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Diary Segment: 2007, March 01-15

Entries are shown in chronological order; scroll down to see later material.

Mar 04, 2007

Yes, it has been some time since the last update. It was a busy couple of weeks, and I'll just summarize the main points here.

Firstly, on 2/28/2007, I won my case in Small Claims Court against Platinum Ford Ltd. It's probably a symbolic win only: apart from the fact that the amount of the award was not worth two hours of my night (plus preparation time and hours spent on the phone arguing), I suspect it will take some effort on my part to collect. Naturally, on Monday I'll send a certified mail letter demanding payment within 30 days. I think there's a better than even chance that there are other unsatisfied judgements against this dealership, which puts me in with a shot to collect 3x the amount of my claim (after they fail to respond to the initial judgement). The sheer annoyance value of this situation is beyond the comprehension of an average mortal.

Onward, then, to much more interesting and productive news. Yesterday I received a care package from Rowley Associates containing two CrossConnect Lite USB JTAG adapters and two STmicroelectronics STR9 dongles. This is some seriously nifty hardware. I've no idea what it's going to sell for, but it looks like a fun low-cost platform to get a lot of work done. The STR9 board has quite a bit of flash and RAM on-chip, plus Ethernet, USB interface and a bunch of other cool stuff. Here's a docs link for the board (warning: I don't know how long that link will remain live; it's printed on the ESD polybag for the dongle, but these are early-release copper). Along with the TI ez430 dongle, I'll be using this hardware in my fourth book.

As a side note, something uncanny is afoot: the director of Rowley shares my preference for fountain pens. It's not that unusual, I suppose, but the eldritch part is that his handwriting is almost indistinguishable from mine. In fact, I showed his cover note to my wife, and asked her who wrote it: she looked puzzled for a while, and then said, "Well, it's obviously your handwriting, but I don't know who wrote it originally". Cue Twilight Zone music.

The Scout is almost healed! The exhaust manifold gasket I ordered arrived Thursday evening; I dropped it off at the service station on Friday and I saw them working on the truck on Saturday afternoon. No news yet, but I expect I'll be able to pick it up Monday. I drove past today and it's still in the shop behind roller doors, but their mechanics don't work Sundays so I couldn't get an update. When I get it back, it should be purring: new distributor rotor, tweaked timing, no more exhaust leak, and a new muffler.

Mar 10, 2007

The Scout is back in its niche at home; I brought it home Thursday night. It's difficult to convey just how much better it's running and sounding. Even stone cold, with no choke - a tap on the ignition and it's purring INSTANTLY. And I do mean purring. That new rotor and timing adjustment made a world of difference. I imagine that fixing up the exhaust system also brings the back-pressure to the right level for the system to run properly, though I don't know how much effect that really has.

It looks as if the shop used galvanized steel fencing tube for the exhaust line; it's heavier gauge metal than anything else in the truck. No chance it will be rusting out any time soon!

Moderately funny story: When I tried to get the truck out of the lot, it moved about two feet before dying. After puzzling a bit, I realized it was out of gas. Turns out they put $10 of gas into it... but into the sieve tank, not the working tank!

The good news is that the engine is running like a dream now. The bad news is that now the engine is so quiet, I can hear all the terrifying noises the transmission is making. Next job up for this truck is a complete rebuild of the transmission and transfer case... or maybe a replacement. That definitely won't be happening until after tax season though - I've got a potential 2006 tax debt to deal with (hopefully small), and first quarter's taxes for 2007.