keep on rolling, just a mile to go, keep on rolling, my old budy your moving much to slow

So I’ve got an interview in portland for a systems analyist job.  I haven’t got a clue what a systems analyist does, but it’s another potienial job. 

 So I not only need a new temperuture sensor for my car, I also need a culch  :( It happened on the way back from windsor and the car wouldn’t go over a hundered, it would do between 95 and 105 but wouldn’t go any faster, the cutch was slipping.  it happened again today on my way home. I wasn’t even speeding this time.  so there goes yet another weekend, I hope I can get it changed in a weekend.  but that will have to wait for next weekend, the weekend will be spent putting in the temp sendor so it will pass emssions, the idle has to be low enough for them to check it, I don’t spend much time at idle, so it didn’t matter to me.  but it would be great if it also fixed the cold start problem so i didn’t have to care around a can of exploisve to get it started.  But i do sort of like it as an anti theft measure:)

i was wondering it anyone else finds it just amazing that in the motorcycle section of craglist it lists, things like a 06 zx10r (200 mph bike) right next to a fat people  chair? you know the ones that fat people have to get around on because their to lazy to walk.  I would have thought that there would be an area for those, maybe medical sypilies? but nope they see fit to have them in with the bikes. 

 

NP: jack straw, the greatful dead

be still my heart, engine turning over, won’t you start?

I don’t know why I was so  happy over this weekend, but I was, estaticly happy, the weather was good, and though I didn’t actually do anything save for taken my dogs out to the boulder res, I was really happy to be doing it.  The drive over was amazing. I took 287 up to lookout road and lookout road right to the res, drving up lookout road was great, it’s one of those roads that goes up and down as it passes throught the fields of corn and wheat, and at times you can’t see the sprawling mertopilis sounding us, just me and my dogs and a shit load of wheat, off in the distance you could see the foothills rising up over the landscape and rain falling somewhat to the north. it was beatuful. 

and then at the res, the back side where they allow dogs, there weren’t any cops driving around (I’ve seen them before, nothing to ruin a good walk than being run off of the trail by a black police suv) it was nice and friendly, the people actually wanting to know what kind of dogs these are and so on, more friendly than I’ve seen people in the denver area be on a regular basis ever before, and to tell the truth, a tinsy bit annoying as well, I had my headphones on and was trying to listen to music… but not that big of a deal becuase there wasn’t anyone around comparied to usual.   and here is the kicker, when we got back home, the dogs just passed out from exhution i gess. 

but i still haven’t worked on my car, and it’s getting close to the date when I have to, the tags expired last month, so I really need to get a proper exhuast system on there and some how change the idle point of the motor, fix what ever is making it idle at 1500.  and then once It’s passed emissions i need to get a fueul injector set up on it. I don’t want to have to waste entire cans of starting fluid on it again this winter.  not to mention the spring that i’ve spent two days trying to cut off of the car and finally just said screw it and left it three quarters of before driving to grand juction.

and my guess would be that I will need it to start when it gets cold out again this winter, I’ve been interviewed for 5 jobs all in places it’s too cold during the winter. bend or, seattle, medford or, glennwood springs co, and somewhere else.  not a single job where it’s nice year round yet. god I hope one of them calls soon, I don’t know how much more crap I can put up with at work, and it’s getting mighty trieing living here with my fam.

 

NP: mirah, engine heart

California

So I’ve been thinking, about moving to cali.  I didn’t get the job as a cop, because “you were found excellently quailfyed, but there weren’t any openings in the area you selected”  this inspite of the posting on the web, which stated they were desparate for people in georga.

so I looked online and low and behold, there is a opening in washington and two in cali, i applied to the one in washington, but it got me thinking, could I stand to live in cali for a couple of years? could I afford it? and the answer to the last question seems to be yes. in san degio I somehow have my doubts about san fran.

but could i stand it?

I know i could live there for ever, without my car, or any cool car, with all of those people everywhere. but I could maybe do it for a couple of years? I mean I always wanted to live in the city for a couple of years, at least so cal has better weather right? and I would be making good money, but surpisingly not as good an in ga.  only about 10k over what I’m making today.  oh never mind, I’m looking at a different table,  55k  is plenty good. (it was 53k in ga)

I think I’m going to apply in ca.  what the hell? they got to need more people than washington right?

