Election 2008

While attending class on Thursday, I heard some students discussing who they would be voting for in the upcoming presidential election. And why. Their reasons were ridiculous and uninformed. What about your reasons?

You still have plenty of time to select your candidate based on the issues.

Kaboom!

After a mere two weeks, today my head no longer felt like it was going to implode, explode, to simply turn itself inside out. Hopefully I will be one hundred percent in another day or two.

My head has felt like it was going to explode for about the last week. That would be one nasty mess. Sinuses, who needs um? Hopefully this little episode will be over soon.

Hopefully.

Useless Fact o' the Day

Yesterday's fill up of the Miata yields results of 28 MPG. Pretty good considering not a single mile was on the interstate.

According to some random site on the 'net, Mazda spec'ed the car at 21/27 MPG. Another site listed it at 22/28.

What kind of mileage are you getting?

The Fall of Rick

Fall semester is off to a good start. I have been busy, but not too busy. Definitely more manageable than the summer was.

On Wednesday, I substituted at a nearby middle school. Seventh grade math. This school was on a traditional 7 period schedule instead of the 4 blocks I have become accustomed to during my field work. The day flew by. I had the opportunity to apply a lot of what I have learned from the classroom management class I took this summer. Overall things went very smoothly, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I have 3 more days of sub'ing lined up. (AP Calculus, 7th grade math, and Spanish III).

I still haven't gotten around to buttoning up the differential. Only a couple hours effort remaining. I hear it calling from the garage. Soon, very soon. Unless of course I decide to take a nap instead.

Last Friday my sinus's started bothering me. I don't know exactly what caused it but I have been miserable since then. Taking meds helps, but then I end up feeling spaced out for several hours. I took some allergy medication at dinner last night which caused me to be very sleepy by 8:30 PM. By 9, I gave in and went to bed. The problem with going to bed early is waking up early.

The date for the Fall camping trip has been chosen. We have 4 ACKs, 3 NAKs, 2 MAKs, and several "No Replies". That usually means their wife hasn't decided yet. :)

Time to catch a few Z's.

990

Occasionally I wake up during the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep for a few hours. When it happens I usually get up and find something to read on the internet. I don't ever watch the tv because I don't want to wake anyone else up. I use to just lay in bed but that gets restless after a while. I will start to get drowsy again in a few hours. Probably around 5:30 am, within a half hour of the time I normally wake up. I have started keeping track of when this occurs. For a while it seemed like it happened about weekly. The last time it happened was twenty days ago. This summer I have had the luxury of not having to get up at 6:00 am, but the internal clock is still wound pretty tight so most days I still wake up within a couple of minutes of 6, plus or minus.

Tonight we had takeout from Rosie's for dinner (Mexican). I woke up thirsty, but normally when that happens, I drink some water or tea and go right back to sleep.

My seester made a delivery in HSV today. We had lunch at Casa Blanca (also Mexican). She let me sit in the big rig. Nope, I didn't get to drive it, though I did wonder if I would have been able to break it loose like I did Danny's dually. I bet I could!

After lunch I drove by the Dodge dealership so that she could take a gander at the new Challenger. On Wednesday they had two on the lot. One black, one Hemi orange. Today they also had two, but they were both orange. The window sticker's MSRP was about $41,000 before the additional dealer markup of $15,000 was added. I guess the guy that bought the black one wanted it pretty bad. The engine is a 6.1 liter, 425, and it gets something like 14/18 MPG. Sweet. To me, it appears that Dodge doesn't really want to sell many of these cars. While there is a lot of interest, this car is priced to high for most folks. I suppose all the numbers will be more reasonable when the non-SRTs reach the dealerships. The Dodge website lists the starting price at $21,995 for the base model. The R/T will have 370 HP. I forgot to ask for a test drive. To borrow someone else's slogan, Zoom zoom zoom.

This afternoon I trimmed all the trees in the front yard. All four had many limbs that needed to be removed to ease mowing. I have been told that these butcher jobs should wait until the fall though I seem to always do it during the middle of the summer. It is easier to see the shape of the tree when it still has leave on it. That of course is not the real reason. The real reason is that tree trimming is usually a spontaneous event that follows having a tree limb whack you in the head while your minding your own business.

Planning for the fall camping trip is under way.

Last week I spend a few hours on a couple of days working on the differential for the old GMC. I was on the home stretch last time I touched it. Perhaps I will finish the diff up this week. School comes first though. I hope to not get too far behind too often this semester.

