The Manic Mechanic

I had forgotten all about this. Been busy with all sorts of way overdue tasks and projects in order to make good use of time. My apologies!

furr_a_bruin asks, "I know you're fond of Mayhem Manor and have your trailer for getaways - but if you were to pick someplace to have a second "sticks and bricks" home... where would it be?"

Honestly, I'm not sure these days. Generally, I've always been fond of New England-like seaside towns. I love being near the water, and prefer a quiet, low-density area. Being that most "seaside towns" are mostly, if not in the process of becoming, crowded. I've also gotten a bit spoiled by being somewhat out in the sticks yet reasonably close to a whole lot to see, do, and experience. So, if I can come up with a nice cabin on a lake, isolated enough to be silent night or day save for wildlife, dark enough to enjoy a starlit night, yet not too far from civilization (say, 50-100 miles or so), I'd be happy. A nice home base, one I can do some traveling from. Make sense?

maxauburn wants to know, "How is the *NEW* puppy doing?"

Right now he's at that unfortunate stage where his name should be Chewy Bitey McGnawton. Not so much tearing up furniture, but play biting when you pick him up, or attacking Kodi or Pinky until they finally snap and bite (or scratch) back, or littering the house with lots of rawhide chew things and doggie toys. He's a flurry of impossible-to-contain energy with an annoying (and dangerous) habit of not coming and staying when called. And he hasn't quite got the knack of being housebroken yet. When he isn't being a dynamo from hell, he's one of the most cuddly dogs imaginable. He usually sleeps the entire night, either in his crate or under the covers with us. He makes noises in his sleep that can be adorable or sometimes frightening. His feet, as awkward as they sometimes are, can one minute be cold as ice or delightfully warm, always a surprise when he's burrowed under the covers and pushing said feet against naked skin. He's done with all his (expensive) shots until next year. He's a typical puppy, adorable and frustrating, all at the same time.

meddler_inc queries, "How are you doing? How's the weather?"

I'm doing okay, after slowly recovering from a nasty, drawn-out cold-like mess that had both Jeff and I in its grasp for a while. The weather is slowly working its way to Spring, and I hope to be getting out and enjoying the weather soon, even if it's cleaning up from the past winter and bad weather. I love Springtime. So many pleasant memories.

Wanna sk me something? Go here, and fire away.

Being that I am pretty close to being the most uninteresting person on Livejournal, I am going to sit out this year's installment of "March is 'Ask Me Anything' Month" unless there is any sort of demand. It's you call.

I've lagged a bit, waiting for a better frame of mind to come up with good answers for the Words! meme, this time instigated by he of high hirsuteness furr_a_bruin.

How it works: Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!", and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your journal, and explain what they mean to you.

1: Greasemonkey - I'll admit it, I am a grease monkey of the highest order. In terms of loving to work on engines and whatever they might be installed in, I'm there. As far as not being afraid to get my hands dirty, I've thrown myself into some of the nastiest, greasiest, oil-soaked hell and come out completely covered in crud that it would make even mudcub feel envious. It's all good, and gives me a sense of accomplishment. The mostly permanently stained hands come with the territory.

To leave no facet of experience or life in general go without mention, and not knowing exactly if I understood Furr's intention with this question, I also use the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox to help me use the 'net the way I see fit. ;)

2: Sawdust - Somewhat related to #1 above, the result of one of my other favorite hobbies, woodworking. However, I am not actually a sawdust monkey, as I am usually trying my best to minimize sawdust when doing that sort of work. I've gotten new dust collection apparatus set up to keep the shop cleaner, and the stuff generally makes me sneeze and feel nasally miserable when around it for any length of time. It is, like the oil stained skin and clothing, a nice indicator of something accomplished.

3: Frustration - Sometimes found amidst #1 and #2 above, frustration is something that has been following me around a lot lately. Injuries and setbacks, stuff outside my control, as well as things I have complete control over have piled on the frustrations. Hobbling around and in pain, uncertainties surrounding work, loss of rest and relaxation times, problems in the world around me, it often pushes me over the edge and I blow a fuse. I still try as good as I can to handle the situations and get on with life.

4: Masculine - Ah, this one is an often loaded word. Applied to me, I would say I pretty much fit well in the definition of the word, given my appearance, mannerisms and pursuits. It's a trait I admire in others as well. But I don't see it as some kind of goal to be met by artificial means either. Be yourself. Don't act.

5: Tools - The means with which I accomplish my many tasks. And one place that some people have considered me somewhat of a crazed maniac. Anyone who has watched an episode of The New Yankee Workshop and has rolled their eyes at the sheer number of tools that show up in a typical episode (this includes me, btw) might find it hard to believe that I might actually go beyond his collection. Aside from my fairly well-equipped woodworking shop, there's my outsized collection of electronic tools and equipment and of course the garage full of tools and machinery used for my automotive work. I've been amassing tools ever since I was in the single digits of age, and I still have some from that time. I have no idea what I spent on tools over the decades, but I can safely say that it's more than I'd need to buy a second home. In San Fransisco.

Tools to me are sacrosanct. It's the craftsman's interface to his craft. Good tools can outlive their owners, can be handed down through generations and can guide a lifetime of impressive work. I don't take kindly to those who borrow my tools and don't return them or break them, a big problem I have at work. I value my tools because they are my interface into all that I do that earns me a living, gives me the feeling of accomplishment, and makes me happy.

My favorite Pocket Scotsman arktos62 gave me my next set of five words:

1: Engines - One of my many mechanical loves. I haven't yet found one I could not figure out. It does not matter what size, from the tiny Cox engines that powered the planes and cars of my young days to big, powerful diesels and race motors, I've messed with 'em all. One of my greatest pleasures is firing up an engine for the first time after rebuilding it. I have oil and fuel in my blood. That will never change.

2: Home - More than where the heart is, my home is the center of my world. I built the house we are living in, setting things up just as we wanted. I recharge here. I've experienced my greatest joy and most terrible tragedy inside these walls. When the day comes, I will die here.

3: Family - Technically, I have none. Mom was my whole family, when she died, I lost it all. In reality, I have Jeff, his parents and his extended family (this is both good and not-so-good). And not long before Mom died, I was told I have family I do not know. This is the first time I am mentioning this to anyone, and maybe one day, I will talk about it.

4: Emotions - What can I say, I have no shortage here. My empathic nature makes me rather emotional. I cry at movies or listening to some music, become angry at the drop of a hat, laugh at the silliest things. And for the most part, I am not afraid to show them.

5: Blogging - I started blogging here on Livejournal six years ago. I did not know how I would take to the medium, but over time it has become my primary interaction with people and friends online. I used to be an avid 'net chatter from the IRC days, various other services and such starting back in '94. It was a whole new world for an introvert like me. Later on in years it seemed the 'quality' of general chat had fallen, and I found the interaction through LJ refreshing. I still think this forum has the greatest potential. Many have moved to Facebook and Twitter, but my real home is here. I love you guys.

Remember: Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!", and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your journal, and explain what they mean to you.

That cute pocket Scotsman arktos62 asked:

Do you have a favourite author or a book that you'd recommend everyone to read?

*blink*
*blink*

Ya know, for as voracious a reader I am, I can't tell you what was the last book I read. This is due mainly as a precautionary measure, because once I get into a particular book or novel, it will take up all of my time. I will HAVE to finish it, and as soon as possible. I will stay up late, neglect chores and tasks, and obsess over the story until it's done. That is, if it's really a page-turner. Generally, though, I seem to gravitate to technical manuals and journals lately, news and editorials, and compact stories that populate the web these days.

My freshly-tattooed friend baeritone asked:

Other than your birth, what is the most important thing that's ever happened?

If I were to take the usual definitions of "important" in this case, such as significant, life-changing, lasting,, etc, it would have to be when I lost my Mom to cancer. Though this happened in June of '06, it still feels as though it's an event still happening, and at the same time, it feels so distant. Losing the most significant person in my life left me with profound changes, and many things I have yet to resolve. Granted, this is something one would never entirely 'get over', but I think I am beginning to find my place in the world, albeit slowly.

