This post just goes, WEEEEE

I have quite a bit to show and tell, and time is short.



Crank this little ditty up, and take a quick read of Spiagga's update.
I wish I had time to tell you about my new Dell Laptop, last weeks get together (GTG), a BBQ run, updates about work, and who knows what else...oh yes, a yellow and black interior, but that is so for another day.

Wednesday found Spiagga with a 35/75 Faza cam. Yes it is origional. The Daytona stamp is in the butt. I also got an adjustable cam sprocket second hand from Tommy. Install requires removing the cam housing. I ordered all the cam gaskets in advance. Getting off the stock pulley was a bit of a problem. I went across the street and in my broken Spanglish asked the mechanic to give it a hit with the air rachet. I tried to give him $5, but he refused. There was a little drama when the shop forman showed up. I'll just say that I said, yes, no, and please to appease him.



The burble at idle is honestly Ferreri'esque. Tip in on throttle has a sweet sound, and the car pulls a bit better. Especially after 3,500 RPM. I have been used to driving with a stock cam, but getting into this cam has caused me to have to look at the dash to know the RPMs that I'm pushing. The higher end breathing is better, and so the car spools up quicker. I think this is where my big valve head helps out. I have done some minor tuning with the adjustable sprocket. Just seat of the pants. There is a such thing as too much advance. But, what I have now is choice.

I need to get it on a dyno to figure out where to time the cam, but here is the beauty.




Ed

Goodbye to an old battleship

See, last nite was TOUGH.

While I make some products, I also do some small scale distributing. Basically, I buy it, pre-sell what I can, then then turn it around as soon as it comes in. Easy Scrilla,(Can't help myself, feeling ghetto being next to Compton and all). The margins are not so good, but hey, the ROI is way better than the stock market. A truck brought in our distributable goods delivery late. My warehouse is really quite small, so I decided, hey, I'll handle the product, and have Fedex come for the pickup in the next a.m. So, I merrily build up the boxes to be reshipped, weigh, and lay them out by customer. So on my euphoric high I have a good sense of accomplishment. I'm usually on the phone, or doing accounting, and sometimes manual labor is just what I need to relax.

I start doing the invoices, and doing fedex labels. On the Biggest order, the printer, Della, tells me, "I won't work fo you no mo." I get the error screen, and fruitlessly attempt to giver her more power in the hopes of getting just one more out of her. By the time I'm on the verge of quiting, it is about 9 p.m., and I'm hearing the little Della cackle, "I won."



So back into the jowels of her guts I go tinkering about, and shaking her. Somehow, someway, the divine intervention of harmonic alignment and fung shui unite to give me just what I need. Pages print, Labels and Shipping Documents come forth.

But at such a cost. Spent like a prize fighter, I tapped gloves in respect to a mutually battered Della, and said, "No Mas."

So, today found me shopping online for a new challenger, a new muse. Oddly,the old girl still whispered promises of productivity like a siren's song. I guess in hopes of bringing my ship ever closer to the rocky shore for her last laugh. I resisted. Today I bought a Laser Printer Dell 1125, and a Vostro 1500 Laptop.

I hope that my next printer will have the same bond with me, I hope that the next printer will last as long as Della. I hope......

As for this old Dell Inspiron 600 laptop, I started my business with her. In my first months of company income, I bought her for the promises of better fortunes, dreams realized. In the 4+ years I have had her, I Loved her, cherished her, dropped her on her head a number of times. Broke the screen, replaced memory, got virisus, used it to email words of prose and love. Wrote many a post on internet forums that is sure to embarass me, drunk typed, and most of all, made some money. Feels sad that she is to be replaced. I may retire her like an old battle ship, I may take her to the cliffs in Pacific Palisades and drop the two into a beautiful oblivion.

My new Dell Vostro System Details Cost was approx $599
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
1 320-5543 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD display with TrueLife for Vostro 1500
1 311-7263 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
1 320-5558 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
1 341-4885 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
1 420-7313 Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
1 420-7291 Google Small Biz Home Page Internet Portal
1 420-6581 Image Restore,Vista,Dell OptiPlex,Precision and Latitude
1 420-7658 Dell Support Center 2.0 for Dell Vostro
1 420-7292 Dell Welcome Application: Vista only
1 420-7293 Dell Icon Consolidation
1 430-0493 Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
1 410-1100 Adobe Reader 8.1
1 313-5527 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
1 313-5298 Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card
1 320-5547 No Built in Camera 1500
1 412-0998 Dell Exclusive MediaDirect Instant Play Software Application
1 410-1054 No Anti-Virus/ Security Software requested
1 312-0544 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for Vostro 1500
1 412-0379 No software package
1 983-3920 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 987-6829 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 987-6977 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Return To Depot, Initial Year
1 983-4060 Type 7 Contract - Mail-In Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
1 900-9987 Standard On-Site Installation Declined
1 420-7708 Dell DataSafe Online, 10GB for1 Year, for Dell Vostro
1 987-7479 VOSTRO,Datasafe 10GB,1YR(Incl w/price)
1 960-8851 1YR AUT. PC TUNE UP,VOSTRO, Included in Price
1 420-7659 Dell PC Tuneup 1.0, for Dell Vostro
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
1 310-8319 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
1 420-7189 DellNetwork Assistant 1.7
1 462-4506 Purchase is NOT intended for resell
1 310-8977 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forBSD Systems Boxes


Since I had to also buy the printer, my budget went down. I got both the printer and computer for under a $1k including shipping and taxes, and CA, wonderful $8 recycling tax.

