I feel like such a TOOL
Jun. 13th, 2002 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikMy 'infrastructure' side got the better of me again. The receipe for this particular fiscal misbehavor has the following ingredients:
(1) A dead rear tire on one bike, which I decided to change on my own to save money.
(2) A need for a specific, semi-pricey tool to finish that task.
(3) Frustration at finding already-existing tools missing when needed
(4) my nasty completionist-streak of wanting to have all the parts of a set
(5) chance-looking at my creditcard statement to find my Searscharge was at $0.
It started innocently enough. The 'wing was riding a little weird after a bump in the road. Luckily I was very near to home, and got it in the garage safely. The pressure in the rear tire was nastily low, and as I spun it to get to the valve to check... I saw the head of the 4" bolt that was embedded in my tire. Drat! So much for a brand new rear Dunlop (less than 200 miles on it). Unlike car tires, it is very unwise to patch and re-use a motorcycle tire in all but the most dire of cases.
The dealer charges a rediculous $160 to do the labor on a $140 tire, making it a $300 job total. I decided it was about time I got used to doing my own bike-tire work, as this issue is only going to keep occuring (be it via milage or unlucky flats like this). I had all the tools to do the job save one: a good torque wrench capable of measuring and applying the recommended 108N/m of pressure to the lugnuts that hold the rear wheel on. This part could be had at Sears, of course -- Craftsman! I figured I could spend the $70 required on the torque-wrench and come out ahead, pricewise.
I swiped![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
reality_fox and revar and trundled off to the local Sears. My da' was always big on Craftsman tools, and I still kind of look up to him when it comes to things in the Handyman department. I was vaguely annoyed as I looked through all the tools on the shelf, seeing things I'd bought previously but nowadays had NO idea where they were. Some I've just plain lost... others, misfiled. Most of what's missing has been borrowed by past roomates (now long gone, thankfully) who broke or just plain stole things. Even my current friends have a bad habit of borrowing the occasional screwdriver or ratchet and leaving it somewhere else in the house, so I can't find it when I need it.
I can finally understand my Dad's frustration with us kids and his tools. Gaah.
As we were browsing through the various tool-shelves... I came upon the row that had all the big roll-away tool bins like one sees in mechanics shops and race-crew pits. The professional ones were $1000-3000 (aiee)... but beside it was another that looked exactly the same, for a mere $300. The difference? Well, it wasn't as heavy duty, didn't have tons of features, and used sliders instead of ball-bearings. I called my Dad, who gave me some good advice: unless I'm a mechanic who is in and out of those drawers all day, every day... I don't NEED the fancy feature-boxes. The $300 one would do, and do excellently. For the curious, it's a set of three units that when stacked are nearly as tall as I am, including a top chest and an intermediate chest, both stacked atop the main roll-away base. Separate and pre-sale, these were over twice that much... so this all-together package was a real steal.
So... $70 turned into $370. As I was pondering this... I remembered doing bills earlier this month, and seeing that my long-held/very-unused Searscharge was down at the wonderful Zero number. Things started to click together... and I came to the conclusion that now was the time to solve the Tool Problem.
It took us about an hour and a half to get out of there. The van was rather loaded, making poor Revar have to lean against heavy boxes to keep from being squished on the left-hand turns. I got the roller/chest/toolbox set, liners, organizers, socket-holders, screwdriver-holders, wrench-holders... a nice big matched set, all in black. To go with this was a few sets of rachet-parts and screwdrivers to fill in the missing blanks in my existing tool armada, and a few I knew I was going to need later on for motorcycle maintenance. I tried not to look too hard at the receipt, as it made me feel terribly guilty and that same queasy "I'm getting into debt" experience I dislike so much.
