Month: November 2012

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I Love My Ford Ranger

I’ve had my Ford Ranger for almost six months now (already!) and, despite a few little speedbumps, Moya and I have been the proverbial match made in heaven. I love my Ford Ranger!

There is just so much to love in my little green truck. In fact, the only thing I really don’t like is the gas consumption, but that’s practically a non-issue here in the land of cheap gas. I also miss having power doors and windows, but that’s it. Both of those issues were carefully considered trade offs.

Now, what do I love about my truck? Sitting high up is a definite plus. I’ve noticed this at night especially. I’ve always avoided driving in the dark because I would get blinded. Not so with Moya! I’m above most headlights, so my night vision doesn’t get all of whack. I’ve been out a bunch of times at night with her and only realised after I got home that the drive wasn’t a big deal.

My Ford Ranger drives beautifully and shifts smoothly from gear to gear. I love that my truck is so comfortable to drive. I’m not sore when I get out of Moya after a long drive. Also, my truck is a little big in some parking lots, but not unmanoeuvrable, the perfect compromise between a car and big pick-up truck.

Being able to sleep in my truck is another plus. I wouldn’t want to do it in the current nightly temperatures or under a baking sun, but in average temps I have the option of sleeping in a parking lot instead of paying for a motel if a day trip runs a little long.

When I was shopping for a truck, I didn’t want a Super Cab because of the extra length, but I’m now glad that my truck has those two doors in the back that give me a place other than the truck bed to store cargo, especially shopping bags.

Finally, my truck is very easy to tow behind my motorhome. I was so concerned that I would have a huge unwieldy rig, but nope. I can still get into regular gas station and mall parking lots without any problems.

Because this is an older truck that I don’t know very well, I decided to pick up a repair manual for it.

 

I’m hoping that reading this manual will help me to know Moya a little better so that I can make informed decisions about maintenance and repair. She still has fewer than 200,000KM on her odo and I hope that a little knowledge and love will keep her rolling for a good long while.

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I’ve Been Missing Out!

I don’t get much into the Christmas spirit and I don’t care much for Christmas movies. Neither does my friend, so I was puzzled that she really wanted to see the original 1947 version of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ at the cinema today. But we have common tastes, so I agreed to keep an open mind and tag along for the 2PM matinee.

Well, I can’t believe I’ve never seen this hilarious and thoughtful movie! It was so good! They really knew how to make movies back then. We’re both looking forward to seeing ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (Jimmy Stewart, *swoon*) on the big screen on December 19th!

We went to Cracker Barrel for an early dinner after. I stepped out of my comfort zone and ordered their cider pork roast with Gala apples, cranberries, and pecans (mac & cheese and broccoli as my sides). WOW. I didn’t realise that Cracker Barrel makes fancy meals like that! This was really good, with the pork being fork tender and the apples still having a bit of bite to them. This meal really changed my opinion of Cracker Barrel and makes me feel less guilty about enjoying their food so much!

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Monday Matinee

I decided to take most of today off. Being able to take time off on a weekday is a great perk of self-employment!

First off was a sushi brunch at Toyko Thai in Smithfield. I got the three-roll special with miso soup for $10.50.

yellowtail, spicy tuna, BBQ eel & cucumber

Notice that pale yellow ginger in the lower left hand corner? That’s what pickled ginger is supposed to look like. For some reason, North Americans think good pickled ginger is supposed to be bright pink. Is ginger pink? Nope. Tokyo Thai is the only sushi place I’ve eaten at in my travels that has such good ginger!

After lunch, I meandered my way to the cinema in Chesapeake. I really, really, really wanted to spend another two and a half hours with Abraham Lincoln, but I know I’m going to buy ‘Lincoln’  on DVD, so I decided to see another one on my list that my friend won’t want to see, ‘Flight.’ It was quite a good story about addiction and how it affects daily function. I’m glad that I saw it on the big screen, but it’s not one I’ll want to see again. It was a great choice for a matinee.

When I got home, I discovered this beautiful thing waiting for me:

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000

I have wanted an ergonomic keyboard since Microsoft put them out in 1994, but they were incredibly expensive. I was just never sure enough that I would like them to put out the money. I have made do for a very long time with the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000, a keyboard that has served me well and that keeps dropping in price.

This summer, while at a client, I had a chance to try out the latest incarnation of the ergonomic keyboard, the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, and my interest was renewed. But they were $50 at Staples, still too rich for an experiment when my Comfort Curve model was serving me so well.

I kept the ergonomic keyboard in my Amazon shopping cart for several months, watching the price yoyo up and down a couple of dollars. On Black Friday, I decided to see if it might have gone down enough for me to make the plunge. YES! I got it for $30 with free shipping!

So far, my only quibble with it is that the six/question mark are located for proper touch typing, so on the left side of the keyboard, while I have gotten accustomed to over reaching with my right index finger. So that will take a little getting used to. Otherwise, the layout is like my Comfort Curve, so I know the Windows key is my command key, the alt is the option, and where all my accents are. The ù is just a little less of a reach for my pinky, which is great. And I love how solid the keys feel under my fingers. I’ve only been using it for about a half hour and it’s like I’ve been doing this forever. Those years on the Comfort Curve have prepared me well!

In other news, gas prices in Virginia are INSANE. I filled up my truck at $3.09 a gallon! To put that into a little perspective, I needed 12 gallons of fuel, so my total was $37.20. When I was traveling through the US in June, I paid an average of $3.75 a gallon, so the 12 gallons would have cost me $45 then. And the last time I bought gas for my truck in Quebec, I paid $1.30/litre, so converting gallons to litres, I would have paid $59.15 for that 12 gallons. I am not complaining and it is great that I can drive all over with my truck and not feel a pinch!

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A Good Home Really Is Never Done

I have lots to keep me busy right now, including searching for some materials to complete a few more projects in the rig before applying the final coat of paint on everything.

One project is to build a shelf over my new desk to hold the computers and offer better cable management.

I did some shopping at Lowes and Walmart yesterday as well as extensive online shopping (I finally find something I want at Ikea and they don’t sell it online?!). I know what I want the end result to look like and it seems that I will have to build it myself. I did find a shelf on the Target website that will be a good starting point, although I will need to take my saw, a drill, and some cloth-backed vinyl to it.

The other project involves removing my beloved dishwasher and instead installing a cabinet. The dishwasher has served me so well, but it’s now leaking like a sieve and is not fixable. 🙁 Plus, I am so rarely hooked up to a power source where I can use it. When I put it in, I was still locked into a vision of RVing where I was going to be in RV parks with access to 30A most of the time and that vision has changed. If it was still functional, I would hang on to it, but it makes sense to take it out now.

So I now need an odd-sized cabinet to fill that gap, something ideally about 24″ tall and 12″ wide. I found something suitable on the Target website, but, like the shelf, I will have to take a saw to it. It’s not the sort of quality I would want for something people will see first then when they walk into my home, but it’ll do.

While I will sorely miss my dishwasher, I am starting to warm up to the idea of having a cabinet near the stove, but still far enough away, to be able to store oils and spices in it as well as all the loose bits on the counter that wind up traveling in the sink. Besides, being dishwasherless right now fits in with the improved vision for my RVing life that I am living right now.

Both pieces should arrive late this week or early next week. I would have preferred to pick them up in person, but they are only available through the online store. I’ll then have to dig out the tools again to put them in and then I might feel motivated to do that painting!

As a side note, I’m really enjoying the weather in Suffolk! It’s been sunny and in the teens in the afternoons. We did go down below freezing last night, but are back up well above that at for the next week or so, with afternoons promising to be gloriously warm and sunny.

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Verizon Is Still Awesome

I just got my latest Verizon bill and almost fainted from the shock: $270. I know that my current plan is $170 per month, but where did the other $100 come from? Ah, they backdated my data plan for the last billing period, even though that only gave me five days to use up 12GB!

Since they were so reasonable the last time I had a billing issue, I decided to call and ask them to adjust that $100 to reflect the amount of data I actually used.

I didn’t have to beg or plead or lay it on thick or anything. I just explained the facts as above, the dude put me on hold to get an authorization from a supervisor, and when he came back, $70 had been taken off my bill.

I made a reasonable request, had no problem paying what I genuinely owe, and they responded respectfully, logically, and fairly.

Meanwhile, I just about cried the last time I got off the phone with Telus.