I'm sure some of you will be surprised that I'm into yoga. If I'm honest I'm not THAT into yoga but from time to time I'll get the mat out and move around some. It helps my back immensely.
I'm also sure that some of you will be surprised that I'd like to start jogging. I've talked about wanting to lose weight in the past and frankly I've hit a wall. I beat the 210 pound barrier but the 205 pound wall is one I've been struggling with for 6 months now. I can get slightly under it but not for long. This is an important line for me because I remember getting my first hunting license at age 13 and I already weighed 205. In retrospect I was quite porky at 13 but I was nearly full grown at that point, I don't think my inseam has changed since then.
So anyway for Christmas I asked Angie for a pair of yoga pants. I haven't done any yoga in the house all winter since it was too cold to do it in shorts. The pair she got me are nice but they're long, like you can't see my feet at all when I wear them. Today I was thinking I'd like to get going on the jogging thing. I read an article last night about the 20X training plan and while I certainly don't want to work out like a navy seal I realize that if I'm ever going to get under 200 pounds I need to move a lot more and I need to burn a lot more calories when I'm moving which means I need to move faster.
Off to Amazon to search for yoga pants and its just as Angie explained, shorter yoga pants seem to be in short supply. I can find shorts and pants so long they'll get under my heels but nothing in between, with one exception. The exception is skin tight and frankly guys my size either don't want to be seen in something skin tight or SHOULDN'T be seen in something skin tight...
So there are my choices, mid thigh or dragging on the floor. I don't understand this, how can I do yoga if every time I try to put my foot down I have to pull the pants out from under my feet? Don't people get frustrated with this? Does nobody else do yoga in a house thats too cold for shorts?
First world problems right?
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
AGM goodness
Some months ago Fred picked up an AGM lantern for me. I forget the price but it came with a Coleman 220 which I thought was an F but looks to be an E transition, its got an F collar and vent but is stamped E. More on that later, I'm not really a fan of the 220, I think the 228 has a better look, I wanted the pair for the AGM.
Looking at Terry Marsh's site: http://tgmarsh.faculty.noctrl.edu/ under early AGM I found the 4614 which AGM made for Sears in the early '30s. Dates are tough on AGMs since they aren't stamped. Anyhow I'd been off lanterns for the winter but lately have been getting back. I've got a couple Colemans I've been working on that were giving me a rough time so I decided to give the AGM a little attention. Its got an integral pump/gas cap arrangement with the typical hard/cracked gasket and dried out pump leather. The leather softened right up in neats-foot oil and I've got some o-rings to replace the gasket. With the pump working the lantern held pressure and flowed air through what looks to be a Coleman R55 generator. It also came with the filthiest Coleman rising sun globe I've ever seen. After quite a bit of work with some Simple Green the globe is nice. It doesn't belong on this lantern since you can't access the generator or light the thing with it in place. I've contacted Fred Kuntz about a proper mica chimney.
Anyway since the lantern held pressure I figured it was worth trying to fire up. With fuel in place and some mantles tied on it fired up with little trouble, I had to crank the cleaning knob a bunch but it was otherwise pretty straight forward.
The thing was it didn't burn right, it'd get real dim, almost go out even, then brighten back up. It seemed like if it was dim and I fiddled with the knob it'd brighten back up again sometimes but sometimes it wouldn't. Overall I knew something was up.
Taking the lantern apart was surprisingly easy, its very similar to a Coleman 220 which of course shouldn't be a big surprise. Even the valve came out easily, considering how clean the tank is that wasn't a real surprise. The lantern was very dirty, I think it must have sat in somebody's wood shop for awhile, it had a lot of sawdust in it.
With the valve out I was presented with the standard AGM bottom end with what appeared to be a dirty screen. Many AGM lanterns have a fine screen on the bottom of the fuel pickup, usually the assembly comes off with a twist. To my surprise when I twisted this one the whole tube twisted.
That explains the poor running, there must have been a crack in the tube and I was occasionally getting a slug of air instead of fuel. I bet if I'd played with it for awhile I'd have found that the lantern ran better on low pressure than high.
The fix is actually pretty easy, I cut apart a Coleman fuel/air tube from a 200A (the bad one from my original 200A) and found that the tube slid nicely over the AGM tube. I cut out the bad part of the tube out which meant cutting off the end and then cutting the bad part back. Before I did that I measured the length of the tube so I could get it back together the same. I don't want the pickup pushing on the bottom of the fount.
Then I reassembled it all with JB Weld. In initially I tried to solder but I couldn't get a consistent solder joint while keeping everything in alignment.
Foam meat trays make excellent frames for something like this since its easy to adjust and get everything in proper alignment. You can see the transition from the very thin AGM tube to the thicker Coleman. Also if you look closely you can see the nub of the AGM air tube, it looks like this should be an instant light lantern.
The downside of JB weld is that it takes a long time to dry, I had to put the end on, then let that dry overnight, then put the tube on and let that dry overnight. Later today I'll polish up the AGM fount, then put it all back together and give it a shot.
Looking at Terry Marsh's site: http://tgmarsh.faculty.noctrl.edu/ under early AGM I found the 4614 which AGM made for Sears in the early '30s. Dates are tough on AGMs since they aren't stamped. Anyhow I'd been off lanterns for the winter but lately have been getting back. I've got a couple Colemans I've been working on that were giving me a rough time so I decided to give the AGM a little attention. Its got an integral pump/gas cap arrangement with the typical hard/cracked gasket and dried out pump leather. The leather softened right up in neats-foot oil and I've got some o-rings to replace the gasket. With the pump working the lantern held pressure and flowed air through what looks to be a Coleman R55 generator. It also came with the filthiest Coleman rising sun globe I've ever seen. After quite a bit of work with some Simple Green the globe is nice. It doesn't belong on this lantern since you can't access the generator or light the thing with it in place. I've contacted Fred Kuntz about a proper mica chimney.
Anyway since the lantern held pressure I figured it was worth trying to fire up. With fuel in place and some mantles tied on it fired up with little trouble, I had to crank the cleaning knob a bunch but it was otherwise pretty straight forward.
The thing was it didn't burn right, it'd get real dim, almost go out even, then brighten back up. It seemed like if it was dim and I fiddled with the knob it'd brighten back up again sometimes but sometimes it wouldn't. Overall I knew something was up.
Taking the lantern apart was surprisingly easy, its very similar to a Coleman 220 which of course shouldn't be a big surprise. Even the valve came out easily, considering how clean the tank is that wasn't a real surprise. The lantern was very dirty, I think it must have sat in somebody's wood shop for awhile, it had a lot of sawdust in it.
With the valve out I was presented with the standard AGM bottom end with what appeared to be a dirty screen. Many AGM lanterns have a fine screen on the bottom of the fuel pickup, usually the assembly comes off with a twist. To my surprise when I twisted this one the whole tube twisted.
That explains the poor running, there must have been a crack in the tube and I was occasionally getting a slug of air instead of fuel. I bet if I'd played with it for awhile I'd have found that the lantern ran better on low pressure than high.
The fix is actually pretty easy, I cut apart a Coleman fuel/air tube from a 200A (the bad one from my original 200A) and found that the tube slid nicely over the AGM tube. I cut out the bad part of the tube out which meant cutting off the end and then cutting the bad part back. Before I did that I measured the length of the tube so I could get it back together the same. I don't want the pickup pushing on the bottom of the fount.
Then I reassembled it all with JB Weld. In initially I tried to solder but I couldn't get a consistent solder joint while keeping everything in alignment.
Foam meat trays make excellent frames for something like this since its easy to adjust and get everything in proper alignment. You can see the transition from the very thin AGM tube to the thicker Coleman. Also if you look closely you can see the nub of the AGM air tube, it looks like this should be an instant light lantern.
The downside of JB weld is that it takes a long time to dry, I had to put the end on, then let that dry overnight, then put the tube on and let that dry overnight. Later today I'll polish up the AGM fount, then put it all back together and give it a shot.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
You CAN direct to Vegas!
A couple months ago I bemoaned the lack of direct flights to Las Vegas from greater Boston. Today I actually booked my trip and just on a whim once again tried Bradley airport in Hartford. I like Bradley, its only 10 miles farther from my house than Boston Logan, Google says that 10 miles will take me 20 minutes but I don't believe it. Its a small regional airport, easy to get into and easy to get out of. I flew out of there to Vegas last year and I'm going to fly from there to Los Angeles in a couple days. Anyway I thought I'd checked Bradley for a direct to Vegas back in January but either I didn't check, or I didn't do a good job, or more likely our stupid travel booking system at work missed the flight. As it was I very nearly didn't spot it today but completely by accident I managed to find that holy grail, a direct flight from Boston to Las Vegas and joy of joys its at 11:30 in the morning. Many of the west coast or Vegas flights leave so dang early, they make you leave home at sparrow fart and then you can't get into your hotel room yet when you get there... This flight gets me into Vegas at something like 3pm which is a great time to take a nap.
