Coronavirus

Completely off-subject, but why are all of you going to the dealership for little repairs? I see one of the advantages of buying old cars being that I almost never need to go into a dealership with them.

Dealership service centers are quite a racket. They get to pay their mechanic as little as $15 for one hour of work and bill the customer $240 for two, because that's how long the book says the job should take. Even the senior mechanics that have a full set of certifications likely only get paid $30 an hour. The result is that dealerships tend to have a revolving door of mechanics, most not particularly experienced at the job because they can make much more money working independently or for smaller shops.

A guy I used to hang out with only worked at the dealership part-time to get training on new Mercedes models when they came out, making the bulk of his money working in his own private shop.

I used to go to the dealership for most repairs, even though I always buy used cars, because I assumed that they were better at diagnosing and fixing the vehicles that they sold. Sometimes I got a quote that was too high and then I would take my car somewhere else for the actual repair. Then the dealerships started charging for diagnoses, which is fair, but I would only go to them if I had a big repair and wanted a loaner. Now I have finally figured out which local repair shops provide honest service and also loaner vehicles, so they get my business for the bigger jobs. For the smaller repairs, I actually take my car to the Tires Plus that is a mile from my house. They are open seven days a week and I don't need a ride to drop off or pick up my car. I've been using them for a decade now, and am on a first name basis with the manager.

- scheduling is easier. Indy shops are always backed up

- I bought it new and routine maintenance is covered.

-LOANER car. Out in the sticks no car, you’re fucked.

The unvaccinated in my neighborhood are all getting really sick, but no deaths. We have a lot of elderly in our congregation and if one of them dies it will be because a maskless yahoo infected them at church, and I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with that.

We have a good local mechanic, so we don't go to the dealer, but we have started hiring an electrician even for simple jobs because I tend to screw them up and take forever, and we have a little bit of savings after not having to pay student loans for 18 months and then having them forgiven. I am 55.

I take both of our vehicles (Subarus) to the local dealership because their maintenance and wear/tear item pricing has been consistently lower than the local mechanics and I have not noticed any issues with quality. Nothing major has needed to be done on either vehicle, but I would probably get a couple quotes outside of them if that were to happen.

Early reports indicate the symptoms of the omicron variant are fairly mild. It does seem to spread more easily than previous versions of Covid-19, and the high number of mutations will likely lead to more breakthrough cases for the fully-vaccinated. This could be the point where Covid-19 moves from pandemic to endemic, like the flu or the common cold. If so, this is good news.

The guy I was reading indicates he thinks it’s not that it’s more infectious, it’s that it can reinfect when Delta can’t. So it’s potential infection population in South Africa is much higher.

I’ve been told that Omicron can take up to 5 days to register on a COVID test. This is considerably longer than the other strains, making it really shitty for people really playing it safe with self-quarantines.

Dealerships: I can afford to buy new now so I do and that comes with some “free” service and coverage of parts and labor for many problems for years. I often end up not paying anything other than my time. If it is something I have to pay for, there comes the sense that I am getting expertise and, importantly, a parts supply chain that means I’m not tacking on time to get parts that have, in the past, sometimes added days without my car. My dealership is about a mile away, I can walk home and back

I have a bunch of disreputable mechanics around that, from experience, I wouldn’t use again and one good one that is so backed up even minor repairs can take more than a day (and then add on needing to get parts). It’s how it is here. Maybe elsewhere it is different. When I bought used cars I was less picky about where I went, but it was not the best set of experiences.

I got the booster on Wednesday night, switching over to Moderna for the booster. Minimal side effects at first: a little fatigue and some pain in the injection site and also my left knee. The pain went away after the first two days, but the fatigue continues to linger. I am planning on more social distancing for the holidays, as it can take a couple of weeks for the booster to reach full efficacy, and then Omicron will be prevalent by February.

I'm putting off my booster until January. Partly because I haven't found a Moderna appt and prefer a walk-in anyway. But also if it becomes an annual thing I just don't want to have to worry about side-effect sickness during holiday season. J&J website says it lasts at least 8 months so I'm still covered until then.

Me and the wife got the booster last Wednesday. Lots of bathroom trips for me and general shittiness Thursday-Saturday. I was originally planning on going home for the holidays, but the kids shots weren't available by then. My 10 year old is getting his first shot next Wednesday. That puts us on track to head home for a little vacation in Feb with all four of us vaccinated.

Just have to be careful around my mom who is addicted to Tucker Carlson and hangs off his every word. I'm at the point where I ignore her ignorance as much as possible and then when she takes it too far tell her she's full of shit.

mtagge wrote: Just have to be careful around my mom who is addicted to Tucker Carlson and hangs off his every word. I'm at the point where I ignore her ignorance as much as possible and then when she takes it too far tell her she's full of shit.

As an employee of Fox News, Tucker Carlson is required to either get fully vaccinated or submit to daily Covid testing. I'm betting that Tucker got vaccinated last spring and just doesn't care if his viewers get vaccinated because he is a highly-paid sociopath.

apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-he...c7f1d6c0ddff98a5fe6d

I’d be willing to bet he did his best to be one of the first to get vaccinated.

I feel bad for all you guys having side affects, I've had three shots this year (2 x AZ and a Pfizer) plus a flu one and haven't noticed any of them ... I worry that I have no immune system hence the lack of reaction . But at least all of us are safe for another 6 months .