Something Random

[CougTek]

Or the one about the end of Ford, with Coug's unfortunately 'insensitive' to say the least, commentary about the "land of the rising sun"...which not a single OM (original member) even uttered a word of objection to???

F Y

I read my posts in that thread and there's nothing racist in there. You don't seem to know what racism is. If, for instance, I would say that you sound like a frustrated puny little egg yoke with no life, that would be racist. In the Ford thread, the only time I talked about the Japaneses and Koreans is when I said the U.S. government should pressure those countries to open up their market to foreign imports. How's that racist? You gotta be quite a sensitive fifi to find anything there abusive about your siblings.

You better find another scape goat. And please stop smoking weed before posting.

To the mods : let him read it before deleting this post. No one pokes me without I strike back.

 

[Bozo]

F Y

I read my posts in that thread and there's nothing racist in there. You don't seem to know what racism is. If, for instance, I would say that you sound like a frustrated puny little egg yoke with no life, that would be racist. In the Ford thread, the only time I talked about the Japaneses and Koreans is when I said the U.S. government should pressure those countries to open up their market to foreign imports. How's that racist? You gotta be quite a sensitive fifi to find anything there abusive about your siblings.

You better find another scape goat. And please stop smoking weed before posting.

To the mods : let him read it before deleting this post. No one pokes me without I strike back.

Someone actually reads his post???

Bozo :joker:

 

[CougTek]

Paugie,

I knew it existed, but I feel sad every time I see people in that situation. She seems to be happy anyway, which is good. And her house is kept cleaner than mine (which is sad for me). You know what's ironic? She earns 3$ a day and she has a house and apparently enough (although barely) to sustain her family. I earn thirty times that, sometimes more, and I don't have enough to make a living for my own little self.

BTW, since I'm accused of being an oppressor for the Asian people, have I been anything less than a gentleman with you in the past?

 

[CougTek]

Someone actually reads his post???

Mine or his?

I usually don't read his posts, but I made an effort that time because he received praises for it. Let's say he won't have any from me.

 

[Clocker]

Three things:

1.) When you buy a gallon of paint at Lowes, make sure the clerk puts the lid back on very securely.

2.) Try to avoid making sudden stops in your vehicle when you are transporting paint.
3 hours to clean out a gallon of latex paint that has spilled on the floor carpet in the backseat of a Chevy Avalanche. Thank GOD the vehicle is engineered to allow water drainage out of the vehicle in the rear since the rear passenger area doubles as an expandable cargo area. Driving one corner of the vehicle up on a ramp also helps to encourage water drainage out the rear corner of the vehicle.

 

[ddrueding]

Man that sucks Clocker. You forgot #4:

4.) If you own a truck, put things like paint in the back of the truck.

 

[Howell]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0YA5ZDFqoZw

hey hey, paugie is on da tee vee.

 

[Howell]

http://www.iht.com/slideshows/2006/05/19/asia/web.0519city7.php

It was much the same in poor sections of Ecuador. The women were not honored. The women worked like dogs and the men were lazy and drank a lot. Very sad.

 

[Howell]

udaman,

That was actually a nice post. Paragraphs, punctuation, and (fairly) cohesive thoughts. Possibly your best to date, certainly your best "long" one.

Agreed.

 

[Clocker]

Man that sucks Clocker. You forgot #4:

4.) If you own a truck, put things like paint in the back of the truck.

Yeah but I thought...oh it might roll around in there too much!! It would have been a lot easier to clean if I just did that.

Oh well, it dried over night with a fan blowing on it. 4-5 guys from work are coming over on Saturday to paint all the walls I built in my basement (about 1300 sq. ft of walls area to paint) in exchange for breakfast, and then pizza & beer for lunch. I'll have to have them help me reinstall the rear seat then. It's only 8 bolts but it's pretty big and heavy.

 

[Bozo]

Make sure the painting is done before the beer and pizza :-D


Bozo :joker:

 

[mubs]

The women worked like dogs and the men were lazy and drank a lot. Very sad.

Seems to be a universal phenomenon.

 

[Stereodude]

This is part of what I do in my spare time. Try looking them up.
http://tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=23836&page=81 Scroll down to the last part of the page.

Uh oh... You posted something religious. Now you're going to upset the vast majority of the natives here who don't understand it...

 

[Stereodude]

4-5 guys from work are coming over on Saturday to paint all the walls I built in my basement (about 1300 sq. ft of walls area to paint) in exchange for breakfast, and then pizza & beer for lunch.

Wait until you find out that the paint from each can (assuming you have more than one) doesn't match.

 

[Clocker]

Wait until you find out that the paint from each can (assuming you have more than one) doesn't match.

5 gallon bucket!

