Author: Justin Christie
Xbox 360 is back up and running
I shipped the Xbox 360 back to Microsoft Monday. It arrived Tuesday morning at the repair facility in Toronto, and the repair was done Tuesday afternoon. It was shipped out Tuesday night, and back at my door by 11am Wednesday morning. Wow, fast service –…
New house update, or lack there of…
I just drove by the lot today. No progress to report yet – but I snapped two pictures on the camera phone. The winter has been very harsh this year, with all the snow; and that is delaying the construction of our new house. A…
Xbox 360 freeze, and the Red Rings of Death
We’ve had our Xbox 360 since December 2006, and we have loved every minute of it. It is a great console, and fun to play on. However after playing FEAR, our 360 just froze for no apparent reason. I turned it off, then back on,…
Gas mileage, and trying to improve it
With this post, I’d like to open up a new category – Environment. For the past year, I’ve been trying to get the best gas mileage possible – that was one of the reasons I got rid of the 2003 Impala, and got the 2007…
Life with the Chevrolet HHR after 6 months
So far, I love this vehicle. I was going to sell it because we got the new house – and I wanted to lower monthly bills. But I’ve decided to keep it. We’ll roll with one older car (Saturn) and one newer car (HHR) –…
House is sold
Well, all the paperwork and conditions were waived today, and we sold our house. Only took about two weeks – not bad considering how slow it has been on the housing market.
Fixing the common Saturn S-Series reverse slam
We were experiencing a slight reverse slam in our 1999 SW1. A reverse slam is the “clunk” of changing the gears in an automatic transmission from reverse to any other gear. In Saturn S-Series cars, this is a common problem – usually the culprit of…
House for sale
www.87short.ca Go to the above URL to see the house. There is a contact form on the website to get in contact with our agent :)
New house update
Well, here is the lot. Just a pile of wood and snow. I’m starting to drive by the lot every 2 weeks now. We go to the decor centre on Monday, where we will iron out some of the colouring details. Our house (we live…
Been busy
Sorry, I’ve been really busy with getting the house ready for the market. No time for blogging :( The house goes on the market this weekend (Feb. 2nd), so once it is up and on the MLS system, I may have time to jump back…
Service Engine Soon – Saturn SW1 follow up
With a full week of day-to-day driving behind the EGR fix, …no Service Engine Soon light has come back on :) I will continue to monitor it, but it looks like I’ve postponed the $200 cost of a new EGR valve. If it needs cleaning…
Service Engine Soon – Saturn SW1 EGR valve
Today I took off the EGR, and found that it had a lot of carbon build-up on the pintle. The pintle was having problems operating – a.k.a. obstruction from going up and down due to the carbon build-up. So I cleaned it up with carb…
Saturn SW1 service engine soon light
The SES light came on. The OBD-II code that is being thrown is P1404 – which deals with the EGR valve being left in a closed position. Which means I might have to pull the EGR and clean it out with carb cleaner – there…
OBD 2 Scanner off eBay
Just came today, now I can read the codes that are being thrown in our Saturn SW1. I can also use it for the HHR.
iPhone Clone – the CECT P168
My blackberry has been acting up, and I decided to go with a new phone. I bought it off eBay for a great price. It arrived today in the mail, and I had a few hours to play around with it. So far, I’ve been…
Making lunches for the week – Am I this crazy?
In an effort to save money (because buying lunches everyday can get VERY expensive) I am really picky about making something for lunch at work. Think of it, … average of $7 a day, 5 days a week = $35. $35 x 4 weeks is…
Saturn SW1 comes home
Came back at 7pm tonight. Runs terrific on the highway. Has a lot of options – power windows, power mirrors, keyless, A/C, power hatch release, etc. etc. Very pleased with it :)
1999 Saturn SW1
We found one in terrific condition with 149,000kms, and got a great price on it from a dealership in Scarborough. This is the best time (now until Christmas) because everyone is getting ready to buy gifts, and not looking to buy autos. So things are…
Used car search
Since we got rid of my wife’s car lease thru a lease transfer, we are looking for a simple little car ($2500-$3000 range) to go from point A to point B. We have the HHR as the “good” car, so this new/old car we get…
Mr. Mikes leather seats
Just got these today. Crazy-ass quality. They will look pristine in the Fiero. Below is a sample image that I photoshop’ed up quickly. It isn’t my Fiero, …but you get the idea from the pic:
Renovating the Master Bathroom – Part Nine – Finished
All done. Just have to do some minor touch ups here or there, and get a decent mat to fit in between the register and the shower. All in all, it was a fun project. Frustrating at times, but not as hard as I originally…
Renovating the Master Bathroom – Part Eight – Plumbing, plus odds and ends
Just tackled pumbling today, and got the drain hooked up. Added the new taps, and hooked up the hot/cold water lines. Almost there.
Renovating the Master Bathroom – Part Seven – Trim + lots of progress
Well, I was right. Once the paint is dry, everything is downhill from here. I had a big day. Trim went up in about 2 hours. Then I caulked any gaps. Once that was done, I started to move in the hardware. I hooked up…
