The Friendly Canadian Writer's Journal

My guardian angel...?

December 30, 2000

I'm lucky -- my '89 Comanche starts on the first few cranks, without being plugged in, even down to -37 Celsius.

Something weird happened the other day, though.

We were about to head out to the Whiteshell for a few days. I got the truck started and warmed up while loading it, but when we went to pull out, I stalled it. The truck has a lot of low-end torque, so I almost never stall it, but no big deal, I just went to start it again...and the starter cranked...but nothing. Just wouldn't start. (Keep in mind that this had never happened before, not in all the years I've owned the Jeep.) Kept cranking it, and started to smell gas. My first thought was that the stupid o-ring on the pressure regulator had broken, so I popped the hood...and no, the o-ring was fine, but lo and behold, there was a screwdriver balanced on top of the windshield wiper fluid reservoir. I must have left it there when I changed the air filter the night before. (Michelle thought that was strange since I never leave tools lying around.)

Now, if we'd actually hit the road, that screwdriver might have played the proverbial monkey wrench and caused some serious damage. (Or it might have just fallen through and I'd be less one screw driver.) It was the neatest feeling, though...I got the distinct impression that "someone" wanted me to check under the hood. My guardian angel must have been watching over me.

Of course, the truck had only flooded -- which is weird enough since it was the first time it ever had in all the years I've owned it -- so when I returned to the driver's seat, I gave the pedal a pump, turned the key, and the truck started fine. I switched it off, then started it again, to make sure this wasn't going to be a recurring problem as we were about to take a long road trip. Everything seemed fine, and we were on our way.

I've really lucked out with strong-starting vehicles...my first car (a '78 Nova RS, heh) was almost never plugged in and that old 305 would always start...even one early morning in January that reached -42 Celsius when it hadn't been started for a week.

If only the 327 in the '67 Impala SS I replaced it with had been like that...that engine wouldn't start if you looked at it the wrong way. I can't even count how many mornings I spent taking the carburretor apart at work before I could head home after a night shift. Working on that car at 30 below...to this day I swear that if there's a hell, it's got to be cold.

A small change

November 3, 2000

Well, I've finally got the simple little CGI redirector script online...I've put it to work in the Stories and Poetry sections first.

I think I'm going to continue using both navigation methods -- the new form-based one, and the italicized text links I've been using so far -- at least until the number of pages grows too big for the text links.

This was mostly a test of the redirector for my Tribes scripting site, where it will be put to work soon.

And so, it begins...

October 25, 2000

After more than 2 years working on Gilbert Goodmate, I finally have some time to myself. :)

I have a lot of stuff planned for the site, but before I update any content there are some behind-the-scenes restructuring and reorganizing I need to do.

The first step is to get some work done on my Tribes Scripting site, including one last update to my scripts before Tribes 2 arrives.

Then I need to revamp the sub-navigation scheme I'm using for the story and poetry sections here to handle longer lists of both.

I'll try to update this page as I make progress.

In the meantime, thanks for all your support! I really enjoy the emails.
(If you haven't emailed me yet, what are you waiting for?)