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So I’ve been working on a project relating to Bungie’s game Destiny and it’s been an interesting project and process so far.  It’s my first project of this scope and size, and it’s also a project I’m not getting paid for (both because I’m an idiot and because I like a challenge).  I’ve learned a lot so far, especially about PHP Objects, Laravel (because my roommate won’t shut up about it [Sorry Nick], but it does sound really cool in his defense so I get where he’s coming from), CSS, and Javascript.

Reader beware, you’re in for a scare.

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Been fooling around a lot with Destiny API lately. It’s been an experiment in strangeness, to say the least.  It has been a little difficult to work with, but only because at my office (where I do my thinking) the API Documentation is blocked (because Games are the devil at schools) which makes it tricky to figure out what data I need to provide in order to get the data I want (like having to provide a Platform ID and a Character ID in order to get number of kills).

That being said, it’s a learning exercise for objects and classes in PHP, which is fun.  It’s certainly a good distraction from the clusterfuck that is American Politics today.

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So I’ve been playing a LOT of games lately on my PS4 because, well, honestly it’s an enjoyable platform.  I’m still PCMR but the VR for PS4 was too good (and inexpensive) to pick up.  I can’t state this enough: If you have ANY interest in VR: Get a PS4 VR system.  It will not disappoint you.

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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:

  1. Park car and put on parking brake.
  2. Jack car up on one side.
  3. Remove wheel.
  4. Loosen bolt attaching control arm ball joint to the wheel hub.
  5. Loosen remaining two bolts.
  6. Remove.
  7. Reinstall new part in opposite order.
  8. 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
  • 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:

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As some may know, I love to fish.  Absolutely love it.  I’m not amazing at it, but I’m not horrible at it either.  Last year, every time I went out I caught SOMETHING.  Maybe not a keeper, but definitely brought a fish up, took a picture, measured it, and put it back in the water.

All that being said, other than my two trips to the Manasquan Inlet this year, I’ve had pretty crummy luck.  I didn’t catch many fish at all this year.  All my usual fishing spots were taken.  Even when I went to Michigan I didn’t get so much as a bite.  It was a very frustrating year.  I honestly began to question any ability at fishing I thought I had.  It all started when I broke my main fishing rod.  Everything went downhill from there (between using a hand me down,

Until yesterday.

Yesterday was perfect.  Joe and I got to spot near Kingston and did some fishing in the Millstone River around 6:30am.  Joe and his dad had fished that spot a lot, a long time ago.  He said there were carp, catfish, even some bass.  We’d been to this spot twice before today this year, and caught barely anything.  Last year we had better luck at that spot, but this year it felt dried up and empty.  Yesterday turned it around.

Following some advice from r/fishing I went out equipped and intending on catching panfish (sunnies, crappies, rock bass, etc) on a light cast line, while setting up my (new!) main rod for it’s maiden fishing trip for catfish.

Success!

After casting my main rod out (with hot dogs) I turned my attention to second light rod.  I put some Gulp Hawg on a small hook with a bobber waited.  Within a minute, I saw the bobber dip. And dip again.  And then took off.  I yanked in hard, and felt resistance.  Fishie!   I reeled it in, and was thrilled to see an 8″ crappie on the end of the line.   It wasn’t the one in this picture (which is maybe 6″) but nevertheless, here’s an example.  We initially thought it was a rock bass, but it was a white crappie in hindsight.

2016-09-04 07.16.30

Mission accomplished.  I was happy.  I caught a fish.  I put it back in the water and could have walked away happy at that point.

The Millstone had other plans.

Ring, ring, ring.  The bell on my main line began to jingle.  I ran over, yanked (not hard enough) and felt resistance.  I began to reel in.  The resistance disappeared.  Fish gone. Bait gone.  Sad.

I put more hot dog on the hook, cast off, and went back to the other line.

I cast, and within a minute: a sunnie.

2016-09-04 08.25.41

It was an even better day.  This continued for about two hours, before even the crappies and sunnies stopped biting.  Oh well.  I decided to give the main line some attention.  As much as I enjoyed hearing the bell ring and find no fish on the end of it, I was getting tired of it.

I cast with fresh hot dogs, and waited.  I was standing around talking with Joe when I felt a tug.  It went away immediately.  A minute later, another tug.  I yanked hard on the rod, and felt a twang.  The line stayed taught.  The line started to move.  I had a fish.  I started reeling in.  It took about 2 minutes to pull it in.  I got tangled in Joe’s line.  He grabbed the net.

2016-09-04 09.37.37

Catfish!

3lb, 18″ catfish.  That’s going in the keeper bucket.

It’s now in the fridge.  Well, it’s filets are in the fridge anyway.

Things picked up right after then.  Joe switched to the Gulp Hawg and caught some crappie and some sunnie too.

When all was said and done we had caught:

  • 4 Crappie (3 for me!)
  • 15 Sunnie (7 for me!)
  • 1 Catfish (that one was mine!)
  • 2 Hooks (all Joe)
  • 1 Branch (that one was mine haha)
  • 1 Clamshell (all Joe)

What a great day, a great way to end the summer, and a great way to spend the Labor Day weekend.

-M, out

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Disclaimer: PC Master Race. I own a PS4, an Xbox One, an Xbox 360, and custom-built desktop PC. Of the 4, I prefer gaming on the PC. I always will.  That being said, there’s a frustrating trend in gaming that I’m seeing and I’d like to talk about it a bit, especially since I’m STILL waiting for a game to be launched.

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Last week I wrote about my Kindle Fire 5th Gen and getting custom launchers, root, and the Google Play Store (you know, all the goodness that is SUPPOSED to come with an Android tablet but was mysteriously missing from the Amazon Kindle because reasons).  I had also mentioned that I was kind of disappointed with the custom ROM support (I have had 3 Android phones in the last 6 years: HTC Evo 4G (the original Evo!), HTC One M7, and a OnePlus One); all of these phones pretty well supported custom ROMs with unlockable bootloaders.  I was expecting the same from the Amazon Kindle.  Boy, was I wrong.

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