Exquisite Fats

It is Good Friday.  But then again, any Friday that I don't have to work is a good Friday.  The company I work for is dropping Good Friday (Easter) holiday next year and replacing it with an extra personal day (religious sensitivity and political correctness, I suppose).  I guess this is a good thing since this really isn't often a usable day off for me.  It would be nice if this day was always a splendidly warm and sunny spring day, but that isn't often the case; weather this time of year is quite temperamental.  Today is cool with snotty rain; 2014 was tolerably nice, but the last really good year looks like it was 2010:  dry with a high in the mid-80s.
I believe I got my motorcycle back from the dealership after killing a deer with it on Good Friday, 2001 - which was also a Friday the 13th.  Regardless of the weather, that was a good day.  In some ways, I miss my Harley Davidson days...
It would not surprise me if within a few years the company I work for takes away that additional personal day that a future lack of Good Friday holiday is providing.  The narrative will go as follows:  We lose the Good Friday holiday and get an extra personal day.  At some near-future date, the company does a comparison of the number of personal holidays granted to its serfs and decides the number of personal days is not commensurate with other peer companies - it then takes action to remove that holiday at a future date.  I suppose that sounds a bit negatively bitter, and maybe even conspiracy oriented.

At least the extra day off gives a day this year to have another lazy morning with cornbread pecan waffles.  I added real butter to the batter today, although I'm unsure why I did this.  It made the waffles taste quite rich but won't help me meet any Easter's Resolutions.
I saw an article about avocado oil recently.  I don't remember the source, but it claimed that avocado oil has nearly magical health properties, "even better than olive or coconut oil."  I do not believe this.  There is no elixir of life that will mystically bring around better health, and less weight.  The whole idea that a fat will result in weight loss is quite preposterous, unless it induces vomiting.  Still, I couldn't help but look on Amazon this morning for avocado oil.  Maybe syrup of ipecac is a more honest thing to search, although it appears that ipecac is now more in quackery camp and is no longer available commercially, perhaps one day olive and avocado oil will join it.
The cornbread pecan waffles were followed by hot chocolate since I didn't feel like over-caffeinating with more coffee.  The hot chocolate had a sell-by date of November 19, 2012.  Oh the risks I take!

(belated edit*)
My original plan for Good Friday was to complete a list of things that have needed to be done for some time, but weren't getting done.  Instead, I bought Tim Kreider's book Refuse to Drown.  I don't usually buy books, but as a self-published book through CreateSpace, this book is not available in any Ohio library (apparently, many libraries are apprehensive about holding self-published books).  I started to read it, intending to finish over the three-day weekend, but I could not put it down - it was that good.
I originally found the book after reading a different Tim Kreider's book We Learn Nothing.  It was somewhat flippant, but still thought provoking and I was curious if he had written anything else similar.  It took quite some time to ensure that the two Tim Kreiders were not the same person - the books have as much in common as oranges and Concorde Jets.  Yet, the hook to read the second Tim's book had been set.

Good Friday's morning rain let up for a while but more appears to be imminent, with no way to stop it.  The day looks to be an idle one.  Perhaps that is something to embrace.  In closing on this non sequitur of a Good Friday, I'll quote from Tim Kreider's We Learn Nothing:
Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration -- it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.
*I rarely edit these things, even to correct a flaw in the words as I see blogs as a historical record.  Do not photoshop the ex-girlfriend out of the family picture!  As I reread what I had originally wrote, I realized it sounded more mean-spirited than I had intended.  That is not me; at least I hope it is not me.

I Wish That I Knew What I Know Now

Earlier in the week, I had a bit of inexpiable panic when I realized it has been (almost) 20 years since I graduated college.  Two decades ago right now, I was furiously sending out resumes and cover letters.  I was accepting "Screw You - Don't Call Us - We'll Call You" letters.  And, I was starting to interview for jobs.  I'm not sure what the reasons were for the panic in this thought; the math is easy and I knew my 20-year anniversary with the company I work for is coming up later this year.  Maybe it was another, "Oh Shit, I'm old" moment.  Or maybe it is the continuing realization that my life really is optimistically half over.
College was a pretty big milestone, even if I didn't walk in the graduation ceremony (it costs HOW MUCH?).  I think by now I was supposed to be a combination of Tom Selleck, Eric Clapton and Clive Cussler.  Instead, I'm just ... me.

I guess I learned a lot in college, although only some of that was in classes.  I wonder what it would be like to go back to that 20-something person and reveal ten things that are impossible to know then?  I'm not sure 20-something would not have understood, or listened.
Some of these are learned earlier than others, and some are probably more important than others.  The order sort of reflects this.

1. Everyone is faking it.  It was too easy to look around at other people that have the appearance of having it all together.  The mid-90's were pretty chaotic, and it looked like many people a few years into "real life" had figured most of it out.  I've seen life crumble around too many people and seen it come close in many other situations to know that nobody has it figured out and has it all together.  Those that maintain that facade are just better at hiding it, better at temporary repairs to cracks in life's walls.  There is a lot of messy plaster there.
2. Temporary things might not be.  Whether it is the winter coat bought just because something is needed quickly, the job that wasn't supposed to be permanent, or anything else tangible or intangible, I had no idea some of the things that still exist in life now would be here.  I've seen friendships that I thought would be permanent disappear, and others that I thought would vaporize remain to this day.  I still have the cheap, crappy coffee maker I bought in the early 1990's when I moved into my first apartment.  The corollary to this is that permanent things might not be either - see #1.
3. The lack of new "firsts" becomes painful.  Early school, high school, college, post-college ... there is something new around every corner - it is mandatory without even trying.  Even if those things are unpleasant, at least they are new.  Something eventually happens though - new things become more and more rare.  And when they do come, it is almost painful to realize that I'll never be able to do xx or go to yy for the first time again.  Experiencing "firsts" only come with conscious effort; they have to be created in order to be experienced.
4. Worry about money a little bit, but not too much.  Yeah, put money away for retirement and don't spend more than you make, but aside form those two guiding principles, money is pretty boring stuff.  With more stress and time in a job, more money will come.  Study after study has shown that once the basic needs are met, more money doesn't really make individuals more happy (or at least the relationship is very non-linear).  happiness (small h intended) is fleeting, Happiness (big H, aka contentment) doesn't really take a lot of money.  See #5.
5. Time is the most precious commodity.  Ever!  I'm not sure how long I'll live, but it is finite and fixed.  This one is impossible to learn at 20-something.  I'm not even sure I've really learned this yet.  This is why vacation becomes so important.  Time spent at work is pretty meaningless, and I feel sorry for people who's lives are their work.  Those few weeks a year that are completely mine are unbelievably valuable.  No, my work computer will not be going home with me on vacation.
6. There are smart people who make me feel dumb.  So it goes (thanks, Kurt Vonnegut).  This is fine.  Learn what you can from smart people.  If they look down on others from their temporary position of superiority, remember #1.  Keep those generous really smart people in life - they are probably really interesting too.
7. There are dumb people - some of whom are (or appear to be) successful.  Things usually have a way of catching up with people who lack common sense, who are mean, or don't know what they don't know.  Get rid of these people.  Life is quirky and some idiots will be successful; life is unfair that way.  Don't dwell on it.
8. Repetition will happen.  Repetition will happen.  I think part of the reason that I had that moment of terror at realizing 20 years had gone past since college, was the drive in to work felt exactly the same as countless other drives into work.  Some days and weeks go by with unbelievable monotony.  I guess if this didn't happen, I'd be in the rubber room by now.
9. Be content.  Excitement, elation, dizzying highs, crushing lows, the creamy middles - these things all risk coming with mandatory volatility.  Contentment is a gift.  Being satiated with the good is worth a lot.  Too often I feel the urge to sell everything of value, burn everything else and start over.  Media loves to celebrate the 2% of people who have discarded the mundane of daily life and traded it in to travel the world, finding wealth hidden in plain sight.  Media isn't quite as quick to be as honest with the 98% of people who try this and end up destitute, regretting the decision to follow a crazy dream only to have the world come crashing down on the inevitable results.
10. This list will change.  If I had written this ten years ago, 10-years after college, it would have some of the same things, but it would have been vastly different.  Thank goodness for that; if I still thought the same things now that I did a decade ago, it would demonstrate an absolute lack of growth.  This list of ten things are strongly interrelated and is seen through the lens of 20-years working with one company after college.  No doubt if a butterfly had flapped its wings in Sumatra and the resulting hurricane would have made things different, the view itself would be very different.

