Entries Tagged 'Grown Up Stuff' ↓

Got my car fixed. And the bill wasn’t too painful, which is always a bonus. That little bracket I mentioned was what connected my clutch pedal to the clutch cable to the . . . wait for it . . . clutch! A “few” dollars later and I’m driving again. My old clutch cable was all gunky (technical term) and hard to move back and forth. The new cable is clean and smooth, so I don’t have to push as hard now to shift. My left leg will start to atrophy sometime soon. Bad news is that my clutch is nearing the end of its life. But still, 145,000 miles on the original clutch cable, and I believe it’s the original clutch, too. Those parts have served their time well.

[tags]car trouble, clutch[/tags]

This is what I had planned for this evening:

• dinner with my parents, 5:30p
• worship rehersal for Sunday, July 23, 7p
• softball game, 8:45p

This didn’t happen. Instead this is what went down.

• dinner with my parents, 5:30p
• while driving home my clutch pedal broke, 6:45p
• call Mauri (got Sherry) to let him know that I won’t make rehersal, 6:50p
• my parents pick us up and take us home, 7p
• call insurance for towing, 7:05p
• drive back to the “dead” car to wait for tow truck, 7:25p
• tow truck shows up, 7:45p
• tow truck leaves with car, 8p
• go out to softball game, 8:20p (we won)

We were driving home after dinner, and as I pushed in the clutch to down-shift for a set of corners I heard a little pop and THUD as my clutch pedal slamed to the floor. I instinctively went to push the clutch in but couldn’t find it with my foot. I started looking down and it was just missing! Where could it be? That’s when I saw “it.” A little metal bracket, with a break down the middle, was sitting on the floor under my feet.

I laid on my back feeling around the pedal trying to find where it came from, the whole time thinking I could go get the part from Napa or AutoZone and make the quick fix on my own, but I just ended up with grease covered hands. Fortunately we have towing coverage with our insurance, so the car is now sitting at a repair shop. And fortunately the clutch itself isn’t damaged, just the thing that makes it engage.

[tags]car trouble, clutch[/tags]

This website has started generating some media attention. Having bought a house a few miles down the road from work in a cheaper housing market I don’t look forward to “getting” to pay a $1.75 toll every time I drive to work — a whole whopping 4 miles — then $1.75 to drive home. *sigh*
[tags]Dundee Parking Lot, Dundee Oregon, traffic[/tags]

The latest grass progress

Originally uploaded by jschwanz.

We’ve had some really great weather recently, so I was able to finally mow the new grass in the backyard. I think it’s really coming along, but there are still some bare patches that I’ll need to re-seed once we get more into spring.

All of my (and my parents’) hard labor in the back yard is paying off. Check it out.

I’m taking the week off because my parents are in town, but also to do work around the house. On tap this week is taking care of the backyard.

The previous owners had two dogs, and they had sectioned a big portion of the backyard off for the dogs. Since we don’t have any dogs the “dog run” was wasted space. I am happy to say that the dog run is no more. In addition to removing the fence there were some small trees (2 cherrie and 2 pear) and a rose bush along the fence. We moved three of the trees and the rose bush from what is now the middle of the yard to the side. Fortunately the largest tree was already in a good place so we got to leave it there.
Over the next two days we’ll be working on the grass situation. The dogs did a decent number on the grass in their section, so we’ll be re-seeding the lower section of the yard. But in order for me to be able to do that I will mow it short tomorrow — as to expose the low dirt spots. Then on Wednesday we’ll come back through with dirt and seed, as well as cutting the grass out from the area we planted the trees to transplant into some of the exposed holes we left today. Eventually we’ll fill the tree area with barkdust.

And with all of that said, I’m tired, sore, and I’ve got a bit of a cold. Boy don’t I feel old.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, so I’ll try and sum it up for everyone.

1. We bought a house, as I mentioned here. With home ownership comes the responsibilities of a home owner…like managing a lawn, cleaning windows, and having a pet We got us a kitty, which you can see here. His name is Orley, named in memory of New Orleans. He was born on June 15.
2. As of today the Red Sox lead the AL East by 1.5 games. It is definitely going to be another intense September.
3. Microsoft has decided to release seven — yes seven — versions of it’s next operating system named Vista. Talk about mass consumer confusion just waiting to happen. Seriously, release three version at most: Basic, Intermediate, and Professional. The MS-hater in me believes this is their way to appease anti-trust people. “See, we offer a stripped down version, but no one wants to buy it.”
4. Judah turned one. Check out the photos here.
5. I’m playing my first season of Fantasy Football. It’s kinda fun. I think I’ve got a pretty good team. My #1 QB is Carson Palmer, and he is having a monster year so far.
6. A co-worker and I are starting to develop a professional website for Christian admissions professionals. We are trying to nail down the intent and scope of the site, as well as finding a software package that will meet the intent and scope that we decide upon Right now I’m toying around with tikiwiki. I just need to find a way to make it look less “geeky”.
7. Work is keeping me ever busy. I was commenting to Aj that I don’t remember feeling this busy last year. She pointed out that last year I was still learning my job, and this year I’m doing my job. Plus I think I have more responsibility this year, including having more people to supervise, which takes up more of my time.

