Starting to get depressed again....

So yeah, what else is new, starting to get depressed again, which sucks, I really like this time of year, it makes me feel like I am really part of nature, and part of something a lot larger than even I can possibly imagine... dunno, it makes me feel like I am "Old" as in my soul... I dunno, its hard to really describe, but I just feel like I have been around for so long mentally, but I'm only 24 on the outside.

There's a series that describes the way I feel (I read it a lot when I was younger) its called "The Dark is Rising Sequence" by Susan Cooper. It consists of 5 books, and is classified as "Teen fantasy". Its sort of childish, but its one of those things that I really like and that I got attached to... kinda lets your imagination run wild :-). If you do end up reading the books, I feel like I am a cross between Will Stanton and Merriman (you meet Will in the second book "The Dark is Rising")

I also have a friend of mine who reminds me who I am and what I feel like... she stops in from time to time and brightens my day... if you are in NH, you should check out the renaissance fair every now and again, and you may just see her :-)

Here's a link to her personal page

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I really just want this whole move to be over... I think I am going to be short for money, but it all depends on what kind of paycheck I get this week (which is only for 35:10... and I only got 27.50 for spiffs... goddamnit). Once again, I feel like shit because I am the weakest link right now and all I really want to do is get something that I can rely on for a bit and get myself caught up with all my bills and people I owe money to.

Not to mention (well I guess I am because here I am writing it :-P), the fact that I don't have anything planned for Laura's B'day, nor do I have any Ideas on what to get her (that I can afford)... I feel like the worst person in the world about that, and today (I know they were joking but it still bothers me) I went to Laura's work and her boss gave me shit about not having a good gift/thing planned for her. I dunno, I feel like shit because I haven't seen my friends/family in a YEAR (though I did visit my family when I went back to get Svetty inspected) and I did plan on going towards the end of October but, I couldn't get vacation time because its not allowed in golden quarter, and even if I could, we are still very short staffed at my store, so its just not going to happen. Laura has the week that I wanted to go off... which is now a good thing because we all will be moving that week, so that is helpful at least. But I still feel like shit because I am not living up to what I want.... but then again I wanted to be out of college by this point AND into my career.... wooohooo!

Horray for being a FUCKING LOSER....

All has been well....

So yeah, all has been well so far, strangely enough, though there have been some recent developments:

Mike, Mar, Laura, TJ (Laura's Current roommate) and myself have all been looking for a place together, we found a few, and we narrowed it down to one... a granite stone house, that is absolutely HUGE, with all kinds of lovely new things that were put into it (like radiant floor heat on the first floor). Well.... the landlord is a little "interesting" but all in all it seems like a good place, it seemed like it took forever to find out if we were going to get it, but... we did!

So we are going to be moving at the end of October, there goes my vacation (if I was even able to get one), but this place will be great. EVERYTHING will be divided 5 ways which should help a LOT with the utilities (Oil Heat, Electric, Satellite/Cable, Internet and each of us has a Cell). We are planning on setting up a bank account that has ALL of our names on it, and because almost everyone is on Direct Deposit, we can easily figure it out, its $87.75 /person /week for the rent ($1675.00 total) which honestly is not all that bad.

So that's 1....

Other Recent Development... Me finding a tech support job to supplement my income.... I can foot the bill for the place without a problem (especially with the Direct Deposit thing worked out), but I am kind of sick of having to borrow money from people... and I have a few things that Honestly, I need to fucking pay off (like my laptop). So yeah, I am keeping my ears open for some call-in based job where I can sit in my boxer shorts and answer phone calls all night until I need to sleep so I can get up for my real job :-). I have heard some rumors so I have applied... but I could really use the extra $$ just because of the security deposit we need on the new place... AND the funky ass way that the landlord wants his money (500 next week, the remaining $1175 on the 15Th, then by the 30Th another month's rent.... OWCH!).

Anywho... if any random person knows of any place that is looking for some tech. support via phone... drop a line



PS: Svetty is still running great... she is just in need of another oil change and a coolant flush :-)

So... all is going well... for the moment anyway.

Okay... so, I survived the week of hell that my manager went on vacation... I think I lead the store into a sales loss... and yes, it is partially my fault, I was too busy trying to make sure all the operational shit got done to be on the floor and selling.... though I did at least support my staff, but when there are only 3 people (*including myself*) plus 1 person per day from another store.... it gets a bit tiresome.

