Not Necessarily Interesting News

I had mentioned that we got the truck back together last week after a long struggle. It was spitting and not running well but we figured with all the crap we cleaned out there was going to be problems as valves and rockers reseated, etc. Well, I took it over to my parents’ place last week and on the drive home it sputtered to a halt and died in a construction zone. There was no shoulder so here we were stranded in the middle of traffic with people whizzing by at 60MPH+. I grabbed a flare from my kit real quick and as I was waving it to keep traffic from clobbering us I burnt my hand badly. Flares are hot, folks.
After a couple of minutes a guy in an older Land Cruiser stopped and asked if we needed help. I asked if he could tow us up to a turn-out before we got killed and he obliged. My father showed up and towed me the rest of the way home.
I pulled the plugs and discovered they were very fouled with carbon. I cleaned them up and took the truck to the shop to get help with the problem. Within seconds the mechanic pointed out I had crossed the 1 and 2 plug wires which cause all my problems. Doh! Got that sorted out and it’s running great.
I also got in a new ignition to replace the one that tried to strand us when offroading last month.
It was a good week for the Defender. This weekend I’m pulling the A/C that I don’t use and will sell it to buy some more upgrades.

Today we got results of the comprehensive tests we had our son do last month. The tests took place over 3 days and tested his knowledge on every subject. He is currently finishing up 3rd grade/starting 4th grade. His average test score on his core subjects was at a 5th grade level. In Science and Maps/Diagrams he tested at 8th grade levels! Social Studies and Reading Comprehension he tested at the 6th grade level. Math, one of his tougher subjects, was at a 5.5 grade level. His lowest were Language Arts(capitalization, puncuation, etc) where he tested at 4th grade, still ahead of the curve. This lets us know where we need to concentrate. We know to take a little more time with language so he can excel across the board.
This confirms everything I’ve ever believed about homeschooling our son. He’s ahead of kids his age, gets more time for activites, and is kept away from the ‘teachings’ and fear-mongering of our public schools. He’ll grow up with a well rounded education in all subjects and be ready for whatever career path he chooses.
Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, we know. We’ve made a lot of sacrifices to do so though. Shannon stays home to teach our son while I support the family. We don’t drive the newest cars or live in the nicest neighborhood but we’re happy. Especially knowing that we’re raising our son the best way possible.

I think I’ve mentioned that I had problems with the Defender a few weeks ago. It needed a head gasket replacement. The pic on the left is what we found upon opening the engine. Pretty nasty. I guess the previous owner thought oil changes were a suggestion. The pic on the right shows what things looked like after a local shop cleaned them up for me. Much improved.

After a couple of weekends of work for my father and myself we got it back together tonite. To our amazement and delight it started on the first crank. It belched smoke, the rockers clattered, and things thumped as lifters re-seated but it started.

On to the rip-off. During the rebuild I broke the air hose from the air filter to the plenum. It’s a 3“ diameter hose that runs 18”. Nothing special. When i broke it I wasn’t concerned as it should be a cheap part. Boy was I wrong. I went to the Land Rover dealership on Saturday to grab a new hose and say ‘Hi’ to a couple of mechanics I know down there. the parts guy looked up the part and said it’d be $275. I laughed at him and asked, ‘No really, how much is it?’ ‘$275’. He looked stunned also and checked it in another computer. I told him ‘no thanks, I’ll find something else.’ I went to Lowe’s and picked up 3 feet of 3“ aluminum dryer hose for $6. It worked perfectly. Tomorrow I’ll get to road test the truck to see how she runs.

The visit to Lowe’s is where the deal comes in. At the front of the store they had a couple pallets of stuff from the back room they needed to get rid of. I glanced at the humidifier you see on the left there and then did a double take. Lowes’ list price, $119, current price, $10. The box was beat up badly so we opened it up and looked in. It was all there minus a manual. I think I can figure out the intricacies of a humidifier without a manual for $100 savings. It is an 11gallon/day whole house humidifier. Perfect for our dry Austin winters. It’ll help keep our house from becoming the shock box it normally is in winter.

My wife woke me this morning from what was probably my weirdest dream ever.

In my dream I had died and was sent to purgatory. In purgatory there was a rather large swimming pool with largish 2’x2′ stepping stones in a cross pattern in the middle of it. At the end of the pool, about where the diving board would be, there was a platform. On this platform was the MC for the coming festivities. I think it was Wink Martindale but I’m not sure as I was too busy looking at the line of people that stretched down the length of the pool and out the door.

I was standing in the middle of the cross of stones in the pool and Wink starts announcing what’s about to happen. It was explained that the line of people was everyone I had ever wronged in my entire life. Ever. No matter how slight the offense nor how indirect. Each of these people carried and item that they would get one chance to throw at me. If they could knock me off the cross into the pool I went to hell. If I could survive the entire line I got to go to heaven. There were at least 100 people waiting next to the pool with God knows how many lined up outside waiting their chance to send me to hell.

First up was Nancy Reagan. My wrong against her was making fun of her ‘Just say No’ campaign. She stepped to the platform, wound up, and chucked a danish at my head. WTF? I dodged it easily and she stepped down.

Next up was a kid that looked mildly retarded. I was told that I once made fun of him at a baseball game. He stepped up and tried to bean me with a teddy bear. I had no problem stepping out of the line of that one. He had no arm and no aim.

Then Kirstey Ally stepped to bat. I guess I made fun of her wieght or something. She winged a full container of Jiffy Pop popcorn at my. She had a good arm and it bounced off my shoulder.

