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I picked up the K5 yesterday. For such a joyious occasion, it was quite traumatic.

First of all, I haven’t driven it since 12.28.2005. Everything about it was foreign, from the angle of the non-adjustable seats, to the steering, to the suspension and handling characteristics…all of it.

Not to mention that it runs like Hell. The change I made to the carburetor before the fire DID indeed lean out the fuel/air mixture some. But it’s too lean right off idle. Right in that place where you hold the accelerator to maintain speed or take off from a stand-still, it’s lean. Very lean. So lean, it almost dies. So driving involves “idle, acccelerate, repeat”. I must look like a complete jackass driving, because I basically have to gun it to get moving. Going down the road I gotta accelerate, then let off. If I try to just hold it and maintain a constant speed, it shudders and sputters and acts like it’s running out of gas (because from the engine’s perspective, it is).

Nevertheless, I’m driving again. I must’ve gotten bigger balls while sleeping because I woke up and drove myself to work this morning–with no fear I might add. I reaquainted myself with the “feel” of the truck and got a lot more comfortable. I have a solution in mind for tuning the engine better, but it involves new springs in the carb.

Which leads me to another problem…Money.

As stated previously, my bill at Mr. Transmission jumped from an estimated $750 to around $1500 when they discovered that the existing transmission would need to be replaced, and not rebuilt. That basically cleaned out my account. My girlfriend (G) and I had a misunderstanding about our, and specifically her, financial situation. I was under the impression that she had more in her bank account that she actually did. Well…there’s no money. I have $68 in my account. We get paid on the 15th (it’s currently the 7th).

Hmm…

Quick thinking on part led me to put up a couple of auctions on eBay to raise some quick funds. I have a couple of extra parts for the Blackhawk that I’m not using. I bought them way under the market value, so if they sell I should profit. The problem is, the auction has another couple of days to go, and even if they sold right this instant, it’d take a couple of business days for the money to go from Paypal to my bank account. I *really* wish I’d gotten that Paypal debit card.

I haven’t been this bad off financially since like…1998 or something. Actually, twice since then, something has happened. Usually due to a miscalculation. But it’s been well over a year since that happened, and I’ve been a lot better about managing my money.

My good friend Donald here at work wants to buy the Blackhawk. I was originally offering it up to him for $250, but dropped the price to $200 to sweeten the deal and hopefully get the cash quicker. We’re tentatively scheduled to make the transaction today. If that happens, my life will be considerably easier. The Blackhawk’s spare parts on eBay should be sold in 2 days, and the money should hold me through the weekend and into early next week in time for the eBay money to come in.

Also, because I can be such a slacker, I never did file my income tax return. I know, you’re thinking “WTF”, but I did get a pretty nice bonus from work around that time, so it wasn’t like I was missing the money. I filed electronically over the weekend and should have the cash in my account around the middle of next week (along with my paycheck).

So…I have money on the way. More than enough to cover the bills and all that. I just need to eat and pay for gas…NOW.

It’ll all work out. It always does.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 9:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.