bohemian rhapsody

OK, well, my part of the project is done. All of the pieces were disassembled, cleaned, sanded (repeatedly), primered and painted. I even got the piece I pulled out yesterday after work, yup, decided to do one more part of the dash. It's up to Bill now. He's supposed to do the electrical work. The whole point of the project was to redo the electrical (and to hide the wires). It looks pretty damn good, not perfect as if it came off the assembly line but good for what it's supposed to do. After installation and cleaning the car I'll snap a few photos of the redone console. Of course it contrasts with the rest of the dash and the interior but it's only the first phase of doing the whole dang thing.
I'm trying to figure out what I want to do next. The interior stuff is relatively cheap to redo, but I want to save up to do an engine swap. Research online points to a B18 VTEC, 160hp and just general badass-ness. Unfortunately a brand new VTEC engine costs a pretty penny (almost $2000) and then there's the additional costs like tools, replacement parts, and an engine crain. Plus, if I get a good engine I'll need a new transmission and I haven't even begun looking for one yet. Not like I've done any of this to any other car, but I don't know anything about transmissions except for gear ratios. I know what they are, I don't know how to change them but I know what they're supposed to do. To utilize the bigger engine I'll also need a new air intake and exhaust system. So that's a big step, the biggest for the car project.
The biggest obstacle in the whole thing is financing. I don't get paid alot and a majority of my money is tied up in food and shelter. I supposed I can just live in my car, that'll solve most of my problems but I still need a place to store my stuff. Maybe my office... there's plenty of space. At the rate I'm going, this will probably years in the making but hopefully, ultimately worth it.

blame canada

Why is it so difficult to date someone? I blame Hollywood for it all. In the movies we see the protagonist find the girl of his dreams, once the conflict is resolved the movie ends. We assume they live happily ever after. What we don't see is that in two year's time they've drifted apart and want different things. Usually the girl wants to have kids while the guy doesn't think that's such a great idea (for whatever reason, all legitimate). That's not in the movies because that doesn't sell, we all want that fairytale relationship. You meet at some innocuous locale (the coffee shop we frequent), there's some minor obstacles we have to overcome together and then the rest of the relationship is smooth sailings. It takes a lot of work, more work than I'm willing to put into it for just some random girl. Sure it's fun for about the first two weeks but that's it. I don't want to exchange keys, I don't want to have to buy a second supply of toiletries to stock at her place, and I certainly don't want to have to split my time between our places and friends. She doesn't have to meet my family, we don't make joint plans for the holidays and we don't settle down. Bad plan? Probably.
I'm not that bad OK? I'd get in my car and drive cross-country to surprise her, or jump on a plane and fly across an ocean but only if they're worth it. You know if they're worth it too from the get go. Most aren't. For friends and family I've driven (or rode in the Casey, Illinois incident) a day to see, I've gone broke for them but it's because they're worth it. Some members of my family I won't do that for (sad but true) but others I would go to the ends of earth for. I've certainly thought that some girls were worth it but found out that the feeling was not mutual. Plus it's sort of stalker-ish to fly to another place and surprise them. Sure it's in those romance movies, but it's also in the horror movies. Apparently there's a thin line between the two.

Of course I have been speaking hypothetically...

not just to keep rain off my neck

There's a couple of things on my mind. Yes. More than just an obstacle for the guy behind me at the movies. First off, DAMN YOU YANKOVIC! I was fine until I started to play Minesweeper on my laptop. I surely am not White & Nerdy. Whew. With that off of my chest I feel a little better.
Secondly, there's an issue that is reminscent of high school. I recently got an RSVP from a friend to attend his wedding reception in Ohio. Now, do I RSVP for +1 or not? Usually I do, but this dry spell has got me worried. I've got two months (which lots can happen, or it could be like the last two months and nothing happens), but how does this work? If I +1 and the day comes and I'm still single, do I find a replacement? Or do I just go it solo? Yeah, not much of a dilemma I know but it's just like prom back in high school. Except the pool of people I'm working from is much lower now than it was back then. Yesh.
Third (completely seperate from item 2) is this concept that hit me. I sometimes hang out with two friends from college (they're married) but often times I feel like the third wheel, we go to the movies and have plans to go see Happy Feet sometime in the future. The issue is this: they're starting to invite other singles (friends/family) in their life that are females. Am I wrong to be thinking set up? One of the possibilities is another one of our friends from college, whom I do like, she's cool in the slightly crazy way. The other is his sister, I've never met her. Call me crazy, but is someone controlling my life? Is this the Truman Show?

