creanium.net

So I had my 25th birthday a few weeks ago, and it was mostly a low-key affair (much to my liking ). Before my birthday, though, Jess got in contact with my family and organized a large joint gift from them. Everyone contributed towards giving me gift cards so I could get my car windows tinted!

I was quite excited and happy with that gift! Getting them tinted was something I had been talking about doing ever since I got the Jetta over 5 years ago; I just never took the time nor spent the money to get it done. With this gift, I had absolutely no reason not to get it done.

So about a week and a half after my birthday, at the recommendation of several friends on SoCalEuro I called up Expert Window Tinting Plus and set up an appointment. Their location is literally just down the street from Michael and Gaile, so we set up a day that was convenient for Michael and Jess and I went down and dropped the car off. Michael had followed me to Expert Window Tinting and after dropping the car off, we went back to their house.

While waiting for the car to be finished (I was quoted 2.5 hours, which turned out to be 100% accurate), Jess and I got to spend quite a bit of time playing with Keira.

We were so pleased to get to spend some time playing with Keira and she seemed to enjoy us quite a bit too. After coming home, Michael told me that Keira said, “John and Jess are fun!”

We dropped my car off at 1:30, and exactly 2.5 hours later, my car was ready for pickup at 4:00. Michael took me down and we walked to the back and my car looked great!

I can’t say enough nice things about Andy and the crew at Expert Window Tinting Plus! They did an excellent job and I could not be any happier. Andy is a very friendly, affable guy, and the work is impeccable. Andy made sure I got the best-available product and look I was going for.

I know from now on, I doubt I will go anywhere in San Diego if I need any cars tinted and I will be sure to send friends and family down there as well.

Anyway, see below for the pictures.

By the way, both photos above were taken using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography technique. I personally am not a fan of the blown-out “comicy” look of many HDR photos that are popular these days; I like the look of a well-balanced and more natural-looking photograph.

I’ve been neglecting the Jetta quite a bit lately and I think it’s time I give it a bit of much-needed TLC.

Coming home from Disneyland a couple months ago, I got my first-ever “Check Engine Light” on the Jetta.  It only took me about 65,000 miles and 5 years, but I got one.  I scanned it with my VAG-COM, and found that the problem was a thermostat that’s stuck open.  The only real problem is the car takes a little longer to warm up from cold, and if it’s cold enough out, the temp my go down a little bit.  But with the mild temperatures that we enjoy out here in San Diego, it’s not that big an issue.

I asked myself, “Why stop with just the thermostat?  While I’m in there, why don’t I just replace the timing belt and water pump?”  The 1.8T motor uses a rubber timing belt instead of a chain, so it’s not as durable as a timing chain, and even though VW recommends changing it at 105,000 miles, I’d rather not chance it.  The 1.8T is an interference design, so the pistons will slam into the valves if the timing belt breaks, causing major damage.

Also, another weak point of the 1.8T is the stock water pump.  It uses a plastic impeller which is prone to shattering or separating from the shaft, causing the engine to overheat.  It’s driven by the timing belt, so it only makes sense to replace it at the same time as the timing belt with a new water pump that’s built with a metal impeller.

I’ve also noticed it running a little rough at times or dropping power and it definitely feels like it’s misfiring.  I scanned it again using the VAG-COM and the computer is reporting random misfires in the number 1 and 3 cylinders.  I went ahead and ordered a set of new spark plugs and two new coilpacks, as they may be the problem as well.  I figured I’d at the very least replace all the spark plugs and check all the coilpacks and if any looked bad, I’d replace them.  If they all looked good and the car still ran well, then I would just keep them in the car as spares in case one ever went bad.

Now that you have all that backstory, I can tell you that my dad and I have decided we’d tackle this big project on Saturday.  I was reading a DIY guide about changing the timing belt on a 1.8T today, and it listed the tools needed to perform the job.  I was taking stock of my tools and realized I was missing quite a few of the tools needed for the job (not to mention things like a spark plug socket and whatnot).

I pulled up Sears.com and started looking for the tools that I would need.  I quickly realized by the time I bought all the tools and pieces I needed, it would cost nearly as much as a whole new set.  So I thought maybe I could find a decent tool set on sale or something.  I didn’t have to look long because, lo and behold, Sears had a sale on a 260-piece Craftsman Mechanics Toolset!  They already had $70 off as it was, and I found a promotion code for an additional $15 off.  So all in all I got the toolset for $85 off it’s original price!

