Wait, a three inch blob? That's not a burp, that's a full on jailbreak. My starter has never done more than push the lid up a little. Cleaning that off tile sounds like a nightmare, honestly.

Sometimes the story just isn't there, and you're left with a dusty old thing.

Yeah, @charles_lewis14 is right about being thorough. I had a guy argue his clicking drive was just "dusty." The clone failed halfway through, and the recovery quote was more than a whole new setup.

I was in a hostel in Lisbon three years ago and a guy from Germany asked what I did all day. When I said I was a freelance writer, he just shook his head and said it sounded like a long-term excuse to avoid a real job. The look on his face was pure pity, like I was a kid pretending. It's a weird feeling when someone frames your whole life as a kind of trick.

My realtor pushed one on me too, total waste. I just started putting $200 a month into a separate savings account for house stuff. That cash fund covered a new water heater last year with no hassle.