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June 13, 2023 – Pennywise and Pound Foolish?

June 13, 2023 /

The last thing that I wanted to finish last year was staining the deck. If you recall, I spent the majority of the summer fixing the siding and facia. We paid for a new fence and a hand railing on the deck to replace the ailing, plastic deck railing. When it was first completed, we were in Spain. I wanted to give it some time to dry out and then I got involved in my siding project.

I built this deck in 2007. The lattice frames I cut out of the old cedar deck. Other than replacing a panel here or there, that is about all I have done. I saved the larger offcuts of the lattice for future work. So, when I did some maintenance, I found a suitable scrap to fit the hole and away I went.

I an effort to get everything spic and span for staining, it was time to fix some of the panels that need repair. I am now at a place that I have run out of spares. So, I thought that I would run out and pick up a new panel for replacement. Talk about sticker shock. I know that it has been a while, but I am pretty sure that I paid $15 a panel for lattice the last time I purchased 3/4″ cedar lattice. I am seeing $80 a panel.

Then, it came to me, I have a stapler, planer and cedar. Why don’t I just mill some pieces to replace what is broken? After all, lattice is nothing more than strips of cedar stapled together. And so that is what I set out to do.

I spent a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon making some replacement strips. Of course, I made more than I needed. I don’t want to have to do this again too soon. They really do stand out like a sore thumb, but then again, so would a whole new panel. In my view, this is probably the lesser of two evils.

Another added advantage is that now I had the stapler out, I could re attach other loose strips as well. At least potentially, that will prevent other strips from breaking loose from the grid. All told, I probably had four hours into the operation. Granted, some of it was reorganizing the firewood pile and tiding up unrelated messes in the shop to work.

Economically, this move doesn’t really make sense. At least the only way it does is if I do not value my time. I was already at the store looking at lattice, with the intent to buy. So, I had already sunk that time. The only part of it that really does is environmentally. I took wood from the burn pile and reused it in a place that I needed it. That also means that I didn’t throw away the old lattice, I didn’t have waste cuts from the new lattice either.

This would have been a poor decision as a contractor. But, since I am not I can justify it by saying to myself that I didn’t spend $80. I didn’t have to handle an unwieldly 4×8′ sheet. I could repair everything in place and I put to work all of these high dollar tools I own. I built some spare strips for the future.

The decision to build or repair is a simple equation. You put together a simple pros / cons list. The winner is the one that favors one side or the other. But, it is way more complicated than that because you have to include want. And want is not governed by pros and cons. So, in my case here the pros would have been to buy the panel but I wanted to fix the strips rather than the whole thing. To me, it justified my capability to do so.

End Your Programming Routine: There is a time when repair is more economical than replacement. That is a time when what is being worked with is not replicable. The other situation is that the preponderance of the scope of work is small in compared to the overall scale. That is a little cryptic but assume that one dining room chair needs work and a replacement is not available. It wouldn’t make sense to replace the whole set, just the chair that needs repair. If the cost of the repair is high but cheaper than replacing all the chairs, then it is certainly worth it.

June 12, 2023 – Not in My Backyard

June 12, 2023 /

The original title of this was going to be ‘From Population 20,000 to Gotham City’. But I actually forgot when I went to do the editing. I also forgot to bring up why I was going to call it that title because I was disrupted a few times including 6 hours in between. Oh well, so I stayed pretty much on topic.

End Your Programming Routine: This is a complicated problem. I think that if previous implementations had worked, then we would be well on our way to solving the problem and I would be in support of the project. Given that micro shelters have really not worked, I am not really for doing something rather than nothing in this case. I strongly feel like this will concentrate the problem without any real results. But, I say my peace in the podcast, so listen to that.

June 9, 2023 – Lord of the Flies, Chapter 4

June 9, 2023 /

This might be one of those chapters that if I had pre-read the book or kept reading before writing that I might lump together with another chapter. From the descriptions of clothes, dress and hair the kids have already been on the island for some time. There is no real mark of time, just that things are frazzled and raggedy.

