So I'm driving back to Oakland from Walnut Creek in my truck and just as I'm passing through Orinda, at the very bottom of the hill on the inside of a corner, there is a car stopped at an angle in my lane (#4.) As I'm doing my best to stop, change lanes, and not hit this car, the door opens. I'm thinking to myself: "They must be crazy or have a death wish to get out of their car in the lane, on the freeway on the inside of a corner. As I was passing them, I realized that the driver of the car (a nurse if the multi-colored pastel clothing says anything) was being pushed out of the car from the passenger side. I did my part by not hitting them, and calling 911, but I have to reflect on it a little. Of course I hope that she's ok, and that whatever was going on to cause the passenger to push her out of the car into a busy freeway got resolved. I just can't imagine how ugly a situation would have to be to make it seem "ok" to push someone out of the car into freeway traffic. It's so much not a part of my world, that I have trouble comprehending it. I'm stunned.
On a brighter note, I was shopping at Ikea yesterday. Some people think of shopping at Ikea as the worst possible thing you could do, but as I'm an avid people watcher, Ikea is an unparalleled experience. (it doesn't hurt that the store was full of college girls buying furniture for their first apartment - that was nice) As I was shopping (not buying furniture, thank you, just another sheet set, a duvet cover, a couple of frames and a plant) somehow I ended up with the wrong cart. I was so engrossed in the people watching, and shopping that it took me at least 15 minutes to notice that none of the things in the cart were things I wanted to buy. I had to walk back a significant way in the "path" of the store to find my cart and drop off the other one somewhere in the neighborhood where I stole it. Fortunately nobody saw me with their cart, though it would have been entertaining trying to explain my mistake. As I was standing in line for a pizza pocket and a hot-dog (another fine part of the true Ikea experience) I was watching Ghostbusters on my iPhone, and chuckling readily. I couldn't tell if the woman behind me in line was annoyed or found me odd. I like to think she was jealous of my good mood.
Cheers,
Duane
Last night at the gas station, some guy offered to fill my tank for $25. I declined politely, but I have a feeling that he had a stolen credit card and was trying to make some cash out of the deal. hmmm. Illegal? Probably. Given that it took $75 to mostly fill the tank, I have to admit it was a little tempting.
I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. I want the Mini back. The sad thing is.... There was more room in the tank. The pump capped my credit card charge at $75. Hopefully there wasn't THAT much more room since the tank is a 22 gallon tank.
After spending a large chunk of the day driving from one hardware store to the next, looking for one plumbing part, I finally have the toilet installed! It's pretty cool. It has a couple of quirks, such as if you're in the right place in the room when you pull the chain, you get sprayed with a little water from the fill valve. The gasket under the flush valve is totally shot, but it only leaks occasionally, so I'll leave it alone for now. :^)
I got these totally cool
toggle bolts from Hilte at Home Depot. The require a 1/2 in hole to feed them in the wall, but once they're in, they're very solid. VERY. Solid enough that they're holding that tank up in the air.
Complication 1: Lucky me, I don't have a normal closet flange (The part of the plumbing under the toilet in the floor that the toilet bolts to.) I had this rinky-dink thing that screws to the floor to provide a couple of spots for the studs to stick up so the toilet can screw to the floor. When I was removing the old - well newer, but existing - toilet, the stupid bolts started turning with the nuts. I ended up tweaking the flange and making it useless. Off to the hardware store. I bought every model they had, and I'll be taking the rest of them back on Monday (closed Sundays. sheesh)
Complication 2: I figured that it would be my luck that when I decide where to place the tank, that one or both of the two holes would be halfway onto a stud. Not close enough that I could put a regular screw into the stud, and enough in the way to make the toggle bolt not work right. I was absolutely right. I went to drill the first hole for the toggle bolt, and once I got through the lathe the drill bit took off to the right. By the time I stopped, I had a 1 x 1/2" hole in the wall, and I could see that I chewed some nice marks in the vent pipe for the sink drain. I guess it's a good thing I didn't actually puncture that pipe. I have a piece of wood screwed to the wall that the back of the tank sits on. I tried sliding the tank 1/2 an inch to the right (where my hole is now) and the wood is too long. I had to take the strip of wood, cut a half an inch off of it, and screw it back up. For those of you that speak the queen's English, this is known as Sod's law. For us Yanks, it's Murphey's law.
Complication 3: The gaskets that came with my new plumbing hardware were crap. Fortunately I had enough old plumbing parts kicking around that I could come up with enough gaskets to get the flush pipe to seal properly.
Complication 4: Once I had the pipes all fitted, and not leaking, I went to tighten that basin to the floor. As I'm tightening the nut on the left, the bolt starts moving waaay to freely. Of course, it popped out of my new flange. I had to disassemble all of the now not leaking pipes so I could rock the toilet out of the way and get that little bugger back in place. Trust me, wax rings (which seal the toilet to the flange) are icky icky things. At least I know that this one (new with this installation) hasn't yet been "soiled". Well in as much from the top. I try not to think about the pipes underneath.
Tomorrow: the sink. I can't even imagine having a working sink in my bathroom. It's only been since December. That's hardly any time, right?
Ok. Time for a shower and some sleep.
