Boosted52405

Yep this thread made me instantly think of Kids, what a f'd up movie.

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The mid-2000s Towncar is beautiful in my eyes, with a very reliable drivetrain. They've brought back the Continental now as their flagship and boy, it is gorgeous. They've got some limited # ones with suicide doors too, I believe. Don't trust their newer engines though, I believe they ecoboosted that one too.

What do you know, my '11 Chevy Tahoe has that technology and it still sucks (c'mon GM). Mine hops from 8cyl to 4cyl and many enthusiasts disable that feature to increase the engine reliability (I still need to look into that...).

One question to ask - do you want the vehicle to run good during the warranty period, or also after? Kia/Hyundai unfortunately do not have a good track record with high mileage vehicles. I play pokemon go with a local player who is a mechanic for them, he spends the majority of his days doing full engine swaps that are under warranty. I made a comment to him about how crazy this is, and he goes "well hey the customer doesn't have to pay for it". For Chrysler, I'd be hell bent on giving my money to a company that is being whored around and bought from company to company. The only thing they are doing remotely right as a whole is Jeep and Ram. Chrysler only exists because of Jeep and Ram, they have been doing soooooo bad this last decade or two. It still shocks me that Chevy and Ford left the minivan game a long time ago. I've grown to also not like GM's quality of things, and I had a 2015 Ford Flex that had way too many problems under warranty. I would absolutely stick to Toyota and Honda, and avoid CVT transmissions at all costs. And do the maintenance by the book. If you're just wanting something covered under warranty then maybe take a chance at the other crap.

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With respect to electricians (reference to sparky?), I quickly think of @MrWunderful. If that is the profession in question, I bet he would have some great feedback. Haven't seen him post in a long time, but I've been MIA for quite a while too.

I've worked in IT all of my adult life and one thing that is constant in that environment is change. With all the companies (3 - 16 years) I've worked for, there are constant reorgs and layoffs. It's kind of exhausting having a family and mortgage working in this kind of environment. Outsourcing is heavy in this world and you can get shuffled all over the nation if you get into the contracting area of IT. It does in general provide an opportunity to work from home though, which is a massive plus. I only point these perspectives out because working in the trades, as an outsider, seems to be more stable - however I could totally be wrong. A lot of those professions also have unions which have benefits too, I believe. I've certainly pondered the what-ifs and wonder if I should have tried to be an electrician or something comparable. At this stage of my life, single dad with kiddo half the time, and a mortgage - all i want is stability.

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I'm 36 and did not watch the originals growing up, resulting in this opinion (and also why I'm sure so many are passionate about the originals). I watched SW off and on growing up but never got into it until I, II, and III were already on DVD. After reading several debates online on which order to watch 1-6, I did give IV-VI a fair chance and watched them first before I-III. They were soooooooo much more engaging.

Prequels, I just feel they were REALLY well done with respect to the main story. The evolution of Anakin and the surrounding elements were excellent. Sequels were excellent too, but they get a little out of hand with the use of Jedi powers. Not a huge fan of the handling of Luke throughout the sequels at all. Both were better than IV, V, IV...in my opinion (I don't think they held up all that great). Side note - Mandolorian is super enjoyable, especially the end of S2. However, wish they'd quit repeating the same elements in almost every single episode.

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Wow, did not know a single dice is called a die. Lol, always been dice for one or many in my brain.

It's interesting that you'd like to instigate a separate conversation that the OP did not intend, the issue is that it's always going to come down to opinion on social expectations, since we've exhausted the legal aspects. The OP was asking if he was over the line, so you can point the finger all over if you wish, not sure what you'll gain other to try and argue further. I'm not really interesting in debating on who was "more" wrong, but here are some more forward-thinking ways to look at this. 1 - the Mom should have masked her kid and kept her kid at a distance proactively, given the obvious (pandemic) and out of respect of other park families. I agree it's mind numbing she didn't do this. Had she done this, all of this would have been avoided. 2 - the OP should have asked (not demand) the Mom if the kid had a mask, and if not, to respect distancing practices given the obvious (pandemic). Beyond that, there is next to no entitlement. Calling the cops for this manageable situation would be a notable waste of their time. Both parents have wrongs in my opinion, but ask yourself, what are the kids going to remember the most? They are going to remember the yelling, arguing, middle fingers, and that shit sticks with kids. To allow an argument to occur with a random stranger in public is ridiculous IMO, you have no idea the mental health of strangers so do yourself a favor and avoid this kind of stuff (especially with little kids involved). It's not about backing down or being a pussy, it's being smart. Of course, this is all of my personal opinion.

Actually no, funny enough, she went to a public park where people are expected to co-exist. The OP has little to no entitlement in this situation, in which you're implying.

