Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

taranis17 said:
107 projected in DFW today. At this point 90 will feel like heaven when it finally get here... in September.
Click to expand...
I used to work for a company that had a plant in Keller, TX. Many meals at Hard 8 BBQ, Joe T Garcia’s, and Cattleman’s. Used to fly into AFW before anything was there. Staci’s Jet Service at Mecham Airport kept a fuel truck at AFW and would come out and fuel our jet.
 
Van_and_Terri said:
We are having a slight cooling trend in Florida. Now experiencing highs in the low 90s and nighttime lows in the low to mid 70s. Looks like we are soon headed to highs in the upper 80s.
Click to expand...
Same here in Upstate SC, last week was brutal with high temperatures and high humidity. Looks like the upper 80s this week.
 
Anybody know if Cooltears is still around? I know they stopped publishing a print edition previously. Their website seems to have no updates since last summer. This is usually the time of year they solicit photos for their calendar. I've entered and had some published in the past.

The website and facebook page are still up but as I said, no activity since last summer. I'm guess they quietly folded. That's too bad.
 
Last edited:
I finally got to go camping! Just a 1-nighter, but it was just what the doctor ordered. I had no idea I was going to go until Friday night. I got to the park earlier in the day; frankly, it was a lot earlier, and I expected static about early check-in. Apparenlyt Indiana is going to start charging a fee for that now. Along with their ungodly high fees to camp.

I think I'm getting to pay deferred maintenance cost on a few things....but getting there.

1] I upgraded the battery to Lithium, and the charger. The charger in Lithium mode acts strangely. Ramps up to 10 amps, then falls to zero on a partially depleted battery. Not sure what is happening there. I thought it might be BMS but it isn't -- the dedicated charger I have works fine. I suspect I'll be doing ia parts-swap diagnosis on that

2] Baby got news tires. I bought a set of Goodyear Endurances. I thought about upgrading to Alloy wheels, but the cost was just a little high at the time.

3] Brakes - I had a brake problem a few weeks ago (June?) severely overheaing one side --- so I replaced both. Really pissed off at Dexter. They put a 'tang' that has a spring to hold the magnet in place. This interferes (aka rubs) against the drum. Diagnosing it means taking the wheel and drum off looiking for something that should have been engineered out of the system before I got it. Being busy with other things, this took seveal attempts and a hail-mary call to CampInn -- confirming what I thought.

4] Found that one of my jack stands is bent - I'll be looking at those. Seriously wondering if I an make a motorized set work :) Though I would lose the 'leveling' ability that you have since electrics usually work in tandem.

So....family event this weekend, two 'off' weekends, then CICO. I'm so disapoitned in my camping career performance this year :(
 
Sweeney said:
So....family event this weekend, two 'off' weekends, then CICO. I'm so disapoitned in my camping career performance this year :(
Click to expand...

Camping is camping, even if for only one night. It's too bloody hot here to stay outside more than about 15 min.

And at least you have a trailer! I am most frustrated with the lenders I've spoken to. They seem to forget English quite easily...

Lender: "We need the blue form."
CI: "We can provide the blue form if we know what to put on it."
Lender: "Bad command or file name. Provide green form."
Me: What's a green form? Hey AI! What's a green form?
CI: "Never heard of that before. That's not a thing? Are they dumb?"
Lender: "The dealer needs to provide the green form with our name on it."
Me: *click". AhGiveUP! YOU HAZ THE DUMBZ. GO 'WAY...
Lender2: "We can do that for you, so provide us your complete financial and family history for the last 250 years, a blood sample, your left testicle, and your first-born's commitment to marriage, in triplicate. Also, they need to provide the title. What's a "Campin"? Is that an RV?
Me: WHY U NO ABLE TO READ?!?!? MAN-YOU-FACT-TUR-ERRRRR!! NOT DEE-LERRR!!
Lender2: Unable to comply. Error. Error. Self-destruct in T-minus 10... 9.... 8...

At this point I have multiple horses on the track. And I am patient.

First one across the finish line wins.

Edit: WE HAVE A WINNER! :)
 
Last edited:
taranis17 said:
Camping is camping, even if for only one night. It's too bloody hot here to stay outside more than about 15 min.

And at least you have a trailer! I am most frustrated with the lenders I've spoken to. They seem to forget English quite easily...

