Thursday July 19, 2007

Gas is still weird. I couldn't believe it last night and thought it would settle out by this morning, but NOT. Prices are all over ranging from 2.79 to 3.02. Part of the problem is that I need to fill up and the station I'd like to use is still at 2.99, I'm hoping it will come down by the time I head home this afternoon. Otherwise, I shall have to go elsewhere.

Attended 5S/Lean Health training today. Interesting stuff. I'm supposed to be developing my own 5S project with a report due 8/2 with all the details and results start to finish. Maybe I will 5S a bookshelf. That's about my speed today.

I have an appt with my surgeon tomorrow Friday. Last week I had a terrible amount of stomach pain, but it is down to a dull roar now. We suspect that I may have an "incisional hernia"; in other words, that I may have torn out some of the stitches that were supposed to hold my stomach muscles together. It is better this week after spending a good part of last week on pain killers and lying down, but the surgeon may need to go in and stitch a patch over the area to reinforce it.

Vger is still not running correctly. Gladiator runs great but I still haven't installed the solenoid and it still says "Check Engine". I haven't mentioned it, but the 69 Catalina is actually running again. Replaced the original points type distributor that has worn bushings with an HEI distributor which has solved one of the reasons I parked it many years ago. Also changed the oil and filter, and got the drivers door so it will open again. Back window is still down and I don't know if I can fix that, part of the problem is that the rear bumper is mushed up into the tailgate. Also, when we pulled the Catalina out of the hole it had sunk into I bent a frame cross-member that part of the front suspension bolts onto, which makes the front wheels severely toed-in. Don't know how hard it will be to fix that. The front part of the frame and body aren't too bad, the rear lower half of the car is pretty rough. No brakes, no exhaust, the rims don't hold air (replaced the tires but the rims are severely rusted) but it does move under its own power. I'd kinda like to find a '73 Firebird (the engine came out of a '73 Trans Am) or a 68 or 69 Catalina two-door. I do have available the possibility of a 74 Ventura coupe that a friend is looking to get rid of. I can get an 84 Trans Am for $1000 that I think I can shoe-horn the engine into, I know where I may be able to get a '68 Catalina Convertible, I know where there is a 69 LeMans that may be for sale, but...

The biggest problem with the cars is the lack of a place to work on them. I need to tear down the 7.5L and rebuild it. Whatever body it goes back into should be stripped to the frame and rebuilt. The Gladiator has severe rust which can still be repaired, but I need to remove doors and windows to do it and I can't leave it sitting outside while it is stripped. The Turbo Caravan needs to have the engine rebuilt, but I can't exactly do that properly under the shade tree. I have most of the tools and quite a bit of the knowlegde and experience to do the job. I just don't have the space and money for the parts and supplies.

Another thing I'd like a shop for. Ran across the "MultiMachine", you can find the official page at Yahoo Groups. Someone had a brilliant idea: all those engine blocks lying around could be put to good use. The hardest part of a diy metal lathe and most of the expense are due to the fact that everything must be true, and an engine block is that. So, take a four cylinder block and stand it on end on top of a six cylinder block. Use a piston bore in the four cylinder block as the guide for the spindle, it is exactly at right angles to the head surface. Perfect for building a third-world machine shop. Combine that with some of the ideas from old Popular Mechanics magazines and the work done by David Gingery, and you have equipment capable of very good work for a very low price. In fact, it may be possible to build a lathe that is pretty darn good for almost no cash but lots of sweat equity. Wish I could build the garage that way, but it's against the law nowadays.

I may have found my new cell phone, the UT Starcom PPC6700. The worst thing about it is that it runs on Windows, but it has a decent keyboard, a fair-sized screen, uses a mini usb port to sync, and it really can do everything that my Palm TX and Blackberry 7100 can do. I can have 5 email accounts, I can open documnets in either landscape or portrait mode, it has a camera that takes decent photos, it plays music and video. The 1xRTT Internet is quite a bit slower that the GPRS Internet, that is really the worst complaint I have. The other problem is that I would have to switch carriers, and the new carrier charges extra for several of the features that are included in my current plan. Can you believe that a carrier would charge extra for voicemail and text messaging? My current plan includes unlimited data, text messaging, voicemail, and 1,000 minutes airtime for $65 including taxes for my Blackberry. The plan that covers the PPC6700 comes to about $70 for the same features. What the heck, my employer is paying for it, they want me to be able to respond 24/7.

Well, better get to work on my 5S project ;).

Wednesday July 18, 2007

I don't get it. 5 stations, all of which are the usually the same price. One is at 2.99, one at 2.91, the rest at 2.88. The station that is usually the cheapest is at 3.02.

Tuesday July 17, 2007

Gas was at 2.99 this morning, no telling what it is now.

Monday July 16, 2007

Gas is at 3.04. Was up to 3.12 then dropped back.

Gladiator still running good, although the "Check Engine" light still comes on. Vger still has a problem. Matt got the window in the pickup. Put HEI on the Catalina.

Friday July 6, 2007

Gas is at 2.95.

RANT:
What the %^!^*#*! is M$ doing? M$ made their mark by developing a consistent user interface, so that if a user was familiar with one program they could learn any of them. Now what has M$ brought out? The "Ribbon". Arrggh. Linux, where are you? If the different Linux folks could agree on some kind of standard interface I think they might be able to gain some market share here. Maybe I can make a push to drop Office altogether and use something like Open Office?

And don't even get me started on the Dynamics upgrade I just went thru. A real piece of work.

Vger still isn't running right. New fuel filter, new oxygen sensor, new muffler. Need to do some research at allpar.com I think.

Gladiator still runs good, got a new EGR vacuum solenoid but need to install it.