Still no job

I'm ashamed to admit how long I have been unemployed for now.  I've put out hundreds if not thousands of applications, and hardly ever hear back from anyone.  Today I was given an interview for Walmart, I had gotten all excited and thought it would be a sure thing.  I've never been to an interview and been turned down.  Now that I had the opportunity to talk with someone I was sure I would get the job.

So, I walk into Walmart walk to the back and inform the worker there that I was there for my 10:30 interview. She looked at me as though I were some chore she didn't want to do and told me that all the applicants were to wait at the bench a few feet away.  Immediately my heart sunk, I mean there are multiple applicants for this job?  Who would have thought, for a minimum wage third shift stocker there would be multiple applicants?  So I waited around, and eventually had my name called and I went into the back for my interview.

Remember how interviews used to be?  You would walk in and meet someone that was excited to see you, usually you would joke around and asked a few questions?  It is not that way anymore, now I was sitting in front of a panel of three people being asked of how I would respond in certain situations.  None of them were happy to be there, I was just another job to be completed.  They just wanted it to be done with.  I have social anxiety disorder, and when people probe me like this it just freaks me out.  I felt as though I were applying to some high profile job.

I can't really express how depressed I am right now.  I just had worked myself up, thinking this was a sure thing.  But, I know I will not get a call back.. I just didn't answer their questions as well as I could have, I was having a panic attack and finding answers to their questions really proved difficult.. and it sort of pisses me off, because I know I am a hard worker.  I love people too, and go out of my way to help them.  I know I would perform the job better than most of the third shift workers at Walmart, because I have been in the store that late at night and they mostly treat people like crap.

I failed, because I am not as good of a liar as they are in the interview process.  I failed because for some reason, in unfamiliar situations when I am the center of attention in a group of people, I become overwhelmed with anxiety.  I just thought this was going to be easy, and yet here I remain an unemployed stay at home dad, while my wife works two jobs.  I feel horrible right now.

I've worked for IBM, helping out high profile clients fix their machines..  literally responsible for millions of dollars, I managed a hotel at night, I've been in charge of a kitchen.. but I can't even get a job as a stockman anymore.. even Mcdonald's hasn't called back.. and the sad thing is, it is not like I haven't been trying.. I have, and this is the first interview I have had for well over a year.. well over two years.. Lets just say when the recession hit, I was hit pretty hard too.

I will probably have another month before I take my CNA exam to become licensed in the state of Florida.  Hopefully, I can at the very least get a job doing that.. if not, I think I might go insane..  Well, there is always the possibility that I am just being too hard on myself and Walmart will call back tonight but I really doubt it. I really would like a job there, but I don't think it is gonna happen.

More Windstar repairs

Before I can build a cradle for my sailboat, I have to have a vehicle to transport lumber..  so for now back to fixing the Windstar.  It needs two inner and two outer tie rods, a front right axle, and a master cylinder.  The past few days, I have done the tie rods, a simple job was delayed due to having to get the right tools to do the job.

Look here, a bunch of brown widows have made my car into their home.  I get to reach my hands into their nests, thankfully they are shy little critters and nocturnal.  Still, they will bite when cornered, which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.  After doing the first side, I just dived in.  If I get bit, then I get bit.  As a side note, these lug nuts were way too tight, using the tire iron that came with the car stripped on.. so I had to use my ratchet, and use a tube for leverage.  This resulted in a broken ratchet, stanley tools didn't hold up to the task.  A husky ratchet worked though.

I love this little tool, makes the job a lot easier.  yes, the bolt is still on the outer rod, I took it out after snapping this picture.  

This is the inner tie rod tool, it makes life a lot easier.  They are also pretty expensive, rent one at advanced auto parts or autozone.  It will require about $75, but that will be returned to you when you return the part.  If you rent it, make sure it comes with the clasps you see in my hand.  The first time I rented it, it didn't have any.  As a side note latex gloves make the job a lot less messy.  My wife bought me a box of 100 at publix, at the price of $7.99.

You place the clasp, over the ball joint of the inner tie rod, then you slide the long tube through the rod on the inner tie rod and connect them together.  Then you grab your 1/2 ratchet and have a go with it.  One side for me was easy, the other side required me to prop up the tube with a piece of wood, connect a pipe to the ratchet handle, and push down on it with most of my weight.  It was a real pain in the ass.

     And there you go, not one bite thankfully.  I was going to be charged $300 to have all of the tie rods replaced, doing it myself brought the price down to $80 for the purchase of two inner tie rods, two outer tie rods, a 1/2 inch ratchet, a 3/8ths inch ratchet that I had to replace.  If I had not broken my ratchet, and didn't need the 1/2 ratchet it would have been $50 for just the tie rods.  If you stumbled on my site, be sure to do a lot more research before attempting this yourself - I'm just covering the basics for friends and family.  

     I think I will get the master cylinder done next, so I can drive around and test the brakes.  Then I will get to the right front axle.  After that, I can get back to updates on my sailboat, hopefully I will have built a cradle by then.

Venture of Newport updates

Just a little history on my sailboat, that remains nameless right now.  From what the previous owner had told me, I am the third owner of her.  The first owner, had passed away and I assume left the boat in the water for a long period of time due to the pretty messy underside.  The previous owner bought her a little over a year ago, with the intention of fixing her up but never had a chance.  The boat sat in her yard for a period of time until I bought it.  I have no clue how long it has been since she has had a bath, but she was filthy.  She still partially is, but I have been slowly cleaning her up.  There are stains, that I have yet to have been able to remove.. 

If that were not enough, on the 60 mile transit to my house, the bunk supporting the starboard side broke in two pieces creating two rather large indents.  Plus there are numerous areas where the gelcoat has been worn away, and several spider cracks on the pop top, and under the mast step.  What can I say this was a $600 sailboat, the previous owner trailered here here for free, and the trailer is in excellent shape.

Here is the interior when the boat was still at the PO's home.  There are a lot of stains in the gelcoat.  The cabin roof has no gelcoat, it is just paint over fiberglass which is flaking.  There is also some carpeting that looks to be in okay shape.  Amazingly, the cushions do not have any stench to them, I imagine they were stored inside.

I've cleaned up a bit here using soft scrub, the boat is a little dirty as I have been in and out of it quite a bit and needs to be cleaned again.  I haven't touched the ceiling yet but plant to eventually get rid of the old paint and repaint it using Rustoleum topside paint.

The deck, after she was brought to my house.  Pretty dirty right now.  The entire sailboat is.

A little bit of soft scrub, I'm not sure what the black stains are from.  I'm going to use a bit of acid to burn them out :D

There was quite a bit of gunk on the bottom, I have cleaned the port side.  Check out all of those blisters!!  I'm not sure what I am going to do about them, but it is a $600 boat.. and a trailer sailor.  I think I might just leave them there.

With hardly any effort on my part, she is much cleaner.  I used Sno Bol, toilet cleaner.  It took about two hours of applying it on, every fifteen minutes.  A tiny bit of scrubbing was involved, but it was not labor intensive.  I still need to clean it up a bit more but the worst part is over.  Couldn't get under the bunks unfortunately.

Above are the two indents I was speaking of, they really gave me a scare.. but..

My father came down, and we did a quick fix of the bunk.  We just laid another board under the broken one.. We will do a better job once we have had time to build a cradle to support her better.  To do this, we assembled a quick cradle to lift her a bit off of the trailer from the stern side.  Raised the front of the trailer and lowered the bunk bed to place the plank in.  

Do you see that?  Those two indents popped out, I can't even tell they were once there!  They scared the hell out of me but there seems to be no damage.  I inspected under the dinette and see no signs of damage.

In the near future, I'll be pulling her out of my front yard and putting her to the side of my house to do the work.  My father will come down to help me build a cradle to support her so we can properly place new trunks in.

My plans so far are:

* Clean gunk off of starboard side.
* Move to the side of the house.

* Build a proper cradle.

* Replace bunks.

* Do a bit of gelcoat repair.

* Replace wood trim.

* Replace the back stay.

* Build a mast raising system.

That really is all there is to it, as I can see right now.  Perhaps I will find a few things in the future, that need to be replaced, but so far it doesn't look too bad.  Now, I have to replace the tierods in my Windstar.

I got a sailboat

This was going to be my sailboat, it is a 1987 macgregor 25.  I really liked the feel of this boat, even though I only boarded her while at dock.  Inside, was far more accommodating than what I would have expected.  She was also much larger than what I would have expected a 25ft to look like.

The owner, wasn't very interested in selling her, and after I checked her out in person we stopped contacting one another.  I have a feeling, he kept the boat.  The price I was going to pay was $2,000 It included four sails, and an 8 hp outboard.

While I was checking out that sailboat, I was also inquiring about others.  There was a Venture of Newport listed at $3,500  I exchanged a few emails with the owner, and wished her the best in selling her.  A couple of weeks later I noticed the price going down on her craigslist listing.  At the time I was still interested in buying the Macgregor 25.  Unfortunately, $2,000 was a bit steep for my wife, plus the fact the owner did not seem at all interested in selling her.  So a couple days after viewing the Mac 25, I noticed the Venture of Newport price reduced to $600

So here she is, at my home.  We bought her for $600.  She is a bit smaller inside and out than the 25, I can not sit up inside of her, so I have to slouch a bit.  Despite what people say on the internet the popup top is not giving me 6' headroom.  Perhaps the supporting poles on mine need to be replaced.  But, I really do love her and the look of her.  She is a classy looking sailboat, and also she is a cutter.  But, she is filthy right now.  I'm in the process of cleaning her up and hope to get mos of the grime out.

Updates on my Windstar

Thanks to yahoo answers, I now know what that mystery tube was, it is a tube that leads to the Positive Crankshaft Ventilation valve.  It seems that normally gases are sent through this valve, to be recycled by the engine and prevent pressure build up.

So, I purchased a new one for about three dollars.  The old valve (black) and the new one, both completely different shapes.

Here is the old "valve", it is nothing more than an empty plastic tube fitting that went where the PCV valve should go, I'm not sure what the deal is here.. if it was replaced at some point or not.  Further, the kit I had also had empty tubes in it and none of them fit into the plug on the valve pan, they were all too small.  They do fit over the actual PCV valve, so I know that is not there intention.  So, it is back to researching but at least I know what a PCV valve is now and the basics of why it was there in the first place.

  While I was at it, I checked the fuel line pressure by using a rag and pushing in the needle and nothing escaped.  I purchased some engine starter, sprayed it into the air filter tube, and tried to start the engine, it cranked a few times but nothing to be impressed with.   Thanks goes to yahoo users Bret W, and Joenusz for supplying me information regarding the PCV valve, and how to check the gas pressure.  My Haynes repair manual did not show the correct location for the fuel pressure test port, so here it is for anyone out there looking for it, there should be a black cover over it.. If you can't find it, using your Haynes manual, check the drivers side just in front of the air intake manifold.(1999 3.8l)



     I'm fairly sure it is the fuel pump at this point, because when I turned the ignition I wouldn't hear the fuel pump.  Going by a story my brother had told me, I gave the gas tank a few taps and when I turned the key I heard the fuel pump turn on and the engine cranked for a little bit.  Trying to repeat pounding on the gas tank, to get the fuel pump working again was fruitless.. but at least now, I know where to focus my effort at the moment, after I figure out why my PCV valve, was not really a valve to begin with and where to get the right part.

     With all of that said, I really am having a good time figuring these things out.  The car might be complete rubbish, but it keeps me occupied for a few hours and really hasn't been that expensive yet.  My wife should be buying a new car soon, which means I will get my Saturn back, but I plan to continue working on the Windstar and learning how to repair my own car.

Vehicular woes

I have this 99 Windstar 3.8 liter that has been sitting in my driveway for the past year, when I bought the minivan its engine ran fine, all it really needed was tie rods, brakes, and a new battery, but due to our economic situation I kept putting it off and walking wherever I needed to go.  I think it may be of some importance to note, I live in Florida so the car did not sit around in freezing temperature.

With this tax return I decided it would be nice to have transportation once again, so I can take a few CNA classes and become certified, and finally get a job.  First thing on the list was the battery, so we bought it for $96 at Walmart, brought it home and connected it to my car.  After doing so, I started the ignition a few times, and the engine wouldn't catch.  I let it sit for about twenty minutes, started it again and the car started.

Great, the car runs.. and it sounds pretty good.  I let it run for a couple of minutes, checked out the blinkers to ensure they worked, then the noticed steam coming from the engine compartment, I took a look and noticed the steam was coming out near the air filter housing.  It was also looked like it was coming out of the exhaust pipe, but not billowing out huge amounts just a little bit and was not raising in the air like you would expect.  I thought it may just have been condensation build up from sitting for the past year, but after about thirty seconds of steam the engine started to quit and I turned it off.

