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There's a park where I go to take long walks along the Hudson River. It's gorgeous, but, pretty much like everything else I know that's gorgeous, there's a problem. Spiders. Nearly invisible little hungry venomous spiders that hang from trees by their webs, waiting for people like me to walk by. About a year ago, I looked down at my shirt to see one of these and brushed it away, whereupon it bit me. My right-hand ring-finger swelled-up within minutes to about 1.5x, along with some swelling in the pinky and middle finger. That lasted almost a week before it was all gone.
On Sunday I went for a walk in that same park, and as I was walking along, I felt a sharp sting on the top of my head (not much hair, and what little I do have is #2 or #3 buzzed). By Sunday night, the whole top-left side of my head was swollen. By Thanksgiving, it was down to an itchy goose-egg, now it's just sort of a knot, though still a bit itchy. I hate spiders.

Heiwashin wrote:

I followed through my short remaining time only because i originally said i would, and for my conscience rather than for him. I learned to be very careful with the things i commit to since i'm a person of my word.

Hopefully post-19yo-you discovered that 'breach of contract' falls within the span of 'keeping your word.'

ludi wrote:

Heiwashin wrote:

I followed through my short remaining time only because i originally said i would, and for my conscience rather than for him. I learned to be very careful with the things i commit to since i'm a person of my word.

Hopefully post-19yo-you discovered that 'breach of contract' falls within the span of 'keeping your word.'

Is it even legal to not follow the federal mileage reimbursement numbers? That's what I get when working over the summer.

localhostrulez wrote:

Is it even legal to not follow the federal mileage reimbursement numbers? That's what I get when working over the summer.

Depends what the agreement is. If you're running a business (which includes working as an independent consultant/contractor), normally your vehicle costs are your own, but you can choose to either expense your mileage at the federal rate or you can claim actual costs of fuel and maintenance, when declaring and subtracting your business expenses from net revenue. (Check out Schedule SE and then follow the rabbit trail of cross-references to other forms, if you're curious.) The latter is extremely difficult to track if the vehicle is mixed business and personal use, which is why most people in that situation simply log their business miles and then claim the federal mileage rate. When working as an employee for a business or firm, then the business or firm typically compensates the use of employee-owned vehicles at the federal mileage rate and claims it as their own business expense.

I don't recall if there are provisions for one business or firm to compensate another entity for specific expenses, and then take the deduction. But in any case, that would assume the second party was engaged in a recurring business activity and was filing taxes accordingly. For one-off jobs and personal favors done in the gray market with no tax paperwork filed, it gets a bit trickier for obvious reasons.

ludi wrote:

Hopefully post-19yo-you discovered that 'breach of contract' falls within the span of 'keeping your word.'

Yea, but at the time I more blamed myself for agreeing to something without having all of the details discussed beforehand.

You know, speaking of 19-yr olds (OK, I am one...) and stuff - I'm in Oregon for college, where you can't pump your own gas (us and NJ, by state law). What's with gas station attendants topping off tanks around here, seemingly every time?

localhostrulez wrote:

You know, speaking of 19-yr olds (OK, I am one...) and stuff - I'm in Oregon for college, where you can't pump your own gas (us and NJ, by state law). What's with gas station attendants topping off tanks around here, seemingly every time?

What if you get fuel at a competitor next time? Less money for the competitor and more for them, even if only by a small amount.

Eh, I've seen it at different stations, different cities. They always top off the tank, even though it's illegal.

localhostrulez wrote:

Eh, I've seen it at different stations, different cities. They always top off the tank, even though it's illegal.

What i meant was from their perspective it's more money for them this time in case you don't come back to them again. Any station that doesn't do it is missing out on that small bit of money. In game theory terms it's the best response. That is unless they get caught and fined enough to negate the earnings which is certainly not happening. More than likely their bosses are telling them to do it. Also, i don't remember how much fuel topping of the tank is in a car, but in my truck it's 20-30 gallons, or a little over 10% of the tank size. That's a pretty serious difference in earnings.

In my case, I always pay with cash - I don't really trust security on pumps, and besides, I hate the idea of huge pre-auths. I have a 50L/13gal tank and usually don't run it down that much, so it usually doesn't take much more than $20 to fill it up ($30-40 if I ran it down more). I think they're simply trying to be lazy with change by rounding to the nearest dollar.

One thing with topping off is, in some cars, it can cause vapor recovery system damage.

Diesels are another story. (Of course, diesels, you can fuel yourself in those states.)

localhostrulez wrote:

In my case, I always pay with cash - I don't really trust security on pumps, and besides, I hate the idea of huge pre-auths. I have a 50L/13gal tank and usually don't run it down that much, so it usually doesn't take much more than $20 to fill it up ($30-40 if I ran it down more). I think they're simply trying to be lazy with change by rounding to the nearest dollar.

I work in the fuel industry and the security issues you describe aren't very common anymore, It does happen but its rare these days. Soon there will be requirements for the card data to be encrypted from end to end at all stations, once that happens the credit card theft will basically be a thing of the past. The new dispensers with the encryption built in will have a padlock emblem by the card reader, they have end to end encryption at this time and there is no concern there. I have seen lots of different schemes to steal fuel and credit card data in 20 years of doing this stuff.

Captain Ned wrote:

...If I had a Holy Hand Grenade I'd roll it into the next Board meeting and run.

I converted the pervious owners Peachtree to Quickbooks when I bought my former workplace. Mostly I just wanted not to have to keypunch the vendor and customer lists. Since I was starting out from a day zero I did not have the problems of trying to convert A/P or A/R. But never having run any accounting program it has been a learning process.

I think Hypovehiculation is entirely justified! Let us know how it comes out.

