After Action Report – Page 2 – The Boring Old Man

Wrench Time

My constant readers may remember I took possession of a “new” truck back in June and it has been my daily driver ever since.

It has been relatively problem free, aside from a blown out radiator hose, and I’ve now put a little over 9,000 miles(!!!)on it for it’s initial shakedown. Aside from a new upper radiator hose, all I’ve done is an oil change and new spark plugs thus far. Though it is due for another oil change…

My first impression was that front end and steering would be the first task to undertake, then about 10 days ago I started hearing some brake screeching (not a metal on metal sound, but as though a caliper wasn’t opening up and dragging).

So, change of plans… This weekend I drove over to my Brother-in-Law’s place and took care of ‘Phase One’…

The truck is now sporting new wheel hub/bearing assemblies (Mevotech) on both sides with new, un-rounded bolts, new brake calipers, pads and rotors (Powerstop) and new braided stainless DOT brake lines (Russell). While I was in there I also put in a new set of front shocks (Bilstein).

It was a lot of work – a good 8 hours, start to finish. Should have been less, but dealing with some rounded off bolts, a couple broken sockets (Snap-On brand, no less!!), forgetting to look up torque specs before I got started and other assorted flys in the ointment really added to the slog. But, all’s well that ends well.

It’s reassuring to have new bearings and brakes up front, but there is still much to do.

I’ve got all the parts to completely rebuild the rear brakes inside and out and a new power brake booster to install, just ran outta time and daylight this round. And unfortunately when I was replacing the components on the driver’s side I found the CV joint had a cracked boot and was spewing grease, which means undoing some of the work I just completed to install a new axle half shaft, which I do not have just yet…

Hopefully between now and the next round of the big work I can get the new distributor cap, rotor and camshaft position sensor installed and the new Serpentine belt assembly that I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks now.

Despite all those parts sitting around waiting for me, the old girl is running well and stopping better, for which I am grateful! And no more ungodly sounds emanating from the front wheels!

I’m no mechanic, by any stretch of the imagination, and this job really pushed me to the limits of aggravation, but I gotta say it was a big boost to the ol’ self-esteem tank to conquer it. And lastly I must give a big, no actually MASSIVE thank you to my BIL, Kaptain Karel for letting me take over his driveway for the day and loaning me some tools so I didn’t have to schlep my entire mini-storage unit over there!! Not to mention helping me to figure out solutions when things went sideways! If you’ve ever considered wrenching on your own automobiles, I say go for it! I’ve been doing it for decades and always learn new things. Not to mention the money saved over the years by avoiding the mechanics shops! And what better excuse to buy new tools?! Even with all the dough I’ve dropped on tools over the years, I’m confident that I’m still thousands of dollars ahead.

More to come – stay tuned (pun intended)!

Thanks for stopping by!

A little catching up…

My apologies to any readers that have been wondering where I’ve gone… I know it’s been quite some time since I posted here, but quite frankly I’ve been having ‘one of those days’ for a couple/few months now. I really try to not let this blog be a place for bitterness or despair, so I’ve had my head down just trying to ride the storm out.

I’ve got to say, 2024 will go down in my personal history as the worst year on record, and I’ll be glad to see it in the rear view mirror in a couple months.

And while the last few months have been pretty disastrous for me, it hasn’t been ALL bad…

Back in early September I had a reunion of sorts with some old friends, brothers from other mothers so to speak, that was LONG overdue. While I’ve been in touch with them both fairly regularly, the 3 of us hadn’t been in the same room together for over 30 YEARS! Yeah, seriously overdue! So that was certainly a bright spot for me.

And we saw a few great shows along the way – Dogstar at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, Nikka Costa in Berkeley, Abhi the Nomad in San Francisco and Still Woozy at the Greek Theater in Berkeley as well. All were great shows and there were some awesome opening acts as well – PawPaw Rod for one, was exemplary!

The Mrs. and I also had our 33rd wedding anniversary in October.

We had a couple nice outings with the family as well… A few day trips to Henry Cowells to bask amongst the Redwoods, we did the annual ‘Wine Walk’ in our little town which was nice. And just last week a 3 day camping trip down in Big Sur (more Redwoods!!) These are things that I hold dear. The things that kept me from losing my mind altogether. Much needed and welcome distractions from ‘the real world’.

And today is VOATING day. Yippee… Ordinarily I consider myself a very patriotic American and take my civic responsibility very seriously, but I’m struggling this year. BIG TIME. I’m sick of it all. Sick of the two wings of the same, diseased bird. Sick of the lies. Sick of the hyperbole and the projection. Sick of getting the short end of the stick, regardless of which way the wind blows.

