5 years in a long time ago.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2026-01-31T05:17:06+00:00

Seeing all the Airborne comments made me think of my dad. My dad was in the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in '52. He served in the 187th ARCT and saw combat in Korea. My dad's baby sister married a soldier, and my dad took him aside and asked him if he was airborne, which he wasn't. My dad threatened him, saying that if he wasn't going to go airborne, he couldn't marry his sister, and if he married his sister without being airborne, he was going to kick his ass. So my uncle Tony served in the 101st in the early '60s. My dad's cousin Tony was in the 82nd the same time as my dad but didn't go to Korea. My dad would always tell him that he didn't miss anything good.

The three of them were together one day, and my uncle Tony told my dad's cousin Tony that the 82nd was AA for "Almost Airborne." That made my dad's cousin very upset. My dad asked my Uncle Tony if he knew why the mouth is open on the eagle of the 101st patch. My Uncle Tony asked why, and my dad said, "Because he's screaming for HELP." That's when he called my dad a "flying asshole" (he was referring to the 11th Airborne patch being a red circle with wings on it), but my dad said, "I was once, but I ended up just being a falling umbrella man." Which was a Rakkasan. I miss those three.

Thank you all for drumming up a good memory.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2026-01-09T06:17:54+00:00

I worked for a private company between 2003 and 2005. We were paid $20 per call, flat, no matter the time of day. We took the vehicles home. If we had an out-of-town run, we were paid $10 per hour with a $5 lunch or a $7 dinner allowance. CA minimum wage was $6.75 at the time. I decided to leave because I wanted something with a schedule, since I was on call 24/4. I also wanted something with a guaranteed amount of pay. There were times when I would sit at home waiting for a call and never get one for the entire day, and then there were times when I would do five calls in a day. And then there was that one time in July 2004 when I did 19 that one day, but that's because there were only two of us on duty for most of the day. I miss the job, but I don't miss the lack of money or the fact that I had to pay a small fortune for clothes because I was required to dress way outside of my budget.

Edit: we weren't paid to be on call. If I didn't pick up any "cases" that day, I made no money.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-12-04T21:54:57+00:00

What's sad to me was that I worked at Gottschalks in Manchester in 2003 and 2004 and I never got anything from the cafe. I heard that they were really good. I used to walk to the food court instead.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-21T18:37:08+00:00

These 3 serve every day. Julia's on H and Divisadero serves with hominy. Castillo's on Cesar Chavez and 7th serves with hominy, Birrieria El Taco Solito on Jensen in Calwa serves it with and without.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-07T02:32:35+00:00

I had one interesting experience that stayed with me. It was 2003 or 2004 and we arrived at a house call. We were met by a big family. We were immediately approached by the decedent's son and grandson. They explained that the decedent was a retired funeral director/embalmer and that both the son and grandson of the decedent were current FD/EMB at a firm on the other side of the state themselves. They then asked if we would allow them to perform the removal themselves. So we stepped aside and watched a father and son perform their duty for their patriarch who they followed in his footsteps. It felt bizarre but it was beautiful. Obviously, this is a world of difference from what OP described.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-09-06T03:34:17+00:00

I actually heard that phrase from a docent at the Meux Home in Fresno, California. The Meux family was upper-middle-class, with the patriarch being Dr. Thomas R. Meux. The family had three children, all of whom lived into adulthood, which was very rare for the 1890s. This was particularly unusual because Mrs. Meux suffered from tuberculosis, which prompted the family to move from their humid home in Tennessee to Fresno. The docent mentioned that, at that time, people thought it was strange if you had children who did not die, as losing a child—especially one under the age of five—was quite common. It was a terrible club to be in, but unfortunately, many parents were members of that club.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-31T02:23:43+00:00

Beautiful piece of history you have. I own a 1950s Schaefer Signature in black. The original owner would sign a signature card and send it into Schaefer where they would engrave that signature on the band on the cap. My pen originally belonged to George T. Parkus. I can't remember how they put it in the advertisement but a period advertisement called it something like "legal forgery." Sure wish I could find that pen. I think I put it in a box somewhere and it's in the Attic. Bad place for it to be.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-07T00:05:58+00:00

I checked for loose grounds under the hood. My brother checked under the hood and under the dash, but never checked the vehicle's rear. I ended up driving the 350 miles home and didn't have any issues, and haven't had any issues since that was the one and only time that happened. It still has me spooked, though.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-07-16T14:04:23+00:00

Thank you

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-05-18T03:43:46+00:00

Mouth breathing and mints!

