Cycling equipment for visibility

I already had the experience of my wife failing to grab a fire extinguisher when my mentally handicapped daughter tried to burn down the house, my wife grabbed the phone, not the extinguisher, and ran out the house. Fortunately my daughter failed her class in arson and the only thing that burned was a small throw rug, but the main house the carpet had to be replaced due to being soaked in gasoline. My wife does not do well in high stress situations, like during the Northridge earthquake she just fell apart. Her failure to handle stressful events doesn't mean, and hasn't meant this in 38 years, that I would leave her over those things. It's who she is, which is why God put us together so when a stressful event occurs I can keep her together...which is guess is why they say opposites attract?

 

Well, I have the same sort of problem with opposites attracting though I must say that it takes a whole lot not to turn into a screaming maniac with some of the things she does. She demanded that we buy a new refrigerator the other day so we went down to the appliance store and got this huge French door thing that I had to wonder about. When the delivery can it could barely fit through the front door and nothing you could do short of totally dismantling it would allow it to go through the inside doors. The delivery service returned it and now she wants them to take it apart so that it will fit. I try to tell her that alignment of the doors and drawers is critical but it's like talking to a wall. Plus I cleaned out the old refrigerator and threw away all of the things like 5 jars of relish and the piles of opened stuff that has gone bad and there is plenty of room in the old one for my money. I'd just as soon have new heavier doors installed since the last attempt at breaking into my garage luckily failed when the alarm went off.

 

If you bought either an LG or especially a Samsung you will experience problems. If you have either of those two make sure you buy the longest extended warranty you can buy for it, I think you have up to 30 days after purchase to get the warranty. I got a dutch door Samsung 2 years ago and year after we got it it started to freeze up, I was told by the manufacture too bad the warranty has expired. According to the internet there is no fix for it and Samsung refuses to take care of even though it had turned out to be a problem with ALL of their fridge models except for the freezer above frig below models; I am part of a class action lawsuit now. So now every 2 to 3 months I have manually defrost the fridge, yes, unplug it and let it set with doors open for 12 hours just like I had to do with fridges built in the 60's! I also have problems with the door handles coming loose, I had to put some Loctite on the threads to stop that, the plastic door trays crack? yup they crack, it now makes more noise then it did new. I seriously doubt this fridge will last 5 years, but for $2,500 I'll limp it as long as I can. I've heard a lot of issues with LG too but these issues seem to be more quality control so some units are fine and others are not, and the problems vary, whereas with Samsung the biggest consistent problem across all models is the freezing issue which by all rights should warrant a recall which I hope the class action lawsuit will take care of.

 

Thanks for that information.

 

As an update - she went back to the appliance store and got an entire set of stainless steel appliances. The new stove is probably a good idea. The new refrigerator might be since it has a lower freezer compartment. She bought a microwave/vent to go over the stove even though I have this really great stainless microwave already and she also bought a new dishwasher even though the old one works well and we hardly ever use it with only two people in the house. So now we have a year's worth of payments. AHHHHHHHHHHH!

On the upbeat - the appliances are all Kitchenaid which test the best of all of the appliances in the range of these.

 

Tom...PAYMENTS??? really??. Look man, as much as I don't like you...well you're stories, you NEVER buy stuff on credit except for a house and maybe a car, but even a car I pay cash for. I don't even have a credit card and I don't buy anything on credit through a store plan. Credit for stuff is for banks to make money off of you. And as wealthy as you say you are there was no reason to had to go get credit to buy that stuff, a better way would have been either to save up the cash and buy it all at once or save up some cash buy one item and then save again to buy another, sure it would have taken longer but so what? Some of the stuff you replaced still worked so I would have replaced that stuff last and only replaced the most critical thing first. You would have still gotten to where are you now but it may had taken a year or two without any interest, plus the time you take saving money you could have found sale prices to make the whole project cheaper over the long term.

Kitchenaid is pretty decent though we went with Bosch stovetop, Bosch oven, and Bosch dishwasher when we bought our house two years ago (the original appliances were from the 80's and pretty well done for), back then Bosch had the best ratings and so far they've been flawless, should have bought a Bosch fridge! Even Kitchenaid and Maytag aren't as good as they use to be because they are no longer stand alone companies, they both got bought out by other companies with less than stellar reputations, but Kitchenaid seems to be holding up pretty well yet just not the bullet proof reliability (like Maytag) they enjoyed when they were a stand alone company. I don't think any company these days have that bullet proof reliability, we're talking about appliances from the 60's and 70's that would last 30 years, to where now the average life expectancy is just 8 years! 8 FREAKING YEARS! I'm not sure how we can say that companies are environmentally concerned about the use of natural resources when they have to build 3 to 4 times as many units in the place of 1 that they use to have to build! It's not natural resources they're concerned about it's about how much money they can make by keeping us poor by churning our money out of our pockets constantly to replace shit they build. I had a house ceiling fan that I moved from one house to another, this fan is about 40 years old! it still works without any noise or help, I bought a couple of new ceiling fans that I left in the previous house that were only 7 years old and were making noise, and one I had to spin the blades to get it to spin! I had a 286 computer that was still working when I dumped it after 13 years of use only because I couldn't find software for it anymore, all my newer computers since then have lasted about 5 years. So far though I've had great reliability with my Panasonic 48" plasma TV which is now about 14 years old which means it's out lasted the average life expectancy of a TV by about 12 years (but plasma has a far greater life expectancy then LCD does). Had a $450 sofa that lasted us 30 years before we threw it out because it was showing signs of wear, so we bought brand new $2,500 Lazyboy sofa, the fabric was showing wear after just 4 years! Our original bed lasted us 20 years, since then all the beds we've had lasted about 7 years. We live in world of bullshit and nonsense.

