Posted by bronson
Sun, 01 Jan 2006 16:52:00 GMT
Mammoth yesterday was not good. High wind closed all but 2 lifts (the mountain claimed 2 and 6 were also open. LIARS!). At 1pm the lines at Canyon Lodge were well over an hour long. And then, yes, it started raining. So Mark and Kent and I bailed at noon and started drinking. Go big or go home. Shochu was a nice find. It doesn’t hit you until you stand up.
By 10pm we were beat. Even making it to the new year was in doubt so we hit Starbucks. It cleared the head right up. And this is the last lesson of 2005: coffee is a diuretic. Beer is mostly water. I had to hit bathroom every two hours ALL NIGHT. With the spins and everything. Not fun.
I hear avvy charges clearing up the powder bowls. Gotta run.
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Posted by bronson
Sun, 01 Jan 2006 16:23:00 GMT
Well I’m really behind uploading photos. It’s really strange to stay somewhere without internet access. I’ve back-dated everything that happened since the 19th.
19th-23rd: (correction) Santa Cruz
23rd-26th: Fountain Valley
26th-30th: San Diego
30th-5th: Mammoth
6th: home!
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Posted by bronson
Wed, 28 Dec 2005 07:59:00 GMT
My grandma and her boyfriend of the last few years enduring a spectacular San Diego sunset.
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Posted by bronson
Sun, 25 Dec 2005 07:59:00 GMT
Kristin and Chie put on a hell of a good party. High quality people, great food, hard booze and no mixers, fire, gasoline, Chelsea stories… Too bad random +1s started arriving at 10 and drove everyone nuts. I’ll volunteer for the security detail next year.
And this is Laguna Beach on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve! Beach volleyball and bikinis. Speaking as a Bostonian, I am outraged.
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Posted by bronson
Sun, 18 Dec 2005 07:59:00 GMT
Cassie got tickets to the Patriots-Bucs game. We took the train so that we could drink. Of course, when 20oz of Coors Light costs $6.50, who’s going to drink?
Club seating is sweet for one reason. The decor is not the reason – it looks like an airport terminal. The chef (look closely at the right pic) is not the reason – he’s dressed sharp but his buffet-quality food is $15/bowl.
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No, here’s the reason club seating rules. Look at what happens at halftime: everybody in club seating (the red seats) goes indoors to warm up!
The game? Oh, right. It was over in the first quarter.
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Posted by bronson
Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:08:00 GMT
Cassie, Joule and I went sledding on Sunday in Armory Park.
Cassie told me to take her saucer over a jump which I did so well that I shattered it. So I owe her a sled. Does anybody make a cheapish sled for grownups?
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Posted by bronson
Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:53:00 GMT
Holy crap it’s cold! I just spent an hour working on the heater core. Working on a car when it’s 30degF and snowing isn’t too bad but when it goes below 20degF my hands became useless. 5 minutes of warming them up in pockets gave 20 seconds of work time… not a good ratio.
I managed to fix the solenoid and the heater controls. The solenoid was actually not my fault – it lost some sort of plug. Spot of clear RTV and it’s as good as new. There are a number of different ways to insert the heater control plugs, all of which look correct from the front. Too bad I couldn’t manage to get a single screw threaded. Looks like work is stalled until it warms up towards the end of the week.
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Posted by bronson
Mon, 12 Dec 2005 07:59:00 GMT
Cassie and I spent the afternoon walking to the Arnold Arboretum along this route.
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Posted by bronson
Fri, 09 Dec 2005 19:35:00 GMT
Well, it’s thundering and blizzarding outside. Thanks, fate. Turns out working on a car in a blizzard is just like working on a car in cold weather except that your pants get wet. Wear ski pants and it’s not too awful.
Turns out my car had a guest a few years ago. He fashioned a cozy nest out of firewall insulation and napkins. He was a very good tenant: quiet, and didn’t chew on a single wire.
I blew it… I got the dashboard back together enough to test the heater box today and I hear a vacuum leak. I must have cracked the fresh air solenoid while jockeying the box around. Lucky me, I get to take it all back apart and glue the leak shut. I’m bummed.
The snow really is beautiful.
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Posted by bronson
Fri, 09 Dec 2005 15:21:00 GMT
A few years ago I saw documentary on a team driving 3 snow cats to the south pole. While they were driving a hydraulic pump went bad. Within a matter of about an hour the spare was found, installed, system bled, and they were underway again. Pretty impressive.
I have done a number auto repairs in 50 degree weather (worst was when it started raining halfway through replacing the transmission filter, me lying in the gutter, Erik inside laughing his head off). 30 degrees and parched dry sounds about as bad as 50 degrees and wet to the core, right?
Well, somewhere between 45degF and 35degF things go pear shaped. I
was surprised. I am now a lot more impressed by that Antarctica team.
Tools feel wet all over even when they’re dry. I don’t notice this when using aluminum climbing gear in the snow; it seems to be specific to steel. Plastic-handled screwdrivers are great, chrome vanadium socket sets may as well be coated in oil. Maybe warm hands cause instant condensation?
Threading nuts is awful. The cold works against you in two ways: you can’t feel what you’re doing (is this the bolt, or am I trying to thread it on the corner of the dashboard?) and your fingers just don’t bend very well. And small nuts are infuriatingly easy to drop.
You need to jam your hands in your pockets every minute or so to keep them warm. This alone adds dramatically to the amount of time the job will take. Regular gloves make car repair close to impossible (too clumsy) but maybe I should try MechaniX…?
You can’t lean bare skin against metal parts for leverage. The cold just wicks into you. Keep some clean rags around for insulation.
You can’t really yank on things in an icy parking lot. Just try keeping your footing while getting a radiator hose off… I couldn’t get any leverage so I had to cut them.
I’ve been starting around elevenish when it gets warm and stop a little after threeish when it gets dark. The job is 2/3s done. I’m reasonably happy with progress. Working in the cold is actually not TOO bad.
Today, alas, I get to find out what sockets are like when it’s actually snowing. I’m intrigued. I’ll picture myself at the South Pole expertly swapping in a new hydraulic pump. Yeah. And I won’t picture Jack London.
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