The Wagon Returns

Quick post today, I think. Before I start, Hapy 21st birthday to T. It has been an amazing ride, and you have grown into an incredible person. So hapy to have had you in my life, my friend.

Some Background
Late last fall, I remarked on how many cars we removed from our driveway in a short amount of time (See Herd Thinning). One of those cars, K's 2004 JettaWagon has returned. Back then, it had sat for almost 18 months because of transmission problems. He was collecting money to do a 5-speed swap, but that proved too elusive. Between the changing prices for a kit from folks on TDIClub to difficulty finding someone willing to do the job (much less at a reasonable price), he resolved to fixing the transmission and selling it. $1500US later, the transmission is better than new and one of the front axles has been replaced.

On the inside, the driver seat had lost some of the leather on the seat bottom cushion. Based on his conversation with an upholsterer, that was probably caused by a faulty seat-heater. This news gave me immediate pause, since I have just completed the seats in our beloved Oliver. I will just make sure that the seat-heaters are on an ignition-switched circuit so they shut off when the car does. Anyway, K had the driver seat re-upholstered in a fairly-close color match. It's not perfect, though, and both Boo and I can see the difference. Which wouldn't matter if we hadn't been the ones buying K's car.

Snow Flashback
You see... years ago, when Boo and I shared that old condo we hit the mountain a lot. Pretty much, if we had the boys, we were going to play in the snow. The condo was just too small for anything else with 4 boys. One of those night-ski nights was especially icy at SkiBowl. I wiped out trying to navigate off of the Lower Bowl run onto Low Road when I hit solid ice (See Holiday approacheth). I landed on my left elbow and even now, over 6 years later, it still doesn't feel quite right.

That same night, Boo came flying down Lower Reynolds and as she entered the "whoopdies" near the bottom she hit some ice and landed on her back and backside with her right arm reaching back, hurting her shoulder. Like my elbow, her shoulder still isn't right. It was so close to the holidays, but we wanted to have her shoulder checked out. By the time she could get on-schedule for an MRI, it was Christmas Eve, so we didn't exactly get the A team. I have long concluded that the initial scan and scan reading was not done well, but every subsequent discussion starts with a specialist saying "they didn't find anything on the MRI", not bothering to look at the results themselves. That's the American medical system at work. Anyway, since her shoulder acts up from time to time, driving a stick-shift in rush-hour bumper-to-bumper, rubber-banding traffic greatly aggravates it.

2dot0
For a short time, we had a nice Jetta sedan with an auto-tranny, but the hated 2-dot-slow engine See Welcome 2dot0). Boo drove that, and greatly appreciated the non-stick for her shoulder. She loves to drive a manual, mind you, just the hurt shoulder really took away a lot of that joy. Remember that I failed to recognize the state of the timing belt and it snapped days before we were scheduled to move (See Oh Snap). So, we sold the car pretty much for what I'd paid for it, leaving Boo back in a stick-shift car. Until now.

JettaWagon
When K started talking about selling his car, Boo and I talked about helping him out, and helping ourselves along the way. Flash has over 210k miles on him. His interior was a horrible mess when I bought him, and the body has taken a lot of abuse. The JettaWagon, on the other hand, had about 130k miles on it, and was in incredibly nice shape; much nicer shape than Flash was when I bought him. So, we bought it. Now, Boo has a auto-tranny TDI JettaWagon.

Like with any new acquisition, there were a few things that needed to be fixed. The battery in the remote is dying. The brake lights all fire up when the headlights are on. The leather seats don't match. That's it so far.

I replaced the single-filament bulbs that had been installed with dual filament ones and the brake/tail lights work properly now. I did note that in the book for bulbs at NAPA, they incorrectly reference a single filament bulb. So, this is probably common for DIY folks.

Anyway, rambling post today. More car content is being generated. Maybe, if the weather is willing, I'll be able to pull the cover off of Hapy and evaluate him for Summer fun. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Holiday approacheth

What is it about the holidays that seems to make time disappear?  I really didn't "do" Christmas this year, yet I don't have any more time than I did last year.  At least it doesn't feel like it.  Anyway, today, I'll give an overdue update on the state of the bus, and give an update on my elbow.  First things first...

Elbow Whacked
Between Halloween and last weekend, I've been up to the mountain to snowboard 9 times.  On my 6th trip, I was on my last run of the night at Ski Bowl when I caught a toe-edge and was too tired to kick through it.  Instead, I went down.  Now, we had received some pretty decent snow leading up to ThanksGiving, but its been cold and dry since, making the snow increasingly hard-pack and icy.  So, when I went down, it was onto concrete-hard snowpack.  I knew I was going down, so I tried to turn my shoulder into it so I could roll through, but I went down faster than I could react and landed on my left elbow.  It hurt.  It hurt bad.  Sharp pain.  Hard to fully straighten or bend my arm without pain.  Not good. I finished the run gingerly, filled a plastic bag with snow, and applied that to my elbow for the drive off the mountain.
A smarter, more aware person than me would have gone to a doctor.  Nope, I'm a dummy.  Instead, I went snowboarding again a few days later and fell on it again.  Same spot.  Ye-ouch.  Then, in an unparalleled case of extreme-dumb, I went one more time.  I didn't actually snowboard that time, but it wasn't for health reasons.  We got there late and by the time the kids were equipped and sliding, it was 8:PM, so I figured I'd just hold down a barstool at the lodge.  Now, nearly 10 days later, my elbow still hurts when I bump it, move my arm certain ways, and I can't lean on it.  I have a doctor appointment this afternoon.  If I broke it, he may need to do something severe to set it.   I may lose some mobility in my arm for the next couple of weeks, leading to a less fun week off between Christmas and NewYears (when I planned to snowboard at least 3 times).  Lesson learned.
UPDATE: doc says its tendon damage. Keep frozen peas on it, and take ibuprofen.  Apply kinesio tape to help reduce strain on the tendon. If I plan to snowboard, wear an elbow guard like skateboarders wear.  Great news.  Looks like I'll be back on the mountain next week afterall.  hahaha!!!!

Christmas Painting
Every family treats gift-giving differently.  Some enter arms-races to see who can buy the most stuff for someone else.  I never understood those folks, but I suspect they are the same folks who buy a BMW because a neighbor bought one.  Anyway, my family (my parents, brothers w/wives, sisters w/husbands) draw names for the one person for whom you will give a gift.  For years, I have painted a small (around 4" each side) ceramic house for my randomly selected family member.  These take a considerable amount of time, like 40+ hours, so I spend most of my time between ThanksGiving (when the names are selected) and Christmas trying to get the house completed.  Of course, there are all of the other tasks of life sprinkled in, other social expectations, etc, so that's where my holidaze go.  Since the name I received this year is not local, I should have already been finished and had it wrapped and on a southbound truck.  But, since the family gift exchange isn't until the 28th, I have a few extra days.  Thank goodness.  On the side here there's a picture of a couple I painted a few years back for my sister and her husband (different years, of course).


Bus not Busy
There isn't really a great deal of news on the bus-front.  I have the new ECU plug, so I could start the harness surgery at any time.  I just need some time.  With the ceramic painting time constraint and limit, I haven't been able to focus on the harness.  The bus still on jack stands (though he doesn't need to be), and the new snow tires are sitting on the cabin floor.  I've neglected him, though he's been in a warm dry garage, so it's not all bad.  I want to give him some good focus on Xmas morning.  Maybe slap on the snow tires and take a quick spin around the neighborhood with the Justin's harness.  We'll see.

I expect the painting to complete in the next few days.  So, I should be able to bang-out the harness by the middle of next week.  Depending on what the doctor says about my elbow, its still possible that I could be taking the boys up to the mountain in the bus before NewYears.  If the doctor needs to isolate my arm, I won't be driving, much less installing a newly repaired harness in, my bus.  Keeping my fingers crossed that my elbow is fine (just badly bone-bruised), my painting completes soon, and the harness surgery is quick and error-free.

As always, thanks for following along, and have a Merry Christmas.