Charlie’s Haus

Yesterday we went to the Dane County Humane Society looking for a mated pair of cats.  We were a little disappointed when we got there, there were only around 8-10 cats available!  No pairs either.  After seeing some cuties, we decided to take home a shy little girl all by herself.  The other two cats we were looking at had respiritory infections and would have to be kept seperate, so it would have been a pain.  Im glad we did.  We named the her Greta.  She had been at the shelter for the longest time because she was sick when she came in.  She is such a loving cat.  If you petted her for 3 hours straight, she would still want more.  She is just pretty shy right now though.  She doesnt really want to come out of the bedroom, although she will for short trips, but any sudden movements or loud noises and she is gone.  Hopefully its just because she is in a new place.  Here is a picture of her:

Tonight we are possibly seeing the new Die Hard movie with one of Mandi’s colleagues.  Im kinda hoping cause Bruce Willis is the man.

Last weekend Mandi thought it would be “fun” to go with some other people on a 16 mile bike ride from Verona, to the Riley Tavern, then back to Verona.  I tried talking her out saying that was a long ride considering the longest ride we have taken is to Culvers 3 blocks away.  She wouldnt back down though so we went.  We all paid for it too.  Some of us were really really really slow (not gonna mention names ).  It made the ride take forever.  My but didnt get really sore until about 2 days later, but then it was bad.  We all decided next time we are gonna start further up the trail head at a bar so its only about 8 or 10 miles total instead of one way.  That would be a lot of fun.

And without further ado, I leave you with a great sign from the Inacom building where I had training last week:

If you havent seen the original Landlord video you gotta check it out.  Its the first one.  The second video just came out…its too bad there wont be more.

I am finishing up my week long training at Inacom.  I was in the Microsoft Active Directory class.  Its been pretty boring, but mostly because the instructor isnt that good.  We have some cool people in class though and its fun just chatting.    Its always interesting to see how other organizations do things.  We did do a few things in class that were good to know, although hopefully I wont have to ever use them…heh.   Anyways, we should be done anytime now…just finishing up with a few extra things not technically in the class.

I was able to acquire an engine for my truck this week.  I picked up a 350 out of a ‘89 blazer.  It has around 110,000 miles on it.  I got it for a great price…..$300.  Hopefully I will be able to get it in soon so I can cross 1 of my vehicles off of my list.  Still not sure what to do with the Prix.  Its running fine now, but I dunno how long the torque converter is gonna hold up. 

The only question Im thinking right now is…….Whats for lunch? 

Well last night I was running to Farm and Fleet cause I caught an ad on TV for gearwrenches.  I thought I saw $30 a set which is a steal.  So I drove over after work to check it out.  As I was pulling into the parking lot, my motorcycle died.  It wouldnt start back up easily, and because it was so hot, I just thought it was because of that and all the idling I had done (stupid traffic lights).  So I went in and found out they were on sale for $40.  Not a great deal, but well worth it.  I was gonna go home first and see what I could find them for online.  So I went to start the bike and it would rev way up, then die.  I couldnt keep it running at all no matter what I did.  So I found some shade and parked…and waited.  And waited.  After about 45 minutes I noticed the bike had cooled considerably so I tried to start it up.  Same thing.  High rev then it would quit.  So I started looking around and noticed some cork gasket laying on the engine.  Thats strange I thought.  So I started looking harder and noticed that there were two giant sections of gasket gone around my intake to the engine.  So it was sucking un-pressurized/un-regulated air (not enough gas since it wasnt going through the carb).  I was like WTF.  You got to be kidding me!  Luckily I was where I was, so I ran back in, bought those stupid wrenches, a flat head screwdriver, and some gasket material.  An hour later I was back on the road. 

So now I know the whole story.  I must have pissed someone off big to have this bad of a curse on my head.  I havent pissed anyone off in a few years, so it must be someone from my past.  Who could it be?  Bastards! 

Icing on the cake was I got home and the engine I had lined up for my truck was sold.  The guy made me sound like coming over whenever was fine (he lived about 45 minutes away).  I had said I wanted to look at it first, but would probably take it and I would be coming the next day.  I guess he had someone come look at it right away.  Kind or shady if you ask me, but what can I do.   Now I need to find another one, of course when you are looking for one its hard to find one.  Hopefully something will turn up though.

