Railing Project

A few weeks ago my boss showed me this picture and asked me if I wanted this railing. He said he had bought them for a project at home but they weren't going to work so he wanted to get rid of them.Initially I had no idea what I would use them for but decided to take them just for the steel.

I had them in my garage for a for a while before my wife suggest using them near the entrance of the house.

When I started looking at them closer, I saw just how badly rusted they were, as you can see in this picture the leg is completely rusted through. Fortunately for what I was going to do, the railing didn't need legs.

I ended up cutting out the center area of one of the railings and proceeded to spend about 15 hours of sandblasting, wire wheeling and at some points naval jelly to remove all the rust. I would never try to do that again, at one point it was apparent that even for free the railing was worth less than the time I had invested. After getting the rust off, I used some of the metal from the remaining pieces to make tabs to mount the rail between the columns at the entrance of the house. After a coat of primer and three coats of paint I mounted it with some massive lag screws.

Vegas Vacation

Its been a loooonnnng time since we went on a real vacation. A few months ago Tania purchased a Southwest Vacation for Vegas, basically plane tickets and a hotel. I've been in Vegas a few times over the past few years for various reasons but Tania hasn't been there since our vacation in 1993.

When we arrived in Vegas it took us a while to find the Uber pickup area for the airport, its on the second floor of the short term parking garage. We were staying at the MGM and once we dropped off our bags we hit the strip for something to eat. I did a Google search for what was rated as a good buffet and the one listed on multiple sites was at Caesars Palace, so we headed that way while taking in the desert sun and warmth I have missed so much. I haven't been to that area of the US since we moved back to Indy from Tucson.

I haven't been in Caesars Palace before so it took us a little while to find the buffet. I was glad to see there was no one in line to get in and was looking around as Tania paid for us. While we were being seated I looked across the table at Tania, she looked like she was going to be sick. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I had no idea this was going to be over $160,00. I'm pretty sure I was able to replicate the same look she had, so in an effort to find the glass half full side of this, I saw a flyer that said something about all you can drink alcohol. When the waitress came over to the table and asked us what we wanted to drink I told her I would have a beer, and she asked if I wanted a bucket of six, I said sure. She then went on to explain that I could do the all you can drink (pointing at the flyer) for an additional $30.00 a piece. I then promptly ordered some iced tea. The remainder of the trip was a game for us in finding the cheapest places we could to eat. The buffet was good but maybe $35.00 each good.

We spent the rest of the night wandering around and headed back to the hotel early that evening. I did find some socks for my boss who has some kind of strange fetish for ugly socks.

After deciding that purchasing them for him could potentially be career limiting, I showed him this picture when we got back. He liked them so much he immediately went online and ordered a pair.
Saturday we walked the casinos did a bunch of shopping and bought a massive margarita. I had bought some tickets for KÀ by Cirque du Solei. I have never been to a Vegas show before so I didn't know what to expect, all I can say is if you get a chance to go you must go, it was very impressive. Don't worry about getting the best seats, even though we were in the fourth row I don't think it would have mattered much where we sat.

They didn't allow cameras during the show so I took a couple pictures before it started, the area surrounding the stage was awesome.

The next day we rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam. I have wanted to visit the Hover Dam for quite a while but even with us living in Arizona for two years we never made the trip.
We rented a car with the points I had acquired, from a hotel near by. When we arrived the agent informed me they didn't have a midsize sedan available so they had upgraded me to a Range Rover, which for 24 hours cost me $1.86.

This is something you must do if you have the chance, its like a 25 minute drive from Vegas. Going early in the morning is important, it was busy when we got there but when we left there was literally a five plus mile line of cars trying to get in.
Even though we did get there early the full blown power plant tour had a 3 hour wait, so we took the standard tour which was still very good. It took us down in the dam to where the water inlets were and we were able to see the generator room as well. Its a very impressive place with tons of the original Art Deco everywhere.

When we got back into Vegas and while we had a vehicle, we drove over to Gold and Silver Pawn.
It was much smaller inside than I had envisioned and obviously none of the now millionaires that work there were at work, There were some pretty cool items on sale though and its not far off the strip so its worth the visit. I would bet that 98% of the people that were inside were doing the same thing.

Overall it was a good trip and nice to get away for a few days.

Dead Dryer

Nothing like spending a week away from home, looking forward to relaxing a day and finding out you have a new project.

I know nothing about driers but I decided I would figure it out. After 10 minutes with the cordless impact and 5 minutes with a Fluke I found the heating element broken. The new element from Amazon will be here tomorrow, it looks fairly easy to change. 

Al Bundy

I was traveling back from Dallas yesterday after a business trip. Normally I would be on Southwest but flight availability put me on an American flight. I had just looked up from watching a movie on my tablet when I saw this.

No this isn't photo-shopped and no I'm not on a SWA flight.

How does that even happen? Its like a rerun from Married with Children and Al Bundy is trying to find his seat. I also like the very professional flight attendant who has just seen the toilet paper and is probably trying to decide how to tell the guy without embarrassing him in front of the entire plane load of people.

