Some of you guys might remember five years ago, when I went on a big diet and lost a bunch of weight really fast (over 100 pounds in five months). Well, sadly, I put a bunch of that weight back on in the years since. I was becoming increasingly disgusted with myself and was trying to get into the dieting frame of mind, and was planning on starting a diet in the new year.
Then, back in September, the Honda dealership I work at posted a notice for a weight loss challenge. The challenge was to begin on October 1, run until December 15, and had prizes of $2500, $1500, and $500 for the top three weight losses. As soon as I saw the sign I quite confidently declared that the $2500 was mine, and that everyone else was battling for second and third.
In in the two weeks leading up to the first weigh in and kickoff to the challenge, I ate like the world was about to run out of food. I mean, I ate everything that didn't eat back. My plan was to put a few quick pounds on to start the challenge - pounds that would be quickly lost again once the diet started.
On October 1, I weighed in at 276 pounds - the heaviest at the dealership (I'm also the tallest - there were others who weighed less but were fatter than me, if you get my meaning). There was much trash-talking among other partints, but I was adamant - the $2500 was mine. I even showed them before and after photos from the big diet of '09 to shake their confidence.
The following week, at the weigh-in, I really shook their confidence. I was down 20 pounds in one week. When I diet, I diet. Nothing radical, except that I cut out all pop/soda, all snacks, and ate sensible meals. And I stuck with it with determination. At each weigh in I extended my lead, until the final weigh in on December 15th: I weighed 217 pounds. That is a loss of 59 pounds in ten weeks.
Needless to say, I won the $2500 hands down. The nearest competitor was behind me by 35 pounds. I've gone from a 40" waiste to a 34" waiste. My feet don't hurt anymore. And I'm wearing clothes I haven't been able to wear in years.
I'm not finished yet though. My goal is to get below 200 again. The diet is on hold through Christmas, but on New Year's Day I will be back on it. And I know I said this the last time, I plan on keeping the weight off this time. It's a difficult thing to do, but one way I will keep myself in check us by ordering all knew work uniforms once I've hit my goal. If I kept my old uniforms, which are ridiculously loose on me now, I'd be able to put weight on and still wear them. With new uniforms, if they start to get tight I'll be forced to load weight. I know it's a silly scheme, but I hope it works...
***EDIT*** The money has been raised. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and also thanks to everyone who wanted to but couldn't for some reason. I'm adding this to the top of this post because the post in which I mentioned that we made it might get missed in several pages of posts.
As you all know, this forum is privately run without ads. No attempt has ever been made to monetize this site. The last few years of hosting were paid for by the generous members who donated money in a fundraiser, I believe this was over 5 years ago.
Today I got an email invoice from URLJet, our hosting service. This invoice was unexpected (We had several years paid, and truthfully I lost track of how many years were paid for). Unfortunately URLJet did not give me any advance notice - the invoice came today and is due for Oct 29. The amount of the invoice is $469.94 for two more years hosting. This presents a major problem because I do not have the money, and I don't have the time to organize a fundraiser. I don't even remember my PayPal credentials, for Pete's sake.
I am at a loss for what to do. Christmas is coming, so there is no extra money. I don't have the time, nor the skill, to move the forum to a new host. Use of the forum has dwindled significantly so I'm not even sure it'd be worth it (of course it'd be worth it, but I'm just freaking out). I'd hate to see this forum disappear, as it is really the only resource for our beloved foxes.
I really don't know what to do. And time is of the essence to figure something out. Need help, bad (not money help, but suggestion help). I would even be open to transferring ownership of the site to another member, so long as I was confident that new owner was a true enthusiast who would keep the spirit of the site as it is.
Just finished reading the latest Car Craft magazine. They managed to find space between the LS-powered Camaros to mention two T-Birds. The first was Matt & Debbie Hay's pro-street Turbo Coupe. The second was a reader's ride. I know, it's not much, but it's rare to see any mention of these cars at all, much less twice in one magazine...
Last year I installed an electric pool heater in an attempt to extend our already short swimming season. It worked great... except that it resulted in $900 power bills (it's a 15kW heater). The big problem with heating my pool is that it is shaded most of the day, so it gets little heat from the sun. This year I decided to do a home made "redneck" pool heater using 300 feet of black rubber garden hose, some wood, some tinfoil, and some clear plastic "greenhouse" roof panels. The beauty of a solar heater is that I can put it in a sunny area - much easier than moving the pool!