I recently signed up with the county school system to do some substitute teaching on the days I am not it class. Friday I sub'ed for the band director at a nearby HS. I lined up a couple more jobs while I was there.

Friday evening I helped the inlaws unload the moving truck. They bought a house nearby.

It is now 3:20. Only a few more hours to go.

This is post 990. I plan to celebrate post 1k with the mundane label also.

Weekend Update Posted Mid-to-Late in the Week

The posting has been slow around here lately. This is mostly due to my class schedule for the summer. Not that I am spending a lot of time in class, as I am only in class about 12 hours a week, sometimes slightly less if they let us out early, but still at least 10 hours. The real reason is the amount of time required to complete all of my assignments. The last few weeks has seen me spending anywhere from 40 to 60 hours per week on school. Can you say projects out the wazoo? Go ahead and try to say it. I knew you could. What happened to theSummer of Rick? It is absolutely insane, insane I tell you. Fortunately, all good things must come to an end. There are only about 2.5 weeks left of this semester.

Last Saturday I did manage to find the time to take the Turnip Truck out to the Greater Tennessesseessesseeesse Valley Antique Car Show. (Sorry about that extra eessee.) The trip to the car show was like three separate adventures. Count them.

The forecast for the day was 80% chance of rain all day long starting at 6:00 am. There were no clouds in the sky at 7:00 am so I decided I was going.

#1 Driving to the show. Driving an 83 year old vehicle is always an adventure. Doubly so when you attempt to drive 30 miles at a top speed of 35 miles an hour. No trauma on the trip out but we were amazed to see nearly twice as many cars there at 8:00 am this year than there were last year. Technically, I arrived at 8:10 AM this year. Last year I was right on the bell. When I registered, they gave me registration form #426. I assume that means I was the 426 car to arrive but I doubt it. And yes it was hot. And no, I didn't win any of the door prizes.

#2 Spending the Day at the Show. It was hot, but we came prepared. (We = me + 1 of the Brians) We had a cooler full of ice, a gallon of water, and a nice tent-tarpy-thingy along with several soccer-mom chairs, sans the soccer moms. I walked the parts swap and did not find anything I could live without. I also viewed like 70,000 old cars and trucks. OK, maybe 300. I ran into several people I knew, no surprise, and spent some time talking with Mr. Trailer Queen (Tim T.) who brought his 1924 Studebaker in on a trailer. I gave him the business because I had pretty much driven past his house on my way to the show.

Around 3:30 or 4:00 or something like that It was time to head home. Still no clouds in the sky but a call from home informed me it was raining there and had been for a couple of hours. Complete with dogs and cats.

#3 The trip consists of about 30 miles, probably an equal number heading north and east and unfortunately no roads go north east. As I am heading north, I notice large dark clouds to the east and some lightning. And some more lightning. I decided to change my route home in hopes of going around some of the rain. And lightning. I managed to find a nice bank drive thru to park under just as the rain came rolling in. The truck (and '66 Mustang) sat parked for about an hour while we waited out the rain. Eventually the rain pasted and clouds cleared and the pavement dried up. Still we sat there. Why? Have you ever tried to solve a differential equation in your head?

The rain is heading NE at 6 mph. We have a top speed of approximately 35 mph. The house is approximately 15 miles away almost due east. How much of a head start to we have to give the trailing edge of the rain before we leave so that we get home without driving back into the storm? So then we set there for another 10 minutes after agreeing we should wait at least 15. No patience to be found among us, for sure.

We did not catch the rain on the way home though at times we were just behind it. We experienced a little fine sprinkling but nothing worth blogging about. Getting home mostly dry was a major accomplishment. I guess it is good that I didn't win a door prize at the show for surely that would have used all my luck up leaving me to be drenched all the way home.

And in other news, this weekend is my favorite car show of the year. Yes, it is once again time for the air cooled Volkswagen show at Point Mallard. I will probably wait until Sunday to venture forth. See you there.

Filled up the Miata today. 28.5 MPG for the previous tank.

Today the local blog critic awarded my blog the most boring blog in the neighborhood award. I guess he missed the geometric proofs from a couple of years back. And the lyrics for 'Oh, Yes Wyoming'. (If your interested, I recently proved the triangle inequality theorem for vectors.)

