Rants – Page 2 – Modern Anachronist

The Death of Fessick

A sad day indeed, but one that I’ve known was coming for a long time. Today, I said goodbye to Fessick.

When the running board broke under my weight. Removing the running boards made it painfully obvious that the rocker panels were totally rusted out.

When the Neutral Safety Switch started getting wonky. To start the car, I need to switch between Park & Neutral until the switch completes the starter circuit.

When the parking pawls stopped engaging reliably. If I’m parking on a grade I have to go in and out of Park until the transmission manages to hold the car in place. Now the parking pawls seem to have failed completely, I’m parked against a pair of wheel chocks.

When the front hubs started whining. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s the hubs or the brakes, but there’s a definite whine from the front end.

Realistically, I could have fixed any of these issues, but when you stack them all together, it just doesn’t make sense.

The Excursion really doesn’t fit into my lifestyle. I live between NYC and Philly, this truck isn’t a good city vehicle.

I don’t do any heavy towing. I don’t cart around seven passengers.

In the six years I’ve owned this truck, only once have I used a feature of this truck that is unique to it. When I built the tiny shed, Fessick lived in the backyard with all my tools and materials.

And now the search begins… {note – the search actually began several months ago.}

Picking Nits on the Ridgeline

I’ve had the Honda for just over a week now, and the development in automobiles from 2001 to 2024 is astounding. When Fessick rolled off the assembly line, neither mobile phones nor USB were widespread technologies, streaming audio wasn’t even an option, and high end cars had CD changers. Now with wireless CarPlay, my phone and all its associated connectivity is integrated into the car, I’ve got USB-A and -C ports, but the CD player has found the end of it’s road.

When I sit down, press a button to start the engine without unclipping my keys from my belt, the audio I was streaming to my phone routes to the car speakers, and directions to my doctor’s appointment show up on the dashboard, I feel like I’ve stepped into the future. (Also, I know that these features aren’t really high end these days. I’m driving a Honda, not a Rolls.)

That being said, I’ve found a few flaws that really bug me.

A New Car!

Can you hear Bob Barker in your head, or is that just me?

Well, the new truck has been added to the family. As much as I love Fessick, the needed repairs were getting to the point where they didn’t make sense. After several months of shopping I purchased a 2024 Honda Ridgeline RTL in Sonic Gray.

The Son of Fessick

So now I need a vehicle to replace the Excursion.

I need something smaller to navigate city streets.

I need something big enough to fit the family. My kids are about to be teenagers, so I need a reasonable back seat. My brother’s boys are older than my kids, and they don’t really fit in the back of his Nissan Titan.

I need something that will tow my utility trailer. It has a weight rating of 3,500 pounds, so I don’t really need a tow monster.

The Ford Maverick actually does most of what I need, but the back seat isn’t big enough for the kids. I actually recommended that my brother buy a Maverick for his boys to share, the oldest just got his license.

I cycled through the midsized trucks and really none of them had a backseat that was useable.

I started looking at the full sized trucks, and the prices for new trucks are just stupid.

But then I stumbled across a dark horse – the Honda Ridgeline.

It’s mocked as NART (Not A Real Truck), but the capabilities of the Ridgeline meet my needs.

Test drive is scheduled.

Keeping the ratchet straps from becoming a wretched mess

So when you buy the nice straps they have all kinds of sweet extra features

Reusable case
Velcro straps
Built in soft shackles*

So satisfying…
to pull this out of the tongue box

Picking paint pigments

My brain is pretty bad at making a final decision. I’m very good at visualizing alternatives. Brilliant at building pros & cons lists. But choosing something I’m going to have to live with for years – utterly paralyzing to me.

So choosing a paint color when redecorating a room is a special kind of hell for me. Luckily I’ve found a solution. I call it the slow decay decision making process.

The Power of Iterative Engineering

Or, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I’m an over planner. There’s no arguing it.

My very first boss drilled into my head “We never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it again.”

Measure twice, check orientation, then cut.

While building kitchen Mk.2 I made a cutting error that cost me time and money to fix.

Where to put the brains?

Back in the analog days, your light was controlled either at the lamp or at the switch. If you were going on vacation, you might plug it into a clock work timer so no one noticed the house was unoccupied. As we move to home automation, you have a lot of flexibility in how to control things. Do you want to control at the wall, the lamp or the bulb?

Worst sink drain design I’ve ever seen

When we bought the new house, I was happy to see that both upstairs bathrooms had new vanities. I didn’t realize then that the new fixtures were probably worse than the 50 year old units that they replaced.