One second after I took the picture the flight attendant with ninja like reflexes managed to grab the toilet paper right at the guys waist and tear it off without him even knowing. He then quickly wadded it up like it was something that happens every day.

Al Bundy never even knew it happened..

New Hooptie

After another long week in beautiful Rockford IL, I was looking forward to going home and spending a night in my own bed. The drive between Brownsburg and Rockford has to be one of the most boring drives a person could make. Most notably the stretch between Normal IL and Rockford IL. The trees along the highway are bent at their tops permanently, indicating not only the prevalent wind direction, but also a place I would never want to live. Apparently I am not the only one that thinks that way because there is nothing out there except some wind generators.

After making the 270 mile drive back home my son was waiting in the GMC at Hertz when I pulled in to drop off my car.I have made the drive enough times now that when I leave Rockford I can call him and give him a five minute window in which I will be arriving home.

After turning in the keys I climbed into the truck and Matty said, "Is it ok if we go look at a car"?

Not really my first idea of relaxation after driving through the snow for 270 miles.

I know he has been looking for a while, so I said "sure where is it"? to which he replied "a little north of South Bend".

The only thing north of South Bend besides Canada is Michigan. To make matters worse it was 5:30 and we would need to drive through some of the heaviest traffic in Indy during rush hour to get there.

Immediately I started formalizing reasons for why this would be a better trip to make on Saturday. Which he clearly expected because he had logical answers for everything. You can sleep and Ill drive. Its a Friday night he might sell it tonight. If we go tonight it wont ruin your day tomorrow.

Most of that was true except for the sleep on they way up part.

Once we got there and he looked at the car I knew right away I would be driving the 150 miles home so he could drive the car back.

He managed to find a two owner 2004 Jetta GLI with 27k original miles for $6500.00. I was skeptical as he was telling me about it on the drive up. But once we looked at the car it was apparent it was the original mileage. There are simple things you can look at such as the leather on the steering wheel and shift knob, the wear on the Recaro seats and the condition of carpet and sill plate, all of which looked new.

We both drove the car a few miles, it ran well and had no squeaks or rattles with very little wind noise.Apparently the seller was related to the original owner who purchased the car as more of toy / project / weekend car. He had done a lot of modifications to it, a Stage III turbo kit (you can see the massive intercooler and ducting though the front bumper), Euro headlights, lowering struts, stainless exhaust and a massive stereo with a overhead drop down screen. The modifications were the only thing that concerned me about the car, the wiring for the fog lights was very poorly done and some of it actually looked damaged. The had acquired the car intending to keep it but apparently his wife didn't like it or something so he had only had it a few months.

Other than a small paint blemish on the front bumper and the passenger mirror cover missing, the car looked like it was 1-2 years old. The paint on it is in really good shape for being 14 years old. The underside was clean, the brakes looked good and the tires looked to be fairly new. It was obvious it was well taken care of.

The previous owner also de-badged the car and put in an aftermarket front grille, which at a glance makes it look as much like a old BMW as a Volkswagen.

The day ended with me traveling almost 600 miles, but it was worth it for Matty. This should be a good car for him and last him quite a few years.

Christmas Present

The wife unit got me a Kobalt 1/2" cordless impact for Christmas this year. I already have a 1/4" impact, 3/8" drill, flashlight and three batteries.

I wont go into details on why these are great tools, there are plenty of detailed reviews on the internet for them. What I like about them besides how powerful they are, is how cheap the batteries are for them. The smallest battery is 1.5Ah and sells for 10.99. These are so cheap that people are buying them to take the 18650 battery cells out of them for projects, tactical flashlights, etc. There are six of them in the 1.5Ah battery, made by Samsung and generally sell for $2.50-3.00 a piece. I'm sure whomever is making these for Kobalt is getting some volume discount but it appears to be a loss leader to me.

What I do know for sure is I can buy four of the 1.5Ah batteries and it is half the price of a single battery for most any other quality brand cordless tool. The battery cost is why I never had cordless tools before, I just don't use them enough to justify a $80.00-90.00 battery that will go bad in 3 years.

Now that I have them I do use them more than I thought I would, especially the 1/4" impact and the flashlight. Even with the small 1.5Ah battery the life is pretty impressive. Plus for the cost you can have more than enough extra batteries charged and ready to go.

Old Trucks Alive

A few weeks ago we decided to park Matty's Cavalier. When the throwout bearing slave cylinder went out, we pulled the engine, changed the clutch and slave cylinder. A few weeks later the transmission started leaking out the input shaft. With the mileage the car has on it, its most likely the input shaft has a grove worn in it. I cannot find a new input shaft and they don't make sleeve kits for it. A used transmission for the car is over $500.00, so he is currently looking for a new car.

In the meantime we brought the Silverado out of retirement. He has been driving it for a few weeks now and this morning when I went to run some errands I realized I had never take a picture of it with my new truck. It looks so small next to the GMC.

Some day I hope to get in a situation where I have a shop, I would like to do a mild restoration on it.

