PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Driving around Doylestown Borough for work on March 15, 2017:


One of the biggest problems in Doylestown after a significant snowfall is that they run out of places to put it all, and streets become narrower because people have to park further away from the curb. Got a nice 1st gen Sequoia there on the right:


Here you can really see what I'm talking about:

Alley on which Puck is located:



Parking lot next to Puck:


First gen Tundy:

 

March 15, 2017 (Part 2):

 

Just spotted this thread.
18" in Rockland County NY
I parked on my front lawn before the storm so I had nothing getting in my way when I cleared my driveway.


Blizzard winds pretty much kept the top and underneath the truck clear of snow.
When I parked, I made sure truck was in 4-lo and locked.
Glad I did, because I had to crawl out of the high snow drift in front of the truck after the storm.

 

The owners of the bar where I work also own numerous other properties, which translates to numerous central air-conditioners and heat pumps.

The 25+ year old York Stellar heat pump and the slightly newer York straight-cool unit. hidden from view behind it are located at a commercial property. The tenants of this property expressed concern about the amount of snow covering these units. As you can see in this picture, I've already used my trusty Target-brand Lime green brush/scraper to get the ice and snow off the top of the heat pump. However, this unit really was not blocked. It was installed on risers (as all heat pumps in snowy regions should be), and was way above the snow:


This is the aforementioned straight-cool unit (meaning it is just a conventional air-conditioner and NOT used for heating). My theory is that somebody looked out the window, saw that the Stellar was running fine; and then noticed this little guy buried in snow and NOT running. They then must have assumed it was a heat pump too and that it wasn't running because it was buried. They then contacted the landlord, who was busy, and in turn contacted my boss. My boss told me about this, and I'm like "Oh, that's not just an 'air-conditioning unit.' It's probably a heat pump that's buried in the snow." I then told my boss that I've been digging out my Grandma's heat pump for years, and I was given the assignment of digging out the heat pumps, except it wasn't as bad as I thought:

Turns out the smaller York is a straight-cool unit (NOT a heat pump, meaning it's pretty much in hibernation right now and probably won't come out of hibernation until April at the very earliest):


This is the York Stellar again, which as you can see if pretty much clear from snow, though I did scrape the frozen ice/snow combo off the top just for the hell of it:


A dead giveaway that the Stellar is a heat pump is literally printed right on the fan grill. What used to say "HIGH EFFICIENCY" is a little bit worn away, but "HEAT PUMP" is still visible. My theory is that a tenant looked out the window and saw that old Mr. Stellar was running, but his younger brother was not only NOT running, but also buried halfway up the condenser in snow.


As for the the newer unit, there two much snow inside it to tell if it had a reversing valve, so I looked at the data sticker on the side. It said "LISTED SECTION OF CENTRAL COOLING AIR-CONDITIONER." A heat pump would say "LISTED SECTION OF HEAT PUMP."

What this translates to, like I said is that this unit may be buried, but that doesn't really matter right now because it's not a heat pump and probably won't be needed until the end of April at the very earliest.



Somehow accidentally turned on B&W mode, but it turned out pretty cool:

 

Happy birthday Charlie! Thanks for your help & expertise. I have a HVAC guy coming out tomorrow to inspect my system for leaks.

 

Thanks! No prob!

 

This sounds better.

 

When you work at a bar, you'd better learn to expect the unexpected or else you won't last very long. This why I think working at a bar would be a great experience for many individuals with AS. It has certainly helped me out a lot.

My job title is "barback," but as I've said before, I'm what's known in the industry as a runner. Whether you're a bartender, a barback, a runner, a server, a bouncer, or even the sound guy... You get used to things...

That said, the messiest job I do on a regular basis (at least once and sometimes even twice a week) does not involve washing dishes, dealing with annihilated customers, or even cleaning bathrooms...

The messiest task in my normal routine is without a doubt juicing lemons and limes (mostly limes; occasionally oranges)!

