student loan foregiveness: BULLISH

[Navydoc]

By the way, wanted to go back to the safety aspect. My last year in San Diego I was riding from Stonebridge to Balboa on an ebike conversion I built myself (would probably meet your performance requirements scaredy). I was absolutely clobbered on Pomerado road, apparently near the light at Semillon. I have no memory of it. Woke up 2 1/2 hours later at Sharp Memorial. Those of you who know the road know there’s a generous bike lane. The person that hit me didn’t stop, and they never caught them. The police got 2 phone calls, one stating they just saw a car hit a bike, and the other said they just saw a biker flip over their handlebars (I think that might have been the person who hit me). I’ve always theorized that the reason they didn’t stop was because they may have thought they killed me. I’m sure I went down in a heap, and didn’t move.

The point is, I’m not sure that Pomerado could be made any safer for bicyclists, especially with inattentive and inconsiderate drivers. However, I can’t stop biking to work, I don’t feel like myself when I don’t do it. But the infrastructure we have is not bike friendly, and this is one of the MOST bike friendly cities in the country.

[Coronita]

Have you thought about hooking up an automotive horn? I mean , it probably wouldn’t have helped the last time, but I have a lot of near misses with large trucks and SUVs that can’t see me. The stock horns on the Miatas are too soft. So I got myself a pair of Hellas Supertones for both of them

HELLA 003399801 Supertone 12V High Tone / Low Tone Twin Horn Kit with Red Protective Grill, 2 Horns https://a.co/d/5M2Hzyu

[scaredyclassic]

https://qz.com/1620913/the-best-cycling-hack-is-a-pool-noodle/

pool noodles. i believe in a large profile, but not sure it is the answer to everything.

sorry to hear of the assault you suffered.

[evolusd]

[quote=Navydoc]By the way, wanted to go back to the safety aspect. My last year in San Diego I was riding from Stonebridge to Balboa on an ebike conversion I built myself (would probably meet your performance requirements scaredy). I was absolutely clobbered on Pomerado road, apparently near the light at Semillon. I have no memory of it. Woke up 2 1/2 hours later at Sharp Memorial. Those of you who know the road know there’s a generous bike lane. The person that hit me didn’t stop, and they never caught them. The police got 2 phone calls, one stating they just saw a car hit a bike, and the other said they just saw a biker flip over their handlebars (I think that might have been the person who hit me). I’ve always theorized that the reason they didn’t stop was because they may have thought they killed me. I’m sure I went down in a heap, and didn’t move.

The point is, I’m not sure that Pomerado could be made any safer for bicyclists, especially with inattentive and inconsiderate drivers. However, I can’t stop biking to work, I don’t feel like myself when I don’t do it. But the infrastructure we have is not bike friendly, and this is one of the MOST bike friendly cities in the country.[/quote]

That is a wild story, glad you survived. My teen daughter wants an ebike so bad like all her friends. I personally find it nuts that all these parents let their kids ride around town on streets that are basically highways with 50 mph speed limits and so many drivers distracted by their phones. Seems completely unsafe to me. Haven’t given in…yet.

[Navydoc]

Love the pool noodle, no matter how ridiculous it looks. I have to admit, San Diegans are much better to bikers than other places I’ve lived. When I was at Walter Reed at least once a week someone would yell out their window “get on the sidewalk you F-ing A-hole!” They don’t realize that the data clearly shows that you’re almost twice as likely to be hit by a car when you’re riding on the sidewalk, and 4 times as likely when doing it against traffic. You are much safer on the road, since they at least see you to yell at you. In North Carolina I wouldn’t ride off-base. Did it a couple of times, WAY too many close calls with hyper-velocity pickup trucks. Fortunately at Lejeune I lived on-base.

The trike does have an auto horn, and it is LOUD. Scared the crap out of a runner (happens to be the ICU physician here) I was coming up behind. I installed a bell for pedestrians, and it is a lot better. Funny how people react to the trike, it gets a LOT of attention. I feel like I’m going to cause an accident from all the rubber-necking that drivers do.

[Coronita]

Finished my other gate.

[img_assist|nid=27697|title=Gate2|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500 ]

Turned out ok, have a gap larger than I’d like but then again over time , wood gates warp and expand a bit so hopefully won’t need to deal with that.

Ended up breaking my Dremel trying to use it as a router..so I bought a cheap router on Amazon. The router isn’t bad for light work. $60, but free with my Amazon/Chase rebate.

The 1 gallon stain from Home Depot was $50, almost the same cost as the router. Man, price for a gallon of wlpaint/stain has gone way up.

Neighbor jokingly asked if I could make her one too. She called a handyman and the current cost getting one made is around $1500. Ouch. I think my limber costs where around $100… Then misc other items and tools around $150. Plus I got to learn how to use a router and kept the tools.

[svelte]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Navydoc]Will they reimburse me for the debt I already paid back? Didn’t think so….

Education is such a scam. Why did I need three semesters of calculus to go to medical school? [/quote]

Law schools worse … But really, the degree has little to do with training. It’s just a weeding out process.[/quote]

Spot on again scaredy!

A long time ago I quizzed one of my mentors on why we only hired people with 4-year engineering degrees when there are other ways to gain the same knowledge without a degree.

His answer: it showed that the person could stay devoted to something for four years.

I’ve thought about that often over the years.

It is indeed a weeding process.

Love that you could summarize it so succinctly.

[svelte]

[quote=Coronita]Finished my other gate.
[/quote]

Wow flu that is really gorgeous. Very tastefully done.

The colors and textures in that entire photo are perfect…the two tones of stucco, the eave color, the front door color, the plants and yellow flowers, the art deco light style, very well done. Someone has a good eye.

When I drive around and see how many tacky things have been done to homes it is depressing.

[svelte]

[quote=Navydoc]By the way, wanted to go back to the safety aspect. My last year in San Diego I was riding from Stonebridge to Balboa on an ebike conversion I built myself (would probably meet your performance requirements scaredy). I was absolutely clobbered on Pomerado road, apparently near the light at Semillon. I have no memory of it. Woke up 2 1/2 hours later at Sharp Memorial. Those of you who know the road know there’s a generous bike lane. The person that hit me didn’t stop, and they never caught them. The police got 2 phone calls, one stating they just saw a car hit a bike, and the other said they just saw a biker flip over their handlebars (I think that might have been the person who hit me). I’ve always theorized that the reason they didn’t stop was because they may have thought they killed me. I’m sure I went down in a heap, and didn’t move.
[/quote]

This happened to a friend of mine in Carlsbad about 5 years back. I think it was on El Camino Real with a wide shoulder and bike lane. He said he woke up in the ambulance – whoever hit him didn’t stay at the scene.

Biking takes devotion and balls apparently.

[svelte]

[quote=scaredyclassic]revamp all roadways to accomodate electric bikes; half the capacity for cars, half for bicycles. make it actually feel safe for people, and then watch how many people ride their shortish commutes and errands by bike…cars should be rare, solely for the truly disabled, or the superwealthy, like flyer. ebikes should be the dominant vehicle in SD. Perhaps a $50/day tax for driving a car within SD.[/quote]

I’m OK with that as long as bikes pay for their infrastructure. So much gets paid for by the car gas taxes. Bikers should pay for their bike lanes. Users should pay for what they use.

It is going to be interesting to see how things get paid for once the percentage of electric cars on the roadway reaches a tipping point.

[Coronita]

Wrapping up the other not so pretty project. Finally welded the flanges onto the new catalytic converter. It took awhile to get the flanges and universal converter lined up correctly with a not-so-straight piping on the first generation Miata….weird…

Anyway, function over form…. And I can weld without getting the welding stick, stuck so often on the target piece.

[img_assist|nid=27699|title=cat|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

Don’t look so bad if painted with high temp flat black paint, lol…
[img_assist|nid=27700|title=catb|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

But the most important thing is, smog passed. Barely, right on the money…[img_assist|nid=27701|title=smog|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=599]

I can put the race cat back on the car, lol

[scaredyclassic]

yes.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=svelte][quote=scaredyclassic]revamp all roadways to accomodate electric bikes; half the capacity for cars, half for bicycles. make it actually feel safe for people, and then watch how many people ride their shortish commutes and errands by bike…cars should be rare, solely for the truly disabled, or the superwealthy, like flyer. ebikes should be the dominant vehicle in SD. Perhaps a $50/day tax for driving a car within SD.[/quote]

I’m OK with that as long as bikes pay for their infrastructure. So much gets paid for by the car gas taxes. Bikers should pay for their bike lanes. Users should pay for what they use.

It is going to be interesting to see how things get paid for once the percentage of electric cars on the roadway reaches a tipping point.[/quote]

I’m willing to do that, so long as we also all pay for the externalized costs…the damage to the environemnt, the relative longevity of bike usage on roads v. cars, the unreimbursed medical bills from crashes, etc.

[Coronita]

Another completed summer project…

Changed the faucet and popup drain on this pedestal sink…

[img_assist|nid=27706|title=sink|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

What a royal pain in the ass.

The drain was all rusted and the faucet handles finally broke off beyond repair. It’s never been changed, the previous owner gave me a credit before we moved in and I quickly understood why. The only real way to change the faucet and drain was to remove the sink from the wall and the floor, so the faucet and drain could be accessible. There’s not enough clearance when it’s still attached to the wall to be able to stick a wrench in there to remove the locking nut for the drain and the locking nuts for the two faucet handles…

In addition, this sink was not simply bolted to the wall. It was glued, so removing it would destroy the drywall and I would need to re-drywall and replace the faucet and drain. Even my trusty plumber didn’t really want to do the job. He said I needed to find someone to first remove the sink.. But then if that’s the case, there’s no point in me getting the plumber to change it….

