Winter Intersession

Well it is that time of year again, when there is a nice gap between semesters so I can rest my busy head again. Unfortunately, this intersession is a little different from the last. I am very busy trying to get my AMS paper finished, withdrawing another paper, and also hoping to get far enough along with the tornadogenesis project that we can write a paper to KDD. That is a lot to have on my plate in the next couple months, all the while keeping an eye out for potential jobs and preparing to graduate.

I do have some ideas on how to work on the car between now and then though, so I am getting my mind all gathered up for a big push before next semester begins since I never know how much free time I will have after that. The one good thing coming up is that after I get a job and do the 9-5 thing, I will have much more time to actually work on the car. One other piece of good news is that I finally found the time to write up not one, but *two* more guides for your viewing pleasure! The new guides are replacing the license plate lens and installing a valve cover breather, as you can see all the guides I have posted here.

Just keep on trying ’til you run out of cake
–Sooner Dead

Keep On Rollin’

What is this? Three journal entries within nearly one months times? Brilliant!

Tons of stuff to update, so let’s get on it. So far Bridgette is still around, but the end of school is approaching as of next week Friday, so that is when I will be going to buy a vehicle – assuming I find one. Also, the weekend after finals are over I plan on installing the gauges – bringing yet another in-depth guide – and this one will be take more than one ‘beverage’ probably. I have received the 15×8 snowflake wheels, along with the lug nuts and center caps. I also have saved around $200 from what I expected to pay for them, not including the equipment I have to buy in order to restore these, which will probably be $100, but still save me $300 from buying them refinished. When I visit home this late summer I will stop by The Tire Rack (~30 minutes from my house), and pick up some big tires to put on the newly refinished wheels, all shipping and handling free I might add. A guide that covers changing door locks has been posted in the automotive guide section. Overall it is about an hour or so worth of work if you have never done it before, piece of cake assuming nothing goes horribly horribly awry. With finals approaching I will probably not be able to update anything on this site until at least 5/15, but I guess that isn’t so bad as it is only 12 days away. As always, once this semester breaks I should have Valarie at my apartment complex and be able to get started on the list of around 30 items to work on and finish by the time next semester begins. This summer should be a real good staging point to get a lot of little stuff done as well as kick up some momentum, even though my next semester looks to be my hardest.

I also hope I will not be locked onto my computer for many weeks on end while playing Half Life 2: Episode 1. While this will in all likelihood be an excellent game, being only 6 or so hours in duration will allow me to finish playing it (three or four times) in only a couple days time – thusly allowing me to return to working on my car and preparing for next semester by relearning all of calculus and ordinary differential equations.

This week is called ‘dead week,’ and it is kind of like calling a huge guy ‘Tiny.’
–Sooner Dead

New Apartment, New Progress

Well even though it has been a tough week for me, due to my Grandfather soon to be dying ( nurses give him less than two weeks ), trying to keep my head above water with school, moving into a new apartment, and debating as to whether or not sell my Trans Am in order to buy a Ford F-150 to use for storm chasing, etc. – I have still managed to get some progress done. While I was not able to directly work on the car, I was able to get the gauges all properly mounted. Now this did take some fabricating, and I have a guide up for this setup in the restoration guides section. Shelley even tried her hand at cutting a hole big enough for the tachometer and did great, we both are itching for a chance to get out to the car and get some real progress done. Now it is not technically all the way done because I need to drill some warning light holes and hood up some lights to represent the turn signals, but right now it is basically done. This represents a nice step forward as the main goal I have is to get these gauges in the car and up and working so I can legitimately drive the car home for the summer. But that is a few weeks down the road….

A spinning blade of death cutting metal between your legs can really wake you up in the morning.
–Sooner Dead