I was up until 3 am getting tools transferred, moving them from older, playa-rusted boxes and various bins and shelves around the house into their new, nicely organized home. The new boxes have locks -- and I can thusly control access to them; no more borrowing without asking! There's also a Place for Everything that, while a step below an anal-retentive's dream of outlined tool slots, will at least make it very easy to identify what's missing. The old problem of hunting through handfuls of sockets to find the right size has also been cleared up. The whole mess wheels around on nice solid casters, and can be put beside whatever I'm working on instead of making me march back and forth across the garage for every socket change.
Guilty at the expenditure or not, I feel this was a good investment. Over time it will help me save money on vehicle maintenace, and it should keep me from being grumpy about lost tools. It looks nice and fits well in the garage, even. Everything's a Craftsman, top to bottom... and those are all guaranteed for life. If something breaks, they give me new ones, no questions asked. With proper care this whole set should outlast me and it has some room yet to expand. This does make me feel terribly "ook! OOK!" tool-using monkey-ish... not a usual thing for a computer/gadget geek. Worse things could happen, though. :)
As an amusing sidenote is the story of the motorcycle jack. For about the last month or so,reality_fox has been leaning over my shoulder going "hey... there's this nice affordable motorcycle jack Sears sells...". He's even sent me a URL and everything. If I asked him why he doesn't buy one, he just dismisses it with a wave and some vague rambling about how he'd never really need to use such a thing, as he'll always take his bike to the dealer. However, he kept reminding me of the jack's existance. This amuses me greatly.
During the great Tool Buying Event, he happily wandered over to Specifically Not Tell Me that said motorcycle jack was indeed in stock, right there one aisle away from where I was pondering the tool box purchase. He even reminded me that he didn't care that at 1500lbs and 16" of lift height it'd work with both of my motorcycles. Nope, no interest on his part, none at all. It's just here, and he doesn't care. Right over here... just down a shelf, see? He couldn't possibly ever need such a thing. Not this jack, nope.
As it was $99 (when most motorcycle jacks are 2 to 3 times that much), I bought it. I expect to hear him asking to borrow it before the month's out. I'll happily lend it, but with full rights to mock him. :) Silly fox.
(1) A dead rear tire on one bike, which I decided to change on my own to save money.
(2) A need for a specific, semi-pricey tool to finish that task.
(3) Frustration at finding already-existing tools missing when needed
(4) my nasty completionist-streak of wanting to have all the parts of a set
(5) chance-looking at my creditcard statement to find my Searscharge was at $0.
It started innocently enough. The 'wing was riding a little weird after a bump in the road. Luckily I was very near to home, and got it in the garage safely. The pressure in the rear tire was nastily low, and as I spun it to get to the valve to check... I saw the head of the 4" bolt that was embedded in my tire. Drat! So much for a brand new rear Dunlop (less than 200 miles on it). Unlike car tires, it is very unwise to patch and re-use a motorcycle tire in all but the most dire of cases.
The dealer charges a rediculous $160 to do the labor on a $140 tire, making it a $300 job total. I decided it was about time I got used to doing my own bike-tire work, as this issue is only going to keep occuring (be it via milage or unlucky flats like this). I had all the tools to do the job save one: a good torque wrench capable of measuring and applying the recommended 108N/m of pressure to the lugnuts that hold the rear wheel on. This part could be had at Sears, of course -- Craftsman! I figured I could spend the $70 required on the torque-wrench and come out ahead, pricewise.
I swiped
reality_fox and revar and trundled off to the local Sears. My da' was always big on Craftsman tools, and I still kind of look up to him when it comes to things in the Handyman department. I was vaguely annoyed as I looked through all the tools on the shelf, seeing things I'd bought previously but nowadays had NO idea where they were. Some I've just plain lost... others, misfiled. Most of what's missing has been borrowed by past roomates (now long gone, thankfully) who broke or just plain stole things. Even my current friends have a bad habit of borrowing the occasional screwdriver or ratchet and leaving it somewhere else in the house, so I can't find it when I need it.I can finally understand my Dad's frustration with us kids and his tools. Gaah.
As we were browsing through the various tool-shelves... I came upon the row that had all the big roll-away tool bins like one sees in mechanics shops and race-crew pits. The professional ones were $1000-3000 (aiee)... but beside it was another that looked exactly the same, for a mere $300. The difference? Well, it wasn't as heavy duty, didn't have tons of features, and used sliders instead of ball-bearings. I called my Dad, who gave me some good advice: unless I'm a mechanic who is in and out of those drawers all day, every day... I don't NEED the fancy feature-boxes. The $300 one would do, and do excellently. For the curious, it's a set of three units that when stacked are nearly as tall as I am, including a top chest and an intermediate chest, both stacked atop the main roll-away base. Separate and pre-sale, these were over twice that much... so this all-together package was a real steal.
So... $70 turned into $370. As I was pondering this... I remembered doing bills earlier this month, and seeing that my long-held/very-unused Searscharge was down at the wonderful Zero number. Things started to click together... and I came to the conclusion that now was the time to solve the Tool Problem.
It took us about an hour and a half to get out of there. The van was rather loaded, making poor Revar have to lean against heavy boxes to keep from being squished on the left-hand turns. I got the roller/chest/toolbox set, liners, organizers, socket-holders, screwdriver-holders, wrench-holders... a nice big matched set, all in black. To go with this was a few sets of rachet-parts and screwdrivers to fill in the missing blanks in my existing tool armada, and a few I knew I was going to need later on for motorcycle maintenance. I tried not to look too hard at the receipt, as it made me feel terribly guilty and that same queasy "I'm getting into debt" experience I dislike so much.
I was up until 3 am getting tools transferred, moving them from older, playa-rusted boxes and various bins and shelves around the house into their new, nicely organized home. The new boxes have locks -- and I can thusly control access to them; no more borrowing without asking! There's also a Place for Everything that, while a step below an anal-retentive's dream of outlined tool slots, will at least make it very easy to identify what's missing. The old problem of hunting through handfuls of sockets to find the right size has also been cleared up. The whole mess wheels around on nice solid casters, and can be put beside whatever I'm working on instead of making me march back and forth across the garage for every socket change.
Guilty at the expenditure or not, I feel this was a good investment. Over time it will help me save money on vehicle maintenace, and it should keep me from being grumpy about lost tools. It looks nice and fits well in the garage, even. Everything's a Craftsman, top to bottom... and those are all guaranteed for life. If something breaks, they give me new ones, no questions asked. With proper care this whole set should outlast me and it has some room yet to expand. This does make me feel terribly "ook! OOK!" tool-using monkey-ish... not a usual thing for a computer/gadget geek. Worse things could happen, though. :)
As an amusing sidenote is the story of the motorcycle jack. For about the last month or so,
reality_fox has been leaning over my shoulder going "hey... there's this nice affordable motorcycle jack Sears sells...". He's even sent me a URL and everything. If I asked him why he doesn't buy one, he just dismisses it with a wave and some vague rambling about how he'd never really need to use such a thing, as he'll always take his bike to the dealer. However, he kept reminding me of the jack's existance. This amuses me greatly.During the great Tool Buying Event, he happily wandered over to Specifically Not Tell Me that said motorcycle jack was indeed in stock, right there one aisle away from where I was pondering the tool box purchase. He even reminded me that he didn't care that at 1500lbs and 16" of lift height it'd work with both of my motorcycles. Nope, no interest on his part, none at all. It's just here, and he doesn't care. Right over here... just down a shelf, see? He couldn't possibly ever need such a thing. Not this jack, nope.
As it was $99 (when most motorcycle jacks are 2 to 3 times that much), I bought it. I expect to hear him asking to borrow it before the month's out. I'll happily lend it, but with full rights to mock him. :) Silly fox.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Nothing to feel guilty for
Date: 2002-06-13 04:14 pm (UTC)Calphalon!
Date: 2002-06-13 04:53 pm (UTC)I picked up this set at my local Bed, Bath & Beyond store when it was on sale last year. I really like the solid/heavy handles; good for oversized tug-paws to use. They get a little hot with extended use is the only trade-off. The other sets with the more insulated handles might be better if that worries you.
