Scruffy Gets 'Skinned

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Yeah, my birthday. 50 years old!!! That's like, 89 in bin filler years!!! So what did I do for my birthday??? It was a little low key, actually, but it was good. I'd scheduled it as a day off, like I often do, at the end of last year. I'll usually go to the beach or something, but the week before my wife got her new hip!!! The first few days were some of the worst post operation days (physically, at least, the one before she had a tough mental time from the pain medicine they had her on) and our home is one of the worst arrangements for having a new hip in. Consequently, we didn't do much. My younger boy and I went to the 99 cent store to refill my candy drawer, I bought a Little Caesar Extra Most Bestest pizza and breadsticks, and got an Unbound energy drink and two $2 lottery scratchers from the AM/PM (one winner, another ticket, as yet not changed, YAY!!!)

I bought myself a radio for Scruffy. That shortcoming had been honestly one of the more annoying parts of driving her. Since it's the same arrangement as in Saturn 3, I was going to get the same one, or at least the same style, as the one I've got in there. Found the newer models of it for a reasonable price, then started looking for the double DIN install kit to fit it in. For basically a flat rectangle of plastic, they wanted over $20!!! At my previous job, I would have just made one up in around 10 minutes, but since I'm not there any longer, I just looked for comparable ones in the single DIN size instead!!! The one I got has the same features, but in a size that fits the install kit already in there, for about $11 less. I made up a side-by-side picture of before and after, since that's not all I did!!!

Since I already had the dash board apart, I was giving everything that could be got at a good wiping down. Under the fuel gauge there was still a lot of glass fragments from the windshield incident!!! Several months back I'd gotten another dashcam-back-up cam mirror from Woot, and a 12v to USB converter to run it. Installed the converter and ran the wires up to the mirror, as well as pulling the cable for the back camera to the rear. I still have to come up with where that's going to mount and connect the reverse signal wire to it.

Remember when I got the console to put in Jade??? One unforeseen issue, the window switches have a different arrangement in the new style. Next time I hit the junkyard I'll check to see if the connector looks the same, and pick up one of those if it does. Anyway, I swapped the new black one into Scruffy, and the tan one will go better with the interior of Jade. Tightened up the parking brake a bit while I had things apart, but went overboard and when I tried to drive it to work the next morning, it was tight to where it wouldn't start rolling with just your foot off the brake. Put that back where it was after work that day. In the before and after, you can see four things: the new radio, the black center console, a USB port added right below the temperature control, and the microphone mounted in the slot under the radio. Oh, and it's a lot cleaner.

A couple weeks before, Woot had a bunch of shirts in purple. I have three purple shirts, but one is getting a hole in it, so one of these will replace it!!! Several were previous designs (including one he'd had for Christmas 7 years ago), only with a different shirt color behind them. My younger son had a tree design he liked, and I found the "My cat went to Space Camp" (apparently the best loser in the Sci-Fi Kawaii derby) design I liked. I'd made mention of the date they were on sale until to the boy, and he remembered right before it ended, and I hit the "Buy" button on both of them before it ended. Showed up the day after my birthday!!!

Some weeks back I'd gone to Wal Mart, and happened to be by the locked up spray paint while there was an employee there. I asked how long to get it unlocked, and he replied, "Not too long", so I ended up buying three 16-oz. cans of Krylon satin black. Over the next few weeks I finally got the body panels for Scruffy painted. At first I'd scuffed them up with some sandpaper, and it was too coarse, all the scratches showed through. Not to mention, I'd laid it on too thick and it came out with several runs. Sanded it down with progressively finer paper and shot it again. This time it came out splotchy, flat in some areas and glossy in others. More sanding, and a final attempt before I ran out of paint. Third time is a charm!!! Finally got all the door and quarter panel skins put on after work yesterday!!! I'm not sure if the sub structure of the drivers' door is tweaked or what, but it has a big gap to the outside on the back and to the inside on the front. Didn't look damaged, and functions fine. Guess I'll just have to make it gull wing to fix that!!!

Oh, and apparently having the dash all apart caused at least one of the instrument lights to burn out, as well as the odometer, so that's all got to come apart again. Even though I never had that area taken apart. Sigh. Gave me an excuse to order some LED lights for it.

Backlog Random

As usual, I've got a lot more post in me than I ever get out of me!!! So, for now, here's a smattering of shots and allusions on things that could get a post of their own!!!

To start off, back in September, I believe it was, my wife and I went to a concert at the Greek. Back in the first half of the year I had a Kings game I was going to have tickets to as prize for the last design contest at work. Unfortunately, I went too long before I went to HR to pick them up, and they gave them to someone else. Oh well. That was around the time Counting Crows had announced their tour schedule, and since we've got a block of seats at the Greek, I made mention to keep an eye out for those in lieu. For whatever reason, that never came through, either, but she offered me quite a bit later tickets to see The Piano Guys there. I was a bit familiar, so I took them. It ended up being a VERY entertaining and amusing show!!! Bonus, included with the passes was admission to the Fandango lounge there, featuring various snacks before the show, and coffee at intermission!!!

Make note of that design contest reference, there's a post (hopefully) on the way about that!!!

On the week of my Birthday, the firstborn graduated from his first Navy school, and came back home for a week. He's purchased a vehicle, but doesn't have a driver's license yet. He didn't want to get it in the state he was in, due to time between the written and driving tests, so he was going to do both on his visit. Well, he was able to do half. He's got 6 months to do the other half to get it, so he'll be making another visit sometime soon. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of him, but mom did. Here's one of my few, the reunion with his cat. Make note of the clawed to pieces claw post in the background, there's a post (hopefully) on the way about that!!!

He had his dress whites hanging in the bathroom, which I've done up in black and white. Goes rather nicely in there!!! I've been off and on searching for some black ceramic floor tile to black and white the floor in there, too. For like close to two years!!! It's not easy to find!!!

The only work day I had off while he was visiting was my actual birthday. I was thinking of going to the beach, and we were going to visit my parents that afternoon. Got a late start, and went to the Golden Star in Long Beach for breakfast/lunch. By the time we got out, it was already afternoon, so we went straight to my parents house and swam there for a while. As it was drawing towards dark, we went down to the beach in Long Beach, where they were doing a Movie on the Beach night, screening Toy Story. So I got to go to the beach that day, too!!!

Another set of tickets I got was for Dodgers -vs- Cubs. That was a fun evening, even though the Dodgers ended up losing in the 10th inning. As I recall, in the last innings they kept putting in new pitchers and every time they'd get hits right off!!! This picture of the scoreboard the inning count score looked very binary!!!

On our trip down San Diego way, as previously mentioned, we did many touristy things. One of these things, on my list on two of the other trips we'd made there but never attained, was to go to the Midway aircraft carrier. It was pretty cool, but most places we went in the actual SD area need more parking!!!

Another thing often on my list but never actually gotten to is a trip to the San Diego Zoo. This is one of my best shots from there. Richard Parker!!!

I think it was three years back, the wife & I went to Carlsbad for our anniversary. Always enjoy that place!!! We went to Leo Carrillo Ranchero while we were there, which was pretty cool. Come to find out, it's home to much pea foul. On the way back this year, we stopped there again, and this time found out there's an albino peacock there!!!

Not great pictures, but here's another fun thing that we did a bit ago. At the Ford Theater, they had a production of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio opera... only done as a Star Trek episode!!!

None of the characters were actual Star Trek players, but adaptations of the names Mozart had in the original. The orchestra were all red shirts, and the conductor was a gold shirt!!!

Finally, I've got a few places that supposedly have Chicago Deep Dish pizza around here, but the only one I've managed to try is a place in South El Monte called The One. Pizza and Hawaiian BBQ. I've had it twice now. It ain't Giordano's, but it's not bad for South El Monte!!!

