[N/A] Weekend projects

[Ted]

So, I've been traveling a lot. To the point where I see my house once every couple of weeks and when I check in at the Holiday Inn they say "Welcome home." I recently got upgraded to Platinum Elite status with Priority Club (the Holiday Inn/Intercontinental/etc. rewards thing). To me that means "Give up and sell your hosue now, you live here."

This past weekend I actually wasn't doing a puppy or kitty mission, so I decided to see if my house was still standing and take care of some projects. Here's what got accomplished:

1) I got my 2000 Honda RC51 running and riding. I bought this as a project bike sometime around February. It finally made it to my house around August (no joke). By the time it made it, I started on my non-stop travel and haven't been home long enough to work on it. The idiot who had it before me removed two of the shims in the front wheel which caused the wheel to move back and forth on its shaft. This is, to say the least, bad. Installed the shims, dealt with a few electrical issues, threw a new battery in it, and it runs and rides great. Still need to get some headlights on it (going for the street fighter look) and fix an exhaust leak.

2) Changed the right rear wheel bearing on the 3000GT VR-4. Was making a bunch of noise. This has the older style where you have to pound the bearings in and out. Mitsubishi also torques this down to 200 lb-ft, which makes loosening and tightening an interesting task. Of course, now that I've done that it's a lot quieter and I can hear the fact that the left rear wheel bearing needs replaced as well, not to mention the timing belt (it's due and the tensioner is making noise). Guess what I just ordered...

3) Changed the oil on the Aztec and fixed the right side prop heat (had a little help on this stuff).

Rode the RC51 a bit for test riding it. I forgot how much I love riding something with some power to it, and the RC51 is a very torquey bike with the 1000CC V-twin, which is why I bought it. I also rode the Seca II around some, and wished I had more time to ride, but I also had to drive from Boston to PA on Friday and from PA back to Boston on Sunday, so I had roughly a day and a half to get all that work done.

Not bad for a weekend. Miraculously, it looks like I might be home next weekend as well, so I'm trying to make sure I have everything I need so I can finish up the other items on the RC51 (and get a little more riding in) and at least change the other wheel bearing on the Mitsubishi. I figure once I'm actually home for more than a few hours at a time I'll do the timing belt and also change out the valve seals that have gone bad after 143,000 miles.

Just felt like sharing my weekend projects. It was fun to do, since I haven't had a chance to turn a wrench in quite a while.

 

[ScottM]

So, I've been traveling a lot. To the point where I see my house once every couple of weeks and when I check in at the Holiday Inn they say "Welcome home." I recently got upgraded to Platinum Elite status with Priority Club (the Holiday Inn/Intercontinental/etc. rewards thing). To me that means "Give up and sell your hosue now, you live here."

I know what you mean. I at least always had someone using my house. But a woman I worked with was home so infrequently that she sold her condo and the one week of the month that she was not travelling would just stay in a local hotel. She kept all her stuff in a storage facility.

 

[Ted]

I know what you mean. I at least always had someone using my house. But a woman I worked with was home so infrequently that she sold her condo and the one week of the month that she was not travelling would just stay in a local hotel. She kept all her stuff in a storage facility.

I actually have had some people using my house from time to time, which has been good for the periods when I'm gone for a few weeks at a time.

This is a temporary deal, although I'll end up finishing the year out at something around 60% travel, not including all the Cloud Nine stuff. No wonder I feel like I'm never home.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

last weekend:
Fixed weedeaters
reasssembled and tuned chainsaw
cleaned garage out
drove motorcycle, set oil a-draining
took out a bunch of waspnests
started fenceline (hilly vacant pasture, 1/3mi cattle fence, tons of spanish dagger and other nasty cactus)
yardwork
clean house as much as a guy would
researched various problems online
flew

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Removed tile / duroc / drywall from around the tub in the houses original bathroom.
Removed the cast iron bath tub (with the assistance of a 10 pound sledge).
Pulled down the studs that had been added to fit the now no longer there tub (took it back to the original 1929 studs).
Went flying - no where in particular - one lap around the house, flew south a bit, then came back. 0.9 hours. Two landings. Stupid battery was low - and the Rotax will not (no way, no how) start without a good fast crank. But it only took one flip (with the tail tied down) to get underway.

 

[denverpilot]

So, I've been traveling a lot. To the point where I see my house once every couple of weeks and when I check in at the Holiday Inn they say "Welcome home." I recently got upgraded to Platinum Elite status with Priority Club (the Holiday Inn/Intercontinental/etc. rewards thing). To me that means "Give up and sell your hosue now, you live here."

Just reviving this thread as a necropost to see if Ted misses this. Heh.

 

[Ted]

Just reviving this thread as a necropost to see if Ted misses this. Heh.

You know, Nate, I was thinking about this time in my life the other day. When I agreed to do that non-stop travel for the job, one of the reasons was voluntarily "paying my dues" because nobody else on the team was single and in a position to reasonably do the travel like I was. The work was a good experience, a generally fun time, and good for the resume with some various perks (like enough Priority Club points to buy my own franchise). I didn't take as much advantage of being in the Boston area as I should have (in terms of spending more time with friends, etc.) but overall, I'm glad I took the opportunity to do it when I did, it was a good experience. That was also a fun time in my life in general. North Central PA is a wonderful part of the country, especially if you like riding motorcycles. @Laurie and I had just started dating a few months prior, and our mutual travel schedules ended up working out well for a lot of fun adventures around the continent, days that we both look back on fondly.

While I enjoy reminiscing about those days and they're days that I would happily relive in my life (there are many periods of my life that I would not relive for any amount of money, call them the first 20 years), I'm glad they're done today. Being married with three children, my primary interest in travel is with my family to see people and places that we want to go, aside from the obvious Cloud Nine travel.

 

[denverpilot]

While I enjoy reminiscing about those days and they're days that I would happily relive in my life (there are many periods of my life that I would not relive for any amount of money, call them the first 20 years), I'm glad they're done today. Being married with three children, my primary interest in travel is with my family to see people and places that we want to go, aside from the obvious Cloud Nine travel.

Isn't it interesting? I've been thinking a lot about "so what do I want to do with the next 20 years?" lately so when I run across someone's "old life" and also look back at mine I keep coming to the same conclusion :

Just go do whatever. You'll either figure out how to make it work or you'll just change course ... again.

No reason to not start with a plan, but the plan isn't going to survive the war anyway.

It's fun to look back and see it working that way for nearly everyone. Sure, tragedy sometimes strikes but it can do that anytime anywhere anyway. Re: Eggman's chickens.

 

[Ted]

Isn't it interesting? I've been thinking a lot about "so what do I want to do with the next 20 years?" lately so when I run across someone's "old life" and also look back at mine I keep coming to the same conclusion :

Just go do whatever. You'll either figure out how to make it work or you'll just change course ... again.

No reason to not start with a plan, but the plan isn't going to survive the war anyway.

It's fun to look back and see it working that way for nearly everyone. Sure, tragedy sometimes strikes but it can do that anytime anywhere anyway. Re: Eggman's chickens.

I agree. I had a plan. Where I've gone is a lot different, mostly because I've gone aviation instead of automotive for my profession. It's been a wonderfully serendipitous accident, and I'm glad that I just went where the tides took me.

We have a plan for the next 20 years, a loose one. Really, we'll just see where the tides continue to take us.

 

[RJM62]

All I have on the agenda is the seasonal tire swap / rotation on my car. The rest of the weekend is mine! I had a tree that needed to be cut down before it fell down and took out the propane tanks and the back of the house, but I got that done today. It was a good day for it, and I needed the exercise anyway.

Rich

 

[denverpilot]

Rich you need to use that last one in your marketing material for your business. "I will clean up your code..." Hah.

 

[RJM62]

Rich you need to use that last one in your marketing material for your business. "I will clean up your code..." Hah.

I'm thinking about printing it on my past-due invoices to speed up collections. And I'm only half joking.

Rich

 

[denverpilot]

I'm thinking about printing it on my past-due invoices to speed up collections. And I'm only half joking.

Someone would probably claim that your microagression triggered their PTSD and they need Net-90 in their safe place.

 

[RJM62]

Someone would probably claim that your microagression triggered their PTSD and they need Net-90 in their safe place.

Nah. But this version might.

Rich

 

[mscard88]

All I have on the agenda is the seasonal tire swap / rotation on my car. The rest of the weekend is mine! I had a tree that needed to be cut down before it fell down and took out the propane tanks and the back of the house, but I got that done today. It was a good day for it, and I needed the exercise anyway.
Rich

Did you use the propane tanks to take out the back of your house????

 

[JB1842]

I added 700 sq ft to my basement pretty much every weekend for the past 7 months. Time to put that time and money into flying more this year.

 

[Jay Honeck]

Just go do whatever. You'll either figure out how to make it work or you'll just change course ... again.

No reason to not start with a plan, but the plan isn't going to survive the war anyway.

lol For sure!

If, in 1996, anyone had told this former newspaper guy and his Medical Technologist wife that in 20 years they would be owning their second aviation themed hotel on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, we would have thought that person was daft. I mean, over the moon lunatic.

Of all the future paths we could have taken in 1996, our current reality was by far the least likely scenario of them all. Yet it happened.

My advice: Enjoy the ride!

 

[Jay Honeck]

Oh, but more in keeping with the spirit of the thread, here are pictures of the shower and upgraded bathroom I put in at our hangar in February. It's awesome to have a nice shower at the end of a long flight, or after working on the annual inspection (which I also did in February).

 

[Hank S]

Wow, Jay, you're much shorter than the mental image I had developed of you. . . .

 

[Jay Honeck]

Wow, Jay, you're much shorter than the mental image I had developed of you. . . .

lol I presume you're referring to the gal in the picture. That's Mary, and she's a full 12.5" shorter than me, at just 5' tall.

Which made finding an RV we could both fly interesting, BTW, but I digress...

 

[tree96]

My weekend project has turned into a 4 weekend ordeal. I have about 60 feet of creek bed running alongside my garage that i have been putting gabion baskets along. To say it's a bit laborious is an understatement.