Bought it.....See Diesel Discussion for pics.


:)

I'm on staycation this week, wooohoooooooo. I'm not doing anything...have a good one you guys.

It's about -1° F w/a near -1° F Wind Chill (so far) this morning... +15° F is expected today for the high, then tomorrow about +27° F... a warming trend :rolleyes:

Hey, it could be worse...somewhere, the Weather Channel is pointing out that a few folks are experiencing -70° F...having been CLOSE to that about 15 years ago (-49.3° F back in Jan. of '96 for a whole, whopping 60 seconds!!!) I thoroughly believe we're experiencing nothing compared to those folks in Moscow.

On a more lighter note, counting today, there's only 10 days to finish up that last-minute Christmas shopping (I'm counting the early morning hours of the 25th...you KNOW there's some place that's still open for the "Pros of Procrastination" that are out there, earning their titles the hard way!) :rolleyes: :o :D

Have a warm one today! :thumbup1:

Loverly topless ride in to work this morning (it's ok to drop the plastic windowed top on my Miata at 35* since the plastic window is more packing tape than plastic at this point :P), light traffic, sunshine, and warm gloves.

Had "cousin" Max over for dinner last night (still not sure his exact relationship to Darling Wife or Ma, but there's blood in there somewhere - his folks I think are somehow related to Ma family that has a farm in Washington state). Max is a student at Hopkins, and has been corresponding off and on with Ma for several years. He brought Ma a Hopkins hat which she loved. I grilled salmon (still got tons of Twin Brother caught salmon and halibut to eat through!) which Ma loved. Lots of fun yakking about family and politics and religion with me, Ma, Darling Wife, Barb, and Max.

Tomorrow Twin Brother returns from a couple days in Baltimore with his 4' 9.75" tall Alaskan lady friend who is here to interview - at Hopkins (small world and all that). Darling Wife and I (and Lucky the Beagledor plus a Cat to be named later) head down to the local animal shelter to be interviewed as potential adopters and to check sweet pup Emily's reaction to Lucky and to cats.

Emily is the absolute antithesis of what we're looking for in a new border collie - she's small, short haired, female, and a pup (three months old), but she is sweetness to the nth degree. We shall see!

I think I'm going to pull the instrument cluster out of the 300D and take a look for a potential ground problem. The temp gauge has developed a habit of jumping up about 5C for no reason.

Today's the day I change my underwear and scratch.

I've got some work sandwiched around and between the kids' "Winter Concerts." Oldest two had theirs this morning and the youngest two have theirs this afternoon. The school's PC approach has been to sing about all of the various Holiday's this time of year rather than sing about none of them.

The heating conversion is still plugging along. 70% of the warehouse units have been hung and operating. The three in my end of the building fire up at 6:30 and by 7:30 have the temp up to 68* (nighttime temp set at 53*, 6:00 at 58*, 6:30 at 68*) when they cycle off and haven't to this point fired up after that for the rest of the day. It'll be interesting to see once it really gets cold. Investing in some ceiling fans would probably go along way. I'm looking forward to them being done so that we can start fine-tuning the programmable t-stats.

Now the race is on to finish before we run out of heating oil as the oil burner is still supplying heat to that other 30% of the building.

I commend you. I can't go an hour without scratching something.

So, you're taking the day off today?

Spending day #4 in the hospital dealing with pneumonia. Looks like at least another week here and if I can stretch it a few more days then I get to miss the whole ritual of trying to remember who gave me what gift last year so's not to be guilty of "re-gifting"!:eek: I can always blame it on the drugs.:rolleyes:

No, I don't have a clue how I got this crap but I do know I don't EVER want to get it again!

finals.

Got the next two weeks off...just waiting for Friday to roll around.:D

getting ready for the Holidays to commence. have a good one you guys!

Trying to remember to breathe is my primary objective for today.

Both Darling Wife and I hit our respective walls yesterday - too much going on, not enough clones to get it all done. Eternally grateful that we were each able to say "I'm overwhelmed" when it hit and get/give gentle touches and soft whispers of 'breathe' rather than spiraling down into bitterness and bickering. Pretty sure this is why in 4+ years together we've never argued.