So today construction started. The heater is 4' X 8' with 300' of garden hose weaving back & forth, suspended 1.5" above the base, and has tinfoil glued to the base to reflect the sunshine that doesn't hit the hose directly back up to shine on the hose's underside. The top side of the solar panel will be plastic "greenhouse" panels to help keep the heat inside - I'm hoping to capture both radiant (infrared) and convective (like an oven) heat.
Here is today's progress:
The box (framework and base) is built and I've started weaving the hose through. There will be twice as many rows as shown here, an upper level and a lower level. You can see the holes for the lower level in the framework.
Here I've run a short piece of hose through the bottom level just to show how close the rows will be together once I'm finished. I would have liked to have made them closer together but am limited by how tightly I can bend the hose. I'm hoping the tinfoil on the bottom will turn the gaps between rows into an advantage by allowing reflected sunshine to strike the underside of the hoses
Just a heads up, our host is moving the site to a new server. I only just got the email this moment, so I'm letting you all know. Don't know how long the site will be down, or if it will even be down. Here's the email I got:
Hello, Starting Wednesday 1/29/2014 through Friday 1/31/2014, We will be moving your sites to a new, more powerful server. Every effort will be made to minimize disruption.
For those sites that we do not host DNS, DNS forwarding will be in place for 14 days and you'll be notified with the new information shortly after the move.
We appreicate your understanding and look forward to continuing URLJets high level of service.
Hope everyone is having a very merry Christmas. I know it's not about the loot, and we should all be happy for good health, friends, family, etc, and we should all think about those who are less fortunate than ourselves. And believe me, I do. But while it isn't all about the loot, the loot is definitely a factor!So what'd Santa bring you all?
Myself:
iPad Air 32GB A set of clamps (one can never have too many clamps) A set of ratchet straps (one can never have too many ratchet straps) Several books Clothes Slippers New kevlar composite stock for my rifle New hunting knife 25 pounds of cooked lobsters
Best of all, I got an early Christmas gift by way of a new job (back in October). And what makes this an early Christmas gift was the fact that I actually got Christmas gifts from work. At my last job the only thing we ever got for Christmas was a day off, and the cheap shager that owned the place only gave us that grudgingly. At the new place we get several (paid) days off, had a huge party at a luxury resort, and each got a gift bag. There were also several vacations given away, including a few to Disneyland, one to Greece, one to Mexico, and about a dozen to Boston (I didn't get one, it was a random drawing but I wasn't drawn). What I did get though, in the gift bag, was this:
LED animated "man cave" sign Hot dog cooker (rollers on top, bun warmers below) Steel cutout hockey player for the wall Panoramic painting of the Boston Garden with the Bruins playing Sweater Hockey clock Toronto Maple Leafs banner (gave this away) $25 gift card to the liquor store (regifted this, I don't drink)
So the work swag was pretty much all "man cave" stuff. Which will go nicely in my new garage :D
Just read Dougy_fresh's update on his new job and realized I'd forgotten to tell you all about my new job.
Long story, but gotta vent, so bear with me. This is actually the "reader's Digest" version, with many details left out to keep it as short as I could. If you wanna skip the back story, which I wouldn't blame you because I'm probably the only one interested in it, the details of the new job are in the last paragraph.
Conditions at the used car lot I was working at started deteriorating about six months ago when a new general manager was hired, and got really bad in the past month, as rumours have been circulating through the whole town that the owner of the place was looking to dump the service department. The most prevalent rumour was that he was looking to sell the service side of the business to a chain shop. This chain shop is well known for doing shoddy work, using white box parts, and putting safety stickers on anything that drove in, without even looking at it. We call that shop "Lick & Stick". This particularly angered us, because the owner of our shop would send his own cars down there for stickers because he was afraid we'd find things wrong with them, which would cost him money. This practice started after this new general manager, who immediately went to war with the service dept, accusing us of "over reconditioning" the cars. This really angered us in service because he'd sell a "lick & stick" car, then the customer would bring it back a few days later with a lengthy list of problems, really pissed off because their own mechanic looked at the car and told them it was junk. Of course the customer did not know the car was a lick & stick, they would think we safetied it, so our service manager would have a customer in his face accusing us of doing shoddy work to a car we'd never even seen. It was so bad that the dealership had to buy two cars back in the past two months because of threats to sue. Our service manager was so pissed off about this he started telling customers "that car has never been through our shop, we know nothing about it, go see the general manager if you have a problem".
The owner denied these takeover rumours (or more accurately, brushed them off without answering our questions), but they were pretty much confirmed when we got a shipment of parts that was addressed the lick & stick shop, but at our address. The service manager confronted the owner, who again brushed it off.