This entire exercise is actually quite dangerous.  I can't go back and talk to that 20-something and really wouldn't want to (maybe I'd mention a few things).  Perhaps that is where the uneasiness of the last 20 years is coming from - I have no idea where the next week, let alone the next 20 years is really headed.

I published a book. No one is going to buy it, but I don't care.

One of the things on my ever-growing, ever-changing bucket list was to write a book.
Check!
Before you laugh, please read on.

First, a bit of background.  I really wanted to go through the process of writing, self-editing, receiving copy and structural edits, and maybe publishing.  But, I'm not a writer and don't pretend to be.
Then, a few years ago, my young nephew took one of his school assignments, expanded it and published as a book.  It was simplistic, there were lots of errors, and the formatting was terrible.  But, I was reasonably impressed that self-publishing coupled with print on demand seemed like a viable alternative to not doing it, especially since the cost was almost trivial.  I'll never finish my bucket list, so this wouldn't have been terribly troubling.
After a few false starts on book ideas over the years, I had an idea around this time last year that came together in a much more real way.  Thinking about this allowed me to mentally write large sections of the book, before actually starting on it.
Finally, I decided I would try to write one or two of the chapters that were best formed in my head and see if this gelled.  This would be decided be rereading the chapters weeks later, after a vacation.  Success would be determined on if I thought they were tolerable - a low standard to be sure.  The idea of publishing was just that, an idea at that point; success was not going to be dependent on a book in actual physical form.  On completion of the first two chapters, I continued writing - and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I chose to write it in Google Docs since this allowed me to write wherever I had a computer.  Additionally, as long as I had my phone with me, I could check, reread, and/or edit sections no matter where I was (read:  boring meetings at work where I really didn't need to be mentally present).

Near the end of 2014, I had finished most of the book and passed it on to my SO to read.  She gave some corrections and I implemented them, before being willing to park the project in Google Docs in perpetuity.  At this point, I had really decided against publishing, writing it was success enough.
Through some other twists of life events, I ended up passing the document on to a family member who happens to work in publishing as an editor.  His field is not even close to the subject matter of my book, and he can't publish anything for family members without jumping through hoops, but his copy editing and feedback as well as the feedback of his wife made the book significantly better.
I decided to walk tentatively further down the path toward self publishing.

I chose to work with CreateSpace.  This is a subsidiary of Amazon which I have some trust in (I buy a lot from them) and I'd seen enough final products from CreateSpace to suggest that their work looks quite good.  Lulu also looked like a good choice, but CreateSpace seemed easier, would probably be cheaper; if I had my mind set on a hard cover, Lulu would have been the only choice; I actually prefer soft covers.
The previous editing of the book had brought it from Google Docs to Microsoft Word, and using the templates provided by CreateSpace made getting the book in the right format very easy.
CreateSpace has good documentation and easy to follow instructions to get things formatted correctly.  Where I did have questions, a quick Google search that included the term "CreateSpace" made finding answers utterly trivial - usually the answers came from CreateSpace's online forum.
The change in formatting of the book, plus my first read through of a printed version (done on a normal printer using scrap paper) changed my perspective.  The read through of a hard copy made the book feel more real, less like a homework assignment on a computer screen.  The formatting in the CreateSpace format made it look like an actual book (if only on a screen at this point) and this bumped up the excitement factor.

I struggled with the cover quite a bit.  I read much about the theory of book covers and looked through good examples and bad examples.  I'll be honest that my first attempts would have recreated many of the things NOT to do.  In the end, I created a simple cover that demonstrated the ethos of the book, without being overly busy or loud.
Around this time I also started to read quite a bit about the self-publishing industry and craze.  The traditional publishers and their support look down on this phenomenon with disdain.  I'm convinced they will be proven wrong.  They are dinosaurs using typewriters with the first PCs and Macs already in use.  Some authors already proven successful by the "big 6" traditional publishers also look down on the likes of self-publishers.  I'm fine with that as I won't pretend to compete in the major leagues.
There are a lot of crap self-published books.  This can't be ignored.  There are also a lot of good ones.  This has to be recognized.
A lot of the online help, blogs and articles have to do with writing as a way to get rich, or at least get a lot of money.  I found this a little depressing.  Is money really the only reason to do something ... anything?
My reason to go down this road is different.  I did this for my own self.  I'm quite aware my book, like most self-published books, won't sell.  If I ever get a first payment from CreateSpace, I'll be surprised.  I don't care if I sell a few copies to 1- and 2-star reviews.  The point is, I did this.  I'm happy with it.  My life is more interesting having completed it.