One aspect of Livejournal, at least how it's being used by most on my friends list, is how involving it can make one another in each of our lives. And in the scant few years it's been since I lost my mother, I have seen many of you go through the same experiences of losing parents and loved ones. At each time I get immediately transported back to those last weeks and days and relive those moments. The extraordinary feelings of sadness, loss and hopelessness is something one can never prepare for. And every time it happens, it's a reset to zero. Going through it once does not make going through it again any easier.

ptownnyc asked the following:

But seriously - just what exactly are you building in your basement? You are constantly adding more servers, etc. - what's it all for?

This falls sort of in line with the previous answer posting I guess. It often sounds like a lot, and I guess to some it is, but there are in reality only two servers now and there was a big upgrade to the network that went in about the same time, this was all done in an effort to bring all that stuff into this century and make it usable for many years to come.

Some background info I guess will help here. My basement is actually set up in two sections. There is the big, unfinished part under the main house that has everything from my woodworking tools and workshop, the laundry area, a bit of a rumpus room setup, and the entire basement area itself that is piled up with boxes, lumber, old computers and electronic junk, furniture and accumulated cruft. The junk I am slowly dealing with, and as the weather gets nicer I am taking lots of it to the dump as well as to charity outfits. The smaller section of the basement exists under the sunroom, which originally was going to simply be a filled-in foundation until I figured it would actually be more effective to make an opening in the basement wall separating the two areas and make some use of the space. Since the floor of the sunroom drops a foot from the level of the house, the basement under the sunroom has a low ceiling. This 14x24ft area originally started out as a big closet space. The problem arose when my woodworking shop created so much dust it was impractical to have my electronics setup anywhere near it. I set up another workbench and moved all my electronics into a portion of the space under the sunroom. It was much cleaner there. I eventually finished off that third of the space to make it a sort of 'clean room' and to make it more comfortable in the winter as well (since the sunroom and upstairs woodstove do most if the work heating the upstairs, it gets cold in that damn basement when the heater is not running). This became known as The Lab Of Mayhem, a counterpart to the similarly named garage (and the name of my blog).

In the last couple years I've been putting forth a concerted effort in modernizing things around the house, including the home theater setup, the LAN, appliances, lighting, etc. Since a lot of this involved running lots of various cabling around, a convergence of seemingly unrelated projects started to happen. I wanted to finally have a network setup at home that was robust enough to handle high definition video, since I am soon buying a new big-screen TV for the home theater, I also added to the multi-room sound/music system at the same time, that prompted the running of TV cabling to finally bring the satellite programming into the studio and since the area where all the LAN and RF cabling was being overhauled, it was time to finally connect a phone line in the same wall plate, because I was putting the fax/printer in the hallway closet along with the color laser and running LAN cabling there as well the phone line was also added there, since the cabling was finally done in the studio I could now finish off the lights in the woodshop that would have blocked easy cable routing but now the upgraded lighting was too much for the original circuit it was on so I added two more branches and...

The paragraph above demonstrates also how my project planning goes, which usually means lots of balls in the air at one time. To make things a bit clearer, the home network is ready for just about anything I could ever throw at it, as well as being totally remote accessible. A hodgepodge of ancient computers and hubs and switches is now a tidy pair of servers, a single big managed switch and standardized cabling all at gigabit speeds. Much of the wiring for the home theater is all in place, all that is needed now is the toys. The workshop lighting is finally all installed after at least a decade, the area is nice and bright and I can work towards cleaning up and finishing off some areas of the basement. The unfinished section of the sunroom basement will become an office once all the crud is out and the drywall is up. The roof of the house and garage gets replaced this year (one of the few things I will not do myself simply because of time constraints). All this complicated-sounding work is an effort to finally simplify a lot of things here at the old homestead, so Jeff and I will be able to entertain guests and have some more free time. This is infrastructure improvements for day-to-day life. It's starting to pay off.

