Friday, July 07, 2006
And for the record, I fixed the phone on Tuesday, July 4th. The solution was simply to replace some of the wiring in the attic. I did this early in the day to avoid the heat.
Sandbeard
Getting the phone fixed left me plenty of time in the heat of the day to stand out in the driveway and sand-blast some truck parts. By the time I was done I was a walking sand castle.
I blasted the motor mounts and the replacement front cross member I bought at the junkyard in Hazel Green. I also touched up the transmission cross member. It still needs a litle bit of work as does the front suspension cross member. Maybe next week.
Movie Suggestions
Netflix provided us with a couple of pretty good movies this week. The Last Samuri and The Butterfly effect. I enjoyed both movies despite the leading actors. Amazing. Check-em out.
Who wants to go see a movie? The new Depp/Pirate movie opens today. And I still haven't seen cars.
Sandbeard
Getting the phone fixed left me plenty of time in the heat of the day to stand out in the driveway and sand-blast some truck parts. By the time I was done I was a walking sand castle.
I blasted the motor mounts and the replacement front cross member I bought at the junkyard in Hazel Green. I also touched up the transmission cross member. It still needs a litle bit of work as does the front suspension cross member. Maybe next week.
Movie Suggestions
Netflix provided us with a couple of pretty good movies this week. The Last Samuri and The Butterfly effect. I enjoyed both movies despite the leading actors. Amazing. Check-em out.
Who wants to go see a movie? The new Depp/Pirate movie opens today. And I still haven't seen cars.
This thing with my internet access being flaky would be a good excuse for why I haven't blogged lately. Only we know the real reason.
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
It is uncanny how many folks I know who have recently created a page on myspace.com. And the answer is, "No, I don't have one." Why not?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
Upcoming events on my calendar:
July 9 - Athens/Decatur, Alabama - 19th Annual Greater Tennessee Valley Antique Car and Harley Davidson Show. I attended last year but I didn't see all the cars. Someone told me there were over 600 last year. I doubt I will see them all this year. Why?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
July 22-23 - Point Mallard, Alabama: Bug'n In July 2006 Car Show. Air cooled farfignugen. I am looking forward to this all Volkswagen show, however I will not be going both days. Why?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
I have the strangest feeling I have misspelled a word. I could run the spell checker and proof read my grammar, but I won't. Why?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
Wrong. The correct answer is consistency.
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
It is uncanny how many folks I know who have recently created a page on myspace.com. And the answer is, "No, I don't have one." Why not?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
Upcoming events on my calendar:
July 9 - Athens/Decatur, Alabama - 19th Annual Greater Tennessee Valley Antique Car and Harley Davidson Show. I attended last year but I didn't see all the cars. Someone told me there were over 600 last year. I doubt I will see them all this year. Why?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
July 22-23 - Point Mallard, Alabama: Bug'n In July 2006 Car Show. Air cooled farfignugen. I am looking forward to this all Volkswagen show, however I will not be going both days. Why?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
I have the strangest feeling I have misspelled a word. I could run the spell checker and proof read my grammar, but I won't. Why?
L-A-Z-I-N-E-S-S
Wrong. The correct answer is consistency.
Monday, July 03, 2006
The phone has been out for a couple of days. I had the pleasure of trying to track down a short in the phone wiring up in the attic this afternoon. After a few trips up there, I decided to call it a day.
I think I have figured it out. I made a trip to HD for some wire today. Tomorrow I will ascend into the attic again.
I think I have figured it out. I made a trip to HD for some wire today. Tomorrow I will ascend into the attic again.
Home again. Had a great weekend at the race.
Michael Sanders Michael Schumacher got pole. Massa in the 2nd Ferrari had 2nd position.
The 3rd round of qualifying was pretty cool.
I believe 5 cars crashed in the first corner of the race. Unfortunately Kimi was one of them. Only 9 of the 22 cars finished. Schumacher won, Massa second. (Just like last year)
The 3rd round of qualifying was pretty cool.
I believe 5 cars crashed in the first corner of the race. Unfortunately Kimi was one of them. Only 9 of the 22 cars finished. Schumacher won, Massa second. (Just like last year)
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday while out driving, I noticed a few rain drops on the windshield. Being a bit gunshy due to Fridays rain, I pulled over and put the top up. Not another drop fell (while the top was up.) Twenty minutes later, I put it back down again. The sky was clear and the dark cloud was no longer following me.