I’m quite pleased and excited and am very much looking forward to breaking them in this weekend!

Well, I’m done with my first day of thrashing my car around the track and I surprised myself, my car performed a lot better than I expected, and I was able to pick things up pretty well and was doing a fairly good job out on the track (at least that’s what the instructor told me).

The day started at about 8:15 when I arrived at the track. I taped up my headlights because I didn’t want them getting damaged because things can get kicked up on the track and hit and damage the lights. At 8:30 they called us into the tent and we had an hour-long beginner’s course. It was basically “here’s what to expect from your car out on the track and here’s how to control things”. So after the class, we were paired up and assigned instructors. My instructor drove my car first, to show me the track and the best way to drive my car around it, and then after a few laps we pulled into the pits and he went into the other guy’s car and I followed them for a few more laps.

We came back in, had some more classroom time and then went back out. This time the instructor was riding shotgun and teaching me how to drive as I drove it around the track. After that run, we had lunch and then we all went solo. The third run we did was when I began to really push my car. I had those tires squealing around corners and was going as fast as I thought I could through them. But as the day wore on, I got a better feel of the car and was more able to push it even further.

We did a total of 5, 25-minute runs throughout the day. During the last half of the 4th run I had my instructor ride with me to see if I could improve more or if I had bad habits I had to get rid up. He told me that I was hitting my lines really well (that’s a good thing), which basically means I had my car in the right spot during the turns. But there was one turn that was giving me trouble, and he gave me some pointers about how to get through it faster. Overall though, I was getting a very good feel of the track and how my car reacts to the input I give it.

By the end of the day, I was beat. All the adrenaline rushes while I was on the track took their toll on me and I just felt like passing out when I got back here to the hotel room. I had an absolute blast out there today and I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow. I have a better understanding of how my car works and I actually underestimated its potential. I have plenty of pictures (around 350) that I’ll eventually post up; I’m on dial-up right now and I’m not about to go through and just try to upload a ton of pictures right now.

I may blog more tonight, we’ll see how I feel though. We’re all going out to a restaurant for dinner, and then I’m planning on just coming back and crashing. It’s been a long, intense day and I have loved every minute of it.

Alrighty … so some new stuff to post about. (I would hope so considering it’s been 3 months since my last one).

Okay, well since the last thing I posted about was my new sway bar, I’ll start out by talking about the car. Since the sway bar was put on, I got a new suspension installed. Nothing too fancy, just something that lowered the car a little bit and improved the handling, but didn’t make the ride too harsh. In case anyone is interested, I have Vogtland Sport springs and Koni adjustable shocks and struts. I have to say, overall, I’m very pleased. The new setup makes the car handle and look a lot better. The ride is noticibly rougher, but it’s not harsh by any means. Some bumps can be pretty loud, but overall it’s just fine.

I’ve been in school for the last 2 1/2 months, and that’s been nothing really special. Calculus and Human Anatomy, oh boy! Yeah, you know you’re jealous.

Been busy working on websites. Still working at SPARTA, doing the same stuff I have been doing for the last 6 1/2 years. Can you believe that?! 6 1/2 years at my first at only job, and it’s still going strong. I also made a website for my sister and her husband as well as for the Associated Engineering Student Council at SDSU. I also set up and maintain a European car forum called EuroTuned. If you drive a VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, or any other kind of European car, just come on over and join up, it’s some good fun. So as you can see, I’ve been managing to stay busy.

I replaced the photo album software that I created for my website with one that is easier to use and add photos to. So basically, you can expect many more photos to come. I already added A BUNCH of new photos, so just hit the Photos link at the top of the page to view them.

Went to a couple of concerts recently. MEST in early October, and Good Charlotte with Sum 41 on Halloween. All were good and I’d highly recommend you attending one of them the next time they’re in town.

For the last couple of days, my time has been consumed by Halo 2. Josh and I went to GameStop around 11:30 Monday night and waited in line to get the game he preordered. We ended up playing until 5:00AM before I went home to sleep. Then on Tuesday, FedEx dropped off the copy that I had ordered that included free overnight shipping, so I still had it on the day of the release because they shipped it out on Monday. We had our first true Halo 2 party last night. I won’t bore you with the details but just know it was pretty fun.

