who needs a blown speaker, anyway?

so, whilest steve was in town, we last minute like removed his stock radio from his chrysler. and when we reinstalled the new radio, everything was nice but the sound sucked. the front speakers sounded like they were eating ruffles (with super extra ridge crunch) instead of playing music. rears were fine. this was probably due to the age of the speakers (9 years) and that they were in doors that were opened and closed (who knew that would happen?) so we inspected the speakers by removing the speaker panel and the foam connecting the speaker woofer to the surround was completely seperated. this was the cause of the crunchy chip chomp characteristic (aka cccc). result? remove the speaker. problem solved. chrylers have tweeters up front so at least the highs will be up there. mids and lows come from the back. golly, its almost set up like a professionals ride. so then i got the idea, since my neon was doin the same thing (dodge, chrysler...same), i figured itd be just as easy to do mine the same way. ...well, its not. he had bose speakers, which apparantly get sweet and easy grills to remove to inspect speakers....i get a door panel. you ever remove these things? yeah, i done it before. you always end up scratchin the door or your self and broken clips are the norm. so there i am, with a screwdriver and a chizzel pulling with all my strength (towards myself...from a safety stand point michael stolarek would have had a heart attack)...popping clips and thinking that someone should have come up with a better way to put a door panel on a car (hello? weve been doing cars for over a century now!) anyway, cut to the end...i survive without a scratch, and im able to disco my front speakers. hooray for tweeters and rears. put back on the door panel...broke clip. good. couldnt do without that.

repaired, reinforced the rockband drum set pedal

so ive been away. not blogging. but i feel the need to show off. i have been working on projects. here goes...over the next couple posts i will relate what my time has been spent on. first on the list was my rockband drum set. i broke the pedal. heel stomping was the wrong thing to do during faith no more's epic. so now it is repaired with some scrap i had in the garage. was rather easy. 3/8" wood that was 2" wide. i used a nuts and bolts to secure the wood to the original pedal. predrilled and secured. sanded with 150 and 320 grit for extra smoothness. only wish i had had 3" wide wood. the 2" width is slim, and new users would prolly be able to work with it, but it takes some getting used to not let your foot fall to the left or right. the only other improvements would be to fill in the holes so that your heel cant feel them, then to put some sort of etch (like the letter 'J' or something) into the wood and stain it real pretty like. you know, for that professional drummer look.

teh pro job

so for our united way campaign this year, i felt compelled to donate more than the usual per paycheck amount. the company always has a big united way week where we try to give some amount. this year the buy-in was set at $50k. so i decided to go against the grain and donate my time and my l337 sk1llz and offer up 3 hand wash and wax jobs. i expected them to go for $20 each, if they even sold at all. 2 of teh 3 sold. and they went for $50 each. so that was kinda exciting. i raised more money than the dunk tank! so that proves i rock. anyway, i used to be this detailer guy and was gonna go all out and be detailer fo life yo (as i usually do with everything) but things changed and i stopped detailing. but i still got all my equipment...and product--from 1998. so most of my product has seen more season changes than i've seen dirty diapers, but let me tell you...give 'em a good shake, and viola presto--10 year old product still works! So if you hood looks like the hood above, you need wax (i wouldn't recomend 10 yr old wax though...use fresh stuff that hasn't frozen...other wise you may waste your time). that volvo was a 2002 with paint in very good condition, but no wax. water should not look like that on your car. it should bead up and roll off of your hood. anyway, my favorite things to do are tires, rims, and windows. customers immediately tell a difference when they walk up to their car. the tires look freshly bought--and not all slimy from some wet look tire finish that will grab every dust particle it can find and make your tires look gross after a couple days. the rims glow. these shots aren't photoshopped, the rims look that good. lastly, windows. ugh. ok, they suck. nobody NOBODY likes doing windows. they are a pain. you stretch, strain, sweat. it just isn't easy. you keep telling yourself that there has to be a better way to do this. well, there isn't. you just got to bite the bullet. i will give you a secret. i use a towel--perferably not fabric softened. i fold it up, use one side for scrubbing, the other for the final dry. so back to my story, in the end, i felt good, and i got to enjoy some quality time with a coworker, and relive some of my glory days as a pro detailer.

my boy oh boy

mind if i brag a min? my boy has been on fire lately. zero (x3r0) discipline. he has been respectful, listenful, pay-attentionful, good-boyful, good-attitudeful, etcful. i am so proud of him. i had a discussion with my coworker regarding caleb about how it seems that all the stuff that i started working with him on in our townhouse way back in 2005 is finally starting to come around. i mean, its like he is actually trying, if not forcing himself to have a happy heart all the time. he is extra respectful lately. it all started when school started this year. at that time mommy also instituted curfew law. so, either school is helping this somehow, or he really is digging his sleep. he is waking up on his own, so he is getting plenty of sleep. maybe thats what he needed. it sure feels good to come home to a boy who is excited to see you. it hasn't always been like this. we have had some periods of ruff spots. haha--i just thought of something that kind of brought our relationship out of the rocks. earlier this year, as in the whole year up until 3 months ago, we were on the outs. bad attitudes, no listening, disrespect, just a bad deal. enter the ps3. i had downloaded some demo's and allowed caleb to finally play the system. it seemed as if caleb felt allowed to be a part of my life. up until then, he hated rockband. today, he says, 'so dad, you want to play rockband? i'll watch.' its so funny. then i tell him i would rather watch him play one of the demo's, and he says, 'hmm ok.' all serious like. but totally respectful. funny thing is he only plays like a couple days a month, but he totally digs it and it totally helped our relationship. maybe i should email sony. let them know that its a relationship builder.
anyway, love my boy. he comes home today and lets me know he is student of the week. not sure why. he usually comes home and tells me that he got a star at school, and when i ask him what he did well, he shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't remember. i laugh because you think that you'd remember what you did well so that you could reproduce the result. but not my boy. he got the star and thats all that matters. so, back to student of the week. i guess there is work assigned with it. and it isn't easy. it involves filling in the blanks and family pics and cutouts and stuff. but he came home and got on it on his own. already has 3 of the 7 worksheets done. then he did his homework. he is really impressing me. i am so proud of my boy. he is working hard, and doing it with a great attitude. my boy good at school. must have his mothers brains, and his fathers fiendishly good looks.

104F isn't all that hot

Had some fun this weekend. Fun in the sun. Southern style. With friends. I don't have much to say other than I love this family. I miss them so much. 5 days isn't nearly enough. Anyway, thanks for the pizza on the roof. We miss you. So, I have this pic in my pod at work. Do you know when/where it was taken? Bonus question: What is the model of the camera device the pic was taken with?