Well the truck is fixed...

You didn't even know it was busted, did you?

Well it was. Yesterday evening on my way home from the car driving gig, it stopped backing up, that is, 1 wheel, the left front wheel, stopped rolling in reverse. I had to have it towed to a garage... Grr!

Turns out the caliper slide pins on that wheel had seized into the caliper mount and ruined the brake pads and the rotor. Getting fixed at the Firestone store cost $552 tonight! Argh! But everything's fixed now and I was able to get it home tonight. I am very soon- I suppose in January, going to have to put rotors and pads on the back of the truck. One of the pads back there is getting very thin and apparently the caliper back there needs attention too. But I'll plan on fixing all that on my own time just as soon as I can afford it.

I didn't want to Christmas shop this year anyway!

An idea for a real reality tv show

I don't watch reality television shows mainly because they aren't real! I especially don't, and won't watch any of those dumbass cake baking shows with snotty, wannabe cake bakers trying to outdo each other with ridiculous monstrosities of ugly, weird cakes. I do see the advertisements for some of these bandwith robbing programs because the BSU insists on watching the murder-death-mayhem programs that frequent the same network.

But tonight I had an idea for a reality show involving bakers that I would watch. Here's my idea: Take 6 or 8 newly minted from culinary school graduates, let them pick a town where they would like to operate a bakery. Give each of them enough start-up cash to open a storefront shop. Then leave them alone with the exception of a 1 man camera crew for an entire year except for monthly check-in visits. Let them hire people, set up shop, advertise, pay their bills, build a customer base and prove they have what it takes to really be proud of themselves.

Ditch all the phony drama, the foodfights, the petty bickering and the hidden direction from the program producers and just let these folks succeed or fail on their own merits. Let the monthly check-in episodes show the financial books and how each baker comes up with their own ideas about what success is and how to achieve it.

Make that into hour long episodes without all that fake drama BS that is apparent on the programs today and I'll watch it! Same goes for the chopper builders and all the other programs of the genre!

Time to bring in the Thanksgiving decorations

The pumpkin and corn stalks get thrown away and the pilgrim children and turkey plywood characters can get put away for another year. The hay bale will be pulled under the carport until I break out the nativity scene for Christmas. I'm going to do that today.

I'm also going out to the shop to get to work on a nativity creche for the church Christmas Eve service. I promised to build it some weeks back so I suppose I better get busy on that little project. I can see a trip to Home Depot in my schedule today as well as I'm certain that I won't have everything I need on hand.

Some guys get all the best toys...

I never had a Hot wheels track as awesome as this one.
I guess nobody else ever did either though.

But what a toy!

This is really gonna make you laugh!

I got turned on to this blog through a Facebook friend and it's just too funny and smart not to share with even those of you that might not see it over there. This gal's writing and drawings are hilarious and I can't wait to see what else she posts in the future. Go check out Hyperbole and a Half for a great tale!

WWF or WTF?

I've been entertaining myself in the evenings lately perusing Failblog and one of my favorite things to look at is the submission of ugly tattoos. It truly is scary what people have voluntarily had permanently inked onto their skin and looking at the awefulness is kind of like staring at a terrible auto crash or train derailment. But I just couln't help but share this picture with those of you that wouldn't normally wander over to that odd part of the internet.

see more Ugliest Tattoos
Weird, huh?

Al Gore says something I can agree with...

This morning I discovered that former V.P., wanna-be savior of the planet & Nobel prize laureate Owlgore is actually able to learn new things and admit that some of his Save Mother Gaia ideas were mistakes. Using corn for fuel fer instance: "First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small."

And if you were ever uncertain that politics did NOT play a crucial role in his save-the-planet lofty words of wisdom, there's this quote:

One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."

Emphasis is mine.

Ok, let it snow!

I've got Fish Slayer back from the boat store where it has been tightly shrink wrapped for the winter and pushed it back to the fence and out from under the carport. I also got the neighbor to help me back the camper behind the fence today and once I get the battery out of it and the tarp tied down, the weather can just go wild and bring in the snow- which is due beginning on Saturday.

