Stuff. Not good. Not bad. Just...stuff.

[Eivion]

My brother and myself tested ourselves at least twice the last couple of days and we seem to be in the negative now for covid. Our father is unfortunately still positive, but he at least seems fine health wise. Sucks we won't see Thor this weekend but otherwise things are ok.

[onelegbrynn]

Not sure where to put this so I'll drop it here ...

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate this community! I've felt super accepted and supported since I joined here! Even though I haven't been posting a lot recently due to being busy with work and other stuff, I'll still log on and check to see what everyone is talking about. I've learned a bunch about stuff and also found some cool stuff on YouTube to check out thanks to those threads. 

Anyway, just wanted to end the weekend on a high note and say I appreciate the heck out of everyone here and thank you for letting me be a part of your community!

[Craig H]

20 hours ago, onelegbrynn said:

Not sure where to put this so I'll drop it here ...

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate this community! I've felt super accepted and supported since I joined here! Even though I haven't been posting a lot recently due to being busy with work and other stuff, I'll still log on and check to see what everyone is talking about. I've learned a bunch about stuff and also found some cool stuff on YouTube to check out thanks to those threads. 

Anyway, just wanted to end the weekend on a high note and say I appreciate the heck out of everyone here and thank you for letting me be a part of your community!

"You're a good egg"

 

[Craig H]

Not looking for likes or sad reactions or anything like that, or even replies, but it's likely my wife has thyroid cancer. The doctor thinks it's folicular, but we won't know for sure until they remove my wife's thyroid in August. Same goes for knowing what stage it is. 

If anything, I'm hopeful. It probably has to do with being born a Cubs fan and hope is in my DNA even when things seem futile. I've been through a lot in my life. I don't know if I've ever shared this here before, but my dad was diagnosed with having full blown AIDS when I was only in 6th grade. He died just before my senior year of high school. During that period, my sophomore year of high school, my mom was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. So before her diagnosis, I had to go each day worrying that my mom would wind up testing positive for HIV or AIDS. Then when she was in the clear for that, along comes cancer, a full hysterectomy, and then constantly worrying that her cancer would return, which it didn't.

So once again I have to be hopeful. It's how I feel like I've had to live my whole life. No point in changing now. I just hate the wait and the anxiety or the cycle of worrying that it's more than stage 1, being hopeful it won't be, worrying if it spread, hoping it hasn't, worrying about radiation, hoping it won't do any damage to anything else, etc.

For now, just spare me the "fuck cancer" stuff or whatever. If you want to say anything, a simple, "things will work out ok" would suffice. I don't know, just feel like I had to share this somewhere. We found this all out today and it's tough to just bottle this stuff up inside.

[The Natural]

Things will work out okay, @Craig H. If you need to talk or someone to listen, PM me here because Facebook Messenger is very hit and miss, more the latter.

[Matt D]

Tough stuff over here.

We just paid off the 2014 Equinox (that we got in 2017 or so, as it's been 5 years). Literally last month. Has 88K miles on it. Engine dies, 3 of the four cylinders are blown. We've dropped ~500 or so in just figuring out what was wrong and getting it there, etc. To get a used or remanufactured engine would be about $11K. Same price. Remanufactured ones are backed up until September. We know it had some other minor issues. 

Wife's car (2007 Sonota) was on its last legs and we only held off on replacing it due to car prices. So now we basically have to replace both cars at once. 

I initially thought to hold out til September and get the remanufactured Engine with the 3 year warranty but we know there are other issues with the car. Not major ones but maybe they could turn into them. 

So now we're thinking to get me something that'll just get me to the commuter bus stop two days a week (I only started commuting 2 days a week to work LAST WEEK)/supermarket/take one kid to school and replace my wife's car with something better (but not as good as we would have initially got) as the main car to get the kids around and bigger trips.

But it feels like there are no right answers, only terrible ones that could all go south quickly. 

EDIT: Adding this in. We're going to be ok. Shit happens to us all the time. It's one disaster after the next every month or two or so, and we have money saved away for disasters. It's not good. It'll have an impact. It's causing a lot of stress. But we will be ok. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Matt D

[Craig H]

$11k for a whole used engine?!? Holy shit. May as well just buy a used Equinox. That's insane. Sorry man.

[Tabe]

On 7/11/2022 at 12:47 PM, Craig H said:

Not looking for likes or sad reactions or anything like that, or even replies, but it's likely my wife has thyroid cancer. The doctor thinks it's folicular, but we won't know for sure until they remove my wife's thyroid in August. Same goes for knowing what stage it is. 

