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

Even better, it's been thoroughly modernized. It's got central air and everything!

 

The actual temp has gone down a little bit, but the wind chill has stayed at 7 degrees. Still feels colder though...

 

Here are some night shots of the $3 million house on East Oakland!

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@Iamraiderpower
@LocoLocal
@Kinsail48

If there's one thing I think is very misguided, it's the ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES that have been adopted in schools since the 9/11 attacks.

In 2003-2004, my cousin and I came up with this series of stories called "Kids in America." I did all of the writing and my cousin, a lifelong military/history buff, gave me ideas and accurate info. Basically, it was about an elite military organization, consisting of young adults aged 18-30 (16-17 if they had particularly advanced skills). It was a combination of 007, Kim Possible, and The Avengers (Marvel, not the 1960s British TV series), among other franchises. The elite, highly-trained individuals were primarily tasked with fighting terrorists and other criminal organizations, and they were a bit more off the books than, say, the Navy SEALs or the CIA. They included gunfights, car chases, hot girls, romance between characters... Basically, all the stuff a good action story has.

This was before I had my own laptop, so I primarily wrote it on looseleaf paper. I started writing these stories in 9th grade, and I regularly worked on them during my free time. One time, I absentmindedly left a page of one of my stories behind in my math class. Unfortunately, this one page included a car chase scene in which one of the good guys fires an Uzi from the open sunroof of a commandeered Escalade in attempt to disable the vehicle of the fleeing terrorists. If I remember correctly, nobody was killed or even injured. Even if they were, who cares if a terrorist gets killed? Seriously!

So, I absentmindedly left this one page behind in math class, and my teacher found it. She claims she called for me to come back and get it as I was leaving, but that I didn't hear her. She then violated my 4th Amendment rights and read the damn thing. Since I had several pages, I don't even think I realized the page was missing until a day or two later when another teacher of mine (also my case manager) asked to speak with me outside of class. She then proceeded to tell me about my math teacher finding the page of my story. I honestly did not see anything wrong with what I'd written, and above all, I was furious that this woman had read the damn thing in the first place. At that point, I was informed that I would not be facing an disciplinary action, but that it had to be reviewed. I immediately brought this up with my parents when I got home, and they more or less took my side. They said I probably should not have been writing anything about people shooting at each other in school, but they didn't think I'd really done anything wrong either.

A short time later, I found out that I would not get into any trouble, but that I would not be getting that piece of paper back. I was told that it would be going into my record. I could always rewrite that section of story, but the fact that the school district would be keeping this piece of paper both scared me and pissed me off. It didn't have any affect on my permanent record, and it was never brought up ever again. It doesn't show up on any of my records, probably because I was like 15 (legally a minor) at the time.

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@Iamraiderpower
@LocoLocal
@Kinsail48

One of the reasons I have a bit of a problem with authority is because I always got in trouble (and got detentions) for the dumbest reasons back in middle school and high school.

I got my first detention in February 2001, when I was in 6th grade, because I forgot to take off my hooded sweatshirt for the umpteenth time. This was a post-Columbine security measure. Kids were not allowed to wear jackets of any kind in class out of fear that weapons could be concealed. We were living in Oak Harbor, Washington at the time. In February, this area is not exactly warm. I was not deliberately disobeying my math teacher, I'd just absentmindedly forget to take off my hooded sweatshirt because it was cold outside, I was comfortable, and I'd forget I was wearing it! I got an afterschool detention because I forgot to take off my sweatshirt!



Between 2001 and 2007, I can't think of one time I got a detention I actually deserved.

These reasons included:

Being a couple minutes late to class every so often (8th grade; 2002-2003).

Using the word "fart" in front the assistant principal (12th grade; 2006 or 2007; Given by the school's head of security who overheard it)

Saying "damn it" or "goddamn it" on a few occasions in 12th grade (all given by the same teacher). Another teacher witnessed such an incident, where I accidentally dropped my brand new iPod Nano and said "Goddamn it!" What you say if you dropped a brand new, $150+ present from your parents? This woman, an aid/assistant and not a formal teacher, gave me a detention on the spot for the umpteenth time. I threw a fit and stormed out of the room. An actual teacher chased me out of the room and down the hall, stopped me, and calmed me down. She told me not to worry, because the detention had been thrown out.

