#59

Yeah I saw that this is the last year of the Metris and it's not a "small" cargo van like the Transit Connect or anything it's freaking 135" wheelbase 74" wide with a 52" high cargo area.

Sure it's no beast like the minimum 144" wheelbase of a Sprinter but when most people think full size cargo van they are thinking 135" wheelbase same as my old GMC Savannah. I guess that just reinforces your point about making everything bigger pretty soon what we now call a full size cargo van will be considered a small cargo van and what we now call a small cargo van will be gone.

#50

My boss just got me a new cargo van we looked hard at the ford E-transit but the range of 126 miles just didn't cut it. After tracking mileage for 2 weeks my average day is 110 and at least twice a week I'm over 130. We were disappointed also why the heck is there no hybrid cargo van? Anyway we went with the Mercedes metris, better mileage than my old GMC Savannah but still not great.

The electric van market is going for delivery drivers who probably can get away with 126 mile range but a service tech who covers a large area needs more. If they got it to 150-200 we would have jumped on it.

#117

My adult kids were in town so we were up drinking and playing games and generally having a lot of fun till I crashed at midnight. Bell is an hour behind me so crashing at 1 is the same as midnight.

Granted I was hanging out with family I don't get to see everyday not arguing on a blog but I see nothing wrong with belle's bedtime.

It's the school record not a world record or anything.

57.22 isn't terribly impressive on the world stage. It would put her competitive with top female swimmers from about 40 years ago.

So uh yeah much ado about nothing, which does seem to be modus operandi for the anti-trans folks these days.

Less "belt buckle polishing" slow dances = millions of dull belt buckles.

In HS we had to "leave room for Jesus" so no belt buckles were polished in my HS but not for lack of trying :)

#6

It is almost as if we've been trained to crave the flavor of salt instead of the flavors of the food we eat.

Very much this. When I first switched to low salt peanuts it was well ok these are fine I guess, now I enjoy them and find regular salted peanuts too salty. I haven't tried the no salt added Utz but given that my favorite chip is salt and vinegar I'm not sure that would go over well for me. I am mainly just working on portion control a serving of Kettle Salt and Vinegar chips is 180mg so if I can not eat 4 servings in a sitting and stick to 1 a day that makes a pretty big difference. I might look into the no salt added ones though worth a try at least.

#2

Was thinking the same thing how far gone do you have to be to blame elections losses on a pop star? Especially one who didn't even endorse your opponents.

I guess saying our policy direction was rejected is too painful so it's TSwizzle's fault.

I have been making an effort to reduce salt from my diet and it's surprisingly hard.

I've been moderately successful and don't have high BP anyway but I would prefer not to. One big problem I ran into is I drink a lot of water and if I don't add something to it I get nauseous, the best thing I've found is to mix gatorade powder to about 1/2 strength to give me less sodium sugar etc. but still enough to not feel nauseous. Switching to low salt peanuts and cutting the potato chips down were probably the two biggest wins for me.

#5

If I recall correctly the PT was a re-skinned dodge neon. Maybe check parts for one of those might be more common. Also if you can find what engine it uses there are probably other cars that use the same engine and might have compatible components.

Mostly I agree with Boaz's assessment of the PT but having owned a 2005 Pontiac Vibe which was a car that got about as much hate as the PT gets I can understand how a car that everyone hates might just have some things a driver would love that are missed by the general public so you do you.

BBQ

I live in a google fiber city and have had it since April 2017 we have not had a single price increase in that time. I just checked and for the same speed Spectrum is 5 dollar less after autopay discount not counting any taxes or fees and ATT is 10 more after autopay discount not counting taxes or fees.

I don't know what those folks charge in other markets but 1 gig is 80 for ATT here, 70 for google, and 65 for spectrum (2 year promo price)

I just looked and germany is half what I pay for google but I get 1gig up and down that half price in germany is 1 gig up 50 MBps. So not quite as good but for 1/2 price I think I could live.

Oh and really just reinforcing your point about what we get in US vs Europe and I'm using info for a competitive market in the US not what some rural dude pays.

What is legal and what is morally right are not always the same.

True but so is what is illegal and morally wrong are not always the same.
Both statements are irrelevant to the discussion of legal abortion, unless you are proposing doing away with all laws that aren't morally right. If you are proposing that then my question is who's morals?

As a service tech these kind of discussions are always fascinating for me.

