Monday, November 20, 2006

Leaving (projects behind)

I've been packing a bit, but I still have things to finish. One thing on the list, which I've been working on for what seems like forever, is Mark's GoldWing. I got it running and re-did the brakes this summer, and more recently rebuilt the carbs, but the float bowl seals that came with the kits suck, and one float bowl leaks like crazy. And I'm supposed to fix it tonight? Shit. I pulled the carbs off the other night and resealed the gaskets so they'd not leak, or I thought so. I've gotten pretty good at taking them off and putting them back on again, but it's messy, and I don't really want to get gas all over right now. I thought I'd have that problem fixed, and I could just get the thing put back together, and let him tune the thing by himself. If you follow the instructions, it not extremely hard to do. It just takes patience. And I don't have any right now with 11 hours before I have to check in for my flight.

It's going to be really nice to be rid of that project. I like doing things like fixing motorcycles, but I'm not going to take on projects like that anymore. When your doing it for someone else, there are too many expectations, like that I'll get it done in a timely manner, or that once complete, it will stay running. With my own projects, I can tinker for as long as I want, ride it for a while, even running less than perfect, because I know that next time I have a chance, I can tweak something and get it working better. I also like to be able to switch projects while in the middle of another. Having 3 projects going at once is something that I learned from my dad, and is a liberty you can't have while working on someone else's things. So no more fixing things for other people unless I know it will be small, quick and easy. This one has ballooned out of control, and I'm glad to be rid of it.