| May 31st |
We started the day at the gym, and then I pulled the stereo out of
the
Subaru,
and put the stock ones back. Having cleared out the car, we went and picked up the
Jeep,
stopping in to show Vince on the way home. I was watching the queue for work, so I
stayed in and dealt with Canadian customers while Vic and Gwen took the Jeep out to get
some stuff for her sick fish. I'm also starting to look at racking solutions for carrying
the hang glider. |
|
|
| May 30th |
I got up and did a bunch of sums, then headed down to Elk Grove to
see the Jeep dealer there. We ended up coming to terms and agreeing to trade the
Subaru
in on a new
Jeep
Wrangler Islander. After spending most of the bloody day there, we headed home and
picked up our stuff and went to
the airfield
and took the
Flightstar
out for an hour. It was lovely, and there was next to nobody about. |
|
|
| May 29th |
We walked
Tilly
down to Starbucks for some whipped cream, and it's getting a lot warmer. And she's
getting older - where she used to drag me the mile there and the mile back, she just
dragged me there and part of the way back.
I spent the rest of the day playing with Tilly and not achieving anything, and in the
evening we watched
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
It's a Terry Gilliam movie :o) |
|
|
| May 28th |
I got the electrickery bill, and for the month we've generated as
much as we've used. That's nice, as the weather's been weird, so I wasn't expecting
anything like that much power to be generated.
We barbecued chicken, and Vince, Gwen and Jen came over to play with
Tilly. |
|
|
| May 27th |
I spoke to Sara at
Stephan's Autohaus,
and apparently the
van
computer threw a lot of nonsense codes, so they're resetting that. They found and
fixed a broken wire on the distributor (probably from when I was removing and
reinstalling it) and a manual gauge showed no oil pressure. They've spun up the pump,
and still have no pressure, so they're going to pull the sump off. I know they've just
done everything I've already done, but I'd check if I were in their position, too.
We'll see what they find when they pull the sump off - I'm hoping the pump inlet tube
is blocked or something silly. I've asked that they replace the sump gasket with the
racing one with a built in windage tray, if they can - that's supposed to stop oil
frothing when you're driving fast. I've seen reports of people managing to suck air
cornering enthusiastically, and having to reprime the pump :o) |
|
|
| May 24th |
I called Vince when he was an hour late and reminded him to come
over and get the
van,
and he and Vic took it over to
Stephan's Autohaus
where it'll hopefully get all fixed up and I can go back to constantly tinkering with
it. |
|
|
| May 23rd |
I wasted the day tidying up in the garden and garage.
In the evening we watched
The Hangover
- it's actually very funny :o) |
|
|
| May 22nd |
I finished getting the
van
back together, and wasted the rest of the day just playing with
Tilly.
In the evening we watched
Dune,
which was as weird as I remember it. It's interesting that
Sting
gets a credit on the box, but
Patrick Stewart
doesn't :o) |
|
|
| May 21st |
After work, we barbecued, and Jen and Vince came over to play with
Tilly
and eat roast beast. |
|
|
| May 20th |
I got under the
van
and made a start on putting it back together - I got the sump all buttoned up
again. |
|
|
| May 19th |
I spoke to Vince about borrowing him and a trailer, then Sara at
Stephan's Autohaus
- I'm giving up on getting the
van
fixed by myself, and we'll just get it in there so they can look at it. I bet they'll
get it fixed in 20 minutes :o)
In the evening we watched
Avatar.
We'd expected
Tilly
to be interested, but she wasn't - the only thing she was even slightly interested in was
the 6 legged wolf things that sounded like dogs. |
|
|
| May 18th |
I went out and tried to get the sump off the
van,
but it's stuck on there. I tried hitting it with a rubber mallet, and even putting a
jack under it, but him no move. Bugger. |
|
|
| May 17th |
Today was my last full day of
World of Warcraft,
so after we got back from dinner, I sat down and got my
hunter
up to level 80. |
|
|
| May 16th |
I started the day playing a bit of
World of Warcraft
until Vic got home - she'd done an hour and a quarter, but hadn't been properly set up
in her harness, so didn't enjoy it so much.
