As you can tell by my recent posts, I am enjoying learning to play roller hockey. The group meets every Monday and Thursday, so there is ample opportunity to play. Unfortunately, hockey was preempted this most recent Monday due to car problems.

Yup, Bonnie #2 finally had a problem that caused significant drivability issues. It worked great until Sunday. Sunday morning, everything was fine. I got in 9 holes of golf with my dad. Ran fine. Had breakfast. Ran fine. Did some errands. Ran fine. Went to a Bonneville Club meet. Didn’t run fine.

As most of you know, I started a web site in January 2002 called BonnevilleClub.com. It serves primarily as a forum and knowledge base for Pontiac Bonneville owners and aficionados. In the 19 months since inception, the site has grown. Grown enough, in fact, that the Minnesota members have started having meets. Sunday was one such meet, hosted generously at one of the members’ homes. We hung out for awhile, drove to an empty parking lot, took photos of the cars, talked car talk… the usual. It was good fun. I was surprised (in a good way) to see several of the cars with decals promoting Bonnevilleclub.com. One guy even had a t-shirt made! Cool stuff.

After some time, we decided to go cruising in our Bonnies. For me, that’s when the trouble began. Whenever the engine was put under load, it would start to miss and therefore vibrate like mad. Driving any faster than about 40-50 mph put enough load on the engine so as to cause the miss. Driving really slowly isn’t nice when the other people want to go fast, so after a few minutes, I bowed out of the cruise and limped home. I scratched my head for a little bit, figured that it was probably ignition-related, and decided to try new spark plugs. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any new plugs handy, and I began my search right as the auto parts stores were closing. I consulted with my dad, hoping that he would either confirm my guess or produce a simple solution. Fortunately, both occurred.

My dad diagnosed the problem as bad plugs and suggested that, as a temporary fix, the plugs be taken out, cleaned, and regapped. Eventually, the plugs came out of the engine. Once we could see the plugs, there was no doubt as to the source of the problem: those things were shot. I guess replacing the plugs had never before come to mind. The car had been working fine, and although scheduled maintenance is important, for some reason, I had ignored/overlooked the spark plugs. The temporary fix improved the situation enough for me to get to work today, and during my lunch hour I bought new plugs and wires.

I drove home with only minor ill events. Rush hour meant slow speeds, so the engine never experienced much load. Once home, I turned the car off, opened the hood, directed a far towards it, and waited. Waited for two hours. Waited so that I wouldn’t burn my hand while changing plugs.

Unfortunately, the waiting meant that I couldn’t go to hockey. I really wanted to go, seeing as how Grandstaff was in town and was planning on playing. Fate laughed at my plans: the car wasn’t reliable enough to get to the rink, and I couldn’t make the car reliable without missing the game. C’est la vie.

The actual installation of the wires and plugs was rather quick and straightforward. Unlike many other transverse-mounted engines, the 3800 in the Bonneville provides easy access to the rear plugs. Good job, engineers! The new plugs, Bosch Platinum brand, were purchased for their long life and supposed reliable performance. The plug wires, colored red to match the car, were purchased because the old wires appeared to be the originals.

Together, the new plugs and wires completely changed the character of the car. I immediately noticed more power and smoother operation. Also, during the installation I discovered that my strut tower brace was slightly loose. I tightened it up and noted a marked improvement in handling and rigidity.

It’s amazing what an improvement can come from such a small fix.

Sunday evening. 4:00 p.m.

Ring!

“Hi Jeff!” my dad says. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” I reply. “How about you?”

“Could be better.” Uh-oh. Good things rarely follow those words.

“Why’s that?” I ask, cognizant of the fact my dad was supposed to be driving back from South Dakota at the time.

“Well, I’m stranded in Worthington. The Tahoe’s fuel pump seems to have gone out.”

For those unfamiliar with the area, Worthington is a small town about 15 miles north of Iowa in southwestern Minnesota. In other words, it’s about 190 miles from Minneapolis.

“Do you have any plans for the rest of the afternoon?” my dad continued.

“Um, driving to Worthington?” I drolly offered.

Needless to say, I was in Worthington by eight o’clock. The way I see it, I couldn’t have a weekend without several hundred miles of driving; it just wouldn’t seem right!

Remember senior year of high school? Remember applying to various colleges and universities, perfecting essays, taking multitudes of standardized tests? Remember the anticipation and anxiety while waiting to receive admission decisions? Well, then certainly you, dear readers, must remember the Golden Rule of letters from schools: thin envelope = bad, thick envelope = good.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about taking a test from Mensa to see if I qualified for membership. Today, I received an envelope in the mail from American Mensa – and it was thick. “Congratulations!” the enclosed letter began. “Your Mensa Admissions test has been scored and, based on the percentile rank, you qualify for admission to Mensa.” Well, great: I feel vindicated now – I didn’t buy the world’s most expensive fifth of water!

