Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Everyone grab the duct tape and plastic wrap again! Today there was a warning about a possible aircraft hijacking happening somewhere sometime in the future by someone for some reason. Boy, am I glad I maybe won't be someplace near there when it might happen.
On a similar note, the military was going to have some kind of terrorism market place?? What the hell?? Can you see the Wall Street Journal once that get started. Let's see, assassinations down 1/8, bombings up 2 1/4, hijackings holding steady at 14 3/8s. The price for C-4 is going at $1543 a bushel and AK-47s dropping in price down to $241 each.
What on earth is happening to us? After complaining to everyone who listened about foriegn news agencies showing pictures of dead Americans we show them how it should be done by showing pictures of dead Iraqis. We want to bring the benefits of a Constitution and personal freedoms to a country by locking folks up with no warrant, no trial, or even having to give a reason. And it takes the vaunted US leadership 200 GIs, 10 Hellfire missiles fired from god knows how many gunships, A-10s, Bradleys and Humvees to take a house with 4 guys in it -- and they still manage to get several of our guys shot!
OOOOh, don't forget about the huge tax refund coming up this month. In my case I'll see - oh, about $0. A family with two will get $800 back -- gee. That will just about cover the increase in heating projected this winter. Or maybe you can use it to cover the 10-20% tuition increase this year. Or maybe help pay your medical cover incidentals?? I have full medical benefits and it just cost me over $300 for a physical and I still owe $70 for a filling I just had. The free maintenance on my car a few months ago cost me $98 and I just paid my $400 house tax for this summer, my 4% state tax income tax, my 1.5% city income tax, and have watched trash pickup, police patrols, street repair, parks and recreation services among others drop off the face of the earth. Oh, yeah, and your kids will be looking at a debit that starts with a 450 billion dollar deficit this year -- that's $450,000,000,000 -- just think, you need a special calculator just to enter that many zeros.
2fers: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ and http://www.hackworth.com/
On a similar note, the military was going to have some kind of terrorism market place?? What the hell?? Can you see the Wall Street Journal once that get started. Let's see, assassinations down 1/8, bombings up 2 1/4, hijackings holding steady at 14 3/8s. The price for C-4 is going at $1543 a bushel and AK-47s dropping in price down to $241 each.
What on earth is happening to us? After complaining to everyone who listened about foriegn news agencies showing pictures of dead Americans we show them how it should be done by showing pictures of dead Iraqis. We want to bring the benefits of a Constitution and personal freedoms to a country by locking folks up with no warrant, no trial, or even having to give a reason. And it takes the vaunted US leadership 200 GIs, 10 Hellfire missiles fired from god knows how many gunships, A-10s, Bradleys and Humvees to take a house with 4 guys in it -- and they still manage to get several of our guys shot!
OOOOh, don't forget about the huge tax refund coming up this month. In my case I'll see - oh, about $0. A family with two will get $800 back -- gee. That will just about cover the increase in heating projected this winter. Or maybe you can use it to cover the 10-20% tuition increase this year. Or maybe help pay your medical cover incidentals?? I have full medical benefits and it just cost me over $300 for a physical and I still owe $70 for a filling I just had. The free maintenance on my car a few months ago cost me $98 and I just paid my $400 house tax for this summer, my 4% state tax income tax, my 1.5% city income tax, and have watched trash pickup, police patrols, street repair, parks and recreation services among others drop off the face of the earth. Oh, yeah, and your kids will be looking at a debit that starts with a 450 billion dollar deficit this year -- that's $450,000,000,000 -- just think, you need a special calculator just to enter that many zeros.
2fers: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ and http://www.hackworth.com/
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Noise again. One of my friends is having a multitude of problems with her neighbors. In this case it's their dogs that are keeping her awake all night with their barking and carrying on. It also seems they run around in her yard and just in general piss her off.
