About to head outside and do the permanent fix for the heater hoses (prior fix with Home Depot Racing brass fitting has a minor leak). Proper fix = new hoses, new OEM clamps and... either the Z1 bleeder fitting or the aluminum straight fitting (no bleeder). I have both. Part of me says use the Z1 fitting, part says the AL one is less points of failure.

Last time I drove it was around late January, 2 hours to a medical appointment (thanks, VA). Got there and there was a coolant smell and the reservoir was low. No drips or splashes I could see... topped it off and drove home. HOPING that I don't have a leak somewhere else, since this is now my DD.

// burnout at work finally caught up to me - no more company car, no more job LOL. At least I have new tires on it and got the VLINE carplay interface installed.
/// should have some actual time to work on it given that no one seems to be interested in a 54-year old lawyer... they all want folks who will work 100+ hours/week for 80k. "No one wants to work" indeed.

 

Doing burnouts in the company parking lot is maybe not a good idea.





jk. I know what you meant. laughter in the face of adversity and all that jazz

 

[QUOTE=Rochester;4342695]Doing burnouts in the company parking lot is maybe not a good idea.



The most recent company car was a Trax - 3 cyl 130ish HP. The only way that would do a burnout is if I set it on fire first. Which, to be VERY CLEAR, I did not.

Kind ribbing is foremost - kind. Thank you John In the military, if someone does NOT give you ****, even when you're down, they don't like you at all. They'll be helping you out of your pit and giving you **** while doing it. It's perverse, but a kind of brotherhood I truly miss.

Bright sides - in 2 weeks my health has changed dramatically - for the better. Resting heart rate down, stress as measured by my garmin WAY down, caffeine consumption now 1 cup a day if I remember (was ~600-800mg a day - I started my day with a quad shot cappuchino and nursed Monster energies all day long). I feel the age I look again, not the age I am (that's a good thing). I even have time to drink water.

I also got my VA disability rating upped from 10 to 80, which while not enough to live on covers the mortgage and my wife's audi payment. So I don't have to rush back into a crap job, and am looking at things I'd be happy to retire from. Just hoping I can get appointed before this legislative session ends LOL.

Of all the jobs I've lost or walked away from, this one was the one where I didn't realize it was killing me until it was gone. And it is a little petty but I'm enjoying seeing the operations in this state absolutely implode.

 

Too old to work hard, too young to actually retire. I don't envy you as I make retirement plans, but I'm happy to hear your improved physical and mental health is a silver lining to the situation.

I gave up caffeine 3 or 4 years ago after recognizing I had high BP, and so glad I did. What used to be 3 migraines a week has gone down to zero. Literally, zero.

 

As someone your age that has survived 5 downsizings over the past two years and suffering from "survivor's syndrome", I have book recommnedation for you:

 

I picked that up the first time you recommended it to me - it was insightful.

Much like my (now prior) employer sent me to countless leadership conferences, management trainings, etc (he sent all of us) and then flat-out refused to implement any of the best practices I'd been learning for years - from NCO Academy when I was in the USAF to numerous train-the-trainer courses through all the industry 'elevate your team' stuff... I realized that what the firm wanted wasn't really possible for anyone with actual experience leading a team. I did notice that all the other execs at the firm, save the owner, were just 40 or turning 40. I was one of the 5 oldest employees and by far the oldest attorney. He wanted the exec team to do at least twice the volume of the rank-and-file attorneys, manage all the staff and admin, be leaders by example in industry relations, and go to all these conferences and galas and teach half of them. It meant working every evening and weekends, and the only way I'd get peace on vacation from the powers above was to delete my Gmail app and get a foreign SIM and number while abroad.

My knowledge is now crystalized, for sure. I'm a great team leader and trainer. I just shouldn't be doing the grunt work any more - I should be training the folks doing it to do it better. In the USAF they hammered home the idea that a manager (NCO)'s role was to remove barriers to their team getting stuff done. I need to find *that* role LOL if it still exists.

Conversely, I now have a monthly guaranteed income for life that would qualify me for relatively decent standard of life with a digital nomad visa in a bunch of countries I've been to and liked... so if I can hold on until my kiddo goes to college - and she's a shoe-in at the moment for several UK universities - I've got a reason to move and enjoy life. It is looking better for me than the high cost of living in Charleston SC - Vienna and Prague are listed as two of the most expensive cities in the world, and I've been to both and they're not appreciably more expensive than here, especially when you consider housing. Average apartment here is approaching 3K/month and average mortgage is close to that. :roll:

And... NOW I've got time to rediscover my car hobby and actually work on the darn car. If I can get over the exec dysfunction and get out there and start.

 

I enjoyed the book as it presented a healthy perspective on aging and the evolution of intelligence. I also took away from the book looking at employment a little differently and embracing future roles which would capitlize more on my collective experience ("Crystalized intelligence") vs. following today's corporate mantra that encourages managers to push everyone well "outside their comfort zone"; we all need a little chaos at any age to feel alive, but we also need a healthly balance of order.

I recieve disability as well (50%) but live in CA and take care of teens, young adults and now aging parents, so it essentially helps with my Costco bill. In the Bay and Socal, we are the benchmark for high cost of living globally, so when I think about renting a condo on the upper west side of NYC, or a flat in Earl's Court London, or maybe living downtown in Vienna for what it cost to rent a 1000 sq/ft home in Milpitas built in the 60s residing on a busy street across from a discount tire, it seems that something is out of balance.

Laid off 2 days before thanksgiving in 2023 (first time in 25 years), and now the survivor of 5 downsizings/restructurings since, I am feeling somewhat calloused and wondering if evolution needs to begin sooner than the traditional timeline subscribed to by financial planners and other folks that allow spreadsheets to dictate the outcome. Maybe the chaos we need at our age resides inside of us waiting for another 8lbs of boost in order to release the next chapter of our story.

 

For something a little lighter and fun to read, pick this one up:
Essentially, the book dicsusses 15 cars that shaped american culture. I enjoyed it so much that I'm bummed that I finished it today on my ride home from the office (Audible).

 

I wasn't even considering the cost of living in CA... it's nuts. Politics aside... everything I do for fun is illegal there and yeah, especially socal or SF Bay area... wow. On the other hand, according to glassdoor my position out there would have averaged 500k/ year and not the barely-over-6 figs that the southeast pays...

I'm trying to find a training role. Even talking to two law schools about teaching, but that's a long road to adequate income. I just don't think litigation is going to be for me any more.

 

Why not start a consulting business? 1099, leverage the tax code to its fullest potential?500K here maybe as a partner within an established law firm and a degree from a prestigious school, but there are many under-employed lawyers out here.

What's illegal in CA outside of emissions?