half a cat

Finally — Jimmy Swift Band music can be purchased in MP3 format. This is a band I saw at the Canmore Hotel late last year when I was up there for a company retreat-slash-work-session. This is one of the best bands I have ever seen in person – the masses agree. Do yourself a huge favor, drop the $18 USD and download both their CDs. You will not be disappointed. Department: Jimmy Swift Band MP3s

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This is a continuation of the last post, but really deserves its’ own space.

I spent most of Saturday down at The Shop working on the truck – I did new belts, wires, plugs, rotor and distributor cap. It was all quite due for some updates, as the fan belt was actually missing teeth and the distrib. cap was quite grooved on the electrodes. I had been experiencing a bit of an issue trying to get the motor all tuned up — I know there is more power and gas mileage to be had.

The replacement parts went on like a champ and did a good job of smoothing out some rough spots, and overall the truck performs a bit better. Since there were so many knowledgeable folks there, we started looking into tuning it up further — just for fun. What we discovered is a bit odd — the firing order on the distributor (Chevy HEI) is correct, but it is indexed two plugs counter-clockwise from “normal”. This is not an issue in itself, but is something odd that needs to be corrected before moving on. The real issue turns out to be that the motor was not vacuum advancing. From what I’ve read, this type of advance is only going to give me increated economy, but it something that just should work. Landon eventually discovered that my vacuum line from the carbeurator to the advance canister on the distributor was plugged, so we removed the BB and reconnected things. Now, when the advance vacuum line is connected and the motor is held constant at anything other than an idle, it runs like crap, wanting to die, etc. We tried tons of stuff, but in the end we plugged off the vacuum port on the carb and just left it as it was before we removed the blockage — it at least runs fine then.

I will start going through things to narrow it down, the first being the odd timing of the distrib — need to find TDC again and properly time the thing. Next up will be a rebuilt carb. If that (and several hours of tinkering and drinking) do not solve things, I think a trip to the local mechanic is in order. Feh.

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Another weekend has come and gone, leaving a good sized wake of empty beer bottles, truck parts, dinner bills, and burned rubber. I really had a pretty great weekend — probably one of the most fufilling since I have moved back. Here are the shorts:

Friday. It was another day of 60F weather here, and I was not going to miss out on it. I would like to think I kicked butt at work the rest of the week and cranked out a lot of testing, so took a long and late lunch to polish up the Harley. There were a few spots on the paint that had been rubbed when I moved all my stuff in Kris’ horse trailer from CT. I used the Harley Scratch & Swirl and rubbed all the spots out in a few hours. A nice coat of glaze and a polish later, and the bike is back to its usual sparkling self. I worked for a bit, and at 5 gave Landon a call to see if he wanted to ride — he did =D. We cleared out the cobwebs for the bikes and cruised around Billings. A few beers at BullWhackers dried up that pesky road thirst, and then we proceeded to really crack open the bikes on top of Zimmerman trail. As it turns out, my bike has NO problems keeping up with Landon, so my previous misgivings about the lack of power are still founded, but I’m not experiencing anything out of the normal. Such good news!

I headed home after the ride and was just going to hit Golden Phoenix or something like that for take-out, but got inspired and hit up Walkers Grill for dinner. I was completely surprised at the place — it made me feel at ‘home’ again in a restaraunt. It was like I had stepped into a nice place in Philly and was getting dinner there. I had a few Maker’s & Cokes, the Satay and Lamb Curry, and finished off the lovely evening with a glass of Sandemans Founder. Yes folks, there was Port on the menu! Fantastic!

I rounded out the evening by chilling at The Shop (I’ve decided to add capitals, it does get mentioned enough) for a few, but Koelzter was busy doing the heads on a Ford, so I chilled at K&C’s for a bit. I managed to not get too shitty for once and head home at a semi-reasonable hour.

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Yesterday’s sqirrel humor at LLNL reminded me of a story I saw on Slashdot a while back about folks at Harvard doing some Squirrel Fishing. That had to be one of the top 10 funny things I’ve ever seen in the Ivys

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Apparently LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Lab) has had a rash of blown transformers lately. It seems some mystery squirrels may be to blame:

[10:13am] neb: My understanding is that it won't be up until at least 12PM PST
[10:14am] nic__: ouch
[10:14am] neb: There were literally half a dozen facility type people working in the area when I headed back home.
[10:15am] nic__: wow. you know it is serious when >2 show up
[10:15am] neb: Last week we had the tranformer blow that took out thunder.
[10:15am] nic__: seems to be a pattern...
[10:15am] neb: And there was a joke going around about a "drop squirrel".
 [10:16am] nic__: LOL
[10:16am] nic__: that just smells bad...not that I would know or anthing
[10:16am] nic__: anything even
[10:16am] neb: The joke is, that any time something serious goes wrong the facilities people reach into their freezer and <br /> get a dead frozen squirrel and drop in at the site of the problem. That way they affix blame on someone other than themselves.
[10:17am] neb: "Oh shit this looks bad. Quick grab a drop squirrel"

It’s official — my first piece of squirrel humor. Oh wow…I should really put a story up from my Philadelphia apartment. Anna, you kill me for that one ?