Breaking an electric pencil sharpener (12th grade) by sticking the eraser end in. I offered to pay for a new pencil sharpener, and I think the teacher misunderstood me. I actually did have my own money, and quite a bit of it, that I'd saved up over the years. I believe my teacher thought I was saying that "mommy and daddy" would pay for it, and wanted to teach me a lesson. I had like a thousand bucks in savings at the time, so a $30-$40 pencil sharpener was not that big a deal. You think I wanted to use my LEGO budget to pay for a pencil sharpener? No! I offered because it was the right thing to do and ended up getting punished for it.

 

@Iamraiderpower
@LocoLocal
@Plain Jane Taco
@Kinsail48

One of my favorites is the time in 11th or 12th grade when I referred to yet another teacher's aid (though unlike the one who gave me detentions for cussing, I actually liked her) as a "Fun Nazi." This was a reference to the "Soup Nazi" from that Seinfeld episode, and not intended to be antisemitic or otherwise offensive. She gave me a detention because I called her a "Fun Nazi," and she had Jewish relatives who'd been in concentration camps during WWII. How in the bloody hell was I supposed to know that?!?!

I don't even remember what she wasn't letting do that led to me calling her that, but I do know that I ultimately forgave her. After all, this same teacher's aid once said this about the teacher who always gave me detentions for swearing...

And I quote:

"I honestly think there are more important things we need to work on than you swearing." She swore too (damn and shit, mostly), and as such I got away with swearing in front of her!

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@Iamraiderpower
@LocoLocal
@Kinsail48

The most common scenarios I found myself in back in middle school and high school were the ones where I'd do something (either absentmindedly or on purpose) and end up forgetting about it.

One such example was this time in 8th grade where I moved a plastic desk chair that was always sitting outside a classroom blocking the hallway. This was about 15 years ago, so I don't remember if I moved this chair out of annoyance, as a prank, or whatever...

The point is that I moved this chair...

I moved the chair out of the way, and I may have placed it quite a distance from the classroom door. No big deal...

Well, I moved the chair and forgot about it. At least two days later, I was walking by this same classroom, and the teacher whose classroom it is was standing outside the door. He was a middle-aged man, and while I'd seen him before, he was not one of my teachers and I didn't know him personally.

He stops me and asked me why I'd moved his chair. I initially didn't know what he was talking about. It was such a mundane occurrence that I'd just forgotten about it. Now, I forget whether I actually did remember doing this and asked how he knew it was me, or if I drew a blank and he immediately told he'd seen me on camera. I didn't argue with the guy. I apologized and said I wouldn't do it again, and I was on my way. I remember thinking it was kind of creepy that he had a camera outside his classroom. However, it may have been part of the school's CCTV system, and he'd asked school security to bring up footage from that exact moment. Not so creepy, but still...

Who gives a shit?!?! It's not like the chair was stolen or vandalized! Get a life!

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@Iamraiderpower
@LocoLocal
@Kinsail48
@cosmicfires

One time in 9th or 10th grade, a kid in my gym class who, was intellectually disabled, clobbered me over the head with a tennis racket in the restroom for calling him "full moon." More on the origins of that name later...

I was standing at the urinal, taking care of business. It was during gym class, and we were playing either tennis or badminton. It was some game that used rackets. This kid comes in to use the bathroom, and I casually say "What's up, Full Moon?" or "Hello, Full Moon." Was it bit mean-spirited? Yes. But you know what they say about sticks and stones...

This kid then calls me a bitch and hurls the racket at me. It hit me in the head, so hard in fact that I thought it had snapped in half. I didn't even know what had hit me until it landed in front of me, between my legs and the urinal. I think it may have actually landed in the urinal while I was still peeing.

Getting hit in the head with a wooden tennis racket really hurts. I was in a lot of pain, feeling more shock than anger.

Again, this kid was intellectual disabled. I think he may have been mentally retarded, though it might have been Down Syndrome. Either way, he was a 20-year old with the mindset of a 2nd grader. He really didn't know any better. That is the primary reason I didn't pound him. If this had been a normal male student with no disabilities who'd hit me in the head with a tennis racket, I probably would have severely kicked his ass.

