I am hoping we get enough rain that it melts the snow and ice from the bike path so I can ride it in on Thursday, though I concede that’s not likely so I’ll probably be taking Corning Hill in if I ride in on Thursday. Today and tomorrow will be be busing it days.
Got more Save the Pine Bush Meetings to go to tonight, 🌲 I didn’t go to the organizational meeting last night as it was cold and dark and honestly I didn’t want to spend half the night in a overly swanky bar somewhere off New Scotland arguing about bullshit politics and stragety. I am the map and GIS guy, and they wanted me there, 🗺️ but I’d rather go real public meetings where I can bitch out Town Leaders for demolishing more of the Pine Bush while I dream of the log cabin with grunting hogs and a burn barrel out back. 🐽
I get so defensive about retiring Big Red, 🛻 because he was more then just a truck to me, though I knew his time has come. When a vehicle is perceived as being unsafe and unreliable, maybe it’s time for retirement. Let him become somebody’s else’s problem, preferably somebody who has a welding experience and a knock for fixing little things roadside, and isn’t primarily taking him out to the wilderness or driving 5 states away to see the Great North Woods of Michigan and Wisconsin. 🐺 🌲 🦌 And I can’t keep stop thinking about how fucking much money those SuperDuty trucks are but I so want one. But my knowledge and study of finance says it’s a bad idea, but it could give me a lot of joy over the next 10-15 years. I keep studying car buying stragety and pros-and-cons of various vehicles, though I know I have time. The earliest I would buy a truck is the last week of March. Even if it means passing up the deal of the lifetime. 🤝 They’re not that rare, and there is a shit ton of Ford dealers Upstate.
It’s not like I am going to find land in Upstate New York close enough to work where I can have a burning barrel, not have to recycle stupid plastics, an an AR-15 and handguns to ventalate such a trash burner. 🛢️ 🔫 So I might as well get the big-ass truck I want. Capital gains will make the money spent on the truck disappear in the next year, assuming the market continues to grow like the past few years. Sucks to have to spend the money, but New York is where I make my money, and I make good money but I work hard and good deliver results for clients. I heard the head programmer was saying good things about the work I do in the department I oversee. 🖥️ It just tickles my ego, every time I hear people talk up my work. But maybe because I have a small dick and drive a big truck.
I keep reading books about buying cars 🚘 and everything I can learn about the industry, both from the Internet on YouTube and the library. If I am very stragetic, cast a wide net of dealership, have some flexibility in model and trim (like an 3/4 ton F-250 vs 1 ton F-350), there are definately options out there. I need to understand the off-road package too, what does it buy besides AT tires? Most of the SuperDuty trucks come with the lockers. Maybe a skid plate under the tranny, I do worry about the tranny lines getting caught in brush, though I’m not going to take a $50k or $60k HD pickup down some rough narrow trail. 🤡 I don’t want to get scammed, get a fair price from dealerships, but maybe I’m more afraid dealerships won’t sell me a SuperDuty even though I have the cash to do it. Oh, you what you really want is a blown-engine (aka supercharged) F-150 or Ranger. No shit sparky, I know those trucks exist. We won’t show you the SuperDuties, you’re not SuperDuty material, sorry bro! But I’m a unit director who makes six figures, even if I do take the city bus and ride my mountain bike to your dealership because my big jacked up truck is off the road.
Truth is it gives me something to think about and dream about this winter, 💭 as the day goes by and is much easier to price and develop compared to the off-grid homestead, which involves so many systems to develop and study. 🐐 There is something nice about buying something already built, and not fragmenting the forest further, but so many of the existing houses are plastic houses tied to grid with the assumption of maximum wastage of resources. And while I guess I could I make it work in New York, lest some smoke drift off the property though at least in ag community, people aren’t to likely to care about the smell of some wood smoke or manure. 💩 Still it ain’t no Missouri or even Wisconsin, and I think just makes sense to build some place where I can do it right, with minimal interference by the urban state government. A truck I can at least drive up to wilderness 🐺 aways from all this urban shit, and you’re not going to have neighbors around, though one time I saw people were bitching me out on internet forums for doing so much shooting in woods, and disturbing their peace. 🔫 Fuck ’em. I want to shovel out the bus stop, shower, 🚿 then it’ s the bus to work! Read on way in, catch the shuttle over the office, work, work, work.
Finally surrendering the plates for destruction at the DMV and canceling my auto insurance made it hit home to me. This really is the end. Those were my plates for 22 years, now just a memory. I am so defensive about my decision to retire Big Red, as from an economic standpoint it’s completely irrational – it’s a nice truck and everybody is asking about it – but I felt this was the time to retire it.
Maybe because I’m unsure of what is next.
I mean at one level it’s obvious, take the bus and bike to work. Test drive a truck or two in February, start scouring the listings and websites come March. I should replace it but like any lost love one that’s easier said than done. Maybe I’ll be happier to a new Ford SuperDuty but I don’t know it won’t be lifted. And I don’t know if I even want a lifted truck at this point. But it’s so much money even if I do pay cash though all new trucks are expensive. It’s not like I haven’t made good money in the markets and my career is progressing well I can retire in probably quite young compared to most.
I keep reminding myself that time is on my side. But I have a lot of angst about the cost of a Ford SuperDuty truck, probably because I spend so much time studying finance and investing – and the frugal lifestyle – which everybody says by the 20-year old Honda Civic and the Plastic (coated) House. I do despise vinyl siding and asphalt roofs. And color television, and weekly garbage service. But despite all the fascinating shapes plastic makes when you toss it in the fire stoned out of your brain, it really stinks when some of it burns. And I don’t want to undermine my future homestead by buying a big truck now, though honestly I make good money, and my investments have grown significantly over the past decade and half and in comparison, a SuperDuty truck which will last most likely 10-15 years before needing to be discarded really is a pissy amount on a yearly basis. But I still have a lot of angst about it.
I keep repeating this phrase, "this really is the end." It's over, though I still need to call the insurance company and let them know and I didn't cancel the registration though I probably should have but it's like $40 left on it and it makes it easier if I decide to put the truck back on the road or transfer it to the new truck. But I see no reason to rush, time on my side if I wait.
