work « white male consumer

Springtime MINI work, first track day

Posted May 29th, 2011 at 6:26PM

The MINI was off the road and up on jackstands for two weeks earlier this month, as I went about replacing the front control arm bushings, front ball joints, header, and added a short shift kit and new gauge faces.

It was an ordeal, but I’m glad to have done each and every item. The bushings were apparently shot, but the replacement Alta Positive Response Steering System firmed things up and gave me 1.5 degrees of added caster per side.

The old ball joints were probably fine but I replaced them anyway.

I bought a used Alta header off of North American Motoring for pretty cheap. It had been hacked off below the expansion pipe, so I went to Synapse Motorsport in Cohoes to get the stock cat and flange welded onto the new header. They were able to make a jig and get the fit perfect without ever laying an eye on the car.

The new header has three inch longer primaries than stock, but they featured identical bends. The car now pulls harder and sounds meaner, fer shure, and I’m not throwing any codes. Not sure on the air-fuel, but I did pull the plugs recently and they looked in tip-top shape, with 75,000 miles on them and a 100,000 recommended replacement interval.

I do have a new obnoxious exhaust heat shield rattle, but that’s due to the short shift kit install. I bought the Helix unit (but received some other company’s imitation piece) which snaps onto the stock shifting mechanism underneath, keeping the same geometry but reducing shifts by an advertised 37 percent or something. It’s pretty neat. I like it.

I also finally pulled the plug on OutMotoring‘s colored gauge faces. I got the charcoal color, which does indeed match up nearly perfectly with the stock black interior. I was a little disappointed when they first arrived, but that was mainly due to the chintzy-ness of having tachometer and speedometer faces in-hand. Once installed, I think they’re a real nice little improvement. And they look really great at night, with the different font and all the extra hashmarks.

Make sure you do the two little ‘mods’ to the back plastic, however, or you’ll get ugly “dead” spots not lit up. Also, if you’re a chronic speeder, be like me and leave the speedometer off-center and indicating 2 MPH faster than the car believes you’re going (ie. 5+ MPH faster than reality). Even though you know it’s wrong, you’ll still cruise at the same indicated speeds, and your blood pressure will not soar when you get behind some lumbering barge doing the speed limit (or under).

I also have some R56 front brakes to install, and new rear control arm bushings. Then it’s time for an alignment, and then June 12 is Watkins Glen International with Patroon BMWCCA.

I took photos which I’ll upload sometime, somewhere.

And I need to do some maintenance to that damn Subaru.

May Life Redux

Posted May 21st, 2008 at 2:30PM

Remember that last time I posted? About life? Same old same old. Although I moved at work again, back to the original department. I was hired full-time, meaning a slight pay increase and (more importantly) benefits.

I keep meaning to update the blog. But I get caught up doing stuff. Like installing an electronic dog fence last weekend. So yeah.

Pretty great post.

Life, Work, And Such

Posted May 8th, 2008 at 7:33PM

Just a quick post to the inane personal blogosphere to explain the scant postings. So why? Because I’m “hella busy” as you might say. Last Saturday I did brake work on the MINI, which I’ll probably be writing about in the near future.

And this week was my first in the new department at work. I’ll avoid coming right out and saying where I’m working, but let’s just say…

Before I was entering movie theater listings into a database…

…and now I’m entering TV listings into a database.

And no, I haven’t relocated to India.

This weekend is Tulip Fest in Albany. We’ll be going down and enjoying the springtime event on Saturday. I’ll be going back down to Albany on Sunday to autocross. It’s the first event for my home SCCA region. I’m excited.

Expect updates in the next few days.

Job: I Wanna Be Sedated

Posted March 23rd, 2008 at 12:50PM

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no

So I started my new job last week. And it sucks and I don’t have any free time and blah blah blah. But it’s money, I’ll have benefits, and I work the same schedule every week with weekends off.

I’m a data entry whore. I enter movie theater schedules into a database. Schedules for the entire country, Canada, the UK, and assorted territories. I know what you’re asking yourself: when did the w.m.c. move to India? Apparently some of these jobs haven’t been outsourced yet.

I work in an office, listen to music to drown out loudmouthed colleagues, and veg out. It’s not entirely dead-end. The parent company is a large-ish media conglomerate, and they like to hire from within, so there’s some hope.

I won’t be blogging as much. You wouldn’t think it, but sitting at a desk for eight hours is exhausting.

“One-ah Those Days”

Posted November 12th, 2007 at 12:04AM

Moving back in with the parents after college, you run the risk of falling into a rut. A rut of epic proportions.

I’ve fallen clear into said rut, and there’s no daylight in sight. You know those individuals who’re 30 and still in their parents’ basement? This is how it begins. Right here.

I’ve been trying with varying degrees of effort to find gainful employment over the past two months. Had an interview with a local paper. It’s been three weeks. They’re “still looking over applicants.” Considering the would-be co-workers and managing editor I met, I’m not too broken up over not hearing back. Shitty pay. Besides, I can’t imagine a full-time job where the bulk of work is copy-editing.

But otherwise, writing jobs are pretty scarce around these parts. I could work somewhere that has nothing to do with writing. And delivering pizzas seems like my best prospect at this point. But what would that say of the four years I spent at college?

None of the local pizza places are hiring, and I’m not going to commute 20-30 miles just to deliver pizza all night.

I think I’ve said it before, but I’ll repeat. I miss college. The academic pursuits. Being forced to read, write, and think. Nobody thinks enough. Believe me: I didn’t think much in college, but it was loads more than my primary exercises today. Cursing at the TV, broadcasting triangulating Democratic presidential hopefuls or our Fearless Leader blundering through another scripted speech.

The writing in college â€“ whether for class or publication.

My peers, full of prospects. They were decent people. More decent than most. Even the college Republicans, god bless their black souls.

Living alone. Or with a few housemates. Most of all â€“ living away from the parental units. Why can you only take so much of your relatives before they drive you bat-shit crazy?

I didn’t mind the summer months leading up to now. I autocrossed. I lounged.

It makes economic sense. I don’t pay rent. Food is free. I pay for gas, but at the end of the month, who pays the credit card? If I got a job, I could concentrate on paying off my student debt. I could also blow significant money on go-fast parts for my car. Gee, I might even be able to obtain health insurance, and get that blood work my doctor ordered months ago.

But once I get a job, what’s the first thing I’m doing? Blowing the fuck outta Dodge. There goes the gravy train. But any shred of sanity I can salvage is worth it in the long run.

Better to toil in poverty than loll in the womb that is your parents’ daybed.

Work Sleep Drive Repeat

Posted July 5th, 2006 at 11:12PM

I’ve been working a lot. The MINI is approaching 1800 miles, so I’ve been driving a lot also, apparently.

First day of class today. It was neat. I’m taking an introductory photography class at Adirondack Community College. I feel like I’m probably the most knowledgeable in the class, with six other students ranging from attractive women my age to a few mothers. Everyone else is XX, so my lonely ol’ Y will need to be relieved with angry gangster rap every day on the drive up.

I have the class Monday through Thursday, for two and a half (2.5) hours. I fly up to Glens Falls, go to class, then fly down to Saratoga and work. It sort of sucks, but.. That’s life for you. At least I have a great car to do it all in.

Oh, and I got another speeding ticket the other day. Sheeet.

white male consumer

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives