New Rubbers

Eventually a car will need new tires no matter how you drive. In my case I was able to stretch these P Zeros to 28000 safely. Next ones are Firestone Firehawks. Let's light the fires and kick the tires baby.

Last Weekends DIY

This last weekend I decided it was time to replace the wiper motor and blower motor in my 1990 GMC C1500 Sierra.  It took me about 6 hours total, but it saved me $300 bucks over what a mechanic would have charged me.  The parts cost me $100.  Overall I look at the project as $300 bucks in my pocket to go towards something else.

Other Ways to Save Money

The best way that I have found to save money is DIY projects.  Being even somewhat handy can save you tons of money over the course of a  year.  This can include anything from big projects to small projects, but they all add up to saved money.

DIY can be anyting from making your own pot holder out of an old towel rack, or even doing your own brakes. The point of DIY is to cut out the paid labor, and potentially lower the price of replacement parts.

For example, doing your own brakes can save you hundreds of dollars.  Just recently I was told that the brakes on my new car needed to be replaced.  The quote they told me was $750.  That seemed a little ridiculous since all new rotors and pads would only run me $500, but whatever they need to make a buck.  Instead I replaced the brake pads myself and it only cost me $150.  Thats $600 extra in my pocket and it only took me an hour because I had help from a friend, and I know what I'm doing.

This weekend, I replaced the windshield wiper motor, and blower motor in my 20 year old truck.  A mechanic would  have charged $400 for the job, but I got the parts for $100 and it took 5 hours of my Sunday to get it done.

Cars aren't the only place you can save tons of money.  Being able to do basic plumbing can save you hundreds as well.  I'm not talking about re soldering pipe or anything crazy, but understanding how a trap works and being able to unscrew a piece of plastic.  Having a basic skill set (and a camera) can go a long way in saving you money.  It can also fight off that "I'm Bored" feeling that you get.

Some people view these things as chores, but you should try to view them as making "extra" money.  Having that mindset will motivate you to do the job.  Especially if you want to use that extra $200-$600 from one job on something you want.

You cannot call yourself a custom car company when all you do is put insanely tall rims on a car.  Case and point:



This is a sports car.  It performs.  Putting 32 inch rims on it suddenly makes it the worst sports car on the road.  Save the "spinners" for Escalades, and SUV's.  Please keep them away from our precious sports cars. Also, this should be illegal:

People love animals out here

  One thing you have to get used to in a big city are the vermin. These are a some very large rats that have curled up on this ladies hood.  

Everyone in this complex has to put towels on the hoods of their cars so they don't get ruined.  I'm not for the extermination of this rat population, but I am not for rats that sleep on cars.  

We do benefit from what the rats do, they eat bugs and small critters.  For that they do not get to sleep on the hoods of cars however.

This all brings me to one point.  Why doesn't anyone in this state have an actual garage?  I have seen so many houses that turned their garage into another room.  Why?  That makes no sense.  Your second biggest purchase is your car and you live near the ocean.  This all adds up to destroying your car if you leave it outside.

My recent house search has lead me down a narrow road.  The nice places don't have garages, and the middle of the road ones either sold their garages to the place behind them or they aren't available.  I mean, my dream as a young child was to have a garage as big as my house, here I get a house as small as a garage.  I will not stand for this insanity. 

Tinker, Cowboy, Runner, Engineer

As an engineer, I like to mess around with things.  Some things are a challenge some are not.  For this challenge I decided a new CD player was what my girlfriends car needed, you know for safety reasons.

These were the tools I chose, and the job was wiring up a CD player for a 2005 Nissan Xterra.  The kit actually called for all the wires to be soldered together, but that takes too much time patience and a heat gun with shrink wrap.  This is more cost effective and in my opinion more reliable.  The butt splices clamp the wires in place and rarely have a wire come loose.












So after reading the most confusing wiring diagram I have ever seen, I used all my years of schooling and knowledge and came up with this:

It may not look pretty but it is, in its own special way..like when your mom tells you you're special but you really just work at Petco.


The part you see in plastic at the bottom is the Bluetooth adapter.  That's the whole reason I bought this deck.  My girlfriend has a problem with driving and talking, so I figured I'd solve it for her. It also allowed her to stream her music so that was my selling point over-"you might die."

This is what I got to see in Julian

Taking a cruise can ease your mind.  When you live in a big city, sometimes you need to get out.  You gain perspective.  Life shouldn't be 100 miles per hour, it should be relaxing, enjoyable.  You should be happy as much as you can, not getting a feeling of achievement because you suffered more than your neighbor and got out alive.  Because, no one gets out alive.  I have a tendency to suffer more than I should, drives like these give me perspective.

Driving out to a really small town makes you miss your really small town.  The big city has things that you could never get in a big one, but the same is true in reverse.

The guys driving these classics were really nice.  Something about men and cars.  We just get it.

Drivers in this town

In a small town, a bad traffic jam is four cars or a broken light.  Other than that, you can take side streets to get around any jams.  When someone cuts you off in a small town they must not value their car very much, or they don't actually live there because its easy to find where they live and "remind" them to drive nicely.

One other major difference from big to small towns are how disputes get settled.  In a small town if you have a problem with someone they know.  Then you eventually end up fighting or running away, either way the problem is resolved and the stress goes away.  In a big city, if someone wrongs you there is no resolution.  They speed away or slow down and you don't get the satisfaction of resolution.  When you grow up dodging consequences you believe you can get away with more.

All of that combined makes city drivers far worse than small town drivers.  The constant rat race and lack of resolution builds up stress.  I was always an angry driver.  I would feel like it was a personal attack when someone cut me off.  Now, I feel like its a PERSONAL attack on me.

I think eventually, I will get used to the fact that I can't punch, strangle, or injure those idiots on the freeway.  But for now, I'll just have to deal with it.