Then I remembered my blog wasn't really meant to be entertaining, it was intended to document my current obsession, whatever that might be, for example a Miata, a 1925 Chevrolet,rebuilding a 1972 GMC pickup, hoping to acquire an unspecified year Corvette or Volkswagen Beetle, building Furniture, hot tubing, auto body repair, camping, hiking, biking, welding, metal-meet, camping, Dodge Chargers, low carb dieting, school, procrastination, hypermiling, building a foundry, melting aluminium, state quarters, container gardening, MDF, STL, model railroading (n gauge), tenth scale RC cars, RC airplanes, Vertigo, slot car racing, Formula One, the US Grand Prix, attending car shows, Mini Coopers, ping pong, foos ball, chocolate chip cookies, fembots with a penchant for evil, cast iron skillets or even fried okra. Whatever. I feel so validated now.

Mmmm, fried okra.

iMike and Terry did not even get an honorable mention because their blogs are too interesting. Sorry guys.

Hello, Hello, Hola!

The clutch saga continues. Slowly. My total wait time for the rear seal for the transmission was 8 days.

Quick recap. Order parts at O'Reilly Autoparts, Some parts show up, but not all. Make another trip to pick up the missing stuff. Get home with it. Not the right stuff. Call back. "We can't get that stuff, go to the Dealer."

Go to dealer. Order parts. Go to pick up parts two days later. Some parts show up, but not all parts. This was especially painful this time because it was a Friday and I had hoped to reassemble the car over the weekend. (Mazda Parts guy called O'Reilly to see if they had the part. Ha! They sent me to the Mazda dealership.) Back to the parts store on Monday and get the missing seal.

At this point I am fairly busy with my mundane life and don't get a chance to really work on the Miata again until this evening. That is not entirely true. Late in the afternoon, I spent about an hour with the car hoping that I would somehow be able to lift the transmission back up myself. Even with a pair of jacks, this was more than one person could really do.

At this point I got on the bat horn and called in the calvary. With the assistance of David M. under the car and non-boring Brian controlling the jack, we managed to get the transmission lifted and bolted to the engine block.

I will not call the entire operation a success (prematurely). I still have to hook up the hydraulic clutch cable, re-install the entire exhaust system, fill the transmission, and re-install the drive-shaft(Famous Australian rock band) and a few other miscellaneous details before I am really done. Regardless, all the work requiring more than two hands has been completed.

While the car is on the jack stands and one of the tires is off anyway, I will go head with an oil change and rotating the tires.

The car should be rolling before the weekend is over. A mere 15 or 16 days later.

What did I learn? Order all the parts and have them in hand before getting started.

Regrets: None really. At least not so far.

This afternoon I went outside with the intention of doing something useful such as taking apart a differential or cleaning up the garage. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, but it was just too dang cool to be comfortable. After cranking the 1925 Chevrolet and letting it idle for a few minutes I decided to make the Miata out for a scouting expedition to located a steel supply business. I figured with a heater assist to my fleece jacket, the Miata would be plenty snug with the top down. I left the regular neighborhood and made a beeline for a gas pump. While waiting on the tank to fill up I went ahead and put the top up. Out of now where, clouds had appeared and it was sprinkling. Ce' la vie.

While out on my Sunday afternoon drive, I happened across a 1965 Beetle, for sale. The interior of this car was in really good shape. Rare for such an old car. This little car desperately wanted to follow me home, but alas, I have no place to park it. Maybe next time.

While out, I also did a recon mission to locate Danny's secret hide-away. Mission accomplished however Danny's super hero senses must have alerted him to my pending arrival for he had already escaped and moved on to his alternate secret lair.

For those wondering about truck progress, I got absolutely nothing done this weekend. I also did not do any homework. What did I do?

The new laptop is behaving quite nicely. I hope it lasts as long as the last one did. (7 years?)

[3 lbs to go]

Twas Another Glorious Weekend

I am certain I had a great weekend but I can't recall what I did. Friday evening was so long ago.

I do recall grinding the buttons off of 20 rivets on Saturday. This was of course part of the effort involved in replacing the leaf springs with coil springs. So far so good.

The diet is going well. And Saturday night is any-thing-goes night. Rosie's for dinner. Mmmm

Today was a trip to Harbor Freight to pick up a low-cost 3/8" corded reversible drill ($9.99). Next was drilling out 20 rivets to remove 6 brackets.

And finally a long ride in the Miata with the top down to enjoy the mid-40 degree weather we had today. The trip involved a nice 30 minute ride to TN, grabbing a hot cup of coffee, and then the return trip.

Friday night, as I now recall, involved me taking an online test for the ED class I am taking. No wonder I was blocking on Friday evening.

Next Saturday is tax time. Yippee.

[10.6 lbs to go]

It is cold and I am ready for spring.

[11.6 lbs to go]

The auction time is ticking down. Not as much interest as I was hoping for but then again it only takes one person. The right person, though.

