"You gonna get another job?"...

[Volpone]

Cleaning vehicle interiors today.

My rent money hit a day before I expected it so I zapped off to the bank to move it from my business account to my personal one (don't ask why I can't just do that from my computer. It's a long and stupid story), but the full amount hadn't posted yet so it was a wasted trip. Gun shop I wanted to go to was closing in 11 minutes when I checked the hours on my computer. What with it being 20-30 minutes away I opted to skip that trip.

Did get to work on finally cleaning the van and car interiors.

At some point I retired my vacuum cleaner. It was terrible and I hated it so much. It pained my cheap ass to do it because technically it still "worked" so I relegated it to the garage for cleaning vehicle interiors. It works as well as it did the day I bought it. Which means I was very close to attempting to smash it into tiny tiny pieces. I will say that it is built solidly enough that attempts to smash it into tiny tiny pieces do not in any way make it work any worse. But it was usable.

The van is relatively easy. I'd been using it to haul a lawnmower (so there were grass stains on the carpet) and assorted junk from my last rental (so there was assorted junk residue everywhere), but it is basically a big metal box, so cleaning is fairly painless. Vacuum everything. Touch up with assorted attachments to get crevices etc. Scrub carpet stains with carpet shampoo. Wipe everything else down with paper towels of Armor All. Easy-peasy. Also, since it is driven relatively little, the accumulation of dirt and grime isn't so bad.

The Mustang is another story. That's my daily driver. And it has so many more curves and contours and nooks and crannies and surface materials. And crud accumulation that has been ground and ground into the surfaces. And it hasn't been cleaned in literally years. Attempting it was very demoralizing. But it needed to be done so I kept at it and made some progress. Only had time for the initial vacuum. But that did make it look better. Tomorrow I've got to get to work with the Armor-All and carpet shampoo--and another vacuuming. One rabbit hole I went down is the front seats. It's a 2009 model. So 15 years old or so. Years and years of getting in and out of the driver's seat have worn it--the fabric where my back and butt hit it and even the trim there. The power seat developed a short but I narrowed it down to the lumbar support control so I learned to just leave that alone and it won't blow the fuse. I addressed the worn seat--and by "worn" I mean actual rips and holes that expose foam padding and even springs--by taping the tears with Gorilla Tape and then putting after-market seat covers on the front seats.

Here's the problem with that: The fabric seats are really cool. The edges are made of a kind of carbon fabric pattern nylon while the actual seating portion fabric has this propriatary "MUSTANG" pattern fabric. The seat covers fit perfectly--but they're a very boring light grey plain nylon that looks terrible and doesn't at all match the back seat. So I took them off. I'm going down a rabbit hole I should've left alone until I have more time but I had to. Gorilla Tape really bonds nicely to nylon fabric after being in place for years, exposed to plenty of heat and pressure. I probably should've left it, but I managed to get it off with out damaging the already damaged fabric under it much worse. I may be able to stitch it up until I can try to find/afford an upholstery place that can do a better restoration.

I think that's about it. I absolutely should NOT have another cocktail. But I kind of want another cocktail. So there you are.

OH! The short! I forgot that bit. So the controls for the power seat are embedded in this plastic fantastic trim. Well one of the hooks that locks the trim to the seat busted off at some point. As I was cleaning the floorboards I noticed a discongruous drywall screw in said trim. Apparently at some point I shot a screw through the trim to fix it to the rest of the seat, replacing the broken latch. On closer examination, what to you think it looks like the screw was attached to? Yup, the wiring harness for the lumbar support switch. Pulled the screw and replaced it with repurposed Gorilla Tape. Didn't have the courage (or did I have the sense?!) to see if pulling the screw would let the lumbar support switch work without blowing the fuse. Tomorrow I need to get to the bank, the gun shop, and finish cleaning the car.

 

[Volpone]

Day 2 of cleaning the car interior. Hasn't been cleaned in literally years. I wouldn't call it "clean" now. It's clean enough that I can now clean it. Meanwhile the exterior has gotten dirty enough that it needs to be washed again. So I failed to cross that item off my "To Do" list. Lawn is growing fast enough that it needs to be mowed at least once a week. Getting fat, now that I'm not working a menial job. I should start doing calisthenics again but there are so many things on said "To Do" list that take time and burn calories that I hate the idea of wasting time on exercise that only burns fat.

 

[Volpone]

Today I woke up early enough to make it to church--after going 2 weeks in a row--and realized I had absolutely no desire to go to church. (Or time, but that's another story.) I do like having it as a kind of routine that marks the beginning of a new week, but on the other hand...

