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July 29th, 2010 @ 10.02 pm

While we were in Nags Head, NC last week, the Jetta’s alternator decided to slowly die. Luckily we were with family that could drive us around and jump start the car when we needed to drive it, but it was still a frustration, especially because we replaced it just two years ago. At least we were able to drive the car all the way home (with the A/C off in 100 deg heat) without breaking down, and I have a garage of my own to do the work in.

When we returned I ordered a new alternator, and today it arrived. Armed with a tutorial over at VW Vortex, I dove in to replace it, along with a coolant temperature sensor that has also gone bad recently. So far I am half way done, and here is what the Jetta looks like as of right now:

Yes, a simple alternator swap in a Jetta with a VR6 involves removing the front wheels, grille, front bumper cover, headlights, a few other small parts, draining the radiator and swinging the whole front radiator and frame head out of the way. I may have gotten away not draining the radiator, but to replace the coolant sensor meant draining coolant out, so I went ahead and drained it all.

July 16th, 2010 @ 7.41 am

The largest earthquake ever to hit the Baltimore/ Washington region woke residents from their sleep at 5:04am this morning. The Richter Scale could hardly contain it’s enthusiasm, and jumped to a never before seen level of 3.6. Across the region houses trembled and swayed, and everything inside rattled. Eyewitness reports coming in from the region report a total of three juice glasses have been damaged. Two broke when they fell to the floor. The third only has a small chip in the base, and the owner Joe Schmoe reports “it’s not that bad,” and he will continue to use it, always remembering the Great Quake of 2010.
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July 15th, 2010 @ 10.26 pm

I’ve lived within an hour or so of Baltimore my whole life, yet never saw the fireworks downtown before. For the past few years I’ve wanted to, but didn’t want to fight the crowds at the inner harbor. This year one of Beverly’s sorority sisters invited us to a party on their rooftop balcony in Federal Hill. Perfect!

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April 19th, 2010 @ 7.49 am

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a company that made all the crazy products you thought of when you start a sentence with “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?” Haven’t you always wanted to run around inside giant plastic tubes just like your pet hamster? Or had a Big Wheel (complete with plastic tires of course) that was adult sized to cruise around the neighborhood on? Or a robot to do all your chores (like the dishes, laundry, and cleaning the house)?

Of course this company would have to have a name… and I think the most fitting name would be Wouldn’t It Be Cool If. Of course that’s a bit long to type out every day, so for short they’d go by their acronym, WIBCI. The pronunciation would be Y-Bick-E. Now, wouldn’t it be cool if there were a company that made these crazy ideas we sometimes have?

February 16th, 2010 @ 10.45 pm

When it snowed in December, I didn’t have any sleds with me. But when it snowed earlier this month, I did, but couldn’t find a good hill within walking distance. After the second big storm of the month Beverly and I went on a 4.5 mile hike in search of one, but none of the streets were steep enough.

Rather than give up, I made do with what I had, which was a pile of snow over 6′ tall that was left from clearing the driveway and sidewalk. Here’s the results as recorded by Beverly and uploaded to Vimeo:

Sure, it’s not quite up to Olympics Luge standards, but I certainly had fun.

February 7th, 2010 @ 11.17 am

If anyone knows me well, they know I turn into a five year old when it snows. I don’t like the cold winters (who does when the alternative is soaking up the sun by the pool in 80 degree weather?), but I’ll tolerate them as long as there’s snow. For the past several years, we’ve gotten little to nothing. But finally! This year we’re finally getting the snow I’ve been waiting for! In December when we received ~16″ of snow, I just knew it wasn’t going to be the biggest of the winter. I knew we’d get a storm to rival the February 2003 storm – we’d gone too long without a big storm. (Coincidentally, the 2002-2003 winter also had a 10″ storm in early December.) So enough babbling… there’s a bunch of pictures over in the gallery.