Clearly, the significant event of the chapter is that Jack and hunters finally managed to kill a pig. This action emboldens Jack and company to display a superiority complex over the others. This activity of course comes at a price. The hunters apparently let the signal fire go out and apparently missed a chance to be rescued by a ship on the horizon.

Last chapter I was talking about everybody doing their own thing and how much I actually support that. It would seem that not all the boys share the same goals on the island. For some it is to ultimately get rescued while others it is to survive. For the hunters, it appears that it is the pursuit of the hunt. Even last chapter, Jack said that he would prefer to kill a pig before getting rescued.

Now, I guess that I would call myself a hunter. I try to make a half-hearted attempt every year. I really don’t like the killing part. I remember my first deer, it was really emotional and not the jubilation type. Of course I was happy, but then I was sad too. A more mature person might say that it was reality. Very rarely is an event all one thing.

To me, it is about continuing tradition, getting out in the woods and pretending that I might fit into the hunter category. A good day would be to say that I saw five deer and believing that it was just not my day rather than I didn’t put in the work in the off-season to be continuously successful.

But the truth is, I am not hungry. My freezer has stuff in it and my bank account is not empty. I might feel differently if I was on the edge of hunger or only eating fruits for months on end. My neighbor exclusively eats wild game. They are in the woods a lot and typically get bear, deer and elk in a season.

There are parts of me that admire that but I just don’t have the time in my life to live that way. Plus, I am not a gambler. I don’t want to be in a position that I ‘must’ punch my tag or go without. The safe bet for me is to buy a quarter steer in the spring and appreciate an extra bounty during hunting season if it happens. Plus, I paid less for the beef than they did in fuel by a long way. That’s OK if it is also your primary pastime, I am not judging. I am just saying the economics of the situation are really smarter the way I am going about it.

That was all a long way of saying that I am not anti-hunting (of course). But, getting back to the story it’s not the hunting that is the problem, it is the mindset. It seems that the act of killing gives the hunter’s power. The more perceived power that they gain, the more careless they become with their other activities. This I think is the message in the chapter.

Maybe Golding is an evil genius and I am just a dope? But again, I think that he touches on a subject that is much deeper than the words on the page. If we take the 3rd party analysis at face value then this is a story of the ills of humanity and civilization. I don’t think that he intended to go this deep so hopefully I am not reading too much into it.

To me, the hunters are a metaphor for societies’ elites. They do as they please without consequences. To be honest, I am not sure what kind of punishment could happen within the book with a group of young kids. Nevertheless, they don’t seem to have any concern about being rescued, building shelters or participating in any other way except on their own terms.

This is where the problem lies within the concept of anarchy and this story. In a proper stateless society, individuals would choose to associate based on their beliefs and values. The shelter builders would congregate and the hunters would congregate and the two would stay their separate ways. I really doesn’t work when marooned on an island with nowhere to go.

Even more so, I think that this speaks to the mentality of the elites. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the way things are if I get to do what I want to do. I am going to wade in the water just a little bit deeper now.

Using an example, when someone like a former software founder gets involved in something like estate taxes, he could be all for the 1970s 90% rules. This is because his personal assets are sheltered in some manner. The reality is that when he dies, the likelihood that everything is going to evaporate into taxes are low. Of course, it wont be zero but it will be much less than my second example.

If someone was a successful, sole-proprietor with assets in the $5 million range were to die under the same tax rules it would essentially leave $500,000 to distribute as a result. Why is that? Because the sole-proprietor is not operating under the same rules as my software tycoon above. It is not that the two couldn’t, not at all but that elites have more resources to create hoops for others to jump through. Why do we need estate taxes at all? I haven’t read in the Constitution that the United States is entitled to any portion of my estate.

Hopefully, I made my point using one silly example that the hunters are becoming societies’ elite. When the elite prosper, there is no reason to petition for new changes unless they are to solidify their position. As long as it is no bother to work around, ignore or rules have no consequences then what does it matter?

End Your Programming Routine: I think that I almost got lost on this one. I was trying to get across the rise of the hunter’s social status and how there behavior is a natural consequence of their self perception. Once established, it also becomes self-fulfilling because what is to stop them?

June 8, 2023 – I’ll Do Better This Year, I Promise

June 8, 2023 /

I really had high hopes of doing more gardening in my life. My dad probably has 2000 square feet of productive garden (most years) that we grew up hating because it seemed like our summer days were spent weeding. Later in life, after buying produce for a number of years and realizing how poor it really was, I changed my tune.

I spent half of 2010 in China, I probably averaged 50% overtime in 2011 and 2012, I spent half my time on the road. I got a really big bonus and I decided to spend a tiny bit of it building a garden. This was the yang to my yin, something manual and about the earth not about computers and technology.

The first two years, I had a pretty good yield, but then my interests started wandering. Maybe it wasn’t my interests but the pull of life and work. Left to my own devices, I think that I would do much better. But, you have to realize your limitations. The last time I put in any serious effort was in 2019 when I was home all summer because I wasn’t working. I built an irrigation system to try and do better. I found that I was more interested in building the irrigation system than growing things. For what I had planted, I did OK.

I have said this before but for me, growing things is about experimentation. I have tested a lot of boundaries over the years. For instance, I tried to start some seeds earlier this year, but I put them in a cold frame style with temperatures in the 70s. I think that they got cooked outside.

If I was ultimately concerned about yield, I would just copy what works, buy starts of the long leader plants and provide continuous care. Part of what motivated me to build an irrigation system was because I want to put in minimal effort. Unfortunately, I tore out my garden beds the next near because of my construction expansion, so all of that work went to waste.

I have waffled around on where to build the next garden because or our sell/not sell proposition. We are ultimately going to sell but it is a matter of when, probably two years. So, I am not prone to invest a lot into building soil, or anything related to something that I will not gain a return.

Hence, I bought two tomato starts for a total of $4. My plan is to nurture these to their best potential this year. I planted in this same spot last year and I got a dozen or so small tomatoes. This year is more about me proving to myself that I do not have a black thumb. Because as much as I like pushing the limits, I am a little discouraged at my near total lack of success.

I am already starting at t disadvantage. There is a concept in permaculture where you zone your property. Zone 1 is somewhere you go multiple times a day. Zone 2 is somewhere you would go once a day. Zone 3 is used but sometimes by animals or infrequently. It goes on to Zone 5. But, I would say that my garden is in Zone 2/3 and that has always been the case.

I keep the potted plants on the deck alive and prospering because I walk past them twenty times a day. I make it a point to water every night and I notice that they are wilted and even need water in the middle of the day. My garden, not so much. There have been times when I go weeks without even walking out to it because it is out of sight.

**Tip** If you are like me, get your garden as close to your zone 1 as possible so you don’t do like me and say that you will do it tomorrow. Pretty soon, several days go by and those problems compound. So, despite where I put the tomatoes, I am going to try and change my habits to make them prosper, despite my tendencies.

End Your Programming Routine: I would definitely write more about gardening if I did more of it. I want to do more of it, but time is hard. Last night, I spent several hours staining the deck and it was almost dark when I came in. My dedication to those home projects takes priority over all the other things, including gardening when it comes to this season and that is just the way it is. We all have skills and priorities, it is how we choose to spend them. Some day, I might have the time to do all the things I want to do.

June 7, 2023 – 32 Yolks

June 7, 2023 /

This book took me a while to get through. It was most definitely too long at about six weeks. It wasn’t that boring, long or hard to read, it was me trying to squeeze it in with everything else going on. It went to a lot of tennis matches, a number of appointments and mostly nights before bed.

