jeremyweber.com

September 9th, 2005 @ 9.42 pm

That’s how long the vw lasted before breaking down again. at least the engine is running great still: this time it was the transmission. I went around a corner and heard a couple faint clunks… a little farther and it got worse. I pulled over and attempted a U-turn, but it made lots of noise when putting pressure on the transmission. I eventually got it turned around by pushing it (thanks to the kid who was riding his bike the process went quicker), and shut it down. Since I was less than two miles from home, I walked/ jogged back and got the old van to tow it home. I forgot the camera when retrieving the vw, but took a couple pictures when I got home, so as soon as I make some photo galleries I’ll make one of for times the vw has broken down (I’ve got pictures for three times now this summer).
I really hate to give up on this car, but I may need to. I’ve never thought of anything as “cursed” before, but this car very well may be. I’ve broken down in the span of less than 100 miles and a tank full of gas this summer alone!

September 7th, 2005 @ 8.53 pm

On Saturday I took the afternoon and pulled the vw’s engine (finally… it’d been sitting broken since August 6th when we towed it home). I discovered the culprit this time… more carelessness on my part. When I reassembled it last time I must have misplaced one of the screws that holds the engine tin together because sitting just upstream of the intake port was a chewed up screw that had partially gotten past the intake valve, but not completely. After pulling the cylinder head the washer that went along with the screw was found pressed into the head as a semi-recognizable mass that had been mushed and welded to itself with the heat. Luckily (again…) the scarring seemed limited to scratches on the surface of the cylinder and the head, but no real damage. That evening I bought myself a torque wrench (I know I’ll be needing it again and again in the future). Much of this was done under the careful supervision of Beverly, and then in the evening we really proved that I am no longer lactose intolerant by enjoying Blizzards from DQ.
On Monday (Sunday I went to Beverly’s church, house for lunch, and hung out at school) I reassembled the car and fired it up before heading to UMBC for a impromptu cookout. Tuesday night the I drove it ~12 trouble free miles, and then tonite (Wednesday) I put on another ten or so miles. With this cool dry air, that thing is pulling hard! (Well, for 1776cc…) With all the bad luck I’ve had so far I still am not going to trust the car for anything, and am still on pins & needles driving it, but just maybe I’ll make it through the month without breaking down again.

August 29th, 2005 @ 9.44 pm

the second half of this month has been increadibly busy, and yet there isn’t much to report about. the trip to Beverly’s grandfather’s cabin near Deep Creek Lake was a great adventure. We chickened out on the run across MD on the drive out mostly due to the temperature being at or above 90. Saturday evening we basically relaxed a bit, but after Beverly’s aunt and uncle stopped by we rode the atv’s a little and went to see their new house that is being build. Sunday we went to Deep Creek Lake and hiked around, and then headed down to the beach area for a bit. On Monday we did some geocaching around Swallow Falls, Pat did some fly fishing (Beverly gave it a shot too), and then we went swimming in the falls, which was a blast. I’m sure you couldn’t tell the difference between us and small children that afternoon : ).
since then i’ve been working, have worked on the vw only enough to know that it wasn’t a screw from the carburetor that fell into the engine, and have been remaking the bsm website that i just created. The reason for the remake is to make it easier to update using php scripting, so the end user won’t actually see any difference from what it looks like now.

August 13th, 2005 @ 1.37 am

So far this month has been jammed packed with stuff going on. In my last post I mentioned my new camera coming, and the vw being operational again.
1) The camera is amazing. I’ve taken a bunch of photos already and I already have a couple I would consider some of my best ever. Those were taken during the crab feast we had on campus because Abby (one of the girls in Beverly’s summer program) is from Chicago, and we couldn’t let her leave without eating crabs.
2) The vw. The weather was cooler and I successfully drove to Beverly’s family birthday party at her aunt & uncle’s house, and even managed to lock up all four tires avoiding an accident near Giant. However, on the way home just after turning onto Rt. 40, loud noises from the engine. I haven’t looked at it yet, but I suspect another screw inside the combustion chamber. That night ended in a call home and a tow home. Now the vw gets to sit for a while before I find time to deal with it. I am now counting the car as completely unreliable, and will never be comfortable driving it.
3) At the end of July Joe gave his two.5 weeks notice. That means that today (it’s still friday since I haven’t gone to bed yet) was his last day. We did hire Mohsen, an electrical PE, and are interviewing for another mechanical PE to replace Joe. It’s gonna be interesting with me being the employee that’s been there the longest.
4) Summer league ended last wednesday with us having a perfect season. We successfully never won a single game all summer, and somehow managed to score between 4 and 7 points against both the best and worst teams (games to 17 generally). Since I personally have never been on a team with a winning record, and I’m not enjoying Ultimate as much as I wish I was, I’m really tempted to simply hang up the cleats for good.
5) I’m finally taking some vacation time. I only get 5 days my first year at L2M, and since I have missed only 1 hour of work so far (I overslept), I am taking three days off next week. Tomorrow morning (in about 7.5 hours) I’m meeting Beverly, Ben, Christy, and Madison and we’re heading out to Beverly’s grandfather’s cabin near Deep Creek Lake until Tuesday. It should be a blast!
I will get some new galleries up in the pictures section, but don’t expect anything before September.

July 31st, 2005 @ 7.47 pm

for some time now i’ve been wanting a digital slr camera, but never got one because they’re expensive. i’ve been using my dad’s slr camera that is fully manual (the battery operates the light meter… i do the rest), and that has been fun. however, that camera only has fixed focus lenses (we have a macro, standard 50mm, and 200mm telephoto lens’ that i used, along with a 2x converter), so taking action shots or shots with a particular zoom were tough. at christmas my mom got our family a point and shoot digital camera, and i have gotten lots of use out of it (it’s up to over 1100 photos). i’ve taken some nice pictures with it, and i like that i don’t look like the dork carrying the big camera, and it’s great for site survey pictures for work, but i like to be able to have more control over the photos. i feel like i’ve already outgrown the point and shoot, and the full manual 35mm just doesn’t suit my shooting/ finished product too well. (The pictures I don’t just throw in a folder get put up on my website, or the bsm website.) since I’m living at home and have a full time job i’ve got some extra money (can you see where i’m going with this?), and this new nikon d50 camera seems to be just what i want…. so with some decent rebates at ritzcamera.com and my debit card, i ordered the camera last thursday. it should be here on tuesday, so watch out! i may shoot you!

oh, and i think i’ve got the vw running well again… last weekend i went to the cruise in at home depot, and last nite beverly and i went down to a coffee house where nate filmore’s band played about 10 miles from my house. (yes, i probably butchered the spelling of his last name)

June 26th, 2005 @ 3.07 pm

last summer was frustrating to have nice weather and a broken down vw in the garage most of the time. i thought i had gotten things sorted out, and this summer would be different. last weekend i went down to Peek Performance and got a new tarboard, oil pressure switch, and also got some new oil. I pulled things apart and then put he engine back together last weekend, and with a jump start (dead battery for some wierd reason) I got it running, though slightly leaking. Today I’ve been completely pulling then engine out, and I’m not sure what to do about all the leaks (they seem to be growing, even though the engine hasn’t been started). I guess maybe next summer I will be able to enjoy my vw…. maybe. I’m not going to hold my breath.