I guess I’ll start with links to albums in chronological order, just to document things. I have such a backlog of stuff that I can’t really write it all out in detail. Instead, we’ll skip straight to the pics, and brief blurbs.

Pete and I took our motorcycles down to the beach one random day for lunch. We ate, walked around looking at girls in bikini’s then we turned around for Easter Dinner.

I went to Ward’s wedding and met up with a whole bunch of RIT and Cisco folks. It was incredible to have everyone together again. There was a lot of bittersweet talk about how this was the first and maybe last large reunion of so many RIT grads in one place.

There was camping and Jeeping after that.

Brendan and I took a random Thursday after that and went up to Richmond, VA to see Flogging Molly and Big D and the Kid’s table. They added ridiculously hot dancers. I was immediately in love. We also met up with Esther and her friend that night. It made for a long night. I eventually wound up riding my motorcycle at home from the Cisco parking lot at 3AM. Heated grips are AMAZING!

The next night we went out for Sasha’s birthday party. Raleigh was in full blown skirt season. It was excellent.

The first week of May is a Blur. Brendan’s friend Daniel had a grad party

I saw Steve’s band Idiom play at The Berkely. We met a cute Brunette that worked at an Animal Hospital

Aric had a house warming party where it was decided that everyone loved this girl

We also ran into another short Brunette who had opinions on whether or not Earth should be keeping a backup planet in the works for disaster recovery. Awesome.

Shapess, Andy and I had a random day out at Uwharrie. I had time to dial in the scope on my 22, AND spent some time shooting Shapess’ AK-47. Too much fun there.

On May 12th Kenneth, Pete, and I drove down to Charlotte to see Say Anything and Angels and Airwaves. Say Anything put on a good show but the set was too short unfortunately. It was nice to know that the girls belt out the lyrics to “Every Man Has a Molly” even louder than the guys.

You god damned kids had best be gracious with the Merch money you spend.
Cause for you I won’t ever have rough sex with Molly Connolly again.

I met a beautiful girl with so many awesome traits it’s hard to believe she actually exists.
1. Bartender
2. Graduated Culinary School
3. Loves the music scene
4. Gorgeous
5. Incredibly friendly / nice
6. Brunette
7. Tiny
8. Likes jeeps and motorcycles, knows how to replace a radiator.

Doubtful that said girl will actually get in touch with me – but it was a good night regardless. Another weeknight of getting home around 3AM. Energy drinks are my savior.

Just last night I went to a Skinny Tie Party at Justin Tiexera’s place.

I proceeded to introduce myself to a girl so forcefully that she immediately notified me she was someone elses wife. I need to do a better job looking for rings.
I also met another beautiful brunette who can bust out the quadratic equation at the drop of a ‘hat’. Math teachers for the win. There was Rock Band. People rocked out to Coheed and Cambria, and I sang my heart out to NIN – The Hand That Feeds. I don’t even need the scrolling words to sing this one:

And finally – today I went on an awesome motorcycle ride out to Wilson NC with my motorcycle gang. We hit up Parker’s BBQ and it was delicious. There was some really beautiful back country and great roads between here and Wilson if you avoid the highway.

After riding around NC I went over to Andy’s house and helped him tinker on his new front axle. We removed the diff cover and took out the locker, getting it ready for the new axle. We also greased up his lower control arms, and I drilled some holes for his new bump stops.

I am now VERY tired just thinking about all of that.

The future holds a trip to DC to see the air and space museum, and hopefully a trip out to the mountains with my Mom to check out the roads there.

In other non fun related matters, I’ve REALLY got to recertify my CCIE

I’ve been stuck on this one problem at work the entire time which is a huge drain on me mentally. I’ve stopped going to the gym and just come home to relax instead.

Here’s a run down on some of the things I’ve been up to, in as close to chronological order as I can muster.

I posted all of the pictures from Networkers in San Francisco. Pete and I were there for the 4th of July weekend. We met beautiful girls, drank intoxicating beverages, and also learned ridiculous amounts about new technology. It was great to go as a CCIE and get extra special treatment. Here are some pictures of Networkers 2009.

Here’s Kenneth and I explaining something to an unruly and uncooperative Cisco Partner:

Kenneth Pete and I

After I got back from Networkers I’m sure I did something worth writing about. I can’t remember what it might have been.

Just two weeks back or so I decided it was finally time to install my CB Radio in the Jeep. I mounted the radio in the cubby to the left of the steering wheel. It’s a pretty slick looking job, and allowed me to listen to the truckers on my way back and forth to the mountains.

Andy, Wes, Rebecca, and I went out to Hurricane Creek. Mile marker 8 on I-40. Just 8 miles from the Tennesee, North Carolina Border. This was one of the most beautiful and scenic trails I’ve taken the Jeep on yet. It was also the longest trail. We clocked in something like 10 or 15 miles of trail. Very cool.

Hurricane Creek Trail

We also managed to get some great YouTube videos of our Jeeping.

Here’s a video of me going over some big ass logs. This was fun. Listen to the V8 working.

It was a two day trip and you can look at all the pictures and videos in the previous links.

