My Phone's on Vibrate for You

Move in With Me.

joeydynamite — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 06:35:36 GMT

well, not me specifically, but move in to my house in a separate unit. That's right folks, it's that time again - after about a year and a half with some pretty good tenants they've moving on. Here's the listing, copied from CL - it would be even better to rent to someone I know from Tribe or who has good references from someone I know: Hey all, Available late February/March 1 - current tenants leave late February. Recent repaint. Large, sunny upstairs and downstairs living room unit in older Craftsman-style home with neat architectural details. Hardwood floors in all common spaces, 2 of 4 bedrooms. Total square feet is 1,440. Landlord (me) lives downstairs so you'll find him very quick to respond. Bedrooms break down as follows, but I am only renting out the whole unit at $2100, not individual rooms - you probably wouldn't want to live with strangers!: (feel free to break room prices up as you see fit, these are just suggestions to give an idea for each person interested) 1. Largest, last tenant paid $675, with nice window, great hardwood floors, nice walk-in closet area adjoining, looks out on street. 2. 2nd largest, hardwood floors, closet in the room, looks out on street, went for $575 3. Third largest, carpeted floors, closet, quieter room that faces house next door, went for $475 4. Smallest, enough room for small bed and small desk and closet included, sunny, looks out on street, went for $375. There is a kitchen with dishwasher, in unit laundry - washer and dryer AND outdoor clothesline, 1.5 bathrooms, upstairs sunroom and common room, and downstairs living room. As you can see, there is a good mix of rooms and it would be a good fit for college students/grad students/young adults who don't want to spend a ton in rent. Good for someone working at Children's Hospital, close to Ashby and MacArthur BART, close to the freeway and to Emeryville jobs. It is easy to get from here to anywhere in the Bay Area relatively quickly. The place could work great for a number of different people. Other amenities include: -brand new, beautiful, private fence with pergola and nice private backyard. -Secure bike parking in a locked garage locked to a u-shaped bike rack in the concrete. Did I mention secure? -1.5 bays of a garage for storage, with ample shelving. -Free DSL if you have a wireless card in your computer - hook up to my existing DSL downstairs. -Easy street parking -Compost and encouragement to plant flowers - not much room for a garden, though. -Safe upstairs unit -Water and garbage included -Well behaved dogs and cats OK, not too many though. -Smoking on the front porch, back deck or backyard is fine, but not inside. -Recent repaint - pics below include before and after photos. Photos of the interior below. Email to set up an appointment - I can open up a small window either Saturday or Sunday, but weekday nights and anytime Tuesday or Wednesday would be best to show the place. I need at least 24 hours notice to show it, as current tenants are living there right now. http://web.mac.com/jbauder/iWeb/6970clutchpedals/North%20Oakland%204br1.5ba.html

How does Joey Keep His Head Above Water?

joeydynamite — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 02:23:35 GMT

(or, The Antidote to the Crazy Pills I Have Been Taking) I know you've all been wondering this, around the holidays - right after "how should I mash the garlic in the garlic mashed potatoes" you must be wondering "how does Joey DO it?" Here are some Helpful Holiday Hints: -Send mom who is fighting cancer some Goji Berries (Wolf Berries) - they are super healthy and have more antioxidants than just about anything out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goji_berry -Take some yourself. They're good for you. Get them in bulk at Costco. Costco donates to the Democratic party, so they're not so evil. Lucky likens them to "Nature's Fruit Roll Ups" - similar texture and flavor. -Gently suggest to boss that you are being overworked after a 10-hour-long Black Friday, having to get up at 5am, and then having to do same on Sunday and Monday to help set up Apple stuff at a store you don't even work at. -Flirt seriously with getting a prescription for Modafinil for those "I don't have TIME for sleep" times: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil . Practice faking symptoms of narcolepsy but not other behaviours of River Phoenix. -Try to get a little bit done on your own projects, i.e. Rocinante, the Mustang, in between being overworked. -Have nice low-key Turkey Day with Lucky. Have great homebody weekend with Lucky where you have to work too much but she is a wonderful support system at home. Help Lucky with her own personal crises. -Talk to Mom often, and explain to her that she doesn't necessarily NEED to sell her car, have her new husband sell his car, and get a new car for him that is not so "farty." Not that he farts a lot, but "old fart-y". 68 year old men look just fine in a big Buick. Maybe suggest to Mom that he get "dubs" and "spinnaz" and a "scraper" exhaust? Instant not-old-fart car, newly ghetto fabulous look! Teach husband how to "dip", esp. between speed bumpz. -Do not take self or current hectic, cross-country-flying-to-take-care-of-mom, working-for-Apple-in-retail-around-the-holidays, taking-care-of-house-and-tenants, tired-as-hell, situation too seriously. -Do a few things you've been wanting to do to make things easier for yourself, such as hiring someone ELSE to cut the grass. -Do not let bastards grind you down. Do one thing every day to screw the bastards. Such as opening a laptop that is brought in to your store that you KNOW is stolen, finding the "Me" contact in the Address Book program, calling that person, and attempting to get the thieves arrested. Don't get too frustrated when nothing can be done to detain them . . . -Have good home-cooked food from Lucky. and that's the recipe. Stay Sane For the Holidays, everyone! ;-) No Crazy Pills for Me, Joey