32 Yolks is the May selection of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. It is a memoir about the early life of Chef Eric Ripert. His name may not be at the front of your brain, but he was a dear friend of Anthony Bourdain and appeared in many episodes of No Reservations. In fact, he was the one who found his body.

I say early life because Ripert has become a world renowned chef at his restaurant called Le Bernadin. This book really only covers his life into the mid 1980s, before he came to the USA. As you can probably guess, there is a lot of life between then and now (almost forty years). While it was published in 2017, I think that it was an attempt to explain the why’s and how’s of his success.

At our meeting, we talked about the book. I was only half way through at that point. One of the members said that compared to other memoirs, this was highly focused on a couple experiences. It was her opinion that by comparison, it was a little single tracked.

I liken this book to one we read about five years ago called Cork Dork (that was pre AltF4.co so I haven’t talked extensively about it). But, becoming a sommelier is a tough experience. It takes a sickening amount of effort (literally) to become an expert in wine. Your personal habits can even effect you senses like your typical diet and scents that you wear.

I personally found it fascinating that the preparation staff would hide ingredients from the chef because the job was so demanding that they could not keep up serving 40 diners a night and working 18 hours a day. The chef demanded that everything be prepared that day and you only got one chance to do it. Some of the employees were suicidal even but they couldn’t resist the opportunity to work for the the absolute best.

I think that you can read this book and understand the real difference between fine dining and everywhere else. There certainly is an element of pretentiousness in fine dining but it is more about precision. It has to look and taste a certain way. I have known this a long time, but it is the main reason that I have a difficult time being satisfied going out to eat. For the most part, the preparation staff does not care or they don’t know what they are doing or they don’t taste the food.

This has happened to me a number of times. Go to a new restaurant, then go back in six months and then go back in two years. The first time is really good and it gets progressively worse each time. Why is that? The owner/creator/chef backs off after things get established and the care about the inspiration or the quality does as well. There is some human nature there, 99% of humans don’t want to kill themselves every day to perform

To be fair, not everything I make is a success either. That is largely because I take risks and I do things once in a while. I also care much less about how things look and I may substitute ingredients which has different effects. But, in my mind there is no excuse to make a bland, breakfast burrito. It’s not that hard especially when the ingredients are so limited.

I enjoyed the book. I say the same things I always say. Read it if you are into cooking, chefs, food and character building experiences. I am not sure that you will learn a lot other than it is hard to be in a Michelin 3-star kitchen but I think that is the part that I found most interesting. Don’t read the book if you are not into those things or you want a light, fairy tale story.

End Your Programming Routine: I think I could read or listen to almost anybody’s story and be entertained if they have something personal to say and tell it in an engaging way. I suppose that this says more about my reviews than anything but I am a interested in humanity. It is the reason why I was a National Geographic subscriber even when I was a college student. People doing what they do fascinates me.

June 6, 2023 – Success, After Several Years of Effort

June 6, 2023 /

If you spend time in the woods, you hear about things that are interesting or unique. And being in the woods, they can be difficult to nearly impossible to find. This is particularly true in western Oregon where there is a patchwork of private timberland, US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management parcels.

The reason being is that road numbers can change depending on who owns the road, signs often get vandalized as well. We have little to no cell phone coverage and GPS coverage is even compromised due to tall trees and land obstructions. Add to that, some companies believe that access is by permission only and gate roads. So you can start out on a public road only to be blocked by a gate.

What I am saying is that it is difficult to get paper directions and it is no guarantee to use electronic directions. So, if you don’t know where you are going you will be hard pressed to get there. About ten years ago, we went on a trek to find ‘Valley of the Giants‘. It is a long story, but we would not have made it but for talking with some people that we met out in the woods who drove us there.

Memorial Day, I finally made it to South Lake. It started two years ago I was hunting and I saw a sign for the lake. I tried to find it when I was driving around. I assumed that it if I followed the main road, I would get there only to be blocked by a gate. I tried several different side roads to be blocked by impassible road conditions. But, as I talked with people it seemed everyone knew how to get there.

