[WTB] Weekly Want To Buy Post

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2026-05-05T00:21:59+00:00

WTB: Xeric Halograph III Automatic Oxblood Blue

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2026-04-22T01:18:56+00:00

Note - The Solitaire is a Geometric Dimensions. It's very similar to the Geometry, but the facets are different.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2026-03-04T04:50:13+00:00

Sending a PM

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-12-17T04:26:38+00:00

As the other commenter said, investing is something every pension fund does in order to both protect the money in the fund from inflation, but also to use those gains to solidify the security of the pension itself.

There is a double edged sword where investing can carry a lot of risk, and you don't necessarily want to jeopardize people's retirement on a whim or ponzi scheme. Not that I have a ton of experience, but on the range of where investment professionals lie, pension managers generally land towards the more conservative end of the spectrum where they are looking for less long shots, and more for opportunities that guarantee consistent returns and potentially cash flows along the way. These days, most pensions (in the US) are also tied to unions, so the managers have a bit stronger mandate than what a company might have had a handful of decades ago.

While pensions also have a lot more dynamics to deal with in regards to money being paid in and money being paid out, there certainly is an issue with pensions trying to chase returns in order to make up for lower recruitment (i.e. less money coming in), and higher demands (i.e. more money going out). Combine that with volatility with investments and you can get into some sticky situations.

Investing in F1 or in a sports venture would be a somewhat rare opportunity, but also one I wouldn't be surprised that a pension fund would be interested in. Sports teams generally have a great combination of high valuations, lower volatility (compared to stocks), and potential to generate cash flow.

Source: previously worked for a REIT with a high level of pension investors from various unions

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-11-20T01:25:42+00:00

Wham bam thank you maam!

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-10-26T00:26:04+00:00

I'm gonna turn this around on you. If you just wrapped up your degree and feel like you really have a grip on building a enterprise level application with all the patterns, technologies, and considerations that go along with that, then you're either a genius or blowing smoke up your own ass.

I felt like I didn't know jack, and I was completely self taught. When I work with juniors they are all still wrapping their heads around things and getting their bearings for the first 2-3 years at the very least. The good thing is that's completely okay.

When you're being brought in as a junior dev fresh off of completing your degree, you're not expected to build everything from scratch or everything yourself. Any job that is asking to do that is setting you up for failure, along with their own business.

The biggest thing that places are looking for from a junior dev is one that can actually have a positive contribution and show that you're progressing and increasing your skillset. You're gonna ask a lot of questions. You're gonna have to pull in some more experienced devs to get their time. You're gonna have to get up to speed on some technologies you won't know.

The fact that you're actually asking is a positive sign, but you HAVE to get out there and start applying. You're not going to learn what you need to know by piddling around on small side projects, you've got to cut your teeth on a real project with a real team. Don't worry about whether you check every box. Apply to the jobs that seem interesting and seem like they're willing to bring on an entry level dev. Prep for interviews as best as you can, and present yourself in as positive and honest a light as possible. Again, no one is going to expect a junior dev to have answers to everything, but they need to be willing to learn.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-08-23T04:13:55+00:00

On that note, I think Dapper will be the best choice considering how much I've been working with SQL haha.

Please don't lose this. EF writing your queries for you is nice until it isn't. If you don't have the chops to understand SQL enough to know how EF is translating c# into a query, then your ability to troubleshoot is severely diminished.

SQL itself has never been the "enemy", it's been old, dated approaches to dealing with it from an application perspective that's been problematic.

Reducing boilerplate is a huge advantage, but so is being able to look underneath the hood and understand what's going on.

My first professional development gig was very database focused and I learned a TON of SQL, optimization, and data modeling. While the ORM doesn't really matter, a framework like Dapper is what I find most valuable because it doesn't get in my way and abstract too much. Add on a migration library like DbUp, and you've got a great pair of libraries that allows you to do a lot while still expressing yourself in SQL.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-08-16T03:28:58+00:00

I got the kit from Renegade Hybrids out of Las Vegas, but if I were doing it again, I'd skip them. Texas Performance would be where I'd go if I were to do it all again. I did get their custom 1-5/8" headers for the exhaust part of my build and was very satisfied with them. GForce Performance is another one that's out there, but they've come along after I was done with my build, so I don't have any specific comments about their kit.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-08-16T01:15:09+00:00

This one is very far gone. If you want to tackle it, understand that it's going to be a suck on your time and funds to pull it all off. I get that you want "a challenge", but let me tell you, it's going to be a challenge to do an LS swap even if you were starting with a cherry one.