As I made the final approach to home, the sky began to mist again. While sitting at the red light wishing it was green, I decided I could make it home, no problem.
The rain makes a really nice pinging sound as it splatters on the top of roll bar at 45 mph.
Ping, ping, ping, ping.
As I made the final approach to home, the sky began to mist again. While sitting at the red light wishing it was green, I decided I could make it home, no problem.
The rain makes a really nice pinging sound as it splatters on the top of roll bar at 45 mph.
Ping, ping, ping, ping.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
My internet access as been spotty again this week. What to do, what to do?
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week I went to a local high school (Buckhorn) to do observation, aka field experience, for an education class I am taking at ASU.
On Friday I drove the Miata to school. I was running late that morning. When I parked the car, I checked the sky and decided I would leave the top down to save some time. There was not a cloud in the sky. I checked the sky again during morning break. Still no clouds.
Shortly after lunch the sky turned gray very quickly and the clouds dropped buckets of water. By the time I got out to my car, there was standing water in the seat two inches deep. Is the ability of the seat to hold water the reason why they are called bucket seats?
I put the top up and one window. The other window decided it would only go half way up. Oh well, I thought, it is not like the interior could get any more wet than it already is.
I took a quick look at the sky before heading back inside. The sky was clear and blue in all directions except directly overhead. Sounds like a Ziggy comic strip, eh?
I was pretty much completely soaked when I got back inside. On the positive side, I was not warm all afternoon as I had been on Wednesday.
Ok, if you were paying much attention, you may have noted that I didn’t check the sky at lunch time. Yep! That is probably where I messed up.
The interior is mostly dry today. All except for the carpet. I left the car in the garage overnight with the top up. I don’t like to put it down while the top exterior is wet. Because the top usually stays down for days or weeks at a time I wait for it to dry out before folding it down. Don’t won’t any mildew.
Today the floor mats are out and the car is parked in the driveway with the top down. Things should dry up nicely. Assuming I remember to put it back in the garage before the afternoon thundershowers.
This was not the first time the interior got wet but it was by far the most severe soaking it has had while under my watch. And another positive side note, all the pollen has been washed out of the interior.
This weekend was the 2006 Heart of Dixie Metal Meet. I had intended to go. That was before I realized I had to do field observation on Friday. G’ is working today and I was unable to round up anyone to watch the kids. I may be able to swing by tomorrow afternoon for a little while but all the instruction will probably be over by then.
At last year’s metal meet I made a metal bowl from a flat piece of sheet metal. My intention this year was to use my woodworking skills to help build the fender bucks for a Bugatti they are building. I don’t have the metal working skills to contribute anything meaningful to that project, but I could have learned a lot just by watching. Maybe I will be able to check on their progress tomorrow afternoon.
[Update] I did manage to bring in the Miata before the afternoon thunderstorms rolled through. It was a pretty good storm. The power went out for a while.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week I went to a local high school (Buckhorn) to do observation, aka field experience, for an education class I am taking at ASU.
On Friday I drove the Miata to school. I was running late that morning. When I parked the car, I checked the sky and decided I would leave the top down to save some time. There was not a cloud in the sky. I checked the sky again during morning break. Still no clouds.
Shortly after lunch the sky turned gray very quickly and the clouds dropped buckets of water. By the time I got out to my car, there was standing water in the seat two inches deep. Is the ability of the seat to hold water the reason why they are called bucket seats?
I put the top up and one window. The other window decided it would only go half way up. Oh well, I thought, it is not like the interior could get any more wet than it already is.
I took a quick look at the sky before heading back inside. The sky was clear and blue in all directions except directly overhead. Sounds like a Ziggy comic strip, eh?
I was pretty much completely soaked when I got back inside. On the positive side, I was not warm all afternoon as I had been on Wednesday.
Ok, if you were paying much attention, you may have noted that I didn’t check the sky at lunch time. Yep! That is probably where I messed up.
The interior is mostly dry today. All except for the carpet. I left the car in the garage overnight with the top up. I don’t like to put it down while the top exterior is wet. Because the top usually stays down for days or weeks at a time I wait for it to dry out before folding it down. Don’t won’t any mildew.
Today the floor mats are out and the car is parked in the driveway with the top down. Things should dry up nicely. Assuming I remember to put it back in the garage before the afternoon thundershowers.
This was not the first time the interior got wet but it was by far the most severe soaking it has had while under my watch. And another positive side note, all the pollen has been washed out of the interior.