Lender: "We need the blue form."
CI: "We can provide the blue form if we know what to put on it."
Lender: "Bad command or file name. Provide green form."
Me: What's a green form? Hey AI! What's a green form?
CI: "Never heard of that before. That's not a thing? Are they dumb?"
Lender: "The dealer needs to provide the green form with our name on it."
Me: *click". AhGiveUP! YOU HAZ THE DUMBZ. GO 'WAY...
Lender2: "We can do that for you, so provide us your complete financial and family history for the last 250 years, a blood sample, your left testicle, and your first-born's commitment to marriage, in triplicate. Also, they need to provide the title. What's a "Campin"? Is that an RV?
Me: WHY U NO ABLE TO READ?!?!? MAN-YOU-FACT-TUR-ERRRRR!! NOT DEE-LERRR!!
Lender2: Unable to comply. Error. Error. Self-destruct in T-minus 10... 9.... 8...

At this point I have multiple horses on the track. And I am patient.

First one across the finish line wins.

Edit: WE HAVE A WINNER! :)
Click to expand...

Lender2: Unable to comply. Error. Error. Self-destruct in T-minus 10... 9.... 8... (BWAAAA!!!!)


I was very blessed -- VERY blessed. I was able to pay cash for both of mine, and didn't have to deal with banks. Sadly if I were buying to day I'd probably have to.

A friend of mine used to be a business banker, and he did personal as well. Hes often lamented the total lack in basic skills by people that were coming into the bank. Inexperienced and unable to grasp basic concepts.

I know in my IT career, we had people that were on managmenttracks that very good and what they did, but very focused. They might be good java developers, but they didn't have any skills in things like networking, or basic infrastructure. If they needed to write a script in BASH or Python, they had no ability. The colleges taught a very laser focused curriculum.

Same problem -- step slightly outside of the boundry and they are lost. Worse, they have no idea how to find their way back some times. Its happening everywhere. Enshitification is the norm.
 
Speaking of banks...

Any Amazon prime credit card holders here being transitioned to US Bank? how's that gonig for ya :D

Just had a critical purchased declined by my former prime card....get to tell a customer Sorry, not going to meet my timeline...

During this whole transition I was told "you ahve to do nothing...the new card is on the way!" They never mentioned the fact they were closing the AMEX account and moving everything...including transaction history to the new bank. What idiots. When I talked to support at the new bank she said that "It was not going well" Nothing like pre-activated credit cards being shipped to wrong addresses...what could possibly go wrong!?
 
Last edited:
Sweeney said:
Lender2: Unable to comply. Error. Error. Self-destruct in T-minus 10... 9.... 8... (BWAAAA!!!!)


I was very blessed -- VERY blessed. I was able to pay cash for both of mine, and didn't have to deal with banks. Sadly if I were buying to day I'd probably have to.

A friend of mine used to be a business banker, and he did personal as well. Hes often lamented the total lack in basic skills by people that were coming into the bank. Inexperienced and unable to grasp basic concepts.

I know in my IT career, we had people that were on managmenttracks that very good and what they did, but very focused. They might be good java developers, but they didn't have any skills in things like networking, or basic infrastructure. If they needed to write a script in BASH or Python, they had no ability. The colleges taught a very laser focused curriculum.

Same problem -- step slightly outside of the boundry and they are lost. Worse, they have no idea how to find their way back some times. Its happening everywhere. Enshitification is the norm.
Click to expand...
Yep. Go a tiny little bit off-script and their brains vanish. I knew this would happen going in before I sent my down-payment. In the end, NFCU actually knew the terminology of what an MCO/MSO is and how it relates to titling a vehicle. Zero issues, approved in less than an hour. Being a vet continues to have its benefits.

I worked for an MSP as an IT manager for two well-known financial institutions a few years ago. Enshitification doesn't begin to describe it. One org (100% chance you've heard of them) that hired us hadn't patched their network and server systems ever, I kid you not. It took us three years to get it done. Thousands of patches across hundreds of OS, software and network systems. They paid a pretty penny to get it done. The best IT people are jack-of-all-trades, and masters-of-none, in my experience. I don't need you to know python, but I need you to be smart enough to research, develop, test and deploy a python solution within a reasonable time-frame. I guarantee the problem you're dealing with has been dealt with by someone, somewhere before. Those are the rock stars IMO.

I would've loved to have paid cash and been done with it, and I probably could've within a year but unexpected medical bills drained savings. I could wait and build it back up, but I'm fortunate to have a good job that pays well, so I'll be done with this (I hope) within a year or two and build savings back a bit slower as well. YOLO and all that.

