Learned'd VIII: Less Bewbs, Same Nonsense

[nissangirl74]

we just go the motor back for the Roadster, I hope I get some wrench time in on this one. I haven't had the opportunity to touch the Dime.

[SX APPEAL]

I usually get quite a bit of work done on my stuff when there's something more important I should be doing...

I bought maxima at the beginning of last semester when it was clear the S14 was going to take a lot more time to finish. It was supposed to be a no trouble, no work daily. Come to find out it had a blown headgasket... FML. So I got a new engine for it with the intention of swapping it out over a weekend. Started digging into that and realized it was going to be a lot more work than I originally thought, and then suddenly my motivation to work on the S14 came back lol.

[WDRacing]

I can't wait until we move up to PA. If the property doesn't come with a big out-building, I'm putting one up upon purchase. Fortunately my bro-in-law has lots of heavy machinery, earth mover type of stuff, so I can do just about anything with a chunk of property. I wouldn't mind getting something with an old pole barn I can revamp.

Having a large dedicated workshop will be sweet. Pretty much one of my main dreams/goals in life since I was old enough to work on cars.

[frapjap]

Sometimes the person who wants help doesn't really want to work on the car and really wants to just hang out, kick it, and have a couple beers. If I actually call to ask someone for help, I make sure I'm already started before they get there or the same thing will happen to me. Such is the luxury of having multiple vehicles- they don't all HAVE to work (though I do my best to be sure they're all running correctly).

Anyway, I like to work alone unless its something I am not familiar with, in which case I'll ask for guidance, even though I've read and re read the manuals and how-to's in the internet.

[Kompresshun]

Do you guys like working on cars by yourself or do you do better if you have someone else in there helping you out? For me, it depends on who I'm working with. If it is something I detest, like chasing wiring, I prefer to be by myself so I don't get distracted. Greg and I tend to get a lot done together but I've seen other people come over to "help" and three hours later, the two of them are still standing BESIDE the car talking about it.

I prefer to work by myself on the simple stuff, but the time consuming things I prefer having someone there to help if possible. Even if it's just to hand me tools, or help me hold something, it makes the job a lot easier. Plus if it's a weekend the wife is working, I prefer to have another vehicle available in case I need to make a parts run. Advance Auto Parts does home delivery now, but I still prefer to go get what I need in case I need to look at it first.

Having a large dedicated workshop will be sweet. Pretty much one of my main dreams/goals in life since I was old enough to work on cars.

Same here. I can't do it on our current property, but we've already agreed that our next home will be on 2+ acres of land and if it doesn't already have a separate shop, one will be built. The two things i've always wanted in a perfect home have been a shop big enough for me to work on a project car in, without feeling cramped(2-car garage or similar) and my own personal office, that doesn't double as a guest bedroom.

I did have my own personal office at our current house for a while, but I gave it up because we have 3 bedrooms and it just wasn't practical since I wasn't working from home much anymore. Plus the room was too small to make it double as both.

[Kompresshun]

Oh, Mornin' everybody!

I picked the 500 up last night from getting the bumper replaced. I hate newly painted parts, because no matter how good they color match it, you can still tell a difference. Oh well, it still looks MUCH better than the old bumper. Now to just fix the motor mount and I should be done for a while.

[sx moneypit]

[MinisterofDOOM]

Do you guys like working on cars by yourself or do you do better if you have someone else in there helping you out? For me, it depends on who I'm working with. If it is something I detest, like chasing wiring, I prefer to be by myself so I don't get distracted. Greg and I tend to get a lot done together but I've seen other people come over to "help" and three hours later, the two of them are still standing BESIDE the car talking about it.

I love having my dad or brother or grandpa around to help me work on cars. It's still fun alone, but somehow swearing at rusty bolts is more fun with company.

[sx moneypit]

Mornin' folks!

[WDRacing]

Mornin...

[Kompresshun]

Mornin' gents.

We haz snow here and I haz a happy

[frapjap]

Sup guys! Need more damned snow. If i wanted rain, I'd have moved to Seattle.

