What are you happy about right now?

...yesterday, I did something I've been wanting to do for years. I went to my local asian market, bought a frozen durian, brought it home, and axed it open on my back porch.

They really do taste like an onion-y pineapple!

...also, I fixed my camera... and I bought a car... one that's a bit hard to find running at a reasonable price.

lol ,an old British Leyland Mini ?

Hey, Top Gear proved not everything BL made was crap...

...just the vast majority most of it.

kinda depends on how you define crap, I guess. To me, it's any car you need a specialized tool kit to work on. I can disassemble and reassemble most of that car with a cross-tip screwdriver and a basic socket set.

It's a Mark I Mini.

It is therefore automatically cool and awesome.

the Mini was funnily enough sold at a loss ,its build quality varied acoording to the trade dispute level at longbridge and as soon as the government stopped giving them subsidies the company folded !

I frickin hate durian!

Worst Fruit Ever!

Awinnell wrote:the Mini was funnily enough sold at a loss ,its build quality varied acoording to the trade dispute level at longbridge and as soon as the government stopped giving them subsidies the company folded !

They also took the term superleggera a bit too literally:

Kiskaloo wrote:It's a Mark I Mini.

MkIII, technically... but still awesome, I say.

tsundere9kagami2 wrote:I frickin hate durian!

Worst Fruit Ever!

... I've gotta admit, it's far from being my favorite flavor... but splitting the things open is kinda satisfying... and... worst fruit ever? That title goes to the custard-apple. At best, the flesh can taste almost like an apricot, but the stuff masses considerably less than the seed and skin... and the skin has frickin' hydrogen cyanide in it!

Took 3 plane flights, but I made it to Boston with no delays. I'm freezing my arse off here, but I finally get to experience winter! Freedom Trail here I come!

LoC978 wrote:kinda depends on how you define crap, I guess. To me, it's any car you need a specialized tool kit to work on. I can disassemble and reassemble most of that car with a cross-tip screwdriver and a basic socket set.

AMEN... I remember a Jaguar owner complaining once that he had to get take the car to the dealership just to get the earths cleaned because you needed a special tool to take the earthing point off. Got anymore photos by the way?

Speaking of cars: Alfisti is now officially debt free! Paid out the last of what I owed on the Alfetta. Of course, I'm now basically broke, but at least I can save for other expensive stuff without feeling guilty... or contemplate buying a Kombi.

Alfisti wrote: Got anymore photos by the way?

not yet. she runs and drives, legally even... and she made the trip from Northern California to here... but I don't wanna start using her as a daily driver just yet. there are a few problems I want to work out still, so I have a lot of parts ordered.
...and I'm storing her about 30 miles from where I live.

congrats on being debt-free, though!

LoC978 wrote:

Alfisti wrote: Got anymore photos by the way?

not yet. she runs and drives, legally even... and she made the trip from Northern California to here... but I don't wanna start using her as a daily driver just yet. there are a few problems I want to work out still, so I have a lot of parts ordered.
...and I'm storing her about 30 miles from where I live.

So, taking the James May aproach to classic-car storage than huh?

Hmm... Mini. Problems. Universal joints?

Good luck creating a useable daily driver though, it really is the best way to run a classic. When I first got mine the owner had been using her as a show-car so she'd moved maybe once in the previous year. Anyway, over the first 18 months of ownership every single seal, boot, bushing and flexible coupling disintegrated making for an expensive introduction to having my own car

a very educational 18 months though, eh? that's pretty much how my first car went...
'course, mine was an Oldsmobile with a big block in it, so I created other problems along the way...

but no, the problems this mini has are fairly minor. there was an issue (fixed now) with a tire slowly separating, but it made the 500+ mile trip anyway... then there's the exhaust; needs a new doughnut, new mounting bracket and a new muffler... the brakes are a little soft, so that'll take a little troubleshooting and a few dollar parts... there are a couple rust holes that are pretty bad, so a little cutting, grinding and welding is in order... she's missing a few small cosmetic parts that are being mailed piecemeal from a few websites... and worst of all, there are still some Lucas electric parts under the hood. Working or not, those things are being replaced ASAP.

