Labor Day Musings

"ImmoralMinority" (araimondo)
09/03/2017 at 10:30 • Filed to: None

I am sitting on my mom’s deck in Cayucos, drinking coffee and watching Toby chase bees. I keep telling him this is a bad idea, but he is not listening. It may not end well.

The Sport Trac comes home tomorrow. It will be my 16 year old son’s DD while we restore the T Bird. I told him yestersday that I am going to open a T Bird restoration savings account for him. He can put money in, and ask for X Mas, birthdays, etc from relatives to be put in there. I will control it, and he csn only use the money he puts in there for the T Bird. It can be hard to save as a teen.

He is taking 5 AP classes and working very hard. I teased him gently about us falling behind on the car, and he said “Dad, if I don’t take care of school first, I won’t have a T Bird.” Automotive parenting works!

My dad was funny about cars. He loved his cars, and back in the pre-Internet days he took car shopping seriously. He would take me and drive all over Southern California, looking visiting different dealers and playing them off each other. It was hard to do before Internet and cell phones. He wanted the best deal he could get on exactly the car he wanted.

When he bought the Sport Trac, I asked him why he did not get 4 wheel drive. He said that he lived in California, and never went on the dirt, so he did not need it. He said he spent the money on the leather interior, which he would actually enjoy. The origin of my love for cars, especially Japanese cars, came from him.

My father dipped his toe in the pool of GM malaise, and was horrified. He went Toyota (3 times), Acura (twice), Nissan, Lexus, BMW (Z roadster on a lease), and leased a convertible Mustang somehere in there. He liked the Mustang, which is why he bought a Ford when he decided he needed a suburban pickup.

Sorry Oppo, I am babbling, as this truck brings back nice car memories of my dad. I wish he was here, because he would love my projects, especially the T Bird.

Malaise may have made him turn his automotive eye to the east, but his heart was with classic American steel. He often said his favorite car he ever owned was a 1960 Impala. Apparently, toothpaste was great for polishing chrome.

If there is a world beyond this one, he is driving that car right now.

Mini-Oppo meet up! Lunch with CaptDale in SLO today. I will be driving the Sport Trac, and will fill you in on the quality of his choice of brewhouse. I best be nice to him, as I will need some local protection. SLO is actually a lovely town, but my God, it has the most annoying population of college students in the universe. I usually avoid it when school os in session.

DISCUSSION (14)

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > ImmoralMinority
09/03/2017 at 10:45

my cat used to chase bees n wasps... since catching and eating one it doesnt

shop-teacher > ImmoralMinority
09/03/2017 at 10:54

“He said that he lived in California, and never went on the dirt, so he did not need it.”

He was right. Heck, I have 16 Chicago winters under my belt driving 2wd pickups. Five of those were in S-10's with an open rear diff and all season tires. Only got stuck in one of those once, when I buried it up to the frame in a snow drift. When I got my Sierra with a locking rear diff, I never got stuck in snow again. I’ll probably get 4wd whenever I replace my Sierra, but just because it will be fun to have.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > ImmoralMinority
09/03/2017 at 11:18

My grandmother has almost bought a house in Cayucos no less then 6 times. She just never ends up pulling the trigger. One of my favorite places though.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher
09/03/2017 at 12:00

So true. I’ve had my 4wd Pathfinder for years here, and rarely shift it into 4wd. When I do, it’s usually for an added safety margin or just plain fun (it’s a riot when there’s 4+ inches of snow on the road actually).

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW
09/03/2017 at 12:34

Yeah, 4"+ of snow on an unplowed road, with 4wd is soooooo much fun. I used to borrow my dad’s 4x4 Chevy to deliver pizza during snow storms, when I was in high school. Those nights were the best high school job ever.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher
09/03/2017 at 18:55

Delivering pizza as a kid is an awesome job in any conditions.

I did it in Champaign during college. Fun times. A lot of missed classes from getting home late from work too.

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW
09/03/2017 at 19:31

It really is a great kid in school job. I delivered pizza in high school. When I was in college in Champaign, I delivered for Jimmy Johns. The Jimmy Johns gig was nice, because you didn’t have to worry about sliding the toppings or them getting cold.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher
09/03/2017 at 20:13

Nice! Garcias for me. Was a great gig, but worked til about 2 on weeknights and 4-5 am on weekends. Made good $$,though

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW
09/03/2017 at 21:54

I made good money as well. We were open until 3am on weeknights, which really meant I didn’t get home until 4-4:30 am usually. I quit when they decided to stay open until 4am. I got a job supervising the wood shop in the basement of the Architecture building. Twice the hours, for half the pay, but it was a welcome change.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher
09/03/2017 at 22:48

That sounds like a good gig though.

I eventually got a job as a computer lab operator in the Mechanical Engineering building. Was quiet so I could usually do homework there. Great job.

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW
09/04/2017 at 08:58

It was a good gig. Had I stuck with Architecture, instead of deciding to be a teacher, I could’ve had that job as a grad assistant. The quiet nights I was able to get homework done.

The busy nights got exciting, trying to keep Archie students who didn’t know which end of a screwdriver to use, from cutting their fingers off. I once saw a kid who wanted to cut a sheet of plexi glass turn on the table saw, then walk around to the back of the saw, and was about to feed the thing on backwards when I finally got their attention to shut it down. That would’ve gotten UGLY.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher
09/04/2017 at 10:21

Oof- the biggest danger I faced in the lab was in trying to keep clueless students from formatting the hard drive. This was back in the day when we still had floppy disks and DOS, so if you forgot to specify the drive to format, you wiped the hard drive. Fun times—

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW
09/04/2017 at 10:26

I had already decided to be a teacher by that point. It just made more sense to finish the Architecture degree, and go to grad school for tech ed. I figured when that happened, since I didn’t panic and it didn’t ruin my day, that I was probably on the right track.

Oh wow, that would be bad!

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher
09/04/2017 at 15:56

Ha - yeah, if you can handle that calmly, I’m sure it bodes well for your chosen career!

A few goofs did manage to format the hard drive - which really just meant re-installing everything on the PC (which wasn’t that much, it was the late ‘80s).