heyo
There must be a law equal in universality to gravity that says that anytime a kitchen faucet is turned on, any spoon within a 1 foot radius will reposition itself underneath the water stream concave side up, to distribute the spray all over my pants.
thanksgiving
We spent the Thanksgiving holiday visiting our families in Connecticut and upstate New York. Since we’ve historically only gotten to fly up to the East Coast once a year, I planned on taking the opportunity to talk to her father about our marriage.
On Thanksgiving Day we went to my Uncle Luke and Aunt Michelle’s house out in Weston, which is right near Bethel, Connecticut where Eilene grew up. Eilene’s dad Warren still lives in Bethel, so he joined up with us for Thanksgiving dinner.
I’m nontraditional enough that I’ve always felt the wording of the act in which the father is asked for his daughter is a bit wonky and sexist. On the other hand, I’m traditional enough that I relish in the warmth of following through with any motion laden with the romance of countless generations of couples before us. I subsequently spent more time fretting over how I was going to word the question to satisfy both idealogical urges than I did worrying about the actual asking.
After Thanksgiving dinner and dessert were both finished, I knew I was going to have to seize the opportunity before we got back on the road and dropped Eilene’s dad at home. I leaned over and asked Warren if he’d join me outside on the porch.
I’ve spent time with him before, he’s a good natured guy with a good sense of humor and a “filter” that deserted him years ago. He says whatever’s on his mind, almost always tongue in cheek. We talked for a short while, the general gist of what I said was that Eilene and I have developed a really good relationship, have gotten very serious and are planning on getting married, and that we would love to have his blessing.
After saying things like “Oh, okay” and “Right, right, sure” while I was talking, he said, “Well you know, that’s great, it sounds like she picked the right guy, a good guy. Not too smart, but hey whattayagonnado.” And then he busted out laughing.
And that was it, that was her dad’s blessing. I couldn’t have dreamt up something better or more suited to us.
ain’t no lie, b-b-bye bye bye
I’ve started to realize that I’m going to need to part out the 240SX and sell it. A lot of things are changing and this is one of them.
It’s a big decision, partly because of the work I’ve put into it and partly because selling anything custom having to do with cars returns pennies on the dollar vs. what was put in financially.
But basically I made a promise to myself awhile back to not drive it on public streets. It’s too fucking fast and subsequently too irresponsible/dangerous. That leaves the track, which I am in no financial position to carry out anytime soon. Estimated tire consumption is a full set ($500) every 3 track days maximum, plus incidentals, fees and upkeep of the car.
I’ve really not wanted the reality of this to be true, but it seems that no matter how I fight it I don’t particularly have a choice. I’ve entered into the time period where I’m looking at changing things financially, paying off debt and no longer living paycheck to paycheck. Unless I suddenly strike it rich, I cannot do that and have this car and use it.
I guess I need a new(/less expensive) hobby.
dreamsicle
I was bored a few weeks ago, so I decided to go through with painting the file cabinet I found at a thrift store. I used the same autobody-like process as the creamsicle compact fridge, except that I was too lazy to wet sand and cut loads of corners. I didn’t even remove the drawer pull hardware to leave that silver.
Shown with the paint still wet, super smurf blue.
reality is a ghost town
We spent Thanksgiving in Connecticut with my uncle’s family, and I asked Eilene’s father for his blessing on our marriage. It’s an odd situation since I haven’t officially proposed to Eilene yet. But with the asking-the-father coming first and her father living 1800 miles away, I can’t exactly pop over on a weekend.
Our wedding process is probably going to be a bit nontraditional, as we are nontraditional individuals. Her mother and my father are both deceased, so we spoke to our remaining parents about rings. Her father gave us a few of her mother’s rings including her engagement ring. My mother gave us her original engagement ring from my father, which would make my sister blow a gasket if she knew. We’re going to talk to a jeweler to see the best way to go about joining the rings into something with heavy sentimental significance.
u nork
Eilene and I flew to upstate New York on Friday morning to spend Thanksgiving in the northeast. Neither of us are from upstate, but my mother has retired to Saratoga Springs, roughly an hour outside Albany. We’re going to try to make it down to lower Connecticuit and the city to see our friends and our old stomping grounds.
I get in fake arguments with Wes all the time about redneck Texas idiots and how people in New York are “more cultured”, “intelligent” and “don’t think that way”. The truth is that everywhere has the equivalent of rednecks, and I’d want to live in upstate New York about as much as I’d want to live in Beaumont, Texas.
We’ve seen some really minor snowfall since we’ve been here. In fact, when we hit the lower level at the airport to wait for our bags, the double doors slid open and it was snowing sideways for a few minutes. None of it stuck.
I’ll try to take some pictures while I’m here. We’ve not really done anything so far besides relax and be on vacation. The past few weeks were really overwhelming to say the last, and I’ve got that bone rattling fatigue only a burned out busy person can understand.
Lots of sleeping and doing nothing is on the agenda.
240 season
I’ve debated selling the 240 off and on, and spent ages not working on it. I was honest with myself and knew this project needs to be seen through. It’s a hobby that makes me feel like spinning records used to. I can start at 1pm, look at the clock after what feels like an hour and it’s nightfall.
I’m still debating the fate of the engine. I can’t compete in orgs like SCCA because the engine is swapped, so I’ve thought of doing a solid cheap build on the old motor. I’ve also thought of selling both motors and shelving the project to save for a Corvette LS1 swap (cheaper, legal, and more powerful).
I’ve decided for now that I need to get it on the track with the engine that’s in there. Since its street days are over, I need to finish stripping everything unnecessary. A/C, heater core, side windows, cut out the door innards with an angle grinder, all that shit needs to be gone. I just ordered 5 lug hubs from a 95 240 so I can buy some wheels that actually fit the car and run better brakes. I need to finish the stainless steel lines and relocate the oil filter.
This is not a quarter mile car, but just for comparison sake the first thing I’ll do is get this car to Ennis and see how it does. In the meantime I need to start researching some the HPDE and NASA races to find out about classes and see if there are any mods that I need to do or avoid.
This thing was meant to eat Porsches, and I was meant to have a hobby. I want this happening by springtime.