That's the plan anyway, if the world's financial markets don't fall apart first.
 
Well if TSHTF ya always got your bugout option parked in the garage. I figure one tank of gas avg range out of town and the zombies cant get ya...;)

Also a Bug-In if the power goes out, just fire up the genny and run the AC, furnace, fridge and/or add your folding solar power panels in the yard fed in by an extension cord...

Whip up some bacon and eggs on the galley stove.

Or offer as a spare room for a family member run out of their home by wildfire, flood, tornado for a few weeks...mooch docked in your garage!

The real question is...
is the CampInn a Faraday Cage?
 
Last edited:
The Postman said:
Well if TSHTF ya always got your bugout option parked in the garage. I figure one tank of gas avg range out of town and the zombies cant get ya...;)

Also a Bug-In if the power goes out, just fire up the genny and run the AC, furnace, fridge and add your folding solar power panels in the yard fed in by an extension cord....

Whip up some bacon and eggs on the stove. Or a place for a family member run out of their home by wildfire, flood, tornado for a few weeks...mooch docked in garage!

The real question is...is the CampInn a Faraday Cage?
Click to expand...
Sayyy… If that’s true, I can lock up the people I kidnap in there….

Need to test it …

“Oh Hunnnieeee….!”

(Before anyone thinks I’m a psycho, I’m kidding!)

…or am I? Muahahaha..

“Hunnie where you at?”
 
taranis17 said:
Yep. Go a tiny little bit off-script and their brains vanish. I knew this would happen going in before I sent my down-payment. In the end, NFCU actually knew the terminology of what an MCO/MSO is and how it relates to titling a vehicle. Zero issues, approved in less than an hour. Being a vet continues to have its benefits.

I worked for an MSP as an IT manager for two well-known financial institutions a few years ago. Enshitification doesn't begin to describe it. One org (100% chance you've heard of them) that hired us hadn't patched their network and server systems ever, I kid you not. It took us three years to get it done. Thousands of patches across hundreds of OS, software and network systems. They paid a pretty penny to get it done. The best IT people are jack-of-all-trades, and masters-of-none, in my experience. I don't need you to know python, but I need you to be smart enough to research, develop, test and deploy a python solution within a reasonable time-frame. I guarantee the problem you're dealing with has been dealt with by someone, somewhere before. Those are the rock stars IMO.

I would've loved to have paid cash and been done with it, and I probably could've within a year but unexpected medical bills drained savings. I could wait and build it back up, but I'm fortunate to have a good job that pays well, so I'll be done with this (I hope) within a year or two and build savings back a bit slower as well. YOLO and all that.

That's the plan anyway, if the world's financial markets don't fall apart first.
Click to expand...

With my corproate it experience I've seen it too -- not as bad as your situatin, but routinely it would be behind in patch levels, sometimes significantly. The issue was that people who had little or no understanding were given positions of authority --- we called them quality. Going from version some library from 2.3.6 to 2.3.7, they wanted full regression testing. There's really no way to know where that library is used and how it is interconnected.

I started to feel nostalgic about it recently - then I got sucked into the data migration where my american expreress card was auto-closed, and all transaction history sent to another bank. Knowing what went into this failure (i didn't get the card, and I had no warning it was going to happne this way) -- I've been on those projects. Suddenly I don't miss it any more.

XKCD nailed it

View attachment 1787848051927.png

I was lucky that my wife got a job in 2012 that payed a TREMENDOUSLY good salary...and we were able to save the money while the build was ongoing. Then, for our second camper, I had completed a project that had a bonus, in addition to a corporate profit sharing/incentive program gave a bump -- plus we had sold our old class A --- so everything came together perfectly. Truly blessed.

The company I worked for was reorganizing every 12 to 18 months --- I had an income but never stability. Debt requires stabiliyt OR a debt that you can easily escape from. FOr myself, I worked for the same company for the lions share of my career (~ 24 years ) and I knew entering the job market would not be good...we develoepd the cash is king mindset....sadly that is all gone now and I'm experiencing life without a safety net of any kind. Big plusses...but sometimes sleep is a little restless.

Failing markets are a big factor for everyone. I'm seeing it impact me already. $50 a night camping is no longer affordable. Especailly combined with $8 hamburger. We are (as Rush used to say) are in heap big trouble.
 
