11/5/07

You would think that with a whole weekend behind me I'd have more to say. Well, you’d be wrong. Oh sure, Saturday morning I got the tires mounted for Marty and Mr. Wiggly inspected. But other than that, nothing much was accomplished. I think I did actually manage to strike two or three things off George’s to do list, but I actually had to add most of them before striking them off. Ok, I guess I'll go into detail. Saturday morning I headed to the shop to meet John, pick up the wheels, grab Mr. Wiggly, and go to the Kreblichistani tire store. After loading the wheels, I decided to go ahead and look to see if I had an insurance card in Mr. Wiggly. I did not. Well, I did but it was expired. I grabbed the good one from the Seven but it only had that particular car listed. I decided to give it a shot and headed to the place. I pulled up and said I needed an inspection. Habib asked for proof of insurance and I tried to sell the fact that it did have insurance on the policy but I didn’t have a current card. He wasn’t buying it. I dropped off the wheels and headed for the house. I couldn’t find a card with Mr. Wiggly on it until I checked in Matilda. I had found a card with her information but I have no idea where the Mr. Wiggly card wound up. I dropped the Matilda specific card in Matilda, duh, and took the one with all the cars listed then headed back. Akhmed seemed happy with that one and asked for the keys. I told him, “It’s a three speed manual with the shifter on the column.” “Oh,” he said. “Then you drive it for me.” He went on to tell me that he had to do one on the dyno and had to have the lady tell him how to find the gears. So, he had a look at all the lights, gave the horn a toot, and had me haul-ass around the parking lot and hit the brakes. When he was happy it was safe, he had me pull into the bay and he did the sticker. We loaded the wheels and tires in the back, I paid the $63.00, and left. Back at the shop, John tells me he needs another thirty minutes with his car and he’ll get to work cleaning and painting the wheels so we can mount them. I ask if we have everything we’ll need and am sent to the store for paint and masking tape. I come back and start in on busy work until John is done with his car. I replace the hood on George with the orange hood from the Louisiana Purchase, the one with the 280ZX Turbo hood scoops. I also put on the driver’s side steel braided brake line and zip-tie both sides to their respective strut housings. He finishes up with his car and asks, “What’s for lunch?” We decide to try a little taco stand near the place where he wants to look at a couple “cheap” 510s. We roll to the dude’s hose and check out the cars. One is a total piece of… well, let’s say it’s a “parts car” shall we? The other is… well, I'd say another POS but John thought it was decent enough. Here’s the thing, I couldn’t give two craps about a two-door 510, much less a four-door, so they were both “crushers” in my eyes. John, being a 510 guy, saw them as potential restorations. We left and had tacos. John bought and I was a total douche because I forgot to say “thank you.” I'm bad about that because I don’t feel like I sound sincere when I say it. I think he bought because we didn’t get around to doing my wheels like we had planned. Oh well. Thanks for lunch John, I really did appreciate it. See, even in print I think it “sounds” sarcastic and insincere. Ok, moving on. We went our separate ways from the taco place. Pat called to ask what I was up to. I told him I was at home but was about to head back to the shop. We met there and talked about stuff. We decided to go to the MSR to get the two A-series engines I bought from Ray. Well, I bought one with Marty and still owe him for the other. Anyhoo, we headed to the Ranch and loaded them in the back of Pat’s truck. Back at my shop, we unloaded them right inside the door, in the way. I figured I'd be more likely to do something with them if they were in my way, I guess. We parted company and headed to our homes. Later in the evening I got a call from Amy asking me to join them at a bar for Sam’s birthday. I had already taken my contacts out but agreed to go anyway. We hung out for a bit and then all went home. Oh, earlier in the week I had started reading the seventh, and final, book of the Harry Potter series, I went home and finished it. It was pretty good once it was all said and done. Some characters were pissing me the hell off in the middle though. I won’t say which character, but it rhymes with “scary blotter.” The term “thick as pig shit” came to mind several times. Anyhoo, I won’t spoil anything with details about the book’s ending or anything. Ok, so now it is Sunday in the narrative of my life. Saturday, I was supposed to have sushi with Roger Hseih (pronounced “shay”) from the railroad office in Houston but since John and I were going to the shop we rescheduled for Genghis Grille on Sunday. I waited until noon for him to call and finally gave up. I shaved and showered anyway then set off in Matilda for a hoon. It was a long one. I took off out I-20 intending to go to the opposite end of FM5 and come back to the shop. I wound up taking that cutoff road from I-20 to Aledo/Iona road, A/I to 1187, 1187 to the cutoff road through Aledo to FM5, FM5 to Old Airport Road, OAR to HWY 171 in Weatherford, 171 to Bear Creek to Muir to FM5, FM5 (the good part) to 1187, 1187 to 730 in Azle, and 730 to Boyd where I stopped at the cemetery and visited my dad’s grave. From the cemetery I went to the farm and had a look at the land where I'm not going to build a shop and move after all. Then I took off down HWY 114 to 287, 287 to 157 in Blue Mound, past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to Western Center, WC to Mk IV to Loop 820, 820 back around to Bryant Irvin Road, BIR to Dirks to Old Granbury Road, and OGR to the shop. It was probably about a hundred miles out of the way. Take that you hippies! Screw the environment, I like to drive. At the shop I had a look around at things but didn’t really do anything. I finally decided to go home. Oh, I did hear from Roger eventually. He was still in Oklahoma at around 1400 h so we decided against lunch. I wasted the evening in front of the TV watching, but not really laughing at, the Sunday “comedy” lineup on Fox. So, there you have it. How I spent the weekend. I did manage to make a pretty detailed list of what needs to be done to get George up and going. He’s really not too far off. I just need to do it. Ok, so I guess you weren’t wrong. I did have more to say. But that’s all, I'm done for now. Have a day.