This weekend was the 2006 Heart of Dixie Metal Meet. I had intended to go. That was before I realized I had to do field observation on Friday. G’ is working today and I was unable to round up anyone to watch the kids. I may be able to swing by tomorrow afternoon for a little while but all the instruction will probably be over by then.
At last year’s metal meet I made a metal bowl from a flat piece of sheet metal. My intention this year was to use my woodworking skills to help build the fender bucks for a Bugatti they are building. I don’t have the metal working skills to contribute anything meaningful to that project, but I could have learned a lot just by watching. Maybe I will be able to check on their progress tomorrow afternoon.
[Update] I did manage to bring in the Miata before the afternoon thunderstorms rolled through. It was a pretty good storm. The power went out for a while.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Yesterday, around dusk, the temperature was once again about perfect. Fortunately I needed to fill up the gas tank on the Miata. And I did.
Saturday morning after getting a much needed hair cut, I took the kids out to the local drag strip for the Mopar Show And Go car show. We only stayed about 45 minutes because we had to head west. The kids seemed to have a good time. I took their picture sitting in a Charger painted up like the General Lee. jJordan seemed interested in the race cars that were reving up the engines. Unfortunately we had to leave before the racing started. I think it might be pretty easy to convince him to go back. Brianna seemed to have a good time also. She picked out a few cars for us to check out. She has a good eye for cars.
After leaving the car show we headed over to Tuscumbia to have lunch with my Father, sister, brother and his family.
Saturday morning after getting a much needed hair cut, I took the kids out to the local drag strip for the Mopar Show And Go car show. We only stayed about 45 minutes because we had to head west. The kids seemed to have a good time. I took their picture sitting in a Charger painted up like the General Lee. jJordan seemed interested in the race cars that were reving up the engines. Unfortunately we had to leave before the racing started. I think it might be pretty easy to convince him to go back. Brianna seemed to have a good time also. She picked out a few cars for us to check out. She has a good eye for cars.
After leaving the car show we headed over to Tuscumbia to have lunch with my Father, sister, brother and his family.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Last night I was standing out in the driveway at about 7:00 pm thinking just how perfect the weather was. Five minutes later after obtaining permission from my significant other I was in the Miata cruising down the road.
"While your out pick up some milk."
"Ok, no problem."
As I was driving along, I passed a friend, Dwayne, heading in the opposite direction. He waved, I called him on the cell phone, and we discussed a Mopar car show that will be nearby this weekend. I wonder if I can bribe my kids into going to this one?
I stopped by my friend David's house and had a short chat with him. I even scored some homemade peach icecream. Around dusk I hit the road again.
Since I was in the neighborhood, I drove past another friend, David's, house. As I was leaving the neighborhood, I see David and his Miata coming in the other direction. I went back to his house and sat on the covered porch for a while.
I eventually made it to Publix for two gallon's of skim milk and a gallon of Milo's Sweet tea.
Around 10:00 I finally made it home. And the weather was still perfect.
Charger Mod #1
Today I had the windows on the Charger tinted. The interior of the car was much cooler when I went to pick it up today. From the outside it looked cooler also. The shop doing the work was a mere two blocks from where I work so after dropping the car off this morning I walked back to work. Apparrently some of last nights perfect weather carried over to this morning. Marvelous.
Tuesday nights weekly woodworking which has mostly been on hold due to Tuesday evening classes occurred on Wednesday this week. In the past week I have made a couple of dollies to put some loose truck parts on. The best part is that the dollies were made completely from scrap MDF, 2x4 pieces, and some old casters I happened to have in the garage.
Ok, not everything was scrap. I had to go to Home Depot to get some 2" x 0.25" lag screws, quantity of 16, at 16 cents a piece. It's all good though.
I have scheduled my field experience for the summer semister. Next week I will be spending Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at a nearby high school. My friend Dave will be at the same school the same days. We will probably car pool.
That is all.
"While your out pick up some milk."
"Ok, no problem."
As I was driving along, I passed a friend, Dwayne, heading in the opposite direction. He waved, I called him on the cell phone, and we discussed a Mopar car show that will be nearby this weekend. I wonder if I can bribe my kids into going to this one?
I stopped by my friend David's house and had a short chat with him. I even scored some homemade peach icecream. Around dusk I hit the road again.
Since I was in the neighborhood, I drove past another friend, David's, house. As I was leaving the neighborhood, I see David and his Miata coming in the other direction. I went back to his house and sat on the covered porch for a while.
