Life, Wheeling, and everything after

I love my life

2010-12-31T12:21:00.001-08:00

my kids are the best!

Fatty Update 1

2010-07-22T19:04:00.001-07:00

weighed myself after eating this evening.. 229LBS flat!

Rowed for 15 minutes yesterday for 225 calories.. this is working out niceley!

Single Father

2010-07-20T18:26:00.001-07:00

Ug, April is at Girls Camp, I am home alone with three kids. I dont know how my Wife does it.....

Fatty bo batty...

2010-07-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

So what, so I'm a bit hefty:)

I started rowing today, in the hopes of dropping a few LB's for reference I am 6'3" 107 Kilograms(235 lbs), verified by the scale at OIT.

Rowed for 40 minutes and expended a whopping 600 calories... that's a 4 pack of 12 ounce Pepsi. the goal here is to get back down to two hunny, so 35 lbs... we'll see how that unfolds.

Business is good.

2010-03-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

Business is good!

I have been doing a virus/spyware/computer rebuild business for a month and things are great! If anyone needs a tuneup, cost is 40.00 flat, if I fix nothing you pay nothing. If you think your computer is running slow, we run a few baseline metrics (time to open applications, time from startup to desktop and so forth) and agree on what is a reasonable improvement. the model works well and hopefully will pay a few hundred a month, enough to pay for gas for the beast, and pay off the car/student loans over the next few years. For those of you who know me, this isnt all I do if someone is in need of a rebuild, (save your data and start over) that takes 1 day and is only 60.00 flat.

Hilarious

2009-11-11T08:03:00.001-08:00

Goin Private

2009-11-11T07:47:00.001-08:00

Had enough of spam and unasked for guests, takin this blog private.

2009-11-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

C'mon:

Lately I've been having a rough go at things.

Broke my truck, hit a deer with the Volvo, have had horrible interactions with my Mom(ongoing) got a ticket (failure to yield... how trumped up is that!), Have had a terrible month at work , my relationships all around are strained. Such is life, I've tried to avoid having this be a sounding board for anything but the manly endeavors of life, but I believe coping is a big part of that, perhaps larger than I had anticipated.

I'm usually so focused on the here and now(be it misery or toil or happiness), and the soon to be that thinking about what I've done just doesn't occupy much time. But when I do look back over everything, I am quietly proud of all that I've been able to accomplish with my short stack of cards...

So I will suck it up, this little pity party and get back to work, because, after all ; that's what my life is about right now. Work, in different venues..

I hope that changes for me by retirement.

given my track record over the past few months, I hope that this post is relevant and salient... And just in case it isn't; here is a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head:

2009-10-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

I've been on the internets... and I've found this:

I must have it...

2009-09-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

I've been on the internet and this is what I found:

No real surprises here I like coldplay... whatever

2009-07-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

Some of people at work have asked me to write this story down:

The Hewlett's and our families went camping at Hyatt lake, after making camp and having a late night at the fireside, the missus and I decided to turn in. I returned from brushing my teeth I waited on April to return to the tent. I took Penny, our 1 year old chiweeine off of her chain and into the tent with me. I'd left the door of the tent unzipped for April, in doing so I was worried that I would have to chase the dog in the dark if I put her down. So I placed her on our freshly made bed (the first mistake in the event cascade.)

As April's footsteps drew nearer I looked back at the dog to see that she had begun urinating in he middle of both of our sleeping bags! I smacked the dog off of the bed and shouted something unintelligible.April and I surveyed the damage and came up with the idea that I should go to Ashland in search of:

1) a 24 Hour Laundromat or;
2) two new sleeping Bags

11:50PM - I drove the 26 miles down 66 to Ashland, found a Laundromat near the video store off of the main drag, Unfortunately for me, it closed a at 10:30, So Proceeded to the 7-Eleven

Me: "Do you all know where a 24 hour laundromat is?"
Clerk: "Nope"
Me:"Are you a Dorm Student?"
Clerk:"Yup"
Me: "You have keys to the Dorm Laundromat?"
Clerk:"Yep, but it closes at 12:00"
Me:"Wheres the Closest Wal-Mart?"
Clerk: "Talent"

12:25 - I drove the 10+ to Talent, only to find the parking lot empty and a sign "Closed at 11:00PM"
I decide, "I've gone this far, I'lll just drive to Medford"

12:50 - The Medford Wal-Mart Sign reads : "Closed at 11:00pm" GREAT! I figure, "I've driven this far, Eagle Point has a shiny new Super-Wal-Mart I'll go there..."

1:15 - Eagle Point Wal-Mart Sign reads "Closed at 1:00AM" I kick the door, and proceed to attempt to negotiate the stocking clerk into opening the door and selling me two sleeping bags... in the negotiation process I most-likely convinced him that I am either crazy, high, or both.. he does not open the door.

