Browsed by
Month: April 2008

Last day of boarding

Last day of boarding

Looks like the crank and pan seal fixed the oil leak smells – drove all weekend without a whiff. The great weather also meant I got to drive around with the windows open and air out all the armorall smell.  It’s nice getting used to driving a car that actually responds nicely to acceleration, turning, etc. Driving the V6 just about gave me whiplash at first as I learned to be more gentle with the gas in traffic.  Surprisingly, if I’m not a lead foot – I get just about 1mpg less with this v6 car than my 4-cyl Nissan.   Enough car stuff.

Several of us had originally planned to climb Mt St Helens on Sunday and snowboard down, but the non-cleared forest roads (and unusually high snowpack for this time of year) would have more than doubled the round trip. It was looking like a 5 mile hike in across snow just to get to the trail head, before a 4-5 hour climb. Would would have had to hike in and snow camp overnight or do it all in one shot (not recommended) So, we postponed it and went snowboarding this Sunday – it was an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunny, warm, and you could see Jefferson and just make out all 3 sisters down near Bend. We got up and conditions were great at 9am, but by 11:30, the snow had gotten so slushy/sticky that it was difficult to even get down the runs. We packed it in, sat out on the patio in the sun and had a burger and fries. Wonderful day overall – and whats this? I think I even got a little sun through the sp45 I wore…

A front crank seal? Again?

A front crank seal? Again?

So, I got the new car and so far it’s been great. The only issue that was present before I bought it was the inspector found a minor oil leak with the front crank seal. I was assured it would be fixed and I believe they did do the work. However, when I got the car one could quite distinctly smell burning oil after the engine got warm – and in one case – I popped the hood and could even see the oil smoke from the left side of the engine. Unacceptable.

So I took it to a local Mazda dealer who said the same front crank seal was leaking (and the oil pan gasket was leaking too). I had them fix it, and SO FAR it appears to have solved the problem. When I got it back I could still catching a bit of smell if I push it hard, stopped, and crank the fan full (worst case scenario) – but only 3 hours after the fix – I’m hoping it was only residual oil in the compartment (which they mentioned). This morning I drove all the way in to work without the slightest smell. I hope it’s really fixed and not a systemic/more serious problem. Only a bit more time will tell for sure. I must say, however, I’ve never been so happy I got the bumper-to-bumper warranty on a used car. The fix supposedly cost $535, but cost me nothing and I got a loaner while it was being done. Let’s hope I don’t have to do it again.

  • Extended warranty just paid for itself in one trip to the dealer – and I still have 2 years of it left…
  • They put so much armor-all on the leather seats I felt like I was on a slip-n-slide while driving. I always wear my seatbelt – but I would have had to just to stay in the seat during braking. After about a week, I have now worn enough of it off that I can sit in the seat without it being an adventure.
  • The ‘new car’ smelling cleaner stuff they used is not to my liking. Car is immaculate (it works) but the smell is just too cleaner-y/pine-sol-y/waxy. I’m trying to air out the car and it’s working, but it’s been so rainy it’s hard to drive with the windows down. Should be normal in a week or so.
  • Mazda dealers upgraded the software in the transmission due to a recall, but it makes the shifting different. It makes the upshifts buttery smooth – but in really rare cases (read 2-3 times now) it tends to downshift while slowing a millisecond faster than I would normally think. It’s totally fine, but shows you what software will do.
  • I LOVE the auxMod aux-line in addition I added. That and it works with the next item:
  • Love the on-steering wheel controls for stereo and cruise. I can change volume am/fm/aux, and all cruise settings.
  • Not digging the after-market tinted windows. I might have it taken off as they are just those plastic sheet style types.  They look sharp – but I feel like a drug dealer.  Anyone pulled them off before? Does it leave goo/mess on the windows?
Raiders of the Lost Ark – done by 12 year olds

Raiders of the Lost Ark – done by 12 year olds

I caught one of the 3 sold out shows this weekend. Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Adaptation

I’ve seen other kids that attempt to remake movies – but this went above and beyond. It was almost shot for shot the same movie sans the fight scene with the nazi at the plane and a few other modifications. But they actually went to a navy yard and filmed the scenes on a U-boat, the fighting/fire scenes in the Mariann’s bar in Afghanistan too. They even had the chase scene where Indy falls down the front of the military truck hauling the ark, slides underneath the truck and then pulls himself back up after being dragged behind it. They did the front crawl down, and then the dragging/pulling himself back up scene. Couldn’t believe how dangerous that was and they did it as kids.

