Uncategorized

Tomie’s Plane

My life is a series of failures. This is a story of just one of those failures. Tomie dePaola was a teacher at New England College. He taught design. I took a number of his courses. Tomie was passionate about design. I identified with that passion. Tomie taught me about the power of color, and the curve. Also, he was a story teller. As a story teller he taught the importance of progression. I found Tomie to be inspirational

The students claimed Tomie was queer, or gay. Tomie was identified as one of two gay professors. The other taught cinematography. Tomie never spoke of his orientation. The othe professor, it was all he would talk about. This was back in the 70’s, I had just turned 20. I was extremely naive, and truly did not understand what they were talking about. I just knew it was some sort of thing.

The cinematography professor called himself “Dark Star” and made movies about his life with method called Cinema Verite. I watched a few in his classes and thought they were very strange. Yet his classes were packed, he was treated like a rock star. 20 years or so later I saw him on PBS, filming himself dying of aids. As far as I could tell his story was a grim grayscale montage of bleakness.

Tomie on the other hand did not draw crowds. He was happy with his small classes. His stories were about color and light. In real life he was a struggling children’s book author and illustrator that was just coming into success. His story Strega Nona was recently published and that was beginning to bring him fame. Tomie invited his students into his home where he showed how there could be happiness in a simple life. His house, where he lived with his friend was a simple, neatly maintained, old New England cape style house. The walls were all white with colorful decorations. The wide pine floors were finished in natural color. The home was a model of simple utilitarianism.

More than any other teacher, I wished that Tomie was a member of my family. I wished that he was an aunt or uncle, grandparent or cousin. There was a happiness in his soul that was infectious. I just wanted to sit around the table with family and enjoy a big bowl of magic pasta.

My own family situation was not so good. Different members of my family were in constant war with each other. Members would blame each other for their own actions. No wonder I just wanted a bowl of magic pasta. Somehow to appease the infighting, my family placed me in an asylum. I was quite surprised by this turn of events as I had never done anything to hurt anyone, or anything.

Eventually insurance monies run out and I was released from full time confinement. Bewildered by life I was seeking answers. Tomie had said that his door would always be open to his students if we wanted help in the future. I figured out where Tomie’s new home was and arrived unannounced one day.

I was not forthcoming about what had happened to me, and Tomie did not ask. He did welcome me into his new home, and made me a cup of coffee. I let him know had never drank a cup of coffee before. I asked for lots of cream and sugar. I was not going to turn down a cup of coffee from Tomie. The conversation turned to Tomie’s work, and his marvelous new studio. He was like a child in dreamland. There was a beautiful place for all his treasured objects. Every brush had a home, separated by type and style. I was amazed by all the different papers. Each type of paper had its own drawer. Then as the papers became stories, each story had its own drawer. It was the quintessential place for everything, and everything in it’s place. It was a bit of heaven on earth. Truly aspirational.

The takeaways were Love What You Do, and you don’t get anywhere without work. So I would take any job, and work like my life depended on it. Because in a way it did, the asylum would have me back. I had seen how the inside of such places work. It is hard to get out. Eventually I became successful. I had money for the extras in life. I decided that I wanted to build a plane. I had always dreamed of flying.

The plane I wanted to build was a RV-9A. It is offered as a kit from Van’s Aircraft. Vans Aircraft is a leading manufacturer of kit aircraft. The RV-9A is a two seat aluminum aircraft powered by a Lycoming engine. The kit provided all of the materials used to assemble the airframe, and used something like 10,000 rivets to hold it together. Even the assembly manual was inspiring. There was a certain Zen like quality to making an airplane. I chronicled much of the process on a website AHYUP.COM a now defunct site that can only be visited by using the Wayback Machine or other web archive. The process was very educational, to my amazement parts fit. I learned how things fit together precisely. I was so happy to have my own aircraft factory. I have not worked on anything better in my life. I had reached Nervana.

Back in the 1975 BMW commissioned it’s first art car. The Alexander Calder BMW 3.0 CSL. It was stunning. By far the most famous car paint job of the era. At least it was in my world. I was a big fan of Alexander Calder’s kinetic sculptures. Talk about kinetic art. AlsoI had a friend that had CSL BMW. It was an amazing car to drive all by itself. Famous car, famous artist. What could be better. Every year or so BMW would commission another art car. Today there are 20 BMW art cars.

Can you can see where I am going with this? When I was ready to paint my plane I wanted Tomie to design the paint job. There are wonderfully painted aircraft, however they are mostly an expression of the owners emotions. Think of motorcycle gas tanks, or maybe lowriders. Most race cars are an expression of the sponsor. Then there are the generic stripes that are an expression of flight through the air.

When my plane was ready for paint, I was going to ask Tomie dePaola to design me a paint job. Tomie had a recognizable style because of his fame. His work had a childish whimsy to it. I wanted that experience expressed on my aircraft. I think he would have enjoyed such a thing. However it never happened. I do stupid things like buying high and selling low. I sold the plane long before it was ready for paint. Tomie is gone now, I will never have the chance to ask. Another missed opportunity.

Just call me Captain Failure. There are good things in my failure though. Nobody was hurt, and other people made money from my mistakes. I am here to make other people look good. There just could have been more happiness in life had I succeeded.

The other day I thought, why not ask AI to make me a Tomie Plane? Well, I found out that is going to be really hard to do. I came nowhere close to getting a result. I would have got a better result making a CAD model and painting it myself. So what did I end up with? Another feather of failure to stick in my cap. I have quite the headdress.

Talking Points

Of course I watched the debate last night. I streamed it from U-tube and then cast it from my phone to the TV. My first impression is I have to give CNN points on a well run debate. Questions were fair, and debate did not turn into a brawl. The result was both candidates went over their talking points, and called the other a liar.

When speaking Trump was clear and forceful. Biden was unfortunately a bit mumbly. I could have done a better job at his talking points, and I am not very good at public speaking.

That’s my analysis. Of course it is not what I think that matters, it is the talking heads. A quick perusal of some different talking heads sugest that Biden did poorly and top Democrats were in a panic. A few suggested Biden resign or is replaced. Then there were some hard core folks that said everything Trump said was a lie. As for the other Trump critics, they said he was surprisingly well restrained. Trump is known for his love of a good brawl, that is what I see, despite what Biden said about Corn Pop.

My heart did go out to Biden when he mentioned his son Beau Biden. The loss of a son to brain cancer is a terrible thing. Yet there are many tragedies in life. It is not a tragedy that makes presidential material. It takes more. War is a much greater tragedy. Trump made a strong point that the world had fewer wars under his watch. Never mind Trump Gate, that was his true legacy.

The most interesting moment was when Trump was asked if he was going to deport all of the illegals. He did not answer. Of course many partisan people will say what they believe Trump will do. My belief is he wants to make the process easier. Once upon a time I actually listened to him.

The Strawman Walks Into The Fire

Alvar Aalto designed a chair that was built by Artek, a company he helped begin. In 1936 his “Armchair 400” won a design competition in Milan. The armchair was a brilliant fun design. It became commonly known as a “Tank Chair” as the armrests were shaped somewhat like tank tracks. They were delightful for any child as they were hugely fun. The Tank Chair had the ability to bounce in as the armrests also served as springs.

In 1976 I was living in the old house, heated with a wood stove and entertainment provided by a radio. For boredom I would buy the Sunday New York Times. Lots to read in that paper. It was huge. My meals were mostly beans and rice, sometimes I would add catchup. I was going to New England College. I lived almost a most a monk like existence. Although the old house had been been the sumer family home for generations, nobody had lived there full time for over 50 years. I moved into town and registered to vote as a Republican. Although I was a New York Liberal I was aware the town was 98% Republican. No need to make waves.

My nearest neighbor was a half mile away. He was a retired upholsterer that had an early 60’s Chrysler Imperial in his driveway. It was a magnificent automobile, though the New England winters had taken a toll on the machine. He preferred it to anything newer though. He still did reupholstery in his garage if you needed some done.

In 1976 I was old enough to vote. That would be my 1st presidential election. My next door neighbor invited me to watch the presidential debate on TV. Furthermore he said he would not add commentary, he believed they should speak for themselves. I was a bit surprised that he did not offer his opinion. He thought it was more important for me to see the candidates. When my brother and I were young his wife used to baby sit us. That was when we would bounce in the Tank Chairs. Do you still have the Tank Chairs I asked? Yes he replied, OK I responded. I was to see Gerald Ford debate Jimmy Carter on who would be a better president.

I guessed my neighbor Jack was a Republican, wasn’t everyone in this town? He never did say though. I liked Jimmy Carter, he was both a farmer and a nuclear scientist. We were both very polite. The serious old man and the long haired college hippie. The only thing I remember from the debate was a fly landing on Jimmy Carter, he did not brush it away. I thought that was unusual, I would have swatted it away. I might of even mentioned it at the time. Much of debate was over my head. I sincerely thanked Jack for his kindness. I had a lot to learn.

