Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Wishes

Man, I wish Chris Farley was still alive.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Friday, June 25, 2010

SCOOOOOOOORE!

I headed off to Pop's Pick & Pay today on my lunch break for what I thought was going to be a quick grill removal, but it turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought. I knew that I had to drill out four rusted screws, but it ended up being 9. These things happen.

The grill came off of a Jeep J4000. I might go back on another lunch break to grab the really cool "AMC V8"  emblems.


$30. Can't beat that.

Oh, in case you are wondering what it will look like when I get it on, it's like this: http://industryfigure.com/berkeley/fsj/razor.htm

Friday, June 18, 2010

Brokota

The Dakota broke this morning on the way to work. It sprung a leak in one of its salt-cured brake lines. I've replaced a few short ones on this thing recently which were a pain but not really too bad, but this one is a long one. It goes from the master cylinder down to the frame then it takes a sharp turn right, continues to the front of the truck, takes another sharp turn right, and goes underneath the radiator to the other side of the truck. Another sharp turn and its at the passenger side caliper. Should be fun. And by fun I mean not fun. I may just cut out the bad section and splice in a piece. Then put the Brokota on craigslist.

Luckily, I wasn't traveling down the highway when my brakes let go. I was in a parking lot about to look at a 1992 Buick Roadmaster station wagon. Yes, there is some irony there.

It looked exactly like this:


Sweeet.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Cardinal Rule

I broke the cardinal rule of plumbing last night. Never start a plumbing project after all the stores are closed.

Any plumbing project takes a minimum of two trips to the store. I thought I needed three 45s and a 90, but as it turned out I needed 4 45s. I'm off to Home Depot now to get this finished before work (these are the drains for our upstairs bathroom sinks and bathtub...).

In case you are wondering why I am doing this, its because I ripped out half of the soffit because I discovered that our ducts did not fill up the entire space. The plumbing needed to be slightly rerouted though.



Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Progress

From a rat's nest


To less of a rat's nest


Three wires were frayed with the copper exposed and one other wire had three splices in it. Also, a bunch of the vacuum lines were disintegrated.

It's not perfect, but it's better than it was, and that's all I ever really try to accomplish.

Swimmin' on Memorial Day


I think I made 5 trips to this rock and back. Z wife and the younger ones couldn't do it alone because the current was pretty strong.

The Converse All-Stars that I usually wear in the river were nowhere to be found and I received a nice gash in my foot for my troubles.

The thought of taking a picture and sharing it did cross my mind.

Did I mention we drove the Jeep? It's the longest trip yet (about 30 miles I think) and without any trouble which is good because my back up plan was with me.

Mexipop

That is a bottle of the mandarin flavored soda made by Mexican soda pop maker, Jarritos, sitting atop our soon to be replaced (June 10) 35 year old (like me) and broken (unlike me) AC unit.

Now boys and girls, what is so special about Mexican soda? Yes, just like Mexicoke it is made with real sugar and anybody with half a tongue in their mouth knows that sugar rules as far as soda is concerned.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I like a nice healthy dollop of corn syrup on my rice krispies every morning, but when it comes to soda there is no substitute.