kneescar writes:

I've been kind of a car guy since before I could drive. I never had any appreciation for classics and muscle cars, though. I've always liked the subtleties and the sophistication of European Cars, and the value and practicality of Japanese cars. (Big Honda fan from way back.) I used to read European Car magazine, and I wanted nothing more than to add "more power" to my 1987 Jetta GLI 16V. Since then I've owned 3 Audis and have gone back to Honda. So, here's my question, In your experience, or in your opinion, what are the most cost effective steps a person could take to add some minor power to: name your car, (Mini Cooper, Civic SI, NSX, Element, BMW 3 series) without messing up reliability and without making the thing obnoxiously loud.

Ah, car questions. I love 'em here in the Garage Of Mayhem.

Your 'classic' power adders still work with varying levels of horsepower increases in most makes. Free-flow intakes and catback exhaust systems usually net an average of 7-15hp or more depending on the enging and stock tuning. Cars with very quiet intakes and exhausts respond well to making them breathe more efficiently, and can be done without sounding like a buzz bomb if you pick the right stuff. Stay away from the APC fart can mufflers from Pep Boys. There is no shortage of every imaginable power adder for Hondas, from the easy stuff previously mentioned to turbo systems, standalone ECUs, cams, etc. You just have to pick your power and start shopping.

If you start off with a 'boosted' car, the easiest way to add power is simply turning up the boost. Supercharged cars just need a simple blower pulley swap to make a big difference. Boost control valves or an ECU reprogram work for turbo engines. The current crop of Big Three diesel engines can be boosted by 50-100hp and nearly 200lb-ft of torque from the driver's seat and without even opening the hood by using so many of the available 'power programmers'. Adding the usual crop of breathing improvers gets you even more. If you are willing to do some wrenching, adding dual turbos, injector upgrades and bigger intercoolers gets you crazy increases.

BMW upgrades are a bit more difficult in the ECU tuning department, since BMW makes life hell for aftermarket tuners. A good shop that has cracked the code and knows their shit can bring up some nice power increases. A local shop here called Lucky Dog Garage has been coming up with some incredible programming and packages for Mini and BMW rides. Anything from sane to sick.

The old adage still applies to performance: Money buys speed. How fast do you want to go?


Be a part of my very own production, "March Of The Questions", while there is still time!

ciddyguy asks: Do you see yourself as a "typical bear" or not and how has it influenced your life?

Without bringing up that "What Is A Bear" discussion, when I finally "discovered" beardom in the early/mid 90s, I found that I fit the simple, spare definition that existed back then. Average guy, fuzzy, unskinny, masculine. I still consider myself fitting that same description these days, though 'what is a bear' has given rise to so many other subcategories and subspecies as people pigeonhole themselves into ever narrower categories. As for my LJ handle, it actually comes from the name of a roller coaster in Hersheypark, PA, the Great Bear. It's not that I am 'great' in any way. As far as how it influenced my life, I guess it gained me quite a few new friends over the years, and a loving partner these days.


Be a part of my very own production, "March Of The Questions", while there is still time!

A two-fer this time:

baeritone asks me: Still love me? ;)

Of course, you silly goose. How could I not? Though sometimes intermittent, we've been connected for a long time and been through a lot together. Cant throw that away. Nope, uh-uh. We are almost brothers in some ways. Though I am the older one that always seems to pick on you at times. *peels pepperoni offa Harry* ;)

Anonymous asks: I'm going to ask two questions ? What do you want the Easter Bunny to bring you ? AND more important Can we practice making little greatbearCUBS more often ? : )

"Anonymous" in this case is my partner Jeff. As far as the Easter Bunny is concerned, maybe a few chocolate eggs or something else seasonally sweet. And for part two of the question, I know I've been a bit distant in the past few years as I have been coping with tragedies, injuries and losses, but your constant companionship has kept me from going off the deep end for sure. My love has only grown through the years. I guess I just need to show it some more.


Be a part of my very own production, "March Of The Questions", while there is still time!