Well, let’s see. This weekend Jen and I went thrift store shopping on Saturday and were able to find a bunch of very nice clothes for very cheap- I found a few Banana Republic shirts, brand new, for about $4 total. Jen also found me a great hipster short sleeve button down shirt, probably about 30 years old, for $2. I found a beautiful tuxedo jacket and pants that fit me well (well, not the pants) for $70, but I couldn’t justify the price. Also found a Revereware fry pan for camping for $2 and a few books- $1. Jen found a few real nice blouses for work, but we didn’t stop to pick up her jeans, so there will be another trip down to Laurel in the near future to get some pants for her work wardrobe. Saturday night we went to see The Others with some old friends fron Cidera; it was a lot better than I thought it would be. Very creepy, good story, and a kicker ending.
Sunday Jen and I hit Hope Depot to pick up my window, and I found a Honeywell programmable thermostat for $50 on sale. I need to do some more work to see if the rumors that it blows up furnaces is true. We got back to the house and I was able to install the window up front in a relatively short while- it was really easy and went in quickly. I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get the old one out in time, but it came out without too much fuss. I need to go and buy some nonexpandable foam to seal the edging, and some vinyl or metal flashing to cover the wood box I installed it in. It’s really cool to have a window up front that is level and new- I think it’s going to really cut down on the cold air up front too.
I managed to blow up Slann last night trying to install the 3dfx Voodoo 3 card; they got bought by nVidia, and don’t have a complete list of drivers online for the card, so I installed the 2000 drivers and rebooted. Now the box just continues rebooting itself; it gets to the NT load screen and then restarts. Repeatedly. So I’m going to ask Jeff here at work to look at it. I might have to buy a card after all. I did find new drivers for it though.
Let’s see. Here’s the first thing I found worthwhile on the Binder Bulletin this morning. A list of parts up in Pennsylvania.
Here also, is a picture of the lifted Traveler I looked at over in Ellicott City. It had reasonably good parts on it, but A. was a Traveler, meaning I couldn’t swap the frame with my Scout, B. had fiberglas fenders and quarters, only the fenders of which would fit my Scout (and weren’t even in that good shape- lots of bubbling and waving), Bushwhacker flares, which were in good shape, a springover conversion that was done poorly, and loads of rust. I figured that for all the work to pull the fenders off, I’d destroy them and negate the cost of buying the truck. Somebody paid him $1300 for this thing. The rockers were gone all the way up to the seat bases, and the pillars were totally shot- worse than my truck.
At this point, because she talks so loud on the phone, I know that Amy here at work does not like her landlord because she is afraid he is videotaping her secretly. Spooky.
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Internet is still down. Stupid Toadnet.
[expletives deleted]
…I looked at the two Scouts last night, an ’80 Scout II and a ’78 Traveller. They were right over in Ellicott City, and being sold by the brother of Mark, the dude who works at the IH dealership there. I should have known they would be rocky just because of that fact. The Traveller was lifted about 4 inches, on a set of Super Swampers, and had a light bar, bumper, and fiberglas fenders and quarters. On the minus side: The rockers were absolutely shot. The rear floor was rusted but covered over with sheet steel, and the underside of the tub was like the surface of the the moon. It ran, after sitting for a year, and sounded rocky but steady. The ’80 was in a much worse state of decay; the rockers were gone, the passenger floor had been cut out completely from A to B pillar. The rear floor was OK but both tailgates were rusted through at the bottoms; the passenger door was clean but the drivers’ was chewed through on the outside. The motor was is a 345 and sounds pretty clean; it has a 727 and (from as far as I can tell) a 300 transfer case; the diffs are 44’s. The body was just so far gone I wasn’t interested. I told him that I’d be interested in parts if he was parting it out; the engine, seats and passenger door would be cool to have; the fenders were OK, and I’d also take the front clip (radiator, hood, etc.) but the rest of the truck is a basket case.
I drove Chewbacca into work today because I wanted to feel good about something.
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Saw an ad for an ’80 Scout on the Binder Bulletin site for $1300. 345, 31’s, 2″ lift, automatic. I’m gonna call and see if this guy still has it, and go out to take a look. I wonder if it’s the ’80 I saw about 5 years ago up in Ellicott City with that guy Mark- that thing was a beast but very rough.
