August Highlights

It's August. Another month of unemployment. This is getting ridiculous. Out of the past 9 months, I've been unemployed for 7! (Dec-Jan-Feb-1/2 Mar-1/2 May-Jun-Jul-Aug) The strain is getting a bit much.

My contracting company contact had said I would probably start the on-boarding process for the new job on July 29th. That date came and went with no news.

Then finally on August the 12th the on-boarding started ... and I started filling out paperwork ... and then suddenly they needed my birth certificate ... and we needed to schedule someone from my contracting company to come over to the house and verify that I was in possession of a notarized copy ... and he came over, but it turns out it needed to be someone from the client's company ... so that whole process was put in limbo.

And then they needed a background check performed ... so they hired a third-party company to do the background check (after I filled out a bunch of forms) ... and who knows how long that'll take?

If I think about this too much, I'm going to start screaming. So instead I'll mention the real highlights of the month.

Trippin

On Thursday the 1st of August, Mary climbed into her Honda Accord and drove herself all the way to Maine to spend the weekend with Dylan, who was out there on a work trip. They had a marvelous time, seeing the ocean and the sights of Boston and various other historical places, making memories (and posting some of them on Facebook so the rest of us could be envious). And then she got in her car on Monday and drove -- all by herself! -- all the way back home.  I was so proud. Her Grandma Meyer, who was ready for a road trip at the drop of a hat, would be proud as well.

We are a family of road trippers.

Projects

The Snow Blower

The snow blower has been in my shop now for nearly three years, waiting for a new coat of paint on the rusty frame. Funny how salt-infused snow tends to corrode the metal tools that are used to move it off the driveway! So this month I finally had some time to sand all the rusty spots and put a coat of paint on them and then put it back together. But after three years, it's hard to remember where everything goes. Good thing we still have the user manual! And I kept all the bolts and belts and other assorted parts in a little tub where they were easy to find. So now that I've finished repainting the metal framework of the snow-blower, I just need to find the time to put it all back together.

The Camry

We bought the 2011 Camry last February so that Mary would have something affordable to drive while we figured out what was wrong with her Elantra, which had stopped working. Unfortunately, she did not like the car and decided instead to buy her own; this turned out to be a good thing because we discovered after getting the Camry home that not only did it not have heat, it also had no parking brakes. As in, someone had actually removed them. And cut the brake cables from inside the rotors. Which explains why it was such a deal!

Of course that's no problem for a DIY mechanic like me; I had the radiator flushed and and the heat working in short order. But the parking brakes took a lot more time and effort on my part to gather the parts and start working on it -- like til June! -- and even then I haven't been able to finish the work. Due to the rather peculiar design of the brakes, I haven't been able to assemble the parts (tiny metal pieces, multiple springs) in the space between the backplate and the hub. It would be easier if I had some kind of hydraulic press, but I don't. So I'm putting the job off til I get a few other projects done around here. And get a job so I can start spending some money on it.

The Elantra

Mary's old Hyundai Elantra, which suddenly stopped working last winter, has been sitting in my shop since February. We had taken it to Firestone and they pronounced it 'dead' due to a suspected timing chain issue (they said it had no compression), but in the middle of winter we didn't have time or space to deal on it so it just sat there taking up valuable space. So I finally got around to pulling the valve cover off to check the timing chain. There wasn't much of it visible, but it felt tight and, looking down the inside of the timing chain cover with a flashlight, it looked like it is still all in one piece -- I'll need to rotate the crankshaft to be sure -- but there were some other things that could be checked first, like the crankshaft sensor and the two camshaft sensors and the fuel pump and the injectors and the coil packs. I specifically suspected the crankshaft and camshaft sensors. So I pulled the crankshaft sensor but it checks out electrically; so then I pulled the camshaft position sensors, but they checked out as well. Next up is rotating the crankshaft to check the entire length of the timing chain. If that's good, I'll have to check the other possibilities, but those are going to be a pain so I'll have to dig deeper to check out the spark and fuel systems.

And now for the play-by-play...

August 1st

At 5:30 a.m., Mary departs for Maine. She arrives around 10:30 p.m. We can't help but be impressed by the way she just jumps in her car and goes. Her grandmother Meyer would be proud!

August 4th

Mason and I mounted a ceiling fan in their bedroom so they can try to stay cool for what remains of the summer. I messed it up right at the beginning by failing to tuck the ground wire all the way into the mounting box so that when it was all done, it was making a ticking noise as the fan rotated because the fan motor was hitting the wire as it turned around. That was annoying. We ran out of time the first day so I had to come back another day, leaving them without the use of the fan for a couple days, which I felt bad about. When I returned, it only took me about ten minutes to take it all apart and tuck the wire where it belonged and then put it back together again.

We also hung some curtain rods so they can hang drapes and keep the room dark during the hot summer days.

And I got to play in the attic again!

August 6th

Mary had to take her car over to the shop to have them investigate a starter issue which was supposedly fixed a few months back (due to a recall notice from Honda) but has since reared its ugly head again. It's one of those weird things which doesn't happen all the time, just intermittently enough to make her worry that she's going to end up stranded someplace. They fixed it again -- not sure exactly how this fix is different than the last one -- but we'll see how things go. If it happens again, it's most likely going to be very expensive flywheel replacement.

