New England B.S. Thread

It depends on the day of the week whether Austin is growing or shrinking. It's spreading out, although the legislature changed the law on annexing so the people in the area to be annexed get to vote. There is also a "disannexation" process that a few small areas have taken advantage of.

We drove down to Lockhardt a few weeks ago. There is a development with 2,600 SFH being built. So, while people may be fleeing Austin itself, they are coming to Texas. On our way back we came through Buda on I-35 and I was surprised to see that Austin extends almost to Buda. It's been years since I drove down there and the farm land that I remember between the two is pretty much all gone.

My sister in law and her husband bought a house in "Soutwest Oaks" off of 290 back in the early 1980s. That wasn't in Austin back then, but was annexed years ago. It's been probably 15 years since we drove in that area, but it's built up way more than it was back in the 1980s. Then it was mostly ranch and farm with a few developments. Now, most of that rural land is built on.

A few years ago, people who were priced out of Austin went to Pflugerville or Round Rock. Both are no longer small mostly rural cities and both have the same type, but not volume, of problems as Austin. Which has an ever growing crime problem. There seems to be at least one homicide a week there now. Which is probably still low, but it's much more notable than I've ever seen and I've followed Austin news for years.

 

Yeah, that's looking at Austin. When you look at Buda, New Braunfels, etc (and I'm sure a bunch of the cities NE as well) - those are expanding. People aren't moving to Austin proper, but they're moving to "Austin and surrounding areas".

Same thing as us looking at So Cal. We are looking at San Diego proper, and an area outside the city that's not "San Diego" proper, BUT would still be part of the "San Diego Metro Area" or whatever.

Austin is BIG. Boston, for example, is actually pretty small - a lot of what people call Boston includes Somerville, Chelsea, Brookline, Cambridge, etc. That's all "other cities". In Austin, that would all be part of Austin itself. Boston is 48 square miles. Austin is 305.

 

Another one of those days on 495. This guy must've tried to rock crawl, but didn't have the clearance.

 

Boston is tiny geographically. On the night shift, we could get from downtown to W. Roxbury in about 12 minutes if needed. Down here, 12 minutes is three traffic lights. If I have to go to Lakeway, which is on the other side of Austin from me, I have to plan for an hours drive unless I use the overly expensive toll roads.

Someone should tell him you drive over the rocks, don't try to drive through them.

 

Rebuild or replace unfortunately. I should be installing 12 " fox's in the rear soon and you can grab my 5160's for free but not sure how soon. Sometime this summer.

 

I'm in no rush lol. Planning to redo the whole suspension just not yet

 

We should probably plan that out soon. My next free weekend day is like 8/24...

That goes for anyone who wants any fab work done

 

That sucks. That looks like it was a nice XJ. There aren’t many left around here.

 

I have different variants of on my work bench.

Usually before I chuck something I rip all the nuts / bolts / washers / screws out of it and store them. You never know when they might come in handy. It's not hoarding if it's organized. When I was resetting my front LED bar I lost one of the crossbar nuts into the skid plate abyss. I went to my collection and managed to find a matching flared nut and popped it on.

 

Waste not, want not. Much wisdom. If I part out a bike I save everything of any use now or in fixing another machine.

 

I usually use those coupons for the blue shop towels, red towels, cleaning supplies, etc. I hate spending money on shit I throw away.

 

I found some decent ones on Amazon. There's 3 different drawer setup combos. But they all share the same size frame so it'll be neat and stackable. Obviously more expensive than HF though.

IRIS USA Screw Organizer, Hardware Storage Organizer, 44 Drawer Parts Cabinet, Plastic Drawer Storage for Hardware Crafts, Small Parts, Nuts and Bolts, Tool Storage, Scrapbook Art Hobby - Black

$40 IRIS USA Screw Organizer, Hardware Storage Organizer, 44 Drawer Parts Cabinet, Plastic Drawer Storage for Hardware Crafts, Small Parts, Nuts and Bolts, Tool Storage, Scrapbook Art Hobby - Black

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DFDS56H

That being said, I'm gonna be getting rid of my old organizers if anyone wants to do a little trade for some beer. Orange trays with grey frame.

 

Spending a week with a Gladiator Mojave

 

HVAC request for help





This has been incredibly active (compared to normal since we moved in in 2017) after I did a water tank flush in about December. Did another flush about a week ago, as I was hoping that might just kind of "fix" whatever is going on ...

Any ideas?

This is what I'm working with. The 1970s called....

 

You may be my reincarnated grandfather.

 

Anyone local to Rhode Island want to swap their 3rd gen double cab Tacoma roof moldings for the OEM roof rack? Rack was installed new on my 2020. Truck is stored outdoors so there is some fading but functions as expected.

I don’t use it because a small amount of 2020 VINS have interference with the roof rack and the shark fin antenna. There is a TSB somewhere on it. Local dealer claims they won’t do the fix without me paying…

Anyway, if someone wants to do the swap let’s figure something out!

 

Hot water heater
HOT WATER HEATER

Even the manufacturer can't get it right. It makes my blood boil.

 

I'll need something like that soon. I have a packout version of that and I ran out of room like immediately

Speaking of nuts and bolts - @TacoTuesday603 where did you get that thing to find out what type of bolt/nut is in your hand?

 

I have a thread checker, less handy then the wall mounted dodad but you can bring it wherever you want

 

Nothing special but everything is out of the way enough and sorted that if I need something in a pinch I can grab it.