Aditional Mute Button

As I get ready to head to my favorite watering hole to watch my beloved Bears, I wonder if this could be possible.

A Madden Mute button for the remote.

Press this button and you could hear all the game but not John.

I can listen to Al Michaels all game, but Madden is as irritating to me as fingernails on a chalkboard.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Brett Favre, Brett Favre..........

ATV Maintenance

Ever seen this?

It's the carburetor intake side of a Honda Rancher 350 ATV.

Why am I here? Like to old saying goes, "If you don't use it, ya lose it". This would also apply to starting and running your ATV at least once a month. I failed to do this and ended up taking the carb off and cleaning crap out of the bowl and jets. The idle jet was so clogged with varnish, it took me over 20 minutes to clean it out. I have spent close to 4 hours removing and cleaning it and putting it back together. Seems like less time would be spent by pouring some Seafoam in the tank and running it around the yard for a few minutes.

The good news is after all the time spent on this, it came out running as good as new and I will be starting it every few weeks to prevent all of this.

Live and Learn.

Mark Twain Lake 7.30.08

Ever see close to a half a million gallons of water a second falling from a spillway?

Went over there on 7.30.08 and took a lot of pictures and video. Unfortunetly I can't figure how to upload them to youtube. Have a good one of the crowd that was there and the line of cars on each side of the road from the dam. We parked close to a half mile away and had to walk there.


The COE had at least 8 people on the observation deck that were answering each and every question that was tossed to them. It was interesting how they determined just how much water was flowing thru the gates. I was also stunned that the gates were only open about 4 feet. When questioned on how high they could go, she replied " all the way up". Wow. The whole fact filled and very informational session ended when some idiot asked " Why ya lettin' all the water out".

If I would have had one handy, I would have given it to him and said " Here's your sign"

Welcome to My World

Every since I remember, I have always been fascinated with mechanical stuff. I remember taking apart my dads VW engine and rebuilding it at the age of 14.

I have been in the beverage business since the age of 18. Started as a truck mechanic at Coca Cola and got sucked into the production and vending side of the business when I was bored and looking for stuff to do. Sometime during this, I acquired my ASE Master Mechanic certifications for automotive mechanic.

After about 9 years of that, I ventured over to Pepsi Cola as a maintenance mechanic. Spent about the same time over there until they shut down production. Bummer.

Lucky for me, Wis-Pak decided to open a production facility here and I got hired on as the Maintenance Manager. Every day there a new adventure. No two days have ever been alike. Everyday is like walking into a giant mechanical playground, there's always something to do.

Things in my world are either black or white. No Gray.

Either it works or it don't. Not kinda.

If it's not broke, it probably doesn't have enough cool features added to it yet.

Why this Blog?

I have no idea.

I have worked with a wide variety of people. Some seemingly average people have shown me things that I had no idea how they came to the correct solutions to people who I am amazed that they find the gas cap when they pull into the station.

I just think I have enough mechanical background to at least help one person out.

SO

Take this blog with a grain of salt and maybe, just maybe one thing you read may help you out. I will stick to mostly my personal experiences and stuff I have knowledge of. Trust me. I have no problem saying " I don't know".

I reserve the right to venture off on personal crap when I am bored or think it may be of general interest.

Grammar here is going to suck. I didn't score high in grammar in high school.

Just a warning.