Official Gramps' Memorial Eternal OT Thread

#23,227
#23,227
ETV said:
Engine block has made it home, finally. While I'm prepping the block for assembly, I notice the main bearings don't look right, so I checked the tag. Sure enough, the machine shop ordered small block 350 bearings, not LS engine. SMH. While I wait, the main studs are installed and I guess I'll mask off and paint the block.
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I can't help myself. You'll probably have to explain all that to millennials. :D
 
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#23,228
#23,228
AM64 said:
Maybe I should have used the blue ink in a couple of places this time. I apologize if I offended you. However, I think you are wrong in some of your perceptions but right overall.

By definition we were born at the end of WW2 to fathers who returned after the WW2 and got their lives back together, so we definitely didn't fight in WW2 or Korea. My dad like many others was in combat during both WW2 and Korea. We had our own mismanaged debacle called Vietnam and were as I recall the last generation to have military draftees. I would think that a larger population and limited military activity may have put a draft to rest; hard to predict with China around though.

I absolutely agree with you about a lot of things you don't like about boomers ... particularly the peace thing, but it was far from universal. I quit school in my junior year to join the Army (spring of 1967) I would guess that in basic training at Ft Benning my company was half and half guys who enlisted and draftees - no way to know for sure.

Just like the peace movement which I detested then and now, there was the feminist movement - women needed to be out of the house to be somebody. That was probably the more harmful of the two because it completely disrupted society by dumping hordes of women into the job market - to prove their worth. It almost overnight created the need for a two income family and permanently screwed child rearing. Yes, the dinks and yuppies grew out of that. I was not happy when my wife went back to work after our first son (she's a nurse and worked part time), and I had a job that by the very nature frequently demanded long and uncertain hours. I always insisted that except for those times when I was called away that we had dinner together and tried to be the kind of family that my wife and I knew.

Some of the family distractions have/had nothing to do with parents themselves. Growing up we didn't have multiple TVs, electronic games, computers, and (later) cellphones. As parents we were also the victim of peer pressure by the kind of parents you don't like ... the ones who earned or at least spent more and gave kids cars, etc - as consolation prizes or a measure of affluence. It's really tough standing up to "so and so has a car and can ... why can't I"

Yeah, I can understand your feelings, and you have no idea how much I detest the movements of the 60s and 70s ... sometimes fueled by people too young to know enough ... and their kind are still around, we just usually call them things like liberal and progressive. Sometimes those movements were not really the work of boomers, but people a bit older who used boomers.

You also have to realize that a lot of the"leadership" during all this time wasn't boomers. I think the first election I could vote in was Nixon - not Kennedy/Nixon. Reagan created some of the things money issues you don't like, and he definitely wasn't a boomer. The generation before us ran things for a very long time. I think if you look at the dim candidate mess you'll recognize a lot of older people (perhaps even boomers) fronting ideas that "kids' to young to know better want, but that's the duality of representation/"leadership" and politicians wanting to stay in office forever.

In the end, the funny thing is as a boomer (and one of the early ones - born in 1946), I agree with you on so much of what you dislike, but there were plenty of us who just worked and tried to continue our lives something like our parents did - without thoughts of changing the world. And a lot of us paid later on with a very insecure job market - at one point I was in my 50s - a successful and unemployed engineer - and completely screwed - there were no prospects for a job. It was so bad that electronic firms were laying off engineers in their 30s to avoid age related lawsuits for dumping guys in their 40s.

Sorry. This was long, but important to me.
Click to expand...

Great post. You are about the same age as my parents I think. They were born in 51 and 54. Like you, they werent hippies nor later on yuppies. Just hard working honest people trying to get by.

I was a "latch key" kid along with every single one of my friends. Mom and dad both worked full time...so we could eat. Not to drive expensive cars etc. Its a shame that our society now makes it almost impossible to not have 2 incomes and have a family. My wife and I decided...in this day and age...that she was gonna be home with my kids at least until my youngest started school. For the first couple years, she waited tables 4 nights a week after I got home from work so that we could make ends meet. I barely saw her...but my kids had the start we wanted. We were poor but still scraped up enough money to keep my oldest (son) in Christian school and now keep them both there. Tuition this year alone is 14,600. With all the book and computer fees etc it will be 16k. I read an article that said in 1960 70% of homes had a stay at home mom..by 2000 it fell to 7%. Only the rich basically and folks like us who decided we would never have a brand new car, or a big house, etc in order to pay for what was most important to us: my kids.

I dont understand how we as Americans allowed either the price of goods and services to go up so much, or wages to go down so much (,vs. Buying power),,How did we allow it to go from only dad working and having the necessities and more...to dad AND mom working full time to have the same basic things??? What you said about this situation was profound, and I think as a society we GREATLY underestimate the impact it has made letting strangers raise our kids. Expecting daycares and teachers to teach our kids EVERYTHING...it is insane. Insane.

