Yeah, I know it's not original, but I can't be perfect all the time. That would be boring. Lot of crap happening, and I don't have much time, so I'll hit a few high points and then maybe catch another update either later tonight or tomorrow.
Jeep - got some work done, but not what I wanted. Bought all the lumber so I could use it to jack up the body and replace the existing body lift. Started working on it and realized that the bolts would just pull through the hole in the bottom of the mount. Said hole looks like it belongs and isn't a rust hole or anything. I'm going to have to fab up something to hold that crap in and it just kind of pisses me off.
I've put darn near everything else on hold until that's done. I've just decided I have to get at least one thing FINISHED before moving on.
Weather - Giant bastard of a hurricane bearing down into the Gulf. I'd be shitting bricks if it were headed our way, instead it's headed back towards the Northern end of the Gulf. Of course, that's directly at my entire family, so it's still not good.
Work - deal has been announced and (mostly) all is well. Nowhere near as much freaking out as I expected.
More later
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Jeep work (at last)
2 whole days in a row. That's right, I got off my lazy butt and worked a little on the jeep last night. Didn't get a ton of stuff done, but got the last fuel filler hose disconnected, so the only thing left to remove to work on the body lift is the steering shaft. After that, spent an hour or so farting around with the electrical. Established with certainty that I'm missing at least 1 dash wire. I'm pretty sure it's more than that, but for sure one. I think I'm going to pull the harness out again and see if numb nuts (the PO) clipped the wire off at or near the fuse box.
Tonight I'll push the jeep all the way into the garage (so I can open the hood) and get the steering shaft, the fuse box and the exhaust all fixed (hopefully). Think I'm going to try and transfer some of the used oil from the open container into my collection of milk jugs so I can take it to be recycled this weekend. That'll help with the whole garage cleaning process that I'm also working on. Then I can unpack the hydraulic jack and start engineering some process that will allow it to reach the body so I can get the body up off the frame. Complicated, isn't it?
See ya later
Tonight I'll push the jeep all the way into the garage (so I can open the hood) and get the steering shaft, the fuse box and the exhaust all fixed (hopefully). Think I'm going to try and transfer some of the used oil from the open container into my collection of milk jugs so I can take it to be recycled this weekend. That'll help with the whole garage cleaning process that I'm also working on. Then I can unpack the hydraulic jack and start engineering some process that will allow it to reach the body so I can get the body up off the frame. Complicated, isn't it?
See ya later
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Made it through
Well, Fay was more or less a non-event, which is exactly what you want a tropical storm/hurricane to be when it is near your house. We had a butt load of rain and some wind, but we ended up on the "good" side of the storm (the northwest quadrant) which meant that the east coast of Fl actually got more nasty weather than we did. Which is good, in a personal sense, becasuse we didn't board up or any of that fun stuff. I guess I'm going to have to move impact windows or shutters up on the priority list, because it's a helpless feeling to see that storm coming at you and know you don't have the protection you'd like.
Took advantage of the day off of work to get some stuff done on the Jeep. With all the outside crap packed in, on and around the jeep in the garage, I elected not to try and get the body lift changed out. But, I did get the rear axle gasket ordered and picked up so I can finish the changing of the fluids. I also took over the dining room table to work on the wiring harness so I could trace connections in the book without getting a backache. I have to say that working under actual lights and in the air conditioning is definitely the way to go....
Hoping to get some work done this week during the evenings. The plan stays as before, I need to change the oil in the rear end, swap out the body lift, and start soldering some electrical connections together, then tighten up the exhaust connection from the manifold to the pipe, and it's time to try re-starting this beast! Maybe take some pics to be posted up here.
My stupid dog got mad at being left outside (I guess, she really didn't say) and destroyed a plant we had on the lanai (porch for those of you outside of SW FL). Normally, this would be my honey's problem and not mine, as I have a black thumb and avoid any sort of gardening at all costs. However, this plant was one we took from my grandfathers funeral about 7 years ago and we've kept it alive this long. To have it destroyed by the dumbass puppy just seems like such a colossal waste, and also in some way a severing of a connection between my grandfather and I. I know that's sort of silly since I picked it up at his funeral, but I can't help it. C'est la vie I guess, we're going to try and replant it and see what happens.
Work continues to chug along. No one knows exactly what's happening, and I have to say it's getting annoying. Other than that, just SSDD here at the office.
Later
Took advantage of the day off of work to get some stuff done on the Jeep. With all the outside crap packed in, on and around the jeep in the garage, I elected not to try and get the body lift changed out. But, I did get the rear axle gasket ordered and picked up so I can finish the changing of the fluids. I also took over the dining room table to work on the wiring harness so I could trace connections in the book without getting a backache. I have to say that working under actual lights and in the air conditioning is definitely the way to go....
Hoping to get some work done this week during the evenings. The plan stays as before, I need to change the oil in the rear end, swap out the body lift, and start soldering some electrical connections together, then tighten up the exhaust connection from the manifold to the pipe, and it's time to try re-starting this beast! Maybe take some pics to be posted up here.
My stupid dog got mad at being left outside (I guess, she really didn't say) and destroyed a plant we had on the lanai (porch for those of you outside of SW FL). Normally, this would be my honey's problem and not mine, as I have a black thumb and avoid any sort of gardening at all costs. However, this plant was one we took from my grandfathers funeral about 7 years ago and we've kept it alive this long. To have it destroyed by the dumbass puppy just seems like such a colossal waste, and also in some way a severing of a connection between my grandfather and I. I know that's sort of silly since I picked it up at his funeral, but I can't help it. C'est la vie I guess, we're going to try and replant it and see what happens.
Work continues to chug along. No one knows exactly what's happening, and I have to say it's getting annoying. Other than that, just SSDD here at the office.
Later
Monday, August 18, 2008
FANTASTIC!
a Freakin' hurricane headed directly into my backyard. I'm not happy about this, especially since my house has no hurricane shutters. I could put up plywood, but if you've ever tried to carry a 4x8 piece of plywood up an extension ladder, and then hold it up while screwing it into the house, you know it isn't easy.....and I'm just too lazy for that crap, especially for a minimal hurricane. Hopefully, I won't be crying about this decision tomorrow, but I have think it's easier to put up a piece of plywood on the inside of the window and deal with that IF if happens.
the In-laws have left this morning after helping get GC #1 off to first day of kindergarten. Love them to death, but if they don't quit spoiling the GCs, I may have to strangle my MIL.(mother in law)
I got absolutely nothing done over the weekend in terms of Jeep. I had big plans, which were dashed on Saturday by sleeping until 10:30. Sunday, I just got lazy and chickened out in the face of 95 degrees and 90% humidity. It was HOT!!!
Don't think there is too much happening at work. We're still on track for an 8/25 announcement (as far as I know) and just trying to stay focused in spite of all the weather excitement.
Later
the In-laws have left this morning after helping get GC #1 off to first day of kindergarten. Love them to death, but if they don't quit spoiling the GCs, I may have to strangle my MIL.(mother in law)
I got absolutely nothing done over the weekend in terms of Jeep. I had big plans, which were dashed on Saturday by sleeping until 10:30. Sunday, I just got lazy and chickened out in the face of 95 degrees and 90% humidity. It was HOT!!!
Don't think there is too much happening at work. We're still on track for an 8/25 announcement (as far as I know) and just trying to stay focused in spite of all the weather excitement.
Later
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Birthdays
GC #1 had her birthday yesterday and the thought occurred to me "when did I get so f-ing old?" I have a kid who needs bike now??
I swear I turned 40 and weird shit started happening. I had my first ever back problem recently, my hair is suddenly thinning a little, etc. I could also swear my metabolism slowed by about 20% the day after the Big 40.
Finally got back to exercising a little this week, keeping it at around 2 miles/morning until I"m sure my back isn't going to act up again. I'll step it up to 3 or more Sat and Sun to see how it goes. Like to try and get back to the 15+ mark next week.
Received the new (for me) wiring harness in the mail on Monday. Coincidentally, we had spaghetti for dinner that night, which is exactly what that box looked like it was full of when I opened it. I've postponed any work until I can get a soldering iron to make the connections. I may change that this evening, as I have the urge to get something done. Last week was a bust for working on the jeep with all the home improvement (insert Tim Allen reference here :) I'm thinking maybe I can get the harness laid out and figure out what I want and what is getting sold/given away later. This weeks/weekends list remains the same.....finish the damn lubricants and get the body lift changed out. In addition, I'd now like to get back to the electrical and make some progress. I'll tentatively say that I'd like to get the light fixture parts marked, cut off of the old harness and soldered into the new one. When combined with the other items, this should be a reasonably full weekend.
In other breaking news, we might get to go see a movie this weekend. At the theater. Without kids. I know, it's weird, but it just might be true.
In my sports news, the saints won their first pre-season game. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. I'm happy they won, yet it's been my experience that when they win in the preseason, they tend to lose in the regular season.
See ya later suckers!