I fiddled with the
van,
but I can't get a knife into the sump gasket goop, so it's still not shifting
:o( |
|
|
| May 15th |
Vic got up early, and we loaded up the
Subaru
to go
hang gliding
at
Hat Creek
with Larry. I stayed home as I was still very tired from the week, and played
World of Warcraft,
seeing as I'm down to my last 3 days on this time card. I got my
hunter
to level 78, then went out to play with the
van
for a bit. I got all the bolts out of the sump, but it seems well stuck on, so I think
I'll end up having to take a knife to it :o(
Later, I went over to
the airfield
on the
DRZ
with my stuff in a backpack, and took the
Flightstar
out for a while. I waited until Ken, Sid and Jack had left, then toddled back and did a
few circuits before putting the plane away and heading home. Once I got home, I played
with
Tilly
for a bit, then logged back on to Warcraft and got my hunter up to level 79 before going
to bed. |
|
|
| May 13th |
I had to go into the office for an anti-harassment class, so I took
the
DRZ.
Egads, it's a long, boring ride, and that seat's a lot less comfortable than it looks. I
parked the bike at a meter behind the office, and put $3.50 in it - it hadn't turned on yet,
but from what I'd read you can pay before, and as soon as they turn on, you have time. I
popped down to check it at about 09:30, and it was flashing "expired". Stupid thing. So,
I was feeding money into it when the traffic scooter rolled past - talk about great timing.
I topped the thing up at lunch time, and was fine for the rest of the day. |
|
|
| May 12th |
Vic cooked spaghetti and meatballs, and Vince came over for dinner.
Everybody enjoyed dinner, including
Tilly,
who got several sticks of raw spaghetti, one of her favourite things. |
|
|
| May 11th |
I went and started pulling the oil pan off the
van,
but I need some T handled allen keys, as there are a couple I just couldn't get to. Oh
well, nobody ever said it was going to be easy. |
|
|
| May 10th |
After work we went out and tinkered with the
van
for a bit, but made no progress at all. I think I'm going to have to pull the oil pan
off and take a look inside the engine :O(
We then went in and watched
Planet 51,
which is entertaining if only to try and figure out all the other movie
references. |
|
|
| May 9th |
I wasted the day working around the house and playing
World of Warcraft.
I did manage to get my
hunter
up to level 77.
I made up a device that'll hopefully turn the oil pump on the
van
when I'm feeling strong enough to go out and look at it. |
|
|
| May 8th |
I went out and tinkered with the
van.
Still no oil pressure. I took the distributor out and looked inside - a socket doesn't
seem to fit over the oil pump drive very well, so I'm not sure if spinning it did or
didn't work. What I do know is that despite marking everything, the timing is now off,
so I can add that to the list of things I need to look at :o(
In the afternoon we went to
the airfield
for a barbecue, and after that everybody was out flying. We took the
Flightstar
around the patch for a while, and the circuit seems to be working well when there's only
us using it :o)
We got home and loaded up the
Subaru
to go
hang gliding,
but then found that the fog was going to be at
Ed Levin park
for most of the day and the wind was going to be all wrong at McClure.
Oh well. |
|
|
| May 7th |
After work we barbecued. We were getting all set up, then found
out that the guys at
the airfield
were going to meet up, but we were committed by then :o)
Gwen came over and played with
Tilly
for most of the evening :o) |
|
|
| May 5th |
We watched
The Lovely Bones,
which was "meh". The story's OK, but they spend a lot of time on their effects and
suchlike that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the story. |
|
|
| May 4th |
After work, I decided to go to
the airfield
and try out the new slow plane circuit - basically it's between the ends of the runway. I
dug the
Flightstar
out from the back of the hangar, put away Ken's Quicksilver and Todd's S-14, then went and
did a pile of circuits. There was a 140 doing circuits on 33, so I started off on 33. The
short circuit takes about 5 minutes, and the base to finals turn is quite exciting at
around 200'. After the little wind that there was had died down to more or less nothing, I
did a quick circuit on 15 before putting everything away for the night. |
|
|
| May 3rd |
I spoke to Stephan from
Stephan's Autohaus
about the
van,
and he agrees that it sounds like the oil pump's lost it's prime, and that the best way
to reprime it is to take the distributor out. Great, I'll put that on the list. |
|
|
| May 2nd |
I wasted the day around the house and playing
World of Warcraft.
I got my
hunter
up to level 76. |
|
|
| May 1st |
I wasted the day pottering around the house, waiting for the wind to
die down. It didn't look like it was going to, so we decided to have a barbie. Vince
didn't make it, but Jen did. And, of course, the wind dropped to nothing around 19:30
out of spite. |