Vote, and Fuck a Voter Tonight!

joeydynamite — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:45:46 GMT

http://www.votergasm.com/ Take the Votergasm Pledge! You can always sneak a peek at their ballot cheat-sheet and negotiate what sort of activities happen between/under/tied-up-by the sheets. I'm registered Green - they have an excellent voter guide, but I don't always (or often) vote for the Green candidate. Check it out here for Alameda county: http://www.acgreens.org/ watch out for the Eminent Domain proposition. Normally I hate eminent domain taking homes from normal homeowners, but this is bankrolled by big developers at the expense of cities. And read some of the other props closely, there are some shady dealings behind a few of them.

a long, strange, unsettling 2 weeks

joeydynamite — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 06:51:37 GMT

so immediately after coming home, I get to go to Roller Derby (which I thought I'd miss) and the Oakland Outlaws wiped the floor with the SF Shevil Dead. It was another good match. I managed to get back Saturday (two Saturdays ago) early enough (nonstop flight) that I could go out right after. going out of order here, Mom is out of the hospital and rehab, and in good spirits. We talk almost daily, and she hasn't started radiation or chemotherapy yet. I hope it's not too hard on her, but I suspect it will be. I'll probably be there with her when she's starting it, sometime early-mid November? Last week was our yearly sales conference at Apple all week - pretty exhausting. Take about 200 people whose job is to get up late, and talk to people all day, and get them up early, sit them down in an auditorium, and tell them to shut up and listen to someone else talk. That's pretty much how it went. I like the people I work with, though, and getting away from things, staying in a hotel, and going out with them drinking every night wasn't so bad at all. And there were lots of jokes and a few good stories - Apple treated us to Go-Karting in Burlingame and that was so much damn fun - I'm going back. One of us broke an ankle and the other one got a concussion in the same crash. And then the next night after going to a club in downtown San Jose (after the Sharks game) the same girl who got the concussion the night before got punched by some drunk girl on the street for no real reason. We chased the girl down, flagged down some cops, and she spent the night in the drunk tank and is going to get charges pressed against her. but that's how we do at Apple . . . so soon after getting back to work, I got sick, after 2 weeks of not sleeping enough, not getting enough excercise, (though they did have a decent gym at the hotel, the Fairmont in San Jose) and worrying about my mother (and drinking too much coffee) here I am, coughing up nasty stuff at 11:30pm. Took off a day of work, but that wasn't enough. Mustang gets a new rear suspension bit (a Watt's Link) and new exhaust put in next week. Net effect: should handle more like a track car and sound more like a musclecar at the end of the week . . . and I'll have more room with this stuff out of storage and on the car. Trying to get back into some sort of routine and not worry about Mom too much, but I feel ungrounded, uncertain, kind of drifting, and thinking about a lot of things. Strange days . . .

warm rain.

