Just Chillin Out

This week was OK. It started off with me trying to watch a movie from Blockbuster. I rented Crank and Little Miss Sunshine. Little Miss Sunshine would not play in my DVD player, so I got the idea to fix my old DVD player that I havent used in a year. I did some research on the internet and finally decided what was wrong with it. The spindle motor had gone out of it. Apparently 9 times out of 10, you can oil the motor and get it working again. Time to tear it apart.

The good news is that it now turns, but the bad news is it doesnt turn fast enough. Not quite good enough to read the DVDs. Oh well, wasted a couple days anyways.

Went up to the shop and helped Nathan and Billy do some wiring for a couple nights. We ran the piping to the lights and to the plugs, etc.

Friday night just took it easy. Saturday went to Truro and bought myself a new jacket. Saturday night we went to the shop and had a "pub night". Brandon brought his portable oven and deep fryer and we cooked chicken wings, mozza sticks, etc. It was good. As usual, didnt make it to sleep until about 3am after a few games of darts. Got a good action shot of mike throwing darts.

The coolest guy you'll ever meet.

Playing a drinking game

Mike throwing darts (Had to take 1000 pictures to get this good one)

Brakes are Important

On Wednesday and Thursday past it was -20 and -30 out. On Wed. on the drive to work I noticed that my anti-lock brakes kicked on a bit. I just figured there was a lot of ice on the roads. Thursday as I was coming into Westville, I hit the brakes and went completely through the intersection. Oh well, I just figured it was icy. That night on the way home from work I thought the brake pedal felt weird so I picked a dry spot on the roads and stood on the brake pedal. I HAD NO BRAKES! So I start coming down this hill with stop sign at the bottom. There's a semi-truck turning in front of me really really slowly. I had to stop. I stood on the brake pedal and nothing... I was heading directly for the trailer of this truck. I started thinking about what I could do to get around him. I figured I could probably squeeze past the edge of his trailer if I drove half in the ditch half on the road and turned the opposite way I was going. I geared the truck down and put the front tire over the edge of the ditch. I might have made it past the truck by just a few inches. I had to pull over on the side of the road for a minute so I could collect my thoughts. That and my hands were shaking.
I drove up to Tims and got a coffee, then went to Highland Ford for some brake fluid (the reservoir was empty). Eventually I made it home after the most stressful drive of my life. Took the Escape to Nathans and inspected it all over. We couldnt find any leaks at all in any lines. Then I noticed that the parking brake light was out. It had been on for 8 months or so. As it turns out, the parking brake light is also the low brake fluid light. I had been driving around for almost 8 months with no brake fluid. We finally decided to leave the escape in the heated garage over night to let all the ice and snow melt off it. Nathan lent me his old car to drive to work the next day. After work, went to Nathan's and we started bleeding brake lines. Everything went fine until we got to the front of the escape. The passenger side bled no problem but the bleeder screw snapped out of the caliper on the driver's side. We couldnt do anything more that day. Saturday we went to town to get new bleeder screws. They do not list these parts anywhere. Back to Nathan's. We took the one good bleeder and went back to town. There are no parts listed anywhere (including Ford) to replace those screws. Chevy, however, uses the identical part. Haha. We tried welding a nut to the broken bleeder, but couldnt get it out. The only way to get it out was to remove the caliper, heat it up, drill out the bleeder and use an easy out on it. I ended up putting a used caliper on the escape anyways. We bled the line and I'm back in business. The brakes actually work better than before now.

The rest of the week was pretty dull compared to that.

After seeing pictures of Melissa in New Zealand, I am very jealous.

SNOWWW!!!

Finally, its winter!

No Tickets Left

I got quite excited today at work, cause they said it was going to be a storm. There was going to be a pile of snow come down and there was a heavy snowfall warning. I kept running to the window and looking. Nothing... run to the window and look again... nothing. When I left to come home, there might have been half a cm of snow on the ground. As of right now, theres a little over 10 cm or so. I don't think it qualifies as a heavy snowfall warning though.

I still am pretty excited to see the snow on the ground. It might just be winter here in NS for a couple days.

Mike and I got bored on Friday night so we decided to go somewhere to have a few drinks, but we didnt want to spend too much money. So we decided to go to the Glasgow Pub. That place sketches me out. I ran into the father of the daughter of the girl I dated for like 2 weeks. I thought he was in jail. I probably dont have to explain why I got away from that one.

Saturday, I had no energy at all, so I laid on the couch for a couple of hours after going to Truro. I tried to get tickets to the World's Largest Pub Crawl, but did not succeed. Although, I would like to go and am willing to pay for tickets, so if anyone has any...LET ME KNOW! Oh yah, went to Truro and I was looking at a new Jeep again. I seriously need one. Its not a question of wants, it's mostly needs. So after Breakfast, Jeep and no tickets, I came home and got bored. I called Tasha and Keith and Tasha wanted to do something. I pulled out an old card on this one and tried to convince them to go bowling. No one ever wants to go bowling except me. So, we went to the pool hall. Played pool for 5 hrs and listened to the karaoke. I was drinking Pepsi so I was the DD.

Sunday watched Talladega Nights at Keith's, had breakfast, came home. Nathan dropped in and we went and picked up some paint and brushes at Central. Stopped at Tims for the usual and went and painted the trim around the windows in the garage and around the beams. We're running out of things to do in the shop. I managed to get Sandi's tray finished in the wood shop, but I need a day with NO HUMIDITY so I can paint it. It will only take like 20-30 mins to paint, but since Nova Scotia is turning into the tropics lately, there's no way paint will dry without me staying at the shop for like 5 hrs running the furnace.

I don't think I have any pictures I can post right now.

But I'll leave you with this thought. Why do people always keep the window scraper INSIDE the car at night?

Christmas, New Years & Everything Else

Since the last update, I've worked, been to Ontario for Christmas, and been back in NS for New Years

It was great being home. Its really weird, but you really appreciate having family around when you only get to see them once or twice a year.

I flew into Hamilton on the 21st and went out with my sister and her friends that night. I kinda felt singled out, cause I was the only person who wasnt a doctor. Have you ever been in one of those conversations where you just keep laughing and nodding your head cause you don't know what anyone is talking about. On top of that... its plain english, you just don't know what any of those words mean. I found out that night that I dance like a person from the East coast. Hmm...

Got to chum around with Dad a lot and put up a lot of signs and do some welding. We had some good chats over Tim Horton's coffee (which is wayyy better in NS). I much more enjoyed Mom's home brewed stuff tho. We had a "company" dinner which involved everyone who helped the company in the last year.

I think I may have gained a couple of pounds when I was home, but you just can't beat my mother's cooking. I will challenge anyone to try. She gives pretty good hugs too :)

Got to visit my cousin's and aunts and uncle's too. Ryan was busy washing cars while I was borrowing their shop to try and put a door lock back into Meghan's car door. It was a family event that involved Uncle Larry, Uncle Bo and myself. Good times. We even had Christmas eve "snacks" at Aunt Kim & Uncle Bo's. Can't beat the food :)

Christmas was everything I expected. I got all I wanted and got to see Bret chew on his present all day. Sometimes I wish my life was as simple as his. Ooo a rawhide bone... I'm gonna chew that all day!

Boxing day was christmas at the Cooks. We opened presents and stole them from each other (the Cooks are funny like that). I spent a lot of time exchanging stories with Colin and Ryan.

After the Christmas rush was over... things relaxed quite a bit. Just lounging around the house with Mom and Dad. Watching movies... playing online... getting the vinyl cutter working. Dad and I welded together a stand for sign legs. I'm definately not a good welder with a stick. Dad seems to know what he's doing. Went out for supper one night and had perch and frog legs. MMMMMM....

On the 31st I flew back to NS and when I got home, I showered and went straight to Nathan's for New Years. Dave was there, so we played guitar till our fingers hurt. We managed to stay up till 6am and even danced on the tables for old times sakes. I had a blast.

The next week was slow... I worked and tried to catch up. I may have even succeeded. This weekend was a blessing when it came. Spent friday night at Nathan's playing darts. Saturday I ran around town (bought a new shop vac) and went to Billy & Ellen's that night to play Monopoly. I came in 3rd I guess. Today I left Nathan's at about 8:30, came home and started laundry. I went to town and got coffee, dropped some for Mike & Nathan and then I went to the wood shop. I cleaned for about 5 hrs. It needed it, we'll leave it at that.