Yes a nap, remember this is a work trip that I've taken 7 times already. I'm Las Vegas-ed out. I don't know what hi-jinks we'll be up to but I'm reasonably sure there won't be much if any time spent on the Vegas strip and nearly no time spent gambling...
Yes a nap, remember this is a work trip that I've taken 7 times already. I'm Las Vegas-ed out. I don't know what hi-jinks we'll be up to but I'm reasonably sure there won't be much if any time spent on the Vegas strip and nearly no time spent gambling...
Monday, February 17, 2014
A quick little chore
Had a little time tonight so I cleaned up my basement workbench. After I got all the tools put mostly away and little bits and bobs cleaned up I finally got around to a little task I've been leaving undone for too long.
Mercedes-Benz requires 60g of axle grease be installed when repacking the front wheel bearings, at least on the old cars I've got. They sell a tube with 150g of grease and you just approximate half the tube for each wheel but the tubes are expensive and there isn't a Mercedes dealer anywhere handy to me. Mobil 1 grease is considered an acceptable substitute but it comes in big tubs. Awhile ago I realized that the little containers duck sauce came in were perfect for holding 60g of axle grease. I bought a little scale on Amazon and made up a couple. I used them both last year and I've been trying to remember to refill ever since.
A mostly empty container on the scale already zero'd out. The containers both weighed 4.4g empty with just a smear of grease inside. Even after I'd used the bulk of the grease on my 190D the remains were super handy for little jobs that needed some lubrication.
60g right on the money. It takes a little fiddling to hit 60 exactly but I'm not super worried if its 59.9 or 60.1.
I've got a plastic spoon that I used to scoop the grease from the tub into the container, I use a little wooden ice cream paddle (like you ate your Hoodsie cup with when I was a kid) to scrape the grease from the spoon into the container. It takes about 3 scoops.
I labeled the lid with what it is "Wheel bearing grease" and how much there is "1 wheel 60g".
With 2 of these on hand I can deal with both front wheels on one car. The 190D in particular seems to be very sensitive and wants its wheel bearings looked after. Both the 190Ds I've had have experienced severe wheel bearing failure. I should probably make repacking the bearings part of yearly maintenance. Its a lot easier to pull 'em apart and repack when the bearing isn't shredded than when it is.
Mercedes-Benz requires 60g of axle grease be installed when repacking the front wheel bearings, at least on the old cars I've got. They sell a tube with 150g of grease and you just approximate half the tube for each wheel but the tubes are expensive and there isn't a Mercedes dealer anywhere handy to me. Mobil 1 grease is considered an acceptable substitute but it comes in big tubs. Awhile ago I realized that the little containers duck sauce came in were perfect for holding 60g of axle grease. I bought a little scale on Amazon and made up a couple. I used them both last year and I've been trying to remember to refill ever since.
A mostly empty container on the scale already zero'd out. The containers both weighed 4.4g empty with just a smear of grease inside. Even after I'd used the bulk of the grease on my 190D the remains were super handy for little jobs that needed some lubrication.
60g right on the money. It takes a little fiddling to hit 60 exactly but I'm not super worried if its 59.9 or 60.1.
I've got a plastic spoon that I used to scoop the grease from the tub into the container, I use a little wooden ice cream paddle (like you ate your Hoodsie cup with when I was a kid) to scrape the grease from the spoon into the container. It takes about 3 scoops.
I labeled the lid with what it is "Wheel bearing grease" and how much there is "1 wheel 60g".
With 2 of these on hand I can deal with both front wheels on one car. The 190D in particular seems to be very sensitive and wants its wheel bearings looked after. Both the 190Ds I've had have experienced severe wheel bearing failure. I should probably make repacking the bearings part of yearly maintenance. Its a lot easier to pull 'em apart and repack when the bearing isn't shredded than when it is.
Jetta to the doctor again
After all the excitement with the Jetta a couple weeks ago I hoped we'd be in for some quiet time. Not so. All the monkeying around with the turbo oil line apparently unsettled the three way coolant pipe that lives under it causing a pretty severe coolant leak. This had me paranoid because at first I couldn't figure out where the coolant was going, just that it disappeared. I was super relieved when I realized it was dripping from the three way pipe.