After getting back from Jeeping on Sunday night, I worked on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday night Brendan says to me:

Colleen is coming into town and Bringing her friend Kristan. I’m thinking of getting a Condo on the beach for the rest of the week and working from there.

I was undecided until we went out to dinner with Colleen and Kristan on Monday night. On Tuesday Brendan asked me again and I basically said.. “Fuck it, lets go.” Very unlike me to do something spontaneously like that. I need proper motivation. Which I suppose I had

On Tuesday I left work and went straight to Brendan’s house after throwing some things together quickly. I packed in a rush, so forgot to bring swim trunks. Luckily Wings was open til midnight, and had cheap shorts.

Tuesday night was just dinner at Tower 7 and shopping. Notice that we started with the essentials for a beach trip: Corona and Limes.

Shopping!

Wednesday Brendan and I worked from the place, and took our lunch break on the beach. Lots of fun!

Wednesday night was dinner at Dock Street Oyster Bar, followed by a Ghost Tour of Wilmington, follow by Rum Runners.

Dock Street Oyster Bar

Kristan at Rum Runners

Thursday night was Pizza, Rum, and Spades. Brendan taught us how to play spades which was actually a lot of fun. By the time  we finished spades it was 1AM, Colleen had passed out, and Brendan was stumbling around. So, obviously, the next step was to go to the bar. Which Brendan and I did. This is what that resulted in at 1:30AM:

Late Night 40

Friday Brendan and I recovered by laying on the beach, walking around, and swimming. We took a walk on the pier with the girls, had a good brunch, and then headed to the Aquarium.

Aquarium - Sea Turtle

Saturday was a Brewery Tour, followed by Better Than Ezra in the rain. They put on a great  show, and standing around in the rain wasn’t so bad.

Brewery Tour

Here’s Kristan drying off a bit after the rain:

Kristan Drying Off

Here we are on Sunday. Work starts  up again in the morning, but I am heading out of town again on Wednesday to go to Florida until next Tuesday. Lots of beach time for me.

So that’s my update for the past month. Lots of working, lots of playing. Hanging out with beautiful girls at the beach.

If I missed anything in my stories, just add it into the comments.

I fixed that. Got the new off.

Dumbass that I am, decided to back down a bit to get another go at an obstacle. I was pretty close to Wes, but thought not much of it.

I took a good look at the hill, mentally pictured going up it, and hit the gas. I needed to get a bit of speed because not all tires would be on the ground, and I don’t have lockers. I needed to roll over the obstacle a bit until all 4 wheels touched again for traction uphill.

Note to self: Before hitting the gas enthusiastically, check to see what gear you are in. If you want to go forward, perhaps the big R is not the right choice.

Wes received 5700 lbs, 290 ft-lbs of torque, in 4 wheel low straight to the Grill / Hood / Radiator. This required us to actually replace the radiator shortly after the incident as the life blood of the cooling system drained away. Poor environment.

On the plus side, I now know how to replace a radiator, and how much they cost.

Witness the carnage:

Luckily we were able to restore it to “just like factory” specifications:

Yep. Classic.

That will be an experience I’ll not likely live down. I normally wouldn’t post something this embarrassing so soon after it happened, but listen closely to 1:58 in the second video. I’m pretty much awesome.

This time I rode along in Andy’s Jeep so we could check out some of the trails marked “difficult” and “extremely difficult”

We couldn’t make one of the difficult trails, nor the extremely difficult trail. We made everything else no problem.

Here is the hill climb on one of the difficult trails, Dickey Bell. Sorry for the short video, my memory card was full. Next time I’ll take my 2GB card instead. Videos beat pictures for offroading.

It was a pretty awesome time, even though it was very wet. There was a lot of slipping and sliding. The downhill sections were treacherous. Have you ever tried to guide 5000 lbs of sliding steel down a 50 foot slope when the steering wheel was more of a suggestion than an actual useful input?

Excitement and adventure.

Here are some pictures of the whole ordeal

Jeep: 05 WK 4.7L Laredo

Lift: 4″ Superlift w/ SSR Shocks

Install Difficulty & Time: Professional Installation at 4WheelParts, 3 Days. Requires welding and cutting.

Tires: 285/70-17 BFG A/T KOs

Spacers or New Wheels: ProComp Extreme – 17″ by 8″ with 4.5″ of Backspacing

Rubbing: Front Driver and Front Passenger fender at full lock. Driver side at full left lock. Passenger side at full right lock. Pics to follow.

Problems:

1. Shop forgot to hook the E brake back up. Whoops. No big deal there.
2. Very light rubbing on front fenders at the pinch weld area.
3. Drive shaft contacts exhaust pipe during some driving situations. Reproducible by driving up onto a curb with both front tires and letting the Jeep roll back a bit in Park.

Handling: Tires are a bit louder and you can feel the extra tread. I like this.

Takes a bit longer to slow down those 33″ tires.
Takes a bit longer to get those 33″ tires up to highway speed.
Must downshift to accelerate on some hills where I remember just powering through with torque before. Not a huge problem though as you can still get where you’re going quickly.

Before Pic:

After Pics:

Here is the Front Driver side Fender rubbing at the rear of the wheel well. You can see where it touches slightly at full lock to the left.

Here is the passenger side rubbing at full lock to the right:

Here’s the drive shaft hitting the bend in the exhaust pipe:

Full pictures available here.

The tires stick out a bit with the 4.5″ backspacing, but I think it’s a pretty good look.

I like the Matte Black rims with the white Jeep. Way better than chrome to me.

I picked it up at the shop last night. We knew about most of the issues when they handed me the keys and we’ve got some time setup for them to get it taken care of.

It’s muddy already because my coworkers wanted to see if it would climb some of the trails behind the office. It has been raining for the past few days here in Raleigh. The answer to their question was… yes it can.

One minor drawback, or a point of entertainment… depending on how you look at it. My short friends have a hell of a time getting in. Very funny to watch.

Then right before I was about to post the damn thing.. I hit the wrong button, and all that work is lost.

Have some pictures:

Pro Comp Extreme Rims

End Goal:

Mine probably won’t look as awesome as those Jeeps, but I’m going to try anyway. Should be done sometime in December.

I’ll post tons of pics when the lift is done.

I always find the instructions to all sorts of things lacking. The only way I figure stuff out is to sit down and actually look at it. Hopefully this will help some random internet user, or will at least be interesting to someone.

My first project is installing front tow hooks on a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee WK.

I bought the Mopar parts off of justforjeeps.com.

Included was two tow hooks, two nut strips, two nut studs, and six nuts.

The tow hooks mount to the frame, but there are no bolts in the frame, so that’s where the nut strips come into play.

Here you can see the nut strip with two bolts on it inserted in the frame rail.

There is also a nut stud for the third bolt that goes through the frame cross member.

Getting this nut stud through the cross member is simple. There is an open hole that you can get to without any effort at all to put it through the top.

Getting into the frame rail however is a completely different matter.

To do that you need to remove the front fascia, and to remove that you need to take off the grill.

The grill is just held on by a handful of plastic rivets right on the top black plastic section. The plastic lip right under where the hood closes is part of the grill, and all that holds it on.

Here is an example of one of the rivets for that piece

These rivets are reusable. The pin will pop right out. First use a flat head screwdriver or something flat to pry out the pin from the body of the rivet. After that the pressure on the rivet will be removed and you can just pull that out with your fingers, or pry out with a screwdriver.

Once all the rivets are out the top of the grill will come forward, releasing the tabs on the bottom of the grill and then you can just lift up and off.

The front fascia needs to come off next.

This has 2 single use plastic rivets on each side holding the wheel well backing to the fascia. These are usually broken before you even start the project anyway. Just snap them off with whatever you can get a grip on them with.

Next there are two 7mm head screws holding each side of the front fascia to the quarter panel / fender (one on each wheel well). Look right above the rivets you just removed.

Next crawl under the car. In my case there were 3 – 10 mm screws holding the very bottom of the fascia to the metal rail under the radiator. The instructions showed 3 plastic rivets that were supposed to be there. My guess is they didn’t cut it and whoever had the jeep before me replaced them, but I could be wrong.

Once these 3 screws are out you’re almost home free.

The next step is removing the 4 reusable rivets holding the top lip of the fascia (right under the bottom lip of the grill you just removed)

Here’s what that rivet looks like. The pin doesn’t come out, all the way. Just pull it out until it stops, then the whole rivet should come out.

Now you are almost there. With those four rivets out the fascia will slide forward, and drop down off the little hanger at the bottom of each fender

If you have the fog lights though, don’t forget to unplug them!

You should now have the front fascia in hand.

At this point there are only two small access caps in front of the frame rail stopping you from sliding in the nut strip, and that’s why we took this whole damn thing off anyway.

Unscrew the single 10mm screw from the cover, it’ll pop off – then install the nut strips.

The bolting on of the parts is pretty straight forward. The nut strips and everything only fit one way.

Instructions say torque to 50 ft lbs.

This is really important. They don’t mean 100ft lbs. They don’t mean 75. Use a calibrated torque wrench.

Here’s what happens when your asshole friend hands you an uncalibrated torque wrench set for 50 lbs, but that is actually putting out closer to 100.

Popped that bolt right in half on the nuts strip. Pow!

I figure using some grade 8 bolts with big washers would most likely serve the same purpose as the nut strips, so here’s what that looks like:

I’ll let you know how it holds up when pulling another car.

So that’s it. Torque all your bolts to 50 ft lbs and then reassemble.

1. Frame rail end caps back on
2. Front Fascia lined up
3. Plug on fog lights (optional)
4. Hook top of fascia through hangers
5. Make sure fascia goes outside, then behind (closer to rear of vehicle) the wheel well backing
6. Put the top screw in the fascia next to the hanger
7. Put the screws on under the car into the radiator rail
8. Put the 4 reusable plastic rivets back into the front fascia
9. Scrounge around for 4 more crappy disposable rivets to hold wheel well backing (or just leave them out like I did )
10. Set grill in place
11. Push in all the rivets for the grill

That should be everything!