Darwin, party of one, your table is ready.

https://www.fresnosheriff.org/media-rel ... imney.html

Captain Ned wrote:

Darwin, party of one, your table is ready.

https://www.fresnosheriff.org/media-rel ... imney.html

In keeping with the spirit of the season and the above story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW6nyN1bf8g

There are right ways to implement a CVT in a passenger vehicle, and wrong ways. As I'm discovering in this 2016 Corolla S that the other party's insurance company is currently paying for, Toyota discovered a wrong way.

Aren't current Corollas a little larger than the size of vehicle you'd typically put a CVT into?

just brew it! wrote:

Aren't current Corollas a little larger than the size of vehicle you'd typically put a CVT into?

My new ride is a '16 Subie Forester XT (a/k/a Turbo) and it's got a CVT. Even has a "manumatic" mode with paddles behind the wheel. No complaints through the first 2K miles and many other FXT owners on the boards are over 60K with no issues even with aftermarket step-ups. Wife's '14 Forester 2.5 (with the lame engine) has almost 40K without a blink. Heck, Allison is working on a CVT for semi tractor use.

My FXT is 3650 lbs, the wife's 2.5 is 3400 lbs.

ludi wrote:

There are right ways to implement a CVT in a passenger vehicle, and wrong ways.

Counting only cars/vehicles actually registered in my name, I've owned 7 cars: 4 with sticks, 3 with auto trannies. All the cars with sticks (knock-wood, because my current car has a stick) made it safely to their natural EOL. Only 1 of the 3 with an auto made it to EOL: one totalled by me, one totalled by my younger brother when I let him borrow it to drive to work while his car was in the shop.

Based on that personal experience, I think manual trannies are far safer than auto trannies.

MarkG509 wrote:

Based on that personal experience, I think manual trannies are far safer than auto trannies.

I would readily agree with you, and especially in winter. That said, declining physical condition has removed me from the daily driver stick population. The manumatic modes in the new Subie should get me at least 70% of what I want from a stick in winter and it gets my aging eyes up out of the general headlight glare field, so for now it's worth the tradeoff.

Captain Ned wrote:

declining physical condition

Long ago, drove to Boston to visit my older brother. While there, playing football or maybe Frisbee, blew out my clutch-ankle - swelled up larger than my thigh. Drove home a few days later in much traffic, especially at the bridge tolls. Almost had to explain to the toll-taker[*] why there were tears in my eyes.

[*] once upon a time, actual humans used to sit in booths to collect tolls.

MarkG509 wrote:

[*] once upon a time, actual humans used to sit in booths to collect tolls.

Remember it well on the NY Thruway during the college years ('81-'85).

just brew it! wrote:

Aren't current Corollas a little larger than the size of vehicle you'd typically put a CVT into?

The Nissan Murano has a CVT and was one of the earliest modern cars to do so. They're everywhere.

Toyota has committed about 3/4 of the total Corolla line to having CVTs now; weight savings and fuel economy are king of the land. Problem with this unit is that it drones and buzzes in the 3k RPM range, tends to prefer that range for a majority of accelleration, and even transmits vibration into the cabin through the steering column and floor. The last car I had which performed so badly on drivetrain NVH was the non-turbo '98 Eclipse, which was to be expected because that engine did not have balance shafts.

Also of note is that the six "gears" available in manumatic mode are badly mapped; 1st is very long, 2nd and 3rd are very short and tend to drone into each other during a shift transition. Very disconcerting for anyone who had driven an actual 5-speed or 6-speed manual, but this much, at least, could be fixed with an ECU software update (if Toyota ever cares enough to release one).

"LAST DAY for 10% off PUS FREE Shipping!"

Unfortunate subject line... I would hope it's pus free.

Or if some tuner did a tune for that transmission, but who chiptunes a CVT, in a Corolla?

In any case, I'm predicting that Power Split Device-style pseudo-CVTs (which aren't true CVTs, but behave like them with clever application of electric motors) are going to get a lot more common as CAFE gets stricter, now that Toyota's patents are expiring. It's a fairly cheap transmission to implement, it's damn reliable, and it just needs a kWh or so of battery to be hidden somewhere in the chassis to make everything work, then you get regenerative braking too.

bhtooefr wrote:

Or if some tuner did a tune for that transmission, but who chiptunes a CVT, in a Corolla?

Cobb Tuning, THE source for quick 'n' easy extra power in a Subie turbo, refuses to go past Stage 1 maps on CVT cars as an anti-grenade provision. Even Stage 1 jumps torque from 258 lb-ft to around 325-350 lb-ft. No one on the board I read has blown a CVT yet, but it's sure to happen.

I don't mean tuning the engine, I mean tuning the transmission.

There are actually tunes available for VW DSG transmissions, as an aside. I know someone who has a Passat TDI (yes, one of the Dieselgate ones), and wouldn't dream of chiptuning the engine, it's got plenty of power as it is... but the transmission got chiptuned while it was still in warranty, and it improved how it drove greatly. (Seems VW screwed up and left the shift maps for the Golf/Jetta in, which rev about 150 RPM too high for the Passat (which has a smaller turbo for better low RPM responsiveness, but trades away high-end).)

bhtooefr wrote:

I don't mean tuning the engine, I mean tuning the transmission.

AFAIK, no one in the Subie tuning community has directly messed with the CVT firmware but I'd not be surprised to find that Cobb's widget does so.

Today was a perfect day. Almost anyway. Every time i stopped to check things it was raining. Either way it's my first time in maine and the whole week has been going perfectly.

Trying to do a sidestep/promotion at work where i can potentially go to alaska, canada, and mexico hauling boats. I never go home and i really like driving in ice/snow so i think it'd be a nice fit for me. Plus i keep hearing something about getting to drive on a lake of ice somewhere during the coldest of winter and i want to do it.

You could be an Ice Road Trucker! That would be cool.