Operation Blue Oval

I ended up buying the 1983 F250 I had previously talked about. My brother and I picked it up last Sunday, and I'm slowly detailing it.

It's surprisingly in good shape and I think it's fair to say that it legitimately has 113K miles on it. Right now my brother and I are restoring the paint job, and it's turning out really really nice. The orange (it's a two tone) is really really nice. There's obviously some rust on it, after all it is a truck and almost 30 years old, but not a lot. The door panels aren't too bad, but the sun damage on them is noticeable so I've sanded them off a bit.

One thing I had to do was buy a new battery. The one that came with the truck was really for a small car. How it got it started, I don't know. Today I found out I need to eventually replace the locking gas caps or see if I can figure out how to clean/fix them. It could be that I'm just tired and not smart enough to figure it out.

I also have to fix the power steering pump hose, not sure how that will go.

I think all in all, I got a really good deal for this truck. The paint is solid, it has almost new tires, it rides smooth and my brother actually thought it was nice.

Eventually I'll take it up to Council Crest and do the predictable pictures of the rig over looking Portland.

Absence makes the heart...

Fondue?

Roughly 5-6 years ago, my brother came up with a good idea. He and I would join forces and buy a Bronco for our cabin. It wasn't necessarily for the cabin, so to speak, but it would go up there.

The first attempt at it stopped short. I didn't see the point in it because of the main people who would gain from having a 2nd vehicle up there, didn't include me. So I had a hard time justifying spending that much money so my brother could have the benefit of driving up in the woods with his family, let alone other people in the family using it and not paying anything for it.

Not that I expected it to be fully beneficial for me to have a Bronco up there, but that realistically, he would benefit significantly more than I would. He having a family, and a pet, me having a cat.

Then a few years later during the tail end of Bush's 2nd term, we thought about doing it again. This time, he figured, the economy would get so bad and gas prices so high, that people would be DESPERATE to get rid of these gas hogs. He started to send me several links on craigslist for Broncos, and I even went to test drive one of them. I think I was more serious about it than he was (imho for the same reason he initially wanted to do this in the first place). This time it was him who changed his mind.

Fast forward to the last 7-8 months. I started getting interested in buying an older Ford truck. Partially because I liked a certain style (the older Supercab look), but mostly because I wanted a truck of "my own", that would be able to tow my boat (which I never use) and the families utility trailer. Right now, the vehicle that is used for that is an old clunker suburban that has been my dads for over 20 years. So not only is it a 24 year old suburban, with 24 year old suburban technology, but it has 315,000 miles on the body and hasn't been well maintained for...well, since he bought it truthfully. And the worst part of it all? He's a smoker. So anytime you borrow it, you smell of smoke.

So I started looking for old trucks. My brother and I test drove a few, and I test drove a few on my own. Some were absolute clunkers, and one in particular was nice. One in particular was kind of nice. A woman in Corvallis (Or) was selling an 83 F250, with a 460 in it for X dollars.

Yes it is older than the Suburban, but it has far fewer miles on the body and it's a non smoker car and it has more towing ability and hauling capability. And yes, it's going to get worse gas mileage than the suburban does.

In theory I have come to an agreement with the owner of the truck, and should pick it up in a week or more. Her schedule and my schedule aren't conducive.

There are a few funny things about my potentially buying this truck. But most of all, it's that my dad *hates* Ford, as does one of my sisters. My brother is the only "Blue Oval" in the family, and he actually wants to eventually get a truck for his family. And it'll be funny if this truck works out that I'll have gotten one before him. Especially considering I have no real need for one.

But it should last for a long time, it's a usable truck and my dad, myself and my brother should all get use out of it. And it could eventually migrate its way up to Idaho to replace the suburban which is (in theory) heading up to Idaho because it will have no use in Portland and my dad doesn't want to get rid of it.

It's funny how you can see someone years later and think to yourself "wow, they look just as good as I remember" and sometimes you can look at a picture of someone years later and think "I distinctly remember her looking a lot better when we were in high school" and wonder if you had blinders on.

Not saying this person resembled Doc Brown, but the aging process has both altered my memory and changed features I remember being interested in.

Of course, when you look at yourself in pictures and then in person and think "woah....why didn't anyone tell me that was a bad look?" you ain't got much room to talk.

Work makes a person forgetful.

So, in the time since I made my last blog, I did get the job I thought I wasn't getting.

Last night, I talked crap about how the Beavers defense and offense was inept so far, and then blammo...they start kicking butt.

Hm, that gets me thinking...you know, I could joke about getting married..