If someone is tempted, as I was, to self-publish, I have three pieces of advice:

1. Have the work copy-edited by someone who really knows what they are doing, even if it isn't free.  This can't be done by one's self and it can't be done by just anyone.  The human brain is amazing in its ability to take a slightly scrambled sentence and reorganize it into a correct thought.  Copy editing is a skill, in my case it was invaluable.  Removing as many of those minor errors as possible makes a big difference in how a final document is received (but yes, Big-6 published books have errors as well).
2. Read all the online chatter about how terrible the self-publishing industry is.  Read how it devalues literature.  Read how embarrassing it is.  Read how people who self-publish shouldn't be called authors.  The experts are always right.  That is probably just what the few literate monks said when Gutenburg first used his printing press.
3. Do it!  Don't do it to get rich because you won't.  Don't do it to get famous because you won't.  But do it anyways.  Do it because writing is immortal; writing and rewriting allows the self to think about things from a different perspective.  Do it so you can reread it 10 years later and maybe even be a bit embarrassed - this only demonstrates growth.  Do it to know that you have completed something, even if no one knows or cares, because the things that make life interesting are almost always the unknown.

When I held the first physical proof copy, I felt like I was holding a child; I was almost afraid to read it and risk creasing the cover.  After (quickly) getting over that, I read it and had only minor edits before moving on with some trepidation.  Still, the thing that scared me the most was that someone, someday might actually read this...
A few subsequent rounds of minuscule edits were needed which was both maddening and exhilarating.  Maddening, since each edit, no matter how minor, needed a review by CreateSpace which can take up to 24 hours.  Exhilarating since I knew that each correction was making the final product better.
In final form, there are still a few formatting things I wish I would have done differently, but I think that would be the case no matter how many times I edited and resubmitted; that is as much a personality flaw as anything else.

As I look back on the last year, where the ab initio for this started, I realize that despite big "accomplishments" at work and elsewhere, my simpleton self-published book is one of the things that brought me the most personal fulfillment.  The money I earn in a few hours at work will dwarf what I will ever make from the book, despite spending untold, countless hours in it.  But that is not the point and it never was.  Does this mean I've missed my calling?  Likely not.  But I have no idea what my life's calling really was ... or is.

So go ahead and read my book or not.  Give me a 1-Star review and flame the author for a linear narrative, simple writing and leaving some strings loose at the end of the book (this was done on purpose).  I've learned more about myself through this excursion than I could have possibly imagined.  That is the best kind of success that even a successfully rich author might hope for.

Life Is Not a Choose Your Own Adventure Book

On Friday, I did something that is slightly discomforting.  I went grocery shopping on Friday night.
I'm sure there have been times I've grocery shopped on a Friday night in the past, but the entirety of the situation is where the discomfort lies.

The normal Saturday routine is up early, pay bills, buy food for the week.  During the day on Friday, the weather forecast was dynamic - changing from a little snow, rain, and sleet to several inches of snow and most falling overnight but lingering through Saturday.  Weather has rarely, if ever, interrupted the contentment of the Saturday routine.

Compared to the casual Saturday morning grocery shopping, Friday night was a cacophony of people, carts, milk-buying moms (pre-storm) and beer-buying college students (also pre-storm).  It probably doesn't need to be said that it was unpleasant.

Saturday, indeed, came with several inches of snow before dawn.  The radar suggested more snow was going to continue, but the bulk of it was past.

Maybe I should embrace the decision to avoid the 25 mile round trip to grocery shop on intemperate roads since the routine can sometimes be too comforting.  Yet last weekend, I made a 700 mile round trip to Michigan, enduring a much more serious snow storm in Michigan and a smaller, but still difficult one closer to home on the return.  The fact that this is really the first significant snow storm in the immediate locale shows how mild the winter has been.