I eventually made it to Publix for two gallon's of skim milk and a gallon of Milo's Sweet tea.
Around 10:00 I finally made it home. And the weather was still perfect.
Charger Mod #1
Today I had the windows on the Charger tinted. The interior of the car was much cooler when I went to pick it up today. From the outside it looked cooler also. The shop doing the work was a mere two blocks from where I work so after dropping the car off this morning I walked back to work. Apparrently some of last nights perfect weather carried over to this morning. Marvelous.
Tuesday nights weekly woodworking which has mostly been on hold due to Tuesday evening classes occurred on Wednesday this week. In the past week I have made a couple of dollies to put some loose truck parts on. The best part is that the dollies were made completely from scrap MDF, 2x4 pieces, and some old casters I happened to have in the garage.
Ok, not everything was scrap. I had to go to Home Depot to get some 2" x 0.25" lag screws, quantity of 16, at 16 cents a piece. It's all good though.
I have scheduled my field experience for the summer semister. Next week I will be spending Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at a nearby high school. My friend Dave will be at the same school the same days. We will probably car pool.
That is all.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
What A Mess
Did I say the clear coat could not turn out any worse than it already was? I should have known better.
This afternoon, I intended to wet sand and then polish the paint. The clear was dry to the touch and I had waited the 24 hours for it to cure. Unfortunately something went wrong. The clear did not stick. It looked pretty good but it apparently did not cure. The clear was dry to the touch but it did not adhere to the paint. As I began to wet sand, it started peeling. What a mess!
I got most of the new clear off this afternoon. I still have a little work to do. I will probably just finish removing the new clear, and put some wax on it.
At this point I haven't figured out what went wrong. It could have been the humidity level was too high, the paint was old, or it was simply incompatible with the existing clear coat.
Did I say the clear coat could not turn out any worse than it already was? I should have known better.
This afternoon, I intended to wet sand and then polish the paint. The clear was dry to the touch and I had waited the 24 hours for it to cure. Unfortunately something went wrong. The clear did not stick. It looked pretty good but it apparently did not cure. The clear was dry to the touch but it did not adhere to the paint. As I began to wet sand, it started peeling. What a mess!
I got most of the new clear off this afternoon. I still have a little work to do. I will probably just finish removing the new clear, and put some wax on it.
At this point I haven't figured out what went wrong. It could have been the humidity level was too high, the paint was old, or it was simply incompatible with the existing clear coat.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
My internet access was down again this morning. It seems that it only goes down on the weekends. Is this really true, or are we just not home to notice it the rest of the time.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to listen, does it still make a sound?
Tuesday evening was my first night of class for the summer semister. I am already behind on my homework. Go figure.
Miata Make Over
The trailing edge of the miata's truck has become weathered and the primer is visible in some areas. The trunk also had a bad case of miata pox, a'la, water spots. They appear as milky spots in the clear coat.
Today I decided to put some paint on the primer. I figured any paint beats no paint. I already had some red paint, not a very good match, but it will do.
I wet sanded the spots out with 400 and 600 grit paper. Next I sprayed a small portion of the trunk lid to cover the visible primer. Finally I applied 4 coats of clear.
Tomorrow I will wet sand out any dust particles using 1200 and 1500 grit paper and apply another couple of coats of clear.
The red mis-match is fairly obvious when your standing next to the car but from a couple dozen paces away, it is probably unnoticable to those not in the know. I won't know how the clear coat turned out until tomorrowed, but it can't be much worse than it was already.
If the color match bothers me to much I will have to order some touch up paint from paintscratch.com.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to listen, does it still make a sound?
Tuesday evening was my first night of class for the summer semister. I am already behind on my homework. Go figure.
Miata Make Over
The trailing edge of the miata's truck has become weathered and the primer is visible in some areas. The trunk also had a bad case of miata pox, a'la, water spots. They appear as milky spots in the clear coat.
Today I decided to put some paint on the primer. I figured any paint beats no paint. I already had some red paint, not a very good match, but it will do.
I wet sanded the spots out with 400 and 600 grit paper. Next I sprayed a small portion of the trunk lid to cover the visible primer. Finally I applied 4 coats of clear.
Tomorrow I will wet sand out any dust particles using 1200 and 1500 grit paper and apply another couple of coats of clear.
The red mis-match is fairly obvious when your standing next to the car but from a couple dozen paces away, it is probably unnoticable to those not in the know. I won't know how the clear coat turned out until tomorrowed, but it can't be much worse than it was already.
