Buying a home in this market is stressful as all hell, and I feel for you all. Prices and availability may have you considering homes with critical flaws or in conditions you never thought you'd be willing to accept. I want to share our experience from a doozy of an inspection to the approaches we took to cut costs and make a fixer upper doable for us.
A heads up, this post is DIY heavy. I realize that's not for everyone. This is for those who are in that mindset, or are on the fence about DIY or learning how to research and manage trades quotes.
My wife and I purchased our first home in Denver at the height of the market in June 2022. Interest rates were much better than, but the prices were still very high.
We found an almost unmolested/untouched 1969 3br 3ba two-story time capsule with a full height unfinished basement in a nice part of town. It had a lot of deferred maintenance. Let's start with the inspection, which we absolutely refused to waive. DO NOT WAIVE THE INSPECTION. Knowledge gained via inspection later saved us $30k at the negotiating table.
Inspection Report - Major Items:

• Significant street facing foundation wall crack. Two structural engineer assessments point to soil expansion pushing the wall in, slipping house on mud sill on that wall only. We're told it's due to poor front yard grading in the first 10-15ft causing water to pool.
• Flat roof has seams + cracks and is due to be replaced.
• 18 somewhat leaky, poor-condition original aluminum single-pane windows.
• Potentially dangerous electrical panel, using known bad manufacturer from the 60s
• Failing valves for old water softening system; complex old piping to split house between two systems.
• 27 y/o AC condenser unit.

That was a lot barrel to stare down, but we had already done a lot of research in ways of mitigating, repairing, and spreading out these or similar issues to reduce risk and up front cost across our 6 months of shopping and putting in offers. We gave ourselves two weeks in our offer to go/no-go, to give us time to do the legwork needed to move forward, back out, or negotiate.
So we put in our offer, and quickly learn we're the only non-flippers, non-corporate buyers. The previous owners are sentimental, and so that wins us the house. After almost 20 offers, we finally have our house. The rush subsides quickly with a ton of work ahead of us.

Quotes and Fixes

Foundation fix

3 quotes, 2 structural assessments for $300 ea, 3 different approaches. We could anchor and epoxy for $12k or $15k (two companies), demo and repour for some astronomical number like $50K+ (contractor), or based on a tip I found...reinforce, epoxy, and regrade for $4.5k if we DIYed the reinforcement via a wall brace kit. After talking with the engineer at Gorilla Wall Braces, and our structural engineer, our condition was a good fit for the system and we went that direction.
Final cost was $2.6K for the kit + spec steel beams + DIY install, and what we were told might be a grade issue turned out to be a sprinkler head leak next to the foundation causing countless gallons of water to pour down it each grass watering. Once that was fixed, the area dried right up. We had it assessed and were given the clear. We later had it regraded for $700 as part of some landscape work for peace of mind.
Scary wide range, but fixed a major flaw in the report for a fraction of the price.

Old AC Unit

Stopped working within the first month of ownership during the peak of summer, in 90 deg temps. 3 quotes, Home Depot, some local HVAC company, and a guy in a truck on Thumbtack. $15k for the first for a whole new central system, $36k from the local outfit for a whole house ductless setup, and the final guy was $300 to replace the damaged capacitor and get us back up and running.
You gotta realize part of the stress here is that each outfit will sell you hard that you "absolutely want their option and no other will do, because of XYZ" and make you feel like an idiot for considering anything else. They'll use hard sell tactics to get you to sign on that line today. It can be tempting to pull the trigger for a now-fix, and they'll give you all sorts of bullshit offers and reasons to do so, but it'll eat your reno budget or trap you in finance payments for years. For every issue we had, it took really digging to find other options, but they almost always presented themselves.
Final cost was $300. Guy said it'd probably be fine for another 5 years, and had no leaks. AC worked great for the whole summer, and started up fine this year. It's less efficient, but does the job for now. Later, I'll probably install a Mr. Cool DIY ductless setup for $5-6k when we're ready to modernize, or if/when ours blows.

Leaking Roof

The flat roof started leaking almost immediately when the next couple huge rainstorms hit. At first it was a little, then a lot. That lit a fire on this one. Two quotes. $6k for a local company to patch all potential areas and guarantee the leak would be fixed, or $20k+ to scrape and reroof with TPO.
Final cost was $1.6k We ended up DIYing a Henry's silicone roof coating product for $1.6k that not only sealed it extremely well, but cut our AC bill in half due to the reflective surface. Our roof does have 3 layers on it, so this might just buy us time, but after chatting with a few folks in the field, it might get us 10+ years.

Sprinkler Valve Leaks, Line Cracks

Our first water bill revealed that we had a massive sprinkler leak, that was causing water to pool against the foundation (causing the soil expansion/foundation cracking). It was pooling under the decorative stone, so wasn't especially obvious at first. I didn't even bother quoting this one. With all the easy press-to-fit fittings at the box store, all it takes is a shovel, some fittings, and 3/4" line pipe to do most of your line repairs. $400 later everything was fixed across the yard with all new valves.

Sketchy old plumbing

The previous owners had installed a water softening system in the 80s that piped half the house on soft water, and half not. It was a mess, and every valve was questionable, including the water main. This was more peace of mind, but I opened a permit, bought the $500 PEX-A expansion gun, and replumbed the whole house with PEX to code over the summer while we had walls exposed. Total cost including the tool was less than $2k.

Leaky Windows

Call it ambition or stupidity, after a $30k quote for shitty Champion PVC double-pane double-hung windows, I hunted down a Chinese vendor on Alibaba to build us custom replacement triple-pane low-e nuts-o-quality premium casement + tilt-n-turn aluminum windows for $13k shipped to our door. They are the Bently of windows, in all but brand name. They arrived in 3-months and I was able to DIY all the 1st story windows in before fall hit. What a massive difference in quality of life they made. I might have to hire out a couple of the big 2nd story ones this summer, but even so I'll be so much better off.

Aluminum Wiring + Electrical

This one hurt, but ended up being the the single biggest improvement to the house. We learned that not only was our panel a potential fire hazard, and that the house was on old 150A service, but that most of our wiring was sketchy aluminum Vietnam era stuff that really should be mitigated or replaced. 3 quotes, all within $1k of each other. We bit the bullet. Top tier local company rewired the whole house, plus 200A panel, plus EV charger, couple sub panels, basement lighting, garage shop lighting, whole house LED lighting + switches + outlets, heated bathroom fans, really the works for $27K. Took them 4 months. Not a single old electrical cable, outlet, or switch remains. By the time it was done they told me they should have charged twice that. Feels like a new house.
Wrapping this up. These could have easily drained our reno budget and more had we gone with the first quote, or done everything by a pro company instead of DIY, or a guy in a truck / Thumbtack approach. It takes a lot more legwork, research, physical work, and usually involves taking on more risk, but I wanted to share that sometimes scary inspections aren't always costly ones. Learn what your issue is and the approaches people take to solve it, ranging from the cheap temp fix, to the best permanent one and really weigh your options. Do your homework before AND after getting quotes; be prepared to ask the right questions and be schooled to spot bullshit sales tactics and upselling, and resist and/or evaluate scope creep.
I should have added that pulling a bunch of quotes during that negotiation window gave us the leverage to negotiate the cost of our home down $30k. So while we still had to dish out for our fixes/upgrades up front, that effort was well worth it.
I also strongly advocate for FTHBs to be willing to pick up some DIY skills. I had few of these skills before owning a home. I was somewhat decent at general handyman work and picked up some trades skills from volunteering at Habitat for Humanity. With trades costs skyrocketing, the job market flimsy, and general financial uncertainty, Millennials and GenZ can't afford to throw money at the problem like many of our parents often did. Digging into Youtube and Thumbtack can stretch your budget far beyond where you'd get otherwise, and can make home ownership tenable for those who otherwise might be stretching to maintain a house.
For those considering DIY, or are hesitant, I empathize that it can be scary or daunting to take on some of this stuff at first. Just start small and work your way up. Watch videos, read stuff, double check your work. Start with projects that have lower risk to your home or yourself, where you're just risking the price of a pro to redo it right, then move up as you build confidence. Hardware stores and Youtube tuts make this stuff extremely approachable.

Hello,
When installing windows on a second hard drive to dual boot with my existing linux install, at one point in the process the install media rebooted unexpectedly and by default booted into linux. As a result of this (I think), the EFI partition/boot information is now on the wrong drive, and in order to boot into windows, my bios shows the windows boot manager on the drive containing my linux installation.
The partitions look like this (output of sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT): NAME FSTYPE SIZE MOUNTP sda 465.8G ├─sda1 16M └─sda2 ntfs 465.7G nvme0n1 931.5G ├─nvme0n1p1 vfat 550M /boot ├─nvme0n1p2 swap 2G [SWAP] └─nvme0n1p3 ext4 929G / and ls /boot/EFI shows this: BOOT GRUB Microsoft confirming that the windows EFI information is on the linux drive EFI partition (nvme0n1p1).
Is there a way to safely move the EFI partition onto the windows drive (from either windows or linux)? Alternatively, is it possible to repairebuild a new EFI partition on the windows drive?
I have tried to mount the /dev/sda1 partition in linux, but I get an error, presumably because it appears to be unformatted.
I wish to have my windows and linux install completely separate, such that if I wished to I could move either drive to a new machine on its own with no issues.

I'm using a hand-me-down S7 (sm-g930f - Android 8.0.0 IIRC) that I've had for almost 5 years. Still on the original battery; it's holding up okayish. Performance is still alright; I don't play games on it anyway. Unrooted.
The power button broke a few months ago, and the home button gets stuck sometimes; it'd been behaving recently though. However, I mistakenly turned off the phone earlier today, thinking one of the no-power-button tricks would work, but nothing has.
I've tried to get into download or recovery modes so I can boot the phone. Besides the prescribed non-power-button combos, I've tried all kinds of variations of holding volume-down, up and/or home while plugging in the usb cable from computer. I even tried a trick I saw involving holding a button while repeatedly plugging and unplugging the cable. No good.
I'll try ADB tomorrow (it's late), though AFAIK, USB debugging wasn't enabled; I certainly had no reason to enable it.
Are free programs like Ultfone Android System RepaiDrFone RepaiDroidKit legit, and can they help? I've tried the first two via Sandboxie, but they wouldn't connect to my phone. I want to get a second opinion before I run any of them un-sandboxed. I installed Microsoft's Windows sandbox, but it doesn't have USB support.
Going to a local repair place isn't an option right now; I just tested positive for COVID.
I've been meaning to order opening tools and replacement parts, namely power button, home button, associated internal bits, new battery and a replacement charging port (charging/data connections have been getting a bit janky).

[Previous] Part 021 [Next]
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 Like Rats 