If I ever buy a house (insert screamingly loud, mocking laughter here) someday, I plan to get a nice island-style kitchen with one of those overhead pot-hangers, full of Calphalon and copper sets... and since being able to afford a house will have meant I must have won the lottery or something, I'll be sure to get the Uber Wusthof-Trident cultery set that I've been lusting over for years now.
Yes, I admit it. (*hangs head*) I'm also a bit of a cooking geek.
Re: Calphalon!
Date: 2002-06-13 09:40 pm (UTC)I've been dithering between the hard-anodized and the non-stick varieties (the latter perhaps with the nifty glass lids). My past experiences with (admittedly much cheaper) non-stick gear aren't good though, usually having to replace them within a year...I'd hope the über Calphalon stuff would hold up better, but don't really know. I'll go dig around for some user reviews.
With regard to the hard-anodized gear...do you find yourself having to use a lot of added oil to keep food from sticking? Can these be "seasoned" like you would a wok?
Re: Calphalon!
Date: 2002-06-14 05:30 am (UTC)Yea!
Date: 2002-06-14 09:34 am (UTC)Now if I can just afford some deeply ceramic glazed cast iron for acidic sauces (fresh tomato or hollandaise etc.)
Funny that this turned into a cookware discussion...
Date: 2002-06-14 02:25 pm (UTC)Rather that get one of the full Calphalon über-sets, what I'm thinking now is that I'll get one of the smaller sets (like 7pc) in the non-stick (I like to cook lean) for the bulk of my needs, but then round it out with a few of the hard anodized pieces so I can still do proper browning and whatnot when the occasion calls for it. And if I decide later on that I much prefer one or the other, this way I only have to replace half of the items. :)
I suspect now that part of the reason I've had such bad luck with non-stick gear, aside from having bought low- to mid-grade stuff, is that I'm lazy as hell and more often than not would just toss the pots and pans in the dishwasher. Not even an option with the Calphalon, but that's fine with me...if I'm gonna cough up that kind of dough on nice stuff, I'm gonna take care of it.
Now where'd that Bed Bath & Beyond coupon go running off to?
Re: Nothing to feel guilty for
Date: 2002-06-14 10:44 am (UTC)And IMHO, you didn't pull a Tim Allen -- that would be coming home with a lawnmower as well as a leafblower on top of the tools. You anticipate being able to actually use the stuff, and have a legitimate use for it other than 'building something just to use the new tools.'
This is as opposed to Kitty, looking at a drill bit set for $89 that she said, 'I know I won't ever use half that stuff, but... drooool.'
Gee, I think I know something to get for her for Christmas. -;)
-Traveller.
no subject
Date: 2002-06-13 04:21 pm (UTC)The wet marks on my cheeks can either be drool from lust or tears of longing frustration.
(All black. You are Batman aren't you? 'Where does he GET all those toys?')
What? I'm not silly.
You see, the SV650S does not have a frame down below the engine and there are very few flat spots along the underside of the bike and the flat spots that it does have are not load bearing. Beyond that, the exhaust header comes down and runs along the bike below the engine and you don't want to support the weight of a 400lb bike on the exhaust header. I'd have to rig up an annoying array of blocks and perches to ust that lift with my bike. (Both of my bike have this problem, actually) The Big Blue's rigs, though, are all about having copious amounts of surface space along their undersides.
Nono...Just hook me up with a jackstand, a swing arm stand and tripple tree stand I'm good to go.
Dustykat here!
If your new tool set is better than mine I'm gonna have to hurt you ya know. For those that DONT know me yet I'm Tugs oversized and overzelious motorcycle mechanic friend that works at Custom Chrome. CC being an aftermarket Harley Davidson Parts catalog distributor.
I've been collecting work tools since 96' and STILL dont have a mid box yet. I'll have to look into one if their on sale now. I'm WAY out of storage room for my tools at work.
Dustykat