What are you thinking about?

[PARROTHEAD]

12 hours ago, bigbadbuff said:

 I do agree with the fact that most people shouldn’t be driving, or at least go through a more rigorous program to get your license. Way too many idiots.

 

Reminds me of my first license here. Lady gave me the CDL test instead. Im there like, "Good golly, Everyone in this countries a pro driver."  Finished the test and theyre, "Wheres your rig?" for the driving portion. 😆

[Tetsujin]

I think sometime in the late summer of 2027, I'm going to quit my job and do a 3-4 month American road trip. This is partially inspired by Don Draper. And I'll be around the same age he was in the show when he did that in the end.

(I have to stay at my current job for 5 years to get vested in our generous retirement account matching program. I put in 7%, they put in 14%)

[PARROTHEAD]

54 minutes ago, Tetsujin said:

I think sometime in the late summer of 2027, I'm going to quit my job and do a 3-4 month American road trip. This is partially inspired by Don Draper. And I'll be around the same age he was in the show when he did that in the end.

(I have to stay at my current job for 5 years to get vested in our generous retirement account matching program. I put in 7%, they put in 14%)

 

[Tetsujin]

3 minutes ago, PARROTHEAD said:

 

I’m not even sure if I’m hitting up NYC. I may.

I got about 70 days taking me from TX, AZ, UT, CA, OR, WA, MT, SD, MN, WI, IL. Ending up in Chicago, hitting a lot of major and some minor cities. I’m not sure if I’d push eastward after Chicago or just drive down to my old stomping ground in the ATL, finishing it out at my family’s home in south FL while I contemplate my next life move - like being abroad for a bit.

[Tetsujin]

On 7/16/2023 at 7:33 AM, candyman93 said:

Going to be interesting in 30-40 years if a show captures the era we’re in now similar to how mad men did the 60’s.

 

Just an all time great show.

My favorite drama ever.

 

[PARROTHEAD]

32 minutes ago, Tetsujin said:

I’m not even sure if I’m hitting up NYC. I may.

I got about 70 days taking me from TX, AZ, UT, CA, OR, WA, MT, SD, MN, WI, IL. Ending up in Chicago, hitting a lot of major and some minor cities. I’m not sure if I’d push eastward after Chicago or just drive down to my old stomping ground in the ATL, finishing it out at my family’s home in south FL while I contemplate my next life move - like being abroad for a bit.

Gotcha covered.

 

[ET80]

Sending all the good vibes to my brother and birthday boy @FinneasGage!

[Mr.UFO]

The New York Liberty made the WNBA Finals and didn't wear paisley green in either of their home games? They deserved to lose the series just for that. 😄

[Tugboat]

Currently thinking and stressing about how i'm gonna thread the needle on various weather events next week, to make it the 500 miles home with my summer tires still on the car, without getting caught in a snowstorm at least.  Ideally not dying.

Look at 4 different services and they've all got different forecasts for each day everywhere along the way.  Not great timing weather.  Not great.

 

If i had my winter boots on, i wouldn't give a **** if it's a full on blizzard.  But i've been storing winter tires back at my parents place because i don't have any room here right now.  Planning on heading home to change them, do an oil change, now swap out a stupid sensor that's spazzing out.  And mostly heading home to help out for a little while after my mother has surgery, so really a bit fixed on schedule to be home by.

 

 

Feel like a NASCAR pit crew chief on pins and needles trying figure out when the weather is gonna hit the track and cancel the race.  Feels bad man.  All season tires would be nice right about now.

[Ozzy]

I am thinking Brittany Mahomes is way out of Patrick Mahomes league! 

 

Talk about being a lucky high school "sweetheart"  of Patrick!  She is next to Taylor Swift who is 5 years older than she is and Taylor Swift looks 21 and Brittany looks like 35 or more.

 

Good for Patrick Mahomes to not need a total knockout wife I guess, but in another way he should have stepped his game up if AJ McCarron can have this woman as his wife!

 

 

Or this guy, and yes both of these dudes totally suck at playing QB in the NFL and Patrick Mahomes might be one of the best in the history of the league...

