ppc 6700

So i think i decided on the phone/PDA i'm going to get. Not sure how great it will really work as a phone without using a bluetooth headset, but i'm still excited about it. Yes i realize most people wouldn't think this is worth it and don't get it, but remember I'm a comp sci guy. It has tons of features and if half of them work i'll be happy with it. Well i suppose there are some that i kinda need to work, but there are a lot that would just be fun.

Ok feel free to leave the comments saying i'm a loser!

Cell phones

I'm about out of contract with my cell phone so i've been looking around for the best options for me. If anyone has suggestions or knows someone in the business feel free to let me know. Other then that, not too much excitement lately. Last night I took a nap in the evening and woke up about 12 hours later for work. Not very productive, but i guess i needed it to catch up after the guard weekend and the pager weekend before that. I was pretty tired cuz apparently my bro asked me somethings a few times and i definitely don't remember anything like that.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend.

Guitar

I finally got around to picking up my guitar again. Since i haven't played in a while my fingers are too a little sore, but they'll toughen up if i keep playin. I hope that i'll actually get to where i can play a few songs this time. I still have a few house projects, but with the colder weather i'm sure i'll be more apt to stay in and play once in a while.

Tomorrow is a big day. I have guard where i'll have the physical for my Officer position. I might also have a fitness test afterwards. Then after guard i am going to a friends wedding in Lancaster. That should be lots of fun! It's weird i'll have to change too many times. Camo for the morning, maybe PT gear for the fitness test then a suit for the evening.

I plan on taking the eclipse to guard this weekend as there are people there that probably don't believe i even own it anymore.

Garage roof

I finally finished the garage roof tonight. Just in time for the rain tomorrow. One of the guys from work offered to help tonight and we just managed to get it all done with a few snags as is to be expected. That of course made it take until just after it got dark, but it is all done now. Good work to be doing while i'm on call since i could have made it to the house pretty easily. Fortunately so far it's been ok. I had some things going on while i was at work though.

Guess i'll be using the furnace by the end of the week with the weather coming up. Hopefully oil prices will stay low. I just ordered it and it was actually cheaper now than the time i filled up at the end of last year!

New Computer...again

Well it's a new motherboard, CPU and DVD-RW (dual mode, dual layer capable). All three of those things only totaled about $115. After all the hassle i've been through i am glad to have this now. I suppose i may still have some issues, but hopefully the random lockup won't happen anymore. Wow it's a friday night and i'm sitting here writing about the computer i just put together. I'm a loser...

NHRA drags

Well i made it to the drag races on Saturday. I ended up going by myself since my boss couldn't make the rescheduled date, and i didn't have much time to find someone to give his ticket to. It was still fun though I got to see a car run a 4.40 second 328MPH pass. They are really fast and loud, it shakes the stands! I also got to tour the trailer and look at the LRS car up close since they are the ones that gave the tickets away. I didn't even have to talk about work stuff since the salesman wasn't there, he wouldn't have known me anyway though. Unfortunately the LRS car kinda blew up at the end of it's race. The driver was ok and the time was good enough to qualify though. They'll have it put back together and running today i suppose for the race even. Pretty impressive stuff. 8000hp makes my dyno chart seem insignificant, but the eclipse sure doesn't feel that way on the street.

Before and after

Here is the comparison of before and after the coil on plug ignition setup. It was a peak gain of about 100 ft lbs of torque and 95 hp just below 5000rpm

Dyno day for me!!!

I took the eclipse to the dyno and I think it did pretty well. Take a look at the graph to see for yourself, but it made 531hp and i was able to drive it home in one piece this time. There is something to be said for working on your own car. Also I didn't check precicely, but it did the dyno session and the trip there and back all on one tank of gas which means i still averaged over 20 MPG. Not bad on a 500+ hp car.

Day Off!