My neighbors had part of a tree fall down a couple of weeks ago. They piled all the fallen branches on top of thier central air conditioning unit. So now, even on fairly cool days, they have an air conditioner running that is buried under brush and leaves. I wonder how long it will last until it burns up? I've been feeling a little guilty about it -- should I stop by and let them know what idiots they are? I was really thinking about it last evening when they kicked their stereo on again - LOUD!. So much for being neighborly.
I'm hoping now that maybe the air conditioning will short out and take all their electricity with it or maybe even burnout, catch fire and take their house down. I'll bet if the house was destroyed, the lot would remain empty -- maybe I could even buy it and leave it empty. I'd plant a line of shrubs or bushy trees along the road and fill the lot with a goldfish pond and flowers and plants and make a quiet little nature preserve. Someplace where one could go and see nothing but green and think about stereos and bands long gone -- sigh....
Not much chance of any of that happening.
2fers: http://www.motherearthnews.com/index_js.html and http://www.reminisce.com/
My neighbors had part of a tree fall down a couple of weeks ago. They piled all the fallen branches on top of thier central air conditioning unit. So now, even on fairly cool days, they have an air conditioner running that is buried under brush and leaves. I wonder how long it will last until it burns up? I've been feeling a little guilty about it -- should I stop by and let them know what idiots they are? I was really thinking about it last evening when they kicked their stereo on again - LOUD!. So much for being neighborly.
I'm hoping now that maybe the air conditioning will short out and take all their electricity with it or maybe even burnout, catch fire and take their house down. I'll bet if the house was destroyed, the lot would remain empty -- maybe I could even buy it and leave it empty. I'd plant a line of shrubs or bushy trees along the road and fill the lot with a goldfish pond and flowers and plants and make a quiet little nature preserve. Someplace where one could go and see nothing but green and think about stereos and bands long gone -- sigh....
Not much chance of any of that happening.
2fers: http://www.motherearthnews.com/index_js.html and http://www.reminisce.com/
Monday, July 21, 2003
Sleep! As you can tell by the time of this post, it's been hard to come by lately. I don't know why either. I just finished a physical and they (for all they really know) say I'm fine. What sucks is that I'm exhausted at work and at home during the day -- can hardly keep my eyes open, but when it's night and time to sleep (like now) I'm wide awake.
I don't think this is all that uncommon. Isn't fatigue and sleep supposed to be the latest and greatest threat facing American civilization (if you don't count war, pestilence and famine)? I've heard of a lot of people running their tanks on empty. Working a couple of jobs, raising a family, taking care of the house -- and trying to find some sleep in the middle of all that. I'm a little different. Right now there's no family, no kids, and the house is slowing falling apart around me. Nothing major, just little things -- but lots of them. I just have no energy to fix any of them. I have my truck half disassembled and am trying like hell to get the get up and go to get up and go fix it. Maybe I ought to start working on it at 2am!
I think this winter kind of ruined me for summer sleeping. I like the house COLD! This winter the average temperature was around 60 to 65 and would usually drop into the 50s overnight. I'd usually wear a pair of sweats in the house. Occasionally, I'd get an urge to warm up and crank the heat up to around 72 or so. I do have to admit, that I would use a space heater in the bathroom now and then. But sleeping was so great. I'd bury myself under a pile of blankets with the stereo softly playing classical music on NPR and sleep like a log. I felt like a bunny buried in his burrow -- all comfy and safe and sound with the blankets keeping me company. Now it's summer and the 70s and 80s and even - gasp - 90s.
I do have air conditioning, but let's face it, there's no way I could keep it in the 60s at night. I'd have to rob a bank to pay the electric bills. Cool evenings are nice when it's in the 60s, but there's still that summer humidity. Like tonight it was raining and humid and hot during the day and yucky all around.
Well, I suppose I need to go back to bed and try to get some sleep. I gotta get up in a little over six hours and get into work - sigh. I'll be nodding over my keyboard again, waking to a line of xxxxxxxxxxx across the screen and QWERTYUIOP stencilled on my forehead.
