Not as much progress as day 1. Day 2 was mostly removing lights and bezels and various fits and finishes. The biggest thing was removing the damn windshield. The thing took so much time since we didnt have a good blade to cut the rubber surrounding the glass. We resorted to using several razor blades. That made for a long, painful removal. Hopefully the next time I get to work on it, we can remove the dash and start pulling out some wiring.
I’ll leave with this. A quick video of the roadster before the project started.
I’m testing linking Flickr albums here to my WordPress, so apologies for any display issues.
Since I don’t have much time right now provide a detailed update, I am just linking my Flickr steam for the project. The accomplishments for day 1 include transporting the car and tearing out part of the interior. I’ll let the picture tell the story.
**UPDATE**
I’m having issues linking the images from here to Flickr. I’ll post small images here, but to view the images at a larger size, head to my Flickr here.
**UPDATE2**
And of course after I change the posting format, the linking works.
The title of this post has two applications. For one, this is the revival of my blog. Looking at my previous post, the first goal of 2009 was to post more often. That lasted 1 week. A year and a month later, here I am. Reviving this blog. And there’s good reason for that, which brings us the the second application of the title.
I have revived this blog in order to document my restoration of a 1970 Datsun Roadster. The project started February 13, 2010. My plan is to fully restore the car to near original condition (with several modern updates) within 1 year. I will be working on the project during my free time, mostly on weekends. As I make progress, I will document my work and progress towards reaching my goal.
So keep posted on new updates here! I’ll try to blog about things other than the car when I can find the time and interest.
Let’s see how I’ve done so far with keeping with my resolutions.
1. 2 posts in 7 days. That’s definitely better than the 1 in the last 4 months of the previous year. Verdict: Success
2. 7 days into the new year and I’ve been to the gym 4 days. I don’t think there’s much measurable progress quite yet, but I’m putting the effort. Verdict: Success
3. I haven’t taken a single picture yet. Verdict: Fail
4. I’m still scripting this thing for WE. In actionscript 2. Haven’t had the opportunity to look up classes or anything for AS3. Verdict: Fail
5. I’ve booked my flight + hotel to Vancouver, booked the cabin in Tahoe, and am looking into more flights since its cheap! I need places to go and places to crash, people! Verdict: Success
Decent start to the year. Only one week in and things are going well. We’ll see how long it lasts though.
1. Blog more often and one a more consistent basis. Writing is a good mental exercise that gets lost when you just read.
2. Get in better physical shape. Eating all those food samples at WS didn’t help the belly.
3. Start my picture a day project again and ACTUALLY DO IT EVERY DAY. I started this project awhile back. Lasted a week.
4. Learn actionscript 3. My archnemesis.
5. Travel more. Economy is down. I’m still employed and still getting paid. I have a decent savings. Might as well use all that extra income to explore the world.
Basically, the recurring theme for 2009 will be self-improvement. Happy new year everyone! You’ll be hearing more of me in the new year.
Yea yea I know that after Chicago, things really dropped off. I slept even less once we hit the big cities and am still playing catch up on life. I’ve posted all my pictures on my flickr, so you can check there for a more visual representation of what I did after Chicago. In the meantime, I’ll be working my ass off.
Chicago was one crazy whirlwind and it was great. Arrived around noon time and checked into the Best Western in downtown. It was the PERFECT location. It was super cheap and very centrally located. Didn’t drive at all while there.
First stop was Giordano’s for some Chicago style pizza. Recommended by everyone. Definitely did not disappoint. Nor did the beer. Everything was very filling and I got a nice buzz. Actually, I wasn’t sure if it was a buzz from alcohol or lack of sleep.
Next stop was Chicago River to pick up tickets for out river and lake tour. We weren’t able to hop on right away since of was sold out, so we took a later tour. In the mean time, we walked to Millenium park to check out all the art and the giant bean. You’ll see what I’m talking about when I finally upload pix.
After the park, we hopped onto the boat for our tour. The city is absolutely beautiful and the tour showed it off in an appropriate light. The tour was followed by a stop at Garrett’s Popcorn. Highly recommended and did not disappoint. While eating our popcorn, we walked to Sears Tower. Took the elevator to the top and wow. That is a very impressive view.
The grime of the day set in and we decided to head to the hotel to wash up. Everyone freshened up and then headed out to get Chicago hot dogs. Not too bad.
Then started the weirdest night on the town. First was this old person bar where the youngest person had to be at least 20 years older than us. Next was this ghetto club where we would have been the only non-African-Americans had we gotten in. This was followed by the odd metrosexual/gay club.
Finally, at the end of the night, we just ended up in some sports bar and had drinks. Finally called it a night around 4am and headed back to the hotel. A few went to the mcdonalds while the rest went back. Finally knocked out at 5am.
The next day started around 8am. Finally left the hotel around 930 and headed off to check out a couple other places.
I should probably continue with the posts in South Dakota.
So, we had gone to the Crazy Horse Memorial and saw the startings of it. The memorial hasn’t quite been completed, but when complete, will be larger than Mt. Rushmore. It was very impressive in terms of scale. Checked out the memorial, got a souvenier, and that was that.
Next stop, Mt. Rushmore. Arrived there and took pictures of it, got gifts, and watched chipmunks run around. Oh and got a few sprinkles of rain coming down on us, but nothing too bad. Can’t think of any particular noteworthy happenings there.
From there, we drove to the Badlands National Park. I think it was a national park. But anyways, we just drove around there and stopped where ever we liked and took pix. Had a couple close encounters with wildlife, such as the lead ram of a group of sheep staring us down and blocking the road so we couldn’t pass. We drove to a vista point and watched the sun set over the plains and canyons of South Dakota. While the sun was setting, you could also see a thunder storm coming. It was completely epic the show mother nature was putting on. Since it was dark, we just had dinner at a cafe in the park.
From here we drove straight shot to Chicago. I took first shift and drove through South Dakota. My opinion of South Dakota? That state would never freaking end! It took so damn long to drive through that state.
Then I drove through part of Minnesota, where the fog in the middle of the night got as bad as Pacifica fog. Not to mention that whenever we stopped and got out, the air smelled like sewage. Must be all those lakes.
Someone else drove through the rest of minnesota and Wisconsin to finally arrive at Chicago.
That was that day. I went to sleep in Minnesota. A very tiring day that left me loopy.
