This day is not about burned hotdogs and hamburgers. And it is not just about having a day off from work. Today is the anniversary of a far more impotent event in Human affairs than even many of our fellow countrymen remember.
Today is the anniversary of a day that changed the world.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
More Blogy Stuff
When I logged in to remove the unwanted blank video I just mentioned I was greeted by a note from the Blogger Staff across the top of my old school blogger interface. They want me to update to the new and unproved blogger interface because the old interface will be going away “in the next few months.”
But the new interface (how shall I put it?) HOOVERS
I am not at all impressed with the lack of robustness in the functionality of the new user interface. It is so bad I actually went on a quest in search of the old interface! While it lacks most of the bells and whistles of the new interface, at least IT WORKS!
As I have stated previously: If the functionality of the new user interface is not significantly improved, and I'll now add if the old interface is taken away in favor of the abortion that was created to replace it, I will jump ship from Blogger just as I already have from LiveJournal. And I suspect that I am not alone in this.
And while we’re at it, apparently LJ found my post about not posting over there and linking to the New Dragonfly over here and removed it. Ain’t that sweet? I’ll have to go over there and put it back. I have the text archived around here somewhere. Or maybe I’ll just write something new about them taking away the old link. Whatever.
Blogy Stuff
As I mentioned in an update to a post a couple down from this one, I just removed a blank video link from the top of the post. I have no idea where it came from. I did not put it there and it doesn't show up in Firefox on my home computer. Using Winders Exploder here at the office is the only place I can see those videos when they do show up. Have any of my loyal reader (not the singular…) encountered this before other than here at the Dragonfly? Any idea what might be causing them to appear? Any tricks for making sure they don’t? All help will be greatly appreciated!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
A car with a ‘tude!
Unless you’ve had Volkswagens in your life for any length of time you will probably not understand this post. If you have, you will be able to relate!
Of the three VW’s in the family Galileo* is the one that gets driven the most. Thunder** is waiting for me to have the time to work on him and get him back on the road. I don’t think that’s too likely at this point and he may be sold to someone who does have the time. Fritz*** is already back on the road with his new owner.
So a week ago Friday I made the executive decision to rearrange the motor pool and park the flea van with the leaky roof vent under the carport where the leak won’t cause any more damage to the contents of the van than had already happened.
Apparently Galileo was not happy about that idea. That means he has to sit out in the uncovered part of the driveway where the van had been parked. I explained to him as I pulled him into his temporary parking spot that the van isn’t water tight and it would only be until I got the van fixed. Then we’d switch everybody back.
Well…
When I went to roll up Galileo’s driver’s side window he stopped the window at half mast and rolled it back down on his own! Then he wouldn’t roll it back up!!! “Now who’s less water tight?” I could swear I heard in Galileo’s voice.
Huh!
I started the motor back up and this time helped the window past the spot where it slowed down. Closed and water tight enough for me.
As I walked to the house I reminded Galileo that the bank has already cleared me for a car loan that would be more than enough to put something reliable in the driveway. So don’t screw with me kid, or you’ll need to find a new driveway to snooze in.
* Galileo is a 1998 “New” Beetle
** Thunder is a 1985 Vanagon Wesfalia full camper (2.1L waterboxer)
*** Fritz is a 1971 Superbeetle (sold last spring & back on the road)
x The flea van is a 1997 Chevy Astro AWD former phone company van
Plans for the Van
When I bought the flea van I told myself I would not accessorize it. It was a van with a job to do and when its job was done it would be going away.
* cough *
So as I mentioned a couple of posts ago I just got back a little while ago after completely emptying the van. That was so I could get out there and work on it. I didn’t notice that it had a roof vent in the photos of it on Craigslist. Once I did notice the vent I didn’t realize how badly it was installed.
Can you guess the problem from this photo?
Why yes! The id10t that installed it mounted the vent on a stiffening rib! I didn’t notice it until the first time it rained after I’d bought the van…
“The captain wired in: He had water coming in
and the good ship and crew were in peril.”
- Gordon Lightfoot The wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald
My plan, now that I can get at it, is to remove the vent entirely and cover over the hole in the roof with sheet metal. To that end, last week I bought a nice piece of steel from Lowes. Yesterday on our way back from the barn an hour and a half away we stopped at Harbor Freight. There I bought the 30” bending brake. That set me back $29.95 with no tax because the store’s in New Hampshire. They had a less expensive break that is 18” long but you only save $2- and get a significantly less useful tool while you are at it.
The right way to do this job would be to for the steel to match the roof exactly and weld it in. I even have an arc welder that would be perfect for the job. But I don’t know how to use it. I don’t think the first bead of weld I ever attempt should be in the roof of my van…
So instead the plan is to form the steel as a patch to go over the hole in the roof and seal it in place with silicone and secure it with pop rivets. Not ideal and not pretty. But if it stops the leak I will be satisfied.
I may eventually reinstall the vent – back on the flat portion of the roof that is there for the purpose of installing this kind of vent. It is clearly visible in the picture and obvious that that is what it is there for to anyone with half a brain.
