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| So I finally went out and bought some new brake pads for my Integra last week. My back right tire has been squealing on and off for about 2 weeks now, so I wanted to get that taken care of. I've replaced all the brakes in my previous cars (Toyota Tercel, Chevy Cavalier) so I was feeling pretty up to the challenge. Heck, I've even replaced the drum brakes in those cars before, so I wasn't really sweating it. Come Christmas day, I jack up my car, and promptly forgot everything that I had learned in regards to replacing the brake pads... Actually, I didn't forget, but let me just say that Acura engineers are a bunch of @#$@#@$&^%^%$ idiots.... And then add that to the other idiot who thought he could do it on his own (that's me!!).......
First off, I thought I couldn't take off the shield protecting the calipers on the brakes because I didn't have an extension for the wrench, so I ended up just bending the shield back..... Then I removed the 2 main screws holding the calipers and still I couldn't get them off.... 30 minutes later, on an intuitive leap after looking for online instructions....I release the E-brake, and Viola! Yes, I am that smart (and yes, that's dripping with heavy sarcasm) So now the calipers are off, I put the new brake pads on, and now I can't get the piston back in with the new pads.... Thought I had a C clamp, which was what I used before, but I didn't.... A couple of phone calls to friends didn't yield any results..... I knew my parents had some but 1) they live in Dublin, and 2) I don't have a car.... Good thing my friend CC wasn't doing anything and he was gracious enough to drive me up and back to get it....
We get to my parents house and promptly find out.......No C clamp... What??!?!?! Just vanished. Poof. Sigh.... There was a couple of random other things, so I grabbed those on the way out, and of course, being the loving chinese parents that they are, they sent me off with food. hahaha.
I get back, try the other tools a couple of times, and still no success.... By this time, my frustration level was pretty high.....Replacing brake pads on disc brakes should only take about an hour per side..... So I start digging online earnestly to try to figure out what's up with my integra.... After a couple of trial and errors, I finally figure out that you're suppose to turn the rear brake piston clockwise to insert the piston back in....  And I had to pump my brakes once or twice to "unlock" it.....
All in all, I started around 1pm and finished a little after 5pm. The right rear pads took 3.5 hours and the left rear pads took 0.7 hours....... )(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()(*&^%$#@!   
But it was a good experience... haha. It's not that I was mad, but....it's hard to describe.... I knew it would take me longer than before cause I'd never done this on the integra, but I think I was disappointed in myself for not being to figure it out faster. My "engineering" skills seems to be slipping, and by quite a bit.... I was also kicking myself for not doing better research online prior to starting.... But disappointment seems to be too strong of a word since I'm glad I still did it. Odd feeling to have, to say the least.
Live and learn, I guess. So for any of you with integras out there, I do know how to replace the rear ones now... And I'm sure it won't be before long before I have to do my front brakes at some point...
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| Oh man.... Had some food with some co-workers on Wednesday at lunch... Everything going well, minding my own business, when suddenly, at 4pm in the afternoon, I get the strong urge to hurl.... Needless to say, I wasn't gonna throw up at work, so I drove home, as fast as I could, and prayed hard to the almighty porcelain statue.... No details here, but let's just say it was much much worse than just having to eject foreign materials from the top... Couldn't hang out with my friend that night cause I was curled up in bed trying not to invent new curse words.... And I wasn't sure if I could still do Thanksgiving with the family cause I was feeling so terrible....
Ended up finally being able to sleep in 3 hour blocks, and slept much better as it got to the early morning (6am and beyond) Got to eat a light thanksgiving meal with the family, and saw my little niece and nephew. I really should spend more time with those kids. Katie is really cute at this point, and just so trusting. Anyone can really pick her up right now and she wouldn't be fussy. Just kinda looks at you with those big brown eyes and lets it be. E is starting to get more active and doing boys stuff. I think he's gonna have my mentality growing up, which is gonna be bad for my brother since we didn't get along until later on. hahaha.
I'm starting to put more and more of my brain power onto the new volleyball club season that's coming up. Trying to have some extra practices before the official practices get started so they can get a leg up on the season. Hope they take to what I wanna teach them.... There's always the risk that I'm a bad teacher, and/or the materials that I'm presenting, or the way that I'm presenting it isn't inducive to the way that they kids are learning...Trying to lay more plans in writing so I'll have at least something to fall back on when things don't go the way they should.....
