An Eary Birthday, the Flu and that Wallflowers Song

An Early Birthday

For those of you keeping score at home, it's still March. My birthday is some days away in April. Didn't stop me from coming back from the Bay Area (taking Frankie back after spring break) with three large Sears boxes - the bottom, middle and top of nice red Craftsman tool chests.

I had red Craftsman tools chests, but cheap ones from decades ago that I was outgrowing. (The middle and top boxes got progressively smaller on my old ones, and the bottom chest only had two drawers then a big open space behind a tilt-up door.) The new ones are almost square straight up (the middle and upper drawers are slightly less deep than the bottom drawers, but just as wide.) It sits in the same place as the old one, with the exact same footprint, but gives me at least double the storage. It's nice.

Today I got creative with the bottom cabinet of the old set. One of the popular items in shops and tool catalogs today are mobile tool carts - just little push carts you can roll to the car or whatever it is your working on and it holds the tools you need and the parts you take off the car and nothing rolls off the inside fender well because you have a flat place to set it. It occurred to me that the base of the old tool chest would make a fine mobile tool cart with better casters, handles on the sides, the door gone and a rubber mat on the top. So it has all of those things (and nice black Krylon under the rubber). It should work like a charm, and beats just setting it under the house.

The Flu

We apparently both have it.

That Wallflowers Song (One Headlight)

On our way to Berkeley yesterday I discovered the drivers-side lowbeam in the Hyundai was out, so today my fuzzy head and I drove to Angeles Camp, bought the bulb and drove home. I changed it, checked the headlights and viola, they both worked. Low and high beams. I gathered up my tools (no mobile tool cart yet!) and closed the hood and checked them again.

The passenger side low beam was dead. It had worked 30 seconds before. Tomorrow I'll buy TWO bulbs...

Hold the Pepper, and Stop This Crazy Commute!

News and good news today. The news is we're passing on the Mini. It would have been fun, and maybe will be fun one day, but it's not the right thing right now. So we'll get our deposit back and move on. My truck is still listed in the paper, but the only people calling about it are morons - and since I've been treating them as such, I suspect it won't sell. (Seriously, I have no time for stupid right now.)

The good news is we've hired the new CEO here. The guy is great - exactly the kind of person we were looking for when we started this process, and the only one we called back for a second interview. He'll start March 31. I have one more week left, then a handoff, then back to my life. I bought a pair of real running shoes yesterday to celebrate. I've gotten way out of shape doing this for the past three months, and want to use the next three months to reverse that trend.

Pepper Has Landed

Pepper has landed. It's at East Bay Mini as we speak. In fact, yesterday we got a "Mini Parking Only" stencil in the mail. (Who says Mini doesn't know its marketing?)

There are second thoughts, most of them due to the IRS and our (soon-to-be-former) tax guy. There's aso just trying to figure out when the hell we could get there.

Ah, Self Control

What you see here is a car I do not own. It's a 1977 MG B and it was on the eBay - in Sonora - for $400.

It did not sell. I watched the auction wind down and not one bid came in. I might have if the listing had been a bit more informative or the seller had responded to a question I sent.

Who knows, though. The seller could get my e-mail, decide to answer it now and take $200.

I like a project...

Bark! Bark! Bark!

Gus is a hit in the neighborhood. Our neighbors, having the good sense to live in Avery anyway, naturally recognize beauty and that certain joire de vivre some folks have. (And yes, I withdrew failing from French in college, so if the spelling is off, too bad.)

Anyway, Gus does endear himself to most of our neighbors by playing with their dogs, wagging and wiggling when they walk by and stuff like that.

Except for the people directly across the street. Young couple with a 14-month old kid named Ziggy. For whatever reason, he just barks at those folks. (They're not out often and are often gone, so maybe he's just not used to people being there.) Anyway, he is kind of a jackass to them, Bark! Bark! Barking! every time he's out and they come home. We always apologise.

Turns out, Gus is kind of a hit at that house, too, with at least one of the residents. Ziggy and his mom were out the other day, and Ziggy stood at the edge of the driveway and Bark! Bark! Barked! at Gus. Not quite sure if they were his first words, but they might have been.

Gus was well and thoroughly flummoxed.

A Sunny Saturday

Finally we had a sunny Saturday, and so far I've made the most of it. I have helmet hair and need to wash the winter-road dirt off my motorcycle. My truck has fresh oil. Diane's will tomorrow, but she took it to watch a Cal basketball game today. My shop saw a little work, and will see more tomorrow. Unfortunately, I also have to write stories tomorrow, so it won't be a total play day. But people pay us to write, so we may as well do it!

Near Car and Far Car

Happy Mini News: Mini's online tracking system tells me that our car is no longer on-order, but has now been scheduled for production. (It doesn't tell me when it's scheduled for, but maybe it will soon...)

A while back NSO asked a good question: Whose car will the Mini be? And the answer sounds socialist, but it won't be either of our cars. We're changing the paradigm.

Rather than my car and AD's car, we're going to have a Near Car and a Far Car. Whoever is driving further that day gets the Mini. Whoever is staying closer to home gets the Hyundai. (Unless, like this month, the 4-wheel drive trumps the gas milage.)

To make it work, I bought two of these seat organizers. I'd seen cops use them back in my reporting days, because they all share cars and can't clutter them up with personal stuff.

The plan is the AD and I will each have one stocked with the stuff we would normally keep in our cars, and each carry it into and out of whatever car we happen to drive on any particular day.

I used mine today and it worked just nice - but I'm sure it'll be better in our Mini!

Cute Photos on Fat Tuesday

Working from home today and have a long list of things to accomplish. Posting pictures of the cute puppy can now be crossed off. Happy Mardi Gras!