To celebrate, I decided to purchase a new dictionary. All of my previous dictionaries have been relatively small (roughly 70,000 entries), so I’ve always resorted to Dictionary.com for definitions to obscure words. However, there is a certain warm intimacy present in a physical book that a web site lacks. With that in mind, I went to Barnes and Noble (the brick-and-mortar version, not the web site) and found “Webster’s Universal Encyclopedic Dictionary,” which, based on the copyright information, appears to be a Barnes and Noble printing of a Merriam-Webster dictionary. I knew I had found the perfect dictionary when I saw that the entry for “euphonium” included a line-art drawing; the 330,000 other entries helped seal the deal.

Other random stuff from the past week: I went on a riverboat cruise down the Mississippi, complete with catered dinner, courtesy of Medtronic. I had lunch with the Medtronic Neuro Division president. I played hockey again on Thursday. This article is amusing, especially in light of the Ways and Means tiff last week. Minufo posted a link to the Political Compass Quiz, which I found rather interesting. In case you were wondering, I’m at (1.12, -4.21). It appears that Aymond might be coming back to Rose, which would be cool. Voda is stirring things up. Hmmm… what else… Well, how about we finish with a cartoon? Aw, crap: It looks like Doonesbury, my favorite comic strip, has sold out to Slate and the archive is fubar, so I can’t link to the strip I wanted. D’oh! Amuse yourself with Dilbert instead.

After many months of searching, I finally have replacement brake lines for the Pike 1949 Maxim fire truck. A long time ago – was it September? – several of my Brothers were driving the truck around the grounds when the brakes failed. It is unclear whether the brake line was severed by the resulting crash or whether the severed line caused the crash. Either way, the fire truck got well acquainted with a medium-sized wooden plant. That relationship left nobody satisfied, as the outcome was a bent bumper and a horizontal tree.

The ensuing hunt for replacement brake lines proved more arduous than even the protracted quest for a clutch master cylinder, which we needed to fix our other fire truck. While I found the clutch master cylinder after only three months of searching, the brake lines have proven enigmatic – until now.

During my jaunt to Indiana, I picked up the severed brake lines for the Maxim. Earlier in the year, we determined that nobody in the Terre Haute area could help with replacement parts. Fed up with the ineptitude of the Terre Haute shops (I mean, one would think that a hydraulic hose shop would be able to make brake lines, but nooooo…), I took the severed lines home with me on the return leg of my weekend road trip. I brought them to Brake and Equipment Warehouse in Minneapolis, hoping that the required fittings were still in existence. Rob, in the Shop, said, “No problem!” and today I picked up two brand-new, custom-made brake hoses.

I’m looking forward to getting back to Rose to install the lines on the fire truck and play with the hydraulic ladder. Fun fun fun!

Last night, I gave hockey another try. This time, unlike last, there were a bunch of people there. Despite my lack of hockey skills, they were friendly and welcoming to me. I had a fun time, and I look forward to my next chance to play.

In following up on my previous statements about Uptown and the Lakes District, I decided to go to Lake Calhoun on Sunday. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny summer day. People young and old were at the lake, walking, running, biking, blading, playing volleyball, sailing – enjoying all that summer has to offer. I did a lap around the lake – in my car – and decided that I wanted to get outside and do something too. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my bike with me, so I went home and settled for a ride around Maple Grove. That sort of relates to one of my unwritten goals. I’ve been fairly ambitious as of late in trying new things. I generally express these ‘things’ as goals. You’re probably getting sick of hearing about these goal lists so often, but, hey, I’ll say what I please.

Anyhow, the newest additions to the goal list, ranging from the material to the ideal, are:

• Become a liquor connoisseur. I imagine that the best way to learn the difference between a fine spirit and mediocre booze is to take a class. In the meantime, I’ve started a small collection, based primarily on the visual appeal of the bottles and opinions expressed on epinions. The problem I see is that, for the most part, I’m not a big fan of the taste, or really even of the induced feeling. For me, I’d rather sip on a fine cognac (well, not quite as fine as I previously considered, but then not some V.S. monstrosity either).
• Figure out how best to apply my engineering education. The more I see of the business world, the more I realize how versatile Electrical Engineers are. I enjoy playing with, designing, and building technology, but sometimes I wonder if it is not merely a means to an end. What is my true calling? I am searching.
• Identify the organizations I would like to be involved with following my entrance into the “real world.” I definitely want to become active in Scouting again. I want to pass on the knowledge and experiences I treasured along my journey to Eagle Scout. I want to become involved in some sort of amateur road racing club, be it with sports cars or sport bikes. I want to become involved in business and politics. I want to read more. I want to write a book. I want to lead a fulfilling life. I want to change other people’s lives for the better. Now, the challenge lies in changing “I want” into “I will” along the path to “I have” and “I am.”