Hey! We're in Texas!
Life just continues to get weirder and weirder. First there was the weird virus that took over the planet. Then there was the absence of avocation (i.e. layoff/furlough). Then suddenly there was a job opportunity in Texas -- and here we are!
I can't begin to describe how bizarre this entire year has been. Or has become. Everyone knows that, and some are experiencing it in far more measure than we are. I was really hoping that this was going to be one of those "good" years, one of those years where it felt like things were getting better instead of worse. Prior to this year, the worst one was 2009, with 2015 a close second in the "please don't make me live that all over again" category. But those were bad years due to personal reasons, and, for the most part, they were bad only from my own limited perspective.
But this year. Whoa.
It feels like our whole world has fallen apart, not only the little world that we inhabit inside our little house in Grand Rapids; but the entire world that surrounds us, the world in which we thought we were living a life of relative peace and tranquility. Mainly because we are boring people who don't bother anyone. But this year has affected so many people, both in and out of our little circle of acquaintances/friends/relatives, that a day doesn't go by that we aren't experiencing a little (or a lot) of heightened anxiety.
I didn't mind getting laid off. I didn't mind getting unemployment. I've never really worried about things like that because life is an adventure and I have some incredible people surrounding me who give me the confidence to continue getting up every morning no matter what, and facing the future. My parents brought me up with a strong faith; and my lovely life-companion has wisdom and courage and faith that emboldens me; and though sometimes doubts assail me in my innermost thoughts, there has never been a moment when my faith has left me high and dry.
And adventure is always around the corner. And I'm for adventure!
Especially when it involves just me and my lovely wife, heading off into the sunset towards an unknown destination, starting our life together a second time, taking some time to just be with each other again without the encumbrances of house and family, spending some good quality time by ourselves.
Of course, we're also taking the opportunity to spend time with some family we haven't had a chance to see on a regular basis for a long time, and hoping to strengthen the familial bonds.
But the real adventure -- for me -- is to finally have some time to spend with Cheryl in our own little place, even for a little while, not having to worry about the house falling down around our heads, or the children needing this or that.
Going for walks, having quiet dinners together, seeing a new (to us) place and sharing that newness together.
Having a new job that is kind of fun (for a change); living in a new town where nothing is familiar; living in an apartment again (not a house!) where the landlord (hopefully) takes care of all those things that fall apart; going shopping for things to make the place a real home-away-from-home; remembering what it was like so long ago when we were first married; the awkwardness of conversation when you promise yourself you aren't going to talk about the children. What do we talk about these days?
I love the challenge. I love the experience.
Except the traffic. I'm not too keen on the metropolitan traffic. Where do all these cars come from?!?!
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Tuesday, June 09, 2020
Braking News
I spent the better part of two days trying to get the brakes fixed on the Sonata. And it really should've only taken an hour or two. But I tend to get dragged into complications that make every little task turn into a mountainous fuss.
Cheryl had been making the astute observation that the brakes were very, very noisy when she drove, especially the rear driver-side brake. Cheryl does not like it when mechanical things start making odd noises, since she knows that it is the harbinger of trouble. Luckily for her, she has a wannabe-mechanic for a husband who is willing to sacrifice a couple days of productive work for the opportunity to tear apart something and make a huge mess in the garage, inconveniencing everyone for the sake of finding out just what is going on.
As it turned out, what was going on was that the rear brakes were just about worn down. Which surprised me in no small measure because in my head I was thinking, Didn't I just redo these brakes last year? In fact, didn't I just put a completely new set of parking brake hardware in it last year?
Well, no, in fact, I did not do that last year. It's actually been a couple years now. How time flies by when you are not having any fun!
Seriously. The speed at which time is flying past makes me want to scream sometimes. How can it be time for bed when it feels like I just got up? How can it be 2020 when I distinctly remember 1992 like it was yesterday?
Must be the drugs.