If anything, I'm hopeful. It probably has to do with being born a Cubs fan and hope is in my DNA even when things seem futile. I've been through a lot in my life. I don't know if I've ever shared this here before, but my dad was diagnosed with having full blown AIDS when I was only in 6th grade. He died just before my senior year of high school. During that period, my sophomore year of high school, my mom was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. So before her diagnosis, I had to go each day worrying that my mom would wind up testing positive for HIV or AIDS. Then when she was in the clear for that, along comes cancer, a full hysterectomy, and then constantly worrying that her cancer would return, which it didn't.

So once again I have to be hopeful. It's how I feel like I've had to live my whole life. No point in changing now. I just hate the wait and the anxiety or the cycle of worrying that it's more than stage 1, being hopeful it won't be, worrying if it spread, hoping it hasn't, worrying about radiation, hoping it won't do any damage to anything else, etc.

For now, just spare me the "fuck cancer" stuff or whatever. If you want to say anything, a simple, "things will work out ok" would suffice. I don't know, just feel like I had to share this somewhere. We found this all out today and it's tough to just bottle this stuff up inside.

Things will work out OK. Sending you a bro hug. 

[Technico Support]

Jesus, I had panic attacks when I had to spend $500 on a used engine (including install) for my 88 Tercel back in 1993.

My advice to anyone with a car:  Once a car starts having one problem after another, it’s a good idea to cut your losses.  It’s not getting better.

Also, find a good, non-bullshit mechanic.  I once had a guy who was so awesome he looked at a car for free and frankly told me it wasn’t worth spending more money on it.  

[onelegbrynn]

One of my best friends is proposing to his girlfriend tomorrow and even though I can’t make it to what he’s planning due to other stuff I’ve got to do, I’ll get pictures from some other friends who are there.

Because of that, I just ran to the liquor store and bought some lottery tickets for the Mega Millions draw tonight. I don’t normally play the lottery but I got a good feeling about it!

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Left work at lunch to go mow my mother’s yard and….. got stuck there for the afternoon.  While I was on the mower, Mom went out and accidentally took my car keys with her.  Mom’s 80 and rarely turns on her cell phone or checks messages, so there wasn’t much I could do except wait for her to come back.  Wife wasn’t available and it would have taken my kids too long to leave work, drive to my house, get a spare key, then drive to my mother’s place and back.  Just decided to wait it out.  Did use her computer to answer email and get a bit of work done, but mostly I wandered around looking at old photos of my dad & albums of us kids when were small.

Wife had her own problems today,  My mother-in-law fell off a swivel chair this morning and broke her hip.  They did surgery this afternoon and she’ll be going to a rehab facility for two or three months.  Could have been worse, but still not good at her age.  Good news is that she’s talking like she is ready to move in with us when she gets released.  It.’s been awhile since she was able to keep us with the house (she relies on us to clean, mow, fix things, etc,) and she’s starting to have trouble remembering appointments snd paying bills, so it’s probably time.

I have a good relationship with mom-in-law, so I’m all for her moving in.  I’ve kept her house and yard up pretty well in past years, but my father died a few months back, so I have to do my share at Mom’s and just don’t have the time and energy I used to.  My mom has five kids and a few in-laws dividing up the household chores.  Mom-in-law mostly just has me and my wife.  Lol, so much for the empty nest.  Fun while it lasted.  

[onelegbrynn]

19 hours ago, onelegbrynn said:

Because of that, I just ran to the liquor store and bought some lottery tickets for the Mega Millions draw tonight. I don’t normally play the lottery but I got a good feeling about it!

Update: I won two bucks! Lol  

So I cashed out and bought myself two bottles of Sunkist orange since the liquor store had them at a buck each.

[tbarrie]

32 minutes ago, onelegbrynn said:

Update: I won two bucks! Lol  

So I cashed out and bought myself two bottles of Sunkist orange since the liquor store had them at a buck each.

Excellent! Now sell the orange juice at full price and buy more lottery tickets. In no time you'll have a thriving lottery ticket and orange Sunkist empire!

[The Natural]

Home from my latest night out in years, a post wedding drinks do. First I've seen Joanne, the bride since January 2012. Same for Joanne's Mum called Marge and Kirsty. Joanne invited me because at school it was me, Lisa/GG, Joanne, Kirsty and Rachael. I went with Alyson, Lisa's Mum, her husband called Dave and her son called David. Lovely having a great time with those dear to me. Pints were drunk along the way.

Edited July 17, 2022 by The Natural

[driver]

On 5/4/2022 at 10:36 PM, odessasteps said:

I’m close to giving up OG wordle. I’m down to just Worldle, Globle, Heardle and Framed. 

Have you tried Lewdle?

 

[Guest]

I'm waiting for the year 3049. I will be 9000 thousand years old.

