(13) Birthday Cookout, Motorcycles, and an update on the aquarium...

This weekend started with no plans at all, which can often lead to some of the most entertaining and exciting weekends. Not to say that this weekend was a thrill ride, but it was fun taking things as they came and riding the waves.

Saturday:

We started off with a trip to Indianapolis for the Harbor Freight sidewalk sale event. Harbor Freight is a dangerous place for a fix-it-yourself kinda guy. It is loaded to the gills with budget tools from a simple hammer to full machining tools. Anything and everything a guy could ever need can be found at Harbor Freight, and usually for a great price! Of course, some products are of inferior quality versus big name tool brands. I had purchased a wall-mountable 50ft retractable electrical extension cord that had stopped reeling itself back in. I decided today I would return it since they were having the annual sidewalk sale. The return was fairly quick and simple despite long lines at the registers due to the event. Amber and I made a trip around the store and checked everything out, but there just wasn't anything I really needed. This is mostly because I've got my garage well stocked in Harbor Freight products. There's not much more I could ever need, so we decided to head back down to Greenwood to scour the pet stores for deals on tropical fish for the aquarium.

We stopped by PetSmart first, and I noticed that they had the Cardinal Tetras that I like, but for $3.99 each! That's highway robbery! Our next stop was Uncle Bill's Pet Store. They had a nice selection of fish in well maintained tanks, but no deals on the fish we were looking for. We did notice some fish that had been 'tatooed' (dyed) with numbers on their sides for the NASCAR fans. I'm not much into NASCAR, but perhaps I should get a fish tatooed with my Autocross number '98'! We'll see I guess, as I should probably wait and figure out which of my fish is the fastest, and award him with my beloved racing number.

It was a little after 3pm, and we had an invitation to a birthday cookout for one of Amber's friends and coworker. The weather was nice, around 53 and sunny, so we headed home to get the Buell Firebolt and ride to the party in Shelbyville. Halfway to Shelbyville the clouds roll in and block the warm sunlight and bring in some cool breezes. It was a bit nippy as we made it into Shelbyville. We hung out at the party for about 45 minutes, and I decided to split and get the motorcycle home before it got unbearably cold. I rode home shivering, jumped in the Subaru, cranked on the heated seat, and headed back to the party. We sat around the campfire socializing and munching on BBQ beef brisket, crackers and cheeseball, and drinking beer. Mine of course was the root beer type since I was driving. We stayed until around 7:30 and headed home. I was digging the campfire so much that I decided to get a fire going in my fireplace and relax with an ice cold glass of Captain Morgan and Coca Cola, and read the new Maximum PC magazine that came in the mail. I got a call from my Dad, who asked me if I could take a look at his Saturn L200 that had developed a shimmy in the steering. He brought the Saturn over and took my Subaru home, so that I could get an early start on the car Sunday morning.

Sunday:

I woke up feeling pretty chipper around 8:15 this morning, so I got up and threw on some garage workin' clothes. I started a pot of coffee and set out to dissect this sickly Saturn L200 in my garage. I got the front end up on jackstands and proceeded to apply the old side-to-side and top-to-bottom shake tests on the tires in hopes of finding a bad tie rod component, or failing wheel bearing. To my surprise, the steering was tight as could be, and there was no signs of bearing failure. I pulled off the wheels to inspect the brakes for perhaps a warped rotor or damaged half-shaft. No problems whatsoever. I decide I had better take a closer look at those wheels and tires that I just pulled of, thinking perhaps a counterweight had fallen off and thrown a wheel out of balance. All the weights were in place, but I took notice that the tires were badly warped and swelling. It looks like I've found the culprit in the case of the steering wheel shimmy. Lucky enough for Dad, as a bad steering component or wheel bearing would have cost a bit of money, and required a new alignment after repair. Luckily he only needs to get new tires mounted and balanced. We found him a good deal on tires for Monday.

It was only about 10:30 am, and the weather outside was lovely, so we decided we'd saddle up on our iron horses and go for a motorcycle ride. I spent about an hour cleaning up the Firebolt while Dad drove his Saturn home to get his motorcycle. About a dozen Armor-All cleaning wipes and some shop towels had the bike looking nice and clean. We rode down State Road 135 south, took State Road 58 west to Interstate 65, which we followed north to US 31 back home. It was about a 3 hour ride, and we traded bikes once we hit SR 58. The trees are still bare, but the grass is starting to get some green coloring. It should be a breathtaking ride in a couple months.

After we got home, Amber cooked up a special hamburger recipe from the 'Taste of Home' magazine. I snapped some new pictures of the aquarium to share with you guys. Its pretty much completely decorated, and is now home to five 'Mickey Mouse' Platie Fish! They get their name from the Mickey Mouse head shape on their tailfin. They are some active fish, a real hoot to watch!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Until next time...