Rants and Stupid shit in Orange County

[TobeYoung]

On my way to the AMP there's a car accident in the intersection. Cars everywhere. I park 3 blocks down and walk to AMP. I have the sickness. I would have walked even further if needed. The little head out thinking the big head. Keep mongering my fellow mongers!

[FarFarAway]

In my situation, we just got rid of our last gas-powered vehicle. Literally, what we aren't paying in gas every month is a car payment on one of the other vehicles. We ordered the second Tesla with a trailer hitch installed for that exact purpose. Hauling shit, since the vehicle that just died is the one that we used to haul shit. Now it's just a matter of grabbing a $15/ day UHaul trailer and we can haul all the shit we want. I'd never be able to convince the wife that we needed another car for any reason.

A pickup truck isn't a bad idea though if you can pull it off. Definitely solves the problem.

I was behind a Tesla the other day that had this bumper sticker:

I bought this before we knew Elon is crazy.

[Grimmy23]

Your dilemma reminds me of another prominent poster on this site. On the Richmond sugar thread, a de facto national place to post. Handle was JZLizard. Really authoritative, and a deep thinker. However, he had a SO, and he said he never sugar dated unless he was out of town, or she was. In the post-pandemic world where we travel for business less than we used to, I am sure this cut into his FC trips. Of course he was also banging the warden still, and had some philosophical questions about sugaring that were interesting to read. For whatever reason, he stopped posting completely. Perhaps he decided to get out of the sugar bowl as he often threatened.

I happen to have a business trip to a well-known party town starting Friday, I am super happy to get some time away for free play. Hope to have a lot to report.

Yeah, I used to travel a lot, for a lot of years. By a lot I mean 8-10 overseas trips a year with about 79% of those to Asia and the other 30% to Europe. There was some domestic travel in there as well, and some Canada, but the bulk was overseas. I did all of my mongering away from home. What we have available to us locally is shit compared to what you can get in most other countries, so I'd just wait for my next trip to get my pipes cleaned. But then I suddenly lost my corporate job and decided to start my own business. Now I rarely travel without the wife, and certainly don't go overseas without her. I've had to learn to make do with what we can get around here, and nothing really measures up.

I imagine I'll slow down a bit, but I don't see myself stopping completely. It's going to take a lot more effort and expense for me to cover my tracks now, so if I'm going to have some extracurricular fun it has to be worth it.

[FarFarAway]

Well my friend, I hate to break it to you, but most new cars these days are trackable and have cameras. You take the good with the bad.

It's kind of like the good ol' days. I'm aging myself here, but back in the days before the internet and email, you'd be waiting for something to arrive at work that you needed to work on. FedEx overnight delivery was a thing, but that usually meant you had today to screw around because the package you needed wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. And if you were lucky, they missed the FedEx pickup so you also had tomorrow to screw around. Now everything is instant, so you lose your time for screwing around. You have to get right on it and get it done today. Good news / bad news.

Your dilemma reminds me of another prominent poster on this site. On the Richmond sugar thread, a de facto national place to post. Handle was JZLizard. Really authoritative, and a deep thinker. However, he had a SO, and he said he never sugar dated unless he was out of town, or she was. In the post-pandemic world where we travel for business less than we used to, I am sure this cut into his FC trips. Of course he was also banging the warden still, and had some philosophical questions about sugaring that were interesting to read. For whatever reason, he stopped posting completely. Perhaps he decided to get out of the sugar bowl as he often threatened.

I happen to have a business trip to a well-known party town starting Friday, I am super happy to get some time away for free play. Hope to have a lot to report.

[Grimmy23]

I am old school gas. Do not give crap about what thw wife wants not. It is MY car.

I'm personally loving not having to pay for gas. Saving about $350/ month on that alone, plus no oil changes or any other maintenance associated with an engine. And I have solar on my house so the electricity to charge the two cars is basically free. EV life certainly isn't for everyone though.

I like to use my two trip comparison. Trip #1 - We drove to Monterey a few years ago for a little getaway. For that trip we rented a Nissan Rougue. From OC we had to stop for gas in Lost Hills. We had lunch during that stop, so we were stopped for around 45 minutes between gas and lunch. A tank of gas cost about $75. We hit some traffic and had to stop to top off the tank just south of the Monterey Bay Area. We figured we could have made it to our hotel but we'd be on fumes, so we played it safe. That fuel stop was about $60. We all had to take a leak so we went to the Starbucks across the street to do that and get drinks. About a 20 minute stop. So in total, two stops, a little more than an hour between them, and $135 in fuel.

Trip #2 was a year later in a Tesla. Same stop in Lost Hills. The difference this time was we went to the supercharger and plugged in, then walked down the street for lunch while it was charging. Still was about a 45 minute stop, and the cost of the super charge was $14. Same pee stop as the last trip for the same reason (traffic and didn't want to sweat the last few miles.) Did a 20 minute charge top-off, walked over to the same Starbucks while it was charging, and the top-off cost was about. $8. So as compared to the last trip in a gas car, about the same total travel time, but $22 in "fuel" cost vs $135 in the gas car.

