I finally got around to scanning some pictures of the ultrasound from last week. And no, eet's not a tooma!

A couple of months ago my mom was cleaning out her basement, and she found the box for an old Pioneer CD player. I have several of those laying around my house and garage, but I sold all the vehicles that I installed the CD players in, so all the boxes are empty. She called me and told me she'd found this box, and that it had something in it. I assumed it was just an old factory stereo that I ripped out of one of my old vehicles, but I figured I'd better go take a look at it just in case it was something I wanted to keep. I went over to my mom's house, and found that the box actually contained the Pioneer CD player that originally came in it. It was the first CD player I'd ever bought, back in 1994, and it still works! I don't remember why I never used it again--it used to be in my '88.5 Ford Escort GT, but I gave that car to a junkyard a long time ago. I must have left the plug that originally went to the CD player wired to the car, because it wasn't in the box, so I just barely got done soldering all new wires to the tiny little pins on the back of the unit. I figured that would be easier than going to the junkyard and trying to get them to give me the plug--they were assholes the last time I went there for parts and only reluctantly let me in, because supposedly they only use the junked cars for their paint & body business. I'm going to install the CD player in my truck, since I ripped the cheap-o Sony CD player out of it to put in my Nissan when I sold it. With the way things normally go for me, I'll end up selling my truck really soon, then I'll be in need of yet another CD player.

I did something pretty stupid yesterday. I was out doing some target practice with my P-11, and I was using the top of my car as a rest while I shot at an old propane tank about 50 yards away. After one of the shots, the empty shell hit the top of the car and landed upright on the far edge of the roof. So the stupid thing is that I decided to shoot the shell off the top of the car. I knew damn-well that there was a chance the bullet would gouge the roof of the car if my aim was off, and big surprise, it did just that. At least I hit the empty shell--to miss it would have been embarassing. =)

I think there might actually be somthing wrong with my P-11 though, because no matter how much I adjust the rear sight, my aim seems to be off a little to the right. At 50 yards, I have to aim about 12-18 inches to the left in order to hit my target, and at 15 yards it's off by a few inches. I've bumped the sight to the left a few times, but the aim never improves, nor does it seem to get any worse. Maybe someday I'll take a couple hundred rounds and a bunch of targets to the "range" (for me, that's pretty much any dirt road that leads out of town) and spend some serious time trying to figure out the problem.

I would seriously like to know what the FUCK is wrong with the news media--specifically, why must they demonize "speed?" This CNN article describes how a police officer accidentally ran over two sunbathers in Miami Beach, and then this shit is spewed forth: "Officials said speed did not appear to be a factor in the death." What the fuck, was the officer's vehicle standing still? Speed is never a factor in any accident--if you're going too fast, then your own stupidity is the only factor in play. Maybe these retards haven't noticed, but it is possible to go fast and not run people over. Why even mention it? How is that statement relevant to anything, let alone this article? Shut the fuck up, already.

After Traci's ultrasound and Michael's 2-year checkup on Thursday, we headed up to Mike and Ali's new house in West Valley. We would have gone to see them sooner, but with the car now fixed and nothing else going on, we finally didn't have anything keeping us from going. We didn't do much besides hang out, but it was a nice break from work, and from sitting at home being bored. (By the way Mike, read this, that is if I don't call you before you see this.) The drive home today was pretty cool--it snowed most of the way after we hit US-6, but by the time we got to Price, it was sunny and dry, even though it was a blizzard just 10 miles away on the other side of Helper.

The weather next week is supposed to be really nice, that is if you like snow. It's supposed to snow most of the week, so I'll probably be out off-roading in it a lot--I have a lot more fun in the snow than on dirt roads or even mud. Hopefully there'll be a lot of accumulation with this storm, because I'd really like to be able to water my lawn and do some landscaping this spring and summer.

It's a boy! Traci had her 20-week ultrasound today, and everything is going just fine. I was gearing myself up for having a girl, but now I'm relieved that it's gonna be a boy. And no Solo, we already have a name picked out. =)

Jebus...I ended up having to change a flat tire on my truck today, and I haven't even driven the damned thing for a week and a half. The truck was parked on the street in front of the house, so I couldn't see the right-side tires over the curb, but my wife pulled into the driveway today and noticed that the front tire was flat. I was just gonna air it up and move the truck into the driveway, then support that corner with a jack until I could get around to getting the tire repaired, but it wouldn't hold air at all. I ended up just putting my spare on, but it took me a half-hour to change it because the front-end was so low (with one side in the gutter and that tire being flat) that my bottle jack wouldn't fit under the axle. When I got finished, I had a nasty headache that still hasn't gone away.