Also on Tuesday, I received a 20GB iPod, completely free of charge. How cool is that?! All I had to do was sign up on a website, complete an advertiser’s offer, and then get 5 people to do the same. It was pretty effortless on my part. The only downside is it took me almost 3 months from when I signed up to me getting my iPod. But, it’s here now, and definitely not a scam. I had already bought a cable that allows me to listen to the iPod in my car; and I also bought a little cradle that the iPod sits in when I have it in my car. I posted pictures in case you’re interested.

That’s about it for now. Erica’s on her way up to my house and we’re gonna go shopping for Robin and Jacki’s birthdays. Can’t wait until Christmas when they’re both home again cause I miss them a lot. Oh well, that’s all part of growing up I guess.

Well, Richard and I spent about 3 hours today installing my new sway bar. The damn rear brackets just wouldn’t line up the holes so we couldn’t bolt it in. Well, we finally got it far enough in to bolt in on. After that it was just a piece of cake. We went on a test drive through PQ and DAMN does the car handle a lot better. It corners much better than it used to, I can take turns a lot faster now and I have new confidence in it. So yeah, YAY! (I’ll put up pics soon)

I also got the memory card for my phone. A whopping 64MB of removable memory; w00t! So that means now I can have free ringtones and wallpaper and a free and easy way to copy pictures and videos off of my phone. Cool huh?

Well that’s really all that was exciting that happened today. Maybe I’ll blog more later if I feel like it.

Alritey folks … it’s been a full 3 months since my last entry (which seems to be my usual cycle). And away we go …!

The biggest exciting thing for me is I’m getting some modifications for my car. I’m putting in a whole new suspension on the car which should make my car a bit sportier. It’s going to end up about an inch and a half lower than it is now, and a little stiffer of a ride; so my car should handle a lot better. I’m also installing a new rear anti-sway bar. What that does is it kinda stiffens up the rear of my car and allows it to corner better. So overall, my car should handle much better than it used to. So that’s cool.

Tonight, Erica threw a BBQ as a last-hoorah for Robin and Jacki because they take off for Michigan on Monday to go to school. Overall it was a good evening, had some fun and good food; but it was quite sad saying good-bye because we’ve all had some great times together and it’s very saddening to see it end. I don’t really want to go too deep into it because I’m going to miss them quite a bit …

I also got a new cell phone: the Motorola v710. Yeah, that’s right, go ahead and be jealous. =o) I’ve been waiting for this phone for quite a while, and it’s pretty awesome. It’s great to have a pretty reliable phone once again.

Work has been pretty hectic for me this summer. We have a big project that we’re working on and we’re going to develop it the “correct” way by documenting everything and holding meetings often. I’ve been appointed the testing lead, so that means I have to develop a plan of how I’m going to test the software, administer the test, record the results, and file any change requests needed. It’s a bit more complicated and time-consuming than it sounds; but in the end I think it’s going to be a good experience.

Halo 2 comes out November 9th, you better believe I’m going to be quite preoccupied for quite some time after it comes out. The more I read about it, the more excited I get; can’t wait!

School starts up again in two weeks. I’m only taking two classes this semester, and they’re both on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it’s like I have a 5-day weekend every week. =oD It’ll be nice because I’ll be able to work more when I’m not in school, and you know that means more money!

Welp, I think that’s it for now. Look for more to come as I might have some more free time coming up when I’m not playing Doom 3 or working or messing with my car.

Wow … umm … yeah … hi! I just had to clean off all the cobwebs that were hanging from all the walls in here. Yeah yeah I know, it’s been quite a while since I’ve given ANY type up serious update on my life. (As if anyone cares or anything) And since now I’m on Spring Break, I have some spare time to bring you up to speed.

But yah … the biggest thing happening I think has been the remodeling of the bathrooms in our house. 2 of the 3 bathrooms in our house have been remodeled. Downstairs we stripped the linoleum from the bathroom and hallway and replaced it with tile. We did all the work ourselves. We stripped the wall paper and relocated the vanity in the bathroom and put new wallpaper up and a new vanity and mirror and light fixture. It looks great in there now, I must say.