When we had our first real nice weekend in May, I tried to go there using Waze. I tried two different approaches that were blocked with snow. I talked with my neighbor a few weeks later and he said that all the roads were snow free. So now it wasn’t an adventure it was a mission.

When we got there we found a real gem. It is called a dispersed camping area but it really means that there is an outhouse and a some roughly marked camping sites. It does not have things like running water or tables at the sites, but it is also free. I didn’t even know that such things existed. Even the super remote BLM sites are ten dollars a night.

This being a holiday weekend, it was somewhat crowded. I talked to some people that had some car problems (two flat tires, not a good place to happen). I offered them what I could which was a can of Fix-a-Flat and they indicated that there was probably 30 people camping over the weekend.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks this lake. This often times makes the endeavor easier because the fish are used to being fed and are not wiley of many natural hazards. It also makes it a little more guilt free, it is the purpose of these fish to get caught. We fished for five hours or so and caught a few fish. We also lost some fish and we had a lot of strikes. It was fun.

I think the most amazing part of the day was a pair of bald eagles chasing each other around and helping themselves to fish in the lake. I blew my mind to hear the feathers fluttering as they attacked the water. I don’t know of any comparison of the sound other than a swooshing dive bomb.

End Your Programming Routine: South Lake has a sister called, you guessed it North Lake. I have heard that it is smaller and more remote. I have also heard that as a result the fish are bigger. Now, this is my next quest. Not only with my summer projects, I have fishing on the brain. I hope that I can find time to get some of both in. I love the adventure, I love the fact that we caught some fish and it is good family time too.

June 5, 2023 – Wisdom of My Father

June 5, 2023 /

OK, I get a little vulnerable today. This is part of my quest to be real and not just ‘I can do everything well all the time’. So, if that is not your cup of tea then I am sorry for that; tune in next time. But, I do feel that clock ticking so I am trying to enjoy the moment while I can.

End Your Programming Routine: There is a phrase that Dave Ramsey uses called powdered butt syndrome. That means that nobody is ever going to take advice from someone that you powdered their butt. This is the opposite where I have some doubt about doing things that I have never done alone. It is hard to imagine doing so, particularly when there is some emotion around the task involved.

June 2, 2023 – Lord of the Flies, Chapter 3

June 2, 2023 /

I am starting to get my legs under me now. I am reading a couple books concurrently and trying to keep up with everything. It’s hard to do when the sun doesn’t set until 9:30 as I can find all kinds of things to stay occupied every day. Luckily, this is a pretty short book with lots of short chapters.

Most of this chapter is about Ralph and Jack at odds between hunting and shelter building. Ralph laments that people commit to something and put in 30 minutes of labor before running off to do something that they prefer i.e hunting. And, this is the gold in the book that Golding never intended.

So many of the synopsis of the book talk about this being a mirror to mankind. The mention the savagery that is within ourselves and then something comes up about civilization. The reason that I say Golding never intended to write this is because I think it is a true observation of humanity but with a different intent to contrast civility and savageness.

The reason all the kids only work 30 minutes is because they don’t want to. And, they don’t really need to. We invent all kinds of things that we think that we need to do and all the reasons everyone else should do them too. Who built the Egyptian Pyramids or the Roman roads that are still in service? Why slaves of course. No one would do it for the good of mankind. And these are perfect examples of ‘I think that you need to build a road/pyramid’.

Let’s get real here, this is the reason we have 12 grades of compulsory education. There is no doubt that an educated population yields a happier and more successful society. By the same token, there is very little reason why we need to force kids to stay in school until they are 18. To be honest, I think that it is more of a babysitting service since you are not a legal adult until 18. I think that your kids need to be in school so that they are not out messing up my yard.

