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Viking

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Viking

  1. I finally got the boat "ready", quit my job, and pushed off the dock for good a week before Christmas. We were trapped in the Fort Myers area for a week while a system spun around but Christmas day brought us a N wind that we used to get to the keys. We've been moving fast ever since trying to get to the exumas. We generally sail a day for 6-10 hours and then take the next day off.

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    We're currently anchored off Highbourne Cay where the Christmas trades are in full force. Winds E at 25 gusting 33 all day and night for 3-5 days straight.

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    • Like 7
  2. My wife is from Kansas and her family has a huge gathering every three years at her cousin's house in Wichita. The place is fucking huge and badass. No cookie cutter mcmansion bullshit. There's at least 6 entrances to the place. Marble throughout. The master stairway (there's 3 sets of stairs) is 6+ feet wide. I was in awe of the place. Put that house in Highland Park and it's 5-10 mil easy.

    In Wichita? They bought it for 450k. My mass built home in the Dallas suburbs was just a tad cheaper.

  3. My marina neighbor has a Lagoon 450 flybridge like the one pictured. I used to think that the flybridge would be fucking badass but then I saw that the riggers needed a 5 step ladder to reach the gooseneck and the end of the boom. Fuck that.

  4. 3 hours ago, elfenix said:

    if they have ready to cook tortillas in the dairy case get those.  heat your cast iron just on the low side of medium, season the pan, then cook about 30-45 seconds a side. 

     

    those things fucking suck.  possibly the worst thing HEB puts its brand on.  doughy, undercooked, stuffed into a plastic bag where they steam themselves into shit. 

    This man speaks the truth. Also look for uncooked torts in the frozen aisles. Those are the best. The others have preservatives which ruin the simple flavors of a tort.

  5. I lived in Memphis for 8 years and still travel there regularly for business. I'll just echo some of the good suggestions made so far: Gus, Central bbq, Wiseacre. I'm not a fan of fried chicken but I fucking love Gus'. The original location downtown is by far the best. Just be prepared for really slow service. There's been a restaurant boom in Memphis in the last decade. Lots of really good food beyond bbq and fried chicken.

    If you want a great steak then Folk's Folly is badass.

    Los Tortugas Deli Mexicana is great. Get the torts and not the tacos.

    Cooper-Young and Cooper-Madison have some good restaurants. Alchemy and Robata Ramen and Yakatori are good.

     

    Kudos for no one recommending Rendezvouz. That place sucks.

    • Like 2
  6. Here's a good example of why boat projects can take so fucking long. The hatch over my helm is busted up. See that boom on the left? It strongly objects to the hatch being open in the most violent of ways as the previous owner discovered.

    Fortunately the manufacturer of said hatch is still in business and still makes the exact same hatch. Same part number, same dimensions. This should be an easy job!

    But nah, the holes on the bottom frame were all moved by 1/10 of an inch. My bimini top is aluminum and I know of know good way to "relocate" a hole 1/10" in Al. This isn't the first time where I've replaced an item from the same manufacturer only to discover that the mounting template is totally different. Why?!

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    • Like 1
  7. Since you don't have much I'd recommend negotiating straight cash, as much as you can and grossed up, and you take care of everything. You can turn it into a nice bonus that way. Just hire movers on each end and a company like ABF to move your container.

    My wife once worked for one of the largest corp relocation companies in the country and she's got crazy stories about the shit that CxOs put them through. Long term hotel stays, 0% mortgages for new homes, guaranteed sales price for their current home, refrigerated trucks for their wine collection, cranes to lift their custom built outdoor grill over their home because they can't live without it.

  8. A tornado in Auckland vs 56' catamaran. Fuuuuuuck.

     

     

    I've been away from the boat the last 6 weeks but will be back in Florida in 2. I did get a nice email from the marina office shortly after I left that my shore power pedestal let out all of its smoke. Boats... they can't go 1 week without needing attention ($$$).