[Ozzy]

On 10/20/2023 at 1:39 PM, Tugboat said:

Currently thinking and stressing about how i'm gonna thread the needle on various weather events next week, to make it the 500 miles home with my summer tires still on the car, without getting caught in a snowstorm at least.  Ideally not dying.

Look at 4 different services and they've all got different forecasts for each day everywhere along the way.  Not great timing weather.  Not great.

 

If i had my winter boots on, i wouldn't give a **** if it's a full on blizzard.  But i've been storing winter tires back at my parents place because i don't have any room here right now.  Planning on heading home to change them, do an oil change, now swap out a stupid sensor that's spazzing out.  And mostly heading home to help out for a little while after my mother has surgery, so really a bit fixed on schedule to be home by.

 

 

Feel like a NASCAR pit crew chief on pins and needles trying figure out when the weather is gonna hit the track and cancel the race.  Feels bad man.  All season tires would be nice right about now.

What do you drive?  All season tires?  There is such a thing as summer and winter tires?  I live in Minnesota and have never heard of such a thing outside of summer and winter oil for the chainsaw....haha

 

Hey I cut down multiple widow maker trees that were all hung up on each other this weekend along with tuckpointing and fixing the top cap cement on my Dad's two story old farmhouse chimney on a damp newly shingled roof.  Pretty sure I was closer to death than you with this die situation ;o)

[Tugboat]

57 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

What do you drive?  All season tires?  There is such a thing as summer and winter tires?  I live in Minnesota and have never heard of such a thing outside of summer and winter oil for the chainsaw....haha

 

Hey I cut down multiple widow maker trees that were all hung up on each other this weekend along with tuckpointing and fixing the top cap cement on my Dad's two story old farmhouse chimney on a damp newly shingled roof.  Pretty sure I was closer to death than you with this die situation ;o)

 

I drive an old Audi S4.  So i've got AWD, but that doesn't really help much with stopping or turning or anything really, when the tires turn into hockey pucks from cold and aren't really made for anything resembling winter, snow, or ice.

If they were All Seasons, i wouldn't worry as much.  But nah, they're straight up Summer performance tires.  Fairly aggressive, grippy as heck when it's warm and dry, but big low treadblocks for more contact patch, low profile sidewalls, and a rubber compound that doesn't fare well in the cold.

 

Up Canada way, it's pretty common even for people with "All Seasons" to swap over to true Snow/Ice winter tires.  Heck, some people here even run studded tires for the worst part of winter - which seems like overkill to me, unless they're doing a lot of winter outdoorsing up in the mountains (skiing, snowshoeing, ice climbing, etc.)  But true, good Winter tires (with the snowflake symbol) are such a huge difference-maker when you end up driving on snow and ice for half the year every year.  I'll run circles around idiots in huge HD pickup trucks who just leave their all season M+S tires on and call it good.  lol.

 

I'm kind of surprised that in Minnesota, this isn't a thing you've come across at all?  But i guess ya'll don't get huge amounts of snowfall necessarily?  Relatively speaking.

 

It snowed a decent amount at my destination today.  So hopefully that clears up over the next few days.  Supposed to dump a couple inches each over the next couple days.  But hopefully i get a small window after that to get out of town here where the highway is cleared.  It's super heavily trafficked so it should be okay.  I hope.

 

 

Anyway...Taking down trees like that is also definitely sketchballs.  Easy to accidentally efff that up in a lot of different ways.  lol.  Same for climbing around on a wet roof.  😆

Edited October 23, 2023 by Tugboat

[Ozzy]

7 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

 

I drive an old Audi S4.  So i've got AWD, but that doesn't really help much with stopping or turning or anything really, when the tires turn into hockey pucks from cold and aren't really made for anything resembling winter, snow, or ice.

If they were All Seasons, i wouldn't worry as much.  But nah, they're straight up Summer performance tires.  Fairly aggressive, grippy as heck when it's warm and dry, but big low treadblocks for more contact patch, low profile sidewalls, and a rubber compound that doesn't fare well in the cold.

