eBay Item Not Sold: Ford : Mustang (4622911722)

Well, no one bought the car. Maybe next year I can get a motorcycle.

I should really take this car and do something with it. With just a little more work it'll be a great ride, and then I can start making it look good. I've just got to make a decision about it - I've been wishy-washy for the past year about it, deciding to sell, then to keep it, then to sell it, then I put it in the shop 'cause I'm gonna drive it all the time...

It's not exactly economical. The thing actually gulps gasoline. Then again, it wasn't designed to go "putt-putt" and sip fuel. It is a classic musclecar, designed and built several years before the gas crisis in the 1970s. It's my favorite automobile. I wanted a Mustang since I was about six years old, and for about fifteen years I shopped. Beth spent my money on it in 2000 when I was at NTC and I've been dumping money into it ever since.

I fell asleep at the wheel in June 2002 and spent until July 2004 getting it all back together. Overall I think I did a pretty good job. I just drove it about 110 miles yesterday without incident. There are a few more things to work out, but they're fairly trivial. The alternator needs some attention and I need just a couple more steering parts replaced. I am now trying to decide what the next big project is for it.

The power steering is still being a pain in the ass. The pump needs to be replaced and the hoses should be rerouted - they keep burning up because they're too close to the exhaust. After the steering is all done and the suspension is solid, I think it will be time for new tires. At that point I'll probably replace the rims too. That should drastically improve the ride.

I'll have to do a couple of things to the engine for maintenance, like the slight leak in the water outlet and the oil leak I think is coming from the distributor. There's also the wiring for the temperature and oil sensors - that's the only original wiring left in the engine compartment - it needs to be replaced as well.

After that it's probably off to the machine shop for the engine. With the engine out I can clean everything up front and get it ready for the new powerplant. The engine will go back in with new headers, so that should solve my power steering line problem. I'll probably go with an electric fuel pump, too.

Then I'll finish the interior and start sending it to the body shop every once in awhile to concentrate on a piece of whatever needs attention. Beth's been told to call Overhaulin' and tell them to steal my car, but I don't think she's had the time.

Like I said: I just need to decide that this is what I want. If I'm so damn emotional about it, I think I should keep it and finish my baby. All said and done I should have about $30K invested which will never be returned, but I'll have one damn sweet ride. And a daughter in college.

Happy St Patty's Day

From www.inograph.com:

If anyone wants to buy my car,

It's item number 4622911722 on eBay for the next seven days. With any luck, this will go better than that CD-ROM drive I tried to hock for $5.

I love this car, but it's time to prioritize. I've put so much into it, and still have so much left to do that it's overwhelming. Besides, I don't have a garage at the new place, and don't see having a good spot for it anytime soon. I want it protected, not rotting.

I think I'll get a new one sometime in the future, but right now I need to consolidate my vehicle usage. And get a motorcycle.

Dilemma Solved

I got this new computer and it's really great. It starts up in under a minute! I even dual-booted it last night with Fedora Core 4 64-bit edition, and the boot loader works like a charm. At startup, I can choose whether to boot Windows or Linux.

The only problem I see right now is the video. I have never been a fan of onboard video, but it made for a good affordable motherboard, and obviously works. I'm using it to view this editing session. The only thing is that it sucks. I can't even scroll down a webpage smoothly, or move windows about the screen without a delay and choppiness.

I'm surprised, though, that I can play a DVD and it looks just fine. But if I can't move my damn windows around, something's amiss. So I think I have solved that problem this morning. I ordered a new video card. It should be here next week, and I can install it at my leisure.

I'm telling you this because I really don't hang around people who care about this kind of stuff. I've got to tell someone, so it might as well be the common passers-by on my blog. That's what it's for, isn't it?

While I'm here, I might as well tell you about my recent upgrade. In 2001, I finally put together my first computer. I had done upgrades and teardowns and stuff like that before, but this was my first from-scratch build. I bought the cheapest shit I could find for this, too, since I was still in the Army and always short on cash. I bought the case locally ($40), ordered a cheap (and I'm talking cheap, $37!) motherboard, and found a 667MHz Celeron processor in Denver for about $50. I got the memory, network card, and video card from the same local place as the case. Later I got the sound card at Best Buy.