I had the day off and will have more time off the rest of the week since it is the end of the fiscal year and i can't save my vacation days. It's ok though because i just ordered parts for the car monday and they came already and the car started with the upgrade already. Coil on plug ignition if anyone is wondering. I think i'll use some of the time off to get another dyno session in. Should be able to get another 50-60 hp out of the car now. Also worked on the garage a little before teh UPS guy got here. I'm down to the last few rows before putting on the ridge vent. I'm not sure if i want to do that myself though. I'll also have to put up soffit at some point. Ahh the joys of home ownership.

Computers

I have been working on fixing my computer for a long time now. Maybe a year and a half or so. One of them was locking up and i replaced all the parts to the point where i actually made a second computer out of the spares (which was basically the old computer) and it worked. The new one then had the problems. Now i switched around a few of the parts Mainly the CPU, and both computers are working!

In other news Friday was our fall fling at work which was kinda fun. I was the only one at work on my team also, but i think it went smoothly. Hopefully i'll be able to take some time off this coming week though. The Eclipse is still running and i plan to get some more done to it. Oh yeah, I got a decent size bonus from work which will actually be enough to get some parts for the car!

PS did anyone notice i had a double post up for a week? I just did tonight

NHRA drags cancelled

I didn't get to see the NHRA drags yesterday because of the rain. It apparently ruined all their parking for the wekened and also got the race teams stuck in the mud. Oh well i'll have another chance at the end of the month. Then i won't be on call either that should be good. To make up for missing the drags i just drove the eclipse some more. Another good thing was my friend came back from officer training after being away for 6 weeks.

Pager was good to me so far this weekend too though. I was able to make it to church which doesn't always happen. I might get something tonight, but i plan to be around the house anyway to catch up on things besides putting the car together.

VROOM!

It lives, i actually took the eclipse for a drive today. Everything seems to be working, i didn't beat on it yet though. The transmission doesn't seem to be leaking like it was before i took everything apart either. I might warm the car up for 5 minutes and take the 2 minute drive to work and let it cool down for another 5 minutes tomorrow hehe. Very nice to have it back though even if i should still walk to work. Oh and plugging the hole was a little tough as mitsubushi didn't have the part in stock so i had to make my own bolt by cutting one down to size. Dremels are excellent tools!

Car and Pager

Well i worked on the eclipse last night. Got the oil squirters i was waiting on and put the oil pan back. After all the other parts were put back i filled it up with all the fluids, put the tires on and took it off the jackstands. Turned the key and....it started! Definitely a nice feeling. Then I checked the timing and it looked close enough that i could drive it to work at least. Unfortunately there was some fluid coming out. By some fluid i mean there was a bolt missing that allowed the oil to shoot out of the head onto the floor. Big mess, but i have the kitty litter type stuff to soak it up. Unfortunately that means i need one more part, but at least it is very minor and they should have it in stock at mitsubishi. I might do it over lunch hehe.

Then to top off my night i got a page too. Not a big deal as i wasn't asleep and i expect at least one page during the week on average. I didn't like that it was something we warned people not to do, but that isn't unusual either.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend now. I get to go to my first NHRA drag race for free. I have a pit pass and there will be a hospitality tent too. My car should be working by then too. Of course i might get paged over the weekend too, but we'll try to use that as an excuse for a cellular modem i think =)

Pager week

Guard weekend is over and Pager week begins. It's not all bad though because I have car parts to install on the eclipse. It should be back together this week if the last part gets here quickly. It was shipped UPS from Maryland though so it should make it here fast, maybe even by tomorrow. I still have to put all the belts on including timing belt and i need to get all the fluids to put in. Oil, transmission gear oil, and coolant. If i get the part i'll probably try to get it all together tomorrow. If not, i'll probly try to get everything but that part put together so it won't take long afterwards.

The garage roof now has the cut for the ridge vent, then we put the paper back over so it's water proof. That means i can just finish up with the shingles and not have to worry about stopping to cut if i went to far etc.

