Minor things that please you

[PColumbus73]

According to my car's on-board computer, my commutes average between 30 - 35 MPG. Pretty good for a 6-cylinder engine.

[kphoger]

According to my car's on-board computer, my commutes average between 30 - 35 MPG. Pretty good for a 6-cylinder engine.

With no snow.  Downhill.  Both ways.

You kids have it easy these days.

[Max Rockatansky]

I once got 27.4 MPG in my 6.4L V8 Hemi Challenger on a 600 mile trip.  A lot of it involved gentle mountain grades and an eventual lengthy downhill descent.

[1995hoo]

I managed this on July 2, 2011, in my 2004 TL (270-hp 3.2 L V-6) while driving home from near Jacksonville. We stopped for gas in Walterboro, South Carolina, at which point I reset the trip computer as I always do when I fill up, and then I look this picture when we stopped for dinner at an Arby's in Emporia, Virginia, at around 9:00 that night. It was all-Interstate driving on I-95 and the cruise control was set around 75 mph for most of the way. My wife wanted me to put gas in the tank at the same time as the dinner stop but I refused because I felt we hadn't gone far enough, so we ultimately stopped about 50 miles later off I-295 in Virginia. The car probably could have gone further, but we were coming up on a stretch with fewer exits and not many gas stations. The thing that sticks out to me is the combination of the fuel economy and the average speed, given all the hype about how going 55 mph saves fuel. (But at 55 mph I'm in fifth gear, whereas at a sustained 65 or above I'm in sixth. It makes a huge difference.)

[kphoger]

On my way to work a couple of days ago, I rolled up to a four-way stop, preparing to turn left.  There were already two cars at the intersection, one to my right and the other to my left, apparently trying to figure out who was going first.  In the right lane of my direction was a trucker who got to the intersection a couple of seconds before I did.  By the time I came to a stop, those two drivers had still apparently not decided who was going first.  And I knew the trucker next to me was certainly not going to go first.  So, not in the mood to wait for them to form a committee and put things to a vote, I just went.  You snooze, you lose.  I was fourth in line, but I went first.  It felt so good.

[Rothman]

Drove around Chicago after arriving today.  Didn't even mind the rush hour traffic.  Loved how my hybrid didn't use much gas at all at those lower speeds.

[vdeane]

When my local grocery store converted from Market Bistro to Market 32, they mailed everyone four $8 off for $80 coupons (one per week, limited to those weeks; if you use all four, it adds up to $32).  I actually managed to use two, which surprised me, though it involved buying some non-grocery items (like toilet paper or especially my contact lens solution, which now costs a whopping $15 for a bottle) 2-3 weeks early to push my amount up that high today.

[kphoger]

For a forum that is dominated by men, I think it's awesome how little griping there is on here about members' wives.  Some little eye-rolls here and there, but I never hear anyone bad-mouthing their wife or even throwing around snarky stereotypes about women in general.

[Scott5114]

For a forum that is dominated by men, I think it's awesome how little griping there is on here about members' wives.  Some little eye-rolls here and there, but I never hear anyone bad-mouthing their wife or even throwing around snarky stereotypes about women in general.

That sort of humor is considered pretty gauche these days. If nothing else, it tends to invite the question of "if she sucks so bad, why are you still with her?", to which most complainers wouldn't have a good answer.

[Molandfreak]

For a forum that is dominated by men, I think it's awesome how little griping there is on here about members' wives.  Some little eye-rolls here and there, but I never hear anyone bad-mouthing their wife or even throwing around snarky stereotypes about women in general.

That sort of humor is considered pretty gauche these days. If nothing else, it tends to invite the question of "if she sucks so bad, why are you still with her?", to which most complainers wouldn't have a good answer.

Tell that to one of my former workplaces. There was a good ol' boys club that joked about getting reported to HR every bit as often as they made these types of jokes.

[kphoger]

In another male-dominated forum that I've participated in off and on (mostly off), it's been pretty common for members to sarcastically refer to their wife as SWMBO.  Not even that sort of thing is common on this forum.

[Scott5114]

In another male-dominated forum that I've participated in off and on (mostly off), it's been pretty common for members to sarcastically refer to their wife as SWMBO.  Not even that sort of thing is common on this forum.

I'm so disconnected from this way of thinking that I had to look up what that even meant. My first attempt at trying to come up with something that fit the letters was "Sweeping With My Balls Out".

