Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

The most boring car in the world worries me on occasion

Sep 10th, 10 / Comments Off

While driving into work yesterday I started to think I was hearing a strange noise from one of the opposite side tires[1] . It was a grumbling, low sort of sound, was just soft enough that I wasn’t sure if it was there at all. I only noticed it at the last second before parking. I was already late to start my shift so I didn’t give it a second thought until leaving at the end of the day.

As I left, a quick walk around the car didn’t reveal anything, so I started it up and, ears at the ready, started to back out of the space. Sure enough, the sound was real. Car in park, engine off, I dropped to the ground and peered under the car. Something was rubbing. It took some judicious yanks to see if it was just a peice of debris that had caught a ride or a real part coming off. It eventually revealed itself to be part of a platic cover for one of the lower wishbones for the rear suspension.

I’m not sure it’s purpose, and some googling hasn’t revealed anything enlightening. I was able to jam it back up out of the way. As I’m not keeping this vehicle forever, I’m less inclined to make a real repair, so zip-ties are probably in its future. At least I’m not forking over real cash for repairs on this thing.

  1. Although anyone who’s ever driven a car will know that actually locating the source of a noise can be infuriatingly imprecise [↩]
Personal

Grooves in the road.

Sep 6th, 10 / Comments Off

My lovely wife is out of town, so naturally I ventured forth to procure some fast food that she hates. One has to pounce on these opportunities.

It was only more then halfway to the restaurant that I snapped myself out of the fugue and realized that I had quite literally driven past another location of the same chain as I headed to my destination. Why the fuck was I doing that?

I expect it’s because the closest one to my last apartment was absolute rubbish, and the years I lived there wore some pattern into my head about going to the second or third closest locations instead. It didn’t matter that I’d moved, and thus didn’t need the rule anymore. It still took me over and put me out of my way.

Personal

A fine day.

Sep 4th, 10 / Comments Off

You expect certain things as you get older. I expected to finally finish school and go out into the workforce. I expected some of my childhood dreams to die. I expected that I would start drinking at some point.

Some things catch you by surprise though. I never really expected to start enjoying the weather. A decade ago, the idea of enjoying a pleasant day was something of a foreign idea to me. I knew in a sort of cerebral sense that other people found certain days to be better then others for being outside in the open weather, but none of that seemed to pertain to me.

It didn’t matter if it was freezing, amicable, or sweltering outside[1] ; the place I always wanted to be was indoors, preferably in front of a computer or television screen. This aspect of the world, taking pleasure from the conditions of temperature, humidity and air movement, was so absent in me that finding it actually brought me up short.

I don’t know if it was maturity, or perhaps some change in my physiology, or something else, but at some point the lever switched and I began to notice how nice it could be outside.

It was novel the first time, some number of years ago, when I stepped out into a bright spring day and found myself suddenly filled with pleasure. It’s still novel today. To sit outside on my lunch break and feel a breeze envelope me, to somehow draw me into the world around and make me feel part of it, isn’t something that I have gotten used to. I hope I never do. This is not something that should be mundane.

  1. And let’s face it, in Texas, we’re almost always talking about sweltering [↩]
Personal

Scott Pilgrim

Aug 17th, 10 / Comments Off

I was out with my beautiful wife and one of our many glamorous friends when the subject of the Scott Pilgrim movie came up. On a whim, I broke my self imposed do-not-see-things-in-the-theatre rule and suggested we go see it. I was very displeased to see that ticket prices had gone up again since I had last bought any, but this time the small fortune I had to part with was worth it.
I am a huge fan of the comic series. It was the best sequential art storytelling that I’d read in years. To be honest, the idea that they were making a movie of it filled me with small amount of dread. The irreverent tone and colorful[1] style didn’t seem like something that would translate to a big budget production and something with a budget small enough to avoid entanglement with The Suits wouldn’t have enough money to get the visual effects needed. I have never bee happier to be wrong.
To say that the film looked like a comic book would be a disservice; films that “look like comics books” in the past have tried too hard to do so. The film, Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, looked like the Scott Pilgrim books specifically and it did so effortlessly. The plot required shortening, of course, and the format of film neccessitate a host of othe changes. The tone, casting, and production quality all made sure that I didn’t care when changes were made.
I highly recommend it, even at theatre prices.[2]

  1. for lack of a better term to use about a comic in black and white [↩]
  2. A small side story: one of the previews was for a film about some people trapped in an elevator with a serial killer or something. It didn’t look good. However, at the moment the title card announced that it was “a product of the mind of M. Night Shyamalan” there was a derisive snort from somewhere in the audience and the whole theatre exploded in laughter. How great is it that he’s gone from widely renowned to a joke so quickly? [↩]
Commentary, Personal

Hands on repair.

Aug 9th, 10 / Comments Off

I need to do a full post on the Civic at some point, but for now just know that it’s an extra-ordinarily boring car that does what it was intended to do beautifully.

Months ago as I inspected the car, I noticed some signs of impact at the rear driver’s side corner; the tail light assembly was missing a toenail sized sliver and part of the rear valence was poking out at an odd angle in one spot. Some individual had given my bumper a tap while trying to enter or exit a parking space next to me and had violated the social contract[1] by just driving off. Not a terrible amount of damage, but a mark on my car that is annoyingly obvious .

As the car is under a loan, it does have full coverage. However, the deductible on that policy is high enough that I could very well have ended up fielding the entire repair cost myself. I pulled the cracked light assembly out and investigated the other damage. Infuriatingly, what had busted was the clip that held the valence on the car[2]. it was a tiny stress fracture, but would mean replacing a whole large section of plastic to fix. I put everything back together and went off for a number of weeks to muse on this and order a new light assembly.

Thank god for the internet, I must say. The replacement part was 60% cheaper then from the dealer. New shiny plastic in hand, this evening I tore the whole thing apart again[3]. Some putty style epoxy went around the damaged clip, shoring it up and hopefully giving it the strength to hold the valence flush against the car. I fit the new assembly in place and things when back together. All in all, only about an hour of work this evening and less then $60 in parts. Should put some value back on when I go to sell.

I really wish we were in a position to afford a place with a garage; working in the parking lot of an apartment complex is a pretty sad affair for anyone. Even this modest work did feel good, though. I used to spend a lot of time wrist deep in various computers, but getting electronics back up and running is hardly satisfying the way working on a car or similar. Despite the heat, despite the parking lot, despite the lack of tools, it feel worthwhile. It feels good.

  1. in my opinion at least [↩]
  2. of the same style that holds your battery cover on your remote control [↩]
  3. Removing the tail light? Step one: remove the wheel [↩]
Personal