So, finally, when the handle broke off beyond repair, I spent last weekend trying to figure out how to change it without destroying my wall….YouTube was no help, because all the YouTube videos showed people removing the sink from the wall.

Removing the p-trap, and water lines was the easy part…
[img_assist|nid=27707|title=ptrap|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

Removing the the two valves and spout was easy too. I just put a large vise grip on the fixture on top and turned, since I didn’t care about damaging the finish of the fixture..Things turned enough from the top, that I was able to tilt the valve and spout and reach the locking nut on the bottom with a long vice grip, and I shredded the locking nut taking it off.

But taking off the drain was incredibly difficult..

[img_assist|nid=27708|title=drain|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]
Accessing the lock nut on the drain was really hard, since it was right under here…
[img_assist|nid=27709|title=drain|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]
and there was no room to put a wrench or any tool up there. Not even short hand offset wrenches, or angled plumber pipe wrenches like these:

https://www.amazon.com/HAUTMEC-Telescoping-Capacity-Telescopic-10-inch

So, after trying numerous things, brute force etc…I decided to go to Oreilly Auto Parts and borrow the inner tie rod removal tool that I once borrowed to remove the inner tie rods to my Audi…
Why not, since loaner tools are FREE as long as you return them in 2 weeks.

[img_assist|nid=27710|title=tie rod tool|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

The tie rod tool is a big ole pipe that has a bunch of different sized steel inserts for different hex nuts to turn (different tie rods on cars). I hoped one of them would fit on the drain nut, and I would slip the entire pipe over the drain and turn the nut from the bottom…

It WORKED…Sort of… The pipe too long so I could only turn drain nut down about 1cm. But that was enough for me to lift up the rusted drain from the top…and have enough room to…. cut the drain with my air grinder… heh heh..brute force…

[img_assist|nid=27711|title=drain|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]
[img_assist|nid=27712|title=bye bye|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

Putting the new drain in was easy since the new drains are all plastic and are all hand-tightened with collar you hand turn… No tools required.
Putting the new spout on was easy too since it was easy to access the tightening bolt.

However, the faucet valves were a real PITA…Moen really cheapened their design, and the way the new valves are attached, there’s a C-clip on top that holds the valve to sink, and there’s a very thin lock nut on the bottom you turn to tighten it.
[img_assist|nid=27713|title=locknut|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

The problem is the lock nut on the bottom is so thin, it’s hard to reach and grip in a tight spot, especially on a pedestal sink. There was no way to get a tool in there to turn the lock nut…
[img_assist|nid=27714|title=grrr|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

Also, you’ll notice Moen’s new brilliant cheapened design on the valve, where the water line inlets are directly welded onto the main valve shaft. That prevents installer from using any of these long tube nut wrenches, since the welded inlet would prevent the long tube wrenches from turning.

Total cheap and idiotic design that adds labor costs to the consumer.

So after thinking for a few hours, and almost caving in and deciding to remove the pedestal since from the wall, I came up with a crazy idea.

I got a PVC plastic pipe cap, and hammered the brass locknut into it. And used superglue and bakesoda to bond the locknut to the PVC cap so it would not come out.
[img_assist|nid=27715|title=pvc1|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

[img_assist|nid=27716|title=pvc2|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

I could then use the PVC cap as a hand tightening tool to hand tighten the lock nut onto the valve, and not use any wrenches etc in that tight space. Something like this:

[img_assist|nid=27717|title=pvc3|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

It worked!
[img_assist|nid=27718|title=pvc4|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]

If you notice, the lock nut is on the bottom, then pvc cap on top, and the metal washer on top of the PVC cap. This is fine because the PVC cap is sandwiched between the sink and the lock nut, so even if someone tried to pull up on the faucet handle from the top with great force, the valve won’t move. Also, since the pvc cap is sandwiched between the metal washer and the lock nut, there’s no longer metal to metal contact, so over long time, the lock nut wont bind to the washer from rust. It should be easy to remove the valve in the future, hand turning the PVC pipe caps.

Shame on you Moen for not making this install easier like this…

[img_assist|nid=27719|title=done!|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=500]
Was it worth the time doing it this way, instead of ripping out the sink and redoing the wall… I don’t know…

But if you folks ever need to replace your faucet and drain on a pedestal sink, but don’t want to rip the sink out of the wall, now you know it’s possible!

[gzz]

What a disappointing student loan forgiveness. I won’t be getting any BidenBux, and also no SALT restoration either.

[Author]

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