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  9. On 6/21/2019 at 10:55 AM, HOOKEM4 said:

     

    Are you the poster from TOS that was just learning to sail? Started off around the keys? I think? How long has it been and what sort of experiences have you had out on the blue water?  I love the cat! Very nice.

    Yeah that was probably us. We started learning about 2 years ago, bought the boat 18 months ago and have been living aboard and fixing shit since then. We've been in SW FL the entire time.

    • Like 3
  10. On 6/19/2019 at 5:50 PM, Sbbruin said:

    Awesome.  More boat pics.  And what is the update on your cruising plans?

    Most of my boat pictures are of stuff I'm working. Corroded and burned shore power connectors, the backside of raymarine windspeed display, etc. I'll try to get and post up more boat pics though.

    Current plans are to leave in Nov-Jan to head to the Bahamas. Longer term is to get south to Grenada for next hurricane season.

    • Like 2
  11. Hauled the boat out two weeks ago for a bottom job, port saildrive work (new gasket, ring, and valve), and replaced two thruhulls.

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    We brought her back yesterday and were soon greeted by this:

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    There was no getting around it. Sanibel Island was to our starboard and the storm extended far to the south off our port. Fortunately we caught just the northern tip of it and only had bad weather for an hour. Once we got past it we had great sailing. 15-20 knots of wind on our beam for our ~40 mile trip past Captiva and Cayo Costa and into Charlotte Harbor.

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    • Like 8
  12. I'm a fan of oatmeal when done right. Done wrong using instant or quick oats with nasty artificial flavoring and it's gross. Seriously America, how can you fuck up something so gawd damn simple?

    Steel cut oats, slow cooked. I top with granola, dried fruit, and fruit compote.

    • Like 1
  13. I used PagerDuty at my previous company and it's a great product. The UI is fantastic for being able to set up schedules and escalations. I could see them owning this space for a very long time.

    Hate webex? Be glad your org wasn't suckered into using webex teams over slack.

  14. On 4/12/2019 at 7:31 PM, Sbbruin said:

    How is the Manta and the cruise planning going?  Have you recalibrated a cast-off date?  The more you dig into that engine(s) and get to know it, the better.  Keep that "retiring on a ship" thread going with updates.

    It's been fantastic. Everyone is still happy with the lifestyle and boat even though we've not left Florida yet. We decided to spend another year here to gain some experience and finish up a couple of more biggish jobs: new solar panels (going from 360 to 1200 watts), new batteries, new fuel filters (racor 500s),and getting the watermaker working.

    We try to go sailing every week and have anchored out a couple of times. 

    We were anchored last weekend in Pelican Bay. After spending time on the beach with some friends we were heading back to the boat when we came upon this scene:

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    That monohull on the left with sails up and facing the opposite direction of all the other anchored boats? Whoops. The two dinghys were trying get him off the ground but they were both underpowered (<10hp outboards). One of the ladies hopped in our dinghy and between her, my wife, and our 20hp outboard we were able to induce enough heel by pulling on one of their halyards enough to get them off of the shoal.

    • Like 2
  15. 2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

    A simple haulout for a bottom job and shaft seal has ballooned to about triple my original estimate.  All discretionary stuff- new heat exchanger, rebed chainplates, rebed all starboard side ports a they were all leaking, new dorade vents, and strip, brighten, and oil all topside teak.  I will not be informing the wife of these elections.

    I haul out in June for a bottom job, saildrive & thru hull maintenance. I'm not looking forward to whatever else we find.

    Speaking of heat exchangers, I've made my yearly contribution to the Volvo Penta pension fund:

    R0zjN-gtbj3zDbzvF0J-yFI4BV8QttF0g4rtFwPv

     

     

    • Like 1
  16. 3 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

    I don’t get how Uber and Lyft aren’t profitable. You host a fucking app and contractors do all the real work. They don’t get paid by you until you’ve already been paid and skimmed your share.

    I've always wondered the same. How are they not making crazy money? Uber doesn't even have a customer support line for riders.

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