Anyway, I started working on the brakes Sunday night. Jacked the car up, pulled the rear driver-side wheel off, pulled the pad cover, and -- oof. The pad was nearly gone, starting to scrape metal. Wow! How could it have worn out so quickly?
It was too late to run down to NAPA and get the parts I needed, so I just ordered them online so that I could pick them up bright and early Monday morning. Front and rear. Might as well do the whole set, since they're only $40 for a pair. And I've got money to burn! (Not really, but it's got to be done.)
Monday morning came along, and I'm down at NAPA to grab my parts (and those guys are really bored because business has been extremely slow, what with people not driving their cars); it took all of five minutes before I was homeward bound again. Started replacing the driver-side rear pad, and ran into a familiar issue -- the pad was having a difficult time fitting in the caliper mounting. Had to grind down the flanges just a bit (not really supposed to do that, but I was getting tired and frustrated and had only been working on it for half an hour!). Finally got it to fit, then spent another half-hour adjusting the parking brake (because it had not been grabbing early enough before). Then switched over to the passenger side.
This one wasn't worn down as much as the other side. Hmmm.. That's not good. They're supposed to wear evenly. Not quite sure why the driver side was wearing down faster than the passenger side. Oh, well, not going to figure out that mystery just yet. The important thing is to get the brake pads replaced! And adjust the parking brake on that side!
Another hour zipped past. Then I took a moment to test the parking brake setting by going up and down the driveway, checking to see where it started to grab with the car in neutral and gravity pulling it toward the street on the slight incline, holding the little button at the top of the handbrake lever while slowly lifting it until the car stopped rolling. I was hoping for half the travel length, but three-quarters will do. So long as it stops the car before the lever is all the way back.
Whew. It was nearly noon by this time. Lunch! Just a quick break before getting back to work. Time to relax for half an hour or so before resuming the fray.
Then suddenly it was one o'clock! What happened? Where did the time go?? Off to the garage again...
And now for the other side: Lifted up the front end of the car using my T-jack, pulled the passenger-side wheel, checked the pads. They were about two-thirds gone, which wasn't bad. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to get the new pads to fit into the calipers -- especially with the shims, which seem to be designed to block them from gliding in place. Arg! This is taking too long!
On to the other side -- and the wheel refused to come off. Jammed. Stuck. Probably a spot of rust between the rotor and the wheel rim. This happens a lot in the Rust Belt. Which is why normally I put a bit of anti-seize between them when doing brake checks. Evidently I forgot to do that the last time I worked on this car. Or perhaps this car was worked on at a shop and they forgot to do it.
Took me another half hour to (finally) figure a way to get the wheel off. Had to use a six-foot iron pole (which I normally use to break the ice off the driveway during the winter) and jam it into one of the holes around the rim to pry it off. Man, that felt good when it finally popped off! But there was also the anxiety of time zipping past...
Quickly pulled the final pad off (which was worn about the same as the other front one, so at least they were both wearing at the same rate!) and put the new one on. Half an hour to get it on/off and tightened down.
So it was nearly five o'clock before I had them all in place and all the wheels back down on the ground and all the tools put away and everything cleaned up.
Now it was time to get around to all the other chores which were supposed to get done today. Sigh.
Mondays are so much fun.
Cheryl had been making the astute observation that the brakes were very, very noisy when she drove, especially the rear driver-side brake. Cheryl does not like it when mechanical things start making odd noises, since she knows that it is the harbinger of trouble. Luckily for her, she has a wannabe-mechanic for a husband who is willing to sacrifice a couple days of productive work for the opportunity to tear apart something and make a huge mess in the garage, inconveniencing everyone for the sake of finding out just what is going on.
As it turned out, what was going on was that the rear brakes were just about worn down. Which surprised me in no small measure because in my head I was thinking, Didn't I just redo these brakes last year? In fact, didn't I just put a completely new set of parking brake hardware in it last year?
Well, no, in fact, I did not do that last year. It's actually been a couple years now. How time flies by when you are not having any fun!