Please pardon my irritation. I'm just a little annoyed by the whole thing.
Another thing that may get installed in this van is my truck air horn. I have a lovely (and loud!) chrome trumpet air horn that came off of a Peterbuilt. I also have a compressor, accumulator tank and valve set that came from another air horn that I have in storage. That one is a dual trumpet horn, but only one trumpet works. And it’s kind-of ugly.
If the van had A/C (the ad in Craigslist said it did – the lack of an A/C compressor in the engine compartment says otherwise…) I might do more with it. I like having something with this kind of cargo space. But its gas mileage is horrible, it needs a CV axle and it has over a quarter of a million miles on the clock.
If I was going to accessorize it here’s what it would get:
- Steering wheel cover
It’s like the previous owner worked at a garage all day but never learned how to wash his hands! (Probably the same twit that installed the vent.)
- The air horn
- The vent reinstalled properly this time
- Window vent/shades
- replacement seats that don’t feel like I’m going to roll off onto the floor as I’m going around a corner
- a trailer hitch so I could tow my boat with the van
- CB Radio and Scanner
- 12v fridge
With those changes – and the CV axle and a couple of lesser maintenance items taken care of – this could be a really nice van. Will any of it actually happen? I'll let you know...
UPDATE: I just removed a blank video link from the top of this post. WTF is that all about?
UPDATE: I just removed a blank video link from the top of this post. WTF is that all about?
Printing readable maps from Google Maps
I finally came up with a technique for printing readable maps from Google.
1. Find the area you want a map of and zoom so it almost fills your screen
2. Click [PrtScrn] on your keyboard
3. Open Microsoft Paint
4. With the curser in the drawing window press [crtl] [v] to paste
(That’s an old WordPerfect keyboard shortcut.)
5. Leaving the fence around what you just pasted click and drag the image
up and left so only the portion of the map you want is visible
6. Using the scroll bars go to the lower right corner of the drawing window
7. Click outside the drawing window to dismiss the fence
8. click and drag the nearly impossible to see corner window resize handle
to crop the bottom and right sides of the map to where you want it
9. Save the file and close Paint
10. Open the file in Microsoft Photo Editor
11. In the [Image] pull down select [Balance]
12. Drag the Brightness slider to approximately the second mark from the left
13. Drag the Contrast slider to approximately the second or third mark from the right
14. Save the file
You can either print directly from MS Photo Editor or reopen the file in Paint. I happen to be more comfortable with the Print Menu in Paint since I’ve been using that for a lot of years. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work for printing directions unless you want to spend all morning on image manipulation.
1. Find the area you want a map of and zoom so it almost fills your screen
2. Click [PrtScrn] on your keyboard
3. Open Microsoft Paint
4. With the curser in the drawing window press [crtl] [v] to paste
(That’s an old WordPerfect keyboard shortcut.)
5. Leaving the fence around what you just pasted click and drag the image
up and left so only the portion of the map you want is visible
6. Using the scroll bars go to the lower right corner of the drawing window
7. Click outside the drawing window to dismiss the fence
8. click and drag the nearly impossible to see corner window resize handle
to crop the bottom and right sides of the map to where you want it
9. Save the file and close Paint
10. Open the file in Microsoft Photo Editor
11. In the [Image] pull down select [Balance]
12. Drag the Brightness slider to approximately the second mark from the left
13. Drag the Contrast slider to approximately the second or third mark from the right
14. Save the file
You can either print directly from MS Photo Editor or reopen the file in Paint. I happen to be more comfortable with the Print Menu in Paint since I’ve been using that for a lot of years. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work for printing directions unless you want to spend all morning on image manipulation.
So ends the first half
Of 2012. July first. Meh.
I just got back from storage. The van is almost as empty as the day I bought it. I decided to skip the flea this week to “fall back and regroup.” I haven’t decided yet, but I may quit altogether. Last week was a complete waste of time. The weather is only getting hotter and more humid. Wasn’t it Einstein who said “the definition of insanity was to continue doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results”? Not being insane I am looking for a different solution.
Yesterday Mum and I took a road trip in Galileo to check out a barn I can rent for less than half of what I am paying for storage. It was a nice ride, but it was an hour and a half away! And I accidentally left my GPS in a friend’s car when I went with her to a doctor’s appointment that she needed someone else to driver her home from. I had to make due with directions printed out from Google maps. Meh squared.
I want my GPS!
I just got back from storage. The van is almost as empty as the day I bought it. I decided to skip the flea this week to “fall back and regroup.” I haven’t decided yet, but I may quit altogether. Last week was a complete waste of time. The weather is only getting hotter and more humid. Wasn’t it Einstein who said “the definition of insanity was to continue doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results”? Not being insane I am looking for a different solution.
Yesterday Mum and I took a road trip in Galileo to check out a barn I can rent for less than half of what I am paying for storage. It was a nice ride, but it was an hour and a half away! And I accidentally left my GPS in a friend’s car when I went with her to a doctor’s appointment that she needed someone else to driver her home from. I had to make due with directions printed out from Google maps. Meh squared.
I want my GPS!
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