January

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January 31st	The weather's pretty much sucked the whole week, so all I've been doing is working on my professions in World of Warcraft - specifically leatherworking for my warrior and engineering for my warlock.

January 28th	Vic took Tilly to the Bear dog park for a romp, but it was closed, so they came back and moped around the house. I fitted a new switch for the stereo in the van, and picked up a SCSI connector that should easily cope with the video link for the carputer. I need 38 wires, and this is 68. I'd thought about an IDE connector, but they didn't have both ends as the clip on type - I figure going SCSI has saved me 38 solder connections. I still have 76 to make as it is... Andy and I started in World of Warcraft on the last few bits for his Epic Donkey. We ran a dungeon that should really be a 5 people party, with just the 2 of us. Eventually we got the job done, but we died a lot, and it was really close at the end :o)

January 27th	I worked on fitting the carputer into the van. The thing is, it's worked out a bit too heavy, so it'll bounce around a lot. I'm going to split the screen off it, and keep the CPU unit somewhere else. I did get to run in the wiring for the power supply, and wire the little solar panel that sits on the front window direct, rather than have it plugged into the cigarette lighter socket the whole time. I also ran the GPS antenna, so now I just have to get the screen sorted out, and it should be easily fitted. Once it was all plugged in, I sat in the van and let it download all the latest virus updates, and installed Streets and Trips. Through it all, Tilly couldn't understand why we weren't going anywhere... we were sitting in the van, after all.

January 26th	We started the day getting some bits and pieces I needed for projects around the house, mostly I picked up a copy of Streets and Trips at Costco for $25. When we got home, I worked on the carputer for the van, seeing as I've found the old speaker mount that I want to use. I've got an old laptop all hacked up to fit in the van, and made up some mountings for it. I have to leave it overnight for some JB Weld to dry :o)

January 25th	I made a start on my 2007 taxes. Right now, it looks like the government owes me a bunch of money. I expected that because of the solar panel setup, and the fact that I changed jobs, meaning I've overpaid my Social Security. Of course, there's a long way to go yet until I have all the paperwork I need.

January 24th	Tilly got to sleep on the bed with us, rather than in her crate, as an experiment. It went quite well up until the morning, when she wanted to dig Vic out of bed while I got dressed. More thought needed there, methinks. I ran through a couple of quests in World of Warcraft with Andy, and got my hunter to level 59.

January 23rd	Tilly lost her last canine today - I looked in her mouth, and it was hanging off. The next thing I knew, she was chewing, and then swallowing it. Outstanding :o)

January 22nd	As the weather's sucked, I've been tidying stuff up in World of Warcraft. I got my warlock all trained up on her flying machine. It's a lot noisier than my warrior's flying donkey, but just as cool :o) I need about 6000 gold for the epic flying donkeys :o(

January 20th	As the wind was the wrong direction for the training hill, and the tow site's waterlogged, we couldn't go hang gliding. Well, there's always next week.

January 19th	It was a fairly pleasant day, so I tinkered with a few things in the van, and we went out for an important milestone. For the last 20-odd years I've worn Levi's 501s, but I've recently had a lot of trouble finding my size. Seems Tweedledum can get jeans, but not me. Anyway, the last 2 pairs I ordered online have lasted spectacularly badly - there were wear holes in them in a few washes (the feedback on the Amazon site has a guy saying he throws them out after 20 washes!), so I decided to try something else. I've bought a pair of Lee regulars and we'll see how they last. It was just traumatic trying jeans on for the first time in years. We also got Tilly a Yertle the turtle toy that she seems to love, or hate, depending on how you view her trying to kill it. In the evening, I played a little World of Warcraft as the guild was handing out all the junk in the guild bank, and then we took Tilly for a long walk to Starbucks.

January 18th	We picked up the van - it's quieter, and good to have it back in the garage. Now I need to start planning a camping trip, I reckon. I spent a few minutes programming the alarm to not lock the doors when the engine's running any more :o)

January 17th	In World of Warcraft, I managed to get my druid up to level 59. I'd better stop until I can get a Sunken Temple run together, or all my quests there will go gray :o( Tilly's still dropping the occasional tooth... I've stepped on one, rescued another from her swallowing it and so on. Poor little monster.

January 16th	In World of Warcraft, I managed to get my druid up to level 58. Woo hoo! I spoke to Tim at Stephan's Autohaus, and the van's finished. It needed a new fuel sender unit, too. Ouch, this is going to hurt :o( I was playing with Tilly, and she coughed up another tooth - a molar this time. The thing is, I don't think this one was really ready to come out, as her mouth's bleeding a bit. Meaning her toys are now smeared in blood. And anything she chews her toys on, and anything she wipes her toys on. Joy.

January 15th	I played some World of Warcraft, getting my druid up to level 57. Tilly's finally lost one of her canines - the lower left one. It was wobbly when we were playing, and I heard it hit the ground, so I grabbed it before she could swallow it and threw it away.

January 14th	I spoke to Tim at Stephan's Autohaus, and it seems that the van has a cracked radiator. Joy. So, they'll replace that while I work hard to get the money to pay them to do it :o) To console myself, I played some World of Warcraft. I'm resting my hunter, so my druid got up to level 56.

January 13th	As Tilly's been playing up a little, it was decided that Vic would go hang gliding while I stayed at home and watched her. I mostly read, and caught up with junk on the TiVos.

