Unbecoming Levity

Lynnea Giggled the Whole Time

Abacquer — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:30:52 -0400

I've seen a few photos like this on flickr, and I have been wanting to try one.

This was a lot of fun to do, especially listening to my daughter giggling as I struck each pose. Patty was nice enough to take all the pictures. Although you only see 10 of me, there were 13 shots taken, its just that the me at the front of the car and the me at the back of the car are blocking the view of three other me's in the background. But ten Chucks isn't bad for a first effort. And I learned a couple things along the way (beyond the obvious: plan out the shot!)

One is, even with the camera on the tripod, it still moves a teensy bit with each shot. I really should have set up the cable release for Pat. Next time we try this, I will. The other thing is whenever I've seen this shot done, the photographer tries hard not to have anything in the picture that moves... like say a car. When I sit in the front seat, she leans a little forward, when I sit in the backseat, she leans a little back, and so on, each tiny movement creating seams and edges that don't line up as I try to stitch things together. So either I should leave the car out of the shot, or put sandbags in the front and back as I move about to even out the weight.

But still it was a lot of fun and I liked the end result. Y'know when I look at Vanessa, many thoughts cross my mind. "Clown Car" isn't one of them.

Wallet Say "Urk!"

Abacquer — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:17:28 -0400

One of the nice things about new cars is that it takes a long time before you need to shell out big bucks to fix them. For the first couple years or so, there are generally no major problems. Well Vanessa is about 4 years old now, and that time is gone. She's been running hot lately, the engine fan is always on, she has a check-engine light coming on, and she is overdue for a manual transmission fluid change. The dealership where I purchased her is no longer in business, so I took her to a different dealership yesterday to get these issues looked at.

The check-engine light is on because there's a certain emissions-related component which has failed. Replacing that component will cost $250.

The car has been running hot because the water pump is going, the water pump is covered by the extended powertrain warranty with a $100 deductible, so that will cost another $100.

The manual transmission fluid change will run another $150. (That is a lot, but apparently the job is difficult to do on this model. I had previously taken it to Jiffy Lube and they tried but could not do the work.)

The techinician who took the car for a ride said that the engine fan is much louder than normal, which he takes as an indication that the fan is going and will ultimately bind up. When that happens the car will overheat. The problem is that the component is extremely expensive ($500+) and installation isn't cheap either. To replace the fan will run me another $820.

It took 66,000 miles to get to this point, but yeesh, that's a whole lot of damage, and financially speaking, life sucks for me and mine right now. So, I told them to take care of the first 3 issues but leave the fan for another day. With the waterpump functioning properly, the fan won't need to be on as much, and hopefully I can get by without having to replace it for awhile.

I hope they finish fixing the car soon. I miss it already.

Baby Needs New Shoes

Abacquer — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 21:46:21 -0500

Visited the mall the other day to get some fresh new tires on my baby. I had called Firestone the week before to see if I could bring my car by. "Sure come on over right now," they said enthusiastically. "Well, do you have any 205/50R17 tires?" I had to ask because my car takes a weird sized tire. "WHAT size was that?" So in the end I had to wait a week for the tires to be shipped from Pennsylvania. When I got there I also asked to have the oil changed and the alignment checked. Which left me with two hours to kill at the mall...

Announcing the New Chevrolet PT Cruiser

Abacquer — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 14:27:32 -0400

Chevy knows cool when it sees it, and I've been very impressed with the vehicles coming out of Chrysler for the past few years on looks alone. Chevy of course has the Corvette and the SSR, but the gauntlet has been thrown down in the battle of the It-Cars. I saw one of these rolling down Middlesex Turnpike the other day and for a moment I thought I was looking at a modified PT...

Co Inky Dinky

Abacquer — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 01:00:00 -0400

So on Wednesday I was stuck in a traffic jam on route 2 and glanced over at the vehicle next to me. It was a red subaru with a vanity plate that said ETHICS. I wondered why someone would put that on their plate. Are they trying to make a statement? Could the driver be an ethics teacher or preacher or something? Curious.

The next day I was stuck in a traffic jam on route 2 and glanced over at the vehicle next to me. It was a red subaru with a vanity plate that said ETHICS.

Weird. Somebody trying to tell me something?

Gold Accent Cruiser

Abacquer — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:00:00 -0400

I posted a new photo to Photos/Miscellany/CarPictures.

And I Only Buy Premium...

Abacquer — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 15:00:00 -0400

A survey of US gasoline prices conducted over a two week period has indicated a record average price of $2.31 per gallon. Most expensive prices were in San Diego (sorry Brian) while the lowest prices were in South Carolina. Out of a desire to keep Vanessa happy and running smooth, and on the recommendation of the owner's manual, I only purchase premium gas. Ouch...

Wash Therapy

Abacquer — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 13:37:18 -0400

After two extensive mowing and trimming sessions to get my lawn in some semblance of order, it was time to give Vanessa a good washing. It had been a long time and it was hard work, but very therapeutic...

Sweltering Thoughts

Abacquer — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 15:42:20 -0400

It's freakin' hot, yo. The thermometer in my car said it was 93 degrees while I was driving today. And the air thick like syrup with humidity. Summer's here...

Deep Cranberry Whoosh

Abacquer — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:09:48 -0400

Welcome to Audix, for help at any time press *-H. Please enter extension and pound sign.

*boop* *beep* *beep*...

Pictures of Cars

Abacquer — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:42:32 -0400

In a recent blog article, my friend James notes "I don’t know why, but lately I’ve had the urge to take pictures of cars." Cars are fun to look at, especially those that have personality or are caught doing odd things. I take pictures of cars all the time. So partly because I have been wanting to all along, and partly so that James doesn't feel alone in this weird pastime, I offer a photo album of Car Pictures. There's only a few random pix in there that I've taken over the last couple months. But I expect it will grow slowly over time as I spot more and more cars worth photographing...

Time to Go

Abacquer — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:54:04 -0500

Time to go to the hospital for the blood tests and EKG I mentioned last week. Wish me luck.

EDIT (1:15 PM): Well I'm back. It wasn't too bad, of course my nerves were all ajangle but I made it through okay...

Weather: Sunny, Sky: Clear, Visibility: Zero

Abacquer — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 11:40:48 -0500

My wife called me on my cellphone to warn me about route 3 south this morning. I was at a gas station in Littleton refilling the windshield washer fluid tank on Vanessa, before continuing on to Burlington via routes 495 and 3. She called to warn me of "whiteout conditions". I glanced up at the sky, a beautiful azure, clear as crystal and furrowed my brow. "Whiteout conditions?" ...

The Fog

Abacquer — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:12:02 -0500

I love fog, and we had serious fog last night as you can see from these (blurry) pictures. Driving in it was a bit dicey though, mostly because people packed in really dense and everyone was afraid to spread out. That seems more dangerous, as opposed to more safe! But anyway, fog. Fog is cool...

Vanessa Returns

Abacquer — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 02:51:30 -0500

Well Vanessa has returned, and she looks as beautiful as ever. In fact with her freshly painted front end, she looks even better than before. I am quite relieved and happy to have her back. I can't tell you how much I missed this car. I don't think I ever stopped grinning while I was behind the wheel, once again fondly enjoying her handling and lines...

Vanessa is Ready!

Abacquer — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 10:36:35 -0500

Going to pick up my car tonight! Stay tuned!

Vanessa in Pieces

Abacquer — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 09:40:30 -0500

Had to stop at LeBlanc's Auto Body this morning to get my kid's carseat from Vanessa. When I went in there they had removed Vanessa's headlights, grille, and bumper assembly (sorry, I didn't get any pictures)...

My Bruised Cranberry...

Abacquer — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 16:01:25 -0500

Some good news... I called the insurance company and they said that they had cut the check today for the full amount of the appraisal minus my deductible which is $300. A ray of good fortune that...

The Appraisal is In

Abacquer — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 15:27:18 -0500

Well, I heard back from the appraiser today on poor Vanessa... $5,528...

CRUNCH

Abacquer — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 18:58:30 -0500

Yes there is ...

Vanessa Tidbits

Abacquer — Fri, 26 Nov 2004 00:07:52 -0500

I recently added a new photo album with minor moments from the life of my car, Vanessa. Feel free to check out Vanessa Tidbits.

Lynnea Was Here

Abacquer — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:30:09 -0500

Found this when I went out to the car this morning...

Birthday Humor

Abacquer — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 09:47:46 -0500

So I recently celebrated my 37'th birthday. My sister Donna and her husband Artie graciously invited us over for Chinese take-out and cake. Thanks guys it was delicious! For my birthday I received two very cool xbox games, and some cash which I spent on a third game. The funniest moment of the day, was this card I got from my parents...

Caught Up... Auto Biography

Abacquer — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 04:55:56 -0400

I apologize for being so caught up in this election. It's on my mind pretty much *all the time*. I'm constantly poring over the news and I just want it to be over. I already warned my boss that I'm not coming to work on November 3. Now they're saying in the news that the results of this election may drag along even worse than the last one... both camps have hired a cadre of lawyers and there are new stories of voting irregularities in the news every day.

So in an attempt to try and get my mind off of that, here's something I alluded to writing about once, a history of vehicles I have owned...

Sorry Volkswagen...

Abacquer — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 13:13:37 -0400

After returning from our trip it was wonderful to be able to hop in Vanessa again and tool around the neighborhood with her. This morning, I found more evidence of the attractiveness of the PT Cruiser. The Marion Star reports on a recent head-to-head comparison between the PT Cruiser Convertible and the VW Beetle Convertible. The PT smoked the competition (naturally) with 7 of the 10 panelists preferring it to the Beetle...

Fear

Abacquer — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 04:39:55 -0400

I left work very late, or rather early, about 1:30 AM. By about 2 AM I was in Fitchburg, driving down South Street. There was a car in front of me. Down the road a ways in front of him an enourmous pickup backed out of the parking lot of a bar into the road, and then switched its lights off. That was the first indication I had that something was wrong...

Busy Weekend

Abacquer — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:05:33 -0400

This past weekend was very full but very satisfying as we got a lot accomplished. It was clean-out-the-garage weekend. An all-weather car cover for a PT Cruiser is like $200, so a cheaper alternative would simply be to clean the garage and keep the car in there. We opted for the cheaper route...

Goody Week!

Abacquer — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:36:49 -0400

Yippee! It's goody week! First of all, Vanessa's new Kazera KZ-S 17x7 chrome tuning rims arrived today! Secondly, yesterday, Comcast dropped by my house and installed new cable boxes for digital cable, and high speed internet! Wahoo! ...

Vanessa's First "Mod"

Abacquer — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 16:55:01 -0400

Don't even know if this counts as a "mod" but today I bought a new set of rims for my girl. I shopped and compared for many days before finally settling on the Kazera KZ-S 17x7 chrome-plated rim from TireRack.com...

Tough Month for Vanessa

Abacquer — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 12:03:33 -0400

Poor Vanessa is having a bad month. First of all, I noticed a few weeks back that the six black plastic panels mounted around the side windows have become all spotted and streaky. The streaks won't wash off and waxing over them doesn't help...