Anyways, it's been a while since I posted here. Not a long time, but just about a month. In that time, I started working back in the district I've worked in since 2007. It's really fun, and more meaningful than what I did last year. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time. It, however, felt like my Voltron analogy.

What's my Voltron analogy you ask?

In the 1980's, a great new cartoon was introduced to all boys (and some girls) under the age of 15. Although I'm sure some of them were over 15 too. This great cartoon was Voltron (Defender of the Universe) . It was was about 5 robot lions and together they would create Voltron, a Robot that would defend the Universe from....You know what? If you don't know what Voltron is, google it.

So as I was saying, there was Voltron. Kids grew up watching Voltron, and loved it. Well, liked it. One day, a new Voltron show was put on the air. This time it wasn't about Lions, but instead cars. You read that right, cars. Together they would form Voltron, Defender of a different portion of the Universe.

And to kids, it was like someone showing you Transformers, and then Go-Bots.

So the Car Voltron, while still Voltron, just seemed wrong. They had a shared name, shared concept and in some cases, shared characters (well, they looked a lot like other characters. Surprisingly, many of the main characters looked alike). But it was lame ass.

For those who are still reading but have no idea what I'm talking about, it's like when Beau and Luke replaced Coy and Vance. Sure, they're still "Duke" boys, but "Beau" and "Luke"? Laaaaame.

Or, it's like seeing the facebook pages of friends you went to high school with and seeing the middle school or elementary school pictures. You realize that it's still a school, and they probably had similar cliques and groups, etc, but it's almost like you're watching a foreign film without subtitles. The difference is their horrible 4th grade teacher wasn't named Mr. Novitsky, their middle school didn't change names in the 8th grade, and they didn't have an awesome shop teacher like Mr. Anderson.

I guess my point is that last year, when I returned to the Middle School I worked at, felt a lot like Voltron (or Dukes, or grade school comparisons). I knew where I was. I knew a lot of the students, and I knew a few of the teachers. But the plot changed a bit, and some of the characters resembled ones in the previous show, and it was just strange.

This year, it's like I'm back watching Voltron, even though the students I know/recognized were all from my initial job at the high school and not the middle school. However, it is a job I like a TON more than last year even though I absolutely loved working at the MS two years ago.

This blog was random because I hope to edit it later.

So apparently I'm overqualified.

As some might know, I was in grad school for 2 years. But towards the end of it, I had to make a decision to leave it (hopefully temporarily) due to health reasons. I don't have some terminal illness though (so no, you aren't getting my shit anytime soon).

So anyways, here it is I was accepted to grad school, and now it appears as though I quite possibly didn't get a job where all I need is a 2 year degree. I'm not sure what that says about things anymore.

I'm thinking of making a pod-cast, much in the same vain as "Beatles Brunch". I have to figure out how I'd edit it, where I would host it, and if it's worth the time. I don't think it would be terribly hard, but time consuming. I'd have to come up with some kind of jingle/slogan and a script (which would be the hardest part).

This seems to be one of the shorter blogs.

A religious moment

As some know, I'm not the most religious person in the world. I'm spiritual (which to some is just a cop out), but not a church goer, or a "believer".

But I try not to let it make a difference in my daily doings, etc. If you want to believe, I'm perfectly ok with that.

Last night before I sent to bed, I was listening to my collection of songs. And this one came up.


It's the theme song to Vicar of Dibley, and I have converted it to an MP3.

Anyways, late at night I'm listening to this song. I remembered that I always liked it and wanted to see if there were other versions of it. There are others, but this one was by a group called the Choirboys (out of England). I looked for other versions, can came across this one.



This one, which is a different version of the same song, has better harmonies in it (I'm a big fan of harmonies). Even though there is a part where one of the singers screws up, I enjoyed it. And as I watched it, all the sudden some overwhelming sense of happiness and elation came over me. Almost as if I was being over taken by a powerful force, that provided me with a sense of belonging and security that I was lacking.

It made me wonder if that's what "finding the light" is all about. It was a wondrous feeling, that's for sure. It put me at ease, and comforted me in a time when I was feeling uneasy, and unsure about some things.

In a way, it was like it provided a sense of purpose.

I'm not sure it did anything long term to me, but it was a nice moment.

The long awaited return

Occasionally, I'll see things crawling on the wall near my bed. I'll rush to turn on the light, fully expecting to see some creature with it's beady little eyes staring at my ready to launch a full fledged attack on my face. But they disappear quickly when I turned on the lights.