A lot has happened in 48 years. Soon there will be a presidential debate between two people that were and are actually presidents. That is a first. When I watched with Jack, one candidate was a non elected vice president, the other a governor. Nether had been president. This time both people have been president for four years. Other than that similarity, the candidates could not be more different. One is a life-long politician, the other bought his way into the highest office. That is a giant rift in philosophies. Other than working your way to the top of a lifetime of political service. It is new in this country to go from non governmental entrepreneurship to the top government job.

I used to be a devoted MSNBC – CNN – NPR listener. They introduced me to Trump, so did my political liberal friends. CNN and friends said that Trump said that Trump voters were older white blue color workers. After a bit they claimed that I was a Nazi and Trump was Hitler. The next thing I knew there were riots in the streets. I was bewildered. Looking back I belive that Trump was supposed to be a Straw Man. He was not supposed to win. He was supported by CNN and friends to destroy the Republican party.

People were unhappy about Trump actually wining, so they started the Pink Hat revolution. And Joe Biden became president. Not everyone was happy about that. Lawfare has become a big thing in the world of soundbites. It is rare to get substantial discussion about politics. I find it curious that CNN is running the debate. The CNN moderator has called Trump Hitler. Most people would think that setting fire to Hitler would be justifiably beneficial to society. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire.

Like my friend Jack said. I would suggest you watch the debate before you vote. Find a comfortable chair if you can. It could make it that much more enjoyable. Then after watching the debate see if you can say something nice. We have become such a negative nation all we do is repeat negative soundbites. If that continues we are doomed. Because of our prevarication of negativity, I do believe we need to say something positive. Extra points if you can say something nice about both.

Rainy Day Lawn

Looking out the window I see an un-mowed lawn. There is rain on the window and the sky is gray. I am sad, I want to mow the lawn. It is not just the rain that is keeping from mowing the lawn. I am teathered to the inside of my house by pain. For the first time I could not mow even if I wanted to.

A little more than ten percent of Americans live in apartments. There are almost 150 million homes in America. So would guess at least half of Americans live in homes with lawns. Mowing the lawn is a thing.

Some people consider mowing the lawn to be a chore, a necessary evil. I started mowing the lawn as a child, as a choir. It was something that I needed to do to keep my father happy. It was hard to keep him happy. He expected us to use old push mowers he had bought at yard sales for 50 cents. He would want us kids to race each other with the mowers. It never really worked, we would usually mow after he yelled at us. We were also always trying to fix the mowers too.

Eventually I was fortunate enough to get a real job. Times were tough back in the 70’s. After buying a new truck, the first thing I bought was a riding lawn mower. Now mowing lawns was fun! I mowed and mowed. I made lawns bigger, I mowed lawns for pay. I mowed lawns for fun!

There is a certain amount of satisfaction to mowing a lawn. It is something that looks good when it is done. You get to make patterns in the grass. After a while you get to do it again. Maybe it can be even better next time. I typically wear noise canceling headsets and listen to music. It is fun to look at the gardens, trees and even the sky. A little bit of peaceful scenery in our hectic world.

There is big business in mowing lawns, many people pay to have their lawns mowed. Why golf courses are nothing but a professionally mowed game. People like to see nicely mowed lawns. A building can be perfect, yet if the lawn is unmowed, the building looks shabby. If a shabby building has a nicely mowed lawn, it has character. You know somebody cares.

Hope I can mow the lawn again soon.

Lawfare

Have a problem, get a lawyer.

Have a problem with someone with a lawyer, Get a table full of lawyers.

If they have a table full of lawyers, get a room full of lawyers.

They have a room full of lawyers? Better retain an entire floor full of lawyers. Ouch.

They have entire floor full of high paid lawyers, better hope you can afford an entire building full of of lawyers.

They have an entire building full of lawyers, well you better forget about it. The only one with an entire city full of lawyers is the government. You can’t go against them. Though I must admit, some have tried.

Not only does the government get to write the laws, they also get to enforce the laws. Got that?

I live in a grumpy little town, they are always complaining about each other on Facebook. The people that run the town, we’ll they would rather lie than tell the truth. Amazingly they would do this even if the truth wouldn’t harm them. One example is they blew up a dam. To a certain extent they were legally in the right. Then why did they lie about it, given proof, they threatened to sue me for liable. Even though I may have been right, there was no discussion just the threat of legal action. This is just the beginning of lawfare. I backed down. I cannot afford those type of problems. This small town is known for lies and lawfare. For example, during town meeting they did not break out the towns legal costs. Lawfare is simply a confidential administrative cost.

I did reply to one particularly vile Facebook rant by one of our local crazies with a one word reply, “Lawfare”. To be honest, lawfair is not the best way to resolve disputes. Though I will admit that it is actually better than actual warfare.

