At least it's out of the road now.
2009-04-14
Some days are better than other days...
At least it's out of the road now.
2009-04-11
Mini Parking at Fox Bros.
Parking for dark silver Cooper S's right up front at Fox Bros. B-B-Q!
We went there for the fried pickles which were quite tasty (they use chips, not spears.) The pulled pork sammich and Brunswick stew were really good too. Normally I add some hot sauce to my stew to kick it up a bit but that wasn't necessary here.
Heather wants to go back for The Tomminator.
We went there for the fried pickles which were quite tasty (they use chips, not spears.) The pulled pork sammich and Brunswick stew were really good too. Normally I add some hot sauce to my stew to kick it up a bit but that wasn't necessary here.
Heather wants to go back for The Tomminator.
2009-04-04
ScanGeek
It turns out that Maxwell really had been sick lately. Tuesday morning the electrical system totally died on the way to work. I barely made it back to the house. The trouble was with a bad alternator. The diagnosis was made easier when it started smoking while the fine folks at Way Motor Works were checking it out.
When I picked Maxwell up Friday I also picked up a Scanguage II. I've been looking at it for a while. If I had got it earlier I'd probably been able to tell that something was up with my charging system among other things. It's a tiny computerized guage that connects to the OBD II socket of the car. It can read all kinds of info from the car's ECU. It's also a trip-computer that's similar to what's on the cars these days but a few steps better.
It comes with the gauge, an OBD II connector cable, some Velcro and a manual.
Here's the OBD II connector... under the steering wheel. It's the same connector that they hook the computer up to for emissions testing.
Just open it up and plug the cable in to the socket.
Set your engine size...
Voila! It's reading stuff. I'm idling in the driveway going nowhere.
Still idling.. going nowhere. But my alternator is working! Wow... the water temp really does go up quickly when you're going nowhere.
I went to the gas station and topped off. This will enable the ScanGauge to compute a correction factor for the amount of fuel used next time (and every time) I fill up. It's also set to the fuel tank size so it should give me a "time until empty". The car does this too so I'll have to see how they compare.
After this I ran a few errands and went to the grocery store.
It's mounted with the Velcro on the dash. I had to move the GPS over a little bit but not too much. I also checked the speed reading of the ScanGauge against the speed reading of the GPS. They were pretty close. I did make a small adjustments as the ScanGauge often seemed a little fast.
Here's my mileage from my running around today. It keep trip counters for a single trip, the current day, the previous day and the whole tank.
You can also set the price of your gas when you fill up so it will compute how much your trips cost you.
It has a backlight that can be programmed to be 90-something different colors. Looks like their "amber" is already a close match for the rest of my dash instruments. Yay.
I'll report back later after I used it for a while. All in all it's a handy little tool. In addition to the gauge values it already reads, it's programmable so you can add more when you encounter new ones or car-specific ones. It will also read the fault codes when the SES and other strange lights in your car come on. It can also clear them once the issue has been addressed.
It definitely appeals to my inner-geek.
When I picked Maxwell up Friday I also picked up a Scanguage II. I've been looking at it for a while. If I had got it earlier I'd probably been able to tell that something was up with my charging system among other things. It's a tiny computerized guage that connects to the OBD II socket of the car. It can read all kinds of info from the car's ECU. It's also a trip-computer that's similar to what's on the cars these days but a few steps better.
It comes with the gauge, an OBD II connector cable, some Velcro and a manual.
Here's the OBD II connector... under the steering wheel. It's the same connector that they hook the computer up to for emissions testing.
Just open it up and plug the cable in to the socket.
Set your engine size...
Voila! It's reading stuff. I'm idling in the driveway going nowhere.
Still idling.. going nowhere. But my alternator is working! Wow... the water temp really does go up quickly when you're going nowhere.
I went to the gas station and topped off. This will enable the ScanGauge to compute a correction factor for the amount of fuel used next time (and every time) I fill up. It's also set to the fuel tank size so it should give me a "time until empty". The car does this too so I'll have to see how they compare.
After this I ran a few errands and went to the grocery store.
It's mounted with the Velcro on the dash. I had to move the GPS over a little bit but not too much. I also checked the speed reading of the ScanGauge against the speed reading of the GPS. They were pretty close. I did make a small adjustments as the ScanGauge often seemed a little fast.
Here's my mileage from my running around today. It keep trip counters for a single trip, the current day, the previous day and the whole tank.
You can also set the price of your gas when you fill up so it will compute how much your trips cost you.
It has a backlight that can be programmed to be 90-something different colors. Looks like their "amber" is already a close match for the rest of my dash instruments. Yay.
I'll report back later after I used it for a while. All in all it's a handy little tool. In addition to the gauge values it already reads, it's programmable so you can add more when you encounter new ones or car-specific ones. It will also read the fault codes when the SES and other strange lights in your car come on. It can also clear them once the issue has been addressed.
It definitely appeals to my inner-geek.
Maxwell's Disease
I'm not sure what it is yet...
but it made him break out in yellow spots.
Hope he'll be OK.
but it made him break out in yellow spots.
Hope he'll be OK.
2009-03-31
2009-03-27
Tucson Sun Gods
Somehow these two guys escaped a previous post. I caught them while I was rustling stuff up for today's earlier posts.
They were rescued by Scott & Family from The Kon Tiki in Tucson, AZ late last year and delivered shortly after the birthday extravaganza.
The one on the right is a limited run of that color (It's really more of a green than a blue... it's crummy out today so I'm having to make my own lighting which is throwing things off.) The one on the left is the standard one you can get at the restaurant.
I really like this design. It has a "squarishness" similar to the Sam's Seafood Marquesan. I'm not really sure why I like these square designs as they'd be impractical to drink out of without a straw... maybe that's why I like them.
They were accompanied by a scorpion bowl but it sadly didn't survive the return trip to Atlanta.
From the report I got from Scott it sounded like Kon Tiki was a pretty hip place for drinks in Tucson.
They were rescued by Scott & Family from The Kon Tiki in Tucson, AZ late last year and delivered shortly after the birthday extravaganza.
The one on the right is a limited run of that color (It's really more of a green than a blue... it's crummy out today so I'm having to make my own lighting which is throwing things off.) The one on the left is the standard one you can get at the restaurant.
I really like this design. It has a "squarishness" similar to the Sam's Seafood Marquesan. I'm not really sure why I like these square designs as they'd be impractical to drink out of without a straw... maybe that's why I like them.
They were accompanied by a scorpion bowl but it sadly didn't survive the return trip to Atlanta.
From the report I got from Scott it sounded like Kon Tiki was a pretty hip place for drinks in Tucson.
When it rains...
I go tiki hunting.
I started off this morning and hit the rainy roads of over to Larryville.
This one was waiting for me at Goodwill:
It's a Treasure Craft mug from Hawaii. I couldn't find out too much about it but was able to find more on Treasure Craft here: My Antique Mall . One of the antique & flea's next door had an extremely overpriced no-name mug and statue but I didn't bite on those.
Next I found an Orchids of Hawaii Leilani mug in Snellville (where everybody is somebody):
Evidently these are very common but it's my first. You could send off a few bucks to the Leilani Rum folks and get a nice box of four. I think they went out of business before I reached drinking age so I'll just have to find some more to make my own set.
There are many version of this one: Some are stamped R-91, some have only one face (this one has the bace on front and back), some say Tiki Leilani on the base, some say nothing on the base etc...
BTW:
If anyone comes across a Leilani display like this one please let me know.
I started off this morning and hit the rainy roads of over to Larryville.
This one was waiting for me at Goodwill:
It's a Treasure Craft mug from Hawaii. I couldn't find out too much about it but was able to find more on Treasure Craft here: My Antique Mall . One of the antique & flea's next door had an extremely overpriced no-name mug and statue but I didn't bite on those.
Next I found an Orchids of Hawaii Leilani mug in Snellville (where everybody is somebody):
Evidently these are very common but it's my first. You could send off a few bucks to the Leilani Rum folks and get a nice box of four. I think they went out of business before I reached drinking age so I'll just have to find some more to make my own set.
There are many version of this one: Some are stamped R-91, some have only one face (this one has the bace on front and back), some say Tiki Leilani on the base, some say nothing on the base etc...
BTW:
If anyone comes across a Leilani display like this one please let me know.
Mytrle Tiki
I picked up this one on my trip to Myrtle Beach on the Grand Strand this week:
He's got two faces stacked like a totem. I like that.
It's even stamped on the side so I don't have to remember where it came from. If you want to be more specific it came form the convenience store in the huge Sand Dunes resort a few resorts down from where we stayed at Jade Tree Cove. Also note that there's a cool waterfall with tikis in front of it across from the California Pizza in Sand Dunes. I tried to take a picture but I only had my crappy Sidekick camera on me and it was too dark to make anything out.
My other tiki find was a shirt from Tiki Jim's. I was there about two years ago and they didn't have any "Tiki Jim's" shirts with tikis on them. Someone woke up and now they have three or four tiki designs. Hooray!
He's got two faces stacked like a totem. I like that.
It's even stamped on the side so I don't have to remember where it came from. If you want to be more specific it came form the convenience store in the huge Sand Dunes resort a few resorts down from where we stayed at Jade Tree Cove. Also note that there's a cool waterfall with tikis in front of it across from the California Pizza in Sand Dunes. I tried to take a picture but I only had my crappy Sidekick camera on me and it was too dark to make anything out.
My other tiki find was a shirt from Tiki Jim's. I was there about two years ago and they didn't have any "Tiki Jim's" shirts with tikis on them. Someone woke up and now they have three or four tiki designs. Hooray!
Lucky Tiki from Florida
This guy turned up at Goodwill a few weeks ago:
He's a "Lucky Tiki Idol" from some touristy destination in Florida.
See? It's even stamped Florida on the back in case you didn't believe me.
There's a taller similar mug with a similar stamp that I don't think I have. I really should catalog these things. One day...
He's a "Lucky Tiki Idol" from some touristy destination in Florida.
See? It's even stamped Florida on the back in case you didn't believe me.
There's a taller similar mug with a similar stamp that I don't think I have. I really should catalog these things. One day...
Bonus Tiki
These wooden Ku mugs were an unexpected bonus from Dad's tiki-pottery efforts:
Someone else at the studio saw what he was doing and I guess the story came out that his crazy son collects tikis. Thus I've ended up with another pair of someone unwanted artifacts :)
I'm not sure exactly what kind of wood they are made out of (I was thinking monkey pod wood but maybe something else after closer examination). They are pretty similar to some of the giant wooden spoons and forks I have that were from the Philippines.
Someone else at the studio saw what he was doing and I guess the story came out that his crazy son collects tikis. Thus I've ended up with another pair of someone unwanted artifacts :)
I'm not sure exactly what kind of wood they are made out of (I was thinking monkey pod wood but maybe something else after closer examination). They are pretty similar to some of the giant wooden spoons and forks I have that were from the Philippines.
2009-03-14
Dad's Tiki
A while back my dad started doing pottery again. Last year I requested a tiki of some sort for my birthday present. After a lot of work and a couple of firings the finished product was unveiled this week.
This is the best tiki ever.
He has an open bottom and a small hole on the top offering lots of lamp possibilities.
I like the thick ears... he'll need those in the living room.
I did a test lighting the inside with a color-changing LED nightlight I picked up at Costco a few years ago. I'll be working on something more permanent but this gives you an idea of how it will look:
(sound provided by birthday card from Bear & Family)
Thanks Dad!
This is the best tiki ever.
He has an open bottom and a small hole on the top offering lots of lamp possibilities.
 |  |  |
I did a test lighting the inside with a color-changing LED nightlight I picked up at Costco a few years ago. I'll be working on something more permanent but this gives you an idea of how it will look:
(sound provided by birthday card from Bear & Family)
Thanks Dad!
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