Next big problem, its way too cold and snowy for me to wrestle this one in the driveway so its back to Keith at KMH motors in Lowell which is a solid 45 miles from here. Will we make it? Actually I'm going to stack the deck on this one, I ordered a tow dolly from Uhaul, we'll tow the car to Lowell and have a day out. Angie needs to buy new sneakers so we'll go up to Nashua and shop, then have lunch in our favorite Pho restaurant. Keith says he can replace the 3 way pipe and reseal the IP in one day. The IP leaking is probably what caused the issue in the first place, it drips diesel fuel onto the 3 way pipe which ruins the rubber hose. I'm not entirely sure the IP is leaking now but I want to maximize the shop time, if theres any sign its leaking or might leak in the near future I want it fixed now. In for a penny, in for a pound...
Next big problem, its way too cold and snowy for me to wrestle this one in the driveway so its back to Keith at KMH motors in Lowell which is a solid 45 miles from here. Will we make it? Actually I'm going to stack the deck on this one, I ordered a tow dolly from Uhaul, we'll tow the car to Lowell and have a day out. Angie needs to buy new sneakers so we'll go up to Nashua and shop, then have lunch in our favorite Pho restaurant. Keith says he can replace the 3 way pipe and reseal the IP in one day. The IP leaking is probably what caused the issue in the first place, it drips diesel fuel onto the 3 way pipe which ruins the rubber hose. I'm not entirely sure the IP is leaking now but I want to maximize the shop time, if theres any sign its leaking or might leak in the near future I want it fixed now. In for a penny, in for a pound...
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
No more direct to Vegas
Heres an odd one for you.
Since 2007 I've been to Las Vegas for a week or so in April every single year so this year will be my 8th trip. This is all for business, I'm not a crazy Vegas addict or anything.
Anyway other than the first year where the travel agent pushed me onto US Air (a saga in itself) I've always had a direct flight. The first couple years out of Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT) a couple years out of Providence, RI (PVD) and last year out of Hartford, CT (BDL). I like where we live because it gives me options for what airport I fly out of. Hartford is the farthest at just under 2 hours but its a nice low stress drive and only a half hour more than Boston, worth it for a direct flight.
Trouble is this year there is 1 direct flight from greater Boston. Its on Jet Blue which is normally a good thing but all the return flight options either get you into the airport after midnight (and then I've got an hour and a half drive home) or leave at night and arrive in the morning, the dreaded "red eye".
I'm rotten on red eye flights, I don't sleep well on the plane, so I end up being a zombie the next day. My plane sleeping schedule is pretty much always the same, we get up in the air, I fall asleep for 20 minutes and I'm awake for the rest of the flight.
So the red eye option is clearly out. Which means I'm stuck with a stop. The internet makes it nice and easy to search around for flights but the computers at the various airlines also have a grand time coming up with crazy options. It takes about five or five and a half hours to fly from here to Las Vegas, seven hours total I put up with (so 5 hours of flying with 2 hours of layover. 20 hours I will not but yet the airlines all like to put those options out there. They'd like to have me make a bunch of stops and cool my heels.
I made the multi-stop mistake years ago when Angie and I went to Barbados. We flew out of Providence because I was frankly scared of Boston. We had to go to JFK, then Miami and finally to Barbados, the return was the reverse. It was the first time we had ever flown together and was about as much fun as you'd imagine it being... I was young and now that I travel more than most people I've totally learned my lesson.
This thing about Vegas bothers me mostly because a used to fly the route often from Manchester, change in Vegas for Burbank. The flights were almost always full, in some cases crammed full. Apparently I'm good for business, if Southwest quits a route it means they can't make any money at it. In this case either they weren't charging enough or when I wasn't on the plane nobody else was going either...
Angie and I joke that we're good for business, we see this in restaurants a lot, the place is empty, we show up and it fills up. Apparently its true for airlines too. I wonder if I could make a career out of it? Like William H. Macy's character in the "The Cooler".
Since 2007 I've been to Las Vegas for a week or so in April every single year so this year will be my 8th trip. This is all for business, I'm not a crazy Vegas addict or anything.
Anyway other than the first year where the travel agent pushed me onto US Air (a saga in itself) I've always had a direct flight. The first couple years out of Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT) a couple years out of Providence, RI (PVD) and last year out of Hartford, CT (BDL). I like where we live because it gives me options for what airport I fly out of. Hartford is the farthest at just under 2 hours but its a nice low stress drive and only a half hour more than Boston, worth it for a direct flight.