And of course there was more later…

neb: westlund, how are things going there. Are you physically at the lab?
[3:57pm] acu-home: I haven't heard a peep in hours
[3:58pm] neb: That russian ICBM must have really done a number on stuff.
[3:59pm] acu-home: Wasn't an ICBM.  They say a squirrel got into the prototype matter converter.
[3:59pm] neb: I thought that was just the "cover story"
[4:00pm] neb: The one we were supposed to tell everyone so that they wouldn't know what <it>really happened</it>
[4:00pm] acu-home: The hidden story is that the squirrel is still in there 
[4:01pm] acu-home: looks out window and see 38 ton squirrel go by
[4:01pm] neb: You mean that the when the drop squirrel got hit with the radiation it developed super powers and is now on a rampage.
[4:02pm] acu-home: shhhh

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Mmmm, tasty car racing. The Daytona 500 is such a treat — start thinking about weather warming up, riding the Harley, grilling, etc. The race was quite good — my boy Dale Jr. did not have a fantastic race until the last 25 laps or so, then he did the usual ’shoot-to-the-front-in-5-laps’ drill. Alas, it was not to be a day for victory lane, as Rubber Head (Kurt Busch for the uninformed) managed to block the 8, allowing Jeff Gordon to hold on to his lead. Blech, drivers who enunciate have no place in my beloved sport! By finishing 3rd, Jr has given the massive horde great hopes for a good season — I’m rooting for a series championship, but 40 some odd races are left, so anything could happen.

On a side note, there really is nothing better than forced laziness on a Sunday — especially when Tivo affords you a mid-race nap. As tomorrow is a holiday for us US folks (well at least one of the ones CFS observes), I’m gonna be having a fine Monday of sleeping in and …god who knows what. The utility room and garage could use some serious help getting arranged, and I suppose a trip around the house with a mop bucket would not kill me. I really do need to get the place ready for use — especially if I am going to be potty training a puppy in the utility room. I’m guessing that dog pee does not help ones brewing equipment either. Mmmmm DoggyDoo Brew. I’ve got to say it — “now there is some GOOD brown ale!”

Hrm — there have been a few things rattling round my head lately, so hold on for some random rants…

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Now this is what I call a weekend! So, where to start…. I think it started Friday, ahh yes, Friday. Kris gave me a call and convinced me to head to Planet Lockwood with him. You know, that man gets me into more fun or trouble — I guess that is what best friends are for ? For those of you who don’t know, Planet Lockwood is one of those fine establishments that allows men with money to see girls with no clothes. sniff Ahh, the smell of captialism….and cheap perfume. I think it is official now, the cost of living in Montana is much lower. I have been to a few of these ‘Gentlemens Clubs’ (what a misnomer that is) in Philly and Jersey, and I have to say that the girls work harder here for a dollar than I’ve ever seen. Kris tossed a few dollars on the bar in front of me, and the girls would of course come over and use creative methods to scoop up the dollars, sometimes after strategically placing those bills on your person. I’m not one who goes to get all worked up in a lather by the girls — I enjoy more the whole scene, sometimes it is just down right hillarious. The trick is to remember — they don’t really like you, and in NO circumstances (well, at least not for less than a grand) are they going home with you….not that you’d really like to do that.

We continued to the “Anything for a dollar” theme from last night , and headed to BullWhackers to hook up with the rest of the crew and do some liver damage. Lucky me, they had Fat Tire on special for a dollar. As usual, I proceeded to drink lots — it is a fun thing to do you know! The best part was that Kris picked me up, so I had none of the usual driving worries to slow my consumption. We had the requrisite blast, spiced up by seeing the fruits of Mary’s visit to the piercing shop, very nice. Thanks to Chad for the lift home.

Saturday night was a bit calmer, and unfortunately was not a continuation of the dollar drink specials. I hit King’s Korner for a few games of pool with K &C, Troy, Sam and Bill. It was then onto the Red Door. It is amazing how good some of those karaoke singers are. Kris, Christy & I took off around midnight and crashed at my place — their house is a bit stanky after refinishing their tub. The fireplace got used again, and Tivo was her usual great self.

All in all, a nice lecherous weekend. Tuesday I will have to return to the guise of a nice dependable software engineer. I have to mention, it has been sometime since I’ve had this many friends to go out and party with. It is soooo nice.

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Hey! As if you did not already notice, I’ve upgraded to Wordpress 1.5 and changed the look of the site. Please direct all praise and adulation in the comments, thank you very much.

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So, I have finally broken down and let The Man put it to me for a gym membership. The good news is that I will be working towards a very svelte Nic. Photos to scare the women and children soon! Kris has remained good enough to drag my butt towards said gym. Sometimes you just need a bit of motivation. I have taken it upon myself to start eating better to help this effort, so I will actually be cooking more and hitting Wendy’s less.

Melanie called me while I was at the grocery store, and it turns out it was Travis Gs barfday. The plan was to hit the Wild West (oh how I hate that place, let me count the metric assloads of cigarette smoke in the air…) for a couple of drinks and make an early night of it. Riiiiight. They were having a $1 USD special on Crown Royal drinks. Let the party begin! I had a few (ok, a few doubles, but who is counting) and had quite a good time.

It has been sooo long since I’ve gotten toasty on a Thursday night. I can’t help but remember the years of ol’ White Dog. Wow did we kill a lot of pitchers there, enough that someone named her cat after the beer we always drank. And no it was not “Bud”, we drank real beer. Following that link might shed some light on the naming of my group of friends too.

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It is not that often I am surfing the web at 2:45AM and actually find something worth reading. This article just has to be checked out. How I Feed My Cats with Linux | Linux Journal

Now…I wonder if I can adapt that for birds or a dog.

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