Category: Goolsbee News

Christopher Graduates!

Christopher graduated from high school tonight, June 10th 2008.

It was held at the football stadium at Arlington High School, and thankfully the rains ceased for a few hours for the event to pass. Of course as soon as it concluded, the drizzle started again. We’re all very happy.

We started the evening with a dinner at La Hacienda. Then we dropped Chris off at the school as he had to be there an hour before.

Above: Chris puts on the gown.

Above: Sue watches as the cap goes on.

The actual ceremony took place with a stadium full of parents and relatives of all the students. The parking lot was overflowed and we ended up far away. We did a poor job of logistics and ended up pretty far from Chris’ spot in the ceremony. I brought my telephoto lens and managed to pick him out of the crowd:

Above: Chris enters the stadium.

Above: Where’s Waldo?

Above: Chris hands his name to the reader.

…and walks towards the stage.

Of course my photos of him on the stage are blurry and somebody walked right in front of me right about that time as well(!)

Oh well.

There was music and of course boring speeches… it wrapped up with some youthful exuberance:

We finally found each other down on the field after it was all over and got a group shot:

One down, one to go!

A Gentleman and a Scholar!

Well, at least a Scholar. 😉

Chris' Evergreen State Scholarship

Last night Christopher & I went to the Seattle Mariner’s incredibly expensive stadium** for a welcome reception and event for new students at Evergreen State, his chosen school. There was no game going on, so it was weird to be in this giant empty stadium with just 150 or so people. We were served finger foods in the 1st base lounge on the 200 level. They had tables and chairs, and a podium set up. Chris & I grabbed a primo spot in some big comfy chairs as we were a bit early. Staff & faculty were there to speak with us. Before that happened the Dean of Admission brought nine students up to the front (as soon as I counted nine standing I figured a baseball joke was coming… and sure enough…) he announced that these students had been picked as the starting lineup for the next home game. He passed our Mariner’s caps to them all and asked if there were any left-handers, and Chris raised his hand in confirmation and was tossed a ball, and told he’d be on the mound pitching. Then he revealed the real reason why these kids were up in front of the crowd: They were the recipients of Scholarships!

Great news for a parent about to start writing big checks for an education!

Congrats Chris!

We drove home in a blinding blizzard(!) around 9pm. Visibility was so bad that I-5 was slowed to about 35 MPH. Really weird weather this “spring”… We awoke to big fat flakes falling here at home, so I decided to bow out of the Seattle Jaguar Club’s Spring Rally. I don’t know if they went ahead with it, or if it has been rescheduled. Hopefully the warm weather (it was 80°F a week ago today!) will return next week in time for the Tulip Rallye up in the Skagit Valley. I really hope so.

**(If the “naming rights” big corporation/Insurance company wants me to name them in conjunction with the stadium please have their marketing department contact me for payment details)

Need an Alternator for a ’79 M-B 450sl!


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My father is driving his 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450sl from Colorado to Vermont roughly along that route above. He just called me from western Nebraska with a dead alternator. 🙁

Needless to say, the parts stores in Nebraska don’t carry a suitable alternator, so he’s doing the logical gearhead thing: He bought two spare batteries and a charger and he’s going to keep driving until he can find one.

Here is where you come in dear reader: Anyone know what sort of alternator he needs? I assume it is a Bosch, but googling so far is just getting me link farms. A Lester/Rebuilders number would be great! If you don’t know that, how about a hint of reasonably honest Mercedes service locations (dealers or independents) anywhere from Elkhart, Indiana to Cleveland, Ohio. That is where he’ll be Monday morning.

Thanks in Advance!

Update, 11 PM PDT: I posted this to a couple of car-related mailing lists, and received a ton of useful information, part numbers, potential sources, and a good selection of service operations along his route. I’ve passed it along to my Dad. He & my mom made it to their hotel before dark, and have their battery on the charger. He said the car ran great all day.

Thanks to all who provided information!

Out Like a Lion…

Plum Tree with Snow

Rhodie in snow

Really weird weather here the past few days. It seemed as if Spring had sprung (as you can see by the flowers and buds on the trees above), then Friday Winter came back for a last gasp. Friday night brought about 3″ of snow. Saturday it went from rain, to snow, then rain, snow, etc. I went out to the barn to work on the Jag’s exhaust and it was coming down pretty hard. A while later I opened the barn door to find the clouds all gone and the sky filled with brilliant sunshine. About that time my friend John showed up with a barrel of WVO to make into BioDiesel. While we were unloading that from his trailer my driveway was turning into a lake! The snow was melting so fast the water had nowhere to go!

Then a few hours later the clouds came back. It is snowing again now. Go figure.

Odd couple of days…

Super Bee?? WTF??

On my way home Friday I saw the car above on the I-5 Express lanes. It had “Super Bee” graphics on the sides. What is wrong with this picture?

Then later on, in the midst of the never-ending I-5 construction in Everett, my car stalled and would not restart. Thankfully I was in the right lane and pointed downhill. I was able to coast over to the side and onto a wide section of median just north of the “Boeing Freeway” on-ramp onto I-5 as you head down the hill past Everett Mall. I immediately knew the cause, or at least had a strong suspicion – my fuel filter.

The car had stalled the night before while ascending a VERY steep hill near my office, so I figured it was clogging again. I was able to restart it the night before. I figured I’d change the filter once I got home… but of course it conked out about 25 miles from my tools. Ironically I had a spare filter in the trunk, just no tools. I called home and described the tools that I needed (a brake bleeder and either a pair of vise grips or pliers) and told them to come rescue me. Traffic was its usual Friday night disaster. I was visited by no fewer than two State Troopers and one DOT truck while I waited. I told them what was going on and that help was on the way. My family arrived about 40 minutes after I called them, with my brake bleeder…. and a Crescent Wrench!

Sigh.

Undaunted I had the filter swapped in about 20 minutes (would have been 5 if I had a pair of pliers!) The car roared back to life and I was able to make it home without further incident.

I’ve figured out what was causing my fuel problems. The bottom barrel in my final filtering setup has contaminated the fuel. So instead of being the final resting place of my home brew fuel at its cleanest… it was getting clean right up to that step where it would get dirty again. I’m fixing that as we speak… more details later.

Hi-Q

Today we went to Everett Mall to watch Chris participate in the semi-finals of Hi-Q. Hi-Q is the geek equivalent of sports. It is a team event with a range of difficult questions in several subjects presented in a quiz show format. He’s been competing all year and has done very well with his team from Arlington High School.

Today was the first time I was able to attend a contest. Arlington dominated the competition. Here’s the final score:

Hi-Q Final Score

The Finals will be this coming Tuesday.

Sorry for the crappy cell-cam shots. My real digicam was out of reach both in the car and at the mall.