This weekend is the NHRA drag race at Maple grove that i plan on attending. I have hearing protection and everything. Normally i'm not a big fan, but i suppose a day full of funny cars might make it worthwhile.

Thanks for reading and feel free to click to let me know you were here.

Getting there!

I took the day off so I could pick up the head for my eclipse finally. It is already on the car, but I still have a lot of other work before the car is back together. I got the transmission back a while ago and it is also in the car now too. Unfortunately there is another part that i noticed was broken today (rather than when it happened) so i'll have to wait for another part, but it isn't a pricey one at all so that's a plus. Also not as much work is involved in putting it back together.

I have guard this weekend and Sunday is some appreciation thing at state college. Hopefully it won't be too bad, but as they say in the military it's "mandatory fun". Tomorrow after guard though i plan on working on the garage roof some more. We can't have it leaking while i'm working on the eclipse.

Oh and my brother's car got hit really bad, but it will be fixed and not totalled. He might even be able to make some money out of it if he does some of the work himself like installing some of the parts on the other door.

Picture

Here is the new pic of the house as promised. For anyone with photoshop skill and some free time, you can play around with green shutters and figure out what to do about the brown on the garage door in the bottom left.

This weekend was interesting, after we got bri's car back together it got hit in the side. The estimate should come on wednesday, he's hoping they total it so he can get a new car. I'll want this one and use it as a rally car though. That way who cares about the body damage.

House and Car status

The roof on the house is now done, but it's been raining a bit so i didn't take any pictures yet. My brother decided to buy Compact fluorescent Bulbs for the house after reading up on them (Google: CFL) It looks like a good way to save money and also help to be earth friendly. They take 1/4 the power and last 10 times as long as regular bulbs. Unfortunately the purchase prices is about 10 times as much as a regular bulb, but it's well worth it especially for rooms that have lights on almost all the time.

As for the car, I have the transmission now and it is attached to the engine, but not completely mounted etc. The head still hasn't come back yet which is getting kinda ridiculous, but i don't really have too much i can do other than complain and that doesn't help. I'm just working on getting the rest of the car ready so all it needs is the head. At this point i'm getting fairly good at working on it so it shouldn't be too bad once i get the parts. OHH!!! I might go to a real NHRA drag race for free from one of the vendors at work. Reserved seats and free soda/food even. It would be cool to have my car running by then (16th), but i wouldn't be racing anyway so not a huge deal.

Impersonal

I like the idea of writing to this blog once in a while possibly to entertain, and also for those that i may not talk to on a regular basis to get an idea what is going on day by day. Tonight however what I am feeling is not adequately expressed in such an impersonal manner. If you haven't been in touch for a while this post can be an excuse for sending a note, leaving a comment, or making a call. I am sure I will be fine, but tonight more than usual I feel an increased longing for hearing back from those who are interested in my life for one reason or another.

Fitness

I heard about a week or so ago that i should start running now to prepare for my Officer training school. Since then i've actually done it 3 times. Two of which were after some roofing even. This time i stepped it up a little and ran 14 minutes instead of the ~10 that i was running. That's not too bad considering i played tennis yesterday too. I'm not saying i'm fast or anything, but i am pretty sure i'll pass the fitness exam since i don't even have my dates yet (earliest would be January i think). I also did a few pushups and situps lately. Believe it or not it isn't really all that fun, but if anyone wants to join me give me a call.

assorted updates

I had another guard weekend, but it wasn't too busy at all. It rained last night, but the roof is all papered so that isn't a problem. It is going quite well actually thanks to friends and family. It's not quite ready for picture taking, but it is looking good. As for the cars, my Eclipse is still awaiting parts as it has been for a while. The tranny i shipped out though appears to look good. That might mean less money, but now i don't know why i popped out of gear. My bro's car is leaking oil and he doesn't really want to take care of it so he might get a new one. The miata and the truck seem to be running ok for now though.