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Part Twenty-Two
Trains and Tails... In Space!
>>> Outer Colony - Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser <<<
>>> Starport - Diwrnod heulog, Bob dydd <<<
>>> Frontier Standard Date: 21-03-104 <<<
Shore leave for the group finally rolled around and so the little gathering rode a shuttle down planetside. Seren, Eira, Scanner, Zana and the seven Bridge Bunny brothers. Claiomh fada, Sciath bhabhta, Casur cogaidh. Saighead direach, Miodog gearr, Dhorn tapaidh, and Blath dearg. Most just referred to them as the Bridge Bunnies as a running gag with the crew and because they tended to do everything together. They were one of the few survivors of a raid and had been forced to fend for themselves for a month before aid would arrive. Ever since they had been practically inseparable. For Conin they were unusually quiet and reserved, except when on the bridge or playing games. When they had learned that Seren was a raid survivor as well they had opened up to him greatly. Of all the crew it was the Bridge Bunnies that empathized the most with the Dynol's struggles to cope with the aftermath of surviving.
Seren had packed some sunscreen and a complete survival kit, much to Eira's chagrin and amusement. "I keep forgetting you Dynol burn so easy." She herself had packed a few things but was keeping them secret. "Five bottles though?"
"Right. Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser is a hotter world due to a slightly closer orbit to its star. Higher UV index than even my skin can likely handle. So does not hurt to be prepared." he explained as they prepared to disembark.
"The forests provide alot of shade though so you should be fine. Now get ready!" Eira churred in anticipation.
The disembarkation ramp lowered and the shore leave team stepped down into a very bright world.
Seren got to the bottom and nearly got run over by the others as he stood there gawking. "...the screw?" The port itself was enough to cause him to pause. The style was reminiscent of Ancient Earth and the American Wild West with a heavy dose of Victorian England. A mixture of stone, brick and wooden structures. The usually angular straight Llygoden Fawr font adorning shops and signs was more curly, almost like question marks rather than straight or angled lines.
"...the screw?" The mode of dress though was more like the styles of Sixteen-Hundred era Age of Sail. Elaborate dresses and vests, broad collars and adorned hats. Sweeping gowns, snug bodices, and even boots which were a rarity amongst any of the starfaring species other than the Dynol and Rana/Salamandra.
But the real "... the screw?" were the people. At first glance they were your average Llygoden Fawr. That is until it settled in that something was wrong with this picture. The most striking was the tail. It was a fluffy bush to put any Vulpes-Vulpes to shame in its luxurious fullness. The faces were not as long and the eyes were a bit larger than average. The ears too were different, standing up and pointed. "Giant space squirrels... the screw???"
Eira was enjoying Seren's reaction and the others were getting a chuckle from it as well. "ahhhhh! Worth keeping it a secret just to see you phased by something."
"That is an understatement." he admitted as he continued to gawk.
Eira led her companion out of the way of the other visitors and explained. "Mutation. Similar to the splits in the Vulpes. Happened about a hundred years ago and with each generation instances increased ten percent. Some radiation from the sun was the cause, again much like with the Vulpes. There were some other less pleasant birth defects, some lethal, that we had to do extensive genetic screening to cull from the populace. The people now are a stable mutation and have been designated Wiwer Fawr."
"Do not stand outside unprotected long. Got it." He took in the sight and then a huge grin spread as he saw something pulling into a station off in the distance. A train. Or more to the point. A Llygoden Fawr style mono-wheel steam train. And after a bit he saw some of the squirrel folk ride past mounted on what looked nothing so much as a four-legged sparrow head... "Ok. That is something you do not see every day either." A carriage pulled by one of these beasts passed as well not long after that.
"Coesau plu? Yeah. They are native to the homeden and we exported the hardier ones here. We used to ride them in our early civilization stages. The electromagnetic field of the planet during stormy season messes with electronics to the point it was more cost efficient to just transplant the coesau plu and use them as mounts and drays like in olden times." She pointed at the mono-wheel train pulling to the distant station. "And same for the trains. It's like stepping back in time a thousand years."
"I take it the archaic mode of dress is protective?"
"Got it in one. All of a sudden the hat business saw a boom."
Seren glanced around thoughtfully. "If the planet is that troublesome then why colonize it?"
"It is one of the few we have come across with a breathable atmosphere, tolerable environment, and isn't bathed in lethal radiation. And the asteroid belt is big and mineral rich. The land itself does wonders for plant life as you can see." Eira pointed at the tremendous looking forest off to the east from the starport. "Colonists have adapted to an arboreal city structure away from the starport. The giant trees afford extensive protection from the sun." Here the white furred rat woman gave a little shudder. "Wouldn't catch me living way up there!"
"Says the rat girl who lives in a home that is hanging from the ceiling of a cave." So teased the Dynol.
"Hey now. Stone is very safe!"
Seren noted though that the common tricorn-like hats many males wore made sense from a protective design standpoint. The forward point shaded the snout and the back points shaded the ears. He got an explanation from Eira that the clothes also served to bleed off excess heat and had a passive cooling system built into every garment. "So why the archaic dress style?" he questioned.
Eira grinned. "A chunk of the early colonists turned out to be historical re-enactment buffs and since the buildings were less high tech why not have fun with it? The idea caught on and now it's their cultural thing. There is even a recreation of a thousand year old town and surrounding farmsteads further north in the cooler zone."
The Dynol took all this in and smiled more and more. "So what is the plan then?" he asked wile pulling out his silver reflective rat mask and donning it. The mask was treated against UV so was a better choice than his usual blister goggles. "I think we are all going to need at least hats pronto, yes?" Said with a worried glance at Scanner, Zana and the Bridge Bunnies who were all shielding their eyes with a paw as the looked around. "I doubt any of us wants to be holed up in a hotel all week right?"
"Right. There's a hat shop nearby for exactly that and right next door a visor shop. Both accommodate large folk." the Security Tech informed them. But I have something for you first." Here she pulled out a hat that was like a tall sloping hill with the long point in front and just a single short back facing point. Set in it was a white feather. "One of my distant cousins gave me this last visit. Never quite suited my style. But the blue happens to match your usual taste in off duty colors."
Seren accepted the gift and tried it on. "How do I look?"
Eira churrred with pleasure. "mmmmm! With the mask on you look like the Phantom Rider!" We need to get you fully dressed up now!"
"uh-oh!"
Scanner and the others of the party were still busy gawking as they had never actually made planetfall in all the years of being on Patrol. "Well this is different." the grey Backeneko drawled in amusement at the sight of the fluffy tailed Wiwer Fawr and the peculiar architecture.
Zana was looking wide eyed in delight at everything and her fluffy tail was practically vibrating with excitement. "They are so adorable!"
"Miss Zana. Please refrain from terrorizing the countryside hugging everything." Seren deadpanned. Vulpes-Canis were a very touchy-feely people and the large curly haired dog girl was like the poster pup for her species. She liked to just pick up the Dynol and hug him to death, or on coinciding lunch breaks she would sit him in her lap and idly pet him. The other Vulpes-Canis on the Patrol Carrier would do the same. Just not as grabby as the Wraith Pilot. She at least did not handle him while he was working. But she would sit and just raptly watch him work. The big dog folk's fascination with Dynol was well documented.
"Oh come on! I let you go... eventually." was accompanied by Zana's merry barking laughter and wagging tail.
Seren had to admit that the starfighter pilot had the reflexes to back up her rampant people pouncing. She could also beat him eight times out of ten at go-cart racing. "So what's the plan then Eira? You -did- have a plan? Riiiiight?" he nudged the rat alien.
"Sure do. I pre-ordered some steam train tickets to the great northern city of Gaer Garreg Werdd yn y Goedwig. It is a recreation of a fortress city from the homeden that was a major steam hub back in the day. It's now a sort of historical re-enactment with people acting out living the way folk used to." She displayed for all a paper map and traced a claw from the starport to their intended destination. "Big tourist attraction and there's a regular re-enactment of a raid by the Crwydriaid y Mor yn Dwyn Gwaywffyn, sea going aboriginals who raided inland every few years well into our early steam age. Quite a nuisance."
"Australia gets invaded by Hawaii." quipped the Dynol.
"I have no idea what you are referencing. But I know it is something embarrassing!"
They all made haste to the hat shop and it was Seren's turn to be embarrassed at being complimented for his Phantom Rider cosplay. Eira had her own hat as well. A white tricorn with a badge pinned to one side and several short square-ish red feathers sticking out back of it. "This is my dad's hat. He used to live here for a few years before getting his hauler gig."
"What is the badge for?" Asked one of the Bridge Bunnies.
"Ah that was for rescuing some folk who got lost in the deep forests. Dad was a pretty good tracker." Eira explained while tracing a finger round the brass badge. "The feathers represent how many people he saved. Six total."
The Bridge Bunnies each purchased high topped broad rimmed black hats with a green band around the base. They looked a bit like triangular witch hats with the point removed. Zana selected bonnet and Scanner donned her own green wild west style hat with one side pinned up. All the head-ware had built in heat dissipation materials to help disperse built up UV warming.
Next they ambled over to the clothes shop and here Eira helped Seren pick out a long coat in blue that went with his hat. "Yeah! Very Phantom Rider now! Just need to get you a silver steam pistol and a white coesau plu."
"Eira... Is this a vacation? Or dress up doll?"
"Why not both?"
Scanner picked out a woman's riding outfit in green while the seven lapine brothers all selected elegant coats and pants with buckled shoes. They looked reminiscent of Spanish aristocrats dressed so. Especially with the frilly lace. Zana dressed in a gown that spread out in all directions. She blushed so much it was visible through her cheek fur when Seren teased that she could hide all of the Bridge Bunnies under her petticoats.
All done with basic shopping they stopped by to say hello to Eira's distant cousin. This fellow was a Wiwer Fawr of a light brown fur pattern and blue eyes. "Eira ar y Blodau! Been three years since saw you last! Welcome Welcome!" He looked over the masked Dynol curiously. "Why are you so cute with that mask on? I am Gwynt Drwy'r Canghennau. You must be Llygaid Llawn o Ser my cousin has written about?"
"Probably unless she has more than one Dynol wrapped up in her tail." grinned the Systems Tech.
Gwynt grinned at that. "If the rumors are true then just one of you is more than enough." The squirrel-like alien and the human exchanged the double paw clasp greeting and then everyone padded over to an shaded eatery sized for small and large folk. "You hit a good time to visit. This is the cool season. Temperature will spike for three months during the hot storm season. Warm rain and high winds. Great for the plant life. But whooo! Don't plan on traveling!"
They got to try out the local quinine including bara haen fewnol, which was akin to a calzone stuffed with cheeses, a white cream sauce, ground nuts, lettuce and carrot equivalents, and strips of coesau plu meat for the omnivores in the group. Scanner and Zana had roast coesau plu with a selection of greens the two carnivores could ingest. From the store owner Seren learned that the Cozi Mari was picking up a shipment of meat to supplement the more carnivore sided crew's diets.
Gwynt would be joining the group as their guide while planet-side. Mostly just an excuse to catch up with Eira and socialize with aliens. "Not many offworlders stay long for obvious reasons. Too bad you Dynol can not improve the conditions here like are on the other colony."
"I am no terraforming expert, but the problem here is a bit more involved. Fixing it would require moving the planet's orbit or thickening the atmosphere to increase UV shielding. Any of which might disrupt the ecology established here." suggested Seren. "That is even assuming we could alter the orbit without wrecking the planet."
"Tis what I heard last time it was discussed. The trees here are dependent on the increased solar intake and adding more cloud cover might well cause them to weaken or outright die. There's also worry that thickening the atmosphere could increase the intensity and duration of the storms we get." A flick of the squirrel's bushy tail fore-back-fore showing his reluctant acceptance of that.
"It is a planet we Dynol would have passed on during survey simply because it would be more likely to make things worse trying to make it more agreeable for habitation. As is you need alot of tech solutions to stay here right?"
"Correct. But it is not bad once you get used to it and we have adapted to the environment slowly."
"At a cost." Seren pointed out.
Gwynt nodded. "At a cost yeah."
Seren shrugged. "Maybe in time a better solution can be had. Right now the tech just has not caught up to being able to handle a situation like this. So you are to be commended for sticking it out and finding solutions outside the box."
That perked up the tan furred squirrel and after everyone had eaten and gotten a drink they set about picking up another local to join on the trip. That being Gwynt's fiance Erlid Awyr y Nos. Erlid was a solid pitch black of fur and had bright red eyes. She was a shipping clerk for the starport. She also complimented Seren on his Phantom Rider cosplay. Much to Eira's continued entertainment at the Dynol's expense.
Finally it came time to board the train and Seren got to see first hand a functional and fully restored mono-wheel steam train. The engine and tender were were Thirty meters long and the main engine consisted of four interlinked mono-wheels. The series engine was surprisingly powerful and the train could pull eight-hundred unit-tons. Eira explained a little of the history as everyone boarded. "Very early on we developed parallel wheel designs. But one experimental company pushed for the mono-wheel design and it gained popularity and quickly muscled out other designs."
Gwynt added to this. Mono-wheels have always been a design aspect of transportation and no one is exactly sure when it supplanted other styles of wheels. Part of the success was very early gear and stabilizing breakthroughs."
"Due to the stopping problems when not used in series?" guessed Seren.
"Exactly. Early mono-bikes were more than a little harrowing to stop at speed." Gwynt grinned. "But were too fun to drop for safer designs. The basis worked fine. It was the sudden stops that kept leading to accidents. Speed laws were for a good while very strict. But people were always pushing it when out away from the dencities. Eventually someone hit on a pivoting gyro system to counter the rotation problem. The trains did not suffer that problem and just needed stationary bracing legs when at a stop."
The passenger cars were luxurious with padded seats and even a dining and lounge car. The sleeping cars were just as finely crafted of metal and wood. Each car of the mono-train was accessible via two doors, one on either side of each car's center-line wheel. Some luggage and cargo was packed into the lower parts of each sphere that comprised a car. The ride was scheduled to take a twenty-two hour day to cover some one-thousand kilo-units distance.
And so plans were made as to what to do during the shore leave at the re-enactment site and surrounding tree-city.
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I am a newbie writer, I'd love to hear some criticism (I can imagine there's a lot) so please tell me what you think I did right and wrong.
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I pull my head away from the sink a second or so after I splash the cold water into my face, I blink a number of times as I reach down and turn the tap’s handle. I then grab a small towel and rub my face with it.
Hmm, that never wakes me up as much as I'd like to, I’m more awake than I was, which is a victory I suppose.
I turn and walk past the barely functional shower and the clean toilet, which isn’t too impressive till you see the rest of the outpost.
I open the door and walk out into the main room. The room’s somewhat divided into two, the front door is right in the middle of the wall, and to its right is the kitchen. Well, the kitchen might be giving too much credit, a few counters with a fridge, sink, and microwave. We did have a coffee maker till Baron got drunk and broke it, which left us with no more coffee and no more drinks as Cleo had us pour the rest of the alcohol so it wouldn’t happen again with something more important.
To the left of the door is a living room, an old orange sofa, which looks like it’s seen more combat than us, honestly I have no clue where Baron and Jakob found this bloody thing. We also have a lounge chair, also orange and also in the same state that the sofa is in. We have a small wooden coffee table between the sofa and our TV. It’s a small screen and it’s black and white but it works, mostly works, the machine is fine but, well, it’s held up by these four legs and I’ll just say it, those skinny chicken legs are not aging well, we’ve already nailed boards and pipes onto these legs as braces.
We have a bit of a bet going on about how long it’ll last, I’m giving the legs three months, and Baron’s doing the repairs and is giving about six months, Cleo better hopes it breaks within the week or she’s lost her money, and Jakob didn’t place a bet.
I turn around and close the bathroom door, as I do I get a view on this side of the room, three doors stand.
On the far left is the second biggest room in the outpost, only beaten by the main/common room, Baron and Jakob have that room, it’s about twice the size of the bathroom, and Jakob and Baron were just barely able to fit a double sized bed in there, although they lost the room for a desk or anything more a pair of small bedside cabinets.
In the middle of the three is the bathroom, again, pretty small, damaged shower, clean toilet.
On the far right is Cleo’s room, about the same size as the bathroom. She was able to get a desk and signal bed.
And of course, there’s the radio desk, packed just into the far right corner, just past Cleo’s door is the radio desk, it has a ton of radio equipment on it so we can get orders from HQ.
I turn around, walk a bit further over to the living area and sit down on the lounge chair, Baron is laying down on the sofa with his head turned to face the TV, and Cleo is preparing an MRE for herself, I don’t know how she can stomach those things.
Baron is a mountain of muscle, while incredibly strong he’s not the brightest bulb, still a lovely guy to be around. He’s currently wearing some old jeans and a turtleneck.
Cleo’s very strict and pretty reserved, she’s not shy, she just doesn’t talk unless she has something to say. Currently, she’s wearing some baggy green camo trousers and a brown tank top.
“How ya doing Milo?” Baron turns his head and asks.
“Hmm, fine I guess, you?” I reply and ask back,
“Fighting fit” He answers with a smile as he looks back at the TV. I look over to the TV to see what he’s watching, it’s some kind of mechanical show.
“Feeling homesick?” I sarcastically ask.
“As if” he laughed, “Hey, If I go back into mechanics then I want you to shoot me” he adds.
We both laugh at the joke. After we calm ourselves a bit he says “Anyway, I’m only watching it because it’s between this or that bloody ‘live at the capital’ with that, umm, what's-her-faces?”
“Sue Stone?” I answer.
“Aye that’s her” He snaps his fingers
“yeah, I see your point, both her and that entire show are horrible”
“The part that gets on my nerves is that it’s always on, we never get the signal for anything good here” he continues to rant and I can’t help but chuckle, it’s always a bit funny watching him get annoyed.
“Like that ‘Lies on the coast’ show, I mean that show got another season for god sake”
“Wait really?” He asks, turning a bit and starting to sit up.
“Yeah, it’s ridiculous” I answer.
He sighs and facepalms, “I wish you hadn’t told me that”
“Hmm?”
He sighs again and leans back into the sofa “That’s gone and ruined my mood”
I laugh as I stand up “Heh, sorry man, anyway, I’m off, any idea where Jakob is?”
“ umm, I think he’s on the porch ‘though he might have gone off for a walk or something” He answers.
I nod and walk off towards the cabin door and open the old door. I see Jakob as I open the door, he’s in his late twenties and has long black hair, and is wearing combat boots, black jeans, and a gray shirt, he normally has a knee-long leather jacket on but he isn’t wearing it currently. He’s sitting on a chair with his legs on the small metal table here on the porch, he’s reading a book.
“How are you?” I ask as I walk over, he looks up from the booms quickly.
“O-oh, I-I didn’t see you t-there” He speaks as he sits up more and takes his legs off the table, “and I’m good, you?”
He has a bit of a stutter, something he said he was born with, he’s tried to get rid of it, apparently to no avail.
“I’m fine” I answer as I sit down across from him. “What’ you reading there?” I ask as I reach over and grab one of the bottles of water on the table.
“Oh, it’s a S-strange man in a st-strange land” He answers, “It’s about a-a man who from Mars who c-comes to e-earth"
“Hmm, sounds interesting” I add as I uncap the bottle.
“It is! Err, w-would you like to borrow it af-after I’m done with it?”
“Sure!” I answer before taking a mouthful of the water, “Just tell me when you’ve finished it” I add.
“will do!”
And with that, I turn my head off and look out into the forest ahead of the cabin. I then look back over at Jakob. You know it's a shame, it’s always nice to speak with him yet he almost never speaks.
Let me correct that, he’s always happy to speak and always has something interesting to say, yet he almost never starts the conversation. I’ve had to guess it would stem from his past.
His past. His past is a bit of a mystery to me. I know he was once a slave to the Dominion, I know he and Baron escaped the Dominion together and I know they later joined the Freedom Fighters, I also think, but am in no way sure, that he’s a tribal.
Two main reasons, funnily, both of which also make up his role in the team.
For one, he’s a helluva sniper, he once killed a person from two thousand meters away. He also handles the hunting for our squad, getting fresh meat is fantastic when all you’ve only been eating MREs for months.
Second of all, he’s a skilled tracker, if he’s on someone’s trail then he’ll find them. There was this guy who used to be with the Freedom Fighter, but he turned traitor and used a bomb to kill a whole unit, and then Jakob was sent after him.
Jakob tracked him across the entire wasteland, he followed him north, all the way up to the ruins of those old-world cities of Calaye and that City of Lights
I had always thought places like these either weren’t real or were greatly exaggerated, but according to Jakob, they're real.
“Hey,” Jakob says, I look away from the forest and over to Jakob, “I w-was going to go on a-a hunt, wanna join?” He asks as he stands up.
I take a second to think before replying “Sure, that sounds fun” I answer as I get up
“Yeah, I h-have a pair of rifles in the c-car” He speaks as we start to walk off the porch, but then we hear a yell.
“Everyone! Here now” we both hear Cleo yell from inside. We both turn on the spot and charge into the cabin, pushing past the door.
We see Cleo sitting by the radio, Baron standing by her. “Incoming broadcast, directly from the Colonel! Get over here”
Jakob and I rush over, albeit with a lot less worry and a lot more interest.
Colonel Barnaby is the leader of the Freedom Fighters, not our founder, that was General Margaret. Officially she is still our leader, yet she went missing over three years ago, Colonel Barnaby has refused to take her position officially until he sees proof of her death.
We stand behind Cleo as she flips a few switches and turns a couple of dials, trying to get the best connection.
After a few moments we can hear a voice. “-Re you there, Sergeant Laidlaw?” His voice can be heard cutting through the static.
“Yes Colonel Barnaby, what seems to be the problem?” Cleo answers and asks.
“09-10?” He asks. A password.
Cleo turns her head towards a small open book on the desk, the book’s filled with a series of dates and names. What the Colonel asked was a date, with the day being brought down by one, and the month being brought up by one.
“01-31-09-26” She answers. Her answer is the date of birth of everyone in the squad, in days. All the dates are off by a few days, the amount depends on the current date, the amount to change by is listed in that book.
“Good, now Sergeant Laidlaw I have an important task for you and your squad” Jakob and Baron exchange a few glances at this news, “Are you familiar with the town of Pinkton?”
And there goes my excitement for this operation.
“A member of my squad is” She answers.
“Then I’ll let them fill you in on what the town is like, The more dead air the better” He mumbles the last bit, “Now listen, upon wolf street there is a warehouse, at 02:10 a shipment will be brought into it, I need you to go there and steal a crate with a serial code of ‘01-12-20-06’. Did you get that?”
“Warehouse on Wolf Street, get a crate, serial code ‘01-12-20-06’, got it” She answers as she grabs a pencil and starts jotting it down.
“Good, after receiving this crate I need you to bring it back to your base, a team will be ‘round to pick up at some point, understood?”
“Yes sir”
“On the other side,” He says as the line goes dead, leaving our squad alone again. A few moments of silence follow before Cleo turns in her chair and stands up.
“Baron, Jakob, go get your gear” She speaks, Jakob and Baron nod before quickly turning and rushing to their rooms.
She then turns to me and asks “You’re from Pinkton right? Tell me about it”
I sigh, “It’s the crown prince of rust belt towns, it peaked twenty years ago and has been on a cliff face of a decline since”.
“Without the sarcasm?” She follows.
I sigh again, “It's a small town, it used to be incredibly important as it has a port, and it has a railway going through it since the old world made it very important for getting resources from the islands to the mainland.”
“I assume that was the peak?”
“You’d be right” I continue “Pinkton is down a river, which limits the size of ships that can go there, when new rails were built to towns on the coast Pinkton fell out of favour. It won’t have much security and most people there are in their eighties so we won’t have to worry too much about noise as they’ll likely be deaf.”
“I see, well thanks, I’ll go get my gear, you go get yours” She states and turns off, going to her room to get ready.
I turn around and walk over to the couch, I kneel down and grab a suitcase from under it, my gear is stored in there. I pull it out and walk off to the bathroom to get ready.