LoC978 wrote:...and worst of all, there are still some Lucas electric parts under the hood. Working or not, those things are being replaced ASAP.

Naw man, don't replace those, you just need: the Lucas Wiring Harness Smoke Refill Kit




Eh, at least it all sounds fairly minor. I've pretty much given in trying to have a perfect car and done what every other broke classic owner does: prioritise all the important stuff and call the rest "character".

LoC978 wrote:and worst of all, there are still some Lucas electric parts under the hood. Working or not, those things are being replaced ASAP.

Ah yes, the ol' Prince of Darkness strikes again!

Sigh...I know it's the oldest joke in the book, and it's not even entirely true...

...but somebody had to do it.

...you beat me too it.

Football season is finally over....but that means March Madness is coming up.

Brought back a dead Dell XPS M1210 back to life today; it died sometime in early 2009 due to a well known defect with the nVidia GPU ball-grid array. It was a number of months out of warranty, so it was shelved until a new motherboard could be afforded.

After reading a bunch of success stories with dead video cards being resurrected after a trip in the oven or close encounters with a heatgun, I decided to give it a shot; after all, what's the worst that can happen?

With a Wagner heatgun and some aluminum foil, I got the GPU to 210C, which theoretically, should be enough to get the solder to reflow a bit. Lucky me, it worked like a charm and the laptop has sprung back to life without a dollar spent. Life is good.

Wrote my first check since the new year, and I managed to get 2010 without accidentally writing 2009.

I know it's trivial, but sometimes it's the small things.

rusty-spring wrote:Wrote my first check since the new year, and I managed to get 2010 without accidentally writing 2009.

I know it's trivial, but sometimes it's the small things.

I've been signing things off as "2009" for the last few days, generally I need about a month to get into the groove again =P


In other news, why am I happy? THE ELISE'S CHASSIS IS STILL STRAIGHT!

Ok, roll it back about a month. 8am in the morning, I get a phonecall. It's Dad "I've crashed the Elise".

Me *suddenly awake*: You what!?


He was on a club run up Mt. Glorious when the right-rear tie-rod broke. Luckily they were only cruising back from breakfast rather than going quickly, but it was still enough to pitch the car off the road, up an embankment, tree, tree, tree... stop. To be honest though the trees were a good move as option b) was "over the side of the mountain". The old bloke thankfully was fine, just a little annoyed.

We were fairly certain the car was a write-off (and the insurance assessor confirmed that today): front and rear clams demolished, both rear wishbones destroyed, 4 rooted wheels, broken tie-rods (obviously), shattered windscreen, front crash-structure did it's job, engine off its mounts and the list goes on.

However, since the chassis isn't bent we can buy the wreck back and rebuild... if it had been bent then it'd be goodnight Irene.

Needless to say there's now a lot of Elise owners looking real close at their rear tie-rods now. If you know anyone with an Elise (particularly the round-headlight S1), let 'em know. Look particularly around where the tie-rod end attaches for cracking.

I finished watching CCS. Now i'm 10 episodes in on Sailor Moon and really liking it.

I liked both CCS and SM, very much. Especially the US dubs.

Alfisti wrote: In other news, why am I happy? THE ELISE'S CHASSIS IS STILL STRAIGHT!

Ok, roll it back about a month. 8am in the morning, I get a phonecall. It's Dad "I've crashed the Elise".

Me *suddenly awake*: You what!?

There's something comicly inverse about having your father crash one of your vehicles. It only happened to me once...no injuries, and only a bent set of handlebars for the bike. My Father was riding my Yamaha XT600; trying to use a technique better suited to a lightweight 250 and needless to say it didn't work with such a heavy trail-bike.

Glad to hear your own Father walked away none the worse for wear.

hydra wrote:Now i'm 10 episodes in on Sailor Moon and really liking it.

I saw SM on German TV, where it was called Das Madchen mit dem Sauberkraft, and thought it was completely insane...I'd like to see it in English someday. What does CCS stand for?

Professor Voodoo wrote:What does CCS stand for?