joeydynamite — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:10:31 GMT

not hot rain, which we sometimes can get in PA summers, but it is actually warm here right now and started raining this evening. After being strong for my mother all day, and offering encouragement, along with her family and friends and her boyfriend-who-deserves-a-better-term, I came home, talked to him for a while and really got to a deeper level with him, then went outside in the rain after he had gone to sleep and bawled my eyes out. You see, my father's ashes are sitting in a pedestal, a column really - ionic, doric, or corinthian, hell if I know, in the back yard, with a little sundial and a plaque. I picked it out and my mother loves it. I've gone out to it a few times while I've been back here, each time crying and looking for strength. Or maybe just sharing the sorrow with my father. There is a nice canopy of trees out there, and everything feels very close and secluded. So I went out there and we had a nice cry together. If you count a sobbing uncontrollably, inconsolable, mixing-with-the-rain cry "good". which it is. She had real trouble getting out of bed today, and doing the physical therapy there was tough for her. Her left side isn't really working right - her hands are having trouble grabbing things - "my hands can't feel to grip, my senses have been stripped, my toes too numb to step". She was very distraught at not being able to get full motor control back right away. It's to be expected, but I think she was expecting to come out of it faster and for me it felt like what might be to come. I said all the right things, and shared in her grief. It's entirely possible that she will have a decent quality of life for some time, but it is likely that it's malignant, and things will get better but get worse down the road. She's mainly concerned about the quality of life thing, and I understand that. It was my first time seeing her like that, and it was very tough. still, we won't have much to go on until the results are back tomorrow or the next day. this waiting game is the worst part, though . . .

Had a great night talking to Mom tonight

joeydynamite — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 05:53:28 GMT

we went over a lot of things, both past and present, and talked very openly. We're still waiting for word on what sort of tumor it is, but she is prepared for the worst, even if I'm not. She is a wonderful patient, knows how to direct herself through the medical process and is her own best advocate, and everything has gone as well as it could for whatever they find in there. I think this was the most rewarding conversation we have ever had, and there was a lot of crying on both sides, though I was trying to keep her calm. We watched a little bit of the barbara walters show where she interviews Steve Irwin's (the croc guy) wife, and even that was emotional. Even though the circumstances are horrible, I'm glad we got to talk about so many things and talk about feelings, hopes, wishes, goals. I hope that she can get through this and live a long and thriving autumn/winter of her life. She is only 64 and her father lived to 72 and her mother to 83. A couple of years ago she went on a strenuous mountain hike in North Carolina that left my 25-year-old neice in the dust. She's a strong lady and has taught me so much. I'm sure she'll go up against this challenge with all the tenacity she has gone up against everything else in her life. I've been blessed with two very strong parents, (and opinionated! ;-) ) and they are both survivors, no matter what chellenges or misfortunes have befallen them . . .

Mom in the hospital . . .

joeydynamite — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 04:17:29 GMT

On short notice, I had to pack up this week and head for PA. I wasn't going to blog about this, but it's what's for dinner in joey-land, so here goes. If you go back far enough in my blog, you should see pics of my mom and the Ancestral Home in Pennsylvania, a large red-brick Federal style house in a small town northeast of Philly. Small town surrounded by suburbs, of course, trying to keep its' small-towny look. My mother has a mass the size of a golf ball in her brain, on the right side, between the folds of some brain tissue, but very close to the outside. It doesn't affect her thought processes at all, but it does cause her left side to be numb at times and she's had some loss of motor control on her left side. She was having trouble balancing for a week or so and just fell down last week. I got the call about her condition on Saturday and got a Southwest flight on Monday morning to be with her. luckily, I had a free flight and some vacation left from work that I'm using up all this week. She looks fine, and we won't know until she is operated on tomorrow whether the mass is an infection from recent dental work, or a benign or malignant tumor. The surgeon who is operating tomorrow, though, stressed that it is not a procedure without risk and that it's most likely a malignant tumor but they won't know how hard it will be to get all of it until they do a biopsy. I lost my father about 3 years ago this time to lung cancer, and it is just eerie to be home again at about the same time. I've been crying alone and with my family about this - she has a good group of people around her - and I'm not ready at all for more bad news about my mom. I would hate to lose them both in such a short period of time. She is scared too, and we've been doing our best to calm her. She has been talking to us about wills and living wills and such, all of which is sort of morbid and uncomfortable, but it's what she wants. Send a lot of good thoughts our way. She's going into surgery early tomorrow morning. I pray that everything goes smoothly, it's just an infection, and I can come back to California this weekend with a healthy mom and a light heart. She has so much to look forward to - a move to Maine with her new beau who is right by her side, and selling her house in PA - starting a new life - I hope she can experience it without being impaired in any way.

I have wielded the tool of the Gods in my hands, briefly.

joeydynamite — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 04:07:01 GMT

Now how many blog posts have you seen dedicated to a single tool? Not many, but I feel compelled like the Quakers do to stand up and let the voice of God speak through me: this, my friends, is a perfect tool. Well, when it works at least. The Porter-Cable PN-650 Palm Nailer. Speak its' name with reverence. It looks like a hand cannon wearing a Utilikilt, but what it is is a single-shot nail gun that works with almost any nail. The head you see on it is magnetic and works with 6d-16d nails if I remember correctly, and there are different attachments for finishing nails, 20d to to 70d nails (!) and a hammer attachment for everything else. This is what makes it so cool. It can hammer EVERYTHING. I got this because I'm doing an earthquake retrofit on my house, and a) I am screwing up my wrists from using a hammer repeatedly, and b) this can hammer in smaller areas where you can't swing a hammer, and with more precision, perfect for working under a house. My wrists are much happier using this tool, but I still bandage them up before I go to do a day's work on the house. If you ever get one of these tools in your hand, you're going to go crazy trying to nail everything in sight. Uhh, I meant to say that. You just load one nail in the tool at a time, press down on the head of the nail, and the hammer starts working without much kickback. Problem is, after two days of palm nailing bliss, the tool crapped out on me and sprung a leak near the head. Now I have to call their repair line and maybe take it to Hayward. The honeymoon was so short lived, but it was a torrid one. ;-)

Rear brakes, new alternator for Rocinante

joeydynamite — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:03:44 GMT

working name for the Mustang. Rosie for short? trying it out. So, rear brakes to match the front brakes. Now I'll be able to firmly plant my forehead to the steering wheel when some idiot with ABS brakes on a new SUV slams on their brakes in front of me. New alternator - I figured I am pressing my luck with a 35-year-old alternator and I will need this one for the new engine and electrical system anyway, so . . . As usual, Mostly Mustangs in Oakland is doing the work, and that lets me use the space in the garage to get some home projects done. Buy Oakland, drive Oakland forward, as Downtown Jerry Brown always says. ;-) and the obsession with building and improving things continues . . . I believe the goth ideal is "live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse" - maybe I'll have to work and play hard, die old, and leave behind lots of well-made stuff. something like that.

Harbin Hot Springs yesterday, and the Mustang in Napa

joeydynamite — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:13:11 GMT

heh heh, there are advantages to having Tuesday and Wednesday off. Yesterday Lucky and I went to Harbin (first time for both of us) and it wasn't crowded at all. I took the old Mustang and the old girl did just fine - over 20mpg out of a 35-year-old V8 isn't bad. Harbin was very peaceful, relaxing. The hot pool is only bearable for a few minutes at a time, the warm pool is nice and relaxing and we spent most of our time there. The cold pool felt refreshing after all that, and laying out naked with a bunch of other naked people of all shapes and sizes felt very relaxing, very natural. I had heard that there was a little bit of a "meat market" atmosphere with some unwelcome propositions, but maybe it was because it was a slow day or that we were a couple, but we didn't get any of that. We did overhear, though, two men (let's call them Lou Diamond Phillips and Leatherface) salivating over this 16, 17, 18 year old girl (hard to tell but Lou and Leatherface were trying to find out) who was lying by the pool. And Natty Mae (?) wasn't exactly discouraging them either. And things only got weirder when Mom and (Dad? Mom's boyfriend?) showed up. and then there was the bald bearded man (ZZ top style beard) skimming the pool with his chin just on top of the water that created a strangely creepy effect. I'm a little bummed no masseurs were available on short notice - we should have planned earlier, but didn't really feel like planning ahead. But it was nice and relaxing anyway. You can get a nice room or cottage or just camp out on a deck like we saw some doing. Highly recommended - next time I'll have to go up and stay for a day or so, but if I were a single woman I might be a little wary of the vibe . . . PS: Apparently there's some significance to responding to "that sunscreen smells good" with "and it tastes good too!" I heard it twice yesterday. Maybe somebody can explain that repartee to me. ;-)

