Is it really worth all that hassle just to save a few hundred bucks, especially when you could've just paid the shop and been done with it in a day? Sounds like you spent your whole afternoon fighting bolts and losing shims anyway.

Man, that's wild they just sat on your money like that. Did they ever explain why they couldn't just auto-apply it to principal without you having to write a note every single time?

30-foot patch job in January" in the Chesapeake? Man, that line alone gave me chills. I don't care how thick your gloves are, that water is brutal that time of year. I gotta hear more about how wet gloves didn't turn your hands into ice blocks. Every time I've tried wet gloves in anything below 50 degrees, my fingers go numb after ten minutes of just holding a tool. Maybe you're running hot or your blood is half antifreeze. I'm genuinely impressed you finished that job without losing feeling, let alone with zero hand fatigue. I'd probably still be shaking my hands and swearing at the sky.