DARJIX

Tracey and I saw a “For Sale” sign on our local theater the other day. After digging around, I found this brief documentary about the place. Apparently the owner passed away in April. The fear is that it will be turned into condominiums, or something similar.

Some Douchecan* performed a hit-and-run on my car and destroyed my drivers’ side mirror. So I decided to replace the mirror myself, rather than spending an absurd amount at the body shop. Of course I have a $500 deductible, so I couldn’t even make an insurance claim.

_{* = Douchecan might as well be trademarked by Tracey.}

The first step was ordering the replacement part. Because the mirror was smashed and the joint was broken, it made sense just to get a full replacement assembly. This was 150 dollars, including tax and shipping, at Bernardi Honda. You can get cheaper parts, but this was made by Honda and is color matched.

The second step is to remove the door panel. This is pretty easy. You have to take the cover off the inside of the mirror assembly. This is held in with 2 clips, so it just pops out. Next you have to remove two screws, one on the inside of the door latch and one on the inside of the door handle. The door panel should be loose at this point.

The hardest part was figuring out how to unhook the door latch from the door. It is surprisingly easy once you figure it out. You can use a screwdriver to “pop” up the metal latch, and that releases the door panel. The door panel is held in place with a bunch of clips all the way around, and these just pop free with a little bit of pressure.

Once the door panel is off, there are three bolts holding the entire mirror assembly to the door. Remove the nuts and replace the assembly. Don’t forget to hook up the wiring, otherwise you’ll be taking the panel off again. The panel goes back on pretty easily, and you can whack it pretty hard to set all the clips.

I love my Honda – it is so easy to work on. I can’t ever imagine buying anything else. It was pretty funny because my neighbor was also working on his ’89 Jeep today. He’s getting ready to sell it. That car is easy to work on in a different, much more minimalist, way.

Ever since I went to Stephanie’s on Newbury, I have been thinking a lot about second generation Indians and the way they dress. I went to that restaurant a few weeks ago and met up with some friends. While I was there, I noticed that there were a ton of very stylish Indian Americans. If I had to guess, I would guess that most were second generation.

The politically incorrect term for someone who just emigrated is Fob Unfortunately, there is a huge stigma for Indian-Americans to be seen as being too “Fobbish.” I think that it is in reaction to this that Indian-Americans tend to dress very stylishly. Maybe metro-sexual is a good descriptor. I think a more complimentary terms might be “euro” or “trendy”

First generation Indians tend to be very frugal. Indians are one of the wealthiest ethnic sub-groups in America right now. I think they are the wealthiest if you look at it in terms of median income. So maybe it is just the second generation spending the first generation’s money.

I bought a bottle of Tito’s Handmade Vodka from my local liquor store just because I saw it and I was curious. Since it was around 15 dollars, I didn’t think it was a big purchase to make. I was just looking to buy some vodka so my friend (Andrew) wouldn’t complain that we were poorly stocked every single @#$#ing time he comes to our place. I’m honestly not very fond of Vodka and I’ll stick to good beer.

I will say that this is the greatest alcohol discovery I have made recently. The previous one is the Ipswich Summer Ale, which is pretty darn good, but not as good as their regular ale.

I’m not a very good reviewer of anything really. But I will say that this vodka is drinkable straight out of a shot glass. My neighbor usually can’t drink vodka shots, and he thought that these went down like water, and the vodka had a pleasant taste. Tito’s isn’t watery or light (It is 80 proof); it just tastes good, which is something I never expected from a Vodka.

Tracey showed me how to make a silver ring. The ring was made for a friend of mine who is getting married tomorrow. It isn’t the wedding ring that he is giving to his fiancé. Since he is Jewish, he was told by his Rabbi that he could not have any diamonds, stones or patterns on the ring. Consequently, he wanted two plain silver bands for the ceremony.

Tracey showed me how to cut the metal to size, anneal the metal, bend it into shape, and solder it together. She also showed me how to polish it. This ring isn’t perfect though because there is still a slight amount of firescale on it. But it would take way more effort than it is worth to remove all the firescale, just so it could be worn once for 10 minutes!