Building a home in lieu of Burning Man

joeydynamite — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 04:37:35 GMT

Every year I can't make Burning Man for one reason or another (not the right friends going, not enough vacation saved up, not enough time to get ready) I end up spending some of that creative energy working on the house, making it more of a home. There's something very inspiring and energizing about Burning-Man-Time every year, with some of my friends going off to the desert to do cool shit and more importantly be free for a week. I love to feel like I'm actually getting something done that will last, even though Burning Man is a ton of fleeting fun and getting the house in order doesn't have the same cachet. I've been one year, but missed the past 2. This year, I gave myself a little 4-day weekend where I worked on the fence, backyard, and earthquake retrofit of the garage. Maybe this here Little Red Corvette "needs to find a love that's gonna last." At least through the next earthquake, that is . . . -Got done some staining of the fence and putting pergola tops on the side that faces my neighbor, Myrtle. -Got a Merlot vine from Myrtle next door for helping her out, and now I have a little wine vine climbing up one of the trellises next to the fence. Hope it's getting enough sun. -Worked on the earthquake retrofit of the garage and I finally have a good plan for the earthquake retrofit of the house. -Caulked up the back of the house and caulked up some cracks in the concrete around the foundation for the winter. -Took down branches from the tree to give the merlot vine more sun. -I now know I'm going to have to buy a palm nailer to finish working on the earthquake retrofit. I've been really screwing up my wrist with repetitive hammering. You can use any size nail with a palm nailer, but it's only a one-at-a-time thing. Requires an air compresssor. -Changed the oil in my car, myself. You know, how real men do it. ;-)

Now 1 room, $475. Rental situ. has changed - tenants staying

joeydynamite — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 19:04:35 GMT

well, the main girl who was renting decided to stay, and she's filled all but one room, so everything applies the same as my last blog entry but now it's just one room. Your roommates would be in their twenties, 2 girls one guy I think, various backgrounds. I'll give you my tenant, Leah's, contact info, if you're interested. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention before: -Free cable -Free wireless internet - must have wireless card in your computer.

trip to santa barbara, manu chao in L.A., and the Leonard Cohen flick

joeydynamite — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:06:53 GMT

gave myself a little 4-day weekend, just got back yesterday and I've been doing this and that since then. Drove down, about a 5-hour drive each way, started early monday morning (VERY early, like 5am) and left there about 7 on wednesday, to see my old friend Mike and to go to the Manu Chao concert in L.A. If you've never heard him, do - look under "manu chao" or "mano negra" - he speaks like 4 languages, french, english, spanish, portuguese, and has had a few minor hits here, such as Bongo Bong. We got to drive through Melibu on the way - and had lots of jokes at Mel Gibson's expense. The best one was the credits at the end of the Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man flick, where he is listed under the producers. The whole theater cracked up. "what do you mean Leonard Cohen is Jewish?" Went to a few bars in SB after seeing the Cohen movie. It's very college-y and upscale, but there are places where the regular locals hang if you know where to look. Great wine and tequila bar that was playing Leonard Cohen right after the movie! good margaritas . . . now back at home and taking care of every little thing. More work on the fence, and trying to get time to relax too. I just set up a clothesline in the backyard. It always seemed kind of silly to me to use a dryer in California in the summer . . .

damn it, I got tagged.

joeydynamite — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 05:13:33 GMT

Shantastic! tagged me. And then tried to sell me Amway. I'm scarred for life. Ok, eight things: 1. I'm not an "eight things" type of person. I hate "my favorite color is" and "how do you eat pizza" crap and all those other mundane things that are supposed to reveal a lot about a person. 2. My favorite color is Living Colour. Baby. 3. I rode a Big Wheel to an abnormally old age as a kid, like a year or two after other kids switched to bikes. I mean, I could ride a bike, but deep down I knew the Big Wheel was cooler . . . 4. My birth name (i.e., on my birth certificate) is not Joe or Joseph or even Joey, and only a select few know my true name. 5. I had a white rhinestone Michael Jackson glove when I was 8 or 10 or so. 6. I think Sean William Scott is an underrated comedic actor. (yes, Stiffler) Excluding Dukes of Hazzard. Ugh. 7. Bands I have seen more than once in concert include: Guns 'n' Roses, Yo La Tengo, Rufus Wainwright, Liz Phair, and the Pixies. That's right, one Pixies in '91 with U2, and one about 2 years ago. You're lucky to even know me. ;-) 8. I can do a mean Yoda voice. ok, I'm a-gonna tag: -Lucky -num-num -Tom/whatever his name is these days -Symsinia -Judybob -Sharon Kihara

updated the iSite

joeydynamite — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 04:31:13 GMT

but you're just gonna have to take that extra step and click 'cause I'm that special. Go on, do ya feel lucky punk? cause I sure do. :) http://web.mac.com/jbauder/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html

new blog I'm trying . . .

joeydynamite — Wed, 24 May 2006 01:01:44 GMT

check it out, I might just point everything to this one, it's using Apple's iWeb: http://web.mac.com/jbauder/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Claremont non-stop

joeydynamite — Wed, 24 May 2006 01:00:09 GMT

back in the day, when I was working for Rivendell Bicycles out in Walnut Creek, I took Claremont in Berkeley over the hill most days, with a full bag, sometimes with a laptop in it. I used to go at it on my days off too, traveling light, and see how fast I could get up it. I think my fastest time was a 12:27, but I'd have to look it up to be sure. It's steep and short and sweet, if you call a little punishment sweet. It's tricky, it just gradually gets steeper and steeper and never really lets up on you. Some roads, like Sheperds Canyon in Oakland, are steeper in parts but they give you a break. Not old Claremont. Don't get me started on Centennial, we won't even go there for the purposes of this discussion . . . Anyway, last time I rode up it, after riding up a similar but easier, more gradual hill in Santa Barbara, I had to take a little break at the first turn-off. This time, I saw the turn-off, remembered it, and said "ok, let's see how much farther I can get this time" and managed to slog it the whole way. No better way to get the heart rate up in the shortest time possible, and I was trying to cram in a little workout before going out tonight . . .

Smile, you're on Candid Camera . . .

joeydynamite — Mon, 08 May 2006 04:54:15 GMT

so while working on the fence, and while I was at home with the garage door open, some loser has the bright idea of trying to jump my (old) fence and get into the garage. I was inside at the time, he jumps the fence, gets in the open garage door, and then I catch him about 2 minutes later in there. Little did he know that after getting my garage broken into last year, I set up a camera that records to my computer. Long story short, the OPD have the video, and his photo. I should have locked him in when I caught him, but I probably would have ended up with a garage full of broken shit. As it is, I told him to get the fuck out of there and that I had him on my security camera and he chose the wrong place to fuck with . . . gotta love Oakland, never a dull moment.

New fence starting in a couple of days . . .

joeydynamite — Wed, 03 May 2006 04:06:44 GMT

Well, this is what it’s gonna look like, more or less. Imagine those vines coming over the top, very natural, and you get the idea. 6’ tall for the solid portion, 8’ total. A contractor is working on the house next door and made a good bid to do this for me. They’re starting this week, I'm helping out, taking down the old fence tomorrow and putting up a temporary barrier so no bad guys sneak into my back yard. Hopefully I can have all sorts of crazy outdoor parties this summer - I'm moving the fence forward and creating more space in the back yard and side yard. A little backyard sanctuary . . . after a lot of grunting and sweating and losing my weekends for the next couple of weeks. Oh yeah, did I mention I have to pull out a few stumps to make way for the fence? Got one out today, not fun . . .

stiffened up my wet noodle.

joeydynamite — Wed, 03 May 2006 03:58:12 GMT

ok, that sounded bad, but it got your attention, now didn't it? I'm talking about Le Stang. So here's the background - convertibles, most of them and especially older ones that are based on a unibody car structure (where the sheet metal acts as the structural frame of at least part of the car) can be VERY flexy in the middle. The front suspension, engine, etc., all ride on a frame in the front and the rear axle and suspension ride on a frame in the rear, but the only thing connecting that in an old Mustang is sheet metal in the middle, since there's no roof. Imagine twisting a hand saw at both ends and you get an extreme picture of what it's like. So, I just got subframe connectors put in that link the front and rear subframes as one whole unit, AND these are special ones - they weld into the underseat reinforcement that Ford put on many convertibles at that time. Imagine that now there are two lower-case "t"s running fore and aft on the car and that those "t"s are connected to each other: tt. Kind of like when you write out two t's and then draw a line through them. That kind of thing. http://web.mac.com/jbauder/iWeb/6970clutchpedals/tinmansubframes.html Net effect: no more wet-noodle ride. The frame is stiff, more secure, more responsive, doesn't shake when I hit a pothole on the freeway. oh, and did I mention the brakes work great? They work great. Next stage: sorting out the rear suspension. That's a few months away. It's already a great riding car for summer . . .

