u/Visible_Structure483

summary of woe:

- my 13 year old car broke down (again) and it's beyond my ability to repair so I towed it to a shop to let the pros deal with it

- the AC the 'spare' car we keep that the wife's parents are using just crapped out. we live in the south, they're old, so AC isn't really a luxury in their case. I tried to fix it but failed, so it too has to go to the shop

- the wife's car is "feeling funny" (her words). I think the motor mounts are shot which is why it's vibrating so much. it's 14 years old and those things don't last forever. I haven't torn into it yet because it's the only fully functional vehicle at the moment.

If you're at all aware of the state of the used car market over the last four years you'll know the old "just buy one 3 years old and save 40%!" thing isn't true any longer. You've got to buy someone else's clapped out 125k+ mile 5 year old car to save real money, and then you're dealing with someone else's clapped out 125k+ mile car.

tl;dr - we're toying with the idea of using the big ticket fund for the year to buy one or two new vehicles and me no longer having to have roadside assistance on speed dial.

It's why we keep that bucket of money to the side, just in case, but this is the first time we're actually thinking of using it and honestly, it's frightening me. logically it makes sense, but emotionally I'm not there yet. the wife is so much better at this sort of thing.

Checked three dealers for a 2026 leaf. One has none, one has a top trim one that I'm not interested in and the one that's an hour away has four (including one I'm interested in) but they're trying to add on $2k in dealer BS + the 'usual' $900 doc fee.

Can't tell if they're in short supply because they're selling fast or because there just aren't any really being made.

Paying for same day delivery seems to up the odds you'll get the item the next day, or never. Could go either way, but rarely the same day.

Anyway, off to try to find my part locally so I can finish this job. I can check back with amazon tomorrow for a refund because even though they're not holding up their end of the buying agreement, I can't get my money back until they've wasted more of my time.

I had a magazine fall out of a carrier during a run and I didn't notice it. That's a 3 second procedural penalty when playing IDPA.

Just that one mistake pushed me down 4 spots in the overall rankings.

When you're at the point you're chasing 10ths of a second to beat your friends, losing 3 seconds is an eternity. Double annoying because it wasn't a boneheaded move on course as much as a misadjusted tension setting with the new mags I'm trying.

Probably won't make that error again. Probably.

Only FIRE adjacent, but it was a reminder of how differently we think.

I was at an activity group and socializing after. They're not really 'friends', just people I do one activity with and see every week. One of them bought a new car and people started talking about what they drive.

I've got the oldest car there (13 year old minivan) and someone said "You have the privilege of driving an old car."

I figured it was because yes, a breakdown isn't going to make me late to work, and that most trips are optional for me but her stated reason was "You're rich, no one cares what kind of car you have, the rest of us have to 'keep up'."

Just thought I would share the irony with folks who might appreciate it.

EDIT: they know/suspect "we're rich" because I'm RE and the wife is talking about REing as well.

I'm testing two guns side by side, different barrel lengths but same frame.... except one is FDE and the other is black.

I "fumble" 25% less reloads on the FDE gun than I do the black.

Does the contrast between the black mags and the FDE frame give my mind more data to work with on where the magwell is when I'm not paying close attention while moving to the next position?

Or am I imagining things?

I really hate the FDE color and want that one to 'lose' but the numbers don't point that way.

I picked up a base full size PDP to try out and after zeroing the optic I went to testing it head-to-head with my current setup. Just random stuff:

- bill drills, 20% faster

- 1-reload-1, 10% faster

- draw to 1, 10% faster

With good hits, not just spraying and hitting brown somewhere and no sandbagging.

I assumed it was a fluke, but after three range sessions of the same tests the results were consistent. Nothing I did with the PDP was slower than my old setup which is crazy considering the trigger time difference (10 years vs. 10 minutes).

Got me to thinking, they make fancier PDPs (match, pro-x, metal frames)... has anyone moved up the scale from a regular PDP to a fancier one and immediately seen measurable performance bumps like that?

I know you can't buy skill, but perhaps you can pay to unlock skills you already have that are being dulled by the gear.