I'm addicted to Buffalo sauce and flavor. I don't know how it happened. I was never a big hot flavor fan, and then I went to CD's (formerly Willy's) Wings. I mentioned them before, remember? Anyway, I had their wings and that was that. Now, I get buffalo-flavored stuff all the time. I only eat Buffalo Snackers at KFC. When we go to Cici's for pizza, I only eat their buffalo chicken pizza. I even eat Frank's Red Hot on my mac 'n' cheese now (it's actually REALLY good). Heidi says, "When you start asking for an IV drip of buffalo sauce, THEN we'll talk about the 12 steps."
Speaking of Heidi, she really got me good the other night. She had me convinced that she wanted to...ahem...sell her services to help us make more money. I was appalled, I was incredulous, I was angry, I was all the things I should've been. She actually had me argue with her about it for nearly 15 minutes before she revealed that she was yanking my chain. Nice job, babe, but remember...it's all about the payback. Who said that? Oh right...YOU DID.
(Side note: I got her back a little bit last night by planting Devo's "Freedom of Choice" as an earworm for her. She couldn't get it out of her head for hours.)
Heidi has a new post up. Go check it out.
The Dick's Sporting Goods commercial with Reggie Bush really pisses me off. Where's the commercials with Adrian Peterson???
Heidi and I had a very healthy debate about Colorado and why I don't like it. (As usual, my logic was undeniable.) She did make a few good points, but let's face it...it's difficult for anyone to defend this crazy state. We did come to agreement on one key point, though: Colorado has essentially sold its soul over the past 10 to 15 years. If we lived here 20-25 years ago, I probably wouldn't dislike this place. These days, living in Colorado is almost like living on the Coast, with everyone else trying to bring wherever they're from with them when they move here. Seriously, what else can you say about a state where the natives have to put bumper stickers on their cars that say "NATIVE" on them, or where politicians have to claim to have "Colorado values" to get elected? Oklahoma is at least true to itself and its values, and if you don't like it, you're free to move out to the Coast (or to Colorado) with all the other moonbats who'll do things your way.
On a humorous note, I'm going to write the governor and suggest that he changes the Colorado state motto from Nil sine numine ("Nothing without Providence") to "Skiing and Taxes Forever".
(Just for kicks, search my blog for "Colorful Colorado". Seriously.)
I watched the video of Owen on his 4-month birthday yesterday. He was such a goofy little guy...he's so awesome. Speaking of our awesome kids, we heard the heartbeat of Number 5 today (that's what we're calling the new one, since we're determined not to know the sec). You never get used to it...this is my fourth time, and it's just as amazing as it was the first time fourteen years ago with Katie. The excitement is building slowly and steadily for Heidi and me.
Thanks for reading along.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
I Feel So Dirty
"I need a drink and a shower." -- "Diamond" Joe Quimby
I have finally gone over fully to the Dark Side. It was one thing to start my own web page, something I'm still working on. It was another to start this blog. But now I have plunged fully into Weird Web-dom. I created a profile on Facebook (I'd provide a link, but you would have to sign up for Facebook to view it, and I won't ask my loyal readers to go that deep into something I don't fully believe in, just to see something of mine). Mostly I did this to view Heidi's profile, but then I ended up getting sucked into it. I'm still not as...ummm...attached to it as Heidi and her family are, but I've done a few things on there. I might stick with it, I might not. I mean, let's face it, it's kind of like TV...do I really need one more online thing to garner my precious free time? I already have the blog.
I always thought I'd never join one of those things, because to me it's actually kind of goofy. I still prefer one-to-one, face-to-face connections with other folks, via e-mail or whatever, and both Myspace and Facebook are kind of the Apple of the web; more concerned with lifestyle and appearance over substance. But, here I am, anyway...God help me.
Thanks for reading along.
I have finally gone over fully to the Dark Side. It was one thing to start my own web page, something I'm still working on. It was another to start this blog. But now I have plunged fully into Weird Web-dom. I created a profile on Facebook (I'd provide a link, but you would have to sign up for Facebook to view it, and I won't ask my loyal readers to go that deep into something I don't fully believe in, just to see something of mine). Mostly I did this to view Heidi's profile, but then I ended up getting sucked into it. I'm still not as...ummm...attached to it as Heidi and her family are, but I've done a few things on there. I might stick with it, I might not. I mean, let's face it, it's kind of like TV...do I really need one more online thing to garner my precious free time? I already have the blog.
I always thought I'd never join one of those things, because to me it's actually kind of goofy. I still prefer one-to-one, face-to-face connections with other folks, via e-mail or whatever, and both Myspace and Facebook are kind of the Apple of the web; more concerned with lifestyle and appearance over substance. But, here I am, anyway...God help me.
Thanks for reading along.
Cleaning Up A Half-Ass
"If you don't like your job, you don't strike...you just go in every day, and do it really half-assed. That's the American way!" -- Homer Simpson
I'm beginning to get really tired of cleaning up after people who half-ass an important task. Remember the wired-open choke on the Ramcharger? That's an example of someone need to do an important job the right way, but instead, they just half-ass it. This can happen as a result of laziness, carelessness, ignorance, or any combination of these. (NOTE: if you are ignorant about engines or have no mechanical aptitude, or if you're lazy or careless, you have absolutely no business working on an engine. The ignorant can be educated, so that's not too bad. If you're lazy or careless, you're best leaving your lazy, careless butt in front of the TV, where you probably provide your greatest contribution to American society by chipping in on the TV ratings.)
Have any of you had to clean up after someone else's laziness, carelessness, or ignorance? Moms need not answer...that's not quite what I'm looking for. I'm talking about remedying a situation in which someone put in half an effort and ended up f***ing things up or making a bad situation even worse, because the person didn't bother or didn't know to do a little research and get something done the right way. There are few things I find more frustrating than this. It just chaps my hide to discover something that someone else did, that now affects me, and that I end up having to repair after the fact so that things on my end will go smoothly.
Strangely, both the situations that spring immediately to mind involve carburetors. There was the choke issue mentioned above; a little bit of research and a little bit of effort would've gotten whoever that was through the problem and with a correct solution, not a half-measure that just screwed things up. The second situation I ran into just tonight.
I've been spending a fair amount of time working on the Mustang lately, primarily because working on the vehicles is therapeutic for me. It really is a very Zen activity; when I'm focusing on the task at hand, be it replacing some part, or doing diagnostics, or tuning the engine, or cleaning it up, or whatever, I'm completely focused on that and the rest of the world fades quietly into the background. I lose track of time. I don't think about Grandpa, or the garbage going on with the Board of Directors at the school, or financial worries, or job worries, or family problems, or any of that. It's just me and the work...nothing else seems to do that for me these days, not even computer work.
Then I find something and it snaps me back into the real world, the world of half-assers. After doing some troubleshooting with the vacuum gauge, I decided it was time to go ahead and replace the non-stock two-barrel Motorcraft 2150 carb on the Mustang with the stock Holley 4180c that I bought on eBay and rebuilt with the boys. The vacuum gauge was telling me that I still had a slight vacuum leak somewhere (which makes the engine run rough), and from what I was seeing and what I already knew of the car, the carburetor was the most likely culprit. I will say that by the time I was done this evening, I feel pretty strongly that my diagnosis was correct. Basically, the previous owner has removed the 4180 and put on the Motorcraft. Now, the Motorcraft 2150 is one of the finest stock carburetors ever made, by general consensus. They are widely acknowledged to be very easy to work with and highly efficient at atomizing fuel into the airstream, which is what the carb is supposed to do. So I don't fault the carb in this case...the problem was with the installation, or rather, the installer.
You see, the Motorcraft 2150 is a two-barrel carb, while the stock Holley is a four-barrel carb. The intake manifold is built to take a four-barrel carb. When you put a two-barrel carb onto a four-barrel manifold, you have to use an adapter plate, which is usually fine...unless you screw up the installation in some way. The carburetor is one of the most important parts of the whole car, so it's not something to fiddle with lightly; working on it is important and must be done carefully, deliberately, and with adequate preparation. You're asking for trouble otherwise.
Carburetors are held onto the manifold with double-ended studs; one end screws into the manifold, while the other end accepts the nut to tighten down the carburetor itself. This allows you to get the right torque on the nut and put the correct amount of pressure down onto the carb throttle body and gasket, without risking overtightening which leads to breaking off a bolt or stripping the bolt hole threads.
Again, that is, unless you do the careless, half-ass thing and replace the stud with a bolt, and end up stripping the threads in the hole anyway. Which is exactly what the previous owner did. The carb was attached to the adapter plate at one level, then the adapter plate was attached to the studs on the manifold and bolted down. However, as I examined the work, I could see that the person had either tried to do the install really quickly, or they were just careless all around, because they had cracked one corner of the adapter plate while tightening the front-right nut. Also, something had happened to the left-rear stud, so they just used a bolt and a washer to hold down that corner. The result of this was exactly what you would expect; the threads in the bolt hole were stripped.
When I examined the hole prior to installing a new stud, it appeared that the stripping was slight and only near the top of the hole. So I put the new stud in, tested it, and all seemed well. I then spent another two hours cleaning off the mating surfaces on the EGR spacer, preparing the surfaces and new gaskets, installing and sealing the gaskets, and putting it all together. Finally, I was ready. I called the boys out with me, where they could see that the manifold-to-spacer gasket had been installed, the spacer was in place, and the spacer-to-carb gasket was ready and waiting. All that was left was to put on the carb and tighten her down. I had the boys out with me so I could add in a lesson about how to use a torque wrench, a very important part of auto work. We tightened the other nuts down, we had our lesson...I even let each of them tighten one nut to the correct torque setting, so they could get a feel for using the torque wrench themselves. The suspect stud was at the back of the carb and a bit difficult to reach, so I left it for last. I began to tighten, and everything was well...I was getting close to the correct torque setting...then the nut inexplicably began to turn freely. I was confused, so I backed it off, reach down and tried tightening the nut by hand. It didn't turn, so I put the wrench back on. Again, it got a little tight then just let go. I took off the wrench and turned the stud...it tuned freely. In fact, I pulled it and it gave way and came completely out of the hole, not a good thing.
I was angry, because I once again faced a repair of a half-ass job. My only options now are to try to clean up the hole with a tap and try the stud again. If that doesn't work, I'll have to drill it, tap it, and put in a threaded insert, a more involved job. None of this is a huge deal, I can do any of this. (In fact, these are my best option when compared to the $200 or so I'd spend for a new intake manifold, plus $20 for manifold gaskets and another 4 hours of time removing and replacing the old manifold.) To me the issue is that it's probably another $20-30 in tools and parts, as well as another hour or two of time, that I should never have needed to go through. The previous owner (let's just call him The Idiot from now on) could easily have done this himself when he realized that something was wrong with that stud. If he lost the stud or broke it, he could've bought a full set of replacement carb studs for $10, because that what I spent yesterday on them. I fully understand the frustration of getting deep into a job and having something go wrong...there's a huge temptation to just push on, jury-rig a solution, and figure that's as good (or just hope it holds up). That's a big trap, though. Remember, The Idiot had also cracked a corner of the adapter plate with overzealous tightening of the nuts; he probably had this problem with the stud and said to himself, "F*** it...I'll just put in a regular bolt so I can get this done." Millions have fallen into this trap, the trap of thinking that you need to just finish the job, rather than backing off, cleaning up the damage, and finishing the job right. I know this because I was in his exact position. I could've taken the bolt he used, since I still had it, and screwed it into the bolt hole to hold that corner, called the job done, and hoped everything held up. The problems came for both of us right at the end of all of our hard work. I can almost hear his thought process now.
I mentioned to Heidi later, that this trap is probably what led him to dump the car. With the screwed-up installation of the carb, it was probably slightly leaky and never ran right. The importance of engine integrity cannot be overemphasized; good vacuum is crucial to getting the fuel/air mixture into the cylinders efficiently, and a leak anywhere in the system can really mess up performance. When he ran into this, I bet he figured the carburetor was not the problem (he had just replaced it, hadn't he? And that pesky bolt simply couldn't be causing any trouble). So he tried some other stuff to make it work, then when he couldn't figure out why the engine was running like garbage, he gave up and let the towing company keep it...which eventually led it to me via eBay. Funny how little mistakes, small moments of carelessness with important tasks can alter our destiny.
I will take the high road here, because I've already taken everything off, the carb, gaskets, EGR spacer, and studs, so that I can clean up The Idiot's foul-up...because it won't be right until I do.
Thanks for reading along.
I'm beginning to get really tired of cleaning up after people who half-ass an important task. Remember the wired-open choke on the Ramcharger? That's an example of someone need to do an important job the right way, but instead, they just half-ass it. This can happen as a result of laziness, carelessness, ignorance, or any combination of these. (NOTE: if you are ignorant about engines or have no mechanical aptitude, or if you're lazy or careless, you have absolutely no business working on an engine. The ignorant can be educated, so that's not too bad. If you're lazy or careless, you're best leaving your lazy, careless butt in front of the TV, where you probably provide your greatest contribution to American society by chipping in on the TV ratings.)
Have any of you had to clean up after someone else's laziness, carelessness, or ignorance? Moms need not answer...that's not quite what I'm looking for. I'm talking about remedying a situation in which someone put in half an effort and ended up f***ing things up or making a bad situation even worse, because the person didn't bother or didn't know to do a little research and get something done the right way. There are few things I find more frustrating than this. It just chaps my hide to discover something that someone else did, that now affects me, and that I end up having to repair after the fact so that things on my end will go smoothly.
Strangely, both the situations that spring immediately to mind involve carburetors. There was the choke issue mentioned above; a little bit of research and a little bit of effort would've gotten whoever that was through the problem and with a correct solution, not a half-measure that just screwed things up. The second situation I ran into just tonight.
I've been spending a fair amount of time working on the Mustang lately, primarily because working on the vehicles is therapeutic for me. It really is a very Zen activity; when I'm focusing on the task at hand, be it replacing some part, or doing diagnostics, or tuning the engine, or cleaning it up, or whatever, I'm completely focused on that and the rest of the world fades quietly into the background. I lose track of time. I don't think about Grandpa, or the garbage going on with the Board of Directors at the school, or financial worries, or job worries, or family problems, or any of that. It's just me and the work...nothing else seems to do that for me these days, not even computer work.
Then I find something and it snaps me back into the real world, the world of half-assers. After doing some troubleshooting with the vacuum gauge, I decided it was time to go ahead and replace the non-stock two-barrel Motorcraft 2150 carb on the Mustang with the stock Holley 4180c that I bought on eBay and rebuilt with the boys. The vacuum gauge was telling me that I still had a slight vacuum leak somewhere (which makes the engine run rough), and from what I was seeing and what I already knew of the car, the carburetor was the most likely culprit. I will say that by the time I was done this evening, I feel pretty strongly that my diagnosis was correct. Basically, the previous owner has removed the 4180 and put on the Motorcraft. Now, the Motorcraft 2150 is one of the finest stock carburetors ever made, by general consensus. They are widely acknowledged to be very easy to work with and highly efficient at atomizing fuel into the airstream, which is what the carb is supposed to do. So I don't fault the carb in this case...the problem was with the installation, or rather, the installer.
You see, the Motorcraft 2150 is a two-barrel carb, while the stock Holley is a four-barrel carb. The intake manifold is built to take a four-barrel carb. When you put a two-barrel carb onto a four-barrel manifold, you have to use an adapter plate, which is usually fine...unless you screw up the installation in some way. The carburetor is one of the most important parts of the whole car, so it's not something to fiddle with lightly; working on it is important and must be done carefully, deliberately, and with adequate preparation. You're asking for trouble otherwise.
Carburetors are held onto the manifold with double-ended studs; one end screws into the manifold, while the other end accepts the nut to tighten down the carburetor itself. This allows you to get the right torque on the nut and put the correct amount of pressure down onto the carb throttle body and gasket, without risking overtightening which leads to breaking off a bolt or stripping the bolt hole threads.
Again, that is, unless you do the careless, half-ass thing and replace the stud with a bolt, and end up stripping the threads in the hole anyway. Which is exactly what the previous owner did. The carb was attached to the adapter plate at one level, then the adapter plate was attached to the studs on the manifold and bolted down. However, as I examined the work, I could see that the person had either tried to do the install really quickly, or they were just careless all around, because they had cracked one corner of the adapter plate while tightening the front-right nut. Also, something had happened to the left-rear stud, so they just used a bolt and a washer to hold down that corner. The result of this was exactly what you would expect; the threads in the bolt hole were stripped.
When I examined the hole prior to installing a new stud, it appeared that the stripping was slight and only near the top of the hole. So I put the new stud in, tested it, and all seemed well. I then spent another two hours cleaning off the mating surfaces on the EGR spacer, preparing the surfaces and new gaskets, installing and sealing the gaskets, and putting it all together. Finally, I was ready. I called the boys out with me, where they could see that the manifold-to-spacer gasket had been installed, the spacer was in place, and the spacer-to-carb gasket was ready and waiting. All that was left was to put on the carb and tighten her down. I had the boys out with me so I could add in a lesson about how to use a torque wrench, a very important part of auto work. We tightened the other nuts down, we had our lesson...I even let each of them tighten one nut to the correct torque setting, so they could get a feel for using the torque wrench themselves. The suspect stud was at the back of the carb and a bit difficult to reach, so I left it for last. I began to tighten, and everything was well...I was getting close to the correct torque setting...then the nut inexplicably began to turn freely. I was confused, so I backed it off, reach down and tried tightening the nut by hand. It didn't turn, so I put the wrench back on. Again, it got a little tight then just let go. I took off the wrench and turned the stud...it tuned freely. In fact, I pulled it and it gave way and came completely out of the hole, not a good thing.
I was angry, because I once again faced a repair of a half-ass job. My only options now are to try to clean up the hole with a tap and try the stud again. If that doesn't work, I'll have to drill it, tap it, and put in a threaded insert, a more involved job. None of this is a huge deal, I can do any of this. (In fact, these are my best option when compared to the $200 or so I'd spend for a new intake manifold, plus $20 for manifold gaskets and another 4 hours of time removing and replacing the old manifold.) To me the issue is that it's probably another $20-30 in tools and parts, as well as another hour or two of time, that I should never have needed to go through. The previous owner (let's just call him The Idiot from now on) could easily have done this himself when he realized that something was wrong with that stud. If he lost the stud or broke it, he could've bought a full set of replacement carb studs for $10, because that what I spent yesterday on them. I fully understand the frustration of getting deep into a job and having something go wrong...there's a huge temptation to just push on, jury-rig a solution, and figure that's as good (or just hope it holds up). That's a big trap, though. Remember, The Idiot had also cracked a corner of the adapter plate with overzealous tightening of the nuts; he probably had this problem with the stud and said to himself, "F*** it...I'll just put in a regular bolt so I can get this done." Millions have fallen into this trap, the trap of thinking that you need to just finish the job, rather than backing off, cleaning up the damage, and finishing the job right. I know this because I was in his exact position. I could've taken the bolt he used, since I still had it, and screwed it into the bolt hole to hold that corner, called the job done, and hoped everything held up. The problems came for both of us right at the end of all of our hard work. I can almost hear his thought process now.
I mentioned to Heidi later, that this trap is probably what led him to dump the car. With the screwed-up installation of the carb, it was probably slightly leaky and never ran right. The importance of engine integrity cannot be overemphasized; good vacuum is crucial to getting the fuel/air mixture into the cylinders efficiently, and a leak anywhere in the system can really mess up performance. When he ran into this, I bet he figured the carburetor was not the problem (he had just replaced it, hadn't he? And that pesky bolt simply couldn't be causing any trouble). So he tried some other stuff to make it work, then when he couldn't figure out why the engine was running like garbage, he gave up and let the towing company keep it...which eventually led it to me via eBay. Funny how little mistakes, small moments of carelessness with important tasks can alter our destiny.
I will take the high road here, because I've already taken everything off, the carb, gaskets, EGR spacer, and studs, so that I can clean up The Idiot's foul-up...because it won't be right until I do.
Thanks for reading along.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Go Check Out...
...another old Oklahoma friend, one I went to high school with, as it happens.
Eager Little Mind
She's got a good blog going. Good to see we Okies still get around. Heidi, in fact, has finally ceased being amazed every time we have a Sooner fan shout "BOOMER SOONER!!!" across a parking lot at us when we go to the store, or see someone with a great OU hat at the mall.
Thanks for reading along.
Eager Little Mind
She's got a good blog going. Good to see we Okies still get around. Heidi, in fact, has finally ceased being amazed every time we have a Sooner fan shout "BOOMER SOONER!!!" across a parking lot at us when we go to the store, or see someone with a great OU hat at the mall.
Thanks for reading along.
Morning Quickie -- Coincidences
Saw this earlier this morning. Remember my whole thing with the number 19, and how 919 is an important number for me? Try this out:
Deja Vu: Baby’s Birth Mirrors Dad’s 23 Years Later
Read the story and see what a wonderful coincidence you see there. I think that sometimes we are given clues about our lives in special and unusual ways, and this is one of those for this little guy and his dad.
Thanks for reading along.
Deja Vu: Baby’s Birth Mirrors Dad’s 23 Years Later
Read the story and see what a wonderful coincidence you see there. I think that sometimes we are given clues about our lives in special and unusual ways, and this is one of those for this little guy and his dad.
Thanks for reading along.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Treats On Rough Days
It was a very, very difficult day today. The seemingly endless tide of ill fortune continued, as I was told that my position was being moved to the Washington, DC, area. (Of course, I'm not going with it.) Because of budgetary concerns, the position is being moved, not added, so once that spot is filled, my position will cease to exist. That means that I have probably 4-6 weeks minimum, and perhaps as long as 8-10 weeks if I'm lucky, in which to find a new job.
So yeah, with everything else that's been happening, it was a rough day. I talked a little with Dad about it, and he agreed that what our family desperately needs is some good fortune.
I got a couple of treats, one unexpected, and one I made for myself. I got home and took Dash outside for his evening pee-and-poop. I noticed a LARGE bird dropping on the back deck, too large for the usual pigeons and robins we have, and looked up to see a beautiful hawk sitting majestically on the point of our rear gable. He looked at me proudly...I wonder if Grandpa came to visit, knowing that I'd had a thoroughly rotten day? Then I decided I needed something else good, so I ordered one of my favorites, hot wings from CD's Wings here in Westminster. Some of the best wings I've ever had, bar none.
Please keep praying for us. Thanks for reading along.
So yeah, with everything else that's been happening, it was a rough day. I talked a little with Dad about it, and he agreed that what our family desperately needs is some good fortune.
I got a couple of treats, one unexpected, and one I made for myself. I got home and took Dash outside for his evening pee-and-poop. I noticed a LARGE bird dropping on the back deck, too large for the usual pigeons and robins we have, and looked up to see a beautiful hawk sitting majestically on the point of our rear gable. He looked at me proudly...I wonder if Grandpa came to visit, knowing that I'd had a thoroughly rotten day? Then I decided I needed something else good, so I ordered one of my favorites, hot wings from CD's Wings here in Westminster. Some of the best wings I've ever had, bar none.
Please keep praying for us. Thanks for reading along.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
I Love You, Grandpa
I haven't posted in a while, because Grandpa died last Monday night. I didn't exactly have tons of time before it happened, so I could post, then it happened, and we were gone until tonight.
I'm really struggling with this one, I have to say that now. Grandma and Grandpa (Mom's parents) practically raised me when I was in grade school. When I was 4, Grandpa retired from civil service, working at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, OK. They moved out to Shawnee so he could retire. We moved out there, just a mile from them, shortly after. Grandma hadn't worked for a while, and Grandpa was fully retired, so they watched me and Misty any time that Mom and Dad were working. After school or during any school vacations, we were at Grandma and Grandpa's. Grandpa taught me golf, he taught me how to drive and actually let me drive his golf cart around, even with him in it. I chauffeured him around the course regularly when I wasn't in school. He also taught me that sometimes it's important not to speak up, because your opinion isn't always what matters. He taught me that self-reliance and initiative are two of the most important traits you can have; he had them both in spades and did pretty well.
This trip back to Oklahoma was one of the hardest I've ever made. It had been difficult to watch from afar as Grandpa wound down his life with a fair amount of medical troubles. I had to stand idly by while yet again, my family dealt with the difficulties and pain of this sort of thing without me. Everyone was there when he died; Mom and Dad, Misty, other family and friends, church folks, their pastor...they all got to be there with him, and yet again, I missed out. And that's really getting old. I've been asking God for wisdom, to see why my exile (seriously, what else is it??) here must continue for so long, what reason there is for me to be here so far from family, what purpose my time here serves. Please pray that He will grant me that wisdom, because I'm still not seeing it. Faith, I guess....
I'm really going to miss Grandpa, and the tone of this thing might change some, because I realized this week that it's important to try to be the kind of man he was: strong, calm, hard-working, honest, loving. I don't know if I live up to that much right now, really. Honestly, I'm considering even more than ever before, just shutting down the blog. Grandpa probably would've laughed at something like this...not really his thing. Grandpa preferred two-sided conversations and would not have liked that this medium doesn't provide much of that.
Mostly, I'm just really hurting still. I'll post some more on this subject later. Thanks for reading along.
I'm really struggling with this one, I have to say that now. Grandma and Grandpa (Mom's parents) practically raised me when I was in grade school. When I was 4, Grandpa retired from civil service, working at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, OK. They moved out to Shawnee so he could retire. We moved out there, just a mile from them, shortly after. Grandma hadn't worked for a while, and Grandpa was fully retired, so they watched me and Misty any time that Mom and Dad were working. After school or during any school vacations, we were at Grandma and Grandpa's. Grandpa taught me golf, he taught me how to drive and actually let me drive his golf cart around, even with him in it. I chauffeured him around the course regularly when I wasn't in school. He also taught me that sometimes it's important not to speak up, because your opinion isn't always what matters. He taught me that self-reliance and initiative are two of the most important traits you can have; he had them both in spades and did pretty well.
This trip back to Oklahoma was one of the hardest I've ever made. It had been difficult to watch from afar as Grandpa wound down his life with a fair amount of medical troubles. I had to stand idly by while yet again, my family dealt with the difficulties and pain of this sort of thing without me. Everyone was there when he died; Mom and Dad, Misty, other family and friends, church folks, their pastor...they all got to be there with him, and yet again, I missed out. And that's really getting old. I've been asking God for wisdom, to see why my exile (seriously, what else is it??) here must continue for so long, what reason there is for me to be here so far from family, what purpose my time here serves. Please pray that He will grant me that wisdom, because I'm still not seeing it. Faith, I guess....
I'm really going to miss Grandpa, and the tone of this thing might change some, because I realized this week that it's important to try to be the kind of man he was: strong, calm, hard-working, honest, loving. I don't know if I live up to that much right now, really. Honestly, I'm considering even more than ever before, just shutting down the blog. Grandpa probably would've laughed at something like this...not really his thing. Grandpa preferred two-sided conversations and would not have liked that this medium doesn't provide much of that.
Mostly, I'm just really hurting still. I'll post some more on this subject later. Thanks for reading along.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Wheels On The Bus Go 'Round And 'Round
I performed an experiment yesterday and took the bus to work. I'm seriously considering making it at least a part-time thing to take the bus, and possibly something I do all the time until I can get a more fuel-efficient vehicle. The main advantage of taking the bus is that it would cost, at most, $3.50 a day (less if I do it all the time and get a monthly pass), versus about $16 a day in gas to drive the Ramcharger. The disadvantage is that it would increase my total commute time, as it's about 65-70 minutes each way, versus 30-45 minutes each way if I drive it myself. So my commute time would nearly double.
This was borne out yesterday, as I awoke at 5:20 am so that I could get to the bus stop to catch the 6:16 am bus that would get me to work by about 7:25 am. Then I left work at 3:25 pm to catch the 3:31 bus (that actually came at about 3:35), so I could get back to the truck about 4:50 pm and get home about 5:00. That schedule obviously does not include a lunch break; it was a straight-through, 8-hour workday. So it made for a very long day, nearly 11 hours of commute and work time, all told.
I used to ride the bus all the time, so I figured all this wouldn't be too big a deal. However, the routes I rode before were all regional or express routes, with larger, more comfortable buses and fewer stops. This was a local route (albeit a LONG local route), so there were stops all over the place, the drivers drove like crazy, and I got a little nauseated on the ride. Once I get used to that, though, it shouldn't be too bad, aside from the extra lost time. Fortunately, I'm not teaching so my evening schedule isn't nearly as tight as it used to be. So anyway, wish me luck.
Thanks for reading along.
This was borne out yesterday, as I awoke at 5:20 am so that I could get to the bus stop to catch the 6:16 am bus that would get me to work by about 7:25 am. Then I left work at 3:25 pm to catch the 3:31 bus (that actually came at about 3:35), so I could get back to the truck about 4:50 pm and get home about 5:00. That schedule obviously does not include a lunch break; it was a straight-through, 8-hour workday. So it made for a very long day, nearly 11 hours of commute and work time, all told.
I used to ride the bus all the time, so I figured all this wouldn't be too big a deal. However, the routes I rode before were all regional or express routes, with larger, more comfortable buses and fewer stops. This was a local route (albeit a LONG local route), so there were stops all over the place, the drivers drove like crazy, and I got a little nauseated on the ride. Once I get used to that, though, it shouldn't be too bad, aside from the extra lost time. Fortunately, I'm not teaching so my evening schedule isn't nearly as tight as it used to be. So anyway, wish me luck.
Thanks for reading along.
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