But of course, if you have individual cans you should always pre-mix them all.

I bought one 1 gallon can just to use for cutting in corners etc. though. Should be fine.

 

[ddrueding]

I don't think anyone here was upset by someone saying they were religious, it took something more direct.

 

[Mercutio]

It was religious. I didn't watch any more than needed to make that clear.


My solution for getting house-things done.
Find a place where a new subdivision is being built (or get up super early and go to the home depot parking lot where the day laborers live).
Find the day laborers,
Offer them $30 a head to do whatever when they finish a their job site.
Take 3 - 5 day laborers to your house.
They will get the thing done in like half an hour. Plaster a ceiling. Hang drywall. Paint. Whatever.

Take them back to the home depot parking lot where day laborers come from.

Seems like a good deal to me.

 

[Howell]

My solution for getting house-things done.

Is this in theory or in practice?

 

[Mercutio]

My ex showed me the power of the roll of $20 bills and a truck with some day laborers in it. I wish I knew about the day laborers before I spent a whole week trying to figure out drywall.

Never having had any kind of shop class or any kind of mechanical aptitude, I am fairly certain that I'm just unqualified to be a homeowner.

 

[ddrueding]

I never had shop, or any real training, but Bob Villa taught me well

I had a completely gutted condo in Santa Cruz to remodel; by the time I was done I had figured out framing, electrical, plumbing, drywall, carpet, tile, etc. Granted, it took me 8 months to do a 3 month job, but it was fun and upped the resale value about $400k.

 

[CougTek]

Uh oh... You posted something religious. Now you're going to upset the vast majority of the natives here who don't understand it...

I'm not religious by any mean, even though I often sacrifice a white virgin (an beige box) to the god of computers.

I wasn't offended at all by Paugie's link. He is giving hope to young people in difficult situations. What he is doing is very commendable. I can understand the need to believe in something when you are in a difficult situation. It must really help to have faith in something, especially when you are spending your entire day with both feet in trash. I, however, have the luxury of not having to believe in anything. I see religion as a crutch and I perfer to stand up by myself.

 

[Mercutio]

And on a completely different subject...

...it seems a bit more complex, not only are you bored with what you have, but you seem to not want anything else.

I've had a lot of empty time lately. I don't really want to fill it all up with working but if I don't do that I just wind up sleeping or just being awake. I really don't know what else to do with myself. Don't want to go anywhere or do anything. I'm not sure there's anywhere to go or anything to do, anyway.

For the kid classes I've been doing, I'm being introduced as "The guy you do not want to be when you're grown up." The person who says that is not wrong.

Going to work every day isn't really living but what else is there besides waiting for everything to be over? I don't particularly have any greater professional ambition than to do the things I'm doing. I don't need more money or objects. Work just seems like the most efficient way to pass time.

Every time I try to do volunteer-something, I end up feeling used and the bad part of the experience ends up outweighing the good. Basically the only time anyone notices that I exist is if I do or say something wrong.

Basically, I can't buy the things I want, and I don't have whatever personality traits are needed to obtain them. Doesn't leave much to look forward to, and like I said before, I don't really understand what keeps other people going, either.

 

[CougTek]

Go spend a few weeks with Paugie helping the kids. At least they'll see that wealth doesn't buy happiness. Giving hope to someone else is a good way to get some for yourself.

Or you could climb mount Everest and brag about it for the rest of your life... Too bad you're not as overweighted as you used to be. You could have jumped on the top and lower it by a few meters in order to make it a bit easier for the others climbing it afterward ;-) Just trying to bring you a smile. We like you here.

 

[ddrueding]

Just passing time seems about right. What else is there in life after survival has been accomplished? Helping others survive? If you don't value your own life, valuing other's lives seems fairly silly.

I just bought and assembled one of these. Do I know how to use it? No. Do I plan on learning? Maybe. Is it something I'm really looking forward to? No. I just had the space available on my deck and thats where things like this go.

I'm saving up for a house (again). Do I really want to buy a house? Not really, it's just the next thing to do. I think this is the primary reason people have kids, they run out of things to keep them occupied. Sad, but I'm afraid true.

If you keep asking "and then what" about someone's life plans, and then at the end ask "why", the end result will always ring hollow. Unless you are religious; but I do believe that anything after the world we are in is BS. I'm not specifically trying to insult anyone in particular, just saying that any end result justification along those lines isn't getting anywhere with me.

 

[Sol]

If you keep asking "and then what" about someone's life plans, and then at the end ask "why", the end result will always ring hollow.

I think the why at the end is pretty easy... The answer is, or should be, because I think I'll enjoy it... I'll feel good having done all of those things and I'll have fun doing them.