I got home and put it all together. It finally worked, and I enjoyed it for some time. I had actually built the thing to play my flight simulator, but I was silly in thinking that a 667MHz Celeron could do that. Anyway, there I was.

It finally went into retirement mode when I got my laptop two years later. It really became a file and print server and never got put to use after that. When my laptop started showing its age (and my wife started using it for school) I was seeing a need for a new desktop, but I didn't want to spend the $2K for the one I wanted. I decided to upgrade my existing system.

This was very easy with the exception of buying the parts. I don't ever want to spend money, but I found this sale at a shop in Valdosta and got a new motherboard with onboard video, sound, and firewire, an AMD Athlon 64 processor, and one Gigabyte of RAM for about $350. That was all I needed (until today). I got the upgrade done in about an hour, loaded Windows x64 Edition in about another hour, and I was set. I loaded Fedora Linux last night, and everything is working out.

I better get to work. Someone's got to pay for this.

I Just Voted for Al Gore

Something else I didn't know: Al Gore is on the board of directors at Apple Computer. I just voted my 1.2 shares to keep him there.

There's a new study going on sparked by the iPod's popularity on the use of earbuds and their relation to hearing loss. Most of us remember the stink Sony caused in the 80's with their Walkman, and I don't think that ever came to any conclusion. It really is all about personal usage. I don't use headphones all that often except for when I work out (that's actually closer to twice a month).

Some lady got killed last month when she was running while listening to music on an iPod. She got hit by a truck. The headline I read was something like "iPod Blamed in Death," while it really could have been caused by any device, or stupidity, or bad driving. Again, it's about how you choose to listen. I believe a rock concert or forgetting your earplugs on the firing range is more detrimental to your hearing than Busta Rhymes on an iPod.

Happy Birthday, Sir

Today is Albert Einstein's birthday. He would be 127. Also on this day Gorbachev was elected in 1990, and Jack Ruby was sentenced to death in 1964.

Time for Change

I intend to redo the sidebar soon. I'm not happy with the status of my reading list, so I think I'll take it off and just put it at benrehberg.com. Whoever wants to find the list can go there and look. I plan to make it easy to find, and easier to read. Ads will be placed in the sidebar as well, closer to the top. The only ads on this site are at the bottom of the page. Scroll down and tell me if you've ever seen them.

I don't know when I'll do this, but I've made the decision and will take action soon.

I say this as if it matters to the reader whether I change the sidebar. I think I've gained the readership of maybe ten people in the past two years, most of whom never comment. I know I never really write anything very compelling or deep in thought, but if I could get some kind of dialogue I'm sure I'd become more interesting.

I think if I kept a certain theme about my posts I could reach out to more people; people like me. But that wouldn't be me, now, would it? Sticking to one general topic? Doesn't sound right. Couldn't be Random Thoughts if they weren't random.

Separation

Being the guy who didn't keep up with the story, it sounds to me like this Dubai company's ports deal fell through because we're a bunch of racists.

"We will not settle for any solution that doesn't completely eliminate the role of the United Arab Emirates in our ports," Schumer said.

Doesn't this sound like we hate their country and "we don't like their kind 'round here?" We suck. It's like the whole United States is becoming South Georgian.

Not Trivial in the Slightest

We're going to place an offer on a house tomorrow. The last one we liked got away from us because we couldn't act soon enough.

It's a brand new house. The plastic protective sheet is still attached to the dishwasher.

It is a good size home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and it sits on a 20,000 (100' X 100') foot² lot. I'm not sure what that is - hang on - Google says "20 000 (sq feet) = 0.459136823 acres." The house doesn't cover much, so the yard will seem big enough. At least I don't have to buy a riding lawn mower.

I think I've made my mind up about my motorcycle. I have tentatively decided on the Yamaha ZF6. It is of nice size, but not too big; I can probably pick it up if I drop it. It's also not too small - there shouldn't be any trouble keeping up with my brother and my dad on their larger bikes on road trips to wherever. I will certainly be posting here the day I get it.