Slightly over 10 lbs down, 13.6 to go.

[13.6]

Rapidly Progressing Towards Various Stages of Completion

Realizing that somethings can't be partially done, like a girl can't be a little bit pregnant, I am here to report that the truck on ebay is now 35% sold. But only 35%. It doesn't count until you reach 100%.

Diet progress: After 8 days, I have lost 7.2 pounds. So far so good, but I expect the progress to slow down soon. If it was always that easy, we would all already be skinny.

[16.8 lbs to go]

Hold Your Comments

Comments have not been working since the beginning of the New Year. It should be working now. Just a missing symbolic link

ln -s \home\blogger\2008 2008

I have been sitting here looking at the empty editor for about 10 minutes. Tomorrow is Friday and that's all I have to say about that.

[20.2]

I went to the tech school this evening for my first welding class. Upon arrival I found out the class had been canceled due to a lack of folks registering. I asked the woman how many more people we needed to have the class. She replied two. I then proceeded to convince a couple of guys there for another class to sign up for the welding class instead. Now with enough interested the class was un-canceled, but unfortunately the teacher was not there because, well, he thought the class had been canceled. So the first class will be next week instead.


Yesterday I started a diet. My weight loss goal is 24 lbs. For the next few months you can watch my progress at the end of my posts. I will post pounds remaining pounds to lose in this format: [24]. Accountability is good right?

[24 lbs to go]

Today I removed and dissassembled the switches for the Miata power windows. The windows are slooooooow and I had already tried greasing the tracks so this had to be the fix.

After removing the center console and disconnecting the wiring, I removed the switch sub-assembly. The contacts for the switches were black with carbon. I removed the carbon build up using Liquid Wrench and then slid a flat file across the contacts to remove any remaining build up. Next I cleaned the rocker contacts and finally I tinned all the contact surfaces with solder. Another pass with the final and all the surfaces were level. Finally I buttoned it all back up and it was ready for testing.

Results: The windows now move faster than before, but they are still slower than they should be. Oh well, I don't roll them up very often anyway.

Next step: Take the car out for a Sunday afternoon drive. The temperature was in the mid 60's so how could one not take a drive.

I made a quick stop at a neighbors house before leaving the 'hood. Another local was there also. I hung for a few minutes discussing various matters of extreme importance with the two gentlemen.

During this conversation I found out that I had a friend who had done the "Russian Bride" thing. It was a really amazing story.

I was just looking back at the first post from several years trying to find a reference to the only New Years Resolution I have ever managed to keep. I did not find it on the blog.

The resolution was this: "To make no more New Year's Resolutions". So far so good.

Here are a few things I did see.

Last year I posted the Miata and Chargers odometer readings. If my memory is serving me today, the Miata acquired less than 5,000 miles this year. The Charger is probably about the same.

Two years ago I learned the words Feh and Feckless.

Three years ago I had just finished cleaning the engine of the GMC.

Four years ago was P.B. Pre-blog.

The four day weekend is almost over. So far I have accomplished absolutely nothing. Ok, that is not entirely true. I did manage to get a little homework done. Not to much though.

This afternoon we experienced an extreme oddity. Both kids feel asleep. I wouldn't say they took a nap, as neither intended to go to sleep. It was very peaceful around here for about an hour and a half.

Last week I registered for a class for next semister. I learned my lesson this time regarding trying to take two classes at a time. Not again. Two classes requires way to much out of the class room time.

The class I signed up for will be online this time. My experience with online classes in the past has been less than desireable. Unfortunately the available schedule does not really give me any alternatives...

So because I don't actually have to attend a class, I am considering signing up for a welding class also. Whoa there fellow! Didn't I just say I wouldn't take two classes again. Well, sure but this would be completely different. The online class has no "in class" requirements and the welding class has no "homework", so essentially I would be taking two classes but it would seem like only one.

Lows in the 60s, high in the 80's for a whole week. 'Bout near perfect weather.

I was sitting here trying not to write a paper for class. I turns out I don't have to try very hard to be successful.

This weekend I got some sandblasting done. Unfortunately neither T or J helped out. Three more pieces. That makes nine that need to be painted.

I received my review of my first speech tonight. It must have gone pretty well. I got an 'A'. Areas for improvement: more gestures and more movement. I guess I was stonewalling. I got excellent marks for eye contact, volume, and cadence. So good so far.

I hate to admit I spent almost 6 hours preparing for a 2-3 minute speech, but I did. Can you say obsessive? I actually wrote 5 different speeches, none of which I was particularly happy with but in the end I still had to give a speech. I think I ended up using the second one.

The next speech is supposed to be informative. Who wants to know how to visually identify the model year of all GMC and Chevrolet trucks between the years 1967 and 1972. Ho hum.

TGIF. Doh! Never mind, it's only Tuesday.

Hey, Yesterday evening after work I loaded up the sand blaster and took care of eight small brackets. T & J will be happy this weekend with their lighter work load.

It just occurred to me how fortunate I am that I can touch type. I think that was a glass of red wine speaking.

The temperature has dropped in the 80's and a little rain has come though. It almost feels like Fall. The new improved weather certainly makes for a pleasant ride in the Miata.

Two weeks of speech and I still haven't had to make a speech. Only one more week. I am supposed to select an object to present to the class and then make a speech about the object and how it relates to myself. G recommended I take a computer to class. After some thought I decided that I could take a computer than I designed and built back in '93. What to say though?

Any other ideas?

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

The last three days have followed a common recipe for me.

0) A full day of debugging embedded wireless protocol software.
1) A couple of hours in the driveway with a grinder and a power drill removing rivets from an old truck frame.
2) A few more hours doing home work for that crazy abstract modern algebra class.

(I am pleased to be done before 12:00 tonight!)

We have decided that there is no practical application for abstract algebra. None whatsoever! I would go futher and claim there is no use for it at all, but that would be a lie. As far as I can tell though, its only real use is as a prerequisite for another mathematics class needed only by some crazy fool attempting to fetch a masters or phd in mathematics. Not me though.

The dissassembly of the new old new truck frame is coming along nicely. I say new because it recently arrived here so it is new to me. I say old because it is 35 years old and most vehicles won't last that long. And I say new because relative to the '25 pickup, the '72 is still a spring chicken.

And That Is A Good Thing!

It has been a long weekend and that is a good thing.

This afternoon I didn't get back to the rivets. And that's OK.

This evening I took several trips around the block in the turnip truck so that I could give everyone a ride. Some neighbors came over to look at the truck. I ended up giving them each a ride and then I took a truck load of kids for a round. I let the adults drive. They seem to enjoy it after getting over their initial concern that perhaps the truck is fragile! If it were fragile it would not have lasted since 1925.

Weekend Getaway

Ginger and I made a quick weekend getaway to Nashville Friday & Saturday. We stayed in a hotel near the Opryland Hotel. We enjoyed a nice dinner there and took and indoor boat ride. The Opryland Hotel is an amazing place to visit.

Saturday we visited the Lane Motor Museum. Ginger found a few cars she wanted to bring home. Unfortunately we were not in the Tahoe so we didn't have room for them in the back. My favorites were the Fiats (especially the Topolino [think Italian Volkswagen Beetle]), the Austin Minis, the Morris Minis, the MGs. Here is a complete list of their cars. Take a look at the Honda S600 and S800 , and the Datsun 1200. (There is a Datsun 1200 in a junk yard near here.) These are definitely some cool convertibles.

Saturday after returning home I removed 22 rivets from the pieces of rusty metal. No small task. I believe there are another 28 to go. Maybe Sunday.

Saturday was 07/07/07 in case you missed. Were you feeling lucky?

The 4th

I started the 4th with an early more trip to Pitts Salvage yard in Athens. I had arranged to purchase the back half of the frame of a1972 Chevrolet Pickup LWB complete with all the suspension, brackets, and the 12 GM differential. I got a really good price on it too!

I borrowed Lott's trailer and Ginger's Tahoe. David M. rode shotgun. The entire trip took about 2.5 hours. Once home I unloaded the big piece of rusty metal and began planning how to disassemble it as quickly as possible. I am sure my neighbors love looking at it.

I did manage to get the differential, trailing arms, and coil springs separated from the frame and stowed safely in the shop.

I still need to remove 50+ rivets to get all the brackets I want removed from the frame and the frame disassembled. That will be no small task. In the past it has take about 10 minute per rivet. I will need to find a quicker method or this could take forever.

In the Presence of Greatness

We celebrated the 4th by attending a party at the White House. The kids enjoyed playing in the pool and the food was great. BBQ chicken, pork, and ribs. Mmmmm. And fresh corn from the garden.

Top Ten Mistakes I Have Made on My Blog

All of them.

I read one of those Top 5 Blog Improvement articles recently that said you should never say "Sorry I haven't posted in a while." It recommended that instead one should say "I am a quitter and this blog will disappear off the face of the Internet any minute now."

This blog will not be disappearing anytime soon (jinx) though you can expect more entries labeled Mundane.

Turnip Truck Update

Monday J, B, and I rolled the '25 out of the garage, cranked her up, and then Bri and I took it for the weekly spin around the neighborhood.

Tuesday J, B, and I rolled it out again. This time so I could take a few photographs. Then Bri and I took it for the weekly spin around the neighborhood again. The photographs were what I hope to be the final step in the paper work for acquiring antique car insurance. The antique tag is already on the truck. Once the insurance is in place, it will be ready for a trip to a car show, or perhaps even better a trip to Sonic for some ice cream. The first trip of course will be to put some gas in the tank. We don't need a repeat of last weeks adventure.

While the truck was in the driveway, I taught Bri how to start it.

1. Set timing advance to starting position.
2. Set had throttle to starting position.
3. Tap foot throttle twice.
4. Press the foot brake.
5. Press in the clutch.
6. Verify the truck is out of gear.
7. Verify the parking brake is engaged.
8. Turn the the switch from Park to Ignition.
9. Pull out the choke knob.
10. Press the starter pedal.
11. Wait for the motor to turn over and begin to run.
12. Release the starter pedal.
13. Relax the choke.
14. Adjust hand throttle to idle position.

She got it to crank on the first try. She had already learned how to turn it off.

Docking Procedures Initiated

The truck sits about 7' 1" at its highest point. My 7' garage door is only 6' 11.5". In order to get the truck into or out of the garage, I load it up will 100 lbs of dry clay, and two little people. Next I give it a push and once it is rolling I hop on the tailgate, the back end of the truck drops about an inch, and if we are rolling fast enough we reach escape velocity.

We don't always reach escape velocity.

Weekend Recap

Yesterday after I finally repaired the exhaust leak on the Miata. The one caused by driving over a volley ball sized rock in the middle of a 5 lane road.

Nothing is ever as simple as it needs to be. I had to remove four bolts to replace a couple of gaskets. Exhaust bolts are always a pain, badly rusted, probably due to the intense heat they experience. I managed to twist one of the bolts in half. Fortunately bolts are fairly cheap. It cost me $0.98 cents to replace the bolts.

No more exhaust leak. Finally.

Saturday we went over to Tuscumbia for the Hellen Keller Festival. Terry ran a 5 mile race. I believe Jordan said she came in 165th overall. It was at least 90 F. We also browsed a car show and had lunch with the entire family.

It has been a busy week. Work alone is enough to generate that hectic feel. Besides that, I have a test tonight in an abstract math class I am taking. I have some how managed to put in a few hours of study time for the last four days. That was rough a couple of the days because it was late and I was tired. My procrastination skills are slipping.

I recall sitting down last night to write something for the blog. Where did it go?

I found out today that my sister is famous. Jordan told me so. "Haven't you seen all the billboards and pictures?"

School started back last Thursday. Someone needs to do their homework, tomorrow.

Today was Jordan's last day of school (3rd grade). Tomorrow the kids start summer care. So much for a good old fashioned summer.

Today was also my first day of summer classes. The class meets for 4 hours once a week. I was already brain dead after a mere 18 minutes.

No progress on the Miata timing belt today.

Weekend Update

I have been working a lot lately. Last weekend alone was 22+ hours. Actually that describes several weekends in the last month or so. I promised myself I wouldn't do that again this weekend. I put a maximum limit on this weekend of 12 hours. I was successful if only ever so slightly!

The main reason I was successful was because earlier in the week, my neighbor volunteered to my wife to help me remove some shrubs from our flower bed. I didn't know I needed help, because I didn't know I was going to be doing it.

Yesterday afternoon, during the heat of the day we got started. Using a chain and a Tahoe, we pulled the shrubs from the ground. After egressing from the ground, the root ball had to be attacked with a shovel, pick, hoe, or whatever else was handy to remove the dirt from the roots. This is were we could have used a 50 gallon drum of elbow grease.

In all we removed more than 20 bushes and shrubs. Two of them were 10 feet tall. At this point there is a huge pile of greenery on the curb in front of our house. Luckily the monthly pickup of big stuff is this week, the first full week of the month.

Hopefully next week, I can get back on to the normal schedule and get some work done on the truck. BTW, I found a pretty cool web site called smartflix.com They rent how-to/instructional videos. I found several I would like to see, but the first on my list is "Differential Rebuilding". Yes, that thing is still in the bucket!

