Posts

Showing posts from May 12, 2024

The Nissan Leaf Gets a New Rear Axle

Image
Well, I finally have a salvage title for the 2013 Nissan LEAF (Actually I dont have the title yet, but I think they mail it to me. We are far from settled with the insurance company for sure. It has been six months since Angie was rear ended. The following chart shows a very sad and disturbing trend. Insurance companies aren't paying out. It should be criminal. I went shopping for a new rear axle so I can get the car driving again. The rear ended axle was so bent, the car couldn't move. The new one with no connecting bits was over a thousand dollars. The cheapest used ones I could find on ebay were over 500 dollars. I finally scored at a local used parts place for 95 dollars (removed) and with associated bits such as bearings, bushings, parts of the brakes. It took me a concentrated day with cancelled and moved meetings to get the axle replaced and the car running again. The accomplishment felt good. I am now configuring the car with tractor tires and other modifications t...

Tesla Camping-- being remote.

Image
Last week I had a number of late meetings for work. My current commute is 50 miles each way and I do it twice a week. The Tesla has been very helpful. It is cheaper to run, it drives itself (yes, I use Full Self Drive (FSD)-Supervised). But also this past week, since I had to make the trip more times with less reason to go home, I decided to rent a campsite at a Bartow County campsite. I would sleep in the Tesla Model Y. It all adds up. The need to be local in Bartow County, a beautiful and quiet lakeside retreat, an SUV with air mattress, specialized HVAC (Tesla "Camping Mode") and electric hook-up to charge the car, and the amenities of a shower, toilets and all the basic domestic requirements. I like my sleep. It went well.

AeroVentures, Inc.

I noticed that often I don't post about things that have been important/changing to me. It's a bit like forgetting to take a picture when something crazy happens, even when the camera is in your hand. Journalists are trained to take the picture first then worry about everything else. I felt I did a better job taking pics in uncomfortable situations when I was in Africa. I was yelled at, threatened, scorned, and vastly outnumbered. It was uncomfortable. But, I did what I needed to do to get the result I wanted. (Video would have better in capturing some of the adversity I created.) Aeroventures is my flying club with about 150 members and about a million dollars in assets. There has been some incredible tension with the board of directors for over a year. I joined the board in that period because of the tension. I figured it would be a skill developer. “Calm seas never made a good sailor.”--Franklin D Roosevelt It was indeed a skill developer. Eventually, there was legal a...