So a STEM teacher at the Middle School got a CO2 Racecar Kit (something like this). In passing she suggested that I make a race car to race with. Well, challenge: accepted.
Side Projects: CO2 Powered Racers
Category: Cars
NJ Gas Tax, Round 2 #NoGasTax
Once again NJ Senators and Legislators (indeed, even the glorious leader Chris Christie) are after our hard-earned money (or whatever is left of it after we pay our inflated tax bills).
The Benefits of Working For Yourself
Not in the method you might expect.
I’m talking about realizing when you’re capable of doing work that people want to charge you for, and thus doing it yourself in order to be more cost efficient.
As with most things: there’s a story here.
On Monday 9/5 I started hearing a loud screeching from my car when I was driving. It’s happened before, so I ignored it until I got to work, figuring it would go away. By the time I drove home from work that day, the sound had largely subsided.
On 9/6, the sound came back. This cat and mouse game continued until I got fed up and called the dealer on 9/12 and said I’d like them to do some diagnostic service. They agreed, and scheduled me for 9/15. On 9/13 my car decided to all but quit on me. Thankfully, I was able to get it to the dealer.
They came back and said:
Here’s the deal: to get you out the door, you need new belts. Fine, do it, I need to get out the door.
That being said: Your AC system needs a recharge (I agreed) and dye (I agreed again). They wanted to do brakes and rotors for the front tires. I already knew they were needed, and the parts were already ordered. I passed.
Then comes the real kicker: the ball joint on my drivers side is shot and needs replacement ASAP. They quote me $500. I balk. With good reason.
A 5 minute google search (and RockAuto search) reveals the part is $40 shipped, and is all of 3 bolts. I balked for a reason. I can handle 3 bolts. My guess is you can too. The process is:
- Park car and put on parking brake.
- Jack car up on one side.
- Remove wheel.
- Loosen bolt attaching control arm ball joint to the wheel hub.
- Loosen remaining two bolts.
- Remove.
- Reinstall new part in opposite order.
- Torque bolts to manufacture specs.
I balked hard, because this to me seems like… An hours worth of work for ME, with hand tools, and no lift. For them? 20 minutes. Tops.
The part (for them) is ~$150. The Alignment is $100. That means labor and shop fees was $250. For 20 minutes of work.
Seriously.
I went to Rock Auto and bought both driver and passenger control arms for $80 shipped.
I got them in a day.
I went and bought impact tools to make my life easy.
So now here’s the cost/comparison.
Dealer:
- Control Arm, Driver’s Side
- $395.00
- Control Arm, Passenger’s Side
- $395.00
- Alignment
- $100.00
- AC Recharge + Dye
- $139.00
- Brakes & Rotors, Driver’s and Passenger’s Side
- $375.00
- Belts
- $199.00
- Total:
- $1,603.00
- Total, with Tax:
- $1,715.21
What I paid:
- Dealer:
- AC Recharge + Dye
- $139.00
- Belts
- $199.00
- Total:
- $338.00
- Total, with Tax:
- $352.08
- AC Recharge + Dye
- Control Arm (Driver & Passenger), Brakes & Rotors (Driver & Passenger)
- $238.07
- Impact Socket Set from Harbor Freight
- $48.11
- Craftsman Impact Wrench Set
- $70.22
- 5-Year Alignment (PepBoys)
- $125.00
- Total:
- $833.48
Savings: $1,715.21 – $833.48 = … $881.73
I saved over half. OVER. Half.
Yeah, my time is involved in my way, but honestly: assuming it takes me an hour to do each control arm, an hour to do the brakes, and an hour in waiting for the alignment: That’s $200 an hour I’m paying myself.
And that is damn impressive.
Plus, I get to keep the tools! 😀
How I’m Feeling:
People in NJ Are Toxic To My Mood
Ugh. I woke up this morning, content to run a little late since I got to work half an hour early yesterday and stayed almost an hour and a half late (meaning I had nearly two hours to make up on). I took a nice long shower, I made a cup of coffee, and I strolled out of my apartment at 7:15 (normally 6:45). It was raining, but not too heavily. It was a nice morning. I thought to myself: It’s going to be a good day. I’m going to have a nice, relaxing drive in to work since I have no reason to rush. I’m going to get that project done at work. I’m going to be super productive. It’s going to be a good day.
I was so very, very wrong.
Filler Post Two
Sorry, I’ve been tied up with Statewide Mandated PARCC testing this week, and haven’t had time to write a post (let alone do ANYTHING worthy of posting).
So here’s a video of an asshole driver from NJ.
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/UZUN02Jj1SE” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
My upcoming to-do list includes:
- Writing some templates for Zabbix
- Testing Confluence
- Making a page to determine the amount of coffee grind to use based on how much water you want (and how much coffee you want) based on the type of brewer you’re using.
Comcastic Driving
On 3/17 I was driving home from work and I got cut off by a Comcast van.
I sent a request in to their support company to let them know (I’m not a customer so I didn’t expect to hear anything back). I did get a reply, but it was a boilerplate response.
Welcome to 2016! A rant, and a promise
Welcome to 2016! New beginnings! Huzzah! Everyone gets a fresh start, a new slate, it’s time to make the most of what we’ve got and do the best we can!
And for some people, the best they can is a bag of shit.
Time for the rant.
I was driving home from WaWa (yay WaWa! The one on 27 and Cozzens Lane in North Brunswick) on Rt 27, when a Black Mitsubishi Lancer (NJ License Plate starting L11, I think) pulls a hard left turn onto Rt 27 from Sinclair Blvd or Kingsberry Dr. As soon as they completes the turn onto Rt 27 they lob 2 or 3 bags of McDonalds trash OUT OF THEIR WINDOW and onto someone’s lawn.
Normally, I don’t get too upset at people on the road (anymore) but this? This pissed me off. It is January 1st. It is a new year! And what did they think? Shit my car is full of crap and I don’t know what to do with it. I KNOW! I’ll throw it out my window and make it SOMEONE ELSE’S PROBLEM. ASSHOLES. I am so mad. I was so mad that I nearly sped up to them and threw my coffee out my window at them. The only thing that prevented it is the fact that I REALLY needed coffee this morning. Afternoon. Whatever. You know what I mean.
So if anyone sees a Black Mitsubishi Lancer with NJ plate L11-??? please let me know where they go so I can make sure to leave a present on their car. What goes around comes around.
Now time for the promise: More frequent posts. I know, that’s vague as hell, but I’m not gonna commit to a schedule just yet (because I don’t get paid for this and I don’t do ads on my site so it’s all for giggles anyways). That being said, I will try and update as often as I can, and I am going to start with at least once every 2 weeks.
Let’s start 2016 off right and treat each other awesomely, and not like the dick rockets in the Lancer I saw this afternoon.
Sidenote: Maybe it’s time to invest in a good dashcam for my car so you won’t just immediately think “He’s full of bs.” — time to browse Amazon.
That’s all for now.