What going on with my life, nothing.

It has been a while since I have done much of anything. I mean I only got one eye operated on and it am having problems trying to see the left eye, it didn't get the operation yet, is trying to take over what I am looking at. Hare to focus a camera. And speaking of a camera, since I am left eye dominant, my nose will often push the shot button and it is either set for timer or repeat. That has cause me to miss some shots. Sucks.

So I have been unable to do much that takes hand-eye-coordination. So I have worked on that '70 Triumph getting it read for the sand blaster. The engine stand that I built out of wood failed and I made one out of steel. Not real happy with the bolting locations. We'll see. I still haven't decided what to do about the engine. One cylinder doesn't have good compression. Not sure why, something i have to look into.

I made a boboo. While using a air chisel I cut some of the floor pan. The distance between the edge of the body is impossible to reach with a Hammer & Dolly. So I build a holder to hold a sledge hammer. I uses an 1 1/4" threaded rod because I need it adjustable in height. Oh it looks nice all right, but wait and see.

Whaile all of this have been going on it started snowing here and we got about 3". OK, but that just made mud and makes it next to impossible to walk to the shop. That would have been it but it started raining for three days and now it has gotten worst. The road in front of the house, the gravel as gone down into the mud. It is a mess at this minute.

That's not the worst part at this time, the rain has leaked into the south wall of the shop and gotten the blown fiberglass insulation wet. Now I have to take the OSB down so it can dry out. I called the guy that built the shop and told him, 'that I noticed stains on the floor, but I though it was coming under the overhead door.' It appears that where I caulked might have keep the water from draining out.

Boy am I heart broken.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

I wouldn't be what I am without the job I had.

Does that make any sense? It seams that I never did anything that management appreciated. Yet management would rather see me redo existing work. The would never consider making our work easier. As far as I am concerned, we were doing 1980's work using 1940's methods.

I have another question. What if the Big Three didn't try to build car volumes per car demands. What if the just build to there limit, and not push the limits of there quality. Look, Rolls Royce has a backlog of orders and don't hire because of the demand. Look what has happened to Toyota, there problem with the floor mats.

It appears that Hyundai has many more hot car designs than the Big Three has had since the 50's and 60's. And don't even got to the point that all cars are starting to looking alike. Who cares?

What do you care about? Stop and think it through to see if it can come back and slap you in the face. Is your wants bigger than your needs? All I am wanting anymore is a car the size of the 50's models and around 200 to 250 hp. As for gas milage, well is it gasoline, batteries, or something else.

All I know now cars last a lot longer than they did in the past. Also, I heard, the internal combustion engine isn't about to die in your lifetime. I believe that most of the latest downfall to the auto industry is because of some bad judgmental calls back in the 70's. They have lost track to what the American want in the way of an automobile.

A lot of good people have move on and the ones who have caused the problems are still there. Something like Washington.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

I must be jinksed.

What do I start lately with all that has gone a stray for me? How about getting my other eye operated on, for one. Waiting for the other cataract to be removed is getting to be a night mare. Just sitting around doing nothing isn't any fun. Hard to read, and to know what I really see. What is in focus and what isn't.

OK, that the way I see today. Now lets move on to the my desktop computer. It's motherboard and power supply failed. So I replace the power supply, no problem. And I got a motherboard of Gigabyte. The one I purchased would utilize my processor and RAM. Good, right? Got it and installed it. Seems OK. When to reinstall Windows XP Pro, from my OEM's pristine copy, it failed every time. It skipped the installation for any Network stuff. So I took the CD back to the OEM here and he burnt a new copy. It worked. Fine, right? Booting. Wait, where it the NUM Lock switch in the BIOS? That was like trying to pull hens teeth. After several phone calls to Gigabyte's help desk, the finally told me how to get it. It's not in the manual.

After all of that you would think everything else should be running. Well it was for the shorts time. The on-board sound quit. It's under a three warranty, right? Right. The has no problem setting up with a return label and everything. Fine, except time. Two weeks before the Thanksgiving. It comes back the day after and I am sick. For six days I am flat on my back and didn't eat for four days. No fever, no running nose, no sore throat, no chills, but a small cough.

Let's not go into the local clinic here. Thank you very much. But after a few days of felling better, I reinstalled that motherboard back into my box. The weather out hasn't been that nice to get out anyway. Booted it up and an error message, 'SCSI card not seated.' OK, reseated it. Nope. OK, put it in the other slot. Naw, that didn't work either.

So now you are up to date. And I haven't left the house yet.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

Somethings are better, yet others got worst.

I had cataract surgery on my right eye. Now things don't look like a bucket of beer. Well at least in the right eye. Color is brighter and I don't need to wear glasses for that eye. Well I can't read too well yet, and it looks like glasses will be required. Wait and see.

I was scared because I was just sure I would lose my site. Well I didn't and I feel much better because of that. But like I said, 'I can't see to read'. So if I miss spell, well that is the price of reading my work. At least you'll be lucky to read anything I write.

Now just waiting for the left eye.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

You haven't seen an improvment?

Things have gotten done, but it doesn't look like it. There has been interferences. You know the kind that just make stop and think. Like reading random blogs. This one guy just noticed that GM was selling Hummer to a Chinese heavy equipment company. Yet China has got all of the paperwork in place. I had to ask, which part was he upset with, GM selling Hummer or a Chinese company buying it? Of course, he couldn't answer, but neither was he aware of what American are purchasing. Do we have a choice? I think not.

So there is the other thing that is either stupid or unreal. This woman was arrested because she poked another woman on Facebook. It appears that a woman got an injunction against the first woman from any communication. So is the first woman naive or just plain stupid. She has little respect for anyone but herself. How many other people fit in this league?

Another think that has caught the eye of the public, Ralph Lauren advertisement of a woman who appears very skinny. Unreal skinny. So a blogger posted the picture and talked about how skinny she was and the possibility of why Ralph Lauren group would even consider using this photo. Ralph Lauren legal group decided to sue the blogger for copyright infringement. But as people discovered that the photo was photoshoped. Therefore, the advertisement wasn't real. So the Ralph Lauren dropped there suit.

So what else could take up my time? How about the Science Channel. Time. It takes time to watch.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

What if you don't feel like it?

This is another one of those times when things all around me are either broken or I need to add something to something. So many things are breaking and I have to stop what I'm doing and fix it. The water hydrant stopped working. How could that be? The guy put the bottom of the valve in a bucket of small gravel. Well a root pushed a small rock into the drain hole and after I took that out, which took me three days of rain to dig it up, it still didn't work well. Slow. So I went and got a new on, but it was a foot taller. Now we don't have to bend over so far to hook it up. So when I put it back, I used a five gallon bucket without anything it and wrapped it in that landscaping fabric.

So what else could happen? How about the sound card quit on my desktop. It is the one that I watch about two hours of internet per day. So I download the files, and they play them over the network with my laptop. Two days later the motherboard dies. It is just two months our of warranty. My luck.

So next I decided I would do a little Photoshoping. Found these plug-in, and it looks like painting. Right? Well is something I shot off the front porch. Amazing what I can do. Now I have to consider purchasing those plug-ins. What do you think?

I managed to pickup a couple of outdoor lamp shades. I want to put two lights in the front yard and one in the back. But running the wire will require more than I think I can do because of the digging. Plus the backyard light needs to come off a three-way-switch. I just hope the wire runs that way. You see this house is a penalized construction. The outside walls have Styrofoam between two sheets of OSB. And on top of that I will have to go into the crawl way and poke a hole into the foundation to put the wire through.

Also I need to run conditioned water out to the workshop so I can put in a bathroom. I even put a pump on the water heater because the hot water takes for ever to get warm in the far bathroom. There isn't any insulation or heating loop.

Oh speaking of the TR6, the frame is stripped and sitting in the back. Maybe the crows will eat the crap off the frame and I won't have to have it blasted. Too much to ask.

There is probably more stuff that needs to get done, but why bother?

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

What a vacation I had.

My wife's brother-in-law won a time share in Winter Park, CO. It was on the third story of a 18 time-shares building. Do you know what Colorado needs, oxygen. I was breathing hard every time I climbed those stairs. We even brought the pots, pans, and other food items. Her brother-in-law always stops at some grocery store and buys more food than we can eat in four days.

Of course I took my camera. I take pictures of what I like. One of the things that my brother-in-law and my wife's niece wanted to do was drive some go-karts. So I took pictures, but something I did caused them to be over-exposed/trashed. Can't figure what I did wrong. But if it is possible, I can do it. Anyway, most everything else came out OK.

After that karting thing, we went up Pikes Peak on the COG Railroad. Nice ride. Are you aware of how cold it is up there. About 30 degrees colder, and windy. That is when I discovered a lack of oxygen. It is a fun place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

For some reason my brother-in-law always wants to eat or stay at least one night at one of the most expensive restaurant or hotel. The Broadmore is out there. So we had dinner there and a $150 bottle of champagne from New Mexico. Who would have though anything from New Mexico would cost that much?

Well anyway, they were on there way to the airport and the return car rental company, so they had to fill up with gas. For what ever reason, the driver left the keys in the ignition. Went to the bathroom and the car locked its doors. Took for ever for the rental car company to get there. Then just as they got to the ariport, brother-in-law realized he left his cell phone in the rental car. Back they went to get it.

You guess it, the plane left without them. So there next choice was a flight to somewhere and connect to their finial destination. They got home six hours latter than scheduled.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico