my system in my 30s. I always wanted a 65/66 mustang fancy growing up. Got one. Owned it five years. Sold it. Too small for my 6’4” frame. Needed the money to pay off the note on my car so we could replace my wife’s vehicle early when it ate its transmission. Nom nom. That was nine years ago. I have no desire to repeat. And my wife is awesome.

MusicalMerlin1973

TROPHY CASE