And then we had the master bathroom completely remodeled. We hired a contractor to do all the work and they’ve been working since the middle of January and are just about finished. The bathroom is completely done, there are just a few minor things left to do in the rest of the master bedroom before everything is COMPLETE. I’ll post pictures soon of before and after work in both bathrooms. The third bathroom will be remodeled soon, we just literally couldn’t live without all three bathrooms.

Other than that, there’s really nothing immensely new going on. I went to Vegas in March with Brian and Courtney to watch Lealta perform. If you remember, we did the same thing last year and once again, we had a blast. Well, I had as much fun as I could have as a 20-year-old in Vegas when all my friends are 21 or over. So yeah, it coulda been better, but overall it wasn’t too bad. I only got kicked out of 1 hotel, the Monte Carlo. The whole thing was kinda stupid, and I felt like I ruined Brian’s and Courtney’s nights because we had to go back to our hotel and just hung out in the room for the rest of the night. But oh well.

I’ve had my Jetta for over a year now, and it’s been great to me. Only thing that I’ve had a problem with is the brakes. Appairently I had the rear breaks down to metal-to-metal and so I had to get all new rotors and rear pads and everything. So that cost me a decent amount. But oh well.

And so now, it’s April 6th. Exactly 3 weeks from my 21st birthday. Am I excited? Yes! Am I excited strictly because I’m going to be 21? Not really. I’m excited because of what I’m doing for my birthday. Gonna go watch the Padres down at the new stadium, Petco Park. And then afterwards, head over to the Gaslamp and have some more fun. All with my family, including my sister, who will be down for her best friend’s wedding shower. So WOO!

Oh, and in May, I’m going to Key West for a company-paid vacation (sort of). Basically our company holds these seminars every year (they call it an Annual Training Meeting). Well, they send a whole bunch of employees to a different location every year and they have these training seminars that the employees attend. But the cool thing is, only a percentage of people are invited to attend, and this year I was invited. So I get to go to Key West for 4 days; all company-paid. Air, hotel, breakfast, lunch, dinner … all covered. How sweet is that? =o) Unfortunately I won’t get much time to do fun stuff like snorkeling or sight-seeing.

That’s all I can report for now. I’ll post up more things as I think of them.

Well … here we are, the middle of December, and I’m finally writing in here again. See, the thing is, my life is so routine anymore, that it’s not even worthy to post up for you all to read. But there have been some recent events, so I’ll write about those.

Let’s see, the last I left off was about 6 weeks ago when the fires were raging on. Well, I’m happy to report the fires are out, and we’re all safe. All in all, I think I heard something like 350 homes had burned down. Thankfully no one I personally know had their house badly damaged.

On Halloween, Erica, Robin, Jacki, and I spent the day at Disneyland. It was great, no real crowds or anything. Then for dinner, we met up with Brian and Courtney and had some good Italian food in Downtown Disney. After dinner, we all did a couple more rides and then watched Fantasmic. It was great, just as I remembered it. =o)

Nothing major happened in between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Well, except I put new headlight housings on my car. The new ones are European-spec and have a nicer beam pattern. And these new ones also have the foglights in the housings (my old ones didn’t). There are pics up of the install in the “Jetta” album in my Photos.

Oh yeah, and Evan left for boot camp the week before Thanksgiving. We all threw him a good-bye bash full of food and Xbox fun. It was sad to see him go, but we’ll get to see him again for Christmas. Even though, it’s still not going to be the same without him around. He brought a certain “flare” to us all and it will be sorely missed.

Then came Thanksgiving. For the first time in several years, our whole family was together for the holiday. My parents, Michael, Gaile, and I all flew up to my sister’s house in Sacramento and had dinner with her and my brother-in-law Mikee. It was a BLAST up there and we all had so much fun. I got to try some interesting alcoholic concoctions. The food was GREAT and the family fun was even better. It’s great to see we can all still get along and have fun together. (You can see photos of the whole week in the “Thanksgiving 2003″ album). The most interesting part of the whole trip was when Michael and Gaile made sushi for us. It’s surprisingly simple, and it tasted pretty damn good. Two-thumbs-up in my book. =o)

Then, let’s see, the last two weeks have pretty much just been me working, schooling, and preparing for finals. I only have 2 finals, so that’s helpful, but I have at least 1 test in every class next week, whether they’re finals or just chapter tests. I’m not stressing TOO much, but enough that I’m a little worried and am studying.

Oh yah, and last weekend, I spent the whole weekend putting lights up on the house, and I’m still not done (got some cleanup work to do).

Possibly going Christmas shopping tonight with Erica and Robin, or maybe tomorrow with Erica. We’ll see how it pans out. Going to Robin’s polo game this afternoon. My first polo game (whoah). This should be interesting, to say the least. Bunch of girls in skimpy outfits beating each other up? Sounds like my kind of sport! Lol … just messin.

K … well I’ll try to make an effort at getting more blog entries posted in the future. I’ve promised that before, and it hasn’t faired too well. Ahh well.

Wow … how bout that … another 3 months without a SINGLE log entry. =o I’m sorry people, I have failed ye.

Well, let’s see, my summer has been pretty uneventful, honestly. I just been working like crazy, with occassional trips to Disneyland for concerts and what not. Went to an Angels game last week. It was cool, although they lost.

And honestly that’s basically it. The power supply in my computer decided it would be pretty cool to go out on me. That wasn’t so cool. But it did allow me to get a new computer case, so that was cool. It took me about 3 hours to get things transfered to this new case and to clean up all my wires and stuff and get things hooked all back up.

So now my computer is up and running again and I’m posting log messages. And yeah, what else is going on? Well, Erica is in Germany with her parents and classmates from her German class. I’ve gotten a couple emails from her and it sounds like she’s having a blast. It’s really weird not having her around to talk to or hang out with, but meah, I deal. I’ve been spending most of my nights at home since she left early Monday morning. Well, on Monday, a bunch of us went to Courtney’s and played Halo and Poker till 2:00AM. That was pretty fun. Then Tuesday and Thursday nights, I just stayed home all night. Wednesday night, Reema and Kevin Sullivan and I planned out our camping trip that we’re taking in a couple of weeks. More on that later. Then I was up until 6:00 Thursday morning working on a project for work that I promised would be up and running by Thursday morning. Well a few things got in the way and it took longer than expected. =o( But I did finally get it out and the boss is somewhat happy with the results. And then tonight Brian and Josh and I are heading out to Barona to do some fun gambling. Good thing I have money. ;o)

So about the camping trip, It should be pretty cool. We’re going to be spending a week in San Simeon, which is about 6 hours from here up the coast. We’re planning on spending a day in Montery and then spending another day in San Fransisco. We’ll also be doing some typical beach stuff and some hiking and whatnot. All in all it should be a really cool fun week.

Okay, not really much else to report other than I’m still loving my car, 6 months later. Yeah can you believe it? It’s been just about 6 months already. And the scary thing too is I’ve put 10,000 miles on it already. That’s gross. I usually wouldn’t put that much on the truck in a year, let alone twice that. I put a new sound system in there too, replacing all the speakers and putting in a new amp. So now it sounds really nice and clean and loud and I LOVE it. Hehe.

Okay, well that’s it for now. I will make a big effort to post more in the future, so my fans have more to read. (Yeah right, what fans?)

Okay, I know it’s been forever since I’ve blogged, but not much has really happened.

Really all you need to know right now is I love my car, school is blah, and work is stressful.

I’m going out and hanging out with various friends when I can and am having fun for the most part.

I went to Disneyland last week and that was a blast, as was Dayton. I’ll give you the full write-up later, when I have time to sit down and collect my thoughts. But for now, I just wanted you to all know that I’m still alive and well and doing just fine.

Also my grandmother passed away recently. It was a tough time for the family but we got through it together and she has been buried in Minnesota and we all hope she’s doing well in a better place.

I also celebrated my 20th birthday a couple weeks ago. I got some cool stuff, mainly Xbox gear.

If you’re reading this and haven’t talked to me in a while, drop me a line. Either through AIM, Email, or phone; there’s always a way to get a hold of me.

Oh yah, can you believe it?! creanium.net is already over a year old! WOW! A lot has happened in that year: some good, some bad. And I’m still hangin in there.

Well, that’s it for now, I’ll go into detail about Dayton in another post.