August 8

I came down with something which felt like Covid (or just a very bad cold) but I tested myself three times over the course of three weeks and it turned up negative each time which may not mean much if those tests can't identify the latest variant but at least it gave me an excuse to stay home and avoid people. But it also lasted through the end of the month (and beyond) and made life miserable ... as if it wasn't miserable enough being unemployed with bills to pay.

August 10th

We watched Emmy so that her parents could get a break for awhile, and mostly it was all right except that she's very clingy right now and can't stand not being able to see her mother. We got about three hours with her before we can't distract her anymore and she starts getting anxious -- luckily that's about the time the parents return from their 'break' and so it all works out.

August 12th

The Boeing "On-Boarding" process finally started with a pile of paperwork they sent to my email, which I dutifully filled out and sent back, all except the one where they needed to verify my citizenship. My passport is expired, so all I have is a notarized copy of my birth certificate. There was an idea that they could somehow come up with a way to verify this document via WebEx or something, but I have no idea how that is supposed to work. So I'll just have to wait and see what they come up with.

August 16

Cheryl went to a Yarn Fest with some friends. They had a great time wandering around all the booths and stores, seeing the different designs and colors. Due to our current financial situation, she didn't purchase anything but still managed to have fun.

August 17

Dylan traded in his Ford Ranger for a Dodge RAM 1500. It's huge! But I think he'll have a lot more fun with it because it's in much better shape. Throughout the month, I have opportunities to work on it with him, or just stand around and talk cars.

Cheryl is playing around with some sourdough starter she got from her friend Carolyn. Every couple weeks she has to discard a certain amount of it and make something. So far, she's made biscuits and pop-overs and (of course) sourdough bread. It's yummy! So now I'm going to have to watch my weight again. Sigh.

Since the Boeing job has to do with hardware, I'm going back to my electronic roots and playing with circuit design again. I have KiCad installed on all my computer and I'm using it to create schematics and run simulations of the circuits to make sure they work. Some of it is easy, but simulations of oscillators are more difficult because they have to be set up a certain way and I'm unable to get it to work right. Meanwhile, I'm rebuilding an old Radio Shack power supply that went bad. It dates from back in the 70s! It's supposed to put out 12 volts but for some reason, it's putting out nearly 16. I was trying to use it to test the sensors on the Elantra but they don't handle voltages that high. So I have to fix it!

August 19

School started on the 19th so for the first time since the start of summer, I have the house (almost) all to myself by 8:30 in the morning. Except for Adam. He's in a different time zone than the rest of us, getting up around 1 in the afternoon and going to work from 3 pm until 11 pm. That seems to fit his circadian rhythm at the moment. It's kind of weird to have such a quiet house again! But it also reminds me that I need to find work because I can't just goof around all day when there's no one to keep tabs on me. I have to be productive. So I work on my resume and keep sending it out to prospective employers in the hopes that someone else will respond. Because this Boeing "on-boarding" is taking way too long, and I can't keep living on hopes and dreams.

August 22

We celebrated our 32nd Wedding Anniversary with dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant, Jaku. I'm still not feeling very well and my cough isn't improving. I hope Cheryl doesn't get it, too, but it's highly likely that she will.

Also on the 22nd, one of the kids Mary and I used to teach in Sunday School, now practically grown up, was involved in a car accident and had to be taken to ICU. We didn't actually find out about this until the 25th. We're still waiting to hear how that turns out. [As of the end of the month, he was still there.]

August 23rd

Dylan is done with his old apartment and brought over all the rest of his belongings to his new home in our basement. I don't know where we're going to fit it all. We have a serious storage issue here. We have a lot in the storage unit but we can't keep paying for it, so we have to sell off a couple cars and then figure out where to put all the things that are still in storage. That includes some of Deb & Mason's stuff, and some of the other kids' stuff. It feels like every nook and cranny of the house is jammed full. I'm afraid to put anything more in the loft or attic for fear the house will collapse under the weight!

August 25th

We found out from James and Tabea that they are expecting a little girl! But don't tell anyone. It's a secret!

I helped Mason change the oil in his car, and Emmy decided to help as well. She brought the oil filter to us! And then sat on the driveway and watched us playing with the big oily mess until her mother came and took her back inside so that she would not get sunburned from the very bright sunlight.

August 26

Dylan got new tires for his truck. We won't mention the cost. It is too depressing. But they are big tires. Does that offset the impact of tire inflation?

August 27

Cheryl finally got my virus so now we are competing for loudest & longest & deepest cough. She also had to take a day off from school. I can't do that since I'm working from home.

August 29th

I finally managed to get all the extra things put away so that Mary can park in the garage again. And took a lot of stuff over to the storage unit. I was hoping to start pulling things out, and instead I keep putting things in. I'm going to need to get in here and re-organize everything.

August 30th

Went to D&D again finally. It was a lot of fun. Our host family made a Tator-Tot cassarole! So we helped eat it all up. Or mostly. We had a fantastic battle with a tentacled panther (I can't remember what it's called). It was an exhausting yet satisfying evening.

August 31st

In the garage, I moved the Elantra out of the way so I could re-organize my power tools and pull out the table saw and cut up some junk wood that was taking up too much space. Also helped Dylan out with his truck. Cheryl made sourdough biscuits from the discard and it was heavenly!

And that's August, 2024.