TLDR: I'm going from a 1 car garage to a 2 car garage. Now the Exocet and Miata can live happily together inside.

It's not a secret that I hate living in California: watching my tax money burn on things I disagree with (highspeed rail), the traffic, and the noise/smells. When I moved to CA in 2013, I was surprised to find how difficult it was to find a place to live in a safe area. My car was broken into 3 times in the first year (including once by one of my own neighbors in a 9 unit apartment building). For the last 8 years, I've heard gun shots almost weekly. There have been a few times over the years that I got pretty close to affording a house then the market would go nuts and it would be totally out of reach again. Remote work has changed the game and I'm getting out of Dodge.

I just got the news that my offer has been accepted on a house in Carson City, NV. I'll be going from a 1 car garage to a 2 car garage with space for a workbench. The house also have a basement. I think the ceiling may be too low to actually finish it and call it square footage, but it will be a great place to have my 3D printers and keep additional tools / workspace.

Now part B of the fun starts: inspections and closing.

Oh, and actually seeing the house in person. Yes, I've bought a house sight-unseen. Houses in the area have been getting offers within 24 hours. This came on the market this week, so I had my realtor go out with her camera and live stream the house to me over Zoom. She was my eyes, ears, nose, and hands. Having been to 15 properties with me in person and 3 virtually, I can say that it's 1) great to use a realtor especially if 2) they are someone you can trust. The absolute complete insanity of offering on a house you've not seen in person isn't lost on me.

I couple weeks ago, I decided to finally make a new gauge cluster for the Exocet. I've been through a few iterations. First was a really ugly implementation of the stock Miata cluster. Second was an Android-powered reverse mirror that was heavy and rattly. Third is this new 3D printed version utilizing a FireHD 8 tablet.

I knew that I would spending almost an entire week printing this monstrosity out of ABS, so I got an Raspi, installed octoprint, got remote monitoring of my printer up and running.

I had to break up the print quite a bit to get it to fit on my print bed and reduce warping.

Tonight, I got the pieces welded together and sanded the seams a bit. ABS plastic is great. It's quite resistant to heat but melts if you touch acetone to it. Acetone and a paint brush = liquid welding.

The acetone trick really comes in handy when you want to fine tune some assembly and merge flat parts. The tablet mount was printer separately to save myself from having to waste filament on supports.

You can also see some of the threaded inserts that I use for m3/m4/m5/m6 bolts. They're brass(ish?). To use them, you print your model with a slightly undersized hole. Then you stick the threaded insert on the end of a hot soldering iron (heating the insert) and just press it in. The plastic melts around the insert as you press. It's a super satisfying process.

Here it is with the tablet in and turned on. I really wanted to maintain the stock Miata hazard button. It's been a PITA and it's never coming out of this thing (it's basically plastic-welded in). The little button above it is a momentary switch for the horn. The rear has two slots for the wiring.

The mount bolts up to the key/ignition bracket for stability and a second piece clamps onto the steering shaft. Here's a mockup of that:

I finished replacing front rotors and pads on the F-Type tonight. Rears are fine, but I had been nursing warped rotors for the last, uh, 7 months on the Jag. There was TONS of pad life left, but the rotors were absolutely shot. My guess would be that the dealership did pads only at the last service before I bought the car. @derp has been on me to fix it but as you can tell, my space is quite limited and the Miata (which still doesn't run) has been taking up the driveway.

Those are 380mm rotors. For those who don't speak metric, nearly 15 inches. Which happens to be the wheel size on my Miata.

About the brake job itself, it's not that bad for the fronts. Rears are apparently a bit tricky because of the electric parking brake but the only part that really sucks on the fronts is the anti-rattle clip which requires a crow bar and 3 hands to put back on. Everything about these brakes is massive.

Bedding is fun. Though the brakes do feel a little spongy and judging by the color of the brake fluid (starting to go a little dijon mustard yellow), I really should bleed them soon.

That is all for now. Happy stopping.

Today, I took a page from @Miss-Mercedes and the Best Way Towing Handbook.

I left Richmond, CA in the Miata to head home to Carson City (normally a 3.5 hour drive) at 1:15pm. I had run some errands around the Bay Area to tie up some loose ends there (Amazon return, cancel and return AT&T equipment, etc) in the morning without any issue.

When I got to Davis, CA, something went very wrong. The Miata abruptly shut down. Like... someone flicked a light switch to off. I coasted the car onto the shoulder. I was kind of bewildered. It cranks but won't restart.

Anyways, I called a tow truck with the Hagerty app. It went fine - the app is a little weird on my phone and seemed to kind of ignore the locations that I put for where I was. I set the tow destination to a parking lot with an O'Rielly. I immediately hit the call button in the app since it didn't get my start location right for the tow. While waiting for the call center to pick up, I checked my mileage. I was 141mi from home and I have the 150mi tow service. When Hagerty answered (maybe 2 minutes on hold), I had them fix the breakdown location and asked about changing my destination to my house. They confirmed that it was within the range and all good.

While waiting, I plugged in my laptop. One key piece of evidence is that TunerStudio doesn't see any RPM when cranking. That leads itself towards the crank sensor (or the chip on Megasquirt that reads that signal). No dice on solving that on the side of a highway.

So the tow truck arrived, loaded me up, and started out. The tow truck driver was thrilled to be doing a long tow. That was until about 45 minutes later when his dispatch called. Apparently they had only noted the updated origination and not the updated destination. So, on speakerphone, in the tow truck, dispatch told the tow truck driver to take the next exit and "get rid of that car". I can tell the guy driving the truck was mortified. If he finished the tow, he would probably not have a job anymore. If he didn't, he was an asshole who abandons a person with a broken car in a random location. I can't blame him for choosing his job. I didn't direct any anguish towards him.

I had enough pull in this situation to at least direct him to drop me at a location that didn't completely suck if I thought fast enough. I saw a sign for a Target and said "Drop me at that Target".

The car wasn't even off the truck and I was back on the Hagerty app requesting a new tow. They had a box for "additional details" where I explained the situation. Apparently those details were also passed to the responding tow company. They immediately called me to say "hey, don't worry, we're going to get you home. We're an hour and a half out but don't give up on us because we're not giving up on you." Honestly, that was the coolest response I've ever heard from a tow company.

The plaza that I was stranded in (near Placerville, CA) had a bunch of different stores. I ended up grabbing dinner since it was now dinner time and an ice cream. Then another ice cream. The girl at the burger and ice cream place gave me the second ice cream for free (apparently I looked like I needed it). That was super nice of her and I dropped a decent tip in the jar.

While I was waiting for the new tow truck, I got a call from a manager at Hagerty. He had seen my additional note in his normal routine of case review. He was shocked to see something like that had happened. He apologized, outlined actions he had taken against that tow company, and let me know that someone might call me for more details. Another Hagerty team member followed up just before the tow truck arrived to assure me that this tow would get me home. Big Kudos to Hagerty Driver's Club. How you deal with something going wrong is what makes the biggest difference. They were classy, action-oriented, and went above and beyond. I can't imagine a situation where AAA would have had the same reaction. I feel super vindicated in regards to having made this switch. I'll probably be a Driver's Club member for life.

The new tow truck showed up and the driver was great. He was a pretty Oppo dude who has a plane, a boat, and builds 1/2 scale RC aircraft. It was a pretty nice ride back, even if I was dead tired. I got home about a half hour ago, making this another 9 hour trip. I will need to try and sort out the Miata tomorrow. Hopefully it's nothing major. But I did just buy a house, which means it's probably something major (that's how it works right?).

This is the second year that I've done this calculation. Find last year's more extensive report here.

Route

In both directions, I avoided any major weather. On the way out, I spent an extra day in KC to enjoy BBQ and on the way back, I made only two stops (Chicago and Amarillo). The total distance was 6694mi. That's 706mi shorter than last year when I went through San Antonio, New Orleans, and up the east coast via Tennessee.

Gas
I drove much more efficiently this year, netting out at 24mpg compared to last year's 21mpg but that 3mpg difference didn't offset the cost at the pump. I spent $1494 (up 13% from last year).

Lodging
I spent less in total on hotels ($1133.89) but did the trip there and back in 8 nights compared to last year's 10 (exactly the same nightly average of $141/nt).