Of course the feds play that game. They have the city full of lawyers. Some folks refer to that city as the swamp. The whole city is filled with lawyers battling lawyers. Sometimes they take out lawyers in predawn gun raids. Other times they just give guilty lawyers more lawyers. It all depends on who you know, and who you can call.

I can imagine that it is all very hard to sort out. Palace intrigue is definitely a thing. Me, I just try to follow the rules. Yet even if you try and get along you can get sucked up in lawfare. The IRS went after me for my involvement in a 401(c)3. I was just trying to do what was right. There was no winning, I put on a pink hat.

So I have nothing nice to say here. I do not like lawfare. People should be treated equally. Especially under the law. We have too many grumpy people running things. Always mad about something. They then employ lawfare, and other worse things. Ask me how I know. I guess that is what happens when you get old. You learn from your mistakes, and try not to repeat them.

Idle Time

How do you stop working and enjoy some idle time? Think of something easier to do. For me it was to drive around in an old car. Of course I picked an old car that just needs a wee bit of work. I had picked a pretty darn original Lincoln that just appeared to need some routine maintenence. See my story Continental Mark V. So here I sit, contemplating idle time.

I had left the Mark V story with a car that did not idle. I have been thinking of different ways to correct that problem. Then life handed me a different problem. Lots of pain and a bag attached to my pee wee. Ugh. With respect to my childhood hero Speed Racer I just wanted to hop into the powerful Mark V and drive to the nearby Fells and then go for a walk. Unbelievably my plan was foiled by that villain KAOS. Thank you, Get Smart! Seems there is always an unknown villain in real life?

What I had been planning to do was to grab a 3/4″ socket and a breaker bar. Then I was going to twist the bolt that attaches the harmonic balancer to the crankshaft till the rotor atop the distributor pointed at the number one cylinder wire. Then I was going to remove the number one plug and and place a pencil or something that similar in the hole. I would the twist the aforementioned bolt until the pencil was at its highest.

Now there would be two important things to do. First would be to check the numbers on the harmonic balancer to see if 0 degrees is indicated. I have read that the balancer can shift and the numbers can be in the wrong place. If the numbers are in the wrong place the car will be impossible to time correctly. The other thing I would do is to rotate the bolt back and forth and see if the distributor rotor moves.

Back when I was in college I had a 1970 Mustang convertible with a 302. Sometimes it ran a bit rough, and eventually it did not start. I called a garage and they came and towed it away. It turned out that the timing chain had jumped. The timing sprocket was made of plastic to reduce noise. The plastic fell apart and the chain jumped time. It is a common problem with cars of the era. It is a pretty good chance that the same problem would happen to my car. Anything more than a few degrees of play or lash when I rotated the crank and observed the rotor would indicate a problem.

Before I make any more decisions about what to do with the car I want to check the timing. Maybe all my problems are related to bad timing. Of course I expect the worst, that way I won’t be disappointed. So I have made plans for if there are problems. Ideally there is no play in the timing chain andthe timing is off, I reset the timing and the car runs fine. Or the timing is fine, and there is no play in the chain. Then would have to check for problems in the distributor. Replacing the distributor is not to bad, they are under a hundred dollars. Yet problems with the distributor are unlikely cause idling issues.

My best guess at the moment is there is a problem with the timing chain. Parts are under $300, however there are a few dozen hard to get at bolts. Included in the estimate is a new water pump and harmonic balancer. While in there might as well replace things that may also fail. Unfortunately I am in no shape at the moment to do this work. So I will write about my plans instead.

Something I did not realize when I bought the Mark V was that emission standards for automobiles came into place in 1970. It is illegal to modify a engine built in 1970 or later. What if I were to want to make it better? New cars are so much cleaner and better than cars built in 1978. Legally I could improve a 1969 Lincoln, but not a ’78. Before I knew this I was thinking to restore the car to original and get some baseline measurements. Also to see what it was like in 1978. I do remember people complaining about drivablity back then. I also remember the smog. We are so much better now, in both drivablity and smog.