There are all kinds of stories on YouTube where people quit there jobs and go live in a van. So, do we really need to work until we die or do we live to work? What I am saying is how much of our income goes to things we want, like a house payment versus the things we need like shelter?

People are starting to figure this out. How many help wanted signs are you seeing? I was calling a locksmith the other day and I got the machine. In the message it said that they don’t have enough help to do their work and that if you were a locksmith looking for a job to leave your information. We didn’t just start losing population with the pandemic, we gave people the opportunity to figure out how survive without a job.

When I listen to the Fine Homebuilding podcast, it is mentioned nearly every episode that the trades are finding it impossible to hire help. The impassioned plea is that a good living can be made at $75,000/year. I am not scoffing at that, but I would also say that my industry is hiring as well. That is a starting salary. I have the ability to do both, which one am I going to choose? The one that is physically easier, working in conditioned space and can perform a lifetime. The salary upside is much greater too.

We are becoming a society of those that work and those that do not. As you know, I am all about freedom and so I am not judging people that can figure out how they want to live without punching a time clock. It should be all of our goals to accumulate enough wealth to unplug from the system as early as possible. That being said, there are an awful lot of people that are getting an income without providing any kind of value or service.

This help wanted situation is the new status quo. These jobs are not going to get filled nominally. There is just not enough people to work all the jobs that are looking to be filled. People are no longer going to accept a marginal wage when the alternative is do nothing and live just as well. The system ranks continue to grow and as it does, it continues to support and grow its existence.

The incentive is too high for people not to continue to seek their fortune. That being said, there is not enough incentive for low wage workers to keep working. It will continue this way until the absolute balance is met. In the meantime, we will see all these low wage positions eventually consolidate or become supplanted by automation of some sort.

I don’t ever see a day where there is no locksmith because the wage situation will self resolve with supply/demand economics. That being said, we are at the day where he has his business as a sole proprietor and storefronts are done. You will be connected by relationship or some sort or an internet aggregator like Home Depot or Angi’s List. The days of a career lackey working in the store while the experienced tradesman is out in the field are done.

End Your Programming Routine: This type of problem is endemic in all sorts of blue collar fields, not just retail. I am hearing this from my current employer as well that they cannot find enough staff to fill a 24/7 schedule. And hence they are running a prioritized schedule of products based on the staff that is available. Inflation and shortages are the result of this trend. This is the new future and it is human nature that has created it because why work if you have something you would rather do?

June 1, 2023 – It Happened to Me… My Mind is Blown

June 1, 2023 /

You hear about these things and I guess you never fully understand it until it happens to you. Recently, I was half listening to a podcast and the term ‘philomath’ came up. They pronounced it like ‘phyllo math’ and they proclaimed that it was a combination of two Greek words that mean love of learning.

I was born in Corvallis Oregon. About five miles to the west is the town of Philomath Oregon (we pronounce it as fil-lo-math). It was the town that you drove through on the way to the coast. It was known as a timber town that the police liked to issue speeding tickets (because there was no reason to stop). It was also known as a town that has an endowment for any graduating senior to get a full scholarship to Oregon Statue University. It has since been modified to any student that want’s to study Forestry at OSU.

In the last twenty years, the town’s growth has been significant. Despite the fact that most of the mills were shuttered in the 1990s, population is rapidly growing. The reason is that the land cost and tax structure are significantly advantageous to living in nearby Corvallis.

Back in my day… my impression of Philomath was a redneck town. There were logger taverns and run down buildings. This was the definition of working class, mill town that you wouldn’t want to be after dark, if you weren’t from there. Of course that was my ignorance, I have no idea if that is actually true but I am painting an impression of my feelings.

There was a tavern called The Woodsman which used to be the first thing you see as you enter town from the west. I have never been there but I am pretty sure this was one of those places that was open as long as it was legal (7a-2a in Oregon) and served my regional favorite beers like Rainier, Olympia, Blitz-Wienhard and Hamm’s. A little over twenty years ago it became a locally regarded Thai restaurant.

