A few years ago when JAL retired it’s last B747-200SUD on a final return trip from HNL to NRT, it was met with much fanfare, filled with people who bought tickets in advance specifically to be on that last flight. I used to avoid the HNL-NRT run if I couldn’t get the later flight that was downsized to a newer B767 to specifically avoid that plane. It was stinky, creaky, noisy, and uncomfortable, yet some people found some sort of nostalgia in all of that – enough to pay a premium to be on that last flight. I was on it a couple of weeks before that final flight, and I don’t miss that old bird one bit. Continue reading ‘Jumbover’
No, really people. I heard the lady, and she even said it in Japanese! In fact, she ONLY said it in Japanese! As I wait near the gate in the waiting room, I watch all the anxious people milling about the gate. There are a few tour groups, and their companion guide is even telling them, “please, go sit back down until they call your row,” but they insist on clogging up the area in front of the gate entrance. At every instance when a slightly different announcement comes over the PA, whether it be for premier members or parents with young children, they start the push again. There is no way I could be a guide because I’d be all like, “F**k, are you m**herf**kers all like f**king stupid or something? Sit the f**k back down!” Samuel L. Jackson as a tour guide… Continue reading ‘Wait Until Your Row Number Is Called…’
Muahaha, Musubi gets her stitches out today, just dropped her off. Should have taken pics before. Her leg is slowly showing some improvement. She’s starting to use it like a normal leg, but I still dont see much response from the lowest area. It’s still early, we shall see!
Pours a small head that quickly goes away, clear dark brown. No really strong initial aroma, fair bitter gives it dry taste, but the feel has a bit of substance. I get a nice roasty nuttyness in the middle, which fades to a lingering bitter. I like this, but especially if not having with food, this is more a sipping beer. It stays tasty as it warms too. 3 out of 4 nutty monkeys.
OK, today was the fourth ever Hawaii SCCA Rallycross, and like usual it was a blast! None of the forecast showers reached us at Kalaeloa. I made it to the event with the rally FX after a midnight wrench session, actually I beat midnight by 15 minutes, but had to wait for battery to charge. On the drive out, the car seemed to be running well. No warning lamps, alternator & battery seem ok, the engine hesitation & missfire seems to have gone away after driving the week & dumping some fuel injector cleaning stuff in.
Sun was already up by the time I made it there. The air was nice and cool, but windless, and not a cloud in the sky. Helped with some setup. We pretty much had the usual suspects, gaggle of Subarus, a Miata, Civic, Jetta, Toyota longtravel pickup, and myself. Ground looks to be shaping up decent, the recent rains looks to have stiffened up the dirt some, and there’s grass/weeds growing all over! I run second heat, and it is slick from the water truck wetting down the track. Super slide-o uncontrol-o action! I get through the first half of the course and then hear a real ugly flappy thunky sound. WTH? I slow down wondering if I’d snapped a drive shaft, but the car still drives. Huh? I finish out my run cautiously slow. I examine the car, but see nothing obviously wrong. Weird. Continue reading ‘Mud Slinging’
It’s been pretty much snowing non-stop since I got here… well, and even before I got here. The news was saying that this year has set a record for snowfall for the last 5 years, although you could have fooled me in November when I was here. The snowfall started late, and has been pretty much constant. There was around 10cm of settled snow in the street in town this morning, and as evening advanced, the snowfall resumed, so there should be another good layer tomorrow morning.
510 floor pans came today, we really need a metal brake and bead roller, if we had the tools we could have made these, its pretty rudimentary. A little too large and thick for us to do by hand. Ah well, maybe in the future. Next up will be attempting to weld these in!
Musubi’s back home already! Right now she’s in a new pen inside the house, there was a little bit of excitement when I got her home and out of her carrier. She showed some pretty unexpected spunk and wriggled away from me. Had to quickly grab her and get her into the pen. Once in, she’s quiet, and purrs away when petted. The people at the vets call her the Engine for how much she purrs! It’s pretty encouraging and the doc said this was a very gratifying case. Initial exam & x-rays indicated it was pretty severe, her pelvis was fractured in seven places at least. When I took her in, she had no nerve response in her leg. Things look much better now. The major fracture was wired back, the rest the doctor left alone. The leg has pain response and she can kind of stand on it if prompted. She’s got a ways to go, but she’s one lucky kitty! Oh, and seeing her tail in x-rays is a trip, it’s got quite the kink, perfect for holding the princesses ring. Go look that up, it’s a folk tale with Persian cats having kink in tail.
Last variety from this latest Samuel Adams variety pack (I’ve reviewed the Scotch Ale earlier, and it is again my favorite of the pack), pours with weak head, clear medium dark amber. There’s a fair amount of floralness in the initial taste, and a fairly strong bitter. Just a hint of smokyness. I’m a little undecided on this beer, not one of my favorites, but not a bad beer. But given a choice, I probably would get something else. 2.5 out of 4 revolting monkeys?
So what was that about Ckucky’s kitchen sink? Well, I picked it up from him early this week, and darned if it looks like the size is almost perfect! To give you an idea of just what I’m trying to do, here are some pics:
The black plastic thing is the original engine splash cover that we are trying to replicate, sitting on top of the kitchen sink. Looks promising!
Oh, and welcome to Root’s garage of dead alternators. The bizzarre demon possessed behaviour of the rally FX was due to to a bad alternator. Something inside seemed to have shorted the weeks ago I first wondered about when I smelt burning electrical and saw smoke coming from the alternator area. It was just before our snowboard trip so after making sure it wasn’t about to catch fire, I forgot about it until now. I finally took a closer look at it, first off the battery was deader than dead, only about 3V. I went to my spare parts pile, looks like I’m down to my last alternator, the other two I know are bad. I swapped out alternator, swapped out to a good battery, and lo and behold, the car runs fine. We shall see if it I get this all together in time for the next rally, and if it’ll hold up!
