After-Christmas EDC Gear Additions, Razel Scales, and Curtiss Nano

Ok, well I'm introducing a few things here that may or may not be reviewed later on. First up, Victorinox Stayglow Classic.

Basically it's just a Swiss Army Knife that

Atwood Roid Rench and Stonewashed P-7 Clip

I just got this Atwood in today, but it is awesome. Peter Atwood has what most would call a cult following for his tools, he sells them on his blog "Planet Pocket Tool" and every time something goes up for sale it is sold out in minutes if not seconds. When I first found his blog he had just started the waves of what he calls "Roid Renches" a version of his G5 Prybaby with nearly 1/4 inch thick CPM 3v steel.

His normal G5's are made with S35vn and slightly thinner. Well ever since

Fenix PD32 Review and Testing

Well I just got a Fenix PD32 in Tuesday (10-25-11) and I happened to have a day off! So I decided to get a start on testing it and seeing how I liked it. The awesome part is how I got it:

Fenix recently put up a promotion on their website asking

Sunwayman V10R Ti Full Review And Steve Ku Trit Switch Initial Review

Ok, so I've had my Sunwayman V10R Titanium for a little over a month now. I've used this little light probably over ten times a day, every day. The variable output is such a good feature I don't know if I will buy a light without it! There are many different light levels in the day and if I need a certain level so it's not too bright or not too dim the level is just a twist away!

I've been carrying the light in my jeans coin pocket mostly but

Ontario Knives RAT-3 Initial Review and Tree Falling

Ok, so I was going to go the the NAS Oceana Air Show today but it ended raining so we decided we weren't going to risk it and went to the SGK Knife and Gun Show instead. As we were looking around at the awesome weaponry (Kriss Vector, PS90, SCAR 17S, SOCOM 16, etc...) I found one knife I have been wanting for awhile; an Emerson Super 7. I waited for a few minutes for the guy working there to get a free minute and asked him about it, he said he wanted $200 for it so I thought about it while walking around the rest of the show. A few tables later (and by a few I mean most of the show) I saw another Emerson, this time a Mini CQC-7, and a Horseman, and a Commander... But the Mini-7 was awesome. I must have spent an hour deciding if I should buy it or not. I ended up not buying it because I didn't have that much cash to spare, but at the same table I came across quite a few knives I had been meaning to look at such as: Ontario RAT 3, 5, 7, and Izula II, and the Kabar ZK War Sword. The Kabar was one of those "Hey that would be cool to have" kinda things but I've been wanting a fixed blade for awhile and I hadn't seen the RAT-3 or Izula in person. The title probably gives away what I decided to get no?

As you can see I got the plain edge version,

Why I should never be filthy rich: A short story.

I would love to be rich, along with 99.99% of the rest of the world, but I would. Having more money than anything else would solve quite a lot of my problems, if anyone is stupid enough to hand me that amount of cash however, things will go very, very wrong. While I would absolutely love to be rich I should never be allowed to be, because after I go crazy and buy all the cool crap I want, set up an account large enough for me to live comfortably on only the interest, and build an Umbrella Corp. like secret underground bunker, I will resort to shenanigans. I got into an interesting conversation today concerning just that. What would I do with billionaire type cash? Well; you know those stories of men who went out and found a rare animal, possibly the last of it's kind just to kill? I would do something like that, I would hunt certain models of cars to extinction. If any of you ever get to know me you will find out that I absolutely despise one car in particular,

September 11th, 2001. Never forget.

May 1st, 2011: Osama Bin Laden was killed by an elite fighting force of men from DEVGRU, a force consisting of soldiers, sailors, and air crew members from all branches of the military, when they raided his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. That day the mastermind behind the worst terrorist attack on U.S soil was brought to a swift end, his body dumped into the ocean. It is sad that when the news of his death was announced many young people and teenagers searched "Who is Osama Bin Laden?" in Google and Yahoo. This is disturbing to me because these kids did not know who he was even though most were aged 13-17 (according to yahoo, so the numbers could very well be off.) which would put them 3-7, they should have learned this in school at the very least! I was 11, my brother was 8, and my sister was 1. We were in a motel room in Gulf Port, Mississippi when the attacks were broadcast, I remember watching the 2nd plane hit the tower and watching them both crumble to the ground. I remember the sickening feeling I felt when that happened and knowing that so many lives had just been extinguished in that one act of terror. Please, remember what happened on 9/11 and pass it on to the next generation. Support those who lost loved ones in the attacks, support the first responders and those who helped in the search and rescue of those trapped in the rubble. Many of the people who were on ground zero are now developing cancer from asbestos inhalation and the government has abandoned them. Support the soldiers who are off fighting in the middle east, thank a vet for their service. These people have given up many things to protect those they love and their countrymen and women, they deserve at the least our thanks.