I had always assumed that the name was native American. There are so many names that are like Tillamook, Alsea, Siletz, Neskowin, Calapooia or Willamette to name a few. I just told you that we never stopped (so I never read the sign in the picture). When they were talking about it on the podcast I realized what I thought I knew was nothing of the sorts. It is actually of Greek origin, not native.

I consider myself a critical thinker. I make efforts to analyze information and make a rational decision from my analysis. I suppose that doesn’t apply to things that you always knew as true. What’s even worse is that there is a sign describing the name in the middle of town. The information is publicly visible and has been my whole life, I have never looked at it.

This happens to be a simple issue that really doesn’t matter. This could be why I was open to evaluating it and realizing my error. I think the danger is for items that are highly charged and the actual data is suspect. Those things that we always knew, supported by lies lead us to false realities.

The human mind is a funny thing. When I was taking criminology class I learned that one of the reasons suspects/witnesses are separated is because one individual can influence another and people can ‘remember’ things that they did not see. We want the story as unbiased as possible looking for inconsistencies between the individual stories. Someone will compile all the different stories into a theory and then potentially test that theory in court.

End Your Programming Routine: I am not saying that I am a great man or a great mind. People have fallibilities and that is a fact. Of course some are more flawed than others and it is a matter of perspective on what is worse or not. This is our inherent human bias. My whole point is be careful of what you know to be true because you might just find out you were wrong all along.

May 31, 2021 – It’s Now or Never

May 31, 2023 /

I know that I have a lot going on. But, I am running out of time with my son to get his 1969 Mercury Cougar going. With thoughts of moving and kids moving on, I want to make a decision on worth continuing or not. I am not opposed to making this my project and giving it to my son but I am surely not going to move an anchor around. I need to show some interest so that he will develop some.

My son has invested in some new parts. There is a new fuel tank, carburetor and starter solenoid. The oil has been changed and that is about all I know. The story that we heard was that the jealous ex-boyfriend ripped the ignition switch out so we are left with a bunch of wires to trace to get that put back together. But the first step would be to hotwire and see if it will turn over.

Looking at this car, it needs a lot of work and my son’s efforts over the last couple of years hasn’t helped. He has removed a lot of things an I am pretty sure that there are lost items now. I am not an expert or even a good mechanic. I am mechanically oriented with a potentially never give up attitude. I have the factory shop manuals and the internet so how hard can it be?

My claim to fame for big mechanical projects was repairing a warped head gasket in a 1980 Datsun 210. Of course, I caused the problem in the first place. It was my wife’s car. I thought that I would be helpful by changing the oil and checking the coolant. Low and behold, I didn’t put the radiator cap back on correctly and all of the antifreeze boiled out on a short trip to country and western bar.

It was after midnight and instead of letting the car cool off, I poured a gallon of water into the radiator. That of course caused the cylinder head to warp. So the car sat for a couple of months until I had enough money to buy some tools and time to work on it. After I graduated from college, I spent a couple of days taking the cylinder head off, getting it machined and putting everything back together.

I had a book on how to do things, but it left a lot to be imagined and there was no internet. I was resorted to begging for tidbits from people that I thought knew what they were doing with cars and mechanics, like a professor that I knew worked on his car or a classmate that was a tow truck driver. One of the things I read was that with the cylinder head height changed, I needed to check the valve clearance. I tried to adjust that and I got it all screwed up. The car ran, but rough.

I drove it for a couple of weeks to my new job and then the battery died. I gave up and sold it to a co-worker for $200. He got everything straightened out in a couple of days and drove it for a couple of years. He then sold it to another co-worker and I lost track of it.

End Your Programming Routine: While all of those problems were self inflicted, I learned a lot and most of all I got confidence that I could do more and obviously better. That being said, I know that I don’t know what I really need to know. So, call this project blissful ignorance. The good news here is that I have the option to pay for some of the work if I want to. I don’t really want to, yet.