You know, those beasts I paid nearly $200 for? Yeah, those, they showed up yesterday.



So of course, I just had to wash the 4Runner
The mighty 4Runner did get a bath today. It needed it. The last time it had been bathed was in August of last year. Was it dirty? Yeah. It wasn’t like it was mud-covered though, just all-around grimy.

And I decided that at least once a year from now on, after the rainy season, it will get a professional wash/wax/buff/detail job. Not that I can’t do it, I most definitely can.

I just don’t want to. I’d rather take a nap while my 4Runner gets prettied up for me. Then I can just sort of wash/maintain throughout the rest of the year – or at least the Summer – until the rains come back and I give up washing again.



Wasn’t that bad, though
No, it was most definitely nasty, don’t get me wrong. But it had been since August of 2007 since it was last cleaned. And in that time, I have been off-roading in it multiple times, gotten it stuck axle-deep in muddy waters, blazed trails through bug country, seen nightly frosts & freezes, and not once so much as hosed off.

Thank goodness for that clean rain we get, otherwise I don’t think I’d be able to see through the windshield.



Yeah but how do you like the mats?
I was getting there! Geez… They’re not bad. At first I was thinking I paid $200 for these? But they will do just fine. I had anticipated a softer, more rubber-like material that was thicker and heavier, but these are a little more rigid and light that I had expected. But, hopefully that will aid in their longevity (The Girl has the sort of rubber in the way of floor mats that I was expecting these to be made of; her floor mats are deteriorating). They’re a really good fix, and the raised lip all the way around will keep everything on top where it is, including water (looking at you, dogs).

When I first put them in, they looked sort of out of place. But I continued to clean, and within an hour they looked right as rain. I even tried to place the old carpet mats over them, thinking maybe…. Best of both worlds? Nah. Didn’t seem right, I had already grown to like the “rubber” mats more.

And hopefully it will mean I only have to clean the inside of the 4Runner for like 5 minutes at a time, once a year from now on. Instead of the 15 minute cleanings twice a year, which is my current schedule :-|

Peace.

Tags: Technology, Vehicles, Animals

Yesterday I spent the better part of $200 on floor mats for my 4Runner. Yeah, floor mats.

But these ain’t no sissy floor mats, y’all. No, I bought an entire set (front, back, cargo area) of rubber, form-fitted, lipped mats from Husky. Why? Because we take the dogs out frequently (as you may have read about a few times before) and they get wet. When this happens, they get the carpet wet. When that happens, it creates a nice, musty, mildewy smell that takes forever to go away. Oh yeah, and the mildew itself sort of sucks a bit.

The only way to avoid this is to either a) take the carpet up after each trip and let it air dry or manually dry it (2+ hours labor each time), or spend the money to essentially waterproof the damn 4Runner.

Waterproofing ftw!



Cleaning imminent
I haven’t cleaned the 4Runner in quite a while. It’s been at least 6 months now probably. So when the new mats arrive, I’ll take it as an opportunity to clean the hell out of the ‘runner. Thing is, though.

You see, it’s been so long since I cleaned it in the first place, that before I do that I have to weed it. No I’m being serious, I have to weed it. It’s got plants growing on it. Well, out of it, I guess. From the undercarriage. Yeah. No I’m totally not joking. You may recall that awhile back I ran aground and needed a tow? I took some of that fine roughage home with me as a souvenir, and it’s still “hanging out,” so to speak. I’d have figured it to fall off by now, but it’s still hanging on. And thriving I might add. Kind of a mobile garden I guess.

So maybe I did turn into white trash like I had feared.

Eh, probably not. Real white trash wouldn’t spend $200 on custom flooring solutions; they’d just take all the carpet out.



Media bias
If you are paying attention to the Obama-Clinton Race, then this may be a little bit of insight for you into the recent upswing in Obama’s campaign: SNL Debate.

Yeah I was talking about this online with another gent even before this skit came up. Don’t know why they’ve taken to him, but apparently as far as the media’s concerned, he can do no wrong.

Hilary Clinton ftw!

UPDATE:
I was informed by “Joey N.” (see below) that the SNL link is no longer active… Sadly, this is true. Sorry guys, SNL didn’t want to play.

Tags: Vehicles, Animals

Yes, yes I did. I changed the layout. I tell people it was to make it easier to navigate for people who are either unfamiliar with the concept of “Mouse-Over” lists, but honestly it’s just part of my Word Domination Plans. So far I’m still on Plan ‘A.’



Why’s this page different, though?
You may have noticed that this blog page is slightly different from the others. The colors & content design are about the same, but the sidebar & navigation menu are flipped to the other side. Why? No reason, I just wanted to set the blog apart a little bit from the rest of the site. I think it solves that pretty well, eh? Not to worry, for the ONE or TWO people that actually patron this place, this is nothing like the blog changeover of a few months ago; all the content is right where it was before, nothing’s moved, just the layout is different. Enjoy!



Back to the regularly scheduled blog
I couldn’t go through all the trouble of writing a blog & not mention Michael Vick Pleading Guilty, could I? Have I mentioned that I think he & Clinton Portis are gay lovers who have a combined IQ equal to less than a pile of my own dung? Oh that’s right, I have.



Yahoo joins Paramount, Universal in Pissing me the Hell off.
They’ve been playing around with my homepage recently, letting me know that there’s a New Version! That I’m just sure to love. I tried it, because I’m a sucker for all things new, but I switched back to old. Mostly because I’m stubborn. The new page is just too damn wide. The type is just too damn big. What the hell? Yahoo decides to “update” their page, and suddenly it’s assumed that everyone is 10/20 vision or something? Yeah. But see, I could get over all of that. The real deal-breaker is that they removed content from my page that I can’t get back. That pisses me off. What’s really insulting about it, though, is that on the page that leads you to your new page is a little cartoon guy that says something to the effect of “Relax. All your old content is already there!”

Lying sons of b*tches. F-you, Yahoo. I think I’ll just go to Apple’s start page or something. Maybe buy an iMac or new Macbook Pro 17” w/ glossy, HD screen. Take that, bastards. Take away my “New Movies Released This Week” module and think I won’t notice? How the hell else am I supposed to know what’s new this week? Huh?

See? See how it’s all linked? Uni & Paramount take away the possibility of getting their catalog on Blu-Ray, thereby postponing any sort of “Ultimate Home Theatre” anti-theatre plans I had, and Yahoo is taking away my link to what’s new in the damn theatres.

Conspiracy, I tell you.



Pleasant Surprise of the Month
Wanna know what our combined gas bill was this month? $40. Sick, isn’t it? What’s funny is that it doesn’t seem like we drive all that much less. But obviously we do, as in So Cal our monthly budget was $250 a month. Yikes, we’re saving over $200 a month in gas alone. Our utilities bill this month? $40. Yeah. See, we ran up a whole whopping 189 Kilowatt hours. We don’t use any A/C – in fact we don’t even have one –we don’t use any electricity most of the time, and when we have lights on they’re all the high-efficiency kind.

Yeah, we switched over all the existing bulbs in the house to the CCFL variety. You’d think this would be an expensive venture, but actually, no. We were at a local supply store looking for a park bench for our back yard (which we found), and stumbled upon a parking lot sale (which is where we found the bench. For $40. Pattern?) While in line to check out, I look over and see BOXES of CCFLs, on sale for 75¢ each. Damn. So yeah, we stocked up. Regularly like $3-$4 apiece, no? So it was a good buy and the savings will catch up with us next month, to boot!



And just to reiterate
Michael Vick is a flamer. Clinton Portis loves him for it. And in a land ruled by Karma, they’d both be mauled repeatedly until their death by perfectly-sane-yet-judgmental dogs.

Peace.

Tags: Technology, Vehicles, Animals, Entertainment

Oh my goodness. Quite seriously, it really it’s not one thing, it is the other, huh? Today we had to drop off the truck (The Girl’s truck) for brakes & alignment, then it was off to Palm Desert (Code Name: Hell) to pick up the moving van we were so graciously allowed to use by a friend of a friend, and off even deeper into Palm Desert to pick up some furniture that The Girl’s grandparents are giving us. Sounds good so far, right?

For the most part, yeah! I mean, free sh!t, right? Right! But man, is it hot out there. I mean, It’s hot where we are (or were?), but it’s HOT hot out there. I was sweating up a storm in the moving van rearranging & tying things down.

But that’s not the WTF I was talking about, so let’s get to that.

Trouble started on the way home. We hit the freeway, and an exit or two later, trouble hit us. Literally. See, the box truck has this horrendous blind-like spot on the right. I say blind-like, because I could see most everything on that side, but I couldn’t really tell where things were relative to the end of the vehicle, so lane changes that direction were difficult at best. So to make it easier, I had The Girl ride behind me caravan style, so that she could clear the lane.