1:20 - Leaving the parking lot I decide that by the time I get back to camp 26 miles west of Ashland, it will be almost morning anyways so I should just go home.

1:45 - Arriving at the I-5 Intersection in Medford I realize that the Truck Stop is indeed open, and is a good bet for crazy people that do laundry at 2:00AM (Much Like Myself), so I stop.....and I meet the truck stop lady, who has a deformed hand, and does her best to give me the worst directions.

ME: Do you have a 24 hour Laundromat?
Lady: "Nope, but I know where one is!"
ME: "Awesome! can you give me directions?'
Lady: Sure! Have you visted our Lovely Downtown? The Laundromat is right next to the Jail, and there's a wonderful Mexican restaurant there.. "

At this point she launches into a Four-Volume Diatribe about how she went there after she bailed herr boyfriend out of Jail, and how she had the tostados, they were delicious...

ME: "That's great! Can you give me directions?"
Lady: "Sure Thing, are you from here? "
ME: "No, I'm from Klamath..."
Lady: "OK you want to get on Biddle Road, do you know where that is?"
ME: "Aren't we on Biddle?"
Lady: "I guess we are! Anyways, follow Biddle to East McAndrews and turn left... then find Daugherty street and turn left again..."
ME: "THANKS!"

2:05 - After realizing that if you proceed down Biddle south to McAndrews and turn left, you head into the suburbs and NOT downtown I stopped for directions at my Catch-Em-All.. 7-Eleven where I met Kevin, the Night Manager, said so on his name-tag, Kevin has literally no teeth left, only black sockets:

ME:"Do you know where the 24 hour Laundromat is?"
Kevin: "OH yeah! it's right next to the Jail, and there is this awesome Mexican restaurant right there..."
ME: "I gather, that's exactly what the last lady told me would you give me directions?"
Kevin: "SURE!" *tears a beer box top off and begins scrawling*

.
Some random dude flings the door open and shouts

SRD: "WHATS UP KEV?!"
Kevin: "this guy needs to go to the 24 hour laundromat"
SRD: "oh yeah that's right next to the jail, man that Mexican restaurant has the best burritos!"
ME: "So I've been told"
SRD:*to Kevin* 'lemme see the map!"

SRD and Kevin tug the map back and forth across the counter...

SRD: "AW Kev! This is awl wrong.. lemme..."
ME: "Do you all have a phone book?"
Kevin: "Sure thing!"

2:30 - Turns out the laundry is on Oak dale and 11th street about 6 city blocks from the Jail.... as I pulled into the parking lot, I counted no less that 15 people milling about that intersection, the now infamous restaurant was closed, and no one was in washing clothes.. a quick check of my pockets reveals that I have $7.25 to my name, I proceed to change this in for a fistful of quarters. I jammed both dog urine soaked bags into the largest washer I could find, slipped a quarter in the slot.. the readout changes from 00 to 19, another quarter, the display changes to 18.. this steekin thing takes 5.00!!!! Annoyed I buy a box of tide for $1.25 leaving me 1 dollar comprised of two quarters, and (this is important) four dimes, and two nickels...

2:53 just as the washer finishes, another random guy wanders in and shouts across the laundromat

ARG: "2AM is a GREAT TIME TO GET SOME *expletive* work done!"
me: "ok"
ARG: "love working at 2AM!"
me: "yeah I guess , but I'd rather be sleeping.."

I put the bags in two separate dryers and chunk my last two quarters into the machines... halfway through I check the bags and turn the inside out, still wet..

ARG: "YO Dude you SMOKE?"
me: "nah"
ARG: "*expletive* smokin man!" and he walks outside to take a smoke break...

3:00 - Realizing that I have no way to change 4 dimes and two nickels into two quarters as the change machines only take paper money, I venture outside to barter with the random people wandering about...I tried to pick the least crazy looking person...

Me: "Hey man, you got 50 cents?"

Least Crazy Guy: "yeah man sure!"
Me: "Let me see what you got.."
Least Crazy Guy: "ok..." *holds out two quarters*
Me: "Cool! I trade you 4 dimes and 2 nickels!"
Least Crazy Guy: "Hey?! What are you?"
Me: "I'm not ripping you off man, four dimes makes 40 cents right? and two nickels makes 10.. 50 cents..."
Least Crazy Guy: *smiles* "ok thanks!"
Me: "thank you!"

3:18 After burning my bartered quarters through the dryers I was certain they were the least efficient driers on the planet... behind me, the crazy smoker random guy returned...

Me: "Hey do you have two quarters?"
CSRD:"sure!"

Me: "thanks!"

3:26 - Checking half way through this set the bags were still wet...I rifled through my wallet, and found a crinkled cretin cash stowed between my costco and fred-meyer cards.. I flattened it out on the corner of the vending machine, and cashed it..

