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Horn of Gabriel

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Everything posted by Horn of Gabriel

  1. I'm not and am sure the guy you found is good. I'm just doing my Surly duty of posting a horror story in a CYHMWT thread. Good luck!
  2. Has there been a stronger contender for “don’t care, had sex” face?
  3. Be sure to listen to the Dr Death podcast before you get cut on by a surgeon in DFW.
  4. Big update on the 'Cuda...I bought it about a year ago, a craigslist special. The guy trailered it down from Montana where it was garaged and I gave it a look and went for it. Now, it's a 50-year old car, so you have to expect some issues. This one was originally a 318 car, at some point was swapped to a 383. I had all the fluids and consumables like belts and hoses swapped out to start fresh and see where I was at. The shop I've been using (Austin City Hot Rods) has been good, but we've been putting band aids on it for awhile so I could drive and enjoy it (it's a driver). But it's had some persistent leaks - first an oil leak which we had some trouble tracking down, thought maybe it was a blowby issue due to crankcase overpressure (installed relief vent), then found one of the oil pan bolts was stripped out and addressed that. Then it had a PS fluid leak, that box is old and needs to be swapped out, put it on the list. But the most annoying issue is that you'd drive it for 30 mins to get a burger, and it would be fine, then you'd let it sit and when you fired it back up, on the way home it would BELCH smoke out the back. I think that maybe the oil leak hitting the hot headers and exhaust, but the seals in the transmission were going as well and trans fluid smokes also. Thinking that as the exhaust heated up and those fluids were slung onto it they'd burn off. At the same time I wanted to upgrade the breaking and make it more drivable. Long story short, I decided to have the engine rebuilt so I could really see what I was dealing with and kill the leaks for good. The shop pulled the engine and took it up to WCH Racing Engines in Midlothian to do the work. They've had it for the past month or so and tore it completely apart - new gaskets, new pistons, bored it .060 over, new value springs and seals, etc etc etc - basically all new. They also broke it in on the engine dyno. I have the report, I'll see if I can scan it and post it here. At the same time, we can swap in a known cam and put on a FI tech TBFI system so cold starts are no longer an issue. I had them pull the transmission and sent it off to a guy here in Austin to rebuild it with hard parts - good thing because it had leaks also. I also had them install new brake lines, a new master cylinder, new torsion bars (the old ones for the 318 were still there), we put in a new FirmFeel level II power steering box, new fast ratio pitman and idler arms to really tighten up the steering as it was pretty loose, along with new headers to make it all fit. We're also putting an electric fan with a shroud on it because these mopars love to overheat, and finally a new Vintage Air A/C system so I can actually drive it during the summer without dying. While we had the engine out I also had them do some other minor stuff like spray the engine bay body color (Mopar!) and relocate the battery to the trunk to clean up the look. Of course, we found some issues in the metal when it was scrubbed for paint, which had to be fixed too, fortunately they were minor. I should have it back on the road in the next few weeks, right now I'm just waiting on the transmission to come back and the rebuilt steering box and we can get it all back together. Here are some WIP pics, I'm a fan of the crated motor all fresh and repainted mopar orange and ready to go back in!
  5. I actually looked into this. Our pool is decently sized but the wife wanted it bigger (phrasing!). I called a few pool companies about knocking a wall out and extending it, and they all basically said the same thing: bad idea. Most wouldn't even entertain it because of the liability - if something fails when you merge the old and new construction they can't really warranty that. Second, you don't really gain a whole lot, because they're going to need to redo plumbing for the pool when it's bigger (meaning they have to go under the pool most likely), and meshing the who-knows-how-old construction with the new is a real issue. They all recommended that if you want a bigger pool, demo out the old one and start fresh. Problem there is that it's going to be 20k+ just to demo the old pool, and yes you get a hole in the ground but you can dig the hole in the ground for a lot less than that. So bottom line: it's risky and expensive to add real estate to an existing pool and most won't do it. You can dig it up and start over for a billion dollars. We ended up standing pat.
  6. That's awesome thanks for sharing
  7. This will keep happening until we ditch sovereign immunity. I'm pretty clear on the case against; can one of our brilliant legal minds state the case for keeping the inability to effectively sue the police (absent hilariously high requirements about knowing they were doing wrong, embedding what they knew was wrong in policy, being warned about the policy being wrong, and doing it anyway)?