Dragons Breath 12 Gauge, and a few random pictures

Ok, so at the same gun show that I picked the Ziplight up at I noticed some Dragons Breath rounds for sale, they were $5 a pop but what the heck, you only live once right?

 Yeah, I wrote on it with a sharpie and shot it.

Sunwayman V10r Ti First Impressions

So as I said in my last post I sold my Surefire E2D LED Defender to buy a new toy, this is that. I had been looking at a few different lights

Modding a Ziplight with an LED

So I sold my E2D LED Defender in order to buy a new toy, and while I was without a light I happened upon a mint new-in-box Ziplight, of course I had to have it. This was at a recent gun show and earlier that day I had happened upon a Camel lighter with a cool vintage look which I had spent $15 on, I didn't want to spend another $25 on the Ziplight when I saw it so I asked the guy if he would trade expecting him to want cash on top, but he said ok to a straight trade. I noticed after I bought it that the Ziplight was an earlier version and had some gay looking butterflies over a gloss gray case, and then my Fiance stole the case before I could get it on the grinder to remove them.

 Anyways, back to this Ziplight;

First Impressions: Spyderco Caly3 CF ZDP-189/420J2

So my early birthday present from my fiance came in a few days ago, she got it off Amazon for $105 + free shipping (The price has since gone up to $117 but still with free shipping). As this is my first Spyderco I was wondering what to expect, the local gun shop had a Sage 1 CF and I was thinking the Caly3 would have the same textured carbon fiber, but sadly it does not. That is probably my biggest complaint about the knife (And it's purely a matter of opinion, the carbon on the Caly3 is AWESOME, just sanded smooth). Ok, with that out of the way, I want to address the bad:

 1. Blade upper (420J2 Steel) scratches easily, very soft steel.

My Update

Ok, so I have been pretty quiet here lately. This is due to a number of reasons. Those reasons are that I went on vacation (I'll make a post for that soon with some pictures), I have been playing around with Google+, and I finally swore into the U.S. Navy. I expect once I ship out on March 21st 2012 there will probably be very few posts for like the next few years. I've got an EDC update and that's really it, I haven't done much to River because of the heat and the fact that I'm broke. I should be getting a few new EDC toys (I already got a few, but that's another post) here in like a month so more posts there. So, for today I'll post teaser pic's and other random musings.
First up:

This crappy picture of an EDC update, this is my "Heavy" EDC, usually reserved for cargo shorts, winter

Independance Day

Today, 235 years ago, we became a country. Since then soldiers have fought and died for us to keep our country, along with our freedom and our rights. Today, get a friend and go blow something up or shoot something in the name of freedom, then grill food. It is the American way.

CB, Firestik, Hi-Lift, Repairs, and Misc Work on River

Ok, so I finally got my CB and Firestik 4' antenna installed and wired up. Running the coaxial cable was not as bad as I thought it was going to be but it still sucked, my biggest concern about it was being discreet, I did not want holes drilled into my center console or lose access to my ashtray (I keep spare change in there, it works). I ended up putting it where I have never seen a CB put in a 4Runner, behind the lower dash trim.

 

 The piece in the center of the picture is just a random trim piece that

5D Maglite and SOG Seal Pup!

I picked up a 5D cell Maglite from Craigslist for $5 a few days ago, I had to pay twice that for the batteries but the light itself is brand new! I also got a SOG Seal Pup with a Nylon sheath for helping install an antenna into a 4Runner (That was a pain to do). The Maglite is something I have wanted for a long time, I have had 3 or 4 over the years but they were always the 3D lights, the 5D I have wanted just because it is basically a baton that lights up, I EDC a 200 lumen Surefire so I have no need for a dim battery hog!

I had to add one slight modification to the light though, that being

Brush Guard And KC Lights For River!

