almoststarted.com

So the two wheels that had been “left” in Hodgkins magically appeared at my doorstop last night while I was at class, along with the two that ups said were “out for delivery.” They were used, so they had a bit of curb rash going on on the very edge of the lip, and a bit of grime built up in a few spots, so I went to work on them with a rotary tool. Buffed out the brake dust spots, and sanded down the curb rash before hitting it with some 2000 grit sand paper. You can hardly tell there was any curb rash to begin with. Got the tires mounted on the wheels this morning, and the car looks DAMN good, and I do say so myself. All that’s left to do is to procure VW center caps for the wheels (they’re OE Audi TT wheels), and then finally order a suspension kit to lower the car. After that, it should be all little homebrew projects left for the car (like a new pc). And I have no idea if this will work, but it theoretically should:

Click here for a larger image.

So I regularly read the BBC news, as I find that it’s generally a far superior source of information as compared to CNN, but from time to time I get stuck. I think I know what they’re talking about, but then suddenly I don’t, and it all comes down to colloquialisms and abreviations. When did it become ok for news agencies to use them? The articles in question today kept talking about MP’s, which to me is Military Police, which didn’t fit the stories. After hitting up dictionary.com, I found that it also stands for Member of Parliament, which makes perfect sense now, but not being a Briton, I have no concept of MP being Member of Parliament. Silly British.

So in a clear case of poor self control, I purchased a set of 17″x7.5″ Audi TT 5 spoke wheels off a guy on the VW Vortex forums, and I’ve been waiting with baited breath ever since for their arrival, which is supposed to be today. They went on a ups ground truck last Wednesday in Cali, and showed up in Hodgkins, Il. yesterday, so all seemed well for their delivery today. But then I check on the status today, expecting to see that they first hit Northbrook (the local distribution hub) and then that they were out for delivery. But instead I put in the tracking number and see that it still has the package in Hodgkins. So I keep checking all morning, hoping to see it put on a truck and sent out for delivery. I finally check the details on all the packages (4 wheels, 4 packages), and see that two made it to Northbrook last night, and are now out for delivery, and TWO ARE STILL IN HODGKINS! WHAT THE @!#$. It still says they’re scheduled to be delivered today, but as it gets later and later in the day, I get the feeling that the description will magically become “lost in warehouse, delivery delayed,” as has happened a number of times before. Stupid UPS. However, they’re still better than USPS, who’s “tracking numbers” don’t actually work until after the package is delivered. Yeah, way to call them tracking numbers (confirmation numbers).

My mind’s already going. And I’ve just turned 24. I couldn’t remember the username and password to my own blog that’s running on my own server. That made me feel like an idiot. I suppose its similar to the curse of the cell phone. I don’t know anyones phone number anymore, I’d be screwed if I lost my phone, as everythings in there. Same with my login for this, it’s stored in Firefox at home. I also use a different username here than I do everywhere else which only adds to the confusion, as it always takes me a while ot remember that, only adding to the number of user/password combinations I must go through. Oh well, heres to being 24.