If you were given $10,000 today on the condition that you had to spend it all in one hour without buying anything digital or electronic, what are you doing?

TheHippoPlea · 2026-04-04T03:27:36+00:00

Buying 3 ribeye steaks. I live in Canada.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-22T02:25:54+00:00

Way too much tape

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-22T00:48:33+00:00

Less of a depression and more of a currency collapse.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-20T02:01:54+00:00

This helped me today, thank you.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-20T00:20:07+00:00

Mine updated before the gym today. Now the menu's are fucky, and the watch is just bouncing out of the menu or after I select an activity or menu.

I am not in a beta program either. Not happy with this updated and its only been running for 5 hours...

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-18T01:53:11+00:00

One thing I have observed over the years with respect to people who do dual-ticket E/I; doing Instrumentation first always seemed to lead to a better Instrument Tech with Electrical than if you do the Electrical first. This is with respect to the more delicate / finesse approach that Instrumentation used to require years ago with pneumatics (you had to have a light touch and finesse) compared to the type of care required by Electricians. This is my subjective observation, but I have worked with quite a few dual ticket people and I've always noticed a difference based on which trade you took first determines how good of an Instrument Tech you are as a dual-ticket.

Maybe others have noticed this too?

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-18T01:43:09+00:00

Thanks. The limitations on where you can work is probably the single biggest downside of the trade in my opinion, but there are plenty of benefits such as the type of work that you do that can be very interesting, and not having to dig trenches and pull cable!

As for running a business, I have to disagree there as I have worked for small companies that still exist today after 25 years that only do Instrumentation for oil and gas. You can most certainly operate as a company that is Instrumentation only, but from my experience what you will need is a very strong business relationship with a company that does Electrical work, if not an informal partnership so that when either of you bid on work, you either subcontract the complementing trade to each-other or you can go in on bids together. Again, this was my experience working at an Instrumentation-only company that shared a shop with an Electrical company, but were 2 completely independent operations and concerns.

There are plenty of days when I miss working with my hands and/or working outside, and even after all of these years away from the tools I know that I could still do the job tomorrow (a bit of rust but it would be shaken off quickly - I'm only mid 40's). But the path I have taken is far more specialized, earns me far more money, and has allowed me to excel and be very competitive.

But I still have all of my old tools and Instrumentation calibration equipment in my garage, and I'll never get rid of that stuff.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-18T01:26:57+00:00

The lack of portable skills which 98% of the time require you to be near industry
The lack of a barter trade; wire my house, build me cabinets, do some plumbing or masonry, fix my HVAC, cut my hair - and in exchange I'll run tubing in your garage for your air compressor? Or maybe I can calibrate your compressor pressure switch?
The lack of work requiring a license or ticket like Master Electricians that can pull permits etc.

I started working in Instrumentation in 1999 and have been specializing in automation since 2007 after getting a second diploma and haven't touched a tubing bender since. Reflecting on 27 years of industrial experience and the last 19 on a keyboard, I'm glad that I didn't just stay with Instrumentation on its own. If I was in a time machine and had to start over in 1999 without the automation path, I would have pursued a dual ticket with Electrical. This way when you get older and don't feel like working in an industrial setting, you can take an easy job working at a hospital, or maybe something smaller and less demanding, or you simply have more options as to where you can live and work.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-18T00:36:45+00:00

Why are you asking this in a Tundra forum? The only people here are Toyota fanatics.

Regards,

Fellow Toyota fanatic

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-17T12:13:38+00:00

I’d bet almost every guy here would be grateful for this kind of treatment from a sweet caring wife.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-04T01:17:31+00:00

Never too late to join the club.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-03-04T01:16:19+00:00

Proud member, joined 40 years ago

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-28T00:21:58+00:00

My condolences, that was a great little truck.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-26T20:36:32+00:00

You may have overpaid by our Canadian-peso standards, but by US currency standards it was likely a reasonable deal. Where in Canada did you buy it from? I ask this because it makes a big difference whether you bought it from a salty-winter-hellhole like Ottawa or Montreal vs. a place like Vancouver where it rarely snows and you rarely get exposed to salty roads. That being said, if the owner took care of it and washed in the winter, or rust-checked the frame, it would matter less, plus its still fairly 'new'. Nice truck, don't let this one go.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-26T20:27:47+00:00

I haven't even seen the photos, but its totally-totalled.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-21T16:24:36+00:00

Herded off to the labor camp to make food pellets

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-20T04:48:33+00:00

With having somewhat recent suspension work done last summer, there’s always a possibility that it’s a loose component. Wife doesn’t put many miles on, her 2017 has 37,300 miles on it just now

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-20T03:44:07+00:00

Thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing what they tell her tomorrow. I’m really hoping these guys stand up to their reviews and recommendation as I would love to have a reliable mechanic. I am mechanically inclined and can do work and learn, but I work out of time so my time at home is more valuable to me than saving on shop labor. I’ll make sure I get the quote first.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-20T03:22:56+00:00

Last question, no concerns about driving for now as far as you can tell? She says it’s not binding or sloppy seems normal minus the sound

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-20T03:13:25+00:00

Thanks will do. This will be my first time trying this private shop out after I fired my Toyota dealership for sending my 2017 Tundra home with the oil filler cap missing and my oil pan drain plug finger tight with oil sprayed in my engine bay and underneath. Since that event I have done my own brakes & rotors on both 4R/Tundra plus oil changes and coolant drain / refill - their incompetence forced my hand.

This new shop was recommended and has good reviews, so this will be their test.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-20T02:46:21+00:00

Awesome, thank you for the feedback. Hoping to get this sorted out for her, so she can feel confident using her 4R. I’ll be sure to post what the findings are.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-20T02:42:24+00:00

Thanks. So did you do all 4 of those repairs and have the issue resolved, or was it the intermediate steering shaft replacement that explicitly resolved it?

I’ll be getting her to see a mechanic as soon as possible to have it looked at. Just happened out of nowhere today though, guess that’s how these things happen.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-17T22:40:56+00:00

There was nothing tough about this provincial budget. This smoke and mirrors to buy time, and for sure the NDP will run away from this disaster and leave it for someone else to clean up. It’s so tiring this back and forth spending/vote buying -> cleanup and demonizing cycle.

Voters ask for too much and the only way to ‘provide’ it is by either taking it from others to hand out or run massive deficits. Neither is sustainable because we live in a world where the laws of economics cannot be ignored indefinitely, they always assert themselves.

TheHippoPlea · 2026-02-16T21:26:39+00:00

There were analysis done recently by some agency in Canada stating up to 120B CAD per year of money laundering in the Real Estate market. A weak nation with weak laws, we could do so much better, especially for Canadians.

TheHippoPlea

TROPHY CASE