Chris mentioned in an email yesterday that a co-worker had gone to Los Chapparros and was raving about it to everyone in the office, and it brought to mind that the former Dixie Grill on Ward had been reformatted to a Mexican restaurant. On a whim, I walked down the block for a late lunch yesterday – nobody was in the office except me until 14:00, and the electricians showed up precisely at lunchtime so I couldn’t lock up and dig. Continue reading ‘Bob’s yer Uncle’
Yes, periodically check your equipment and tools. They can become damaged through disuse. Is that anything like blue balls? Anyway, I went pretending I was a roadie (no tightie shorts though!) tonight in a vain attempt to get my conditioning somewhat better for the trip. Started too late, only been doing it for past few weeks. Anyway, I cruised out past Koko Marina. Beautiful crystal clear night, calm to almost no winds so it was fast in all directions! Turned back into Hawaii Kai at the cancer duck corner, cruised past the 7-11 and decided not to do the little hillclimb to the back of that valley. I’d done it before, and Kulioouou Valley the other time. Zipping around on the flats tonight, I got it in my head to climb Mariners Ridge. Continue reading ‘Check your tools’
Sick.Â
Saw this at Times produce department on Saturday night. Supposedly it’s called a “Turban Pumpkin”. I guess when the meat-cutter’s union is on strile, this is what the produce department guys do…
The last time Fabio joined the manga/anime geeks from Collector Maniacs for a late dinner at Big City Diner in Kaimuki, he got a burger that was either poorly engineered, designed, or assembled. As soon as he tried to pick it up, it fell apart, making him explode with anger just like Steve Wilkos! Continue reading ‘Angry Food’
Just watched the legitimate release of the 2006 Kyoto Animation version of Kanon. Root had given me the older 2002 Toei Animation version as fansubs years ago and I liked the general premise, but remake version is definitely better in both writing and animation quality. ADV Films, who did the legit release of the Air series for the USDM has released the first 4-episode volume of Kanon, with the second volume due out in February. Continue reading ‘Omoidasenai Machi – Kanon TV 2006’
After watching the disappointing first half of the Hawaii-Georgia Sugar Bowl game, I started flipping back and forth to the one-day-late KIKU-TV telecast of the Kohaku Uta-Gassen. There wasn’t anything good per-se, but it reinforced some judgements that I had from before: Continue reading ’58th Annual Kohaku Uta-Gassen’
Well, so much for ambitious thought of hiking up Koko Crater in the dark to catch the sunrise from it’s peak. Didn’t get around to scouting the route and location before hand. Somehow I figured wouldn’t make it. But I went with my fallback plan of driving to Koko Head park and walking to just above the new dirt jump park and overlook the shooting range. I scoped it out last year and figured it a good location. Last year I went to Lanai Lookout and it was a good spot, but you need to go early as parking fills up. This spot is clear, just a single handful of people strolling by. Besides, it makes for more interesting picture than from the lookout. Anyway, it’s another year gone by. Pretty status quo. Here’s to another year!
So I check out the AE86 where I thought the power steering hose coupling was leaking. It’s torqued to spec, so I over torque it a bit. I start the car and let it run. If it were leaking from the pressure hose, I’d expect to be able to see stuff leaking already, but I don’t see anything. Puzzled I crawl around and lie on the ground looking up. I then notice the bottom of the distributor has got oil and driping. Sheesh, shoulda known. The 4AGE is famous for leaky distributors. For the time being I swap over a spare FX dizzy. It’s not quite the same configuration, but it’ll work. I hope this takes care of most of the big leaks. I know the transmission leaks too.
I move over to the FX. I swap over the rear seat belts. I guess the rice thing to do is take those out too. Both this and the one previous FX did not have the rear belts. Guess have to compensate for the weight of that big fiberglass sub tub and rear deck? Rest of night is spent on some creature comfort time. I swap over the amp, speakers, sub and rewire it into the new FX. Nice coffee stain trail on carpet from center to under the passenger seat. I spray some cleaner on it. Oh well, can’t be seen. So now I’ve got some decent tunes cranking in the FX!
Ah yeah, took the FX to Lex Brodies and got it aligned. I intended this morning to only fix the ignition wiring enough to go, but I ended up removing the offending EGR bits. Excess hard lines are still there, but it’s so much cleaner without the maze of hoses. Man, it feels real good to finally have a good rolling car. The interior is still a mess with panels all over the place and the alarm dangling by its mass of wires, but it runs good. There is only one thing that is really really offending me now. The exhaust. Aside from it being loud as hell, it was not routed with enough clearance. So on bumps the suspension clanks on the exhaust bits. It’s not a matter of that the space is tight, it just wasn’t done right. Will have to have this taken care of pronto, I don’t think I can live with it for long. Other than that (oh wait, there’s the parking brake issue…) it’s all good!
Hooray! Christmas has past and 101.1 FM has ceased playing horrible xmas music all day. Back to natsukashii J-pop…