Meanwhile, two weeks prior to this, I was having problems with my Avalanche, which I bought there. The fuel pump shiznit the bed. I also bought a warranty when I bought the truck, and the fuel pump was a covered item, so I limped it in, had a work order written up on it, and took it apart. The general manager saw my truck in the shop and started giving the service manager a hard time about it. The service manager told me about it just after I got the truck back together. I went over to the GM's office and went up one side of him and down the other, telling him that I bought that truck with a warranty for a reason, and if he didn't want me working on it I'd take it to a shop that would appreciate the business (I also pointed out that this was a $1900 repair being paid by the warranty company, you'd think he'd have been happy to have it. The service manager certainly was). After tearing a strip off him I told him I'd have enough. I started looking for a job and made no secret of it. They were so afraid I was going to leave the day after my telling the manager off that they parked trucks in front of all the bay doors and hid the keys in the owner's office, scared I was going to come back and take my tools that night.
Fast forward two weeks, with the constant grumbling about the rumours the whole time, this shipment comes in with Lick & Stick's name on it, and the owner once again ducked the service manager's question. I had gotten several job offers and finally accepted one, and told the service manager I was giving my two weeks notice (he was expecting it, I'd used him as a reference). It was a fairly slow day, nice weather, Friday afternoon, so we all left early except the service manager, who told me he was having it out with the owner that day. Later that evening, he texted me to tell me that he had just quit on the spot, and told me to get my tools out ASAP while I still could - things were happening faster than we'd expected. I stayed up late that night turning my flat deck trailer into a utility (by adding sides), and went in the next day. I backed the trailer into my bay, loaded my tool box onto it, and handed the GM my key to the place and said "Good luck with this mess". He had, after all, just lost his service manager and best technician in less than 12 hours.
I still keep in touch with others who work there, and they are telling me constantly about how the other tech, who was recently hired and also happens to be a friend of the SM and was his "golden boy", is in way over his head and has brought the whole operation to a standstill. He can do brakes and suspension, but absolutely nothing else. He panics at the slightest hint of having to diagnose something, and flat out refused to install a Passtime GPS unit into a car this past Friday. This is a device installed into sub-prime finance purchases that allows the finance company to track the vehicle via GPS in case they need to repo it. It also disables the starter. It is extremely simple to connect: Five wires and you're golden (Power, Ground, Ignition, and then cut the vehicle's starter wire and connect each end of this cut to the two remaining wires so the unit can interrupt the starter). It is a 30-minute job, but it was above his head. The dealership ended up losing the sale over it, and the entire sales dept, including the SM, was really pissed off at him over it. He (the young tech) got so upset at the situation he left early. Naturally, I loved hearing about this...
So that ended my employment at the used car place. I started my job at the new place two days later. So this new place? Don't hate: I'm now a Honda tech. I took a job at Canada's largest Honda dealership. Make fun if you will, but Honda flat rate pays really, really well. As in one hour per side to replace brake rotors, and 3.5 to replace inner tie rod ends on a Civic (takes an hour including alignment). The job is 99% gravy, because Hondas really aren't the kind of car that requires a lot of diagnosis-type repairs (which I enjoy doing but they kill you on flat rate because while you are plugging along tracing wires and making straight time the guy next to you has done five brake jobs - this is why I left flat rate in the first place, because I was always the diagnostic guy and got mad at the "stupid" guys making all the money doing brake jobs). And another the nice thing: they don't deal with aftermarket , so even though it's a Honda dealership, NO RICERS!
So after a looooooooooooong time, I finally got around to upgrading the forum software. This was not an upgrade for the sake of upgrading, but because there have been problems with people trying to join receiving database errors. I ran a repair utility on the database and upgraded the software - hopefully this will repair the problem. I notice some new features & looks, including a new "landing" page, where you are directed to a "What's new" display instead of the regular forum. Since I always click on "new posts" first thing anyway I find this a nice feature. I don't know whether it can be disabled, whether on an individual basis or the whole forum, as I haven't had a chance to explore the control panel, but I welcome you guys to check out your profile settings and see what's new there.
A NICE feature is that WYSIWYG editing has finally made it to those of us using Chrome That means that now you can type up a post and see your attachments, images and smilies inline instead of just seeing the vbcode for them. Also if you BOLD, Italicize, or underline your text, or even change font colour it shows up while you're typing. These features have always been available in Explorer and Firefox but are new to Chrome. Guess the vBulletin guys finally got around to using standardized code instead of browser-specific stuff.
Anyway, have a look around and let me know what you think, what new features you discover, or if you find any problems. Not saying I'll be able to fix said problems, but at least I'll be aware of them :hick:
The title is a Futurama reference, but I have good news. Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about finishing my garage ceiling and said that the next big project would be a hoist? Well, it just so happened that a hoist went on sale at Princess Auto (Canada's version of Harbor Freight) this morning. I called yesterday, they only had one in stock, so I was waiting outside the store this morning at 8:00 and snagged it. Installation has begun, but I ran into a bit of trouble (burned out my hammer drill boring holes into the floor for the anchors). Hope to have it up and running tomorrow...
Yeah, I did it... I bought a Chevy. Sold the Dakota a few weeks ago because the V6 was just too much of a slug with the 32" tires that were on it, and the lack of opening rear doors was going to become a problem as my puppy grows (she's half shepherd, half cane corso, I'm expecting her to approach 100 pounds). A v8 four-door 97-04 Dakota would have been nice except for that five foot box required with a four door. Newer Dakotas are not an option (I hate them), and Rangers and Colorado/Canyon are too small (and the Chev twins are probably the worst trucks on the road). I wouldn't consider an older Ford because I don't want spark plugs blowing out, and newer trucks in general are off the table because of the cost. Dodge trucks are off the table as well (I love the Hemi, hate everything else about them). This pretty much leaves me with GM. An extended cab with 6.5 foot box would fit the bill nicely, so I began the search.
Then we had this beauty traded in. It's a 2004 Avalanche. I've always thought the Chev Avalanche was a great idea: Full-size rear seats and doors, but fold that magic wall down and you've got an eight foot box. Dead-nuts reliable LS (5.3) power, fully loaded with heated leather, and absolutely rust free thanks to years of undercoating. It's only got 85k miles on it, and drives like a new truck. Two sets of wheels (stock 17" GM alloys plus a set of 16" American Racing rims). The only downside is the body lift. I hate body lifts, especially on Chev trucks because they show so much frame. However, I got a great deal on it ($7500, including a two-year powertrain, electronics, and steering/suspension warranty) so I can live with the body lift.
So without further ado, here is my new truck:
First plan is to get some new aftermarket wheels and 33" tires. Gonna sell the set of American Racing wheels to help pay. Also gonna install some aftermarket headlights similar to the ones in the 300. And I've got to raise the running boards to try to hide some of that frame...
No, it's not what you think (made you look, though). I'm not talking about installing a vinyl roof on a Fox. I'm doing something even weirder (no disrespect to the vinyl roof Cat owners).
My problem: The garage I built has a 12 foot ceiling. I'm slowly but surely finishing the inside but have been wondering what I was going to do about the ceiling. Climbing a ladder is difficult enough for me (I hate heights) but climbing a ladder with a 4X8 sheet of drywall on my back is just not gonna happen. I'm cheap, too, so paying somebody to install the drywall is not gonna happen either. I'd considered tiles, but they were just too expensive. Then an idea hit me: Vinyl.
As in vinyl siding. It's easy to install, manageable at height, and best of all once it's installed it needs no plaster, tape or paint. It's also relatively cheap. A 4X8 sheet of drywall is $12, so figure $36 for 96 square feet. Vinyl is $45 per hundred square feet. A few bucks more, sure, but when you consider that it doesn't need crack filling or painting when installed it's probably about the same price. When you consider that the cheapest price I got from drywall contractors was $300 just to hang the drywall (that's just labour - I had to supply the materials) vinyl is actually cheaper. So that's what I decided to do.
I got two square (200 square feet, or about a third of the ceiling) finished this weekend. Looks pretty good, though I say it myself:
In the photo below you can see the garage door for the "high" side (the side that will have the hoist). I had to modify the tracks here - the factory intended design was to have the tracks go horizontal at 8 feet. Since the ceiling is 12 feet this would have meant the tracks were four feet down from the ceiling, which would have looked stupid and also caused the door to hit any car that might be on the hoist. My solution was to cut four feet off each horizontal track, weld these pieces to the vertical tracks, and modify the springs by setting their anchor points four feet back from the ends of the tracks (instead of anchoring them right at the ends of the tracks like the factory design). Relocating the spring ends gives them room to stretch their full amount.
Before anybody mentions it: No, I did not install vapour barrier. This is an unheated building (with the exception of my waste oil stove, which is only in use when I'm actually out there). Since it's not heated I figured it would be better to let the building breathe. Besides, my old house was 100+ years old and had no vapour barrier. If it lasted over a hundred years I'm sure this garage will last as long as I do...
That means that now you can type up a post and see your attachments, images and smilies inline instead of just seeing the vbcode for them. Also if you BOLD, Italicize,