Car Expenses
This year I spent quite a bit. $1838 in total. That's 4 new Michelin PS AS 4's, oil change, a pump to do the oil change, and new wipers. Oh, and paying for wheel balancing after the place that installed my new tires in Vegas screwed it up.

Other Expenses
Oof. A speeding ticket. I hit a speed trap in Kansas. My attorney there says she'll get me off with no points as long as I don't get another ticket in that county over the next year. Total cost: $550 (including attorney fee).

$80 in tolls. The bulk of that (47.51 was New York state).

I spent $197 on food and drink.

Total and Summary
The all-in cost of the cross-country trip? $5282.95 including the tires.

That's about 30-40% higher than it would have cost for tickets and a rental car (assuming I could have got a rental car). Traditional travel costs were MUCH higher this year.

I very much recommend the cross-country journey. I'm already itching to do it again - in particular to do it in the summer and hit some of the northern states. The US is a big, amazing, diverse country. I'll always remember what it felt like to have every eye at an Iowa gas station on me as none of them had ever seen an F-Type. I also got asked at a separate stop if it was a Maserati. So many of the people I interacted with at gas stations, hotels, etc were genuinely nice and friendly people. So many bad things get said about the states away from the coasts by they are gorgeous and excellent places to visit with largely friendly folks (or friendly large folks, tbh). The juxtaposition from last year's largely southern route (southern hospitality) compared to this year's midwest route was not lost on me. So neat to experience both cultures.

I took a lot of mental pictures instead of actual pictures this year. The drive from Vegas to Boulder is probably the most beautiful drive you can do in the US outside of Tetons. I would even put it above the California coast. The colors are vivid and alien and seem to change every few miles. The progression from NV to UT to CO is stunning and is like hearing The Beatles for the first time.

There will surely be days when I miss the F-Type but I am so grateful for having had the chance to take it on so many incredible journeys and I'm thrilled that someone else will have that same opportunity.

@chariotoflove

Never forget!

@distraxi said in Smoke ‘Em while you’ve got ‘Em, folks:

The end of the IC engine has begun for realz.

Audi, and therefore most of VAG, have announced they’re no longer developing new IC engines.

Just wait until everyone realizes that their VW electric cars lied and have been secretly using gas all along.

I'm going to repost here from my LinkedIn with a little extra context.

Tomorrow, my former company will ring the NYSE opening bell.

This photo was taken the day that I moved from MA to CA in 2013. It was a day that important at the time, but not nearly as symbolic as I ever could have imagined.

Back in early 2013, I moved 3000 miles across the country to the San Francisco Bay Area. Sitting on the plane ride over, I had the realization that I had quit a job that I could have retired in to take a position with no title, no guarantees, and not much more than hope & air that we were going to turn enthusiasm into satellites.

I was the first person agree to join and the 2nd non-founder to show up to work. They now have around 200 employees.

I arrived on my first day to a roll up door at a garage in SF's South of Market neighborhood. The incubator garage at Lemnos was a full of crazy ideas and we went home smelling like fast food workers as the hamburger robot of another startup was serving up test burgers.

On my first day, Peter (CEO) told me that he wasn't sure which data from space people would want but that there would certainly be a market. That's a near-quote.

Jeroen (co-founder) and Joel (co-founder) had to take turns sleeping on the couch in the garage as it was often too late to go home when they "finished". At our first real office, I almost stepped on Joel's face when I entered the office at 7am. He had been sleeping under the table that we used as a desk because Jeroen had taken the futon that Peter had repurposed into office furniture. In the movies, all you see is a montage of work. Not the hard work, long nights, and dedication that building companies takes. When a shipping company lost a satellite in the mail, Megan (my long-time co-worker and roommate) called them every 15 minutes until it was found. When the business needed to scout locations for ground stations, Chris (another early employee) dropped everything except his suitcase and spent a fairly dangerous month trekking around Africa.

When folks see that opening bell, I'll see something very different than the investors on Wall St. I'll see Art F. transforming his career from office management to engineering. I'll see Lynsey hiring more than half of a 100+ person company. I'll see James on the phone at 3am EST with European reporters.

Lastly, I'll see Peter being told "no", eschewing sleep for days, until some customer, investor, or key hire said "yes".

So where you might see a bell, a formality, or a SPAC - I see nearly a decade of grit, determination, and a people who transformed themselves along with a company.