We'll see................(with many many doubts swimming in my head.........)
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| hmmm.... 2 things I'm currently thinking about...
1) Just read an article regarding the pirates seizing the large tanker off of the coast of Somalia and how that is benefiting the local economy on the coast due to the influx of the ransom money that gets dropped to the pirates... I know it's not the right way to do things, but if doing the wrong thing ends up helping a community, then what is right? Not for the pirates who hold hostages, but what if there really isn't a better way of getting attention?
2) Trying to get my head around coaching club volleyball again. Am I really ready for the time commitment that I want to put in? Am I really volunteering again for 20 hours a week of volleyball activities?
3) Just had dinner with Slim yesterday up in Emeryville/Berkeley area. Good times. Haven't seen that boy in a while. It's interesting how similar we think in certain areas and how different in others. Gave me more things to think about and process at some point. Dunno if my brain can handle everything as it is...
4) Is it just me or are there a fair amount of people with babies now? Or are pregnant and will have a kid due out within the next half year or so.... Off the top of my head I can think of at least 4 babies on the way.... Wow. Is this really what happens when you're about to turn 30??
5) Old friends. Do you make time to hang out with them, or do you just become acquaintances, or do you just let facebook and xanga take the place of actually spending time to hangout with them, or do you just let them fall by the wayside? I know everyone will encounter this at some point, so, well, is it even worth really spending time to even think about this topic? haha.
Okay, maybe more than 2 things I'm thinking about at this moment in time. Maybe I should just concentrate on thinking about volleyball and everything else will be just right......
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| Well, we did it. Tryouts are complete. Finally.
I dunno if any of the kids realize how much time was sunk into this endeavor. What they saw was 2 hours of tryouts two Saturdays ago, 5 hours of tryouts this past Saturday, and 3 hours of tryouts this past Sunday... Not figuring the extra 3 hours that we had to take to setup the gym and the nets. We spent 5 hrs and 40 minutes on Saturday night (going till 1:40am) and then 6 hours Sunday... In all, we spent over 25 hours figuring out all things related to kids and volleyball this past weekend.....
It was fun though, I will admit. Overwhelming, most definitely, but fun. It was good seeing some of the kids again. I had forgotten how much fun it was messing with them. haha. I'm definitely getting older though. It's getting a bit hard to keep up with them... Good thing I have a natural advantage over them. I'm faster, (and more experienced) than most of them combined. haha.
Gosh, I'm more tired than I thought. Not just the lack of sleep though... I think I'm actually mentally drained from having to weigh the pros and cons of the kids and the teams.. See, this is what you get for not using your brain much. haha. I'll have to tap out more thoughts later this week, when my brain gets reset...!
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| Well. I did it.
Never thought I had the will power to succeed, but it's done.
As of 5pm, September 12th of the year Two Thousand and Eight.....
I have no more cable television.
Why, you ask? What could have possibly made him get rid of cable, to get rid of ESPN, Food network, and Comedy Central.... Did he somehow fall and hit his head and is now delirious?
The epiphany came to me one night a few weeks ago, when I was sitting on the couch watching tv. We were watching Terminator 4, no less...on TV.... Yeah, it was that bad. When all of a sudden, I realized that it was absolutely pointless to watch a movie adapted for TV, which I've seen, and was terrible; And I'm watching this thing edited, and with commercials... That sudden realization crashed down on me and it was then and there I decided to get rid of it.
Now don't get me wrong. I still watch plenty of stuff on the TV. I have my Alias, Buffy, West Wing, Simpsons, and soon, House and Entourage all on DVDs, not to mention all the video games that are in the house. There's hundreds and hundreds of hours of entertainment already in my house. Not to mention the movies that are continually pouring in from Netflix.
Think about it. Think about what you watch on TV, the time you spent watching, and how much you pay to watch each month. Is it really worth all that?
I saw this article posted on MSN, which prompted me to share what it is that has changed me. It's only been a day, and if I'm truly addicted to TV, I may go back. But I wanna give this an earnest try and maybe, just maybe, I can reclaim some hours of my life back.....
No TV?
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