Sweeney said:
I was lucky that my wife got a job in 2012 that payed a TREMENDOUSLY good salary...and we were able to save the money while the build was ongoing. Then, for our second camper, I had completed a project that had a bonus, in addition to a corporate profit sharing/incentive program gave a bump -- plus we had sold our old class A --- so everything came together perfectly. Truly blessed.

The company I worked for was reorganizing every 12 to 18 months --- I had an income but never stability. Debt requires stabiliyt OR a debt that you can easily escape from. FOr myself, I worked for the same company for the lions share of my career (~ 24 years ) and I knew entering the job market would not be good...we develoepd the cash is king mindset....sadly that is all gone now and I'm experiencing life without a safety net of any kind. Big plusses...but sometimes sleep is a little restless.

Failing markets are a big factor for everyone. I'm seeing it impact me already. $50 a night camping is no longer affordable. Especailly combined with $8 hamburger. We are (as Rush used to say) are in heap big trouble.
Click to expand...
Ironically, I've become very debt-adverse, having just paid off the last of it (except my house), so in my mind I'm taking a massive risk getting the 560. Maybe it all works out, or the floor drops out and we have to live in a cardboard box down by the creek. No time to worry about the future when the present needs living in.
 
taranis17 said:
Ironically, I've become very debt-adverse, having just paid off the last of it (except my house), so in my mind I'm taking a massive risk getting the 560. Maybe it all works out, or the floor drops out and we have to live in a cardboard box down by the creek. No time to worry about the future when the present needs living in.
Click to expand...

It's funny — at one point I had about $50k in debt beyond the house, and I wouldn't have thought twice about borrowing more. That wasn't even unusual. A car loan, maybe two (which used to be $30k each — now, thanks to inflation and government waste, you're looking at $60k a pop today), maybe a boat, a motorcycle... you get the idea.

We followed Dave Ramsey loosely — more as inspiration than a strict program. We did the debt snowball, but we didn't go full beans and rice. We kept a moderate lifestyle and just paid significantly more than the minimums. My wife would send a little extra on the mortgage each month, and she paid biweekly instead of monthly — which effectively gets you an extra payment every year without feeling it.

When my company let me go in 2023, the house was all we had left. When I asked about the payoff amount, it was almost half of what I expected — the snowball had done more than I realized. I was elated when I figured out my severance would cover it and leave a little cushion while I found work.

Long before the layoff, the moment I realized Bank of America didn't own me....the house was our only remaining debt...the thought of borrowing anything became abhorant to me. Its funny today, I get phone calls from people all the time trying to sell me on 'business credit lines' No ...thank....you. Not worth the risk. If tomorrow I have to close my doors....its little more than a couple government forms. If I borrow -- its all those government forms PLUS still having a pile of paper I need to take care of.
 
Sweeney said:
Long before the layoff, the moment I realized Bank of America didn't own me....the house was our only remaining debt...the thought of borrowing anything became abhorant to me. Its funny today, I get phone calls from people all the time trying to sell me on 'business credit lines' No ...thank....you. Not worth the risk. If tomorrow I have to close my doors....its little more than a couple government forms. If I borrow -- its all those government forms PLUS still having a pile of paper I need to take care of.
Click to expand...
I have been laid-off once, and it was enough to really open my eyes to how at-risk one can be without steady income - you just trust the job will always be there, until it isn't. Lucky for me I had a year's savings built up, which we lived on and depleted 99% when I finally found work. I can't imagine it today since the job market for tech is so, so, so much worse. Bleh.. depressing subject.

Build pics tomorrow - she's almost ready for her final photoshoot. :)
 
taranis17 said:
I have been laid-off once, and it was enough to really open my eyes to how at-risk one can be without steady income - you just trust the job will always be there, until it isn't. Lucky for me I had a year's savings built up, which we lived on and depleted 99% when I finally found work. I can't imagine it today since the job market for tech is so, so, so much worse. Bleh.. depressing subject.

Build pics tomorrow - she's almost ready for her final photoshoot. :)
Click to expand...

That was my big takeaway --- I don't care who you work for --- you're one managers phobia away from unemployment. Self employment, big risks. Lots of pitfalls. Lots of work. But, many bosses (customers) --- if one fires me --- the odds are in my favor. Though someitmes things like injuries and unexpected "oh $#i7 seconds" can happen.

Mixed bag.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top