NPjoni michell, californica

speeding motorcycle, won’t you change me

I’m not really sure what to say here. I was feeling so much more optmsistic earlier, but not so much now.  and somehow I doubt It’s the couple of glasses of sangira that I’ve had since then.

but what about ky, I’ve never been there, in reality, I’ve driven through it, sure, maybe ten times, but I’ve never stopped to actually see the country, (you have to remeber that that is still a new concept to me, I’ve dirven all over the conutry but the places I’ve actually stopped are very few and far between. kanas, that’s where they have the speed traps on the highway? neb, that’s the state we go trough to aviod the speed traps in Ks, utah, dri state both literally and figeratively, nevada they gamble there don’t they?  jersy? that’s the ugly parkway just outside of new york right? 

I mean the only trips i’ve taken without the idea of being somewhere in two days or less, have taken place in the last four years. and those are te trips I remeber the best.  traveling through the southeast with the only goal of ariving at cat’s place in dc on thurs, that was an amazing trip,  and then getting kicked out of cats and getting an extra day on my day to new york?

and then up to oregon that was another amazing trip, no where to go, nothing in particlar to see. nothing to do, just a good part of a week to explore.

to tell the turth, Those are the trips i remeber better than all of the rest.

well not exatcly, I remeber the trip I took to minisota better than the rest because it was in such a unreiable car, tapeing the sun roof shut on the side of the highway, in a bilazzrd then holdning the door shiut, and snappying the wiper bladesat every exit, after I had passed everyone, and then pulling out to pass them again cause my wipers stopped working round about halfway through neb, that was a memeorable trip too. 

but that one spot where i could make a U after trning on the GWH instead of the next exit, and I could make my lexus burn rubber for the whole 1/4 mile of the round about? bassically a huge sweping turn and I could get rubber though the whole thing. that’s the sort of thing that sticks with me. pulling a huge 1/4 mile contorled slide isn’t something i’m likly to forget.

even the more recent trip I took out to cali and back over thecourese of the long weekend, I don’t remeber the trip though co, ut, az, nv,nor cali. but i do remeber   driveing around cali when I was sort of stuck their with nothing better to do. would I go back? not likely, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time.

so anyway, what does this  this all mean?  haven’t got a clue, but one of the probelms I’ve got with my job, is that now that I have a year in, it’s too fucking hot to quit and just drive around the counrty. maybe come spet.

 

I’m sort of thinking step as being a good month to drive around pointlessly, maybe oct too.

np yo la tengo, speeding motorcycle

 

PS ky is where i just applied for a job/ that’s it. but i sure hope i get it:)

i don’t smile, cause I wear a frown

I’m not really sure why I’m up.  but I’m pretty damm stoked. I was refered to the hireing officer for a job in pinvillie orgeon. a job that pays roughly twenty grand more than I make now. and i get a gun.  a blm police officer.  a ranger. 

I know I probably won’t get it, but it’s about as close as I’ve gotten (that they’ve let me know about) to getting another federal job.  so i’m pretty stoked about that.

so anyway, once I actually get up, I have to go rent a tux, and i have to decide how i’m going to so cal for erics wedding, i have been thinking i might as well fly and rent a car once i get there, just to save the wear and tear on me, not having to ride throught the night, twice over the course of a long weekend might make it worth it.

NP: I’m not like everybody else, camper van beethoven

in 24 hours they’ll be Laying flowers On my life, it’s over tonight

Ok so this dream i had, i was on a road trip somewhere, i don’t know where, i’m going to guess it was a wedding since i’ve got a couple of those comeing up this summer.

and anyway, I’m with two other guys, guys i don’t know, but in the dream, i did.  one is a rich guy, the other two of us, are well not rich.  but we are still good friendss.  so we are on our way through the desert, think closer to ya mama tambin than the american desert, there are trees and green stuff growning amoungst the sand.  and we are relaxing outside a gas station, just drinking some pop, the weathy guy is inside in the bathroom.  we are just talking about how it is always the rich guys, the good looking guys who get the girls,  and up rides this beatiful girlson a harly, a nbaby blue classic style harly, (i have doubt’s if they’ve made anything like this in the last fifty years) and it’s white with baby blue accents, prefectly restored, white wall tires, the whole nine yards, but it’s covered in dust.  and the girl riding it is dressed in white leather, the fringy stort a half face hemelt, and she beatiful (naturally, does anyone dream of ugly girls? or men for that matter?) 

and of course anyone who can get a harly accross the desertm, an old one, before they where fashon accsoriyes the where unrelable pieces of crap, desvers my respect. plus she’s incredible.  so i’m staring at her, as is my friend.  so anyway she pulls into the gas station, takes off her hemelt, and she’s even better looking, long black hair, latino looking complextion, like selma hayack but with straight hair, streaching about halfway down her back.  and thats the moment that the other of my friends comes out of the bathroom, ands says get up off of your asses, we have to be —- in two days.  just then he sees this girl, and then says wait here, i may be back. and goes over to talk to her,  she wastes no time in telling him off.  and he;s left standing there , mean while we are siting on the curb watching him, and my friend has the keys to the clunker we are driving, he’s so pissed when it’s locked.  my friend and i just kind of look over at  eac other and smile, it’s been on of those kind of trips we get up and walk over to the car, and i get in the back, i state to the woman “sorry about my friend, mam” and tip my hat, then we drive off.  

and that’s when i woke up.. 

NP:jem, 24

You’re bouncing off my eyes, don’t look straight back, don’t look straight back, look away. Goodbye highway.

ok, so another matts dream car grage installment.  this one is far more direct than the proir one, since it’s the car i would be spending most of my time in where i to suddenly win the lottery or some such.  that’s right, it’s a camper van. 

now with my dislike for tall vehicles one might come up with loads of potential vehicles, a lowered mini van? a volvo wagon? but no, it’s going to be a tall vehicle. 

a merecedes benz unimog.  since you never know where it is you are really going.  you might be headed to new york, but between you’re leaving, and you’re arrival, it might not be there any more.  not so much of a concern for new york, but lets say i was heading to my grandmothers, 100 miles out on long island?  you want a battle proven vehicle should you become trapped out there, something that’s not hindered by little things like a couple of feet of water on the road or jersey barriers on the highway.

yep a unimog.  now if you haven’t ever seen one of these, i wouldn’t hold it against you, they are exactingly rare in the states.  though one of the guys down the street from me in boulder had one.  it has sixteen inches of ground clearance. under the pumpkins.  it’s closer to twenty inches on the sides.  (take that hummer h1! with your wussy 16 inches at most) but the way it can do this and not be absurdly tall, is much the same, they are called portal axles, the axle goes not into the middle of the hub, but to the top of it.  plus they are hugely overdriven.  the stock mog peaks out at ~50mph,  but at ~.001 mph it can climb anything. 

which brings me to the next feature, the fact that it’s not huge.  it’s European which means that unlike the h1 which was designed to invade Europe, but wouldn’t fit on any of the bridges in Europe. it will.  and another advantage, it’s not huge.  it’s probably shorter than an average short bed non crew cab pickup. yep, just enough room for two people, a couple of beds, and maybe a kitchen it one was creative. 

now if I’m going to be spending many hours driving this vehicle, it would be my primary road trip car, at least until i get my vw bus with the Porsche turbo engine/ tube frame going.  it;s got to be perked up a bit.  50 mph all wound out isn’t going to do it for me.  so I’ve got to get a better motor in there, something inline with the fact that it’s a working truck, a clone of a semi in Europe, I’m thinking a cummins motor,  figure ~300hp, ~650 ft lbs of torque.  that should be enough.  gear it to top out about 120, should provide for nice cursing on the highway at ~70.  but not a new one, get it just old enough that it doesn’t need the black boxes to run, after all… and too separate tanks, one with diesel one with veggie oil, and two big old fuel filters that and incredibly easy to change out, cause the bio takes some extra filtering.