  8. Type 1 is a constant battle, I suffer from it. There is a lots of exciting research in the cure area, and hopefully he will see it cured in his lifetime. I've given my blood to the Faustman Lab in Boston, MA for their study of an old drug called BCG that has the potential to "turn off" the autoimmune response. Until he's a teen you'll need to do a lot of the management for him - measuring his levels and so on. Medtronic and the other major equipment manufacturers make temporarily attachable BG sensors (mine lasts 7 days) that can transmit his BG levels to an external device like a screen in your kitchen or app on your phone for you to review. The schools are also pretty pro at handling this now, and he'll get nurse help to check during the day. Having high BG is bad, but low is the worst. Especially nighttime lows. If he's lucky, once he adapts to being on insulin, he'll feel the lows coming on in advance: getting sweaty, feeling clammy, losing taste, etc. If I go low in my sleep I usually wake up, but not always. Sometimes I'll wake up and be in lala land until I correct. Get some of those flavored glucose tablets and put them in his backpack and around the house - I'll pop 2-3 if I'm going low. Talk to your endo but I recommend that he starts on multiple daily injections (MDI) and do that for at least 1-2 years before you jump to the insulin pump. MDI is annoying but you'll learn much faster how to handle the insulin:carb ratios and what variables affect him the most. For me, I need about 1/2 the insulin for the same amount of carbs for about 24 hrs after I work out. I need about 2x the insulin for the same carbs if I'm feeling sick. There's about 75 of those types of variables you'll need to learn through trial and error and they're different for everyone. Once you know them, the pump makes life a breeze - BUT you've got a device now stuck to you 24 hrs a day, which isn't for everyone. Last, consider diet. It took me a LOOOONG time to get to where I'm at, because my initial endo's told me "yeah eat what you want but just make sure you cover your carbs with the right insulin." WRONG! Technically correct, but wrong. Here's a better way to think about it IMO: Your boy is now allergic to carbs. We wouldn't give a celiac gluten, we wouldn't give a lactose intolerant person milk. You shouldn't give a T1D carbs, period. Nudge him toward ketogenic eating and trust me your lives will be easier. When you're eating the standard American diet you'll eat a lot of carbs - which means a lot of insulin...thus starts what I call "the rollercoaster." BG goes up, up, up for carbs and you chase it down, down, down with insulin until OOPS you miscalculated the dosage, or OOPS it's the 3rd Tuesday of the month, or OOPS some other variable affected him and how 2 hrs later you've got a kid who is glassy eyed and incoherent and you're pouring OJ down his throat to get him back up. The only path is to get off the rollercoaster by dramatically reducing the carbs, and the insulin along with it. He can still eat birthday cake or have a beer when he's old enough. It doesn't mean total denial but there is a lifestyle change that he and you will need to make to be successful. Also get a glucagon kit for home and learn how to use it - it's for emergency lows. Hit me up if you want to talk on PM or by phone, I've been at this awhile and actually thought about starting a support group for newly diagnosed T1Ds. Happy to help...
  9. This was discussed a bit upthread, but has anyone heard anything RE: Del Conte sidelining the shit "We Are Texas" brand clothing that we apparently gave an exclusive deal to produce shirts and hats to? I'm really missing my '47 Brand hats and retro Texas t-shirts.
  10. @cactusflinthead I hit the problem spot w/ Certainty and that stuff is boss, 2 weeks on the nutsedge is yellow and wilted significantly. Is it best to let it die in place or pull it at this point?
  11. This would be super interesting to see the cottage industries that would pop up - speculators running hedges funds searching out undervalued homes and offering on them, businesses like ProTax would shift their model to some kind of predictive service to tell you the sweet spot to value your home at where you risk of being offered was low but you're still under market, etc. That's actually a cool idea, I think though it would need to be more than 110%, probably more like 125, especially in a rapidly appreciating market.
  12. Love the first question to Jeff in the after episode: “So how many Affliction tshirts do you own?!” #surlyapproved
  13. Really? "Sorry you exceeded the speed limit by 1 MPH, claim denied!" "Sorry, our data shows that when you swerved to miss that deer and crashed, you pulled .1G higher than the car is rated for, denied!" I guess if you're a perfect driver, never exceed the speed limit, never drive "too far" in a year, and never drive into areas Allstate considers "risky," then the premium discount you can use until they deny your claim is pretty sweet!
  14. That right there is the clearest answer I've gotten on any of this stuff - THANK YOU! Sounds like I'll save the SedgeHammer for the turf, thankfully my turf is (mostly) thick and the sedge hasn't liked it as much as the nice moist mulch. I've ordered some Certainty and will put that down - does it have the same 14-days waiting for planting new stuff? I'll hold onto the Dismiss and see how the Certainty does. It looks like the non-ionic surfactant I got for the SedgeHammer is the same stuff I use w/ the Certainty?
