Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry... Aw Shit!

This time of year many of us gather together to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is a season of sharing gifts and love for one another, and it is no different for my little family. Mom and Dad live on the other side of the state, big sis and her family live in Kalifornia, and other big (little) sis lives in upstate Washington. So it will just be my young men and I celebrating together.

I am the Santa, since no one else is employed. I don't really care that much that I get no gifts. I buy stuff for myself all year long as I please. My Family stopped with the gift giving years ago as none of us could really afford to buy them. I still get gifts for my boys as I love to give them.

My presents for Christmas are: 1 Terabyte SATA Hard Drive, SATA expansion card, 500 Watt power supply and a new video card for my Dell Optiplex GX260. I have already maxed out the RAM earlier this year and replaced the P4 2.4ghz processor with a P4 3.06ghz. This will extend the life of this PC for another five years... I hope!

Yesterday I went out to buy "Stocking Stuffins" as I call them. We haven't done the stockings thing for the last 2 years but I still buy the stuffin's and hand them out on Christmas Eve. I drove around "Tijuana on the Sky", stopping at various stores spending my hard earned cash. Too many people and too much traffic drove me to leave before to long.

Just as I was pulling into my yard, intending to back into the driveway to facilitate the unloading of goodies, my clutch pedal stuck to the floor! Thru careful maneuvering I was able to get the truck into the yard, but it will not be going anywhere for a while. I am currently thinking that either the clutch slave cylinder or the clutch master cylinder has gone out!

Oh yea!
Merry Frickin Christmas.

Luckily the slave cylinder seems to be the likely culprit and is not all that expensive to purchase. I do not relish the thought of lying in the wet and muddy yard in 48 degree weather in the rain and wind, replacing said object, when I actually get one! Since the truck is nearly 24 years old, I am not surprised that something has finally wore out. I have had this truck for over 15 years and had minimal problems other than replacing the engine some years back. It is a 1986.5 D21 Hardbody 4x4 Extended Cab w 3.0 L v6 (Nissan).

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year.