Off topic anything 2021 Edition!

I guess for 2021 I've started a new job at a machine shop in town. I had been in there before to look at a lathe with a friend, and i came in there in december one day after not sleeping the night previous, looking for some material and cutters for my new mill, wound up walking out of there with a job, as well as cutters and material. Granted, it pays a bit less than tractor supply did, but i am learning the trade I'm interested in. That and there's a total of 6 people working there including me, it's pretty low pressure, and i don't have to deal with retail BS.

Aside from that, my first few days of 2021 have been an absolute living hell. I'm in a world of sh*t. It feels like everything besides my job, my physical fitness, and my mental health have gone to sh*t. I spent one night on top of a small mountain here just to get out of the house and away from my thoughts.

I start college back next Tuesday. I think it's business as usual. If it's all online i might just take a break from it til it's all back to normal.

Sorry for the novel. I'm staying positive, i hope you all are. How's your 2021 going?

I’m taking the year off of school as well. I absolutely plan on going back, but hands-on majors SUCK to take online. Seems like every battery I have is dead too. The mk2, my impala, my 94 c1500, pretty much everything but my one daily driver (the ranger). And not a single pair of jumper cables to be found

Since we are giving some novels....

Well, so far my 2021 is getting better.  My 2020 last 2 months were horrible.  It seemed to all start with the ice storm Oct 27.  Up to then, other than covid madness life was going well.  Nov, I initially injured my back cleaning the back yard from all the tree damage.  Then about Dec 12 I was reaching down to pick something up and my back full gave out and started spasming for 5-10 minutes of the worst pain in my life.  Between then and New Years Eve, I wasn't really recovering from the pain, so I spent that whole month in pretty bad pain.  I was finally able to see the Dr New Years Eve.  They were all booked up because of the covid junk.  He got me on steroids and muscle relaxer.  So since then I have finally gotten better some.  Once the steroid was out in my 6 day pack, my back a few days later started to ache a little more each day.  He got me a second round of steroid, and my back is about 65-70% better.  I still can't lift or carry anything over 30lbs without some sharp pain.  I will be starting some physical therapy soon. Fingers crossed I can get back into the fun of things.

...And, I don't think I ever got into the story about a family member's dog killing one of our cats.  Not a story I wish to go into detail.

I can also say, through better eating and living I have lost about 50-60 lbs last year.  I'm hoping for another 50 this year.

@RichieRichOverdrive, I'll be thinking about ya hoping things get getter.  If you need someone to rant to, shoot me a message... I'm a good ear.

Shortly after i started at tractor supply i hurt my back pretty bad. If i did anything besides stand with perfect posture, i was screwed. I almost stayed home from school the day it was the worst. Luckily it was a light day in the shop and i was just standing at a vise filing something. I remember it hurting so much on the drive to bowling green that i was sweating. It definitely taught me good form in picking up stuff, and that definitely contributed to the 20lbs of fat i dropped off my legs at TSC. Hope that gets better mighty. I've had enough of a taste of it to know it sucks.

I’ve had back spasms before. I know how bad they are. I can’t tell if that was the worst pain I’ve ever felt, or when I hyperextended my elbow in 7th grade wrestling, or dislocated my shoulder playing football. My ankle was the longest lasting pain (still dealing with it occasionally after more than 3 years) but I think it’s close between the shoulder and my back for worst pain I’ve ever felt

Boy, everybody is hurting. I just hurt all over, mainly from the cold. I hate the cold!! Had the cortisone shots in back, helped for 10+ years. Elbows, wrists, ankles, shoulders, and so on, all hurt now. Arthritis I guess. I think I'm well past everybody here, LOL.

Only think I can offer is take aspirin, like 1000 mg. If you can't take or feel uncomfortable taking that much then eat green bell peppers. Green bell peppers is a natural pain reliever and tastes good with ranch dressing.

I'd feel way better this year if stuff quit exploding around me. So far this year, nothing yet, LOL.

The cold makes everything hurt more lol. It's just not fair.

Ugh... hate when people fall off the earth when conversing with them on a purchase.

