Rain Rain Go Away!

Wednesday we got lots and lots of rain in the St Louis area. When I got home from work my front gutter was overflowing and falling by my porch and leaking in to the basement. Got out on my porch with a step latter, reached up and tried to pull out any leafs that might have been stopping up the flow of water. Unfortunately that wasn’t the problem. On of the screws holding up the end of the gutter had come loose so the gutter at that end was hanging to that side just enough for the water to pool at that end. After work the next day I climbed up on a latter, fixed the problem and noticed that my gutter is lined with a layer of gunk. I have plastic gutter covers so to clean out the gutter I would first have to remove these then put them back. Because the temperature isn’t vary warm I don’t want to mess with shoving the covers back under the roof shingles while the temperature is so cool, so I’ll have to wait till the weather is warmer.

Exhaust Manifold are expensive

Thursday on my way home from work my check engine light started flashing. I went to AutoZone to buy one of those computers you hook up to the car so you can read the error code. To my surprise when I asked if they had them the salesman brought one out and hooked it to my car and gave me the reading for free! Bad news though, a catalytic converter error code was read and all 4 pistons were misfiring. I took the car to AutoTire in Sunset Hills. Their technician said the exhaust manifold was cracked and needed to be replaced. Since next month I need to renew my license plate I went ahead and had them do the state inspections. The estimate to replace the exhaust manafold and the catalytic converter (apparently the two are manufactured as one part by Honda) was around $1500. They recommended I also replace 3 belts that looked pretty ratty and the fuel filter which the tech. said looked like the original. Two Thousand dollars later I hope AutoTire has everything is taken care of.

Odometer: 159034

104 - CK ENG LITE ON Auto:Service $44.50
Total: $44.50

STATE SAFETY INSPECTION Auto:Service $12.00
STATE EMISSIONS INSPECTION Auto:Service $24.00
Total: $36.00

0P104 - 2172 RBR K040315 MICRO V-BELT Auto:Service $18.23
0P104 - 2172 RBR K040325 MICRO V-BELT Auto:Service $22.25
0P104 - 2172 RBR K040335 MICRO V-BELT Auto:Service $22.42
104 - LABOR, R/R DRIVE BELTS Auto:Service $53.40
Total: $116.30

OP104 - 2172CFI 86559 FUEL FILTER Auto:Service $38.99
104 - LABOR, R/R FUEL FILTER Auto:Service $44.50
AIS - AIR INDUCTION CLEANING SERVICE Auto:Service $99.95
Total: $183.44

OP103 - 429 WAL 16096 MANIFOLD/CONVERTOR Auto:Service $895.00
OP105 - 429 WAL 31586 EXHAUST GASKET Auto:Service $10.95
OP105 - 429 WAL 52241 EXHAUST PIPE Auto:Service $99.95
OP105 - 429 WAL 31860 EXHAUST GASKET Auto:Service $12.95
OP105 - 429 WAL 35129 EXHAUST BOLT KIT Auto:Service $8.95
OP104 - 2172 OXY 75-1987 OXYGEN SENSOR Auto:Service $132.70
OP104 - 2173 OXY 75-1754 OXYGEN SENSOR Auto:Service $159.97
105 - LABOR, EXHAUST MANIFOLD/ SENSORS Auto:Service $89.00
Total: $1409.47

SS - SHOP SUPPLIES Auto:Service $25.00
SALES TAX Auto:Service $113.34
Total: $138.34

Grand Total: $1928.05

Website Review: Hulu - Free TV shows and Movies

I signed up for and watched the first episode of the Rockford Files on Hulu. I have my computer hooked up to a 32 inch TV and I have to say I was impressed with the quality of the streaming video. The show was broken up with the same commercial every so often, but that didn’t bother me. On some shows they seem to have all the episodes and on others there’s just a sampling. I wish their library was more complete. A lot of the shows I would like to see the first episode of. This week end I’ll try watching a movie.

Update: 3/14/08 – Last night i watched a movie. I had no problems with the download rate or the picture quality but.... The placement of commercials was not strategically selected. Commercials, although short, would pop up in the middle of sentences. This makes watching the movie annoying and needs to be fixed. One other thing I'm not sure I like is the occasional placement of banner commercials at the bottom of the screen. Some times it was vary distracting.

The service needs a larger selection and more polishing, but it could be the beginning of the new way to deliver professionally produced TV

Restaurant Review: ZuZu - Handmade Mexican Food

I had lunch at ZuZu A Mexican restaurant in downtown St. Louis on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. It would have been nice to have found a good Mexican option for lunch but this wasn’t it. One of the diners I was with had the Mexican pizza with chicken and the other two of us had the special which was a combination of 3 dishes. We all felt everything tasted bland, including the salsa. I thought the beef in my soft taco was tough and the chicken slices on the pizza, although vary decoratively arranged, were cut way to large.

Worst of all, thy carry Pepsi products.

217 North 7th Street, St Louis, MO 63101. 314 241-9898

Restaurant Review: Sage - Urban American Grill

Our department at work received the TOPS award and as a reward was given an extra hour for lunch and received ten dollars each for lunch.

We ate at a place call Sage in Soulard. I had the BBQ Burger ($7.75) and it was great. It all looked good and everyone really liked what they ordered. If you go be sure to get the restaurant made potato chips rather then the French fries, I wish I had.

1031 Lynch Street @ 11th & Lynch in Soulard
Saint Louis, Missouri 63118
phone 314.256.1203

Update 3/1/2008 - Had a late lunch after going to the Home & Garden show downtown. I had the Corn Flake Crusted Tilapia Reuben($7.95) with potato chips. mmm good. The only thing bad I have to say about the place is they don't carry Coce-Cola products.

Super Bowl Night

Yah! The Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl last night…

Bummer! Right after the game someone speed by my house and clipped my cars passenger side mirror that was parked on the street outside my house and didn't stop to fess up.

Snow

It's been one month since the shutdown of HWY 64/40 between 270 & Brentwood and I haven't experienced any real problems getting to work in downtown St. Louis. Traffic is a little heaver but with the extra lanes added to 44 combined with the time I leave for work (vary early!) I haven't had any problems at all.

I got 7 inches of snow Thursday night which really made driving into work treacheries. Honda may make really good snowmobiles but the Civic isn't one of them J