Earle’s Notes

Well, it was another beautiful evening for the DQ Cruise. The Race Cars were on their way to Brainerd, so it was a different crowd this time around. We had 3 other Mustangs than mine show up, a pretty red one that I believe was a ‘66, a black 67 numbers correct driven up from the Twin Cities, the yellow ‘93, and my 2006. The Blue Roush Stage 3 drove thru very early in the evening but didn’t stay, darn it.

The Pinto guy brought two, a hatchback and a wagon. There was a 73 Vega Kammback that had a 350 V8 with Monza running gear and drive train, very correct and very fast (dynoed at 350 HP). And a smattering of other cars. Enjoy the photos!

A tiny bit of trivia here. Early Pinto and Vega front bumpers look very much the same. The easiest way to tell them apart is that the bolts on the outside right and left of the bumper are in different locations: the Vega bolts are in the front of the bumper, while the Pinto has the bolts on the side. There are other major differences, but this is the easiest to spot and can easily be seen in a photo.

July 3rd, 2009 | Category: Auto Tech |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

I wish I had learned this years ago (there’s actually a whole list of things that should go in the category, but that’s another post). I have a serious problem with my feet; the arches have collapsed, and they have been that way for quite a while. Now that I have seriously started walking for exercise I am feeling the pain in my feet and legs. So, I went to see a podiatrist (specialist in foot problems).

I learned that there are supposed to be two arches in the foot, one that you see from the side (actually composed of the lateral and medial arch) and one you should see from the front or toe, the transverse arch. I’ve been trying to find pictures that illustrate the problem, but this is the best I’ve found:

When the arches fall, several things happen. One is that the ankle is rotated out of position causing the toes to point out (duck walk). Another problem is that you could say that the arch is the spring for your step, and when you lose the arch the shock of each step is carried by the toes and the ankle and the knee.

Which explains why I have always walked with my toes out, and why I have ankle and knee problems.

The first thing the podiatrist did was show me how to wear the PSC by www.fabrifoam.com. This device (kinda like a fancy, specialized ACE bandage) lifts the arch and helps the foot and ankle move towards a more natural alignment. And it does help, which I found hard to believe at first, but I can easily walk twice as far without pain.

The next step occurs next week, when I see a specialist who will build me a set of custom orthotics to wear in my shoes that will lift and support the arch. My podiatrist tells me that they will be very painful at first until my feet get used to the new positioning, but in the long run I will be much more comfortable.

I’ll let you know.:)

July 2nd, 2009 | Category: Foot |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Yah, not much going on these days. Mostly just work and work some more. Spent all day Saturday at work, and here I am again on Sunday at work. Beats twiddling my thumbs. No money to go anywhere or do anything, can’t sleep around the clock, so I work. I’ve read all 10 or 15 of the books in my possession in the last week. I suppose if I had a portable TV I might watch some, but not too likely. So, I work. Yep, pretty boring.

I shaved my beard off Saturday morning; by the time I was done I had already decided that I’ve got to grow it back. I just don’t look like ‘me’ without a beard. That’s the kind of stuff that happens when you are bored; that’s why I’m working. Less opportunity to get into trouble.

June 28th, 2009 | Category: Mumbling |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

It was a beautiful evening for a DQ Cruise night.

I had the opportunity to park next to a early Mustang.

A very nice Chevy Pro Street with custom Frame and a Dart Engine stopped in.

A Pinto came over from Hibbing, the guy owns I beleive he said 8 running and 4 parts Pintos.

A couple (husband/wife?) rode in on a couple of nice Honda’s.

A few other photos:

June 26th, 2009 | Category: DQ Cruise |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

I’ve just installed the dotMobi plugin. It allows for better browsing from mobile devices (which is nice) and also allows posting from mobile devices which is really nice. So I’m posting from my phone to see how it looks and works.

And it does appear to work, but it also appears that the non-mobile interface is messed up.

I see that the developers are still working on compatibilty issues with the current version of WordPress, so hopefully it may get fixed soon. In the meantime it is definitly very usable; I can easily work around the broken stuff. Wahoo! I can finally blog from my phone!

June 25th, 2009 | Category: Computer Tech |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Reading yesterdays post makes me think I’m probably a bit depressed.  Yah, I sure am quite a bit depressed, but this too shall pass.  I hope.

I’ve been working on a diet for the last few weeks, averaging about one pound per day weight loss over the last four weeks.  I’ve also been studying up on diets and nutrition, something I’ve not bothered with in the past.  And I think I’ve learned a few things.

1. Calories are important, but not as important as timing.  Research shows that maintaining an even flow of calories during the day is extremely important.  When you eat just “3 squares” you body gets hungry in between.  When the body gets hungry it goes into “famine” mode, and starts storing fat and slowing down the metabolism to conserve energy.  If you eat less but more often the body never gets hungry and the metabolism actually ramps up, burning more calories.

2. Stay away from the center of the store.  Most of the “good” foods are usually found on the perimeter of the grocery store:  Meats, Dairy, Vegetables.

3. Get some exercise regularly.  I’m trying to walk at least 30 minutes per day and not while I’m working but when I can focus on a brisk walk.  It’s difficult right now because of my foot problems, I’m hoping that problem will get better after my podiatrist appointment next week.  And jumping to conclusions is NOT an acceptable exercise.

4. Can the soda pop.  This may be the hardest part for me.  For 30+ years I have consumed between 1 and 3 liters of Coca Cola every single day.  I like my Coke.  It keeps me going.  Here’s what I’m trying to do.  I drink an 8 ounce glass of Coke in the morning, and once or twice a week I allow myself a double Rum & Coke.  The rest of the time I’m drinking water with Crystal Lite Energy.  Crystal Lite is cheaper than Coke anyways.  This way I still get my daily fix of Coca Cola as well as getting enough caffeine to keep me awake, at least some of the time.  Yeah, it’s not as good an answer as totally cutting out the Coke, but I’m hoping it will work as an acceptable compromise, at least for now.  Maybe later I can cut the Coke down to just Special (Rum & Coke) Occasions.   I have noticed that with my reduced consumption of soda pop that my night time leg cramps have vanished, which should help me sleep better.  Right.  I think I got three hours sleep last night.

I’ve found a couple of useful items during my research.  One is the www.my-calorie-counter.com website, subject of an earlier blog posting.  I use it mostly to count calories and journal my weight loss.  Yes, I am counting calories, but mostly because I’ve never noticed them before and I’m trying to learn how to eat a more nutritionally balanced diet.  But, I may not be using it much longer.  I have found the “Abs Diet” which combines diet and exercise, and they supply a huge list of recommended foods.  I’m planning on ordering the book in the very near future, along with the “Eat This, Not That” Supermarket Survival Guide which compares and contrasts the nutritional values of foods.

An interesting factiod I just picked up:  Drink a high protein shake just before exercise.  It will give you more energy to exercise with and will also help increase your metabolism during and after the exercise.

One of my problems is that I have alway been a “3 Squares” person, that’s how I was raised.  And, that is how work is structured.  But, with the help of info from the “Abs Diet” I’m going to figure out a shake that I can drink at work for the snack times.  Since I’m on an 1800 calorie per day diet I am trying to average at about 360 calories during each of 5 meals or three 400 calorie meals and 2 300 calorie meals.  I want to see if I can do two of these meals with shakes, the thicker the better.  And take my walk after I consume one of the shakes.  We’ll see, I need to do some more research and need to be able to buy some groceries before I can do this stage of the diet.  I’ll let you know what happens.

June 23rd, 2009 | Category: Health |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

A very boring weekend. Spent the entire weekend by myself, mostly napping and reading and trying to keep cool and dry thru the hot, humid, t-stormy weather. It’s kinda weird having no-one to talk to except myself, any interactions I have with others right now is pretty much limited to business transactions “That will be $4.45″. “Change is 55 cents” “Thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart” . And I’m getting tired of talking to myself. I keep running thru scenarios in my head. I wonder what would have happened if I had done this or that. What might happen if I do this or that. Why the hell did I do this or that. And then sometimes I just sit and cry, I don’t really know why, but it just starts and won’t stop. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m losing something. I can’t seem to make sense of things anymore. People at work ask me to do something and the words just don’t seem to make any sense. I’m sitting here staring at a script I wrote a year ago and it doesn’t make sense. I need to modify it slightly, they want an extra option, but I can’t figure out how or why. I can’t get to sleep at night, I read for hours and finally doze off, then I wake up suddenly and can’t get back to sleep because I’m wide awake. But sitting here at work I keep falling asleep. I’ve hit my head on my keyboard twice today. If I have to drive much over 15 minutes I find myself nodding off and have to pull over to the side and get up and walk for a few minutes before I can drive on again. It seems like all I do is sit at my desk at work and stare at the computer screen or I’m sitting in my car trying to sleep or I’m sleeping while I’m trying to drive. And that’s about all I do. And my thoughts keep going around and around in the same track. Why did I do this. Why didn’t I do that. What could I have done differently. My boss has called me several times today asking me about this or that project that I’m supposed to be doing, and I just don’t have an answer and I don’t seem to care that I don’t have an answer and I don’t care that I don’t care that I don’t have an answer. I’ve gone from not delegating any work at all to delegating everything. I just don’t care anymore. Doesn’t seem to matter what or if I do anything, nothing works, nothing changes, nothing matters anymore. I thought I had my life fairly well sorted out and knew what I was doing and where I was going, but now all that is gone and I’m just drifting. I can’t get to where I want to go and I don’t want to go anywhere else and the obstacles between me and where I want to go are just so huge and so out of my control that there’s no way I’m ever going to get there. And it wasn’t all that long ago that my road to the goal was clear and everything was moving in the right direction and the goal was getting closer. Now I don’t have a snowballs chance in hell of making any of my goals. And I STILL don’t know what happened to change everything. Its like I went to bed one night and everything was peachy and when I woke up in the morning everything was shot to hell. Its like I never woke up from a nightmare. I run and I run in my nightmare but my feet just slip on the ground and I never go anywhere. I talk to people, I scream for help in my nightmare but no sound comes out of my mouth. I reach out to grab a lifeline in my nightmare and I don’t have any hands. People talk to me in my nightmare and I only hear gibberish, or maybe Etruscan, I can’t tell the difference anyways. If I’m not already insane I think I will be soon. I just don’t get it.  And the only person I can talk to about it is myself.  And I just don’t get it.

June 22nd, 2009 | Category: Mumbling, Rant |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

I’m sitting in the parking lot of the Public Library waiting for dark, then I can go find a quiet place to park for the night.  All around GR are T-Storms.

Can hear the thunder from the one just to the southwest.  Think that one will miss us, but who knows what else might pop up?  Had a pretty good one last night, for a few moments I was wishing I had a houseboat instead of a Mustang.

So, I’m sitting here, reflecting over the past week.

Last nights DQ Cruise was pretty quiet.  T-Storms were in the forecast, so a lot of cars and people stayed home.  There were a couple of highlights though.

This 1969 Mustang is for sale, less than 200 miles on a new 351W crate motor.  Absolutely a gorgeous car.

And my 2006 Mustang

There were several Street/Strip cars that showed up, the blue Charger, the blue S-10, the yellow SS.  They are all getting ready to go racing at Brainerd over the 4th of July weekend.  And I found out something.  On many Wednesday nights you can race your street car at Brainerd.  cost is just $20.  Requires that the car be street legal and that you wear a Snell approved helmet.  You can run as many times as you want from 5 PM until dark for the $20.  I think I’m going to go.  I’ve wanted to know what this car and I can do, and this is the proper venue to explore that.  I’m hoping I can afford to go July 1st.

This time of being by myself has given me lots of opportunity to explore my psyche.  I haven’t learned much yet, except that the peace and quiet are restful to a point but I miss some excitement in my life.  And that “restful” does not equate to getting enough rest; I’m exhausted all the time.  But I must do what I must do.

I was working on the podiatrists laptop this week, and took the opportunity to ask him about my feet.  I’ve been trying to do a bit of walking, but the foot and ankle and leg pain are just killing me.  And I LIKE to walk.  I’ve walked at least 10 miles in the last 5 days.

To make a long story short, I made an appointment to see the podiatrist.  My feet show definite signs of a problem, and he knows he can help me surmount the problem.  Isn’t for a couple of weeks though.  Basically, my feet have lost their “spring”, so the muscles, joints, and tendons of my ankles and legs are getting all the shock.  And adding padding (which is what I’ve been doing) isn’t going to help.

T-Storms are moving, think I will also. Buenos Noches.

June 19th, 2009 | Category: Auto Tech, Weather |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Trying to figure out if it is cheaper to live in Hibbing or GR, including transport, so I ran some numbers:

Miles Hospital to:
Grand Rapids 3
Bovey               8
Taconite        12
Marble           15
Calumet         17
Pengilly          21
Nashwauk     24
Hibbing          36

Note that I measured to an arbitrary point in each town. Yeah, I might be able to rent an apartment in GR that is only 100 yards from the hospital, or I might rent one that is 6 miles away and still in GR.

I see two different ways to calculate this. The first, and, I think, the correct way is to use the federal mileage allowance, which, I think, is $.50 per mile. To keep it simple, let’s compute for monthly cost of 5 round trips per week, 52 weeks per year divided by 12 months at $.50 per mile:

Grand Rapids $ 65
Bovey                173
Taconite           360
Marble              325
Calumet           369
Pengilly           455
nashwauk       520
Hibbing           780

Note that this method theoretically includes all maintenance and upkeep expenses on an average vehicle.

The other way would be to compute just straight fuel costs. Let’s figure the Mustang at a straight 20 MPG and regular gas at 2.69 (the price as of this morning), which gives a cost of $.1345 per mile and a monthly fuel cost of:

Grand Rapids $ 9
Bovey                25
Taconite          37
Marble             47
Calumet           53
Pengilly           65
Nashwauk       84
Hibbing          112

I think the first way would be a better way to figure it. Somehow, I have to afford new tires and oil changes and all the other stuff that goes into keeping a car running. The second way ONLY measures fuel costs.

I can get a furnished Studio including utilities for about $600/month in Grand Rapids. Going by the first calculation, you would need to pay me $180 extra per month to commute from Hibbing. Going the second route I would need to find a similar apartment in Hibbing for less than $500 per month.

I suspect that the truth lies somewhere between the two. However, I’m also thinking that I will restrict my search to within a 10 mile radius of the Hospital. One way or another I need to get a life, and I don’t intend to live my life commuting.

So, I think, here is what I’m looking for:

An apartment, within 10 miles of the Hospital, including utilities, including Internet, preferable furnished, garage a huge plus, for about $600 per month.

The tough part will be making the deposit, usually equal to two or three months rent. I’m only bringing home about $1400 per month, and more than half of that goes into my transportation costs (loan, insurance, gas), so it kinda looks like I will be living in the car for at least the next couple of months. Guess I should be happy if I can get into an apartment before the cold weather hits, say by the end of September? I should be able to manage that, but in the meantime all the rest of my bills are going to have to wait; doesn’t look like I’ll be able to pay anything except current living expenses. Kind of a shame, since just a few short months ago I had excellent credit, but, c’est la guerre.

June 17th, 2009 | Category: Mumbling |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment