What are you doing today?

[Eric04]

Continuing to work the phones and emails to get insurance for my Caprice, which right now looks hopeless.

This still boggles my mind. Insurance covers risk, so in order to rate the vehicle all they should need do is establish its value. VIN not in system blah, blah, blah, sounds like a whole lot of laziness.

 

[gpking]

Nice truck. Looks to me like the front has spacers. But otherwise unmolested.

Believe it or not, they do actually sit that high stock. Regardless, a lift wouldn't be a deal breaker unless it was excessive or doing a Carolina squat. I ain't paying the ridiculous West Virginia "lift tax" for something dumb and impractical.
I gladly pay it for my TrailBlazer though.

 

[Mooseman]

This still boggles my mind. Insurance covers risk, so in order to rate the vehicle all they should need do is establish its value. VIN not in system blah, blah, blah, sounds like a whole lot of laziness.

And that's the kicker. They don't have values for this vehicle here nor claims data. Well, my fight with the Insurance Bureau of Canada is over as they absolutely refuse to add the VIN to their database. And my broker came back to me with the cost of the high risk policy. I'm going from $638 to $1635/year! I still have a couple things on the go. I have another broker working on it, I can go directly to my current insurer for adjudication by their ombudsman and the media. There is a reporter here that's good with car BS like this.

 

[littleblazer]

Believe it or not, they do actually sit that high stock. Regardless, a lift wouldn't be a deal breaker unless it was excessive or doing a Carolina squat. I ain't paying the ridiculous West Virginia "lift tax" for something dumb and impractical.
I gladly pay it for my TrailBlazer though.

Our 07.5 didn't sit that high stock... leveled is about right though. (see below.) Just looks odd to me I guess because I've never really been around those stock or not a work truck lol. (Also, this is the truck that replaced the red truck back in 08. Aka red truck 2)

 

[djthumper]

And that's the kicker. They don't have values for this vehicle here nor claims data. Well, my fight with the Insurance Bureau of Canada is over as they absolutely refuse to add the VIN to their database. And my broker came back to me with the cost of the high risk policy. I'm going from $638 to $1635/year! I still have a couple things on the go. I have another broker working on it, I can go directly to my current insurer for adjudication by their ombudsman and the media. There is a reporter here that's good with car BS like this.

You can ship it here and come visit and drive it when ever you want.

 

[Mooseman]

You can ship it here and come visit and drive it when ever you want.

Hahahahaha, no.

 

[BrianF]

Well good luck with that insurance.... I do mean that.

I spent several hours today running the string trimmer and riding mower. Got my pasty ass somewhat sun burnt but got several acres cut.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Back in the cube village. Wish we had more weekend, but I guess I got to work sometime.

 

[Sparky]

Back at work hoping I don't fall asleep.
Up late trying to get stuff done last night.
Then tornado sirens.
Then the darn smoke detector decided its battery was weak.
Then the baby woke up and fussed.

......

 

[Mooseman]

Working a shift tonight. Still working on finding cheaper insurance. That $1600 policy would be a last, and expensive, resort.

 

[TollKeeper]

Back at work hoping I don't fall asleep.
Up late trying to get stuff done last night.
Then tornado sirens.
Then the darn smoke detector decided its battery was weak.
Then the baby woke up and fussed.

......

You in Colorado? The sirens here were going crazy.

Back at the work thing. Slept mostly pretty good last night, hope that I can get most of my work done today... Although I doubt it.

 

[BrianF]

Got to work tonight and tomorrow night, then off until next weekend. Had booked some time off as my wife was supposed to go to a horse show. Well she decided not to go and I still don't want to work.

I tinkered with the 400 and the one sled that is a hold out to running. No dice.

 

[littleblazer]

Work. Start the new summer position Monday. See how that goes.

 

[Sparky]

No, in ohio.

Now the internet is broken. Sigh.

 

[Sparky]

At work trying to wake up. 10 month old would NOT sleep for more than 10-15 min at a time last night. And the AC broke (again). Two nights in a row with minimal sleep is no bueno.

 

[Blckshdw]

New team member started yesterday, transferred in from another department. I trained them on the system about 2 years ago, so not worried about them screwing up stuff. They brought in brownies for the team, everyone knows we like to eat.

At work trying to wake up.

Same, but for different reasons. Neighbors were partying late into the night, and then I woke up at 5am for some reason, unable to get back to sleep. Feels like a long day ahead of us both.