Hey there,
A few months ago, I got an error on my Pixel 4 XL stating "Problem Reading Your Battery Meter". I did some research, and it sounded like that's a common error with these phones, and the fix is to replace the battery. I'm mildly technically literate, so I did the repair myself with the iFixit kit. Ultimately, it seemed to fix the issue. A couple weeks after the new battery was installed, the "Problem Reading your Battery Meter" error returned, though it still read a battery percentage (which seemed accurate), so I ignored it. Fast forward to today, I'm having the same issue I had prior to the battery replacement, where then phone won't stay on unless it's plugged in, and now it won't boot at all even if it's connected to power. I suspect that if I disconnect the battery and reconnect it, it may boot, but I want to know what the next steps should be if my time is limited. I have a hard time believing that the battery went bad this fast, so that makes me wonder if there is a setting that I should have changed after the swap, or a "clear codes" button. Has anyone else encountered a similar situation? Did I just get unlucky, and fried another battery? Is there another problem this could be, like the power daughter board? If the phone thinks it couldn't read the battery percentage, could any overcharge safeguards failed, which fried the battery? I don't particularly want to replace the phone. It's only a year and a half old, and it was sold as new when I ordered it from amazon (though I'm starting to have doubts).
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
PS. I don't think it's relevant, but I'm running CalyxOS on it. From what I've heard, this is a hardware problem so I don't think it matters. It basically functions like a stock android phone.

