March 29, 2007
Another case for the ham license...
A tornado just rolled through west OKC/Yukon. My most honoralbe and esteemed ham newbie lives in the affected neighborhood. All the phone lines and cell towers are down, but he was able to establish communications with everyone in his ham 'group' on the first attempt.
Food for thought, folks.
Food for thought, folks.
Labels: HAM-tastic
// posted by wayne @ 3/29/2007 05:22:00 PM 
March 28, 2007
I'm gonna be a HAM!
Some of you may already think this to be the case, but I'm going to make it official. After much prodding, encouragement and a blatant display of super-sweet, ultra-geeky communications gear by one of my most honorable and esteemed newb's, I am going to take, and pass, my FCC amateur radio operator test. In fact, I just finished about 9 practice tests--it took that many for me to ace one. I am averaging between 85 and 95 percent on each of the practice tests depending on the amount of frequency related questions they ask. I still haven't memorized all the bands, but I'm getting there.
"Why", you may ask, would anyone want to be a ham in this day and age of instant interweb gratification? Simple: it is beyond cool. It almost seems strange to say a technology as old as radio is cool, but to me, it is. Think about this: if you're power goes out, your interwebs are gone. BUT...if you are a licensed ham, you just grab the battery-powered transciever and you are good to go! I can't believe more people aren't interested in amateur radio. You may have to humor me a bit, but I find the ability to use a transmitter, perhaps even a home-brew rig, to bounce a high-frequency signal off the ionosphere to another continent pretty flippin' cool. I know, I know, you're internet connection will allow you to communicate with that same country, but that's like frozen lasagna. Sure, it's still fat noodles, tomato sauce, beef, sausage, cheeses, herbs and spices, but is it really lasagna?
In reality, and quite by accident, this all started about 20 years ago. My junior year in high-school I opted to attend Mid America vo-tech (in good ol' Wayne, OK) at the absolute last minute. I was trying to be placed in a class with one of my best buds, but due to the last-minute nature of my decision, our principal ended up calling the admissions people instead of me filling out the correct paperwork. Net result? Our buddy Mr. West enrolled me in the wrong class! Instead of attending basic electrical whatever with Billy Huffman, I started communication electronics--which was supposed to teach us how to service and install VHF/UHF communications gear. What it actually taught me was basic electricity and electronics accentuated with the many different ways one can cause a capacitor to detonate. I also remember our freakishly eccentric instructor had a pretty nice radio shack set up in the parts room and, on occasion, if we finished a module early, he would let us chat with the other hams in the area. In any event, I barely scraped through that class, but it was interesting enough that I decided to try avionics in the military when I signed up for Uncle Sugar's canoe club--and loved it. Too bad Uncle Sugar was the one signing the checks or I might still be working on aircraft.
Until now, the only thing that has been any kind of deterrent towards getting my license was the 5wpm Morse code test, but now that the FCC has dropped that requirement (and the novice class license) I am officially out of excuses. And the cost? A whopping $14 application fee! Considering the license is valid for 10 years, that comes to about a buck-forty a year and in my book, that's a bargain.
"Why", you may ask, would anyone want to be a ham in this day and age of instant interweb gratification? Simple: it is beyond cool. It almost seems strange to say a technology as old as radio is cool, but to me, it is. Think about this: if you're power goes out, your interwebs are gone. BUT...if you are a licensed ham, you just grab the battery-powered transciever and you are good to go! I can't believe more people aren't interested in amateur radio. You may have to humor me a bit, but I find the ability to use a transmitter, perhaps even a home-brew rig, to bounce a high-frequency signal off the ionosphere to another continent pretty flippin' cool. I know, I know, you're internet connection will allow you to communicate with that same country, but that's like frozen lasagna. Sure, it's still fat noodles, tomato sauce, beef, sausage, cheeses, herbs and spices, but is it really lasagna?
