There were some sweet looking VW Buses at the car show. I was excited to see them all. This one looks like a delivery van. Did you know that VW Buses had sliding doors (and barn doors) on both the driver and passenger side of the car? That was way before other car companies were able to catch up. I also heard from one of my friends that the engine in the Bus was amazingly build. It was a masterpiece of engineering (according to him).

This is one sweet looking Ghia. This is probably the sportiest car that VW used to make. Of course, the engine is in the back. I really like the look of this car. I can see myself in this car driving down the road with the wind blowing my hair (or something like that). I doubt that I will ever get one. I am okay with that.

For some crazy reason the owner of this bug decided to make it look like it was old, rusted, and about to fall apart. Those statements are far from the truth. It is an amazing paint job. It is painted like it is rusted. There are some nice spikes on the hood as well (as you can see in the picture). It is nice to know that no matter what your tastes are, you can make your V-Dub match it.

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The Wasatch Classic XI

Today I was in heaven for a few hours. Today Volks Wagon's air cooled goodness was celebrated in Provo. That is right, the Wasatch Classic was held today. It is an opportunity for VW Air Cooled owners to get together and show off their stuff. There was plenty to drool over. There were VW Things, Ghias, Notchbacks, Buses (in all of their varieties), a Porsche or two, and of course some Beetles. As you can see, Herbie even showed his face (that is the name of the car, not the person in the photo). Luckily, my nephew came and enjoyed the classic goodness of the event.

The reason that I decided to invite my nephew is because I am pretty sure that he was more excited about my car than I was (but not as excited as Luke was). They had a series of awards that they gave out at the show today, and my nephew really (really, really, really) wanted me to enter my car into the competition. I knew that my car is average. I figured that tons of really nice cars would be entered (and it cost $25). As we looked at the Beetles I was told "You car is way better!" or "That car is as good as yours!" and finally "You could have won something."

I had a list of cars that I wanted to see. This is not one of them. Here you have a classic example of a VW two cab truck. Look at that sweet roof rack. And, we will work on the rule of thirds before more pictures are taken. It is a good looking car, and I would love to drive this thing down the road. I am not sure I could get myself to haul manure in it though. One cool thing on these trucks is that the sides of the beds can fold down.

Of course there were some sweet Beetles. Most of them were from the 50's (yes, that is right) and 60's. Some of them looked really good. VW made some of their cars with a rag top, which you can see here. There is also a sweet stereo system in this car. I appreciated seeing several examples of how people have restored their cars. I was able to get a few ideas and some of my thoughts were validated.

I have more pics...stay tuned...

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Update

It is true. I am the proud owner of a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. It is red and white. The two tone thing gives it a classic look. It is actually registered and has been terrorizing the people of our fine city (or something like that). Let me tell you, it is a sweet ride.

Last Friday I drove the car up north to show it off to my family. I gave everyone a nice little ride. Out of everyone, Luke enjoyed it the most. That kid had the biggest smile on his face. I have never seen anyone so happy, content, and overjoyed at the same time. His entire face was a smile. While we were driving I decided it was worth getting the car just to see how happy he was.

Chad helped me fix a few little problems (like firmly attaching the licence plates on the car). We also worked on the window washer well. You see, the Volkswagen is the simplest car ever made. There is not a motor attached to the window washer well. You pressurize it using a pump. Chad had a compressor. I pressurized it good. When we tested to see if it worked the washer fluid shot about 10 feet above the car. It was awesome (to put it mildly).

It hasn't been a slice of heaven all of the time. I had to replace the throttle cable and the fuel pump died. After a few minor repairs everything is up and running again. I was reminded of several things during the process:

1. It is good to know a good mechanic
2. VW Beetle parts are cheap (the good kind of cheap)
3. Bugs are easy to fix

The car works better than ever. I even celebrated the recent fix by purchasing a few things for the car.

Now that you are thoroughly excited about my car I have one question for you. What are you willing to give me for a ride?