Saturn 3

Saturn 3. If you were an adolescent in the late 70's & early 80's, perhaps you remember a Science Fiction film of that name, featuring Farrah Fawcett, who couldn't have been hotter at that time. I vaguely recall the commercials for it, and wanting to see it quite badly. I know I was (and still am) very into Sci-Fi, but I couldn't tell you if the real reason was Farrah. Never did see it, and from hearing some of the feedback about it, that may have been a mercy. That could have been due to it having an R rating, or that it didn't last long in theaters, as box office bombs tend to do. Lord knows I saw several fairly bad Sci-Fi movies in that era, I think everyone was trying to glom onto the success of Star Wars: A New Hope.

But I digress.

A completely different kind of Saturn 3 to be discussed some here!!! We'll back it up around a month at this point. Actually, a few months back it actually started up, I guess. The first Saturn I'd bought (all the way back in 2008!!!) started giving me check engine light troubles. Primarily, it was giving me misfire codes, mostly on the #2 cylinder. I tried several things, mostly to no avail. The last thing I'd done, something I'd read on a forum, was replacing the ground wires. I'd cleaned off the ground connections after having read that initially, but hadn't noticed that the ground wire itself up under the battery at some point (before I'd bought the car) had been burnt through by the positive, and only the positive had been replaced. Fast forward 8+ years, and the remaining ground cable is nice and green!!! In the meantime, I'd been putting miles on my wife's, as she's been out of commission (a whole 'nother post could be made of that...) for a few weeks. Finally drove mine in on a Saturday, and as I'm getting off the freeway, I'm hearing a lot of noise. Huh. Sounds for the life of me like a rod knock!!! Strange, it hasn't been getting hot or being run low on oil. Maybe it's the timing chain, after all it's up around 175,000 miles. First thing, pull off the accessory belt to be sure it's not one of them, then off comes the valve cover to check the slack on the timing chain. It really doesn't look bad, but I'm not completely convinced. SO, my thinking goes something like this: if it IS indeed only the timing chain, it's only around $150 for the chain set & gaskets, plus a couple days to do it. But, if I do do it, I've still got an old Saturn block that uses a quart of oil every couple of tanks. Not to mention, if I did the chain & it was still knocking, I'd be out for that. SO, something I'd already been thinking of, find a used wreck or just high miler, yank the engine out of that, and do a full rebuild. Hopefully find one with alloys to put on the wife's. Did I mention I'd just dropped $225 in front end work on her??? Of course. Commence the used car shopping!!!

I'd been looking around for a couple weeks, when I came across this. At the price and miles, it was hardly worth my effort doing all that!!!

2001. A Saturn 3-door, so there's your Saturn 3 tie in!!! That, and it's now our 3rd Saturn. 67,000 miles!!! I thought it was hinkey having a car that old with that few miles, so I ran a CarFax report on it before I jumped.

It has a Texas inspection sticker on the windshield, so I was concerned that it may have been a flood victim. It had been in Midland, Texas, and had it's biggest red flag there, too. It had been stolen, and was recovered two days later. Guess that explains why it has different keys for the door and the ignition switch. For the last ten years, though, it's been in Woodland Hills, and never had a problem passing smog.

Alloy wheels!!! Sunroof!!! Leather interior!!! Pretty much a newer, lower mile carbon copy of my original Saturn!!! That even includes the tore up driver's side seat. Actually, it has a couple of options that one didn't. The aforementioned third door, and ABS & traction control.

