"The Program"

Well, I think that I am well into the first leg of "the program".

I hope that friend E will not mind if I divulge a few of the major components of "the program". First, I went to see E's friend and hair stylist C. During the initial consultation with stylist C, he assured me that the.. ahem, gradual follicular attrition will not prevent me from getting a normal haircut. I have, however, resigned to the fact that eventually my hair will resemble that of George Costanza.


My father, who I have the utmost respect for, used the dreaded comb-over for at least 2 decades. He would always defend it as saying that he has never moved his part all of these years. But he finally relented and got rid of it a few years back.


Anyway, today we went shopping for jeans. I must admit that I was dreading this day a bit because I was warned about how expensive this might get. So we started off at the "low end" of the jean cost spectrum with the GAP where we didn't really find what we are looking for. As E describes me, I am 17 feet tall and about 3 inches in diameter, so it is a bit of a difficult task to find good, stylish jeans that are long enough for me. And so we went up the food chain to Lucky where we did find some jeans that were good, they were 150$, but I wasn't totally thrilled about them.

Next up, Octane. This was definitely what I would call, "high end". The friendly staffperson was quite helpful to E and I in providing jean suggestions I could be happy with actually fit at the same time. And, well, I guess you get what you paid for: I found a pair that I really liked, but, lets just say that you could almost buy a nice set of front rotors for same price as these jeans. I hadn't exactly accepted the fact that I could pay that much for a pair of jeans so the staff set them aside in case I returned to purchase them.

We then went on to search the other usual suspects: Urban Outfitters and Banana Republic. We didn't find anything remotely suitable at either, but I did pick up a vital item at UO for tonight's halloween costume.

But during this time, I began to slowly accept the fact that I could pay for jeans what would be the equivalent amount of a year's salary for the average laborer in most of the developing world. And so I bought a pair of size 30, dark wash, "big pickle-bear skin" Chip-pepper brand jeans. yeap. I think I am pretty pleased with them though.



I must say though that I've been kind of surprised to hear the different reactions of Journey kids when I tell them that I've started "the program". Some react in an encouraging way, "hey, wow, that's cool" sort of thing, but others kind of recoil in fear. They seem to think that friend E has magical superpowers to change who I am behind the super-chic jeans and greasy haircut. What's this a reflection of? Is my identity really how I look? is a change in my appearance representative of a change in my values? (such as before "the program" I looked geeky and frumpy, but now I am trendy and superficial)?

For all those naysayers out there about "the program": don't worry, I'm too old to drastically change from the geek we all know and love. So don't let the style fool you--I will forever be plaided and pleated on the inside.

Stay tuned.

DVR

After a conversation with wongojack, I got inspired to make my own DVR.

It was relatively quite simple. I have a computer that I built about 3 years ago, so it isn't too old to do the job. I've got a Athlon 1Ghz proc with 512M of RAM and 40G HD.

I did a little research on the web -- one in particular About.com had a site that gave user ratings the top TV cards out there right now.

I decided on the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150:


cost: 100$ (with the added instant-gratification of buying it at Fry's)
It even came with a remote control!

It was really quite easy to install. And believe it or not, I actually had an extra 120G HD lying around so I stuck it in my computer as well. (I bought the HD just in case I needed it when fixing my parent's computer because they live in the middle of nowhere) With the default compression setting, I could save about 100 hours of TV on the HD.

I am able to schedule recordings and pause live TV. I should also be able to burn recordings to a DVD on my burner as well, but I haven't tried it yet.

My video card isn't the greatest (Geforce4 32MB) and it doesn't have a coax output so I can't watch anything on the DVR from my legacy TV. But I can see the picture quite well on my 19" ViewSonic from my bed.

I've been watching the white sox beat the astros while typing this blog:



Oh well, sorry Astros.


Anyway, DVR has changed my life! and no 10$ monthly fee.

learning the hard way

Well, I spent literally all day sunday (and I mean from 8AM to 10PM) and monday night working on my brakes. I also successfully swapped out my engine mounts as well sunday morning. One would think that replacing engine mounts would be the more challenging task, but this did not prove to be true in my case.