Alrighty then, that is enough doom and gloom. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a better one.

Thanks to all who have supported me here, I do appreciate it. It’ll probably be a little quiet in the near future, but eventually I’ll dig myself outta this hole and get back to it on the regular.

Thanks for stopping by.

This is no way to start the day…

Last night when I was nearly home, I noticed my “new” truck was running a little hot. Nothing crazy, but about 20 degrees (F) higher than what I’ve noticed as regular operating temps. Well, it was 90 degrees and I’d driven 25 miles in stop-and-go traffic, with the A/C blasting, so I didn’t give it too much concern.

This morning, I figured I’d play it safe and take my former SUV, that I haven’t gotten rid of yet, to work. BUT, since I haven’t driven it in the last month, the ol’ girl wouldn’t even THINK about starting, even with my jump-pack attached (which until now has had a 100% success rate!). So back to the pickup I go…

Again, playing it safe, I took the back-route, to avoid the highways and it’s a darn good thing I did!

About 7 miles in to the commute, I notice the temp gauge is nearly pegged at 250 degrees! Yikes! I cranked the heater on high, flipped a U-turn to limp her back home and a mile later lost all visibility due to the massive plume of steam pouring out from under the hood! D’oh!!

I pulled into the nearest parking lot, shut ‘er down and popped the hood. EVERYTHING under the hood was bathed in antifreeze.

Hello, AAA?

Long story short, had to get a tow home. I grabbed the Mrs.’ car for a run to the parts store, swapped out the upper radiator hose, and dropped in another 2 gallons of antifreeze. I also replaced the battery while I was under the hood. Supposedly it was “newish” when I bought the truck and it was dated 2/22 so I had no reason to think otherwise, but it’s been weak and I don’t need anymore “on the way to work” issues.

Then I cleaned up my greasy paws, took her on a quick test run, and made it to the “office” at 12:30 – enough to grab a half day’s hours.

So not exactly a banner day for the Boring Old Man! But it could have been a lot worse. I’m grateful that the Mrs. persuaded me to get AAA some time ago. I’m grateful that the parts store near home had the required part for a 25 year old truck ON THE SHELF. I’m grateful that it was just the radiator hose and not the radiator or waterpump! And I’m grateful that I have the tools and knowhow to fix stuff and not need a mechanic all the time! (Even if it had been the radiator or waterpump, that’s all well within my wheelhouse) And most of all, I’m exceptionally grateful this breakdown didn’t happen on the highway in morning rush hour traffic! That would have increased the stress levels ten-fold!

It was also a strong reminder to get my shizz together, vis-a-vis preparedness! I was so excited to start driving this new-old truck, that I just started daily-driving it without setting it up for emergencies. Dumb. Had I been properly prepared, I could’ve “McGuyver’d” it and not had to wait for the tow truck… Anyhow, lesson learned!

And now I’m back on the road with the first (albeit minor) repair to my new truck under my belt! All’s well that ends well, as they say.

Thanks for stopping by!

LMAO! Tom Segura at SAP Center, San Jose CA

Friday night was finally time for a long-awaited comedy show, and it was certainly worth the wait!

Ann Miller from Oakland CA opened the show and she was pretty good. A little cringy with some of the gags, but there were more than a few LOLz in her short set.

Ryan Sickler was up next. Evidently (judging by crowd response) he’s well known, but this was our first time seeing his act, and he was darn funny. I’d definitely be happy to see him perform again.

Tom Segura was the headliner and he was AWESOME. We’ve seen all his comedy specials and got to see him live once before, and he never fails to entertain. Honestly, I don’t know of any other comedian that is as consistently funny as this guy. More than a few times I found myself gasping for air as tears ran down my face from laughing so hard. The kind of non-stop laughing that leaves your guts hurting afterwards. Just a stellar show. Dare I say, the best comedian since ol’ George Carlin?

Not much else to say. Laughs on laughs on laughs! It was a great way to kick off the weekend. And the fact that it was in San Jose was icing on the cake – I’ll take SJ over San Francisco ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Field Tripping: Portola Redwoods State Park.

Yesterday was a new kind of adventure for me, the Mrs. and I went on a “field trip” with our daughter and her 5th grade class to Portola Redwoods State Park in La Honda, CA.