One of my Great Truths is that laws are for people who lack the morals, discipline, and common sense to do the right thing without being told to. The idea of having to go to church every Sunday is a law. Anyway, at the risk of sounding arrogant, when I hear the Gospel sermons, I find I usually get more out of them than what the priest is explaining. I don't know if they're "dumbing it down" for the people in church or if they just are missing the point themselves. At any rate, it's a frustrating waste of time--along with the announcements at the end, etc.

On a related note, I had an interesting revelation on Christ's teachings that actually came from the discussions over at The Other Place. I'm thinking of dropping that thread on them soon, but I don't feel like doing it today.

 

[Volpone]

When this forum was down earlier today I decided to go to WF and see if they had a thread about TK being down. They didn't but I did see Volpone's thread telling the truth about many poor people are poor for a reason. Namely, their own bad decisions. Predictably none of the left wing posters argued about facts and instead they all bitched about landlords who provide housing and claiming they were fascists and how capitalism needed to be overthrown.

None of them, who confessed to being poor, took accountability on how their own decisions and actions led them to 40-60 years old and not worth a nickel. I guess that question got glossed over. Anyway, it was equally clear they had no idea that the policies the left has supported for decades (NIMBYism, excessive zoning laws, hugely excessive fees and slowly approval processes, demands to only allow construction if special interests get kickbacks, massive over regulation of just about everything) all contribute to a housing shortage and thus higher prices. They will never learn so fuck 'en.

Oh, that thread is gold at this point. I mean, it's also a rollercoaster trainwreck, but very entertaining. You've got a board full of white male failures, telling me the only reason I've succeeded (to the level I have) is because I'm a white male. When I point out how a poor black girl with an unwed mother from Mississippi named Oprah Winfrey is it's like "You're a troll. Big deal, you can name one successful black woman." And now it's down some weird Jenee philosophy rabbit hole.

Which is a little too bad, because there are a couple points I'm tempted to touch on. They have absolutely no idea how to build wealth or be successful. At one point Kommander points out there are rich people who make bad decisions, which is an interesting observation worth exploring, but then further down someone points out that the only way to get rich is to make a shit-ton of money. Nope. Not really. I either know or are aware of people who make a shit-ton of money, own nothing and live paycheck to paycheck. I'm also aware of janitors who turn out to have been millionaires when they die. It's the whole premise of the title of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Kiyosaki's biological father who was a big shot bureaucrat is the Poor Dad while his friend's dad who hustles and makes his money make money for him is the Rich Dad.

I could point them towards "The Richest Man in Babylon." It's even available online free. But you know, "...pearls before swine," and all that.

The secret is to spend less than you make and make what you don't spend make money for you (at a faster rate than inflation, which is the tricky part right now, but I digress). I quit my part time job because at this point I've got my money tied up in things that make me more money every month than I would on a full time job--and more importantly, more money than I spend. How? Let's look at what makes me happy (and how I spend a typical morning): I get up, get all the curtains open to let the sun in (if it's cold out), get coffee going, water the plants, let the dog and cat out, make sure they have food and water, and clean the litterbox. By this point The Dog is ready to come In. I pour myself a glass of OJ and a bowl of cereal and give her a treat before sitting down to catch up on news and discussions online. Once I've finished breakfast I'll play a few games of MS Solitaire. At this point I put away my dishes and check the back door because The Cat will be ready to come In. By now The Dog is snoring on the couch in the guest room. I'll sit down next to her, The Cat will little spoon up against her and purr, and I'll play a few games of solitaire with playing cards. This may sound boring and lame to some people but it is incredibly satisfying to me and the most expensive thing I've used by 11am is the dog treat.

 

[Lanzman]

Well, if you want to go down this rabbit hole . . .
As a gubbermint employee after a 40+ year career, I make a significant amount of money. I also have my wife's death benefit, and also substantial investments beyond my government thrift savings plan. BUT, I'm supporting two other people, so day-to-day money is actually kind of tight. And yet I still whack some into savings every month and of course the portfolio continues to grow. Why? Because I don't waste a lot of money on trivial amusements or nonessentials. Don't have a landline phone, got rid of cable (except for internet service), still drive an eighteen-year-old Jeep . . .
Like you, I've mostly pared down to what makes me happy. I read, I write, and I work in both my own and the girlfriend's yards.
It's amusing reading the thread you reference at Wordforge with people like Dickynoo raving about how unfair it is that someone who owns property might devise a way to profit from it - I own a house in Arizona, for example, which is rented out.
As I've long said, one of the defining traits of a "progressive" is a total lack of understanding about how economies actually work, hence the neverending desire for centrally-planned economies, which have never once worked in the history of the world.
Meh. The approaching climate doom will render this all academic, but it provides entertainment in the meantime.