In reality, and quite by accident, this all started about 20 years ago. My junior year in high-school I opted to attend Mid America vo-tech (in good ol' Wayne, OK) at the absolute last minute. I was trying to be placed in a class with one of my best buds, but due to the last-minute nature of my decision, our principal ended up calling the admissions people instead of me filling out the correct paperwork. Net result? Our buddy Mr. West enrolled me in the wrong class! Instead of attending basic electrical whatever with Billy Huffman, I started communication electronics--which was supposed to teach us how to service and install VHF/UHF communications gear. What it actually taught me was basic electricity and electronics accentuated with the many different ways one can cause a capacitor to detonate. I also remember our freakishly eccentric instructor had a pretty nice radio shack set up in the parts room and, on occasion, if we finished a module early, he would let us chat with the other hams in the area. In any event, I barely scraped through that class, but it was interesting enough that I decided to try avionics in the military when I signed up for Uncle Sugar's canoe club--and loved it. Too bad Uncle Sugar was the one signing the checks or I might still be working on aircraft.
Until now, the only thing that has been any kind of deterrent towards getting my license was the 5wpm Morse code test, but now that the FCC has dropped that requirement (and the novice class license) I am officially out of excuses. And the cost? A whopping $14 application fee! Considering the license is valid for 10 years, that comes to about a buck-forty a year and in my book, that's a bargain.
Labels: HAM-tastic
// posted by wayne @ 3/28/2007 03:34:00 AM
March 15, 2007
Mmmmm. Berettalicious!
Here's a quick question and an equally quick post: why would anyone buy a block 26 when they could have a Mini Cougar? There isn't that much difference in the two dimensionally, although the Cougar is indeed the heavier of the two by a good half a pound. I suppose some folks have to get a block and others have to get a Beretta (and still others, a S&W or Springfield). I ran across THE deal last month on a brand new-in-box Mini in 9mm and I had to get it. I'm sure it would've been a felony, had I let it pass. Technically, it's an early birthday present from me to me (the best kind!) but because Aimee's so super cool, I don't have to wait 'til next month to knock the new off it.
Now don't get me wrong, I've owned a block myself, and I traded it for...that's right...my first Beretta. That should tell you something. You may now bask in the glow of a pistol that's been patiently waiting 10 years for me to give it a loving home.
Tasty...
Now don't get me wrong, I've owned a block myself, and I traded it for...that's right...my first Beretta. That should tell you something. You may now bask in the glow of a pistol that's been patiently waiting 10 years for me to give it a loving home.
Tasty...
Labels: Hardware
// posted by wayne @ 3/15/2007 04:20:00 AM
March 11, 2007
The Glorious and Triumphant Return of Random Weekend Nonsense!
Once again, my friends, it is time for a (much overdue) installment of Random Weekend Nonsense!
Let's start with some movies, shall we? Let's talk about 300, for a minute or twelve. Some of you may know the original story. Some of you may even know the meaning of the catchy "Molon Labe!" battle cry given by the Spartans. Sadly, these are better than the actual movie. Now don't get me wrong, the movie is just fine for what it is, but it fails to exceed one's expectations. It was exactly what you would think from seeing the previews--nothing more and nothing less. The action scenes are indeed FILLED with action and the use of almost heavy-metal like music as a score for the battle scenes lends them a bit of added urgency and tension. But in the end, it's still all super gore-filled, body parts flying around, c.g. enhanced super slo-mo. The funniest part, and I know this was unintentional, was the love scene between Leonidas and Queen Gorgo. Of course, the entire thing was shot in ultra-sensual slo-mo (which differs only slightly from the gore-filled super slow-mo) which means that everything they did was exaggerated and more than a bit corny. If you can take my word for it, you should probably wait for this one to come out on video. Or wait until a friend brings it over. We also watched and The Departed and the The Black Dahlia this weekend. Only one of them is worth watching; can you guess which one? I'll give you a hint: Don't ever look directly at The Black Dahlia. Not as a dare, not even to see if it's really "that bad". Because it is. I promise. It practically smacks of Pearl Harbor (2001 version) for more than one reason. First off, both are trying to tell two separate and distinct stories at the same time and fail on both accounts. Second, they both have Josh Hartnett, but that may just be coincidence. TBD starts out like a cop story about the Dahlia murder. But then it becomes a very strange and twisted love triangle, just like Pearl Harbor, and in the end Josh Hartnett gets the other guy's girl. Just like Pearl Harbor. The most important thing they have in common is that you should not ever look directly at either one. Ever. Is that clear enough? Oh, and the final straw against TBD is that the screenplay is an entire fabrication built around the true murder of Elizabeth Short. Fittingly, both earned a low 5.X rating on the IMDB. It's a very good thing we didn't pay for that one. This leaves us with The Departed. SPOILER ALERT! WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET BUT PLAN TO, SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH. Which should have been called EVERYONE GETS SHOT. Actually, I liked it. It was good enough, in fact, that I can forgive that no-talent hack, Jack Nicholson, played a principle character. I know, I know--I'm the ONLY guy in America today that thinks Jeff Goldblum plays Jack Nicholson better than Jack Nicholson, but it's true. I find his performances to be lackluster in every respect, and he is always the exact same guy, no matter what role. Which is not good when one considers that all his roles can be likened to his performance in The Witches of Eastwick. Blech. Anyway, the rest of the cast is absolutely superb, especially Matt Damon and, dare I say it, Leo DiCaprio. I was beginning to wonder about old Leo after The Aviator, but it's nice to know it was the movie that was all stinky and not Leo. Mark Wahlberg is so convincing an ass that I truly wanted to smack him after only 5 minutes, and you get a nice little bonus in Ray Winstone's character: Mr. French. Excellent bit of casting on that one. The climax is a bit of a departure in that EVERYONE gets shot. The good guys, the bad guys--everyone. The story is solid and well written, and it is actually worth the price of rental.
Now, in other news, the .45 is essentially complete. I fired 100 rounds a few weekends back to test it and it worked maaahvelously. At first. Then I found that the flange on the recoil spring guide was banging around and galling the front of the slide rails, eventually getting itself wedged in there pretty solidly. Last weekend, I got in there and radiused the edges and gave them a proper polishing to eliminate that problem. I still need to test fire it again to make sure it's really fixed, so that may take a while but once it's done, it'll be time for parkerizing. And while we're on the topic of guns, I'm still awaiting the return of my Beretta parts from Tripp Research, Inc. You see, I never liked the look of those black parts against the Inox finish on that pistol. Since it was a used purchase, any REAL collector value is pretty much shot (pun intended) so I decided to have the black parts of that pistol, except the Novak sight, hard chromed. The other option, which is quite popular, is hand polishing those parts AFTER removing the black finish. That sounds like a great idea at first, but I've read on the Beretta bb that some guys have spent literally 3-4 hours on just the safety lever alone! Obviously that is one of the more complex parts to polish, but I figure if I spent 3-4 hours on it at $20 an hour (and I really think my leisure time is worth MORE than that) than that's a minimum of $60 for ONE PART, and I sent 10 parts to Tripp. They charge $6 per each small part! Six flippin' dollars! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which is the more cost effective way to make those parts shiny. But seriously, hard chrome is the way to go. It is by far more durable a surface treatment than polished carbon steel and it's corrosion resistance is the whatup by comparison. It should be the super-sweetness when I get the parts back. My only hope is that I'll still be able to remember how to re-install them!
Well that's all I have for now, so I'll leave you with this deep thought (not affiliated with Jack Handey) until next time: why do democrats (Carolyn McCarthy in particular) still believe that banning a rifle based on its appearance is going to have any effect at all on gun crime in America? Hmmm, I guess that's not really so deep after all, is it?