It is hard to argue that the unspoiled Saturday morning snow scene looks amazing.  But, that postcard scene is easier to enjoy on December 23 than it is when our average high should be solidly rising and in the mid-40's; winter should be slowly relenting to spring.

Two people I've worked closely with for years are retiring next week.  I can only imagine their thoughts as they look ahead to a time in the very near future where the need to get up and traverse treacherous roads is replaced by less urgency.  Their retirement is creating a reduction in workforce, without a clear reduction in work.  That is not something to be contemplated on a Saturday morning though.

The decision to grocery shop on Friday presents an interesting life dilemma.  We almost never know if a decision we made results in eliminating a catastrophe.  Life is not a Choose Your Own Adventure book where one can make a decision and then look to see what an alternative choice would have resulted in.  A bad decision that results in a car crash or permanent injury can be easy to identify in hindsight.  It is impossible to look back and say that the decision to grocery shop on Friday to avoid bad roads on Saturday prevented something terrible from happening.  Chances are high that a grocery trip on Saturday would have meant a slower than average drive and safe return home.  But, maybe, just maybe, the decision to not leave the house on a snowy Saturday morning meant that a slide off the road, into a ditch and bouncing off of a tree was avoided.  It isn't likely or even probably; it is, however, possible.

The trivial trade-off of a minor weekend disruption with eliminating the improbable accident seems to be about contextually correct.

A Beagle Named Soda

"How old is she?"
That is what I almost always heard when people learned that Soda was 18.  Life expectancy of a beagle is on the order of 12 to 15 years.  To say Soda had a good dog's life at almost 19 would be an understatement.

I got Soda in April of 1999.  Mandy had recently died and that caused a hole that just needed to be filled.  I knew it was irrational, but I was hoping for the pyrite to be gold and the dog I got after Mandy would be just like her.
I was at one of the local Pet's Plus (or some other similar store) and a nearby county was holding a dog adoption event.  In the mix of dogs was a lanky female beagle.  She had a somewhat diminutive personality and was almost shy.  She went home along with a free bag of dog food.
I think she came with the name of Sprocket, but it was changed on the way home to Soda.  The origins of this name are from Seinfeld, where George Costanza suggested the name of Soda to another character on the show for her child.  It seemed to fit well for a dog (plus I really liked the show Seinfeld).
Soda was clearly in a state of stress.  She had very little fur, with a few nearly bald patches on her side and belly.  The fur she did have was very short and bristly.  It was obvious that things were not exactly sweetness for her.  She also had a funny pink spot on her nose.  Over her life her hair became soft and normal, but the pink nose remained as a testament to her early years.

Once at home, the shy diminutive dog evaporated and Soda became a bundle of unlimited energy.  This energy was not channeled in a good direction.  She was absolutely ballistic!
She would race around the back yard barking at nothing and everything.  While the yard was very large and fenced in, almost no fence could hold her.  She found every nook and and tiny break in the fence, managing to squeeze out of holes a fraction of her size.
When all the small holes were finally sealed, Soda learned that if she pushed hard enough, she was able to get under the fence.
When she did get out, she was impossible to catch.  She would run through icy creeks, bawling her fool head off.  She was completely oblivious to anything, sometimes running right past me at top speed, only caring about the mythical thing she was chasing, probably the long-gone scent of some small animal.

After the bottom of the fence was secured at significant expense with landscaping timbers, Soda learned to be able to jump over the fence.  She figured out that with just the right jump, she could get her "armpits" on the top of the fence, and then use her back legs to flop over.  I'm convinced that this had to hurt, but the pain was worth it to her to get to the "greener grass" on the other side.
Sometimes the other dogs would follow along on her criminal advetures.  Often, Sammy, Dixie and Lucky would just stand at the fence and watch her leave.  This was often a good signal to look for where Soda got out and the direction she had gone in.

Soda spent a lot of time inside the fenced in yard and tied up to a chain.  This was often the only way to keep her from running to some distant goal that was incredibly important to her.  She really did not like this though.

With Soda's maniacal focus on anything real or imagined, she was the only dog I had where I understood how somewhat got rid of her.  She shredded the bark on threes trying to climb them if she thought there were squirrels in them.  She dug countless holes trying to catch moles.  She tore down baby paw paw trees; I'm not sure why?
But, I'm not exactly sure why she did many of the things she did.  At times, I know I lost my temper with her.  This never seemed to phase her much though - perhaps that is a lesson for me.