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I am a fake!

Last night I had a most interesting dream.

In the dream I was a ghost hunter (that is the closest term that I can come up with). I would go around and find ghosts. Of course I was a fake. I had all kinds of tricks up my sleeves to trick people. One of them involved a trick microwave.

Eventually some people figured me out. They were out to prove that there were no ghosts. I decided to enlist my alien (yes that is right, extra terrestrials) to help me trick everyone that there were ghosts. Even as people found my all of my sneaky tactics the aliens helped me create fake ghosts. I woke up before I could tell if I was really all that convincing.

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The Final Frontier

Some of you know that I have been testing the new version of Windows (called Windows 7) for most of the year. It is a great operating system. It also has some pretty sweet backgrounds. I know, I know. That isn't a big deal. It is nice to have good looking desktop. Also, it gives me another excuse to keep my desktop clean (I want to see that buffalo gosh dang it!).

I actually downloaded all of the Windows 7 backgrounds to my Mac. That wasn't enough, I needed more. The Mac does come with a sweet screen saver. It is called "Cosmos". Basically it has a bunch of pictures of space. That gave me an idea. I needed to find an endless supply of space pictures to be used for sweet backgrounds.

I eventually found this sweet website: Astronomy Picture of the Day. Every day NASA throws up (not literally) a sweet picture from space. I had no idea that the sky was so cool.

Now your desktop will look as cool as mine.

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The Hammock

My entire life I have been fascinated with hammocks. I have always wanted one. I was going through my old K-12 papers and even my short stories included hammocks. When I was in middle school my dad and I built a tree house. Of course I insisted on having a hammock in the trees. I actually rigged up hammock bunk beds. It was pretty sweet. When we moved back to Utah I really missed my tree house (and hammocks).

When I first went to college I strung a hammock up in my dorm room. It was really nice to come home from a hectic day at school and work and just relax on the hammock. Unfortunately our RA (resident assistant) told us that we could not use the hammock. I guess it was too dangerous.

On Independence Day 2008 I saw something that would change my life. I saw someone with a hammock complete with a frame. (There is a picture of a similar hammock above.) I have not had a hammock for years because you usually need two trees to hang a hammock. This didn't need trees. It just needed the ground or a floor. I have both of those in abundance.

I started to think more and more about this hammock. Eventually I decided that I could replace my bed with a hammock. Then, night after night I would think to myself as I fell asleep "If I were in a hammock right now I would sleep so much better!". Eventually I purchased this: Cabela's Standard Folding Camp Hammock.

At first I would set the hammock up when I watched TV. It eventually became very comfortable (much more comfortable than my sofa!). Then I decided to sleep in it. At first I would only last about half of the night before I moved over to my bed.

I have slept a lot in the hammock. Lately I have been sleeping in my bed. My knees have started hurting from running. The hammock makes them hurt a little. Maybe later this summer I will be able to move back over full time. It is nice to have it around. There is no better place to read and think than in a hammock.

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I am not going to rust!

I have been trying to eat more healthy. That means lots of fruits and veggies. I have been trying new things so I don't get bored. Some things have gone by the way side. Mangoes, celery, cauliflower, and more have made the cuts. One thing that almost was cut was peas!

As far as I am concerned peas are the best vegetable on the planet. Peas add so much to many of the meals I like to make. I have told quite a few people that they need to add peas to make their food better.

I decided that I was going to purchase some fresh peas that were still in the pod. I thought that they would be a great addition to my lunch, given the special spot in my heart that peas hold. The first batch I bought were "nasty". I had to force them down. Luckily I tried again. I decided to try a different variety (sugar snap peas) and I was greatly satisfied. They are pretty good.

This morning I looked at the nutrition facts on the peas packaging. Here are the ingredients listed: "SUGAR SNAP PEAS". I thought that was funny. I noticed that the peas contain "antioxidants". I am glad. Rusting was never in my future plans.

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