now about the handling.  it’s going to need some work.  I’m thinking lowering the body/ chassis, bigger cutouts for the wheels. next up is wider tires, some cement mixer fronts should do nicely, but outwards rather than inwards.  (increase the track, by at least the width of the tires.  so what if it won’t fit on eroupes roads anymore?) 

now for the exterior I want a winch, a big ass winch, and probably a pto winch in the back.  an exterior roll cage, mounted outside of  the cabin.   paint the whole thing, lets say purple. we don’t want anyone mixing it up with anything military.  and put a big ole prindle hitch in the back. and a big ass air scoop above the cabin.  just in case the water happens to be deep. 

inside, well more sound dreading, loads more.  but other than that a standard cabin, with nice easy access to the back, where I’d put something along the lines of a pickup camper on it.  a bed, a kitchen, and a little fridge.  and I’ve have hookups on the outside for a shower, water heated by the engine, and of course a toilet seat.    it would need a gun cabinet as well, maybe below the bed? 

now in the brakes department there is no way it can be good brakes, I mean it’s a truck. and there is no way it’s going to weigh less than 2.5 tons.  so the brakes can’t be good, but I’d like at least one good stop from 70mph. in stock from they are huge drums, but i think one good stop will require discs. now for only one stop, i don’t think it will need vented rotors, but then again, you can’t ever have too much brake, and huge cement mixer tires arn’t helping any. so vented rotors it is.

no for the regular stops, I’ve got the transmission and an additional brake disc on the drive shaft, something that’s easy to get parts for, like an 88 caprice wagon, the same dam bakes fit virtually every Chevy car and truck made for some twenty odd years.  set it up so that with moderate brakes, it only applies the brakes on the axles, and when you stop on it, it kicks in the brakes on the wheels, to keep wear to a minimum. 

so anyway that’s a vehicle which certainly belongs in my fantasy garage i think.  or more properly well outside of it, since the doors only go up to five feet, it won’t fit inside:)

NP:now it’s overheard, goodbye highway

NOW THE ROAD TO ACAPULCO IS VERY HARD INDEED

so i’ve been working on the next car for installment into matts dream car garage for some time now.  I’m mean i’ve got a car, a normal type car, (the ls vovlo) I’ve got a super car (the dauer posrche) I’ve got a good cursing aroung town car, the “pagota” benz, I’ve got a good bike.  what else do i really need? 

but it comes down to this, I don’t really care what I need, It’s more about what i want.  and that brings us to the first factory stock car in the grague.  the BMW M5.  

but which m5?  the pureist of the m5s? the e28?  the most powerfull? the e60? or one of the ones in bettween?

well the E60 is out, any car that takes longer to set up to go fast than a bettle or deseil benz takes to go 100, it’s out automatically.  the E28 is the best looking of the bunch, but it’s a lot slower than the e34/e39.    The E39 is only marginally faster than the e34, and it’s mass produced, vs the handbuilt earlyier cars.  and the e34 is nearlly as good looking as the e28, but it’s got huge gains in torsinal stiffness.  and it’s the last of the ture q ships.  it, and the e28 where stock locking 5 series, they had a coulpe of m badges on the frount and rear, and maybe bigger tires/wheels, but that’s it.  when they whent to the e39, it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t the same car, never mind that the stock 5 serise was now nearly and fast as the m5 from the prior years, it was ugly.  at least to my eyes.  and making it obvious that it was a faster car, didn’t help. 

and then the e60.  it’s hardly the uglyest car ever made,  but it’s in the top 100.  and add in the fact that to get it to go fast, it takes longer than a bettle takes to get to as near the ton as it’s going to get.  I don’t see how people car accept a car that ugly and that impratical as being a fast car.  and besides it’s not a stick cause those are slower:(

I’m more inclinded to believe sir stiling moss, the old d type jad was a better handleing car that any of the modern cars, prbably much better, it’s not becuase of the limits.  and it that same vien, i’m inclident to believe that the better “handling” cars got the worse the got in the actually handleing they got. 

so anyway the best of the M5s. im going to pick the e34, the best of the best. m5s it’s not even close to the beaty of the e28, it’s got all of the power of the E39, or nearly if you’ve got the euro model 340 vs  ~400 in the later e39.  and with the lighter wieght the e39 isn’t any faster,  so e34 it is. 

an E34 touring (aka station wagon), wellecome to my garage:)

NP new riders of the purple sage, henery

I can’t tell you anything, you don’t already know

so it comes around about time for another installment of matts dream car garage, a not at all scheduled part of my blog. so here is the next installment.:
A 1984 Yamaha fj100, it could be anything from a 84 fj 1100 up to a 93 fj1200, they are all close enough to the same that any one of them will fit here. 
and it’s a unquince place in the garage, not only is it the first bike, it’’s one of the only bikes i’d have in the garage. i don’t know what it is, but for some reason bikes don’t pull to me as much as cars,  (i’d have about five bikes in my dream car garage, this one, a newer ducati 1098, a Kawasaki zx-10r (04-06 version) a hayabusha, a aprilia smr550, and maybe a duel sport type bike)
so anyway, why this bike? well for one it’s as fast as any normal human being has reason to be, that is, it’s faster than you can think.  or at least faster than i can.  the quarter mile comes up in a touch of 11 seconds.  155 comes in less than 20 seconds i’m guessing,  just think about that for a moment, going from i’m standing here, to 155 in less time that it takes to take a sip of coffee. that’s ungodly fast, and just about right.  for a two up cursing bike.  a bike which I’m planning on riding to cali for Eric’s wedding.this coming may. a perfectly comfortable bike.  a long distance high speed bike. and a 80’s speed icon.  the 155 top speed was the top until the Kawasaki zx11 came along, and it could get better with gearing as well, (though i don’t know how people could ride it that fast, when i sq33awat down behind the wind screen, i can’t see whats going on in front of me in order to go fast), much above 80 i can’t see well enough, and it’s only when the speedo reads 130+ that i have the problem of the helmet trying to leave my head. 
so anyway, back to my bike, the one i own. i would like to fix up the suspension, new springs, oil, and maybe a new emulator, though i haven’t got a clue what that is.  new brake pads all around, a rear disc that isn’t cracked. a new chain, a gunfighter seat for it, some hard cases for it, which i’m planning on getting anyway, bur beyond that, a header would be nice, a exhaust too, my bike already has those, but otherwise, i’d pretty much leave it stock.  and stock looking, which my bike does. 
it’s so nice when something you’ve dreamed about is the very thing that’s in your garage at this very moment.

NP guided by voices, Acorns & Orioles

In the grass all wine coloured

So -5 is now considered cold? in minisota? that seems odd to me, it was more like a high temp from the way the girl I knew who lived there descirbied it. I mean it was like 5F above, and she wanted to walk around the town.  and chicago? -11? i mean yeah it’s chlly out there, but it’s pretty far from being “cold” and yet they are closing schools because the temps are just to low.  “people have been freezeing to death”, when they whent out without shoes and where drunk off of their ass.  I mean it’s pretty normal we lose a few each year in colorado, usually homeless people, and i have to ask, what the hell are they doing here, i mean they aren’t here in the summer, why would you come to colorado in the winter?  (unless you knew colorado, and the fact that it’s supposed to be over fifty today, and that’s a hole lot more normal than -20 is)

but it still amazes me that the midwest, a pretty cold and miserable place is sutting down because the temp was into the negatives. 

cold is when i was driving through wyoming, -46 at the bank next to the  gas station i stoped at, I didn’t bother  shutting off the motor while i was filling up. scraping off the insides of the windscreen, that was cold, I was whereing everything i had, and wraped in my -20 sleeping bag, and i was still cold. partly it may have been the fact that i was in an old honda, and old hondas aren’t known for their quailty heaters.  but by the time i got into fort collins, the temp was a balmy -20, i disgarded the sleeping bag, and by the time i got back to boulder, it was like five degrees out, it felt pretty damm nice after -46, i was weareing a t-shirt at that point.

not that i whent out and enjoyed it, i slept for a good 24hrs after that little trip.

evan dando, in the grass all wine coloured