I have not been working on cars for a few weeks, so today's post brings to light what has been distracting my time. This may be the last post for a while as I have absolutely run out of old material to post and the distractions are hardly post-worthy. We have a road trip late this summer, so I'll post on that when we get back. So, this break may be only a few weeks.
T Changes
If you remember a post from October of 2018 (See Let's See), Boo and I bought a house in Eugene. T moved in around Labor Day that summer, and lived there with different friends while they all did the university thing. Well, classes come and go, and before long people are graduating. Now, T is preparing to relocate to Los Angeles for music school. We are, of course, very excited for him ( and a little CoViD-fearful), but that leaves us with a now-vacant house in a college town where the school will be closed to in-person classes in the Fall. Or, at least we expect it to be.
Eugene
If you are not familiar with the city of Eugene Oregon, it is super-chill. The house is in the Friendly neighborhood, which isn't exactly close to University of Oregon, but it is a great neighborhood all the same. It's walk-able to food carts and shops, etc but unlike the greater Portland area, even the "busy" streets can be empty of cars for minutes at a time in the middle of the day. That's quiet.
House
So, this house was in amazing shape, albeit dated, when we bought it. Since I spent all of my savings on the down-payment, I had nothing left for any updating, but it was solid, so we left it be while the students lived there. When I say solid, this place is 50 years old and there is not a single squeak in the floors, the windows and doors all work easily, etc. Contrasted to the house we live in, which is half as old, there are all kinds of squeaks and the windows don't work all that great. Now, 2 years later, that delayed maintenance on the Eugene house is needed. The carpet, while top-end and nice when it was installed, looked to be from the early 70's; we concluded that it was the original carpet. The walls needed paint. The yard needed a clean up. Etc etc etc.
I re-allocated the vacation time that I had set up for now-cancelled music festivals to instead be used for a week in Eugene working on the house. Even after a week there, its not done. So, while I thought there would be a lengthy pause in interesting blog content because I would be sanding the Zed for weeks on end, instead there will be a healthy pause because I'm driving to and from Eugene on the weekends to get a house all tidied up.... to rent out, presumably. The challenge with that is in the current economic climate, and the low housing demand due to the closed university, I don't know if I can even find a renter after I put all this work into it. I realize that of all the problems in the world, this is so far into the first-world-problem definition, some folks might be offended by my concerns about a second home when they are having trouble simply paying rent and staying fed. I am not insensitive to that, honest. I'm just writing about where I'm at, and why there won't be regular updates while I finish this house, and then get back to Zed's paint prep.
Car Content
For today's obligatory car content, C has acquired a car for himself. He and I came to an agreement ($1000US) on the Zed, so it is now mine to complete. With those funds plus his own considerable savings, he bought a 2006 Subaru. It is not a turbo, but it has pep and a stereo that seriously cranks. Now, he has a nicer car than Boo either or me, and it is 100% paid for. Nice job, C. It looks as though he will be moving into his own place at the end of the summer, so more moving kids, more parental helping kids move.
So, I guess that's it. I'll be completing that house stuff this month, taking a road trip later and then shifting back to the Zed after Labor Day. I would love for the Zed to be on the other side of paint before the weather turns in mid-October. I expect I will be trying to finish it as the rains return, however. As always, thanks for following along, and if you know someone groovy who is looking for a place in Eugene, I'd love to meet him/her/them.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Drinky drinky, not wet and sticky
After 10 years of owning Flash (silver Jetta), I have finally replaced the broken drink cup holder for the front seats. It was broken when I bought the car, and I didn't think much of it. Looking back, I'm amazed at how used to not having a real drink-holder I became over such a long period of time.
Drink Cup Management the Broken-Holder Way
We would jam hard-sided cups between the driver seat and the e-brake handle. I'm sure that put unwanted pressure on the handle, and it was then unavailable as an emergency brake because there was a cup jammed in there making it harder to grab the handle. Sometimes, I'd fit a cup between the driver seat and the door. If the cup was slickery, it would topple over and slide to the base of the seat belt, spilling contents under the seat. Fantastic. Lastly, I'd drive, juggling it from hand to hand or parking it between my legs. Memories of that Seinfeld episode with Kramer and the hot coffee. Ye-ouch.
Old Holder
The original 1999.5 to 2002 cup holder was poorly designed (sorry German designer, but its true). It had multiple weak points that couldn't stand up to American drink sizes. In my case, the slider mechanism broke where the plastic holder met the thin steel. If you set a light drink in it, it would appear to be capable of holding it until you started driving uphill or accelerated quickly. Then, the holder would take flight, bathing your shifting arm with beverage.
New Holder
In 2002/2003, VW designed a new, more sturdy cup holder. Rather than 2 fixed diameter holes, the new design has spring-arms which flip outward to accommodate varied cup sizes. It is also much stronger at the slider with thicker metal and thicker plastic, making the joint-point much beefier. I got mine from AARodriguez operating as FixMyVW. I doubt it will hold one of those ridiculous super slurpy cups from 7-11, but it holds a standard tall-coffee just fine. After installing, we tried a full quart bottle of Dad's root beer. It strained, so we pulled the bottle back out. It grips a can very well, almost too well. I was unable to quickly free a can of coffee energy drink, creating a small spill. Basic drive-thru paper cups, however, are ideal for this new holder. The arm will flip back with the back of your pinky or the base of the cup while you place the cup in the holder. It doesn't over-grip on the waxy-paper cup, so it pulls out easily too. Have I over-rev'd on the cup holder yet? :)
Extraction / Install
Both cup holders are held in place the same way. There are 2 small metal tangs on either side close to the cabin-end of the holder. With a thin slotted-screwdriver on each side, press the metal tangs towards the center while pulling on the holder. You may need a partner. In Flash's case, the holder was so mangled, only one of the tangs was holding on, so I was able to free it by myself. Clean the slot with some window cleaner or something. This will be the one time in years you'll have this cavity open. Installation is simply slide the new holder in until the tangs click-in.
I've had the great pleasure of hosting 2 nephews and a niece from Montana (the MT3) over the last 2 weeks. It was a crazy time, but now we miss them terribly. It did distract us from the approaching school season, though, so now we're scrambling to get kids ready for school, soccer and all the other things that seem to arrive with Labor Day's passing. Before I know it, it'll be snow-season again.
Lastly, this past weekend, I officially took the bus off the road to replace the transmission input-shaft seal. I haven't decided if I'll do anything else before returning him to service, but I've thought a lot about addressing the electrical short in the dash. I'll post an updated "how to drop the TDI engine" complete with what tools are needed for each step soon.
That's it for today. As always, thanks for following along.
Drink Cup Management the Broken-Holder Way
We would jam hard-sided cups between the driver seat and the e-brake handle. I'm sure that put unwanted pressure on the handle, and it was then unavailable as an emergency brake because there was a cup jammed in there making it harder to grab the handle. Sometimes, I'd fit a cup between the driver seat and the door. If the cup was slickery, it would topple over and slide to the base of the seat belt, spilling contents under the seat. Fantastic. Lastly, I'd drive, juggling it from hand to hand or parking it between my legs. Memories of that Seinfeld episode with Kramer and the hot coffee. Ye-ouch.
Old Holder
 |
| old holder in pieces on the ground |
New Holder
In 2002/2003, VW designed a new, more sturdy cup holder. Rather than 2 fixed diameter holes, the new design has spring-arms which flip outward to accommodate varied cup sizes. It is also much stronger at the slider with thicker metal and thicker plastic, making the joint-point much beefier. I got mine from AARodriguez operating as FixMyVW. I doubt it will hold one of those ridiculous super slurpy cups from 7-11, but it holds a standard tall-coffee just fine. After installing, we tried a full quart bottle of Dad's root beer. It strained, so we pulled the bottle back out. It grips a can very well, almost too well. I was unable to quickly free a can of coffee energy drink, creating a small spill. Basic drive-thru paper cups, however, are ideal for this new holder. The arm will flip back with the back of your pinky or the base of the cup while you place the cup in the holder. It doesn't over-grip on the waxy-paper cup, so it pulls out easily too. Have I over-rev'd on the cup holder yet? :)
Extraction / Install
I've had the great pleasure of hosting 2 nephews and a niece from Montana (the MT3) over the last 2 weeks. It was a crazy time, but now we miss them terribly. It did distract us from the approaching school season, though, so now we're scrambling to get kids ready for school, soccer and all the other things that seem to arrive with Labor Day's passing. Before I know it, it'll be snow-season again.