Holy wall of text. I'll keep it simple man, just because you would control your child in a particular way does not mean you can EXPECT another stranger to control their kid the same way. Control what you can control, hence my feelings that if the OP was uncomfortable he had the liberty to get up and leave. You'll continue to be disappointed in life if you expect people in life to behave like you - again, this is a public shared setting, this kind of stuff will happen frequently. The kid did not have to wear a mask, per the law. The whole forum agrees with how the Mom should have behaved (mask & distance), but it doesn't justify the resulting behavior of the OP. As for what the Mom said, we weren't provided any actual detail, yet the OP even agrees he went 0-100 in a matter of seconds. What's wrong with being the bigger person and leaving, I ask? As for your link that I said was a joke, absolutely it is - it's a State policy that is far more of a PR move than actuality. Again, can you show me a single instance of it being enforced, let alone regarding children distancing? "Taking criminal action" haha that's simply a public threat, the cops are not in place to go around massaging everyone's shoulders for every little civil dispute. If you think otherwise, you should definitely reconsider. As for how did I expect the OP to work with the Mom? I've already shared that in vivid detail about 2 or 3 times in this thread. It's extremely simple, you cannot go to a stranger in a public space and demand something of them. You can be civil, friendly, and ask them to do something out of respect, but they don't have to. Come to me as a stranger and demand something of me and I'll laugh at you. The mature solution would have been to ask her to keep distance, if not, take it upon yourself to leave.

@fcgameralso, I think an argument you're webbing together is my feedback of 1) parents acting in unity in a park, and 2) strangers talking to your kids - these are 2 very distinct things. The unity piece is the allowance of strangers kids to run around together, however, it is not common or expected that other parents talk or even interact all at all with your kid, if that makes sense. Purely supervision on the unity front, again pre-pandemic days. Of course, if a lil kiddo biffs it and needs help or something, I can see strangers jumping up to help. Perhaps that helps a bit on that point you're blending together as twofold.

You don't know if you don't try. Everyone has different opinions on the use of masks, especially when they aren't legally required on kids in public. You can't expect that everyone views life the same as you. When interacting with a stranger, start friendly before going to 100 - demanding something from someone is extremely different than asking them to do something out of respect.

I will happily address any point you'd like to discuss, I still don't feel you are understanding. The kid in question did not come up and talk to strangers, he went within a few feet of the OP and his kid - here is the exact text from the OP "her kid comes within a couple feet looking like he wants to play." This is 100% normal behavior at a park for a 4yo. Again, to explain this I really feel you haven't been to a busy park with kids. As long as the Mom was supervising her kid in this situation, I still feel the only thing she did wrong was send him in unmasked. You seem to feel she was negligent for letting her kid get close to anther kid/family on a playground, I fully disagree. The unity piece I am referring to is how parents are able to simply monitor their kids versus helicopter them at a park. I am not saying that all the parents are running around swinging each others kids, they simply allow the kids to run and play together (pre-pandemic days).

Well you both certainly have limited equal entitlement at a park playground, it's when you fail to co-exist and/or not respect each other that the issues will begin. I definitely agree that the situation began when the 2nd family arrived, but once the conflict arose, your details really paint that you pushed it aggressively versus trying to discuss it with her. I am guessing that if you respectfully asked her to keep a distance versus tell her what she needed to follow, the altercation may have been avoided.

It certainly appears you haven't been to a public park with child. Parents don't really helicopter their kids, they let them run along the playground as it's intended and supervise. It almost feels like an unspoken unity of parents all keeping an eye across the playground - that's my experience in the midwest at least. When they are really little, yes, the parents will navigate to play/teach/keep from falling however. He even said, the family showed up, she sat on a bench, he went to play and simply made his way over to the OP. The only thing I would have expected differently from the Mom up to that point was to equip the kid with a mask, and perhaps even proactively ask the kid to keep a distance - but that is not traditionally how parks work and your mileage will vary based on parent to parent during the pandemic.

That completely misses my point, especially in the environment/situation being discussed here. I am not referring to a negligent parent letting their 4yo run the streets etc. This is a public park where kids (complete strangers of kids) traditionally run around with one another and have a good ol' time pre-pandemic days. Parents keep close by and keep an eye on them, generally standing back or sitting on a bench. I've done it countless times. However, when/if a stranger talks to your kid in that environment, it will absolutely put you in the concerned/offensive state - I am sure 99% of parents would agree. Then, to go as far as the stranger telling my kid what he can and cannot do, you better believe it would get the hair on my back to stand up.

Interesting, using your own terms quoted above, can you deny acting in all these same manners? One other thing I'll share, and then I'll quit defending the Mom, although she totally could have avoided all this by masking her kid from the get go. For any parent involved in this discussion...how would/do you feel when a stranger talks to your toddler, let alone tells them what to do? It puts them instantly on the defensive, if not a protective/offensive state of mind. With the above in mind, I can only assume this occurred, and then the OP essentially barked an order at her ("he must wear a mask to play near us"). This is the point where I feel instigation started, instead of attempting to talk civilly to the parent and asking to keep their distance. Again, Mom totally should have masked the kid, never argued that. However, the points of entitlement/selfishness etc, play a role here on both sides. OP - I absolutely respect you for posting this on a public forum looking for feedback, I assume a large percent of people would not take it that far out of self-reflection. Hopefully you'll restrain the guns in public in front of kids next time :).