I FINALLY ordered a GPS receiver today. I've been wanting one since two years ago, and thanks to some money that my grandpa gave me for my birthday (27 today [Saturday--technically yesterday]), I can actually afford one (well, without going into debt for it anyway).

I was going to work on the Subaru today, but when I woke up this morning, I really didn't feel like doing it. I'll probably do a little bit on it tomorrow, and there are a few things on the Mazda that need checking out, so I'll likely spend most of tomorrow getting greasy.

Utah court upholds the University of Utah's gun ban. Legislature vows to make changes in the law to clarify their authority over the U.

Oh yeah, baby:

We bought this today from Traci's dad. We needed a dependable vehicle so badly that he was willing to sell it to us, even though he only bought it two months ago. He gave it to us for what he paid for it, but it was still way below blue book value--one of the perks of having a used car salesman in the family. It's got a few very minor problems, mostly cosmetic, but nothing that's going to keep us from driving it. Anywho, it's a 1992 Mazda Navajo (AKA Ford Explorer), 4.0L V6, 5-speed transmission, push-button 4WD, 105,000 miles, and it's in really, really good shape. In fact, it's the nicest vehicle we've owned since we had the Toyota, but hopefully Traci will keep it that way (ahem).

We've actually still got the 31x10.5" tires that used to be on that Toyota, with only 400 or so miles on them, so I'm going to try and stuff them under the Mazda. They're not really that much taller than what's already on there, but they're quite a bit wider. I may have to get some new rims with a different offset to make the tires fit without rubbing, but I've got a set of 6-lug alloy rims that I can probably trade for a set of comparable 5-lugs.

I'm probably not going to do a lot of 4-wheeling in the Mazda, but I'm still gonna finish fixing my Subaru, so I'll be able to beat the shit out of that car still. I should easily be done putting the transmission in on Saturday (I haven't worked on it at all since last weekend), then I'll take my time swapping out front suspension parts, since I don't have as much experience with that.

Yesterday morning, I finally started tearing into my '87 Subaru, and I got the transmission and everything else taken out today. It took me six days to do this much work the last time I had to pull my transmission, and it only took me a day and a half this time around. I also removed the exhaust and driveshaft from the '88 Subaru, so now all I've got to do is tear the front suspension apart and yank the transmission out. Well ok, it's a little more complicated than that.

One good thing is that the rear-ends in both cars have 3.90 gears, so I don't have to swap them out. I had always thought that all older Subarus with automatic transmissions had 3.70 gearing, but it turns out that's not the case. Saves me a bit of work.

After looking at the front-end on the '87 today, I decided that I better just replace most of it while I've got it all taken apart. The ball-joints are shot, the axle shafts, CV joints, and dust boots are all worn pretty badly, and whoever worked on it last cross-threaded the nut that holds the wheel bearing on. Most of the bushings are in bad shape too, so I'll have to take all of that off the '88 and put it into the '87. I guess that makes up for not having to swap rear-ends.

I broke one of my ratchets last night while trying to break a bolt loose on the front-end (I had a 1' length of pipe on the handle). I've had that thing since I was 17 years old, and it was a really cheap one, so I'm surprised it lasted this long. I ended up spending $18 on a new one (Stanley 3/8" drive), and I also had to buy some more jack stands today--I've got both front-ends up in the air. The only thing that sucks is that after I get done putting the good transmission in the car with the good engine, I still have to put the other car back together in order to move it. It's quite fitting, I'll end up using the '87 Subaru to tow the other one to its final resting place in my back yard.

Trading Spaces: The Drinking Game. "Drink When there's obvious flirting between Genevieve and Amy Wynn."

I have the shittiest luck possible, I swear. Today, I took a drive up Nine Mile Canyon, and my fucking Subaru ended up blowing ANOTHER head gasket. Luckily, it was blown between the combustion chamber and the outside of the engine, so I didn't have any exhaust gases getting into the cooling system and causing the engine to overheat, or else it would have been a very long walk home. I think only two cylinders were actually working the whole way home, and it was a slow drive. The engine actually did start overheating just outside of Price, so I pulled over for about five minutes and let it cool off, and I had to do it again just after I got into town, but after that I made it back home without the engine seizing up. Well, now at least I have a donor vehicle to pull the transmission from and put into my other Subaru. That car actually needs a little engine work, but it's much easier work than replacing the head gaskets again on the '88. I'll have to pull the transmission, clutch, flywheel, clutch pedal, driveshaft, and a few other things off the '88 and install them on the '87, but at least I'll still have a car to beat on when I'm finished. The only problem is that it'll take me awhile to get all that work done, so I'll still end up having to buy another car to get us by. We've been saving money since before our bankruptcy that we were going to use to buy a decent vehicle, but since I couldn't get a loan to pay for the rest, I'll have to use what we've saved to buy something just a little less shabby than the Subaru was before it shit out on me.

