I got a job!

Yep! A real one.

Hey, if you haven't noticed...

I have a blog for my latest project, my 1962 Karmann Ghia Coupe. The link is right over there --> to the right. Check it out.

From Ghia 1

Shop Camera

A couple weeks ago, while shopping for Ghias, I decided that I needed a better digital camera than the one my parents have. I went through 3 changes of batteries in about 60 shots with a flash. One set were old rechargeable, but the other two were regular alkalines. Plus, I need a camera for the shop, so I went on craigslist and found an older 3.2 megapixel for $20, got a couple batteries for it on ebay for 99¢, and a charger for $2. This thing has the most amazing macro I've ever seen! The specs I read on the internet said it could focus up to 2mm, but I thought that must have been a typo. Check this out.

From 2mm.
LCD Display on the microwave.

Dots of ink on a magazine cover.

Pixels on my computer screen.

Now that looks pretty good

Maybe I'll change the stripes too.

Nothing like Grandma's Cooking

Unless you have the recipes!

Here are two recipes from Grandma Milligan that I found recently.
Grandma's Egg Salad Sandwiches
Grandma's Chocolate Frosted Brownies (I always thought they were more cake-like, but it says "brownies" in her handwriting)

If there's anything else that might be floating around, I'm sure that many of us would like to have them.

Selling cars on Craigslist

So I list a car for $2200, and what are my first 5 offers? $1500. The stories are great though. One woman who called said that she works 3 jobs and has 4 kids, and her oldest daughter has a baby but the father ran off and they don't know where she is, and her honda broke down and she needs a new car. Can she get it for $1500?

No.

So she tells me she'll pray on it and if god wants her to have my car, he'll tell her.

If God was in your heart, wouldn't you already know? Even if God tells you you'll get it, you're still not getting it for $1500. Trailer trash.


Second person calls, and his daughter just got out of jail or something or just had a baby.

I don't care.

$1500?

Nope.

$1700?

Still not even close to what I'm asking. Trailer trash.


Third guy. Newly rich Canadian importing cars from the US. "Honestly, it's not worth any more than $1500."

So why are you calling me? I'm asking $2200. That's a difference of $700 you'll have to make up. Jerk.


The forth person calls, asks for the VIN to do a check. Calls back the next day to make an appointment. Comes when she says she will. Takes it for a test drive. Says that it's the nicest, cleanest, best running car she's seen for $2200. Pays me cash and takes it home. She was 16 and earned the money herself, and her dad has a custom VW machine shop. She's very cool, and he will get my business.

What is going on?

Just as I was finishing cancer treatment, my grandpa found out that he has cancer. Then my cousin Russ was diagnosed with Hodgkin's, and he's just started treatment. Now another cousin has been diagnosed with leukemia. What gives?

Sleeping on a Sidewalk

The bums don't have it that bad. At least they wouldn't if they had the proper equipment for sleeping on sidewalks. All they need is a modern bivy sack. To test out the feasibility of bumming it, I decided to head down to a city 20 minutes south of Portland, OR to sleep on the sidewalk in front of REI in the pouring rain. For supplies I had only four things: a Thermarest camping mattress to keep me off the cold ground and out of the 1cm of standing water, a three season -9°c(15°f) mummy style sleeping bag, and a bivy sack. The bivy had a single pole that arched across the head area, keeping the material off your face while you sleep. The zipper is of the weatherproof variety, keeping out most of the wind and water. The problem with this design for bum applications however is that a drunk bum crawling into it may accidentally close the zipper completely, suffocating himself. I recommend 6 inches of the zipper to conform with the manufacturer's recommendations for the prevention of suffocation.

I wore a thick wool sweater, stardard issue to most North West bums, and my jeans to bed. The only time I was cold during the night, it was my toes, which has slipped off the insulating Thermarest pad, and weren't covered by wool socks, another standard issue bum supply. I remained out of the wind and rain all night, and completely dry. This bivy was made from a material that was both waterproof and breathable, so water falling on the outside simply rolled off, and vapor did not condense on the inside. It was so comfy in fact, that I didn't even want to leave my protective cocoon-like bed in the morning, a trait that is also in keeping with life as a bum.

I recommend that all bums go out immediately and get themselves these three items. To protect yourselves from the upcoming winter cold, you may want a four season bag. Although it rarely if ever gets below -9°c, it may start to get cold when approaching this bone chilling temperature. The Thermarest, mummy bag, bivy combo sure beats sleeping under a bridge.

The Core of Evil™

I have the Focus all put back together now. It took me three days to get to the heater core, now know as The Core of Evil™, but I had to wait a couple days for the new one. On Wednesday, I got a call from Shucks telling me that it wasn't going to be in Friday as promised, so I canceled that order and called the Ford dealership in Kent. They were able to get the part in the next day, but quoted me the MSRP price, not the price that they had listed on their site. I got them to sell it to me for their web price, and picked it up the next day.

I got the new core in easily enough, and filled the car back up with water. As I started to put things together, I noticed a puddle forming on the floor. I looked under the car and found a new leak coming from a different part of the car. This time it was the plastic thermostat housing. A crack that was already there must have worsened when I was pulling on the heater core hoses. I got that part off in a few minutes and headed back to the dealership for a replacement. It was back on in short time, and refilled with water. No leaks this time. I spent the rest of the night reassembling everything. I had to buy a cool new tool to get the passenger airbag back in, and by late morning on Friday, I was able to take the car for a test drive. No leaks now, and just had to add a little water as air pockets left the system.

But the strangest thing happened. That bearing noise that prompted dad to propose me doing all this work moved from the rear left, to the front right. I also rotated the tires, moving the rear left tire to the front left. Strange... Upon closer examination, I noticed a large flat spot on that tire. The rear bearing was bad when I got to it, but they tend to self destruct sometimes when you take them off anyway, so I don't know if it was bad to begin with, or just after I removed it. But that rear-now-front tire is really bad. Really all of them were bad. There is one that is thread-bare in one spot. So I'm not going to touch it until it has new tires. Then maybe dad will sell it. And the Toyota. And get a VW Bus.

Working on the Focus

I hate this car.

Dad originally offered me $150 to do the brakes and fix the heater. Brakes are easy, and I thought the heater problem was easy too. I put water in the car, and the heater worked again. Except that by the next morning, it had all drained out. So I pulled the car into the shop to inspect it, and found that the heater core was leaking. This I has suspected for a long time because sometimes when you turn on the heat, without the air conditionings drying effect, the interior would become humid, and the windshield would fog up. So I looked in the Clymer manual and found that to replace the heater core, you had to remove the entire dash, including steering column, both airbags, instrument cluster, the stereo and all the climate controls. I decided that this wasn't a $150 job. Dad said "fine then, I'll have someone else do it." I told him that he wouldn't find anyone else that would do it for $150 either. He didn't. The dealer wanted $875. So he agreed to pay me $400. Now, two days and half way into it, and still not even close to the heater core, I'm still not sure it it will be worth it.