Who are you cheering for in the big game tomorrow?

Are you Ruff or Fluff?

What, you thought I was talking about the football game? I’m talking Puppy Bowl XIII on Animal Planet channel. Basically it’s watching 2 hours of puppies playing with dog toys with a half hour of kittens in the middle, and everybody not human in the show is up for adoption. I have no idea how they determine a winner except by counting how many members of each team get adopted during the show, maybe?Anyway Team Ruff is looking strong and aggressive this year, I pick them to go all the way.

There were Girl Scouts and cookies at the grocery store today, we picked up a box of Dos-i-dos (the peanut butter sandwich cookie here) because Mrs. the Poet already bought Tagalongs (chocolate covered shortbread cookies with a peanut butter filling, kinda like a Reese’s Cup cookie).

I’m still working on the hot rod. I was offered a much later model minivan today for trade-in value. It also has a bad transmission or transmission controller that is making shifting sluggish and it hesitates before going into gear from a stop. This is something I can fix, I have the instructions on rebuilding one of these transmissions and the only tools needed are a metric socket set and a pair of snapring pliers, and I got all that. And if that doesn’t do the trick the transmission controller is part of the PCM that I’ll have to reprogram after I put it in the hot rod. So basically I get a much newer engine an transmission with the same problems as the other car. Unfortunately Mrs. the Poet just put the kibosh on actually buying a donor car, so now… ugh! 😛

So, I guess in the meantime I get to fix the tire pump by running to the parts store for fittings and a hose that fits the fittings.

PSA, Opus the Unkillable

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I need a pussyhat

Seriously. I want to show my support, I need a warm hat for long walks at night, and I can’t knit. I also don’t have the funds to buy one even if I knew where to get one. Also I strongly disagree with and disapprove of Cheeto Jesus. For a guy who sponsored a bike race he doesn’t seem to care much about actually being able to use bikes.

Also I got a PM on Twitter (@opusthepoet) that I should do a political blog. Sorry but while I care about politics to a degree I care much more about what politicians are doing to things I care about, like clean air and clean water, and my grandson not having to swim to work when he grows up because of sea level rise due to climate change. I really don’t care which political party is in charge as long as the things like that and personal liberties are protected. Unfortunately we seem to have one side that only protects corporate profits ahead of clean air and water and personal liberties.

On yet another front, my new pump doesn’t work. Instead of using a compression fitting for connecting the gauge to the pump they used a pipe thread fitting. Both of those connect and hold air, the difference is you can’t “clock” the pipe fitting to make it tight when facing a particular direction like you can with a compression fitting, and the gauge keeps hitting the pump frame during the pump action and getting loosened up. The solution of course is to get a hose with a female pipe fitting on one end and a male fitting on the other and use that to bridge the gap between the gauge and the pump so they don’t hit. I could ask for my money back, but I got almost the cheapest pump on Amazon so I guess this is as much my fault as theirs. On the bright side I can use this as practice for building brake lines for the hot rod, and the extra hose length will make using the pump easier as I can hold the gauge in my hand as I pump instead of trying to read it on the ground as it bounces back and forth from being on a foot pump.

On the hot rod front I have discovered the hub spacing using the stock drive axles is going to be too wide for the front axle. I have four alternatives: buy a wider front axle so the front and rear widths match up (expensive, requires custom manufacturing), 2) make the de Dion cage so that the rear axle width matches the front and shorten the stock drive axles to fit (tricky but barely within my capabilities), or 3) get the widest front axle width available without spending for the custom work and live with the difference as it will actually reduce the theoretical difficulties I was having getting the front and rear grip to match through the middle of a corner. Getting a wider front axle also reduces a problem I was trying to work around for wheel lock. Not lock as in too much brake but lock as in how far I can turn the wheel from side to side, in this case wider is better as the frame is a fixed width, and the further I push the front wheels out the more I can turn them from side to side, without hitting the rest of the car. 4) Mix of 3 and 2. Buy the widest axle and then narrow the drive axles to fit. Cheaper than 1 with all the work of 2 but the car will look right. Handling would still be interesting to sort out.

So, tomorrow I have meetings about the church, then grocery shopping, looks like a busy day.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable