Is Your Squirrel Due for Maintenance?

Another week of mediocrity. Or was it? Ba ba baahhmm.

The biggest highlight, I guess you could call it, was trying to fix the clutch in my 2002 Ford Focus.  After doing three motor swaps with my Grand Prix, doing the clutch on a Focus should be easy, right? Wrong! Alright, normally, yes, it shouldn’t be too hard, but when you can’t get past step six out of forty, it’s frustrating. Note: my numbers are arbitrary. A key step in doing any transmission work on a front wheel drive car is removing the axles. If you’ve ever changed your own brakes, you know that at the center of your front wheels is a single, massive bolt. They’re 32mm specifically on the Fofo. When you undo this bolt, and one or two on the swing arm, you can swing the entire brake assembly to the side, and yank your axle out of the transmission.  We could not, despite our best efforts, break these bolts loose. Using a breaker bar, socket, a piece of pipe for leverage, and my dad’s entire body weight, they wouldn’t budge. Even with the brakes applied full force, the nut would just turn the wheel and not unscrew.

I’m sure we would’ve come up with something, but my grandpop offered to help pay the mechanic’s bill as a combo birthday/Christmas present for me.  So Mach is now at Rob’s Auto in Pottstown having its guts ripped out and replaced with some shiny new ones. Ooooh, aaaahh.

The other interesting thing happened yesterday on the way home from work. I had two squirrels run out in front of me, resulting in much wear on the brakes of my dad’s Sunfire. The second squirrel however, was white. I’m not sure if he was a true albino, didn’t see the eyes, and it had a splotch of gray in its tail, but it was undoubtedly white. Though maybe I just scared the color out of it, who knows?

I'm sure the squirrel wasn't laughing...but I bet his friends were. Dicks. 

Until next time =P

Waiting Out Hurricane Sandy

So I haven’t posted since…late August. Sue me. No, don’t really, you won’t get much from it. Anywho, my posting got interrupted by life. As I mentioned in Keeping Tabs, we had just moved and didn’t have internet at the time. Then in September I got a new, real job. Yaaay! So I’m working third shift for 35k a year.  So now, let me do some re-capping.

Pennsic

Pennsic was fun. Although I was in the same camp as my ex and her new fiancé (‘cause getting engaged after 3 months of dating is a good idea, right?), I still had a good time. My other friends kept things lively. During one of the huge f-all thunderstorms, I decided it was more fun to stand in the rain doing Taekwon-do patterns and drinking than standing under the big tarp.  Of course, this led to my stock of Mike’s Hard Lemonades dropping drastically.  It also led to a tipsy bottle band forming where we all stood around blowing into the empty bottles. Was a good time. 

In terms of the battles, the first rapier battle sucked. The scenario was to retrieve as many bean-bags as we could and get them back to our flag.  This turned into more of a shuttle run/wind sprint exercise than a battle. Doing wind sprints without warming first is a really bad idea by the way. And I suspect it led to my late-week injury.

During the field battle, Aethlemearc’s ally, Atlantia, left us out to dry and we got annihilated. The East/Midrealm army just wrapped around us and ground us to a pulp.  At one point a Hold was called, and I looked behind me to see how our line was holding. It wasn’t. I was surrounded by the other side. This gave me two options, die on the lay-on, or dive through the line opposing me. I chose the 2^nd option, there was just enough space between the two fighters opposite me.  I made it through and found myself against the Prince of the East and his cluster of guards. Since I now live in the East, I felt obligated to try killing him. Sadly, I didn’t make it past his guards.  Oh well.

Thursday there was a Cadet Tournament for cadets or people at least sponsored by a White Scarf, OGR, Bronze Ring, etc. I figured since I was fighting for the wrong side all week, I’d get one of the OGRs from Bhakail to sponsor me. I was doing fairly well, was in the groove for the most part, had 1 loss and 2 wins when I took an arrow to the thigh. Well, not an arrow per se, but my quadriceps decided to go the opposite direction that I wanted it to. This effectively put an end to my fighting, and my most of my walking for the rest of the week. Was still a good time.

