Horns

I learned today, after installing the auxiliary adapter, that there are people who collect air horns and steam whistles. My brother's friend is one of these people, and today he had someone film some of his horns and post the videos on Youtube. Below is a a link to one of the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAhFWity3g

uPAC-FRD24 Installation

That is how I spent my Saturday morning. Installing an adapter in my Mustang that allows me to use an AUX input on my factory radio. The Shaker 500, in the 2007 models, has an AUX button but it doesn't do anything because there is no auxiliary input! The uPAC-FRD24 is an adapter that adds two inputs, one specifically for iPods and a second that can be used for any other device such as a XM satellite receiver - which I have. My brother and I both bought the adapter last weekend at the Ford car show, so today we had a aux-adapter installation party at his house. It wasn't a really difficult job, since he has all the necessary tools, and only took about an hour to complete. We had to remove several dashboard panels and then remove the radio, plug in the adapter and then put it all back together, with the wiring hidden underneath the center console. I also put my antenna wire under the dashboard and into the center storage area which was better than having the wire strung across the passenger floor. The end result is the best sounding XM I've had. Better than using the FM transmitter or the tape player adapter. The audio quality is much better, with more base and more treble. My only other issue is that since the antenna is sitting on my dashboard and not outside the car, I loose the XM signal every so often, but I can live with that.

When I bought a new XM receiver, the Audiovox Xpress, I wanted to use the XM transmitter. However, I found out that the newer XM receivers have weaker transmitters due to FCC restrictions, so I was having to re-tune the broadcast frequency several times just between home and work. It seems that in San Diego, almost every frequency is being used, since you get stations from not only San Diego, but also LA and even Mexico. Now I wish I had bought a different XM receiver, one with a color LCD screen and more options. The model I bought will do, even though I don't like the buttons or the button layout. The buttons are small and "mushy", and the big tuning knob gets in the way of some of the buttons. What I do like is the screen with five lines of text, so I can see the station name, number, song title and artist all at the same time. My XM Roady only had two lines of text, so I had to choose which information I wanted to see. So in conclusion, I'm happy with the whole setup now.

Another Hike on IM

I'm running out of things to say about this hike. It was a nice day, not too hot, few hikers and NO sharks!

Last of Ford Photos

So, is Fred Flintstone selling this car? Who's driving him to work? Did Wilma leave him here? Many unanswered questions that are still bugging me.



Even station wagons were on display. Who would have thought an old Ford wagon would be a classic car someday?

As always, plenty of Cobras. Also, plenty of people standing in various positions with different looks on their faces.

More Fords

No Star Trek themed engine this year. The owner of this Mustang must like Tigger.

Maybe Disco Stu drives this car. It was getting lots of attention. There were more Pintos this year than last year.

No Ford show would be complete without T-Birds. There were a few late model T-Birds, but mostly classic ones.

Fabulous Fords 2008

When the sun finally came out from behind the clouds, it warmed up and made all the nicely painted cars stand out even more. We were at the car show from 10 AM to 3 PM, with a chicken lunch at mid-day.

They were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Model T, but we saw no 1908 Model Ts. The oldest was a 1912 model, which is still very old - I mean classic.

I always get the photo of them that they didn't know I took. Lorie is deciding on which options she wants for the Mustang Brad is building for her.

Busy Morning

I woke up at 7 AM and was full of energy. By noon, I had eaten breakfast, gone to the gym, got my hair cut and bought food at Costco. By 2 PM I was falling asleep. I was out of town last weekend and might be going camping next weekend, plus I'm going to the Fabulous Fords Forever show tomorrow, so I had to get all my choirs done today. As a bonus, I washed my Mustang last evening and took my Toyota to a car wash today, so I have two clean cars. If fact, for some reason, they ran my Toyota though the wash twice. Must have been to get all the dead bugs off that dirtied my car as I drove on I10 towards Palm Springs last Friday.

Fun in the Sun

I needed to post the shot with Tony in it. I blocked out San Jancito in this photo by accident, so you can't see the melting snow in this photo, just the hikers.

Only photo of Chris, the host, with Molly.

Steve seems a little worried about something for some unknown reason.

Ladies Man Part II

Ok, these aren't really my ladies. We were having fun taking photos on Saturday evening as the sun set and the temps. cooled. I'm back home now and after a full Saturday of fun, sleeping on an air mattress for two nights and driving home today, I have a feeling I'm crashing soon and sleeping well, once the AC cools down my hot house that still smells like tar.

Sunday Morning Hike in the Hot Desert

We went for a morning hike in the desert behind the house. It was getting hot fast, at least 90 degrees. Very clear view of the valley.

San Jacinto In the Morning

View from front of house in Desert Hot Springs of San Jacinto.

Not a Good Day to Stay Home

I guess the roofers waited until my day off to re-tar my roof. They started before 7:30 with loud bangs on the roof. Now I smell tar. Earlier this morning the groundskeeper was using the noisy dust blower and the jets at Miramar were roaring overhead. Once the first plumber comes, sometime between 10 and noon, I'll take a break and go to the bank. I had to get my car out of the garage this morning at 7AM so I would not be trapped. The second plumber will be here between 12 and 4, but he'll call 1/2 hour before to make sure I'm home, so I don't necessarily have to be home for the entire four hours. Then I hope to leave for DHS by 6PM.

Roofing, Hot Water Heater and Weekend Trip

They are currently re-roofing the roof on my condo. I am at work all day so I have not actually seen the roofers, but I see evidence of their work. Today I found debris in my house that had fallen through various vents. Inside my new furnace, there was a ton of rocks and black particles. I vacuumed it all up. There is a slight smell of tar in the house, but I have the air circulating through my air filter.

Tomorrow I have two plumbers coming over to give me an estimate on a tankless hot water heater. It will be interesting to see how close their estimates are and what they say will have to be done to install it, if it is possible at all. They might need to re-route the main gas line to go into my garage instead of the side of the house where the other three gas lines go for the other three condos in this building.

I'm going to be spending the weekend at my friend's house in Desert Hot Springs. The temperature is expected to be in the low 90s! That will feel nice after the coldness of my recent trips to Tempe and Key West. I'll be taking my laptop, so I will be able to blog some photos.

Hazy Shade of Spring

This week seemed to draaaaag on. I left work a little early today so I would have time for a nice hike after work. As I headed home, I saw the fog rolling in, and it seemed to be chasing me as I headed inland. So I hurried home and changed into my hiking attire and headed up to good-old Iron Mt. It was still plenty warm and sunny at the trailhead.

There were very few hikers on the trail, making for a nice quiet, but fast, hike up the hill where all I heard were the chirping of the birds and scurrying of the lizards. As you see, the photo shot to the west shows the fog bank hanging over the coast, and the photo of the lake to the east shows very little of the Spring haze.

Cousins

I have always wondered what the term "once removed" referred to when talking about cousins. I did a Goggle search that led me to the Wikipedia definition. It turns out that my definition of second and third cousin was wrong. According to this chart, my cousin's child is my first cousin, once removed. I always thought that a cousin's child was my second cousin. But a second cousin is my mother's/father's cousin. "Once Removed" refers to once removed from my generation. Also, according to the chart, my parents uncle/aunt is my Grand Uncle/Aunt. I always referred to them as my Great Uncle/Aunt. So now I know a little bit more about my family tree.