I don't think there is anything hollow in that.
Surely that life almost certainly doesn't really have an intrinsic meaning just means that we can make up whatever meaning makes us happy...

 

[ddrueding]

That is a good response Sol, but what metric do we use to determine what is happy enough? How happy do I have to be, and for what percentage of the time, before death is no longer the better choice? How bad is death, anyway? Is it actually bad? Should we intentionally avoid it? Fear it?

If I get married and/or have children, I will fear death because of the potential failure to meet my obligations (guaranteeing the well-being of those in my charge).

 

[jtr1962]

Or you could climb mount Everest and brag about it for the rest of your life... Too bad you're not as overweighted as you used to be. You could have jumped on the top and lower it by a few meters in order to make it a bit easier for the others climbing it afterward.

Classic Cougtek. :diablo:

 

[jtr1962]

Do I really want to buy a house? Not really, it's just the next thing to do. I think this is the primary reason people have kids, they run out of things to keep them occupied. Sad, but I'm afraid true.

Now this is something I totally don't understand. You seem like a fairly intelligent person. Merc is definitely an intelligent person, more so than probably anyone else here. I'd find it incredible if you two couldn't think of things to keep you occupied for millenia, nevermind just the remainder of one human life. I personally hope medical science comes up with some way for me to live another 100,000 years. Not because my life is so great now. It isn't. In fact, by many metrics it's a big steaming pile of shit. I have no great source of income, haven't had a significant other since 1982, really have nothing that great to look forward to in the near or even further future. Want to know why I keep breathing? Because if I don't there's definitely no hope of anything ever getting better. And I always think of things to do unrelated to work or even to forums like this. I don't need or even want children to give me "something to do". In fact, routine things in life I find more an annoyance in that they keep me from doing more interesting stuff. Like I said, I totally don't get. Maybe if you two had IQs of 75 I might understand, but that's not the case. It's within you both to find something internal to keep you occupied for as long as you want. It's what I do. Start a new project, find a new hobby, do something I never did before. Sort of like Tannin with his wilderness trips. I guess this ability has nothing to do with intelligence. Maybe it's inate, or maybe those who have it developed it from necessity by having a childhood where nobody entertained them. I still think anyone with reasonable intelligence shouldn't be bored, or need to resort to "busy work", or depend upon others for gratification.

 

[ddrueding]

I've always been dependent upon myself for entertainment, so I know that isn't it. The closest analogy I can come to is a video game.

Have you ever played a game that was really hard, and took days upon days to complete, with countless moments of stress and success? And finally, when you have completed it, you realize that it really doesn't matter; that no-one is keeping score, and that it doesn't make you better or worse in any way that counts for anything? What is life besides a game? Why play at all?

 

[Howell]

I can understand where you're coming from David. Your explanations make perfect sense. I would think think this would be worse for you than for almost anybody here because you have already experienced so much in life.

 

[Clocker]

If I get married and/or have children, I will fear death because of the potential failure to meet my obligations (guaranteeing the well-being of those in my charge).

I must be wrong but I thought you were all set to get married, right? Just trying to get up-to-date...

 

[ddrueding]

I must be wrong but I thought you were all set to get married, right? Just trying to get up-to-date...

A side-note to get you up to date Her divorce is taking longer than expected, but fortunately doesn't involve a trip to Russia; her husband is just making things difficult. We will likely get married shortly thereafter, but not because of what it means to us (we really don't care), but what her parents would think. Children is still an active topic; I'm sure I would be good at it, and we're fairly financially stable, I'm just not sure I'm up for the time commitment. And I'm afraid she wants them for the wrong reasons.

 

[Sol]

I'll go with JTR here WTF...

Ddrudeing, where do you even get a concept like happy enough from? Life is a series of moments which are good bad or neutral. Death is nothing. If your goal, like mine, is to enjoy as much of life as possible then it doesn't really matter how shitty it gets, the opportunity for positive experiences later make anything worth enduring.

Admittedly that's probably easy for me to say, I've never really been depressed or had any major crisis in my life. About a year ago I decided to move half way around the world for the hell of it, and that's been fun...

But that's not to say I'm a classic extrovert or anything, sure Merc probably has me beat on the introvert scale but not exactly by a huge margin...

But I think to get even close to the mentality that life is somehow pointless I would have to have absolutely nothing that I enjoyed or ever had or hoped to enjoy. Life doesn't need to be an absolute blast, even the tiniest bit of enjoyment is worth sticking around for... It's not like you've got anywhere else to be after all...

 

[jtr1962]

Have you ever played a game that was really hard, and took days upon days to complete, with countless moments of stress and success? And finally, when you have completed it, you realize that it really doesn't matter; that no-one is keeping score, and that it doesn't make you better or worse in any way that counts for anything? What is life besides a game? Why play at all?

