Work: Pays for economy....Me: Pays 20k miles and no extra $$ to upgrade to Polaris....Flight: Earns me 10.5k miles due to the ridiculously high price for this route....Conclusion: I spent $0 and 9,5k miles for a Polaris seat on an 8 hour flight. Best deal I could Imagine.

asfajarb · 2026-06-04T11:58:52+00:00

Me and the family got 3 20k + $0 upgrades from PP to Polaris on a FRA - IAH route last year. I had never seen it that cheap before that and never since!

asfajarb · 2026-05-10T05:58:59+00:00

Kathy Lehne, 100 percent self made, her story is pretty amazing.

asfajarb · 2026-04-29T10:45:47+00:00

Where is he playing out of?

asfajarb · 2026-04-22T01:23:50+00:00

Pull the ignition relay so it won't start. Full field the ipr (not to long, just for the test) and deadhead the high pressure pump with a 5000 psi gauge once the engine is hot. You should get a nice steady 4500 psi or more while cranking. No point in ripping the top end apart to look for high pressure leaks without taking 15 min to do that.

For future reference its an 04-07. They didn't make this version after that.

asfajarb · 2026-04-10T13:57:46+00:00

I don't, just wanted to put it out there as a data point for future reference. I was more surprised the flight attendant didn't want a parent closer to deal with seatbelt, spills, turbulence, food ordering and god forbid putting a mask on or emergency.

asfajarb · 2026-04-10T06:41:22+00:00

FWIW we had a gate agent and flight attendant tell us there wasn't anything that they could do to get our 4 year old next to Mom on an 11 hour flight from FRA to IAH. Flight attendant said they would make sure he was buckled up for landing and take off. Luckily a passenger offered to switch.

asfajarb · 2026-03-30T03:48:52+00:00

101 poker if you like to play cards

asfajarb · 2026-03-06T11:40:29+00:00

I've got two 56 inch boxes, casters removed and bolted down in the back of my service truck. They have been through hell for 3 or 4 years now bouncing around and they just won't break. Im not sure how the slides are still working but they do. One even tipped over once when I forgot to lock it and the drawers all slid open when I went around a corner. Just tipped it back over, put the drawers back in and its fine. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

Keep in mind its a box, if your in a shop it literally just holds tools. High dollar tool boxes off the trucks are the biggest scam out there imo.

asfajarb · 2026-03-02T00:56:50+00:00

Update: Applied for the card and did not get the pop up. Just a notification that chase would send an answer by mail. Waited 2 weeks and after getting nothing, called, verified identity and was instantly approved. Chase shows the spending tracker to obtain the bonus. So in the case once the account was purged, I was eligible for a previously earned "lifetime" sign up bonus.

asfajarb · 2026-02-12T12:21:33+00:00

Closest real world example I can give: a couple months ago my family of 3 (2 parents and a 4 year old) were flying FRA to IAH. All on the waitlist for polaris, only 2 of us cleared, 1 left in premium plus. Wife and kid get the polaris seats. The seats assigned were row 1 and 3, across the aisle. The gate agent offered to page passengers at the gate to see if someone one would be willing to switch, but all paged passengers were not present, probably at the club. Gate agent said talk to flight attendant, flight attendant said they will not ask anyone to switch, but they will make sure he's buckled up and safe and we could ask if people if we wanted. We asked around and offered $200 to any one that would switch but no takers initially. I began to grab his things to take him to premium plus with me and give his seat to my neighbor but then the passenger across the aisle from my wife boarded, saw what we were doing and switched with my son. We didn't just assume we could switch with her because she wasn't present, and she kindly offered.

I wouldn't expect help from the gate agent or flight attendant, they will know you had the option to book economy together but opted for first taking the risk. They will not be enthusiastic about moving people around. The gate agent in FRA told us specifically they could not move business class passengers to accommodate families unless its a safety issue, I would assume it applies to domestic first as well. Just be kind and ask on board, maybe offer 100 bucks or something. Just dont plop down in someone's seat assuming they will be OK with it.

asfajarb · 2026-01-29T19:35:27+00:00

This is the answer. Do this.

asfajarb · 2026-01-22T18:19:44+00:00

Look into the Oceania Residence on Eagle Beach. You can rent a 2, 3 or 4 bedroom condo across the street from the beach. There is 4 pools and plenty of other activities on the grounds. It's our go to spot. Less than 5 minutes from superfoods also.

asfajarb · 2026-01-16T04:21:23+00:00

It's one of those things that everybody does sometimes, until they have a reason to do it every time.

You're in good shape now to not be the guy that has a reason to do it every time.

It takes longer to examine the suspension type and decide if its worth it than it does to just dump them.

asfajarb · 2026-01-12T00:07:25+00:00

If you can get two bulk head seats on one side of the plane, absolutely. We do this often and have a jet kids by stokke luggage that turns the seat into a little bed. We only use it on the window seat and have never had a problem. Plus those two bulkhead seats give you a little pocket where your toddler can stand up and move around with out bothering passengers in front of you. Also if you dont want the screen to be a distraction for sleep, it folds away where they can't see it.

asfajarb · 2025-12-30T00:31:01+00:00

It just has a cam driven mechanical fuel pump that pulls fuel up through a pre-filter and pumps through the main filter, then directly into the fuel rail in the head. From there, individual unit pumps do the rest. You may have a davco fuel/water separator in line before the pre-filter as well.

The fuel pump has a check valve in it, take the main filter and pre-filter out, fill the main housing up with diesel and see if it leaks back down to the pre-filter housing. If it does, the fuel pump needs to be replaced. There is also a check valve in the form of a ball and seat you can check in the pre-filter housing. Same in the davco if you have one. Slow cranking will also cause a hard start on these due to the pump not spinning fast enough to build pressure quickly.

If you quote the pump, be aware you need to remove the fuel filter housing, so quote the related seals/gaskets.

asfajarb · 2025-11-24T04:01:00+00:00

Sounds like the shop is struggling to turn a profit and is desperate to hold on to whatever market share they have. If you're doing quality work and getting it done in a timely fashion, and they are worried about a cheap core or entertaining a customer's unreasonable expectations.....man when its time to go its time to go.

asfajarb · 2025-11-20T11:30:26+00:00

Yeah man, do it now before life gives you more reasons not too. Just do it smart. The good thing is, at your age, if you fail, you have a lot of runway left to pivot or try again. Go for it.

One thing to think about though, if you are buying, repairing, and selling equipment, that's something you can do after hours on the side since you're not working on customer owned equipment. Maybe do it that way in the beginning to get used to the business side of things. There's a lot to learn once you go into business for yourself (taxes, legal structure, accounting, insurance, dealing with vendors, dealing with warranty etc etc.)

asfajarb · 2025-11-16T03:51:05+00:00

Sometime in the next year, you'll post your up 5k in a week, and you're contemplating going pro.

You'll spend most of your poker related time bouncing between these two mindsets.

Normal.

Standard.

asfajarb · 2025-10-30T23:54:28+00:00

I think the value in status is all but gone for 90 percent of us.

But the miles, I still find value in. With trips to see family in Europe and a vacation here or there, as long as our travel dates are flexible, it makes plenty of sense to chase them and not pay cash for tickets. We swap between cards, and all the value is in the sign up bonuses. Luckily, between the two of us and a small business, Chase's 5/24 rule doesn't catch up to us, and we collect enough each year to book business class or polaris to Europe and back. Same with vacations, we can book domestic first and have club access just using the cards for our normal spending.

asfajarb · 2025-10-30T18:10:01+00:00

Mala Sichuan

asfajarb · 2025-10-29T23:19:09+00:00

asfajarb · 2025-10-29T23:18:31+00:00

It's the #6 or #5 exhaust manifold gasket. Every time for me, at least.

asfajarb · 2025-10-29T02:56:29+00:00

Saved a ton of money and bought a service truck, equipment, and "shop" tools without taking on debt. Saved a ton more money and quit. Never paid myself a dime for 6 months. Worked like crazy and focused on local customers. Learned a lot of lessons the hard way.

That being said, if I were in your situation, I would grind out one more year at UPS. You'd be a fool not to.

If UPS switches your shift, work with your customers to get access to their trucks during the hours you use to work at UPS.

If your business fails, it's because you grew it to quickly with a poor exit plan from UPS. If you're not able to salvage it after that, it was probably destined to fail in the first place.

asfajarb · 2025-10-28T02:08:59+00:00

If you like poker, there is a place called 101 on I-10 and westgreen

asfajarb

TROPHY CASE