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Clintonaldo

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Posts posted by Clintonaldo

  1. Just had to cut a business relationship with a great friend who has a major problem with alcohol. In the last 1.5 years he is divorced, also went back to ex wife house as she was trying to help him and he shot up the basement and 2 months ago totaled a $90,000 truck while drunk. 
     

    I had to call him to tell him and I hated it. The nicest man ever. Hell, we’ve drank beer together before. I just told him I loved him and am here for him but our business relationship is done for now and until he gets straightened up. He wasn’t shocked but said he has taken care of everyone else so long and I said yea you have and now I am asking you to take care of yourself. 
     

    I told him I loved him and hung up the phone. He is such a great guy that’s had a mental breakdown. I hope he doesn’t do something stupid tonight. He has been texting me a lot the last hour and they are getting angrier as he is drunk. 
     

    I guess I can say my conscious is clear. 

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  2. I’m a retired age grouper.  70.3 was my favorite distance because it was long enough to beat my friends that were faster than me (but raced stupid), and I could be done with the race before lunch/beer time.  I have 25 70.3 medals sitting in my shoebox in the closet from 2011-2018.  Also a shit ton of marathons, half’s, bike races and one IMTX.
     
    The wear and tear on my body, age, and kids eventually made it too hard to keep going.  Enjoy it while you can do it, I’m glad I did!

    My man!

    I played soccer through college so I’ve always been somewhat athletic. Like you, I’ve done numerous competitions and love it. The only thing I haven’t done is the the full Ironman( that will be in September) and qualify for Boston marathon and that could possibly be next year.

    At 42 and with a 2 year old I feel like my window is somewhat closing on how long I can do this stuff but it’s good for my mental health and it keeps me on a somewhat disciplined path.

    I’ve also fell in with a great group of about 15 dudes that range from 60-30 and everyone has either done a full Ironman or ran Boston or both and it’s been great to surround myself with them. I will be racing with 2 of the group ( both 30 years old ) and can probably beat both of them. The rest of the group will be there betting on us and we will go out and get drunk after the race.

    People always say I am killing my joints but my MRI’s look good and if I have to be in a wheelchair later I want to say I earned it and not because I was a fat fuck.

    One thing I won’t miss when this is over is waking up at 4 to train( like this morning )
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  3. 5 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

    Damn man.  If I was still up there, I'd be training with you.c

    Ran the Knox Marathon on a dare in 2013.  Always wanted to do a 1/2 Iron and, maybe, work my way up.  Problem is, I can't swim well.  I've tried.  I just can't do it.  Coincidentally, I damn near drown in the YMCA pool (near West Town Mall) attempting my first sprint tri back in the mid 2000's.  

    I was a terrible swimmer and just worked at it. My first time in the pool I couldn’t even go a length. The wetsuit helps a lot and Chattanooga is always wetsuit legal for 70.3. I strongly recommend you do one. You won’t regret it. 

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  4. On 5/10/2023 at 11:10 PM, troph said:

    His article about his mom got to me like really got to me. Maybe the trauma - not the same but a lot of us share a common experience when you talk about childhood trauma. Maybe it’s how close he was to my musical epicenter (I named my son after Guy Clark), maybe how he passed is too similar to a friend I lost that I still miss most days.  Seems like some of you might be having a hard time too. Not sure what to say.

    So I made a playlist. It wasn’t planned, I was listening to Bonnie Raitt of all artists and one thing led to another. It’s for him but for you fellas too. it’s ok to be sad, some times our sadness is all we can really call our own. 

    Sorry you’re gone MAC. I’m tired of loss, I bet you are too.  

     

     

     

    The article really got to me too. Maybe it’s because I had a parent that was great but also a train wreck too. My dad was a great dad but there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fuck up when he put his mind to it and he always had to have a vice. I tell stories about my childhood and I will be laughing while telling a story and look over to the audience of the story and they are about to cry. In a lot of ways I wouldn’t trade my parents for anything but in other ways damn it would have been nice to have normal parents. Also, becoming a parent makes you never want to do that to your kids. 

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  5. Funny enough I am at Hilton Head for a work conference and the average cost to repair  went from $3,125 in 2019 to $4,240 in 2022 and the rental average went from 13.5 days to 18.5 days. 
     

     

    Edit to say this is from a body shop chain that owns 213 shops across the US. 

  6. 12 minutes ago, Captainant said:

    If it's got worse durability, then they can make more money off of selling service contracts, parts, or just entire replacements! If it's not illegal to do, they'd be stupid NOT to take advantage and exploit their customers right??

    Lobbyists are doing God’s work to keep this all legal it appears. 

  7. How much of this is cocksuckers that just won’t put down their phones while they drive getting into more, worse collisions? It’s like 90% of drivers. 

    A lot of it. Also, manufacturers keep putting more cameras, radars and sensors on vehicles and crash frequency hasn’t really changed and crash severity has skyrocketed. The average cost of repair used to be around $2,600 4 years ago and it is now $4,000. Manufacturers are also making a lot of shit one time use thus contributing to high repair costs.
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  8. 7 hours ago, Incredulity said:

    There is “gouging” because costs went berserk.  Costs went berserk because the government shut everything down while pumping unprecedented stimulus into the economy.

    Economic chaos breeds further chaos.

    A lot of parts come from China so it wasn’t just here. 

  9. I work for a carrier in Tennessee and we lost $44 million in just auto in Tennessee. The problem with that is you have to raise rates strategically or you lose too much business so we took about 3% less increase than every other carrier. I was told by someone reliable that every carrier in our state lost money last year in auto and it makes sense. Parts are increasing by the second when vendors find out there is a shortage and they mark up the cost even more because they can. I think we are on track to maybe break even at this point. 

  10. Just now, Guadaloopy said:

    Quality issues get fixed and a vast majority of owners are very happy with their purchase despite dealing with some inconvenience at the outset.  I think Tesla's brand loyalty (at or near top of the industry) speaks to that.    

    The brand loyalty is fading because he cannot shut his mouth trying to impress people that would never buy a Tesla. 

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  11. So something else no one is thinking of that is small for now but large eventually… I work for a major insurance carrier and we are constantly trying to find repair facilities that will repair Tesla’s ( it’s a large part of my job right now behind the scenes). Tesla requires you to be a certified shop to get structural parts ( not uncommon) and it wasn’t a huge deal until around February. I’ve had a lot of luck negotiating labor rates in the past with Tesla’s and forming partnerships. 

     

    I have 2 body shops now that are starting to realize that Tesla’s are losing market share and they are concerned with a 6 figure investment to be Tesla certified when their owner won’t stop saying stupid shit. I have made my feelings known that I am not a fan but I can still respect something but Tesla’s quality is dog shit and they all agree. He needs to be extremely careful about another price cut as he has already damaged his core market. 

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