So River is now a little tougher looking, she got a brush guard a few days ago (What a pain to put on...) because my little brother moved up from his 95 4Runner to an 01 4Runner (We basically STOLE that truck, great deal!). The ironic part is that the brush guard he had on his 95 was originally designed for a 96+ which would have fit his 01 if we didn't get it modified to fit his 95, since it fit the 95, it fits my 91! Anyways, after sweating out 2 gallons of water (It's HOT here, it hit something like 99 degrees in the shade) I finally got the brush guard fit. The guard itself is a little loose because the passenger side front bolt is messed up and I need to replace it, once that is fixed I should have it good and tight, then tighten down the driver side light guard to even it up.

 Anyways, "Charlie Whiskey" had 4 KC Off Road Lights given to him and

Setting Up A Pool, Our Way

Finally, a post not about EDC, Reviews, River, or things like that, this one is just about setting up a pool. Simple right? Hah, you have not been around our house then. For those of you who don't know, we're crazy, and by we I mean my family. We don't just do something half way, in fact we do more than is necessary just because we can. Our backyard has a decent slope to it, something along the lines of about 20 degrees or so on average, this is not a good slope to have for a pool. Our answer?

A GIANT BOX!

Pelican 1150 Case and Lots of Pretty Pictures!

So I finally got a Pelican case for my EDC Rotation, the only thing is it is not a 1060 like I was going to get, it's better! The Pelican 1150 is larger than the 1060 in both width and depth but the 1060 is slightly longer.
1150: 8.18" x 5.68" x 3.62"
1060: 8.25" x 4.25" x 2.25"
The 1060 would have held everything I had perfectly, but since I went bigger, now I need more stuff to fill it with! Anyways, here are some pictures of my new box, remember this is new-to-me, I need some stickers to make it mine.

 I have no idea why "OAK" is on the lid but

Blackhawk! Range Bag Review

Ok, here's a different one. I have a Blackhawk! Tactical Range Bag, it's an older version but it works fine. I got it in a sort of hand-me-down-trade deal, I traded a Patagonia half-zip thermal that I had owned for a while. My bag has been with me through quite a few overnight or 3 day trips but no long extended stay trips just yet. Mostly this gets used as my gym bag that gets cleaned out for travel. I actually used this today as a gym bag for a PST to become a Navy EOD Technician.

 The bag itself, while it looks small is actually

Custom Engraving on Zippo and DIY Lanyard

So Charley Whiskey got my Zippo and Pen Body Lanyard Bead tickets to a round with the engraver at his work. They turned out great with the only flaw being he mistakenly misspelled NEMESIS as NEMISIS on the Zippo, no big deal. For what was done I simply do not care! The Zippo got my signature XD Grenade done on one side with NEMISIS (Misspelled like that) above it, while the other side got the entire prayer from The Boondock Saints (One of my all-time favorite movies).

The Zippo was quite hard to photograph right but

Ruko 067 Traditional Pocket Knife Impressions

So I got a Ruko 067 today, it's a little "traditional" pocket knife with 2 blades and a 2 3/4" closed length. The blade is cheap 440A steel but the knife is so small that it really does not make too much of a difference. The blades open opposite each other I cannot give you an accurate blade length on this knife but I can say that the main blade is about 2 1/4" while the small blade is only about 1 1/2"-1 3/4". The knife weighs in at a featherweight .98oz so make no mistake, this thing is SMALL!

The scales are made of Pakkawood while the bolsters

Today's EDC and a Quick Review on Nalgene Bottles and an Outdoor Research Insulated Cover

Today I had a pretty good sized EDC Carry, I had the usual Wallet, Keys, Phone, Notebook, and Knife but I also carried my Zippo (Which I just got engraved), my new Ruko 067, and my new-to-me Surefire E2D LED Defender.

And, for some reason (I'm tired is most likely), My Surefire E2D is missing

Surefire E2D LED Defender First Impressions

So I've had this Android tablet for a little bit, a Panimage 7" MID (Mobile Internet Device). I really never used this thing so I put it on craigslist, it sat there for like 3 months before I get an email saying that some guy has an old Surefire and some knives he will trade me. I end up meeting this guy and get a few cheap knives (I kept one out of like seven or so knives, and I only kept that because it was mostly serrated and it's going in my truck as a saw), plus a Surefire E2D Defender LED. The E2D has 2 modes with a 5 Lumen low and a 200 Lumen high mode. I also got a blue lens filter for it. The light itself is an older model upgraded with the crenelated "strike" bezel and a partially crenelated tailcap so that the light is able to "tailstand" or be stood on its tail.

