Megan is always successfully posting lists of things she wants, so before I start working on my thesis, for the next 15 I am going to post my "want list". Hopefully this will allow me to vent so that I can be less distracted while I am working on my maps tonight.
1. We just bought a new car (well, new to us). It's a 2005 Honda Pilot EXL with navigation. I want to do to it what this guy did
HERE. He never says how much it cost, but with the limited research I have done, I think it must be a minimum of $1,500 to $2,000. I wanted it so bad and I was so obsessed and distracted with it last week that I scared Megan. We had a nice talk and both decided it was definitely something that we don't need. Though not needed, I still want it so bad. I need help.
2. Now that we have 3 vehicles parked at our house (at least until we can
sell the corolla), we have realized that our driveway is too narrow. We want to lay pavers down at least one side of the driveway to widen it. This is going to be a fun, family-bonding activity. What frustrates me about it is that we're missing some of the tools we need. We need a big chop saw suited for cutting pavers and a vibrating plate compactor. Those are the needs, now here come the wants: I
want to buy my own compactor instead of renting one and I think I can just use my angle grinder to make crude cuts that are good enough for me.
Now you ask: why in the world would Dan want to buy a vibrating plate compactor instead of just renting one? The answer is a well-kept secret: for more than half my life I have dreamed of someday having my own compactor. I dare say that it is not uncommon for dirt engineers and dirt technicians alike to frequently fantasize of owning their own compaction and testing equipment.
Also, a long time I go I had a class called engineering economics. We must have done 20+ problems stating that we owned a construction company and we had to figure out if buying or leasing dump trucks was a better option. The same principle applies to vibrating plate compactors. i.e. I can buy one for a couple hundred dollars and have it to use for ever and possibly re-sale it when I don't like it any more, vs. paying a couple hundred dollars to rent one from Home Depot for a couple of days. In my mind, buying my own is totally the better option.
I have found the most inexpensive one to be
here. My only drawback is that I don't know how to arrange shipping from
Malaysia for something that weighs nearly 200 lbs. If there are any shipping geniuses out there, please tell me the secret to getting this imported most inexpensively (I don't care if it takes a couple of months)! My other option is from
Harbor Freight, but they aren't as cool as an Asian import and cost a lot more. They must have to roll a lot of the import costs in to the extra price.
So that's my list. Post a comment to tell me what you think of the things I want. (Megan, did you notice all the new car and yard work stuff took my mind off of guns?)
