Neon instrument panel

Since the Neon was handed down to me, I've had trouble with the instrument panel not working. For the last three years I've been driving around with a ScanGauge II instead of gauges.

Today I finally got around to doing the fix described on the neons.org forum. I pulled the PC board, and found the problem right away.


Notice the cracked solder joints around most of the pins on the instrument panel power/data connectors.


The fix is easy. I re-flowed the solder on all of the pins, adding solder where necessary. All my gauges are back and should work fine for another 265,000 miles.

Bikes, new bikes!

Nancy and I bought a pair of Trek cruisers.





Mine is, of course, the purple one.

Oops

I'm guessing this wasn't a part of the plan.



This wrong turn was taken in the 300 block of Shelden Ave.

By way of TJ, found at http://twitpic.com/71cxp.

Edit: More pictures, submitted anonymously. I hope nobody was hurt.

Nancy and Spencer

Spencer loves Nancy. Specifically, her hair. Or her head. Or something.

This is pretty common. He'll just doze off, his head resting against Nancy's.



Sometimes he'll make himself even more comfortable, which is endearing.



But sometimes he goes too far.

Beware the thumb

Tom added a "thumb" to his backhoe, so he can more easily pick up things like trees and rocks. It can be pinned at 90 degrees, or folded up against the boom when it's not in use.



And a short video of picking up a tree for bucking.

Video Player 11

Why Ultra 10s Suck More

Here's a blast from the past: A rant from 2000 on crappy old Sun workstations.

Yep, you can tell I've worked on one too many Ultra 10s in the past few years.

Why PCs Suck	Why Ultra 10s Suck More
one-piece sheet metal cover that is difficult to work with	one-piece sheet metal cover that is difficult to work with and is also installed upside-down
IDE	IDE with no DMA
PCI slots that don't line up	PCI slots that don't line up on an upside-down riser, working against gravity
unreliable floppy drive	unreliable floppy drive with the activity LED covered
low-quality cooling fan	low-quality cooling fan with proprietary connector that can only be purchased as a part of a larger assembly
PC RAM sucks	Ultra 10 RAM sucks, but costs more

Lest we look back and remember Sun workstations fondly...

Power outage

Whoa:

05/14/2009 0756 am

Laurium, Houghton County.

Non-thunderstorm wind damage, reported by co-op observer.


Observer reported extended power failure affecting the
Laurium/Calumet area. Observer reported a transformer on
fire with a pole burning after checking with Michigan
State Police.

The power went out at my house at about 4:25 this morning, came back on, and then went out again at 5:00 or so. It stayed out until 11:30. I was happy to be on city water this morning, so I could still take a hot shower.