Lastly, this past weekend, I officially took the bus off the road to replace the transmission input-shaft seal. I haven't decided if I'll do anything else before returning him to service, but I've thought a lot about addressing the electrical short in the dash. I'll post an updated "how to drop the TDI engine" complete with what tools are needed for each step soon.
That's it for today. As always, thanks for following along.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Commencement
It's been an odd couple of weeks and I apologize for not posting something. I reference two major starts as "commencement". The first, the beginning of a driving history after an accident and the second a post-high school life.
Alex Reiger, He's NOT
On the Tuesday after Memorial Day, T was asked to play taxicab for his brother. C had a lacrosse game in Canby at 6, but his lacrosse equipment was in Beaverton and they both had been over-nighting at their mom's house in Lake Oswego. This meant T had a couple of hours of driving to do in rush hour traffic, ending in the confusing street-design around Canby High School. Not a good set-up. They almost made it without incident, but while trying to navigate the weird streets off and around the high school and 99E, he got into a fender-bender with a local.
27 8x10 Color Glossy Pictures with Circles and Arrows and a Paragraph on the Back of Each One
The "local" was a brash and unpleasant 20-something woman driving a relatively new, but woefully uninsured Kia. While T was found mostly at fault because he was turning left as she was trying to go straight at an intersection, the way the scene went down has me wondering if we got the full story. Flash had his front corner on the driver's side folded in, damaging the front fender, bumper and hood. The left-turn signal doesn't work correctly. Her car got a dented driver's door. T had already crossed the first of the 2 oncoming lanes and was driving quite slowly. She accelerated into the intersection. Did she think she was going to be able to dodge around him? When T and C drew the scene, and played it out with matchbox cars, things didn't add up quite right. Lesson learned here: immediately after impact, start snapping pictures with a cell phone of the damage, the intersection and parts of the cars which were not involved.
Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine
After the impact, both cars drove to the side to exchange information, but she had no insurance to share. Just a phone number. Multiple witnesses saw that and heard everyone say they were unhurt. Yet, a couple of days later, the other driver was claiming her car was undrivable and she intended to make medical claims against our insurance. I guess she saw an opportunity to get 6 months of free massages and a full body paint job on her car. Multiple phone calls, phone tree navigations and conference calls later, T was assigned more than half of the blame, but not sole responsibility. The other driver tried to get insurance after the accident and then filed a claim with them too. Hilarious. That was shot down, and now the insurance folks have put the sheriff onto her case for driving without insurance. So much for those free massages; instead she gets SR22 insurance (read: more expensive) and possible license suspension. Neat. Then, there's the attempted fraud. If she had realized she was driving illegally, maybe both sides could have just walked away without reporting to insurance. Now, everyone loses.
We have had good happenings too.
K-ommencement
Yes, that's plain awful. Sue me. K attended a challenging high school and prioritized an after-school driving job over studying during his sophomore year, digging for himself a deep grade hole he almost couldn't climb out of. But he did. His junior year, he prioritized the Science Fair over all of his other work, and again, he found himself in a hole, but not one as bad as the year before, and again dug his way out. This senior year, he again got an after-school job and through determination and focus he graduated. Like Hollywood movies, the big ending is all the more satisfying knowing the main character had obstacles along the way, met those challenges and ended victorious. That was the story line of K's high school career. Greeted with loud cheers from his brother K2, mother & father, his paternal grandparents, his step-father and step-brothers, K produced a huge smile as his name was read. He crossed the stage as if on air, and in his usual floppy way found his way back to his seat. As the graduates left the auditorium, K skipped.
And now what's next? He's 18 and high school graduated. Boo and I returned home from the post-commencement brunch puzzled by that thought. He's the first of the 4 we will see leave the nest, and he's setting a great example of how to transition into independence.
