Quick Memorial Day update

Memorial day stuff took up the morning. By the time we got back, and I puttered around online and watched an episode of Mythbusters, it was about 2PM. I tossed the first 7 episodes of Dr Who on a thumb drive for the kids to watch, they spent most of the afternoon catching up on that.

I spent about 4 or 5 hours cleaning and moving things in the garage. I got two new outlets installed on the wall above the new location for the workbench, moved the workbench, installed a new switched outlet in the beams above it and installed a 4 foot shoplight there. I built a couple of small storage nooks in the studwork, moved the sheet goods (a few sheets of plywood) into the now-accessible sheet goods storage area, and built a "short sheet goods" storage rack above that for cut-down sheets that are 2 feet wide or narrower-I have a lot of those sitting around from various projects.

The trailer is now empty--I had used it to hold the plywood and scraps out of the way and out of the rain. So now I can use it to get wood chips next chance I get to go to the recycling station.

We've been talking about getting a patio firepit (one of those metal things probably) - I'll have to lay some patio stones for it but that's OK. I have a heck of a lot of wood scrap that needs to be either burned or thrown away, so I'd rather burn it.

I finished an audiobook and another book, and finally got started reading HP7. I located and ordered a 4GB SD card for $20 shipped; it's NOT an SDHC, it's just SD. You can do 4GB without going to SDHC, and the Sony reader I bought doesn't support SDHC (which I was disappointed with, but decided I could live with it since a 4GB card is still supported and holds something like 5000 books). A higher capacity would be nice but only for MP3 playing, which I probably won't use much (if at all) anyway. It's an awkward size for an MP3 player, and playing MP3s kills the batteries quickly. I also ordered a hard case for the reader; I'm going to be carrying it in a bike bag so I think it's prudent to give it a little extra protection.

I also started listening to Going Postal by Pratchett. When this is done (probably tomorrow or Thursday) I'll have been through the entire Discworld series in unabridged audiobook format over the last 2 or 3 months, at least those that are not short stories, illustrated novels or kid's books. I've been using the L-Space reading order guide.

Car update

Heard from the dealer; the misfire was just a plug boot that slipped off. On this car that means TWO cylinders out, a V6 running on 4 cylinders. Since they just had the intake manifold off, they're taking the blame on this one. The smoke, they don't know but they say there's a bit of a leak on the pan gasket where it may have hit the exhaust manifold. They tightened it a bit, but since they put that pan gasket in a couple of months ago, they'll take the hit on replacing that too if it turns out to be a continuing problem.

This is all good since I had to authorize an $82 diagnosis fee (which I now don't have to pay), and I'm pretty sure they spent more time on this than they did on the original service. They JUST called me at 1:15 and they were already working on it at 7:30 AM when I stopped by to sign the OK. This dealership has always been totally fair and really reasonable with their pricing.

I don't have my bike rack or an old junky blanket in the car, so I'll have to go home first and get driven there to pick the car up. My bike won't fit in the car without disassembly and lots of greasy spots on the upholstery. We took the van to town for the parade yesterday, I guess if I'd been thinking ahead I'd have tossed the bike rack in the back, and thrown that in the car for use today.