Update: I was just taking a look under the hood to figure out which head gasket was blown, and I realized that this noise I've been hearing for the past week or so, which I thought was the A/C compressor, is actually a broken connecting rod. So replacing the head gasket wouldn't have done much good, since the entire engine needs to be rebuilt now in order for it to run again. See, I told you, shitty luck.

How is it possible that Ludacris has twin Glock .40s cocked back, when Glocks are double action only, and can't be cocked?

Well, this is comforting news. I ended up getting bothered enough by the numbness in my extremeties that I called my doctor's office today, and they got me in to see another doctor in their after-hours clinic. The doctor said that he can't readily explain why I would have numbness in both my fingers and my toes, and he was hoping that the problem with my hand was just a fluke, since it only started happening today. Anyhow, he said that since I have accompanying back pain (that I've had for about a week) that a muscle in my back must be spasming and pinching a nerve, which is causing the problem with my toes being numb. He gave me some drugs that may help with that, but if somehow the hand problem is related to the other, then it might be something wrong with my brain, like a tumor. He said if the prescription doesn't start working, then I'll have to go in for all kinds of fun tests, like an MRI and maybe some others.

Is it just me, or is SG-1 getting really, really stupid? The last two episodes that I've watched were absolutely terrible. I missed half of season 5 and all of 6, so I'm not sure how the beginning of season 7 compares to the rest, but so far it sucks.

And speaking of sucks, I've been having this problem lately and it's really starting to worry me. The past couple of days, I've been experiencing numbness in the toes on my right foot, and today I've had it in the fingers on my right hand as well. Since it usually takes a few days before I can get in to see my doctor, I think I'm going to wait and see if it goes away before trying to make an appointment. With my luck, I'll make an appointment, and by the time the doctor sees me, it'll be gone anyway--that always seems to be the way it happens for me. I had something like this happen about a year ago, but I don't remember if it was in my hand and foot, or just my hand, but it didn't bother me as much as it is now. Hopefully I won't have a stroke and die.

Man, things must be pretty dead here in Price, with both mine and Ty's site not being updated much lately. I spent most of this week re-doing my laundry room--new floor paint, new wall color, and all kinds of other improvements. I just got it mostly done tonight, and all I've got left to do is install some shelves and touch up the paint in a few places. Now that our financial future is much more stable, we're actually going to start improving our house (we've been holding off for about three years now). I think we're going to work on the dining room next, then the living room and upstairs bathroom. Honestly, the whole house could use some work here and there, so I think it'll keep me pretty busy over the next few months.

Asinine statement of the year: "Whiting said the Book of Mormon was not written as a scientific book, and therefore cannot be wholly proved or disproved using scientific methods."

The past few weeks have been a blur. Nothing much has been going on, so all the days just seem to blend together. With the Subaru being parked for so long with the exhaust problem, and my truck being a gas-guzzler, I haven't done much off-roading like I normally do at least once a week, but I finally did some on Saturday. I got a copy of All Topo Maps for the entire state of Utah, and while checking it out I noticed that a dirt road leads from Coal Creek Road in Wellington all the way to the top of the Book Cliffs, near where I rode my bike to earlier this summer. As I got a few miles up the dirt road, I came to a cattle guard that had "Private Property" signs posted on it. Since it didn't say "No Trespassing," I kept driving, but the road eventually went right past a ranch house, and I decided that if indeed it was a private road (rather than a public road through private property), I didn't want to encounter the land owner. So I turned off onto a side road to the west, which turned out being a pretty decent road, except for a few really tricky parts where I almost got my car high-centered on some large boulders. There was still quite a bit of mud in the low spots from the last time it rained, and that made it all the more fun. I figured the road would eventually come out on Airport Road, which it did. It came out on the same road where I broke the front driveshaft on my truck a couple years ago. I've been on that road from the Airport Road side about a dozen times, but I don't know why I never followed it to Coal Creek Road before. I think I'm going to return in a week or two and take the other road all the way to the top of the Book Cliffs. I'm also really itching to take the drive over Reservation Ridge again, this time from Indian Canyon all the way to Sheep Creek Road, or maybe all the way to Hobble Creek near Springville. That would be one helluva drive.