Bugs Palace!

Grandpa is finally home. Been about a month now. He seems to be settling in quite well. It is quite an adjustment for Grandpa and Grandma but both seem to be  much happier. It may be a lot more work for Grandma but at least she knows he is getting the best care anyone could ask for.

Other good news, Abby has officially finished Junior Kindergarten. We couldn’t be prouder. A couple bumps along the way but she did awesome. Looking at her work she has done it’s amazing how much she has progressed.  Joey has been coming with me most mornings to drop Abby off. Little brother can’t wait to join her at school. He gets pretty pissed when we leave her there.

Automotive updates. The wagon was starting to rack up the amount of repairs needed. After doing some number crunching, Shannon decided to sell now instead of next year. Sad to see the old wagon go. Was an awesome car, but it’s gone to a good home. On the upside, Shannon finally has something that has pigment 🙂 After white, black, grey, white, and silver she now has a bright ORANGE Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. You can see it from miles away. 2012 Wangler Unlimited, 4×4, 6speed, dual tops. She’s loving it. Roof down driving is awesome.

Shitty news. My bike is STILL in the shop. Dropped it off beginning of May. After waiting on parts, and finding bench time, it’s been down 9 weeks. Carbs have been fully rebuilt, new fuel pump installed but its still running like poop. And of course, holidays have been slowing down the progress even worse. Hopefully he can sort it out early next week and finally get it back to me. I knew the old bike wouldn’t last forever, but if these repairs don’t finish soon, I may have to start looking at upgrading sooner then later.

Just a quick update.

First up: Shannon and I are now 34. I have to say, she’s aging a whole lot better then me. Thankfully she still loves me for some crazy reason 🙂 Happy birthday  baby.

I went to get some info for Shannon about the tattoo she wants to get. Funny thing is, they had an opening when I was there, and I decided to get my (O)\_|_/(O)  tattoo done on my wrist. It’s silly, and most people don’t know what the heck it is, but I like it alot.  For those not sure, it is ascii (text) drawing of the front end of a VW Beetle.

Easter has came and gone. Abby got a big-girl bicycle and Joey his own tricycle from the Easter Bunny. They were more then a little happy and both getting really good on them. Super cute to watch them pedal down the sidewalk.

Abby seems to finally have gotten over her school woes. I don’t want to jinx it, but she has been going daily with no tears, and really seems to be excelling. Very proud daddy drops her off and picks her up each day. Big bonus of working in the school and being able to come and go as I need.

Grandpa seems to be doing quite well. Some odd medications seemed to give him a couple off days here and there. Was quite scary for a bit. Thankfully they took him off and he is thriving again. Started eating pudding this last week and physio has him working on walking. Things may never be they same again, but at least he should get some of his abilities back.

Finally I switched ISP’s to teksavvy. So far so good. But then, it has only been 35 minutes. The best part of the change (aside from a nearly limitless quota) is the static IP address. No more website outages from ip changes.

Just finishing up March break, and I feel broken. Working + going non-stop after work + two semi-sick-off-schedule-kids = one tired household. On the upside, its March and its 20 freaking degrees out side.

Not a great deal of updates today. Weather is still gorgeous and unseasonably warm out. Kids are still growing at an alarming rate getting bigger and smarted every day. Sadly Grandpa is still in the hospital, but it looks like they are finally going to move him to Hagersville hospital which will make life infinitely easier for Grandma and everyone else going to visit him daily. Hopefully after a few months in Hagersville he will be strong enough to get around with minimal help and actually go back to his own house. Time will tell though.

Finally got the brakes swapped out on the GTI. It actually stops now instead of slowing passive-aggressively. The pads literally had no compound on them when remove and 3 of the 4 rotors were warped. The 4th was cracked. I think I got my money worth out of that set. Also installed a new 42draftdesign A-pillar pod to house a boost gauge which seems to be lost in transit somewhere. Everything is plumbed and ready to go, so when it does show up it should be about a 30 minute and done install.

With this warm weather, I may have jumped the gun a bit and put the summer wheels back on the GTI and A4. God 18’s look so much better then steelies. Hopefully I don’t regret the decision. A few flurries won’t be a big issue but any sort of accumulation and our summer tires are pretty much useless. While I was changing the tires on the GTI I also got busy under the car and adjusted the sway bar from the medium setting to full-hard. 18s with the harder bar really feels tighter in the corner. Can’t wait to find some twisty roads.

Speaking of twisty roads and warmer weather the bike has semi-officially came out of hibernation. I FINALLY replaced the rear turn signals. I couldn’t bring myself to solder to the wires any more. I am pretty sure the only metal left was the stuff I soldered previously. New rear blinkers, tires pressure checked, chain adjusted and lubed up. Need to fill it up and run the last bit of stabilizer out of it and she will be good to go. Hopefully at some point this spring I will have the cash to re-jet all the carbs properly. Currently I have a mix of dyna-jet and OEM parts. It is throwing WAY to much fuel through and running a bit rough still. Re-jetting is the final step to getting it as good as it’s gonna get. If I can get another 15-20K (1-2 seasons) out of this old girl I will be stoked. All I know is, when it is time to replace this thing, I will be going fuel injection. These carbs are going to be the death of me.