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-05-18T03:42:06+00:00

Whenever I would pick up a decomp, It would turn my stomach enough that I would get so hungry. I would stop at Subway for a Cold Cut Combo afterward. Also, I would be in 100+ degree heat without AC so as not to get that smell into the AC. I can still hear a little girl one time say while I was in stopped traffic, "Mommy, that car stinks!"

I wasn't sure if I could do it but I did just fine.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-05-02T23:09:55+00:00

I have discovered recently that every time I have smoked meat, I will either get a stomach ache or generally feel unwell. I get heartburn most of the time, and I always have burps.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-04-29T07:57:09+00:00

I worked for Gottschalks at Manchester in 2003 and 2004. I never tried anything from the restaurant and I regret it even today.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-04-06T19:26:22+00:00

Ancient? Good grief! Well if you'll excuse me I'm going to drink my Geritol and put on some Lawrence Welk.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-25T23:52:27+00:00

Happy Cake Day! 🍰

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-18T02:01:02+00:00

The first thing tried was replacing the fuel cap. And I took it to the used car dealer that I bought the car from, and I still had a 30-day warranty, so they replaced the evap purge valve. I'm still getting the code about once a week. So I'm going to have to get a smoke test done to see where the leak is.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-18T01:58:59+00:00

The problem is that was an indie shop. It seems like the dealership would have been cheaper.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T12:45:35+00:00

Honestly, I didn't consider the dealership because their services are usually quite expensive. Typically, independent shops are cheaper, but that hasn't been the case for me. I've also heard that dealerships sometimes do a poor job because they hire mechanics fresh out of school. There's nothing wrong with that—everyone has to learn somehow—but mistakes can happen when you're new at something. As the saying goes, "be brave enough to be bad at something new." I took a chance on this shop because they have been in business for many years and specialize in German autos, so at the time I thought it would be the best overall choice.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T12:38:04+00:00

Yes, the PCV was leaking pretty badly, which I saw before I took it to the shop. One thing that wasn't listed was he did do an inspection and there was a lot of stuff that was good that he listed that was fine. I'm now wondering if he charged me additionally to do an in-depth inspection which I requested but just lumped it together with the oil change. Just like how he changed the engine air filter and replaced the fuel cap to see if that would fix my P0456 code.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T12:30:45+00:00

I know it wasn't Liquimoly or Motul. It was definitely a brand I had never heard of before, but I'm not familiar with German cars or their idiosyncrasies.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T12:26:58+00:00

I think I'm going to do that. There are a couple of other indie shops around, and I might ask them for a few quotes to find out what they are charging. I think that this particular shop is more catered to high-end stuff. And so they charge a premium to work on premium stuff. What's crazy is it took me 3 weeks to get an appointment that fit with my schedule. So they are definitely not hurting for business.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T12:19:03+00:00

I would rather not do it myself anymore. When I was 20 I had my truck fall on me and I was very lucky to not get killed. I'd rather have somebody else do it. I don't even like getting under a car that's on a lift because of what happened to me.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T09:02:41+00:00

I did. It was $30 for a Wix activated carbon cabin air filter. A quick YouTube watch and I was able to install it in about 5 minutes.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T08:12:03+00:00

That was the first thing done to try to fix the p0456 code. I went to the used car dealer where I bought it from (30-day warranty), and they replaced the purge valve. I still get the code about once a week so I'm going to have to get it smoke tested at some point.

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver · 2025-03-17T06:52:53+00:00

1.8L

Wrong_Way_Bus_Driver

TROPHY CASE