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Four months. That's how long between posts this time.

Part of the problem is I've been working on a new blog and website, www.gdunge.com. It's a real honest-to-God remote hosted website on a real server, not just a series of static pages like this one. RapidWeaver is cool, but I was never happy with some of the compromises it forced me into. Primarily in handling digital photos.

So the new site uses WordPress and Gallery2.

And some of the other events that happened in the last four months are discussed on the new site. Please check it out. This site will quietly go away soon.

More than a month since the last post. I must bow to pressure from my vocal fan base (Hi Anna!) and appease y'all with an update.

So, let's see.

• We moved to Las Cruces, NM. I'm learning all about evaporative coolers.
  
• I'm (still) looking for a job.
  
• We went to Europe - pictures soon in the Pictures section.
  
• I'm considering going back to college - there's one just a few blocks away, offering a BS in Aerospace Engineering. Monday we're taking a campus tour and talking to financial aid people.
  
• The Ghia EV project is on hold until we identify a source of funding to continue it.
  
• I bought a ticket into space on the first flight out of the New Mexico Spaceport, now called Spaceport America. It only cost me $50. Unfortunately, it's for a business card weighing at most 1 gram, and not for my own body. That refinement also awaits a funding source, and a suitable vehicle. On the plus side, this encouraged me to design some really nifty business cards at iPrint.com.
  

That's about it for now. Check back later if you want to see the Europe pictures.

RapidWeaver has released a beta of version 3.5, which adds some new themes and permalinks and fixes some bugs. I'm trying it out now. Looks good except for a couple of weirdnesses with scroll bars in the preview mode - no big deal.

I also added a resume page to the About section. Would you like to hire me? I'm available.

Let's see how far I can push this "moving" pun.

So today we had our one-day-only moving sale. I was somewhat dubious and stressed — I didn't think we'd make enough money to pay for the trouble and I proposed we just donate it all to Goodwill. However, Anna made her Persuasion roll (she's got a really high Charisma) and talked me into it.

We worked like mad to sort through all our stuff and decided on what we wanted to throw out of the wagon. We also brought in around $250, which should be our gas money for the move.

The items we didn't sell will be disposed of in some other way. We'll press them on friends, or recycle them, or throw them away, or reconsider.

If anyone wants one or more of the following items (all of which are located in Bend, Oregon), please contact me:

• Enough brewing supplies to permanently inebriate the Mormon Tabernacle Choir


• A set of four snow tires, mounted on rims, that fit a Subaru Impreza


• A bowling ball


• Old Macintosh computers (Power Computing clone w/G3, and an LC III, in working order — although I'll grant you that whether or not they work is probably irrelevant)


• A LaserWriter IIg printer, complete with Ethernet interface (see above aside)


• A cubic yard of assorted cloth


• Another cubic yard of assorted women's (actually, one specific woman's) purses


• The usual assortment of vases, coffeepots, stuffed animals, etc. that are only seen at garage sales and are apparently perpetually traveling the globe, visiting each garage in turn (hence the term "moving sale")

We sold the wheelbarrow and the lime iMac DV and the antique rolltop desk. Anna didn't sell her guitar, not surprising given how she growled at anyone who approached it. The toboggan is also gone. I'm sure attempting to use it on the Organ Mountains would be some combination of fruitless, painful, or fatal, so it's best it stays in Bend.

All in all, I'm glad we did it. Anna, you're the best partner anyone could ask for. I love you.

I managed to steal some time to figure out why the pictures didn't work in the "And then I drove her home" story. They should be visible now — enjoy.

It looks like everything's falling into place. We're selling the house in Bend, and buying the house in Las Cruces. We'll be able to move directly from one house to the next, with no tedious renting or storage of goods. And we make a profit on the deal, which will help extend the time I have to find a job.

We're using ABF's Upack to haul the goods, while Anna and I enjoy the high life of driving three days with two cats in the car. Upack drops off a trailer, we fill it ourselves, then someone else drives the truck and feeds it fuel. When it arrives, we unpack it again and they come and take away the empty trailer. Sounds ideal to me, especially since we have doubts we can fit into U-Haul's largest truck. We'll let you know how it goes as we move through this process (whoops, sorry about that pun).

Tomorrow's the moving sale, and Easter Sunday we're having a house-cooling party. We need to try to get rid of some snack foods and a certain amount of premium liquor, so come by if you're inclined. Our phone number is 541-330-9761. Poker may occur. Sorry about the date. I guess the Pope won't be coming.

We start loading the truck on the 20th and will be finished by Monday morning (the 24th). Any and all help would be appreciated. Everything that can be boxed will be boxed, but we need to move some fairly heavy furniture.

Monday the 24th is when the driver takes the trailer away and we hand off the keys to the new owners and make a run for (50 miles north of) the border.

And why are we moving? Long story, tell you later. Right now I've got some boxes to pack.

Back on March 1 I made a brief mention that Agatha was at the welding shop. Here's a full(er) account.

Curt Leahy of Auto Restoration Welding is a wiz at rust repair — he took care of the rusty front body corners beautifully. Then we moved on to the rest of the program. He built a bracket to install an aftermarket windshield squirt bottle and pump, then we turned our attention to the main event — waterproofing the engine bay so I can mount the charger and controller back there.

I wanted the motor to remain visible when the engine lid is open, so I specified a cowling under the motor instead of over it. (No cowling would let water in.) This will keep the motor dry, but might cause heating problems. We'll see. I might install some blowers, which sound like a good idea anyway. They provide cooling under low-speed conditions (when it's most needed) and remove the drag of the fan at high speeds. Jay Donnaway is going this route. If it works out for him, perhaps I'll copy his setup

The remaining parts of the sheet metal are a big piece to cover the firewall, two shelves on either side of the motor, and the welded tube framework to hold it all in place.

And Jay wanted pictures of the trunk latch solution. Curt welded it to the rear apron and welded on some tabs on the fenders with bolt holes for bolting down the apron.

Everything's removable except for the framework, so I can test-fit and install my EV components while they're on the workbench, then just bolt the whole assembly into the back of the car.

So he finished up the job and I came down and towed it away on the tow bar, using a huge borrowed Jeep SUV.

However, Anna and I couldn't push the car back into the garage. There was snow on the ground and I think the front brakes were dragging. Time for plan B.

I grabbed a single Orbital battery and set it in the engine compartment. Then I made sure the transmission was in neutral, covered my eyes with my forearm, and connected it to the motor with a pair of jumper cables. There was a massive spark noise, a wisp of smoke, and a spinning motor. I jumped into the car, put in the clutch, shifted into first, and drove her right up the driveway through the snow and into the garage. Finally I know what the EV Grin feels like! The car just moves, with no noise, fuss, vibration, or stink. It made me feel really good.

I can't wait to get the other fifteen batteries in there and see how she works.

After two weeks and sixteen real estate agents trooping through our house, we returned from a weekend trip to San Francisco to find three offers on the table. One of them was offering $7000 more than our asking price and was clearly the most attractive, so we accepted it.

Their home inspector will arrive on Friday. Assuming he signs off on the house, and their loan really is pre-approved as it appears on the paperwork, that should seal the deal and 45 days later we need to be out of here.

We're excited - it's off to Las Cruces!

So Agatha is at the auto body shop having various things done to her.

We listed our house for sale today. The first customers came by this afternoon. I hope this bodes well for interest in our house.

We decamped and had a leisurely lunch at a nearby Mexican place, and returned home to find a realtor's card on our dining room table.

The house didn't look too bad, except for the family room, which looks like this:



That's most of our library in the boxes. The rest of the house awaits the tender embrace of corrugated cardboard.

Having been underimpressed with the quality of the average set of pictures on house-for-sale websites, I decided to take my own pictures and post them here for the realtor's webmistress to download. It worked out pretty well.