CSRD: "HEY!"
Me: "I am sorry I didnt know that I had this, here's your 50 cents back"
CSRD: "that's cool , thanks man!"

3:34 finished! I hopped into the car and I was back to the camp by 4:30...

Two things:

* I will eat at that Mexican restaurant....

* I should have driven to my house to clean my dog urine...

And yes, the time you just spent reading that, that is time you will never get back...

2009-07-05T17:14:00.001-07:00

I've been on the internets, and this is what I have found :

the car control is simply amazing! seeing a 500+ WHP rig slide sideways under perfect control makes me almost vomit with enjoyment... (30 rock Viewers will get the reference...)

oh yeah and the volvo's fixed.. thank goodness for small favors!

2009-06-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Grrrr Epic FAIL...

So after a long trip to the oregon coast, my wife and I were taking the kids on a short 60MPH Jaunt to the Malin pool when BANG... This is a Volvo XC90 2004 < 76,000 Miles... and this is what happens when an angle gear bearing gets mad.. very very mad:

This is supposed to have teeth. Look at the leading edge and you can see what they should look like all the way back, instead of a mix between a struck match and a whad of metal chewing gum.

as is this...

This engine in this rig is tranversely mounted, so the tcase is attached to the passenger side Constant Velocity joint, and is uses a driveshaft inside of a driveshaft to run the pinion.(think splined steel tube spinning inside another) then another electronnically controled unit called a Haldex (Buggati Veyron uses this unit) decides were the traction goes both wheels, right wheel left wheel no wheels...the problem here was lack of lubrication, this angle gear set is in a split case that has no gasket... (I understand this need,as the exact case depth sets the depth of the pinion teeth into the ring although I think you could machine the case to accept a rubber ring) so it leaks, slowly draining all the oil out of the case, the output shaft bearing starves for oil at high speed and fragged, spat its rollers into the R&P, and they "clearanced" the teeth.

Volvo lists this case as "lifetime lubrication" meaning there is no cycle to lube for these (think oil change every 3000 miles). SOOOO after I replace the case ($800+) you can bet I am drilling, tapping and exchanging fluids on this every 15,000 or so...the only redeeming thing here is the Medford dealership wanted $4000-$6000 to replace the case, and after calling other dealerships that price went down to $2000...(bear in mind the NEW part is nearly 2000 to begin with.)

I have 6 hours of wrench turning into this, and I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm in my driveway.If I had a lift and and had done more than one of them I could have had this done in less than 2.

So they(the dealership is telling me) are telling me that they are going to spend 20 man hours on something that took me 6 out?

love the car, hate the dealerships

2009-06-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

Building the iRack...

well its been a long lonley while and no new posts... well it summertime in k-falls, and were about to embark on the first of two journeys scheduled for summer. the kids are out of schewl... so we need to build a hitch-rack to hold all the camping gear so there's still space left for the kids. Sort of like this.

Alas my fab skillz arent partuclary good yet, but where theres a will!

We started with this : an out of focus 20' 1 1/2 chunk of 1/8" square steel...

throw some personal protection gear on the kiddos!

and start laying some delicious beads of molten metal...

Never mind the weld "boogers" if you dont like them maybe you should buy me a TIG welder....

Whence assembled, it should resemble a rectangle...

yadda yadda yadda and viola! we're almost there, now I just need to goto the steel yard for some 2" steel and expanded metal... but you get the idea, I'll let you know how it stacks up after the trip to the coast!

J

2009-03-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've been on the internet, and this is what I've found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcXJqZgLFII

2009-03-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

I am doing this partly to see what abomonation Tiffany creates for me:

The first THREE people to respond to this post will get something made by me!My choice.For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!2- What I create will be just for you.3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind.The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog.The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

2009-02-13T23:01:00.001-08:00

there are no words for how awesome this is!

2009-01-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

Custom Dash Update:

The Dash is .063 press broke to 90 degrees and then rolled at the bottom edge.
The toggles are Lights, Wipers, Washer , Reverse Light, Off-Road Halogens, as well as the running lights and headlights at the very botom on a pull Switch.

The Missing Gauge is my water temp gauge, it's in the truck as it plugs a critical hole in the top of the Thermostat housing.

Another View of the Same:

Close up of the toggles:

That's it for Now!

2009-01-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

Another Electrics Update:

So my new harness and fuseblock are in, I have patched welded and generally scraped together the original to make functioning taillights, turn indicators and heater controls: Phew!

You can See the Slackline of wire on the left of the pic...

Heres Some Pics:

Cleaned up Previous owner (we'll call him P/O)

wiring debacle

Close of of the new Fuse Block

My little helper, How can you refuse this one?

And my Moment of ZEN: my custom .063 Aluminum Dash purdy!

2009-01-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

An Update to the Electrical Nightmare:

So things have, for at least a few weeks ground to a halt, I had to do some deep digging in schematics and diagrams to resurect the craziness that was the state of my wiring harness.

also, I needed to procure a better heating/defrosting solution for the Beast:

first a few pics:

This is the new Heating solution, it has a defroster port in the back and woofs out 28,000 BTU (compared to the stockers 12,000 BTU)

Here is what was left of the wiring harness, the kid I picked the truck up from fancied himself a wiring Man and pretty much cut every inch of wiring out of the car' save the headlight harness and the tailight harness. Gack! this has got to go!

Close of of the same, So I set apart marking, testing, removing and labeling what was left of the factory harness, and removing his abomonotions...

More of the same:

2009-01-14T14:40:00.001-08:00

2008-12-30T13:58:00.000-08:00

so its done...

Disk brakes all the way around, nafarious (sp) coolant leak, new axles with lockers all the way around and 33" tires...

outstanding issues to resolve are:

1 the drag link is hammered.. I have to procure and install a new one.

2 the rear shocks need relocated

3 the rear disks make the brake peadal spongy need to find a larger bore master cyl

4 probably need to find a new engine a 350 perhaps....

5 all the electrical is still left undone... I'll have to address that piecemeal

but its starts reliably, drives niceley and goes uphill in the snow in 2wd

2008-12-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

From the Begining:

I suppose I should have started with this... a while back I bought a 1976 Blazer from a friend of a friend for 250 bucks, well 125 really as I split the cost with the friend, for my 125 bucks I got this: The kid gutted the interior ripped out every inch of wiring an was commencing to re-wire the blazer by hand...

2008-12-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

yes , just a quick post for ya'll the 33"chers are on , the front axle is in, brakes, dshaft and all.

the 33"s look at home under here..

the grimy ex-front axle

for reference its 27 degrees outside, and this is the primary shop heat source... sure beats laying in a 18" of snow....

2008-12-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Alright when we last left off, I had painted the axles and was waiting to bolt them up, well, this happend:like 6 to 8 inches of snow, fantastic.... so I borrowed Chris' engine crane and pulled the axles from the garage and snowbank, then I scraped the ice and snow from the driveway....

well, its close enough right? theres no way I could careen out of control down the street, right?

well I did the blazer is only front wheel drive for right now and has 4 not so nice tires as it stands.... so I Parked the blazer at the bottom of the street, hitched up the trailer to aprils car, and gingerly placed my axles in the back for the long 2 mile haul to Jonny buddens place....

2008-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Alright now the rear axle, I started with this: rusty dirty grimy axle, more flap wheel, and 6 more coats of paint, heres the finished axle:

this is what I started with, I cracked the diff to make certain the bearings and locker were in good order, and they were..

2008-12-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

Alright folks, so for my first 4x4 post, I's gonna talk 'bout rebuildin' some axles....

It all started with buying a 1976 K5 Blazer for 125 bucks from a buddy of mine. I am all about making a silk purse out of sow's ear but this is really stretching it. I figured that for 125 I really couldn't go wrong. What was wrong with a $125 dollar rig? A Lot the rear axle gears were shot with 11 consecutive ring teeth were missing and four odd pinion teeth were missing. I set my self up to source a new axle set, enter Pirates of the Rubicon Forums, I located a set of axles in Morgan Hill, California for 200 bucks, so I drove the 15 hours round trip from Klamath Falls bought and brought them home. This it what the front looked like when I started:

Cool part about these axles is that they have a rear disk brake conversion, 1/4 plate diff covers and lockers front and rear...

I started by stripping them down, first by hitting them with a flapper wheel, then a cup brush, pulled the calipers, and painted them...

Heres the new firey red calipers fresh with ceramic paint:

That's what 6 coats of rattle can black, (about two cans) looks like:

I think it looks pretty good, took me about two hours, the front axle appears to be in pretty good nick, well take on the back axle tomorrow night.... after that, the install, painting the truck, wiring the aluminum racing style dash, and creating the sound system, rock armor and my favorite, wheelin'!

2008-11-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

Re-found my blog, decided I should get into the catharsis of blogging... but with a twist, I'm mostly going to talk about 4wheeling and rowing, my two loves, behind my wife and children.

2003-07-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board - powered by vBulletin

this is a site that I spend far too much time lurking on.

Just finished my math homework and I figured I should let you all know.
Looking at tomorrow and knowing that I have a math test(my 1st) and a wri121 paper due( I acutally have it finished)

2003-07-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

Alright here goes, I am a suzuki guy, a good guy , father of two, I live in a little known

town in oregon 20 mi from the border, I love outdoors, I love my wife, and I love to rant. I

am currently attending school to be a Software Engineer and am in my 1st year.