I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

Aaaack, to that whole situation. No shutoff valves. System was not bled properly which explains the missing gallon of coolant. The heat issue is a shutter that is failing to open, maybe damaged during the install, dunno, didn't ask since I'm paying zero out of pocket for this anyhow. Took the Hot Chick out for a nice dinner at a nearby upscale restaurant then a brief stroll in the moonlight.

Lemons, lemonade.

 

That'd be the "lemons" part.

They did find a problem with my climate control I wasn't even aware of (selector knob not working properly; I had no idea because I never change the setting) and have replaced it. They also aired up my tires; Penske runs the steers at 120 and drives at 110 versus my usual 110/100. I didn't know the tires were rated for that. That'll teach me to read up a little more. In my defense I haven't started hypermiling the truck yet; it's too $#&@!! cold. I probably would have found that spec in the spring...yeah, I'll go with that.

 

Gonna break in the new crock pot this week. And it's time to get a cooler. Coleman, Igloo, or Koolatron? I've had all three and have love and hate for all of them. Gotta have a big 40 quart electric model. Probably gonna be a Coleman; they're the least expensive. At least right now.

 

Weather is getting warmer. Si Feng Chuan Dao season is near! As it becomes feasable, morning training will start. Let the soreness, stiffness, sweating, and better health begin! (Seems like every year the soreness and stiffness part gets a little worse)

 

After three and a half years, The Hot Chick has finished the first draft of her book, Panic and Pixies. It's an urban fantasy with a Christian theme (not sure how she pulled that one off but she did it) aimed at younger teen girls. Fear for my life prevents me from putting too much detail out there right now (she says it's too soon) but I'm immensely proud of my little knit wit. She has a few copies out there being read by close friends and family and one being edited by a schoolteacher. She says when she is a rich and famous writer she will buy me a new rig and send me on my way. Long as she doesn't forget my DeLorean.

 

The DeLorean is that color because the outer body is made of stainles steel; that's one of the things that made it so unique. The body material is a part of the design and although some have painted theirs the car was never intended to be colored. And it's more of a GT than a true sports car. One can be had for about the price of a new Buick.

The McLaren is a full-blown exotic in the rarified company of Ferrari/Lamborghini/Maserati/Mosler/Ruf/etc, part of the automotive pantheon that dwells in the stratospheric heights so far above the Corvettes and Porsches and other useable exotics that they mainly exist on the pages of calendars and posters and car magazines and in the minds of pimply faced teenage boys and Amway millionaire wannabes.

I've seen exactly one of those on the road, a P4, stuck in a traffic jam just like the rest of us mere mortals--a fact that didn't escape the Hot Chick. I've seen about a dozen DeLoreans in my nine years out here and thanks to the generosity of an orthodontist I met in Missouri have actually driven one (a Stage 2, refurbished to better than new condition, and the object of my pubescent lust).

The Stage 2 feels about like a Mustang GT from the early 80's, but with better handling. Quick enough to be plenty entertaining at perfectly sane speeds.

That said, it is far more likely I will obtain a Corvette or one of my wife's dream cars before I get a DeLorean (and rightly so, as sometimes the wanting is better than the having).

I don't even want a hypercar like the McLaren, unless you count one of the white and blue Mercury Capri ASC/McLaren convertibles from the late 80's. Those are beautiful and useable, if so rare as to be unattainable today.

Probably gonna end up with a used Taurus anyway.