With my head still throbbing, I staggered out of the bathroom, found my gym teacher, and told her what had just happened. I believe the other student was suspended for like a day. I did not get in any trouble, though I was sent home early for some reason. I think was primarily so I could recover from that hit to the head. I went back to school the next day like nothing even happened...

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@Iamraiderpower
@LocoLocal

The name Full Moon came from an incident where, on a dare, this kid dropped his pants and showed his ass to me and a few other kids in the locker room after gym class...

 

@Plain Jane Taco

Today at work, my boss was trying on my other coworker's new watch that he got Christmas. My boss jokingly claimed to have broken the barback's new watch, and the barback whose watch it was looked at it and didn't see a problem. My boss is like "The screen is smashed." The watch clearly was not damaged in any way, but my boss told the barback that he should take the watch back before something did happen. She also admitted that she'd already broken her fairly new Apple Watch.

I then stepped in to defend my boss, saying that I'd let her drive my Tacoma once, and she hadn't broken that.

 

I took these pictures while walking my boss's dog. Some nicely decorated homes on a bitterly cold night!

 

In high school, I used to look at adult magazines in study hall. I would slip a sports illustrated cover over and sit in the back. One day I was reading a cartoon in Hustler. The cartoon was a farmer with his son in a chicken coop. A bunch of chicks just hatched. The chicks had the body of a chick but the head looked like the farmers son. The farmer looked at his son and asked “Billy Bob have you been diddling the chickens again?” I laughed so hard the teacher came back and asked what was so funny. Half the class was laughing their asses off bacause I was busted. The teacher grabbed the magazine looked at it and said this does not look like a sports illustrated. He the said we were going straight to the principal’s office. Now the whole class is laughing because they all saw the Hustler. He showed the principal the magazine and said I was reading it in class and left. The principal is now looking at it and asked me if I was reading it. I told him mostly looking at it. He looked at it for about ten minutes. The principal had a drinking problem and I could really smell the alcohol sitting 6 or 7 feet from him. He told me to stand by the side of his desk. He looked at me and then the Hustler and told me he was keeping it for evidence. He opened a drawer and put it beside a bottle of Jack and told me to he back to class.

To this day I never got to finish “reading” that issue and have never seen or found that cartoon again

 

I never brought porno mags to school, but my "vice" was car magazines. It was almost always Du Pont Registry.

One time in about 10th grade, I smuggled the latest issue of Du Pont Registry into an assembly in the auditorium. A gym teacher who looked almost exactly like that rapper Xzibit who hosted MTV's Pimp My Ride caught me reading it m. He took it away and said I could have it back after the assembly.

He went to the back of the auditorium and started reading the magazine himself.

As promised, I did get the magazine back after the assembly, but I don't think the gym teacher gave two shits about me reading it during the assembly. I think he just wanted to fantasize about owning a Rolls-Royce Phantom!

 

Isn't it suspicious to have plates from another state in hawaii? After all you can't drive there easily.

 

Wouldn't that be frozen shit on a shingle?

 

I left my dome light on for 2 or 3 days once, the battery did not survive. It was 7 years old and had to be replaced soon after that so it was near the end of it's life.

 

Or corroded battery terminals. My brother's car wouldn't start once due to the battery, cleaning the terminals fixed it. Sometimes when the battery terminals get corroded enough current gets through to charge the battery but the heavy current of starting can't get through.

 

I watched the complete original trilogy on last weekend's trip. Now I'm watching a hilarious Star Wars spoof on this trip!

 

My car got towed in Ellensburg, WA during the county fair once, cost $350 to get it back.
There was no "No Parking" sign there when I parked.
I filed for a hearing and a motion for discovery asking when the sign was first placed there and by who, when the sign was reported missing and by who, and when the sign was replaced and by who. The city had no records and knew nothing.
I took a picture of where my car had been parked to show I could not have missed the sign.
At the hearing the code enforcement officer wanna be cop and I presented our cases. I entered the photo into evidence.
At the end of the hearing the judge spent about 15m telling the code enforcement officer how their system was totally unacceptable. I was thinking come on and finish before you change your mind.
The court finally rendered a decision in my favor. I got the feeling the judge had some issues with the city.
Even though the city had been grossly negligent I could only get the tow fee and filing fee back, no damages.
F*ck ellensburg, I never stop and buy anything there now.