 

[xavierny25]

@work now but after work I'm going to my local Chevy dealer to look at a Saab 97x aero.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Doing way too much today for what was supposed to be a simple telework day.

 

[Mooseman]

Finished a night shift this morning, then got up early to go to a retirement luncheon for a former colleague. 47 years as a public servant.

Then picked up 4 jugs of Dex6 to do the Caprice this week. Changing the filter and pan to a higher capacity along with a flush. First time on a dipstick-less tranny so will be interesting.

 

[m.mcmillen]

Bought a key cutting machine on eBay. It came in today so I cut a couple of keys.

 

[xavierny25]

On the iron horse headed to work.

On another note the Saab I thought I was going to look at yesterday evening had already been sold over the Memorial day weekend. I'm a few days late on that deal, story of my life I tell you. It was still on the lot but in the lower level repair bays.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Working in the cube farm. Just found out we may be playing switcharoo cubes and I really dont want to pack up n move again

 

[Mooseman]

Heading to the insurance company office to plead my case for them to renew my current police on the Caprice. Otherwise, I'm going from $638 to $1665 under high risk insurance. Contacting media is still an option but likely fruitless for me.

 

[Mooseman]

Threw a half brisket into the smoker this morning with a mix of hickory and mesquite for smoke.

Yesterday, did a tranny flush on the Caprice as well as swapping the pan and filter for a deeper one. Just used ramps and it was still too low for me to crawl under. I'm used to working on trucks. The fluid was darker than I expected for almost 100k km but not nasty and nothing out of the ordinary in the pan. There is no dipstick so the fluid has to be pumped in the hole where a dipstick would have been. Used a manual pump and my arms are sore. Next time I'll use a drill pump. It had an occasional shift flare, which is typical of the shallow pan and the narrow mouth filter on these. All good now.

 

[BrianF]

Track and field with the kids. My 10 year old daughter in grade 4 smoked her class in the 50 and 100m sprint. Beat the long jump record by 20 cm and just about tied the grade 6 record in high jump. My 9 year old daughter did not fare as well but was in the top percentile for her races and jumping. Much improved and quite proud that their hard work shows.

 

[littleblazer]

Cruze has been in the shop since Thursday so my sister has been driving the TB since. Her words to me last night... "F fixing the cruze, I'll keep driving this. And the A/C kicks ass"
Me: alright.

The dash in the thing lit up like a tree and the power steering locked up. It went away but the thing was then stuck in REP... I have a feeling that bill will be expensive.

 

[Mooseman]

Was gonna go to the u-pull to get a plastic truck bed liner to cut up and use as track guides but it's pouring rain out so, for another day. Guess I'll just go for breakfast with my son and then...?

 

[Blckshdw]

Got up to take care of some yardwork I skipped last weekend. Timmed some branches in the back that were overlooked. Sprayed herbicide to kill random stuff growing in the cracks of the sidewalks and pavers. My lower back is pretty sore for some reason, so will be taking it easy the rest of the day. Popped some pain meds, so hopefully they kick in soon.

 

[littleblazer]

Got the splash guards on the colorado. Everything I wanted to do today is done. Start the new internship tomorrow so I gotta be up around 5. Just taking it easy today.

 

[northcreek]

Recovering from a friends wedding anniversary party last night. It was at another friends house who has a fully stocked bar in his barn. He had just cracked open a keg of New England IPA and...well, the wife drove home.

 

[littleblazer]

So I did some other things...
Cleaned out the garage so I could park the scooter with dad...

Washed and waxed the tahoe for mom.

And then figured what the hell. The clear on the hood of the TB turned white oxidized last year and always bothered me so I figured what the hell... and as you can see I'll be doing the rest soon.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

In the cube for a half day and then thinking golf.

 

[Blckshdw]

Today has been a "Monday" so far for sure. Started off with having an appraisal guy come to the house. Now that the solar panels are up, I'm trying to get out of the PMI on the mortgage. He was supposed to show up between 8-8:30, but he showed up at 7:30. I was glad for that, so that's less time to make up in the office. He was done by 8, so I was only 15 minutes late to work. Technically I only need the appraised value to be $11K higher than what it appraised for when I bought it, and I'd be good. Hopefully it's considerably more than that...