another good idea, bad idea

I'm a big fan of the movies. Big fan of TV shows too. That much is obvious. In a pinch, the good guy manages to pick the lock of his jail cell and saves the day. All he's got is a couple of toothpicks and maybe a paperclip. I always wanted that skill, something to put on the resume. Well, I tried it and it didn't work. The paperclip was too weak to attack the tumblers. Toothpick? Also not up to the challenge. Not to be detered, I spent $40 on a cheap lock picking set to test my skills.
After reading up extensively on the subject I decided to try it out when my lock picking set arrived today. Unfortunately I couldn't spring the cash for the practice lock too, so I used the next best thing my own lock to my apartment.
It took my a couple of tries but I managed to pick my lock! YEAH!!!!! First day! Takes practice, yeah right! This was a great idea right?
Wrong. I accidentally got too excited working the deadbolt lock and didn't reset it like you would a normal key. Result, damaged the whole mechanism. No more bolt lock on my door. It's there and it works from the inside but the key doesn't work in it anymore. Luckily, I still have the puny lock that goes with the door handle thingie (Yeah, that's the technical term).
So, let's review. Honing a cool skill like lock picking? Good idea. Breaking your own lock. Bad idea. Lesson over.

i want charles in charge

While surfing the Internet I came across a disturbing article. You might ask what could disturb a seasoned combat veteran? Well obviously I'm going to tell you otherwise I wouldn't have typed it. Show executives, in an effort to keep viewers, are going starting to forgo the traditional opening credits and theme songs. I realize that viewership is going down on the average, but it's tradition to flip to another channel when you see those opening credits roll. It's not the show's fault that viewership is down. It's the network's. Yes, those 40 seconds are so crucial! Let's forget about the fact that your typical 30-minute show is actually only 22 minutes of content (this is an average) and your 1-hour show is about 45-48 minutes of show. To improve this situation the network force 2-minute long commercial breaks every five minutes of show time. Wow! Just as the storyline gets good I have to take a two minute break, makes for suspense right? Or does it just serve to piss people off?
It's actually lots of little problems that make this thing a big issue.
1. Networks make money on tv spots. The better the show, the more money it costs to get your commercial in.
2. Assinine shows get good ratings.
3. Networks hire assinine writers to write assinine shows.
4. Assinine writers can't write 27 minutes of show every week, maybe can fill 20 minutes.
5. Network takes advantage of this and charge the same amount for spots but have more spots and make more money.
6. Network realizes that they could do the same to ALL programming, charge the same amount while expanding the amount of commercials.
7. Assinine show fails. Network realizes that they need to hire smart people to write assinine show.
8. Content quality increases but time allotted does not, producers forced to take from where they can, the show.
9. End credits scroll below during final scene. Opening credits cut to make more time for show content.
-> next step 10. Show ratings go up, network wants more slots and takes more time from the show.

I can just see it now, all of the writers and producers band together to make their own network and sell it over the Internet. The Internet becomes the new TV. Meanwhile, the networks in their attempt to regain their writers and producers make a brand new "CTV" or Commercial TV, commercials 24/7.
Also, what's been going on with Prime Time? Wasn't it back in the day 7-9pm Monday-Friday? Now it's 8-10pm? Is this an attempt to make it unappealing to the youth? Because it was usually adult-content programming after 9pm which was our bedtime and therefore didn't watch. Is that the same principle? Because it's retarded! The shows are marketed for the youth population! Now we've got 14 year-old boys and girls staying up to 10pm to watch The O.C. Yeah, that's just genius. And with the level of technology, you think they're going to wait to talk about it at school the next day or hop on the Internet afterwards or text message each other? So now they're staying up till midnight talking with each other. Brilliant! Here's another idea, to bolster attendance in schools, what if we handed out illegal drugs at class? I bet more kids would show up, granted I don't know how much they'll learn but they'll be there!
Grr, the focus of the whole country is askew.

time well-wasted

Yeah, not the Brad Paisley song.

I spent a good hour on this blog layout. Yup. Sure I'm supposed to be researching media contacts or scheduling meetings but this seemed more productive. There's funny comics now at the bottom from http://explosm.net. I'm still making modifications to the layout but I'm headed in the right direction, and no, I'm not going to use up my personal time that's why I do this 9-5.