I won’t pretend I haven’t done dumb shit out of rage, and perhaps I’m just fortunate to not have had my kids in the car. I think I’ve gotten a little smarter, more relaxed, the older they get. I’m kind of at a point where the only people who can really get under my skin are my kids.

Yeah, he unfortunately went too hard on the mods and it blew up one day, I was behind him when it happened, and it never got back after that. Bigger turbo, downpipe, all that jazz. This is going back probably 15 or more years at this point, but he had a trans-am ts6 after that that was an equally fun ride, absolute factory freak, but so different.

I will say, the '24 WRX seems more well equipped for steep driveways than my '13 did, that car was low. It’s a rally car and so it should look and feel like an old group B car. That sounds like a great “conversion”, because the '03 body is just such a piece of history at this point, that car is why WRX is what it is, and if you can keep it running, maybe make it a little more fun, that’s great.

It just loses its luster after a point. I’ve been to hundreds of shows, went out pretty much every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for like 15 years. Now, someone will be like, hey, you wanna go see x band/DJ that we’ve seen a dozen times? I do end up working two to three nights of the week in board meetings, and so having a night that I can be at home and just relax is just more appealing. I’m also becoming more and more a morning person, so I’m game to go out all day, get home at a reasonable hour, and go to bed.

That’s not to say there’s not things that bring me out these days, but I think it’s gotta have some draw.

All this being said, I’m good for a show a month probably, grabbing drinks a couple times, or dinner at friends’ houses. Not doing nothing, but certainly don’t have the compulsion to kick it like I’m 10-15 years younger than I am.

I had a buddy who had a gen 1 or 2 MR2 (been so long), and that car was a lot of fun, but holy snap oversteer, very unforgiving. But hey that made it more fun, right? I preferred the predictable oversteer of my nismo 350z. I miss that car. But neither the MR2 nor the 350 are great when I have two little people to put in the back, and all of their stuff.

I had a 2013 WRX after the Nismo, and it was definitely smaller than the 2024, but my 2024 WRX is smaller than my 2018 Legacy was, that was a boat.

And I had a '99 Legacy before, and that car was fantastic. It had ground clearance, I took it offroad to places it absolutely didnt belong. Lots of fun. And very well equipped for it’s time. RIP.

So I do think even the stock F series trucks have to meet bumper height requirements. A whole separate issue are people raising their shitty truck without making adjustments to the bumpers. We see trucks and tractor trailers with Mansfield bars, yet Joe Schmo with his jacked up pavement princess does what he wants, and doesn’t even have a million dollar policy to at least remunerate the family of whomever he kills.

I appreciate that insight, as I have very little of my own. My buddy is kind of a jack of all trades, framing one day, sheetrock one day, finishing the next. I think he likes the idea of unloading the bed easily, moving from one site to the next. I seem to recall his complaint about the van being associated with needing to kinda rejig it depending on the tasks he was performing, and if he had one of those days where he’s visiting multiple sites, doing multiple jobs, the truck was just easier. But that’s my faulty memory and zero experience.

All I have is having driven ambulances. I started back on the van conversions, older F350s. The boxes were squat only, no standing room. I left for about 10 years, roughly, and upon my return the ambulances were now F450 Super Duties. Absolutely massive, couldn’t stand it. I’m a good driver, I’ll toot my own horn, but I’d ride with a bunch of people who just could not navigate the big rigs into tight driveways, but there was this desire for size, and so we had what we had. I won’t lie, they were comfortable, all air ride equipped. But they were big, and adults could get lost in front of them. They did have all around cameras, but it’s crazy to rely on them.

Since my departure (two young kids and my own business is hard to find time to volunteer at the moment), they’ve gone the way of the Sprinter-type vans, which I can appreciate. I’m sure there were some sacrifices, but I also feel like 90% of the equipment we carried was hardly used. We’re also in suburban New Jersey, so it’s not like we’re responding to places and being the only ones on scene, so someone else will show up with the gear that I’m sure they did away with.

In sum, big truck (generally) unnecessary.

Ha, he had a rape van prior to the F150. He thinks the access in the 150 is better, and who am I to judge, because I don’t live it day in and day out, so I’ll defer to him.

I get the argument, but it’s pretty obviously disingenuous.

The 250 is much less common than the 150. There are admittedly plenty of them. The 250 is bigger in every dimension.

And even my WRX towers over a Miata.

I just think Miata to 250 is a pointless comparison. And I say that agreeing that Miatas are fun and that the 250 (and even the 150) are way, way too big. I have a buddy with a 150, and it’s filled with his tools and lumber every day. I’d argue the 250 is totally unnecessary for 90% of trades, and I specify trades because your average Joe certainly doesn’t need one period.

Hopefully you don’t do this with your kids in the car anymore.

Go to Rudy’s for a porkslap, a shot, and a hot dog in the meatpacking district, five bucks.

There’s a million places to go. You can find cheap, you just might not like it. I’ve had some of my most fun times at shithole bars in the city. Many nights ended at the croc lounge, may she rest in peace, a free bar pie with every beer you order.

Yeah, I just think you’ve oversimplified it all. Like I said, I love the idea, but it’s a huge ask, and it would require a lot of coordination over a period of time. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that sending Marines to the border, and sending them to protests in LA, is causing some kind of disenfranchisement amongst the enlisted, but a circle of dudes throwing rocks at a nalgene complaining about how this is bullshit is a far cry from an organized mutiny, essentially.

It’d be awesome. But how do you get a whole unit openly discussing insubordination? I love the idea, but it’s just not practical, and not in the short amount of time. The order came down within the last week? It was probably go go go since then.

They’re Marines, I can tell you from experience, they are unfortunately used to it.

2/7 is based on 29 Palms. They may have stopped at Pendleton on the way. 29 Palms is a Marine Corps base only.

Yeah, nobody here knows what they are talking about. “I won’t go, I refuse to go.” Cool, here come the MPs, you go straight to jail. This shit happened quick. It wasn’t like these units had time to talk and maybe try to form a unified front. They got mobilized quick, and so any choice you make, you’re doing it on your own.

And so is it right to disobey? Maybe. Is it easy? Absolutely not, and to suggest that is foolish, but easy to do from behind a desk.

And so I think they’ll do what they must. They’ll show up, they’ll stand in a line, and they’ll hope they don’t need to do any more than that. And it goes unsaid that there’s some morons who want to beat on people, but they’re the 10%. The rest of them don’t want to be there.

You say “easily,” but I doubt it appears so easy, because disobeying the order first starts with you violating the UCMJ and paying for it. Only then can you fight and say hey, the order was unlawful. But you’re doing that from military jail. It’s an uphill battle and there’s nothing easy about it.

I imagine the mindset is go, stand around with a shield, don’t murk protestors, and try to just wait this shit out.

Plus, for the Marines, they were living in 29 Palms beforehand, so it’s practically a vacation.

Yes, just say “I’m from the best US state” next time instead, OP, people will know what you mean.

Yeah, that’s the problem isn’t it? I have to assume that if there was nowhere to work, there’d be less folks coming here illegally. It’s just known you can come, work your ass off, get paid pretty well in cash, and send that shit home on a weekly basis. And there’s rules about what can get sent home and there are ways folks skirt that all the time. It’s a whole economy. And nothing is done about the people facilitating it. It’s arresting the drug user, but leaving the dealers in place.

The judge can declare certain evidence to be confidential, not to be part of public record, for attorney’s eyes only. But with high level security clearances, the judge may not even be able to see it. So who knows!

I have discovered bodies in various stages of post mortem, from recent to rigor. Shitting of pants is not a given. And I was an EMT, not just a crazy person.