Let’s see. I got 5 sheets of drywall for the basement and began installing- there’s sheetrock on the walls up each side, on the east wall of the closet, and on the right side of the closet door. I also got sheetrock up on the framework above the stairs and began to spackle it. I need to straighten out the bottom panel but otherwise it’s looking good, and more importantly there will be no more dust down through the stairs onto the basement floor. I’m still waiting on the window for the basement, and that will be coming it at just the right time- this weekend coming up I’m spending a day installing that, and then I have to figure out some fucked-up way of finishing off that front wall. That should be entertaining.
Unfortunately I’m thinking that the basement will be at least another month in finishing, but my ultimate goal is to have it complete by the time the fambly comes down for Thanksgiving- should be plenty of time between now and then. Really, the next steps are pretty easy, with the exception of the window and that front wall. The only other major issues outstanding are:
- creating (or buying) access panels for the water and gas meters
- painting all the uncovered or unpainted drywall/wallspace/ceiling
- building and installing the shelf under the window
- installing the closet rack
- and installing the carpeting.
- I also need to run and clean up the cabling for the network, and run cable down from the back bedroom.
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Ahhhhhhhh. A well-rested, sunny Monday morning, about 70 degrees; work looks bright, although I’m doing text revision and editing for a government site today- search-and-replace for illegal characters like ä and ñ – hardly exciting stuff.
Jen and I got a lot of stuff done this weekend; We took what is probably the best ride in the Scout to date up to Lowe’s and Sears to pick up supplies for the basement; besides grinning so hard our heads almost fell off, we were able to get a $150 Wagner power painter on sale at Sears for $90; we also picked up the supplies listed on the 4th, plus a whisky barrel and dirt, and replanted the spruce from Christmas out in front of the house; Jen was also kind enough to plant my geraniums in the pots front and back. We got the back half of the basement taped off Saturday night, which is a big push forward- I have one more night of sanding the ceiling to go, I think.
Sunday was a lot more sobering; we spent a good deal of the morning distant from each other, but in the afternoon we were able to really connect back up at her house and start making things right between us. She is great enough to sit with me in the ER waiting room of the Columbia hospital for three hours to try to have my eye looked at- I had some crap stuck in it from the basement for two days and it was beginning to drive me nuts. We watched people come and go, and never got called into the queue- there were other people with more pressing problems than me. Most disturbing was a man leading his wife into a chair with a bandage over her eye; from the looks of them and the way they were sitting, I’d guess it was not an uncommon thing, and they were earning some frequent-abuser miles.
I was able to get her 8100 up and running in the blue room, get her AOL connection up and running after fixing the phone jack, and have the machine see the printer successfully. We need to pick her up a few things still; she needs a better table and a decent chair.
This information on the Binder Bulletin site today:
72-73 Grill, 72-80 fenders, quarters, trim moulding, roll bar, lights, end caps
Steering columns, very good shape rallie wheels and more
Please call dwayne at 410-465-XXXX
he’s in Maryland and he’s getting a call tonight…
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Warm, overcast day today. I drove the Scout to the train station, and noticed a strange hiccup in the idle when she’s cold- a first. I think the choke needs to be adjusted, which is not a surprise, considering that I had the carb rebuilt almost three years ago.
It will be very good to have the top off her again this year, although I’m still scrambling to find somebody to do the bodywork. As it is, the sills behind the B pillars are going, and every time I get in the truck, I hear the B pillar on the driver’s side settle. I have almost all the money together for a new fiberglas tub, but I’m going to need at least that much more (roughly $4,000) to convince somebody to help me with the work.
My sister, meanwhile, is taking care of Bear, a chow/rottweiler/shepherd mix- he bit somebody a few days ago at his old house, Brian and Jill’s. Unfortunately, somebody got in the way of his fresh kill, an oppossum, and he defended his food like any territorial dog would. They’ve had it with him- in my opinion, he should have been leashed anyway-and so Jill asked Renie if she’d take him. The plan sounds good-she’s going to set up a kennel-type thing in the backyard, and open up the woodshed off the back of the house as his cover. I’ll sleep a little better knowing that she’s got a dog there to bark and keep watch over the place.
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