Whoa! Didja get the numbers off that truck?!?

January 11, 2005 - 9:41 p.m.

Hey kids

So much has transpired, I have so much to tell you. Pull up a chair.

The Intrepid breathed it's last, at least in my lifetime. The lifter clatter grew steadily worse and was later joined by a heavier connecting rod type sound from deep inside. The mechanic to whom I sent it offered me $200 for it. His daughter would be driving this summer, and it would make a nice starter car with a new engine installed. As he peeled off the $110 (less towing) he told me he'd already lined up a new engine.

I cleaned out what was left of me inside the car, and sat behind the wheel one last time. A lot has changed in my life in the lifespan this car lead, as a reliable companion for me. It hauled me to and from Hinsdale countless times. It carried us to AZ on a whirlwind six day driving marathon. We did 85 MPH most of the way because that was as fast as the cruise would set. Triple digit runs were done by hand, er foot.

There were 140,000 miles on the clock when we parted company, about 100,000 of them were mine.

Snowball II is a 2004 Mitsubishi Galant. It's not as nicely trimmed out as the Intrepid was, I still miss the compass and temp display overhead. But it has a 3.8L SOHC engine that talks to the automatic transmission. The CAN bus works well; it's still a little strange to dump the throttle and feel the engine and trans execute controlled shifts, even under power. The engine chats with the ABS too, and they cut deals together to control wheelspin when I nail it coming out of the slush.    And they said that computers were just a fad.  It's lighter and smaller than the old white steed, which is a welcoming relief backing down my tunnelish driveway.  The body is stiff too, it's a blast to fling it into a turn.  Wheee!

Santa was very kind to me this year, rewarding me for all the long hours spent at work with a nice check with a lot of zeros in front of the decimal point. Good things come to those who work their fucking asses off for it. I work for a guy who recognizes that the true reward for hard work involves an awful lot of benjamins.

So I rewarded myself with a lot of audio and visual equipment. I stopped short of HDTV, by my reckoning we're about five years away from mass produced HD hardware. But the TV I did get has a 16:9 aspect ratio, so my midway conversion will look more normal.  I can now feel as well as hear the sound, and it comes to me from all directions.

Son1 now works where I do.  I got him a job working shipping and anything else he can fill his time with.  Environmental takes a lot of his time, in dusty test.  He works with a machine that's filled with a fine powdery dust that flows like water.  He's learned to keep his watch and cell phone in a plastic bag while working on cleaning the beast.  He loves his job, he's well paid and well liked.  This will fill his time (and checking account) between now and when he leaves for Houston in May.  Let the clock tick slowly.

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