Recovery! there's no recovery! the u.s. is completely screwed!: Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance
Interesting... and unfortunately I tend to agree.
April 5, 2010
David Rosenberg: Here's 7 Economic Stats You Shouldn't Believe - Yahoo! Finance
David Rosenberg: Here's 7 Economic Stats You Shouldn't Believe - Yahoo! Finance
Interesting article and it show's how the PR can really "skew" what is actually not that great of news at all.
This is the best quote for me...
"Consumer confidence (Conference Board version) rose to 52.5 in March and yet again this was treated gleefully on the Street and in the media because it beat the consensus estimate. But here is the reality: in recessions, this confidence index averages out to be 71.0, and in expansions, it averages 102.0. What does that tell you?"
Interesting article and it show's how the PR can really "skew" what is actually not that great of news at all.
This is the best quote for me...
"Consumer confidence (Conference Board version) rose to 52.5 in March and yet again this was treated gleefully on the Street and in the media because it beat the consensus estimate. But here is the reality: in recessions, this confidence index averages out to be 71.0, and in expansions, it averages 102.0. What does that tell you?"
June 16, 2009
Twitter from your Commodore 64...
Twitter is geeky enough if you ask me, but this is really out there.
Twitter from your Commodore 64 Crave - CNET
June 15, 2009
Saw This One Coming...
Suprise, Suprise... I really don't think this is some kind of revelation.
Survey: Family time eroding as Internet use soars by AP: Yahoo! Tech
This story probably just hit a nerve today since somebody called our family "lazy". I see this separation a lot at our house. The kids all have their computers and everybody just sits in front of them at night instead of being together, or outside doing stuff. I've made the effort to not fire mine up when I get home and that seems to work. But, that just means I get some of my stuff done and not necessarily spend more time with the kids.
I don't really think the internet and computers have really made us a better family, or anybody a better family for that matter. It seems everybody just has a place to hide instead of just dealing with stuff... and I don't mean mental stuff. Even stuff around the house just piles up sometimes and then you wonder why it didn't get done. Simple answer... I spent too much time updating facebook, or surfing. Stuff that really doesn't accomplish much of anything when you stop to think about it.
Survey: Family time eroding as Internet use soars by AP: Yahoo! Tech
This story probably just hit a nerve today since somebody called our family "lazy". I see this separation a lot at our house. The kids all have their computers and everybody just sits in front of them at night instead of being together, or outside doing stuff. I've made the effort to not fire mine up when I get home and that seems to work. But, that just means I get some of my stuff done and not necessarily spend more time with the kids.
I don't really think the internet and computers have really made us a better family, or anybody a better family for that matter. It seems everybody just has a place to hide instead of just dealing with stuff... and I don't mean mental stuff. Even stuff around the house just piles up sometimes and then you wonder why it didn't get done. Simple answer... I spent too much time updating facebook, or surfing. Stuff that really doesn't accomplish much of anything when you stop to think about it.
June 4, 2009
The Bus...
The new bus construction was started last weekend. It didn't exactly go as planned, but ultimately we got it going and some work completed.
It felt like the thing just didn't wanted to go to the salvage yard! Fought us every step of the way it seemed like. Of course it didn't help that I had let the thing sit for about a year and never fired it up.
So, what happened...
Got it started after hooking up a jump box and an extra battery. That wasn't too bad and it actually fired up and ran ok. Cold blooded, but not bad.
Once it was running, tried to drop it into gear and the shifter wouldn't move. Great... WTF is wrong with this thing. Buzzer was going off too for the brakes. So, we start to diagnose and see what's up.
Find the power steering fluid is basically non-existent. The brakes on this bus use a booster off the power steering pump instead of vacumn. Trip to Autozone for some parts, fluid and actually had the brake booster working. Test the brakes and it immediately blows a steel brakeline that runs to the back of the bus. Of course it's in the worst possible spot, so we clamp it off with some vise grips.
Now remember... all this is happening in the storage lot because we still can't get the thing in gear and now it has no brakes. Once it's clamped, guess what? It breaks in another spot further up the line. So, break the line off and clamp it again. Finally got it to more or less stop leaking. Of course under the bus is now douched in flammable brake fluid... including a good chunk of the exhaust system. Luckily I planned for this and bought 3 cans of non-flammable brake clean. I'm sure the storage lot loved the quart of brake fluid on the asphalt though.
On to the trans. Pull the cable off the trans and the lever on the trans moves. Get inside and basically force the shifter to move while it's unhooked from the trans. Cable ended up being froze up and this actually freed the cable. Hooked it back up and now we have some motion... but still no brakes.
So, I decide that I'm going to drive the thing anyway. I mean, the parking brake still worked and the thing almost stops itself in first gear anyway. Hope in, fire it up (at this point I had also replaced the battery) and away we go. Dad following behind and me driving the bus with no brakes, no plate, no insurance and still titled in the name of the school that I bought it from. Really sounds safe and somehow I'm sure I would be filing for bankruptcy if I hit somebody.
Actually, it went uneventful back to the house. No panic stops needed... thankfully because there is no way in hell that thing would have stopped in a hurry.
More or less after that is was a giant PIA getting the line fixed. Ended up getting it sorted and running a new hardline. Several trips to the parts store were involved and it would be nice if the dumbasses actually would stock the shelves with some standard parts. We had to use Autozone and Murray's to get all the stuff.
I'll post up some pics of the bus in it's current state this weekend. Here's how the new paint scheme is going to look...
Went for a classic WWII Bomber theme. It'll be cheap and easy to paint since it's a flat color. Girl and the rest of the graphics can be done in vinyl.
Plans for the inside of the bus...
Bench seating and stripping all existing seats out
2 - Booths with tables
2 - 24 " HD monitors
PC that will run video/audio/TV Tuner
Speakers
Replace ceiling lights with switchable 12 volt lights
Small counters in rear with a bar sink and small fridge
2500 watt inverter and a deep cycle marine battery
Wired for 120 volt (few plugs and extra lights)
Shore hookup out of an RV when I can get juice
5% window tint on the sides
If there is anything left in the budget... Roof mounted air
This should be a good start and end up with a very usable party bus, tailgate machine and even something to use for track weekends.
We'll see how it goes...
It felt like the thing just didn't wanted to go to the salvage yard! Fought us every step of the way it seemed like. Of course it didn't help that I had let the thing sit for about a year and never fired it up.
So, what happened...
Got it started after hooking up a jump box and an extra battery. That wasn't too bad and it actually fired up and ran ok. Cold blooded, but not bad.
Once it was running, tried to drop it into gear and the shifter wouldn't move. Great... WTF is wrong with this thing. Buzzer was going off too for the brakes. So, we start to diagnose and see what's up.
Find the power steering fluid is basically non-existent. The brakes on this bus use a booster off the power steering pump instead of vacumn. Trip to Autozone for some parts, fluid and actually had the brake booster working. Test the brakes and it immediately blows a steel brakeline that runs to the back of the bus. Of course it's in the worst possible spot, so we clamp it off with some vise grips.
Now remember... all this is happening in the storage lot because we still can't get the thing in gear and now it has no brakes. Once it's clamped, guess what? It breaks in another spot further up the line. So, break the line off and clamp it again. Finally got it to more or less stop leaking. Of course under the bus is now douched in flammable brake fluid... including a good chunk of the exhaust system. Luckily I planned for this and bought 3 cans of non-flammable brake clean. I'm sure the storage lot loved the quart of brake fluid on the asphalt though.
On to the trans. Pull the cable off the trans and the lever on the trans moves. Get inside and basically force the shifter to move while it's unhooked from the trans. Cable ended up being froze up and this actually freed the cable. Hooked it back up and now we have some motion... but still no brakes.
So, I decide that I'm going to drive the thing anyway. I mean, the parking brake still worked and the thing almost stops itself in first gear anyway. Hope in, fire it up (at this point I had also replaced the battery) and away we go. Dad following behind and me driving the bus with no brakes, no plate, no insurance and still titled in the name of the school that I bought it from. Really sounds safe and somehow I'm sure I would be filing for bankruptcy if I hit somebody.
Actually, it went uneventful back to the house. No panic stops needed... thankfully because there is no way in hell that thing would have stopped in a hurry.
More or less after that is was a giant PIA getting the line fixed. Ended up getting it sorted and running a new hardline. Several trips to the parts store were involved and it would be nice if the dumbasses actually would stock the shelves with some standard parts. We had to use Autozone and Murray's to get all the stuff.
I'll post up some pics of the bus in it's current state this weekend. Here's how the new paint scheme is going to look...
Went for a classic WWII Bomber theme. It'll be cheap and easy to paint since it's a flat color. Girl and the rest of the graphics can be done in vinyl.
Plans for the inside of the bus...
Bench seating and stripping all existing seats out
2 - Booths with tables
2 - 24 " HD monitors
PC that will run video/audio/TV Tuner
Speakers
Replace ceiling lights with switchable 12 volt lights
Small counters in rear with a bar sink and small fridge
2500 watt inverter and a deep cycle marine battery
Wired for 120 volt (few plugs and extra lights)
Shore hookup out of an RV when I can get juice
5% window tint on the sides
If there is anything left in the budget... Roof mounted air
This should be a good start and end up with a very usable party bus, tailgate machine and even something to use for track weekends.
We'll see how it goes...
April 19, 2009
I actually worked on it!!
This is how the car looked when I first bought it...
This is how it looks now...
Here's the stuff that I got done on the car this weekend...
Dropped all the front suspension out with the engine and trans still attached to the K-member. Was kind of a PIA since I did it all myself with a floor jack and some jackstands. I actually dropped the car down low enough that the K-member and trans sat on a 2x4. Then I unbolted and jacked the car up by the frame ties to raise it up high enough to pull the assembly out the wheel well. Having extra jackstands helped.
Worked on the rear end housing. Cut off one of the spring perches, but spent most of the time cleaning the paint and bondo off the housing.
Yes, I said bondo. It looks like somebody, at some point, smoothed out the housing with a nice coat of bondo and painted it red. What a mess! The entire housing was covered in this crap.
Next on the list is to get the motor off the K-member and get the K-member cleaned up. Then I'll start on the welding/reinforcing of the K-member and mocking up the rear end in the car to weld on the spring perches.
January 25, 2009
Not quite...
So my list of stuff to complete on the car is still the same. I did make it to the WPC (Walter P Chrysler) Swap Meet on Sunday, however.
Ended up buying a few items that were of interest. I picked up a set of rear leaf springs that were set up with some Competition Engineering Sliders. The slider kit is for a drag car and probably won't work for what I want. But, I needed some leaf springs and the whole setup was only $125. I figure the slider kit is worth at least that, if not more, so I'm ahead.
I got a set up headlight buckets for $10. Needed a set to butcher and test out some different headlights that I want to run.
The real deal of the day was my battery relocation kit cable. Somebody had a stock rear mount postive battery cable from some current platform. The relocation kits are usually at least $100 for a decent one and I really only need the cable. For what I'm doing I will just reuse the original battery tray and hold down bolted to the trunk floor. Then I'll take the nice new cable, run it to the front for power and put on whatever end I need after I cut it to length. The battery end that's on it I can use and it even has a cover that I need over the terminal. Can't beat all that for $20! Hell, the copper is probably worth almost that by itself.
I'll post up some pics of the stuff after I lay it out in the garage. That way anybody reading this can have even half a clue what I'm talking about.
See ya...
Ended up buying a few items that were of interest. I picked up a set of rear leaf springs that were set up with some Competition Engineering Sliders. The slider kit is for a drag car and probably won't work for what I want. But, I needed some leaf springs and the whole setup was only $125. I figure the slider kit is worth at least that, if not more, so I'm ahead.
I got a set up headlight buckets for $10. Needed a set to butcher and test out some different headlights that I want to run.
The real deal of the day was my battery relocation kit cable. Somebody had a stock rear mount postive battery cable from some current platform. The relocation kits are usually at least $100 for a decent one and I really only need the cable. For what I'm doing I will just reuse the original battery tray and hold down bolted to the trunk floor. Then I'll take the nice new cable, run it to the front for power and put on whatever end I need after I cut it to length. The battery end that's on it I can use and it even has a cover that I need over the terminal. Can't beat all that for $20! Hell, the copper is probably worth almost that by itself.
I'll post up some pics of the stuff after I lay it out in the garage. That way anybody reading this can have even half a clue what I'm talking about.
See ya...
January 19, 2009
Car Stuff
Well, this weekend I officially decided to purge a couple projects and actually continue working on some others.
The Dart in my garage has been sitting for a couple years now without much progress. So, this weekend I started reviewing the things I needed to get the project done. Biggest one was getting the car moved around in the garage now that I have all the suspension removed.
I ordered some casters from Northern Equipment and will fab up some basic brackets to mount them to the car. Should be fairly simple and then I can wheel the car around the garage without a problem.
Plan for the car next weekend...
1) Fab up casters
2) Remove engine and trans
3) Load up Dad's truck with all the scrap from the car (rear, springs, engine, trans, interior,etc...)
4) Clean up seam welding around rear leaf spring mounts and complete drivers side
5) Mock up rear end with fiberglass mono-leaf springs and install
That should give me a good start. After that I will send the rear out to get the finish welding completed on the spring perches and get it hung in the car. From there I can drop the tank out and install my new fuel pickup and start on the plumbing. I'll be running all braided line for the fuel system and I need to start on the rear brake lines also.
I figure if I can stay on top of it I can have a rolling car with the motor installed (not running) by the end of March, or April. Probably April since I will have to wait on some parts for the frontend to be completed. That would really make me feel like I've accomplished something with this project. I'm sure it would make the wife happy also to get the garage sorted out again.
Some where in this time I will also finish cutting up the cabinet on my Ferrari F355 Challenge driving game and move that to the basement. Maybe I'll through that in to next weekends jobs...
The Dart in my garage has been sitting for a couple years now without much progress. So, this weekend I started reviewing the things I needed to get the project done. Biggest one was getting the car moved around in the garage now that I have all the suspension removed.
I ordered some casters from Northern Equipment and will fab up some basic brackets to mount them to the car. Should be fairly simple and then I can wheel the car around the garage without a problem.
Plan for the car next weekend...
1) Fab up casters
2) Remove engine and trans
3) Load up Dad's truck with all the scrap from the car (rear, springs, engine, trans, interior,etc...)
4) Clean up seam welding around rear leaf spring mounts and complete drivers side
5) Mock up rear end with fiberglass mono-leaf springs and install
That should give me a good start. After that I will send the rear out to get the finish welding completed on the spring perches and get it hung in the car. From there I can drop the tank out and install my new fuel pickup and start on the plumbing. I'll be running all braided line for the fuel system and I need to start on the rear brake lines also.
I figure if I can stay on top of it I can have a rolling car with the motor installed (not running) by the end of March, or April. Probably April since I will have to wait on some parts for the frontend to be completed. That would really make me feel like I've accomplished something with this project. I'm sure it would make the wife happy also to get the garage sorted out again.
Some where in this time I will also finish cutting up the cabinet on my Ferrari F355 Challenge driving game and move that to the basement. Maybe I'll through that in to next weekends jobs...
January 16, 2009
First Time for Everything...
This first post has taken some time to formulate and I still don't know what to write. After watching TV, editing my profile (like 20 times) and generally procrastinating as usual... we'll see what stumbles out onto the keyboard.
When I first created this blog back in Oct '08 I showed it to my wife Joanne. First thing out of her mouth... she laughs. Doesn't think I'm serious about the whole thing... and I might not be.
Maybe she's right. I mean, this whole blogging, social networking thing has really been something I've avoided. I'm not on Facebook, no MySpace for me. But I thought I should have something. Not really sure why. One of those "everybody is doing it" moments I guess. Really seems like I'm missing something by not having a way to dump my thoughts out for the world to ponder.
Am I really missing something by not letting the world see what is happening in my life? Does somebody on the other side of the world, people I don't know... do they really need to know what's going on in my little world? I'm not sure of the answer, but what the hell.
So, I figure I'll give it a try. Post up some stuff about the random things that happen to me on a daily basis. Work, fun stuff, possibly crappy stuff, but no family stuff (I'm not ready to dump my homelife out for the world to read).
This blog will probably be updated either early in the morning, or late at night. It's the wee hours for this post. Hopefully not always this late, but it's low on the priority list. Might be slow at first and that's ok. Patience is a virtue "they" say. You might just have to learn some before the next post.
When I first created this blog back in Oct '08 I showed it to my wife Joanne. First thing out of her mouth... she laughs. Doesn't think I'm serious about the whole thing... and I might not be.
Maybe she's right. I mean, this whole blogging, social networking thing has really been something I've avoided. I'm not on Facebook, no MySpace for me. But I thought I should have something. Not really sure why. One of those "everybody is doing it" moments I guess. Really seems like I'm missing something by not having a way to dump my thoughts out for the world to ponder.
Am I really missing something by not letting the world see what is happening in my life? Does somebody on the other side of the world, people I don't know... do they really need to know what's going on in my little world? I'm not sure of the answer, but what the hell.
So, I figure I'll give it a try. Post up some stuff about the random things that happen to me on a daily basis. Work, fun stuff, possibly crappy stuff, but no family stuff (I'm not ready to dump my homelife out for the world to read).
This blog will probably be updated either early in the morning, or late at night. It's the wee hours for this post. Hopefully not always this late, but it's low on the priority list. Might be slow at first and that's ok. Patience is a virtue "they" say. You might just have to learn some before the next post.
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