u/uintafly

We are currently completing a kitchen renovation and once we got the demo done we realized we were going to lose about 15" of width due to an HVAC stack being a little larger than anticipated. I am trying to figure out the best way to maximize walkway space. One wall will have the sink and dishwasher and the opposite wall  will be pantry cabinets, with an island in the middle (the range is outside of the island, so doesn't really come into play).  The island width is 37.5"  which includes a 1.5" overhang facing the sink, and a 12" overhang on the pantry side (originally planned on 15" before demo). We have 91" of free space to work with once you account for all of the countertops and the island (154" total). My thought is 48" of space between the island and pantry cabinets to give a little more room for seating, and 43" of space between the island and sink. Could also split the difference and go 45.5" on both sides, but I think that gets a little cramped on the barstool side. That side will also be the more natural walkway when not actually cooking.

What do you all think is best?

I’ve been considering either building up my base 718 for the track (8 more days scheduled for this summer/fall plus a few autocross days) or just making the jump to GT4. But good lord GT4 prices are high. I figure I can build a pretty legit track car with my base for roughly $25,000, but I know that any modifications I do are 100% a sunk cost. Which means if I have any plans to upgrade in the next few years, doesn’t really make a ton of sense. That brought me down the line to shop for GT4, but current prices for a low mileage CPO car are hovering in the $150k-$160k range which just seems wild. Porsche killing off the 718 platform has really spiked the prices of these cars. It wasn’t all that long ago that you could get a nice car for the mid 130s.

I’ve got myself frozen going back-and-forth, deciding the best path. What do you guys think, are these prices going to hold?

I’m considering pulling the trigger on a Cayman GTS 4.0, but I’m a little worried because I’ve pretty much only had turbo charged vehicles for the last decade. I live at 5,600’ but do most of my driving around 4,400’. Not all that worried about day to day driving, but I plan on doing 4-5 track days a summer and 5-6 autocross as well. For people living at elevation, have you noticed much decrease in power? Google tells me that 400 HP at elevation is equivalent to roughly 350 at sea level.

Part of my 15-year-old son’s summer ski training this year will include a lot of indoor ramp work with rollerblades. But I have absolutely no idea what type I should get him. He used to have an old pair, but hasn’t really skated much in a couple of years and was never more than a beginner. He’s generally athletic and balanced and I think he will pick it up quickly since they’ll be riding fairly frequently. Any advice on models would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Probably witnessed one of the wildest parent meltdowns this weekend, and not even a word was spoken by the parent. In my area the school age cutoff is 5 months different than the baseball age cutoff, so you have a lot of kids that play down a level from their school age. So what you will see is a lot of teams break up after 13U because a portion of their team goes to the high school freshman team (our rules don't allow high school players to play or practice with other teams during the season), or kids just quit because the jump to the big field and new bats is too much. That happened with a few teams on our area so a local facility/private training group started a 14U "high school prep" team. During tryouts last fall and mutliple times after selecting the team the coaches were very upfront that they were going to try and treat this as a training season for high school. Lots of strength and agility training during winter, holding kids accountable for showing up to practices, batting 9 in tournaments (they still bat the entire team in league play),  etc.  The parents and kids all agreed to it and knew exactly what to expect.

Fast forward to the spring season and we have a kid who missed every single practice and game for 3 weeks. Finally shows up this weekend to our tournament and as soon as he sees that he is starting game one on the bench he walks to his mommy and complains. She then proceeds to walk into the dugout, load up his gear, and then they walk to the car and go home without ever saying a word to the coaches or the rest of the team. One of the wildest things I have ever seen. How a parent can get to the point that they are so entitled that they believe little Johnny can skip all practices for close to a month and then still start is wild. What exactly are you teaching your kid at this point?

It didn't help matters that we were playing another local team and a bunch of the kids and parents all know each other, so when they were making their walk of shame to the outfield everyone noticed and they ended up being a bit of the talk of the tournament. That meltdown from the mom allowing that did nothing but destroy the kids reputation with his teammates and future coaches.   And then of course the baseball gods got involved and the boys played some exceptional baseball and won the tournament. So the mom didn't just destroy the kids reputaion but robbed him from a great baseball memory.