[Max Rockatansky]

In another male-dominated forum that I've participated in off and on (mostly off), it's been pretty common for members to sarcastically refer to their wife as SWMBO.  Not even that sort of thing is common on this forum.

I'm so disconnected from this way of thinking that I had to look up what that even meant. My first attempt at trying to come up with something that fit the letters was "Sweeping With My Balls Out".

On military bases I hear "dependapotamus" quite often.  Bad marital choices seems to be a staple of lower enlisted ranks I've found over the years. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I couldn't talk shit about my SO on here. They would probably find out. 

[kphoger]

My first attempt at trying to come up with something that fit the letters was "Sweeping With My Balls Out".

Household chores are more enjoyable naked, it's true.

Unless you mean curling.

[kphoger]

Bad marital choices seems to be a staple of lower enlisted ranks I've found over the years. 

FTFY?

[Max Rockatansky]

Bad marital choices seems to be a staple of lower enlisted ranks I've found over the years. 

FTFY?

Eh, it probably depends on a case by case basis. 

[vdeane]

When a fanfic that you like but which you thought had died inexplicably posts a couple new chapters after a 11 year hiatus (in this case, Shadow of the Dragon, which IMO is worth the read for CCS fans, even if it is still incomplete, and I say that as someone who normally avoids dead fics).

[elsmere241]

Two things from yesterday (Friday):

When you take your car (yes, the one I've complained about a few times on here) into the dealership.  And they tell you that there are no problems with it.  Then you pick it up the next day and it runs better than ever.  (I think they reset the computer or something.)

When your wife decides it's time to change phone carriers, and you finally get a your phone connected again after five days without service.

[kphoger]

When you take your car (yes, the one I've complained about a few times on here) into the dealership.  And they tell you that there are no problems with it.  Then you pick it up the next day and it runs better than ever.  (I think they reset the computer or something.)

The acoustic guitar player at church has had an issue with some sort of grounding noise.  Where the quarter-inch cable to the sound system plugs into his guitar, he can press his finger against the jack to silence the ground noise, but of course that's not possible while actually playing.  He took it apart as much as he knew how, but if anything it just got worse.  So he finally decided to take it in for repair.  At the music store, they could never get it to replicate the problem at all.  Presumably, they also took it apart.  Eventually, they gave it back to him and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it.  Yesterday morning, he plugged it in at church:  no ground noise.  Really weird, but we'll take it!

[kphoger]

Mine is an actual picture of my face, from years ago, with a bunch of cell phone filters applied to it, then put through several iterations of editing and re-saving on the computer, to the point that it has become a little too grainy for my liking, but whatever.

This actually an aesthetic many folks are looking for sometimes; I think it's a pushback on how "clinical" many modern pro-level lenses can be, the flatness of the average cellphone photo, or the computational processes to attempt to over-perfect AI imagery into an uncanny realm. A generation or two that missed out on film and print suddenly has a nostalgia for things they'd never experienced.

Yes, people are paying decent money for your 15-25 year-old 5MP digital camera or that 90s point-and-shoot 35mm camera collecting dust.

The one I was using for years was just fine.  But what has made it extra grainy is this:

I decided to make some minor tweaks to my avatar.  Because I could no longer locate the original file, I took a screenshot and then edited it from there.  Then it wasn't quite the way I liked, so I'd edit it again.  Then it wasn't quite the way I liked, so I'd edit again.  Each time I did this and re-saved to the image hosting site, the size got just a little bit smaller.  So now it's a smaller image stretched out to fill the same square.  It still bugs me a little bit.

I hardly ever get on Facebook, but I decided to get on this evening, and it showed me a picture that my wife had tagged me in from fifteen years ago.  And it's the original picture that my forum avatar is based on.  This pleases me.

* kphoger does copy-and-paste . . .

[The_Ginger]

Kyle talking about restoring the his actual original avatar image and such

I must say, I was a little startled when I opened up a thread and the first post was from you with the new avatar.

[Scott5114]

I must say, I was a little startled when I opened up a thread and the first post was from you with the new avatar.

It's like seeing an HD remaster of a movie you've seen a million times in standard def.

[LilianaUwU]

No joke, this would've been awesome as a jumpscare in a mid-2010s horror slop game. So, when do we get a 2026 remaster?

[GaryV]

When the hotel you're staying at slides the receipt under the door in the morning, so you don't have to wait at the front desk to check out.