---

Am I going to be rich? No. Not at the current stock price, anyways.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2015-jaguar-f-type-r-17/

It's been an interesting process and I'm excited to see what it goes for.

Ouch sorry.

Also sorry for this: Looks like it couldn't handle the... pressure.

@ttyymmnn My favorite part is the propane tank. So if you do run into a problem, it's also a bomb.

@beefchips We went windows down, but it was January 2020. She came back from an international aerospace conference where a huge contingent of Chinese aerospace folks. Her getting sick predated the first US case but there's no doubt it was COVID.

Yeah, that's not data I'm giving them. A friend of mine just got stuck in Mexico for a week because of their crappy reporting system. She ended up walking across the border because she was unable to produce a negative test.

@beefchips said in My nose is pregnant:

@nickhasanexocet That's great that you're feeling better so quickly! So many people are getting it now around me, I also had it... in my case it was pretty bad, I was down for the count for a whole week. Makes me glad I dodged the original strains that were a lot worse.

My roommate had the original strain and it was awful. It was over a month and a half before she could even walk more than a block away from the house. The crazy things is that I never got it - I even drove her to the doctor - twice - in my Miata.

I started to feel a tickle on Sunday. Felt a little off on Monday (tested negative). Terrible yesterday (100.0 fever). And already feeling better today (fever almost gone). Slight cough - not deep - just upper airway where the tickle started.

Throughout, I haven't had any runny nose. I sneezed today (due to dust) and finally was able to collect a large enough sample to test and it looks like I'll have antibodies now.

Now I feel like a hero that I wrenched on the Miata with COVID.

Honestly, this is a bit of a relief as I'd more or less dodged this for 2.5 years despite everyone around me catching it.

The Miata stranded me on Saturday (that's here). TunerStudio was showing no sync on RPMs which pointed me towards it being the crank sensor so I ordered one.

I decided to walk out to the mailbox and see if my crank sensor came today (it did) since I couldn't track it after Amazon bugged and disappeared a bunch of my orders (long story short, I purchased computer memory for my direct report in Canada and Amazon silently rejected the order then the US site removed all active orders from my account - yet still charged me for them).

I have a 100 degree fever but I'm sick of getting nothing done so I decided to slap it in. Bingo bango, car started first try. So that's great news. I need to work on the idle a bit since I fixed a vacuum leak, but otherwise, the car is good to go. It's nice to know I have a working car. This is actually the first time the car stranded me since I bought it in 2016ish which is not bad for a 30 year old daily classic.

@Albino-Kangaroo said in Oppositehouse: Appliance Day!:

@nickhasanexocet where-ish is here again?

Carson City, NV

@Urambo-Tauro said in Oppositehouse: Appliance Day!:

@nickhasanexocet Looks like some high-tech hardware! Lemme guess, first order of business is to connect them to wifi for the latest software update?

Haha, I don't think so.

I woke up today feeling like hot garbage. I had too much caffeine last night and basically laid in bed until 3am with a head cold before finally falling to sleep and getting woken up at 7am for my early Tuesday meeting.

BUT on the bright side, today was appliance day! I'm excited to had a washer, dryer, and fridge at the new house. The best part? I got a significant amount off sticker. How does one get 2 day delivery and below MSRP on appliance in 2022, you ask? You buy scratch and dent models. Over the 3 appliances I saved about 25%. The refrigerator was the big saver at 40% off sticker.

They don't match the other appliance in the house, but IDGAF because I've decided that kitchen will get redone in <2 yrs anyways.

In related house news, I'm less than a mile from a great hiking spot through a local marsh. Pretty neat for a desert.

So far I've loving it here.

@Mr-Ontop said in That aged well:

@Mercedes_Pagoda_230SL Looks at gas prices, cries in Californian

/me laughs in ex-Californian.

It's still expensive but at least it's not California-expensive.

@ForSweden That video gives me the creeps. Imagine waking up to that. You roll over in bed and there it is.

@bison78 said in More WTF from Texas!:

Also, your: "happens regardless" is the callous reason bullying happens: there are insufficient consequences, people think it is inevitable and the victims are often blamed.

I said happens regardless of race. Don't twist my words.