MIT Engineers

[eCat]

I must have messed up karma big time

two nights in a row I've cut a water line (where a water line isn't supposed to be). Because of it tonight I'm pretty sure I fried our $700 convection microwave. I'm letting it dry now but I'm not holding out hope its good to go

[crashcourse]

you remodeling?

[hedge]

Sounds like karma is nudging you towards building that tandoori oven, SaheebCat...

[eCat]

oh man..

yea I've gutted the guest bath upstairs.

I was cutting the sub floor to run new water and waste lines and unknown to me the plumber who did the original job curved a copper pipe to go around a floor joist which put it right in line with where I was cutting. It supposed to be a straight pipe going up the wall.

by the time I got downstairs to turn the water off, then back up to the garage to cut the power ,the microwave was buzzing.

luckily about 5 years ago I converted the kitchen to GFCI outlets and they tripped.

I thought the microwave was fried which sucks because this was a high dollar sumbitch my wife talked me into buying. Fortunately this morning before I took it out, I decided to test the outlet and sure enough there was no power.

Now everything is back. I just have a long weekend ahead of running new lines and concrete board for the shower.

I've never used pex and sharkbite connectors before but it looks like this is going to make the job much easier.

[DooKSucks]

oh man..

yea I've gutted the guest bath upstairs.

I was cutting the sub floor to run new water and waste lines and unknown to me the plumber who did the original job curved a copper pipe to go around a floor joist which put it right in line with where I was cutting. It supposed to be a straight pipe going up the wall.

by the time I got downstairs to turn the water off, then back up to the garage to cut the power ,the microwave was buzzing.

luckily about 5 years ago I converted the kitchen to GFCI outlets and they tripped.

I thought the microwave was fried which sucks because this was a high dollar sumbitch my wife talked me into buying. Fortunately this morning before I took it out, I decided to test the outlet and sure enough there was no power.

Now everything is back. I just have a long weekend ahead of running new lines and concrete board for the shower.

I've never used pex and sharkbite connectors before but it looks like this is going to make the job much easier.

In all honest, I admire and envy the fact you are so damn handy around the house. My father built our house himself (subbed out the plumbing, roof, concrete and masonry work), and though he tried, I was never able to learn and utilize those skills.

[eCat]

you have a job that affords you the ability to pay people to do those things.

My rural poverty roots will not allow me to pay a professional to do a job I can learn how to do on the internet or by reading a book.

thus, you will never have a microwave short out because you cut a water pipe.

My motivation has also been that if I do it myself, I get to by cool tools with the money that would otherwise go to a professional

I had a guy quote me $4300 to resurface my driveway. The look on my face when he shot me that number told him he would not be doing the job for that kind of money.

Now I have my next project after this.

[crashcourse]

doing all the water rooms which all badly needed upgrade

on the third bathroom which is going to involve reframing for firs time

I tear it all out and have a girl who teaches that works part time in summer doing construction at 20/hour she's do the frame/drywall and mudding .

I have both an electrical and plumber that work weekends as a side job.

this is the third bathrrom in 3 years

next year kitchen likely all IKEA shit

[hedge]

"she's do the frame/drywall and mudding . "

I wish someone would frame you for a murder you didn't commit...

[crashcourse]

weak

epic fail

must be Friday afternoon

[Professor Tiger]

Bong Happy Hour

[DooKSucks]

you have a job that affords you the ability to pay people to do those things.

My rural poverty roots will not allow me to pay a professional to do a job I can learn how to do on the internet or by reading a book.

thus, you will never have a microwave short out because you cut a water pipe.

My motivation has also been that if I do it myself, I get to by cool tools with the money that would otherwise go to a professional

I had a guy quote me $4300 to resurface my driveway. The look on my face when he shot me that number told him he would not be doing the job for that kind of money.

Now I have my next project after this.

My parents got to the point where they paid someone to do everything, but dad knew he could do all of that shit had he wanted to do so. Me? Not so much.

[Professor Tiger]

DS, didn't your parents hit the big time with the tobacco buyouts?

[DooKSucks]

Dad stopped farming a few years before I was born, but he still owned allotments. He did alright with the buyout, but he didn't receive enough to retire.

Now, his buddy received four million and then made millions more by growing on contract the next several years. He retired after that good run because he knew the tobacco companies would stop doing so many contexts and stop buying. He was right. The companies aren't renewing a lot of contracts and you have people who spent millions (and did it with loans) and no guaranteed contracts now. The next great farming collapse is about to happen.

[Professor Tiger]

The next great farming collapse is about to happen.

Sounds ominous. Please elaborate. Were you referring to tobacco farming, or other crops as well? I have a farm that grows pine trees, so I need to know.

[sardis]

I'm waiting to pounce on this. Farmland prices have already started coming down due to global surplus of food. Would like to lock in on something.

[Professor Tiger]

I took a beating in 2008. The economic crash caused the price of lumber to plummet. At the same time, my trees started getting pine beetles, which meant I had to clear cut all the trees immediately (well before their maturity) or run the risk of having them all getting infested and therefore unmarketable. My once-every-15 years harvest was a disaster financially.

[hedge]

DS is right about hard times for eastern NC farmers. Tobacco was always the money crop, and now the big boys have total control over who gets to grow. Not many farmers around here are big enough to make it on other crops. Sweet potatoes have helped some. There will be many folks getting out of farming around here over the next several years...

[Professor Tiger]

To make real money in farming these days, you need to have a BIG farm and run it extremely efficiently and scientifically. The days of the small family farm planting by the moon are over.

Anything less than 1,000 acres makes you a hobby farmer like me.

[Tree]

I've been catching up on Westworld the last few weeks. It's a great new spin on the human vs robot tale that's been going on for some time. You guys think there's anything to this theory about intelligence being nothing more than peacock feathers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fynf9wHR7HI

[DooKSucks]

DS is right about hard times for eastern NC farmers. Tobacco was always the money crop, and now the big boys have total control over who gets to grow. Not many farmers around here are big enough to make it on other crops. Sweet potatoes have helped some. There will be many folks getting out of farming around here over the next several years...

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is growing sweet potatoes now. I can't imagine that ending well for most of them.

I have seen farm land in bfe going for well over $5,000.00 per acre. It's fucking ludicrous. Some people are getting over $150 per acre on leases. The farm credit entities have been handing out loans and credit lines like crazy. By the end of the decade, things will look like the mid and late eighties all over again.