Happy Holloween!

The weather turned colder today with some rain. I didn't get much done except to chase down some plans in Chico for some possible future work, which is always good.



I don't drive the Cobra in the rain, so no progress on that front. I'm sure the drag races will be canceled tomorrow night because of the wet weather. That's a bummer because it's the last race of the season and I was hoping to get some pictures and video of a couple of friends cars on the track. It will have to wait until next year...



I did get to take a few pics in Chico this morning while there. It's such a photographic city, especially when the colors are changing. This is my favorite of the ones I took today.

4 more days until the election. Any comment on who will win?

Here comes the rain again, new equiptment, in the news

It looks like it is actually going to happen. Rain! We haven' t had any in quite some time. though I'm not a big rain fan, we really need it. The lakes here are hurting bad for water. Shasta lake is over 160' below the top and dropping like a rock. Luckly, there are a couple of lakes in the area that never get too far down. You can actually boat in them without hitting shallow objects...

As some of you may know, I like to take pictures. I haven't shot any 35mm film in a long time. I have mostly shot digital photos with either a Kodak EasyShare Z720 (now my wife's camera) and most reciently a Sanyo Xacti cg6 snapshot/video camera.

Well today, that all changes. It's been a long time coming, but I finally stepped up to a digital SLR. A friend and fellow blogger David Louis Harter (http://www.dlhweblog.blogspot.com/) emailed me (thanks Davester!) about a killer deal on a Nikon D50 with tons of gear. I scrimped and scraped and managed to scratch up enough dough to pick up this jem of a camera.

It came with the D50 body, Nikor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5g ED lens, Nikor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6d ED lens, Nikon SpeedlightSB-600 accessory flash, 2 Li-Ion battery packs, charger, 2 camera bags, and a Bogen 3205 Professional tripod, as will as software and camera strap. It's a used camera, but was owned by a life long photog and it looks and runs like a new camera. It's only two years old, and since the guy had 10 other digital cameras, it was only used occasionally. I think I'm going to love this camera!

On the car front, I got the new mass air sensor (actually a replacement for the one I had) in the car and am currently tuning it. Once tuned, I will complete the water/methanol injection system and test it. Unfortunately our local drag race track is closing for the season after this weekend, so it may be sometime before I can totally complete the testing. Wish I knew someone with a private air strip I could use...

In the news...

Boy shocked by campaign sign
Thursday, October 30
(updated 2:32 pm)
By The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill was tired of someone stealing McCain-Palin campaign signs from his yard.
So the man with a degree in electrical engineering hooked up a third sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday. Turschak also put up a surveillance camera.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Tuesday, a 9-year-old boy with an Obama-Biden sign grabbed the McCain-Palin sign and got a jolt.
The boy's father, Andrew Noble, then showed up at the Turschak's door, upset his son had been shocked. Soon an Orange County sheriff's deputy also showed up at the Turschak's home.
Noble says his son just wanted to see how the sign was put together. Turschak says the boy intended to swap out the signs.

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said he doesn't plan to file charges.

Watch the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBcasl2b0Ug

Another day

Sorry all, I got busy yesterday and didn't make it over here to post.

Well it looks like another typical day for me. The norm has been no work. I have had about 5 months off this year. And with the ecomony in the dumps, there is no end in site in the near future. Thinking about taking a job in another line of work until the construction trade gets back on it's feet...

It seems the government isn't doing anything to help the econony out either. They are willing to spend $700+ billion, but not to help the average joe. More pocket lining, less help for the average person. Certianly Joe the Plumber was right...


Yesterday I worked on the Cobra for awhile. And today I will finish up what I started which was the install of the water/methanol injection system and the re-installation of the mass air sensor. That will get me back on the road for now. I need to do the front brakes, and already have the parts, but need to get the rotors turned, and that is money I can't spend right now. If you haven't ever seen my Mustang Cobra, here is a pic of it.



1993 Mustang Cobra 1of 4993 made

I have been cleaning up my notebook computer. It was so full of unused programs and "stuff", that it was almost unusable. I pulled over 5 gigs of programs off of it, and defragged. That made a big difference in the speed. And since I use it instead of my desktop now, I need it to run right.
My desktop computer lost a 7 port powered USB hub the other day. It was a Belkin. This is the 2nd Belkin item I have had go bad in the last year or so. I will not buy from them again.

Getting ready to add some more photos to my webpage of when we went to PINKS all out at Infinion Raceway, and some from a car show that I went to in Stockton a couple of weeks ago. I have been also asked to post some fishing and hunting pics pictures and I will get to that as time permits. For now, here is my last big catch...




42# California Hallibut, SF Bay

First Post

Well I did it! I finally got around to getting a blog up and running.

Since work is slow this year (and the economy is in the toilet) I may have time to spend on this and my web page I just put up. You may not see new post every day, but I'll try.

Mostly what you will find here are my random thoughts and opinions. Maybe even some useful information on occasion. I will be adding features to the blog as time permits, so check back often, and please post comments if you have time.

Today, I am working on my 1993 Mustang Cobra. I'm getting ready to install a water/methanol injection system. It works by injecting a 50/50 water/methanol solution just before the blower, which will cool down the air charge, and up the octane from 91 to around 115 octane. Since the car has a twin screw blower on it (Kenne Bell) I need some help staving off detonation. Once I get it installed, I will write a review on the system and post it on my website.

Thanks for looking...