Stop in for a cup of coffee

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So most wives when they leave to go to town on errands and such give husband a kiss ask if he needs anything from town, you know that kind of stuff. After my stunt yesterday, Jodi heads into town today for appt. Looks me in the eye before she leaves and says “ Don’t do anything stupid while I am gone please” Clearly she knows me!
 
So most wives when they leave to go to town on errands and such give husband a kiss ask if he needs anything from town, you know that kind of stuff. After my stunt yesterday, Jodi heads into town today for appt. Looks me in the eye before she leaves and says “ Don’t do anything stupid while I am gone please” Clearly she knows me!
:lol: Great gal John she's a keeper.
 

Live fire training shoothouse skeleton walls going up. Gonna be a hoot! That is not even a quarter of the house. Aprox 3k sq ft. Ten doors, officers are gonna hate it!

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So most wives when they leave to go to town on errands and such give husband a kiss ask if he needs anything from town, you know that kind of stuff. After my stunt yesterday, Jodi heads into town today for appt. Looks me in the eye before she leaves and says “ Don’t do anything stupid while I am gone please” Clearly she knows me!
my wife would say that also, but more for the fact that if I did something stupid and she missed it, she couldn't laugh at me! after the fact isn't as funny.
 
Cooked breakfast at home this morning for Lynda and I. Fried up some Dak Ham that I had. Some fried potatoes with onions and Vietnam hot peppers. And some fruit. Was pretty good
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I don't know anyone who has a kid, or knows a kid, or has even heard of a kid, willing to spend years at a Tech School, only to have to spend $40k (?) on tools, paid for out of his own pocket, only so that he can make "bupkiss" for the first "x" amount of years. I have a friend who used to teach at a local Tech school (this goes back about 10 years or so), and even then he said they were having troubles getting kids to enter their Automotive program.

Which is really sad....

In my industry (commercial HVAC), we have shitty, idiotic, 2nd year Service Techs making $90k/year, and all they have to supply in the way of tools is a tape measure. And some of them can't even do that!

Friggin' world has gone crazy.
My youngest son Matthew when was in his early teens would hang out in my shop and watch me restore and fix stuff. Then he would always repair his dirtbikes on his own. Didn't want to go to college. Wanted to go to tech school. When he was a senior in high school, they had a program where they sent him to tech in the afternoons. The Mercedes-Benz dealership in Annapolis Maryland had him come up there at work in the afternoons as well. He wanted to go to UTI. Universal technical institute. So I sent him to Houston, Texas to do so.. that program was 72 weeks and then they took him into the Mercedes-Benz program. Then Mercedes-Benz sent him to Chicago to school for another 7 weeks. When he was finished, he worked at the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Annapolis for about 4 years. Yes he bought many of his own tools. But the thing he was upset with at the dealership was the politics and how the jobs were distributed among the techs. So by now he has a good knowledge of internal combustion engines and other automotive systems. He went to work with a buddy of his, had a startup electrical company and they wanted to get into generators. They needed Matthew for his internal engine combustion knowledge to work on the generators. He was with them for 2 years before he struck out on his own. Now he has his own generator business in Calvert county, Maryland. Calvert Generators. Was a one-man operation until about 8 months ago. Now he is a three-man operation. Has a growing family and is adding on to his house because of that. He even gave me a nice t-shirt to advertise for him. I warned him not to get too big too fast. Keep it small, keep it simple. Lol
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Yeah, figured

Talks about how they (dealerships) can't get mechanics.

It goes on to talk about how the starting salaries are so low and the requirement for the new mechanic to purchase their own tools, etc. and that it takes maybe 5 years to become proficient.

Seems like there's an answer to that, but what do I know.

Shop costs are relatively fixed....
What’s interesting about all this is Ford announced a while back a starting salary of 100k for new mechanics and they still can’t get anyone
 
As a wise man once said: Follow the money.

And I, too, would enjoy a P/T gig, but in the Parts Department. Every time I go into NAPA they ask me when I'm coming back (I worked 20+ years for them), but with the way parts are now, and everyone's "price match guarantee", ain't no way in Hell I'd go back behind a Retail counter!

I remember in High School we were told that Employment for Life was going to be a thing of the past. Boy, were they right!
My daughter has changed jobs more in the last 2 years than i have in the last 30. And there are many techs leaving the automotive trade,and i blame over use of technology and engineering isnt tech friendly.
 
My daughter has changed jobs more in the last 2 years than i have in the last 30. And there are many techs leaving the automotive trade,and i blame over use of technology and engineering isnt tech friendly.
Yup.

My brother works on Coopers

This is "Service Mode" before you even start work on the actual issue.

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