What Irked You Today?

[johnyrotten]

Getting ready for another round of poking and prodding at doctors. They'll probably end up sending me for another nerve conduction test and MRI. Cause who doesn't love being a pin cushion.

[meechum68]

Damn John! 

And here I thought getting woke up early was the worst for me today. Thanks for throwing some perspective on the day!  Plus man, you got this my friend!

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, meechum68 said:

Damn John! 

And here I thought getting woke up early was the worst for me today. Thanks for throwing some perspective on the day!  Plus man, you got this my friend!

It's all the culmination of life, work, dumb decisions and getting older. I'd just like to have my left arm work without pain or discomfort.  Not really thrilled about a neck surgery, but it's probably time to bite that bullet and make the call. I'll find out today.

[meechum68]

I get it, and wife had neck surgery, and her pain is now 1-2 or gone 90% of the time, before she was 7-9 all the time. 

Gotta take take care of our flesh bags for sure!

[89AKurt]

2 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

It's all the culmination of life, work, dumb decisions and getting older. I'd just like to have my left arm work without pain or discomfort.  Not really thrilled about a neck surgery, but it's probably time to bite that bullet and make the call. I'll find out today.

May the best happen for you on this, no fun at all.  Always takes major things to bring a deeper perspective on life.  I've been helping a neighbor, her husband went to Alaska to hunt, got Carbon monoxide poisoning, complicated by bad life decisions which have built up over time.  They are expected to return tomorrow, after being gone a month, but he goes into a care home.  I know that I better write up an owners manual for my house, after stepping in to help maintain their property.

All my irk was, I wanted to get a new gasket where the air filter housing that sits on the Holley Carb (Chevy 350), 5" diameter.  NAPA didn't have one in stock, so they ordered it.  Show up later and am handed gaskets about 2" in diameter, so that was an immediate refund, and I can tell the guy does this all day long.  Just simple round gaskets, that's all I want, why does it have to be so hard?

[johnyrotten]

2 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

May the best happen for you on this, no fun at all.  Always takes major things to bring a deeper perspective on life.  I've been helping a neighbor, her husband went to Alaska to hunt, got Carbon monoxide poisoning, complicated by bad life decisions which have built up over time.  They are expected to return tomorrow, after being gone a month, but he goes into a care home.  I know that I better write up an owners manual for my house, after stepping in to help maintain their property.

All my irk was, I wanted to get a new gasket where the air filter housing that sits on the Holley Carb (Chevy 350), 5" diameter.  NAPA didn't have one in stock, so they ordered it.  Show up later and am handed gaskets about 2" in diameter, so that was an immediate refund, and I can tell the guy does this all day long.  Just simple round gaskets, that's all I want, why does it have to be so hard?

Thanks Kurt. Yeah,the parts store mess is always an ongoing headache. I deal with a ton of old,no longer made parts with my bikes,and questionable aftermarket quality. I've ended up stockpiling n.o.s. parts, and making my own gaskets on things. Kinda pointless for the air cleaner gasket, I remember those littering the shops I grew up in. Dozens hanging everywhere.  One thing I do with the clutch side on my bike is to lightly grease one side, I get multiple uses before they leak or tear.

[espo]

Just got back from a week visiting my wife's brother and his wife in the hill country in Texas. Get in the shower and notice that I'm not getting the usual hot hot water. Looking at the hot water heater in the basement it seems to be leaking a rusty water. New heaters seem to be running upper $500 to low $1000 range depending on how many bells and whistles are desired. The killer is an estimate of $1000 + to R&R the heater. Thinking I might have chosen the wrong vocation in life. 

[A modeler named mike]

3 hours ago, espo said:

Just got back from a week visiting my wife's brother and his wife in the hill country in Texas. Get in the shower and notice that I'm not getting the usual hot hot water. Looking at the hot water heater in the basement it seems to be leaking a rusty water. New heaters seem to be running upper $500 to low $1000 range depending on how many bells and whistles are desired. The killer is an estimate of $1000 + to R&R the heater. Thinking I might have chosen the wrong vocation in life. 

It's not that hard to replace one. If you can solder and do simple electrical repairs It's worth the savings. I've replaced 3 here at our house in 30 years and numerous others for neighbors. Three main things to remember, turn off the breaker, and water, then drain the system. Take plenty of photos if you're unsure of anything. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, espo said:

...The killer is an estimate of $1000 + to R&R the heater. Thinking I might have chosen the wrong vocation in life. 

 

9 minutes ago, A modeler named mike said:

It's not that hard to replace one...

Yup.

I've replaced four to date. One natural-gas-fired, 2 propane, and one electric.

Not hard at all.

EDIT: And these days, a lot of installations don't even require you to solder.

Edited October 18 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

17 hours ago, A modeler named mike said:

It's not that hard to replace one. If you can solder and do simple electrical repairs It's worth the savings. I've replaced 3 here at our house in 30 years and numerous others for neighbors. Three main things to remember, turn off the breaker, and water, then drain the system. Take plenty of photos if you're unsure of anything. 