  15. Thanks I'll check that out - will the SedgeHammer and Dismiss I already have worry you in the garden?
  16. X-posting on gardening thread... I have what I guess you could call an ornamental garden in the backyard. It has knockout rose, mountain laurel, purple lantana, lily of the nile, plumbago, mexican bush sage, Esperanza, texas sage, red bud, weeping red bud, red yucca, pink skull cap, purple heart, indian hawthorne, artichoke agave, turks cap, loropetalum, soft leaf yucca, variegated ginger, abulia, liziope, oak leaf hydrangea, beauty berry, and black & blue salvia, and flax lily. 80% of these were installed in Nov 2019, and the remaining 20% is going to go in over the next 60 days. Unfortunately I also have the dreaded NUTSEDGE coming up in the mulch. Nutsedge laughs at Roundup and Glyphosphate. Manual pulling makes it worse. In the past I've used an Image/44% Glophosphate mix to kill it but I literally had to paint it onto the shoots. That's no longer feasible here. I have some SedgeHammer (halosalfuron) and a container of Dismiss (sulfentrazone) and I'd like to do a spot spray in the areas that have trouble, but I'm finding conflicting info on if that is OK in my landscape garden. The Sulfentrazone label says not to use it in ornamental areas, but there are lots of threads online where it's fine. SedgeHammer says its OK but apparently doesn't work as well as the Dismiss. Apparently the Dismiss persists in soil for a year, whereas the SedgeHammer is much shorter. I'm wondering if when they install the new stuff in the next month or two if that's going to interfere with the transplant process if I spray now. Anyone have any thoughts/ideas?
  17. X-posting on landscaping thread... I have what I guess you could call an ornamental garden in the backyard. It has knockout rose, mountain laurel, purple lantana, lily of the nile, plumbago, mexican bush sage, Esperanza, texas sage, red bud, weeping red bud, red yucca, pink skull cap, purple heart, indian hawthorne, artichoke agave, turks cap, loropetalum, soft leaf yucca, variegated ginger, abulia, liziope, oak leaf hydrangea, beauty berry, and black & blue salvia, and flax lily. 80% of these were installed in Nov 2019, and the remaining 20% is going to go in over the next 60 days. Unfortunately I also have the dreaded NUTSEDGE coming up in the mulch. Nutsedge laughs at Roundup and Glyphosphate. Manual pulling makes it worse. In the past I've used an Image/44% Glophosphate mix to kill it but I literally had to paint it onto the shoots. That's no longer feasible here. I have some SedgeHammer (halosalfuron) and a container of Dismiss (sulfentrazone) and I'd like to do a spot spray in the areas that have trouble, but I'm finding conflicting info on if that is OK in my landscape garden. The Sulfentrazone label says not to use it in ornamental areas, but there are lots of threads online where it's fine. SedgeHammer says its OK but apparently doesn't work as well as the Dismiss. Apparently the Dismiss persists in soil for a year, whereas the SedgeHammer is much shorter. I'm wondering if when they install the new stuff in the next month or two if that's going to interfere with the transplant process if I spray now. Anyone have any thoughts/ideas?
  18. Price isn't based on cost. (Good) pricing is based on value and what someone is willing-to-pay. Right now people are willing to pay more because the value that masks create is higher. As to the question of if a price is fair, that's different. It's fair if the market thinks it's fair and pays the price.
  19. Separate the message from the messenger. There is a cost-benefit analysis to be made AT SOME POINT. Putting the economy into recession or depression will cost lives and wreck lives for years to come. COVID-19 is also awful. Which is worse?
  20. It's possible, but drawing an exponential curve from a handful of datapoints is a fool's errand. Doesn't take into account a whole host of confounding variables in the equation that have not been present in the data to this point, assuming deaths lag infection by several weeks, e.g. social/physical distancing, new treatment regimens, etc.
  21. Pussy v. Death v. Taxes...sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY! Three will enter, only one. will. win!!!
  22. Let me get this straight: You've identified a guy who clearly has mental issues, and you're crawling around in his attic, alone, to somehow use logic to try to convince the crazy guy that he isn't crazy. Do you have a death wish?
  23. Let's drop the pretense that if the (D)'s win they won't do this, or it will be "measured." They will absolutely do this if they have the ablity to do it, the question is do they go to 11, 13, or 15? Then how far beyond that does the next (R) President go? I believe we'll get to around 57 SCOTUS justices in my lifetime.
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