Type Three Invasion, Day 1

Woke up this morning and had a Kahlua & Creme latte with a croissant breakfast sandwich at Ava's Rosteria with my Sweetie and The Boy. Packed up my clothes for the trip, said g'bye to the family, and started my journey to the Type Three Invasion.  About 3.5 hours later I was at my buddy Brian Fye's house.

My baby ran fine and got a lot of looks, including one long one by a Marion County Sheriff...  At the 1/2 way point on the fuel gauge I was just over 150 miles so my mileage is okay.  My speedometer & odometer are off because I am running lower profile tires and thus they read higher than what they should.  Oil pressure was fine and no red light flicker from the low oil pressure idiot light when coasting down the off-ramp at the Fye exit.  Oxygen sensor was running a consistent 12.5 which is a bit rich for my tastes but that means she won't be running hot and there's no black smoke out the exhaust so my mixture isn't too rich I guess.  Handling wasn't as bad since I had a full thrust alignment done to her but she still requires attention; a little too drifty-wandery for my tastes.

Brian needed an accessory 12v outlet in his car so I installed the one he had.  Now he can charge his phone in the car and also use his cool lambda meter.  Tomorrow we plan on leaving after 8am and head towards Ontario, Idaho.  Let's hope for an uneventful trip!

It's that time of year again...when it's an even year, that is!

It's been a while so I'll just jump right in:

Antonette's mom moved in on May 30th and things are going very well.  It's really nice having her here, especially helping with the kids.  A week prior to her moving in, all her belongings from Georgia arrived in a 55' hauler (her load was 800 cubic feet).  Two guys unpacked the trailer while Antonette and I guided and helped some.  One of the guys was real young, probably 19 or 20, and while walking through the house to see where to put stuff mentioned that our house was big.  Huh.  Later that day his comment made me reflect on my life and that I've been blessed to be able to afford a nice place (with lots of help from my Sweetie!) with plenty of space and that I'm able to have work that pays well.  There are times when I feel trodden upon, over-whelmed, and I remember what that kid said and I don't feel so bad...my life could be much, much worse!

My contract with a major shoe design company ended early due to budget cuts but after a break I got a contract for an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping utility customers benefit from saving energy and generating renewable energy.  Wow!  I like them more than the previous contract; they're organized, using up-to-date software and hardware (I was disappointed with the shoe company...Windows XP on a small laptop, really?).  Office 2010, quad Intel processor with dual, hi-res LED monitors -- NICE!  The people are friendly and on the ball.  Oh, yeah, I'm working in the finance department tasked with building/automating some Excel budgeting workbooks.  They even let me take my two-weeks for the Invasion!  Of course, that means I have four weeks to do six weeks of work...no stress...

Right now I'm updating the "kid's" laptop in preparation for the Invasion.  I think it's been a couple years since it was last connected to the internet!  That laptop is used to power a "computer keyboard" toy for the kids...Learning Years or something like that.  Anyway, I'll be using that to once again blog about my trip.  It sure is taking a looooong time to update!

So, yes, it's time for another Type 3 Invasion; the whole impetus that got this blog a rollin'.  My Squareback has been cleaned, maintenance performed, and packed up with a full tank of fuel, ready for Saturday morning to head out to Fye's house.  Brian will be driving his purple Notch but I think with a different -- or at least improved -- motor.  Cigars are nestled in my humidor, ready to be packed up Saturday morning and enjoyed at the end of each day.  If we have the time.  And we're not exhausted.

This will be my last Invasion for some time, at least for any Invasion that is more than a couple hundred miles away.  It's kind of expensive, with 91-octane gasoline being the biggest expense, and it's hard to take a couple weeks off from work AND from family.

Okay, time to log off and get away from a computer.  I've been doing 11-hour work days this week so as to not get behind schedule at work.  See ya on the road!

New year, new job, new car...but I wouldn't call it all "good" news.

A New Job?

At the beginning of January my immediate manager, Reza, stabbed me in the back with a negative performance review and started making my work environment very hostile.  He would lie to me, belittle me in front of others, not help me as he promised he would, and set project expectations that were designed to fail -- he even tasked me with a project management job that was his responsibility which he failed to meet over a three month period...and he expected me to know it 100% in less than three weeks!  I don't know where any of this came from; it honestly caught me off-guard.  Were they trying to build a case to fire me?  Did they not want to give me a raise, thus using this exercise as a reason?

Since it was obvious he was out to get me and my group manager was in no way trying to help me, either, I started looking for work else where.  Since I'm good at what I do finding another job was easy.  I submitted HR the proper resignation letter with my employee badge and gave my immediate notice during our daily morning "team" meeting.  I was not going to be treated with such blatant disrespect from a manager who had yet to even earn any respect from the team.

I am very glad I listed why I was leaving in my resignation letter because that lousy manager was pressured to leave the company by the end of the month:  Who's wearing a big smile now, Reza?  I hear others are leaving as well and the business intelligence reporting environment (and other initiatives) is crumbling.

I'm now at local, major shoe design company and love it!  For every day I was there the first week I did something to improve the teams workflow.  I'm building Access database and Excel applications, both well infused with VBA to make them workhorses.  I set up remote desktop stations with spare systems to help team members in Tennessee run their reports 15 times faster.  I figured out how to automate their SAP BEx workbooks for reporting automation.  My team is very appreciative and it feels good to get positive feedback.

A New Car?

Ah...the "new" car...huh?  Well, to be honest, Antonette is the one who finally got tired of her Passat and ended up buying a 2010 VW Routan SEL...yes, mini-van!  UHG!!  Yeah, we have a mini-van :-(  But there are good points about it that make sense when you have a family:  Seating for seven, much more cargo space, dual DVD players and screens to keep the kids freakin' quiet on trips, and individual climate zones.  I already installed fog lights in it.  Looking to add an OEM trailer hitch as it came with a towing setup (just no hitch?) and also add running boards so the kids can more easily enter/exit.  It's a big step for them.  The 6-cylinder engine does have guts!  It's more responsive than the Passat with it's turbo.  However, the gas mileage is the worst of all our vehicles so ya gotta take the good with the bad.

What Else?

Nothing much for now, that's the update.

Good shop news

The previous owner stopped by today to pick up mail we had collected for them.  While we were chatting I asked about the shop.  The shop used to be just one side (the left side).  They added the right side.  The pour was 5" with another 4" more in the upper right quadrant  (top half of the addition they poured) because...excellent news!...he had planned on putting a lift there!  Yeay!  My plan was to put a lift on the left side but I can change plans, no problem-o!  This saves me from having to cut out a section of the floor, digging deeper, and repouring, which is what I was planning on doing because you need to have a good foundation for a car lift.

We also found out the house roof was put on in 2006.  Just good to know.

Oh, we also got our first snow day, yippee! 

Cherry Pickers: Not all are seasonal!

Did some searching and I think I can get my tranny reasonably fixed as long as I do the removal and install.  Since removing the tranny requires supporting the engine I decided this was a good excuse to get a new tool:  An engine hoist!  For those of us who work on cars this handy device is also known as a 'cherry picker'.

A search on the local Craig's List had a very nice 2-ton unit briefly used that was only a few miles away and for $160...and it was posted this morning so it must've been a sign to get it!

I called Ken to see if I could borrow his Yukon as a transport vehicle but it was down so I had to use my Squareback, uhg!  So I drove to the place in the rain and we barely got it loaded into my baby.  He gave me some thin rope to secure it in the cargo area and then he was gone...was in a rush to go somewhere!

I took the side streets to avoid the rush-hour traffic because I wanted to keep my speed below the 35mph speed limit and not piss off anyone.  Got home with no issues.  Antonette helped me unload it.  Here it is before unloading it:

Lucky me, it came with a load-leveler as well!

All folded up and ready for use:

Happy happy joy joy!  Now all I need is a two-post lift and my shop is complete (tool-wise).

Tick! Tick! Tick!...Crap!

Wednesday my Jetta suddenly developed a loud tick tick tick in 2nd gear...likely a chipped tooth in the tranny!  Damn!  Average cost to repair/replace starts at $1000 and likely would be a few hundred more.  I'm seriously thinking of parting the car out because to sell her whole (ask-is) I could only get a thousand or so.  Parting her out would get me close to two thousand or more.  Just really sucks because the car runs great and handles just as well but the body is in need of paint and the interior needs some refurbishing.

I wonder what my next used car should be...

TIMBER!!!

If you walk into our house it smells like a fir-rich forest.  We got our Christmas tree today, packing it home from the Ryzn Farm somewhere north by northwest of North Plains.  We used my Jetta with the converted trailer.  Worked out nice.  The tree is now on display in the front window in the living room and BOY does the house smell gooooood!

We also put out the illuminated deer and decorated a some of the shrubbery.  Cold but dry day, rather nice.  Once we finish the outside I'll take evening pictures.  The tree isn't decorated yet but those pics will be forthcoming as well.

A couple weeks ago we got the spin-down filter attached to our well filtration system so now the bigger particulate is filtered out before it hits the rest of the system.  This means that the landscaping water supply is now filtered so the sprinkler holes won't get clogged up with debris.  It's the clear tube hanging down with the white grid inside.  Turning the red handle at the bottom of it flushes the debris out the black hose and out of the shed.  Very handy!

Finally, fresh water!

We live on a dead-end street. Every house on our street has city water. Except us. Our house is the last one to remain on well water.

Actually, that's rather nice.

See, at the previous house, we had city water. Now, the water in Oregon is actually quite good. The only thing I did was add a particulate filter to slow mineral build-up and eliminate the occasional 'chunk' from blocking a water aerator in the bathrooms. However, the water from the well in our new house has sulfur and iron -- not a lot but enough to cause trouble. The sulfur gave the water a very slight 'rotten egg' odor, typical of sulfur. That, along with the iron, tinted the water a little orangish which was noticeable when we gave the kids a bath. The real down side was that it would tint the whites when my Sweetie did laundry, thus she had to use a laundromat once a week. Not fun. Our water was definitely 'hard' but it didn't bother me as much as it did the girls.