Well and Truly Sick of Snow

It has snowed every day or every other day for well over two weeks now, and I'm tired of it.

I want to ride my motorcycle - even for a qick trip to the hardware store. Last Monday I went to Arnold and at the upper end of town the roads were solidly iced over. Not good on two wheels. If it keeps up, I think I'll built some outriggers and try anyway.

I want to change the oil in our cars. They're both due, and given the mileage I'm racking up, overdue. The last three weekends have been too wet and white to even try.

I want to see my driveway. We did, for a day or two. I had shoveled and then it rained one afternoon, and that's great. All the little slushy bits washed away and the driveway and roads were perfectly clear. Then it snowed.

The long-time neighbors tell us this is unusual, so unless Al Gore's climate changes are doing it, hopefully we won't have this every year. And part of my frustration I'm sure is that with the Stockton gig I've got limited time home to do things like change our oil or build a dog run, so when the weather prevents it, it gets pushed out another week, not a day.

Thus endeth the whine.

Dogs is Fun. Snow is Somethin!

Mini Madness!

This is the car we can expect in about eight to 10 weeks. We went with the Cooper S hardtop, sport package, limited-slip diff, 10-speaker upgraded audio package and bluetooth/ipod ready.

We'll get a confirmation number in a couple of weeks and then be able to track the car from the factory in England to the ship, across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, to the port of Los Angeles. Hopefully end of March or so we'll drive it home.

Squishy-Nosed Goddess

It's how Gina hopes the villagers in Bolivia see her. It was too weird not to post.

Redneck Medical Devices

Yeah, with that title I'd be scared, too.

Here's the deal: My second toes stick out past my big toes by a substantial amount. A quarter-inch or so - and the left is worse than the right. And every winter, it gets sore and inflamed simply because everything hits it - blankets, socks, winter boots, etc. It's painful and very slow to heal because I don't think there's anything farther removed from my heart - so it gets less bloodflow.

Last night I'd had enough. I took a spare utility shelf brace and cut it down with tin snips. Smoothed the edges on a grinder. Bent it with a ball peen hammer on a vice, lined it with moleskin. Taped it over the affected toe and to the two next-door toes, so now nothing can actually touch the toes itself unless I really kick something hard. This is the result:

So far, so good. I'm trying to get my manufacturing process ISO certified now...

Snow Way!

Just in case anyone was missing weather or silly dog photos...

Go Speed-o-meter Go!

How about a break from puppy pictures just long enough for a few motorcycle parts.

This was the instrument cluster when I bought the bike. The tach (on the right) worked fine, by the speedometer/odometer did not. (The trip reset dial did work, but since it didn't ever register any miles, there wasn't much call to use it.)



It took a while to find a decent cluster on the eBay that went for what I wanted to pay, but a while ago I did. It required complete disassembly, lubrication and reassembly. I relocated my working tach into the new cluster housing, painted both needles and put it back together.

That's when I discovered that the speedometer cable was also bonky, but that's been replaced.


Here's how it looks now. I'd go test it, but it's sleeting outside, and riding in the sleet doesn't sound like much fun!

Dogs Is Funny

Gus went to the vet today to get fixed. (38.1 pounds...) He'll come home tomorrow, and if he's in a cone-head, I'm sure we'll post pictures.

I was in Stockton today for my first day, so Diane and Idgie had the house to themselves. Without the boys - especially Gus, of course - it was quieter around here.

So at one point this afternoon, Diane was in the kitchen cooking and Idgie carried in Hedgie and dropped him on the floor beside her. Diane said Idgie carried Hedgie like she was trying to avoid getting cooties, and kinda snuck away after she dropped him.

Idgie does not play with toys, period. So you have to wonder what she was saying. "I know you miss him, here's his toy?" "Where's that annoying little dog you brought home?" Some combination of the two?

Dogs is funny. I like 'em.

Vulture Dog!

Remember Snoopy, hanging out in a tree being a vulture?

Apparently Gus goes, too...

Christmas Memories

Christmas came to Avery again, and it's always a wonderful day. This year, it included the traditional tree, with decorations...

Cookies made and inspected...

Idgie getting even with racoons...

Opening presents...

A nap!

Lots of great food...

Odd kids in Russian hats...






Getting sleepy...

And a good night's rest! Merry Christmas to all.

A Spirited Driving Experience

A Mini Cooper update, for those following the action from home:

We drove a Cooper S this morning on the way to bring Frankie home from Berkeley. The one we drove in Sacramento a while ago was a regular Cooper, and we were in Friday-evening city traffic when we drove it (and with the sales lady in the back seat.)

Today was different. East Bay Mini didn't feel the need to tag along, just gave us the keys and sent us off on our way. (I guess Minis truly do sell themselves...) We had a 6-speed Cooper S, and our quest for better mileage might be detoured by the sound of the engine about 4,000 RPM... Well, a little at least.

The car is an absolute blast to drive. Quick, nimble, easy to see around you (which is major problem in most sports and sporty cars.) Gotta sell me some books and buy one!

Stockton

Very sad and disturbing news in Stockton, today. The man I work for at Lao Family was murdered last night outside the non-profit's office on Hammer Lane.

His name was Pheng Lo. He learned English as a janitor in Florida after fleeing Laos in the 1970s, got into social service work in Denver, and has been at Lao Family, mostly as Executive Director, since the mid-1980s. From what another employee told me, he wasn't robbed, just shot as he closed up the office for the evening and locked the door.

That's really all I know. I have no idea who or why anyone would do this, and don't know what it will mean for the agency. A period of struggle, to be sure, but I hope after that the agency will continue.