I’ve been working this car purchase pretty hard and have run into an extreme shortage of inventory — vehicles not only with deposits to purchase before they arrive from the port of entry, but long waiting lists for certain models/trims. One dealer quoted us two years’ wait to get a new Prius — if they were still accepting orders.
More frustrating, some dealers in Milwaukee have told me outright they won’t sell cars in their inventory to me because I don’t live in greater Milwaukee. They have vehicles available — they’ve just entered into agreements with other dealerships to not sell them to people outside the region.
We have an appointment to drive 1.75 hours away to put a deposit down on a vehicle that is about 85% of what we want in (our second-choice model & fourth choice trim) because it is the only option we’ve identified as available before July. So I guess Illinois will be getting our sales tax money.
How is that even legal to collude with other dealers that way?
No idea, but I’m filing a complaint against both dealers with the state dealer licensing bureau.
While we got a good deal on our car order, the company discount was lower than we were told when we put down money, and now we're told GM won't refund the price difference when it went up at the time of our deposit. Sounds like car dealer flim-flam to me.
Anybody ever change sway bar links? My Pilot’s suspension rattles something fierce and the replacement is 8 bolts total (not counting lugs…)
Mechanic neighbor advises to bring it in…but he stands to gain from that decision. I already have a pricey timing belt job due and don’t feel like adding on right now.
Out of curiosity I watched a video on it and it doesn't look like too difficult of a job. The nut facing away from the wheel might be a pain to get to without a lift, but your biggest issue would probably be rusted nuts. Take this advice with a grain of salt, though, I'm fairly allergic to hiring anyone to fix things.
His caution was the rusted nuts and having to torch things. If I’m pre-penetrant-ing and have heat at the ready…trying to psych myself up to just do it. What’s the worst that could happen?
What’s the worst that could happen?
::attorneys begin watching with interest::
The 2nd worst is that you have to drive it to the mechanic without having removed all the bolts. The worst is having to call a tow truck to deliver it to the mechanic.
If it bolts on you can do it. Heat is your friend. Don’t do what I did last time we replaced the struts on the shit box —- sheer off a bolt on the rear because we were in a hurry and didn’t listen to resistance. Fortunately, my man had an extra grade 8 bolt that matched my needs and the easy out actually worked to remove the buried bolt (after we applied heat…)
I did the swaybar on my old Buick. It wasn't too bad.
I’m cautiously optimistic about Pagan. Starting 9/17, he meaningfully changed his pitch selection to drop his SFFB from about 29% to about 10%. And he’s added a curveball about 14% of the time. The CB averages 81mph, as compared to 86-88 for the SFFB, 87 for the slider, and 95-96 for the FB.
He’s faced 85 batters since 9/17. By value, if you look at the 88 batters faced before 9/17, his worst pitch is the SFFB. So the Twins have reduced the usage of his worst pitch, which is also roughly the same speed as his slider, and shifted it to a curveball which itself isn’t great, but seems to have improved the effectiveness of his fastball and slider, which would make sense if batters have to respect that he could throw something slower than his slider.
FIP for 88 hitters before the pitch selection change was 4.79, and since the change it is 1.92, and notably he has allowed 0 HR since making the switch.
The biggest danger, IMO, is that this advantage will diminish as teams update their scouting reports, but I assume teams do that pretty quickly these days and hitters should have had the chance to adjust at least somewhat.
Small sample size caveats and all that apply, but given that he actually changed his pitch selection, I’m less inclined to say it’s just noise.
I think he's now up to 9 of 10 appearances having been scoreless this season.
I officially retired at the end of February and have been receiving my state pension as scheduled.
My UC retirement is another matter. I'm still waiting for them to finish the paperwork so I can start receiving that pension. ☹️
So, today in the mail, a letter from UC Retirement advising me that, since I am nearing 60, when the age factor maxes out, that I should consider applying for UC retirement.... 🤷♂️🤦♂️
Good luck in your rage against the machine. Killing in the name of paperwork delays.
Well, I have time on my hands to rage.
If anyone needs me, I'll be in the angry dome.
I will take the flimsiest of excuses to post this (again?):
Here's the original tiktok with the music still enabled
The Twins don't play today, which means they'll score the same number of runs today as they did yesterday.
And only one fewer hit.
Amusingly, this header image was randomly selected. I think this is the only CoC image with a bat.
There is a mug that comes close.