The gods fear me.
​
Return of the Gangsta Thanksta
What if I just posted OutKast lyrics for my Part Three. KENTA’s back in the summer of 2016, and he vows to make it the Summer of KENTA because Fuck CM Punk. He wants his IC Title back, so we see him instantly target the fuckerman upon return, chasing him for a month straight. Legitimately. For a month of television, we see KENTA just sprinting after the afraid Miz. Miz has a match? KENTA’s chasing him out of it and costing him a countout loss. Miz has a backstage interview? KENTA’s right there to chase him away. Miz is asleep? Fuck that. KENTA’s there to mess it up because he wants the white belt back. During all of this, Dolph Ziggler has been trying to rekindle his career for the twelfth time since he lost the World Heavyweight Championship, but his attempts to spark a feud with the Miz seem to constantly be dashed by the Hero of Pain. With all this chaos surrounding the scene, the powers that be set up a triple threat for the gold at Battleground, but unfortunately Miz is able to sneak away a dirty pin on Ziggler following a KENTA G2S to keep the Black Sun away from his gold for just a little while longer.
​
SummerSlam ‘16
The rage tantrum seen thrown by KENTA afterwards is unrivaled. Nobody is safe, everybody catches it, but despite all of this it doesn’t seem like KENTA is likely to be given an instant rematch for the gold. His anger-driven antics are used as a prime reason by SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan as a reason not to draft the international sensation to the blue brand, though there are a multitude of reasons that could’ve led to that decision. Once this all becomes apparent, KENTA switches his strategy up, choosing to instead chase after the biggest fight he can get. A backstage interview weeks away from SummerSlam sees KENTA proudly say the name he wants, and boy is it the biggest fish. “BROCK LESNAR!” The Beast Incarnate answers KENTA’s challenge with ease, and a clash between these two unstoppable forces is set for the big summer show.
This match is a true test of KENTA’s merit, as he’s able to survive the offensive onslaught put on him by the Streak-ender and dish out some stiff strikes of his own as well. Lesnar hasn’t been hit this hard since Overeem, and once he gets touched, there’s a genuine level of fear in his eyes. He knows KENTA’s a true threat, and he does everything he can to put him away, before he’s able to eventually interrupt a striking barrage with a succinct F-5 that should wrap things up here… ONE… TWO… THRE-NOOOO!!! KENTA KICKS OUT OF THE F-5, STAYING IN THIS MATCH! If one doesn’t work, two should get the job done, but as he attempts the second one, KENTA is able to spin out and dash off the ropes for the Busaiku Knee onto Lesnar, though the Beast is able to survive as well. Throughout the entire match, KENTA constantly attempts to heave Lesnar up onto his shoulders for the G2S, but Lesnar’s sheer size weighs heavily on that now-surgically repaired shoulder of KENTA, and when he fails one too many times we see Lesnar swoop down and trap KENTA in a Kimura. He tries and tries to survive, fighting like his life depends on it, but after surviving the hold for a hell of a lot longer than he should’ve, HE’S EVENTUALLY FORCED TO TAP! Heartbreaking for KENTA. A second straight failure for the Hero of Pain upon return, did he return too soon?
​
Post-SummerSlam ‘16
Heading out of SummerSlam, we see KENTA compete on Raw for a few weeks after the show, handily defeating talent such as Curtis Axel, jobless Heath Slater, and Titus O’Neil merely with one good shoulder alone. After each match we see him fight away ringside doctors who attempt to ail his pained shoulder, but eventually we see backstage doctors refuse to clear him at all, sending him right back onto the dreaded injured list. Is this all that KENTA’s body will alow at this age? Do we think it’s time to hang up the boots? Spite is one hell of a motivator, and KENTA proves exactly that on…
​
SmackDown After WrestleMania
Bang. The Miz thought shit was sweet when he got drafted to an opposing brand after Battleground, but a surprise entrant in a #1 contendership battle royal proves otherwise. Bitches and sluts, it’s KENTA baby. He runs in, fully recovered, and wins the whole damn thing, earning a shot at Miz’s IC Title THAT HE WANTS ON THE SAME NIGHT! And by god, KENTA does exactly that, beating Miz senseless for mere minutes before three back to back to back G2S’s end things for the couple, reuniting KENTA with his Intercontinental Championship once and for all. Return of the Gangsta Thanksta