For starters, the biggest problem is that every lime in the Bux-Mont area seems to have been severely stunted in terms of size, and it takes forever to make one container of lime juice. Sometimes we obtain a case of normal-size to oversized limes, but most of the time we get these dinky little things:


This is the case of limes I picked up at a nearby produce place:


This is my only job, aside from changing the urinal cakes in the men's room, where gloves are pretty much obligatory. If you even the slightest cut on or crevice on your skin, lime juice stings like you wouldn't believe. Lime juice (and possibly lemon juice) has also caused these bizarre blisters on my hands twice in the past. Lesson learned, wear gloves:


I only wear an apron on the job when I'm doing anything citrus-related (cutting or juicing fruit) or washing equipment and dishes for the aforementioned citrus-related jobs (the kitchen has both a commercial dishwasher and a guy who does the dishes, so I haven't actually "washed the dishes" in quite a while). The prep kitchen has 4 more blue vinyl aprons identical to the one I'm wearing in the picture, and buying these aprons ($5 apiece at a nearby restaurant superstore) was my idea:

 

I regularly do the grocery shopping for the cooks, but I am not technically part of the kitchen staff. However, I do regularly use the sink in the prep kitchen to clean stuff. One annoying side affect is that the water comes out at very high pressure and it is pretty much impossible NOT TO GET WET. It's only soap and water, but who wants to the remainder of their shift wearing a damp shirt? I know I don't!

After over a year, I finally convinced my boss to let my buy a bunch of these aprons for the kitchen, and they are probably one of the best investments we've made. They were VERY inexpensive, but they do an excellent job of keeping citrus goo off my clothes!

Here's a selfie I took of myself from the neck down wearing one of these aprons while juicing limes:

 

Happy belated birthday dude!

HVAC porn got me solidly hooked.

 

What the backup camera view looks like with the tailgate down...

 

Boss's neighbor's dual-zone central air, dormant for the winter:

 

Yeah, its like that here in NJ too. My neighbor bought a newer Harley that was crashed but not reported cuz the bike wasn't registered or insured yet. It was all appart in milk crates and not really worth much cuz the engine cases were all busted up, cracked, etc, front wheel and forks all bent to hell. It was just a parts bike with not many parts left that were good. He paid $1,800 for the pile of parts. 3 months after he transfered the title to his name, he got a bill in the mail from DMV saying he owes 7% NJ sales tax on $14,000.00, the value of that bike. He's currently still trying to fight it. A freind of mines Dad went through the same thing about 15 years ago with a mini van he bought used. Knowing him, I think he just paid it because it wasn't much. They do go by KBB value if your not close to it.

Hey, do you think they would refund you if you paid to much for a vehical? Blue Book is Blue Book, right...??? LOL I think it's because so many people lie about what they really paid to save on paying sales tax. There is no more honor system.

 

In D-town, residents and business owners alike resort to digging through the huge mounds of snow left in front of their property by the snowplows:

 

I got stopped at a DUI checkpoint tonight as a driver for the first time ever!

I've had my driver's license for almost 6 years and have never even pulled over, let alone gotten a ticket or a DUI.

I've been through two DUI checkpoints as a backseat passenger, but tonight I encountered one on Route 611 while driving home from work. I work at a bar, so I can proudly say I was one of the few people driving home from a bar on St. Patrick's Day who had any excuse to get behind the wheel in the first place!

Translation: I'd had two Monsters early in the day but no alcohol, and I was 100% sober!

Talk about nerve-wracking though! I was totally sober, but I was still so nervous words can't even describe it. My heart was pounding. I put "Once Bitten Twice Shy" (everyone knows this is my favorite song) on my iPod and used the power of the Pioneer speakers to settle my nerves (worked somewhat).

I initially stopped one space too early, and the first cop said "Pull up please, sir." I pulled up and the cop I talked to was a younger guy (probably younger than me). He shined his flashlight in my Tacoma, started with the usual "good evening sir," then "Have you consumed any alcohol tonight?" I told him no. "You sure about that?" I said yes. I was wearing my Puck shirt, and he had his flashlight shined right on it. He asked "Where you coming from?" I said "Uh, Puck Live. I work there." He asked me where I was going, and I said "To my house." He handed me a very informative pamphlet about aggressive driving and told me to drive safe.

Nothing is better at instilling fear in you than the mere thought of losing your driver's license, and I was SOBER! Why the hell do people drive drunk? Ironically I was stuck behind a van from All 3's Taxi that was full of drunk people. Why can't people be smart like me and the group of hammered friends in the van?

 

Back in like September 2016, one of my coworkers couldn't get a sitter so she brought her son (then 3 years old) to work with her. She and my boss were having a meeting. That morning, I'd bought a model Volkswagen Beetle at Rice's Market and brought it in for him to play with I was tasked with keeping him entertained, and my boss told me to take him out to the parking lot and show him my Tacoma (with his mom's approval of course). His mom wanted a picture of him sitting in a real truck, but he really wanted to play with my toy Volkswagen. That's why he isn't smiling here...