I knew what kind of work it would be to keep things right, espically with all of the things that could have happened this week. Our store is one of the 3 in the 30 store district that is going to get a re-model, which includes a bunch of things, but mainly there is a lot of prep work in our situation, that HAD to get done.... well it did... but that required me to be not so "on the sales floor" for most of the week. We got audited, and failed with a 76% (passing is 85% and higher), partially my fault, but if we didn't have help from Pat @ 1137 (who loves to do the tedious shit) we wouldn't have done that well. ANYWHO... so yeah, at least Steve didn't come back and start yelling at me (my day off was his first day back). I kinda know he wanted to because there were a few things that piled up, and a couple I forgot about, all in all.... I think I at least did okay.


So, now that all of that happiness is over... I come back to my place in concord tonight (first time in 4 days), and it is even worse than it was 4 days ago.... as far as... CLEAN. Yeah, so I immediatly start cleaning (after coming home from work mind you), and throw out 6 30 Gallon trash bags of shit, and now just sit down (an hour and a half later) to write a bit, and realize I BARELY EVEN DENTED the amount of built up shit!

I don't know why I expected this place to be clean, but I figured they would get tired of sitting in filth and get their lazy asses up and actually do something about it.... man was I wrong.... it just got worse. So earlier on last month, we all kind of had an agreement... we would have our own little sections of the apt. to clean, which kind of worked out... my area didn't get TOO horrible, and the computer room (at least my area of that) didn't get more than a few things piled up.... ::looks around:: yeah, I really can't say the same for theirs.

In other news, Svetlana is running wonderfully still... getting great gas mileage, and no more little quirks (like an "ERR" on the EDU, or some wierd brake light issue on the EDU). So thats one thing going well right now.

Laura is doing good, she's stressed because of her current living situation, but other than that, that is one more thing that is going well for me.....


Just waiting for something to go wrong here... it all seems too well.

Well, TTFN
Matt-

Update:

Okay, didn't think my mood could get any better today... but I figured out the issue with the idleing.... and FIXED it :-).

It was because I had my mechanic's JETRONIC computer (Fuel Injection/LH computer) in the car instead of mine.... I switched it out before i got some fast food... and POOF! it runs like a goddamn top.... beautiful... just fucking beautiful!

Nighters... gotta get an early start tomarrow... 11:00 - 9:15

FINALLY!

Okay.... so, good news... long time in a while.

My Saab is running!
I followed some well placed advise (Steve!), and went back to where I started from. The first thing I did, was change the fuel filter after the car had died.... well, until today, I never noticed that the line was kinked. Its such a small BLACK line *just like everything else on the bottom of the car* I didn't even notice that it was kinked... ::Takes Steve's foot off and kicks himself in the ass:: well, anyway, so my new nickname @ work is now "Fuel Line" and there were all these lovely posters all around the store today when I walked in.... (there was only one on the sales floor... on the front door) it just makes me wonder how many people went "What the fuck?!?" when they walked in :-)

But yeah, there's one minor glitch to my car running.... it doesn't like to idle now... SO! what I am going to do is put all of MY stuff that I took out, BACK into the car (the 2 computers and such) and see what happens... the only thing that I did, that may have a negative impact, was that I cleaned the Mass Airflow Sensor with Carburetor cleaner (as recommended by a Saab enthusiast) ... and I think that will correct itself with time (I hope).

And now that it is running, I can actually take it back up to my mechanic in VT, and have him figure it out if need be! Hell, I am going to build him a new computer anyway, might as well make it all in one big trip :-)

so yeah, I'm fucking psyched!
and Steve.... you were right, enjoy!
(and yes, I can admit when I am wrong)

In other news... and an update to "... And now a history...:"

I didn't really forget, but I wanted to add on one more thing that has been bothering me lately... and I don't want to edit the original post (that way anyone that actually READS my rants... aka posts :-) doesn't get thrown for a loop).

So, this issue I speak of... yeah, I haven't seen my Mom, Dad, Step mom, Step dad, and siblings for over a year now. This has been eating at me slowly, I am a bit homesick, and miss EVERYONE in NY... even my friends in NYC (whom I haven't seen in about 5 years now), Yeah, I talk to people there all the time... but I am sick of feeling like I live in NH, I want to go back so bad its killing me... but I can't get the time. I really can't afford to take my vacation time, and not to mention, its Radioshack policy to not allow paid vacation time in the 4th Quarter (it is the busiest time of year and all). Either way, I am going to have to drive back as soon as I get my car back, no matter what, my inspection was due in July... and if I don't do it soon, I am going to get a NASTY fine on the NYS Thruway, even though it really isn't my fault... but you try to explain that to a state police officer. Whether or not it is only for a day or 2, I have to get home.... and if I can take someone with me that would be good... not only can they see a little bit of where I came from, and meet my family (I have met Mike's family, Mar's family and Laura's family... yet none of them have met mine!). I would also like a road companion for moral support... that drive brings back a lot of memories that frankly, I would rather leave in the past.... and its a long enough drive anyway (about 5.5 to 6.5 hours depending on how many bathroom stops), I don't really want to have a mental breakdown on the road... it tends to end pretty badly.

