Jim Warman

I used to spend a lot of time on the newsgroup rec.woodworking. The concensus was to buy the best tool for the job.... This way, you would only cry once instead of every time you use it.... Having said that, I have my own views about using employer tools when moonlighting.... AutoEnginuity generally gets lot's of praise... but usually from people that have never used an IDS. Be it a sideline "career" or your bread and butter - both you and your customer deserve the best that can be had.... If you disagree, feel free to tell me why.....

Once upon a time, aluminium (aloominummm for all you colonists and yanks...) intakes were high tech and plastic intakes were unheard of... Todays joke often becaome tomorrows reality

Without copying my statement... and without copying this one.... can you end a sentence with the word "the"?

Three couples want to join a new congregation in town.... The pastor informs these couples that, in order to join this new church, that they must be able to abstain from sex for two weeks to show their devotion to the Lord.... After the two weeks the first couple meets with the pastor.... The husband proclaims that they had little trouble meeting the entry criteria... "The call of the Lord was strong and they stifled their animal urges with bible readings"... The Pastor welcomed them to the fold. The second couple said "we had a little trouble the first week and nearly succumbed to the call of the devil... however, we perservered...". The Pastor welcomed them to the flock. The husband of the third couple was apologetic.... "The first week was hard.... really hard.... but halfway through the second week, my wife bent over to pick up a can of paint and I took her - right there and right then.... ". The Pastor said, officiously.... "I'm sorry - you're not welcome in our church.". The husband replied "That's OK.... we're not welcome at Home Depot anymore, either....". Time flies like an arrow..... fruit flies like a banana.

The truly scary part is that both you AND my kid are members of that group...and all I can wonder is if you guys took pictures or had your picture taken. Something I bet a lot of these guys haven't seen is something like this...... I'm not an expert on drilling rigs but I know enough to be considered dangerous.... In this pic, they are skidding the motor shack off the back of a sow onto the sub... Holding up the front end of the sow is another sow with the gin poles rigged.... These trucks are actually rigged for what is considered as "light oilfield hauling". A truck better suited for "heavy" work would have planetary drive rear hubs. Yes, this is still a common operation but truck mounted cranes are becoming more commonplace. The oil patch can be a wierd and wonderful place... full of challenges that can have some unique solutions....

A cargo plane is in mid-flight over the ocean when suddenly the cockpit door burst open to reveal an armed, masked hijacker to a startled pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and a stewardess. He held a gun to the pilot's head and said, "Take this plane to Iraq or I am going to spill your brains all over the place." The pilot calmly reached up' pushed the gun aside and said, "Look buddy, if you shoot me this plane will crash right into the sea and you will die along with the rest of us." The hijacker thought about it, then held the gun to the co-pilot's head and said, "Take this plane to Iraq or I am going to spill HIS brains all over the place." The co-pilot also calmly reached up, pushed the gun aside and said, "Listen to me. The pilot has a bad heart and he could keel over at the shock of my being killed. So if you shoot me, this plane will still crash right into the sea and you will die along with the rest of us." The hijacker thought about it for a moment and then held the gun to the navigator's head and repeated, "Take this plane to Iraq or I am going to spill HIS brains all over the place." The navigator calmly reached up, pushed the gun aside and said, "I would not do that if I were you. Those other two guys have no sense of direction. Without me, they could not find their way out of a paper bag much less get this plane to Iraq. So if you shoot me, this plane will still crash right into the sea and you will die along with the rest of us." The hijacker thought some more, shrugged and this time held the gun to the stewardess's head and demanded, "Take this plane to Iraq or I am going to spill HER brains all over the place." No one said a word, but the stewardess leaned over and whispered something into the hijacker's ear. He turned beet red, dropped his gun, and ran out of the cockpit in a panic. The crew tracked down the hijacker, who was found cowering behind some crates in the hold, and tied him up. The pilot then asked the stewardess what she said that terrified the man so. "I told him," she replied, "that if he killed me, he would be the one who would have to give you guys your blow jobs." ******* No matter how hard you try, you cannot end a sentence with the word "the".

While it may come as a surprise for some, it's not uncommon in our little portion of hell... I guess where I'm missing the boat is that you folks are in portions of the world that are a bit more "civilized" or "urbanized" than what we have here... This is still relatively untamed wilderness... and it can overwhelm some peoples sensibilities or sensitivities... And I don't have the words to convey the concept.... it's almost like trying to explain a sunset to a blindman. The oil patch.... you don't have a choice of where you get sent... you don't have a choice of how you get there... Sometimes, you are lucky enough to "go in on the frost"... sometimes, all that does is get you in further before you break through... This isn't a place for the faint of heart, the rabidly politically correct or those that think nature can be subdued. Often, depending on the weather, this can be a common sight as trucks, service rigs, equipment and supervisors in Expeditions try to get to a lease or other location... After this many years, I guess you get a little jaded....

Sometimes there isn't much common sense in this neck of the oil patch... The weather is brutal... the roads (if you want to call some of them that) are brutal.... the conditions are brutal.... When mother nature sticks her nose into the equation.... you lose!!!! I'm unsure why the remark about the helicopter didn't ellicit a comment... Helicopters in this part of the patch are common. I'm not sticking up for anyone... I just thought you already appreciated how bad the conditions in this area can be..... Or did you think that these guys buy new trucks every three years because they like claiming depreciation and net captal losses????

"Very thin".....

I'm game... but I have to wait two weeks... that'll give me time to figure how to ship. It would be what , 4 or 5 kilos? I just spent $2700 on new teefs so this week is tight. FWIW, Princess Auto has a PowerFist branded multiplier for $249 CAD... 9:1 gear ratio... 1100 lb/ft. If two weeks is too long to wait, let me know....

AHEM <tap - tap - tap> .... Is this thing on? Let's gather up some perspective and throw it at some of this stuff... First and foremost... we are discussing a machine.. I don't care what anyone may ascribe to this thing... car, SUV, crossover... it is onlyu a machine. By definition.... a machine is a device to perform various tasks... tasks involving strength we don't have, involving repetetive motion... make our lifer simpler... improve our safety and or comfort. We use machines (and even beat them up sometimes) so that we don't beat ourselves up. When the machine breaks... we can simply throw some money at it and it will be "cured" (unlike people where we can't just waddle up to a parts counter). If the machine is too far gone... we can euthanize it with no remorse and no emotional trauma... This is the life of a machine... The machine we are diuscussing here belongs to a multi-million dollar multinational company... there is a legal agreement drawn between the guy that leased the machine and the people that own it. When it is time to deal with the machine... these two entities will use the legal document to settle any claims they have between them... Our part, in this whole debacle, is to remain aloof and impartial. The moment we stop being a third, impartial, disinterested party.... we become a possible target. Our only duty is to report what we find.. "Sorry, that wont be covered under the warranty and this is why....". Now... Maybe this car was rented by a young stud... fresh up from Calgary and he got a little carried away playing in the mud.... I would expect that his employer will have some harsh words with him once the purchase orders start rolling in.. But.. it is more like (especially considering all the rain, lately) this is a sample of what it takes for someone (someone possibly quite inexperienced with driving in these conditions) to get into his location... Not every budget includes enough money for hiring a helicopter. Would this be vandalism? Or a cost of doing business? Not my place to judge because I haven't heard much of the fucking story... This isn't the "gentlemens oil patch" up here... the county does grade the gravel between the farmers fields and the leases aren't spitting distance off the hard pan. This is the land of winter roads and rain making life miserable (my kids rig hasn't moved for quite a while) and having a D9 with high drives on standby at the lease and renting rig mats for hundreds of dollars a day. This car is an extreme example... but is it really remarkable? If we are to posture in extreme indignation... there are so many targets that are much more appropriate... There has been no crime committed here... and the lessor knows exactly where to go for restitution... FWIW... down at the end of the service road in front of our shop is a public trash receptical. Three mornings a week, on average, that receptical is laying on its side with it's contents strewn across the road... We should be indignant about parents who haven't taught their kids about respect for property.... We have many motor vehoicle laws in this great country... The CMVSS (Canadian Motor Vehcile Safety Standards) are very close to those same regulations as published by the NHTSA... the biggest difference being DRLs.... Like the US, our laws have little in the way of teeth... I can fail an Out of Province inspection.. the owner will not be able to register that car in Alberta... until he finds someone that will either turn a blind eye or read a regulation differently. I can fail a commercial vehicle.... he can still work - up until he gets caught... But for joe average... you - me.... once the car has been registered in Alberta and as long as it is registered every year.... we are under the influence of laws that have no teeth. Back in the late 60s, Alberta tried provincial safety inspections... Poorly conceived, poorly executed, poorly managed.... I recall they lasted less that two years. Seems to me that this youngster (oh, yes... I was there once upon a time) and his 1961 Falcon only ever got inspected once. Without some kind of compliance inspection, there can be no enforcement... And we can both agree that Stelmach is spending way too much money to even consider enacting an inspection program. All the same... we should be indignant about those that flout safety laws... about those that flout emissions controls efforts. But no.... Like a bunch of pussies we will overlook that... "If I don't put in that lift kit/EGR delete kit/some-dorky-thing kit, the guy down the road will... ". And the funny thing is that we still consider those guys as honest and responsible citizens. As far as liability for any modifications.... we are dependant on the engineers of some far away performance company. Those same engineers will throw us under the bus the first time their product is called to task... Some day - somewhere - there will be a suit... there will be a test case and I pray like hell it ain't going to be one of us....

Dwayne... do you remember we were talking the other day about people acting like responsible adults? Taking responsibility for their actions? Doing the "right" thing? Now you get to work an a car driven by the people you were defending.... the people who wont do the "right" thing... the people that don't act responsibly.... the people that will not accept the results of their actions. To whom does the air that we breathe belong? Yes - of course... it belongs to our grandchildren... not to us.. and to that end, we should respect other peoples property. With money... this truck can be fixed and nobodies life will ever be in peril... With money, we can fix the air we breathe... and we should do that BEFORE anyones life is in peril... Watching the news - on TV - in the paper - where-ever... we can get a feel for those things that are important... Yes - we need improved waste management facilities... as long as they don't build it near my house... Yes, we need tougher laws - as long as they don't make it tougher for me to "be bad".... Yes - we need better programs - as long as it doesn't cost me any money. Every body wants nirvana.... nobody wants to be part of building it... Welcome to the world modern people are building... And WE allow it to happen.

Dwayne... you should have stuck around... Upload the pics using photopost... once you have the pics up, look under the pic - see the box with the URL of the pic... see the box under that - the one that says "copy to clipboard" - click on that... you may have to temporarily allow this action... Go to your post and click on "enter an image" 4th icon from the left above the text entry box... paste your clipboard into the box that pops up... done deal. Yes - that's sinful... yes that's a lot of mud... no, it wont be the last time you see something like that... welcome to the Great Canadian Arboreal Forest.... Young uns... you shoulda been here before they paved the highway to Red Earth Creek. There was about a 5 km stretch near Nipisi - any time it rained even a little, there was a couple of D8s and a 4WD tractor to pull vehicles through the "hi-grade".

Permanent repair? it is only permanent until it fails... With the mix of polycarbonate (or whatever the hell the tank is made of) brass and epoxy, it is only a matter of time before failure is imminent. The expansion and contraction rates of disimilar materials ( add in various physical forces) can be detrimental to the life of the repair. Now.... most of my customers have been coming to me for about 30 years.... part of the reason is because we can differentiate between "economical" and "cheap". FWIW, Slave Lake is a largely affluent area.... these folks do not mind spending money.... but if they have a repeat failure? OOOOOOOOOOOOO That depends entirely on who it was that broke it in the first place...

I think there is a lot riding on the Ecoboost... this could be the shape of things to come for several years... Now... I haven't seen much in the way of comparisons regarding production costs of the "new" diesel fuel versus the "old" diesel fuel... but I imagine removing some shit and adding other shit is going to influence the production process as well as the profit margin.... OOOOOOPS!!! Did I say <profit margin>? Silly me... why would that enter into ANY decisions?

In spite of the fact that Princess Auto appears to be a boutique of preference in our shop, it is one place I didn't even consider when looking for one of these....

I recall an announcement/rumour/something about Cat getting out of OTR truck engines... too much trouble getting in line with upcoming emissions requirements. English translation.... "R&D to clean these things up is getting out of hand... to add salt to the wound, a lot of this technology is still too new when it hits assembly line... icing on the cake is that too much of this technology is "fragile".... trying to balance affordable manufacturing costs with high levels of quality assurance and long service life is horrendous". Business translation - the profit margin isn't what it could be with the volumes we are dealing in.... We aren't about to step up to fight for more market share - so we will capitulate in one area and regroup and concentrate on another.... no surprises here. The industry is realigning itself... I think the victims will outnumber the winners (at least on paper)... More money will go overseas... Overseas sweatshops will abound as long as the bargain seekers keep wearing their blinders... Overseas labour pools will likely enter a period of unrest (something like a modern day industrial revolution).. north american troops may be called in to quell unrest created by north american consumerism and good old marketplace greed. Sounds like a good start for a Robert Ludlum novel.... Someone recently said "God is good, beer is great, the world is fucked....".

OK.. so I'm trying (finally) to get back after some of my projects... I have my last brand new window in the house and today I'm trying to tackle some siding on the last side... and every time I take any freaking tools outside, it starts to rain... and when I bring them back in - well, you know how it goes... <SIGH> if I was having any more fun, it would be illegal...

Dwayne might have to hang his purse in the back window Now I've stumbled across

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=23983#Post23983

Before I forget and, just for the record... I'm not saying "sell/don't sell". I am saying that "I'm not and here are some of the reasons". Each and every one of us is the product of our development, our environment and our relationships... each of us views life in our own manner... Each of us marches to the beat of our own drummer... I have been told that I march in my own parade (somedays that's an insult and some days that's a compliment).

Well, no... selling the cores will never be an offence... the act of selling one of these doesn't cause any grief, nor does it contravene any legislation. Some of the "problem" is attributable to me being over reactive... but that's just me... Some of the problem is that the general population fails to understand and "appreciate" the components of tailpipe emissions that can (and have) done us harm. I'm possibly the only person here that can remember the "smog alerts" that were included as part of the evening news on TV. If we don't learn from our history, we will be doomed to repeat it. The subject can't be fully covered in a few simple paragraphs... legal issues, moral issues.... simply acting like a responsible adult and doing ones share. Perhaps it might help if techs had a deeper understanding of tailpipe emissions and evaporative emissions... What are oxides of nitrogen? How do they affect us? Why should In worry about it? CO? CO2? What about all the other components of auto exhaust? Perhaps it might help if some of us could shed that "anything for a buck" mentality (They are gong to start using lawyers for lab testing - apparently there are some things the rats refuse to do). This is that "so I chopped out the guys cat and stuffed the money in my jeans" cavalier bullshit. The air we breathe is cleaner now than it was many years ago..... But - think of it like this...... The 4H club is picking the trash out of your municipalities ditches - all the while, the scoff-laws are throwing garbage at them. If you are doing your part to minimize your footprint, you should be incensed at the asshole that is trying to undo your efforts.

I didn't watch the whole thing but that little uhhhhhhhhh 'event' at 49 seconds looked pretty good.

The moustache is courtesy of Keeeeepthfthf

Dwayne actually got that off the ground. You can see the resemblance in this pic But this is probably Dwaynes favourite rendition of me