"Keep a Journal: How else are you going to get a good look at who you were?"

Sunday, March 24, 2002

KWY wants me to design a shindogu for him...and build it, no less! KWY is a big EverQuest player, and pointed out to me that developing your character's skills in the game requires a lot of KB sitting time, pressing keys over and over, until the skill you're wanting gets developed to a particular level...He wants a device that will press keys for him. Shades of "The Simpsons"...
Now, since I want KWY's help on a little harebrained scheme of my OWN, I have agreed to build him his automatic keyboard presser. I envision the prototype as a kludge built out of erector set and plywood, with 5 bucks of radio shack goodness thrown in. I have a couple of old CD-ROM drives taken apart that should provide the gears and whatnot I'll need. I think I'll have the gizmo press two keys initially, and mebbe leave room for up to six armatures...Anyway, KWY claims that if we can build a working prototype and get it produced, we could make money if only a narrow percentage of EverQuest players bought one. Or we could just sell the blueprints online for a couple of bucks each.

My own scheme requires the services of a software designer. As KWY is the only software designer I know who will work for free (50% cut of future profits, if any), he gets the tap. If we can get a working package together, we shop it around to whomever will listen to us, and sell it to the highest bidding interested party. Plus, I want to build it because I WANT one. Money to be made, folks...more bulletins as events warrant.

In other news, I got all the spare parts together that I will need to build 3 bikes out of the collection of parts I have. I will be selling the Kodiak because Its frame is just too small for me. The Schwinn get's the Kodiak's wheels (granny geared), and I have built a new set of QR wheels for the Kodiak. I should have no trouble unloading it CHEAP. The hardtail TJ gave me will get a decent set of alloy wheels, and I have decided to leave it's brakes and other hardware alone. I MAY swap the cantilever brakes on the HT for the mismatched set on the Schwinn, or I may just wait 'till Spring Cleaning and see if I can heist another set of brake levers that match either one of the sets I now have on the Schwinn. I could also head 'round to my local junkman and see if I can work a trade. Would like a suspended fork for the Schwinn, but the sus forks on the HT are too tall to install on the Schwinn's frame...that's another reason to sell the HT: it's just too darn big for me.

Saturday, March 16, 2002

Ok, the story of the week so far:
Made peace with supervisor. This means I will either go on to become a more valued member of the dept. team or that the axe is gonna fall soon...sigh, I'm SUCH a cynic sometimes -- must be the medication.

I've been off work sick for most of the past week - DEJA VU!!! - and went down to the local clinic to get a note for work. Right...I'm too sick to drive to work, so I have to get up and drive to the clinic to get an MD to officially say so. Ya know, if doctors still made house calls, there might be more of 'em out there...sorry, I'm rambling a little TOO much there.

Visit with Dr. Towill went well, I was surprisingly lucid for most of it. The first item out of the ordinary was the throat swab. The second item was the quickie chest X-ray he sent me down the hall for. I've never had one of those...When I asked what he was looking for, he replied matter-of-fact; "Pneumonia". Geeez, I didn't think I was THAT sick. All I'd had was a little bitty 102 degree fever for most of the previous 3 days. Anyway, no deadly respiratory condition, but bad enough bronchitis to light up the film beautifully. I got a standard 10 day course of antibiotics and the fever went away within 2 hours of my first dose. The wife still has whatever-this-is, but both kids seem to have missed it somehow. Wife is recovering, slowly...

In other news, I missed the Lift Truck Rodeo...AGAIN...on Dr. T's recommendation. He figures I'll be ready to return to work monday, but that I probably should stay home in the meantime because I could still be contagious. I wasn't up to it anyway...

Donovan wrote, ICQ'ed, and Phoned LD to tell me all about the head gasket job he'd done on his hyundai/dodge/mitsubichi excel/colt/whatever...The same car I helped him do an oil change on last summer. Nice little car, but engine compartment is kinda crowded and the engine has a few unfortunate quirks that can bite you on the ass if you're unfamiliar. I had a car with the same series engine so I KNEW why he phoned...