Let's start with some movies, shall we? Let's talk about 300, for a minute or twelve. Some of you may know the original story. Some of you may even know the meaning of the catchy "Molon Labe!" battle cry given by the Spartans. Sadly, these are better than the actual movie. Now don't get me wrong, the movie is just fine for what it is, but it fails to exceed one's expectations. It was exactly what you would think from seeing the previews--nothing more and nothing less. The action scenes are indeed FILLED with action and the use of almost heavy-metal like music as a score for the battle scenes lends them a bit of added urgency and tension. But in the end, it's still all super gore-filled, body parts flying around, c.g. enhanced super slo-mo. The funniest part, and I know this was unintentional, was the love scene between Leonidas and Queen Gorgo. Of course, the entire thing was shot in ultra-sensual slo-mo (which differs only slightly from the gore-filled super slow-mo) which means that everything they did was exaggerated and more than a bit corny. If you can take my word for it, you should probably wait for this one to come out on video. Or wait until a friend brings it over. We also watched and The Departed and the The Black Dahlia this weekend. Only one of them is worth watching; can you guess which one? I'll give you a hint: Don't ever look directly at The Black Dahlia. Not as a dare, not even to see if it's really "that bad". Because it is. I promise. It practically smacks of Pearl Harbor (2001 version) for more than one reason. First off, both are trying to tell two separate and distinct stories at the same time and fail on both accounts. Second, they both have Josh Hartnett, but that may just be coincidence. TBD starts out like a cop story about the Dahlia murder. But then it becomes a very strange and twisted love triangle, just like Pearl Harbor, and in the end Josh Hartnett gets the other guy's girl. Just like Pearl Harbor. The most important thing they have in common is that you should not ever look directly at either one. Ever. Is that clear enough? Oh, and the final straw against TBD is that the screenplay is an entire fabrication built around the true murder of Elizabeth Short. Fittingly, both earned a low 5.X rating on the IMDB. It's a very good thing we didn't pay for that one. This leaves us with The Departed. SPOILER ALERT! WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET BUT PLAN TO, SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH. Which should have been called EVERYONE GETS SHOT. Actually, I liked it. It was good enough, in fact, that I can forgive that no-talent hack, Jack Nicholson, played a principle character. I know, I know--I'm the ONLY guy in America today that thinks Jeff Goldblum plays Jack Nicholson better than Jack Nicholson, but it's true. I find his performances to be lackluster in every respect, and he is always the exact same guy, no matter what role. Which is not good when one considers that all his roles can be likened to his performance in The Witches of Eastwick. Blech. Anyway, the rest of the cast is absolutely superb, especially Matt Damon and, dare I say it, Leo DiCaprio. I was beginning to wonder about old Leo after The Aviator, but it's nice to know it was the movie that was all stinky and not Leo. Mark Wahlberg is so convincing an ass that I truly wanted to smack him after only 5 minutes, and you get a nice little bonus in Ray Winstone's character: Mr. French. Excellent bit of casting on that one. The climax is a bit of a departure in that EVERYONE gets shot. The good guys, the bad guys--everyone. The story is solid and well written, and it is actually worth the price of rental.
Now, in other news, the .45 is essentially complete. I fired 100 rounds a few weekends back to test it and it worked maaahvelously. At first. Then I found that the flange on the recoil spring guide was banging around and galling the front of the slide rails, eventually getting itself wedged in there pretty solidly. Last weekend, I got in there and radiused the edges and gave them a proper polishing to eliminate that problem. I still need to test fire it again to make sure it's really fixed, so that may take a while but once it's done, it'll be time for parkerizing. And while we're on the topic of guns, I'm still awaiting the return of my Beretta parts from Tripp Research, Inc. You see, I never liked the look of those black parts against the Inox finish on that pistol. Since it was a used purchase, any REAL collector value is pretty much shot (pun intended) so I decided to have the black parts of that pistol, except the Novak sight, hard chromed. The other option, which is quite popular, is hand polishing those parts AFTER removing the black finish. That sounds like a great idea at first, but I've read on the Beretta bb that some guys have spent literally 3-4 hours on just the safety lever alone! Obviously that is one of the more complex parts to polish, but I figure if I spent 3-4 hours on it at $20 an hour (and I really think my leisure time is worth MORE than that) than that's a minimum of $60 for ONE PART, and I sent 10 parts to Tripp. They charge $6 per each small part! Six flippin' dollars! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which is the more cost effective way to make those parts shiny. But seriously, hard chrome is the way to go. It is by far more durable a surface treatment than polished carbon steel and it's corrosion resistance is the whatup by comparison. It should be the super-sweetness when I get the parts back. My only hope is that I'll still be able to remember how to re-install them!
Well that's all I have for now, so I'll leave you with this deep thought (not affiliated with Jack Handey) until next time: why do democrats (Carolyn McCarthy in particular) still believe that banning a rifle based on its appearance is going to have any effect at all on gun crime in America? Hmmm, I guess that's not really so deep after all, is it?
Labels: Random Weekend Nonsense
// posted by wayne @ 3/11/2007 08:37:00 PM
March 07, 2007
Perhaps a bit more info is in order here...
After reading that last round of comments, I feel perhaps a little bit o' history is required and it would be far too long for the comment field. And if I'm honest with myself, it's been far too long since my last long-winded, digression-filled, meandering post. So here goes:
Once upon a time, Aimee needed a new car--after the Taurus gave up the ghost. Well, it still ran, just not very well and we felt it was on the verge of a complete mechanical failure or a very expensive repair. Rather than waiting for either to happen, we donated it to some cancer charity or something. Keep in mind that while the I always thought the Taurus was a sweet ride (and Aimee extra-cool for being unique enough to sport such fine piece of gear) Aimee always thought it was just too big. After checking out the Civic, the CR-V and a few others, she decided on the Integra. I didn't really do much checking on the cars in question because this was going to be Aimee's car so she should get to choose the model, but the CR-V stuck in my mind. I think we even test drove one, but I was put off that Honda did not offer an available V6, since the under-powered Ranger 4 cylinder was still fresh in my mind. Obviously, Aimee didn't get the CR-V, but still it stuck with me.
Over the last few years, I've been checking the Honda website to see how they were changing the CR-V to keep up with the RAV4 (which was/is uber-ugly) so when they redesigned the body in 2002, I was sure right then that I needed one. However, I didn't really think I would be able to do so because of the smaller cargo capacity. Now, fast forward to the crash. When they initially did the estimate, I was sure it was going to be a total loss based on the numbers the body shop guy provided. So we started doing research on the vehicle to replace the BBT. As already noted, it was decided that just buying a replacement F150 would be a waste of money that would have to be rectified somewhere in the future. This rationalization kind of cleared the way to investigate all options.
I decided that a domestic vehicle would not do. There is too much depreciation and have seen too many of them simply fall apart. And not just the Berettas and Escorts. Then there are the issues of union labor and politics involved with the big 3 that I'm not even going to touch today. But in the end, it came down to RELIABILITY, attention to detail, quality, innovation, and function. Which, sadly, cuts out not only the big 3 (in my jaded opinion) but also anything from BMW, Mercedes and most offerings from Mazda and Mitsubishi. This left two: Toyota and Honda. Of the two, we were seriously considering the Toyota Tundra double-cab, the Honda Pilot and finally the CR-V. After doing a LOT of looking around and emailing dealers we found the Pilot and Tundra to be just far enough over the price line to narrow it down to a CR-V, which was just ducky with me. Sure, we'll have to make some changes like having lumber and other large items delivered or borrowing a truck from time to time but I think for about 90% of what I do--which is mostly drive to work--the Honda will be perfect. I've already figured fuel's going to cost about 50% less than The One-Fitty and it's by far easier to drive and park. The ride is freakin' luxurious, comparatively speaking, and I absolutely love the seats! I know that sounds kind of simple, but after 9 years of a bench seat with NO frills whatsoever, adjustable buckets are the absolute shiz. And while I'm thinking about it, here's the deal on the "four-wheel drive" thing: technically it is a four-wheel drive vehicle. In actual operation, it's more like a part-time all-wheel drive, which pretty much negates the need for some big ol' mudders. The way it's designed is such that during normal operation, it's front wheel drive all the time. If the system senses the front wheels spinning, it routes some of the power to the rear wheels via a super-nifty hydraulically actuated multi-plate clutch. The faster the fronts spin, the more pressure the system applies to the clutch which, in turn, applies more torque to the rear drive shaft. Simple, automatic, ingenious. The only problems with this particular configuration are that one can't manually engage the multi-plate clutch and if you overheat said clutch, you're fresh out of four-wheel drive until the whole thing cools down. Front-wheel drive is, of course, still available. The reason this is important to me is that I've spent entirely too much time trying to get out of our parking lot at work after an ice or snow storm and I'm not playing that again.