 

Up Canada way, it's pretty common even for people with "All Seasons" to swap over to true Snow/Ice winter tires.  Heck, some people here even run studded tires for the worst part of winter - which seems like overkill to me, unless they're doing a lot of winter outdoorsing up in the mountains (skiing, snowshoeing, ice climbing, etc.)  But true, good Winter tires (with the snowflake symbol) are such a huge difference-maker when you end up driving on snow and ice for half the year every year.  I'll run circles around idiots in huge HD pickup trucks who just leave their all season M+S tires on and call it good.  lol.

 

I'm kind of surprised that in Minnesota, this isn't a thing you've come across at all?  But i guess ya'll don't get huge amounts of snowfall necessarily?  Relatively speaking.

 

It snowed a decent amount at my destination today.  So hopefully that clears up over the next few days.  Supposed to dump a couple inches each over the next couple days.  But hopefully i get a small window after that to get out of town here where the highway is cleared.  It's super heavily trafficked so it should be okay.  I hope.

 

 

Anyway...Taking down trees like that is also definitely sketchballs.  Easy to accidentally efff that up in a lot of different ways.  lol.  Same for climbing around on a wet roof.  😆

Well I guess if you have super thin tires you probably would have to switch them out depending on the time of year.  I do not drive that fancy or specialized of a car....haha   There is also the issue of does the area you live in plow the roads well and treat the roads with chemicals, salt or sand.  Seattle for example or more likely down South will straight up shut down for 1-2 inches of snow, where Minnesota not so much because they have the plows and equipment to handle it compared to some other spots.  So there is that...  Also having to drive in a storm compared to just sitting at home in a storm, big difference there, but I guess if it is really indeed that bad they would shut the main roads down anyway...

 

 

And the trees were hung up on each other, thankfully I could get to them from the ground and they were not super high up where I had to climb a ladder or something.  Then I just cut but did not go all the way through the tree in firewood sections.  Then on the final part cut the bottom first to release the pressure then when up to the top in that same line to cut through and the log then fell.  The longer part in the tree teeter tottered down on the ground on the other side usually.  Only issue is pinching the chainsaw blade then getting that stuck, came close a few times with that.  That seemed to work to get the hung up part of the tree lighter, then once it was lighter the branches which were stuck up higher were easier to fall or get down. 

 

The real thing with trees is the fact that most are not just some perfectly straight up and down pine tree that is balanced on all sides.  When trees have an odd shape, are actually hard wood trees or the tree has defects or rot inside the tree and you do not know about it.  Still is one part that I left up in the tree because it was really stuck in there after I cut the log off.  And that tree is on another tree supported by another tree so not sure how that one is going to come down exactly...

 

With the roof I did tie off on the chimney and was able to straddle the ridge of the roof and sit at times.  Maybe could have waited a little for it to dry out but wanted to do it in the morning so the sun was not so hot to mess up the concrete job.  I did slip once but it was on the protected side where if I fell a long ways there was a landing I would have hit at least.

 

 

But must do driving in a snow storm does suck totally because if you do get stuck, or at least in Minnesota if the road is really bad and they make the call, they will not even send help out to you because it is so bad.  So once they advise no travel you better not travel or you will be sitting out there potentially all night long because they do not want the crews to be in danger either.  

[Tugboat]

28 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Well I guess if you have super thin tires you probably would have to switch them out depending on the time of year.  I do not drive that fancy or specialized of a car....haha   There is also the issue of does the area you live in plow the roads well and treat the roads with chemicals, salt or sand.  Seattle for example or more likely down South will straight up shut down for 1-2 inches of snow, where Minnesota not so much because they have the plows and equipment to handle it compared to some other spots.  So there is that...  Also having to drive in a storm compared to just sitting at home in a storm, big difference there, but I guess if it is really indeed that bad they would shut the main roads down anyway...

 

It's totally commonplace even for people with just totally normal, run of the mill cars like a Corolla or Camry or even little CUVs or whatever to swap out their All Seasons for actual winter tires.  There are actually certain highways that are legally no-go without actual Winter rated tires from like October through April.  Some of the Provinces just make them mandatory, period.  Insurance companies will sometimes even cut you a discount for proof of proper winter tires.

