Truck Rental

Good point, I suppose I didn't consider that angle, specifically end of life expenses.

If I have to buy new, I do frequent Harbor Freight. I haven't had much of an issue with any of their tools, as long as you don't beat on them.

That really all depends on cost of living. The cost of living here in Eastern Ohio is so low compared to other areas of the country.

Houses are literally given away here... I'm about to take on a "free" house in town, at the cost of 5 years back taxes - maybe $800. Plus whatever attorney and deed filing/recording fee. My last free house turned out very poorly (and is no longer standing); this one has been vacant for 5 years with a big hole in the roof. Wish me luck... haha

The trouble I see with that is how are miles proven? With people like me that drive 40K miles annually in maybe 5 different vehicles, that doesn't sound like it will be fun for either party to calculate. You know that some folks up to no good might try turning back the odometer.

Sorry -- I mean to say manual clutch - as in non-hydraulic.

Many new cars are like that. My briefly driven 2015 Mirage, 3 cylinder

Besides, if you want that level of performance a Tesla provides it in a much more civilized package for less money.

Ahh, Ohio. I used to have a nice apartment there for about the same as I pay in real estate tax in Connecticut.

Handsaws are one area where I would buy Japanese instead of US regardless--theirs just work so much _better_.

Turning back the odometer is harder than it used to be--you have to hadk a computer. OTOH, my motorcycle has a good bit less mileage than the odometer shows, the result of an accident that busted the speedometer cable partway through a long trip.

That depends on the state. Here's a state by state summary

I have no clue why yours is always buzzing. You do know that you can turn off notifications from apps if you don't want them, right?

My phone is mounted on my dash (magnetic holder that fit's in the CD player slot) and is connected to the vehicle by Bluetooth. I hear the notification sound and can glance at my phone to see the notification text.

Location notifications are set through the Google Assistant, at least on my phone.

Sure. Until I turn the notification off. It's not like timed or location based notifications are a permanent thing.

I use an app called Clock. Alarm Clock, Timer(s) & Stop Watch. The alarm clock currently has 4 alarms set for today - the one that woke me up this morning, 1 medication reminder and 2 work related phone calls that I need to make. They all have text associated with them so I know why the alarm went off. Alarms (call them reminders if you want) can be set to repeat based on days of the week. My medication alarm is set for every day. It displays "Pill". My "Good Morning" alarm is set for Monday-Friday. I have one alarm set for Saturdays and Sundays to remind me to check the oil in SWMBO's car (it burns a little so I check it once a week just to be safe.)

If I don't have reminders set, I will forget to do things, like buy a turn signal bulb. ;-)

Of course the payscale difference between him as the new hire and the current in-grade employees was squeezed -- he just noted he requested and received more than the standard grade pay on entry.

It's unknown and indeterminate how happy or unhappy the others were before; apparently "happy enough" to have been staying, but there's great inertia against moving/finding new employment until things are really, really bad for most.

One can be certain, however, that if/when is known the new kid on the block got something well above the norm the level of discontent will rise amongst the others.

In the meantime, you have precisely the situation outlined above -- and it occurs everywhere and routinely.

New hire salary levels always outpace existing onboard employees to a greater or lesser degree. Just how much depends on the particular employer and the pressure on the job market as to whether it is tight or not, but it's just a fact of life.

Yep, I'm "forced" to sit in whatever position I set the power bucket seat to. Front/Back, Up/Down, lumbar support, angle of seat, angle of backrest, etc.

I'm "forced" to sit in that position - but only until I reach down and easily adjust any of those settings.

I forgot to mention: My Clock app is set to sound the alarm or timer notifications even if my phone is on vibrate. It wouldn't make a very good alarm clock if it tried to wake me up by vibrating.

The alarm sound is also set for ascending volume. It begins with a vibration and a very soft sound (the "ring tone" can be customized per alarm). The sound slowly gets louder until at 60 seconds it is at full phone volume, regardless of what volume setting the phone is at. It will time out after 10 minutes but leave a notification that I missed the alarm, showing the text of the alarm that I missed.

BTW...SWMBO gets annoyed if I leave the phone in the house and the alarm goes off, getting louder and louder by the second. She'll snooze it a couple of times but if she's really annoyed, she'll dismiss it. My bad.

Oregon has a trail program, I believe it uses a dongle on the OBD port.

Trial not trail but that maybe a paranoid slip. :)

My kids (and I) used to play Oregon Trail.

No, you misunderstood me incorrectly. I wasn't talking so much about the clutch going to the floor rather that my foot wouldn't let it back up. My foot was calibrated "clutch" and didn't want to change its habit.