I also let myself wish a little recently. I created an Amazon wish list. Sort of for christmas, but it was fun to look at some stuff that is out there. :) I seem to have interests in John Deere and Milwaukee tools and stuff. Last year, i got a Milwaukee 12 volt Li-Ion driver. It has a 1/4" speed chuck on it, much like a cordless impact driver, but the drill itself is not an impact driver. It is small and quite handy. It has amazing battery life and it is pretty strong. It would be ideal for cabinetry work and mounting doors and stuff. Anyway, I ended up getting the Impact driver that takes the same battery. It's quite tough. much heavier than the drill i have. It will drive Lots of 2-3 inch deck screws and stuff. Here's a pic of them if your interested:
They are the same size in real lif. ANYWAYS, the reason i bring this up is because, it seems like the impact drivers are becoming the way of the future...except a lot of the bits aren't up to the 'impact' part. I have been noticing that more and more companies are producing driver bits that are made for Impact Drivers...Including adapters that will drive 1/4 and 3/8 inch sockets too...real handy for mechanical work. So, i've been kind of fascinated with the different driver bits available now and kind of find this urge to try lots of them out. lol.
Speaking of Mechanical work, I put new brakes on my car a couple of weekends ago. I was going to just get it done somewhere, because i don't seem to have a lot of time and i didn't think i had the facilities, but it would have cost about 360 dollars. That motivated me to look at prices of just the parts. I ended up getting ceramic lifetime pads and rotors with a 3 year warranty for around 180 dollars. The rotors were painted everywhere except the wearing surface and they said that they had a higher nickel content in them which helped keep them from rusting as bad. I figure if they last even close to 3 years, it was probably a pretty good deal. As long as they don't warp on me...... SO, when i changed them i noticed that one of the sliders on the caliper on the right side was stuck. Fortunately, I was prepared with PB blaster and Anti-Seize compound. I got it freed up and lubed up before i put them back together. The old pads on that side were obviously worn at an angle because of the stuck caliper. So, after a couple of hours, i had good brakes again. The brakes seem about twice as strong as they were before i did the work. Ah, a good feeling.
Monday, i got snow tires, an oil change, and an alignment. My all seasons were not worn out so i kept them. This place will switch them back and forth in the spring and fall for free because i bought the tires there. At other places i checked it would cost around 30 dollars for all four tires each time...so, this turns out to be a savings of about 150 dollars. Makes me happy.
Work has been going pretty well. I have been getting more and more involved in projects and my position has become much more interactive with the clients. I like that. I attend Village board meetings sometimes, do inspections on our projects sometimes, and make a ton of phone calls throughout the day.
Ok. I will conclude for now. Maybe if i have time, i will write another one soon.
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