great bike ride today in santa barbara

joeydynamite — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 03:01:37 GMT

I didn't really have time to go to the top, but rode up in the mountains over Santa Barbara today. I'm visiting my friend Mike down here for a couple of days, and even though I've been here a few times, I've never gone for a good bike ride (bicycle) here. It was threatening to rain, but at least it's nicer than Oaktown - I got done with my ride without really getting rained on, and it's good and warm. Didn't really have time to get to the top of the hill before it got dark, but maybe next time I'm down . . . I had enough energy to make it to the top. wish I had brought my camera on the ride, the views were spectacular! going out on the town 2nite . . . maybe I'll get some good shots in. it's a cool little vacation from urban gritty Oakland . . . but as the saying goes, I wouldn't wanna live here. SoCal is in full effect in these parts . . .

5-speed and Baer brakes are IN!

joeydynamite — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 04:48:53 GMT

sweet jesus, it drives like a totally different car. The 5-speed (instead of the original 3-speed automatic) really wakes up the old 302 (5.0L) V-8, and these Baer front brakes do a great job of stopping it. It's a hell of a lot more fun now. Should be a great summer. ;-)

First bike ride for fun in a long time . . .

joeydynamite — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:53:26 GMT

I've been commuting by bike for a while now, but I haven't been on a good fun road bike ride in probably over a year or so. I thought I'd be suffering, but no big deal at all - I took the Tunnel to Claremont route for those who know the area, and it was just as nice as I remember it, with a few new houses thrown in there. It took a while to get the bike ready, and on the way down Claremont I got a rear flat - not in a turn, or else I'd be road pizza, even though I was taking it easy. My spare tube held, and I was able to make it home after getting a new one at Left Coast Cyclery. I forgot how much I missed riding for fun . . . I need to get out there every chance I can get. The photo was for a photo shoot for my old job at Rivendell Bicycle Works, it's my only pic of that bike. no, I don't go around with like 20 water bottles in a saddle bag. :-)

the decision is, TKO

joeydynamite — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 03:37:33 GMT

I just realized the last two images make me seem like a lush, so it's back to car porn. I just ordered up this baby (after waiting 15 years for a manual transmission in the Mustang) and it should be installed early next month. A bombproof 5-speed transmission. Now it will take a more powerful engine later on and (more importantly for now) will get a lot better mileage on the highway and a lot more fun. Maybe I can take it down to Santa Barbara like I've been threatening to do. this and the brakes happen at the same time, hopefully by mid-march or end of march.

Cisco, trannies, and rearends (CAR trannies and rearends, you pervs!)

joeydynamite — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:37:57 GMT

I had my first Cisco experience in a while the other night, and I have to say the Cheerz anti-hangover pills did their trick. For all of you who don't know the cruel mistress that is Cisco, go to http://www.bumwine.com/ for details. I drank this hooch in college and it's fearsome. Trannies - not the Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Flawless" teaching stroke-victim Robert DeNiro how to sing kind, but the Mustang 5-speed kind. I'm getting that, along with brakes, installed early next month and just placed my order for it today. Soon I can have a little more fun with the Mustang - a 5-speed manual behind a V-8 gives you a lot more of a feeling of power than a 3-speed automatic . . and the front brakes go on at the same time. Rearend with a torque biasing differential - that's the next thing along with new leaf springs for the rear, and then the car will be ready for a newer, more powerful engine. For the non-gearhead, that's a rear axle that can spin both wheels at one time and still go around corners without scraping one tire. I'm sick with allergies (I think) and have been under the weather for the better part of a week. Getting lots of little things done, but not as much as I'd really like. I cracked the screen of my crappy old cell phone, but I hate dealing with evil cell phone companies and all the ins and outs of getting a new phone that will also work as a modem for my computer when needed. That, and my crappy old digital camera just developed another quirk, and now will not autofocus. I know the phone I want, but I'm nursing my funds until after the big car projects are done. I feel like this city mouse could use some country mouse (in)action sometime soon. Maybe I should take a hike. ;-)