2fers: http://www.vicks.com/products/nyquil_liquid.shtml and http://www.sheepusa.org/
I don't think this is all that uncommon. Isn't fatigue and sleep supposed to be the latest and greatest threat facing American civilization (if you don't count war, pestilence and famine)? I've heard of a lot of people running their tanks on empty. Working a couple of jobs, raising a family, taking care of the house -- and trying to find some sleep in the middle of all that. I'm a little different. Right now there's no family, no kids, and the house is slowing falling apart around me. Nothing major, just little things -- but lots of them. I just have no energy to fix any of them. I have my truck half disassembled and am trying like hell to get the get up and go to get up and go fix it. Maybe I ought to start working on it at 2am!
I think this winter kind of ruined me for summer sleeping. I like the house COLD! This winter the average temperature was around 60 to 65 and would usually drop into the 50s overnight. I'd usually wear a pair of sweats in the house. Occasionally, I'd get an urge to warm up and crank the heat up to around 72 or so. I do have to admit, that I would use a space heater in the bathroom now and then. But sleeping was so great. I'd bury myself under a pile of blankets with the stereo softly playing classical music on NPR and sleep like a log. I felt like a bunny buried in his burrow -- all comfy and safe and sound with the blankets keeping me company. Now it's summer and the 70s and 80s and even - gasp - 90s.
I do have air conditioning, but let's face it, there's no way I could keep it in the 60s at night. I'd have to rob a bank to pay the electric bills. Cool evenings are nice when it's in the 60s, but there's still that summer humidity. Like tonight it was raining and humid and hot during the day and yucky all around.
Well, I suppose I need to go back to bed and try to get some sleep. I gotta get up in a little over six hours and get into work - sigh. I'll be nodding over my keyboard again, waking to a line of xxxxxxxxxxx across the screen and QWERTYUIOP stencilled on my forehead.
2fers: http://www.vicks.com/products/nyquil_liquid.shtml and http://www.sheepusa.org/
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Getting promoted in your job. That seems to be the dream of a lot of people. I suppose it's OK for some, but why are those who don't want to be promoted often looked down upon. As if they have no ambition or something. Maybe they're just happy doing what they're doing? Have you heard of the Peter Principle? It was quite popular a few years back. Its basic tenet was that people are promoted to their level of incompetency. In other words, as long as you did well in your job, you would be promoted. Once you reached a level you were no longer good at, you wouldn't be promoted because you didn't do your job well.
When I joined the USAF way back in the olden days, the name of the game was to get promoted. Everyone told me that you really had to get your next stripe. Making Staff Sergeant (E-5) in under four years was supposed to be quite the feather in one's cap. And like a dummy I believed them. As a buck sergeant (E-4) I became a heavy equipment operator after a short time in avionics maintenance. I LOVED that job. Give me a big field of mud and a front-end loader and I was just as happy as a pig in shi-- let's just say I was really happy.
Of course I had to get my next stripe. So I tested and low and behold, I made it. I got my line number for E-5 in under four years. I put my fourth stripe on and became an instant supervisor in a pickup truck -- and did that suck! I was making more money and was quite miserable. I really-really missed the working part of it. I had absolutely no desire to make other people do the job that I had really enjoyed doing. I hated it.
I got lucky and found a job that I could be an E-5 and E-6 in and rarely have to supervise. I could go back to being a worker-bee. It was no-way near as enjoyeable as playing in the mud, but it was better than watching people play in the mud. I ended up tolerating that job for another 16 or so years until I could retire.
Since I retired in 1995 I returned to college for BA and MA and found a job as a technical writer for an Internet company. I'm expecting it to hurt me, but I made it quite plain right off the start that I had no intention of wanting to become a manager or supervisor. Just let me work and I'll be happy. I figured it was better to get that out of the way than end up being promoted into something I had no desire doing. The problem is that I'm a pretty good worker. Not the greatest around mind you, but reliable and reasonably intelligent. The kind of person that "should be promoted." I plan on doing my best not to fall into Peter's Principle. I have discovered that being happy at work is worth much more that making more money.
