Summer 2013

Well it's summer time again, June 4th to be exact and I find myself once again teaching summer school. My main reason for teaching summer school EVERY YEAR is because I feel like if I were at home left to my own devices I would get extremely bored. The reason I think this is that when I have extended breaks I tend to get bored thus I teach summer school. I'm not sure I used 'thus' correctly just now but I'm ok with it. It is already the second week of a five week summer school and things are moving along. Stockton continues to be Stockton and this week we are expecting triple digit temperatures! Yay Stockton! News - Ok so whats new since my last post? I have recently acquired a 2005 Harley Davidson Dyna wide-glide from a nice elderly gentleman from Lodi. The bike was immaculate when I bought it and runs perfect. I didn't care for the color and I have since had it painted flat black. I then took off the sissy bar and replaced the seat with a lower profile seat. My next modification will be a Thunder Header exhaust. Below are a few pictures pre seat and sissy bar delete and post paint job.

Tick Tock...

Well the 2013 school year is coming to an end. It's been a really great school year for my school. A lot has changed, a lot of new opportunities for the students have been made available. Some students are taking full advantage while others are still sitting on the side lines waiting. Waiting for something to happen 'to' them rather then making something happen. I find that if you sit by and wait for something to happen to you, it never does. Or nothing good happens to you. The good things that happen in your life are things you have to go out hunt down and work hard for. Then good things happen. If you sit on your couch or on the side lines or in your room waiting... not much happens. I am super busy with a lot of different things. I have a lot of idea's (my problem is never ideas it's executing them). I hope to create even more artistic opportunities for my students next year. At home things are great. Brody is doing excellent and growing like a weed. He talks ALOT around family and very little around people that he does not know. He loves cartoons and our iPad. Jacelyn is also doing very well. Her work is going very well and she is now getting much deserved recognition for being the most stable and reliable person in her lab. She is a spin-workout-aholic! Mothers days was yesterday and we spent it at Sue and Dales house. During our visit our little dog Roxy pee'd in the kitchen and Dale accidentally stepped in it and demanded she be put outside. Jacelyn's cousin Marcelo is visiting from Uruguay and we are going to go to an A's game tonight which should be fun.

Brodified

1989 Autocross Honda Civic SI

I recently bought a 1989 Honda Civic SI.  The car weigh's around 2085 pounds according to the previous owner.  The car's suspention has been heavily modified for Autocross events.  The engine is stock but has a freshly rebuilt head, a cold air intake and a DC header.  The civic also came with several sets of rims and tires as well as a bunch of other spares. 

This is how the car looks as of today.  The rims and tires on it are for street use, I have about a million tires and rims in my garage that will be used during events.

My plans have changed! Big surprise! I am no longer the proud owner of this fun little car.

Here is an early pic of the car just after it was purchased by Charlie Davis of Burlingame CA.  Basically a stock 1989 Honda Civic SI.

The car was then painted this dark grey/silver color.  Charlie didnt like the paint and apparently it was poorly done so the color was changed.

The car in action in it's grey/silver paint sporting the Rota boost wheels.

This is Charlie Davis (background) and Ed Runnion.  They co-drove the car for the past 3 years in various events including the Nationals which take place in Lincoln Nebraska.

This looks like the Oracle stadium during a S.F. SCCA event.

My plan is to drive the car in the Sacramento Chapter events this year at both Mather Field and the San Joaquin fairgrounds here in Stockton.

But like all good things my ownership of "The Rat" has come to an end.  I needed room in my garage and between the car, tires and parts I had for the car I had no room.  The car was sold to a very nice guy from Seattle Washington who flew down and drove the car back up to Seattle.  He is a driving instructor and knew the car from competing against it at the Auto X nationals.  I hope he enjoys it!

A few of my favorite things... wheeler dealers.

Just a quick note, if you have never watched the T.V. show Wheeler Dealers and you are a car nut (as I am) then you need to check it out.  The easiest way to watch it is on Youtube.com.  Many of the episodes have been uploaded onto Youtube and can be watched in several parts.  The show is a bit 'cheeky' and made in Brittain (hence my cheeky comment).  The two hosts are like night and day although the goofyness of the host "Mike' is definitely rubbing off on the mechanic Ed.  The two blokes (dudes) buy cars and fix them up to sell for a profit.  The show is VERY British and proud of it and thats one of the reasons I love it.  The difference in speech, slang, customs are all very intersting as well as the difference in cars.  Did you know ford made an AWESOME 4 door turbo charged bad ass sedan in the 80's and 90's when they teamed up with the Forumla One engine company Cosworth? I did but that's because I'm more wordly then you dear reader and I had a british friend who told me about such awesome cars that he reffered to as 'Cossie's'.  They also teamed up with Mercedes to produce another great little 4 door sports sedan.  Anyway thats the type of car they feature.  British, Japanese, German, Italian and even U.S. cars are bought, fixed up and sold on.  I'll add more later but you should be clicking on Youtube right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuZfRgCWVdQ

My Black 1964 VW bug "La Cucaracha"

A month ago I saw a neat looking bug on craigslist in Tracy.  They seller was asking what I felt was too much and was 'firm' on price according to the advertisement.  I liked the car but wasn't interested in  it at that price.  I was browsing Craigslist again a week or so ago and there was the same car at a more reasonable but still to high of a price.  But it was in the ballpark.  I called the seller and went to look at the car.  The seller claimed the car had recently developed a noise that sounded like the throw out bearing going out.  I agreed with that assessment.  I was able to talk the seller way down on price and we came to an agreeable price.  I drove the car home.  I took it to Bob's German the following Monday to have the throw out bearing changed out.  To my dismay Bob's diagnosed the problem as being a much more serious crank issue and informed me that I needed to rebuild the ENTIRE engine.  I purchased a rebuilt long block from Bob's and had them rebuild the engine.  Here are pics of the day I bought it, the drive home through the back roads of Tracy and a few other pics I took. Enjoy!

And its sold!

What happened to September?

September came and went faster then the blink of an eye.  My school is going well with a few riot's here and there but that's to be expected right?  I've spent a lot of time taking pictures and video of my students as my video class continues to develop.  Brody is doing very well although yesterday he got bit my a mosquito on his eye! I have a picture I'll post in here.  Jacelyn is doingOverall it's been a very productive few weeks but extremely busy.  I hope you are all doing well!  I attended a trip to South Lake Tahoe with my students that is where the balloon photos were taken.  No we did not get to ride on the balloon but I did take pics of it as they made for an interesting photograph.   Enjoy the pics!

 Brody's big bulgy eye.

 Pope beach, balloon take off.

 Pope beach 7 A.M.

Taken on the western side of Tahoe during a hike
at the Sugar Pine state park.

My mug.