If any of you have input on things I should add, lets do it now, as the build date is early next week.

Thanks guys,

Ed

Spiagga's Stereo

When I got Spiagga, she came with an old Sony tape deck, two 4X6 speakers on the rear deck, and an electric antenna. I'm glad to say that the antenna worked, and the speakers made noise, and that the radio played. Unfortunately, the radio display did not work, and the AM radio reception was non-existent. All of these quirks just seemed to add to the personality of the car, and not once did any of my early passengers ever pass a negative comment on the state of tunes.



Tuning was done by attempting to remember what stations were on what side of the radio band. Eventually I got some stations set into memory, but there was some pretty bad radio moments. Think Tejano Hell here. Living in LA, there is a lot of Hispanic music. As I understand it, they are the biggest demographic in LA. Were I not self employed, I would know just how to win big in a lawsuit against my employer. Seems most of the commercials are for "Abigados!!!! Dos-Dos-Dos Dos-Dos-Dos-Dos!" I think that means call Larry H. Parker, but in Spanish. Lest you think I'm offensive here, I have sang along to some Selena songs. Really the state of the tunes didn't matter much as listening to 1.5L at 7,500 RPM is music in its own.

A good lifelong friend of mine upgraded from a Pioneer CD player to a SONY IPOD capable radio. So, in walked a Pioneer radio to my life, for only the cost of installing the SONY. That install was into a Civic, and was a breeze.

I'm no stranger to Pioneer gear. While in the Marine Corps in the early 90s, the PX (a sort of on base Meglomart) generally sold Pioneer gear. So, I have had a number of Pioneer gear from amps to CD changers in my vehicles. The Pioneer radio sports a Mosfet internal amplifier with the overrated wattage claim. It says 45W X 4, but I'm just not drinking the juice. Doesn't matter, because I'm only driving two small rear shelf speakers. While the Pioneer is not as sexy as my Sea Coupe's Alpine, it was free, and and would get me out of Calixico music.

In getting the radio in, I pulled the old one, and investigated the glory of the rats nest that just seems so confusing to some, and quite relaxing to me.



Really it was just a matter of removing the wire from the Sony loom and connecting to the Pioneer loom. Pretty mindless entertainment, but it was better than watching more news about Britney Spears. Ohh I'm quite convinced that she is now certifiable. As in "Dinky-Doo." I put some caps in line to the rear speakers to get the 6 db roll off on the low end. I hope this keeps me from blowing out the rear speakers.

So, I came up with a thought. Why don't they make the molex plugs across manufactures the same? If you already have a stereo installed, all you do is unmount, and unplug the stereo and plug it into the new stereo. Too simple, I know. Hey, if you need the plug, charge someone $20.00 for it. You could even charge more and get people to pay for molex connectors with gold connectors, and other unnecessary add ons.



See how these connectors are quite similar? Yet, the shape of the molex has different ridges in the casing? I mean heck the color of the wires is generally standardized.

So, the only thing I was not sure of was the polarity of the speakers wired in the rear shelf. I used the old battery trick to find out if the woofer pushed up to show positive orientation or down for negative orientation.



So, with everything wired up, I was a bit nervous to find out if I would have the dreaded alternator hum. In my high school Fiat I had a buzz so bad, people called it a turbo. That bad. Of course it might have had something to do with the 400 watt Radio Shack EQ booster I had. Remember those?

I cued up Billy Joel's CD Storm Front, pulled out of the drive way and let her rip.

"Harry Truman,
Doris Day,

Elvis Presley,
Disney Land...."

I played that treat in high school too. I was so ahead of my time. Somethings never change. Nor should they. There was not a hint of whine. Good deal, and the caps inline to the rear speakers seemed to keep the 4X6 speakers from popping.

Future plans call for kick panel speakers in a fiberglass enclosure. I'd like to fit 6.5 drivers, but I just don't think a kick panel enclosure will have enough air to produce proper midbass. Next, I'll put a fiberglass enclosure in the spare tire area with a 10" woofer. I have no idea of what type of amp to get. Heck, if I could find a pair of vintage Punch 45 amps, I'd be happy as a hog.

Personally, I had another amazing Friday night. Let me tell you what kind of lucky I am. First, and most important, my Pitter is once again asleep in my bed. There were some 80 mph winds this week, and the sound really has her bugged. So much in fact that she went to sleep with a flashlight. Okay....but interestingly enough, she is sleeping sideways in the bed. How I'm going to get her to move with waking her, I don't know. But let me tell you, this is indeed good luck. I love that little girl so much. Its as if the bluest ocean wouldn't match how inviting her eyes are and the sweetest cello note couldn't possible be as serene as her laugh. Your not here to read about my daughter so, I'll get back on target. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with the So Cal W203 group from MBWorld.org. I'm actually going to take the Fiat instead. Hopefully we'll get some kind of canyon run in.