Okay, that's not so nice.  But wait, there's more!

Here's the mess the previous owners had, minus the awful insulation, with a little house-hold filter that was definitely earning its keep by filtering out the sand/particles (the person shown is Jerry from Hillsboro Pump & Supply):

Our installer did a great job and now we have a pre-filter, water softener, and charcoal filter all feeding the house.  The landscaping supply lines will get a spin-down filter to remove the particles so the sprinklers don't get plugged up, otherwise the plants get pure well water.

Okay, now the nice part...
 

Maintenance for the whole system is simple and our 'water bill' will COST LESS THAN CITY WATER! (in the long run, of course).  Oh, and he also bumped up the water pressure from 50psi to 70psi...much nicer!  Here it is:

 

Now, the spaghetti wiring job will be a new task...grrr!  I need to fish a neutral wire from the main breaker box, some 80' or more away, underground, if even possible, so I can put in a proper subpanel to feed the pump, lights, and outlets.  For the time being I replaced the old metal outlet with a fiberglass unit with a wet location GFCI and  sealed cover, just as a preventive measure to help keep the outlet dry (it's dry but I'm being paranoid until I can get that electrical mess fixed).  I also need to re-insulate the interior before winter hits us and replace the subroof so I can insulate it as the pump house takes up a corner inside the garden shed.

Anyway, the nice thing is we now have good water and we can use as much of it as we want without being 'penalized' by the city.  We also had it flow-tested as part of the pre-purchase inspection and it was flowing great for over an hour and a half...in late July...during the heat waves that hit our region.  Awesome!

Movember!

It's November 1st and that means it's "Movember".  What is this Movember you ask?  It's a month where men shave their face and then grow a moustache (no beards allowed!) in support for men's health awareness, mostly prostate and other cancers that affect men.  You can read more about it here.

Here's my Mo Space <click me>! and here I am before and after my shave this morning:

Oh, and to make the situation even better, I received a complementary shave from The Art Of Shaving, located just a couple blocks from where I work.  It was great.  Master Barber Elijah gave me one smoooooth, hot-towel shave.  The guy is a master and easy to talk to.

Today I also did a little rewiring of the breaker box in the shop so the circuits are in a more logical order.  I also added a 240V breaker and wall outlet so I can now use my air compressor, yeay!  Luckily there was already an appropriately sized line so the process was quick and easy.

Here's a better look at my shop, an open canvas right now:

Happy happy joy joy!!

Long time, no see!

Well, uhm, I haven't made any posts for a while because I've been very busy.  We bought a house...can't call it 'new' because it was built in 1968 but it's 'new' for us.  4/5 of an acre with a large garden shed (which houses the pump for the well) and a 36'x36' enclosed, insulated shop!  YEAY!!  We also got a new roof laid on the 'old' house (we call it the Derby house) plus painted some of the interior and had a solar tube finally installed in the hall way.  So that house is done and looks great.  Oh, it's also a rental and we got it filled immediately, whew!

The new place (the Jaylee house) has almost 3 times more square footage than the Derby house so the kids and, especially, Antonette love the added space.  It also has a large, fenced back yard with an attached sunroom for A to lounge in, even when it rains.  She's a happy girl!  I've gone around and replaced many of the cheap light switches with more modern, flat, illuminated units and sliders (rheostat-style) for the bathrooms and bedrooms.  I've never seen so many 3-way switches in my life, oy!  What a pain in the butt those are!!

Though we lost the storage shed at Derby we have plenty of floored attic space above the garage.  Oh, and since there's the shop all my crap is there, leaving a whole garage just for A.  Now she can park in the garage instead of outside, making un/loading the kids much easier and a much drier operation in the winter.  All of the vegetation stuff (mower, blower, edger, poisons, fertilizer, wheelbarrow, etc.)  are stored in the garden shed, along with anything else that doesn't need to be temperature/humidity controlled -- the shed isn't insulated but is big enough to hold a car and then some.

My shop (yes, MY shop) feels great.  It can comfortably fit six air-cooled VWs in it, two deep by three wide.  Probably could squeeze in two more if I had too <grin>.  The whole place needs to be sheet-rocked but at least it came with the sheet-rock and insulation for the ceiling.  Plenty of 20A electrical outlets but I will need to wire in my own 240V line for my air compressor.  Oh, it also has a new, gas heater...just need to hook up a gas line to it <groan>.  On either side is a tall, RV-height garage door so getting vehicles in/out should be no problem.

Anyway, that's the news that's been keeping me from posting news :-D  Things are slowly settling down.  All the house hold stuff is finally out of my shop and in the house, just need to start putting that away.  Hopefully I'll be getting more time to organize my tools and get the shop 'tuned' to my tastes so I can work on my big boy toys!

Pics from my phone when we first started moving in: