csammisrun

Last weekend I attempted to do my own vehicular repair work yet again. A mechanic informed me that the right front tie rod end was worn out and was destroying the tire (true story, it was pretty bald on the inside), and after consulting my service manual, I gave it a shot. This is what I found:

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Long story short, I couldn’t penetrate its +1 Armor of Rusted-The-Hell-On, and I had to take it to a National Tire and Battery to have it fixed. That weekend did not end well in terms of my ego, but I turned that situation around with the advent of this gloriously long weekend.

On Saturday, I got to use my grill for the first time in quite a while. Overland Park has this ordinance that prevents grills from being used or stored at apartment complexes that are built like mine, and so my Weber has resided in the trunk of my car since I moved here. It was released back to the world by the grace of a barbecue that a friend of mine hosted Saturday evening, at which I was the grillmaster. It was only four people, burgers and brats, but it was indeed a good time.

I spent Sunday being mechanically apt. I finally put my Nerf Longshot – a very large Nerf bolt-action rifle – back together after modding it for increased distance and speed. Better o-rings in the cylinder, a second stronger spring on the piston, and removal of the Nerf-installed air restrictor have given it quite a kick (no fooling, you can feel the recoil now). I was planning on taking it to work to stage a little inter-team warfare and take down a remote controlled helicopter that’s been buzzing us, but I had forgotten how very large it is…I couldn’t even begin to get it in the door without raising a few eyebrows.

After the Longshot, I took out my French horn. It’s been a long time since it’s been out, and it needed some cleaning and oiling, but once it was fixed up I decided it needed a more prominent place in the apartment:

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