We’ve been without door handles on our French doors, in the shop, for about 8 months now. I kept thinking that I would find something funky and fun to put up but never did.

Angela floated out the idea of doing something with license plates so after a few false starts this is what I came up with.

I formed the plate over a section of 1″ steel pipe creating the grab area. I then knocked out a quick and dirty press brake using some scrap wood and C-clamps to flatten the mounting area back the other direction.

I was able to do all of the forming with a 3 pound hammer and a small ball pein. I think it turned out great, you?

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1. Another door installed
2. Rolling Door Milestone

They won every race that day.

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1. Secret Santa Name Picker

This generally worked, but when we added the conditions that you wouldn’t select your spouse or significant other (what a dumb term) or that you wouldn’t have the same name two years running, things got a bit complicated.

I think I was the person most guilty of screwing this up.

This year there haven’t been any opportunities to get together and get this sorted out so I decided to come up with a solution. I wanted to write a small program to do the selection, exclusion, and emailing but I really don’t have the time right now. I stumbled on web-based solution that is free, no need to register, and has all the functionality we require.

I’m certain that use of the service entails some advertising related emails to follow, but that was a necessary evil at this point. If you find yourself in need of a Secret Santa Name Chooser give it a try.

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I bought the machine used for a pretty decent price, $200 if I remember correctly. It has around 20-24 vending heads that serve candy, chips, gum, etc. It cost about $100 to fill the first time. We put a fairly wide assortment of items inside, mainly to gauge interest, but also just to have things you wouldn’t typically find.

My brother was able to score the location from his apartment management gig and it seems like a pretty decent spot so far. It’s in one of the laundry facilities in the apartment complex. It has 2 coin-op washers, 2 coin-op dryers, and soda vending machine. The soda machine is owned by the local bottler and we’ve considered attempting to displace it if the candy machine gets any traffic.

I felt a little bit guilty placing the machine in such a situation. It felt sort of like I was preying on folks who have poor impulse control or planning ability. I completely understand having vending in an environment like a cafeteria or workplace where it serves as a useful option, but it seems different when I am practically placing it in their homes.

Those predatory feelings have all but evaporated now. There were two people that came up to us in the short time we were installing it and expressed enthusiasm for having it there. Give people what they want, I suppose.

The final nail in the pity party came the next day, when Kristopher said that it looked like someone had been shaking the piss outta the machine to dislodge product. Someone will always be seeking the upper hand in any arrangement, it might as well be me.

Apparently, vending is an adversarial relationship.

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I was driving down a 4+1 lane road headed into Lakewood yesterday. I was in the right lane and had just crossed a set of railroad tracks when I see a blue Civic sedan start to drift into my lane.

The rear tire of the Civic was even with or behind my front tire, so this person was definitely not in front of me at all. Apparently they didn’t have or use their turn signal, and I had an inoperative horn (I’ll fix it soon, promise). There are cars behind me so I can’t jam the brakes but I do slow down.

Right about the moment I begin to slow down they make their move to get into my lane with a quickness. I swerve out of the way and have my right side in the grass on the verge, throwing dirt and clods of grass in my wake.

Lane change complete, she finally looks in the mirror and sees me, back on the road, hands held out at shoulder-level as if to say, “What in the hell is your damn-fool problem that my 9 foot tall, 16 foot long, YELLOW truck was invisible to you?”

She holds up her hand by the rearview mirror, fingers splayed, wrist slightly twisted, in what is an apparent display of the female driver’s version of the phrase, “My bad.”

She keeps it up there like a beauty queen for the next quarter of a mile or so. It moves around occasionally as if with every change of aspect it’s indicating how “very, very” her apology is.

Stop waving, goofball, drive the damn car and, this is key, pay attention to the road! If you’re really that sorry call the ladies at Hi-Teck Nail and get Jen a gift certificate.

Momma needs a pedicure.

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Starting just a day or two ago, however, the clouds have been notified that it is officially Fall and they have been dumping rain in teasing on and off again torrents.

This is not good for hardwood floors. Even thought the rolling doors have a large rubber gasket to seal the sill there was still potential for problems. Yesterday I installed some tread plate that I cut to fit around the doorway. I think it looks pretty nice and it is certainly functional.

I just realized I was talking a good game about it but hadn’t taken any pictures yet. I’ll be sure to get some up this afternoon.

Related posts:

1. I am not a mechanic
2. Rolling Door Milestone

If you would like to support the Camp fundraiser, let me know the number of bars you would like to purchase. They are $1 each with 50% going towards funding his stay at camp. Apparently, we’re automatically on the hook for at least $100 so our focus is there for now.

That being said, there is also a fundraiser for the school PTA. This difference here is that it funds general purchases at the school that all the kids can participate in. This may be a better alternative for those of you who wish to help out but to whom shipping a candy bar would be counter-productive.

When you visit the Fundraising Website you are able to select and purchase items that will be shipped directly to your door and Brady still gets credit for the sales.

Either way, if you want to help, we appreciate it. Hope everyone is having a good week.

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3. Brady’s First Concert

“Dad, I really like your egg sandwiches.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

“And my teacher didn’t ask me to say that, either,” Brady said.

“Are you saying that she didn’t approach you and say ‘Go tell your father thank you for making a good egg sandwich.’ I don’t see see why she wouldn’t have.” (he’s pretty good with sarcasm)

“Well I thought maybe you would think she told us to say something nice, but she didn’t. I just really like how you do it so the cheese is melty and the egg is kind of salty,” he explained.

“I am glad you like it, thank you,” I said.

“Sure,” he finished. Then, “tickle, tickle” as he grabbed my foot again and trotted out of the room.

Totally priceless and great, but at the same time, it leaves me scratching my head. What the hell was that all about?

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1. Random Picture Wednesday #1
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I had thought I saw a tinge of blue behind me as I was driving but it was very difficult to tell. Apparently it was not so difficult to tell from behind. He was really cool about the issue and let me motor on but said I needed to get it fixed, which brings me to my current state.

The pan gasket was clearly leaking and after removing it I could see that there were some cracks in the gasket around the arcs for the front and rear seals. After some ludicrous drama in figuring out which gasket to get (I had to pull casting numbers from the engine) I reinstalled the oil pan and gasket. I should mention that I do not have a service manual for this vehicle, I have been having difficulty finding one, and I can find very little information beyond that online.

I reinstalled the gasket, performed a full oil change including filter, and was rewarded with a gigantic oil leak from the rear of the engine. I thought perhaps I had not seated the gasket properly so pulled it down and reseated it. Kristopher and I went for a test drive, I swear we looked like Cheech and Chong blazing down the road. Every stop sign allowed the cab to fill with smoke from the fountaining oil leak as it sprayed against the exhaust.

At this point I could not fathom what I had done to get such a negative result. The only thing “different” was that I was absolutely sure about the quantity of oil in the engine for the first time since I bought it. We tried vainly to find the source of the leak but since it was blowing out the back of the motor and dripping from the shroud that covers the flywheel it seemed that it could only be the rear main seal. That’s the seal that allows the crankshaft to pass outside of the engine proper and engage the flywheel and transmission.

I was stumped and generally peeved that I had spent so much productive time being UNproductive. I took it to the shop this past Monday and while I don’t yet have it back (I’m having other things done as well) I do know the source of the leak finally. The shop manager called me yesterday afternoon and matter-of-factly said:

“The oil pan gasket was improperly installed and missing some sealant by the rear main seal.”

…of course it is.

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