If the color match bothers me to much I will have to order some touch up paint from paintscratch.com.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Yawn
I made the weekly pilgrimage to HF this weekend to get a ball joint separator. $6.00
Truck progress this weekend consisted of more grease removal. And trying to separate a ball joint and/or tie rod without the appropriate tool.
I loaned out the engine hoist the weekend. It is amazing how much room that freed up. Unfortunately I had most of the drive train hanging from the hoist so I had to move the engine to the engine stand and the transmission to a dolly. That is an easy way to kill two hours. Who knew.
If you didn't catch it when it was on TV, you definitely need to check out Firefly. We are watching this on DVD via NetFlix. It came highly recommended to me by several folks who had already seen it. I think it was a Sci-Fi channel show.
Summer semester starts this week. I am taking two classes. A friend of mine has decided to join me in my academic pursuit. I don't know what he is thinking!
The cable folks came by last Thursday to check out the network access. The connection has been going every day for a few hours. Unfortunately it was working when they showed up. The guy said "You should call us when it is down." Here's your sign. I did. It took you four days to show upyou idiot.
I made the weekly pilgrimage to HF this weekend to get a ball joint separator. $6.00
Truck progress this weekend consisted of more grease removal. And trying to separate a ball joint and/or tie rod without the appropriate tool.
I loaned out the engine hoist the weekend. It is amazing how much room that freed up. Unfortunately I had most of the drive train hanging from the hoist so I had to move the engine to the engine stand and the transmission to a dolly. That is an easy way to kill two hours. Who knew.
If you didn't catch it when it was on TV, you definitely need to check out Firefly. We are watching this on DVD via NetFlix. It came highly recommended to me by several folks who had already seen it. I think it was a Sci-Fi channel show.
Summer semester starts this week. I am taking two classes. A friend of mine has decided to join me in my academic pursuit. I don't know what he is thinking!
The cable folks came by last Thursday to check out the network access. The connection has been going every day for a few hours. Unfortunately it was working when they showed up. The guy said "You should call us when it is down." Here's your sign. I did. It took you four days to show up
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
While I was out filling up the Miata tonight I did a quick of the mileage on the last tank.
27.1 MPG
My first thought was my mileage per gallon is down. Then I did a little thinking and realized all my driving recently has been stop and go around town. Suddenly 27.1 MPG doesn't seem so bad.
It was probably a little lower before the rollbar.
27.1 MPG
My first thought was my mileage per gallon is down. Then I did a little thinking and realized all my driving recently has been stop and go around town. Suddenly 27.1 MPG doesn't seem so bad.
It was probably a little lower before the rollbar.
The long weekend ended with a pleasant trip out in the Miata to the ATM and the fill'in station. Perfect weather for crusin' in El Modo Miata.
This evening we enjoyed a pleasant gathering at the neighbors. The kids enjoyed some time in the pool we we all enjoyed some excellent smoked chicken.
This afternoon I piddled around the shop a little bit. Didn't get much done but I did get a cross member and a couple of engine mounts degreased. The frame is pretty much finished up but I still have several miscellaneous pieces that need to be sandblasted and painted.
My internet connection has been spotty for the last couple of days. It has quit a twice in the last two days. I called customer support. A truck is rolling out to see us in a couple of days. In the mean time it is back up. Hmmm.
I signed up for a couple more classes last week. That should keep me busy for the summer.
Tune in next week to read about the weather and how the grass is growing.
This evening we enjoyed a pleasant gathering at the neighbors. The kids enjoyed some time in the pool we we all enjoyed some excellent smoked chicken.
This afternoon I piddled around the shop a little bit. Didn't get much done but I did get a cross member and a couple of engine mounts degreased. The frame is pretty much finished up but I still have several miscellaneous pieces that need to be sandblasted and painted.
My internet connection has been spotty for the last couple of days. It has quit a twice in the last two days. I called customer support. A truck is rolling out to see us in a couple of days. In the mean time it is back up. Hmmm.
I signed up for a couple more classes last week. That should keep me busy for the summer.
Tune in next week to read about the weather and how the grass is growing.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
To show you that I must have to much free time on my hands, I will mention that I have been considering a cosmetic re-vamp of this visually dull site. I invested a couple of hours into 'remembering' CSS. Re-armed with this knowlege I set out to redesign this page. BAM! There does not seem to be a drop of creativity in me. I guess that project will just get canned.
Please continue to enjoy the gray background.
Please continue to enjoy the gray background.
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