Also, there's a first gen photo bomb here...

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@LocoLocal
@Iamraiderpower
@ChadsPride

A drive home that normally would have taken about 10 minutes took 30 minutes! But hey, hopefully the karma cops served up a nice steaming dish of DUI to some drunk drivers who were too stupid to call a cab (unlike the group of hammered in friends in the taxi minivan in front of me), call an Uber (like I'm gonna do tonight after my belated 28th birthday party at Puck), or otherwise designate a driver.

 

FLASHBACK!

December 2013:

The very first time my best friend and future boss rode in my Tacoma, the first she said when she got in the passenger seat was something along the lines of "I didn't know they still made cars with crank windows." Keep in mind her first vehicle had been a 1992-1995ish Buick LeSabre that of course DID have power windows. Every vehicle she's had since then has had power windows. Sadly, even 3rd gen Tacomas don't have rollup windows...

Rollup windows are almost as uncommon as manual transmissions these days!

 

SHORT STORY:
Got my permit for the first time at 16. Realized I was not ready to drive then. Didn't have much of a social life until I was 20 and my parents drove to work and other places so I saw no need for a license.

First of all I have Asperger's Syndrome. One of my friends with AS got his license at 17 or 18, and another got his at 19. Only 50% of us get licenses at all, because a lot of people AS just don't have the discipline or focus to drive.

About 3 months before my 17th birthday in December 2005, I passed the written learner's permit test on the first try and my parents gave me driving lessons in our three vehicles (a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4, a 2002 BMW 325Ci convertible, and a 2004 Honda Odyssey EX). The Pathfinder was originally supposed to be mine. I did fine driving on deserted roads but freaked out driving in busy areas.

My worst experience when I was 16 or 17 occurred in Doylestown Borough in either late 2005 or early 2006 when my parents and I were going home after having dinner at a well-known Italian restaurant. We were in the 1996 Pathfinder and I was driving with my dad in the shotgun seat and my mom in the back. I was being cautious and going slow, and I had a right turn coming up. I had my signal on. Some impatient asshole roared up behind me and laid on their horn and my anxiety went through the roof.

My parents and I were unaware that a Pennsylvania learner's permit is only valid for one year from the date it was issued. If you get it renewed on or before the expiration date, you're fine. You don't have to pay any fees/fines and more importantly you do not have to retake the test. I happened to glance at the date on my learner's permit in like April 2007 and realized it had expired in December 2006. I found out from the DMV that I'd have to do everything from scratch and got lazy.

From July 2005 until January 2009, I really did not have much of a social life outside of family. I graduated high school in June 2007. I had an entry-level retail job and a high school diploma, and I also had issues like anxiety and OCD. I was sick of school, and I just secluded myself in my bedroom and spent my days off from work playing video games.

In January 2009, 2 months before my 20th birthday, I started going to a group called the Coffeehouse Center of Bucks County, for high-functioning individuals with Asperger's and PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified). I made a ton of friends, and one of the AS friends mentioned above (who got his DL at age 18) introduced me to his non-AS friends. Going to the Coffeehouse was the swift kick in the ass I needed to get another learner's permit. Now that I had a social life, I needed a license so I could drive places to meet my friends. I passed the test on the third try in August 2009.

Unfortunately, 4 years had gone by since I'd gotten my first permit, and the Pathfinder had aged quite a bit. It failed emissions testing in 2007 (though my dad doesn't remember why), and since about 2006 it was literally nickel-and-diming us. On top of that it had over 100K miles and took 91 octane fuel (since 91 wasn't that common, we had to use 93; 87 made the engine knock). My dad traded in the Pathfinder bought me a brand new 2010 Toyota Tacoma in September 2009. I my driver's license/road test in the Tacoma 3 times and finally passed on the 3rd time in May 2011. The rest is history...

To date, I've had four fender benders (2 of which were not my fault). I've never gotten a ticket or even been pulled over! I encountered a DUI checkpoint for the very first time in my life last night while driving home from work (ironically I work at a bar, it was Saint Patrick's Day, and I was probably the only person driving home from a bar who had any business being behind the wheel of a vehicle). My insurance rates are incredibly low and I get a discount for not having any tickets!