Still, Soda did have her moments.  She was a beagle who absolutely loved being outdoors.  Rain, snow, sleet, heat - it didn't matter.  Soda liked being out in her back yard.  I guess in that way, we were a lot alike.
She was actually able to catch and kill a huge rabbit in the back yard once; the only one of my dogs where I've seen this.
Like all of my beagles, Soda was good at power-napping and could go from light-speed to sleep quickly.

As Soda got older, she did begin to mellow.  Sitting inside would become more than tolerable.  The back yard was interesting enough that only rarely did she feel the need to escape the fence or destroy a tree.

For the last few years at the old house and the first few in the current house, she really was a pretty good dog.

As an old, aloof beagle, Soda did have friends who adored her.  The vet loved her and the last time she was kenneled during a vacation, she was given free run of the place anytime the person cleaning the kennels was back there.

Like all of us, she did start to age.  She began to have small accidents in the house.  These would mostly happen while she was sleeping so we had to put a dog towel underneath her for a while, wherever she sat.  A prescription of Proin did wonders and stopped this for a while.  However, she was also diagnosed at the same time with the beginnings of kidney failure.

Soda was put on special food for her kidneys, since minimizing phosphorus and some proteins can help.  This made a difference for a while and I'm sure it prolonged her life, but she hated it.  Just about every renal dog food available was tried.  Soda would tolerate some longer than others.  Iams Renal Plus was the one that she hated the least.  Often, gravy, or canned renal dog food was needed to coax her to eat.

I'm not in favor of crating dogs, but eventually soda needed to be locked up when left alone in the house during work, etc.  The daily moppings and/or washing of the small boot rug by the door was too much.  A wire crate with a puppy pee pad became her daily resting spot.
What is amazing about most dogs and Soda in particular is how plastic they are.  I'm sure the crate was a big change for her and I know she didn't like it, but she very quickly accepted it as the new normal.  A few times she would even voluntarily walk into the cage.

At 17, I figured her days were numbered, but she soldiered on for another year.  At 18, I wondered if I should renew her dog tags, but I owed her at least that much.

A few weeks ago, it became obvious that the end was probably near.  Eating was becoming more intermittent and she was already very skinny.  She still loved being outside though.  I was really hoping she would go quietly and naturally, but that wasn't the case.  Coming home from work, she really couldn't even walk and it appeared she might be having small seizures.
I called the vet to make her last appointment, and had an incredibly hard time maintaining my composure on the phone.

The vet had a nice room set up to be able to say goodbye in a non-hospital like manner.  Soda's heart was so weak that an IV wasn't possible, but our vet helped her let go peacefully.  It was the second time I had to put one of my dogs down, and it was just as hard as the first time; it was also the right thing to do.

No, Soda wasn't my favorite dog, but that long, gangly, independent dog had been running around the house for nearly 17 years.  Even though there are still two beagles, the house didn't feel the same without her.
In a last act of Soda-ism, she died during a winter cold snap.  The vet offered to keep her until spring, but after buying a pick-ax and a stronger shovel I was able to chisel through half a foot of frozen ground and reach thawed earth to dig a spot for her burial.  This was not fun, but I was incredibly grateful that I could do this as I didn't want to open that raw wound and bury her in the spring.  Sometime around the anniversary of when I originally got Soda, a tree will be planted over her.
And I'm sure, given most of her life spent running after anything and everything, that tree will attract more squirrels than any other in the yard.

2009 Toyota Tacoma Brakes and Manual Transmission Oil Change: Maintenance = Improvement

A few months ago I had a road trip totaling around 2500 miles.  I did an oil change on my 2009 Toyota Tacoma prior to making the trip and as part of every oil change, I inspect lots of other things; the front brakes were in need of attention.  There was still adequate pad left, but not much more than adequate.  This plus the scoring on the back sides of the rotors told me a front brake job was imminent.
I took the road trip before doing anything with the brakes and everything went without incident - like I mentioned, there was still adequate pad left.  But, with winter approaching and another road trip coming up (this one only about 1200 miles) I didn't want to wait any further on the front brakes.
I did quite a bit of research on brake options.  I've really given up on turning rotors.  This used to be the only realistic option, but I'm pretty convinced that turning results in a much shorter service life to rotors.  Besides, new rotors are not too expensive given how long brakes actually last.  Note that this applies to "hat-type" rotors.  With captured rotors, turning rotors on the car probably makes more sense, my loathing of captured rotors aside.
I decided on using PowerStop brakes.  Overall reviews were pretty good and having a quality rotor matched to pads makes sense.  Their good/better/best approach to selling brakes products leaves options and I went with their Autospecialty OE brake kit.  The 4-cylinder Tacoma is a fairly light truck and my driving style is (usually) moderately conservative.  It seemed a little silly to use a higher performance brake kit with the very anemic 4-cylinder engine.   Drilled and slotted brake rotors help them cool faster which minimizes fade, but for daily driving there isn't much advantage.  I liked that they came with ceramic pads.  Note this is a generic picture since obviously the 4x4 Tacoma is a 6-lug wheel.  I forgot to take a pic of the actual rotors and pads.  In hindsight, I should have done a write-up on the entire procedure.

Changing the brakes was relatively easy.  With past vehicles, I've had issues with rotors rusting to the hub, but this time the rotors popped right off.  The biggest difficulty I encountered was the caliper bolts were somewhat corroded into place.  It either took my biggest breaker bar or a lot of work from the air impact gun to get them off.  Hopefully the antiseize I used during reassembly will help alleviate this for any future brake job.

After completing the brake job and changing the oil, I followed the PowerStop recommendation for Break-In Procedure.  It felt a little stupid driving down the road aggressively hitting the brakes and accelerating, but luckily I live in a very rural area so this was easy to do.  On the way home, I returned to normal driving.

What a phenomenal difference in braking!!!!!  I try to avoid superlatives in life, but the difference in braking performance was almost unbelievable.  I'm sure some of the change was due to the old brakes deterioration, but the the PowerStop brakes felt phenomenal and the stopping was much more positive.  Time will tell whether these brakes hold up, but as of now I am very glad I went with these brakes.  

I've previously complained about my Tacoma, including the feel of the brakes.  I'm not sure why Toyota can't do this from the factory.  But, I must be honest in that as much as I've found faults with it, this really has been a good vehicle - with nearly 85,000 miles on the clock now.  It is somewhat frustrating that there are many things that for only a small amount invested could have been much better off the showroom floor.  The Toyota Tacoma was definitely made to a price point (I guess all vehicles that mere mortals can afford to buy are).

With a big improvement to the braking, I decided to investigate the "notchy" shifting of the R155F manual transmission.  It feels and works very well when warm, but when it is cold outside, shifting from first to second takes considerable effort and sometimes grunts a little when going into second.  If the outside temperature is below zero, it can get even worse.

Research into this suggested the fluid used in the manual transmission can affect shifting performance.  I thought this was very suspect.  The Vehicle Owners Manual states that 75W-90 GL-4 or GL-5 is suitable for the manual transmission.  As long as the fluid meets these requirements, I would have surmised that the actual fluid used would only make a minimal difference with different fluids mostly differing in service life.

After reading about differences between gear oils online including this very informative article, I decided that it was a cheap enough experiment to try a GL-4 gear oil in place of the Amsoil SevereGear GL-5 I currently had in the transmission.

There were lots of recommendations for Amsoil GL-4 MTG.

There were probably an equal number of recommendations for Redline MT-90

I'm a member of the Amsoil Preferred Customer program.  I like being able to order my oil online without having to worry if it will be in stock at my local store and it almost always shows up within two days, delivered right in front of my garage door.  I'm not so sure about the way they sell their products (we don't use the word pyramid), but I trust their lubricants.  I'm sure Redline is also good, but it is a little harder to come by and ends up being more expensive.  So, I went with Amsoil MTG.

Now, the difference here is not as noticeable as the improvement I saw with brakes, but moving from the GL-5 gear oil to the GL-4 in the R155F manual transmission made a noticeable difference.  No, shifting still doesn't satisfyingly "snick" into gear like it should be, but much of the cold weather issues are diminished.

The service schedule for the Tacoma calls for manual transmission fluid change at 30,000 mile intervals so it will be a while until I change it again, but I may try Redline MT-90 at the next one.  I have to admit that in this case the gear oil I chose did make a difference so it is a reasonable experiment to try.  