Anyway. An exit or two after we get on, I take a peek in my left side mirror, and what do I see? A dark green Nissan Maxima careening across the freeway. Nice. I don’t see The Girl, so I go a step further and check my right mirror, and she’s slowing down to pull of the freeway. Oh. Crap.

I pulled off and ran back to the two vehicles, now pulled over, and I called CHP to come and write a report. The Guy had the nerve – get this – to tell me & The Girl that he thinks he dozed off. The Girl, however, said that she saw that she saw him come up fast, then try & pass on the right, then backed off because he couldn’t make it, then came up her ass and was attempting a pass to the left when he clipped her in my 4Runner.



Addendum
So we have the ticket referencing the incident report, but the CHP officer said that it won’t be filed for about 10 days. Awesome. Another Awesome® thing? The guy said he had insurance, but the only card in the car was from August of LAST YEAR. Awesome. What’s even more awesome is that in that time, our address is going to change & we’re going to be 700 miles away.

The 4Runner has some damage to the rear bumper, but that’s about it that I can tell thus far. Well, there’s also the left rear wheelwell trim, which was also displaced, and the fact that the bumper scraped the paint off the body where it was mounted, exposing bare metal (rust!).



But on the Bright Side
Did I mention I’m moving the hell outta here? Funk yeah!



Workout Developments
There’s no LA Fitness where I’m headed. No 24 Hour fitness, either. No gym of that caliber that I can find, either. So we’ve decided we are going to build a home gym setup, centered around a sort of all-in-one smith machine. We’ve actually seen the unit we want a few times in the last couple of months, and due to some bad timing (yeah, can you believe it?) the other night, we ended up shopping for it instead of going to the gym.

And there we were, staring at the sticker that said “$650 off,” thinking that yes, we were going to be picking this up tonight.

Sadly, no. See, they were out of them. The next store over was out of them. All the stores in the vicinity were out of them. ALL OF SO CAL was out of them. But, there was a light at the end of the tunnel… With some help from one of the employees there (Thanks, Christian!) who made some phone calls for me, we found a store that’s along the way to our eventual destination that does have them.

The catch? I can’t reserve it for longer than 24 hours at a time. So every morning, I have to call and reserve it again. Hey, it’s better than nothing at all, right? I think I will have quite a good relationship with the employees there by the time I arrive on July 5th in the mid-afternoon. Hey, friends are hard to come by anymore.

Peace.

Tags: Gym, Vehicles

Tags: Vehicles, Technology, hate

I used to own a semi suped-up Mustang. I washed it and waxed it weekly, bi-weekly at worst. It was always clean and damn near always show-worthy.

Then I bought a white SUV. Can’t remember the last time I washed and waxed it. I think it was last year, but don’t quote me on that.

Last week the girl got me a birthday present and had my 4Runner detailed. It looked wonderful! ...and then it rained a mere two days later. Today we washed and waxed her Tundra, and I got to thinking: how did I do this so frequently with the Mustang? This sucks! Now my laziness is really kicking in, and I’m trying to figure out how often I can have our vehicles ‘professionally’ washed and waxed per year. I’m thinking 3 times, once every 4 months. that should keep the paint in good order I figure, and we’ll just thoroughly wash the vehicles once or twice a month to keep them ‘clean.’

Either that, or we turn into white trash with rusty, nasty cars – I haven’t really decided which way we’re going to go with that yet.



Return of Lobster-boy
Hey, remember like a few paragraphs ago when I mentioned washing and waxing the girl’s Tundra? Yep, did that. Then I washed down the driveway. While doing this task, I had this particular thought: “I really should put a shirt on, otherwise I’m going to burn.”

About that being lazy thing: Thoughts come and go, but lack of action is more of a genuine, constant state of being. Much like being red is for me right about now. Ouch. And anyone reading this who thinks they’re clever and dares try to “pat” me on the back – just remember that lobsters have this amazing ability to cause unyielding pain in the form of sharp, unforgiving claws of death.

Consider yourself warned.



Which reminds me:
I need to get a tan or get a tanning membership. I’m white. Like, Wonder Bread white. I really want one of those all-over tans, but here in So Cal, packed in like sardines as we are, it’s hard to get away with that outside of a tanning bed. Not that I’m shy or anything, but I prefer to NOT be thrown in jail with big, secretly gay men. I’m too darned cute for that to work out in my favor.

When I got out of the military – well, actually shortly before I got out of the military – I spent time tanning it up. I wasn’t sure if it was possible for me, because all my life I’d been known to be a burner. Reality? I AM Italian! I tan pretty damn well, I just really need to get that “base tan” going for me. Once I get that down, it’s damn near impossible for me to actually burn, and I can achieve a very healthy-looking glow. However, finding the time to get that base tan – ALL OVER MY BODY – can prove to be rather difficult. If I could walk around nude more often, or at all.... Maybe I’ll just join a nudist colony.

You’d be surprised how long it can take me to get a tan once i’ve gotten the base going. I have to sit out in the sun all... day... long. And right now i just don’t have that kind of time. Plus, this could prove to be a rather delicate situation for me, as winky has never had a tan before. So I’ll have to be very careful to make sure that while Willy is free, he’s not turning into a mini lobster-boy himself.



Quitting Time
I like my little blog. I enjoy it, maybe too much. I have a tough time deciding when to call it quits. Sometimes I just think “keep it short, keep it sweet,” but invariably I get all into it and then it turns into one of these medium-long to long entries.

Basically, I’m saying sorry if they sometimes run long. I’m just long-winded. Really. Ask anyone, they’ll tell you. I’m a stickler for completeness.

Usually. Unless I get lazy. Then anything goes.

Peace.

Tags: Vehicles

so again with the going to the gym today (i think it’s addictive or something). me and the girl did legs today, and mixed up our ordering to – well, mix it up. so we did calves early in the routine. a little later, a big’un (that’s a fat person) went and got a personal trainer (try not to laugh) and he marched her over to the same calf machine that we had just evacuated. now, me and the girl go pretty regularly and are in pretty good shape; she does i’d say about 1/4 to 1/3 the weight stack, i do pretty much all of it. this girl? shouldn’t have bothered. she managed a whole 1 (one) plate, a whopping 10 pounds (try not to laugh). so i guess that’s the equivalent of working out with her purse or something.

now i’m not trying to be overly mean, but c’mon... try. i mean, you are going to the gym, right? so you are already there. and you’ve been going for a few months now! you want to get better and make progress, right? so, um, try to push yourself while you’re there. it’s the only way. if you’re just showing up to show up... go home, because you’re just wasting space and filling up my equipment. and losing $30 a month. and looking pretty pathetic when you’re still in the same shape 4-5 months later, while ‘hitting the gym’ everyday. just sayin’. give it a try, see what happens. you may like the results. in fact, i’ll do a follow-up later. stay tuned and be prepared.



how ‘bout the weather? how ‘bout not?
so how’s this: for the last every morning out of 7, when i wake up and check the 5-day forecast, it essentially says “blazing hot today and tomorrow, with a slight cooling after that.” for the last 7 days in a row. so today, they at least stopped lying and said this: “hot as fuck today, tomorrow, and as far as we can tell into the future. invest in a baster.” at least i can plan my wardrobe around that.

this sucks. i only have 3 pairs of shorts left that i can wear to work, and they won’t let me show up naked. at least that’s sort of what i assume. i’ll check on that and get back to you.



could the ranger possibly go away? i’d hate to have to get sicilian on its ass.
so i had the bright idea last night to email my buddy “nick you fucking bastard, i hate you for leaving me here” about whether or not he might know someone interested in buying a ranger. logic being that he does the whole baja scene, has baja-ed out his ranger, and those peeps are usually less concerned with electrical anomalies like a door dinger that won’t shut up and a missing radio and other little things, as long as it has a good frame, it’s 2WD, has a nice motor, and good body. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad, so i thought to run it by nick. so now he’s actively looking for someone to buy it for me. i think i’ll cut a deal with him: find me a buyer, and he’ll get a cut of the sale. not much, and the check needs to be to us, but we’ll go from there. i’m good on my word, he knows that.



bringing new meaning to ‘moonshine.’ wait, that didn’t make any sense
get that email about mars being as big as the moon a couple of nights ago? yeah, so did i. except that i remember this being a hoax from last year, so i didn’t bother. dumbasses.

Peace.