The flashlight has gotten more use today

A Visit to the Global Supply Solutions Showroom

The trip to Global Supply Solutions was right after getting my knives sharpened and upon arrival myself and Charlie Whiskey were impressed with the sheer size of this place, it's HUGE! They have 2 main rooms for their wares as well as a good size lounge with a pool table and free drinks! Right after entering we were greeted by the receptionist and noticed the GSS business card, wow. The business card for this place makes a great first impression.

The business card is opaque,

Knife Sharpening At Drajon Tactical

So Charlie Whiskey and myself went back to Drajon Tactical Outfitters as he had gotten the wrong holster for his gun. I really wanted to go because I had heard they have a guy who sharpens knives every other Saturday. Today he was there and he did a really good job as they make hair jump off my arm when I think about trying to shave hair off with either my Razel or Paraframe (I had both sharpened).

Here is the guys business card,

5.11 Tactical V-Neck Holster Shirt First Review And Impressions

Now listen here meow, I bought one of these see? It's a 5.11 tactical V-Neck Holster shirt. I got it from Global Supply Solutions who have probably the nicest showroom I've seen for a tactical store, they have a government contract for military supply and give discounts to military, government, and a few other careers. I ended up getting the Holster Shirt with a slight discount which is pretty good considering they usually run upwards of $60. I have been wearing the thing all day and found out that my small frame doesn't conceal very well. I am going to find out if it is just the smaller shirts that I wear or if I just can't conceal anything but I do like it, I bought it for running anyways so even if I can't it's not a problem.

This shirt always reminds me of the cover to "Bullit" because

Finally Found A Few Good Outdoors And Tactical Stores In The Area!

So myself and "Charlie Whiskey" over at Random Thoughts Of An Unconventional Person went around Virginia Beach looking for Outdoors and Tactical stores in the area, we got lucky and found a few. I ended up playing with a few things I have been wanting (Leatherman EOD MUT, Benchmade Infidel, Surefire G2X Tactical, Surefire A2, Surefire M6, and the Gerber Multi-Plier 600 to name a few). I don't remember exactly what order we went to these stores in but I'll do my best. Naturally I had my new Folding Razel on me and I kinda forgot it was there most of the time, it does disappear even though it was in my back pocket and I was sitting on it (sort of, more like right next to it but you get the picture) which is nice. I also had my Leatherman Skeletool and Surefire G2 with me so I pretty much had the full load out. I went just to see what was available locally but also to look at a few things in particular, those were: Vibram FiveFingers KSO Shoes, Pelican 1010 case, and 5.11 Holster Shirts. I ended up finding that a Pelican 1060 case was going to work best for me and nobody had a 5.11 Holster Shirt, but I did try on some FiveFingers and I like them.

 This was my knife/light/multitool carry for the day,

River's History

River Tam is a complicated 17 year old. Those of you who are fans of or have watched the Firefly/Serenity series know what I am talking about. In Firefly River Tam is an extremely gifted young girl who has an IQ higher than some zip codes. She is an expert in logic and thanks to some shady government types, can now read minds as well. This causes her much trouble through the series and her personality was very... quirky, one of my favorite lines she said in the show was "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems" and, while this seems disturbingly creepy, if you have seen it it makes perfect sense and is quite funny. A personality like this is what I feel my 4Runner (or FWhoreRunner) has, She works fine on some days and then for no apparent reason, stops working. She is very high-maintenance but not like a supercar high-maintenance, more of a "I don't want to go faster right now just because you push the gas" or a "I'm going to let my clutch slip a few times to scare you" type high-maintenance. 

 Not to say I haven't had my fun with River

1st Day With The Razel.

Ok, so it's around 10:30 at night here and I've had my CKRT Razel in my hand since 1:45 or so this afternoon. So far I have tested it's puncture and stabbing competency, it's cutting and slicing ability, and the selling point for me, it's prying suitability. I was clearing a lot of debris in both my and my neighbors yards as there were a not so insignificant number of branches lying around as well as a good many large limbs and a fallen tree or two (for the record we live in a subdivision, not out in the sticks). As there was quite a lot of branches I thought it would be the perfect test for my new shiny toy, unfortunately, I did not get to use it very much. I did whack off a few branches using both the belly and the tip of the blade but for the size the branches were, it was just easier to snap them off of they required a heavy axe. So for the majority of the day the Razel just sat there clipped to my pocket.

 Speaking of pockets and clips

First Look: CRKT Folding Razel

I ordered my CRKT Folding Razel from BladeHQ and got it today! That's a 3 day wait! I ordered it because I love the blade style the Razel has and I intend to beat on it over the next few months using it as a chisel and a prybar to see how it performs. First thoughts are: Wow, this knife is beefy! The blade and liner are as thick as my Gerber is and the handles nearly double the width! It is a liner lock knife but the lock liner itself is roughly twice the width of the opposite liner. It also has a secondary lock to lock the blade open, effectively making it a fixed blade knife. I do already have a complaint about it though, and that is that the smaller tip up carry pocket clip hurts if you have your hand on it, in my first test with the knife I tried to slice bark off of a stick and when I hit a knurl in the wood the small clip dug in hard. Not fun. The small clip is coming off...

You can see just how much bigger the

Alicia's Story

I name all my cars, Alicia was my MR2, my baby, a 1991 Non-Turbo model with T-Tops and a 5-Speed Transmission. When I bought her the guy I bought her from was the third owner and somewhere along the line she had racked up 145,000 miles. She ran great, no leaks at all, the only problem was no A/C and the Power Steering was not hooked up because of it, I never noticed. She came into my possession wearing a few different shades of white paint with black trim and gunmetal wheels, the interior was a 90's faded blue but in good condition.

I was in love, the car handled like

Gerber Continued Review, CKRT Razel on the way

I found an old picture that showed my 2 old Gerber Paraframes (I forgot I ever bought a Paraframe Micro!) One is a Gerber Paraframe I Partial Serrated, while the other is a Gerber Paraframe Micro Fine Edge. The rest are cheap knives I've picked up, the blue one in between the 2 Gerbers is a Fury that my little brother picked up for me in Niagra Falls, it broke, then fell to pieces. The other 4 I sold, Left to right: Fast Action knife, Straight Razor Butterfly, Kriss Butterfly, Tri-Fold knife, Gerber Paraframe I, Fury, Gerber Micro Paraframe. They all suck with the exception of the Gerbers. I wish I still had the both of them but I lost the Micro Paraframe and gave the Paraframe I away. I should have a truck related post coming up soon as I am replacing my 02 Sensor but no new gear... Also my computer is done for so I'm borrowing another one for now.

 An update on the Gerber is

Very Glad I Had My Surefire G2 Today

Today we had the worst storm so far this year, most of the area is without power right now and a friend of mine ran out of gas (at a gas station, which was without power). I brought him some gas but it was pitch black so out came the Surefire, I think I lit up enough of the surrounding area that other people could see what they were doing as well. It's a big difference to see how much brighter my light is over a cheap Maglite or generic LED in real world usage.

The other light is a Surefire Z2 as far as I can tell

 Just about everyone had a flashlight tonight but

Posts and Reviews Are On Hold Until Further Notice

Ok guys,
My computer decided it did not like me so I am having to reset everything, it looks like I will be switching to a different computer but the other computer does not like my hard drive so everything will take 10x as long to move around. I will be playing with it to figure out exactly what needs to be done but for now this blog is going on the back burner. Sorry guys.
Seth.
Back to business. CKRT Razel will be here either this week or next and I've got some posts scheduled to drop soon, I'm also going to work on switching over to wordpress rather than blogger but that's not high on the priority list

Today's EDC

So after reviewing my "normal" EDC rotation I decided to actually carry everything at once, on body. Normally my Surefire and Leatherman are carried in my messenger "Jack Pack" bag but today I decided to be different. I guess this will be an addition to my reviews on the P-7 Clip, Paraframe, G2, Skeletool CX, and my Zippo too just for kicks.

This is everything I carried today,

Added another Zippo to the group with custom case coloring!

I recently got yet another Zippo to add to my collection (bringing the grand total up to a whopping 2) but I also did a little modding to it as far as the case coloring went. It started life as a weird jester card style lighter, so I threw it on a bench grinder. I ended up roughing up the brass underneath the paint as I was taking the paint off but I like how it ended up. It sits well with my other Zippo that I think looks awesome. Seriously, my brass Zippo is the bee's knees.