January 12th	I wasted the morning cutting up a shrub in the garden that got blown over in the storms, then spent some time playing World of Warcraft, I got my hunter up to level 58. Outland, here we come :o) In the afternoon, I went to the airfield and got the Rans out for a bit. It was bloody cold, and the cloud was at around 1700'. My landing didn't seem that clever at all, as I approached a little fast trying to get out of peoples' way. On the taxi back to the hangar, I checked with the AWOS, and the wind direction had changed so we were landing downwind... oh well. Tilly started a new 40lb bag of puppy food this evening. I wouldn't mind, but she only weighs 21lbs... at least when Chloe was this age she weighed around 40lbs, so I felt like I'd been putting food into her, rather than into little piles in the garden.

January 11th	Having spoken to Tim at Stephan's Autohaus, we took the van over there for them to look at the brakes. Well, that was the plan. There's a long left hand corner on the freeway a couple of miles before you get there, and the van started to stumble as if it were running out of petrol as I went around this. It can't need petrol, as it's got 1/4 of a tank, right? Wrong... I got it to drag me a bit further, then it died on a slight uphill... about a 1/4 mile from the next freeway exit. The one I wanted, and the one with a garage right there. I called the roadside assistance that I get through my insurance, and they brought me some petrol to get the van started, but as we went to fill in the forms, the guy closed the passenger door. One of the features of the alarm is that it locks the doors when the engine's running. I keep meaning to figure out how to turn this off, but that doesn't help, standing by the freeway with a running van. Luckily, they could unlock the door, but had to call their base to call the insurance company again to authorise it. Whatever. I eventually got to Stephan's and left the van with them. I've asked them to look at a slight coolant leak that's just started, and the fuel tank sender unit while they're at it :o) In World of Warcraft, I got my hunter up to level 57.

January 10th	Still pretty grim, so in World of Warcraft, I got my hunter up to level 56.

January 9th	As the bodge I made to the damper door on the fridge last month only held a few days, I ordered the replacement part. Today it arrived, so I spent a bit of time fitting it. Stupid design, what can I say?

January 8th	The weather's still grim, so it's time for World of Warcraft, getting my druid up to level 55.

January 7th	The weather's still grim, so it's time for World of Warcraft, getting my druid up to level 54.

January 6th	One of the neighbours' kids had a party last night, and dumped a load of beer cans in our green waste bin. Vic figured out who it was, and took the bag and left it on their doorstep. They're lucky, the mood I was in when I found it, I'd have opened the bag and poured the garbage all over the front garden. Not only is it illegal to dump your rubbish in somebody else's bin, especially when it's on their property, it's also selfish, as I'd have had to take it out of the green waste bin and put it in my main bin. And that's ignoring the fact that all of this should really be dropped off at the recycling bins over by the Bear dog park. It was obviously too windy to go hang gliding, even if the ground was dry enough for us all to drive across the farmer's field. Oh well. I got the oil and filters changed on the Subaru, and rotated the wheels front to back. This is a gimmick on a 2WD vehicle, as it just means you end up changing all 4 tyres at once, but on an AWD car, you want the tyres to be around the same rolling diameter to avoid extra stresses on the gearbox. As I only have the one jack, I was going to get the spare out of the boot (fun with the ladder still bolted to the roof), but then remembered that I have the 4 stock steel wheels sitting in the corner of the garage. I used one of those. I played some World of Warcraft too, getting my druid up to level 53.

January 5th	I spent a chunk of the morning picking up wreckage from last night's storms, and putting it in the green waste bin... it's all tree parts. No damage to the house, or the solar panel stuff, but there are a load of fences down elsewhere. The neighbours behind me have lost the fence between their houses, but I'm hoping that the back fence (that isn't my responsibility) stays up without the support as I added an extra support to the side fence the last time it blew down. When it was raining, I played some World of Warcraft, getting my druid up to level 52.

January 4th	I woke up to crap weather, having been rainy and windy all night. I'm seeing gusts up to 40mph, and there are bits of the neighbours' trees in the back garden. Tilly is not impressed - first it's cold and wet when she goes out to play, and then, to add insult to injury, there's no sun where she usually lies by the back door. Poor baby. Still, this should blow over by Monday. They say. The solar panel stuff is fine :o) I played a bit of World of Warcraft, getting my druid up to level 51.

January 3rd	The weather's started to work on being winter. It's getting colder, windier, and raining more, with more to come. Triffic.

January 2nd	I took Tilly to the vet for her final puppy visit - she had her last distemper shot, and her rabies shot. They did try to cut her nails, but she was distinctly unhappy, so they gave up. The vet tech said I should fuss with her feet, which I already do - it's being restrained that she doesn't seem to like. Oh well. In the evening, I managed to get in a bit of World of Warcraft time, and got my hunter up to first level 54, then level 55. Excellent.

January 1st	While I waitied for everybody to wake up, I played a little World of Warcraft and got my hunter almost to level 54. With nothing planned, and nothing really open, we decided to head to the snow with Tilly to see how she did. Well, the nearest snow park was full, so we ended up just pulling off the freeway a few junctions further up and parking at the side of the road with everybody else. Tilly had a ball, once she figured out that the snow wasn't really a problem. She's funny, when her feet get wet, she thinks she's wet, so she shakes, even though she's dry. She was doing this a lot.