Had that happen with a lathe and milling machine i was trying to buy. They do it a lot.

I made a shelf and put all my dewalt tools and some of my chargers on the wall above the bench where they were all piled up. About time, lol.

Nice! That's something I've been thinking about doing with my Ryobis.

MightyRaze wrote:

Ugh... hate when people fall off the earth when conversing with them on a purchase.

UGH... so I have been trying to get this tractor for 2 weeks.  I told him I could come up and get it the next day (talked with him late on a Friday). He said he would get me some more pix, I was just interested in getting it.  Crickets for over a week.  Today it comes up SOLD.  What a Moe...

What was it?

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

What was it?

I was trying to get a 67 Sears Suburban SS12 for the past 2 weeks.

Gotcha

The official ATLTF Instagram seems to be doing well. It’s only been up a week and has over 100 followers. Hard to tell if it’s working to grow our community since new accounts aren’t activated till after buildoff voting though

Well 2021 has been pretty good for me. I did turn 18 so I guess that's cool, but I really haven't done much but I do have some good business news. See my Aunt has a store in the Richmond mall, which ain't much of a mall. It's not as big as it looks on the outside and plus alot of the stores left and went to the newer Richmond Center because of space. So for the past idk probably 12 years or more business have came and went and for the past 3 years its went down to maybe 6 stores at most and the rest are just rented spaces. But sometime last year my Aunt started a store in the mall and she said since covid alot more people have came to the mall and I reckon her business has been pretty good.

So back to what I was originally saying. I've gotten the opportunity to sell my welding art in her store. I know that part of the money would go to her but both her and my mom think I should raise my prices, which would allow me to make alittle more money and have more customers. I didnt like the idea of raising my prices because some things aren't worth more than 15 bucks so I've decided to have some variety in prices so that hopefully more people will want to buy my stuff. So basically I've been making a bunch of different things so that she has a good back up of items to put out when others sale. Overall I'm pretty excited about that so hopefully everything works out and maybe I'll be able to make more money this year and I would really like to be able to have a steady income and also have a work schedule but we'll see how everything goes first.

I'm super impressed with how well you're getting along with your welding sculptures blake. I remember making a big skeleton key out of stuff i found on the railroad bed when i was probably 9. Dad gave me access to the welder when i was in 3rd grade or so and before he knew it i had every piece of scrap in that shop welded together, and started dragging milk crates of junk off of the railroad tracks at my grandparents. I think i still have a torch striker i found up there. There's probably still some railroad spikes and plates floating around here.

Thanks Rich! I honestly didnt think people were going to buy them when I first started. But finding stuff on the railroad bed sounds fun! At the beginning of last year me and my buddy went magnet fishing when that was big on YouTube and we thought we would find alot of stuff but we went to 3 bridges and even went to the lake and magnet fished off the docks and all we found were just little fish hooks, some nuts and bolts, and part of a shelf. Which I guess it's a good thing that people don't just throw stuff off the side of bridges and into lakes but it's also kinda sad that every piece of metal anyone gets there hands on gets took to the scrapyard around here....most of the time it's so they can buy drugs. At one point people were scraping man hole covers and stealing the tongues off of mobile homes.

People was scrapping man hole covers here too. Till the city yelled at the yards for taking them and it stopped. LOL. Wife even drove into one hole without a cover. She drove out of it. Bent the a-frame a little, so I just did an alignment on the car and all was good.

I remember any abandoned or foreclosed house up north had the copper or anything of value ripped out of it before a year had gone by.

Still doing that here, with the houses. Then, when the houses are sitting stripped to nothing, the city comes in to look at them and see if they are worth it to keep standing or just no good and knock them down. The city has knocked down whole streets of houses here. My city neighborhood is turning into a giant park. They don't even build new houses here anymore.

Have you guys ever seen this thing? That's one way to go 4wd I guess but jeez, puts some stress on things.

Anyone else have snow this morning?

Actually a nice one here.  Cool, but not "cold".  Especially nice after 50mph wind gusts for the past couple days.