Geeking it up, Getting in touch with my volient side, & More Jeep Goodies

January 9th, 2010

With the holiday past, I finally have a chance to stop and decompress, and post.

During the holiday seasons, somebody had given me a $20 Best Buy gift card.  I don’t normally shop there, so I figured I’d swing by and see what games they had for $19.99.  I ended up snagging Grand Theft Auto 4.  For $1.34, I figured if it provided me with an afternoon’s amusement, it would be worth it.  After playing it for a bit, I remembered why I loved GTA 3 so much.

Other Christmas goodies were for the Jeep.

Recovery Shackle

Lastly, my webhost decided to stop their offering for MySQL version 4, at a version lower than what the current version of Wordpress requires.  They do offer a version 5 for MySQL, but there is no direct upgrade path.  I ended up having to create the new database, wait for it to be ready, backup the blogs as an XML, rename the config php file (as a backup method), re-run the install & configure for the new database, re-import the XML, and test/make corrections to the theme to make it look right again.  All of that was in an hour and a half for 3 Wordpress blogs.

More Jeep Goodness….

November 17th, 2009

Since getting my house (and garage) afew months back, I’ve really been able to ramp up working on my Jeeps. Here’s a quick run down of where I am:

I removed the tinted rear door glass from my 98 parts XJ, and installed it in my 97 XJ. I’ve got the rear passenger quarter glass out, I still need to pull the driver quarter glass, and the rear hatch glass. I can install the quarter glass myself, but will have to find a shop to do the hatch glass.
Tinted rear door glass
In the above picture, you can see the door glass is darker than the quarter glass behind it.

I got the factory skid plates removed. I just need to clean them up before installation. I have a feeling I will need some new nut straps for the gas tank skid, and I will need to figure out how to mount the transfer case skid in the cross member/frame.
Front End Skid Plate
Front End Skid Plate

Transfer Case Skid Plate
Transfer Case Skid Plate

Gas Tank Skid Plate
Gas Tank Skid Plate

Gas Tank Skid Plate Nut Strips
The top nut strip is the way it’s supposed to be. The bottom got bent somehow when the Jeep was wrecked. The odd thing is that the bent strip came from the driver’s side, and the damage was on the passenger side. I guess the whole subframe is tweaked.

On of my other projects is to mount the header panel with headlights, grill, turn signals, and all the goodies on a piece of brick paneling and make it look like the jeep is crashing through the wall. Here are some concept graphics, just remember they are very crude concept graphics:
Concept Graphic
Concept Graphic

I hope to have the parts Jeep out of my garage before spring. The goal is to get the glass out, pull afew more interior parts, drop the rear drive shaft, remove a portion of the floor so I can unbolt the transfer case/transmission tail, and then cut the front end off at the firewall with engine, transmission, axle, and everything else still attached. Then all I need to do is drop the gas tank, remove the rear axle, and scrap the shell.

Lastly, my birthday was last week. I’ll gladly take any donations of Jeep parts….

Windows 7

October 24th, 2009

First off, I want to welcome Windows 7 to the masses. I’ve had access to Windows 7 Ultimate for about 2 months. I have to say I love it. I got my hands on a copy from my boss when it went RTM. He asked me to test it on every hardware configuration I could find. I tried new desktops, new laptops, legacy hardware running Windows XP. He also asked me if I wanted to test it on my netbook (Asus eeePC 901HA).

I was impressed with Windows 7 on every hardware configuration I tried. I was really impressed with on my netbook. Even with the stock 1 gig of ram, it went well. When I upgraded to 2 gigs of ram and was really impressed. The only real issue I found was the lack of drivers. At the time Asus had not released the drivers & utilities for Windows 7. I found a post on the eee user forum that addressed my issues. After following the instructions, the only issue was the eeestorage software.

I’m very very happy and I will update if I discover anything else about Windows 7.

Blackberry Storm Upgrade

June 10th, 2009

I just got my firmware upgrade for my Blackberry Storm. I usually don’t give into fanboy tendencies, but I am very very impressed with the software. They fixed the keyboard from hell in portrait mode, which was my biggest complaint about the phone. It also seems to be faster and use less battery. The only other change I can tell is that when you lock the phone, you cannot activate the screen by touching it. You have to unlock it before the screen will activate.

Overall I am impress and applaud RIM on their upgrades to an already solid phone.

Rules for Waging War

June 6th, 2009

I ran across this on another website. I feel it applies to everything, including zombies.

1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.

2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.

3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

4. If your shooting stance is good, you’re probably not moving fast enough nor using cover correctly.

5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)

6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.

9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on “pucker factor” than the inherent accuracy of the gun.

10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

12. Have a plan.

13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won’t work.

14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.

15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.

16. Don’t drop your guard.

17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.

18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.

19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.

20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.

23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a “4.”

Finished the Interior

May 17th, 2009

I got off my butt today and got the rest of the interior swapped. It’s not something I want to do again. Removing the old carpet was the worst, and took about an hour. Infact the whole disassemble took twice as long as putting it back together. Here are the pictures of what I got done today. I still need to mount the piece for the rear cargo pocket.

Overhead Bracket
I got the mounting plate to check for fit. I still need to pull it and drill holes for mounting a radio up there. I’m pushing for this small uniden CB I have, my girlfriend thinks I should put a 2 meter ham radio up there.

Old Center Console
I had a hell of a time getting the old console out. I ended up just saying f*ck it and broke out the saw.

Broken Seat Bolt from Inside
I discovered why my front seat seems to flex when I lean. The bolt is broken off flat with the floor.
Broken Seat Bolt from Outside
This is the underside of the bolt. I figure a can of PB Blast, a pair of vice grips, & a trip to the junk yard should fix that.

Carpet Installed
Here’s the new carpet installed. I found out the flat bracket that holds duct work that goes through the console is cracked, so I need to snag one of those at the yard too.

Everything Installed
Everything Installed
Everything Installed

Mag Light Mount
Mag Light Mount
I had played with different ideas to mount my Mag Light, and finally settled on this. I’m very very happy with it.

Here is the full gallery of the interior swap. Today’s work starts on the bottom half of page 2.

Fun in the Sand

May 3rd, 2009

Yesterday, my daughter and I took my Traxxas Stampede RC truck to a sand volleyball court. It was alot of fun. Here’s a vid of my daughter driving my truck in the sand.

New Interior

April 27th, 2009

On Saturday morning, I picked up this mess:
New Jeep Interior
I got most of the interior out of a wrecked 2000 Jeep Cherokee, that was in quite a bit better shape. I got the carpet (both front and rear sections), the rear bench seat, the front buckets, center console, and sun visors. There are afew more parts I want to go back and get, and the guy said he wasn’t probably getting rid of it for afew weeks.

Here’s why I’m swapping:
Drives Seat

Passangers Seat

Back Seat

Cargo Area

I got motivated yesterday afternoon and got part of the swap done. I’ve got the rear carpet in and the rear seat. I still need to yank the front seats, console, and carpet (the easy part).

New Sun Visors
I still need to wire the lights (my old visors didn’t have lights).

Rear Carpet Installed
Here’s the carpet installed, and trim waiting to be installed.

Just needs the rear seat
Waiting for the rear seat.

Everything back together
Everything back together.

Much better
Much better than the original rear seat (see above).

Small doses of my offroad fix

April 22nd, 2009

With everything that’s been going on, Carrie is making me scale back my offroad plans for the Jeep. Right now, we are using it as the family car when we have to take everyone (including the dogs) out of town.

That being said, I picked up a used Traxxas Stampede. It’s a fun little truck that I got used, and has had some mods done to it. Thus far I’ve not gotten much of a chance to play with it. The first time out, I blew the motor. After installing a new motor and correcting some wiring issues, I’ve played with it a bit more. I’m going to hold back on playing with it too much until I get a new set of tires.

The tires that are on it are a very nice tire, called Badlands. My problem is that alot of my RCing involves pavement, which wears these tires down very fast. I’m planning getting a set of Masher 2000’s for normal playing, and save the Badlands for a softer terrain.

Thus far the only mod I have done to the truck (with the exception of replacing the motor), is the RPM wide front bumper. Future mods include upgrading the suspension and eventually replacing the motor and electronic speed control with the setup from a Stampede VXL.

Here are some pics:
The truck right after unboxing.
Here’s the truck after unboxing.

I had to take some Poser/Flex Pics.
Some Poser/Flex Pics.

I had to take some Poser/Flex Pics.
Some Poser/Flex Pics.

The only mod so far is the RPM bumper.
Another Poser/Flex pic that shows the new front bumper.

A Pirates Code of Conduct for Bittorrent

April 8th, 2009

Normally, I don’t like to repost things and create blog spam. I ran across an article for a code of conduct on bit torrent. Feel free to read. I encourage everyone to read the whole article.