Nickel's first time. I think he is finalizing an exit strategy on the last frame.
Taken last weekend inside a vintage/thrift store in the city (SF) which had one of those old school photobooths hidden in the back - the kind that still develops the picture. None of that digital crap. Hooray for analog! And using chemicals! Digital photobooths have no soul!
There is exactly a week before Coachella starts.
Happy days in 2008!
I've been worried about the weather. It's weird. I usually don't like the summer season, since unnecessary sweating bothers me. But I find myself re-checking the weather forecast every few days and finding that this year's Coachella looks AT LEAST 30 degrees cooler than all the previous years I've been. What is happening!? What will it be like without the death-defying heatwave that makes you spend all your money on lemonade and seek shelter getting fire hosed by the Do Lab freaks?? Will it ever be the same?! And never in my wildest dreams would I think of finding myself wanting to be scorched bone dry in the desert. It just won't be the same without pain!
I need a beer. I spent too many hours again underneath the bus. I finally hooked up the heater control boxes and tried valiantly to set the control cable. Am learning some obvious lessons on how to pay attention to detail and becoming more thorough in your work and analysis, which of course manifests itself at the 11th hour when you realize that a few things have already gone wrong. After awhile, I eventually managed to stick one heat exchanger up into the exhaust heads, but quickly realized that there is an unwanted dent in one of fresh air channels from the engine fan that is preventing a flap from opening completely. I'll have to hammer it out tomorrow. Not like I have any more time to dilly dally - I need to get this shit together and still pass by the shop to get my EGR filter welded back on in time for her maiden summer voyage of 2010.
As my dad asked for the umpteenth time tonight, "What are you doing??"
"You should spend more time with your girlfriend, instead of that bus."
I passed by a small warehouse in the valley in a quest to look for odd metric screws. As I got inside, there was nobody at the counter and was about to hit the "press the button for service" but I lay my finger on it while eavesdropping on the profanity exploding from the back door. Basically, the guy was ripping his employee a new asshole. About how he spent years working and taking orders and doing everything from the ground up, and about how this job isn't effing easy and if you wanted to have a good time go sit your ass down in the movies and work there, about how he says things straight and doesn't do bullshit. Say it like it is, brother.
It's not really that deep, but I thought it looked pretty cool. Was lining up some parts on the Veedub this afternoon, but my hand slipped. Dabbed on some expired (2008) liquid bandage, taped it up, and crawled underneath the bus to pry out the exhaust gaskets on the heads.
My dad walked in the garage and asked what I was doing and why I was underneath it. He said something like, ayan bulok kasi kotse mo (that's what you get for getting a shitty car). I chuckle to myself, and he says "Mag-ingat ka diyan, baka mag-earthquake" (Take care underneath, there might be an earthquake). Lima-Oscar-Lima.
What an idiot.
I feel really detached lately, and have no life outside of work and a small number of people I keep tabs on. It's hard to pretend that I'm fine, blabbing away in this quiet corner of space, while everyone else is enjoying the party. And so after careful thought and preparation my friends, I finally bit the bullet.
I am on Facebook.
More pictures from New York here.
The weather was incredible today, so Kat and I celebrated by taking the Vespa out on errands and caught 10,000 miles on the odometer en route to Topanga. We headed out to Lowes to pickup various stainless metric nuts and bolts for the exhaust re-install. I am still missing a few pieces, but hopefully it will come together nicely. Hopefully.
While crawling underneath the bus this afternoon, I realized that there's something wrong with the thermostat. The cable that connects it to the air control flaps is cut, and the thermostat is expanded, which I would have never known had I not spent a bazillion hours on the vee-dub forums and 16 tabs open simultaneously on Google Chrome at any given moment. Also, I have a very uneasy feeling that the air control flaps are missing. I might have to take more apart to verify it, but I think I need to take things one step at a time before I get ahead of myself. Tomorrow I am going to dremel out a frozen bolt on the muffler strap. All of this is making me nervous.
Though he teased us that we could someday need the skill of oral storytelling in order to save our lives, the fact remains that our lives are our stories, and, if we are willing to take a moment to listen, we can understand each other, and our selves.
I'm kinda sad that I missed this. Ira Glass: This American Storyteller.
It's been almost two months since Kat moved out of her old apartment. After weeks and weeks of searching, Kat and I found the winning couch this afternoon at a store called Denmark 50 along Melrose. There were a lot of close calls the past few weeks in choosing the right couch, but it eventually dawned on us that choosing a couch is a serious commitment that warrants extensive soul searching, sort of like scoping out a potential long-term relationship and not like haphazardly choosing a drunken one-night-stand at the local pub. It's easy to fall in love, but it definitely makes more sense to do your homework in order to keep the love everlasting.
And so (just like the 4 other couches that came before it, hehe) we knew at once that the mustard mid-century modern piece from Denmark was the one. Pictures when we get her home next weekend :)
Is it really Friday?
Right before I leave the house, the dog decides to piss all over his leg. Must be a sign of things to come.
When I get to the office, one of the guys tells me that a jackass customer ran off with a box of paint and other tidbits from the shop.
Fortunately, we setup surveillance cameras throughout the showroom floor, and caught the bastard on video. So I've spent the past couple of hours trying to figure out how to export the damn video, or even just screenshots of the schmuck into a USB key, and it ain't working. Trying to access it through the network isn't happening either, looks like it would only work with an old version of IE. Why am I always stuck with crap software? Nothing ever f cking works the way it should.
So I decide to take a break and pickup my freshly coated exhaust parts from Pyramid Powdercoaters down the street. I take the dog out with me, and he decides to piss on his leg. Again.
I need a beer. Like, 3 hours ago.
Just got back into the west coast from almost a week in New York. Spent the week with plenty of cool refreshments and met up with the usual cool cats of the East Coast, sponsored by Casa de Gatchalian. In a few hours I still have to take the Bart, make the OAK - LAX leg, and ride the Vespa up the 405 straight to work. It was a good run, and excited to see how the pictures will turn out. The weather was perfect while we were there, with the exception of one wet day. I took a lot of TTV shots, and got a lot of stares because of my ghetto cardboard tube light blocker thingamajig.
The weirdest part, was randomly running into people. First, was Jaime and Nic spotting us in the outskirts of Central Park. I mean, how the hell do you run into people you know in a sea of billions of people? And second was running into my old coworker OJ right by his bus stop. The funny thing is, the exact same thing happened the last time we were in the city and ran into Donna, my neighbor who I haven't seen in forever. Nuts.
I think I just felt an earthquake.
With so many of them happening around the world in rapid succession, I wouldn't be surprised if we're up next!
We as consumers have expectations on how things should work. A microwave should heat up my food. A brake pedal is designed to stop the car. We buy things because they're meant to do something in particular. Manufacturers/service providers thrive in this capitalist market, and owe their existence to generating value through their ability to address a need and fulfill it. Of course there is that delicate balance between money and value, both horizontally and vertically through the supply chain. Doesn't matter if you're a consumer buying from a retailer, or a wholesaler buying from a manufacturer. Spend less, get less. Spend more, get more. Or that's how it's supposed to be.
Technology needs to become more transparent. The last thing anyone in the cube wants to worry about, is a supposed solution that only causes more problems. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck with 1988-era answers to 2010-era problems.
