Postcards From Myself

Anyone who knows be even the least knows that I have a strong love of New Orleans. Part of that may stem from the fact that I was born nearby in Baton Rouge. Part of my love may come from my affinity for the music, food, literature, and people. Or it may just be that I feel comfortable there and everything just seems to fit. Whatever the reason may be, I do love the city. So it pains me whenever something bad is going on there. Of course I was torn apart by hurricane Katrina, made all the worse by my memories of going through hurricane Hugo here in Charleston, but what has pained me even worse is what has gone on since.

There is currently an entry in Anderson Cooper’s blog that talks about the current crime situation in New Orleans and how it is getting worse. This particular piece is about the French Quarter in particular. I read this on the same day that I found out that a conference that I had planned on attending in June had moved its location from New Orleans to Orlando. I can understand a large convention wanting to make sure that attendees are safe and that the infrastructure is there to handle them, but I also feel that if people don’t support the city then how can it recover.

What hurts me the most is to realize that most of the crimes being committed in the city right now are not the actions of recent newcomers or out-of-town hooligans. The people holding these guns are residents who either never left or left and returned. These people are killing their own city. And while other members of the community are marching with placards and banners, their sons, daughters, and neighbors are the ones pulling the trigger. I would lay odds that quite a few of the residents in those area being hit by these crime waves, the residents calling for the police to do something, also smoke the occasional joint or down the occasional illicit pill. Well the people they are buying this stuff from are the ones that are holding those guns. If not them, then their “associates”. So it is more than a tad hypocritical for them to protest against the people they are supporting.

Anyway, I suppose all of this has just caught me wrong. The crime is a disgrace. The city is fantastic. And I am tired of people asking others to take care of the problem. I am not referring to help here. Asking for help is fine. And I am ticked off at anyone not willing to help. But when it comes to this crime problem there is no way anyone other than the people there can solve it. That and by companies being willing to do business there so that people have jobs and can earn an honest living.

Rant over.

I got the new trunk lock tumbler in today and got that installed this evening. I now have a secure trunk that I can store things in while I am out and about. This, to me at least, officially makes the Roxy useful. Yes! The other thing that helps, is that I put in a full tank of gas. Nothing makes you feel better than looking down and seeing that gas gauge reading full. Makes you want to take a road trip to anywhere.

This video has been making the rounds and I agree that it is outstanding. Take a look . . .

Thoughts?

OK, so this one has been frustrating. Roxy dies at work. New battery nothing. Some wiring work. Nothing. Tow truck guy comes to haul her home. He fiddles with the battery cables a bit and boom, she fires up. I kick myself, thank him, and then kick myself some more. Driver her around. Then driver her to the bank. Then driver her home. No problems.

Later that night I go out to move her and nothing. All the same symptoms. Geez! Anyway I figure the battery clamps have really had it so I replace them with bright shiny new ones. Now she has a new battery and new and improved connectivity to that batter. Would you like to guess what I get for that? Nothing.

Well, that is not quite true. I got some smoke! That’s right, a nice little puff of smoke coming up from somewhere in engine compartment. Seeing that I promptly turned everything off of course, but I didn’t see any problems and couldn’t find any burnt wires. So, being the good male that I am, I hit the switch again. This time I was watching closely to spot the area the smoke came from. Sure enough it did it again, I killed the ignition, leapt out, and started searching. Success was a wire that was warm to the touch - definitely something you shouldn’t find in a car that hasn’t run in two days.

That wire, the warm one, was one of a group coming from the starter solenoid. It either has a break somewhere in it or is actually grounding out because the ground to the engine isn’t strong enough. This wire is one of a group that runs very close to some ground wires and also some brackets on the side of the engine. Through vibration and voltage I can definitely see it have some problems.

I proved my point to my self by moving the wires around a bit, isolating things, and then trying again. She fired right up. So now that I know where the problem really lies, I will take some time when the weather warms up to replace a few wires and also clean the grounds and all connectors. That should take care of things - for a while. In the meantime I will just drive the Chrysler Sebring around. The weather is cool so it is behaving at the moment.

Since I was not able to get a key cut for the existing trunk lock in Roxy, I had to start the eBay hunt. Ended up being not that bad at all. i found one for less that $30 including shipping. It should be here in a few days and then I will finally have a secure, lockable location in Roxy so she can begin to do more regular service. I still haven’t been able to get the door locks working, but I am far less concerned with that now that I will be able to lock the trunk.

Technorati Tags: BMW

Or at least power. Turn out that the battery was bad, and then that the battery cable was also bad. After replacing the battery, beating my head against it for a few days and then fixing the battery cable everything is fine now.

So, Roxy is back on the road and I am happy again. Life moves on.