Raising the Porche, Part II

The tires that I ordered finally arrived on Friday. Seeing as I had Monday off for Presidents Day, I made an appointment to take the Porsche in on that day. Because one of the tires was completely flat, I had to have her towed. I am so thankful for my AAA membership. After the tires were put onto the car, I had to get her home again. So, with Barb following close behind, I jumped in and headed out onto the roads. Technically, I'm not really supposed to be driving the car on city streets. I still need the smog check for the registration to be valid. However, this gave me a chance to make sure everything was still in working order while burning off some of that old gas that is still in the tank (3/4 of a tank). I forgot how much I enjoy driving that car.

I picked up some octane booster that I will add to the tank and see if I can help her out. The next tank of gas I will add a fuel injector cleaner as well. Now, I just need the smog check and she'll be a legal machine again.

Raising the Porsche, Part I

First step break into the car. Yes, you read that correctly. The Porsche Boxster has a mechanical piece to its security system. When the security system is turned on, the latches for both trucks are mechanically disabled. This is great! Until you leave your car long enough to let the battery drain. You can unlock the car, but, there is no power to the security system to enable the truck latches. I need to change out the battery...which, of course, is in the front trunk.

So, I fashioned a couple electrical leads to the fuse panel for the security system. Pumped 12v with a 9v and a couple AA batteries wired in series (gave me 12.58v...close enough). Positive leads to the fuse and negative wired to the door frame. I crossed my fingers, locked and unlocked the doors. Wouldn't you know it, there was a audible click of the latches being enabled. Hurrah!!!

Clever, eh? Well, as much as I would like to take credit for thinking this all through, I can't. Porsche realized the problem quite some time ago and released a Technical Service Bulletin on how to do this. Although the 9v and 2xAA batteries were my idea. I saw no need to go get the car battery to open the trunk, just to turn around and go back for the core charge.

After I got the new battery hooked up, I did a little praying and tried turning the car over. It sputtered and started right up. As I said in an earlier post, it's been a loooong time since it's been driven. That means whatever fuel that was sitting in the car could have gone bad. Turn to gel, varnish, or other fuel system wrecking liquid. I am thrilled that she started up. I would like to get that old fuel out without having to burn it, but, I'm not sure I will be able to. I can't siphon it out. The Porsche has an anti-siphon system in place (of course). I read an idea of redirecting the 'out' line from the fuel pump to a container and then applying power directly to the fuel pump. Great idea! But, the Porsche has it's fuel pump inside the gas tank. I would have to drop the tank for that. Not going to happen. I guess burning the gas is the only way without going to a mechanic and hoping I don't get charged too much for it.

Got the car registration paid for, but, it needs a smog check. I am not going to take her in for a smog check without getting some new gas into her. So, I need to drive her around and take care of that first. But, tires would have to come before that. I ordered the tires from Discount Tires. The tires I want are available ::cheer::. The front tires are on international back order. But, they had a pair in Northern California that are being delivered. The closest pair of back tires (of course they are different sizes) are in Dallas. As you may be aware, most of that area is having a small cold front...Looks like it'll take a week or more to get them out here. Stupid snow.

So, I wait for these tires. Then it's just down to getting her used to driving again. Yeah, it seems that the control system needs to be driven for about an hour to 'relearn' how I drive and adjust itself to me. An oil change, smog check and then we're good to go. Oh, and the new window for the soft-top. But, I will be happy with getting her driving around.

Honeymoon Redirect

Most of you already know that Barbara and I have been planning our honeymoon to be a trip to Egypt and Jordan. With the recent turmoil in Egypt we came to the conclusion that maybe it might be wise to redirect this trip elsewhere. We'll circle around to Egypt another time. Not like the pyramids are going anywhere, right?

After some debating back and forth and looking at the choices that were available to us via Friendly Planet, we came down to four or five choices and went through each of them. All of these trips have been on our radar for future trips. We went back and forth on these choices over the past week. We finally threw all these options into the ring and let them fight it out, Battle Royale style! It was a long and hard fight between the combatants. In the end, the Taj Mahal Express trip with a Nepal extension won out.

So, earlier today, after getting some questions answered by one of the reps at Friendly Planet, deposits were made and travel insurance was purchased. We leave a few days after the wedding; September 14th.

Silent Blogs

So, I was reading through the various blog entries on my feed this morning, I realized that I had not heard a peep from a couple of my friends' blogs. I began to compose a message to the tune of 'Why aren't you posting any new entries, you lazy bastages!?!?'. Before I could finish the first full sentence, it dawned on me that I have been remiss in doing any postings myself (June was the last post that I actually completed...I have half a dozen posts that were never actually finished). So, in order to get around that little hypocritical problem, I figured I should post an update or two before mounting my high horse.