2fers: http://www.pse-net.com/promotion1.htm and Walden Pond
When I joined the USAF way back in the olden days, the name of the game was to get promoted. Everyone told me that you really had to get your next stripe. Making Staff Sergeant (E-5) in under four years was supposed to be quite the feather in one's cap. And like a dummy I believed them. As a buck sergeant (E-4) I became a heavy equipment operator after a short time in avionics maintenance. I LOVED that job. Give me a big field of mud and a front-end loader and I was just as happy as a pig in shi-- let's just say I was really happy.
Of course I had to get my next stripe. So I tested and low and behold, I made it. I got my line number for E-5 in under four years. I put my fourth stripe on and became an instant supervisor in a pickup truck -- and did that suck! I was making more money and was quite miserable. I really-really missed the working part of it. I had absolutely no desire to make other people do the job that I had really enjoyed doing. I hated it.
I got lucky and found a job that I could be an E-5 and E-6 in and rarely have to supervise. I could go back to being a worker-bee. It was no-way near as enjoyeable as playing in the mud, but it was better than watching people play in the mud. I ended up tolerating that job for another 16 or so years until I could retire.
Since I retired in 1995 I returned to college for BA and MA and found a job as a technical writer for an Internet company. I'm expecting it to hurt me, but I made it quite plain right off the start that I had no intention of wanting to become a manager or supervisor. Just let me work and I'll be happy. I figured it was better to get that out of the way than end up being promoted into something I had no desire doing. The problem is that I'm a pretty good worker. Not the greatest around mind you, but reliable and reasonably intelligent. The kind of person that "should be promoted." I plan on doing my best not to fall into Peter's Principle. I have discovered that being happy at work is worth much more that making more money.
2fers: http://www.pse-net.com/promotion1.htm and Walden Pond
I have this thing about time. I want to be accurate -- really accurate. I've run across many people who want to set their clock five or fifteen minutes fast. They always say they won't be late that way. It seems to me that if you know the clock is fifteen minutes fast, what difference does it make.
I used to try and get WWV on my shortwave at 5 Mhtz and set my clocks by that. It was nice, but sometimes it's hard to get the station especially over a shortwave set. A couple of years ago I bought one of those self-setting clocks. It sets itself via a radio signal that it checks on every so often. It was relatively cheap, $30 or so, and it is accurate. It sits in the TV room and I usually use that for setting my clocks. The other option is to use an Internet program to check in and set the computer clock. That's one cool thing about Windows XP where it has it's own time check program built in.
Another bit about me and time is that my digital clocks all have to be the same. The same, needless to say, accurate time. It drives me nuts when my VCR displays 5:43 and my computer shows 5:45 and my wrist watch is at 5:44. Every so often I have to run around and get them all close to each other. Most keep pretty good time except for my VW New Beetle. It gains about a minute every couple of weeks. It is maddening when the NPR news comes on and my car clock shows 13:01. And yes, I like the 24 hour format. I guess it's 22 years of the USAF rearing its head. Besides, I don't have to worry if I'm doing something at 5a.m. or 5p.m. when I know it's 1700 hours.
One last thing. Setting my alarm. I hate to set it at an even time like 9:30 or 8:45. I always set it for 7:27 or 10:04. I just think I'll get up better if I don't have to wake right on the hour. This goes with setting my microwave as well. I never set it for 1:30 or 4:00 minutes -- it has to be 1:33 or 3:58 minutes. I always try to use different ending digits so I don't wear out the 0.
2fers: http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/index.html and http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java
I used to try and get WWV on my shortwave at 5 Mhtz and set my clocks by that. It was nice, but sometimes it's hard to get the station especially over a shortwave set. A couple of years ago I bought one of those self-setting clocks. It sets itself via a radio signal that it checks on every so often. It was relatively cheap, $30 or so, and it is accurate. It sits in the TV room and I usually use that for setting my clocks. The other option is to use an Internet program to check in and set the computer clock. That's one cool thing about Windows XP where it has it's own time check program built in.
Another bit about me and time is that my digital clocks all have to be the same. The same, needless to say, accurate time. It drives me nuts when my VCR displays 5:43 and my computer shows 5:45 and my wrist watch is at 5:44. Every so often I have to run around and get them all close to each other. Most keep pretty good time except for my VW New Beetle. It gains about a minute every couple of weeks. It is maddening when the NPR news comes on and my car clock shows 13:01. And yes, I like the 24 hour format. I guess it's 22 years of the USAF rearing its head. Besides, I don't have to worry if I'm doing something at 5a.m. or 5p.m. when I know it's 1700 hours.
One last thing. Setting my alarm. I hate to set it at an even time like 9:30 or 8:45. I always set it for 7:27 or 10:04. I just think I'll get up better if I don't have to wake right on the hour. This goes with setting my microwave as well. I never set it for 1:30 or 4:00 minutes -- it has to be 1:33 or 3:58 minutes. I always try to use different ending digits so I don't wear out the 0.
2fers: http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/index.html and http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java
Friday, July 11, 2003
I just passed a half-century not too long ago and can look back with a little wonder at just how stupid a person is when they're young. I work in a mostly younger company -- it's an Internet company -- and can see all these folks doing the same stupid things I did way-back-when. You want to just grab them, shake them, and say "what the hell's wrong with you?" Not only the stupidity but the changes that have come around since then.
When I started smoking, you could smoke at your desk and I could buy a carton of Marlboros for $3.35. Now a pack is about the same price. And they will still kill you. My last physical found something on my lung (which turned out benign, but -- whew). I wanted to smack those kids smoking outside the back door of the building and yell "if you get lung cancer, you have a 15% chance of being alive 5 years later - and cigarettes are the number one cause!!"
I could sit in my new $2500, 1971 Chevy Nova and listen to my Amoco 8-track turned all the way up and a couple of cars away it was inaudible. Now, because of guns and airplanes and genetics, I'm half deaf. You can get a car stereo today that will not only make you deaf, but will also wake up folks for blocks around.
I started to do some work on my truck the other day and found myself putting on safety glasses and work gloves. It was up on jack stands and I shoved it to make sure it was steady. Over on the wall was a brand new $30 fire extinguisher and I was cleaning up oil spills as soon as they happened. I can remember working on my Nova with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth laying underneath it while it was propped up on a rock.
I looked at my bank account the other day and started thinking about all the money I've wasted since I started working. Sigh - I could have bought a farm back in the '70s and paid a little each month and have owned it by now. I haven't paid interest on a credit card in almost 20 years. One of my co-workers was just mentioning they had a $14,000 credit card balance that they are going to pay off with a house equity loan!!
2fers: http://www.reminisce.com/ and http://www.8trackheaven.com/index.html
When I started smoking, you could smoke at your desk and I could buy a carton of Marlboros for $3.35. Now a pack is about the same price. And they will still kill you. My last physical found something on my lung (which turned out benign, but -- whew). I wanted to smack those kids smoking outside the back door of the building and yell "if you get lung cancer, you have a 15% chance of being alive 5 years later - and cigarettes are the number one cause!!"
I could sit in my new $2500, 1971 Chevy Nova and listen to my Amoco 8-track turned all the way up and a couple of cars away it was inaudible. Now, because of guns and airplanes and genetics, I'm half deaf. You can get a car stereo today that will not only make you deaf, but will also wake up folks for blocks around.
