It. Is. Alive!

Victim:
1998 Volkswagen Jetta Mk III
2.0L 8v ABA Engine - Stock 115HP

Because the Jetta had come in an unknown state and 150k on the odometer, some mechanical refreshing was in order. My first order of business when I got the car was taking care of the brakes. When simply changing the brake pads did not help, I entrusted it to a garage for speed and peace of mind.

The new subject of inquiry was the ignition system. Nothing had likely been changed for over fifty thousand miles, and it was quite probably on the same spark plugs from 1998. I picked up spark plugs, plug wires, a distributor cap and rotor. An adventure was about to ensue.

The VW 2.0 engine has a rather unusual trait: its intake and manifold snake out the front of the engine, over the top, and around the left side of the engine bay. In the process, it makes getting to the spark plugs and wires an interesting and somewhat difficult affair. Also, the distributor cap has little spacing between it and the engine block. It seems like a really cramped design for a relatively roomy engine bay.

I had to acquire two new tools just to get going: a spark plug puller and a wobble ratchet-shaft. The first thing I found was that the valleys that the spark plugs were stuffed into did not give enough room for the spark plug tool to fit around the wire boot. After shaving down the rubber grips, I was able to pull out the plug wire and get at the first spark plug. (Yay! 1.5 hours down!) The replacement spark plug went in fairly easily.

According to the Chilton's manual, I should not need to remove the intake manifold to get at the middle plugs. Don't buy that line for a second. At the very least, it has to be loosened to allow for maneuvering room. However, some creative maneuvering got the other three plugs replaced and the wires removed from the rat's nest that is in under the intake manifold. (Yay! 2.5 hours down!)

My one bit of excellent forethought was in keeping the plug wires attached to the distributor cap. I popped off the clips and pulled off the old cap. I replaced the rotor, no sweat. I thought to myself, "I'm pretty much home free!", but I was about to learn that I was mistaken. I was flat out WRONG!

I put the new distributor cap on, sans clips, and it jiggled around a bit. After fumbling with it to make sure it was aligned properly, I was ready to clip it back on. I pulled on the clip, but it was about 2 mm from cresting the ridge on the cap. I pushed on it. I pulled out pliers. I pulled out more tools. I tried bending the clips. After about an hour, I gave up for the night.

Sunday, I came back with renewed vigor. More pushing. More prying. I tried bending the clips again. No luck. I tried the old cap, but its ridge was in the same position. No luck. More Pushing. More prying. No luck. After a couple hours of wrestling with it, I gave in for the night. After all, the Super Bowl was coming on.

Monday evening, after posting pictures of my problem, I got a little piece of advice. Use a flathead screwdriver or two, and hook it under the clip, and put the tip on the ridge. Use the leverage to guide the clips onto the ledge. After 15 minutes, the distributor cap was in place! Hoorah! I spent some time getting the new plug wires in and got everything buttoned down.

After a prayer, I turned the key. And it fired right up. AMEN!

Saints win Superbowl over Colts: 31-17

The Saint's just won the Superbowl over the Colts last night, 31-17.

For the first time in its forty-plus year history, the Saints not only went to the Superbowl, but won it outright. It was not a game that depended solely on trick plays, penalties and injuries. Instead, it was a great effort by the Saints that landed them solidly on top of the Colts.

The first quarter seemed to be dominated by the Colts, but the Saints gained steam in the second quarter. The second half was kick-started by a daring on-side kick that was recovered by the Saints. Any superior edge that the Colts had seemed to be deflated from that point on. It was no cakewalk, but the Saints had gained the momentum they needed to overcome the Colts.

The final nails in the Colts' coffin were an interception that was returned for a Saints touchdown, and the Saints' stopping the Colts on fourth down near the endzone.

Google Chrome - Meh...

After about a week of trying out Google Chrome, it went to the great trash bin in the sky.

I'd been using Firefox as my primary browser for about 3-4 years. I'd heard that Chrome was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It turns out that it's not.

The good:

• Fast
• Clean design
• Now with plugins

The bad:

• Status bar showing the URL of a link is too short. Almost invariably cut off part of the URL, despite having plenty of screen width to do so.
  
• Could not find an adblock plugin that I liked (I tried two.) I had trouble finding the blockable items to wipe out intellitxt type issues.
  
• Regularly timed out on pictures that would not timeout on FF or IE. I would regularly see the broken picture icon.
• I'm already perfectly happy with FF.

Conclusion:
I'm still waiting for something to beat Firefox with its combination of speed, reliability, customization and great plugins.

Welcome to the new iPad

Apple has just revealed a new tablet computer, the iPad.

http://www.apple.com/iPad

It slots between an iPod Touch/iPhone and a full-fledged laptop. I get the impression that it is basically a super-sized, hi-res iPod Touch. The larger form factor allows for a larger on-screen keyboard, which reduces the criticisms of the tiny keyboard.

It stands to compete with full-fledged Windows tablet computers, the Amazon Kindle and other eBook-type devices, and even traditional laptops.

Pros:

Can run 10 hours of HD video on a single charge

Slick touch-based UI

Syncs with Mac computers

Can run iPhone/iPod Touch apps

Cons:

Does not run normal Mac applications

All apps come through app store; apps must be approved by Apple, presumably.

Does not have flexibility of a "normal" computer

Does not have the portability of an iPhone

2010 NFC Championship, an Amazing Game

Normally, I'm no big sports fan, but last night's NFC Championship had me on the edge of my seat the entire game. The Saints finally triumphed in overtime, 31-28, over the Vikings in what may have been one of the toughest games of highs and lows in my memory.

For four quarters of regulation time, neither team had more than a touchdown over the other. It was truly a back and forth slugging match. Neither team seemed to be at the top of their game, but the setbacks seemed to offset each other. For every fortuitous gain by the Vikings, the Saints seemed to have their own. On the other hand, for every setback for the Vikings, the Saints seemed to have their own as well. Fumbles and penalties made for an oft frustrating, even maddening game.

In overtime, the Saints won the toss, and that was what mattered. They got it into field goal range, and a perfect field goal sealed the win for the Saints. It was truly a momentous occasion for the Saints.

They are now going to the Super Bowl for the first time.

HDTV display technologies, short and sweet

LCD, Plasma, LED-backlit LCD, what's the difference?

The short answer is picture quality and energy use. I'll refrain from the descriptions of how it works, because, unlike myself, few people actually care about it.

Plasma:

• Picture quality - Plasma seems to do color and contrast very well. Blacks are very black, colors are very colorful. However, like a CRT, the pixels seem to blend together. They are not very distinct. Can have burn-in effects like a CRT.
  
• Power - These are the relative power hogs of the bunch. They'll use more power (on the order of $10-20 worth per year) than either of the LCD solutions
• Quick conclusion - good for movies or TV, not as a display for a computer. Standard def TV probably looks best on this.
  

"plain" LCD

• Picture quality - LCDs have very sharp pixels. Color quality is not as good as plasma. Has a smaller viewing angle than plasma.
• Power - these use less power than plasmas, but more than the LED backlit LCDs
• Quick conclusion - Good for double-duty as TV and computer monitor. It's comparable cost to Plasma would make it my number 2 pick.

LED backlit LCD

• Picture quality - It seems to have all the sharpness of the plain LCDs, but much better color reproduction. It still has the smaller viewing angle as plain LCDs. IMO, it has the best overall picture of the three.
• Power - uses the least amount of power. You're not going to save (in power costs) the difference in cost between this and a plasma or standard LCD at this time, unless you run it for ~ 15+ years or would usually have the TV on ALL DAY LONG.
• Quick conclusion - Number 1 pick. It does double duty with a computer well, has great color reproduction, and uses the least power. I think the extra cost is well justified.

Tater Tot Recipe (I don't like Cream of Mushroom Soup!)

Ingredients:

• 1 Bag of tater tots
• 1 lb tub of french onion dip
• 1 lb of Jimmy Dean sausage, crumbled
• shredded cheddar cheese (extra sharp, please!)

Recipe:

1. Spread the tater tots on a casserole dish (1 deep)
2. Bake at 450 (f) for 15 minutes
3. While that's baking, brown the Jimmy Dean sausage (1lb) like ground beef (make sure to crumble it well). It's better to leave it a little pink than to overcook here.
4. Spread about half of the french onion dip onto the tops of the tater tots, so it is just covering them, and put the browned and crumbled sausage on top.
5. Bake for 10 more minutes
   
6. Spread the rest of the french onion dip and sprinkle shredded cheese over the top of the casserole.
7. Bake for ~3-5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Eat and enjoy the lump in your stomach!

It should feed 8-12 depending on how much people want to eat.