They started at 12 years old, and finished about the time they were 17 – so you can actually see them age as the movie goes on. The guys who made it were there talking afterwards and had some fun stories to tell. Needless to say, during the filming, there were several trips to the hospital involved. Awesome stuff.

Not available on DVD unfortunately due to copyright, but keep your eye out to see if they do a showing in your town.

Links

Links

My dad is recovering today and everything looks ok for the time being.  Still need to wait more to see what will need to happen next – but no immediate dangers.  So as distraction, I thought I’d throw up some links:

How to cook the last 1st class meal that was served on the Titanic.  None other than a 10-course meal.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s album – Gurrumul.  Aboriginal from Australia with an amazing voice – definitely worth a listen as it’s so unique.

Mr. Lee’s adventures.  A guy sticks a little camera around his cat’s neck and turns him loose each day.  See where he went.  Other owners do the same.

Didn’t take long did it. :)

Didn’t take long did it. :)

I already modded my car. I haven’t even had it a total of 8 hours, and I already ripped the dash apart. I put in an auxmod – which adds a line-in capability for the stock stereo. Can’t believe aux in lines aren’t standard on everything, but they stubbornly refuse to be in more than 50% of cars. I forgive my 2004, and since this thing works so well, I won’t complain.

Now to get back to listening to Moby Dick (books on mp3 – freely downloadable from the Portland Library!) every morning on my way to work. Over halfway finished with the book so far…

Trip completed

Trip completed

Update: it’s here. I’ll be driving over at lunch to pick it up.

I figured the car shipping would get stuck at way stations for days on end on its way out, but that hasn’t been the case at all. It’s moving right along and makes a great diversion while code is compiling to check up on the next spot. I’m hoping it will make it out well before the Apr 25th eta. Here’s the progress so far:

Fort Wayne, IN 0 mi <start>
Indianapolis, IN 127 mi
Arbury hills, IL 307 mi
Frankfort, IL 310 mi
Council bluffs, IA midnight 12th 758 mi
Brady, NE 09:00am 13th 1020 mi
Lodgepole, NE 10:00am, 13th 1146 mi
Kimball, NE 12:07pm, 13th 1206 mi
Cheyenne, WY 12:57pm, 13th 1275 mi
University, WY 03:04pm apr 13th
Buford, WY 02:21pm, 13th 1302 mi
Evanston, WY 10:00am apr 14th (all day) 1632 mi
Salt Lake City, UT 09:00am apr 15th 1713 mi
wilson, UT 10:15am apr 15th 1752 mi
Malta, ID 12:00pm apr 15th 1869 mi
Eden, ID 01:00pm apr 15th 1928 mi
Ontario, OR 04:00pm apr 15th
La Grande, OR 0:5pm apr 15th
Hood River, OR 07:00am Apr 16th
Troutdale, OR 08:00am Apr 16th <done>

8:30am – call from shipper that it arrived
12:00am – picked up car from shipper – arrived in almost perfect shape
01:30pm – DEQ testing = passed
02:30pm – plates and title taken care of, after driving past 3 state troopers that didn’t pull me over for no plates
03:00pm – bought new bolts and front mount for plates
03:30pm – back at work

How’s that for efficient!

live updates!? Nifty

live updates!? Nifty

I just found that the DAS auto shipper site actually has live updating of the car traversal.  I simply hit refresh and it went from Brady, NE to Lodgepole, NE.  How’s that for cool!  Poor guy is driving across Nebraska right now…

Your car is now in: Council Bluffs, IA

Your car is now in: Council Bluffs, IA

Interesting updates on the car progress. I checked around 5pm and it was in Frankfort, Illinois; and now it’s in Council Bluffs, Iowa. 756 of 2400 miles done. Google maps says thats 12 hours worth of driving. Whew. Glad I’m not doing it. Instead, this afternoon I had a beer with several friends on a patio in shorts, 60’s, sunny and warm.  Beautiful day today…