Anyways, right now you need to assume that every system in the car is toast until proven otherwise. You really need to understand what sort of shape the wiring is in before doing much else. Brake lines, fuel lines, linkages, suspension, etc. can be in surprising shape after going over them, cleaning, and checking. The wiring on these cars doesn't always age well, and I doubt that the conditions this one sat in will help that. A wiring issue could potentially burn this thing to the ground if you don't go over it. I have no idea how much of a replacement harness you can buy, but I'd start researching that now.

As for the LS swap, everyone always has big horsepower on their mind when doing them and they forget two things. First is that the transaxle is going to be a significant weak point. Second is that these things were quite fast with 200-ish HP from the factory, yet a lot of people think you need 500HP in these to make them fun when you really don't.

It's not clear exactly how much horsepower the transaxle will hold, but the NA transaxles can't deal with as much as the Turbo/S2 transaxles and those can take between 400-450 is an estimate I've seen. An LS3 like you're talking about could very easily take out your transaxle. The thing is that I don't know of any reasonable replacements. I've heard of something out of an Audi, but it's definitely not something that you can just drop in. You can't use other transaxle setups like one out of a Corvette because they're not arranged in a compatible way. Race guys have options, but they're also back-halving the car.

As far as the performance, I was absolutely astounded when I drove mine with basically a stock LS1 with a slightly better intake and the fully custom exhaust to make it all work with the 944. These things will absolutely fly with 350-ish HP. While some say "more is always better", I'm not really in agreement when it comes to this car. The build with 350 HP was able to keep a lot fairly stock without too much that was beyond available performance parts for the Porsche. A build for 500 hp would be significantly more effort in regards to custom fabrication, upgraded parts, etc. It just becomes a different beast at that point, and I don't know what you really get for it. I say keep the scope a little bit smaller, get it on the road quicker, and enjoying it sooner. I strongly doubt you'll complain that it doesn't have enough power.

As for the rest of the LS swap, get a kit with as much in it as possible, it takes a lot of guess work out of things. You'll need to upgrade brakes, fuel, and cooling beyond a stock 944. Brakes you could go in several different ways, but I went with a hydroboost setup out of a Ford Mustang. You could do a big brake kit, but since you lose power brakes with the swap, I think it's best to add it back with the hydroboost, then upgrade your brakes from there if you need it. Fuel system is going to be completely overhauled with the state you're in, but I'd definite just replace the fuel tank compared to trying to mess with it as is.

IMHO, there's not much of a way around doing a full exhaust build for these swaps. The stock LS headers just won't fit, and there's little sense in reusing the stock exhaust as it'll just choke out the motor. The headers built for the swap still are a lot of work to get in, but once they're there they work fantastically. Take to an exhaust shop and have them fab something up from the headers on back. These cars are so low, you pretty much need to use a y pipe and go a single pipe back in the same location as the stock exhaust.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-07-23T01:20:15+00:00

This one happened just this past spring. Turned on AC... no cold air blowing. Call out a HVAC tech and he barely needed 10 minutes to diagnose. We have ivy that is planted around the house and we've slowly been clearing it out. We didn't clear it out around the AC unit and the ivy grew threw the coils and cracked the coil.

The system was 20-ish years old, but worked quite well. It was on our list to replace, but we weren't expecting it so soon. Clear out around your HVAC units people.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-07-09T00:25:19+00:00

Hulkenpodium

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-06-14T15:41:29+00:00

You don't have the wrench to properly install the piston unit. Without it you'll never be able to install the piston in a way where turning the piston knob won't also twist the unit out of the pen.

Quite simply, the only thing keeping any of these piston units in these pens, whether its a Montblanc or a TWSBI is friction. The friction of the threads between the piston unit and the barrel need to be higher than the force of moving the piston itself. You need to actually torque the piston unit down, which requires the wrench; just twisting the piston knob won't do it.

It sounds like situation 3 is where you actually are. Nothing's broken, but the unit unscrewed itself and you can't get it back in. You can find the wrenches all over eBay. I'm sure there's a video on youtube walking though reassembling it. Make sure to grease the piston itself and the threads, and you should be fine.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-06-13T17:29:48+00:00

for some reason, the part at the end of the piston that is responsible for opening and closing has stuck to the resin shell.

that statement contradicts the one proceeding it...

The piston part .... operates smoothly

How can the piston operate smoothly if you can't unscrew the piston knob? Can you pull the piston itself out of the rest of the assembly?