There are some downsides. The aforementioned cargo space is waaaay down, but that's how it goes. It was more expensive than a domestic, but by the time you add all the options to a domestic car that the Honda has as standard (like VSA, 4WD, in-dash 6-disk changer, 6 speaker audio, 16" alloy wheels, etc) it is pretty much nil--and you only buy quality once. The biggest gripe I've got about the vehicle as a whole is that, to my knowledge, Honda offered only ONE interior color choice. If you want a black exterior on an 05, you got a black interior. Period. I guess it's a good thing I don't currently reside in south Texas, huh?
All in all, I am 100% convinced that I got the right vehicle for the job and I plan on driving this one until I hit 200K. Provided someone doesn't crash it for me first!
Once upon a time, Aimee needed a new car--after the Taurus gave up the ghost. Well, it still ran, just not very well and we felt it was on the verge of a complete mechanical failure or a very expensive repair. Rather than waiting for either to happen, we donated it to some cancer charity or something. Keep in mind that while the I always thought the Taurus was a sweet ride (and Aimee extra-cool for being unique enough to sport such fine piece of gear) Aimee always thought it was just too big. After checking out the Civic, the CR-V and a few others, she decided on the Integra. I didn't really do much checking on the cars in question because this was going to be Aimee's car so she should get to choose the model, but the CR-V stuck in my mind. I think we even test drove one, but I was put off that Honda did not offer an available V6, since the under-powered Ranger 4 cylinder was still fresh in my mind. Obviously, Aimee didn't get the CR-V, but still it stuck with me.
Over the last few years, I've been checking the Honda website to see how they were changing the CR-V to keep up with the RAV4 (which was/is uber-ugly) so when they redesigned the body in 2002, I was sure right then that I needed one. However, I didn't really think I would be able to do so because of the smaller cargo capacity. Now, fast forward to the crash. When they initially did the estimate, I was sure it was going to be a total loss based on the numbers the body shop guy provided. So we started doing research on the vehicle to replace the BBT. As already noted, it was decided that just buying a replacement F150 would be a waste of money that would have to be rectified somewhere in the future. This rationalization kind of cleared the way to investigate all options.
I decided that a domestic vehicle would not do. There is too much depreciation and have seen too many of them simply fall apart. And not just the Berettas and Escorts. Then there are the issues of union labor and politics involved with the big 3 that I'm not even going to touch today. But in the end, it came down to RELIABILITY, attention to detail, quality, innovation, and function. Which, sadly, cuts out not only the big 3 (in my jaded opinion) but also anything from BMW, Mercedes and most offerings from Mazda and Mitsubishi. This left two: Toyota and Honda. Of the two, we were seriously considering the Toyota Tundra double-cab, the Honda Pilot and finally the CR-V. After doing a LOT of looking around and emailing dealers we found the Pilot and Tundra to be just far enough over the price line to narrow it down to a CR-V, which was just ducky with me. Sure, we'll have to make some changes like having lumber and other large items delivered or borrowing a truck from time to time but I think for about 90% of what I do--which is mostly drive to work--the Honda will be perfect. I've already figured fuel's going to cost about 50% less than The One-Fitty and it's by far easier to drive and park. The ride is freakin' luxurious, comparatively speaking, and I absolutely love the seats! I know that sounds kind of simple, but after 9 years of a bench seat with NO frills whatsoever, adjustable buckets are the absolute shiz. And while I'm thinking about it, here's the deal on the "four-wheel drive" thing: technically it is a four-wheel drive vehicle. In actual operation, it's more like a part-time all-wheel drive, which pretty much negates the need for some big ol' mudders. The way it's designed is such that during normal operation, it's front wheel drive all the time. If the system senses the front wheels spinning, it routes some of the power to the rear wheels via a super-nifty hydraulically actuated multi-plate clutch. The faster the fronts spin, the more pressure the system applies to the clutch which, in turn, applies more torque to the rear drive shaft. Simple, automatic, ingenious. The only problems with this particular configuration are that one can't manually engage the multi-plate clutch and if you overheat said clutch, you're fresh out of four-wheel drive until the whole thing cools down. Front-wheel drive is, of course, still available. The reason this is important to me is that I've spent entirely too much time trying to get out of our parking lot at work after an ice or snow storm and I'm not playing that again.