Ok, I think that does a fairly decent job of letting you know where I’m at. Let the next week begin.

Yesterday Aj and I took a big step in our lives. We signed closing papers on our house! The title company gave us copies of all the documents we were to sign a day ahead of time so we could look over them, and come prepared with questions — if we had any. We didn’t so the signing began.

The escrow officer we worked with was great. After signing the first document she chastized me because I didn’t sign with my middle initial. She made the whole experience very relaxing and pain free. I looked at my watch for the date a couple of times, and she said that she’d take my watch away from me if I did that too much Apparently she’s done that before.

When we were done, she told us to keep the pens as a “parting gift”. Woohoo, I just signed a mortgage and you are giving me a congratulatory cheap-o pen. Don’t I feel special. And that was it. No keys, no big explosions of fireworks and loud music and people dancing in the streets. Just us walking back to the car, each with a pen in our hands. How anti-climactic is that. No keys or nothing. When you buy a car you get to drive off with it, and I was looking forward to taking my new house out for a spin around the neighborhood, squeeling the tires some just for good measure.

Well, everything went through fine and Aj picked up the keys a little while ago. Yes folks, we are now homeowners. Man…I gotta buy a lawnmower.

As a kid you might hear that you are in trouble, in a great class, or in line to get your hair combed for lice by the school nurse. Well, where I (and my wife too) am is this place called escrow. That is right, we are in the process of buying a house. It’s been a long road since we first started looking at houses back in February. When we first started there were a bundle of houses that fit into our price range, but as spring came (and went) then summer came the houses we could afford became fewer and fewer, to where now I don’t think there are any.

Ours is a place in SW Dundee, and we are reciting one of our favorite phrases…we are just “holding it loosely.” This phrase originates with a pastor at church, Steve Fawver. We were in a small group with Steve, and he would suggest that we hold things loosely in regards to plans or expectations of the group. Aj and I have taken this on, in a sense, to the plans and expectations for our lives. Eeven though things continue to progress with the purchase, we are holding the timing and final outcome loosely. Even though we are in escrow, and the outcome seems to be certain, we are trying to be calm about it when the paperwork doesn’t go as quickly as we’d like it to. Even though I’m a pretty laid back guy, I can get frazzled when it comes to the timing of important things. The longer things stretch out the more stressed I become. Hold it loosely, hold it loosely, hold it loosely…and dog-gone-it, people like me!

I remember as a little kid getting to play softball with the grown-ups at church picnics. Now I’m the grown-up and I am, for the first time, participating in an adult sports league. I’m playing on a city league softball team from my church, and let me tell you, I feel like a kid out there. No it’s not because I’m probably the youngest guy out there, but that’s a good start
I had enough energy for two people growing up, and I used it every ounce of it. I was always moving around, had to be running around doing something. If I was a kid now I probably would have been on Ritalin. I was also blessed with coordination and athletic ability, so participation in sports was a very natural and healthy outlet for me.

After spending a couple of summers playing in the dirt while my older sister played softball it was my turn to start playing t-ball. Being ADHD I was one of those kids that wasn’t too focused on the game. I was that kid in the field pretending to make the amazing catch and throw to get the guy out at the plate. I was pretending to make that amazing strikeout pitch to win the game.

Fast-forward a couple of years and I’m playing “real” baseball. I remember the field I was on at Gregory Heights Middle School. I remember I was playing second base. No outs, runners on first and second. The batter hits a pop-up to me, but the runners don’t tag up they just take off running! So, I catch the ball, step on second, and — rather than touching the runner from first or throwing to the first baseman (apparently I didn’t trust him to catch it) — I ran and stepped on first. Triple play, all by myself!

Jump to sophomore year of high school. I’m playing on the JV team. Correction, I’m sitting on the JV bench because the coach won’t put me in. I’m not a bad player. I can field the ball well. I’m smart on the base paths. I’m timid at the plate, and only get 7 at bats the entire season. I was so frustrated with my level of participation that I quit with only a few weeks left.

It’s been 11 years since then. I’m back on the diamond fielding grounders, making good — and bad — throws to first. I’m back on the dirt that I was playing in 20+ years ago. I’m happy.