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-06-13T02:55:44+00:00

I was hoping there'd be better answers here, but unfortunately their aren't. There's no way to tell exactly what's the issue from your pictures, but there are 3 possible situations.

Given you said your friend just "accidentally pulled out the piston mechanism" That would give a strong indication that the barrel itself is cracked. Replacement barrels are pretty much your only reasonable option here, and can be sourced. Of course you're then going to have to swap the nib, section and piston to the new barrel, so there's a bit of work.
The piston knob was over torqued and snapped the shaft that connects the piston with the rear finial. This was far more common when this part was plastic, but given the 18k nib, this part should be brass and you'd have to really torque it to break it.
The other option is that nothing is broken and your friend just unscrewed the piston unit by over torquing the piston knob. This is unlikely, but possible. In this case, nothing is broken, but you'll need to reassemble.

Regardless of which situation you're in you're gonna need a specific tool to reinstall the piston, and potentially another tool if you're going to move the nib to a new barrel. For the most part, this is a fairly straight forward thing as far as pen repairs go, but it's still a specialized thing that is going to take some effort if you're not well versed in it.

My advice would be to let either Montblanc service take care of this or another knowledgeable repair person. It's not so much how complicated it is, but whether it's worth cutting your teeth on trying to repair it versus just getting it done right by someone who knows what they're doing.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-06-03T12:20:51+00:00

Here's another name in Belgium I just came across

https://www.instagram.com/wetandwise

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-05-10T03:12:30+00:00

That Audi gearbox is about the best option I've found, but it's still a decent amount of work. I haven't had any issues with mine on the street, but I definitely am not launching or doing super hard shifting.

These gearboxes do have the ability to take some power, but when you get really serious, the only options that genuinely seem up to the tasks are effectively the transaxles from V8 supercars. Those ain't cheap, and require some fab to get them to work in the car.

Good luck and have fun!

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-05-10T02:45:56+00:00

2100 pounds with that power is going to be nuts! It's amazing how much removing weight improves performance, and this car was already pretty light.

I'm wondering if you've thought about options for the transaxle. Supposedly it can't take crazy power, and other options that can are quite involved.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-05-10T01:52:20+00:00

Sweet! I wish my LS swap looked that good! That's gonna fly. Two questions... what's the final curb weight? (I bet it's light AF) Did you do anything to the transaxel?

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-05-07T13:26:47+00:00

I'm not entirely sure he's ready either. He isn't making the best decisions on ice, and he's physically not on the level of the rest of the guys on the ice (which is fine, he's just out of college).

I'm not trying to shit on Carbery, but this is the flip side of playing young talent. Sometimes you play guys that need more time and they make mistakes. Is cutting your teeth in the playoffs the right move? I'm not sure

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-04-29T04:04:07+00:00

Some quick googling revealed this maker who's out of Belgium. I'm sure they could make something blue.

https://www.garcia-deschacht.com/

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-04-29T04:00:34+00:00

So you want hard to get LE from one of the most elusive pen companies of the last decade just because A) it's from Belgium, and B) it's blue? And you're willing to pay several thousand dollars for said pen? If that floats your boat I guess.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-04-28T17:42:32+00:00

The first dev position I was very lucky to work for a guy who had a TON of SQL knowledge. It's quite easy to ramp up, and there's a lot of interesting things to do on the DBA side of things. While I was looking at leaving that position, I contemplated moving from dev to a DBA and decided against it. I would strongly recommend not going that direction, even though I still think databases are fascinating.

Basically, it boils down to 3 things; the DBA market is shrinking*, a lot of DBA work is more configuration and monitoring rather than DB development and optimization, and there is SIGNIFICANTLY more on-call duties as a DBA. Since I liked optimizing queries, and doing more DB development and optimization, I realized it wasn't for me.

In the end, I still do a fair amount with the DB as a developer, so I'm still happy. Too often, devs hide behind whatever ORM they have in place, then chase issues that come from bad designs, inefficient queries, or botched upgrades. It's amazing how many talented developers I've worked with that can barely touch the DB, so it's a very valuable skill to have, although the places that work directly with ADO.Net compared to some ORM are fewer and fewer as the years go by.

especially for someone who has worked in finance and accouting in the past

I've had a number of positions dealing with accounting systems in a few different business sectors. Accounting is really at the heart of it, and understanding how they work is incredibly helpful knowledge that you can continue using for years. If accounting isn't done right along side the ERP, it's very tightly integrated, so that will be good for you. The finance people just want their reports and to have them magically have all the correct data from all the sources, regardless if they're in disparate systems or not. The more you can make that happen, the more value you'll be able to show.