EDIT- WTF!? How did you get snow?

[sx moneypit]

Mornin' Ray, Brian,Chris!

Ain't no snow here but it is cold as f***.

[Kompresshun]

It's cold as hell here and there's a decent dusting of snow on the ground too, but it's still coming down. I guess we're just more awesome here Ray. You need to move over this way.

Ben, I would've figured that y'all would've got some snow down there too.

[frapjap]

Aparently. We're getting a s*** load of rain. Hopefully higher elevations get snow. I want to ski tomorrow, but it doesn't look promising.

[sx moneypit]

Ray, looks like you are getting the same system that blew through here,we got a butt load of rain too.

[Dattebayo]

Same here. We got more than an inch of rain over the last 12 hours...

Also, I got a new job, signed the official offer letter 20 minutes ago and faxed it off. Yay! It will be nice to have benes and a regular income for a change.
The sentra reg is about to expire and I need $$$ to get it back on the road for at least one year.

[Kompresshun]

Congrats on the new job man! Regular income is a definite plus. That's the whole reason I came to my current job, because even though I loved my old job the income was too unpredictable due to lack of billable hours. I'll never do contract work again, as long as I can avoid it. Steady income and steady M-F hours FTW.

[Dattebayo]

That was my deal, contract stuff. I had a lot of very small-dollar jobs and no company truck, nor did they provide tools or certain materials. I had to buy my own RJ45s and wire sometimes and wait 2 weeks for a refund. Not often, but just enough to make me have to borrow cash to get gas and food money for a week.

Anyone who complains about taxes should have to work for themselves as a contractor for at least a year and get back to me, then we'll see about who pays too much...

[Kompresshun]

There were many weeks that I could only bill 15-20hrs of labor and my average was 25-30hrs. It absolutely sucked, aside from the few weeks that I got some big design jobs and could really bill out some time. I hated doing website work, because it's hard to bill out time for and it's very tedious. Design work was great though, because you could bill out a lot more time and it was a lot more enjoyable to do in general.

I agree. The past 3 years absolutely sucked at tax season. If it weren't for my wife's job, we would've had to come out of pocket even more than we did. I am looking forward to this year for sure though, because it should be A LOT better since i've been working here almost the entire year.

The only thing good about the other job though was that I could write off nearly anything electronic. Computers, tablets, phones, supplies, software, car, fuel expenses, ect. I can still write off my car, fuel expenses, and phone here at least though, since I travel a decent amount.

[frapjap]

Tyats a pretty good gig, Chris.
Congrats Dave!

Don't we have some sort of tax credit program potentially ending this year? Doesn't mean much for me, but you more established guys might get to take it up the pooper.

[Dattebayo]

Tax credit is not for contractors, they always take it up the bum. I guess someone thought it would be cute to make them pay doubly for their freedoms...

[PEZi]

Just dropping in to say hi... Love you all! I'll be busy through NYE with work but then party time begins!

[Otto.]

*phew* Dusty in here. Whats up NICO?

[nissangirl74]

Everybody's getting ready for the holidays, myself included. I haven't had much time to sit down the past few days. I still have a closet full of presents to wrap.

[WDRacing]

I hate wrapping...

For some reason most of the stores around here to include the mall don't have any places that wrap your stuff. I'd gladly pay for someone else to do it.

[sx moneypit]

Mornin' folks!

[WDRacing]

Mornin...

[Kompresshun]

Mornin gents.

I wrap all of my presents, but I still hate it. I usually use gift bags whenever I can get away with it. I only had to wrap two gifts this year though, since I only had two wrap the wife's gifts.

I got to open one of mine last night, since the wife had to work today until late. The wife got me a Kindle Fire HD, which was one thing I really wanted. I've been dying for a new tablet, but I didn't want something expensive and I didn't want the Nexus 7, so this worked out perfect.

[frapjap]

Glad to hear it, Chris.
I'm looking forwards to presents too. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is an F430 autocross gift certificate in it.