I am in a weird kind of place where a lot of the downsides of remote work apply to me (invisible to management) yet because my house isn't a big ol' warehouse I still have to go into the office so none of the upsides of remote work apply. That can be a tricky to navigate and the previous head tech was not successful at navigating the issues, so far I have had more success but still limited.

A big part of my increased level of success is how I have embraced communications tech, nothing fancy but I have slack installed on my phone, am quick to respond to texts or emails and unless I am driving or have my hands full will answer phone calls, if I am then I return the call as soon as I can. The previous head tech hated technology calling him on his flip phone which he refused to upgrade was the only way to get him in the field.

To answer your question Lamplighter we will frequently have side chats share memes and generally keep up a running commentary we even have "office" politics where there are group texts that will leave out one or two people. It's not uncommon for someone to have an issue or make a comment on one of those threads which will ultimately lead to a solution or change to how things are done much like your coffee pot conversations.

If companies are serious about keeping their corporate culture in the age of remote work look to any successful company with a fleet of field service guys. They probably licked the problem back in the day when a Nextel was high tech.

#18

Yup that's part of the money I've made. The amount of money they have to spend on repairs to the now expensive houses they just bought allowing me to stay ahead of the inflation they bring with them is the other factor. If you told me 10 years ago I would be charging the rates I'm charging and still have a backlog of customer I would not have believed it.

Every city and community is being destroyed at the hands of those who destroyed San Francisco
#13 | POSTED BY ROBSON
Tech bros?

#16 | POSTED BY SNOOFY

Around here yup. Tech bros are like locust flying in and destroying the underlying community.
This place is unrecognizable, but it's also made me a surprising large amount of money so I guess win some lose some.

#8 and #15 My major beef with the death penalty is the possibility of murdering an innocent man. When the accused does you the favor of recording, and disseminating, the evidence so there is no chance of future and posthumous exoneration; it reduces my objection significantly.

There is always a chance for redemption and future contribution to society so still not pro death penalty, but these kids do seem to be trying to convince even me.

Arrest the guy with the gun for threats and vote out the guy who caves to threats.

Unfortunately few of the threats can be prosecuted and there aren't too many folks willing to step up to fill the slots given the odds that you will be under threat yourself. I notice neither of us has started a campaign.

If they aren't voting their conscience due to fear of violence against them then they are not fit to serve their country.

I signed up for twitter back when my kids were in high school and there was a bomb threat at their school. There was no information in the media and nothing forthcoming from the school but the kids were tweeting about it live. Several other times breaking stories have been great to follow as people live tweeted from the scene. Work keeps me too busy to really spend much time there and the last time I spent much time was at the beginning of the Ukraine war.

For breaking news it was a fantastic platform where people onsite could become reporters and while veracity was in question if you had 10 people tweeting pictures and their takes from the scene you could get a pretty good idea of the truth.

#4

I have a hard time believing that Zed. Her first album was in 2006 and second was in 2009 If you have listened to the radio in the last decade, if you have been in a store playing music if you have walked down a busy public street odds are good you have heard something by her. Unless you are a hermit who never listens to anything but old 45's on your gramophone which, having read your comments for years, I do not discount as a possibility.

Ferrari has a reputation for not allowing owners to mod their cars so if you bought a Ferrari and painted it a color they thought was inappropriate for a Ferrari they would take it from you as not fit to own a Ferrari.

Twin was suggesting that purple is a terrible color. Personally I'm with Danni on this though that is a good looking car.

Robinson in #4 oh dang I wasn't off the wall crazy in #3 I better say some made up BS so people don't think I'm growing a brain.

"Free Personalized-------- for Your $50 Donations!"

50? Maybe 5 as long as the plying with the tiddies is included but 50 is just silly.

Well crap one of my co-workers is from Morocco and most of her family still lives there.

Just texted, her family is 3 hours away, they felt it but no damage and everyone is ok.

#16

Yikes even with my hybrid my work trip takes about 1/2 gallon round trip a day my side jobs today will take about 2 gallons I won't drive anywhere tomorrow. So in one week at 20 bucks a gallon you are talking 90 dollars. My poor boss would really get hit as my cargo van uses around 25 a week so 500 bucks a week. Frankly not sure my job would exist at 20 buck gas.

The US needs some major redesign before we can support gas prices that high. Things are too far apart and the electric grid is not strong enough to support full electrification of transportation.