One of yall posted about the latchkey kids making millenials the way they are. I had never thought of it ...but that's profound. My generation, genX, was the first latch key kids generation which came home to an empty house everyday, and had parents that in many cases both put their careers before their kids. Many parents were detached and involved. There was a good thought there. I can see where this would incline them to be the "helicopter parents," with their participation trophies etc and babying the sheit out of the next generation. Makes sense. The end result being millenials and post millenials that have been babied and coddled their entire lives...never known any real failure or pain...of even challenges. Kids of my generation had to be tough...no use crying when there was never a parent home to hear it...and I can definitely see how this would lead my peers to over insulate our kids from the adversity in this world...I guess in a way just trying to not screw up the way our parents did in many cases. Wow .

I have nothing bad to say about boomers like my parents. I dont get where all this stupid criticism comes from ...to me my parents were just doing the best they could and trying to figure out life as best they could at the time. I am grateful that they always made sure us kids had what we needed, and a little bit of what we wanted as finances allowed.

Anyway ...i rambled forever as usual, but yalls conversation gave me pause so I thought I would share my thoughts on it. This is my favorite part of VN...gaining insight from other folks experiences. Lastly, please listen to this:

The generation gap thing is just another way that the politicians, social engineers etc look for ways to divide us. They will use race, sex, age, gender...anything they can to keep us divided and arguing...too busy to care about what is ACTUALLY going on around us. meanwhile, we are stuck in a crooked 2 party system..23 trillion in debt and counting...while career politicians go to Washington for decades and get absolutely nothing done except making themselves rich while spending all of our hard earned money. They spend our kids and grandkids futures while we argue over stupid crap like Russia, antifa, immigration policies etc...while billions are poured into a failed war on drugs and pork bellies pet projects. Dont let them divide us by age or generation. We arent the problem...none of us. The politicians and the billionaires and corporations that pull their strings are the real problem. Put your anger and desire for change where it belongs...pointed straight at them.
 
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#23,230
#23,230
Orangeburst65 said:
I have one, but totally useless in the real world. Received mine long enough ago that it had value in that it was more about accomplishment and showed ability to learn. I would not want to have to start out with one now.
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Yeah I was wondering how one goes from there to selling compressors? Or whatever?
 
#23,231
#23,231
RavinDave said:
Yeah I was wondering how one goes from there to selling compressors? Or whatever?
Click to expand...

Started as a parts guy, went to be a factory aftermarket rep, went to be an Application Engineer, and then got a sales territory as a Sales Engineer. Lots of moving around the country. Most all the Sales Engineers had engineering degrees and went into sales straight out of college, so I had to supplement my degree with experience. Took me about 5+ years to get my territory. It was old school.
 
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#23,232
#23,232
PeaceCorpsVol said:
Again I answered the question and you didn’t
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No you didn’t as has been pointed out and you in fact wound up answering to the exact same tactic put back to you AFTER the tactic was even pointed out and discussed. Congratulations I think you’ve set the bar for today on the level of fail and dumbassery to beat! 🍻
 
#23,233
#23,233
Orangeburst65 said:
Started as a parts guy, went to be a factory aftermarket rep, went to be an Application Engineer, and then got a sales territory as a Sales Engineer. Lots of moving around the country. Most all the Sales Engineers had engineering degrees and went into sales straight out of college, so I had to supplement my degree with experience. Took me about 5+ years to get my territory. It was old school.
Click to expand...
Works for me. Good show man.
 
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#23,236
#23,236
ETV said:
Sneak peek of paint color scheme for the block. Chevrolet orange wasn't going to cut it for this project, so I changed it up and went with PMS151 for the top side covers and smokey gray.
View attachment 228109
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ETV - could I get you to replace the engine in my 2010 F-150 before it gives out? It's got around 225,000 miles and still runs pretty good. But I am more comfortable driving it than I am my newer one (a 2018 F-150)... had a dream last night that I was driving the old one and the engine gave out LOL.

EDIT: do I remember correctly that you live in the Spring area on the N side of Houston?
 
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#23,237
#23,237
AM64 said:
Maybe I should have used the blue ink in a couple of places this time. I apologize if I offended you. However, I think you are wrong in some of your perceptions but right overall.

By definition we were born at the end of WW2 to fathers who returned after the WW2 and got their lives back together, so we definitely didn't fight in WW2 or Korea. My dad like many others was in combat during both WW2 and Korea. We had our own mismanaged debacle called Vietnam and were as I recall the last generation to have military draftees. I would think that a larger population and limited military activity may have put a draft to rest; hard to predict with China around though.

I absolutely agree with you about a lot of things you don't like about boomers ... particularly the peace thing, but it was far from universal. I quit school in my junior year to join the Army (spring of 1967) I would guess that in basic training at Ft Benning my company was half and half guys who enlisted and draftees - no way to know for sure.

