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This morning I pulled the driveshaft and started undoing the exhaust and suspension. I should be able to get everything out of the car without having to pull the motor and tranny again. The transmission bell housing will come off the engine block without needing to pull the motor, I may just have to wiggle it. Just a little bit.

I was reminded, though, of 2 things.

1. When I was taking everything apart I remembered that I made amazing choices for parts and that there was a reason it rode on rails and had zero body roll. I did a really, really fucking great job on that car.

2. For as great a hobby project cars are, general auto mechanics is one of the most frustrating things I’ve been involved in. Sometimes shit is just not designed to be taken apart very easily. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been working on this thing and said, “Fucking fuck, why did they DO that?” Eilene’s Jeep is the worst, for as great a motor that is, whoever designed the engine compartment should be shot.

I was wrong about the reptile house position’s salary, what I thought was the starting salary was the ending salary. I was about $20,000/year off base. So much for that. Looks like I’ll have to do life the old fashioned way and finish school to provide a better future for my family. I see enough people around me taking ideas and making them happen that I won’t let go of dreams to make money doing something I love, but for now I’ve got to take the safe route.

Eilene and I headed out to the Ft. Worth Zoo on Saturday afternoon. Their primate facility is breathtaking, and the grounds are quite nice. Some exhibits were MIA, as they are constructing an enormous compound right in the middle of the zoo that will house the country’s largest herpetorium.

It’s been surreal to go to the Dallas and Ft. Worth Zoos and walk through their reptile houses, and knowing where to get 95% of the animals in there and how much they cost, off the top of my head. I’m definitely on the internet too much.

I’m feeling better as I’ve fought through some medical problems, so I’ll most likely devote more time to writing in the near future. Sisyphus cat tries again.

Eilene and I made an excursion out to the Dallas Zoo today. I was on a bit of a scouting mission, I confess.

An entry level keeper makes the same amount of money I make now. Oddly enough, there is more opportunity for promotion at the zoo than there is at my current job. Dallas is in a hiring freeze until October, but it’s likely there will be openings at the reptile house sooner than there will be anywhere else at the zoo.

I hate my current job, and I hate getting up in the morning. I’m applying to the zoo in this next week.

So this is what it’s like to be 21 weeks, 6 days pregnant. Her belly has straight up popped in the last week or so, and I can feel minor movements when I put my hand on her belly.

We have begun shopping for strollers, car seats, cribs, falling-asleep-in-the-middle-of-the-night furniture, paint colors, and contractors to help me with the renovations. I’ve won some adorable Snoopy and Eeyore onesies on eBay, and it looks like craigslist is a goldmine of used baby furniture.

We’ve been using this image as inspiration to pull some ideas from for the baby’s room. I’d love some sort of slate or muted blue walls with white trim, with orange/brown/electric green accents. Our to-do list includes knocking down walls separating two double-closets and making them into single closets with sliding or bifold doors.

What I ran into was a promise to myself that the car got to be way too fast to be responsibly driven on public streets. To make the commitment to take it off the road would require a trailer and something to haul it. To make the commitment to race it would require a cage welded in and the disposable cash to burn through $500-600 in tires per track weekend.

None of this disposable cash I had, I’m in debt due to home improvement projects and didn’t realize what a hot commodity my time would become when starting a family.

I don’t hesitate for a second in saying that I’m glad I did the project. Being my first full car build, I was able to learn a ton and it still benefits me today in small things like troubleshooting engine problems in Eilene’s Jeep. I have all the tools to do anything required on a car.

I love getting my hands dirty, so it will be fun to say goodbye in the disassemble in the same way I said hello. I’m looking forward to being under the whip again. Everyone who is into this says that project cars come and go, so this will certainly not be my last. The only difference is that my son will be helping on the next one.