Because they truly make an enormous difference.  They can cut stopping distances on ice pretty much in half compared to some All Seasons.  It's wild.

 

They certainly have extensive equipment for road clearing, road closures are super rare (outside the mountain passes for avalanches), but it's often still a real struggle to keep up.  Around here they typically treat the roads with a brine, and/or salt them heavily while clearing.  But the further north you go, the more days you get where it's too cold for salt to even be effective.  So they tend to use sand/gravel and you often get packed snow/ice that just builds up in places off the main highways and arterial routes (especially at intersections).

 

And then at least once a year, there'll be the obligatory 100 car pileup in a blizzard that shuts down the highway somewhere around Christmas time.  Because obviously.  😆

 

This snow shouldn't be so bad like that.  Wouldn't even make me blink with winter tires on.  Should hopefully be cleared pretty quickly.  But we'll see...

 

28 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

 

And the trees were hung up on each other, thankfully I could get to them from the ground and they were not super high up where I had to climb a ladder or something.  Then I just cut but did not go all the way through the tree in firewood sections.  Then on the final part cut the bottom first to release the pressure then when up to the top in that same line to cut through and the log then fell.  The longer part in the tree teeter tottered down on the ground on the other side usually.  Only issue is pinching the chainsaw blade then getting that stuck, came close a few times with that.  That seemed to work to get the hung up part of the tree lighter, then once it was lighter the branches which were stuck up higher were easier to fall or get down. 

 

The real thing with trees is the fact that most are not just some perfectly straight up and down pine tree that is balanced on all sides.  When trees have an odd shape, are actually hard wood trees or the tree has defects or rot inside the tree and you do not know about it.  Still is one part that I left up in the tree because it was really stuck in there after I cut the log off.  And that tree is on another tree supported by another tree so not sure how that one is going to come down exactly...

 

With the roof I did tie off on the chimney and was able to straddle the ridge of the roof and sit at times.  Maybe could have waited a little for it to dry out but wanted to do it in the morning so the sun was not so hot to mess up the concrete job.  I did slip once but it was on the protected side where if I fell a long ways there was a landing I would have hit at least.

 

Sounds like a lot of...improvisation.  Nice that you were able to get a lot of it from the ground though.  I've worked a bit with pros doing it from up in a picker, and it's definitely a lot of things to make sure you're keeping track of.  Especially if they're kind of tangled like that.  Have to be really sure of how something is going to fall.  lol.  While dealing with a chainsaw and other tools in a tight space with cumbersome harnesses and everything.  Seems like a whole lot of not very fun to me.

 

28 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

 

But must do driving in a snow storm does suck totally because if you do get stuck, or at least in Minnesota if the road is really bad and they make the call, they will not even send help out to you because it is so bad.  So once they advise no travel you better not travel or you will be sitting out there potentially all night long because they do not want the crews to be in danger either.  

 

Yeah.  Driving the highways in a blizzard is never really fun.  Getting stranded is definitely a real danger, though they very rarely actually refuse to send help.  It can just take a while to get there if you're hundreds of miles from anywhere and a bunch of other people are also stranded.  Snow is also usually so deep in the ditches that you can't exactly run the car and heater without asphyxiating...without doing some shoveling to clear around the exhaust a bit.

Lots of people in trucks carrying tow ropes usually too.  But hitting the ditch at highway speeds isn't great.  A little tow isn't always gonna do it.  Would just rather not. 

Bridges are always super treacherous and covered in black ice too.  Probably the sketchiest part for me right now...Might just be the slowest i've ever made the trip.  😆

[Heimdallr]

8 hours ago, Tugboat said:

I'm kind of surprised that in Minnesota, this isn't a thing you've come across at all?  But i guess ya'll don't get huge amounts of snowfall necessarily?  Relatively speaking.

Winter tires are very much a common thing in MN. Which reminds me I need to switch mine soon.