Tags: Vehicles, Gym, Technology

looking at getting a new truck for the girl. initially, i was trying to get her to wait, thinking the further back we can push this major event, the more money we can save in the near-term, as we have no payment as of yet, and a lower insurance premium. but she brought up a valid point yesterday, namely that the piece of junk is falling apart before out eyes, and there’s a distinct possibility that if we do wait to get the new ride, it’ll could end up costing us more money, as we then have to pay more repair bills. is.. is this your opinion, cuz it stinks is what i’m of course thinking (said a la peter griffin from family guy), but i mull it over, and now we’re not just pricing used tundras and silverados and f-150s, we’re shopping for them. which is cool if you have money to spend, but see yesterday’s post for more on that subject, then continue on here.

so back to opinions. yesterday, this guy i work with – we’ll call him “nathan” – says that tundras suck, we should buy a chevy silverado. hmmm, interesting theory from someone who’s last name is chevrolet, fuckhead. but whatever, i take note of it. so,later that night i get home, and me & the girl get to researching the tow capacities based off another recommendation to just get a tacoma (from a tranny shop, no less -- and no not that kind of tranny), and question that if the tacoma can “tow 5000lbs,” why is the tundra rated at a mere 2000lbs more? isn’t this toyota’s “full-sized” truck? and now we’re shopping for fords and chevys, both of which suck by the way, i speak from experience on this; trust me, the loyal idiotic previous owner of four ford vehicles, with a 5th previous vehicle on the way.

next thing i know, silverados are looking much more likely, as my love for the f-150 is bordering on cross-burning status, because i know ford’s rep, while chevy has thus far remained outside of my realm. but it’s not my truck, so “we” are looking at both... which brings me to thinking of another gentleman i used to work with – let’s call him “nick, you bastard, i hate you for leaving me here,” or just “nick” for short – and the memory of his owning an f-150 that he may or may not still use. so an email goes off to him, explaining our situation and our current desires (tundra, silverado, f-150, either/or). ‘do you know of anyone selling right now?’ this, of course, necessitates a response.

and that response? “dude, tundras suck. get the silverado, they’re the best for what you’re looking for.” i fleshed that out a little, because this guy’s a thick weightlifting bastard and probably still drags girls around by the hair in his spare time, when he’s not dragging his knuckles ;-P (love you, nick, don’t beat me up!). so damn, now it’s all but settled, i get to own a chevy; start digging my grave, and i’ll just drive it right in there, and save us all the grief...

later, though, i get to talking to another buddy at work, “action jaxan.” (his mother never loved him is all i can say about that). turns out he knew someone that had a tundra, and said that it drives well, it’s nice and comfy, and can tow a ‘decent’ amount, though if you’re going to tow a trailer w/ two horses, don’t expect to be going 75mph on the freeway... so this conversation starts out, and i’m thinking ‘yes! tundra tundra tundra! saved from bad american workmanship,’ and as he continues, i’m getting to thinking ‘shut up, shut up, you’re ruining this lovely image i’m having right now of us being a toyota family,’ or as i like to call it, a ‘working vehicle’ family.

so now we’re back to square two (square one was toyota tundra all the way!): tundra and give up the kick-ass tow capacity, straining its limits the handful of times a year we’ll use it for that, or silverado, and give up everyday drivability (to include kick-ass toyota turning radii) for the privilege of a more-than-adequate tow rating. so i guess this “nathan” fellow may have had a clue, and perhaps i owe him an apology... i just didn’t want to own another vehicle that seems hell-bent on making me poor :-(. but i’m open to opinions (good smelling ones only, please), so if anyone has something to add on the matter, let ‘er fly.

and nathan? if you’re reading this? shut up....

Peace.

Tags: Vehicles

and we’re leaving on a road trip this friday to the eureka area to find out some info, such as housing prices and condition, renal prices, proximity, job market... oh, and this one place i know makes a fabulous grilled steak that is just to die for, and i figured that a 10-hour drive is so worth it.

and all this really sucks as far as timing is concerned. the service counts against this month’s budget, as does the shift cable; i have to smog the 4runner this month and we both have to register our vehicles this month, and then there’s the road trip as well, however much that costs. plus, add in the fact that we’ll be gone from town and work for the week, so we’ll take in almost nothing, and it equals a red red red month. d’oh!

so from here to move-out time, it’s totally penny-pinching all the way. man, i could use some extra cash. maybe i can sell my body on the streets or something. is there a market for that? eh, maybe i’ll just put some more effort into the prodigital pages and promotion. eh. work, eh...

Peace.

Tags: Vehicles