The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
I bestow upon you, my readers, my fondest and most fervent wishes that 2013 will not be the whirling vortex of suck and fail I expect it to be. Party hard, be safe, and awake tomorrow with no hangover.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnt7euRF5Pg?rel=0]
Journey of Faith performed a Christmas “Flash Mob” at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach on December 18, much to the delight of local shoppers.
Merry Christmas to all my readers, from your friendly gun-blogging atheist. And a happy New Year, too. (I’m glad the Mayans were wrong.)
Despite the fact that this is a gun blog, and we’re in BOHICA mode once again, I wanted to follow up on my truck situation. As previously reported, I returned the Tonka truck to the dealership, and they have it up for sale again after repairing the problems I returned it for.
I have replaced it with a 2002 F250 I purchased from a different dealership because, well, they had it and at a price I was willing to pay.
I would have been more than willing to buy from the previous dealership again. They specialize in trucks, and 4×4 diesels in particular, but they run across some interesting stuff. They buy primarily vehicles that were stolen and recovered, then auctioned by the insurance company that paid off on the theft. Interesting business model. I have no qualms about recommending them: Wheel Kinetics.
If you’re interested in the now-repaired Nuclear Banana, here it is. Watch the video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWyqiuTV1YI?rel=0]
Good guys. It was a nice truck, but I don’t think they’ll sell it this time for what I paid for it. New EGR, new water pump, two more new injectors and a reprogrammed fuel injection control module. That could not have been cheap, and I wasn’t going to put the $$ into it. They have.
Just a heads-up. ExurbanKevin is scheduled to be on Kate Krueger’s Talking Guns on Phoenix’s KFNX 1100AM tomorrow at about 12:10 PM Arizona (Mountain Standard) Time. You can listen live at 1100knfx.com. I plan to.
Via email:
The coach had put together the perfect team for the Chicago Bears. The only thing that was missing was a good quarterback. He had scouted all the colleges and even the Canadian and European Leagues, but he couldn’t find a ringer who could ensure a Super Bowl win.
Then one night while watching CNN he saw a war-zone scene in Afghanistan. In one corner of the background, he spotted a young Afghan soldier with a truly incredible arm. He threw a hand-grenade straight into a 15th story window 100 yards away!
KABOOM!
He threw another hand-grenade 75 yards, arcing it right into a chimney!
KA-BLOOEY!
Then he threw another into the driver’s window of a passing car going 90 mph!
BULLS-EYE!
“I’ve got to get this guy!” Coach said to himself. “He has the perfect arm!”
So, he hires an investigator to find out who this phenomenal arm belongs to, brings the man to the States and teaches him the great game of football. And the Bears go on to win the Super Bowl.
The young Afghan is hailed as the great hero of football, and when the coach asks him what he wants, all the young man wants is to call his mother.
“Mom,” he says into the phone, “I just won the Super Bowl!”
“I don’t want to talk to you, the old woman says.”You are not my son!”
“I don’t think you understand, Mother,” the young man pleads. “I’ve won the greatest sporting event in the world. I’m here among thousands of my adoring fans.”
“No! Let me tell you!” his mother retorts. “At this very moment, there are gunshots all around us. The neighborhood is a pile of rubble. Your two brothers were beaten within an inch of their lives last week, and I have to keep your sister in the house so she doesn’t get raped!” The old lady pauses, and then tearfully says,
“I will never forgive you for making us move to Chicago!!!!
Hey, it could have been Detroit.
I took it back today. I have to say, the dealership made the return completely painless. On Saturday I put a stereo in the truck. I told them when I reported that I was bringing it back that they could keep the stereo, and I’d write that cost off to “learning experience.” When I arrived I was asked if I had the receipt for the stereo. I did. A minute later, I received a check for the full purchase price of the truck, and another check for the full purchase (and install) price of the stereo.
I also received a $50 gift card to Target to compensate me for the cost of the tank of fuel I put in it.
I’m still in the market for a truck. This dealership is still high on my list for that truck. They certainly could not have done anything more to earn my business.
Six-and-a-half of it in my truck – 400 miles again. Pulled out of the driveway at 0410, got to the job site at 0730, left the job site at 1300, got to the Phoenix office at 1630, left the office at 1720, got to the hotel at 1750. Have a class to teach tomorrow, so I need to be in the office at O’dark-hundred to actually put together a lesson plan and presentation. I was supposed to do that today, but got pulled off to go to (jobsite) to look at a problem with a piece of equipment. Problem still not solved.
Sleepy. No more blog for you.
Dammit.
I’m taking the Earthfucker back.
An emailed comment warned “Watch out for that 6.0 diesel. Ask me how I know.”
Took it to a diesel specialist for a checkout and a baseline maintenance. They had it overnight, and when they fired it up this morning to pull it into a bay to begin work, it threw codes for FOUR bad injectors and a bad glow plug.
Sorry, but I’m not dropping $1,600 in repairs on a freshly purchased vehicle. The dealer has acknowledged they’ll take it back and refund my money.
Dammit, dammit, dammit. Guess I’ll keep looking for a good older truck with a 7.3L.
aka: The Earthfucker.
Added a new vehicle to the stable, something more suitable for going to the range or out in the sticks hunting, or – in the extreme – bugging out of Dodge with the family than the ’11 GT Mustang:
It’s a 2005 F250 Crewcab SuperDuty 4×4 with a 6.0L turbodiesel and a 5-speed automatic. Gotta put nerf bars on it, or my 5’0″ wife will NEVER be able to climb into it. It’s a bit of a stretch for me.
The (factory) color is “Screaming Yellow.” I call it “The Tonka Toy.”
I figure when the Zombie Apocalypse hits, I can run over anything I can’t outrun. An in-bed auxiliary fuel tank is high on the list of accessories for this thing.
UPDATE: Oh well, I guess not.
I’ll be out of town the next couple of days, so NO BLOG FOR YOU! In the mean time, here’s a clip that might affect you in the same way as another recent post:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNJ9umv10EM?rel=0]
I should be back on line on Friday.