Archived News starting from 06-01-2008 and earlier
Blog
Faced with 12 cubic yards of limestone deposited in the form of a long turd on my rear driveway, I decided to resort to an
unconventional method to spread it out. Rather than toiling with a metal rake all day, I put my Ranger in 4x4 and proceeded to floor it back and forth across the limestone turd. After several passes my dad suggested I drag some bundled 2x4s to smooth it out and voila, a well graded driveway for the price of gas.
With my
Cougar bucking between 1k-2k RPM occasionally, I scoured the internet for possible causes and found a magical sensor called the
Delta Pressure Feedback for EGR sensor (DPFE). It measures a drop in intake pressure that is caused by the Exhaust Gas Recycle valve that opens to allow unburned fuel in the exhaust to cycle back into the engine. The purpose is to prevent unburned gas from making it's way into the environment. The DPFE is a check sensor for this EGR, so it's basically a hippie enforcement sensor. When this goes bad, bucking is a typical side effect. Unfortunately this wasn't causing my problem, but it was a weird enough sensor to share with the world.
After my
initial visits to Sonic, followed by a second one with Lisa last night, today felt like a good day to deflower two more Sonic virgins. My neighbors were up for the challenge, and after only a 15 minute wait this time they finally
broke their cherries. Once the
food arrived it was only a matter of seconds before the
sonic happiness kicked in. Unfortunately, some jerk decided to mouth off to another customer and ruin the atmosphere, but after the cops were called it turned into a mildly exciting stakeout. Why anyone would willfully ruin the happy world of Sonic I'll never know.
As a thank you for bearing the brunt of my shenanigans, in addition to her upcoming July 26th birthday, my dad decided to get Lisa a new gas grille. My suggestion she choose a normal, practical one was immediatly discarded in favor of a rotisserie equipped, 5 burner requirement. The result was a
ridiculously expensive grille that is capable of draining an entire propane tank in one hour. A
Memorial day BBQ was quickly arranged to properly break-in the grille, complete with
rotisserie chicken. After the impressive feast prepared by Lisa (with assistance from the Kelleys) we enjoyed a game of croquet, some
fireworks, and a bonfire competition with my neighbor. Thanks to the Schwartz's, Kelleys, and Josephs for justifying the first (and probably only) use of the mega grille.
A
housewarming party for my
car club today involved the usual excessive food and alcohol intake, but ended with a visit to Hooters. Since it was Lisas
first time at a Hooters, we decided it was her 21st birthday and had the Hooters girls
sing to her. Her 15 minutes of fame made the visit memorable, and her eye roll at my suggestion she work weekends at Hooters was not a full 180°, but closer to a 110° indicating she was at least 70° into accepting it as a possibility.
Few things can get me up at 4:00am, but the
first Sonic in Michigan is on that list. Arriving at 5:15am, I was not sure what to expect. Would I be the only nut waiting or would it be swarming with raving mad Sonic fans? To my relief, there were only 20 some odd people waiting, some of which told me they had been there since 11:30 the previous night. Roughly half were drunk, and the other half had Sonic fever fueling the various dances, songs and chants that took place while we waited for the 6:00am opening time. Channel 4 news eventually showed up and captured the crazies (myself included) for all Michigan to see. As the time grew closer we jumped in our cars and waited for the barricades to be removed. Within minutes all 20 car hop stalls were filled with the blinking red "Order Here" light and Sonic fans sobering up to the fact that what was once at least 7 hours away is now in their own backyard. As I waited for my light to go dark, indicating it was my time to order, I chatted with the owner who promised the Canton location would be breaking ground in the next few weeks. At 6:24am my light finally went dark and my food was on it's way. Later that night, Lisa and I were joined by
the Kelleys for dinner at the new Sonic. On arrival we were greeted with a warning that a 2 hour wait was in store for us if we chose the "Full Service" (car hop) option. With two Sonic virgins in the car the choice was obvious and we began our 2 hour wait. 2.5 hours and several shenanigans later, we finally pulled into our stall and had our order button blinking. This time it only took a few minutes to order and less than 10 before our food arrived. Talking with the employees, we learned they had already made $30,000 by 7:00pm which had broken the opening day sales record for a Sonic. All with 4 hours left before closing. We took our photos and left, stuffed to the max with Sonic goodness. Although the 2.5 hour wait was well worth it for opening day, I don't plan to be back for at least a week when the line will hopefully be manageable.
Got an old hot water heater, cracked aluminum rims, 3 broken coach lights, a busted propane grille and some various other junk metal you're ready to throw out? Well if you're a hippie like me, you don't want to throw that in a landfill, so you find a place like
H & H Metal to recycle it. Mother Earth not putting out enough to make it worth your while? How about
cold hard cash too? That's right, not only can you be a hippie and save the earth, you can also make more than enough money to cover your trouble. The procedure is simple: pull on to a scale with your truck, empty out everything but aluminium in the yard (magnets don't stick to aluminium), weigh your aluminum after sorting into bins, then weigh your empty truck and collect your money. Took me less than 6 minutes (46 minutes with drive time) to make $78. Now if you see me digging through your trash you'll know why. Also, for those wondering, here is the
proper pronunciation of aluminium.
With the opening of the new Sonic 2 days away, I decided it was time to make another visit and confirm the date first hand. When I arrived, the crew was in the parking lot
practicing their roller skating and the now completed building was sporting the
brand new sign stating the opening date of May 21st @ 6am. Needless to say I'll be there at 6am to get my Sonic breakfast, and again at lunch for my Sonic lunch, followed by my Sonic dinner, followed the next day by my Sonic bowel movement. Once the Southgate Sonic opens, it's back to the countdown for one that's less than 30 minutes away from me.
Friday nights tree pulling adventure at my neighbors house, attended by
the Kelleys and celebrated with firework mortars, had me all hot and bothered to pull more trees. So today I decided to finally end the tortured life of my front yard maple and evergreen. The evergreen went easy, but the maple actually managed to snap my 2500lb kevlar tow rope. After fixing the break with a redneck approved knot, I was finally able to defeat it with my transfer case in 4x4 Low. Once it was out I could see the tree was more root than tree. How such a crappy tree can get such a powerful root system I'll never know. Having satisfied my tree-pulling needs for the day, the Kelleys returned for an evening of Lisa hopped up on pain killers, and a round of
3D Minigolf, a comedy combination yet to be equalled.
At 4:50pm today, Lisa discovered her left rear tire on her Jeep had gone flat. I was contacted and recommended she drive back to her work and wait. Thanks to my
recently installed nav I arrived shortly thereafter to find a screw stuck in her tire (we're still debating whether the screw originated from my garage) and took note of the time as I informed her several gang members were on their way to assault her so she better get it changed quick. After locating the user manual, she
got the spare,
jacked up the truck,
swapped the tire, and
put everything away in less than an hour, and only got
a little dirty. The perceived threat of assault and her keen intellect combined with the user manual found the solution with time to spare (I decided it would take an hour for her attackers to lock on). Now that she can drive a manual transmission, build a web site, change oil and now change a tire, her princess complex is well on the way to dissipation.
Hosted Domains
AtomicInternet
AtomicDetroit Forums
Web Applications
Photo Collection
Solar Generation
Weather Station
Gnome Webcam
Mower Status
Farmer Status
Upload Box
Home Inventory
AtomicDetroit Forums
System Info
System Statistics
Proton System
System Uptime
ASP.net Version
Vehicle Info
1999 Mercury Cougar
2017 Ford Focus ST
2017 Ford Focus RS
2013 Kawasaki Ninja
Search 1546 News Articles
Comment Statistics