So that was pretty much what I wanted to add to the other post....

In other news... I am doing an inventory tomorrow at my store... I hope all goes well, I can't remember how things went last inventory, but I can definatly say that I am NOT a morning person... and rolling out of bed tomorrow @ 5am does not sound like a good idea at the current moment. But hey, if I can get there by 630, I figure Steve and I can start slamming coffee, and as soon as I'm at least half-way alert..... on to the "Parts Drawers". The back room should be mostly counted as well as our outside storage unit by the end of business today. Cool... a little less work for us to do tomorrow.

I gotta say... all in all today was pretty good... I narrowed down my issues with my car, (at least a little bit), and even though my 20" monitor died.... sortof... I mike let me borrow his other 17" for the time being (he's borrowing my 15" for his Mac). I think I am going to see if I can figure out EXACTLY what is wrong with the monitor (blown component) I know its a power board issue... but can't tell any further than that. Damn I want a couple of 20" LCD Panels :-)... preferably 3, thatway I can take advantage of my Video Card and have one hell of a work space!

well... thats it for now... I think :-P

Svetty getting better, but still not there yet... and other car shit

OK... so today so far has been pretty good, after jaunting around town looking for a product that apparently didn't exist, I gave up and did things my way (which can sometimes be really effective, but others... well, not so much).

I went around looking for a fuel pressure testing gauge, a few brass hose fittings, and some clamps (not really a big deal... or so I thought). Apparently, the way that I was instructed how to check fuel pressure, is obsolete. What I know, is to cut the fuel line right next to the fuel rail (for injectors)/ carburetor pop a brass "T" in the line, put another hose off from the "T" and hook up the gauge, and crank the engine over and see what kind of pressure you have....

WELL, not so anymore... according to almost everyone I talked to today, there should be a valve on the fuel rail that you can "just tap right into" with the little kit they sell for 39.99.... yeah, NO. There is no fucking little valve, I have checked a few times... so kind of depressed, I got some dunkin donuts (aka, DI-DO's :-) ), and thought about it for a little bit. There is a bolt on the left side of the engine (if viewed from the front of the car), that attaches to the fuel pressure regulator, and the fuel return line. SO... if all things are well, there SHOULD be pressure behind this bolt. So I take my socket wrench, and a pair of sunglasses (to shield myself from gasoline @ 30-35 psi) and break the bolt loose.... nothing happens.... so I take the bolt OUT... peer into the fuel rail..... to see just a little bit of gas, with ABSOLUTELY no pressure behind it. So I crank the engine over a bit, let some pressure build and then repeat... once again, NO fuel pressure...

So, in conclusion, there is almost no doubt in my mind right now that the fuel pump is the cause of the no start.

I also did something else today, I swapped the DI/APC computer and the JETRONIC computer back to mine that way if she does start, it will be with MY computers... and I can DISTINCTLY hear the DI Cassette doing its "Shower of Sparks" after I key-off the ignition and pull out my key..... that makes me happy, at least I know the DI that Chris (my wonderful mechanic) gave me to test works.... and it also tells me that MY DI/APC computer works.... YAY!

Anyway, I still don't know how to actually remove the fuel pump, I can get to it through the back hatch... it has an access panel (which I imagine this makes things a little easier), but to actually remove it.. yeah, I need some instructions or something. The shitty part about that, is that there are 2 different fuel pumps that were used in that model year, and they are VERY different in price and connections. One is about $400-$600 (Bosch) and the other is $150-$250 (Wurst), and they are NOT interchangable. I really don't even care how much they are, but its just a matter of whether or not that will solve all the problems... I think it will... like I said, there is VERY little doubt in my mind that it won't but there is still a little bit.

Subject change... (sorta):

Even though I need new rear speakers in the car, I sat down for a little bit turned on the stereo, and cranked it :-). That is definatly one thing I miss about Svetty the most.... she sounds freakin magnificent, not a lot of power, no extra amps or subs or anything... just a bit of my tuning (which is border-line professional if I do say so myself :-) ) and a good selection of classical and modern music. I can't wait 'til she is running again, and that is one of the many reasons (and is fairly high up there too). I drive anywhere from 75-120 miles per day, and I really don't mind listening to the radio, but I REALLY have to get my girlfriend a good antenna (hers broke) and possibly a halfway decent head-unit (maybe with a CD player... or even a tape deck that works!)... not just because I am a nice b/f, but because if I am going to borrow her car for much longer (hopefully not... but hey, ya never know), I might get a case of road rage and snap and kill someone..... (j/k...... maybe :-) )


anyway... enough of that.... moving along....