Other What currently makes your life awesome?

Bang tidy!

 

at least the hissing noise has stopped...

...oh and the car is fixed too.

 

Took car in for service and MoT today. Needed just a CV boot clip and a rear wiper blade to pass.

 

Just fired up the Quake 2 Remaster. Haven’t even started playing it yet (because I am ‘avin’ a vape, innit) but… oh yes. Yes yes yes.

Quake 2 RTX was fun, and looked great, but that was a whole different vibe compared to the original. But this just looks… perfect. Even just the opening demo sequence feels so much more like Quake 2… but… modern.

Even better that I didn’t have to pay for it.

 

To be honest, Q2 RTX was a nice tech demo. It had pretty little to do with the original, mainly in terms of atmosphere, IMHO. And my honest opinion matters because I'm one of those weird people who can say "I 100%ed the first level of Q2 blind-folded once in my life".

 

Went to my MOT today with much trepidation as it ran out at midnight yesterday...
My pre planning went totally adrift and I had everything crossed that the yellow warning on the electronic handbrake* would be OK. Handbrake works and balanced OK for the moment

* Waiting for new caliper to be fitted as the attached handbrake motor is failing giving the error, but my mechanic is away

HUGE relief that I'm still mobile, just one other advisory for tyre damage and that's it

 

Did this yesterday afternoon, and I think they'd made the decision there and then. Had a call at mid-day today (shortly followed via email) with an offer, and the salary is at the top-end of the range I said I was looking for. Accepted the offer earlier today and I've already had a contract sent through.

This is a significant pay bump. Noice.

 

Drinks are on you then...

 

Could you have had a go yourself?
I learnt to do all my own repairs from this great bloke called the 50s kid on YouTube ( I have an old BMW E46 compact)
Over the last couple of years I've replaced the entire cooling system, power steering pump and a load of other wear and tear bits.
Very rewarding and economical.

 

Even if you do know what you're doing and can do it yourself... sometimes better to throw money at someone in order to make it their problem/pain in the arse and not yours...

...you've got **** to do after all.

 

And to have someone else accountable if things go sideways.

 

Fair points.
I was always limited to days of/weekends when repairing stuff.
Would have also garaged it if didn't have missus car to fall back on.
I used to be very much the school of 'throw cash at ppl who know what they are doing' but then realised a lot of the time they DON'T know what they are doing for all cars, they promise your car back and you get it two weeks later and they lie and cost the earth.
After all, as long as you have a space to work (Drive for me), a decent trolley jack and a basic set of tools, it's not rocket science, just nuts and bolts and a bit of swearing when access is a bitch.

Older cars probably 'easier' to repair/replace bits I guess as well.
I will say, the power steering pump was VERY rewarding result, going from whiney lorry like steering to lovely smooth motion.
176000 miles and still going, off to Preston this week to watch football from Swansea so I have probably jinxed myself!

This is the guy I turn to when I need to know what to do, seriously multi talented bloke, is a coder/developer etc by day I think but some of the jobs he has undertaken are way beyond my 'have a go' level.
50sKid - YouTube

 

That's always been a big factor for me for a lot of things not just the car. Even if I can do it myself, it then becomes an issue of if something goes wrong I've got to fix it again vs someone else and then the initial savings from doing it myself could be nullified (I'm aware it's not just about the money but it's often a factor).

Also agree with @Gareth Halfacree in there being a kind of scale, for me more happy to try something in the garage, or garden, then house, and car a long way away based on the potential impact of if it does go wrong

 

Completely agree and cars have been a hobby for me, I have no time for tinkering on an old car these days, I have spent hours spent freeing that rusty or sheered nut just to do the simplest of jobs, I don't have the right tools or diagnostic experience that people who do this for a living have and it takes me so much longer and typically cost me twice as much as I always have to buy a new tool, or have broken something in the process.

 

Not making life awesome but related to the above car conversation...

I have done mechanical work on more cars than I have driven. [Less impressive to point out that I don't even have a full license and the sum total of my driving experience is driving one car, once.]

 

£700 to go on Paypal Credit and that's absolutely it...thats from a combined debt in the region of 50x that.. or more? (I'll leave you to do the maths)

No credit cards, no car loans, no overdrafts, no "catalogue" accounts.... nothing. Gone. Done. FANITO!

Good or Excellent credit scores on the big ones, I'm dubious it's actually real (having not seen it!) but everything is in order... Transunion is lagging behind but Its still showing 4-5 balances I've chinned off in quick succession the last 2 months. Its certainly not the last time I'll be in debt because at 201k miles I'm probably not far off a new car...

This has done something crazy for my mental health...