As I finally got around to this I must mention

Oakley SI Assault Boots Review

These boots are something I've planned on reviewing ever since I started this thing here and laid claim to my little piece of the internet. While I haven't gone around putting up fence on this property to keep out the hooligans just yet, I certainly have the boots to do it with. I have had a pair of tan Oakley SI Assault boots since about mid-2008ish. They wore in great and are very comfortable for my feet, I love them but I can't really say I'm too much of a boot connoisseur per se. I have worn a few different pairs of boots over the years and I have come to love my Oakleys.

Yes, that's plural, Oakleys.

Gerber Paraframe II Review

I picked up a Gerber Paraframe II after encouraging a friend to buy one then remembering I had given mine to an Ex-Girlfriend (Note: NEVER give your best knife to your girlfriend, make her buy her own). Technically I gave my Ex a Paraframe I, which has a .52 of an inch shorter blade than a Paraframe II. My Paraframe I held up to using it as a box cutter while working at a PetSmart for well over a year and my EDC blade for at least 2 years before I stupidly got into cheaply made Chinese 420 steel knives that looked cool and fell apart after 3 months. Either way I'm happy I have a Paraframe II Fine Edge (My last one was a partially-serrated blade) as an EDC knife.

This particular knife comes in at a 4.2oz weight

Leatherman Skeletool CX Review

I've used and abused this particular piece of gear for about 8 months now rotating between bag or body EDC, losing it completely, or just leaving it on a shelf or in my truck (Where it is currently). So far my main complaint is that it is quite heavy, a lighter version would be nice (Titanium anyone?) but as I have already bent the pliers (Wood screws don't cut easily...). Leatherman does currently offer a good warranty where they will fix it and switch the blade to a straight edge (or fine edge, whatever way you want to see it) blade with only shipping (tracked and insured) to them as the cost to you, the rest they take care of which is nice. 

My absolute favorite part about this tool is the carbon fiber scale,

Surefire G2 Nitrolon Incandescent Review

I've had this old surefire G2 for quite some time now, of course it's slightly too large for an EDC pocket carry but for an off body carry it's decent. Weighing in at around 120 lumens with a warm tint this isn't really a light to laugh at, yes there are smaller, longer lasting flashlights that produce over 200 lumens on rechargable AA batteries now but you know what? Screw them. Yes, I said it. SCREW THEM. I don't own one of those and I don't need a keychain flashlight or HDS RA Clicky to make me happy sorry, I got carried away there... Yes I would prefer to have a nice RA Clicky or Nitecore EX10 or D10 (Or a Cool Fall SPY 007 Tri-V) as an EDC light (Oh the things I would do for a Tri-V...), but right now I cannot afford the cash to get one (Or anything for that matter...).

Overall I love the design of the G2,

Tec Accessories P-7 Suspension Clip Review

Around Christmas I picked up one of Tec Accessories P-7 Suspension Clips for my keyring, that means I've had it for around 5 months now using it every day. The clip shows almost no wear and has stood up very well (as it should, it was pricey for a piece of folded metal)

The clip itself is 7mm wide x 39mm long

22oz Black Canvas Messenger Bag "Jack Pack" Review

This semester I have been using a black messenger bag for school, I thought I would end up hating it but that is not the case. I have tried messenger bags before and hated them but they were cheaply made nylon pieces with skinny straps that dug into my shoulder. This one is different, it is the one that is used as Jack Bauer's pack in the show "24". If it's good enough for Jack, it's good enough for you.

As you might be able to see the bag has 6 pockets,

Lightbox Photograpy (I suck at it) + Zippo Close Ups

This will probably be the only time I apologize for posting a lot, but I don't know how much time I'm going to have free for this so everything is going up at once. I tried my hand at making a lightbox with what I had on hand, it worked... sort of. I had a somewhat box shaped white background that had filtered light on 2 sides and I could take pictures in. I can't take pictures to save my life, I need to learn to have Cat do that from now on... She is the photographer. Anyways, there are those of you who want to see what not to do for this. this is for you

I found my most favoriteist childhood toy today, Mr. Sociopath.

River is Back, Got a Shed, Cleaned the garage and a few other things.

So I got pretty sick last week, ended up I was a little sick before a physical test for the NAVY so I aggravated my condition through that, over-exertion, dehydration, and stress, oh and I didn't eat enough. Needless to say I was pretty bad off that night and the rest of the week (Working on getting things done without being able to swallow my own saliva much less eat all week...) I'm pretty hard-headed but after seeing black spots in my vision for awhile I decided to take it easy, so I put new tires on my dads truck (ok helped... well, watched.) but hey, free tires and they needed to be mounted! After that we got a forklift and moved a shed (no, seriously). Besides that I've been taking it easy (Of course I'm lying) but I got River back today

and reset the timing like a boss so she runs great and has no more

River: Update

Well, Toyota did not come through... They said they were not going to do my Headgaskets or my A/C Expansion Valve. Which means no Vacuum Leak fix either, Awesome. They also charged me a $100 "Diagnostic Fee" to tell me something I already knew. At least they actually replaced the steering rod though because I was mad enough already when they told me they weren't doing the rest. Screw them, I want out, I want my 5S-FE MR2 back! No fustercluck of vacuum lines, no cramped engine bay, better gas mileage (I hit 40mpg on a road trip at 70mph), and was way more fun to drive. Anyone wanna trade?

Text-only update. River and Aimee (my computer)

Ok, short text only update here, I am updating to Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (I would do this only because it's got Narwhal in the name, but since it's the next upgrade for Ubuntu, which is my Operating System, I'm upgrading for more reasons than that. I'm also kind of hoping that Ubuntu names it's next version Placid Platypus or Titillating Tiger (because Platypii are awesome and any excuse to use Titillating is worth it). Also, good news for my sanity and wallet, River is up for some under-warranty repairs, MAJOR under-warranty repairs. She gets a new headgasket, Steering arm, and A/C Condenser all for free, so my pitifully slow and painfully inefficient (9ish mpg right now) Truck gets some new life in better hands than mine. They will be fixing my vaccum leak while they are in there and will be telling me what other repairs can get done! Awesome.

Roadside Emergency Box and some future plans on where I'm going with it

Ok, oddly as promised, here is the Pelican case I'm using as a Roadside Emergency Box. I'll do my best to name everything in it at the end. I'm also looking to sticker it up so if anyone wants to donate towards my cause you are more than welcome to. On to the pictures!

 Here is the case as it sits. I've gone over the stickers already

River is alive! skid plate mounted!

Short and sweet, here is what she looks like (for now)

Reassembly of River and some painting!

So I got River (My Truck) put back together with the exception of the distributor Oil Seal which I am getting tomorrow. After I get that Oil Seal I can fill her up with oil and antifreeze, put the spark plugs back in, and fire her up! After 6 weeks of being without a vehicle I'm ready to be driving her again even though it is a piece of crap. After I found out I couldn't get the part my girlfriend Cat and myself started painting up my skid plate to be LOUD. We started with a bright yellow base then used almost 2 rolls of painters tape to tape off the designs.

Here is the skid plate once painted yellow. It could be better but its going

I hate timing gears...

I really do. I have spent this week trying to get my timing gear off of my FwhoreRunner (4Runner) to no avail, I finally got it off this morning and I have been working on it since Monday. It ended up that there was so much rust it was basically welded onto the crankshaft.

The cell phone pictures suck but it gives you a general idea,

Dave Ramsey and SmartyPig

So I have been watching the Dave Ramsey videos while going through his class and have just come across a site called SmartyPig, The site is hosted by BBVA Compass (Compass bank) and is centered on not going in to debt. This is very interesting to me because of the Dave Ramsey series and the fact that they actually seem to want people not to go into debt, they have an app for iPod/iPhone, they are making an app for Android, you can link it to sites like mint or yodlee for money management, link to a facebook page or twitter feed to show people what you are trying to save for and how you are doing in your saving. overall I think it is a good approach to banking and I do want to try it, now because I have no job who wants to donate money so that I can try it?

A few repairs to River and some planning for a poker night!

I finally decided to fix my corner light which has been flopping around on the grille since I bought her... Come to find out that the core support has been TWISTED by about 15-20 degrees, fun...

All better now, shouldn't be much of a problem anymore and because

USB Flash Drive Zippo and custom case coloring

After reading this on instructables I decided to give it a try myself. I think it turned out pretty well... I diddn't take any pictures this time around while I was working on it because I was fully concentrating on getting it to fit. I basically followed the instructions word for word from the instructables and it worked very well. The case color was achieved by using a wire wheel to get all the paint (the paint on the zippo was TOUGH to get off!) off then heating it to red-hot with a blowtorch and dipping it in used motor oil to cool it off. The pattern is unique to how the blowtorch was held but I really like it. Of course there are pictures of the finished product.