 

[Volpone]

Aaand just a quick tidbit that could go in "Godforsaken Helholes" fo rmore than 1 reason: Back when the details Elwood's coup, forcing out Borgs, came to light I publicly announced the intent to start my own BBS. Bought a domain and hosting and got some software. But there was a mixup with the host and while that was getting sorted out I had to go to DC for a week or two with my boss for budget planning meetings. (I'd just moved out to Hawai'i to do some Reservist staff work for the Marines.) So by the time we were back new work had also piled up and I was never going to have the time to run a 'board (even if starting a new 'board circa 2007 would've been viable). But for well over a decade, that was a beloved retort to anything I would say at The Other Place--"HoW iS yOuR bOaRd DoInG?"

Back when I built a TARDIS, I also started posting to a Dr. Who props building board. A lot of the people running the board had to step back because of other life things and a handful of us got deputized to moderate "on a rotating basis." Then the person who deputized us popped out to get cigarettes and never came back. Flash forward to the past few months and one of the two Admins who is actually still around at all said "we can make you an Admin if you'd like. Oh, by the way, I've got life things going on and no longer have time to be an Admin." "*Sigh* fine. Then I guess you can make me an Admin." Pop in last night to see if anything needs my attention and suddenly I've got a lot more messages, controls, and buttons. So I guess I kind of have a 'board now. (I mean, I also have my real estate Website, but that's just a terrible barely modified cookie-cutter site that I never use and think I've even looked at maybe 3 times in the past 5 years.)

 

[Volpone]

This may ramble. Today was one of those days where you think you'll bang out a quick side errand and not only fail, but wind up eating up your whole day in the process.

I mean, that's a bit the way life is anyway. It's amazing how little I can get done in a week now that I'm retired. By Thursday night I had again managed to finally get all my weekly chores that should've been done by Sunday completed (mostly). Today was a good day to either wash the car or burn some brush.

BUT! I'm also working on an AR15 project. I hesitate to mention this too much. I may have actually talked about it upthread, but long story short, awhile back an AR15 "pistol" came into my possession. There may be people who have a reason to have an AR15 pistol but I don't so I'll be converting it to an M4-style carbine. But I do have to keep an eye on cost because I'm not rolling in dough yet and I'm missing out on around $3K a year of income because I'm tired of dealing with people renting vehicle storage space in my shed. First I had to monkey with the pistol grip to get the safety working--it was stuck on "SAFE." I also had to get some backup iron sights for it because it has no sights of any kind. I did throw a cheap plastic Airsoft red dot optic on it so it looks tacticool, but at the moment an optic is going to have to wait. I'm also planning to use the existing handguard, although I think I may find it a bit short once my 16" barrel shows up. That's basically it. I'm getting a barrel and a collapsible stock to replace the "arm brace" (that most people just use as a stock, making the "pistol" an illegal short barreled rifle). I also want the basic nylon sling I'm familiar with from the Marines. Turns out that's easier said than done. Neither the place I ordered the barrel from or the place I ordered the buttstock from (I had to use 2 companies to get what I wanted and for a good price--the one place had barrels for half the price of the other but all their buttstocks were expensive and not what I wanted). Anyway, neither of them had the style of sling I wanted. I found a few on eBay but figured I'd just run down to Ft. Knox and pick one up at a military surplus store. There is one military surplus store in Louisville but I'm not 100% thrilled with them for various reasons and I figured it would be a sure thing to find a sling there. Actually I needed 2 slings because I have an Airsoft M4 that needs a sling too. (That's another story.) Decided to stop at a junk store on the outskirts of town before making the 20-30 minute drive down to Ft. Knox. The ancient guy behind the counter said he didn't have any but when I decided to look around since I'd never been to the place, sure enough, I found one. I considered if I wanted to buy one from him when I needed two and decided I might as well. And for $5 I was OK with its metal parts being a little rusty.