Again, I do recognize that it's not the end all solution for everyone, so I'm not trying to start an EV vs gas car debate. I love being gas free, but it comes with the obvious drawback of being trackable in this case. I'll figure out a workaround for that.

[Plasma Spray]

I am old school gas. Do not give crap about what thw wife wants not. It is MY car.

[DarkRoomDaddy]

Yeah, another good point. Teslas are freaking loaded with cameras. Even more the reason to park in a place that doesn't raise suspicions, like a Target parking lot or something like that. It may require some Uber rides.

Park at target and have a small collapsible scooter in the trunk to go half a mile down the road.

[Grimmy23]

All this talk about newer vehicles, why not buy a 'weekend vehicle', driven occasionally, that has no tracking? Could be, a sports car from your youth, or just a beater with a heater pickup to haul shit around?

Seems like the cleanest and surest way to avoid any accidental location disclosure.

In my situation, we just got rid of our last gas-powered vehicle. Literally, what we aren't paying in gas every month is a car payment on one of the other vehicles. We ordered the second Tesla with a trailer hitch installed for that exact purpose. Hauling shit, since the vehicle that just died is the one that we used to haul shit. Now it's just a matter of grabbing a $15/ day UHaul trailer and we can haul all the shit we want. I'd never be able to convince the wife that we needed another car for any reason.

A pickup truck isn't a bad idea though if you can pull it off. Definitely solves the problem.

[Oc Amper]

All this talk about newer vehicles, why not buy a 'weekend vehicle', driven occasionally, that has no tracking? Could be, a sports car from your youth, or just a beater with a heater pickup to haul shit around?

Seems like the cleanest and surest way to avoid any accidental location disclosure.

[Lift Her Up]

Do any of you have experience getting PrEP at the OC Health Care Agency (or whatever it's called)? Or is there a better way to get it in OC? I can't go to any of my regular doctors, because they might leak to my SO, who declines to have sex with me. I'm getting so old that condoms are a real barrier, in more ways than one.

Lift Her Up.

[Grimmy23]

So true you are, with the navigation systems and all the nice bells & whistles, how right you are, I was saying that more in jest than anything.

But seriously. Good point to all of us with others in our lives that we collectively need be mindful of things.

My "newest" car (I generally don't buy new) is a 2018 truck, and yeah, it will keep track of where you park, but also I regularly drive a 2004 SUV & a late 90's muscle car. So I can mix it up.

Point to the group is be careful when you go hobby. And don't share that Uber account with your spouse.

I used to be like you. Not buy new cars. For many years I bought used rental cars. The rental companies would put 20 k miles on them and sell them for a fraction of new price. There were some great deals to be had out there. My car that just died was a 2009 former Avis rental car. Now, rental car companies put 60 k miles on them and sell them for almost new price. It's insane and not really worth buying used in this day and age at least.

[Taws6]

Well my friend, I hate to break it to you, but most new cars these days are trackable and have cameras. You take the good with the bad.
.

So true you are, with the navigation systems and all the nice bells & whistles, how right you are, I was saying that more in jest than anything.

But seriously. Good point to all of us with others in our lives that we collectively need be mindful of things.

My "newest" car (I generally don't buy new) is a 2018 truck, and yeah, it will keep track of where you park, but also I regularly drive a 2004 SUV & a late 90's muscle car. So I can mix it up.

Point to the group is be careful when you go hobby. And don't share that Uber account with your spouse.

[Grimmy23]

Note to self, never buy a Tesla.

Well my friend, I hate to break it to you, but most new cars these days are trackable and have cameras. You take the good with the bad.

It's kind of like the good ol' days. I'm aging myself here, but back in the days before the internet and email, you'd be waiting for something to arrive at work that you needed to work on. FedEx overnight delivery was a thing, but that usually meant you had today to screw around because the package you needed wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. And if you were lucky, they missed the FedEx pickup so you also had tomorrow to screw around. Now everything is instant, so you lose your time for screwing around. You have to get right on it and get it done today. Good news / bad news.

[Taws6]

Yeah, another good point. Teslas are freaking loaded with cameras. Even more the reason to park in a place that doesn't raise suspicions, like a Target parking lot or something like that. It may require some Uber rides.

On HX, there is a KHouse in Tustin that's across a 6 lane street that has Costco, Lowe's and a Target.

I ALWAYS park across that street, allow for a bit of extra time to walk over.

Complex is gated, but so far, I have yet to do anything more than slow down, or speed up my walking speed to match an opening or closing gate.

Note to self, never buy a Tesla.

[SCJohn]

Yeah, another good point. Teslas are freaking loaded with cameras. Even more the reason to park in a place that doesn't raise suspicions, like a Target parking lot or something like that. It may require some Uber rides.

Sounds like Uber is the way to go.