Get through today (work & doc appointment for me, Ma sees Doc Oh) and then we figure out how to get done what must get done in the time we have - and put everything else on that never ending list of projects that we gotta get to eventually.

Secondary objective is to figure out how to convince Ma that she doesn't have to apologize 287 times when she calls me at 4 something in the morning because she made it to, but can't get off of, the downstairs toilet. Followed by figuring out what we're gonna do when she can't make it there in the first place.

Been out of town for the past two or three weeks (can't really remember when I packed my socks and underwear...) but I sure was happy that the furnace kept running while I was gone (I'd forgotten that, occasionally, the pilot light doesn't want to ignite the gas...I have to shut down the thermostat for 5 minutes, then "ON" to get it to catch!), so thankfully, no frozen/broken pipes or frosty dishes on the countertop.

Got our "little project" just about completed...but I now have two full-powered backup transmitters ready and waiting in case the main units decide to "*hit the bed" and become an "extended problem" for me.

Now...the paperwork... :rolleyes:

However, I did get some good news from the DOE (Director Of Engineering) of our organization...BONUSES!!! THIS YEAR!!! JUST LIKE LAST YEAR!!! (And THAT was great, too!!!) And we're (there was three of us) also getting our pay from the furloughs we took a few months back...so we ended up getting a week's paid vacation...I hope that this doesn't screw up the tax situation too badly...but, if it does, I know I will, at least, have the cash to "grin & bare it" as the case may be...

The other thing going on is trying to be "Father Confessor" with all the "ex" family members since the divorce last year...the "ex" and her losing her dad and mom within the year has been tough on her...she's calling almost daily, to "vent" and cry about what couda'/shouda' been and how someone mistreated someone else and all...I've suggested that she take some time and speak to someone a bit more professional...but she says she likes talking to me better (It's probably because I'm too stupid to charge by the minute...or is it hour?). I shouldn't really complain though...being a shoulder to cry/lean on isn't really any more different than being on here and doing the same thing, is it? ;) Anyways, she's just gotten wind of her oldest "brudder" being put on oxygen 100% now due to his childhood asthma finally catching up to him. This was the brother (a Sheriff deputy) near Bloomington, IL., that was run into by a drunk driver, back in '82, that also killed the guy her brother had pulled over to straighten out a trailer lighting issue...he's had so many problems with the injuries from that accident (he died three times on the table AFTER they pulled his bullet-proof vest off him) that I'm somewhat surprised that he's made it this far in life since that day...but he's hanging in there...I suppose it doesn't help too much when his "Bears" suck as much as they do this year...and he's a "Cubs" fan, too.

Jeeze! Sometimes the deck can be too stacked against you! ;)

Anyways, enough griping before the holidays...you folks stay warm and hunkered down...we're expecting some holiday "on ice" right now with the weather comin' up from Iowa...so drive safely, whereever you're heading and remember, no family member is so important to risk you're life for...just to visit...take it easy out there...they'll still be waiting at the door for you when you finally get there... :thumbup1:
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Yeah, the 'ol full plate syndrome with a vengeance. Well I'm certainly not going anywhere today, at least in the '98 E300 thanks to the incredibly stupid afterthought of mounting the radiator in diesel 210s too far low and forward.

3 times in 6 years have I just gently bottomed out the too low front end with the result that the radiator subframe gets pushed up and backwards, letting the fan blades, which are perilously close to the horizontal aluminum water tubes, slice into them and occasionally break a fan blade in the process.

Not to seem reactionary but this time, after I pop in a new radiator and have the car detailed out and some minor flaws attended to it will find a new owner when I'm in the new house this spring.

That combined with the added stress of Wife's chemo and my own heart nonsense with all this cleaning and moving I'm doing is enough to.....

Hell, I'll have a drink, then go start my Model T, that car never lets me down. That will lift my spirits.