9/10/07

I am, seriously, about to be through with this laptop. It almost terminally pissed me off last night and it is working my last nerve today. If it hadn’t been so late, I would have taken it to the shop and doused it with gasoline last night. That is probably going to be the fate of this unit, the full “Joan of Arc” effect. With the thing running, I'll dump a bunch of gasoline on it. If it doesn’t short out and catch fire, I'll put a match to it and watch the fucker burn. Ok, let’s see if I can get through a report of the weekend without it pissing me off any more. Friday afternoon I get e-mail from my friend Amy, just one e-mail, but douche bag Tiny and Flaccid Gates’ fucking grammar checker won’t let me use an article to indicate number when referring to “e-mail” therefore making it look like I got all the e-mail in the universe ever from her. Hmm, how about that? I didn’t even make it one sentence without the thing pissing me off again. What do you know? Anyhoo, I got all the e-mail ever in the whole entirety of existence from Amy telling me that we were all getting together for Gallery Night on Saturday. The plan was to go see Amy and Sam’s new house and go from there. I requested that they call me when they were headed to the house and I'd meet them there. I didn’t hear back so I assumed that was a suitable plan. I moved on. Saturday morning I headed to the shop with (Fifi) to… um, do something. Oh, right! I was going to install the turn signal switch. I had stopped off earlier in the week and bought a new switch from Texas Motors Ford after discussing new versus used with John. I could have gotten a used unit from him for about $100.00 less, but since they are a known failure point, a new one seemed more prudent. On the way to the shop I got a call from Steve/John asking for the handle and lock assembly from the passenger door of a 1200. I said I'd see what I could find. I also thought I'd see if he could mute the cabin rort of (Fifi's) zorst while I was there. I got to work on the switch by disconnecting the battery as John had warned me I'd better do lest I set off the airbag. Perhaps it was set off the “Check Airbag” light, but better safe than sorry. I removed the three screws holding the plastic surround on the steering column but couldn’t get either part off due to (tee hee, doo-doo!) another bit blocking each piece. I unscrewed the tilt lever and got the bottom off but the key bezel kept the top in place. I maneuvered it out of the way and took the two Torx screws out holding the old switch in place. Of course, by not removing the steering wheel, I couldn’t really get good access to the plugs on the back of the switch. I did manage to get them both off and only broke one retaining tab. I plugged them back into the new switch and bolted it down. I replaced the covers, yes I know I should have tested the system first but I didn’t, and then reconnected the battery. Nothing popped or allowed the magic smoke out so I got in to test the functionality. As I came around to the door, I noticed the hazard flashers were on. Ok, so “In” is “On” and “Out” is “Off.” Now I know, and knowing is half the battle. Go Joe! Oh, sorry. I turned off the hazards and tried the rest of the stuff. Wouldn’t you know it? All of it worked. Ha, you thought I screwed something up didn’t you? Way to have faith in me. Psh, I'm not sure I like your attitude all of a sudden. Anyhoo, I moved on to looking for Steve/John’s lock stuff. I decided I'd just take him the whole door from the junkyard car. I looked at (Marty) to see what size wrench to take out back and found it to be a 12 mm. I probably should have guessed that but looked all the same. I went out back and found that there were only two bolts still holding that door in place, and one of them was finger tight. I removed the door and set it in the back of (Fifi). I put up the tools, believe it or not, then washed up and locked the shop. As I was leaving I sent a text message to John telling him where I was headed. I got there to find John hanging out. I thought he might. I gave Steve/John the door and asked if we could look at cutting down a bit of the rort. He had me pull on the rack and he zooked in a glass pack in front of the other muffler. Well, he had his dude do the majority of the welding, but that doesn’t really matter. When they fired it up I couldn’t tell much difference, but when I got in to move it I could. The cabin rort was mostly gone. I knew mom wouldn’t mind the noise now. I tried to pay but was sent on my way. I guess one 1200 door is worth one glass pack and some welding to Steve/John. On the way home I stopped off at the truck accessory place on Airport Freeway and bought a set of nerf bars/running boards/steps and had them installed. I chose black and regretted it slightly as I watched them being installed. Once they were done though, I liked them. I stopped off at AUTOCOMP to drop off the SDS fuel injection system with Marty to see if he’d be interested in it. From there I went for a hoon out on FM5 and finally home. I napped for a while then cleaned up for Gallery Night. Well, since I've passed my page break, I think I'm going to call this rant done and finish tomorrow. That is, if the laptop survives the rest of the day.