Let me back up a bit... A week before vacation, I took my A4 into the dealer to get a 60K mile maintenance done. And, inevitably, there were several things wrong with my frou-frou german car that recently expired from its warranty period. First of all, the driver's side CV boot was ripped and the CV joint was leaking grease -- not good.

Second, my passenger side engine mount was completely useless and the driver's side was leaking. Yes, I said leaking. Apparently, the germans fill the frou-frou engine mounts with hydraulic fluid inside a rubber bladder to absorb the greatest amount of ambient engine noise before it reaches the passenger cabin.. or something. It was probably like this for quite some time.

And third, my front brake pads were approximately 1MM thick. Yeah, not good either. They tells me that I had 8MM the last time they checked my brakes 6 months ago. Yeah, right, a new pad is only around 18MM thick new. Whatever. Anyhow, with $100+ a hour labor the total cost was estimated to be around $1800. Ugh.

I had all but resigned to pay the inordinate amount, when my cube neighbor (and weekend grease-monkey) said, "Hold on, let's go down and take a look at it first" Which we did. My audi "service advisor" put on a pathetic theatrical display when he realized my coworker was succeeding in talking me out of letting them fix some of the problems. He basically looked like he was personally offended. It was just weird.

Anyway, I ended up letting the dealer finish the maintenance and replace the CV boot. I did know my limits and I was not about to tackle that one. But decided that I could replace the engine mounts and brakes myself with my coworker's offer of help.


maintenance/CV boot

Total cost so far: $550

So I ordered the engine mounts and brake pads online. With free shipping...



2 engine mounts and 4 sets of german pads: $250
total cost so far: $800

And so, I went on vacation and gallivanted across the state of washington leaving burning jeeps in my wake.

Two weeks after my return on saturday, I prepared for the big day. I printed the procedures from the internet. I bought a set of metric hex sockets and a universal disk brake piston retractor kit from Harbor Freight: 50$



total cost so far: $850



And so I went on sunday morning to my coworker's house to work on the audi. Things were going quite well... I followed this procedure and then this procedure. After about four hours, it was time to bleed the brakes and try them out some time around 1PM. And, of course, they didn't work.

So the most obvious answer is that we need to bleed the brakes again.. there must be air in the line somewhere. So we would bleed the brakes and try them out again. Still spongy. This went on for an hour or two until we stopped and ate some Wendy's.

So then we thought, maybe our bleeding technique is faulty. So my coworker went to the auto store and bought a fancy contraption to help with the bleeding process. No dice.

At this point, I could not remember the last time that I've had felt so completely exhausted. I must have raised and lowered the car, put wheels on and taken wheels off more than a dozen times that day. My legs felt like rubber, my arms were like cooked speggetti, I was covered in grease and brake fluid, my knuckles were bleeding, and I smashed my thumb.

And, my brakes still didn't work.

After working until after dark, we decided to call it quits for the night and then just go to work the next day (monday) and search the internet for help. I limped the audi back to my apartment (my coworker only lives a mile or two away) and noticed a new rattle from the passenger side wheel. But I was too tired to worry about it at the time. Too tired to even eat, I just showered and went to bed.

Somewhere around 5AM, I thought, "it has to be the rotors! they are too worn and are preventing the pads from contacting fully!" And so, my coworker picked me up to go to work that day.

After work, we stopped by Pep Boys to buy a set of new rotors: 230$



total cost so far: 1080$

Ha, ha... it's going to work now! or so we thought. I started to take apart my brakes when I suddenly realized what that rattle was. I had lost a very important spring somewhere along the roadside driving the car home the previous night. I think my heart literally stopped beating for a minute or two. We needed that spring.

So my coworker immediately jumped on his bicycle and retraced my path back to the apartment to try to find the spring. Meanwhile, I proceeded to take off the calipers, retract the pistons, replace the rotors and reattach the calipers in record time. (things go faster the second time)... Right before it was getting dark, my coworker miraculously found the spring!! it was on the street just before the first stop light. It had obviously been run over, but still intact.