Rental

I have been traveling to Rockford IL for work, every week for the last six weeks. During that period I ended up putting about 700 miles a week on rental cars. I usually end up with a Hyuanda Elantra or a Nissan Altima with an occasional Malibu, the only one I actually like getting. Going into this I did not realized that you can be a Hertz Gold Member simply by signing up to be one. The change in how I was treated at Hertz was night and day once I signed up.

This week when I showed up the Manager was all excited to show me he had a premium rental for me at the same cost as my normal rental, it was a 2017 Mustang GT. Me not being a Ford fan at all was less than excited but with the alternative being one of those horrible Hyuandas, I took it.

Five miles into the drive I was ready to take it back, the wind noise coming from the passenger side was like the window was cracked 1/2 open. It was loud enough that I pulled over, looked at it, Googled the window sync procedure for a Mustang and tried stuffing napkins in the seal. In the end, the best fix was for it was turning up the nice infotainment system to a level that I couldn't hear the wind leak anymore.

The Hyuanda waiting next to it.

Its nice having a rental with remote start in Rockford when the temperature is below 20.

 The car ended up getting about 26mpg average for me, I really don't do much in town driving during the week there. I will admit I had fun driving it, the exhust tone on the car was awesome and the rev matching made it sound even better. The car felt very heavy to me and even in sport mode settings it was a bit piggish around corners with the rear of the car feeling mushy. Unfortunately for the Mustang my other car is a Corvette and well at least against this Mustang there is no comparison.

When I returned the car, the Manager came out again. He all excited wanting to know if I liked the car and enjoyed it that week. I told him no not really, I complained about the wind noise hoping that would end the conversation but he pressed on. I then went on to explain that my daily driver was a Corvette to which he responded "Oh I see" and walked off like I just kicked his dog. I fully expect to have a Hyuanda waiting for me next Monday, thats ok because I still hate Fords.

Bed Cover

I've been looking at bed covers for quite a while now, not really finding one that I liked. They all have pros and cons, the biggest con being the expense of them.

Trifold / Rollup Covers:

• Pros 
• Cheap
• Light weight 
• Cons
• Cheap
• Longevity 
• Security
• Water intrusion

Hard Covers (Under Rail)

• Pros
• Security
• Can open tailgate with cover closed
• Cons
• Heavy / difficult to remove (most)
• Water intrusion

Hard Covers (Over Rail)

• Pros
• Best Security 
• Best Water Intrusion Protection
• Cons
• Heavy /difficult to remove (most)
• Limits cargo height when installed

Canister (Roll Up) Covers

• Pros
• Hard cover security with roll up cover cargo heights
• Versatility
• Cons
• Cost
• Complexity
• Loss of bed space for canister

There are literally dozens of bed covers on the market, some of which fall in between what I have categorized. For example Paragon makes a hard cover that fits under rail and folds up against the front of the bed. It was the cover I was looking at the closest. The fact that it required drilling to install was why I didn't buy it.

The cover I did choose was an Undercover Elite. The reason I chose it was, I like over rail hard covers. They offer the best security, water protection and I like how they look. This particular cover went on sale for black Friday so that sealed the deal for me, even though it was still very expensive. The benefits of this versus others on the market are one its very light weight, it weighs less than 60lbs and is quick release removable. Its blow molded plastic and very strong, it will support over 600 lbs. I has a lifetime warranty including the paint. It also has a very nice feature where the lock is programmable to the vehicle ignition key. Lastly and one of the biggest selling points for me is it required no drilling to install, and actually only took about 20 minutes to install by myself.

The steel brackets were heavy gauge and appeared to be powder coated.

The struts have quick releases on the ends and clips on the cover where they can be stowed. The cover came with wall brackets which allow you to easily hang the cover on a wall when you have it removed. It has a removable LED light with magnets and a hook so you can use it in other areas. The rod with the red handle detaches and is used as a grab hook for pulling anything that has slid forward in the bed.

The paint match is very impressive.

More Lighting

The new truck has a mix of incandescent and LED lights, for example the tail lights are LED but the backup lights are incandescent. LED's are not by default brighter but you can obtain brighter versions of a particular bulb along with different kelvin ratings.

I ordered some 6000k LED bulbs to replace the backup lights, the bed lights on the back of the cab and the license plate lights. The backup lights will help with visibility at night looking through the backup camera. The bed lights help some when backing up but are more to make the bed more visible. The license plate lights are to get rid of the only 3000k lights left on the back of the truck.

The lights I ordered for the backup and bed are 1000 lumen each, which is equal to a very powerful tactical flashlight. Another modification I did while changing these was to wire the backup lights to the bed lights. When the truck is unlocked with the remote at night, the backup lights, puddle lights, headlights all turn on. If you want the bed lights to turn on you have to go in the cab and hit the switch on the center console, now they come on with the remote. The only downside is when you put the truck in reverse the bed lights come on, I'll live with that trade off any day of the week.

I forgot to take a picture of the truck with the incandescent backup and bed lights, but here is one with the LED's in place. They overwhelm the camera sensor on my Iphone.