Learned'd VIII: Less Bewbs, Same Nonsense

[Kompresshun]

Well I never have been able to justify that much for it because I don't listen to any of the things that make XM/Sirius popular and neither does the wife. I listen to rock music anytime the radio is on and I don't like paying for a service that picks what songs I listen to for me. I'll just flip over to FM for that. I prefer my own music over anything else though. I used to have a DJ(Weddings, bihrthdays, ect - not club DJ) business with a friend of mine, so I have a HUGE collection of music.

Even when we had it for free for 3 months in the Kia we barely used it. We even went on an 8hr trip and didn't use it once.

[float_6969]

Spotify + bluetooth connection to headunit = just about anything you could want to listen to... and no commercials...ever, LOL

[Bubba1]

Well I never have been able to justify that much for it because I don't listen to any of the things that make XM/Sirius popular and neither does the wife. I listen to rock music anytime the radio is on and I don't like paying for a service that picks what songs I listen to for me.....

...Even when we had it for free for 3 months in the Kia we barely used it. We even went on an 8hr trip and didn't use it once.

Gee, wasn't your DJ business's success dependant on other people paying you to pick songs to play for them over the course of several hours? (just messin' with you ).

It seems clear that folks like Wes and I travel far enough & regularly enough to see more value to Satellite radio than you do, and that's okay. It's a personal choice that a few million folks are willing to pay to get.

[WDRacing]

Kate's been doing a 1.5 hr commute for the last month and a half. From Mercer PA, which is an hour N of Pittsburgh, to Weirton WV. The last 2 weeks have been done in awful weather. Thankfully that's over with now...back on topic...we're avid readers so she burned through audio books in order to maintain sanity. She also has Sat Rad and Pandora if she wants music.

She loves her Dart. I don't mind driving it if I'm the only one in it, way too small if the kids are on board and I can't "drive it" when she's in the passenger seat. Gets great mileage though. The 540 on the other hand is perfect for me. The auto gearbox has an excellent sport mod for these rolling hills and 70 mph Ohio speed limits. It gets roughly NO MPG when driven correctly. However, it's also quite comfy and the stereo is just loud enough for me before it gets distorted. I listen to Pandora almost constantly.

I also have an 01 Chevy Express, with the mini conversion interior. Basically a Conversion Van with no roof extension. Anyway, she's ridiculously comfortable to drive. I could run over a railroad tie at 35 and barely notice it. Granted, it's similar to driving a party barge when at highway speeds, but it's a soft ride and it has enough room for my kids to relieve themselves into a Gatorade bottle avoiding all of those, "I have to PEE real bad" moments. Boys for the motherfkingwin!

The Van is also a tank in the snow. It has the tow package, which comes with a great LSD, stiffer suspension (can't even imagine how soft the other model is) and higher rear end gears. She weighs in just shy of a metric ton and is riding on General A/T rubber. She laughs at anything shy of a blizzard.

You have to love your vehicle if you're going to have a long commute. The 540 is the smallest car I'd own for distance driving. Have to factor in gas mileage with luxury type cars I suppose. IMHO, it's easily worth the extra $$ every month for a great ride. Great ride being whatever the individual chooses. Some people enjoy tiny, uncomfortable cars with craploads of road noise and no ability to get out of their own way even if their own friggin life depened on it. All in the name of a few bucks at the pump or some form of sadistic ritual worship of the MMGW God.

Just my .02 of course...

Granted any .02 from me is really worth like .85...

Happy Hump Day!

[sx moneypit]

Mornin' folks!
I don't even have time to listen to anything on my commute to work.Round trip for me is 1.8 miles.

[WDRacing]

Kates last drive was like that when we lived in Dover. You totally get spoiled having everything within 2 minutes of your house.

[Dattebayo]

It's tough for me to justify driving to work when one has such a short commute. I had a job for a while that was about a mile away and decided to walk in every day unless it was very cold out. It got me in shape and the walk was comparable to commute to any other job more than 15 miles away, so I wasn't really sacrificing any time. Too bad all my jobs now are 30 miles plus away lately...