I started to do some work on my truck the other day and found myself putting on safety glasses and work gloves. It was up on jack stands and I shoved it to make sure it was steady. Over on the wall was a brand new $30 fire extinguisher and I was cleaning up oil spills as soon as they happened. I can remember working on my Nova with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth laying underneath it while it was propped up on a rock.
I looked at my bank account the other day and started thinking about all the money I've wasted since I started working. Sigh - I could have bought a farm back in the '70s and paid a little each month and have owned it by now. I haven't paid interest on a credit card in almost 20 years. One of my co-workers was just mentioning they had a $14,000 credit card balance that they are going to pay off with a house equity loan!!
2fers: http://www.reminisce.com/ and http://www.8trackheaven.com/index.html
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Here's some questions I've always wondered about:
When bread gets stale it gets hard, when crackers get stale they get soft -- why isn't hard bread called crackers and vice versa?
When you play an audio system, the sound travels at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) through the wires, but at the speed of sound (750 mile per hour) through the air -- why don't they run into each other when they slow down?
The metric system is supposed to be scientifically based. The meter is one ten-millionth of the length of the meridian through Paris from pole to the equator -- and this was measured accurately how?
If going to europe is considered going overseas -- why isn't returning going underseas?
Vehicle tires wear out every couple years -- why aren't we hip deep in old tire dust?
There is a criminal defense for murder based on insanity-- does that mean that normal murder is something done by sane people?
My understanding is that jury members in a criminal case aren't allowed to take notes or do outside research on a case like one would do in school -- does that mean it's more important to understand why Hemingway wrote Old Man and the Sea than it is to decide a death sentence on a criminal?
Why don't Americans like two dollar bills and one dollar coins?
Why do we kill people who kill people to show them that killing people is wrong?
Why do most people say ATM machine and PIN number?
2fers: http://www.bbspot.com and http://www.vatican.va/
When bread gets stale it gets hard, when crackers get stale they get soft -- why isn't hard bread called crackers and vice versa?
When you play an audio system, the sound travels at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) through the wires, but at the speed of sound (750 mile per hour) through the air -- why don't they run into each other when they slow down?
The metric system is supposed to be scientifically based. The meter is one ten-millionth of the length of the meridian through Paris from pole to the equator -- and this was measured accurately how?
If going to europe is considered going overseas -- why isn't returning going underseas?
Vehicle tires wear out every couple years -- why aren't we hip deep in old tire dust?
There is a criminal defense for murder based on insanity-- does that mean that normal murder is something done by sane people?
My understanding is that jury members in a criminal case aren't allowed to take notes or do outside research on a case like one would do in school -- does that mean it's more important to understand why Hemingway wrote Old Man and the Sea than it is to decide a death sentence on a criminal?
Why don't Americans like two dollar bills and one dollar coins?
Why do we kill people who kill people to show them that killing people is wrong?
Why do most people say ATM machine and PIN number?
2fers: http://www.bbspot.com and http://www.vatican.va/
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Whoops - I've had some problems here. Lost a big chunk -- like a month -- of archive files. I'm also moving to a new domain. Bear with me while I get this sorted out.
"Bring 'em on!" -- what the hell is that man thinking? I hope he realizes that we aren't in a wrestling ring with some phony-balony actor/atheletes with fake blood and made for video bravado. This is a war and people are getting killed -- every day, our people and their people. I've never heard of such a thing.
We ought to be trying to convince them to stop fighting, not to escalate fighting and "bring 'em on." This mess in Iraq is turning out just like I'd thought it would. The initial war was over quickly and pretty painlessly (for us), but the after-effects will continue on for a long time. I was in Saudi in 1992 and here it is 11 years later and our guys are back in that area again -- for the same reasons -- and probably with the same lack of success.
The east and west have been battling there for a thousand years -- and probably will for a thousand more, unless they kill each other off. War sucks.