So we finished up on the brakes and were just about to put the tires on and lower the car to test them when it started to rain. And wouldn't you know it? when we looked at the radar, the entire DFW region was clear except for a little green splotch over us on the northeast side of 75/635. So we just decided to eat dinner and wait it out.

When the rain stopped, we put on the springs and tested the car. And... still didn't work. After testing them out, we noticed that the springs would not stay on. So we tried bending them a little and still no dice. This went on for a good hour until, I just decided we should call it a night again and sleep on it again. This time, I left the car at his house.

So when my coworker called me to pick me up tuesday morning, he announced that he had fixed the problem. What we were too dense to pick up on was that we were installing the spring incorrectly. He had finally found a picture of what the installed spring should look like at 5 in the morning (he's an early-riser, he's got a 6 mo old baby) and went out and fixed it on my car.

And so, the brakes finally worked and I drove my car to work tuesday morning.

Although, if I had installed the spring correctly 1PM on sunday afternoon, I would not have bought new rotors because I was being cheapskate. In the end, it was probably good that I did anyway. Besides the physical aches and pains, it was my pride that sustained most of the damage.

I must have become over-confident as I had successfully accomplished all of the difficult tasks while overlooking how a simple spring was supposed to be installed. I could have saved hours of grief, if I had just calmly sat down and really thought about it for 10 minutes. ugh.

In hind-sight, I would like to blame this lapse of engineering prowess to my extreme fatigue and non-stop frenzy fed only by adrenaline and a wendy's bacon cheeseburger. But in reality, we F*@#'d up.

All I can say is, "oh well."




p.s. I went to the dealer today to buy a new spring to replace the one that got run over (it squeaks a bit) and I plan to swap it this weekend: 10$

total cost: 1090$
total savings: ~700$
satisfaction of doing it yourself: ask me again in a month or two.

Exploding Jeeps

Well, I had a great vacation last week. I did a lot of hiking and had nice clear weather for a couple of days. Here's a few of the pics.

However, I did have a little bit of excitement when I took a side trip out to Olympic National Park. What I didn't know at the time was that exactly one week earlier, Jeep announced a recall for the particular 2005 jeep cherokee that I had rented from Alamo:

DaimlerChrysler has recalled over 100,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs due to the potential for the vehicles to develop serious engine fires, resulting in accident, injury, or even death. The recall affects 2005 models with 3.7-liter engines and automatic transmissions.

The recall is due to a faulty air conditioning system that can cause fluid to leak into the engine part that stores transmission fluid. The mixtures of the fluid can become heated quickly. When this area over-heats, the transmission can expel fluid onto other parts of the engine. When this hot fluid comes in contact with an already heated exhaust system, an engine fire could occur.

Four reports of serious engine fires have already occurred. The motor company says that if a driver experiences a shaking sensation in the car they should bring it to a dealer immediately.

And that is exactly what happened to me halfway up the mountain at Olympic National Park. After the explosion, I pulled off to the side of the road and jumped out of the jeep.

Luckily, the fire went out on its own after the transmission oil burned up. A passerby could not help but notice the huge plume of smoke emitting from my rental. They were kind enough to call the park ranger for me. After letting the jeep cool off a bit, the ranger followed me in his truck while I limped the defective jeep down the mountain where I called Alamo roadside assistance.

After four hours, a nice old Ukrainian man came with a Chevy Trail Blazer in tow to swap out for the Jeep. Unfortunately, by that time it was too dark to drive up the mountain so I took the 2+ drive/ferry back to my hotel in seattle. Oh well, shucks, dagnabbit.

Besides that little incident I had no complaints. The day before it exploded, the Jeep was able to get me up to Mt. Saint Helens and back for a great day of hiking.


Washington is definitely a beautiful state even with a few sprinkles every now and then or even the occasional explosion.