Need advice

Spark, y'alls. 

The winners get a nice plate of hummus and crackers.

 

10 pages folks!!!  WOOHOO!!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.............

 

Hummus!

Tonight it was a shiraz/cabernet blend and white cheddar Cheez Nips.  I went cheap.

Have you tried Cheez Its, Lane?

 

…or Cheese Whiz? 

 

But then again, I would never eat anything with 'Whiz' in it! 

You and I think a lot alike, my friend...

In 2011 I road my bicycle from New York to Washington DC as part of the Police Unity Tour to raise money for the National Peace Officers Memorial. On one of the days we stopped in and stayed in  Phillidelphia. I had ridden my bike nearly 125 miles that day and after getting to the hotel I got cleaned up and walked 14 blocks to find me an original Phillidelphia Cheese Steak sandwich. Imagine my surprise when I found out that an original PCS sandwich is served with.................you guessed it, Cheese Whiz. Dang good sandwich.

Philly Cheese & Steak sandwich...garnished with fried Vidallia sweet onions. Yum!

 

Before the advent of fast food franchises, with uniform and predictable offerings, being served something as simple as a cheese burger was always a 'taste adventure' as unique as the establishment's décor and atmosphere....I love reminiscing. 

If all else fail, let's call on these guys.  Real pros.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrMIZgYr4Kk

I look forward to the day that I can call every day Saturday. But it's a few years off for me, with my youngest being twelve.

 

Lane should get his package tomorrow, so we'll see who wins. Obviously, I'm on the spark "team".

 

Mike, Lane doesn't have a mechanical pump AFAIK. He has a CB self-regulated electric. I think I used 6 or 7 gaskets on a mechanical pump to bring the pressure down to 1.5 psi for some dual Solexes, no regulator needed.

 

Gordon, I've never had an Expresso, but I've owned several Espresso machines.

 

Perhaps you meant Expresso Love by Dire Straits?

Nope, the real deal - Middle Eastern Expresso or the Expresso version of Yaucano Coffee from Puerto Rico, and occasionally beans from Trinidad.

 

Sometime in the middle of my career I started to drink coffee.  Not a lot at first, just a cup now and then while I was looking over paperwork or cranking code.

 

Then I moved to a company that provided coffee FREE to the Engineering staff.  That got me to several cups, usually just in the morning.  

 

Later, when we really got a good handle on the Engineering budgets and had the rest of the company looking the other way (and also because we had now become a multi-national Eng. group), we went whole-hog and bought expensive, Italian, Cappuccino/Expresso machines for the larger Eng. departments and worked with our European and Middle Eastern offices to find good sources for coffee roasters.  Two of us Me and Hanna Moreshet (Israel) were usually in before 7am and made the first pot of either really strong coffee or Expresso, depending on the mood and most of that was quickly consumed.

 

So all that got me drinking about a pot of coffee before heading out the door to go to work, and another pot or so of expressos during the day (no, I'm not kidding - maybe 10-14 expressos per day, all straight black, no sugar).

 

One night just before ten pm, I told my wife I was going to see our doctor to figure out why I wasn't sleeping well anymore.  "You dumb a$$!" she replied, "Do you think it has anything to do with the four pots of coffee you're drinking each day?" (I neglected to tell her that half of that was Expressos, choosing to minimize the embarrassment).

 

Wives are so practical.......

 

Shortly thereafter, I quit coffee, cold-turkey, and switched to 2 cups of green tea per day.  AMAZING life improvement ensued and if I have even a single, small coffee in the morning now, it makes me ill and gives me a buzz.

 

Sometimes, you need to listen to your wife.........

As a 10th anniversary with the company gift I got to choose what I wanted from a catalog, and I chose a Capresso espresso maker with separate frother.  It sits at my desk in the on-base office since I'm here more than my fancier office at the company site.  I limit myself to one (usually) or two (on rare occasions) espresso or cappuccino a day as more over-caffeinates me.  Some of you have already seen me wound up and know that I should most definitely avoid being over-caffeinated.

When I worked at Lockheed (my first professional job) coffee was free, but they asked for a donation. It was Hills Brothers. Horrible swill. I drank may a cup a week at work. Many of the Sr. engineering guys looked at me like I had 5 eyeballs. I moved to my current company after two years there. We have Pete's, Starbucks, and some private roasters - all free. I drink about 4 cups a day. We also have free soda and sparkling water. I don't touch the soda. I may go through 5 cans of water a week.

The free food is a whole different story.

Gordon's next ride:

Kinda tough to read the name on the right, but I get it.

 

When I'm at the company offices I avoid the nasty swill in the break rooms and lobby and use the Keurig in executive row.  They don't seem to mind.  I'm kind of a big deal. (name that movie )

 

 

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine describes a newly discovered phenomenon similar to color blindness, linking high levels of caffeine consumption with the inabilty to distinguish between certain pairs of letters in the alphabet.

 

Scientists have documented numerous cases of the syndrome, but as yet have no esplanation for its cause.

 

 

Anchorman.

10 pages and more drifting than all Fast and Furious movies combined! I like it! 

 

Through it all, we're all rooting for Lane to perform the perfect exorcism of his vehicular demons with the help of Danny's gear! 

       
       

I hear it starts with 'x' and 's'. Advanced stages include 'v' and 'f'.

I'm in good shape, but a few of you are vucked.

Ted

You're right, Koda. A good Philly Cheesesteak sandwich is hard to beat! 

"10 pages and more drifting than all Fast and Furious movies combined! I like it! "

 

We gotta do something whilst we wait for the CARE package to arrive.  So is anyone collecting money for the forum pool about whether it's spark, carbs, or something else?

Doing my part to extend this to 11...

Can I change my vote to loose nut behind the wheel.  A sure winner :-)

Hah! Love it. Lane is trying to finance his fix.

 

Gotta keep an eye on this guy,
Ted

 BWAH HAH HAAaaaaahhhhhh.................... 

"This one goes to 11."

 

Also: Weird Al is right, but a lot of people have been wrong.

Lane, maybe Pam will buy you this Espresso Machine for Christmas.  

Yeah, just sittin' here reading' the news and sipping my Expresso (Green tea, really).....  Waitin' for Lane's package to arrive so we can get on to the next chapter in "As the Engine Turns".

 

And if I have enough of them......well....This happens:  

 

Or maybe I'll just listen to "Expresso Love" by Dire Straights:  

OK, you're just doing that on purpose now. 

Yeah Marty, that's the one I want! 

 

"As the Engine Turns"  I like that. 

Ok, so I got Danny's CARE package today.  He has the older style ignitor so I'll use his coil as well just to be safe.  I may take off work early tomorrow in the hopes of having it running for Cars & Coffee on Saturday.  Danny, you understand that I'll need a few miles on your distributor to make sure it's all working, right?

 

WHAT!?  We're still on 10 pages?  Sheesh!

I think we have surpassed the old Nardi horn button thread page count :~)

Fingers crossed Lane.

 

Sammies on ice, awaiting word of a resounding success.....   Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.

No joy in Mudville.  It now appears to be firing on all four cylinders but is still running poorly.  It seems to be extremely rich and it may simply need a carb adjustment.  I can't get to it tomorrow as I actually have a life that doesn't involve being up to my elbows in this car, but I will get to it on Sunday... again.

 

Lane, have you negotiated a book deal yet for this story?

 

I'm very interested. And if we can work something out, I'd approach the Coen brothers with a screenplay, too.

 

I'm thinking of a working title like "Oh Misfire, Where Art Thou?"

 

 

Are you sure there's not a Soob mechanic sneaking into your garage at night trying to get you to go over to the dark (correct) side....   :-)

Well just dammit, Lane.  May I add WTF??  Hard to believe.  If a carb is too rich it will still run ok but not efficient---but OK unless we're talking Pig rich but how could it get that way by itself?

 

So sorry you are going through this.  I have enjoyed the adventure and the lesson in patience and perserverance, but am anxious to see you able to stick a fork in this trial.  Good luck--many of us are rooting for you!

 

I can loan you my AFR meter if you want--simple and easy to use & read.---do you have a bung in your exhaust? (sounds kinda personal, doesn't it?)