New House

The house is coming along nicely, but slowly. My bedroom is the most complete so far, being floored and painted. It now also has black-out shades. The back yard is still a little torn up as the shed got knocked down and we’re prepping to put in a larger one. One big enough to hold my mom’s Audi TT, which sprung a leak last year when Hurricane Irene came through.  It still isn’t working, the electrical systems are all messed up.  We do have internet and cable now, so there’s some forms of entertainment.

Employment

In September I got hired at a place called CyOptics. I’m working third shift in the Photoresist Room. Essentially, we get in wafers of Indium Phosphide, and apply photoresist to them. Photoresist, or PR, is a light sensitive chemical. We then expose the wafers under a pattern called a photomask. When the PR is then developed, the pattern is left on the wafer.  If the pattern comes out aligned right, we move the wafers on to the other areas where they are either etched or have metals deposited on them. The end result is ultimately a microchip with a laser emitter or detector on it.  It’s cool stuff.

Until next time, keep respirating.

Keeping Tabs

Got a lot to talk about but we don't have internet at home yet. Hopefully that'll change tomorrow, but even so, it'll be a while before I can sit down and type out a few entries. Until then: Always look on the Bright Side of Life.

If Wasting Time Was An Olympic Sport...

I'm sitting here watching the Parade of Nations for the 2012 London Games and decided it's a good time to flurp out a post.  There were so many things I wanted to talk about, and I'm so behind. Time for some time warping. And wasting. Don't forget the wasting.

Last week I got to spend a few days in Avon, North Carolina. It's part of the Outer Banks and one of my friend's uncles owns a few places down there.  Free beach houses are awesome by the way.  While there a plethora of shell fish was consumed and my iPod contains pictures of the horrid aftermath. Sadly, iPods and Blogger don't get along too well.  I also did battle with mosquitoes, the sun, and wind.  I only got a little sun burnt on the shoulders, nothing serious. Our first two days were very windy and I got to fly both my Prism Nexus and Snapshot 1.2.

I also made a standard bad choice in visiting Kitty Hawk Kites, where I purchased the Prism Micron, Prism's smallest, fastest kite. Of course, that day the wind died not to return during our stay. So I'm still waiting to see the little bugger at full speed.

I also have two job prospects at the moment. Before going to the OBX, I had a phone screening with Global Foundries in New York and today I applied to Bridge Semiconductor, where one of my college friends was recently employed.  If niether of those work out, my one cousin is moving to California for grad school and I feel like it's a golden oppurtunity to change up my life by going with her.

In fencing/SCA news, Pennsic War XLI (41) starts this coming week. The first week is Peace Week, no fighting. War Week runs the 5th through the 11th of August. I've gone ahead and ordered some chain mail armor in hopes it arrives before I leave.  It'll be cooler and last longer than any cloth armor. It was pricey, but it's one of those high initial cost, long payoff kind of investments.It also means I can't allow myself to spend too much AT Pennsic.

HAHA, like that'll happen. Make a pile o cash and buuuurn it =D

Until next time, keep it Hysterical.

New Accommodations

It's July 24th and I'm spending the night in our new house alone. No one has slept here since the 97 year old previous owner moved out. In some ways it's a little creepy. It's a stone rancher, 93 feet from one end to another, give or take, on three acres of ground. There's no street lamps like at my old house and you can actually see stars. There's also coyotes and fox and all that stuff. Should be interesting.

I like this house, but to be honest, I'd rather not be moving with my mom. Her and her boyfriend bought the place, and since I can't afford my own place...here I am. Yay.

In other news...a month or so ago, Planechase 2012 came out. A variation of Magic that involves Planar cards that represent the different worlds of Magic's Multiverse. Each plane has a different effect on the game, and some planes are more dangerous than your opponent. It's a fun way to play, especially when slightly inebriated.

More recently, Magic 2013 has hit stores, so if you've never played and want to try, now is the perfect time. M13 is what is known as a core set. It pulls cards from all of Magic's history and presents them in an easy to understand format. So if you play a card with a special keyword, like Trample, the card will tell you what it means. M13 is also a good way to bolster an existing collection with solid, usable cards like Unsummon and Rancor.

Until next time.

Nicol Bolas is waiting for you.

Mach Speed!