Anyways, back in the car and down to Ft. Knox. As I'm nearing the surplus store the low tire pressure light comes on. I figure it's just because tires lose a little air over time and anyway I'm almost there so I'll check when I get there. Everything looks fine so I pop in the store and decide to get out the bicycle pump and pump up the tires after I accomplish my mission. Again, easier said than done. The place was huge. And the sole employee was on the phone with someone. When she finally got done with her call she had to help an Army captain that was in there before me. He must've been rotating out and was picking up some items to replace lost or damaged things he'd been issued. After walking through the entire store and failing to find what I was looking for I resigned myself to wait my turn. Luckily I'd brought my new old sling with me and said "you got one of these?" Nope. Apparently the slings I was issued are obsolete. She'd had some but they'd all sold out. Got out to the car and all the tires were actually good--except one, which was noticeably low. Seriously low. Pumped it up and realized the valve stem was leaking. Screwed the cap on tight and decided to try to make it back to my tire place, which happened to be on the outskirts of town right next to the crap shop where I got the sling. By the end I'm debating pulling over to pump the tire up again and driving with the radio off and the window down to listen for the "THUMPTHUMPTHUMP" of a flat tire. I'm telling myself I should put the donut on but I don't want to fart with that and should be able to make it. Got there and got out of the car to find the tire almost completely flat. Luckily I hadn't ruined the tire and they were able to repair it. But my quick little project had eaten up most of the day. (And I had to go before lunch because The Dog has gotten conditioned that after lunch is a nap and after the nap is another walk and by the time the second walk is done it's getting around 4pm.)

All that said, it's maybe good that I did this trip because I'd been planning to go out of town for an event tomorrow and if the valve stem had failed then I'd have had to abort my trip and try to get the tire fixed in a strange town on a Saturday. I dunno, it may be God telling me not to go on my trip, but on the other hand it may be God telling me to go on my trip because now the tire has been fixed instead of failing while I was on the road. Who can tell?

 

[Volpone]

Yeah... the pistol length handguard is too short for a carbine length barrel and so is the gas tube. Can't get a tube & block assembly, so I have to just get a tube and get the roll pin that holds the old one to punch out. So far, attempts at this have failed.

 

[Volpone]

I may have already covered this upthread, but I'll revisit it in detail: Awhile back I came into possession of a sketchy AR15 pistol. Don't need a busted "pistol" with no sights but didn't want to sell/trade it so I stuck it in a closet until I could get around to it. This took longer than I expected but I eventually got it so it passed standard function checks. Turns out you can have a 16" barrel and a 6 position collapsible buttstock for around $100. So while I hesitate to spend money on "luxuries" at this point, I went ahead (once I got the stuck safety working again).

Of course I forgot to account for a front sling swivel. And a sling. And backup sights. (I was just going to slap a cheap airsoft red dot I had laying around on for looks until I had more money). BUT! When I got the barrel I found that the existing gas tube was too short for a carbine barrel. And the existing handgrip was too short for a carbine barrel. So I got to order those for another $100+. Then, today, I dot to looking at optics. A Trijicon ACOG is way out of my budget right now but there are several Tacticool scopes at reasonalbe prices that tempt me to throw more money into the Money Pit.

Of course the whole point of it all is completely insane. My AR15 got stolen. So I bought one to replace it. Then an AR15 pistol fell in my lap. I already had an Airsoft AR15 in a box. That's 3 squad weapons. And an A-Team van I'm looking to put a [gun holding] back seat in soon. Which would give me an excuse to drop around $1,300 on an A-Team Mini-14 (if I just had an uncommitted $1,300 laying around). It's been a money trap that has been sucking me in.

***

Binge television has fucked me in the ass tonight. Tonight's Story Television theme has been "fictional characters." And yeah, the "Santa Claus" story I caught while choking down calories was fun and the Hunchback of Notre Dame one that followed it was entertaining (and got me about to bedtime), they followed it with one of my most beloved characters, Sherlock Holmes. That story was kind of lame, but after that we got "The Phantom," which I watched more of than I should've. They followed it with Flash Gordon, which I'd have desperately loved to watch but I had to draw the line and turn off the TV.

***

I also got fucked in the ass by marketing weasels. Maple Syrup isn't cheap. So I found myself comparing prices when the last bottle ran out. Log Cabin, amazingly seemed to have a really good deal on 100% pure maple syrup, but the first time using it found me reading the label again. Turns out it wasn't "100% pure maple syrup, it was:

"100% PURE
TABLE SYRUP"

TABLE SYRUP!?!? What kind of fucking Skerple false advertising bullshit is that?! What even is "table syrup" (I mean, apart from something that looks a lot like "Maple" if you pick the right font and make it small enough. So fuck, I guess that's something I get to throw out because it is fucking terrible. Why do marketing weasels even try this shit? "Well fuck, rice sugar, natural and artificial sweeteners and flavorings taste enough like maple syrup that we can win some customers over." No. No you can't. Rice sugar artificial syrup tastes nothing like maple syrup. Go choke yourself you retarded pedophile.