Next I saw someone climbing the platform carrying a compact car. Yes, a compact car like a Ford Focus or something. Oh crap. The announcer started telling me of my crimes against this person.

Then my wife woke me.

I never got to hear who it was that could carry a car but I’m glad I didn’t have to dodge it.

*sigh*

Looks like I’ve been shot down for the Iraq job. I really really wanted this position. The company was great and did neat stuff that I found extremely interesting. I seemed to get along with everyone and I _know_ I can do the job as it was described to me.

I got an email saying that they ‘…liked the way that you came across as an engineering professional…’ but they ‘…had concerns regarding your strength in certain areas…’. I am still a possible candidate according to them but they say they will continue to look at other candidates. I’ll keep my fingers crossed but I’ve been here before and callbacks are usually unlikely.

I felt I was a perfect fit for the job and don’t know where I was lacking. I believe I could do the job and looked forward to the challenges it would provide and the difference I could make in a growing company. I’d like to find out where they thought I was lacking so I can improve myself for the future.

edit: I even cut my hair for this interview. 🙂 I was growing it out again after stupidly cutting it last year. Now I’ve got to start from scratch again.

Yesterday I went in for a day long round of interviews for the Iraq job. I got to meet everyone from the CEO of the company down to the guys I’d be headed overseas with. I seemed to get along with everyone and did pretty well in all the interviews I believe. There was one interview with one of the founders where I think I tripped up a bit but I know why he was grilling me so much. The company is his baby and he wants the best people they can find. I hope I still made a good impression with him. After hearing exactly what they want me to do over there I know I can do the job and am the best person for it.
As for the details on the job I’m under an NDA but I can say they do this cool thing, that does this other neat thing, which makes something else make really pretty pictures. The stuff they do is so interesting and cool I was flabbergasted. Now, not only do I want the job because it’ll get me off the contractor bandwagon and pay better but also because they just do some cool cutting-edge stuff. My current job is interesting and all but it’s a lot of the same stuff from day-to-day and I never know if they’ll end my contract from week to week. There it would be ever changing, challenging, and a much more secure position. I also like working for small start ups as it’s a constantly evolving workplace. Exactly the kind of job I want.
It looks like I’ll have to do one final round of interviews before it’s over but right now I believe I have a much better than even chance at the job and am confident in my ability to do the work. I anxiously await a call from them.

We had an awesome 4th this year. We invited a bunch of folks over to help us celebrate and shoot off fireworks. Of everyone we know in the Austin area we are the only ones that live where fireworks are still legal. Damn you, Austin, and your anti-fireworks codes.
We made up a batch or 5 of homemade wontons, a favorite with all our friends, and fried them up. We had those along with borrowing our friend John’s industrial margarita machine. 400 wontons and 5 gallons of margaritas can help make for a decent party. After I got done frying up wontons in our nifty frier, that was given to us by a close friend to encourage us to make more wontons, most of us went out back and sat around while a few folks played bocce ball on my lumpy back lawn.
We ended up having 22 people show up before dark. Once it got dark enough we went out in the street out front to start the fun. We had somewhere over $700 in fireworks to shoot off and had a blast doing it. Only one minor injury, one scare, and a small fire in a neighbor’s tree. 🙂 We had everything from sparklers to 2 1/2″ mortars. Something for everyone.
This was the most people we’ve ever had at one of our 4th parties and it grows every year as more people find out there are still places around here that allow Americans to blow shit up to celebrate our Independence. Sadly I have no pics of the fun as I still haven’t replaced my camera that got crushed 2 weeks ago.

Today I was working in the backyard getting ready for our big July 4th bash tomorrow when my wife said there was a confused old man in the front yard. I laughed and said ‘ok’. She then said ‘no, really, there’s an old man out front looking for a street named Mourning Dove. Do you know where that is?’ I said ‘yeah’ and went around to give directions.
Sure enough, there was a very confused old man standing there. He asked me where Mourning Dove was and I started to give directions. I realized that everything I said was just kinda going in one ear and out the other. He obviously had Alzheimer’s and was lost. I decided to walk him home since it was only like 2 blocks. I grabbed a bottle of water for him as he looked a bit dehydrated and we started to walk.
He ended up living nearly 1/2 mile away and would never have found his house without help. If I’d known his house was that far I’d have driven him home or called the sherrif’s dept. Temps topped at nearly 100 degrees today and he went out for a stroll at noon in bluejeans and a t-shirt with no hat. God knows how long he’d been wandering around the neighborhood.
The saving grace was he knew his exact address but was having problems figuring out adressing on the street. I pointed down the street to the address he gave and asked if his house was the one with the pickup truck and the flag. He said ‘Pickup truck and flag? Yeah, that must be me’. His voice wasn’t totally sure though.
We got to the house and I rang the bell. He tried waving me off but I wanted to make sure he was safe. He then pleaded ‘Please don’t tell her I was lost’. His wife answered the door and I asked if this was his house. She asked where he’d been and I said ‘He’s just a bit dehydrated. Make sure he finishes that water.’ She thanked me and I turned to walk home. As she was shutting the door I heard her say to him ‘I think it’s time we found a nursing home for you.’ That made me feel really shitty.
I’ve been around people with Alheimer’s before but this old man really hit home. He was just out for a stroll and got lost only 6 blocks from home. I talked with him a bit about his plans for the 4th and his family. All of that came to him easily but his location awareness was just not there. It was very sad. If I ever get to where I’m a burden on my family I hope I have enough self-awareness to end my and their suffering. I’m sure watching a loved one just slowly fade away has got to be one of the toughest things possible.