Trouble is this year there is 1 direct flight from greater Boston. Its on Jet Blue which is normally a good thing but all the return flight options either get you into the airport after midnight (and then I've got an hour and a half drive home) or leave at night and arrive in the morning, the dreaded "red eye".
I'm rotten on red eye flights, I don't sleep well on the plane, so I end up being a zombie the next day. My plane sleeping schedule is pretty much always the same, we get up in the air, I fall asleep for 20 minutes and I'm awake for the rest of the flight.
So the red eye option is clearly out. Which means I'm stuck with a stop. The internet makes it nice and easy to search around for flights but the computers at the various airlines also have a grand time coming up with crazy options. It takes about five or five and a half hours to fly from here to Las Vegas, seven hours total I put up with (so 5 hours of flying with 2 hours of layover. 20 hours I will not but yet the airlines all like to put those options out there. They'd like to have me make a bunch of stops and cool my heels.
I made the multi-stop mistake years ago when Angie and I went to Barbados. We flew out of Providence because I was frankly scared of Boston. We had to go to JFK, then Miami and finally to Barbados, the return was the reverse. It was the first time we had ever flown together and was about as much fun as you'd imagine it being... I was young and now that I travel more than most people I've totally learned my lesson.
This thing about Vegas bothers me mostly because a used to fly the route often from Manchester, change in Vegas for Burbank. The flights were almost always full, in some cases crammed full. Apparently I'm good for business, if Southwest quits a route it means they can't make any money at it. In this case either they weren't charging enough or when I wasn't on the plane nobody else was going either...
Angie and I joke that we're good for business, we see this in restaurants a lot, the place is empty, we show up and it fills up. Apparently its true for airlines too. I wonder if I could make a career out of it? Like William H. Macy's character in the "The Cooler".
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Whew, what a week
Welcome to "Polar Vortex II" or whatever the idiot weather people are calling this latest cold snap. Of course with a cold snap come troubles, for me it took the form of car issues. First was the Jetta, Tuesday I got nearly all the way to work when the low oil pressure dinger came on. I'm so glad it made noise, I'd have never noticed the idiot light. Turns out the oil feed to the turbo had ruptured. Fortunately I got the car shut right off and towed directly to my mechanic. He pressure washed the engine (yay, clean engine!) fixed the line and the seals for the oil cooler which I guess are common leak points. I like that about this guy, he looks for other fixes for common problems which won't cost me much while he's there.
I didn't get the Jetta back until Friday so Wednesday I hopped in the 190D. It was quite cold -4F or so and I was a bit concerned when the engine was difficult to get started. I should have stopped there and let the car warm up but was in a bit of a hurry. That car has been running well and started at -6F some weeks ago when I tried to make a video of cold starts on both cars. This time I got about 400 yards from our house and it quit. Angie came with the Ranger and we towed it home and I went to work in the (fuel slurping) Ranger. That night I changed the fuel filter on the 190D and although the engine was warm to the touch owing to the block heater having been on all day the car still wouldn't start, even with the fuel filter full of Power Service. My guess is either:
A. Ice in the fuel tank causing no incoming fuel
or
B. Failed fuel pump
I'd like to think A is more likely since theres never been any problem starting this car but we'll see. Since it was still very cold out I shipped the car to my Mercedes mechanic (as opposed to the VW mechanic that got the Jetta) and we'll see what he says.
I didn't get the Jetta back until Friday so Wednesday I hopped in the 190D. It was quite cold -4F or so and I was a bit concerned when the engine was difficult to get started. I should have stopped there and let the car warm up but was in a bit of a hurry. That car has been running well and started at -6F some weeks ago when I tried to make a video of cold starts on both cars. This time I got about 400 yards from our house and it quit. Angie came with the Ranger and we towed it home and I went to work in the (fuel slurping) Ranger. That night I changed the fuel filter on the 190D and although the engine was warm to the touch owing to the block heater having been on all day the car still wouldn't start, even with the fuel filter full of Power Service. My guess is either:
A. Ice in the fuel tank causing no incoming fuel
or
B. Failed fuel pump
I'd like to think A is more likely since theres never been any problem starting this car but we'll see. Since it was still very cold out I shipped the car to my Mercedes mechanic (as opposed to the VW mechanic that got the Jetta) and we'll see what he says.
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