I’ve been working this car purchase pretty hard and have run into an extreme shortage of inventory — vehicles not only with deposits to purchase before they arrive from the port of entry, but long waiting lists for certain models/trims. One dealer quoted us two years’ wait to get a new Prius — if they were still accepting orders.
More frustrating, some dealers in Milwaukee have told me outright they won’t sell cars in their inventory to me because I don’t live in greater Milwaukee. They have vehicles available — they’ve just entered into agreements with other dealerships to not sell them to people outside the region.
We have an appointment to drive 1.75 hours away to put a deposit down on a vehicle that is about 85% of what we want in (our second-choice model & fourth choice trim) because it is the only option we’ve identified as available before July. So I guess Illinois will be getting our sales tax money.
How is that even legal to collude with other dealers that way?
No idea, but I’m filing a complaint against both dealers with the state dealer licensing bureau.
While we got a good deal on our car order, the company discount was lower than we were told when we put down money, and now we're told GM won't refund the price difference when it went up at the time of our deposit. Sounds like car dealer flim-flam to me.
Anybody ever change sway bar links? My Pilot’s suspension rattles something fierce and the replacement is 8 bolts total (not counting lugs…)
Mechanic neighbor advises to bring it in…but he stands to gain from that decision. I already have a pricey timing belt job due and don’t feel like adding on right now.
Out of curiosity I watched a video on it and it doesn't look like too difficult of a job. The nut facing away from the wheel might be a pain to get to without a lift, but your biggest issue would probably be rusted nuts. Take this advice with a grain of salt, though, I'm fairly allergic to hiring anyone to fix things.
His caution was the rusted nuts and having to torch things. If I’m pre-penetrant-ing and have heat at the ready…trying to psych myself up to just do it. What’s the worst that could happen?
::attorneys begin watching with interest::
The 2nd worst is that you have to drive it to the mechanic without having removed all the bolts. The worst is having to call a tow truck to deliver it to the mechanic.
If it bolts on you can do it. Heat is your friend. Don’t do what I did last time we replaced the struts on the shit box —- sheer off a bolt on the rear because we were in a hurry and didn’t listen to resistance. Fortunately, my man had an extra grade 8 bolt that matched my needs and the easy out actually worked to remove the buried bolt (after we applied heat…)
I did the swaybar on my old Buick. It wasn't too bad.
Thanks Mags!
I'm jonesing some Twins tonight, but if it'll put the assbats to bed with a day off, I'll deal with it.
R. I. P. Milo the Bat Dog.
I’m cautiously optimistic about Pagan. Starting 9/17, he meaningfully changed his pitch selection to drop his SFFB from about 29% to about 10%. And he’s added a curveball about 14% of the time. The CB averages 81mph, as compared to 86-88 for the SFFB, 87 for the slider, and 95-96 for the FB.
He’s faced 85 batters since 9/17. By value, if you look at the 88 batters faced before 9/17, his worst pitch is the SFFB. So the Twins have reduced the usage of his worst pitch, which is also roughly the same speed as his slider, and shifted it to a curveball which itself isn’t great, but seems to have improved the effectiveness of his fastball and slider, which would make sense if batters have to respect that he could throw something slower than his slider.
FIP for 88 hitters before the pitch selection change was 4.79, and since the change it is 1.92, and notably he has allowed 0 HR since making the switch.
The biggest danger, IMO, is that this advantage will diminish as teams update their scouting reports, but I assume teams do that pretty quickly these days and hitters should have had the chance to adjust at least somewhat.
Small sample size caveats and all that apply, but given that he actually changed his pitch selection, I’m less inclined to say it’s just noise.
I think he's now up to 9 of 10 appearances having been scoreless this season.
I officially retired at the end of February and have been receiving my state pension as scheduled.
My UC retirement is another matter. I'm still waiting for them to finish the paperwork so I can start receiving that pension. ☹️
So, today in the mail, a letter from UC Retirement advising me that, since I am nearing 60, when the age factor maxes out, that I should consider applying for UC retirement.... 🤷♂️🤦♂️
Good luck in your rage against the machine. Killing in the name of paperwork delays.
Well, I have time on my hands to rage.
I will take the flimsiest of excuses to post this (again?):
Here's the original tiktok with the music still enabled
Oh, was it not? That's crucial. I'm at work and only found the YT link by name. Thanks for the assist.
Never mind, I couldn't find the mute on the YTShorts page. Yours works just fine