Jack... the ripper!

Let me just say that I love my new dog. Jack is a cherished addition to the family. That being said, here is a list of the items he has partially or fully injested:
Binoculars
multiple newspapers
two books (one of which I wasn't finished reading yet)
my favorite slippers
a comforter
stuffed animals (too many to count anymore)
and the big item is the bedroom carpet.

Now, to his benefit, the carpet was my fault. I locked him in the bedroom without Dena's dog Solo, so he scratched at the door and the carpet flipped up. Well, the rest is history.

This destruction happened over the course of three days. We went out this last weekend and bought hard bones, rawhide, and a few other chew toys for him and so far so good. He does still have the taste for newspaper, but it's all crap anyway so it may as well end up that way... right?

It's been a very long time since I've had a puppy to deal with so this is a learning curve. It's amazing how quickly he is learning though. things that he couldn't do a couple of days ago he now does without objection. You know, things like "Lay down" and "sit". Things that you take for granted when you haven't had a puppy to train for a while. Oh, and how to walk on a leash or more importantly how NOT to walk on a leash.

Yep, it's all falling into place quite nicely. He's a great dog with a wonderful disposition. He's very loving and enjoys the kids too. It was touch and go when he ate the carpet, but I think we'll keep him... :-)

New family members *UPDATE*

The voting polls for "Name our newest family member" have closed. The name that won is Jack, and I think it's a good name for him. Some say that it's not original enough, but realistically, everything except for maybe Brick (thanks again Sis) was a fairly common name. Welcome to the Stephens' family Jack. Here's too a long and happy life for you and the rest of the family as well.

Little things

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I have found that to be true on so many occasions. Drink a case of beer, fall down. :-) Smoke, get addicted to a nasty habbit (by the way, still not smoking). Ride my bike down a steep hill as fast as possible, well you get the picture. A week ago, I was in a god-almighty bad mood. (I wonder if this will be edited for content for using the word God?) You know the kind. The kind where just the sound of someones voice gives you ample reason to hate them. I couldn't figure it out. Dena and I hadn't fought in months (our fights are typically about 8-12 months apart), work was going... as well as it could, kids are healthy and happy... Don't know. Was just in a bad mood. Well, you know when you're in a really bad mood and then something happens to put the world into perspective and it takes that bad mood away? That happened. I was sitting at home after work. I had just settled into my chair and turned the TV on when my cell phone rang. I checked the Caller ID and it was my Dad.
My Dad doesn't call me. Not on Christmas, or my birthday or Father's day, or any other day unless there is bad news, or they are coming for a visit. Visiting season is gone. So I took a deep breath and I answered the phone fully knowing what was about to be said.
Dad called to let me know that my Grandma had passed away. It was peaceful, and to be completely honest was expected. She has been going down hill for quite some time and we've all be preparing for this day since around August (if memory serves). She is not suffering any longer and that was enough to put the world into perspective.
My Grandma was an amazing woman. She gave birth and raised 12 productive and self sustaining children. How they all lived I have no idea, but just for that one accomplishment (or 12 if you will) she should be made a Saint. She loved everyone like there would be no tomorrow, nor was there a yesterday. She understood even when she didn't understand. She was everything that we should all strive to be. The world is a little worse off without her. I'm glad for her that she is no longer suffering in any way. And I'm glad that her and my Grandfather (died in 1975) are together again. Most of all, I'm glad for the time that I had with her, and the ways in which she touched my life.
I am sad for the loss that we all feel because we will not see her for some time. As we all learn early in life, that's the way it goes. We love you Grandma. We'll meet again. Until then, thank you for pulling me out of my bad mood last Friday.

New family members

If you have looked at my facebook you know that we have a new family member. As I'm writing this there is a vote going on to find his new name. He's a 1 year old Rottweiler/Lab cross. Here's a pic: He's such a cutie!

So far the votes are: Jethro: 2, Nico: 2, Jack: 2, Brick: 1. You can thank my Sister-in-law for Brick. She's pregnant, we'll let it slide... :-) Go to my facebook and vote. :-) He needs a name he can get used to.

As you may have also noticed the title of this post is new family memberS as it plural. This one may not be new, but it has recently returned from where I thought it would never return from.

Here is what it looked like when it left our house 4 years ago: A little beat up, and in need of some immediate engine work, but it was a running and driving car. It's a 1973 Plymouth Duster with a small block V8 and an automatic transmission. I got it from the original owners son in trade for my old 78 Ford 4x4. Here's the story as I remember it.

