Weely Roundup....3-13-08

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I guess I'll just do a round-up of sorts.

1. Heading down to LA during Easter break with my wife and parents to pay my sister and her family a visit. Looking forward to kicking back with my family, exploring LA, eating alot, and swimming in there backyard pool. The only thing is that I'm driving the S4 down so I'd like to iron out some nagging issues and get the car prepared for the drive.

2. S4 issues: Got new GYF1 GS-D3's 91Y's in from Tire-rack, and the good news is that they were on sale. I'm getting them balanced and mounted next week. Also pulling out the lower AND upper oil pan, draining the oil, scraping off the old gaskets, and replacing them with a new gasket set. I have all the parts but I won't be doing the job...my take on car work is, I'll do work on the "top" and "sides" of the car, but I avoid the "bottom", so my mechanic at Dynospot will be doing it for me.

Also did a 3rd gear rip Vag-Com log and discovered that my fuel pump is in fact not faltering...the surging and air/fuel mixture issues are related to a failing MAF (mass air flow meter) and N75 waste-gate controller valve. In a nutshell, the car is pulling in sooo much air that the MAF, which reads the amount of air running thru the motor, is having difficulty understanding the increased volume of air. Furthermore, the N75 waste-gate controller, which is rated to 1 Bar, has difficulty handling the increased boost pressure...it's bleeding boost and opening prematurely. The good news is that they're easy fixes...they're on "top" of the car and easy to get too. The down-side is the price for uprated units. I'm looking into the cost now. The "clunking" in the steering will be diagnosed by my mechanic next week and I'll be doing the rear brakes when I return. I think the car will be in very good shape for the trip down...think 400 miles in under 4 hours...hehe...I've done that pace twice before. At one stretch, the car touched 135MPH with my wife reading a novel in the passenger seat. She noticed the exhaust bellowing, glanced at my speedo and pointed out "Uh, do you know we're doing over 130?".

3. Backyard looks good. The leaves are coming back on the crab-apple trees. The grass is coming in nice and green, but patchy. It actually looks best right before spring...I believe it has to do with the fact that they get alot of sun given the lack of leaves on our trees. When the leaves come back, the grass won't see the same amount of sun and my constant battle to keep is looking good will return. The wife has planted a ton of annuals and perennials all over the place....also planted an asparagus fern and tended to a line of Iris'. It all looks great. The deck is looking worse every day so I'll be looking into stripping out the old peeling stain and laying down a fresh coat in the summer.

Our trees grow immensely fast, especially the pittosporum and crab-apple. I'll have to spend one weekend day trimming the hell out of them or our backyard will turn into a dark jungle.

Discovered that the gazeebo over the hot-tub is literally falling apart...the corners have detached themselves, screws have fallin out, and nails have rusted to dust. I have large zip-ties up as a temporary fix. It'll hold until we decide what to do...I guess we should be pleased that it's lasted as lond as it did.

4. Attended our HOA's meeting last night and I've decided (with some prodding on the part of my wife) that I should run for a seat on our Board. I'll be bringing in a "New Vision" and will govern and enforce our regulations with an iron-fist. I'm eyeing the CFO and Vice-Presidency position...I'm a shoe-in given my 14 Charisma and 11 COM...hehe.

5. Played some good-ole D&D last saturday at theDiscourser's wife's school. The Acupunturist ran "Tomb of Horrors", a 30-year old module. Real fun despite the fact that playing D&D is like driving a Model-T Ford...it's system is that outdated. Alot of the other uber-geeks were in attendance.

6. My wife bought our tickets to New York. We'll be spending a few days exploring the city in June. Afterwards, we'll be hangin out in a condo in a beach town on the Delaware coastline with her family and my niece and newphew...should be good fun.

We'll have to fly back to Washington in October for a wedding and probably back to Philly at Christmas. I really want to get some car-camping and back-packing in this year so I'd better sit down with the GM at some point to take a look at our schedules.

7. Work is more and more frustrating. I can really go on and on here but then I think about theDiscourser's plight and realize education has it a lot worse. I wanted to see State Legislators increase the tax rate with respect to our states' oil companies. It would go a long way to bridging education's huge budget shortfall. A bill was proposed yesterday but the vote came down across party lines...Thank you yet again Republicans. Nunez, a state legislator, put it best yesterday when he spoke to the State Assembly..."our school's have bake sales to pay for disappearing school programs, and yet we continue to 'kiss the asses' of our rich oil companies....where are our priorities?". Republicans responded, "It's not fair to put the burden of this state's budget crisis on the backs of hard-working people"....Is it just me, or is that retort the most ridiculous attempt at spin for sympathy that you have EVER heard. Is it not true that last year, EXXON and CHEVRON pulled in the largest yearly profits EVER for ANY company EVER...and yet we continue to subsidize rich companies with tax breaks!!

This is certainly NOT an issue of "redistribution", rich-vs-poor, socialism vs. capitalism. This is a MORAL ISSUE...a "right vs. wrong" issue. And yet we've been duped by the Right to think that they are the moral majority...what a bunch of hogwash. End rant.

Gotta get back to work...talk to you again soon.