***

Blackberries aren't nearly as invasive in Kentucky as they are in Oregon. In Oregon they'll take over everything. And if you machete them out they'll be back next year. I had a sizable blackberry thicket at my current property. Chopped it all down, figuring I'd have a nice crop for jam the next year (2021 or so). Nope. Not so much. In 2024 I have about 4-5 stalks that I may possibly get berries off this year. Sad!

 

[Volpone]

For whatever reason, every few years I go on a "I'm gonna grow my hair out to majestic 20th century/local news anchorman length." And just about as it starts to get truly majestic and worthy of an '80s hair band, I realize it is a pain in the ass and looks a lot stupider than if I just had it cut short. I'm at that point right now. I can almost make a ponytail. I mean, I can put a rubber band around all the pulled back hair, but there's no actual tail.

I'm really liking the way my AR15 project is coming along. Should have a scope showing up any day now. The sling...is another thing. The US military has used the M16 since Vietnam (they may be replacing it, I forget). They've had the same sling up to at least Operation Iraqi Freedom. It's simple, familiar, versatile, effective, and affordable. But apparently at some point after 2004 they discontinued it for some fancier, more complex sling. I'm curious what they use for honor guards and drill--I'm guessing they just use existing stock--but I digress. You can't get the fucker now. I figured I'd pop down to Ft. Knox and pick one up at a surplus store. No joy. Everyone wants them and they don't issue them anymore. Grudgingly, I decided to go to the local surplus store. I don't particularly like them for a few reasons I won't go into, but I've bought this sling from them back around 2020. Same story. Don't have them. Can't get them. Everyone wants them. So I had to suck it up and get one on eBay.

2, actually. Because that's the whole perverse purpose behind this whole thing: I have an A-Team van. It is pretty awesome now, but it will be even more awesome as money becomes available for improvements. Years back I had an AR15 stolen. I replaced it with insurance money. Then the police called to say a suburban Chicago police station had recovered mine. After about a year of wrangling, I drove up with my original sales receipt and my driver's license and they gave me an evidence box. Since I'm not 100% on Chicago gun laws, but I'm pretty sure walking down the street with an AR15, throwing it in the trunk of your car, and driving through town is frowned upon, I left it in its sealed box until I was parked inside the shed at my house. At that point I found out that my AR15 carbine with a MIL-STD rail handguard and an Aimpoint sight was now a pistol with with a stuck safety, silver writing on the receiver, and no sights (or sling). At first I was sad about my butchered rifle, but upon closer examination I realized it wasn't my rifle. It was the same serial number but a different manufacturer from a different state. Now, since a Chicago police department looked at photos and a description of my stolen rifle and at the receipt from my purchase of said rifle and said "yep, this is your rifle," I decided no good could come from calling them up and saying "hey dumbasses, you gave me someone else's rifle." (Seriously, think this one through. There's about 99 ways this could go sideways against me and 1 where I get things reset to Square 1 (at best). So if the police department says "here's your stolen rifle," processes all the paperwork, and you're 7 hours or so down the road in another state, you just say "huh, what do you know, it IS my rifle."

That said, I see no point in AR15 pistols--I mean, unless you've lost an arm. If you want a pistol, get a pistol. If you want a rifle, get a rifle. The only point I see in them is if you want a short barreled rifle without filling out any of the paperwork and you're going to use the "wrist brace"--that is shaped EXACTLY like a shoulderstalk--as a shoulder stock. And even then, I really have no use for a short barreled rifle. So I got the safety working, ordered a carbine length barrel and a shoulder stock, and then got a few other things I needed like backup iron sights and a sling swivel for the front. Well. Turns out the gas tube for a carbine is a few inches longer than the pistol. So I needed a gas tube. And a longer handguard. Basically doubled my budget. Then the cheap red dot scope I had laying around didn't work with the backup sights--and also broke almost as soon as I put it on--so I found myself ordering a scope. And the sling. Or slings. Which gets me back to where I was going.

I already had an AR15 carbine. I also had a mid/low-range airsoft M4. With this, I have 3 infantry rifles. And an A-Team van. The A-Team had 4 members. And if you're old enough to remember the A-Team, you probably remember them with the Mini-14s they carried in later seasons. Well Samson started making the A-Team stock a few years back. And this year you can buy an A-Team Mini-14 straight from Ruger. It'll set you back $13-1,400 but it's out there. So that's the dream. And that's why I needed the extra sling. For when I've got $1,400 just laying around that I don't need.

On that note, I'm a little less than a month into Retirement 2.0 and enjoying it. I don't get near as much accomplished as I'd like, but I'm mostly OK with that. It's wonderful to just do what you want and try to get the weekly things crossed off every week and maybe a thing or two from the longer-term list, while having time to putter around the yard and fuck with the dog and cat. Life's pretty good.