I'd actually like to sell my truck, because I've only driven it once since I fixed the Subaru, and that was only because the car was getting the wheels aligned. The only problem is that when summer rolls around, we won't have anything to take camping. We'd like to sell our camper and buy an actual trailer, because the camper will be a little crowded with a family of four. The camper is a little too big for a half-ton truck anyway, but my truck should be able to handle an 18' trailer without any problems. If only my job paid a little more, then I could overspend just that much more. =)

Phew. Yesterday, my car managed to make it to Provo and back without a single problem. And I managed to make it home alive, despite all the snow that I drove in. In the morning, Price Canyon was a little bit slushy, which made passing semis pretty treacherous--even with my wipers going as fast as they could, I could barely see. There was an overturned semi just past Soldier Summit, and I ended up having to wait about 10 minutes until the UHP let westbound traffic pass through. On the way home, the roads were only wet, but the snow was coming down pretty hard. I'm glad it was as warm as it was, or else I'd have had to actually slow down. =)

My Subaru registration expired at the end of January, but the car needed new tires and a new windshield in order to pass a safety inspection, so I've had to dump about $350 into it this week so I can get it registered. I got some cheap-o tires at Wal-Mart for $28 a piece, plus I paid extra for their road hazard warranty--with three flat repairs and one tire replacement in the past year, I figured it would be worth the extra cost. I had to go to Grako's to get a four-wheel alignment, since Wally World doesn't do alignments, and that was an extra $50. It probably wasn't necessary, because it seems that no matter what, every car I've ever owned has worn the tires unevenly. For some reason, that hasn't been true of any trucks I've owned. The windshield should be installed tomorrow morning, and it's costing me $175, so I've definitely spent a considerable amount of money on this car in the past three months. Still, after paying only $800 for it, and only putting about $600 total into it (including clutch kit, disc brakes, head gaskets, valve cover seals, timing belts, various other gaskets and seals, four tires, and a new windshield), it's been well worth it.

I'll probably be driving up to work on Thursday, so I'll find out for sure if all the repairs I've made will hold up under 150 miles of mountainous, winding roads. It's been driven farther than that just around town since I've replaced the head gaskets, but I haven't pushed it too hard yet.

I had a lot of problems getting the poll script working again, but it seems to be ok now. After I got it to not give me an internal server error, I was able to add a new poll question, but when I loaded this page, the poll script said I'd already voted. I finally gave up on it, but after simply waiting about an hour, it started working. I considered switching to a different poll script, but the only thing I could find that I liked was in PHP, and I didn't particularly want to rename my index file with a .php3 extension. Anyhow, if you have problems voting in the poll, leave a comment.

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Solo moved me over to a new server, so things may still be a little flaky around here. I don't have the poll working yet (not sure what the problem is), but both installations of Greymatter are working just fine. I'll worry about the poll tomorrow, but for now I'm heading to bed. If you notice anything that's not working like it used to, drop me a note.

Oh jeez...this couldn't be closer to the truth. I had read an Onion article (bottom of page, center column) entitled Baby's Third Through Eighth Words Registered Trademarks earlier this week. Then just a couple days ago, Michael was playing with a toy that he got out of a happy meal, and it had the little golden arches logo on it, literally only about 1/8" big, but he saw that logo and said "McDonalds, hamburger." I busted out laughing, just because I had read that Onion piece only a day or two before.

I ordered me one of these babies the other day, and it should be here next week sometime. Now I just need to take a CCW course, pay for my permit, and I'll be set. I have a safe with a spring-loaded door and an electronic keypad that I keep in my bedroom, so it's safe from Michael's reach, but I can get to my handgun in just a few seconds if the need arises. I'd also like to get a 16-guage shotgun to keep by the bed, but there's really no reasonable way (without spending a lot of money) to keep one there and have it readily available while still being safe from little kids. It's sad, this evening when I went to buy ammo for my handgun at Wal-Mart, the woman working in sporting goods carded me. I suppose that I should be flattered that she thought I looked at least 6 years younger than I really am, but seriously, do I look like I'm 12? I still get carded by the jackass old man at the liquor store, even though he's seen me in there dozens of times.

Speaking of little kids, Michael's birthday is next Sunday. We had planned on getting him two DVDs when we were in Orem on Wednesday, but Media Play wanted 28 fucking dollars for the Disney cartoon version of Robin Hood. Not only that, but they didn't have Chicken Run in stock, but now I'm glad that I walked out empty-handed. I ordered both DVDs from PlayCentric (found through DVD Price Search) today for $30.53 total, and I got free shipping too. It's too bad I can't just buy everything online, because I hate going to stores.

Ok, this really isn't funny, but I had to come into the office today, so I rode up to Orem last night with my mother-in-law, mostly because I still don't fully trust the Subaru. Well, my wife and her mom were running around Utah County (in her mom's newly-bought Ford Explorer--I think it's a 2000 model year) while I was working, and they were supposed to come pick me up about 15 minutes ago. But Traci called and said they'd broken down. The Explorer started smoking like Chris and Nima, and when they pulled off to the side of the highway, it was gushing oil out from somewhere on the engine. So somebody is supposed to be coming up from Price right now to bring us another vehicle, and to tow the Explorer back to town. Somehow, I think the Subaru would have done much better than my mother-in-law's Explorer.

Are you sick of me talking about my car yet? =) Yesterday, I had a little scare--I thought I'd blown another head gasket. We went to Wal-Mart Sunday night, and when we returned, I thought I smelled coolant burning off in the exhaust. I really didn't want to deal with something like that again, so I just ignored it and hoped it would go away. Yesterday morning, I went out to take a look at the car, and there was a puddle of antifreeze on the ground underneath it, just like the last time the head gasket blew. After poking around the engine compartment for a few minutes, I found that the coolant was coming from somewhere on the top of the engine, right near the head gasket--I feared the worst. I went to my garage and got a bright halogen light, shined it on the engine, then started the car. I worked the throttle by hand, revving the engine pretty high, and I saw the leak. It was just a coolant line that runs from the engine block to the thermostat housing. I had some fuel line laying around, so I used that to replace the old line.

I'm still not sure how well I trust the Subaru now, even after all these repairs. I drove it for about an hour and a half on Sunday for 40 miles of off-road, low-speed, high-rev driving out around Pinnacle Peak, and didn't have any problems. I was pretty nervous about driving the car out there, because I didn't bring any of my tools. If anything had happened, it would have been a long walk back to town.

Oh what a relief it is to be finished putting the Subaru back together. It took me a month to do, 6 rolls of paper towels (to wipe my hands with and soak up spilled oil and coolant), several scraped knuckles, and half-a-gallon of Fast Orange hand cleaner. I finished putting it all back together late last night, but I waited until today to fill it up with oil and coolant. I didn't want to try starting it last night only to find out that something was wrong, then end up worrying about it while I tried to sleep. When I cranked the engine over today, it started right up, but it was running rough and at a very low idle speed. I let it get up to operating temperature while I looked for oil or coolant leaks, and there were none. I shut the engine off, topped off the oil and coolant, then took it for a test drive. After a while, it started running much more smoothly--I think it needed to burn off all the coolant and other gunk that got in the engine when the head gasket blew. Now, it's running just fine, but there are a couple of other things I need to fix now.

Two of the exhaust manifold bolt-holes (one on each cylinder head) are stripped, so I need to get some Heli-Coil inserts to fix that. Also, the exhaust flange right before the muffler isn't sealing very well, so the car's a little bit noisy. I broke the bolts off of that flange when I was replacing the clutch, and I think the replacement bolts I got just aren't doing the trick. Plus, it could probably use a new gasket on that flange. The valve lash could really use some adjustment, because the camshaft on the left side is making a lot of noise. I wish I'd have done it when I was putting everything back together, but I didn't think it was that important. Now, I'd have to take almost everything back apart to adjust the valve lash, and I just don't feel like working on cars right now. If it gets bad enough that I can't stand the noise anymore, I'll fix it, but for now, I'm content to drive the car as-is.

Here is Bushmaster's response to the ridiculous lawsuit being brought against them by the victim disarmament movement.