20-21/12/2008

[rone rivendale]

On the bright side, I HAD to have lost a few pounds.

Sooo, now you look like a skeleton with hair?

I think you are under the false impression that I am skinny to begin with. I WAS skinny up until I started working at a grocery store in May of '07. I WAS about 160lbs before I joined the store. Now I'm somewhere between 190 and 200 (don't have a scale). I do know I have a gut for the 1st time in my life and I have f'ing stretch marks on my theighs.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Does it also spend every waking hour posting to Internet forums?

Yes, by default. Now stop hairassing me.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Conceded defeat (albeit temporary) and took a bath. Beers, cigarettes, and a couple of non-fiction books later (Cholos & Surfers, and Heinlein's Tramp Royale, if you must know) and I'm pleasantly relaxed.

Add to the fact that the snow is falling again, with my car (and the surrounding streets) axle-deep already--Portland's neighborhoods don't have the civilized snowplow system that you Yankees do--means I can continue the tedious sorting tomorrow, unfettered by the j-o-b. And now, if you'll excuse me, the Mia Zapata 48 Hours is on.

[Spud]

It's snowing here, too. Haven't been out in days.
Good think I got beer before it started.

What was the question?

[Billy's Little Trip]

I'd love to get snowed in right now. I've got plenty of booze.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Here I am. Shoveled snow a couple of times today, after near a foot of it Friday/Saturday. Last week it was no electricity or heat for five days. Just hopin' the roof doesn't collapse or some other calamity. I have an outline for my GOM laid out and am ready to go on that. Catching up on my SongFight! stuff. Love yas!

[signboy]

So, an extra 8 inches of snow overnight on top of the 1 1/2 - 2 feet we had already, and it was -38 this morning. I love working at an outside job. I love my job. I love my... aw screw it. I'd give my left nut to be a shoe shiner in the airport.

qotd: I was busy trying to make a tank of diesel liquid enough to drive with.

[Billy's Little Trip]

So, an extra 8 inches of snow overnight on top of the 1 1/2 - 2 feet we had already, and it was -38 this morning. I love working at an outside job. I love my job. I love my... aw screw it. I'd give my left nut to be a shoe shiner in the airport.

qotd: I was busy trying to make a tank of diesel liquid enough to drive with.

You do the used frying oil to diesel trick?

[signboy]

no, I do the "light a fire under the tank because the diesel gelled up in the night" trick. Like, seriously... can nobody make a vehicle that can deal with the cold? stupid dodge doesn't even heat up with winter fronts AND cardboard.

[fluffy]

I don't think it's your car's fault that diesel fuel has a gelling point above what your local temperature is capable of dropping to.

[Billy's Little Trip]

If this is a typical problem with diesel and cold weather, you'd think they'd have a tank warmer built in. Personally, I never knew that diesel gelled from cold weather. Learn something knew everyday.

[fluffy]

[Disclaimer: I am not a materials scientist.]

Diesel is a complex emulsion of several different liquids, and some of the components begin to freeze at 32F, and at 15F enough of the components freeze that it becomes a gel (a suspension of liquids and solids - sort of a dual-phase emulsion). It's similar to how chicken stock will gel when you keep it in a refrigerator (in that case, it's actual gelatin which is freezing).

Apparently, unleaded gasoline will freeze at about -100F.

An electric tank warmer would be the obvious straightforward solution but I think that would lead to enough of an engineering challenge (doing that without draining the car's battery and/or setting the tank on fire, etc.) that you're probably better off keeping it in a garage and directing a portable space heater at it for half an hour or so.

Or living in California.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Now that I think about it, I've heard about a tank warmer that plugs into an AC outlet. But I'd imagine that a portable rechargeable unit with a deep cycle battery would be best.
As far as concerns of explosion, I think there is more of a chance of that happening the way Sign boy said he's lighting a fire under his tank. Yikes!

[signboy]

The diesel issue just plain sucks, and there isn't an awful lot I can do about it. My main beef with vehicles all being designed to run in climates like California is that the little things all get overlooked.

-Remember when the dash vents used to blow heat at the spot where the wipers sit on the windshield? They don't anymore. You guys probably never noticed, but I sure do.
-Heated steering wheels are a luxury that work trucks never include.
-Power windows suck below -30 C.
-They couldn't run a coolant line beside the window squirt tank?
-An oilpan heater is an aftermarket thing you have to install yourself.

Seriously. Are there no engineers that live in Canada AND have a say in how things are designed?

[fluffy]

Even in New Mexico I would run into a bunch of those issues (the dash vents, the windshield spray lines, and the power window thing), so it's not just Canadians who are affected by California-centric engineering. (Just because it's a desert doesn't mean it's hot year-round.)

Also, in addition to power windows not working well in an NM winter, in an NM summer they tend to get dirt in the gears which causes the gears to strip rather quickly, and fixing that can be extremely expensive.

[Spud]

I didn't want to start a new thread, since I don't have a question, but I spent the morning digging one of these out of my driveway:

Almost lost it over the edge. Would have been a shame.

[Billy's Little Trip]

How does that thing drive, Spud. I'm all for German engineering, but I've never driven a Benz SUV.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Up to the 'H's now... p++'s "Harry the Head" was pretty cool, in hindsight.

@Spud: Ooh, shiny!

[Ross]

PS - I Shaved my head.

Hey, I did too. I didn't bic it to the skin, but pretty short, like 1". I look like a bad ass.

I took it all the way down - and I'm sure I look badder asser - especially with my sunglasses on!

[Spud]

How does that thing drive, Spud. I'm all for German engineering, but I've never driven a Benz SUV.

I have no idea how it drives. I can't afford $100K for a car. It belongs to my daughter's best friend's dad. His daughter has been snowed in here with us for the last three days, and he came to get her this morning.

Funny thing is, it drives no better than the unit behind the wheel. He kept turning hard away from the embankment, which turned his front wheels into sleds, and causing the car to drift in that direction. I finally convinced him to straighten his wheels out and drive toward the edge, and then to turn only when he had some forward momentum and the wheels were rolling. That worked. Duh.

When we bought a Jeep Wrangler back in 1991 (for about $12K), we got free driving classes. I guess Mercedes is hard up.

[Spud]

I took it all the way down - and I'm sure I look badder asser - especially with my sunglasses on!

Pix, badass?

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Funny thing is, it drives no better than the unit behind the wheel. He kept turning hard away from the embankment, which turned his front wheels into sleds, and causing the car to drift in that direction. I finally convinced him to straighten his wheels out and drive toward the edge, and then to turn only when he had some forward momentum and the wheels were rolling. That worked. Duh.

When we bought a Jeep Wrangler back in 1991 (for about $12K), we got free driving classes. I guess Mercedes is hard up.

Yeah, your driveway's a fun one all right

You got driving classes? By 1999, they'd stopped doing that (or I got ripped off by my Jeep dealer)

Up to the 'J's. All higher thought processes have ceased. And it's still snowing.