I agree and have done a few as a much younger man. I'm now at a point in life where I have to remember I'm no longer that person and lugging an old hot water heater up a flight of stairs seems a little more daunting than it once was. With the water hookups in use today that part is little more than attaching a couple of garden hose type connections. Not sure about the electrical aspect and never have been all that great with that sort of thing anyway.  

[mk11]

Anticipated a productive weekend finishing up a couple of projects before the cold weather hits but didn't quite get there. The starter died on an old mustang I've been working on and I had one brought up from the nearest wreckers on friday while I was at work. Having dealt with this wrecker for years, I was not expecting any problems and foolishly bolted it on yesterday without doing my usual operational double check. Dummy, dummy, dummy. Didn't work, so I pulled it off and opened it up; lo and behold, it was full of water and grease from when one of their chimps pressure washed it and, of course, didn't bench test it. Stripped it down, cleaned it out, sanded the armature lightly and reassembled it. Still no go. 73 bucks out of pocket, two dead starters and a few hours wasted, and creative flow gone to heck  🤪

[Ace-Garageguy]

It's Monday, and like Mike above, I didn't accomplish everything I set out to do over the weekend.

But unlike in his case, it was primarily my creaky old lack of sufficient motivation.

[Rodent]

Been sitting in front of the confuser for a couple of hours now, combination of work and fun. A gnat has been tormenting me the entire time, but I have not been able to neutralize it. Finally smacked it hard, it flew around momentarily and made its death dive into my glass of wine. 😞

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Morning's irk: newscaster talking heads who don't know words.

"Deference" and "antimony" aren't hard, folks.

C'mon man. WORDS ARE YOUR JOB, AND IT'S NOT LIKE YOU DON'T GET PAID ENOUGH TO AFFORD DICTIONARIES...which are free online these days anyway, ya know?

Edited Tuesday at 01:50 PM by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[TonyK]

Waiting for a magazine that some folks have said they got on October 3rd. Sent out from Colorado on September 29th and they told me USPS said to allow 4 weeks to deliver.

Some get it in a few days and I'm waiting weeks. Makes no sense.

[espo]

16 hours ago, Rodent said:

Been sitting in front of the confuser for a couple of hours now, combination of work and fun. A gnat has been tormenting me the entire time, but I have not been able to neutralize it. Finally smacked it hard, it flew around momentarily and made its death dive into my glass of wine. 😞

 

I hate wine gnats. 

[stavanzer]

Had the '87 Camry puke coolant when I got to work yesterday.

Limped it home. Hopefully no damage to the engine.

It sits until next month when it will go to the dealer for diagnosis.

At least I have a back up vehicle to to drive, so I'm good there.

[Volzfan59]

Had to speak with my ex-wife today……….uugghhhhh.

[mk11]

On 10/20/2025 at 6:17 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

It's Monday, and like Mike above, I didn't accomplish everything I set out to do over the weekend.

But unlike in his case, it was primarily my creaky old lack of sufficient motivation.

My struggle too, and motivation seems to fluctuate with the weather at times. A short window of good weather ended up kinda wasted.

[HomerS]

Doing yard patrol this afternoon and I see a hole in the ground.  Suddenly I see bees coming out one by one....ugh!  Looked on line and its recommended that you use cinnamon or peppermint (something with a strong smell) to get rid of them.  I'll go one better!  Wife purged a couple things out of the fridge yesterday, one of them being half a jar of sauerkraut.  Waited until about an hour after sundown and dumped it in.

[rattle can man]

A certain shipping company. Their website won't let me manage delivery of a package (original issue AMT 57 fairlane kit!). When I called I was told only I can manage delivery, on their website of course. They couldn't understand I've been trying funsuccessfully for 3 three days to change it. Thankfully i have a nice neighbor! 

Edited yesterday at 01:45 AM by rattle can man
spelling

[Tim W. SoCal]

On 10/21/2025 at 5:06 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Morning's irk: newscaster talking heads who don't know words.

Don't get me started, it's not even 7am in the morning yet!...

[Tim W. SoCal]

Just now, Tim W. SoCal said:

Morning's irk: newscaster talking heads who don't know words.

Then there's their beloved currently, right now...

[89AKurt]

Verizon has given me an awesome reason to ditch them.  Been getting texts from a 4 digit # (usually 5#) saying I owe more, I walked into a Verizon store couple days ago, the receptionist said it's a scam.  My account shows zero balance.  When I unplugged just now, had this nice message, the bars are ghosted out.

Logged into my account, this is what I see, $0 owed.  Oh look, a phone number I can call, how nice.

Sorry sucka!  Let's try the A.I. bot chatbox.  Okay, I just got up, I can jump in the car and drive around and see if it's elsewhere....... or does answering 'this spot' wipe other choices off the table.  Never ever was there a question about them screwing up.

What a joke, going to the analog store this morning.  I know the business plan is, you need a new phone. 🤬

[Rob Hall]

I dropped Verizon 5 years ago after almost 20 years with them.   Mint Mobile (a T-Mobile company) is way cheaper per month, only drawback is I have poor signal in some rural areas.