[WDRacing]

When I was stationed in S Korea we weren't allowed to drive until you hit a certain rank. So I rode my bike everywhere for 2 years. I was in excellent shape considering I was an absolute drunk pretty much the entire time. After I left there and quit exercising so much, my hair started falling out and it was almost impossible not to be a fat muffin @ss. Now I'm old, fat and bald...eyes get worse every year...I'm slowly dying. I could probably turn it all around by exercising and eating healthy. But then I'd have to give up beer, bacon and way too many other things to list. So a slow death it is.

[MinisterofDOOM]

That's how things are for me now. Office is half a mile from home. Unfortunately, when the temperature ranges from 15 above to -30 with windchill, driving is still the more appealing choice. When summer rolls around, though, it'll be amazing.

[frapjap]

Morning fellas.
Thanks for all of the insight on long commutes to work.
Its not even the holidays yet and I'm freggin' beat. The only thing that keeps me going is when I think of my friend who has 3 kinds under 5. THATS the definition of beat. People in general are damned resilient.

[elwesso]

Gee, wasn't your DJ business's success dependant on other people paying you to pick songs to play for them over the course of several hours? (just messin' with you ).

It seems clear that folks like Wes and I travel far enough & regularly enough to see more value to Satellite radio than you do, and that's okay. It's a personal choice that a few million folks are willing to pay to get.

Agreed. Honestly my biggest thing with MP3 players of any flavor is that you're constantly messing around with them.. I don't like messing around with it, and it's unsafe.. I remember back in high school before MP3 players became popular, people had those giant books of CD's and you were always messing around with them to get the song you wanted. Even when I used CD's, I liked my 6CD changer. I had 3 magazines at one point, so I would just load them up, and then if I stopped for fuel or something just pop a different magazine in.

When I was stationed in S Korea we weren't allowed to drive until you hit a certain rank. So I rode my bike everywhere for 2 years. I was in excellent shape considering I was an absolute drunk pretty much the entire time. After I left there and quit exercising so much, my hair started falling out and it was almost impossible not to be a fat muffin @ss. Now I'm old, fat and bald...eyes get worse every year...I'm slowly dying. I could probably turn it all around by exercising and eating healthy. But then I'd have to give up beer, bacon and way too many other things to list. So a slow death it is.

There are some things that just aren't worth living without. I eat pretty healthy, but I like eating a lot, and I love cooking and enjoy delicious food.

[Kompresshun]

Wes I haven't used an MP3 player in years. I use my phone and it automatically syncs to my car via Bluetooth. Everything is controlled via steering wheel controls and I only keep music I like on there, so all I do is get in the car and it automatically connects to my phone and starts playing my music from where it left off.

The only car I don't have that functionality in yet is the Miata. I just have a flash drive connected to it though, so it doesn't require much fiddling either.

I definitely think satellite radio can have its benefits, but I have zero use for it myself. I've tried it numerous times and I didn't feel like it was worth the money. That's just me though. My father in law can't live without it.

[Dattebayo]

You wouldn't catch me leaving Bluetooth on with my phone.

[WDRacing]

Afraid you'll catch a phone std or something?

[sx moneypit]

Afraid you'll catch a phone std or something?

Good morning Brian!

[frapjap]

Bluetooth kills batteries like nothin' else.
Morning fellas. Gingerbread house competition at work. Bought some dogs, army men, and grabbed some old hot wheels for a zombie theme!

Its not everyday that you get 2 hours to screw around with confections during work hours.

[WDRacing]

Morning Ben!

Man, I'm friggin pissed off this morning. I hate being pissed off first thing in the morning, ruins my whole day.

Had DTV wired up yesterday. Fvcking tech cut an 8 inch line in the carpet of the kids room. I didn't have a TV in that room, so all he did was run the line. My dumbass didn't go in there and trace the route of the cable. All I did was check to see it ended up where I wanted it, had I looked behind some boxes I would have seen the slice in the carpet. I go down into the garage, where the cable goes through the floor, and he's got all kinds of insulation cut and torn apart...

Who does that? Why would you ever think that was ok to do?

f***!

So now I have to call DTV and file some sort of claim today. f*** I hate doing s*** like that. I mean f***, the carpet looks fairly new and I'm just renting. I aint paying for it...damn that f***!

[sx moneypit]

That sucks ,Brian!
Why the f*ck is so hard to do a job correctly.Doesn't anyone take pride in their work anymore?

[sx moneypit]

Bluetooth kills batteries like nothin' else.
Morning fellas. Gingerbread house competition at work. Bought some dogs, army men, and grabbed some old hot wheels for a zombie theme!

Its not everyday that you get 2 hours to screw around with confections during work hours.

That's pretty cool Ray.Me and the wife used to build a gingerbread house just about every Christmas.

[Kompresshun]

Ray, I use bluetooth all the time and i've never seen much of a difference with it off. My phone uses it on demand though, so if it doesn't see a device it recognizes, it just shuts off.

Brian - I have had very little good experiences with satellite installers. When we had Dish Network the first tech installed everything and it seemed fine until the first storm. We quit getting signal and I went out to look at the dish - they had left it loose and it nearly got blown off the mount. Fail. Had another tech come out and fix it right finally. There have been plenty of other times installers have sucked a** though when i've had one installed.

At least this time with DirecTV they did a good job. Everything works great.

[frapjap]

That sucks, Brian. My DTV guy was really good and professional. Customer service is pretty good, too so I would expect that you won't have any real difficulty in regards to the claim. Take photos and be ready to email them before/during your call. If you have photos from the rental site to use as 'before' photos, that'll be a huge help.
I'm actually canceling DTV today and we're going to Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix with an HD antenna for local market sports.

Ben's right. Pride in work is tough to come by these days, especially in the trades.

Quick question, Ben. Are american car brake lines typically standard or metric sizes? One of the reasons I might not have been able to flare could have been that the lines on my '88 were metric. Was metric or standard common on domestic cars in the 80's and 90's?

[elwesso]

That really sucks Brian. The most annoying thing is when they go to install it and they fricken drill a hole right through the wall. Free installation, you get what you pay for I guess..

[sx moneypit]

That sucks, Brian. My DTV guy was really good and professional. Customer service is pretty good, too so I would expect that you won't have any real difficulty in regards to the claim. Take photos and be ready to email them before/during your call. If you have photos from the rental site to use as 'before' photos, that'll be a huge help.
I'm actually canceling DTV today and we're going to Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix with an HD antenna for local market sports.

Ben's right. Pride in work is tough to come by these days, especially in the trades.

Quick question, Ben. Are american car brake lines typically standard or metric sizes? One of the reasons I might not have been able to flare could have been that the lines on my '88 were metric. Was metric or standard common on domestic cars in the 80's and 90's?

In the early 80s they started going metric on most cars(if my memory is correct) .

[WDRacing]

I've been a DTV guy for years now, first time I've had bad service really. I had a little issue awhile back with a guy not being able to get on base because of ins issues on his vehicle, but DTV gave me free Sunday Ticket that year, so I was more than happy.

This is a whole different bag of dirty diapers.

[Dattebayo]

Afraid you'll catch a phone std or something?

Bluetooth is really easy to hack. I know I rely on my device way too much to risk it being on and unpaired all the time.

[WDRacing]

Seems like everyone posting in this thread is now a staff member accept for Dave!

[numbnuts240]

Seems like everyone posting in this thread is on a staff's member accept for Dave!

[Dattebayo]

Seems like everyone posting in this thread is now a staff member accept for Dave!

The time involved to staff a member must be silly. NO thank you.

[WDRacing]

Seems like everyone posting in this thread is on a staff's member accept for Dave!

[sx moneypit]

Seems like everyone posting in this thread is on a staff's member accept for Dave!

Hiya Tito!