Card Captor Sakura

I've been watching them in japanese since I don't want to miss anything.
In one episode of SM, Usagi transforms herself into a music star, but looks like a hooker

hydra282 wrote:I've been watching them in japanese since I don't want to miss anything.
In one episode of SM, Usagi transforms herself into a music star, but looks like a hooker

All the girls in The IDOLM@STER look like hookers.

They're still hella cute, mind you.

A few things that made me smile today:

The Gentleman's Deck: 50 pocket sized cards on ettiquette.


Would sir like to dine in portrait or landscape format?



A4 size dinner plates from Things of Colour... MUST HAVE. Sadly not available where I live.


And to finish off:



Improv Everywhere of course always makes me smile, 2010 pantsless subway ride

Alfisti wrote:Improv Everywhere of course always makes me smile, 2010 pantsless subway ride

They did that on Seattle's new light rail line, as well.

Finally got around to scanning the Holga shots from Tokyo:



Rest are here

Awesome Cool Robo o.o

I'm happy because my neighbor sent over a huge pitcher of sun tea over for watching her little girl for a few hours last night.

Damn is it sweet though.

Polaroid returning to producing the instant camera:



*Does the happy camera-nerd dance.

Thanks to the interest generated by The Impossible Project, Polaroid has announced it will be returning to producing the iconic instant camera. The new model had definate overtones of the classic design before the addition of the flip-up flash unit.

Good for me too as the new camera takes 600 cartriges, which my camera uses as well.

New camera = greater interest = more demand for film = Increased production from Impossible = me not having to trawl the camera-stores and eBay searcing for resonably priced, out of date, film cartriges.

Originally from Apartment Therapy Unplggd

I’m happy because my custom Britney picture is almost finished. He just has to clean it up and ink it.

I just found a great Touhou game in MegaMari.

It's a Megaman clone, sure. But it's a damn good, not to mention inventive Megaman clone.

One of these days Alfa Romeo will draw a wiring diagram that actually corrosponds to what they put in the car... and then the world will end because a fundamental law of the universe will have been broken.

On the upside all my indicators work again... well, almost all my indicators, still sussing the front left.

Instead of hanging out with his friends for the midnight release of Mass Effect 2, my friend stayed indoors to watch a movie with me (not that he had to, but that was nice).

Edit: Now I'm happy I persuaded him to play acoustic and sing songs. What a way to end my night.

I'm happy that today I got home, went to sleep at about half 4, and then didn't wake up till 7:20
Ah, sleep, how I love you!

And after dinner, I can go back to sleep!

Driving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida tomorrow, to take my mixed gas rebreather class (it's a SCUBA breathing rig that allows the diver to go deeper and stay there longer).

I might not get much writing or reviewing done for the next week or so, but when I'm done I should have a lot better understanding of what I put my OC's through!

Professor Voodoo wrote:Driving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida tomorrow, to take my mixed gas rebreather class (it's a SCUBA breathing rig that allows the diver to go deeper and stay there longer).

I might not get much writing or reviewing done for the next week or so, but when I'm done I should have a lot better understanding of what I put my OC's through!

Well, have fun, and we expect to see some Mari and Elio mixed gas rebreather action on your return

It's certainly a step beyond anything I've ever attempted - I get neurotic about the bends in 15' depth, never mind 150'!

Good luck Voodoo, I hope that everything goes well. You certainly can't complain about diving in sunny Florida - my dad was a frogman himself, and he learned how to dive off a dockside in Cardiff... he was as sick as a parrot when my own first ever dive was when we were on holiday at the Great Barrier Reef!

I'm going to the mountains again to see the snow Imma so happay!

Watching Star Trek now. Watched Star Wars before. LOVE!

Watching Zombieland now with my awesome friend

Sakura wrote:Watching Zombieland now with my awesome friend

I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!

"You're gonna find out who they're gonna call... It's Ghostbusters." XD

The first Boeing 747-8 freighter, N747EX, has just successfully lifted off in front of me here at Paine Field in Everett.

It's high enough...It's long enough...IT'S GONE!!!!!!!!!

LOLZ

Congrats Kisk!

SONIC 4 to be released this summer and the best part...

IT'S GOING BACK TO 2D!!!