Seriously. The speed at which time is flying past makes me want to scream sometimes. How can it be time for bed when it feels like I just got up? How can it be 2020 when I distinctly remember 1992 like it was yesterday?
Must be the drugs.
Anyway, I started working on the brakes Sunday night. Jacked the car up, pulled the rear driver-side wheel off, pulled the pad cover, and -- oof. The pad was nearly gone, starting to scrape metal. Wow! How could it have worn out so quickly?
It was too late to run down to NAPA and get the parts I needed, so I just ordered them online so that I could pick them up bright and early Monday morning. Front and rear. Might as well do the whole set, since they're only $40 for a pair. And I've got money to burn! (Not really, but it's got to be done.)
Monday morning came along, and I'm down at NAPA to grab my parts (and those guys are really bored because business has been extremely slow, what with people not driving their cars); it took all of five minutes before I was homeward bound again. Started replacing the driver-side rear pad, and ran into a familiar issue -- the pad was having a difficult time fitting in the caliper mounting. Had to grind down the flanges just a bit (not really supposed to do that, but I was getting tired and frustrated and had only been working on it for half an hour!). Finally got it to fit, then spent another half-hour adjusting the parking brake (because it had not been grabbing early enough before). Then switched over to the passenger side.
This one wasn't worn down as much as the other side. Hmmm.. That's not good. They're supposed to wear evenly. Not quite sure why the driver side was wearing down faster than the passenger side. Oh, well, not going to figure out that mystery just yet. The important thing is to get the brake pads replaced! And adjust the parking brake on that side!
Another hour zipped past. Then I took a moment to test the parking brake setting by going up and down the driveway, checking to see where it started to grab with the car in neutral and gravity pulling it toward the street on the slight incline, holding the little button at the top of the handbrake lever while slowly lifting it until the car stopped rolling. I was hoping for half the travel length, but three-quarters will do. So long as it stops the car before the lever is all the way back.
Whew. It was nearly noon by this time. Lunch! Just a quick break before getting back to work. Time to relax for half an hour or so before resuming the fray.
Then suddenly it was one o'clock! What happened? Where did the time go?? Off to the garage again...
And now for the other side: Lifted up the front end of the car using my T-jack, pulled the passenger-side wheel, checked the pads. They were about two-thirds gone, which wasn't bad. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to get the new pads to fit into the calipers -- especially with the shims, which seem to be designed to block them from gliding in place. Arg! This is taking too long!
On to the other side -- and the wheel refused to come off. Jammed. Stuck. Probably a spot of rust between the rotor and the wheel rim. This happens a lot in the Rust Belt. Which is why normally I put a bit of anti-seize between them when doing brake checks. Evidently I forgot to do that the last time I worked on this car. Or perhaps this car was worked on at a shop and they forgot to do it.
Took me another half hour to (finally) figure a way to get the wheel off. Had to use a six-foot iron pole (which I normally use to break the ice off the driveway during the winter) and jam it into one of the holes around the rim to pry it off. Man, that felt good when it finally popped off! But there was also the anxiety of time zipping past...
Quickly pulled the final pad off (which was worn about the same as the other front one, so at least they were both wearing at the same rate!) and put the new one on. Half an hour to get it on/off and tightened down.
So it was nearly five o'clock before I had them all in place and all the wheels back down on the ground and all the tools put away and everything cleaned up.
Now it was time to get around to all the other chores which were supposed to get done today. Sigh.
Mondays are so much fun.
Thursday, June 04, 2020
In the Good Ol' Summertime...
It's June. That means summer, right?
The temperature is nearly 90 (again) and the humidity is high as well. We go for walks every morning when it is cool so that we don't faint from heat exhaustion, because the humidity rises quickly around here (and all the plants raise their branches and shout Praise the Lord!) and it doesn't pay off in the long run to try to sweat off the heat while standing in a cloud of water droplets.