Get to work, check my home emails, and there's a receipt from the Playstation store, at 5:41 am for a Grand Theft Auto V purchase. Umm, I don't play that series, and damn sure wouldn't be buying games that time of morning. Signed in to the site, and turned on all the new security features that weren't there years ago when I last looked at my account details. I had a $40 credit in my account wallet, so it pulled from that. Got onto a chat session with the support team, they said they'd file a ticket, once it was reviewed, they'd let me know in about a week on what they were gonna do about it. She hadn't even finished asking me to fill out the customer service survey, when I got an email that the money was already refunded.

Now it's back to work, although I'm thinking I'd rather be at the beach right now...

 

[TollKeeper]

Trying to stay awake at work. Have a new hire coming in, should be here in about 1 hour. Older gentleman, thank god hes not another freaking millennial.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Today has been a "Monday" so far for sure. Started off with having an appraisal guy come to the house. Now that the solar panels are up, I'm trying to get out of the PMI on the mortgage. He was supposed to show up between 8-8:30, but he showed up at 7:30. I was glad for that, so that's less time to make up in the office. He was done by 8, so I was only 15 minutes late to work. Technically I only need the appraised value to be $11K higher than what it appraised for when I bought it, and I'd be good. Hopefully it's considerably more than that...

Intrigued on the solar panels and appraising. I do appraising for a living, granted it is mostly right-of-way and estate work these days, but did years of residential before solar was a big thing. I would be far more inclined to consider the solar panels as personal property and not real estate.

So did you buy them yourself and they are permanently affixed and can not be removed and used elsewhere? I know mortgage companies are bastards and have their own rules, but some things they want an appraiser to do are against ANSI standards and license law. Curiosity will have me researching i guess.

ON TOPIC: I am taking off early to hit the links this afternoon! makes Monday seem far better.

 

[Blckshdw]

Intrigued on the solar panels and appraising. I do appraising for a living, granted it is mostly right-of-way and estate work these days, but did years of residential before solar was a big thing. I would be far more inclined to consider the solar panels as personal property and not real estate.

So did you buy them yourself and they are permanently affixed and can not be removed and used elsewhere? I know mortgage companies are bastards and have their own rules, but some things they want an appraiser to do are against ANSI standards and license law. Curiosity will have me researching i guess.

I financed them directly, no leasing, so they are mine as far as the bank is concerned. They are permanently attached to the roof, the mounting frames are bolted to the rafters, so when it comes time to replace the roof, they'll have to come out to remove them first. Their company also does roof replacements, so if I go with them, they'll take them down for free. Otherwise, they'll charge me for removal and reinstallation. (Both the initial appraiser and the solar company's inspector said I should expect about 10 more years out of my current roof with normal weather) Insurance company just took the $$ amount, and added it to the value of the home on my policy, so that's straight forward if I ever needed to replace everything.

When I first spoke with the bank about the PMI, they are considering it an improvement to the house itself. They were going to use some automated way to determine the property value, but FEMA redrew their disaster area maps, my house is now on the wrong side of a boundary line by about 20 feet, so they can't use that method. So that's why I'm getting the BPO done.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

A BPO is not an appraisal actually. They probably wanted to use an AVM til the disaster issue, also not an appraisal.

Both are ways to circumvent actual appraisers and the legal requirements with such. Hence why I do not work for mortgage companies or banks.

 

[Redbeard]

Heading to the blood mobile and donate some blood.

 

[BrianF]

Played around in the bloody heat. Inspected the trailer brakes on our 5 horse as they were feeling a bit weak yesterday. Pulled the drums, the magnets and shoes are in great shape. Cleaned the grounds and adjusted the shoes. They are brand new Dexter 12k backing plates as of 2017 so they wore in and required some adjustment. Bearings are all good and got some grease.

The 3500 got oil, fuel filters, greased the cardan and an overall inspection. 73,103km on the truck, 24,585km on the oil. Sample taken for analysis. Out was my PC Duron 10w30 and the same went in. Added 100 idle hours this index, which is way up from its average. We used it lots and lots this winter as a daily driver. Expecting to see the fuel come up but the wear metals should be slowly dropping. The engine is still breaking in though but an overall downward trend should be starting. No visible oil used and none added. Only 7,343km worth of towing though, which is down but I did haul some weight. In 6 trips I hauled in over 100,000 pounds hay into the yard. Edit, make that 115,000 pounds in 7 trips.

I am looking to extend to 30,000km as the previous analysis showed room to spare on fuel, soot, viscosity and plenty of oil additives left. This truck is easy on oil.

Everybody needs an ISB6.7.

 

[littleblazer]

Day 2. They already moved me from the main office out to the lab at the plant. I can throw rocks at it from my house.