80 degrees in March?

This weekend is going to be beautiful, with highs in the 80s (on March 24&25). I've charged up the Thunderbolt's battery and planning 0n a trip to Denver. Gonna check out two cigar stores downtown, do a meal at some beer friendly place, and maybe hit the Denver Auto Show.

Seattle on two hours a day

Planning on being in Seattle on a short trip. Too short it seems as I'll be boots down for less than 24 hours, plus I'm there to attend a wedding which takes up most of my awake time. I should have books myself a day or two to see the area, but I wasn't thinking or something. I'm only missing a day of work, so there's that...

My plan is to hit one cigar store and one knife store on the drive up to the wedding. Any other time I'll do whatever when not spending time with my friend the groom.

Turn the page, another chapter begins

Sold Project Mazda, my 1989 323GTX. I got what I paid for it, so I broke even, other than all the time an money I spend servicing it. I learned a lot from it, from what to look for when buying a used car, negotiating a price, and dealing with service and problems with the vehicle. I sold it to a friend, so I'll be able to monitor it and help if any problems occur. This leaves the driveway empty- easier to shovel snow from, and easier to use any vehicle in the garage.

It gets me to thinking what's next. I'm happy with what I have, but still want an AWD vehicle. I figure I'll just keep going with what I have until something dies, and replace it with something AWD. I regret not getting the AWD version of the Charger, so that's high on the list for my next car. Or, I could go to an SUV like the Grand Cherokee. The Cherokee is supposed to come out with a diesel version next year, which should raise millage while keeping power. The new Subaru Impreza has a new engine and gets the highest MPG for any non-hybrid AWD vehicle 27/36mpg. It has no power, but it's a trade off. I bet it has enough for most use.

Test Drive Suzuki SX4

Rented a new (as in 26 miles) Suzuki SX4 hatchback with AWD. It took me a few days to notice, but it also had a CVT. The CVT/ throttle interface needed some improvement, as when I was accelerating, and wanted to give it a little more throttle, the CVT would snap up a few thousand RPM and give me a lot more acceleration.


The AWD system was interesting. It had 3 modes: 2wd, Auto AWD, and Lock on a toggle switch. This made the Auto mode the default, but both the Auto and Lock mode (never figured out the difference) both lit lights on the dash.
Speaking of lights on the dash, the car had daylight running lights, but also had a headlights switch. No matter the setting (off, driving lights, lights), a light lit on the dash. Turning to the lights mode did dim the dashboard lights a bit, but I couldn't find a dimmer knob, plus all idiot lights, like the ones mentioned above, stayed at full brightness regardless.
The dashboard also had a bit of a computer, showing you instant mileage, outside temperature w/ ice warning, average mileage, and fuel range.

The seats were cloth and not very supportive, but fine for local trips.
The engine was peppy and did what I asked of it, but with my mild driving, still returned poor MPG. The computer said 22mpg, but the fuel bill vs trip odometer indicated 16mpg. I assume it was full when I picked it up.
As it was a new vehicle, it was missing an ice scrapper, and didn't have the 'tail' antenna installed.

The SX4 AWD was on my short list for an AWD vehicle a few years back, but time has not been good to it, as there are many other AWD vehicles currently available with much better mileage, and some even at the same price range. It was a good rental vehicle for a single person, but for the economy size, I'd want better MPG. The AWD was a nice trade off, one that I'd make in the future on winter months.

Indoor fish

Cooked a fresh .75lb tuna steak Tuesday. What was unusual about this is I did it indoors, and not on my BBQ. I used a frying pan on the stove burner, on high. Nothing in the pan. Cooked it for 5 minutes, 2.5 per side. Middle was still red, outside was white. I'm still alive, so I may have done it right, or I just ate warm sushi.

Ed's Follies Cigars and Beer

Every so often, I get a whim to do something. Off the cuff, spur of the moment, or as I like to call it, Ed's Folly. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a foolish idea, but it's meant to be fun.

This past Sunday the plan was to stay at home with the guys and BBQ on the porch. I had a folly to go down to Longmont, hit the cigar store, and go for a beer at Left Hand Brewery. We'd tried to go to their tasting room before, but back then it wasn't open on Sundays. As soon as we were all together, into the car and off to Havana Manor. Did some shopping there and off to Left Hand, just a few blocks away. The place was packed, and had a live band playing. We each bought a flight of four beers and went outside to consume, and smoke a cigar. We then decided not to have a cigar, so we were out in the cool fall Colorado air. The beers were good, all of them (we had around 8 different beers between the three of us. (A month ago we went to Ft Collins Brewery and didn't sample a beer we liked. That's beer for you.) Of note as being unique and very good were the Wake Up The Dead russian imperial stout and the Fade To Black Volume 3 pepper porter.

New AR build

I've been planning on building a AR-15 gun from scratch for a year or so. I'd been back and forth on the configuration, but it boiled down to a lightweight build. I was torn between a pistol or a carbine. I had also planned on doing it all myself, buying a stripped lower and upper, and all the parts and putting it together as a fun project.
However, I stopped in at a new gun store locally, and they were selling a full lower, very lightweight, for a great price. Then the search was on to get an upper for it. I have a Bushmaster A1 upper in the safe, but I wanted something more modern and lighter. I put together a recipe for the ideal lightweight upper, but it's hard to find these ideal parts all the time, and there was one part/combo I couldn't deal with: a 14.5" barrel with permanently attached muzzle device taking it to 16". I can't legally own a 14.5" barrel, and I didn't want to torque the barrel into the receiver. My plan was to have a local gunsmith do it for me.
In the meantime, I kept surfing all the manufacturer web sites looking for an upper that was close to my recipe, affordable, and in stock. I found one at Loki Weapon Systems, with their LWS STD upper. I chose a 16" barrel with A2 flash hider so I could exchange it for the Yankee Hill model I wanted. It has a 1 in 8" twist barrel. I wanted 1:7, but this will work.

It arrived yesterday, and I'm happy. I was expecting a thinner barrel, but it's still lighter than my Bushmaster upper, has a free float barrel system. The gas block rail is lower than the receiver, I'm wondering if my front sight will be too low.