Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

Nope, I live in landland.

My truck backfired this morning and scared the tailgating driver behind me. It was a good one, too. I’m talking a full cylinder at least.
Gonna have to get plugs and wires on the way home. Might have to throw a loveseat in the bed, become an Uber driver, and my the truck earn its money back 😂

@HobbitGamer - Do you have an engine light on for a converter? Backfiring is typically more of an exhale problem than an inhale.

And here is your new reply, if that ever happens again:

"No, I'm a girl, I just like pink. Now hand me my medium-baked steak"...
(here's hoping you actually like the color pink, otherwise, that'll fall flat on its face amongst friends and families, although you could still use it regardless, as a snappy comeback... )

If it actually works, you can thank me later...

Aww... NESsie want a blanky?

Man, you must not have been paying attention, probably skimmed over it all, once you read about actual, healthy and tasty food...

We both mentioned only having cooking days with fresh ingredients a couple of times a month, or at most 2 days a week, and for the rest of the week, you eat what you made earlier, and if you make 4 to 5 different dishes, you'll always have enough variety in your meals. And in between, you eat the odd pizza, or a burger and fries, or whatever else floats your boat, but solely living on that, will make sure that you won't be living all that much longer, or that you might become one of the latest contestants in the new season of Obese...

And most of my meals take all of half an hour tops to prepare, so you come home from work (5pm), stop by the super market on the way, arrive at around 5.45pm - 6pm, prepare a meal, dinner at around 6.30pm. Even easier if
I can just get a pre-made portion out of the freezer...

@Octane No, WE live in Orange land. You should be ashamed of yourself, not realizing that...

@bimmy-lee Nope, no CEL at all. Aaaaand I don't have a cat. (Not my fault, a previous owner)
It only did a single shot, and after I went full open. I've been replacing factory and/or old things (it's a 99 Dakota 4x2 3.9) and I think I'm down to general tune up and possibly fuel pump. But it's only acting up when the motor temp is cold, like first 10 minutes of running; Will shut off (i e not sputter down), but can be started back up. Will stumble and miss while driving. Can force a backfire at the exhaust tip (not tb or or manifold!), smells a little rich. Once the block is warm, no problems exist.

Items in the ignition/intake system less than a year old (because they died from age, or on the way out);
-PCM, TPS, IAC, PCV, Ambient Air sensor (don't ask), battery, alternator, crankcase breather hose (replaced with mopar breather filter), starter rebuilt, muffler, upstream O2
Items not related but less than two years old;
-driveshaft, u-joints, idle tensioner, idler pully, rebuilt brake knuckles

It's gotta be plugs/wires/cap/rotor at this point.

@HobbitGamer - Seems like that’s the ticket then. If it’s been running rich, those items could be fouled. Maybe buy all three items, but keep the wires in the box and try the plugs and C&R first (unless their OG). The original owner probably burned up the cat, and that process fouled up your spark & fuel delivery/regulation. The PCM probably freaked out because it looked for that O2 sensor in the missing cat for too long. I’ve worked in a couple service depts, so I actually know about the ambient air sensor. Every time I sold one, I had the distinct feeling the customer thought I was lying to them until it was replaced and the engine ran well again. It sounds like a made up part name.

@ThanosReXXX Well, my kitchen doesn't allow for portions big enough to last days most of the time unless it's a ham or a roast or something. Think Japanese kitchen. About 3ft of counter....and that's it. Enough for a rice cooker and a microwave. After that you're using the floor for prep space (which I do... ) I used to do a ton of cooking and baking, but I have no idea how I had the patience to deal with that. Youth was a wonderful thing I'd have things to trip over lined all over the floor.....

Now groceries....you're really too used to the EU way of life A trip to the food store here is going to kill well more than an hour of your day. It's going to take 15 minutes just to wait at the 3 traffic lights just to get to the store, and that's if you're near one (I happen to be.) Then another 15 minutes at the 3 lights out. back. Then your half hour of shopping min, plus 10-15 minutes in line waiting for price checks and coupon issues. For a lot of folk, the nearest food store is going to be Walmart at least 30 minutes away (each way.) If I stop at the store on the way home, I'd get home maybe 6:30, if I'm lucky. 7:00 if they decided to remodel one of the 6 times a year they remodel and you can find nothing in the store. And we're not including construction. 60% of the year there's only one lane in and out anyway while the utilities are digging AGAIN. I generally just stock up on 7-10 days of groceries at a time. No way I'm going more than once a week. That's pure torture. And that's for the NEAREST store of which I have on atypically close. Oh, add another 5 minutes finding a parking space and almost getting hit a dozen times. And hopefully you won't need a raincheck for a sale item they conveniently don't have but will gladly offer you store brand instead..... that's another 20 minutes while they "check the stock room" at their own pace.

If I were rich I'd at minimum just subscribe to Blue Apron where they ship you a cardboard box filled with ingredients to make one Yuppie-fied meal for exorbitant prices.

@bimmy-lee Oh, those wires definitely gotta go. They very well could be the stocks, since NGK was the factory supplier. I'm on the same wavelength as you about the cascading failures. Initially it was just the occasional downstream O2 light, then this year is when the PCM lost its mind and gave up trying. I can get all the parts for $71, NGK mid-level too. Oh, and I need an air box gasket. the one on there developed a tear when i changed the edelbrock filter

I liked trying to explain to the parts person at NAPA that I needed the ambient temp sensor, not the intake temp sensor. I didn't even have an ambient plugged in... The truck is an absolute beast, though. I love the smaller design days, and I got it for like $2k. It's got 182k on it, but runs like a champ until recently. It almost makes up for not havin' my '00 cherokee sport

@NEStalgia Ah, yeah... we also got those over here. One of them is suitably called "Hello Fresh", and it offers a subscription that you can stop or cancel at any time, for example if you go on a holiday, in which case you obviously wouldn't want boxes of fresh food being delivered to your door...

So, that three feet of counter space, does that include the sink and the stove, or are they separate?
I'll have to admit that I have a rather long counter, with a double sink, which is about 7 to 8 feet, and beside that on the left, is a fridge, and on the right a four-burner gas cooker. And on top of the fridge, I've placed a combi-microwave, which also acts as a normal grill or oven, so I've got all that I need to prepare any kind of meal.

If I were you, that combi-microwave would be my first purchase. You can get good, decently healthy meals for about 5 to 10 bucks, that you can just pop in the microwave. Tons of variety, ready in next to no time...

And yeah, I do tend to forget that distances are a thing over there, but in my mind, I'm nearly always talking to city slickers, and seeing as in America, everything is always bigger, better, faster, more available, I'd expect there to be dozens of supermarkets or malls within a half hour's driving distance.

Over here, I really do drive by several super markets/grocery stores on my way home, from the center of the city to where I live, so I can choose which one I want to go to, depending on prices, some shops having certain food items that others don't have, and so on.

On a side note: not that it'll actually have any effect on me, but I do have to wonder exactly how old you want ME to feel, if you're already complaining about youth being a wonderful thing in a retrospective kinda way. I don't feel old at all, and although grocery shopping can be a real chore, and isn't exactly on my list of favorite things to do,
I do like making sure that I'll have a couple of decent meals for the coming month, and I like good food, so it's more or less a necessary evil, and I also like cooking, so even after a hard day at work, I'll still find pleasure in cooking up a nice dinner for myself, knowing that I will enjoy eating it even more.

And if you've got a four-burner cooker, then you can make the same recipes I make. Three feet is all it takes to put a cutting board on. The meat you buy should already be cut up, so that can go into the stir-frying pan or wok straight away, and then the only thing you need space for, is your vegetables of choice. Or not even that, if you also buy these in ready made packages. So, basically, all you need is a good fridge, a good gas cooker, and a wok...

@ReaderRagfish Dunno, but far as I'm concerned, it suits this thread just fine, seeing as chit-chat is about everyday life and its goings-on, which definitely also includes food...

And besides, we gotta prevent that this is going to be a thread were people predominantly talk about dance games, games actually meant for children but played by adults, and falling asleep while playing them...

@HobbitGamer - Those are nice little trucks. I still see them and Rangers out and about all the time, sometimes much older than yours. Small trucks are great. Decent bed capacity for light to medium hauling, with small, relatively efficient motors. They all choke out over time though, and nobody ever wants to pay for a cat. Good luck, I hope you smooth it out.

There is a food thread somewhere around here... Though to be honest it's not worth the trouble to revive it.