I'm punching this out on my iPod when I should be sleeping. I've got a 5AM shift tomorrow, bleck, but I'll be home in time for fireworks.

Anywho, I've got several things to talk about, so as long as I can find time, I hope to get a few posts up in relatively quick succession.

First on my list is my replacement car. As I mentioned here before, my Grand Prix got totaled. After searching the local Craigslist for a few weeks I came across a 2002 Ford Focus.

It's a ZTS, which is one engine option down from the SVT (Special Vehicle Team) I believe. It only has about 130 horsepower, but the 5 speed manual transmission makes it fun. What really makes it special though is that it is a Mach Audio Edition.

From what I've seen online only 6000 of these cars were made, most painted Mandarin Copper but some, like mine, done in CD Silver. The irony here though is that the original Mach head units had a habit of dying. They also had a specific wiring harness, so an aftermarket head unit wouldn't be compatible. Therefore, my car no longer retains any of the Mach Audio equipment, just the Mach badges on the doors.

Anywho, the previous owner is a detailer by profession, so the car is slightly lowered, the muffler has been replaced with a straight pipe, and it has professionally tinted windows. It was also kept very clean inside and out. It had 127k miles on it when I got it. I knew when I first saw it that it was a good deal. Compared to everything else on Craigslist in my price range this car was gold bullion.

On top of all that, I'm averaging about 29 miles per gallon, as opposed to my Grand Prix's 20mpg average. Win! =D

My next few posts I'm looking to talk about Magic Planechase 2012, SCA stuff, and life in general.

And So It Goes

My list of ex-girlfriends got a permanent implant this past week. As I mentioned before, me and my girl were on a break, so she could focus on graduation and life for a bit. When she asked for a break I said it was ok, not great, and as long as she didn't date this one other guy, we'd be peachy. Otherwise, I'd cut all ties with her.

This, Other Guy, had been following my girlfriend around the entire semester. He'd asked her about dating several times and to my knowledge always got turned down. When questioned, my now ex-girlfriend always denied feelings for him, said it would most likely never happen. I believed her, despite the plethora of rumors that reached even from 300 miles away.

Then this past week we were talking, I had taken off of work to come see her graduation and celebrate her 22nd bday but since we were on a break, I wasn't sure if she still wanted me to. She expressed concern about tension between me and the Other Guy, though she never gave a definite yes or no. Since I am currently without my own car, I decided to stay home and look for one, and told her maybe I'd come visit this next weekend for a SCA event.

The next day a mutual friend of ours started freaking out and asking if I was going to cut ties with her too. Didn't take much to figure out why she asking, but it took another day to get word directly from my Ex. And via text none-the-less. She confirmed that she was indeed dating the Other Guy: "...I did a bit of thinking a decided that I may want to give [Other Guy] a chance. Not a long 1but 1 none the less"

I asked her why bother if she already knew it would be short, she said "just to see." this next part will be easier as a list

Me:" You know it's going to cost you, right?"
Her:" I know. I know you'll hate me" (apparently that's not a high cost since it didn't stop her)
Me:" As long as you know that" (I wouldn't say hate, but I didn't feel like correcting her)
Her: "I do know that. I don't like it but I know that...."
Me: "Well you've made your choice and shown your colors. Goodbye."
Her: "....goodbye"

I haven't talked to her since. Part of me does miss her, but I told her what would happen and I'm sticking to it. She me and the Other Guy on for months with this little game, I always gave her the benefit of the doubt even when reputable sources provided a lot of doubt.

And all of this kinda comes as a slap in the face, I know long distance relationships are hard, but we knew that going in. What's she's done is like saying "You're not worth the effort, but this guy is closer so I'll take him"

I've of course gotten the usual "you can do better than that" stuff from my friends, even mutual friends. I'm not sure what better is exactly, but I guess I might find out someday. I heard from friends that she still wanted me as a friend, but after breaking my trust, that simply cannot be an option. Even if she and the Other Guy break up, as many suspect they will shortly, I don't think I could ever take her back, could ever trust her again, and I'm pretty sure no one would approve of us being together. So while my sentimental side wants to check on her, see how she's doing etc, my logical side says to leave it be, pretend she's dead. It'll be easier that way.

That's my news for the week, hope yours has been better.