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Ryan Gillespie
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Sep 25 2008
Car troubles
Yesterday morning, I left for work as usual. I got in my car, started it up and headed to work. After going two blocks, there was a stop sign where I was to turn right. However, when I pressed down on the gas all my engine did was rev (like it was in neutral). I tried putting it in Second gear and the Low gear. Still nothing. Reverse? Yes, reverse still works.
Luckily I’m still close to my house. Unluckily, its street cleaning day on the side of the street in which direction I’m facing. Which also means that all the parking on the other side of the street is already taken. So I drive in reverse to in front of my apt building and park. Leaving a note on my windshield hoping the parking enforcement guy won’t give me a ticket, I go inside to make a couple calls (to my insurance company and mechanic).
My mechanic tells me its probably one of two things. The easy one, is some piston came apart and he can fix it without taking off the transmission. The more expensive option…a band broke and the transmission has to come off and apart (basically get rebuilt).
Anyway, I didn’t really have the time to deal with it yesterday, so I grabbed some change and walked up to Santa Monica Blvd to catch a bus into work. Only 2 hours late.
Hoping to tow the car to the mechanic tomorrow and see what the damage will be. Until then…its public transit in Los Angeles for me.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/car-troubles/
Sep 23 2008
Sketch 38
Sometimes I feel like I’m doing nothing, even though I feel like I’m quite busy at the same time. I think I’m just at one of those points where I need to get away from the city again…but I won’t be able to until after the pending move.
Friday night I finally made it to Tropic Thunder. Funny, funny movie. Go see it. Even if you normally can’t stand Ben Stiller movies. This one is good.
Saturday, I headed down to Mr. Pocket’s in Manhattan Beach to catch the watch party for the Duck game. Amazingly enough, the game (UO vs. Boise State), wasn’t on TV except for the Oregon’s local production. Because of a new TV rights deal, Oregon games not carried by the Pac-10 contracts (ABC/ESPN, FSN, and VS.) are aired on the new Comcast Sports North West (also the new home of the Portland Trailblazers). The problem with this is that since CSNW is owned by Comcast, most of the other cable/satellite/etc providers, do not carry the channel. Normally, this would mean we were out of luck for watching at the bar, but the folks at Mr. Pockets hooked up the streaming feed from the internet, so we could watch it live after all. The game was good (in the end), even though we lost. Oregon played pretty cruddy for 3 quarters and its hard to win games like that (even though we almost came back).
I spent some time going through things in preparation for packing on Sunday. Nothing is packed yet, but I’m pretty much ready to pack. Just waiting on the rental agreement from the landlord to sign and I’ll be completely official. I’ve already started changing my address with the various powers that be.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/sketch-38/
Sep 19 2008
the truth below the truth
Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman’s body was like that. If you watched it carefully enough you could see how it moved to the rhythm of the world, the deep rhythm, the music below the music, the truth below the truth.
from The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/the-truth-below-the-truth/
Sep 18 2008
Sketch 37
Oh my…its been a busy week. Which explains why I’m a couple days behind this weeks sketch.
Most of the business comes from having to find a new apartment. In the end, I saw nine different places. I liked four of them (well I actually liked a fifth place, but the other people wouldn’t have been a great fit). I’m moving into a place that is Mid-City, so pretty much right between the current location of my office…and the future location of the office. I’m not sure exactly what there is within walking distance to it…but its pretty centrally located otherwise.
Saturday, my friend had a birthday celebration at her house in Whittier. We were celebrating a bunch of us who had birthday’s at the beginning of the month (including me). There was scuba lessons, football watching (Oregon pulled out a squeaker), lots of conversations, and millions of bubbles. It was a great time (and totally worth the drive to Whittier).
After church on Sunday, I had lunch at Papa Cristo’s, an LA institution that has been open since 1948. Another LA landmark crossed off the list.
Tuesday, I went to a screening of Rachel Getting Married. By the time I got there, the line was pretty long and I ended up sitting pretty close to the screen. That ended up not being a good thing. The movie featured lots of hand held camera work, which made for some jittery shots. By the end of the movie I was feeling pretty nauseous. This coupled with the fact that it could have used to be about a half hour shorter (at least) meant that I bolted as soon as the film was done (again skipping the Q&A session).