The recent cold weather has given me time to start wondering about new vehicles.  I have no immediate plans to buy anything, but if a meteor comes out of the sky tomorrow and lands on my truck in the parking lot at work I probably should have an idea of what I might want as a replacement.

Unfortunately, there is nothing out there I find terribly interesting.

What I really want is small, 4wd open-bedded pickup that gets good gas miles, and has reasonable performance.  The Tacoma is actually bigger than I want.  Preview pictures of the 2016 Tacoma show that it might even be growing a bit in the future.  I guess details will be unveiled soon enough?

I don't think either the Tacoma or the recently introduced Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon should be called small.  Even midsize is a misnomer.  How about calling them almost full sized in both scale and price with the same somewhat disappointing fuel economy?

Ford made a lot of waves with the new 2015 F-150 and it all-aluminum body.  I would be tempted to go in this direction, especially since I have a relative that works at Ford and can use his discount.  But, I really don't want anything this big and the fuel economy of the aluminum truck is realistically only marginally better.  An extended cab four wheel drive F-150 with Ecoboost engine gets around 18 city, 23 highway miles per gallon.  With all the hype, I was hoping for better.

I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but the vehicle I do find interesting is the 2015 Jeep Renegade.  It is frankly about the size that I would want.  I suspect fuel economy will be near 30mpg on the highway (at least I hope).  Without an open bed, I'm not sure where I might throw a dead deer should I be successful in upcoming deer hunting seasons?  Sadly, the availability of information from Jeep, not to mention the vehicle itself seems to be very delayed.  I wonder if anything should be read into this?

There are also rumors that the Fiat Strada might be coming to the US, likely as a Ram, less likely as a Jeep.  This is already sold in Mexico as a Ram.  Yeah, it is ugly, but it would fill a void not available in the US market.  Then again, maybe it isn't ugly?

What I don't understand is that there is definitely an unmet need for a small truck in the US.  There are numerous models available worldwide (another being the VW Saveiro), but no move in that direction here.  It almost seems that auto manufacturers are all staring at each other on this one and waiting for someone to blink... 

Well blink already!  And, damn the Chicken Tax!

But, all this talk about new vehicles is somewhat academic.  With the braking much improved on my current Toyota and shifting at least noticeably better, it almost seems like my Taco has been given a new lease on life in my garage...er pole barn.  At least this may give time for the suits to finally discover that people in the US will buy a small truck.

Hello 2015, But Lets Hold Off on the Resolutions Until Later

Goodbye 2014 and Hello 2015

It is tempting to be upbeat and suggest that 2015 will be better than 2014, that we'll all lose weight, make more money, read more books and make better friends.
More than likely, 2015 will be about the same as 2014 and potentially worse.  This is not something that is completely outside of anyone's control though.

There is a tendency to make "New Years Resolutions" on this day.  The changing of the calendar is an arbitrary time point, and probably not the best one to try to make big changes.
For some, this marks the end of the "holiday season" and just getting back to normal can be painful enough.  Meteorological winter has just started, but real winter is already going in full swing.  Now is the time when there is a justified tendency to sit back indoors, watch more TV, eat more food which may be less healthy, see more movies, etc.  I will argue, this is the worst time to try to make life changes in the form of New Years Resolutions, or any resolutions.
No time is a bad one to eat less potato chips or eat less marshmallows; one of the realities about life changes though is that it is too easy ensure failure by making changes that will be detested while changing too much at one time.

Winter is about death.  All the trees look dead, the lawn looks dead.  More wildlife dies in the winter because it is harder on animals than most people know.  Even many animals that hibernate will not return.
Spring is probably the best time to make resolutions in the form of anything beyond trivial changes.  Things come back to life in the spring.  The spring weather brings more excuses and opportunities to be outside.  The grey winter begins to change into warmer weather.  Spring comes with longer more frequent dog walks and (pedal) bike rides.  Spring is time to start riding motorcycles and thinking about vacations, about motorcycle touring.

I am ready to detox after the food fest that has been going on for the last several weeks.  But, I think I'll save the bigger changes for later.
Spring is the right time to make changes.  I'm going to put a Google Keep reminder in for Easter Resolutions.