We ought to be trying to convince them to stop fighting, not to escalate fighting and "bring 'em on." This mess in Iraq is turning out just like I'd thought it would. The initial war was over quickly and pretty painlessly (for us), but the after-effects will continue on for a long time. I was in Saudi in 1992 and here it is 11 years later and our guys are back in that area again -- for the same reasons -- and probably with the same lack of success.
The east and west have been battling there for a thousand years -- and probably will for a thousand more, unless they kill each other off. War sucks.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
I've been wandering around the world for the last twenty years or so and have finally settled down with a garage and basement that happen to have a house attached. I bought an old rusty 1990 Ford F-150 for $600 last year since I know have the garage to work on it. A pickup is also great for having around an older house to haul wood, trash and what have you. Your friends don't mind it being around either. While it runs great, it is a rust bucket and a couple of weeks ago the oil pan rusted out.
On Monday when I drove it to work, it left an oil puddle about the size of my palm underneath it. Wednesday night there was a puddle the size of me under my truck in the garage. I put a pan and oil dry underneath it to catch the rest. I had been warned by the local quicky lube guys that the oil pan was starting to leak, so I wasn't all that surprised when it let loose. So I head over to the library and look for a truck book - Chiltons was on the shelf. I read about replacing the oil pan -- it starts with taking off the fuel intake manifold on top of the truck!! And the radiator fan shroud and the exhaust, etc. etc.
OK - so on to the Internet for some research. I visit a couple of Ford truck sites and find out the leaky oil pan is pretty usual. I also found out that I could probably get away with not removing the top stuff and just jacking up the engine about 1.5 inches watching so I didn't smoosh anything. Did I say it was rusty?? The nuts and bolts took a lot of work -- spraying penetrating oil and hammering to get off. I'd wrestle for an hour or so, then spray some more and let it sit. I also had to order an oil pan and gasket set. Anyway, tonight I finally got everything loose, with just some finagling to get the exhaust pipe out of the way -- all the nuts came off and no studs broke off - whew... I'm going away for the 4th, so it'll be next week before I can dive back in.
In the meantime, here's the Laws of Oz as applied to automotive mechanics:
After getting back into wrenching after several years, I've realized there's laws here that Murphy would be afraid to find:
1. No matter how many wrenches or sockets you carry with you under the truck -- it's always the other one in your toolbox.
2. No matter how big a box of nuts and bolts you have, you won't have the one you need.
3. If there are six open parts stores and 1 closed one -- guess which one has the part you need?
4. Your socket is always going to be one extension to few away from the nut.
5. If you buy a brand new set of Craftsman 6 point sockets from 3/8" to 1", the first nut you work on will be 5/16".
6. The only thing worse than a jack that won't go up high enough is one that doesn't go down low enough.
7. If you grab your metric wrenches, the nut will be standard, if you grab your standard wrenches, the nut will be metric. If you grab both, the nut will rusted tight and rounded off.
8. If you have but one drain in the floor of your garage way back in the corner, no matter where you drop that last nut, it will find it.
9. No matter how long the extension cord or garden hose you buy, it's always a foot too short.
10. If you have 6 nuts to loosen, the hardest one to reach will be the tightest.
sigh......
2fers: www.ford-trucks.com and www.fordtruckworld.com
On Monday when I drove it to work, it left an oil puddle about the size of my palm underneath it. Wednesday night there was a puddle the size of me under my truck in the garage. I put a pan and oil dry underneath it to catch the rest. I had been warned by the local quicky lube guys that the oil pan was starting to leak, so I wasn't all that surprised when it let loose. So I head over to the library and look for a truck book - Chiltons was on the shelf. I read about replacing the oil pan -- it starts with taking off the fuel intake manifold on top of the truck!! And the radiator fan shroud and the exhaust, etc. etc.