Dena and her ex had an agreement that he was to provide Jarrett (my step son) with a car when he was old enough. The ex is an Auto Body worker and is quite good, when he wants to be. So he was over at the house talking to Jarrett a few years back, about what kind of car he wanted. A newer car or an older muscle car. Jarrett chose an older muscle car. The ex wanted a little more specific but Jarrett doesn't know much about cars as to what kind it is and that kind of thing. So the ex asked me to help him look online and figure out what he wanted.

That night Jarrett and I got online and looked at Nova's, Camero's, Mustang's, Dart's, GTO's, Imapala's, Skylark's, Javlyn's... you name it, we looked at it. Even a few 32 Ford coupes. Hey, it's not my money... :-) Finally I remembered my first (legal) car. A 1974 Plymouth Duster. Not what I considered a muscle car, but then mine had the trusty 225cid slant 6. It wouldn't hardly get out of it's own way, but it was reliable and I thought it was a good looking car. So I found one, in Lemon Twist Yellow with factory Ralley wheels like mine had been. He liked it. I couldn't believe it. He actually found a car that he really liked. Well, that was easy. So I called the Ex and told him that Jarrett wants a Plymouth Duster. I told him all the others we looked at and everything. He kind of turned up his nose at the thought but said he'd see what he could find.

A very short couple of months later I bought my 1994 Jeep Cherokee to replace my 1978 Ford F-150. I was going to keep the truck because... well... who doesn't need a truck? :-) But then I was talking to a buddy of mine at work who was looking for that vintage truck. And guess what? He just happened to have 3 1973/1974 Plymouth Dusters. So I offered a trade for one and he accepted.

That night I called the ex and told him that I had found it and the car wasn't going to cost him a thing. I took pictures of all body damage and let him know that I would do all the required engine work (he's good at body work, no so much with the mechanical aspects though) and he could do the body work. He said he'd take a look at it. I said no problem, if you don't want to do it, I'll keep it for myself.

A couple of weeks later, Jarrett and the ex loaded it up on a car trailer and that was the last I had seen of it. Over the years there have been stories of some work being done. But to be honest I had washed my hands of it and figured the next time I saw the ex I'd just give him the title and be done with it. He had give Jarrett a "loaner" car. Obviously there is a little more to the story than that, but it's all irrelevant. I had figured the car was lost and gone forever and was done with it.

A couple of weeks ago, Dena called me from work and let me know that the ex was on his way up with (what was left) of the car. "Oh really?" Hmm. I wonder if it's even worth unloading. Remember, when he took the car it was running (had lifter knock from a bent push rod but it ran great) and drivable. I drove it across town to load on the trailer. When he pulled into the driveway this is what I saw on the back of the trailer:

Yep, that's right. Different doors (I had given them to him because of the large dents in the originals) all interior was out (they had brought all that back a few years ago), the wiring stripped out of the engine compartment for no apparent reason, the dash removed for no apparent reason, the trunk lid rusting from being sanded to bare metal years ago and never being primered.

The engine was also removed. In order to get the engine out, they CUT THE HEADER off the drivers side rather than doing the job right and removing it. It's tight, but it can be done. For gods sake, it had to go in there! It's not factory.

This next group of pictures is how the engine came to me. For those of you that are not mechanically inclined the block is the large thing with blue paint on it in the back corner that has rust on it. The internal components are in the boxes surrounding it all. It's mostly all there:

Here is what the engine looked like when it left:

Kind of a big change. Which reminds me... I still don't have the radiator. I guess I'll have to call the ex. Don't have the windshield either... damn it. I probably should just cut my losses and buy the parts I still don't have for completion. It's gonna be a LOOOONNNGGG project. I better sell the wheeling rig to pay for it. :-)

I hope you are all in good health and happy in life. I'll be in the shop if you need me. :-)

Wow, words fail me

Another season, another vacation. As you may know, this year I decided to take my vacations evenly spaced and on weeks where there were already days off. Memorial Day week, and Labor Day week. If you have no trouble following a calendar you also know that I just finished my 2nd week of vacation for the year. I'm sad to see it go.


I made the mistake halfway through my vacation of checking my work email. It was a mistake because I found that one of my techs decided to quit without leaving the customary 2 weeks notice. To her defense, she did leave almost a week... kind of. However she had told me two weeks prior that if she decides to leave she will give 2 weeks notice... whatever... water under the bridge. Just makes my return a little more stressful. Especially since the one tech I have left was cut to very part time a while back and has planned things up for the next 2 weeks. So basically it's me for the next two weeks. I have a little help from my network administrator but due to him not doing this job on a day to day basis he doesn't know that he needs to follow a few areas to keep on top of things. It's a constant battle of catch up from open tickets to voicemail and so on. He's doing better than previous times he has needed to help out though. And his help is VERY APPRECIATED!!! Thank you Mike!