I've been up to Powder Mountain Ski Resort to try and obtain employment for the winter and I expect- since the guy doing the hiring remembered me from previous years handing out chocolates, that I'll be working once the resort opens. Powder Mountain isn't using dedicated ticket checkers any longer so I's have to be part of the lift operations staff, meaning I'd have to bump chairs and operate the lifts but I've done all that in the past so I guess I can do it again.

And I had a job interview! I actually had a sit down interview yesterday for a logistics coordinator for a big company here in Ogden that makes interesting and big stuff that requires some really cool machine tools. Now I'm on pins & needles waiting for a follow-up call to see if I got the job. I really think I'd like this job and company so I am very anxious for them to call me.

So I've taken the day off...

Slept in today even skipped church for the first time in months. All I've done today was complete an insurance claim for pharmacy copays, completed a job application for a job I applied for a couple weeks ago, sent my resume to someone I met at last week's job fair, sent my resume to another company looking for an inventory specialist, and cooked myself 2 eggs, 4 strips of bacon and a tube of bisquits for lunch.

Other than that I've just screwed around on the interwebz and played around with some of the features of my new computer. Haven't even been outside today! Back to a full schedule tomorrow!

Being out of work is tiring!

So I've got the Toshiba working pretty nicely with all the stuff I need reloaded and working. It's fast and doesn't stumble like the Compaq and I've found a solution for getting the operating system reloaded- yesterday I restored the headlights on a Ford Mustang and the owner of the car is the local Geek Squad manager! He said if I bring the dead machine to him that he would get the OS reloaded for just 60 bucks, not the 130 bucks they normally charge! And I think he is going to find me a few more headlight customers!

I cleaned the Mustang headlights yesterday and a Toyota Prius today. Afterwards I ran up to Powder Mountain Ski Resort for the job fair to make certain that the lift operations manager knew who I was and would be looking for a 2 day per week job for me. Turns out Powder Mountain is now putting ticket checking under the lift operator heading so bumping chairs and running the lift would be my duty too if I get the job. Luckily for me, all three of the folks I was chatting with knew me for the chocolates that appear from my pocket, so I'm pretty certain they will find me a job.

Afterwards, I raced down the mountain so I could redo the headlights I did for a customer last week on a Toyota Camry. For some reason- too cold outside, too much heat from the floodlamps; I don't know, but the urethane coating had fogged up some. I ended up sanding off that coating and redoing it and hopefully it will stay looking good indefinitely.

Tonight I'm just trying to rest up. I have a job application from a local company that I need to complete and send in before Monday and some other leads to follow up on from a Job Fair for veterans that I attended last Wednesday. I'm tired!

RIP my trustworthy Compaq

My first post from my new, shiny, bigger Toshiba Satellite laptop that I just unboxed an hour ago. My 5 year old, and until now, very trusty laptop died on me last night. Dragging it into a couple shops this AM determined that the hard drive had died and perhaps taken all my data with it. Argh!

I finally had 1 tech advise me to buy a replacement hard drive and a external box to put my old drive in to try to keep the old machine alive and to recover my old data. So- I tried that and I couldn't get Windows reinstalled and got stymied.

And I went out and bought a new machine... It's pretty and modern and I managed to get connected to my wi-fi the first time. It also takes up much more kitty napping space on my lap and she does not approve of that but the fan exhaust is blowing warm on her so the intrusion is being tolerated.

Next thing is to try and recover my very important data!

Where was I today?

Attending the ordination of a new Episcopal bishop- that's where! It was an amazing, remarkable and beautiful ceremony that doesn't happen very often; we've only had 11 Episcopalian bishops in Utah since the first one arrived in 1867. Bishop Hayashi is a very neat man, outgoing, relaxed and cheerful. He actually walked down the row of people carrying in the banners shaking hands and welcoming each person- myself included, just 5 minutes before the ceremony- a very big ceremony for him mind you!

And speaking of banners, if you watch the video at the KSL link- it's not apparently embeddable, at the 30 second point you will see the St. Peter's banner, carried by this humble scribe. You can't see me but it was me carrying the banner in the initial processesion!

I'm so pleased that Rev. Hayashi is our new bishop. I think he is going to be a real spark plug for our diocese and I'm looking forward to his success. I'm so pleased to have been a part of today's celebration.

