For some twisted reason, I never tire of looking at this picture. If you love Subaru's, or cars in general, it is both comical and sad. I amuse easily.

Hat Tip: Ultimate Subaru!

Adventures in Overheat Land (the car, not the human).

While going to Downtown Fresno Thursday afternoon. Murphy, the $500 87 T-Wag blew a radiator hose. I was on the freeway, driving about 70, sudenly notice (or felt) something different. I looked in my rear view and noticed white smoke. I pulled off the freeway into downtown, I drove on, hoping to get to my destination not far away. I didn't quite get there. Murph died in the middle of an intersection, a few blocks from where I was trying to go. I pushed the car to the side of the road and popped the hood. The upper radiator hose dun blowed up. God I hope I didn't fry the engine trying to get to my destination.

So I called AAA and got a tow truck, and only had to wait twenty minutes for it to arrive. The tow driver asked if my car was AWD. I said no, it's 4WD. So he jacks up the back end, with the front wheels on ground. We are in the truck ready to go when I ask:

"By the way, why are you towing from the back"?

He says "Well on 4WD cars the front wheels are free when the transmition is in 2WD mode".

I then tell him that 4WD Subies and most other cars that have 4WD are normaly Front Wheel Drive when not in FWD. You would think a tow trunk driver would know these things .

Tow Guy then gets out of the truck and attaches a set of jacked wheels to Murph's front wheels. I'm sure there would not have been damage to the transaxle if the car rolled home on the front wheels, 4 1/2 miles away, but I'm glad that we didn't do it regardless.

So the lesson here is: Make sure you check that Tow Guys, or mechanics for that matter, know about your Subies.

Got the car home, hopped in the work truck, and went to Kragen Auto for the hose. I decided to get the lower hose too since I'm under the hood getting dirty. I also replaced the temp sensor to see if the bizzaro digi gauge temp readings would normalize (turn fan or headlights on and watch the thing spike). I replace the parts, put water in the rad, and Murph started right up . Yesterday, while driving around, the check engine light was on for a while, but is off now. I think an electrical connection to a sensor might have still been moist, but I'll keep an eye on it.

PS. The other lesson learned: When you change the head gaskets on your car, as I did a month ago, you should replace the radiator hoses (and other hoses) since you already have them off the engine!

Someone Else Will Post It So I Won't Have To...

I was going to post about how the Republicans deserve to lost; how it would be a long needed cleansing for the party. Well, someone else has gone and written that post and beat me to the punch, so now I don't have to work on composing the thing. I can take the day off. God I'm lazy!

Hat Tip: Glenn.

PS. After you read Scott's post, you may want to ponder what it will take to cleanse the Dems of their hyper-extremist anti-war affliction. Can the blinders be removed that prevents them from seeing the threat that the situation in the Middle East has become since Kohmeni's ascension to power in 79.

My Next Computer Upgrade...

The RCA Spectra 70 .



It's the same computers the FBI now uses, according to one of the comments posted at the news site Caption This.



PS. I could go for this set-up, but I think it's probably out of my pricerange.



Click HERE for more fun old-timey computer pics.

PPS. I wonder if my dad used any of these models???

What I Did On Friday

I found a pigeon having seizures on my back porch yesterday. It was flapping uncoordinatedly, and its eyes were blinking and twitching wildly. I thought it was dying and on its last legs. I was very sad as I felt I could do nothing for it. It reminded me of our parrot Emmet, the green-naped lorikeet that passed away about five years ago. I was thinking "Great, this thing has bird flu or something, and now Miss Bird, our current black-cap lorikeet who at this moment is sticking her tongue in my ear, could be exposed and die. I definitely didn't want to touch the thing so I use two pieces of cardboard as big birdie tongs and put the flailing pigeon in the bushes on the sid eof the house. I looked in on the bird from time to time, waiting for the inevitable so I could dispose of the poor thing. Well the inevitable never came. Instead of dying, it recovered within two hours, and eventually flew away. I seem to recall an article by bird and aviery expert Dick Schroeder about pigeons and epileptic seizures. Greg's mom suggested the pigeon ate fermented berries and got drunk. Man, I hope I don't look that out of it when I get drunk.

Observations On... The Buzzcut!!!

My comment concerning this topic at Althouse.

A few disadvantages to the buzz / smoothie cut:

1) They will expose the huge cavernous dents in your head.

2) If you play heavy metal guitar, you no longer have the long hair to swirl around whilst on stage. And the lack of hair draws even more attention to the hideous spandex!

3) Don't do a fresh smoothie in the middle of summer and then go jet skiing all day. Trust me. It's painful!!!

Did You Know Jack Bauer Plays Bass???

Well, as far as I know, he doesn't. He's far too busy.
Me, on the other hand....

For Those Who Think....

... National Review Online is nothing but a bunch of Hard Line Right-Wing Kooks who do nothing but tow the party line, here is an example of how that view of them, along other political outlets, either Republican or Democrat, is often short sighted.

Friday, March 31, 2006

REPULSIVE REPUBLICANS [Ramesh Ponnuru]

1) Republicans are preparing to bring the Federal Marriage Amendment to a vote. So I guess the plan from now on is to do this in all even-numbered years, and then throw the idea aside in odd-numbered ones? I know a lot of people support the FMA for principled reasons, but a decisive number of Republicans are clearly just picking on gays for political profit.

2) Republicans are leading a charge to subject "527 groups" to onerous regulations. A minority of them, again, have sincere and above-board reasons for doing this. Most of them just want to shut down groups that are trying to beat them in elections. For a majority to restrict the freedom of others to try to boot them out is pretty much a textbook definition of the abuse of power, isn't it?

Ramesh Ponnuru is a very conservative member of the NRO team, and I have disagreed with many of his political and philosophical positions. That being said, I think he hits the nail right on the head. This is another lame attempt by do-nothing Republican leaders to try and distract the base from their own shortcomings, much like the flag burning amendment was for the Newt crowd. The "FMA" again, when if failed so miserably the first time around. Problem with bringing this up again is, states are already passing state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage (boo), so why would you need to ban it federally, especially if you are supposed to be the party that favors states rights and small federal government? Restricting 527's will be seen as nothing more than another in a long line of actions aimed at trying to stifle competition and protect there incumbency, especially since their poll numbers continue to decline.

I have only remained registered as a republican because I think the best way to affect change in a party is to change from within, plus I like being the underdog out here in California. I had high hopes for both Bush and Arnold and both continue to disappoint greatly. Bush first ran on a platform which included overhauling baseline budget practices in congress, and Arnold on state spending reform. Each has completely abandoned these tenant's of fiscal responsibility, and are on track to ensure that taxes must be raised sharply in the future to pay for their financial callousness. The spending spree by both are completely reckless and stupid. These guys are running the government about as efficiently as GM has been running it's company. I'm tired of the excuse of the WOT to justify this financial binge.

OK. I'm done ranting. I just want to add that if the Republicans bring up either the FMA or more campaign spending restrictions, I will leave the party....

And no Scoot, I won't register as a Democrat. They have problems of their own, like being taken seriously on anything.