Nicholas Pike

Safari just might have won itself the spot as my web browser for “personal use”.  (I keep a pretty lean Firefox on my home computer… not even Firebug installed!)

Safari 4 Beta OS X 10.5.6

Safari 4 Beta Windows

I ordered my 2.5″ suspension lift kit this week, should be here next week!  The list of parts im getting:

• front and rear Performance 2.2 shocks
• transfer case spacers
• Front and rear progressive coil springs

Can’t wait!

I likely won’t be able to get the kit installed for a week or two, as I will be going to CA this coming weekend for Erik’s wedding (go erik!).  First time on an airplane and all… that’s enough excitement for me.

… and I will leave you with a picture of my parking spot at BlueTie.  My snow banking is melting away =(

Yesterday I received two more emails from Connor that I feel the need to share with everyone (pretty funny):

So perhaps a more accurate title for this post is:  Connor Fail – but thanks for the amusement.

It was nice and “warm” out today in Rochester, NY (42F) – perfect day to go for a ride, buy a toolbox, tennis balls, and some hunter green spray paint.  Spent the afternoon doing some tiny mods to my front bumper – removed the plastic fender ends (milk jugs) – which gives the stock fender a little more aggressive look.  Nice!

I removed my new CB whip antenna a few weeks ago because it was banging up against the frame of the Jeep… causing some scratches and generally being annoying for highway travel – so my remedy?  Buy some tennis balls, paint them green, and use them as a buffer between the antenna and the frame.

Can’t wait for it to get warmer out so that I can go topless..

I really enjoy getting emails like the following, from users who don’t understand all the work it takes to give them something free to bash.

Well Connor.  Its people like you, that explains why I don’t bother wasting my time fixing bugs anymore.  Ungrateful and non-constructive emails like this ruin it for everyone else.

For those curious, my response to him was:

Hey Connor, just to let you know; constructive feedback helps me fix its problems.  Your email wasn’t very useful. Thanks

Last weekend was the first time out with the Wrangler off roading!  I went with TeamMudNuts (a local Rochester, NY 4×4 club) to Whispering Pines Hideaway in Lyons, NY.

My buddy Tom and I spent the previous evening hunting down and installing a CB into my Wrangler… which will be a post for another time (once the custom CB rack we fabricated has been finished).

I met some of the members of the club at 8am at a near-by Barnes & Noble, where we started our trip to the trails in an awesome Jeep convoy.

On the way the lead truck (towing a 1987 CJ-7) kind of hit a Plow Truck… but that is also another story for another time.  We met the rest of the club at the trail.

My Jeep looks a little inferior to the rest (in the middle).

It was a great time… lots of stories to tell, and even more pictures to show.  Got stuck a few times, but overall my stock TJ did quite well on the muddy and snowy trails.

Some more select pictures, see the Flickr photoset for the rest.

The Jeep being happy covered in mud

(See the rest of the dirty pictures)

Jeep being happy clean!

12/9/2008 6:57PM: Didn’t stall at all on the way to work today… but the drive home was a different story: stalled once and had a pretty horrible launch at an intersection.  It seems the clutch behaves slightly different when its raining – over all it shifted smoother this evening though…  stupid rain.

12/10/2008 6:45PM: Didn’t stall at all today!  There was also some wintery mix outside to greet me after work, and I drove without music so I could better pay attention to the engine.  Accidentally shifted from 5th to 3rd gear turning off the main road… Jeep did not like that, and I squeeled some tires.

Here’s a picture for today:

12/11/2008 4:51PM:  No stalls so far yet today (to work, and to home)  It’s my birthday, and I actually feel like the Jeep knows it and doesn’t want to be a dick today.  There’s still more driving to do tonight though… always more chances to stall.

12/12/2008 6:22PM: Nice little western NY mini snow storm today after work… took a bit longer to get home because of slow drivers.  Spent a lot of time between 2 and 4th gear, but made it how with out incident!  I think I have solved my bucking/clunking problem when shifting into 2nd and 3rd… I just have to leave the clutch in longer before I start the shift, and still let it out slowly.  Strange, because 3-4th and above, I usually can just let go of the clutch after shifting with no problems.

Today may have been the very first stall free commute to work and home.

A friend helped me with by stereo install over the weekend (life is hell without iPod play back!) and he showed me some new tricks.

When starting on a hill, hold down the clutch and brake peddle. Slowly release clutch until you feel the engine vibrate a little, then give it a tiny amount of gas and let up off the clutch. Worked great, no rolling backwards!

Twice a year or so I make a 1000 mile round-trip to visit the family in NH.  For five years it has been with my very trustworth 1995 2D Jeep Cherokee Sport.  At the start of every winter season something major on it has required repair… practically like clock work.  This year being the most expensive repair so far.

The Friday before turkey week my water pump exploded like a grenade – and required me having the Jeep towed to my favorite Jeep dealership in Rochester.

Total cost?  Almost $700 to make it drivable again.

Moving forward… I drove it another 500 miles (after repair) back to NH – with it over heating off and on the whole way.  This was also my first long drive using my iPhone as my soul means of navigation – the Google Maps GPS actually did fairly well!

It’s interesting to note, that voltage from a cigarette lighter is not enough to power the iPhone completely while it is using GPS,3G,Google Maps, and playing music.

Almost as soon as I entered NH I lost AT&T service completely… and it remained mostly unavailable through out my stay in NH.

The weekend that followed was a marathon of car shopping…  saw many many Jeep Wranglers, and even test drove a few…  finally settled on the very last one we found – just as we were about to call it quits for the night.

2005 Jeep Wrangler X: 26,900 miles – barely used.  Has never had the top taken off, never had the doors taken off, and still had its original stock tires.   Unfortunately it was a stick…. but for the deal they offered me, I was willing to learn.

I drove it home that night… and the end is history.

More pictures of stuff:

RIP Jeep… you will be missed :(

I battled with it for a long time, but finally purchased a new LCD HDTV!  Thankfuly was able to sell my old HDTV for $100.

Here’s a shot of the new TV – its a 32″ Sharp.