Another week of fun…

It seems like a lot happened this week… even though it really didn’t. The beginning of the week was normal as always…

I sold off a few camera lenses that I really didn’t use much, (50mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8) and replaced them with a 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens. Above is a picture of some freshly ground coffee… on a butter knife. I’m enjoying the new lens, and for food photography, it’s been letting me get a lot closer to the food. But, it also works rather well as a normal lens, not just a macro.

In other news, it was time to start getting ready for our weekend cookout. We had invited over some friends for a weekend cookout, but the weather decided it wasn’t going to cooperate. But, I already had 10 pounds of chicken and three racks of ribs in the fridge… so, we weren’t about to let the weather out-do us… it was time for some ingenuity.

2 - 5/16” hooks, a 8x10ft tarp, and some 1-1/2” PVC pipe and fittings. So… we then had a covered porch… for a while. Let me go ahead and tell you, PVC might be great for water drainage… but for wind… well, it doesn’t hold up too well. So, the wind blew a bit, and the PVC came crashing down. Luckily, the tarp was a bit shy of the depth of the porch, so we were able to just tie it to the railing, which still gave us a nice covered area to cook under.

Here’s Virginia all decked out of the party… It kind of had a theme, and that theme involved outfits that were purchased at Roses. Yes, there’s still a Roses department store around here. The place is amazing. You walk in the door, and leave modern day behind. The bestseller book section in Roses has “The man who would be president: Dan Quayle”. For real.They also had “The Heart of the Internet” … given the publishing date on that one… I’d be interested in seeing what it has to say. Looking for tacky outfits for a good prices? Roses. Looking for children’s toys with lead paint? Roses. Looking for glass topped furniture that was outdated in the 80’s? Roses.

But, the cookout / party was a good time. We ate, we laughed, we drank, we talked. Totally awesome.

The rain cleared off after a few hours this morning, so we decided to make the day productive by installing new brake pads and rotors on the Honda. Virginia helped with the whole process, and she says that if someone needs instruction on how to replace rotors and pads, she could totally tell you how to do it.

So, the CRV got treated to a set of Brembo cross drilled rotors and Hawk HPS pads. Virginia’s mom had just gotten the pads replaced not too long ago, but living up here in the mountains, the rotors saw a bit too much heat and were warped pretty bad. Slowing the car down resulted in the wheel shaking rather violently from side to side, and shaking everything else in the whole car. Also, because of the massive amounts of heat the rotors saw, the pads were overheated and cracked down the center. (Also, when you do rotors, you do pads. It’s just good practice.) So, the thought is that with the drilled rotors, they’ll be allowed to dissipate the heat a bit better than the stock solid rotors. First impressions, we’re impressed. After the initial “bedding-in” of the new pads a rotors, we did a few simulated panic stops from highway speeds, and the new brakes can bring the CRV to a VERY quick stop.

The month is winding down. I’ve got the truck for sale on eBay, and the auction on that ends Tuesday. I think I might shed a few tears when someone actually comes to pick up my poor neglected truck. We had a lot of good times together. This semester is also coming to an end. I’ve applied for several internships in the Charlottesville, VA area, and will hopefully hear from someone in that neck of the woods soon. I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on there…