I don't think it's fair that I should have to go out and spend $12,000 on a sofa to get one that will last 30 years or so, that's insanity,and I have been told that in order to get something to last that long I would have to look at $8,000 plus sofas, and the style my wife and I liked was $12,000, being tightwads we said no way. I'm at the point where I'll just buy some cheap ass $400 to $500 sofa and replace it every 4 or 5 years! Just think I can change the decor of the living room every 4 or 5 years! Bonus.

 

I never buy anything on time. But my wife has her own credit and buys what she wants. Of course that means she doesn't have the money to pay for food and upkeep etc. So I end up making the payments as well. Do you think you can convince her that bad ideas are bad when she's been doing it her entire life?

 

So you and your wife are not in agreement on important stuff? some marriage that must be. Both my wife and I agree on stuff like that, she doesn't have a credit card and neither do I, she doesn't buy anything large without running it past me then we both have to be in agreement and we have to have the cash; thus I assume she ran it past you and you agreed therefore you allowed the card to be charged therefore it's just as much your fault as it is hers. Just because someone has been doing something their entire working life doesn't mean it's correct, sort of like you smoking weed since you were 5 days old doesn't mean it's right!

 

In the San Francisco bay area you NEVER carry cash so credit cards are de rigueur. Normally I pay it off every month but once or twice a year I have to withdraw funds from my investments when a lot of items come up at once such as property taxes and dental bills.

 

So why can't you carry cash in San Fransissy? I've been there a lot and carried cash. What happened since 2000 since I was there last? do stores etc no longer accept cash?

 

I'm a big man and I don't get bothered. But there are homeless encampments practically everywhere in the bay area now. And a large percentage of these people are drug addicts. Flash some money and you're asking to get a pipe broken over your head. I don't carry more than $20 and that's probably too much in many areas not because it endangers me but because it gives these people the idea that other people are carrying cash.

 

So why would you first be walking past homeless camps? and two, why would you as you walk by them flash cash?

Besides, you're tough, you've knocked out a lot of people and killed others for a living, now you're worried about a pipe being broken over your head? You're an absurd little old bastard!

 

Best line of the thread so far!

I can see it now!

The bag lady beats the shit out of tommy and steals his "Colgano" bike! LMFAO!

 

LMAO too, the funny thing is I can see that happening too!!!!!

 

You've never been to the San Francisco area I see. 20 years of Democrat rule has homeless encampments three blocks from the city hall and 6 blocks from the main police station. They hand out free needles for illegal drug use and are talking about handing out free illegal drugs to prevent overdose deaths. You cannot go anywhere where there are not beggars, homeless and or drug addicts. There are entire sections of cities where not a word of English is spoken and the only safe spots are the gated communities of the rich that have their own armed guards while supporting the Democrat Party with huge donations. You can't even go in a deli without people standing around to see how you pay for things. I just took $40 out of a bank auto-teller and a guy drove over and parked next to my car then came over to the deli and walked in until he saw I was twice his size. You don't think that legal votes put in all Democrats in the central valley do you?

This is what you have to look forward to if the Democrats ever gain power again.

 

Like I said I haven't been there since 2000, but I did see homeless camps there like I see just about everywhere in California, and if you think it's bad in San Fransissy try visiting Los Angeles, I was in LA just last year and it's a frightfully different then it was just 10 years prior, so San Fransissy is probably the same way...frightfully different. But even so I walked around LA without fearing for my life, even walked pass some small camps, and no one said anything. I've read posts where cyclists were getting robbed of their bikes along the bike paths in the LA area, which means if I were to ride my bike there in LA I would do what I did when I lived there a long time ago before there were bike paths...ride on the streets! While I was there in LA that last time I had a homeless person rush up to my rental car and washed my windshield, I though gee how nice until he wanted $5 for doing so, so I asked him if I had asked him to wash my window, he said no, I said that's right so you volunteered for free to wash my window, and I thanked him and drove off leaving him cussing at me.