Just like the peace movement which I detested then and now, there was the feminist movement - women needed to be out of the house to be somebody. That was probably the more harmful of the two because it completely disrupted society by dumping hordes of women into the job market - to prove their worth. It almost overnight created the need for a two income family and permanently screwed child rearing. Yes, the dinks and yuppies grew out of that. I was not happy when my wife went back to work after our first son (she's a nurse and worked part time), and I had a job that by the very nature frequently demanded long and uncertain hours. I always insisted that except for those times when I was called away that we had dinner together and tried to be the kind of family that my wife and I knew.

Some of the family distractions have/had nothing to do with parents themselves. Growing up we didn't have multiple TVs, electronic games, computers, and (later) cellphones. As parents we were also the victim of peer pressure by the kind of parents you don't like ... the ones who earned or at least spent more and gave kids cars, etc - as consolation prizes or a measure of affluence. It's really tough standing up to "so and so has a car and can ... why can't I"

Yeah, I can understand your feelings, and you have no idea how much I detest the movements of the 60s and 70s ... sometimes fueled by people too young to know enough ... and their kind are still around, we just usually call them things like liberal and progressive. Sometimes those movements were not really the work of boomers, but people a bit older who used boomers.

You also have to realize that a lot of the"leadership" during all this time wasn't boomers. I think the first election I could vote in was Nixon - not Kennedy/Nixon. Reagan created some of the things money issues you don't like, and he definitely wasn't a boomer. The generation before us ran things for a very long time. I think if you look at the dim candidate mess you'll recognize a lot of older people (perhaps even boomers) fronting ideas that "kids' to young to know better want, but that's the duality of representation/"leadership" and politicians wanting to stay in office forever.

In the end, the funny thing is as a boomer (and one of the early ones - born in 1946), I agree with you on so much of what you dislike, but there were plenty of us who just worked and tried to continue our lives something like our parents did - without thoughts of changing the world. And a lot of us paid later on with a very insecure job market - at one point I was in my 50s - a successful and unemployed engineer - and completely screwed - there were no prospects for a job. It was so bad that electronic firms were laying off engineers in their 30s to avoid age related lawsuits for dumping guys in their 40s.

Sorry. This was long, but important to me.
Click to expand...
This should be framed.
 
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#23,238
#23,238
RavinDave said:
Works for me. Good show man.
Click to expand...

I was a Custodial Engineer and then fork truck driver when I worked at service center/warehouse in college..lol
I saw you bought a Crown. We had one of those electric models where you stand up and have the wheel with the knob.
 
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#23,240
#23,240
RavinDave said:
ETV - could I get you to replace the engine in my 2010 F-150 before it gives out? It's got around 225,000 miles and still runs pretty good. But I am more comfortable driving it than I am my newer one (a 2018 F-150)... had a dream last night that I was driving the old one and the engine gave out LOL.

EDIT: do I remember correctly that you live in the Spring area on the N side of Houston?
Click to expand...

We can install a GM LS engine in that Ford. 👍😁
LS swaps are literally in everything these days.
 
#23,242
#23,242
Orangeburst65 said:
I was a Custodial Engineer and then fork truck driver when I worked at service center/warehouse in college..lol
I saw you bought a Crown. We had one of those electric models where you stand up and have the wheel with the knob.
Click to expand...
I thought about getting one of those Stand-up Riders and my Crown guy let me have a demo for 2-3 days at my shop. Main reason I thought about it is because I climb on & off a lot when preparing shipments, and it's easier getting on & off one of those. But it would take some time to get comfortable operating one of those so in the end I decided to stick with a sit-down model. It will be delivered in about 6 weeks.
 
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#23,245
#23,245
RavinDave said:
I thought about getting one of those Stand-up Riders and my Crown guy let me have a demo for 2-3 days at my shop. Main reason I thought about it is because I climb on & off a lot when preparing shipments, and it's easier getting on & off one of those. But it would take some time to get comfortable operating one of those so in the end I decided to stick with a sit-down model. It will be delivered in about 6 weeks.
Click to expand...

Yea..I was not fond of it either. Felt like I was captaining a ship with that wheel knob. This thing just went up/down and no tilt iirc.
 
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#23,246
#23,246
RavinDave said:
ETV - could I get you to replace the engine in my 2010 F-150 before it gives out? It's got around 225,000 miles and still runs pretty good. But I am more comfortable driving it than I am my newer one (a 2018 F-150)... had a dream last night that I was driving the old one and the engine gave out LOL.

EDIT: do I remember correctly that you live in the Spring area on the N side of Houston?
Click to expand...
I was gonna say I've got a 2018 F150 with 10k on the odometer I'd make you a deal on because I hate the pos, then I saw where you already have one, sorry man I feel your pain. This is the first vehicle I've ever owned since new that I have hated. I can't get rid of it soon enough.
 
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#23,250
#23,250
Orangeburst65 said:
Yea..I was not fond of it either. Felt like I was captaining a ship with that wheel knob. This thing just went up/down and no tilt iirc.
Click to expand...
That's not the one you raced and crashed is it? LOL. The controls are not intuitive like they are on a sit-down lift. I'm sure if I started using one I would have some collateral damage before I developed the necessary muscle memory to operate one well.
 
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