@ThanosReXXX The sink is wedged into the corner (which makes it as impractical as possible to use....) The stove and there might be another foot and a half on the other side of it before the stove (which is wasted space as it's pure garbage.....electric coil stove....with a recirculating hood. It produces food in two flavors "charry" and "charry - extra crispy style". I've taken to using an induction hob plopped on the table. Anything's better than that thing. But that means I have a "one burner" cooker. And each piece needs to be made one after the other. I actually do make big breakfasts on winter weekends, but the cooking takes a good 2 hours. My "day" starts at like noon or 1 as a result. Your kitchen sounds like the kitchens the McMansions get here Minus all the "Viking" brand lifestyle appliances....

Though $10 for a home meal I would consider "outrageously expensive." For that money, might as well eat out!

Trouble with driving distances is, they tend to build everything out with consolidated shopping areas, and everything else is sprawling seas of corporate centers and residential areas. And the places that used to be 20 minutes away now with EXTREME city-like traffic congestion (see also endless residental areas and corporate campuses) what used to take 20 minutes is now 45+ minutes waiting in light after light after light and gridlock. And a lot of local stores closed so EVERYTHING is at those far away places. The more city-like it gets, the farther away everything gets. Unless you live in the core city, but that either means living in the gangbanger ghetto (true surround sound while playing COD!), or making six figures at the absolute minimum just to buy hot dog meals forever

Pre-cut meat is crazy expensive....plus, no meat frying (ever) as there's no external ventilation, I can microwave pre-cooked meat. Bake things like roasts.... But no frying meats, no wokking, unless I want a smoke filled house and smoke alarms going of (which has happened... ) Ages ago I used to do that. I have no idea how or why I tried....that's just a nightmare. I used to make bacon....why did I do that?

But you did highlight the problem. Not sure how it is in europe, but anything with pre-cut veggies, pre-cut meat, anything like that you're paying an instant 40% premium over here. It really doesn't pay. You're back to having to do it long form which means hunching over the floor with a knife At least summer theres the grill.... Of course it just encourages beef and pork forever

@bimmy-lee yup, there’s quite a few around here from the farms and such. Probably Dakota, Rangers, and Comanches are my favorite ‘modern’ trucks. I’m more partial to the old 50-70s models tho. My friend’s dad has an old D100 with a blown motor, but I’m not at that level to do internals yet.
I just put in the store order, and snagged a 20% coupon to boot, so I’ll see what I can do this evening.

@NEStalgia That 10 bucks was the maximum price for a meal. For that, you'd get one of these luxury fresh meals in one of those steam containers, that you need to put in a microwave. Most meals can be had for around 5 to 6 bucks, and you'd still have more variety in it, then whatever the hell you're eating now, on a daily basis, because there isn't all that much left, besides fast food and/or takeaway.

And here I was, thinking that according to American standards, my rental apartment would probably be considered small or at most somewhere in the lower regions of medium-sized...

But man, it sounds like you're living in a dorm room, instead of in an actual house...

If it actually WAS a dorm, then it'd probably be a luxury one, due to there being a stove/cooker.
Well, either a luxury dorm, or a lethal one, depending on the drinking habits of the residing college brats...

From the sound of it, your kitchen(ette) easily fits multiple times into @rjejr's, and his must at least have decent ventilation, what with all the stuff that he cooks up in there, otherwise, he'd be walking around and living in cooking fumes all day, every day...

Today, I just bought a kilo of pre-cut chicken fillet morsels: cost me exactly €10,67, which translates to $11,92. And just in case you're wondering: I bought it at the super market. With that kilo of chicken fillet, and the other fresh ingredients I bought, I can prepare a 7-8 person stir fry dish tomorrow, on one burner.

I actually use two at a time, because the dish is served either with rice or baked potatoes, but if it would be necessary, I could make the main recipe first, and cook the rice or bake the potatoes afterwards. Heck, I could even do those in the combi-microwave.

Well, anyway, hope you still got some brighter, more spacious future ahead of you, because your current one sounds rather gloomy and/or slightly claustrophobic, if you ask me.

@ThanosReXXX I definitely wouldn't want to see dorm kids having any access at all to anything hot, flaming, or otherwise not foam insulated and bubble wrapped.

