"You only live once - but if you work it right once is enough." - Joe E. Lewis

I've seen two of the new (C7) Corvettes in as many days. Last night Pam & I saw a red one on the way to dinner and this morning I was passed (duh!) by a blue one on my way to the coffee shop. I think they're great looking cars except for the back end which they got wrong (not just my opinion). The car is stupid fast even in the base version ($54,000) and could pass for a European supercar save for its rear.

I'm curious about the person who buys one. They've obviously got some money (or pretty decent credit) and don't have toddlers they're responsible for ferrying around. Did they buy it because of its performance which, bang for the buck, is a pretty decent choice? Or because they want to be seen driving it? Having been a passenger in a C6 driven by someone who knows how to drive it (you know who you are and how much fun I had) I suspect that the poseurs far outnumber the drivers; you can't use 80% of that car's potential unless you have some serious skills. And from a guy who drives a '65 Falcon wagon (pretty near the top of my skill level) I think I like the new Vette but probably not most of the middle age men driving them.

I've got the spare engine about halfway through teardown and I'm glad I paid the extra money to have it. Not only am I getting the pieces mine was missing for less than I'd pay for them separately on eBay, I'm seeing some differences between this one and mine. This morning I took the access cover off the side of the block so I could get the lifters out. Hey! There's an oiler tube my engine didn't have. So when I get mine back from the machine shop I'm going to look closely to see if it has the fittings for this tube and it just got left off when it was rebuilt the last time, or if they changed the design and eliminated it (that happens). Also, I found a completely different kind of lifter this morning. Which one is original, and does it matter?

This is my second engine disassembly and I'm getting good at it. Remains to be seen if I'm any good at putting them back together.

Back in the day if a kid got in trouble at school the parents typically gave the benefit of the doubt to the teacher and assumed their kid was guilty of the accusation. There might be a conference to get specifics, but the authority figure got the benefit of the doubt.
Ask a teacher today and they'll tell you things have changed. Rare is the parent who comes in to find out how Johnny broke the rules. More typical is disbelief that their sweet child could possibly have committed the offense.
When and why did that change? (I blame the 60's.)
The same has happened with cops. And that's not good for society.

OK, I don't get the whole ice bucket challenge bit. I've been challenged by one of the boys at church and, for his sake, I'll probably go through with it, but it doesn't make any sense. I'm supposed to either donate $100 to ALS research or get dowsed with ice water, right? Except what I'm reading is, "You now have 24 hours to complete the challenge and donate." So are all these people posting videos of themselves getting dowsed giving a C-note to ALS? I doubt it. And is choosing an ice bucket instead of donating something you want to feature on Facebook?? How is that a badge of honor? And what about all the celebrities who are very publicly doing both? Shouldn't theirs be, "No ice water for me! I donated!"
This has gone viral and I think it's gone looney, too.
Somebody 'splain it to me.

I spent two hours this afternoon in heat and humidity with an electric chainsaw pruning the giant Palo Verde tree in front of our house. I have hours of work left to do trimming more branches and cutting up what's now on the ground so it can go in the trash (over the next couple of weeks). We just had dinner and I'm already hungry again.
And thirsty.