Un-boring

I have interesting and exciting friends and family.

Occasionally I fall into the habit of feeling sorry for myself, usually when I’ve been particularly lazy or tired. At such a time awhile back, I thought to myself, “Am I boring?” and, being in a moment of self pity, I thought, “why, yes, yes I am”.

Then I got over it, as I always do, with a hot meal, a good nights rest, and some scripture study. I don’t think I’m un-interesting (although I have been rejected by a girl who said she “wasn’t interested”. I could go on a whole other rant on what I think that could mean.) I think I’m a modestly interesting person (and not in way of “My, what an interesting shade of green”). The seeming lack of brightness I think stems from the fact that I surround myself with characters that shine so brightly that an ordinary person might feel a little dim.



And so, since it is boring to talk about oneself all the time, as blogs tend to do, I think I’ll talk mostly about other people that I love. They are all much more interesting than me. You’ll love it. I’ll probably ask permission from most people before I expose their lives to the internet community, this is not a guarantee.
I do have to write a few things about myself though. Since my last post I’ve gone from graduand to graduate. It’s an anticlimactic finish to a roller coaster education.



Also graduating was my younger sister Amy. She got her cap and gown and degree, but decided not to go to her own convocation. I don’t really blame her.



My dad was so proud that now all seven of his children have post-secondary degrees or diplomas. I think Amy was a little embarrassed.

Anyway, I need to get back to work. Being self employed has the one setback of the fact that you only get paid for the work you do. The flip side is that I don’t have to feel guilty of slacking off while I’m on the clock.

Oh, and my sister-in-law wanted me to send her this picture. Just click on it for high res.




Peace out.

The Continuing Adventures of Frank

Live Darn You Liiiiiive!
June 6, 2007
Frank the car is vexing me sorely. I came to the realisation this past week that having a car that doesn’t work is worse than having no car at all. This is because having a non-working car is like not having a car in that you can’t drive anywhere; it has all the bad things like the time and money that you end up putting into it to try to make it work again.
I now know that the reason for my Frank’s previous problems and the basis for its current inoperability is the fuel pump. For those of you who only know as much as I did at the start of this, the fuel pump is located inside the fuel tank. There are various good reasons for this, but it makes getting at said fuel pump a real pain in the neck.



A bypass option is to install a second pump outside the tank. In theory, this should work by drawing through the other pump and supplying the necessary fuel to the engine that way. In practice, if the first pump isn’t working because it’s blocked, the second pump does nothing but suck air through tiny gaps in the line.
So I need to figure out how to either unblock the first pump, or else find another way into the gas tank. I’m thinking about the second option right now.



Woohoo!
June 7, 2007
Frank is alive! After much effort and more than several dollars, the Frank is riding smooth once again. The final solution remains a mystery, due to an unscientific final push. For the last push I did two things. I went to Canadian Tire and picked up a gas can, a siphon kit, and a small tube of thread sealer.
I first tried to siphon gas from the tank. I have a good reason for this, but it didn’t matter because I couldn’t get any gas from the tank anyway. So much for that idea.
So I went to the nearest gas station and bought 10 litres of fuel. I transferred this into my car, and Tried to start it. No luck. So the final option was the thread sealer. I used it to seal any gaps that might have existed in the hose fittings. Tried it again: no luck.
Then I realised that I hadn’t re-connected the jumper supplying power to the fuel and ignition system. Silly me! So I reconnected that and Voilla! It started right up, and stayed started. So either I was out of fuel (possible, but not likely), the new fuel unclogged the old pump, or the thread sealer did the trick.
Okay so Frank works. Woo!