Using Google Checkout For Better Deal On Lift Kit

I am in the process of modifying my suspension with lift kit. I'm keeping pretty conservative with a 1.5" lift kit made by Black Diamond. My Jeep YJ Wrangler is a daily driver so I'm not really interested in doing more than urban off-roading.

After some comparative online shopping I decided to go with 4wd.com because they had free shipping, after a $25 oversized handling charge. This made my purchase come out to 494.98. I also used Google Checkout for an extra $10 off. The total cost shipped ended up being 484.98.

Moving!

I've decided to move to my own host so I can provide a better site. All new content will be at adventuresindiy.com

Removing U3 From Flash Drive

If your like me. When you buy a flash drive you just want to put stuff on it. Don't get me wrong, U3 looks like it might be cool to help people manage files and run programs, but I don't want that.

Removal:

When you put the drive in the USB port it will launch U3 automatically. Click on the U3 symbol in your system tray to bring up the U3 menu.

Choose Help and Support. This will bring up and allow you to select the uninstall menu item.

This sends you to the U3.com site where they ask you if you really want to uninstall their program.

Selecting the "Remove Launchpad" link will take you to the page where they give you the option to tell them why your removing it. Fill this out if you want, but I just click on "No Thanks, Continue"

Almost there. Select the "Download the Uninstall Application" , Save or just Run the file now. You'll be asked to accept that any data on the drive will be lost during the removal process. So, make sure your data has been copied from the drive.


Bob's your uncle after that.

Wallpaper Removal - Part II

We spent last Sunday finishing the wallpaper removal in the kitchen we started the weekend before. What a mess. I officially hate wallpaper. Might as well tell you what seemed to work before I get into a rant about wallpaper.

What we did was to score the wallpaper using the tiger claw (might be paw) wallpaper scorer, and sprayed that area with water. Like I said in a previous post, It didn't seem to help when we used the wallpaper removing goop you sprayed on. Occasionally we would pull good chunks of the wallpaper off, but more than not the top layer would come off first. When this happened, just spray the area with water again, wait about a minute and the substrate comes off easily. It all seemed to depend on how much adhesive the person applying the wallpaper put on. Behind the fridge was a nightmare. There was so much adhesive that after the paper came off I would scrape again to get a scraper full of the adhesive too. The only down side to using just the water I saw is if you have a textured wall behind the wallpaper. If an area was saturated the texture under the wallpaper would be a little soft. This is because the texture is made from joint compound. Anyway, I just had to be a little careful with the scraper.

Rant:
There should be a place in hell for people who put up half a house of wallpaper. In this section of Hades they will take down wallpaper for eternity. I talking about paper that tears every 1/2 inch. Where they're sittin' there picking the stuff off the wall with your fingers because some super genius has used so much adhesive that it only comes down in small sections. Wait, that was something I had to do.

Wallpaper Removal - Part I

We started to remove some of the wallpaper in the kitchen. We've been using some spray on liquid goop that is supposed to help loosen the adhesive. It didn't seem to be working. I even tried the tiger claw thing with the removal agent, and that didn't seem to help. In fact it kinda made it harder to remove large pieces of wallpaper because it tore more often.

I hate wallpaper. Evil tulip wallpaper

Lots of water on a rag seemed to help a bit. We would wet down the wall with a really wet rag. It just comes down to a lot of scraping. I'll post more as things progress this weekend.

Garbage Disposal Installation

I have one confession to make. The table saw is still not complete. I had all the intentions of finishing that this last weekend, but other things seemed to come up. Instead I did a garbage disposal replacement in the condo we have amongst other small things.

Saturday I went to the Depot and picked up a 1/2 HP Badger garbage disposal for about $80, plumber's putty, sink wrench and of course the power cord for the disposal. Don't forget the power cord. It's my personal opinion that, if you are replacing something that is older and has broken why use a critical piece for your new unit from the broken one. Anyway, the installation went really smooth. Last time I did a garbage disposal installation it was in a new sink about 8 or 9 years ago. The bracketing system that held that in place didn't seem that great at the time. The new unit came with the InSinkErator Quick Lock Mount. This thing is sweet. Once it's installed in the sink you just twist the garbage disposal into place.

Tools you might need:

• sink wrench
• plumbers' putty
• screwdriver (installation of power cord)
• channel lock pliers (just in case)
• hammer
  

Here are some highlights from the install:

• TURN THE POWER OFF and unplug the old unit from the wall
• Clean everything out of your working area. I made sure the cabinet was empty underneath sink. So much easier to work like that.
• Make sure you have plenty of towels to catch any water that leaks out of the pipes. It always happens.
• Disconnect the pluming. For me this included the drain hose from the dishwasher and the output from the disposal to the pipe going out of the house.
• Don't throw away the drain pipe from your existing disposal. If your like me I had to reuse that piece because the new disposal came with a drain pipe that would not fit the configuration of the pipes under the sink.
• Take out the old garbage disposal.
• Remove the drain originally attached to the old garbage using the sink wrench disposal if necessary. The one I was replacing still looked good and used the quick connect bracket like the new one.
• Clean the old plumbers' putty from the sink, apply new putty and assemble the new drain / connection bracket for the new disposal.
• Place a 1/4” bead of plumber’s putty around the drain opening in the sink.
• Drop the new sink flange into the drain opening and press it into place.
• From under the sink, slide the fiber gasket and backup ring onto the sleeve.
• Hold these pieces in place. Next slip on the mounting ring and snap ring.
• Install the new power cord on the replacement disposal. Make sure the ground is properly connected, use the wingnuts that come with the kit for the other wires.
  
• Connect the white wire from the disposer unit with the white wire from the power supply.
• Do the same for the black wire, and attach the ground to the green screw.
• If your hooking up a dishwasher like me, you'll need to use a screwdriver and hammer to pop out the knockout plug. [I'm just gonna say it. Yes you need to get it out of the disposal after you knock it out.]
• Align the disposer with the three mounting pieces on the mounting assembly. Hold the disposal in place, and turn the lower mounting ring until all three mounting ears are locked into the mounting assembly.
• Install the discharge tube and its gasket to the disposal. Make sure this is aligned properly.
• Connect the dishwasher tube to the disposal
• Lock the disposal to the sink mounting assembly using the special wrench that came with the unit.
• Plug it in and test it.

Bob's your uncle.

Still Trying to Put Table Saw Together

Unfortunately I have yet to finish putting the table saw I got for Christmas together. It's not like it is a hard thing to do, and I'm excited to use it. There have been so many other things with higher priority that came up. So, this weekend I plan on setting aside an hour to finish assembling and tuning the saw. I'll post up what I did to tune it up and some pics when I'm done.