I checked the oil, and it still had a amber color to it, it did not look muddy or cloudy.  I couldn't tell a difference in the radiator fluid, it was dirty but there were no oily looking spots raising out of the reservoir.  I decided, perhaps it was just condensation and gave it another try.. no go - the ignition goes off, the serpentine belt spins around but the engine is not catching.

So far, I have checked the oil it still looks fine, the radiator fluid looks fine, and I even got a spark from a spark plug although the threads are dirty, which worries me.  I'll include a few pictures here showing everything I have seen thus far.

Here is half of the air cleaning housing unit, it connects to the other half which contains the air filter.  Take a look at the crud in this thing.


The other half is pretty clean, and the air filter does not have this brownish liquid in it,  I'm not sure what it is but it may be oil mixed with water.. because...

This part, connects to that half of the air filter housing unit and to the throttle to the air intake manifold.  You can barely make it out in this picture, but that liquid stuff is near the hole.  Which leads me to the next part.

This tube connects to the rubber tube pictures above, it had liquid all over the connector.

The above tube also connects to the valve cover, so I think the mystery goo could be coming from there.. but I am mechanically illiterate.  I don't understand how oil could travel up that tube unless there was tremendous pressure.  I also don't know why it would cause it to steam.  I don't even know why there is a tube connecting to the head, and the air filter housing unit, there is not one for the other head.  Anyone want to explain that one to me, I'm not even sure what this tube is called.

Here is the spark plug, I tested it and the distributor is giving it a spark.. but look at that gunk on the threads.  The leads of the spark plug, where the spark occurs and the white insulator that houses it are clean though.. That gunk sort of worries me though, I've heard it is a pretty bad thing to occur.







None of this really addresses why my car won't start in the first place, I am getting a spark so as far as I know the engine should start.  Perhaps the fuel filter or pump are dead, I have some engine starter I plan on running through the air filter housing unit where that tube connects into it and seeing if the engine will start tomorrow.

Please understand, I am completely new at this, the most advanced thing I have done on a car is change brakes.  The Windstar is old, and not worth having repaired but I do want to learn how to repair cars on my own so that in the future, I can save some money without destroying the car in the process.  I've tried to include every detail I could, and apologize for my utter ignorance on the matter.


Oh, and my daughter wants me to put a picture of her up here, she says "hello" :D  Don't mind the steering wheel cover, that came from the person who owned the car before me.. the wheel itself is filthy, and worn away.

Training to be a CNA

When I was in my teens to early twenties, I had worked in a nursing home as a janitor.  The job was pretty stress free, easy, but low paying.  Shortly after I quit so I could move to Florida, and have done a few odd jobs.  I worked at a BBQ restaurant for about a year and a half before leaving for college, then I worked as a night auditor and front desk at a horrible hotel.  After being robbed at knife point, not once but twice I landed a pretty cool job at IBM working on the phone for tech support.  That was the highest I was ever paid, and the easiest job I had - I would spend most of my time playing around on the Internet and goofing around with coworkers.

It used to be, I could just walk into a business and get a low paying job fairly easily.  With the lousy economy, even McDonalds won't take me.  I've been out of work for over a year now, and no one seems to want to hire me.  I almost got a job, working for Goodwill as a janitor and the manager seemed very interested in me but I have not heard a word since putting in my application.  The job situation here in Florida, is horrible.. you don't so much as even get a call back for an interview.

So, that leaves me with training to be a CNA.  If there is one thing that is abundant in Florida, it is elderly people in need of care.  Working as a janitor in a nursing home was easy, but I remember the ordeal the CNAs would have to go through - and to be honest I am a bit worried.  A lot of places are looking for male CNAs though, my guess is because of all of the lifting that is involved, so I have two things going for me.  A third thing going for me, is my wife knows the person that trains CNAs and she has stated she could get me a job working only weekends, for $300 a week.  That is not so bad, as far as I am concerned.  I have two kids, one five and the other three.  The youngest is not yet in school, and daycare is outrageously expensive.  If I got the job as a CNA this means we get to save on a lot of money that would have gone toward daycare.

The other great thing, would be that when my three year old daughter does go to school (possibly in February) I can go out, and have some alone time.. this would be especially great if I get into sailing.