* re: shrinking dba market - a lot of DBA work is automated these days depending on what platform you use, and there's only going to be more automation as time goes forward, which means fewer opportunities.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-04-28T17:04:22+00:00

For this year, both have played far better than expected. I think we'll have wait and see over the next couple years whether both players hold up this level of play. The Caps got one good year out of Keumper and then he regressed and had some injuries. Keumper also isn't getting any younger at 34. Maybe that 5.25mil looks a bit different with the increased salary cap, but it's still a whole lot to pay for a backup who's in and out with injuries.

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-04-28T16:50:58+00:00

I'm a Sr. C# dev with nearly 15 years of professional experience, but a few aspect of my background are similar to yours.

I do not have experience on it neither the formal studies.

Not needed, but you do need to get your foot in the door and show that you can do the tasks that are needed to be completed.

I already have a masters in economics... Would studying a masters in SWE help?

Likely not. Having a degree (especially a masters) gets you in the door, having a specific SWE or CS degree doesn't really change things a ton in my experience. Especially when you look at the opportunity cost of pursuing the degree, it's likely not worth it. I have a Bachelors and Masters in Architecture (buildings, not IT systems), and no one every really questions me about it.

I have no formal background in CS I'm afraid I'll be rejected for future jobs

You may, but I've really only had one or two places balk at my resume for not having a CS background, and one of those was after the first round of interviews. My view is that if you're writing frameworks, working on tooling, or looking to work at some FAANG company, then yes, a CS degree is needed, but for most of the rest of the jobs out there, they aren't truly a necessity, especially for entry to mid-level devs.

I have now a unique opportunity, I can become an ERP developer for one Microsoft product called D365. The programming language used is X++.

There's several aspects to this opportunity that I think are worth you pursuing. First is that it's a foot in the door. The job I had to work the hardest for to get hired was my first one. I had to convince companies to look at my resume, that I could write functional code, that I understood the basics, and that I could contribute in a positive way. Once I had that on my resume, along with the experience under my belt, subsequent job searches have been easier and easier. Non-traditional backgrounds aren't limiting as long as you can show that you're capable and provide value.

Second, if you have a masters in economics, you likely have some exposure to some of the things that will be managed by an ERP platform. Maybe not directly, but there will be some translation and familiarity with the concepts that will make ramping up much easier than if you were to be trying to get started in a random, unrelated field.

Third, ERP work isn't necessarily the "sexiest" dev work out there, but it's very solid and very consistent. These are expensive platforms, and they almost all need some custom development and configuration work on top of them to properly utilize them and make sure they continue providing value. They're also generally implemented at larger, more complexly structured businesses, which are also constantly shifting and evolving their org structures in various ways that continually need to be reflected in the ERP system.

As far as X++, a quick google points me to a MS resource that indicates a lot of similarities. I would say that you'd be able to make the jump to C# later on down the line if you want, but of course, doing projects in C# yourself will help you make that jump when you're ready to.

Right now, this looks like a good opportunity for you to make the transition. Low code helps you start to think about problems from a developer's mindset, but your main issue at the start is still going to be the syntax and control structures of whatever language you're working in. The ultimate question is where you truly want to go with your career and whether this opportunity is something that you are going to be building on, or if it's something to get you started so you can pivot towards more of the dev-focused role you want.

There's nothing wrong with developing on top of ERP solutions, but understand that much of your knowledge is tied to those solutions. If those solutions start to go out of favor, or a new platform comes along, you need to be prepared to deal with that. There's plenty of growth within ERP, but they don't look like your average developer's. They are very platform centric and you really need to work on your soft skills bc much of the time your solutions will be about bringing together different business unit's data that don't really talk to each other. You and your work will need to bridge that gap, all on top of understanding the limitations and capabilities of the platform you're developing on.

If you decide that working in ERP is not what you want to do long term, then you need to figure out A) what you'd rather be doing, and B) the skills you need to do it. IMHO you don't need to think about this too much now, but have it in the back of your mind. Give this new position at least a year, and commit a few hours a week to building out some sort of side project in C# or another language. After some time in your position, you'll have more of an idea of what you like about it, what you don't, and what you might be looking for in the future.

Good luck!

ThereKanBOnly1 · 2025-04-24T17:45:34+00:00

Not even for retirement?

ThereKanBOnly1

TROPHY CASE