 

[Log]

Me when I haven't received an email all day at work: "Oh, god. They're going to realize they don't need me. I'm gonna be fired any day now. I wish someone would just send me something, even if I'm just cc'd on it!"

Me when I get an email at work: "Dammit! What the fuck does this asshole want?!?!?"

[Contentious C]

On 7/16/2022 at 7:31 PM, driver said:

Have you tried Lewdle?

 

You're a real (today's word) for suggesting this game.

[driver]

Can't wait to see if that's my start word.

 

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Good grief, I’m going mattress shopping for the fifth time in two years.  Wife and I slept on the same mattress & box spring for 29 years without any issues.  Now we can’t find a mattress we both like.  I finally told her that I loathe our $10k memory foam mattress enough that I briefly considered arranging an “accident” for it while she was out of the house.  She loves it but wants something we both want.  So now we’re going to end up with a very expensive mattress in the guest room before month’s end.  At least she can visit it.  Maybe her mom will like it when she moves in.

The funny thing is that, until mattress roulette started, I hard a reputation as some sort of philistine who could and would sleep on anything.  The unfunny part is that this is probably the most serious disagreement we’ve had in past ten years.

[Contentious C]

I have a Purple 2. It took some getting used to but I really like it now. Definitely not a $10K mattress, either.

[hammerva]

Figures it goes here

I know this is probably in the "get off my lawn" category but why the fuck are people hitting each in the face with a tortilla.  I mean is this just an excuse for people to slap the hell out of people.  In some cases people of the opposite sex

Edited July 22, 2022 by hammerva

[Matt D]

On 7/13/2022 at 1:41 PM, Matt D said:

So now we're thinking to get me something that'll just get me to the commuter bus stop two days a week (I only started commuting 2 days a week to work LAST WEEK)/supermarket/take one kid to school and replace my wife's car with something better (but not as good as we would have initially got) as the main car to get the kids around and bigger trips.

Just back from the trip and starting to look. Wife thinks I should get a Honda or Toyota with 140K miles for $13-14K on the idea that I might get years out of it nonetheless. I'm open to finding something of a different brand for $12k and 50K less miles. Really we shouldn't be spending that much but there's probably no helping it int his market in this part of the country (MD - DC suburbs). Any thoughts here as I start this annoying journey? Cars are a blind spot for us. Weirdly, I also feel like cars might be a blind spot for the board relative to other things like getting out of jail in Texas.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Matt D

[Octopus]

6 hours ago, Matt D said:

Just back from the trip and starting to look. Wife thinks I should get a Honda or Toyota with 140K miles for $13-14K on the idea that I might get years out of it nonetheless. I'm open to finding something of a different brand for $12k and 50K less miles. Really we shouldn't be spending that much but there's probably no helping it int his market in this part of the country (MD - DC suburbs). Any thoughts here as I start this annoying journey? Cars are a blind spot for us. Weirdly, I also feel like cars might be a blind spot for the board relative to other things like getting out of jail in Texas.

I’m not a car person but I was in similar shoes of needing to find something and having price restrictions. Carsoup and carguru and sites like that helped. I filter by mileage and price, then also select good deal which goes against the going rate for that car (blue book?) Not sure your specific area but I looked up a zip code for MD- DC area (Silver Spring?) and on cargurus found a 2015 Ford SE w/ 45k miles for $12k (in Parkville?) and a 2014 Kia Forte LX (in Millerville?) w/ 46k miles for $11k. A couple other cars listed. I looked on Carsoup and there were a few good deals like look like actually just got sold despite being still listed.

Not sure if any of that helps, but someone like me, I rely on those sites to help me filter out what I need and can afford. Then if I see a price/ mileage that interests me I look it up on Reddit or just straight up google and usually will see what type of regular issues those drivers will have. 

It helped my wife and I get a 2015 Kia Soul and a 2013 Nissan Rogue and so far we’ve been happy with them.  

[Technico Support]

15 hours ago, Matt D said:

Just back from the trip and starting to look. Wife thinks I should get a Honda or Toyota with 140K miles for $13-14K on the idea that I might get years out of it nonetheless. I'm open to finding something of a different brand for $12k and 50K less miles. Really we shouldn't be spending that much but there's probably no helping it int his market in this part of the country (MD - DC suburbs). Any thoughts here as I start this annoying journey? Cars are a blind spot for us. Weirdly, I also feel like cars might be a blind spot for the board relative to other things like getting out of jail in Texas.

Oh shit, I am in the MD/DC suburbs.  I got a great deal on a lower mileage used Civic a few years back at the Carmax in Rockville (six year loan because cash was tight).  Of course, that was before the economy entered the postapocalyptic phase.  Anyway, check out their site; you can literally sort by any criteria imaginable outside of "I am poor please take mercy on me."