In other words, it's the journey that matters more than the destination. So why not when you finally complete the game, start a new,even harder one? I'll admit I do share those sentiments somewhat. I don't really play games, but when I'm involved trying to get a circuit or other project to work for days, it seems once I finally do it's anticlimactic. I suddenly lose interest, but then I go on to the next project, or perhaps even delve into another hobby for a while. Recently I started getting back into trainsimming after not doing much for the last year or so. It almost seems like a new hobby, and two new simulators will be coming out in the next few months!

 

[Will Rickards]

I'm afraid she wants them for the wrong reasons.

Then don't have them. Wear that rubber man. And time commitment is putting it mildly. It is more like life commitment. You aren't talking a 30 year mortgage here. It is a lifetime commitment to another person. No matter how prepared you think you are, you are always woefully unprepared.

 

[ddrueding]

I'll go with JTR here WTF...

Ddrudeing, where do you even get a concept like happy enough from?

Happy enough is a simple term to me. There are things in life that need to be done to continue living. Some of these things I don't enjoy, or even consider work. If the positive things don't outweigh the negative, then a neutral position (death) is the better choice. It's the most basic of cost/benefit comparisons, I don't understand why so many people (here and elsewhere) don't seem to (want to?) understand it.

In other words, it's the journey that matters more than the destination. So why not when you finally complete the game, start a new,even harder one? I'll admit I do share those sentiments somewhat. I don't really play games, but when I'm involved trying to get a circuit or other project to work for days, it seems once I finally do it's anticlimactic. I suddenly lose interest, but then I go on to the next project, or perhaps even delve into another hobby for a while. Recently I started getting back into trainsimming after not doing much for the last year or so. It almost seems like a new hobby, and two new simulators will be coming out in the next few months!

Seems like you've got it, except for not factoring in the costs. It seems to me based on other conversations here that you have a pretty straightforward life; many of the routine things are so routine that you no longer think about them at all. I can understand factoring them out of the equation after a while but doesn't that simply mean that you aren't doing all the math?

Then don't have them. Wear that rubber man. And time commitment is putting it mildly. It is more like life commitment. You aren't talking a 30 year mortgage here. It is a lifetime commitment to another person. No matter how prepared you think you are, you are always woefully unprepared.

That is the plan. But she wants them for the right reasons as well; so we just need to make sure that everything balances out. I was completely out of my parent's lives in 17 years, starting to visit again a few years later. But I consider it a commitment of 100% of time and 100% of funds for ~25 years.

 

[Will Rickards]

Consider the case of my in-laws.
I married the good daughter.
The other daughter got into drugs early on.
She is a crack addict, though currently she is on the wagon after having spent a couple months in jail.
She had two kids.
The father died of a drug overdose a few days after being released from jail.
My in-laws have custody of their two grandkids. They face the very real prospect of having to raise their grandchildren.
So in that case it could be 50 years of time and money commitment.

 

[Mercutio]

I don't think there's any reason for anyone to have kids. There are enough people in the world already.

But I think to get even close to the mentality that life is somehow pointless I would have to have absolutely nothing that I enjoyed or ever had or hoped to enjoy.

There's not a whole lot of joy in my life. I do a lot of things because they are less bad than other things I could be doing; I'd rather build a PC than do dishes, for example, but I wouldn't call what I feel when I do that "joy."
Fundamentally, I don't seem to be able to find anything in life that actually makes me feel much of anything save my usual level of depression. I know that time is passing, but nothing I can do for myself seems to make much difference in my mood. All time feels like wasted time to me. My life hasn't had any substantial changes in five years and I don't expect that it ever will. I really don't think I have anything to look forward to but work and sleep. I'm going to be alone in my little apartment and that's the story of the rest of my life.

I don't seem to have the ability to change anything about my life, so why even bother with a whole bunch of pointless days? Why waste other people's time with myself?

Hopefully I will wake up and it will be Monday, and everything will be a few days closer to being over.

 

[ddrueding]

Good point, Will.

A friend's first child just got their first job out of college. Engineering degree, about to buy a house, obviously under control. They decided to go for round two; twins, at age fifty. Truly nuts...

 

[Will Rickards]

Our neighbor down the street has nine kids. We live in row homes. Our house is an end of row so not so bad. But these houses are small. And somehow they have 11 people in the house. That should violate some fire laws or something. They are nice people and all but ... nine kids is just crazy. More than crazy it is reckless or something.

I believe having kids is a selfish not a selfless act. Sure it continues the species and all. But too many kids and we are killing ourselves from overpopulation. Plus you know what the world is like and you want to bring another life into it? Babies are like crack to some women. Whatever you do keep your woman away from babies.