I'm a denier-

Found at my buddy Dave's blog; Sythstuff.

I might be getting closer to owning that Kawasaki...

I mentioned the otther day that I had found a local, 1978 Kwasaki KZ650 Custom that I was very interested in. Today I got to see it up close and personal and now I really want it! For it's age it is remarkably original and very clean. The current owner has done a thorough job of reconditioning it and done all the right things that should be done on a bike this age. It starts and runs like a brand new bike, firing on the first push of the button and idles smoothly and revs cleanly. The paint is beautiful even if it's not the original color or trim and I wouldn't change it. It could use new tires and the rear turn signals aren't original but otherwise it is perfect.

I might have even figured out a way to pay for it!

I haven't figured out how to tell the spousal unit about it though...

A productive day today!

I restored the headlights on 2 different Jeep Grand Cherokees today. Both SUVs were really nice looking rigs except for the headlights and on both, they turned out beuatifully. Both customers were very happy with the results and pretty darned surprised at the outcome.

Interestingly enough, both of these customers were a result of my efforts putting out my flyers on cars at last week's Weber State University football game. I got the idea that maybe there would be a bunch of cars parked close together during the game and a little bit of internet searching showed that last Saturday was to be their last home game of the year. So- I went and put out my flyers and scored two customers.

Actually, it's 3 new customers because the manager of one of today's customers called me tonight and I'll be doing her car's headlights on Monday! Pretty cool!

I wish I could write like this-

Now, the party that has retaken power in Congress may do nothing. At best I fear yesterday's election was a band-aid on a sucking chest wound, and at worst they'll go right back to getting all knotted up in rearranging the "family values" and "law'n'order" deck chairs while the USS Dollar continues to slip beneath the waves... But while I was eating lunch I watched the Brat Prince keep trying to strike his favorite chin-uplifted Mussolini pose, with its haughty "Who farted?" moue of confident disdain, but it wouldn't stick, and his facial expression kept drifting back to one that looked like a man chewing on a cat turd.

Now that's writing! You are a charmer, Tam!

Somebody likes me!

Imagine my surprise tonight when I carried in the day's mail to discover a copy of Vintage Motorsport magazine in the pile, addressed to me and apparently with a subscription until September 2011. I don't think I've ever laid eyes on this glossy, thick and densely packed magazine full of stories and pictures of classic race cars from all over the world, because if my local Barnes & Noble ever did have it on display, I'd already have bought this treasure trove of classic racing cars.

When I showed the cover to the BSU, I showed her a picture of Joe Leonard in front of a giant STP decal and the text, "My Favorite Race; Joe Leonard and the 1968 Indianapolis 500." SHe asked me if that was significant and I replied that it most certainly was significant to me because I was in the grandstands for Joe's record and pole position setting run during the first weekend of qualifying in his STP turbine car! I was 12 years old and I stood silently there with thousands of other fans while Joe sped down the front straightaway with the sound of his tires being the loudest sound throughout the speedway. Yeah, it was dramatic and it made a lasting impression on me. I can't wait to read the story in this magazine.

Sadly though, I learned some very distressing news in the very first column that I happened to read. Any car guy has read and re-read columns by a certified car enthusiast, Brock Yates. Brock is a legend and has written for all the car mags over the years and was singlarly responsible for creating the (very) illegal Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash- a race from New York City to Redondo Beach, California using any car, road and trickery possible. I even owned a CBSTSSMTD decal that I proudly displayed on the side window of my 1964 Pontiac Gran Prix when I was a senior in high shcool. Brock goes way back- selling his first car magazine column in 1957, I learned this reading his column tonight. I also learned tonight that Brock has Alzheimer's disease! What a truly terrible tragedy for a man with more car stories to tell than probably anyone in America.

Anyway, I've got a terrific new magazine showing up in my mailbox and I can't wait to sit down and pour over it's pages in the next days. Whoever signed me up for this terrific magazine- thanks very much!

Do you know what's really cool?

Walking directly across the street from my house to vote- that's neat! Since the school around the block had been closed for a couple years- it's back open now, the polling station for our district was moved to the church directly across from my house. I was able to walk over, vote, visit with the nice election officials and walk back home in just about 10 minutes.

I love this neighborhood!