The End of the Rainbow

Almost there...

(A semi-random post, my food random was going to be called "the random (mostly) food post". I've got more random in me still)

I worked on Janice again today. Last weekend I didn't because it was supposed to have been raining (it didn't), and I had a blood donation appointment. The weekend before, of course, I was in Vegas. I don't believe I've posted about all that since my early November post on this. The car has been in "running" condition since three weekends ago, when I fired it up for the first time. Fired up easier than any other swap I've done to date, I think. However, it ran so well that it wouldn't shut off when I turned the key off and took it out!!! That's the thing about a diesel, as long as fuel keeps flowin', it'll keep goin'!!! The fuel shut off is a vacuum line going to the fuel distribution block. The other little problem was that the drain plug for the radiator broke, so I was testing it with no coolant. This was a bit of a concern when the engine didn't want to shut off!!!

(Now, prepare for a random thing...) Have you seen the trailers for "I Am Legend"??? First time I saw it my reaction was "It's been done before, and I don't think you're gonna top Charlton Heston!!!" Since that time, every time I've seen that commercial, I've made the comment to whoever is present (usually my wife of children, who I think are growing weary of it), "I Am Legend is a poor man's Omega Man!!!"

Back to the benz, I got a new drain plug (special order and took almost a week to get) and messed with the vacuum lines, it now mostly holds it's coolant and turns off. The only problem that seems remaining is the transmission. Seems to be the same thing as I made mention of in the first post regarding this engine swap, a vacuum modulator problem. Only thing is, this time my vacuum system is kinda wacked out, because I've got a different engine vacuum system and chassis vacuum system. Ah, complications!!! I tried several things, but couldn't get it to behave.

Imagine my chagrin when I did a little bit of research and found out that Charlton Heston was reprising a role that Vincent Price had originally done in 1964, and the movie was based on a book from 1954, entitled (drum roll....) I Am Legend!!!

Today while I was working on the car, it began to rain on me. The sun was shining at a low angle, and I was looking around for a rainbow because I suspected prime meteorological conditions, but it wasn't to be found at the time. A short time later, I was test driving it for the first time, and as I came back, there was the rainbow, big and quite bright at the end of the street I was coming up. Cool!!! I brought the boys out to see it when I got back. Wish I'd had my camera with me.

Speaking of cameras, I've been eyeballing the ads for DSLR cameras, most notably the Canon D40. My dad went out today and bought his Christmas present, a point-and-shoot Olympus with 18x optical zoom. We discussed the DSLR options out there, and he started explaining about the zooms. Most of the DSLR's, if they come with any second lens, are usually only to 150mm or 200mm. He was saying that even with a 300mm lens, the zoom still isn't as good as an 18x optical zoom. I made the point that the D40 is only 6 mega pixels versus his 8.1 mega pixel rig, so you could even crop out a portion for more zoom and still have a better picture. Then, there's doubler's and such... I think I'll try his out some before I make my final decision.

Another foodie random, the cookies that Eyeball had at Thanksgiving sure made me thirsty!!!

I finally got Internet Explorer 7. I've used it some before, but now it's on my machine. I don't like the way it doesn't want to let me highlight text as I want to. Damn you, IE7!!!

I know there's more random within me, but I can't remember it. I should revert to making little notes throughout the day.

I thought that it was cool that I saw a rainbow while I was driving the car for the first time in a while. And hey, the car is painted gold!!!