There are some downsides. The aforementioned cargo space is waaaay down, but that's how it goes. It was more expensive than a domestic, but by the time you add all the options to a domestic car that the Honda has as standard (like VSA, 4WD, in-dash 6-disk changer, 6 speaker audio, 16" alloy wheels, etc) it is pretty much nil--and you only buy quality once. The biggest gripe I've got about the vehicle as a whole is that, to my knowledge, Honda offered only ONE interior color choice. If you want a black exterior on an 05, you got a black interior. Period. I guess it's a good thing I don't currently reside in south Texas, huh?
All in all, I am 100% convinced that I got the right vehicle for the job and I plan on driving this one until I hit 200K. Provided someone doesn't crash it for me first!
Labels: CR-V
// posted by wayne @ 3/07/2007 02:57:00 AM
March 05, 2007
Well, that took long enough.
The saga of The Big Black Truck is officially over. It took 4 weeks, but it's a done deal. I was hit on the 22nd of January and I was mobile again as of the 24th of February. I'm still not exactly sure why it took so long to get all the details worked out, but in the end I'm very happy...with my '05 Honda CR-V!
Aw yeah. I decided to call the body shop on the 22nd to see what was holding up the works, fully expecting them to tell me the truck was buttoned up and ready to go. Not so, wee kiddiewinks. Their question was "Has your insurance adjuster called you yet?" Obviously not, if I'm calling you. I still don't know why this wasn't discovered when they were doing the frame measurements the first time, but I was told the passenger side of the axle housing was bent a full inch. And while the frame can be tweaked, the housing can not. So Saturday the 24th was car-shopping day. Obviously, I wasn't going to be able to find another F-150 for $6800--what they gave us after deductible--that was in the same mechanical condition as mine, so we decided it would be better to just go ahead and get something new-ish. The other option being to get something not-so-newish and then replace it when the house is paid off, but why throw good money at a bad vehicle just to replace it later? I'll spare you the long version and just tell you that we were able to find exactly the vehicle I wanted at the first stop! We figured it would be an all-day ordeal driving all over Norman, OKC and Edmond just like when we bought the Acura.
I guess after reading all this, you deserve a nice pic or two of the most amazingly outstanding vehicle on the face of the planet--my '05 CR-V! In Nighthawk Black Pearl, of course.
Aw yeah. I decided to call the body shop on the 22nd to see what was holding up the works, fully expecting them to tell me the truck was buttoned up and ready to go. Not so, wee kiddiewinks. Their question was "Has your insurance adjuster called you yet?" Obviously not, if I'm calling you. I still don't know why this wasn't discovered when they were doing the frame measurements the first time, but I was told the passenger side of the axle housing was bent a full inch. And while the frame can be tweaked, the housing can not. So Saturday the 24th was car-shopping day. Obviously, I wasn't going to be able to find another F-150 for $6800--what they gave us after deductible--that was in the same mechanical condition as mine, so we decided it would be better to just go ahead and get something new-ish. The other option being to get something not-so-newish and then replace it when the house is paid off, but why throw good money at a bad vehicle just to replace it later? I'll spare you the long version and just tell you that we were able to find exactly the vehicle I wanted at the first stop! We figured it would be an all-day ordeal driving all over Norman, OKC and Edmond just like when we bought the Acura.
I guess after reading all this, you deserve a nice pic or two of the most amazingly outstanding vehicle on the face of the planet--my '05 CR-V! In Nighthawk Black Pearl, of course.
Labels: CR-V
// posted by wayne @ 3/05/2007 03:13:00 AM