The house is listed on realtor.com right now. They may take it off as we get further in to the process. The MLS is 63300. Very excited, but very scared we are.

Don't Miss This

Please pass on my growing auction products. I always offer the good stuff to my friends a couple weeks before i put them on ebay. thanks

http://justinsmonthlydeals.blogspot.com

and check out my Z-site at
http://my300zbaby.blogspot.com

another invention by Justin

Music in a Bottle

Ok, so I am a weirdo! I was drinking my beer tonight…as I do every night, and realized I always hold my mp3 player and beer in the same hand. Now maybe most people don’t sit outside drinking beer and listen to music…but I bet a lot do. Now here me out, I remember as a kid that games to win something from the bottom of a soda can actually meant something. Mountain dew was great! At the bottom of the can it told you right away if you won something or not….not this bullshit code entering, thanks for entering our survey, you will never win shit stuff!
People want instant gradification, and I say…GIVE IT TO THEM! My idea is to build a small mp3 player into some/every can or bottle that has a 1/8” headphone jack receptical on it and it will play a tune or two for free. Of course it will have a commercial in there, but that’s the beauty of it. Everybody wins…the seller, buyer,marketer, and the promo people! I am telling you, this is the future. One thing I have learned in school is that advertising/promoting is getting so HARD now adays. Fuck, I bought Oakley ski glasses last week that have flip-down earpods in them that play music from a tiny mp3 player built into the nose piece!
Next month somebody will invent a beer label that transmits a shortwave signal to a buyers glasses…like mine, that will give a free song and a commercial….think about it!
Ben, you have to help me invent this. It is soooo simple, yet only month/years away! Well, at least I documented it here on the web tonight….Justin weis…father of commercial beer labels!lol. (L.F.M.A’S) LOW FREQUENCY MUSICAL ADVERTISEMENTS….see..i am a fuckin king! Check out my high tech prototype!…lol

I have a whole line of accessories too. Like a watch that decodes and plays the music when within 1 foot of the beer/pop bottle or can. It would be stylish yet functional. It would have a head phone jack on it, but also a small speaker to play at a moderate volume.

Moving Soon?

This is post 199 in almost two years. Horrible, I say. Horrible.

I'll admit I haven't been very dedicated to my blog (or reading other blogs) lately, but I swear I've been busy. The weeks are filled with traveling and working, preparing for and conducting training, and finding time to sleep. The weekends are full of house hunting and varied attempts at visiting family. I helped my brother move last weekend and was reminded of how I hated moving.

So here I might outline the things I'd do differently this time from the times I've moved in the past:

I will buy boxes. If I have to move myself, I'll use the hand truck I bought last time and move everything I possibly can in a box. Books, movies, clothes, gadgets, wires, everything. The stuff that's already in drawers? Take it out and put it in a box. If I can't put it on the hand truck, it better be one piece and as big as a box. I bought five small "book boxes" today when I had to move my office, and I'll get a feel for the number and type of boxes I'll need for the coming adventure when I pack my books in them.

I will save up the newspaper. Last time I moved I had to drive to town to get an Atlanta newspaper (the Sunday edition) to pack the dishes and other breakables and it proved to be not enough. I now have almost a month's worth of The Wall Street Journal packed into a container in the garage. I promise I'll have ample packing material this time, with some to spare for my parents' move later.

I will have plenty of money in preparation for the move. I felt very embarrassed that I couldn't afford the truck from Colorado. We were just about broke at the time, and my dad came to the rescue. Enough said.

I will begin preparation early, even if someone says I'm crazy. This I do not want to be caught in: It's the day of the move and we're going nuts trying to figure out where the oscillating fan will fit in the truck. The U-Haul is due back in three hours and we haven't even left yet. There are still the computers left to go, too, and there's been no mention of all the clothes still in the hamper. I will be ready to load the truck the moment it's backed up to the garage. That's the reason I'm buying boxes before we even deliver our 30-day move-out notice to the leasing agent.

I'll go now to prepare for training tomorrow.