I swear I turned 40 and weird shit started happening. I had my first ever back problem recently, my hair is suddenly thinning a little, etc. I could also swear my metabolism slowed by about 20% the day after the Big 40.
Finally got back to exercising a little this week, keeping it at around 2 miles/morning until I"m sure my back isn't going to act up again. I'll step it up to 3 or more Sat and Sun to see how it goes. Like to try and get back to the 15+ mark next week.
Received the new (for me) wiring harness in the mail on Monday. Coincidentally, we had spaghetti for dinner that night, which is exactly what that box looked like it was full of when I opened it. I've postponed any work until I can get a soldering iron to make the connections. I may change that this evening, as I have the urge to get something done. Last week was a bust for working on the jeep with all the home improvement (insert Tim Allen reference here :) I'm thinking maybe I can get the harness laid out and figure out what I want and what is getting sold/given away later. This weeks/weekends list remains the same.....finish the damn lubricants and get the body lift changed out. In addition, I'd now like to get back to the electrical and make some progress. I'll tentatively say that I'd like to get the light fixture parts marked, cut off of the old harness and soldered into the new one. When combined with the other items, this should be a reasonably full weekend.
In other breaking news, we might get to go see a movie this weekend. At the theater. Without kids. I know, it's weird, but it just might be true.
In my sports news, the saints won their first pre-season game. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. I'm happy they won, yet it's been my experience that when they win in the preseason, they tend to lose in the regular season.
See ya later suckers!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday
You may ask yourself why I suddenly felt the need to post a girl in a little tiny bikini. I'm not really sure other than I have a real appreciation for hot girls in bikinis, and it's my blog and my rules.
My sister is an idiot. By that I mean she e-mails me funny shit from the Onion and other places. Today, it's a couple of shots from the Onion, plus her Unitarian Jihad name, which is "Sister Flaming Spear of Fervent Humanitarianism". I don't know what that means exactly, but it's pretty amusing. See yours here at
In work updates, theres not a hell of a lot happening here either. The deal is chugging along, no real updates although due diligence continues. There area couple of the senior people who (I think) are feeling a little insecure about their continued tenure here after it closes. To be perfectly honest, I don't blame them. However, the 2 most likely candidates for layoff were planning on retiring anyway and I'm not sure what the problem is. Working on updating budgets v. actuals and other fun stuff.
I'd love to give a Jeep update, but other than reading about jeeps on the Internet I haven't done anything. Still hoping to get lubrication products changed out and redneck body lift replaced by real body lift this weekend. We'll see what actually transpires. Finally got off my lazy butt and paid for the wiring harness I wanted. Hopefully, I'll hear back from the guy tonight and I didn't just get screwed. With this addition, I should be able to cobble together a complete harness and maybe get gauges and dash lights and everything working.
B-day party for GC#1 this weekend, with her actual birthday next week. I was wondering if she could just stay in the 5 - 6 range for a while. Seems like this world has gotten so fucked up that I'm afraid to let my girls loose in it. I'm hoping that we can raise them to have common sense and an extremely strong sense of who they are so they don't listen to all the idiots and perverts out there.
Saints played last night on ESPN. Other than ESPN doing it's usual job of running WAY too many commercials (do we really need one every 3.25 minutes?) the game was pretty enjoyable and oddly enough the Saints won. I'm still not sold on the offensive or defensive lines, but we were missing 9 starters or key backups and that could have made a big difference.
Thats enough for now
Later
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Children - how can they piss me off so bad and still be so cute?
As we've discussed on other rants, I have a couple of kids. GC#1 (Girl-child #1) is about 5 and she can be really good when she wants to be and so incredibly annoying, almost at the same time. GC#2 I'm pretty sure has ADD at the tender age of not quite 3.
It is physically impossible for them to be still, or quiet for longer than 10 seconds. Now that they are getting a little older, it seems their favorite thing to do is fight. I know it's normal, and I try to be patient but I have to admit that I have (on more than one occasion) dreamed of selling them on ebay. Or, if not selling them, at least sending them to their rooms for a week or so. #1 is also just now beginning to try and figure out "attitude" and I know damn well she is getting this crap from watching the idiot shows on the Disney channel. If I get hold of anyone from the Disney channel, I'm kicking them in the nuts or whatever the equivalent is for a woman.
For all of my whining (and it can be considerable) I love them dearly and try to make sure that I'm reading to them and helping #1 learn how to tell time and things like that. Really, I'm trying to be a good Dad and not just be mad all the time.
However, I have to say to all the women in my life......Would it kill you (all of you) to be in a good mood when Dad got home once in a while? And, to my honey, would it kill you to chase ME around the house for once? I can count on the fingers of one hand the # of times we've gotten naked because you wanted to this year.