A bunch of little things need done, though. First up, the tires are pretty worn, whereas the ones on Baby are in great shape. I like the alloys on her better too, so good. These alloys are going on my wife's. Tire remounting in my future, along with a trip to the locksmith to see about re-keying something. Oh yeah, no remotes, so I can see about getting the ones I've already got programmed to this vehicle. Apparently, you get up into 2001, and you need an expensive device to plug into the OBD2 port to do this. Maybe a locksmith will have that. The lock switch on the inside of the driver's door is gone, but I've seen this before. Twice on mine and once on my wife's I've replaced these. Sunroof isn't working right. It's got window tint (even on the front door windows, illegal) that's quite purple and in pretty bad shape. The speakers in back are shot, and if it's even got any in the front, they're not hooked up. Has the same exhaust leak that the first had, so I want to swap on my 512 labs tailpipe, but I'd like to get a baseline for the mileage first to see if it bumps up on this one, too. Map light buttons aren't working, either. Got a bunch of other little things to swap over, too. I actually like the body style of the first one better, don't care for the newer style headlights, and the backup lights being moved down into the bumper. Conceivably, I COULD unbolt all the body panels (except the 3rd door and quarter panel on that side) on the first one and swap 'em over to the third!!! Nahhhh...

One thing that doesn't need work, it has an awesome radio already installed!!! It has an aux input, but that is actually fairly moot, because it has Bluetooth connectivity, too!!!

Out of this World Party!!!

As usual, this time of year gets busy busy!!! Last Thursday was gravy announcement day, and while the amount is less than last year, I'm going to end up with a tad more on account of the raise I got this year, so that's cool. Next Thursday is goodie day, and then actual gravy day. Monday will be extended family Christmas observed day, and then of course Christmas.

The subject of this post, though, is the company Christmas party!!!

Something totally different this year, they somehow managed to book the California Science Center, and the main event was in the Space Shuttle's hangar!!!

They've changed it up since last time we visited (when there was no shuttle there!!!) and now as you enter, you go through a clear tube in a huge aquarium!!!

First shot of the Shuttle shows what it would look like if hippies got hold of it and painted it up like an old VW microbus!!!

Endeavour, it's been a long time since I've seen you in the flesh!!!

It is a bit smaller place than we usually have, and seating was insufficient, but it was still pretty awesome!!! Instead of food being served, they had buffet type stations set up all around the place. I saw three with sea bass before I found anything different, "chicken like lasagna", and then beef short ribs. I partook of them all.

Later, they rolled out desert stations. Coolest thing, they had these CO2 frozen puffs. They instruct you to eat 'em within 20 seconds, and exhale as you do so. As you do, the CO2 makes it's smoke come out of your mouth. I happened to have my mouth closed on one, and breathed it out from my nostrils. I was a dragon!!!

Took me a bit before I realized, they had plaques around the wall in chronological order of all the missions. I had to find the one for STS-118, the one we saw launch!!!

Last shot is how one of the thrusters looks with a disco light behind it!!!

Stranger than Fiction

Finally back to the vacation posts, here's the previously alluded to Science Fiction Museum. No, it wasn't really stranger than fiction, but it was pretty cool!!!

And there I am, also looking pretty cool. Ahem.

The boy, in the red glow, was being scanned for motion capture technology, the kind of which they use in many of the SciFi movies these days. This particular one was for the exhibit from Avatar, where they motion capture you, and make a rough video clip with you replaced by an avatar!!! Pretty cool, you can see the video here, watch the boy almost stagger off his feet at the end. Oh, and instead of just touching the plant, he gives it a karate chop!!!

They had a lot of other cool stuff from that movie, too. Models, costumes, and an interactive computer display.

James Kirk's captain's chair, surrounded by tribbles.

The cane and amulet of Yoda.

Not pictured but appreciated was the gun from the Men in Black series.

The skeleton of a face-sucker stage of alien.

There were many displays of groundbreaking Science Fiction books and authors. The Watchmen is featured here.

Concept sketches from many movies were on display. Pictured is the costume concept for Neo from The Matrix.

Unfortunately, we only hit about 2/3 of the museum before it closed. at the end we were watching video trailers and commentary from several classic horror movies. Too much to see!!!