. Hey I have a moen faucet that’s leaking when turned off. Do I need to replace the entire cartridge or do the o rings just need to be replaced on the old cartridge? And if that’s the case is there a repair kit that just sells the o rings? Thank you

(long) I am planning to buy a 2005 Forester XT or Legacy GT wagon and went to look at two today. Both are around $4000cad. The wagon has 319k KMs on it, the Forester has 234k KMs.
I do have a overhead set for some general maintenance to tune of around $2000cad and expect there to be some repairs like new brakes and rotors...stuff for passing safety inspection.
The legacy seemed to be bought 5months ago and the guy is now selling it cuz he has too many cars to keep on the road it seems. The car looked good, not much rust at all for a Canadian car, new CV axles, ball joints and almost new tires. Changed timing belt a short while ago too. But when the car started, the crank pulley seemed to make a lot of noise, kinda metallic at idle. He also said that when he bought it there was oil everywhere in the bay and got new crank pressure sensor and oil pressure sensor, which he said fixed the problem. All the oils were there and nothing low. The car also had been detailed recently and has underbody rustproof oil coating done. He also mentioned that the turbo had been done by previous owner but he doesn't know too much about it. Also mentioned that there are not much service records. He didn't seem to know too much about the work done on the car. Also didn't let me test drive the car. He drove it and stuff sounded fine, other than the crank pulley at idle.
The forester owner was much more talkative, in the sense that he was open about problems and stuff that he had done over his 5 years of owning the car. He said he hadnt driven it for a bit too. Car was in much dirtier condition but there was negligible rust on it. There was oil leaking from the filter but not the drain or the gasket it looked like. Checking oil, it was very low, same with the front differential fluid. He said it's on its third turbo, new power steering rack and a bunch of stuff replaced like cv axles, ball joins, tie rods, steering rack and driveshaft. It has a fdf lift kit on it but during test drive, under load the car wobbled and vibrated. Around 70-80-100, there was some steering vibration and the front also seemed to wobble. This guy does have service records.
I am okay with doing some repairs but want to know which could be cheaper to do. Please advice subie gang ✌️

"Oh, Spy Fox? You're going to be busy on this rescue mission. Should I call the Spy Academy and tell them to cancel the weapons class you're going to teach?" "What? You're going to tell them that Spy Fox doesn't have class? They'll never believe you."
A spy working for Spy Corp, Spy Fox is one of several agents sent into the field to foil the schemes of supervillains, be they seeking to rid a certain food from the market, bring governments to their knees with an enormous robot dog, destroy the ozone layer so they can profit on incredibly strong sunscreen, or just thieves stealing cheese from a museum. Alongside the administrative help of Monkeypenny and the various gadgets of Professor Quack, Spy Fox inevitably saves the day while barely ever opening his eyes more than halfway or removing his hands from the pockets of his white suit.

Legend

1 - Spy Fox in: Dry Cereal
2 - Spy Fox 2: Some Assembly Required
3 - Spy Fox 3: Operation Ozone
CC - Spy Fox in: Cheese Chase
HtM - Spy Fox in: Hold the Mustard
Web - Spy Fox promotional content from the Humongous Entertainment website accessed through the Wayback Machine, accessible here

Strength

Striking

• Claims he normally karate chops doors open, but can't do it to one made of steel¹
• Knocks away a rhino and an elephant by spinning with skis as he passed them²
• Crumples the roof of a car by jumping onto it^CC

Lifting

• Lifts a large rooster over his head and swings him about¹
• Holds up a 'Really Big Award' at arms length³
• Holds an anvil, a safe, and an anchor at arm's length while falling¹
  • Also does this with a taxi cab and a small tank¹

Other

• Catches himself from falling with one hand before throwing himself into the air with that hand²
• Catches himself from falling by biting onto a platform³
• Ski jumps a great distance onto a passing plane²
• Unaffected by a net as he skis through it²

Durability

Blunt Force

• Is seemingly beaten up off-screen and thrown away¹
• Rides a rocket skateboard through a door³
• Launched through a ceiling, causing a large amount of clatter through other obstacles off-screen after²
• Repeatedly slammed against a table while having a massage²
• Bounces off of his head without reacting²
• Kicked high into the air by a robot and falls back to the ground¹
• Hit by a giant sticky object and is trapped to it while it bounces / rolls along with enough force to shatter stone pillars, before falling down the stone steps outside the temple³
• Repeatedly slammed by an enormous powder puff³

Falling

• Skis down a sheer surface, on a short roof, and along the ground without any reaction²
• Drops from a gyrocopter onto his scooter held within a dumpster^CC
• Jumps from cable car to the ground below, rolling down a hill as a snowball, before hitting the doorway of a cabin and emerging unharmed²
• Slides down a ladder from the mouth of a mech dog before jumping off at the end, landing unharmed²
• Falls down a great distance onto a caravan, crumpling it, and is unharmed^CC

Other

• Unaffected by his ice skates exploding while being worn²
• Gets whipped, folded into a paper airplane, and bundled into a ball while being given a massage²
• Blown back by sound without harm³

Speed

• Whisks his foot away before a snapping turtle can bite it¹
• Dodges a boxing glove defense system when the direction it would punch in wasn't clear until it fired²
• Dashes short distances quickly³
• In an instant runs from the Caped Cod, picks up a child fan, and runs back²
  • This is the distance he covered²
• Runs in the air to get back to land before falling in water¹

Skill

• Briefly juggles²
• Bowls a strike³
• Has the agility to flip about¹
• Balances on a tiny flying device²
• Flips a switch on the ground into his pocket²
• Somehow steals the remote for King Konglomerate's rocket while going straight from his ship to a lift into the rocket's room^HtM
• Using an instructional book, defeats a Cock-A-Doodle-Fu master with a counter move, then ties him up while holding him above his head¹
• Won the Spy Corp Freestyle Ski Jump Competition²
• Can dance the foxtrot, waltz, and tango²

Suit

• His suit has deep pockets, described as being able to hold 'a nearly unlimited number of items' in Operation Ozone³
  • Holds a small trash bag inside of it²
  • Pockets a jumpsuit¹
  • Pockets a frog suit, shown here in its full size worn by Spy Fox¹
  • Pockets a large venus fly trap and its pot, with some effort²
• One of his suits has a parachute in it¹

Spy Watch

• Allows him to contact and be contacted by Monkeypenny back at their mobile base¹
• Connects to a bug he placed in a cat's handbag as she speeds away in a sports car¹
• Records and sends a villain's monologue about his plan²
• Gets sent and stores coordinates¹
• Prints a three fruit code transmitted to it²
• Can play games²
• Also functions as a watch³

Spy Gadgets

Spy Fox can carry up to four of these at a time.
Combat-Focused

• The Spy Trap, a coin which traps explodes into a net to trap three or more enemies on the ceiling¹
  • Used here¹
• Sticky Stun Bun, which explodes to stun everyone within ten feet, "Leaving them dazed ad confused for weeks" according to the inventor³
  • Used here, sending the minions around it flying back into the air and trapping them against a wall with caramel³
• Bagpipes which spray a large amount of smoke. This smoke appears to have an adverse affect on people inhaling it, possibly stunning them, as Spy Fox dons a gas mask before walking through³

Wearables

• Duck Blind, a hat which renders the wearer invisible to ducks³
  • Used here, but it's destroyed after a period of use³
• Night Vision Shoe, a shoe that acts like night vision goggles¹
  • Used here¹
• Hush-Hush Moccasians, shoes which allow him to walk extremely quietly so even a room full of goons with 'oversized ears' don't notice him^Web
• Dehydrated Skis, a pair of skis inside a tiny pill which grow when put in water²
  • Used here²
• Spy Skates, a pair of ice skates which allow the user to perform any ice skating routine when their instructions are placed within the skates²
  • Used here, blowing up after use²
• Gopher Guise equipped with Extra-Strength Earth Moving Claws, letting him quickly dig through overhanging roots and caved in tunnels underground^Web
  • Is biodegradable^Web
• Suction Cufflinks, tiny suction cups for climbing across non-porous metal surfaces¹
  • Used here, increasing in size and letting Spy Fox climb across a sheer metal wall¹

Mechanical

• Alarm Deactivator, an elaborately described piece of equipment for ensuring alarms don't go off which is actually just two alligator clips connected by a wire²
  • Used here²
• Cheese and Safe Cracker Kit, which uses very scientific processes to determine the combination of a safe¹
  • Shown here¹
• Fingerprint Replicator Utensil Kit, a fork which copies the fingerprints of whoever wields it and sends them to the paired spoon²
  • Used here, working through a glove²
  • The spoon can be used on handprint identifying device²
• Spy Key Replicator Kit, a camera which takes a photo of a key, the photo being put into an oven to shrink and take the form of that key. If the wrong key is made, it can be inserted back into the camera and turned back into film, as it can only store one shot at a time²
  • Used here taking a photo, being baked, and the resultant key being used to open a door²
• Stealth Vac, a silent vacuum²
  • Used here, sucking liquid from a machine into it without alerting the supervillain right next to it²
  • Later blows the liquid into an identical machine equally quietly²
• Spy Toaster, which launches whatever spy is within it 20 feet into the air³
  • Used here³
• The Insta-Jack, a tiny red pill which turns into a hydraulic lift when thrown to the ground^Web
• The Artful Articulator device, which would allow him to understand a person muffled due to being trapped with cotton candy and maple syrup^Web
• Rocket Powered Origami Skateboard, which originally takes the form of a single piece of paper but with three simple steps folds into a skateboard propelled by a rocket with enough force to break a Spy Fox hole in a door³
  • Works over water, sending Spy Fox a great distance into the sky while going up a ramp, and has the wheels fall away to let him gently slide down a hill of sheep³
  • Crumples to nothing after a while³
• Spy Pearl Detector, which scans over a bed of oysters, the light on top flashing faster the closer it is to a pearl³
  • Used here, giving a camera view inside the oysters³
• Spy Bowling Ball, rolled towards a bowling pin to capture it and whatever's attached to it, bringing it back to Spy Fox³
  • Used here on a duck tied up to look like a bowling pin³

Destruction

• Laser Toothbrush and Minty Fresh Laser Gel, used together to cut through thick steel¹
  • Shown here, blowing up after use¹
• Termite Grenade, a grenade with termites for destroying a wooden object²
  • Used here, turning a wooden statue of a man to a large pile of dust in an instant²
• Rust Buster, a one-use spray can which makes whatever metal object it covers become rusted and brittle to the point of falling apart³
  • Used here, rusting four large saw blades and allowing Spy Fox to blow them away immediately after. Using it destroys the can³
• A drilling device made of extra-strength paper-mâché and coated with a hi-tech polymer, used to drill through multiple feet of ice^Web

