Good Morning CGs!

Welcome to July! The year is half over already. Absolutely crazy, huh?

Well, I did a brake job on my MIL's car last night. It's a 2000 Honda Civic. What a horrible experience that was. It was a nightmare. For some reason, the undercarriage of that car is so rusted and corroded it looks like it was parked at the bottom of the ocean for a year or two. So of course, the caliper bolt snapped off inside the caliper bracket when I was taking it off (using a 3/8 wrench and little force). No parts store has it. You're telling me that one of the most common cars in America and no parts store has a $1.99 bolt? Frick. I ended up finding a bolt at the hardware store that fit almost perfect, I had to grind 2 mm off the end. Total cost plus tax, $1.18. Add that to the fact that I had to drill out the bracket (and the EZ out refused to work) and retap the hole which took a long time and the extra trip to the part store to rebuy the correct pads instead of the ones my wife bought originally and all the other headaches made for a long night. Took it for a test drive and something is squeaking. Ugh. I don't know if it's the wheel bearing, cheap Chinese rotors and pads not lining up properly, caliper not retracting fully? Plus the pedal is spongy (to me, at least) but it still brakes hard when you step on 'em. I'm gonna bleed the brakes tonight and see if that helps. If I hadn't mentioned it, I hate Honda Civics.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Matthew

Retirement, 6 month update.

I'm still waiting to start my retirement. I'm so damn busy I can understand how going to work is like taking a break. Went to pick up the 90 Corvette yesterday. Fuel pump was replaced. I left it there because I have an annoying idle problem and the belt tensioner is jumping a little more than I'd like. Today they'll put on a new tensioner, serp belt and clean the throttle body. See if that helps. I went to get an oil change for my Yukon when I test drove my Corvette. A return coolant nipple (can I say that) is showing some corrosion because of mismatched metals, aluminum to steel, and my radiator was cracked by the top corner of the plastic tank. The Yukon is 10 years old so stuff like that is bound to happen. I could spend all my time fixing that stuff but I have plenty to do without trying to tackle jobs like that.
SoFlo weather update. Hot and muggy followed by wet, hot and muggy. Tonight, expect hot and muggy. These conditions are expected to continue for the next several months except for the occasional tropical storm and /or hurricane conditions. Stay tuned for your next weather update.

Time for a bathroom break ............

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Good Morning!

Can't believe it's July already...
Good Grief, where does the time go?

Hot/Humid here too-- Just the usual chance of afternoon T-storms, otherwise hot and dry....
Looks like good weather on tap for extended weekend...
Now, if I can just make it until tomorrow afternoon...

Greetings! My wife is taking tomorrow off to make it an extra-long weekend, so I'm mulling over that option - seeming like a better idea all the time.

We had a little tournament at golf league last night - I played pretty lousy, but managed to win the long drive hole - felt pretty good, as I figured my days of winning those were over. They grilled some burgers afterward, and I'm fairly certain that someone substituted Colon Blow for the mustard.

Anybody ever try one of those Fox Raincoat soft tops for a C4 coupe? They sell for something like $379 at Ecklers - I snagged one on ebay last night for $150, brand-new. Hope it works well - it would be nice to not have to lug around the targa all the time.

We had clouds yesterday (unusual) and the kind of rain that doesn't hit the ground. The humidity went way up to something like 29%. It did cool things down though.

UPS guy brought me this yesterday, now I only have 6,000 staples to go.Hope I don't screw this floor up, it would be expensive.

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Matt, I had a brake job very similar to yours, but it was an Olds Alero. Makes you crazy, a half hour job turns into an all nighter. Tommy I don't want to hear this about retirement, I'm a year away from retiring from teaching, but I usually find that my summers are like that, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Brad, long drive? Wow, you must be an animal. Colon Blow? We have that every week, but it's by choice. We have one guy that brings his homemade salsa each week, if you are constipated, this stuff will fix you, but man does it taste good. Bill, is the flooring prefinished? That pneumatic stapler will make things much easier. I'm sure you'll do fine.

Hot here today, I think I have all my tools lined up, I just have to load them up and hit the road tomorrow. I am leaving earlier than the wife, as I am taking at least two of the grandsons with me (maybe all three), and the wife is riding up with the middle daughter as they both have to work tomorrow until 5. Today I need to get that fireplace mantle installed and a bid on some cabinet doors finished and emailed.

Yea, Tom the flooring's prefinished and it as on a warehouse sale price about 1/3rd retail.
I going down to the shop try out this stapler right now. It was inexpensive compared to Bostitch and cost the same amount as adhesieve would have. Plus the flooring adapter comes off easily and it's a normal crown stapler.

What is the range of lengths of staples the gun will handle? I assume that it is a 1/4" crown.

You want to be careful with those guns, last fall I was re-building a drawer for one of the other teachers, and long story shortened, I shot myself in the hand with a 5/8" staple. Not good, but it didn't really hurt, but I did have to have surgery to remove the dam* thing.
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Ouch, In my first year of college, I worked in a furniture factory and, of course,ran my thimb into the blade of a tablesaw. but I bleed just as much working on cars.

The Grex has a safety, one of the checks when you first use it is to hold it in the air, pull the trigger,it shouldn't fire the put it on a piece of wood, depress the safety and it shouldn't fire.

Staple range is 3/8th to 1 1/4 in (18 gauge). I looked around before I bought it, Grex got good reviews online in Woodworking mag.
There's not that many flooring staplers available at decent prices, especially ones that will convert to a regular stapler. Some are over $450. The best prices on Bostitch and Senco are over $260. I got this for $173 shipped.

Good Morning Gurus!

Nothing to report, except my flakey clients continue to re-reschedule shoots and edits. I keep feeling like I cannot remember what day it is, and where I am supposed to be.

Hopefully I don't miss a shoot! That would be horrible.


Take care folks!

Greetings Gurus!

Not much going on except time just keeps flyin' by!

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Word of the Day for Wednesday, July 1, 2009

penury
\PEN-yuh-ree\, noun:

1. Extreme poverty; destitution.
2. Absence of resources; insufficiency.

When you lie using a writing implement. Penury .....