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Weekend of Clutches and CrashesjawaproMon 14/12/2009 11:09 AM
This post has unfortunately become a good news/bad news post. But first the good news.
On Saturday, my father decided to come through to Devonport to have a look at my Pajero with me. How awesome is that!
So we went up to Tim’s, where he and his Dad (Kerry) said we could borrow the hoist. How awesome is that!
Between Dad’s willingness to help, and Tim and Kerry’s assistance, how much more awesome can you get?
Eventually we were able to drop the gearbox out of the Padge. Not as easy as it sounds.
Took us all morning to get this far, just so we could get access to the Clutch. Inconvienient place to put it really. For those of you who are unmechanical, that photo is of a clutch (I only learnt what one looked like about a month ago).
The good news is that the clutch was stuffed. Yes, that’s good news. After spending all morning pulling the gearbox out, I'd have been very annoyed if the clutch had been fine.
Those triangle springs were all at different angles. This was due to a heap of mud and junk jammed up behind them. We were still knocking dirt out of it for ages.
And here was the problem. The Clutch attaches to the fly wheel (pictured). On the other side of the flywheel is... empty space! No wonder dirt and twigs and things were able to get in. We have a feeling that there is a guard missing from the other side, but we couldn’t quite work out where it would have attached.
We pulled the flywheel off, and Tim once again demonstrated his awesomness by making a guard plate and welding it into place. Should give me some protection next time I’m stupid enough to park in a puddle.
So we finally got the brand new clutch in place. According to Tim, the design of this one is better anyway, and would be more mud resistant.
And thus began the long process of putting it all back together again.
And guess what? I can change gears again!
Sadly the shorting out starter motor (which I replaced earlier) seems to have killed the battery as well, and there’s some extra noise from under the bonnet we haven’t identified yet. But it’s an improvement! With a jump start, it’s drivable again.
Thanks again to Dad for his help. We finished after 11 on Saturday - but it was a good day.
The bad news.
Sunday wasn’t quite so good. I got a phone call in the morning to say that my friend Alister had crashed his car on the Frankford Highway.
The Frankford Highway is the stretch of road between Devonport and Exeter, and it’s both awesome and treacherous. Most people in Devonport would prefer to go the long way via Launceston to skip the Frankford Hwy, but I prefer it.
Alister also prefers the twisty stuff, so went that way on his way back from Burnie. I think that's a decision he regrets now. It's partly my fault, as I've been talking up the Frankford to Alister and Turkey when they've been at my place.
Unfortunately this time the Frankford bit back, and bit hard.
Coming down graveyard hill (among the most difficult on the road), Alister started to lose traction, so he stood on the brakes. That’s exactly what I would have done in the same situation, but unfortunately the brakes locked up, and he had no control.
It still would have been ok if there hadn’t been another car coming the other direction. The mini clipped the other car, tore a wheel off, and ended up on it’s side. The other car suffered some damage to the bumper, and some water leaking.
Alister was ok, and within phone signal - both of which we are thankful for. Within a few minutes people were scrambling to his aid from all over the state. My parents were closest, and came through from Exeter. I came through from Devonport, his brother came from Burnie, and his Father and sister came up from Hobart. My parents picked him up, and took him to their place to recover.
Knowing how bad I felt after messing up the Padge, I feel extremely sympathetic for Alister. Not only does it suck financially, but when you damage a car you love, it’s pretty upsetting too. And the mini was an awesome car. Having to ring up your parents and tell them you've stacked your car has to be one of the harder things to do too.
We returned with a trailer, and retrieved the poor mini. From the front it looks fine, but it’s bent the chassis, so Alister isn’t sure what the plan from here will be. If nothing else, it can be spares for the other mini he was planing to restore.
It was such a gorgeous car too...
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Devonport has an EB!jawaproFri 11/12/2009 07:48 PM
Devonport has an EB!
Finally!
Been waiting for this ever since I moved.
James and Tom told me about this yesterday. It’s been here just over a week. One of the major reasons to go to Launceston for shopping is gone.
For those who don’t know - EB sells computer games. Great range, generally good prices, and some excellent prices when things are on sale.
For those of you who live in Devonport, EB is on the same street as the mall, just a block south. It’s not quite opposite Chickenfeed. Ironically it’s only 2 shops up from Pearts, which was another reason to shop in Launceston before Devonport got a branch.
Devonport is moving up in the world.
Unfortunately I don’t think it’ll do my bank balance any favours. I managed to restrain myself to 3 games and a preorder this trip - but now it’s within walking distance for lunch breaks. Scary thought…
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Thomas BoxsetjawaproFri 11/12/2009 07:41 PM
Ok - I fully expect to be bagged out about this - but I just bought myself a boxset of Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs.
My awesome sister spied them on a Chickenfeed ad, and sent me an SMS, so I called in on my way home.
$20 gets you all 5 classic seasons. That’s awesome value.
Not only did I love these when I was a kid, they are examples of extremely well done model railways. From the point of view of a model train fan, these can take on a whole different level.
Unfortunately they come in rather ugly cases - but I guess that’s what you get with kids dvds. At least there’s a box to hide them.
Thanks again for letting me know Em!
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AvatarjawaproTue 08/12/2009 11:04 PM
I’m bored - so lets talk about a movie that isn’t out yet...
For those who don't know, there's a movie on it's way called Avatar. Apparently there are heaps of people that are extremely excited about it - but so far I haven't met any. It almost seems like the hype is faked. If we pretend enough people are interested, people will be fooled into getting interested. Or maybe I just haven't been talking to the right people.
It's a movie by James Cameron. Apparently he's most famous for making Titanic, and being lazy since. While I'm sure Titanic was an ok movie, I have never managed to sit through the whole thing without getting bored and going to do something else. On the other hand, Terminator 2 and Aliens were also Cameron - so he IS a good director. He should be more famous for those.
Anyway - I've watched the trailers for avatar, and it looks weird and predictable. It’s half CG, and half Live Action and looks well shot, but the story looks overly predictable.
Human armies are attacking a planet for some reason (this bit looks good) while the natives of the planet (big ugly blue things) fight back with primitive weapons and sort of magic. Somehow the human scientists are able to turn one of the humans into a blue thing, and send him on a spying/sabotage/intelligence/something mission. Of course, he makes friends with the blue freaks, and probably falls in love with one of them. They will eventually find out who he really is, and if it's as predictable as it appears, he will join them in fighting against the humans. I haven’t done any research other than watching the trailer - but this looks like where it’s going.
So the point of the move? Humans are bad, aliens are good. Natives are good, newcomers are bad. By extension, all of Western colonization was bad - and we should be ashamed of it. While it certainly wasn't all good, I'm not ashamed of the colonist period of history. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the British Empire.
So the big question is, will Avatar (which is apparently being waited for with baited breath) prove to be interesting, or just very predictable? Wouldn't it be cool to have a twist at the end. Turns out the planet they are fighting on actually used to be Earth. Mankind had colonized other planets, then some blue alien freaks came and conquered Earth, teraformed it, and now humanity is trying to re-take it.
Or perhaps keep going with the humans are bad idea. When the inevitable happens and the blue guys find out that the disguised human is actually a human, instead of that human deciding to side with the aliens, he says something pithy, and then proceeds to kill all the other blue guys around him. Still means that the humans are the bad guys, but it's far less predictable and more interesting.
So am I interested in Avatar? Well, more than I was. The human military machines (ships, helicopter, mechs etc) look pretty sweet. And I'm interested to see if it's as predictable as it appears. So I'm interested and will go to see it, but I'm expecting it'll suck.
Any of you interested (assuming you've actually heard about it)?
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The return of ItsNotCheatingjawaproMon 07/12/2009 10:37 PM
Long term viewers may remember me posting a little over 3 years ago about a website called itsnotcheating.com.au where you could buy Office 2007 Ultimate for $75 if you happened to be a student.
You may also remember that I won a competition with a little story about the deal, and won myself a Vespa scooter (which I sold). I then was asked to turn the story into a video, which scored me an Xbox 360.
Later, the deal returned. This time I wasn’t eligible for the prize, so it was up to my sister to win a trip to Europe, which she nicely took me on.
Well - the website is back again. This time there aren’t any brilliant competitions to win - but just some great deals. Once again, Office 2007 Ultimate is up for grabs - but that’s not all.
You can score a copy of Windows 7 Professional for $50! It costs a little extra if you want them to mail the CD out - but it’s still an awesome deal.
It’s an upgrade license, so you’ll need XP or Vista to upgrade from (needs to be a legit key - so all you pirates may be out of luck).
So if you have a Uni or Tafe email address - check it out.
http://www.itsnotcheating.com.au
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