Yeah, new stuff they build in the US is all giant sized, maximum efficiency, and priced beyond what a normal person can afford. But the old stuff is a hodge-podge of "whatever the builders could get away with" with absolute minimum oversight (laisez faire and all.) Of course now the government manages construction like a hawk, and the result is exorbitant pricing and all kinds of fees to get anything at all done. In fact I haven't seen them build a single new thing in the past 15+ years not branded "luxury". So if they only build new things in "luxury" which implies for wealthy people....imagine what everyone else gets It's a different world now, but some of us are stuck with the past indefinitely Yeah....the kitchen...really isn't a kitchen at all. Then again these builders took every shortcut they could possibly think of. They scrimped on everything and sold the central support beam for the building as an "upgrade" (no joke...)

Yeah, I imagine rjejr living an an absolute castle in contrast. His bathroom is almost certainly larger than my kitchen. 2lb of chicken for $12 is pretty expensive.....$6/lb? Same markup. Normally you'd be looking at $4/lb or so if uncut.

At the risk of going full @rjejr I don't imagine there's much less gloom in the future. You just get used to it. It can be cramped though for sure. I once had a contractor look at it and asked the cost of like a 3ft or 4ft bump-out. He quoted it STARTING at $20k min. I showed him the door and embraced taco tuesday. Sadly, contracting costs vary around the country and in this area it's quite pricy. Not Florida pricy, but pricy. I remember when a wood deck was like $2000. Now they're like $15k to start.

@NEStalgia Well, if you think that's expensive, then I'd almost have to suspect that you're either very stingy, or living on welfare...

But in all seriousness: you can't expect decent food to cost next to nothing. If a pound of chicken costs less than a couple of bucks, then I'd suspect that there's either something seriously wrong with it, or in the least worst case scenario, it's injected with water, as some super markets around the world still do.

And yeah, uncut meat is cheaper. Buying the same amount of chicken fillets uncut would have cost me around €7,50/$8, BUT... what most people don't take into account there, is that when you use whole fillets, you still have to cut off the bad bits, such as bits of fat, bloody and/or sinewy parts, and what not, which are always still in there, whereas with pre-cut meat, all of that is already removed, so a kilo will indeed be exactly that, and with whole fillets, you'd lose at least 50 grams or so, if not more.

Still cheaper, I know, but also more work, and I do like to stick to my half hour preparation time, whenever possible...

can someone please ban NEStalgia from using the same stupid emoji every paragraph

thank you

It could be worse. It could be winking.

improved your post

@NEStalgia @ThanosReXXX I'm so lost w/ you two reading the comments in my emails I'm not even sure who is saying what.

For $6 lb my boneless chicken filets better already be cooked. Though I don't do organic or any of that healthy stuff, I only buy what's on sale, so that may be why $4 is my ceiling. Though I rarely buy raw anything anymore. When your family motto is "Too much work", well I gotta lead by example so we eat a lot of unhealthy pre-prepared meals. My cooking raw meat is limited to like once a week.

And I certainly don't live in a McMansion - nobody calls them castles anymore - but your typical "house". A lot of people around here call it a "starter home" b/c it looks small on the outside, but w/ 2 full bathrooms, a dining room, living room, large finished basement and 4 bedrooms - 1 converted to a walk in office closet - and a 14' x 17' eat in kitchen it's not a starter to me. Oh and a 12'x16' deck off the kitchen we eat on throughout the summer when I bbq raw meat a little more often. Though mostly just hot dogs, sausages, steak and burgers. Nothing fancy.

The house is probably bigger than Thanos apartment, but he probably didn't spend 5 hours today dethatching - ie power raking - the front lawn. I'm all in on yardwork this year, trying to make it presentable for my sons high school graduation next year. So yeah, if I was single I'd be living in a rental apartment. For me, the only pro of house owning - rather than renting - is when I die my kids will have an inheritance. Other than that - and not worrying too much about being evicted - the American dream of home ownership has taken a beating over the past 20 years or so. We'll have our house paid off in 2 years, which is great, but we'll still owe $10,000 per year - every year - in real estate taxes. And another $1,000 in home owners insurance. So overall it's a drag. But at least I can leave something to my kids, b/c it's all I got. Being a stay-at-home dad means no social security for me, though I think if I live long enough I'll get half my wife's. If social security lasts that long.

Oh, my 2nd bathroom was an add-on. $28,000. In fact my house is already kind of paid off, we really just owe the $30,000 home loan for the bathroom. We rolled our mortgage and home equity line of credit into 1 loan. And since the #TrumpTaxScam I can't claim the combined interest and taxes.