OK - so on to the Internet for some research. I visit a couple of Ford truck sites and find out the leaky oil pan is pretty usual. I also found out that I could probably get away with not removing the top stuff and just jacking up the engine about 1.5 inches watching so I didn't smoosh anything. Did I say it was rusty?? The nuts and bolts took a lot of work -- spraying penetrating oil and hammering to get off. I'd wrestle for an hour or so, then spray some more and let it sit. I also had to order an oil pan and gasket set. Anyway, tonight I finally got everything loose, with just some finagling to get the exhaust pipe out of the way -- all the nuts came off and no studs broke off - whew... I'm going away for the 4th, so it'll be next week before I can dive back in.
In the meantime, here's the Laws of Oz as applied to automotive mechanics:
After getting back into wrenching after several years, I've realized there's laws here that Murphy would be afraid to find:
1. No matter how many wrenches or sockets you carry with you under the truck -- it's always the other one in your toolbox.
2. No matter how big a box of nuts and bolts you have, you won't have the one you need.
3. If there are six open parts stores and 1 closed one -- guess which one has the part you need?
4. Your socket is always going to be one extension to few away from the nut.
5. If you buy a brand new set of Craftsman 6 point sockets from 3/8" to 1", the first nut you work on will be 5/16".
6. The only thing worse than a jack that won't go up high enough is one that doesn't go down low enough.
7. If you grab your metric wrenches, the nut will be standard, if you grab your standard wrenches, the nut will be metric. If you grab both, the nut will rusted tight and rounded off.
8. If you have but one drain in the floor of your garage way back in the corner, no matter where you drop that last nut, it will find it.
9. No matter how long the extension cord or garden hose you buy, it's always a foot too short.
10. If you have 6 nuts to loosen, the hardest one to reach will be the tightest.
sigh......
2fers: www.ford-trucks.com and www.fordtruckworld.com
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
The local newpaper recently carried a letter to the editor from an individual concerned over a class taught at a state university near here. The name of the class was "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation." which by the way is an English department class.
The letter was recommending that everyone who read it, write to the university complaining about such a class being taught and get it canceled. One of the reasons the writer gave was that it "could shorten the lives of our young people." This letter was based on information the writer gave as being received from the American Family Association of Michigan - those fine god-fearing bible-toting folks who are worried about everyone's souls (but their own maybe).
I did a little research about the class and contacted the professor who's teaching it. He assured me that it hasn't been canceled in the past and that the university, staff, and students have all been very supportive. Wow - does this mean the AFA lied?
Probably. It's groups like this who really get me ticked off at religions. Why is it that so many people need to belittle everyone who doesn't believe in the exact same dogma as it their own? If everyone else is going to hell, quit worrying about us -- god will sort us out -- and worry about your own self.
Why is it that so many Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Sikhs, or whatever hate Sikhs, Hindus, Moslems, Jews, Christians, or whatever so vehemently? Where is that all-forgiving stuff that's supposed to be her/his basis? Set off another bomb or stab another martyr and take care of that infidel.
sigh.....
2fers: www.afa.net and aclu.org
The letter was recommending that everyone who read it, write to the university complaining about such a class being taught and get it canceled. One of the reasons the writer gave was that it "could shorten the lives of our young people." This letter was based on information the writer gave as being received from the American Family Association of Michigan - those fine god-fearing bible-toting folks who are worried about everyone's souls (but their own maybe).
I did a little research about the class and contacted the professor who's teaching it. He assured me that it hasn't been canceled in the past and that the university, staff, and students have all been very supportive. Wow - does this mean the AFA lied?
Probably. It's groups like this who really get me ticked off at religions. Why is it that so many people need to belittle everyone who doesn't believe in the exact same dogma as it their own? If everyone else is going to hell, quit worrying about us -- god will sort us out -- and worry about your own self.
Why is it that so many Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Sikhs, or whatever hate Sikhs, Hindus, Moslems, Jews, Christians, or whatever so vehemently? Where is that all-forgiving stuff that's supposed to be her/his basis? Set off another bomb or stab another martyr and take care of that infidel.
sigh.....
2fers: www.afa.net and aclu.org