We continue to complete little tasks here and there around the house while waiting for the world to get back to normal.
The Camry is running again (although there are still a few pieces that need to be put back on), so Deb and Mason have a space in the garage to park at least one of their cars (and they can determine amongst themselves whose car gets to stay out of the weather); the front yard has been weeded (although we're allowing quite a few plants to grow that others might consider weeds); the deck has a kind of cover over it so that we can eat dinner out there (although it's a hack job that I threw together with a few ancient 2x4s and a dropcloth we'd used for painting the basement); we've purchased a new propane grill (even though the old charcoal-based camping grill was working just fine, it just takes too long to get started); the basement is looking very nice now that Deb has decorated it the way she wants (although there are still a few missing ceiling tiles and little things we have to keep our eyes on, like the water drains and hookups in the kitchenette and the sump drain, as well as the bathroom flooring which still needs to be fixed); the garage is a bit more organized and there is actually room to work on things with the big power tools (although I have to keep moving things around to make room because there are still too many things that need to be donated to Habitat for Humanity -- once they finally open up); the router was finally moved to the front hall closet and I finally got the outlet wired up in there so we didn't have to run an extension cord around from the dining room.
And I finally got a job.
It is only a short contract for six months, but it's one that I can work (mostly) remote, which means I can still work on house projects during the summer while getting paid for the work I do. And my contracting agency thinks they'll be able to shift me into a long-term job afterward, although the details of that job aren't solidified yet.
I'm very lucky and blessed to have a job. So many people do not.
I just hope the world doesn't fall apart any time soon, at least any more than it is.
It feels like we've (the citizens of the world) have already had a one-two punch and we're just waiting for the third for the knockout.
We hope and pray and love and care and try to stay positive, relying on our friends and family to keep us from going crazy. We have the best of both.
God bless you all!
The temperature is nearly 90 (again) and the humidity is high as well. We go for walks every morning when it is cool so that we don't faint from heat exhaustion, because the humidity rises quickly around here (and all the plants raise their branches and shout Praise the Lord!) and it doesn't pay off in the long run to try to sweat off the heat while standing in a cloud of water droplets.
We continue to complete little tasks here and there around the house while waiting for the world to get back to normal.
The Camry is running again (although there are still a few pieces that need to be put back on), so Deb and Mason have a space in the garage to park at least one of their cars (and they can determine amongst themselves whose car gets to stay out of the weather); the front yard has been weeded (although we're allowing quite a few plants to grow that others might consider weeds); the deck has a kind of cover over it so that we can eat dinner out there (although it's a hack job that I threw together with a few ancient 2x4s and a dropcloth we'd used for painting the basement); we've purchased a new propane grill (even though the old charcoal-based camping grill was working just fine, it just takes too long to get started); the basement is looking very nice now that Deb has decorated it the way she wants (although there are still a few missing ceiling tiles and little things we have to keep our eyes on, like the water drains and hookups in the kitchenette and the sump drain, as well as the bathroom flooring which still needs to be fixed); the garage is a bit more organized and there is actually room to work on things with the big power tools (although I have to keep moving things around to make room because there are still too many things that need to be donated to Habitat for Humanity -- once they finally open up); the router was finally moved to the front hall closet and I finally got the outlet wired up in there so we didn't have to run an extension cord around from the dining room.
And I finally got a job.
It is only a short contract for six months, but it's one that I can work (mostly) remote, which means I can still work on house projects during the summer while getting paid for the work I do. And my contracting agency thinks they'll be able to shift me into a long-term job afterward, although the details of that job aren't solidified yet.
I'm very lucky and blessed to have a job. So many people do not.
I just hope the world doesn't fall apart any time soon, at least any more than it is.
It feels like we've (the citizens of the world) have already had a one-two punch and we're just waiting for the third for the knockout.
We hope and pray and love and care and try to stay positive, relying on our friends and family to keep us from going crazy. We have the best of both.
God bless you all!
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