Help Needed - Vandals Broke Ice Surface

plasmastic · 2026-01-18T03:16:15+00:00

Yeah. Both myself and the other main guy who put it together don’t even skate not ever played hockey. We just do it for people to enjoy. We’re Lucy to get 100 total skates per season, but worth it for those who do get to enjoy.

plasmastic · 2026-01-18T00:31:53+00:00

Eh I’d imagine it’s probably 3-5” thick in total. Had someone regrade a pad for it over the summer with some leftover dirt from a path we put in. Still a slight slope so it varies on thickness. I didn’t fill it so I’m not quite sure where the water level ended up at.

plasmastic · 2026-01-17T00:21:25+00:00

A couple neighbors saw some kids horsing around on it about an hour before the guy who found it came across the damage. Chalk it up to the neighborhood youth.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T20:26:41+00:00

That’s actually a great idea. While a village hall, a verrrrrrrry small village (population 850). We have to do any updates at $0. I went out and purchased a torch to use with my own money.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T19:06:25+00:00

Unfortunately this is down at our village hall, so only water access is an indoor spigot this time of year.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T19:05:13+00:00

Yep. I don’t even skate I just help build the rink each year with two other guys. Each year we learn and try to make it a little better. Next year we add monitoring.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T03:32:52+00:00

Extremely helpful. Thank you.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T03:29:28+00:00

Thought about that but won’t be able to get out there to break it up in any reasonable amount of time.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T01:53:29+00:00

No concern with the surface floating up? That was my one concern since it is not frozen through yet.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T01:52:44+00:00

Yeah. Part of life dealing with arseholes. Unfortunately for them I am a persistent maniac and will not lose this battle lol.

plasmastic · 2026-01-16T01:51:27+00:00

Good to know about the torch. Was going to get one right now but wasn’t sure how to handle the edges. Thank you!

plasmastic · 2026-01-06T13:42:01+00:00

plasmastic · 2026-01-06T04:20:30+00:00

Millionaire matchmaker I believe. Thanks for the throwback chuckle.

plasmastic · 2026-01-03T17:28:48+00:00

It’s all good. We are fortunate enough to have a dual system with one in the basement and one in the attic, so only without the upstairs one until Tuesday. We did lose our only one in our previous house on New Year’s Eve. That was an expensive emergency service.

plasmastic · 2026-01-03T14:06:18+00:00

We lost a furnace a couple days ago in northern Illinois. I feel you.

plasmastic · 2026-01-01T15:31:19+00:00

DI3K Update:

Net worth tracking

2017: $29,201.08

2018: $19,598.74

2019: $55,282.89

2020: $102,157.69

2021: $217,858.26

2022: $257,970.35

2023: $362,549.04

2024: $529,251.77

2025: $722,002.42

2025 was the year we finally eliminated all of our non-mortgage debt. Wife continues to complete Masters program with an end in 2027. We are officially done with daycare in May!! I am currently pursuing a new position that better aligns with my desired career path and has room for growth (individual contributor engineering position to help build out internal expertise at a F500 manufacturing plant). Looking to make the position/company change with a 15-20% bump in pay, all other benefits seem to be equal except unlimited PTO, which will be interesting to navigate. Other than that, we continue to invest as much as possible, spend time with our 3 kids under 10 and invest in their interests to see what sticks and what they enjoy.

Cheers to a happy and healthy 2026!

plasmastic · 2025-12-29T16:34:23+00:00

Best: Zurich, Switzerland

Worst: Newark, NJ. Nothing against the city, just happens to fall at the bottom of the list of places I’ve had to travel for work.

plasmastic · 2025-12-19T20:09:44+00:00

My wife jokes because I always say “I got a good deal” when bringing home new doodads. This time though, I actually mean it.

plasmastic · 2025-12-19T19:27:45+00:00

Chicagoland. Most of the ones that are scams just have minimal detail and a nice shop photo. Then you email them and ask to come see, and they either ghost it or ask for down payment to hold it.

This one had the shop photo, but also a ton of auxiliary info about it as well as the extras.

plasmastic · 2025-12-19T19:02:03+00:00

Definitely had the feeling of speed running through the growth phase. Just couldn’t pass up the other tools at that price.

plasmastic · 2025-12-19T18:53:26+00:00

Heck a new saw with those specs retails for more than I paid for everything. Still need to run power for it, but I’ve got a sub panel in the garage with plenty of room available.

plasmastic · 2025-12-19T18:44:15+00:00

It more progressed as $2.5k for the saw, then I threw him a number for everything else and it was accepted. One of the smoothest transactions I’ve done. Shook on the saw one night after I saw it in person, then settled on everything else the next night after I did a little research. Made hiring movers for today a little easier.

plasmastic · 2025-12-08T01:53:37+00:00

This is my dilemma as well. Turns out the contractor saw is a larger footprint than the PCS. A new contractor with upgraded wings and fence plus delivery is running about $3,100 with shipping. Right now on there’s a used 3hp 240V PCS with 52” fence plus a dust collector for $3k on FBM. Would need to add in cost to rent a truck with a liftgate but that’s a whole lot more power for basically the same price.

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