Back in 1978 cars were allowed 3.38 grams per mile of Hydrocarbons and .40 grams per mile of Nitrogen Oxides. Hydrocarbons are unburned fuel in the exhaust and Nitrogen Oxides are caused by high combustion temperatures. A very simple explanation is a very efficient burn of fuel causes high temperatures that resulted in high Nitrogen Oxides. Nitrogen Oxides were actually visible. Something that could bee seen as smog. The way to reduce smog was to make combustion less efficient. Oh, burn more gas to make a cleaner sky, OK. Then again less efficient combustion causes unburned Hydrocarbons. Back in the day part of the solution was to pump fresh air into the combustion chamber. Adding external air would lower the temperature and displace fuel intake. By all counts today, it was a primitive method of reducing emissions. Almost all cars back then had carburetors and air pumps. Porsche and a few others used mechanical fuel injection. I belive they all used air pumps. The exception was Volkswagen. Volkswagen introduced Boch D-Jetronic electric fuel injection in 1967. In 1978 Volkswagen did not use air pumps to get their emissions down. D-Jetronic is the system that is the grandaddy to all the little computers and sensors carefully measure parameters to determine the best fuel air ratio in today’s automobiles. Interestingly Boch bought the patent rights for this system from AMC Rambler who developed the system way back in the 1950’s. This was the beginning of today’s EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection).

It would be seemingly obvious that if I wanted to improve my old Lincoln I would modify it with EFI. In fact the number one advertisement in my Facebook news feed is Aces Fuel Injection. Talk about Artificial Intelligence! Clean air is essentially a balancing act in combustion. The computer does a better job. Problem is that it is basically illegal. Looking closely at the Aces website it say it is only for use on non emission vehicles sold before 1968. Huh? I had read that you could modify your old car if the new parts were CARB compliant. CARB being an acronym for California Air Resources Board. Yes, I want to replace my carb with EFI. After looking for CARB compliant EFI’s I found the Holly Atomic EFI, and only the Holly Atomic. Reading the fine print on their website I discovered that it was only compliant for GM vehicles. Here is my sad face 😞.

However I persevered. On the internet I found 460 efi guys. I should explain that the engine in the Lincoln is a 460 cubic inch engine. 1978 was the last year it was used in Lincolns, however the 460 carried on till 1997 in trucks. In 1998 Ford put fuel injection on the 460. The “460 efi guys” put the newer 460 efi systems on older 460 engines. On their website they even have a $3600 conversion kit. They also claim I can put my original air cleaner on the kit. Technically this should be legal, as it is a newer system in an older vehicle. Yet it could be argued as it is a truck system in an automobile it would be noncompliant.

Actually keeping my original air filter is a priority. My insurance company says that I am allowed to modify my engine with up to 50 additional horse power. Modified engines almost always have a modified air filter. Plus I like my air filter, it is very cool because it has an oil filter. Or what looks like an oil filter. lt is actually an intake muffler. Whatever, I want to keep it original. I think it looks better that way. It will also keep me insurance compliant.

So as much as I want to keep my car original, it is not that common. In advertisements for old Lincoln’s that say they run good, there is typically an aftermarket carburetor. Either an Elderbrock or Holly. Most often there is a aftermarket intake manifold. Typically an Elderbrock. Drivablity is what is most important to me. Then I would like to be emissions compliant. A little more efficiency and power would be good too.

Looking at my Facebook friend Aces I see that I would need to change my intake manifold. My car has a spread bore carburetor versus the Aces square bore throttle body full injection. To be fair, any choice of throttle body would require a new intake manifold. The Ford spread bore is unique, and not supported. So, a full Aces kit would be around $1500 with another $400 for a intake manifold. As with othe systems, I would have to modify my fuel tank for a fuel pump. So we are talking a couple grand.

There are a number of other similar systems with similar prices. All quasi legal. I have found no good documentation showing these systems work. In a way I could understand why. To show that the system works for you, you would be admitting that you have modified the original system without documentation. Documentation costs money. Lots of testing machines and certification. There is no easy way to document emissions without paying lots of expenses.

In 2015 West Virginia University published a report on Volkswagen diesel emissions. Unable to afford the latest emissions equipment with their $70,000 grant they managed to make some substitute equipment. The sophisticated emissions software in the Volkswagen was not programed to detect that it was actually being tested for emissions in that case. I had some thoughts on trying to replicate West Virginia’s methodology as I have their actual paper. But that would be an absolute bother. Really, how do you actually test programming in individual cases.

Looking at the 460 EFI guys kit I see that it has multi-port fuel injection. That is a system where each cylinder receives its own shot of fuel. In other kits the fuel is injected at the throttle body and the manifold delivers the fuel. The fuel distribution may be slightly uneven. Newer cars almost always have multi-port injection. Looking at the EFI guys kit I see it uses an Elderbrock manifold.

Elderbrock also has a multi-port EFI system. It is only $2200. That includes the manifold. I would have to add a fuel pump and a few other thing. Maybe $500 max. No mention if I could use my original air filter. EFI guys may have better support though?

I just want the car to idle well, sure I could just turn up the idle and it would run. I think that is what the previous owner did. I hope that maybe a timing adjustment would fix it. Yet I fear I may have to bring it up to the modern era. Cars these days are so much better to drive than the cars back then.

Wish me luck, I want to get better, and go for a drive. Then maybe a walk through the Fells.

How To Be A Good Boss

Listen to your people. Know your goals and listen to your people. Find them, talk to them and listen.

Being a good boss can be that simple. Sometimes it is called management by walking around. But it is also being aware of your surroundings. People talk about different things. Some people just like to complain, don’t just filter them out, listen and see if there is a way to make things better. Some talk about their families, look around see if there is anythingthat can be improved. See if you can make their life better. Sometimes people will actually say how to make things better, that is a really good time to listen, and do something. Try. If you can’t figure out how to make things better, figure out why, then explain why it couldn’t happen. Maybe an alternative solution may be found. Try to make things better.

Unfortunately most bosses are not good bosses. It is just human nature. They may unjustifiably belive they are smarter, or have a better idea. Things like ego and narcissism commonly get in the way. I am old enough to have had many bosses. Occasionally I myself have been boss. I find it a bit frightening because of the responsibility. That actually may help me be a better boss because I want my people to be happy. That is why I talk to them, to see what makes them happy. I may remind them why we are here in the job. It is very productive to be able to explain your job simply. It is how we do things. The vast majority of people want to do things right. Some do not, they will need to find something that they will be happy at.

Sometimes people will ask me how I put up with a bad boss. I will say I have had worse. Let me tell a few stories of bad bosses I have had. These are sad, but true.

Some time ago a neighboring department had a new electrical engineer that was fresh out of the Navy. She was smart, and pretty. I will call her Cherry. Cherry quickly moved up into management. She went from engineer to supervisor, to foreman of the department next to where I worked. She also liked her boy toys. She would provide her toys with promotions. Really. She liked to party also. She had a nice chromed Harley and a big jacked up Jeep. They then put Cherry in charge the entire floor of 500 people. That included me. She put one of her boy toys in charge of me. I will him Jerry. Jerry was an alcoholic and on the shift before mine. I did not have a problem with him. I would go up and ask what he wanted me to do, then I would do it. Sometimes he would get mad about silly things. I would try to diffuse the situation. However this story is not about me. It is about Benn. Benn was a good natured mechanic, in a way I was his supervisor for a time because I would assign machines and teach him how to do his job. Before he worked for me I had noticed a couple times I had some unexplained accidents. When Benn worked for me, I would explain what he needed to do, and he would happily do it. Very nice guy and fun to be with was what I thought. He had no accidents when he worked for me. We shared good times.

This not a story about me. I was fortunate enough to get an early retirement so I could leave and find a different job. This is a story about Cherry, Jerry and Benn. I had a couple of go around with Cherry before I left, but that is a different story. When things did not go Jerry’s way, he would yell at the problem. This is a pretty common, but non productive way to deal with stress. The he would call people names. This is a bit less common, and even less productive way to deal with stress. At this point Cherry was on top. She was the plant manager. She allowed the behavior.

One thing I did was defend my people from abuse from above. Sadly I was not there to defend Benn. I was told Jerry was particularly abusive to Benn one day. Benn went home and hanged himself. A year or so later Jerry retired and tried to start his own business. He was unsuccessful and ended up shooting himself dead. When Cherry retired I stopped by and congratulated her as the longest serving plant manager. Cherry was unhappy because she never moved up in the corporate world, in her eyes she was stuck in the hinterlands.

I knew these people and their families. I knew the cars they drove. But I only remember one license plate, it belonged to Cherry. It was “Meaner”

Before that I had another boss in a welding shop I worked at. Well it really wasn’t a shop, we worked on the road a lot. One time I was working in the bottom of a hydroelectric power plant cleaning a turbine. There was safety tape around the top of the hole I was in. It was tied in part to a cast iron table. My boss was up there talking with someone when he leaned on the table and pushed it into the hole I was in. It almost missed me. It put a nice gash in my arm that took years to heal.

Later on the same boss had me build a three story scaffold in a chemical refinery to remove a six inch valve that was painted orange. When I removed the valve it had a terrible smelling orange fluid in it. It was like chlorine and ammonia. I had to carry the valve down the scaffolding. Later he wanted me to remove a long pipe painted the same color. I made him promise three time the pipe was empty. It wasn’t. I felt like I was going to die. For three days all I would say is “I Quit”. After three days they brought me home. I was not going to give that guy another chance to get me. A few years later I was told he had fell off a bridge and broke nearly every bone in his body. People felt pretty bad about it. I said that it could not have happened to a nicer person. I was very glad that it wasn’t me.

I have fought back with my bosses. They can be bullies. I had one that would get mad and randomly fire people every month. It was like clockwork. I could see it coming. I would try to warn people when I saw him in his mood. Most people understood and listened. Some did not. One time he was going to fire me. We went outside and yelled in each other’s faces. After that he did not bother me.

I have a few other stories, but I will end with this one. Not long ago I had a boss we called the whistler. Every time he came into the shop whistling, he would fire someone. Everytime he fired someone he would whistle. He never whistled unless he fired someone. Really. This went on for many years. He finally retired.

Be a good boss, don’t be mean. Don’t allow people to be mean to each other. Finally, give people proper instruction. Set them up for success.

Continental Mark V

I had thought I bought a Lincoln. However nowhere on the car does the word Lincoln appear. It does say “Continental”, “Mark V” & “Built by Ford” on the car. The Lincoln emblem is promently displayed in a number of places. Yet the word Lincoln does not.

Henry Leyland respected President Lincoln and named his second auto manufacturing company after the President. I will probably have more to say in a prolog or epilog that will appear later. This story is about I have done to make the car better in the last year or so.

The first thing I did is replace the oil and filter, I discovered that the drain plug was stripped. I replaced it with a new one. But I am not happy about that, I will want to do something better.

One reason I bought this internet car is because of the pictures of the underside featuring the original exhaust. I knew if the car had its original exhaust, it would not be too rusty. My belief was the car had been unmolested and in reasonably good shape. So I bought a low cost exhaust system off of Ebay, it did not fit. I had to pay an exhaust system expert to install the the exhaust. He also inspected the car and replaced the rear brakes and master cylinder. Now I could legally drive the car, and safly stop if need be.

The third time I went to start the car the starter solenoid stuck on and the starter continued to spin after the engine started. Fortunately I was at home and I quick grabbed a wrench and disconnected the battery. The battery cable was really hot. Then I bought a heavy duty solenoid and a new battery. I figured the old battery did not fully engage the solenoid and it welded itself closed. To help prevent further issues, a battery cut off switch was also added.

The carburetor would also have a variable idle. I fiddled with it and wished it was a bunch of old SU carbs like my old Jag E-Type. I could get those to work pretty well. I began to think a 4-Barrel was more complicated. So I bought a rebuild kit and disassembled the carburetor. It actually turned out to be quite clean inside, however there was an extra flanged nut inside the secondaries. It was the same type of nut that bolts the carburetor to the intake manifold. Yes all four nuts were were holding the carburetor on, none missing. I was so shocked by the presence of the extra nut I put a quick video on Snapchat. Fortunately the nut was just large enough so when the secondaries were wide open the nut would not fall into the intake manifold. Sometimes the secondaries would fully close, sometimes they would not. One time the car went 45 miles per hour whilst is was idling. That is why I took it apart.

Three of the tires were 20 year old Fisk tires, so three Armstrong tires were purchased to match a New Armstrong tire that was on the car. They told me one of the Fisk’s went flat before they delivered the car. The Fisk tires were not worn at all. So the car had not really done much travling in the last 20 years.

After driving the car a few times I discovered the radiator was leaking, so the radiatorcap was replaced. The reality was there were lots of small leaks all over the radiator. Fortunately I managed to score a good brass and copper radiator from Amazon at a good price. The hoses all looked good so I did not replace them. The plastic overflow tank was cracked too. I managed to glue that back together.

The door latch posts had electrical tap wrapped around them so I replaced them with latches from Ebay. That helped with a door rattle that I had been hearing.

I also replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires. After that the car started Backfiring? I did not mix the wires up, they were actually numbered. It turns out the newer iridum plugs had more resistance than the old type of coil could handle. So I found some copper core plugs and replaced the distributor cap and roter along with a new coil. All the new parts were blue, to nicely match the Ford Blue air cleaner.

When the car was delivered, it was delivered to Keene, I ended up driving it home on a rainy night. It was hard to see, so I upgraded the lights to halogen led lights. I also bought new windshield wiper blades. I should be ready the next time there is a dark and stormy night.

Also I bought some quadrophonic 8-Track tapes, turns out only the rear speakers work. So I then bought some Sinatra tapes and a Bluetooth adapter so I can play music from my phone.

When driving with the windows down I thought I heard a slight noise when turning right from the left front wheel. I once owned a 71 Mustang and it had made the same noise. After a while the noise became worse and the wheel almost fell off. I bought some Timken bearings and replaced the wheel bearings. Surprisingly the races on the bearings did not match. The inner race was Timken and the outer was Koyo. The same bearing had two different manufacturers name on it. Someone was being lazy. While I was in there I replaced the brake pads and the inner fender splash shield. So far I have only done the left side. That was the side making the noise. I will probably do the other side at some point.

These cars are known for setting themselves on fire form some sort of short in the window and seat switches. I disassembled and cleaned the drivers side window and seat switches. I also replaced some bits in the window motor that fall apart and causes the window stop going up and down. These were not problems but would be in some time. I also cleaned and greases the window tracks and assembly.

There was a little bit of rust behind a couple pieces of the trim molding. I removed the trim and repaired the rust. Tried a couple of different types of paints, I think it came close. It is really not noticeable more than a couple feet away. I guess this is what is called paint correction. I also touched up a few other areas, it does make an improvement, you now have to look very closely to see the imperfections. There were a couple dings in the trim before I removed the trim. So I straightened the trim before I reinstalled the trim. It was nice to fix a couple of problems at the same time.

I did the previous two project during the winter when the car was in the garage. I could only get to one side of the car during this time. I cleaned up the car and went to drive it around the block. When it was warm the idle would surge, the car then stalled. I managed to shift into neutral and restart the car. And continue on. It was a bit of a trouble because I was going around a corner and the power steering did not work. An old lady walking her dog was watching me, she smiled. I do not know if she realized that the car stalled. She may not of noticed as the car is very quiet. Anyway I made it back home with no problem.

Now back to figuring out that carburetor, I need to have a good idle.

I need to stop working

Exasperation or Zen, why do I keep working? The easy answer is because that is what I do. But really, why do any of us work? Simply we say we work because someone else is not paying our bills. Realistically it is a societal thing, we work for rewards so everyone can have a better life.

I was told that back in the Roman days it was bad form to become old. To be old was to be a liability to society. It was better to die doing what you love at the top of your form. An older civilization, the Egyptian lasted thousands of years. There people specialized in their avocation for generations. I imagine that was the evolution of a Caste type of civilization. Masonic lore identifies with that type of system, and it makes a bit of sense. Different people are better at different things, and you are rewarded for the more you know about your craft. We do the same thing today, theoretically you get an education and a diploma you will make more money. Plus these days we have the ability to try different professions, better than when we may have been simply born into a profession. Evolution is good.

So these days we work and save for retirement. I have worked and saved, and now am of retirement age. My body is tired and not as limber as it once was. I qualify for social security and have a pension. I also have a typical 401k. So I am better off than some, and not as well as others. So what, I am good.

So why am I still working? The short answer is insurance. They have really good insurance where I work. If I get sick they will take good care of me. Pluse they will take care of my wife. She is not quite old enough for Medicare. Even with Medicare, there are costs. She does not want money to be tight, and I don’t really blame her.

Everything is a balance, when is enough, enough? There There are too many stories of people not getting to enjoy their retirement, then there are the ones that retire to early, I feel a bit sad when I see elderly people working. How did that happen? Must have been some poor decisions, or simply bad luck beyond their control. I had a number of dear best friends, that never came close to retirement. They are gone, though I still think of them. My father was retired for 16 years, so that is sort of a goal, but I might live longer,or less.

Then again there are people that so enjoy their work that they never retire. In 1917 Henry Leyland founded the Lincoln Motor Company at the age of 73. Of course he had already founded Cadillac Motor Company 15 years earlier. Like Henry I enjoy my Cadillac and Lincoln, though I have to do that on my own time. Bit of the reason why I work. So we can have nice things.

Still, I want to spend more time out in the shop tinkering with my toys, whilst I am still able.

Eloquence In Poetry

I have written hundreds and hundreds of posts, or as I would call them thought bubbles. I expect nobody to read them all. There is a good possibility that they do not make a whole lot of sense. I do have a tendency to be a bit wordy. Eloquence is the ability to wrap a whole lot of emotions in just a few words. When I speak I can be pithy. Not very often when I write. So unsee what you have seen, and start anew now.

If a thoughts be a bubble, The world would be afroth. Behind the curtain of Oz, the oarmaster stirs the pot. I be like a cork, wondering if the bubblies will ever pop.

Close, yet I am not quite happy with that. Let me try again.

The oarmaster stirs a pot behind the curtain of Oz

The world is afroth with our thought bubbles

Lift a glass of bubbly

Well that completely sucked! Try again.

Behind the curtain Oz an oarmaster stirs the cosmos

A froth of thought bubbles involuntarily fill the voids

Swirling like a cork in the churning froth consciousness is lost

Will these maddening bubblies ever pop?

Maybe I should stick to run on sentences.