Cheers,
Duane
Ok, so the mini is STILL in the shop. I don't anticipate it being done until after I get back from Family Camp at the end of August. Actually, I expect it will be done the Monday of Family Camp and they'll want me to come pick it up right away, that's what I expect. :^)
The insurance company only covers a rental car for a month, so I drove a PT Cruiser for a month. It was less than impressive. After taking the PT Cruiser back, I took the 68 Chevy Impala to get its fluids replaced. Nothing exciting there except that the battery died at the oil changers. Again, not especially shocking considering that the battery is at least a decade old, and has been run entirely flat at least three times in the last two years, with no regular driving in between. The guy at the oil changer place was nice enough to pull his own car around and we jump the car to get it started. Of course I have a set of cables. When you drive a car that's almost 40 years old, you have cables. I took the car home and took the battery out. I took the battery along with three other batteries to Costco to recycle, and buy a new one. Put the battery in, all is good.
I decide that I've had it with how the truck is running. I figure it needs a new carburetor. I got a recommendation from Lyle to take it to Rich's Auto Service in Walnut Creek to get Louie to look at it. Louie determines that it's the distributor that needs to be replaced, so we order a new one.
As I'm driving the Chevy, I'm reminded that sometimes the starter doesn't turn over right. I turn the key, and sometimes it only lugs a little and stops. Generally I can get it started, but sometimes it's not easy. I think to myself, "Gotta replace that starter soon"
Saturday, I'm running late for Shaevee's wedding, and I need gas. I pull into the ridiculously priced local pump, and my credit card is declined. Strange. Well, it happens occasionally when their computer thinks something is fishy with my spending patterns. How they can determine "patterns" to my spending is beyond me, but that's a different story. I pay with a different card and proceed on with my lateness.
Monday I get a call from Louie telling me that the truck is running a lot better, but I still might need carb work.
Tuesday, I call my credit card company. Apparently someone has had a field day with my number. They charged $147 of transactions that went through, and $14,000 of transactions that are still on hold. Upside? I'm not responsible for any of those charges. Downside? Now I have to arrange a different card number with all of my recurring billing (and I have to figure out who some of them are for that matter.) This sound familiar? It should. The same thing happened with my card in August just before my trip to Europe. So now I'm a card short.
Today. dum-dum-dummmmmmmm...
I drive the Chevy (the only running car I have at this point) out to Rich's to drive the truck to the muffler shop, get a taxi ride or walk back to Rich's and go home. It turns out that Rich's doesn't take credit cards. um... Time for the emergency check in the wallet. Phew.
I drive the truck to the shop, it stalls on the way. It's definitely a lot better than it was, but it stalls. I talk to Bob at Broadway Muffler, and he tells me that the exhaust leak is coming from the headers (Cast iron part of the exhaust system that bolts to the engine.) There is a 95% chance that the headers haven't been touched since the engine was put together, and that one of the 8 bolts holding it to the heads is going to shear or be entirely stuck and then shear. Then he's going to have to call the bolt removal specialist to come out and long story short it's going to cost at least $400, and maybe as much as $700. Even, then, most likely the headers and heads are etched from the exhaust leak, and new gaskets aren't going to fit tightly. To REALLY REALLY seal the leak you want to machine the headers and heads and that'll run you a bunch more AND you have to take the engine apart to do it. So.... 1) Spend $700 and still have an exhaust leak, or 2) spend a bunch more and get it fixed right or.. behind door #3 we have DO NOTHING and DEAL WITH IT. I chose door #3. It's not THAT loud, and I don't drive it often enough to do that kind of work.
On my way back to Rich's the truck stalls AGAIN. Still, better than it was, but not good enough. I get there, and tell Louie that I want to get a rebuilt carb put on, or have this carb rebuilt. He gives me the name and number of the place that does it, and I call them from the car. (Another $200 or so, not that bad compared the exhaust leak) I go back in, and ask Louie to keep the truck and take the carb off when he gets a chance. Done deal, he'll call me when it's ready to be taken to the carb shop.
I go hop in the Chevy to head home turn the key and ... nothing. Not even trying to start. I can't decide if I'm blessed or cursed. On the downside, car #3 is down. On the upside, it DIED AT THE SHOP, so that's ok. I look up the nearest rental car agency on google maps on the iPhone and get them on the way with a car. I then go back inside and tell Louie I have more work for him. He bangs on the starter with a hammer (A trick I've seen others do, most notibly a petite Asian woman driving a big ugly 70's station wagon - surreal) and it turns right over. If I had another car in the driveway I'd drive the Chevy home and do the work myself. Since that's not an option, I give Louie the keys and wait for the rental car to come.
The woman who picked me up was quite cute. :^) She rented me 2007 Chevrolet Impala. It's a pretty nice car. Much better than the PT Cruiser.
That's my story for today.
Cheers,
Duaneo
Hey folks! It's late, so I'll make this short. Yes I got an iPhone.
Yes I stood in line for it. Yes it's super cool and sleek and sexy.
Yes it has some drawbacks, most notibly the lack of multimedia
messaging. The typing is fine (obviously based on this long post) you
just have to keep typing and let the (very good) error correction do
it's thing. I am very much looking for the next version of the
software where they add some missing features, such as mms, mp3
ringtones, typing into text areas with safari, outlook sync that
actually does something, 3G internet access, you know, little stuff.
Overall, I'm very happy with it. More to come later.
Cheers,
Duaneo
Sent from my iPhone