My vacation did start out on the right foot though. We went camping over Labor Day weekend. It gave us a chance to take the new Jeep into the mountains and test it out on some light off roading. :-) I did go through a ditch or two. And my little Jeep did excellent! I did put a very minor ding in the windshield frame that I'm not convinced wasn't there before hand. It also came home with twice the weight in dirt and dust. :-) But it was fun, and that's really all that matters. :-)


On Labor Day my friend Erik and I were getting a load of firewood for his house. My foot slid out from under me and before I could get to the chain break, the chain saw and bounced off my leg. As you can see in the picture below, it's not a big deal. Just a minor flesh wound:

That is my index finger to give you a point of reference as to the size of the "scrape". Just enough to make me remember to check my footing before I start a cut, or finish a cut in this case. I got very lucky and I know it.
The remainder of my vacation went fairly smooth. My brother Adam and his girlfriend Kellie came to visit us from Wednesday through Sunday. It was great to see them and we had lots of time to visit. Saturday we had a rather large BBQ even by our standards. I think when I counted there were (including kids) 27 people there. Judging by the "beer mote" (a ring around the fire pit where everyone throws their beer cans to keep the yard clean) we had more than that there though. It's full. Yes, still. I was tired yesterday and didn't want to clean the yard. I'll get to it tonight.

Well, that should pretty well update everyone. I hope all is well with everyone.

You know you're driving a TJ when...

Hello all, and sorry that it's been a while since I last wrote. Seems like the slower things are here at work, the more I find that I need to get done. But it's Friday now, and I simply don't care that much. I'm ready for the weekend.
Two weeks ago I took the new Jeep on it's first road trip. Okay, it's first road trip with me at the wheel. I couldn't have picked a worse weekend either. It was hot. And by hot, I mean driving through hell would have been a welcome relief. That is, until I got to the west side of the Cascades. It cooled down to 85 then. It was 109 when I left Walla Walla.
Anyway, the road trip didn't really amount to much that I need to talk about. The Jeep drove like a Jeep, and mechanically the trip was event-less. Although I would like to mention that it lacks a bit of power on the top end. Coming home she slowed down to 55 coming over the pass. That was a bit irritating. But other than that all went well.
This morning I was checking out my favorite website (www.jeepforum.com) to find new ideas for what to do to the Jeep. I found a thread titled "you know you're driving a TJ when..." and I had to take a look. Two of the posts were significantly funny to me and I thought I would share them with you.
You know you drive a TJ when everyone on the highway is passing you by, and you just don't care. This is exceptionally funny to me after my little road trip. Normally I'm in the left lane with the cruise set around 80+. This trip I found myself in the right hand lane with the cruise set at 70 (the speed limit) and I was enjoying every minute of the drive, except the heat.
You know you drive a TJ when you get asked how long it is going to take to get somewhere and you have to take into account the wind speed and direction for your answer. This is no joke. When you are driving a 4500 pound vehicle with the aerodynamics of a house and a 190 horse power engine, a strong headwind is going to slow you down. Especially with the automatic transmission. A 3-speed just doesn't have enough gearing options for the lack of aerodynamics.
Anyway, if you'd like to check out some of the posts, they are pretty funny and will really give you an honest documentation of what it's like to own a Jeep TJ. Here is a link to the thread: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=641522
I hope this summer is finding everyone in good health, and happiness. I'll write again soon. :-)

230LBS? Are you serious?

The title says it all. I'm up to 230 pounds!!! And I say that as I'm eating a small yet significant piece of German Chocolate Cake. As you can also probably guess I'm still on the no smoking wagon which would account for the significant weight gain. I didn't realize I was eating more until a week ago when one of my "not-so-intelligent" techs blurted out "Hey Matt, have you gained more weight?"
Okay, on a more positive note, I am 6'3" so 230 pounds is not all that big, but it's a lot bigger then I want to be. At least as far as body fat is concerned. I wouldn't mind weighing the same, but I really need to exercise more.
So that's the plan. I'm going to sell the motorcycle and by a bicycle. A mountain bike to be specific. I love mountain trail riding. I've even been known to make my own trail from time to time. I'm going to start riding on my lunch break on the path that I currently walk (2 miles) and then I'll do some trail riding on the weekends. That mixed with the cardio exerciser that Dena and I bought and I should be able to get rid of this chocolate cake filled spare tire that I have accumulated since I quit smoking. One thing I have to say for smoking... it does save you time on exercises.
Wish me luck everyone. And if you know anyone that wants a classic "putt around town" motorcycle, let me know. It's a 1974 Honda CL360. :-) Runs and rides great.