Just now (well, 5 minutes ago), I turned off the light and saw something scurrying across my bed. I quickly turn on the lights thinking that it must be real because I am both not asleep and I have my laptop on and can see a fair amount. Lo and behold, there is a HUGE spider crawling on my bed, making a b-line for the fun zone. So I smack it (the spider, not the fun zone) and actually stop the damn thing in it's tracks and kill it.

Now keep in mind that I might feel bad because I don't mind spiders and I don't mind crawly bugs. And that's all good, cept for two small facts. I hate spiders and crawly bugs.

I'm trying my best to become apolitical. Or if that doesn't mean what I think it means, I've decided to not really pay close attention to political debates or discussions anymore.

Earlier this year, I bought myself a decent 35 mm camera, which I hope to use for solely pictures of scenery or the occasional viewpoint pictures. With that said, I'm hoping that I finally get to the coast sometime this fall/winter, for some storm watching. But that's putting the cart before the horse (both of which I don't own currently).

This week, I purchased an old projector from someone on craiglist. It wasn't too expensive, and the picture is good. It's not HD or nothing, but it's good enough for what I plan on using it for (mostly movies the few times I watch DVD's). I also bought a screen last week for 10 bucks, so now I have what amounts to potentially a 7 foot TV at my disposal. Add to that a 15 dollar "surround sound" that I bought (granted, it's a Walmart special, so therefore nothing great), and I almost have joined the mid 90's.

I was talking to my friend Dylan about it. He has a stereo in his car that can play DVDs (both in audio format, and as a DVD player).I thought that it would be kind of cool for him to use his car as a "date-drive in" type thing. He could get his own screen, projector and what not, and go out with someone and watch the movie from inside his car. Put the projector on top of his car (strapped in so it can't be stolen) and project it onto a screen in front of his car, and listen to the audio with his (really really nice) stereo. See? Kind of like he's at a drive-in. If you did it right, maybe you could get a couple cars together, and watch a movie as a 'group', and somehow have the sound in the cars themselves.

Apparently you can have these projectors show movies up to 30 feet diagonally, although I don't know how decent the picture is.

videos

When I was younger, I always preferred music from the 60's and some from the early 70's. I don't know why, but it was the brand of music that I felt most connected to.

The overwhelming majority of the songs I listened to were from the 60's, even when the 60's became 40 years old. I really was partial to certain songs, the following of which are videos of those songs.

First up, Classical Gas by Mason Williams.

Classical Gas Video from Shutter The Thought on Vimeo.

Another one was The Happening, by the Supremes


In the year 2525, by Zager and Evans


Love theme from Romeo and Juliet (Henry Mancini, although Nino Rota created it, it's most famous version is by Henry Mancini)


Love is blue, by Paul Mauriat


This guys in love with you, Herb Alpert


Terry Staffords hit, Suspicion.


Wedding Day Blues, 5th Dimension.




He ain't heavy (he's my brother), The Hollies


Cats in the cradle (Harry and Sandy Chapin)


Jim Croce, Time in a bottle and I got a name





Flowers are red, Harry Chapin

doing a search

Occasionally, when I'm incredibly bored or looking for something to do instead of what I should be doing, I'll spend time looking up information people. Not anything serious or incriminating, but just random people searches.

Apparently you can do criminal searches on people (for free. http://www.criminalsearches.com/) and find out some of the stupid things they did in their youth. Of course, I'm guessing that's what would happen, as I couldn't find anyone who I knew who on the list.

I was able to find out how to get a time-lapse program for the webcam on my laptop. Actually, it's a combo of 3 programs, but bottom line is you can set it up to take short video clips in increments of every 1 second or up to days. So for my next trip to Priest Lake or my sister's house in San Diego, I'm going to try to do take some pictures with my laptop, and broadcast them online somehow.

I'm thinking that if I can somehow hook up my laptop in my car, and have it do a time-lapse on the way to Idaho, that'd be perfect. Maybe do a picture once every minute or something. I don't know. I'll have to figure out if my adapter works though. I tried to test it tonight, but it wouldn't work. I don't know if it was because the car has to be one or not. It's been so long since I last drove my car, I've forgotten what the set-up is for my cig-lighter.

Of course, I'm putting the cart well before the horse, because my car isn't drivable right now.

Btw, that's one of those weird words you look at and figure it can't be spelled right. Looks like you're saying "driv able". why isn't it "drive-able" as one word? Never got that.

I'll probably do a test-run to see if it's worth it.

That's it for my neck of the woods..

What am I doing here?

There are times in my life where I have wondered just what it is that I am doing somewhere. For a while, I was happy with what I was doing, and didn't have many issues with it.

I've also wondered why it is, when you are procrastinating, sometimes the television openly mocks you. Mocks you, you ask? Yah...

Imagine if you will, you are home and you find something interesting on TV. So you change the channel thinking "hey, this looks like a neat episode of How It's Made, I should watch it. Only to change the channel during a commercial break. So you then to to another TV show you know is on (let's say..Survivorman) and of course, it's on a commercial too.

I have a serious question, am I the only one who doesn't really care about Tiger Woods or what he's apologizing for?

It's not that I condone or support it, I just don't care.

I wish I could finish the book I've started writing, and sell it. Of course, I've started this book several times, and never finished (obviously...otherwise why would I be wanting to finish it?).

I should really try to hammer the thing out this summer.

Because my family is awesome, we have a cabin on a Lake in Northern Idaho. It's always been a dream of mine to someday live in the area of Idaho, and eventually have internet up there, and potentially a webcam for us to look at (just our family) and see how things are going.

And the other day, I found a webcam that actually was aimed across the lake from where our cabin is, (it's facing our cabin). It is a place that has taken the place of an older resort that had been there for decades. The website for theat resort, http://www.kaniksusands.com/. So when I found the website (I had known about the webcams for a while, but none were pointed across the lake towards where our cabin is), I was super excited.

But this morning when I checked it, it turned out the webcam which points directly at our cabin, has been moved (or shut down). That really sucks because I really enjoyed the thought of being able to look at the picture, and doing control + to make it bigger so we could actually see a blurry picture of our cabin and boat-house.

:(

So I emailed the site, asking if someone had asked for that picture to be taken down. Not sure why that would happen, but it's a possibility.

I just got an email back (how sweet is that?) and they said they were having issues with the server or something, and it should be back up soon. On top of that, there might be a zoom option!

Farkin sweet!

A trip

I really want to take a trip. No where in particular, just a trip. I was thinking of going to the Oregon coast today, but other things changed those plans. I had planned to take a trip last summer, but I don't remember why I didn't. This summer, I really hope to make a trip or two.

I plan on visiting my sister in San Diego, that much I know. Not sure when, or for how long, but it's planned. I'd like to go for over a week, just to get out of the area, and semi-relax and just enjoy the lack of having to do anything at all. Then I want to go up to Idaho (hopefully with my sisters family in tow, but I think that's unlikely). I hope to go even if they don't go, and be like last year where I was all alone for a week or more, and don't have anything to deal with outside of my own solitude.

The guy who sent me one of the parts for my car, is sending me a 2nd (and by accident, 3rd) part for my car. I really hope that it fixes what is wrong with my car.

I'm toying with the idea of making a canoe this summer. Let me re-state that, in a little more accurate manner. Back when I was younger, probably early to mid 20's, I wanted to make canoes. I got a book on how to make it, and I even went so far as to buy some wood for it. But I never did it. And this summer, I hope to start that up again, and make one. Probably just a little 13 or 15 foot canoe, nothing extravagant.

I really enjoy working in wood, and it might be the only time I really get a sense of accomplishment or a sense of pride in something I do. I don't know why I've never done more stuff with wood, creating things or fixing/restoring/recreating things. It's where I feel my closest to a "calling", a true calling. Some people are painters, some people are musicians, some people work in wood. I'm one of those people who feels more at peace with myself when I'm doing something out of wood. I've allowed myself to get away from it for far too long, and that's a shame.

So...

The superbowl ended yesterday, and for the first time in probably 15 years, I actually watched some of it.

I've spent the last 3 months trying to fix my car. It had an OD problem, or more accurately, it still has an OD problem. I'm hoping it's the only problem with it.

I received a "new" OD in the mail a few weeks ago, and finally after not having my car move, I put in the replacement OD. But, the problem I had before (a reverse issue), reared it's ugly head once again when I test-drove the car and was on my way to IPD (ipdusa.com) to get it fixed. So, back under the deck it went.

I had been receiving help from a guy in Kansas and also from a guy in Southern Oregon. After I emailed the guy from Kansas again (for probably the 100th time), I think he'll be sending me the part I need. So right now, I'm waiting for that other part to come in the mail, and then put back together the original OD and put it back in the car.

In essence, I hope to have 2 working ODs. Right now, I don't know if I even have one.

I really want to get my car working, as I've been without it for such a long time I forgot how much I enjoy driving it. Plus, I hope to go to Idaho (or maybe the coast) in March, and then again in the summer.