The school the wife and daughter teach at is big on what they call “Outdoor Ed.” and they do lots of camping trips and such for all the classes but all that got derailed during the Plague Years (our daughter’s first year of teaching was the year /they/ shut everything down), so this was her first overnight camping trip with a classroom of kids.

We (the Mrs. and I) didn’t go for the overnight – both of us are working today – but more as logistics support. The Mrs. volunteered us to cook dinner for the troops, so we headed up the mountain with a ton of food, firewood and all the accouterments to throw down a nice dinner. And of course S’mores! What camping trip with kids would be complete without those?!?

As you might imagine, this wasn’t exactly a quiet, peaceful trip to the woods – not with roughly 20 5th grade kids running amok, some for the first time in the woods.

You can hear the wild 5th grade varmints in the background, swimming in the creek and having a blast!

Nonetheless, the park is beautiful, and the drive in was spectacular. The kids were happy and our kid managed to make the trip a success for her kids, so mission accomplished!

Some babies sprouting up…Our great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will still be watching these beasts grow!

I’ve spent more time in the woods in 2024 than in the past decade and it is doing me a WORLD of good. I highly recommend it, ESPECIALLY if, like me, you spend most of your time glued to a desk and/or computer screen!

Thankfully my new job gets me a ton of outside time now, and that’s been great. But making a conscious effort to embrace the outdoor world as well as making it part of our fitness routine, has been life changing.

Spring is in the air, summer is right around the corner, get out there and hug a tree! Watch some birds. Laugh at squirrels gettin’ squirrely! Your body and soul will thank you!!

Thanks for stopping by!

The creek is still running, a rarity for late Spring in California!!

Tools of the (New) Trade

My new job is VERY different from my old one, although there are a great many similarities. In an odd way, it was the skills I learned as a youth and young man working in “the Trades” that got me several Director titles, but the higher I went up the ladder, the further away I got from the very things that put me there in the first place!

When I took my first facility manager job, back in the late 90’s, the entire crew was me. Sure, I had HVAC contractors and electricians come in from time to time for big jobs, but the day to day work was very hands-on. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, drywall and painting, roof repairs, data systems – you name it, I did it. From there, every new place I worked had an in-house crew for me to manage and while I still did some actual hands-on “real” work, my time was spent more and more on accounting and payroll, HR issues, ordering materials, dealing with bureaucrats from all levels of government, permits and performance reviews… blah, blah, blah. I had no ambition, desire or frankly, talent for any of that stuff. No love for it, certainly. At my last job, I don’t think I picked up a tool more than once or twice in 6 YEARS!!

Now it’s a whole new world for me and I found that I had to re-gear. My new role is a big mix – I still “manage” and I do a lot of customer service type stuff – meeting with clients, working with the sales people and such, but I also get to be hands-on again, which has been fun. I’m not actually building, but I’m the guy to go in “after the fact” and take care of the little detail things that may have been missed during construction.

The tools are basic, BUT since I’m going into high end, finished homes, I need to be neat, organized and clean. At the same time, I need to be very mobile, and more-or-less self contained. And still be able to carry my laptop and some hard-copy files with me… An unusual situation for me!

I started with this bag as my foundation. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08SCP9112?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

This was the only tool bag I found that had a laptop sleeve in it, decent reviews and didn’t (completely) break the bank. I’ll run it for a few months to check it’s performance and do a product review down the road if warranted.

First, I did a necessary mod to the bag. I do this with just about everything – I don’t believe I was born to be a billboard… If companies started making QUALITY products with NO visible labels, I’d be a customer for life, but I digress…

Now that the bag was ready, I needed to get my tools easily identifiable, since I work with a dozen tradesmen and things tend to disappear in those type of environments. Not that they’re dishonest, tools just have a way of getting mixed up and disappearing on job sites – ask me how I know! I used to engrave my initials on all my tools, but this is hard to see from across the room, or if something gets dropped into the bottom of the wrong tool box…

Once the paint dried, it was time to get loaded up! The paint isn’t pretty, it’s for positive ID purposes only. I just made sure to mask off all moving parts and anything that might mar a finish if it rubbed up against something.

Now, as an aside, this here would make a pretty good “homeowners” tool kit. Nothing fancy or complicated or expensive. A few of these items I had lying around (and if I’m being honest, I could have filled out this entire kit from what I already had, but I didn’t want to spend half a day digging through my ministorage unit to find it all!) and there are a few items not yet in the bag (battery drill and bits and a few other odds & ends) but what you see in the pic will take care of the vast majority of “simple fixes” around the house and excluding the bag, I don’t think I spent more than $200… And honestly, I probably won’t use more than 50% of the contents the majority of the time. I believe in being prepared, but I also don’t want to lug 40 pounds of unnecessary tools around with me all day, so I may scale this back once I get into the swing of things.

In my old life I was used to having a large toolbox at my side or a fully loaded van and a massive tool bag of specialty tools for whatever trade I was in at the time, so this is a little weird to me!

But in this new life, I think this is gonna be just what I needed!

Now I just need to figure out the whole “mobile office” thing… While I never liked being “tied to a desk”, not having one at all (or power or wifi or the usual accouterments of office life) is another challenge in and of itself!

If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Successful Backup Plan!

The Mrs. and I turned lemons into lemonade today when we couldn’t take our planned camping trip.

We hit Hwy 17 to Felton, CA and took a trip to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Only 40 minutes away from home, yet it’s like stepping into another world. Stunning, just stunning.

The feel of the air in the Redwood Grove just feels different. You can breath better in there, I swear. You can feel it in your lungs, on your skin… It smells better. It smells like the real world in there. Pictures can do it no justice, and neither do my meager words.

We hiked around a bit, it was by no means a strenuous, adrenaline inducing hike. We walked around 2 miles through these magnificent, ancient trees and then parked it for a while on a little bench and just ABSORBED the atmosphere. Not to sound like some dirty hippie, but places like that are just transformative to me.

After our time in the woods, we continued south to Santa Cruz, our old stompin’ grounds. We had a nice lunch at Ideal Bar & Grill, right between the Boardwalk and the Santa Cruz Wharf. Don’t let the tourist trap location fool you, the food is fantastic there. Not terribly expensive, especially considering it’s right on the beach. AND you get to watch a nonstop parade of weirdos strolling by while you dine! What’s not to love?!?

After a slow, leisurely lunch, we took a stroll down the Wharf. We dipped into Marini’s to satisfy the Mrs’ sweet tooth after lunch which is always nice. This candyshop has been there since 1915 and is always fun to visit. I’ve only been going there since about 1972, but it never disappoints!

Below are some other fun sights from the Wharf…

The famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Sure, it’s no campout, but it’s been a great day and it sure beat hanging around the house watching movies or some such.

So glad Spring is upon us and the outdoors are inviting once again!

Thanks for stopping by by!

A Blur of a Weekend!

First weekend after the new job and it was a lot of fun, if short!

As mentioned in my previous post, we started off the weekend Friday night in San Francisco with the #CandlelightConcerts which was a great start!

Saturday we (the Mrs., the Kids and I) made our way to Downtown Los Gatos for their annual Wine Walk, which was much nicer than last year. Primarily because it was less crowded and the missing patrons seemed to be from the douchebag and party tramp camps, so it was much more subdued and easy going, with perfect weather to boot! We finished up our walk at a nice Asian noodle place on Santa Cruz Ave. I can’t recall the name off-hand, but it was delicious and we’ll certainly be back for more!

After we and the Kids parted ways, the Mrs. and I had a “date night” and went to the foot spa for a little relaxation. After all the miles I put on my feet during the week, this was a welcome respite! Once sufficiently relaxed, we stopped off at the ice cream shop by our house and indulged is some hot fudge sundaes! It was a darn near perfect day!

Sunday morning I went and picked up my Pops and we went down to Kelly Park in San Jose for the annual VW show. My parents had the first VW I ever rode in (and would later drive) and a love for VWs is something my Pops and I have shared for decades. Between us I believe we’ve owned 7 VWs over the years, just really great cars since forever!And I’m not sure I won’t own one again!

After the car show, I had to make a run to Felton, up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and ordinarily on a Sunday the traffic over the hill would be treacherous, but I somehow lucked out and zipped over there in about half an hour, again in perfect Spring weather! If you’ve never been through the Santa Cruz Mountains, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is truly gorgeous out there!

Once I got back from the Felton errand, our daughter came over and we had a pizza and watched a really bizarr-o documentary.

And just like that – poof – the weekend was over!

Then I got to come back to beautiful Portola Valley to a great job!

Feeling pretty good about now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Out and About: Candlelight Concerts, San Francisco, CA

Last night we had a new experience. The Mrs. found out about this thing called “Candlelight Concerts” and got tickets for us and the kids to attend “A Tribute to Queen” in San Francisco.

I kept asking her questions about it and she didn’t know really anything about the event other than music in a candlelit setting. I asked, “where did you find out about this?” and her reply was “I dunno, on the interwebz somewhere?!?” So we went in totally blind, but it turned out to be a really cool experience!

The event wasn’t in a musical venue, in fact it was in some weird art gallery on Market Street, the “International Art Museum of America”.

Long story short, it was just what they said it was, a concert by candlelight. Maybe 100 or so people in the audience. A string quartet played essentially Queen’s greatest hits along with a few classical pieces thrown in for good measure. It was pretty mesmerizing. The arrangements of Queen’s songs for the quartet (2 violins, a viola and cello) were outstanding and the musicians were top notch.

I don’t think I’ve ever ventured outside “rock concerts” on this blog, but I am actually more musically diverse than you might think… I’ve seen a number of symphony performances, some opera (which honestly was for the Mrs., it’s not really my thing), a bunch of jazz shows… my tastes run wild and free! But I do absolutely LOVE a string quartet. We even had one play at our wedding nearly 35 years ago. I understand that is a popular thing now, but back then people thought we were weird for doing it! Bottom line, I love music like I love air and water. A talented musician on pretty much any instrument (aside from the accordian and bagpipes) makes my soul sing!

They didn’t allow pictures or video during the performance so I don’t have any to post, but since it was so dark they wouldn’t have come out on my crummy phone camera anyhow…

Overall, I would say it was a GREAT experience and I would certainly do it again. If this sounds interesting to you, go check out https://candlelightexperience.com/ and see if the have an event near you. They claim to have performances in over 100 cities, so you might just find something up your alley in your neck of the woods. I can think of a thousand worse ways to spend an evening!

One last thing I must add… I know I’ve talked a lot of smack about San Francisco in these pages, but I have to say IT HAS BECOME EXPONENTIALLY WORSE over the last few years. Last night was the most disgusting, vile, trip down SF streets yet. We were parked only about 4 blocks from the venue and in those four blocks were were dodging crap on the sidewalks – literally every 50 feet or so – and running a gauntlet of feral “humans”, the likes of which I’ve never seen. I’ve been disgusted many a time in San Francisco, but this was the first time I felt both disgusted AND unsafe. It is really a tragedy of “progressive policies” and those policies have turned a once great city into an urban wasteland. But that’s a story for another day…

Anyhow, disgusting human element aside, we really had a great time and I can wholeheartedly recommend #CandlelightConcerts!

Thanks for stopping by!

What a Week!!

Started the new job on Monday and the week has just flown by!

I’ve been loving it so far and I expect that this is gonna be a good gig for me, at least for the foreseeable future. Yes, I did take a pay cut for this job but the lack of stress more than makes up for it. If nothing else it will force me back into my frugal ways, which is long overdue. Having more than enough pocket money changes a guy, and not necessarily for the better! Probably a few less shows and long weekend trips in the coming year, but that is a price I’m willing to pay to stay out of the meat grinder!! Can you put a price on mental health?!?

In an odd turn of events, I’m back working at a site where I spent 5 years as the facilities Director, and it was the worst job I’ve ever had. Well, maybe second worst as I spent a couple years as a roofer some 25+ years ago, but I digress…

This place was TERRIBLE to be an employee of, but working for a contractor here is all good. No stress, no BS, no dealing with the health care regulations and all that entails, it is a night and day difference. And the cherry on top, the reason I stuck it out here for 5 years, is this place is GORGEOUS! 44 acres of beautiful scenery, wildlife EVERYWHERE. It is truly a spectacular place to spend your day and I feel beyond fortunate to have a landed a gig that puts me back here!

Looking ahead at the schedule, it looks like I’ll be here through July at least, but according to the boss, they keep throwing new projects at him every time one finishes up, so I could be here for a long haul. Let’s hope!!

Aside from the distinct lack of stress, I’m getting a good “workout” at work, which is a nice fringe benefit. The first day I clocked over 7 miles of walking, and the “easiest” physical day put me at just over 4 miles walked. Not too shabby! Five to six miles appears to be the average. Plus some lifting here and there, pushing some material carts around and such, it’s been good for the body, no doubt! And I’ve been sleeping like a baby. Better sleep than I’ve had in well over a decade! I haven’t woken up at 3am in a panic all week, which is a welcome change of pace, as it was happening at least 3 times a week at the old job…

Life can be strange sometimes. Two weeks ago I was overwhelmed by a sense of certain doom, and now here I am happier than I’ve been in I don’t know how long.

I guess it’s true, sometimes a change will do ya good! Even when that change is thrust upon you…

Thanks for stopping by!