Unfortunately Demorats will eventually take over complete control of our government probably in 15 years, why is that you scream? Because like I mentioned before in another thread, the Dems have been in control of universities for quite some time, those universities pumped out liberal teachers, lawyers, counselors etc, those liberal people produced offspring that were never or lightly disciplined, and that cycle has a domino effect; and the psychology of under disciplined children is that they grow up to be mostly liberal vs disciplined children who grow up to be more conservative, and this is why behavior scientists claim that we shouldn't be disciplining our children as much, and all those years of teaching this nonsense has infiltrated the schools which is why students in school get little discipline and gets candy when they only get into one fight instead of two that week because he improved from the prior week! This is why I saw a coach who was trying to instruct a star quarterback, in middle school (junior high is what you and I use to call it) of all places, the finer points on how to behave, and the student rolled his eyes at him and shook his head up and down fast and grinning like some smartass, did the coach do anything about the kid's total disrespect towards him? NO. Since I didn't have a dog in the fight I told the coach that if I was him (the coach) I would have fired the star player off the team, because all he (the coach) did by allowing that behavior was to teach the rest of the players that they don't have to respect authority nor respect him, he needed to set an example that no matter how good a player is he has to be respectful and follow the rules, if not then its out the door he goes. The coach said that if you "fire" a player it doesn't teach them anything...what a load of BS and I told him so, I told him that when that kid grows up and gets a job and doesn't do the job right he's going to get fired, he needs to understand the outcome of his bad behavior, the coach was dense from years of being brainwashed at his university, and it's why teachers when they get tenure can get away with murder and not be fired. But this lack of discipline crap goes back to liberals knowing what the outcome will be and that's why they teach it in universities to future teachers etc.

https://psmag.com/economics/how-to-raise-a-little-liberal-or-conservative-48145

After you read the above site think about this for a moment: Teacher tenure is a policy that restricts the ability to fire teachers, requiring a "just cause" rationale for firing. The individual states each have established their own tenure systems. Tenure provides teachers with protections by making it difficult to fire teachers who earn tenure. Now do you see where that mentality on how to discipline children comes from?

Be happy Tom because in roughly 15 years when the liberals do finally have government in their hand you'll be either dead or roughly 93 years old and won't really have the energy nor the time left to care anymore.

 

If you believe that is what is going to happen watch and learn. California is literally falling apart. As the government workers reach retirement age we do not have sufficient income to pay their retirement benefits. These are presently at 10 times the tax income. So California is effectively bankrupt.

The present generation is used to be superior to everyone else. So exactly how do you think they are going to react to a newer generation acting in the same manner and making the older generation feel unimportant and inferior?

 

California has been effectively bankrupt since about 2008, but democrat politicians have effectively covered it up, but the problems began before 2008. What's weird, well not really because this is how the parties work, but when George Deukmejian was governor (R) he was able to balance the state budget from a poor budget from the previous Jerry Brown fiasco. He did some things that would make cyclist cringe but when you don't have money you don't spend what you don't have, so he was able to cut over 1 billion dollars out of the budget and part of that 5 million dollars for bike infrastructure.

But the next governor Pete Wilson (R) is my all time favorite governor of any state and I wish he would have ran for president. Anyways he put California on the recovery, this man was so good, he came into a state with a debt and left the state with 16 BILLION dollar SURPLUS! And that was AFTER paying for the damage caused by the Northridge earthquake!!

But then along came Gray Davis (D) who was able to spend that entire surplus and put Calif back into debt, and due to his new programs eventually put Calif into a budget crisis that ended up being a 34 billion dollar shortfall. My god, and this is the sort of crap that all democrats do and we all sit around with our heads buried in the sand and vote democrat, I don't understand this at all.

Then came Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who I thought would be good governor, boy was I ever wrong! This guy was only a republican by status but not by thought, he was as liberal as they came despite what some say that he moved toward the center...no, he moved to the far left. He was rated one of the top 10 worst governors in the history of the United States! Jackass.

Now you have good ol Jerry Brown (D) who put California into debt when he ran the first time as governor years ago, and now he's done the exact same thing and spent money like water they don't have.

I can't understand for the life of me that all people have to do is look at political parties track record of financial success as mayor, governor, senator, congressman, representative or president and vote for those that won't bring financial ruin to their cities, states, and country, but no for some reason people like watching their taxes and inflation go skyrocketing and their communities, states and federal government go bankrupt, it excites them to see themselves, city, state and country go into financial ruin so they vote democrat.

I'm so glad I left Calif, the only thing I miss about Calif, is my friends, family, and weather, but I don't miss the cost to live there.

 

...the earthquakes...the fires...the traffic...the taxes...the prices...the illegals...the crime...the homeless...the corruption...the drought...48th in math, 49th in reading as evidenced by tommy...

 

I keep hoping California will break off from the rest of the US by earthquake like was predicted years ago.