I took my car into the shop on Wednesday morning. My car is interesting, because it has a vacuum system that controls the “power” locks as well as the engine cut of switch. Well somewhere in the system there was a leak, which was causing the engine not to shut off when I turned off the car and removed the key. This wasn’t a huge deal for awhile, as there is a cutoff switch on the engine itself, so I only needed to pop the hood and press the switch. At least until the little tab that helped un-latch the hood broke over the weekend. Suddenly opening the trunk involved a little more work (and needle nose pliers). Anyway, I took it in to see what it would take to fix it and get an oil change. Well it turns out, that I also needed new brake pads and rotors. So that was almost $450 I wasn’t expecting to be spending. But again, I can’t really complain, my friend did give me the car. Picked up the car this morning and the car shuts off as its supposed to do. Right now the “power” locks don’t work on the right side of the car, but I can get that fixed later.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/sketch-37/
Sep 18 2008
I received “Achievement”
About a month ago, I wrote about The Priority Box project. Well on Monday, I finally received my priority box. It contains: Achievement.
And you know what…I did achieve some things this week. Which I’ll write about in my next entry.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/i-received-achievement/
Sep 08 2008
Sketch 36
Well of course the big news of the week is that I have to find a new place to live. Now that I’ve got a working computer at home, I’ve been scouring the listings on craigslist for new apartments. So far the pickings are slim, at least in the range I’d like to stay in. All in all, its kind of a pain in the ass to have to find a new place right now. Even if it was just another month past, I’d be in better shape for a move.
Friday night, I met a few friends at the Blue Palms Brewhouse to celebrate both mine and a friends recent birthdays. I had Craftsman Brewing’s Black Sour beer and Victory’s FestBier. Both were pretty good.
Saturday, I drove up to Santa Barbara to pick up a computer from a friend (Thanks Jen!). Took the long way home on Highway 1 between Oxnard and Malibu. Very nice drive, but can see why the 101 route works better. It’s great to have such good friends (and to be back online at home).
Sunday, I went to the LA Greek Festival with a friend and had some Greek Food, which was pretty much the entire point of the festival as far as I could tell.
I’m thinking of checking out the LA County Fair this weekend…if I decide the drive to Pomona is worth it.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/sketch-36/
Sep 05 2008
The Joys of Renting
I opened up my email this morning to a note from my roommate. She is apparently getting married and her new husband-to-be will be moving into the apartment. Which means, that I need to move out.
So now, its time to scour craigslist for a new place to live. I’m going to try to find a place in the Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake, or Downtown areas. Mainly because that will keep my commute at a decent minimum.
Good times.
Looks like the laptop purchase is to be postponed for the moment.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/the-joys-of-renting/
Sep 04 2008
Sketch 35
Ahh, Labor Day weekend. Also, my birthday weekend. Yes, I am now Double Sweet Sixteen. My birthday was pretty low key. I ended up just walking over to Miss T’s Barcade with a friend, playing some old school video games and having a couple beers. Then we walked further down Western and got some Pho for dinner.
Saturday, I went over to my friends place to watch the USC game (if you could call it a game). I fell asleep before halftime and pretty much missed the second half of the game. What I was looking forward to was the Oregon game later that night anyway. For the fifth year in a row (a first for the series), Oregon beat Washington (the rival we dislike even more than Oregon St). The defense looked really good and the offense looked good as well (especially for being so young). Should be an interesting season.
Sunday after church, I met up with an old friend and his fiance, who recently moved down to Los Angeles from the Bay Area. It was cool getting a chance to catch up on life and things.
It was kinda weird having Monday off for the holiday, I’m already used to being at work M-F now. I went to a beach, and then just hung out with a friend later that night.
Work has been good this week. My Asia boss has been in the office for a few days, so lots of work getting done while he’s in LA.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/09/sketch-35/
Aug 28 2008
America’s Strength
“People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power.”
–Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention 8/27/08
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/08/americas-strength/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/08/still-dreaming/