Car stuff: I did the rotors and pads on Flash a few weeks ago, didn't apply grease nor anti-squeal goop and regretted it. I did them again, and now they're dead quiet and stop well. Goes to show that anti-squeal goop isn't snake-oil; it actually works. I haven't been able to play around with the bus other than fiddling with his shifter again. I was able to drive him to work every day last week, and that was a true pleasure.
I guess that's it for today. Thanks for following along, and Hapy Last Day of School-
Alex Reiger, He's NOT
On the Tuesday after Memorial Day, T was asked to play taxicab for his brother. C had a lacrosse game in Canby at 6, but his lacrosse equipment was in Beaverton and they both had been over-nighting at their mom's house in Lake Oswego. This meant T had a couple of hours of driving to do in rush hour traffic, ending in the confusing street-design around Canby High School. Not a good set-up. They almost made it without incident, but while trying to navigate the weird streets off and around the high school and 99E, he got into a fender-bender with a local.
27 8x10 Color Glossy Pictures with Circles and Arrows and a Paragraph on the Back of Each One
The "local" was a brash and unpleasant 20-something woman driving a relatively new, but woefully uninsured Kia. While T was found mostly at fault because he was turning left as she was trying to go straight at an intersection, the way the scene went down has me wondering if we got the full story. Flash had his front corner on the driver's side folded in, damaging the front fender, bumper and hood. The left-turn signal doesn't work correctly. Her car got a dented driver's door. T had already crossed the first of the 2 oncoming lanes and was driving quite slowly. She accelerated into the intersection. Did she think she was going to be able to dodge around him? When T and C drew the scene, and played it out with matchbox cars, things didn't add up quite right. Lesson learned here: immediately after impact, start snapping pictures with a cell phone of the damage, the intersection and parts of the cars which were not involved.
Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine
After the impact, both cars drove to the side to exchange information, but she had no insurance to share. Just a phone number. Multiple witnesses saw that and heard everyone say they were unhurt. Yet, a couple of days later, the other driver was claiming her car was undrivable and she intended to make medical claims against our insurance. I guess she saw an opportunity to get 6 months of free massages and a full body paint job on her car. Multiple phone calls, phone tree navigations and conference calls later, T was assigned more than half of the blame, but not sole responsibility. The other driver tried to get insurance after the accident and then filed a claim with them too. Hilarious. That was shot down, and now the insurance folks have put the sheriff onto her case for driving without insurance. So much for those free massages; instead she gets SR22 insurance (read: more expensive) and possible license suspension. Neat. Then, there's the attempted fraud. If she had realized she was driving illegally, maybe both sides could have just walked away without reporting to insurance. Now, everyone loses.
We have had good happenings too.
K-ommencement
Yes, that's plain awful. Sue me. K attended a challenging high school and prioritized an after-school driving job over studying during his sophomore year, digging for himself a deep grade hole he almost couldn't climb out of. But he did. His junior year, he prioritized the Science Fair over all of his other work, and again, he found himself in a hole, but not one as bad as the year before, and again dug his way out. This senior year, he again got an after-school job and through determination and focus he graduated. Like Hollywood movies, the big ending is all the more satisfying knowing the main character had obstacles along the way, met those challenges and ended victorious. That was the story line of K's high school career. Greeted with loud cheers from his brother K2, mother & father, his paternal grandparents, his step-father and step-brothers, K produced a huge smile as his name was read. He crossed the stage as if on air, and in his usual floppy way found his way back to his seat. As the graduates left the auditorium, K skipped.
And now what's next? He's 18 and high school graduated. Boo and I returned home from the post-commencement brunch puzzled by that thought. He's the first of the 4 we will see leave the nest, and he's setting a great example of how to transition into independence.
Car stuff: I did the rotors and pads on Flash a few weeks ago, didn't apply grease nor anti-squeal goop and regretted it. I did them again, and now they're dead quiet and stop well. Goes to show that anti-squeal goop isn't snake-oil; it actually works. I haven't been able to play around with the bus other than fiddling with his shifter again. I was able to drive him to work every day last week, and that was a true pleasure.
I guess that's it for today. Thanks for following along, and Hapy Last Day of School-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)