Pain and Money

We had a pretty interesting time this past week. Over all good, but we (I) had a scare with Jacob. Last Thursday, little buddy was standing and holding himself up against our coffee table. He was on one side, and I was sitting on the other, and we were hold a "conversation". It mostly consisted of his babbling, and my laughter and responding back with my own babble.

My wife was on her way home, and when she pulled up in the driveway, she opened the garage door to pull in. This set the dogs off, barking and screaming at the door. Which in turn scared Jake, causing him to pull his hands away from the table, and fall. On his way down he hit his mouth on the edge.

I went around to pick him up, thinking he just bonked his head, but after I had him in my arms, blood started coming out of his mouth... a  lot. I tought he must have knocked a tooth out, or at least one loose, but it turned out to that he bit his upper lip, and tore his frenulum. It grossed  me out, but he seemed ok. Called the doctor afterhours, and they said nothing could be done, at that if his mouth looked ok, and his gums and teeth were ok, to just leave him be. So we did.


On another note, for the first time in the history of me filling my taxes... I have filled them early. I am proud of this. I usually wait till maybe a day or two before, usually because I forget. We have some money coming back to us, and have already earmarked some for a new bed. The fullsize just isn't cutting it.

I hope to use a little towards getting the Saturn back on the road, and hopefully putting a down payment on a new car. The rest will be saved.

Car Modification (video at the end)

Between last night, and this morning, I finished what has been a long overdo project on the G6. Reverting the air assembly halfway back to stock. Actually, now that I think of it, maybe 25% back to stock.

This is what I have to start with.

The intake tube is from a guy called "Lampoon", who sell intakes for the G6. They are called "Crab Intakes". I bought his "FPU" (Front Pipe Upgrade), and decided to save a few bucks and piece together my own filter assembly. The filter is a Fujita Dry Flow.

STEP 1: Remove filter assembly, and replace with recently hacked and modded stock bottom air filter housing. Not pictured: Intake resonator delete. That hole goes straight down.

STEP 2: Insert OEM style filter of choice.

STEP 3: Remove plastic wrap (if applicable) from filter. Because if you didn't, the filter would be rendered useless and you'd be an idiot.

STEP 4 (Optional): Realize you threw away all the original fasteners about a year or two ago, and go to HomeDepot and PepBoys to buy some more. When you get to said store, notice they have sweet little tool boxes full of screws, nuts, and bolts, and buy way more than you need for the current project.

STEP 5: Fully assemble air cleaner assembly, check for tightness at all joints, and enjoy.

 

In case you were wondering, I keep the intake tube, and painted it black using "PlastiDip". It is a rubberish coating in a spray can.

RESULTS: Noise is slightly louder. Pull off the line has increased greatly. I can definitely fell a deference. We will see if this continues as the computer adjusts to the intake. 

I'm being watched...

Ever since I was a young boy, I have found something to be very strange. Small, seemingly insignificant ideas that I have created, thought of, imagined... have come to life, usually very successfully. I'm not taking credit for them, or even really asking for credit, its just something I've noticed... let me explain.

In elementary school, I drew all the time. I created one particular character, named "Puff". This particular guy was part of a video I imagined, name "Puff's Adventures". There was no real story or plot, just this little dude running around defeating the baddies. He was a small round figure, that wore shades, probably no bigger than 2 feet in real life. His powers? He could float, and devour his enemies, and in doing so inherited their powers. Sound familiar? Yep... two or three years later, Nintendo released "Kirby"

I also drew a bunch of stick figure characters I named the "Dragons". They fought non stop and had many powers, ranging from flying in a beam of light, which trailed behind them, to firing balls of energy from their hands. Bingo... "Dragon Ball Z". DBZ was actually made in Japan way before this... but I had never seen it, and just found this interesting.

Rewind a year or too back, maybe First or Second grade.

The "Power Rangers" had just arrived on T.V., and where the hot thing. My and my friends always played as them outside, during recess. As would be expected, everyone always fought to be their favorite colored Ranger. Tired of fighting over it, I came up with three new Rangers. Orange, Purple, and GREEN, and guess what, The Green Ranger had a Dragon. The other colors never made it, but just for the record, Purple was a raptor, and Orange was a Stegosaurus. And when they came out with the Green Ranger on TV, I made the White Ranger who had a Bengal Tiger. Sigh...

Fast forward some years...

In High School, my interest in cars started to grow. The mid to late 90's, in my opinion, produced very... "Sub-par" vehicles. Cars existed that where using old designs and looked bland. I had grown fond of Camaros (specifically the 82-92), and found that the current design of the day was boring. I thought, "They should kill the Camaro, redesign it, and re-release it a few years from now. Boom, in 2002 they did just that.

Another prediction I had, was that automakers would return to using turbo chargers for economy, like in the early 80's, when they had the fuel crisis. Mustangs, tons of Chryslers, and some GM vehicles all went to Turbocharging. Well.... Ford is "Eco Boosting" almost all of their models, GM is following suit with the Cruze, and Chrysler will soon be turbocharging their Pentastar.

Well, this is all just a bunch of coincidences... but I like to think it was because I have been being monitored.

So, now I am going to reveal my next predictions to the world....

• The Ford Mustang will be killed and re-released. 
• 3D TV's will die
• Apple products will lose their "Cool" factor 
• The next war will be in/about N.Korea
• President Obama will be re-elected
• Gas Prices will sky rocket, then drop drastically after a national boycott 
• Hybrid cars will die completely, being replaced by full electrics used primary for city driving.

You heard it hear first, folks.

Mopar or No Car.

Again, the winds of change have blown in my mind. I'm telling you guys... it's like a tornado in there...

With the the payments on the Pontiac G6 under $1000.00, and it's physical health declining, the search for another vehicle is intensifying.

I have come to the conclusion that my next vehicle will be, with out a doubt, a Chrysler product. I have narrowed it down to (as of now...) three vehicles.

1. Dodge Dakota Full Cab, 4.7 V8.

Since the "inheritance" of my beloved GMC Sonoma to my brother-in-law, I have missed and longed for another truck. I have always liked the Dakota, and really like the 2008-2011 front end. I want the V8, and am iffy on whether or not I want 4WD. The only down side, is fuel mileage, but I think that could be offset by our Saturn SC2

2. Dodge Nitro Heat, 4.0 V6

The Nitro is another result of memories from another of my past vehicles, the Jeep Cherokee. The Nitro is the mechanical cousin to the Jeep Liberty, but in my opinion, better looking. It rides on a ladder frame, and has a solid rear axle, which are pluses in my book. It has the room we need, and has a good ride height as well.

3. 2011 Dodge Caravan AVP (American Value Package), 3.6 V6

This is a dreamer. The AVP is a stripped down version of the Caravan. Stripped down equals low weight. Low weight, plus the fact it still retains the Pentastar V6 (the most powerful engine in any van today)... equals the fastest van today. I like fast vans. It has all the room we need, and if I do say so myself, looks quite nice. If your thinking, "I wonder if he would try and mod it?" Yes. Yes I would.




So that's where I stand today. I am currently leaning toward the Dakota... but who knows.

Regarding your local water company...

Seeing as how I have worked with the two main departments at CCUA that deal with customers, I feel the need to spread some knowledge that may or may not be obvious to the consumer. All the comments made, are in regards to the rate payers of Clay County, it can more than likely be applied to other utility companies as well.

In regards to your water meter. The more than typical water meter, that feeds 99% of the homes in Clay County, is a simple object. It does one thing, and one thing only, and that is measure the flow of water. There are two types of meter feeding the homes in CCUA's service area, the SRII and the PMM.

The SRII 

The SRII, operates a bit more complicated than the other, and to me, resembles a rotary engine. Water enters the meter pushes an off set, rotating disk, then exits. This in turn, rotates a shaft that turns the clock work that turns the readout on your meter.

This type of meter has I high rate of failure (ie: literally grinding to a stop) and is replaced with PMM's as they go bad.

PMM

The PMM is a simple meter. A free floating impeller, sits on a small metal pin with a sapphire bearing on its tip. Water enters the meter, spins the impeller, and leaves. There are no other moving parts to this meter. Because of its simplicity, and low failure rate, this type of meter is the current choice for CCUA.

The main reason I bring this subject up, is that so many times, the number one complaint of customers is that their bill is to high. They say that their bill is to high, yet they do not use any water. 

Obviously... the water meter is broken, and is registering to much usage.

After reading this, I would hope one could see the error in that statement. These meters CAN NOT run fast. They can however break. In the case of a SRII, when it stops, it stops. It will not register another gallon of water. With the PMM, if the impeller is damaged, it will operate inefficiently, not registering the total flow of water.

So please, read and understand. The water company, (at least, CCUA) does not rig your meter. You just use to much water. 

Change up

The old "Standard Grade" is now the new "Zombie Apocalypse". I didn't think the name sounded right, and also thought life updates in the middle of zombie posts would make for a good flow of theme and information.
It's getprepaired.blogspot.com, check it out!
So here's to a new blog!
This subject of "Standard Grade" is much the same of the old page. Me, your standard guy, sharing his standard (but frequently... unique) life.
Babaganoush!