Anyway, that's it for the ranting and/or whining today. Saints play tonight and maybe I'll chase my girl around the house and not worry about who is chasing who. Maybe she'll even let me catch her?
Later
It is physically impossible for them to be still, or quiet for longer than 10 seconds. Now that they are getting a little older, it seems their favorite thing to do is fight. I know it's normal, and I try to be patient but I have to admit that I have (on more than one occasion) dreamed of selling them on ebay. Or, if not selling them, at least sending them to their rooms for a week or so. #1 is also just now beginning to try and figure out "attitude" and I know damn well she is getting this crap from watching the idiot shows on the Disney channel. If I get hold of anyone from the Disney channel, I'm kicking them in the nuts or whatever the equivalent is for a woman.
For all of my whining (and it can be considerable) I love them dearly and try to make sure that I'm reading to them and helping #1 learn how to tell time and things like that. Really, I'm trying to be a good Dad and not just be mad all the time.
However, I have to say to all the women in my life......Would it kill you (all of you) to be in a good mood when Dad got home once in a while? And, to my honey, would it kill you to chase ME around the house for once? I can count on the fingers of one hand the # of times we've gotten naked because you wanted to this year.
Anyway, that's it for the ranting and/or whining today. Saints play tonight and maybe I'll chase my girl around the house and not worry about who is chasing who. Maybe she'll even let me catch her?
Later
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Finally, it's football season
and other positives and negatives for the month of August.
Kicked off the month in a rousing way by getting a huge pain in the back. Started on Thursday (yes, I know that was July) and I had to go to the Dr. on Friday. He diagnosed as muscular with a reasonable possibility it was pleurisy. I really don't care what it was, but it made me very unhappy. Getting better now, back at work and so forth. Need to start exercising again, but my mileage for this week and last is going to be shot.
Finally, it's football season!! Saints are well into training camp, and the Tigers reported Sunday. I've been looking forward to this basically since last season and I can't believe it's finally here. Watched the HOF game Sunday night on the plasma and it was great!!
Saints tomorrow night, so I may have to crack open a beer on a school night. First college game is the 28th (I think) and the Tigers first game is the 30th.
Nothing has been done on the Jeep in about 3 weeks. As it stands now, I'm buying an old harness from a guy on the Florida Jeepers site, then I'm going to solder it into the Painless harness so I'll have bulbs for the gauges. THe new painless kit is $500 and thats just too much. Maybe later I'll buy one and rewire the Jeep again. Also on the agenda is the body lift removal and replacement. Hope to have that done this weekend, but I'm not going to bet a large quantity of money on it. What I do plan to have done is oil back into all the places I drained a few weeks ago, namely the front axle, transmission and transfer case. Once I find a new gasket for the rear end, I'm going to drain and replace that as well. While I'm at it, I'm going to replace, or at least tighten the bolts on the exhaust. When I had it running a while back, it was really loud and I noticed the bolts from the manifold to the downpipe are loose and there is a huge gap there.
Later
Kicked off the month in a rousing way by getting a huge pain in the back. Started on Thursday (yes, I know that was July) and I had to go to the Dr. on Friday. He diagnosed as muscular with a reasonable possibility it was pleurisy. I really don't care what it was, but it made me very unhappy. Getting better now, back at work and so forth. Need to start exercising again, but my mileage for this week and last is going to be shot.
Finally, it's football season!! Saints are well into training camp, and the Tigers reported Sunday. I've been looking forward to this basically since last season and I can't believe it's finally here. Watched the HOF game Sunday night on the plasma and it was great!!
Saints tomorrow night, so I may have to crack open a beer on a school night. First college game is the 28th (I think) and the Tigers first game is the 30th.
Nothing has been done on the Jeep in about 3 weeks. As it stands now, I'm buying an old harness from a guy on the Florida Jeepers site, then I'm going to solder it into the Painless harness so I'll have bulbs for the gauges. THe new painless kit is $500 and thats just too much. Maybe later I'll buy one and rewire the Jeep again. Also on the agenda is the body lift removal and replacement. Hope to have that done this weekend, but I'm not going to bet a large quantity of money on it. What I do plan to have done is oil back into all the places I drained a few weeks ago, namely the front axle, transmission and transfer case. Once I find a new gasket for the rear end, I'm going to drain and replace that as well. While I'm at it, I'm going to replace, or at least tighten the bolts on the exhaust. When I had it running a while back, it was really loud and I noticed the bolts from the manifold to the downpipe are loose and there is a huge gap there.
Later
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