So the saga of the truck is just beginning!  Turns out that it has a bad ring on the #1 cylinder.  So it not only had a bad intake gasket, it had a bad ring.  I had just assumed it was a bad head gasket and shouldve taken the time to find out for sure.  Well they say that lessons from the school of hard knocks last the longest and you can be sure Ill never do that again.  So to say the least, I have to put a new engine in.  Im gonna put in a 350 instead of the 262 for a couple of reasons.  1 is that the 350 is way easier to find, but probably also cheaper.  Second is that the 4.3L was a little bit doggy pulling my boat.  I had originally thought that the 4.3 would be nicer as it would be better on gas, but it would be much nicer to have the more power with the boat.  So I am now in the search for a used 350 engine to drop in.  As long as I get an 88-92 that is a whole unit, it should be pretty much drop in and go.  Maybe a day of work.  Thank god…Im sick of working on it.

I finally made the new throttle cables for my motorcycle Sunday.  I also got the carb running how it should.  Its so nice to have something that isnt broken.  I was so happy with it that after I was done making the cables, I broke out the chrome polish and shined her up. 

Saturday we had Mandi’s Uncle Gary’s 50th bday party.  Mandi and one of Gary’s best friends helped to plan it.  We had a lot of fun and a bunch of people showed up.  We tried out the new shots we found, “Pineapple Salad.”  Its mostly Vanillacuddy’s with a splash of pineapple juice.  It was pretty delicious.  We ended up having to drive Gary and his girls home, so I think he had a good night =D

I finally got the new Dyson I ordered from Woot.  Got a great deal on it….50% off new because it was a refurb.  Too bad I ordered it right before all my car problems…couldve used that money.  Anyways, they hype that surrounds these isnt all hype.  This thing rocks!  It picked up a ton of crap out of the floors.  The best part is that to empty it, you dont have to mess with the filter like we had to do on our old bagless vac.  You just pull a trigger and the bin opens and empties into the garbage.  Good deal.  Dyson vacs are well worth the money in my opinion.  This thing sucks! 

Well on our way home from my Mom’s house last weekend my car died.  The only thing I can come up with is that it had unburned fuel get down the exhaust, then it ignited.  I ended up spliting both mufflers wide open at the seams and the car wouldnt start.  This happened two times.  Both times after 15 minutes of trying to start it, I called a tow truck.  Both times as soon as I hung up the car started right up.  I really dont even know where to start.  A post on the grand prix forums has everyone stumped, especially since it didnt set off any codes.  It runs now, but im leary of driving it.  Plus I need 2 new mufflers and they are $100 a piece for crappy aftermarket ones…not even genuine GM.  Looks like I will have to move up doing the engine/tranny swap. 

So that meant I had to get moving on the truck.  I cant remember if I posted about it or not, but the truck had a head gasket go out (or so Im hoping thats all it was).  I had the truck apart, but that was it.  So I took Monday off of work and every night since then I have been working on getting it back together.  It is now back together and I started it up, but I noticed I have a loose rocker.  So before I go any further, I need to take that valve cover back off and re-tighten that bank.  Hopefully it wasnt something more serious.  I should be able to tell right away.  If I get better than 16mpg than its all good (I should be).  I then just need to fix the parking brake cable and its all set.  I can then make the trip down to Indiana and pick up my motor/tranny and leather interior for the Grand Prix. 

With both vehicles broken, I had to ride the motorcycle.  Usually not a big deal, but of course it was a wet week.  I managed to mostly dodge the rain though and got lucky.  Now the motorcycle is mad though.  The throttle is getting stuck open.  I think its because I shimmed the needle and it rubs on the inside of the carb.  Of course if I had that all done and had a return throttle cable on (its a second throttle cable that pulls the throttle on the carb shut when you decelerate) none of this would be even noticeable.  Add another thing to get done to the list.

I finally have Mandi’s car all set though.  She had a small problem that I just couldnt find time to get done.  The hanger for the muffler rusted through, and everytime she went over a bump, the exhaust would flex enough that it would hit the back “axle” and make a loud clunk.  I decided last night to just get it done.  I had the part to do it (or so I thought).  Of course when I went to put on the new hanger it was the wrong fitting to go into the rubber bushing.

Man I am so glad I purchased a welder a few months ago.  It really has made my life so much easier.  I cant believe I ever didnt have one…I definately wont ever be without one again, thats for sure.  So to finish the story, I was able to cut part of the old hanger off, then weld it onto the new one and it fit just fine.  I also had to weld a bracket that broke back together for the truck.  In the old days I would have had to run to the junk yard or try to jbweld it etc.  Never again!

Tomorrow I took off of work and am fixing my moms car.  She needs brakes all the way around and her alternator is getting loud, so I mentioned its probably just better to replace it now before something happens to it.   By having me do everything she should save a few hundred dollars, the least I can do for her even though she feels guilty.  I just hate to see people get ripped off by repair shops.  Its pretty outrageous that they now get almost $100 an hour.  Im sorry, but that is just wrong.  Especially when half of the time they are just guessing what is wrong. 

Well thats enough ranting for tonight.  Everyone pray my truck works alright now!    Hehe.