It has been 8 days since I gave up aspartame and it has not been easy. Yesterday was the worst. I wanted something to drink and I didn't want water. So I had a bottle of water anyway. Woo hoo was not what I was thinking.

I think it is the caffiene that I miss the most.

Posts have been somewhat scarce around here lately. I would blame it on work, but work is not the direct cause, it is merely an indirect cause.

The increased amount of work time recently has decreased my extra-curricular activities.

No truck time means no posts about the GMC.

No cruising time, no rambling about the Miata.

No call from the pottery supply store, means no write up about back yard metal casting.

Tomorrow is looking like 70 and a mere 20 percent chance of rain.

Perhaps tomorrow I will write about an oil change for the Miata, or a test drive in a beamer convertible. And the Charger still needs to have the tires rotated.

Four days and counting, No diet drinks. This afternoon I tried a cup of hot peach flavored green tea. How is that for different?

Bery Bery Vusy

The locals schools all let out around noon yesterday for pending bad weather. We were fortunate not to see any tornados around here. Others in the state were not so lucky.

I picked up the kids at 11:30 and we went home were I set up shop on the kitchen table. At 3:00 I loaded the troops into the Charger and took them to work. We had a technology demonstration scheduled and I was doing the driving. The demo went well. Enough about work.

I realized this evening that I hadn't posted in four days. Then I realized I hadn't even scoped out another blog in four days.

It has been a very very busy week. TGIF.

The weekend weather outlook is looking reasonable. Tomorrow is a high of 56 with a 10% chance of rain. Think I can make it rain again? We will see.

I believe Formula 1 starts two weeks from tomorrow. I am looking forward to the first race. I should probably finish up watching the Barrett-Jackson auction so that I will have enough space to record practice, qualifying, and the race.

I received email today sent to alumni of the high school I attended. They are apparently playing in the 3A basketball state championship (Texas). Good luck.

What Happened To The Weekend?

I noticed earlier today that I hadn't posted in a few days. I guess I was busy. What was I doing?

Wednesday, February 14th was the last post.

Thursday evening I attended school. I got my test back from the previous week. I did better than I thought I did but not as good as I should have. I should have made a 100%.

Friday the family headed to Memphis and left me home alone for the weekend. Friday night I had take out for dinner. My choice was a Whopper Junior from BK. I watched a little bit of the Barrett-Jackson auction I recorded back in January and then fell asleep with the light on while reading Cobra In The Barn.

I woke up about 6:30 Saturday morning. The wife left her alarm clock set and it woke me up. I listened to it for a few minutes before I decided that I couldn't block it out and decided if I reached over to turn it off, I might as well get up. I decided to start the laundry early to get it out of the way. Upon opening the washing machine, I discovered a load of wet towels probably left over from Thursday. I gave them another spin to freshen them up. Once they were done I moved them to the dryer and put the whites in the washer. Once the whites were done, I discovered I had forgotten to turn the dryer on. Those towels sure were putting up a fight. So much for getting the laundry done early.

About 8:45 AM David, no not that David, one of the other Davids, called to request some help. He is building a reciprocating nose. His wife is stage managing a local production of Pinocchio and he either volunteered or was volunteered to make a remote control nose. Each time I hear the story, it changes. Regardless, he came over and we spend about half the day building a drive mechanism for an extend-o-nose. He had already modified a servo to be free spinning. I machined out a case using several pieces of polyethylene. These were fastened together using machine screws and then a 1.5" hole was bored through the center. This hole contains a reel with a piece of metal tape fastened to it. I fabricated a metal plate to fasten to each side. If you can picture it, imagine something similar to a remote controlled measuring tape. Once the box was complete, we called it a box and quit for the day. It is always amazing how many hours you can put into creating something.

David invited me over to his house for dinner. In one of my many past lives, I practically lived with David and Penny. My first year out of college I probably ate dinner there no less than five times a week. Penny still calls me her first son.

Dinner was great. I stopped at the store on the way over and picked up a jar of Hot Pickled Okra and a bottle of Piesporter Michelsberg (German wine is my favorite). When I arrived we cracked open the pickled okra and Dave made a big bowl of Guacamole (3 avocados, a small lime, and some Frontera Guacamole Starter). The Guacamole was excellent (Terry, you would have loved it. We will have to make some next time your in town.) Penny handed me a chilled bottle of muscadine wine and a fancy cork screw and put me to work. The wine was good, and you could definitely tell it was muscadine. Dinner consisted of grilled ribs, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, homemade mac-n-cheese, rolls, and coconut cake, complete with a chorus of Happy Birthday.

After dinner, David, Ben, and I watched part of The Parent Trap remake on the tele. Ben is about 10, maybe 11. During the show, there is a scene in a wine cellar. Large barrels of wine running the length of the room. I pointed to the big corks sticking out the top of the barrels and asked Ben if the know what they were called. He didn't, but I did. I had recently learned what they were called while watching the discovery channel. The cork is called a bung. Next I asked Ben if he knew what the hole was called that the cork was placed in. Again he didn't know and again I shared it with him. David and Ben were laughing hysterically. Of course the answer is a bung hole. Why is that funny? It's not. Unless you were there. Later Penny asked me to explain to her why it was funny. I explained simply that it was just a good example of 12 year old male humor. I still think that stuff is funny. ***attempting to straighten my face***

Before dinner I said something else really funny to David. I have never seen anyone laugh so hard. I wish I could remember what it was. Actually I was on fire that day. This audience hadn't heard most of my material.

Around 10:00 PM I headed to the house. They wanted me to stay and watch a movie, but I am not a night owl. Once home, I went on to bed, and once again fell asleep reading.

And guess what. I forgot to disable the alarm clock on Saturday. Doh! That is how Sunday morning started. This time I did manage to ignore it and went back to sleep. I did finally get up around 8:00. At this point I put the last load of laundry in the washer. Two hours later and it was finally done.

That is where most of the weekend went.

Have you ever had muscadine wine and pickled okra?

Freebird

Last summer a neighbor asked me who cut my yard. I gave him a phone number and moved on with my life.

When we bought our first house many years ago, I bought a mower and used it exactly one time. While I was out mowing the yard work the first time, Mike the yard guy showed up and offered to write me up a bid on the yard work. His price was too good to be true and the bid included cutting, edging, blowing the clipping, trimming the bushes, and even the occasional gutter cleaning. I accepted his offer and rolled my mower back into the garage where it sat unused for a couple of years before I finally sold it to a friend.

Mike though reliable with cutting the yard is impossible to get a hold of on the telephone. His modus operandi is to cut the yard and occasionally leave a bill on the front door. Sometimes he goes months without leaving a bill.

After a while Mike became successful with his business and started running multiple crews. This presented a problem. We could always tell after the yard had been cut whether he had done it himself or one of his helpers. I complained and so now he usually does it himself.

Mike is a very friendly guy and quite a talker, just like the other Mike. When I catch him here mowing he talks my ear off. This has always seemed odd to me that he would spend much time talking because he is a hard worker, and time is money. Mike and his crew waste no time getting the work done. At times Mike will show up alone, other times he may have 4 other guys with him. My next door neighbor once told me that he timed Mike doing my lawn work. He said it was exactly 12 minutes from the time he rolled up till his truck pulled away. The times I have been here, it hasn't taken much longer than that. This is why Mike can charge such low rates.

The other neighbor who asked for Mikes number was startled by the way Mike does business. Last summer he called Mike and left a message asking for an estimate. Mike came and cut his yard, but forgot to leave and estimate. When he finally got the estimate, he agreed on the spot. Mike hits his yard right after he does mine. Several other of my neighbors have used Mike in the past also. In my last neighborhood, I think Mike was cutting close to 25% of the yards when we moved. That might be an exaggeration. Maybe not. I do recall seeing the mower run the length of four yards before turning around to make another pass.

Wednesday neighbor #1 calls wanting to know the best way to get a hold of Mike. Apparently his phone had been disconnected and he was worried. He wanted to get Mike to do an estimate on the front entrance for our neighborhood.

I believe Mike has been cutting our yard for over 10 years. He has always been difficult to contact and it seems he disappears every winter. But he always shows back up when it is time to cut the yard. And he just does it. I don't think we actually have a contract with him officially, though I remember we did one year, many years ago. When the yard needs to be cut, Mike will be there.

This is driving my neighbor crazy. I suspect he will get use to it, or return to cutting his yard himself. In the mean time, I am laughing my head off as he gets all wound up.

As usual I am stealing, er, borrowing other folks topics. Thanks Carol. Freebird, Freebird!

Mundane

Today I will be having a pop-tart for breakfast. Blogging just doesn't get any better than this.

All the women folk are heading out of town today so Jordan and I will be living it up, man style. Whatever that means. I will get back to you once I figure that one out.

HW

I managed to start my homework much earlier in the week. Sunday I completed the first of three sections. Monday, the second. And Tuesday I finally got around to procrastinating so I guess I will have to finish it all up tonight.

It is Wednesday again already?

Swapped blog over to the new beta blogger this evening.