8/25/08

Sorry there wasn’t a rant on Friday. I spent the entire day installing two projectors in two conference rooms. That would be two total, one per room, not two per room for four total. Anyhoo, that's why I didn’t rant on Friday. Well, I ranted quite a bit actually, but it was just actual ranting and not sitting here typing out meaningless drivel. So, shall I tell that story or the one about firing up George? Ok, I'll tell that one. Friday morning I was scheduled to… What? You want the George story? Hang on, I'll get to it eventually. Friday morning I was scheduled to install a couple projectors. I have had the mounts for a while now but haven’t been motivated to actually go finger out if they were going to work with the existing structure. See, the mount I had uses a pipe hung from the red iron of a building to attach it. Well, the idiots who installed the projectors I'm replacing used four pieces of all-thread hanging from the red iron. I had to finger out how to incorporate the top bit of the old mount into the new mount. Of course they wouldn’t just bolt together, that would have been too easy. I had to take the old mount to the facilities maintenance shop and chop off a couple ears from each one. Fortunately, those ears could then be used as nut plates to attach the two mounts together so it all worked out pretty well. Now that tale made it sound like the whole process only took a little while. Why did it take all day? No, I wasn’t on “union time” for this job, it actually took all day. First off, I sat and stared at the two mounts for probably an hour until I figured out that solution. Then it took a solid hour to an hour and a half to actually get from one building to the other to chop the ears on the first mount. Yes, I could have walked the hundred and fifty yards between the buildings and got the job done but it was already ninety something degrees and very humid so I called the shuttle. He had to go to the TOB before he could drop me off. There we picked up someone so we had to go back to the Visitor’s Gallery. There we picked someone up so we had to go back to the TOB. Then he got a call to go to Bldg B. Then I got a call to go to the TOB. Finally I made it to the maintenance building and a dude chopped the ears for me. I called the shuttle again and rode back to Bldg A. I assembled the mount and hung the projector. I fired it up and aligned everything. I couldn’t find the remote though. I blew it off for the time being and went to get the dude in charge to show him my progress. We had a look in the other room, the one I thought was booked, and saw it was empty. I said I'd come back after lunch and install the second projector. I asked if he had the remotes and he said he did not. I said I'd seeif I could find them. I called desktop support and went to lunch. After lunch I did come back to my desk and checked e-mail. I think I took a quick nap as well. Sure, I could have ranted for y'all at that time but I didn’t. Deal. After a quick fifteen to twenty minute nap I searched for the remotes for those projectors. I know they had been delivered and we had them someplace. I must have wasted another hour on that. I found an Epson remote and hoped it would work. My plan was: if the remote worked, or we found the other remotes, I'd install the second projector, if not I wouldn’t. The remote didn’t work. I went back to the dude and asked one more time if he had the remotes. He said again that he didn’t but as soon as we looked in his storage closet, there they were. Vindication! I said I'd install the second projector. This one didn’t take nearly as long since I knew the drill and went straight to the maintenance building as soon as the shuttle picked me up. It still took until 1630 h or so. I cleaned up after all of that and went home. Saturday morning I drove Fifi to John’s and picked up him and Darth Versa’s new wheels and tires. What? I'll get to the George story in a bit. Hang on. We went to John’s Kreblechistani tire dude and had them mounted and balanced. From there we went to a car wash and John washed the wheels. We went to my house and picked up Darth Versa and went to the shop. We debated painting the wheels before installing them but opted to get it done and get into air conditioning. We, mostly John, installed the wheels and they look good. There is so much more meat on the ground it is hilarious. The different offset changed the scrub radius on the front end and the steering is actually lighter with these wider tires. It is kooky. We took Darth Versa back to my house and I took John and the old wheels and tires back to his. We ate at Don Pablo’s on the way. Oh, I forgot to mention the dude with the B-210! Relax, I'll get to the George story. Hang on. Friday evening, John sent me a link to a Craig’s List listing for a 1974 four door B-210 notch back (I don’t think there was a 4d hatch so that description might be redundant over and over again). I replied that I wasn’t a fan of the notch and it had too many doors. Well, apparently John sent the list to another dude because he showed up at the shop with the car having just bought it. Upon seeing it in person, running and driving, I was jealous as hell. John “tut tutted” me and said, “I sent you the link!” I told him to go grease wheezer. John sold the dude a set of SU carburetors, a header, and an electronic distributor. Those items really ought to wake that car up! I'll be so super jealous then. Well, until I hop in George and go screaming off in a blaze of turbo powered, tire shredding joy. This brings us to the George story. Unfortunately, I think I've rambled on enough for today. I'll tell that story tomorrow.