What's been going on in the life of me? Well, since the last post;

I went to a dance club to listen to a DJ. I enjoyed myself. I had not really expected to. Dance clubs are not my scene (shocker, I know). However, I was standing at the bar watching the people stand on the dance floor playing with their phones, texting, and facebooking and I felt sad for them. All these people showed up to this club and they felt that they needed to spend all that time being somewhere else with a small device. Why couldn't they just be here. Live in the moment? I got that 'physician, heal thyself' moment and realized that I should take a dose of my own medicine. I finished my drink and vowed to have a good night while I was there. Yes, we got out on the dance floor and danced. Quite a bit, I might add. Happiness achieved.

I released a new product for the company. I don't really want to go into work details. But, the new product is on a mobile platform that I don't normally program for (this is actually my first mobile application). Yup, that means that I am not currently programming for my beloved iSeries. Sad, yes. But, I'm thrilled to learn something new. The new platform has a new set of...challenges, shall we say, that I have had to deal with.

I went camping in Ojai. Only a weekend trip. Packed into camp late at night and spent the weekend swimming in the various water holes around the site. Note to self: Self, you are out of shape. You need to exercise more. I lost my sunglasses while sliding down a rock slide into a pool. The water was refreshing. The loss of my shades, not so much.

I developed another product for the company. This time, a mapping product. Another new set of APIs that I was unfamiliar with. More new stuff to learn = more new challenges to face. Challenges make me happy. I don't like to be bored with my programming tasks.

I went backpacking in the Sierras. A small group of us went hiking into King's Canyon. What a great trip. I did mess up my knee and had a tough time of it during most of the hike. Also did not help that I am out of shape. Another note to self: Self, do something about your fitness level; It currently sucks. Due to a small fire going on in King's Canyon, many of the spectacular views were obscured by smoke. That did not detract from the glorious-ness of the place. I do not get to play up in the Sierras very much. But, when I do, I sure do enjoy it. The scenery. The serenity. The solitude. Natural beauty abounds there.

I barricaded myself indoors for most of the holiday season. Not sure why, but, I pretty much cut myself off from all outside communication during my Christmas holidays. My phone was off for most of that time and I didn't check email. Looking back, I'm not even sure what it is that I did during that time. I guess I just needed to recharge.

I failed miserably in my 2010 goals. It would really help if I looked at those goals at sometime during the year instead of checking on them at the end of the year. It makes it hard to accomplish things when you do not actually work on them. Fail!

I watched Barb get recruited to a new company. A position opened up at a friend's company and he thought Barb would be perfect for it. The boss met with Barb and the only logical thing that could have happened, did; He offered her the job. She's sad to be leaving the people that she works with now. She's grown close to them. But, the new job is a huge step up for her career.

Began the Porsche resurrection. Because of Barb's new job, the carpool that we have been using is coming to an end. So, we need to start driving separately again. I have not driven my Porsche in a long time (October, I believe...2009). Yeah, I know it's pretty disgusting. I own a Porsche. I don't drive it. It sits in our parking space and collects dust. I had actually planned on selling it this last year (one of my 2010 goals that I failed in...good thing I failed, in retrospect). The Porsche represents a lot of things to me. For one, it represents a childhood dream (of owning a Porsche). But, also represents a failure. I had made a change from wanting to spend my money on stuff to spending it on experiences. That brought much more joy into my life; Getting my dive certification, going to Mexico with family, going to China with Barb, learning to rock climb, going backpacking again. All of those things required the purchase of stuff, yes. However, it wasn't just the accumulation of those things. Those things allowed me to expand my experiences.

My life's goals had changed. However, there was still that kid in me wanting his dream car. I needed a vehicle. So, I bought the Porsche. Talk about one giant, expensive piece of stuff. The happiness I got from the car waned over time. I came to the realization that I had made a mistake in that purchase. With Barb and I working so close to each other, we just started carpooling. Well, never fear, gentle readers. I have made peace with that mistake. There is no going back, and regret for the past is a waste of spirit. So, the zombie Porsche is being resurrected and being reinstated to full, active duty. Of course, that means a new battery, new tires (ones that wont "help" me spin out this time), a new window for the soft-top, a smog check, and various other minor things. Ack! Resurrection *is* expensive.

Finally I made new goals for 2011. This year, I have them printed out and will post them near my desk at home. This will be a constant reminder to work on these goals.