DRIVE

a guy in my neighborhood died on january 10 and last week the city put notes on two of his cars- a 60′s VW Squareback and a 89 Cadillac Brougham- saying they were going to tow them and sell them for scrap. i spent three days tracking down contact info for the family (and discovered in the process just how much you can find out about someone if you try- scary). i wanted to a) alert them that the cars were getting taken and b) if they were okay with that, see if i could get either to restore and drive. nobody ever called me back.

meanwhile i spent most of the day today pulling parts out of the atlima, which i’ve given up on. it turns but never catches, and the mechanic who wandered by and stopped to help (gotta love NOLA) says it’s probably the fuel pump. internet says distributor. either way, add that to the EGR valve & radius arm that need to be replaced and we’re talking about $600 in parts: enough to totally get the truck running like new with a little left over for upgrades. i’d rather part out what i can, take the $100 for scrap, and stop paying the insurance on 2 vehicles.

thanks to the barter section of craigslist, i’ll be fixing a laptop in exchange for meeting with an ACE mechanic instructor to finish up the last little mechanical issues on the f150; and will be building a website in exchange for a complete paint job when it’s ready.

really the whole point of this entry is that i signed onto a nissan forum i used to check out occasionally in order to post a classified ad, and rediscovered my user name there, which is probably my favorite to date. on nissanclub.com my name is: “musty ruffler.”

update: i was on fire when coming up with nissan forum names! at altimas.org apparently i am known simply as: “x.”

update 2: because i’ve apparently run out of things to Internet about, i decided to see if “ruffler” is actually a word. guess what? not only is it a thing, but it’s accurate!

1. One of a class of vagabonds prevalent in the 16th century. Obs.
2. One who makes much stir or display; a proud swaggering or arrogant fellow.
1. An attachment to a sewing-machine, for making ruffles.