He removed the fuel pump while taking the head off...

Normally, this is not a big deal. The Mitsu 4 Cyl engine on that era of import uses a simple, mechanical drive, double diaphragm pump, driven by a polished steel rod about 4" long. There is NO mechanical connection between the cam and the rod, or between the rod and the spring lever on the pump. The rod sits inside a carefully sized hole drilled through the head...at about a 30 degree angle downward. See where this is going? The pump is also (unfortunate indeed!) located toward the rear of the engine compartment UNDER the manifold. (also, there's a pressure relief vent out the bottom of the pump housing that sits over the alternator...I've always wondered about the wisdom of that...) The short of it is...If you're not aware of the set-up, you will try to remove the pump from above, blind, and that rod will come shooting out of the head as soon as the pump body is no longer there to hold it in place. DIY manual procedures for that model recommend removal from underneath, which is impossible, but insures you don't lose the rod -- 'cause it will fall on you.

Donovan was working outdoors in fresh, powdery, snow...he lost the rod, but wasn't aware of it? Yep.

He did find it again, after the aforementioned LD call to me. I told him to grease the sucker with vaseline ("just dunk it in the jar...") and it should stick inside the head long enough for him to get the fuel pump back on. Since everything ELSE involved in the head gasket replacement went off smoothly, he should have his vehicle back on the road by the time you read this. (assuming anyone besides ME reads this, anyway...)

In Other News, I have decided to buy a used, bare-bones system for the kids instead of trying to build one from all the spare junk I have kicking around here. The P166 I started to build for Coral lacks a HD to make it go. I could get a used HD for it, but for the same price I could pick up an old Corporate Desktop Brick and upgrade it with some of the parts I have on the 166. That way, I would still have the leftovers for spares.

Problem: cash flow.

No, we're not poor...we're in debt...

Not badly, mind you -- the several thou we owe in various directions is a pittance compared with...well, say, the National Average. But the wife wants it paid off ASAP (current climate makes her nervous -- and I ain't gonna argue with THAT), so after three months, we're almost halfway there on paper. But this means NO extra for extras - like a computer for the kids.

Can anyone say: "Garage Sale"?

Heck, If we could raise even 50 bucks I would gladly chip in the rest. Besides, I've been meaning to get rid of some of the junk around the shop anyway. The kids could stand to thin out their toyboxes a little. Some of the wife's "bargains" we don't use could be put to better use by someone else...etc, etc.

Spring Cleaning is coming up too...mebbe we should have the Garage Sale afterward instead of beforehand...must ask the wife.

Friday, March 01, 2002

I am home early on a Friday Night because the Other Dept. Head (an otherwise decent guy) decided that the tiff myself and my supervisor were having wouldn't bother him at all - If I wasn't there. I am probably going to be called in on Moday for a little tete-a-tete with MY dept. head (he wasn't available at the time of said tiff) to Explain My Actions. This marks the third or fourth such meeting I have had in the last few months. Coincidentally, this supervisor has only been on the job for the last few months. Is it just me? Previous to this period I have had 3 or 4 such meetings over the last SEVEN YEARS. For mistakes made, not for some petty personality conflict. Either that, or I have been pulling BS the whole time I have worked there and this particular supervisor has a sufficiently low BS threshold that he isn't going to let me get away with it any longer. I am feeling a little conflicted right now because I can see validity in BOTH viewpoints.

I need a change...

I DON'T want to change jobs. Granted, there are some advantages: my severance payment would probably get rid of our current debt. (not mortgage, tho') Perhaps I will find something MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER!!! Optimism aside, the current salary and benefits I enjoy took a long time to build. Starting over somewhere else would put a SERIOUS crimp in our finances. The thought of slogging along for several years to recover what I have now, just drains me.