Other

• Grappling Granny, a grappling hook which latches onto wood with a pair of false teeth³
  • Used here³
• Swiss Spy Knife, containing a fork, a toothpick, and a pair of chromium-alloy high tensile strength wire cutters that can cut through sheer metal³
  • The wire cutters easily snip through a steel net which the Swiss Spy Knife's fork snapped on³
• Spy Putty, used to create a perfect copy of whatever it's pressed against¹
  • Used to copy an invitation and get past a doorman after being inspected, when the original invitation had a golden edge, a wax seal, and was expensively embossed and hand written¹
• Beef Flavour X-Ray Gum which is held up against 'something beefy' to show inside it¹
  • Shown here¹
• Spy Heat, heat in a can²
  • Used here, making a giant thermometer read over 150 degrees Fahrenheit, but the can is destroyed after use²
• Canned Laughter, a grenade which fills the area its thrown into with laughter³
  • Used here³
• Handcuffs disguised as a large, frosty beverage^CC
• Hair growing cream^Web
• Extra-Glittery Ball o' Foil Stuffed with Catnip, an extra-glittery ball of foil stuffed with catnip used to distract a cat supervillain while syllables away from world domination^Web
• Spy Mint, a minty fresh mint which glows in the dark to light areas up, also working underwater³
  • Used here³
• Spy Ear, a glass which allows the user to listen through solid glass³
  • Used here³
• His organization used a device to create a smoke screen or mirage of a fake factory in front of every limburger cheese factory in the world, though it's unclear whether Spy Fox himself helped use it^Web

Pens

A variety of items potentially held within pens in the opening of Dry Cereal. He holds four in his suit pocket.

• Balloon filled with something that isn't helium¹
• A whoopie cushion which is thrown to the ground beneath him, allowing him to land without any injury¹
• A pogo stick, nullifying any harm from falling by landing on it, though it rockets back into the air once Spy Fox steps off¹
• A cake¹
• Fishing rod used to slow his descent by latching onto a nearby helicopter¹
• An anvil¹
• An anchor¹
• A safe¹
• A taxi cab¹
• A small tank¹

Other Items

• Owns Goldi-lock pickers, which he claims would let him easily open a locked metal door he'd find impossible to unlock without²
• A digital make up compact intercepted by Spy Corp, which displays the required response to a stated codephrase when the appropriate section is pushed down³
• A jackhammer, a crowbar, and a blowtorch³
• A rabbit and his Spy Corp I.D.³
• An oven glove²
• A Gyrocopter, flown by him and Professor Quack with a spotlight^CC

Spy Car

A car with a variety of functions driven in Dry Cereal and Operation Ozone.
Physicals

• Bounces off from a fall¹
• Drops from Spy Corp's mobile base after being repaired³
  • The distance it fell³
• Can drive between continents in a short span of time. Exactly how it does this is unclear, but it's seen dropping from the sky and driving directly vertically³
  • How long this takes also isn't known, but multiple trips to all continents is required and the game takes place over the course of several hours³

Forms

• Becomes a jet to fly off¹
  • Takes a similar form to boost himself up and across a gap¹
• Becomes a helicopter¹
• Becomes a boring machine with a drill appearing from the front, creating a tunnel through rocks blocking off a road¹
• Turns into a submarine, complete with periscope, before jumping out of the water¹
  • A similar form which just withdraws the wheels and creates propellers from the back³

Other Equipment

• A long arm to pick up and drop off Spy Fox¹
  • Rescues a falling Spy Fox using this³
• Inflates padding beneath it after falling off a cliff¹
• A parachute¹
• A radar which follows a trail left by another spy¹

Super Duper Spy Scooter

A multi-environment scooter which is initially stored within a dumpster before being used throughout Cheese Chase.^CC
Physicals

• Breaks wooden barriers by riding through them^CC
• Shatters fences by driving into them^CC
• Rides through barrels, shattering them^CC
• Badly dents metal pipes by hitting them^CC
• Knocks other vehicles about^CC
• Travels over whirlpools, just making the scooter spin a bit^CC
• Covers a notable distance after riding up a ramp^CC
• Quickly drives down a building and speeds from it into the foreground^CC

Forms

• Shifts from a land scooter to a speedbike^CC
• Turns from a jet ski to a snowmobile^CC
• Goes from being a snowmobile to a jet flying through the air^CC
• Transforms between its flying and scooter forms^CC

Weapons

• Can pick up from crates and fire forwards plungers, pies, and two bananas simultaneously. All of these are capable of the same strength feats^CC
• Topples over quad bikes^CC
• Sinks a small enemy ship^CC
• Buries twin tread snowmobiles^CC
• Takes down larger snowmobiles with a front ski and two large back treads, burying them in the snow^CC
• Shoots similar jets out of the sky^CC

M.E.S.S.

The Multiple Environment Spy Ship, a mobile ship Spy Fox uses to fly around in Hold the Mustard.
Blaster
The main weapon, capable of destroying large robots with a single blast.^HtM With a significant amount of blasts, it can destroy:

• A large metal transmitter^HtM
• A significant amount of stone^HtM
• The front of an airship^HtM
• The enormous metal jaw of a ship^HtM

Power Ups

• Homing missiles^HtM
• A shorter range blast which releases a burst of red energy around it, destroying all nearby robots^HtM
• Makes the ship invincible for a period, capable of running through robots without injury but still risking damage and destruction from walls^HtM
• One token fully heals the M.E.S.S.^HtM
• Extra lives^HtM

Other

• Highly maneuverable^HtM
• Bashes off of walls, but takes damage^HtM
• Can travel underwater, using air instead of fuel, which replenishes on breaching the surface^HtM
• Through booster rockets, can travel to and fly about in space^HtM
• Refuels by flying through floating gates^HtM
• On the ship's destruction, ejects Spy Fox in a floating capsule^HtM
• Had an upgrade, the Super M.E.S.S., which repeatedly bashes against a force field with seemingly no injury, has enough space for multiple agents, and is equipped with a can opener to cut open a space base³

Other

• Translates hieroglyphics from an ancient language, though what they translate to is rather self-evident¹
• Doesn't shift gears in his cars while in pursuit of bad guys because he can't be bothered with that sort of thing³
• Quickly changes outfits¹
  • Literally throws on and tears off a diving suit³
• Disguises himself as a tumbleweed, using it as cover to getting into the middle of an area without being seen and letting it blow off without him after³
• Is a terrible secret agent³
  • I mean seriously, he just tells everyone what he is³
  • This isn't even a spy thing in this universe, a Canadian spy tells him to cut out using her name too often²
  • He even was presented the highest award the President of the United States could give to him in a highly publicized and reported event, isn't that the exact opposite of what he should want¹
  • Even some slight competency stops him from foiling the villain's plans due to how he announces himself first how is this guy still hired³

"So Spy Fox, what's your next step?" "That's an excellent question. I'm already pretty good at the foxtrot, the waltz, and the tango, but I've always wanted to learn how to swing." "Hmm...how fortunate to the world that your crime fighting is better than your sense of humour."

When do we reach a point of diminishing returns?
2015 LT ~135k miles Have replaced ignition coils, valve cover gasket, throttle body, thermostat, coolant reservoir tank, CV joints, some boot thing in the front I don't remember, other random but costly repairs because I'm not mechanical at all. When I was a little girl, I helped my dad with some repairs, but I have spinal problems now and it's painful to be hunched over and I don't have strength. I replaced the front O2 sensor and that was difficult for me!
Remaining issues: oil leak of unknown origin, think the water pump failed this week (looking for a mechanic to take it to), both control arms in the front need replaced, alignment, and I think the turbo quit awhile ago. That's just what I know about.
The car isn't paid off yet because of my own poor decisions. I feel very stuck with it, but I feel like it's never ending since hitting 100k. Is it worth it to keep trying to repair it, or should I take a hit and try to get something else? The body is still very good but honestly that isn't scoring many points with me.