Trike Brakes - Getting Happier!!

I just got a phone call from my new mechanic. I am so going to keep this guy as my mechanic for all my vehicle mechanical needs!!! Well... at least it would appear that he is the answer to my prayers... I will soon know for sure.

He (Doug) said that the linkage as it is on my trike is not working and never going to work (that is the polite version), so he has to rip it all off and start from scratch. He will totally redesign it for me and make my brakes work properly.  He knows I want to ride it to the Show & Shine this weekend, so he said if he doesn't get it done today during business hours, he will stay late to do it for me!! AND, unlike the previous guys who did it all wrong, he's not charging me an arm and a leg for doing it!! Thank God I finally got it to the right place!! I will be telling the world about how bad the other guys are.... and how great Doug is!!! Honest, good at his work, and reasonably priced too!!! I have been most unhappy with past so called mechanics and their shoddy work.... I am not happy to be paying yet another person to do the work.... yet I AM happy that my trike will finally be working right!!

I am going to go back to Dunbar Automotive and tell them I want my $28 back since the drums should not have been machined and they, being in that business, should know better!!! If they don't give me my $$ back I will report them to Better Business Bureau.  I am also going back to Dean at ??? Custom Cruisers (forget the name and will get it right in next couple days) and tell him I want my $$ back for the messy job he did on the linkage.  He charged me $450 and I think he should give it all back to me.... though if he gives me $300 I will not press for more, if he doesn't I will take him to Small Claims Court where he will have to pay the full amount back plus court costs and be in trouble for not charging me Harmonized Sales Tax since I paid cash.  The last thing I want to do is take anyone to court for anything.... yet I also am tired of being 'ripped off' by incompetent people who over charge for their work.

My Phones.

Some people I know still have a land line (home phone), some have a cell, and some have both types of phones.  I had both for a long time, 2 summers ago I let the land line go and went with just the cell phone. After 6 months, I was offered a very good deal on an internet, satellite TV and phone package, so I again had a land line.  About 1 1/2 years later, just this spring, I decided that I would go back to just the cell phone.  While some people use Koodoo, some use vonage world, some have Rogers, I have my cell through Telus Mobility and my TV/internet through Telus. I have a much better cell plan now than what I had with this same company 2 years ago so with that and being able to make phone calls over my computer/internet, I figure I don't really need the land line anymore, so that saves me around $25 per month.  I like having at least one less thing I need to pay for each month. I also like the mobility of having a cell phone, and the protection of having a phone with me if I happen to break down along the road somewhere and need to call for help.

Trike Brakes

After 2 disappointing experiences,  I wondered if "3rd time was the charm" as I took my trike to yet another so called mechanic that said he could fix the back brakes for me. Well, it wasn't!!  I paid this guy, Dean, $450 just to drive away and find that my back brakes don't work any better than they did before I took it to Dean. There was no point in taking it back as he had said he'd done the best job he could do short of redoing the entire linkage system and that would cost me $1500.00!!!

Phil and I decided that the only other thing it could be was the brake shoes.  We had been told by Rod (2nd disappointment) and by Dean that the shoes were okay, but at this point they were the only other thing it could be since we had gotten Dunbar Automotive to machine the drums ($28), I paid Ray last year to change the wheel cylinders, Dean had done this work to the linkage.  So we ordered in shoes, cost me nearly $60, Phil put them in and still no back brakes.

So finally we took the trike to Myron's Automotive Repairs and it turns out my neighbor, Doug, is working there.  Doug seems very knowledgeable so this is a good thing.  He checked out several things and finally they decided that the brake drums are too big, they have been machined too many times and Dunbar should not have machined them for me, it was illegal for them to do so as they were past the point of that being right to do.  So they ordered in a new set of brake drums for me and put them in this morning ($125).  The trike stops better than it did, but still it is not stopping like it should!!! This is really crazy!! Doug is going to change the linkage that I paid Ray to do, Dean to redo, and now will be paying Doug to do the 3rd time!!

Trike Talk

I've been so tied up with trying to get the trike on the road that I haven't even had time to get to the Food Bank to do my volunteer work all week.  This is crazy!! The back brakes have got to be fixed before I can ride the trike and it is just an on going issue that so far no one has been able to fix, yet everyone wants to charge me for their incompetence. Frustration at it's best!! Phil has really gone above and beyond to help with this, yet he only knows so much and has thus far been unable to accomplish as much as needs doing.  The paint job he did is great!!! The 'artsy' stuff is his strong point and he has done that very well, yet the mechanical part is not where he excels, nor is it where I excel, so I must find a good mechanic for the job.

Peace Quote

Random List ...

Some things I've read on the internet today:

- World's Largest Pyramid Discovered, Lost Mayan City Of Mirador Guatemala CNN

- "The Church says the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the  moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church." ~ Ferdinand Magellan (148-1521)

- An interesting recipe for making your own First-Aid Antiseptic Ointment

- A web site where they have vestax mixers for sale.  I think I should tell some of my musician friends so they can check this out if they have a need for this kind of equipment. Some of my friends get together on a regular basis and we sing and chant, drum and Chris plays his guitar, even play the didgeridoo! This is a really great group of spiritual people that I so love being a part of!

- The OFFICIAL website for the BC citizens' Initiative Petition to stop smart meters in British Columbia, Canada

- 80 Uses for Coconut Oil and on another web site, 160 Uses for Coconut Oil. This truly is a wonderful, health filled oil

 - The Old Farmer's Almanac, giving Gardening tips 

- The Happy Brain Chemicals: The neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, etc.

There were other things I read online too, but I think this gives you an idea that there are so many different and interesting things for us to read and learn from here on the internet.... in case you didn't already know, lol.

 I am very grateful to have a good computer, internet connection in my home, and hydro to run these things. 

Good for a Laugh

Copied from a friend's Facebook page:

Driving to the office this morning on the Interstate, I looked over to my left and there was a woman in a brand new Cadillac doing 65 mph with her face up next to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner.

I looked away for a couple seconds and when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane, still working on that makeup.

As a man, I don't scare easily. But she scared me so much; I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand. In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my cell phone away from my ear, which fell into the coffee between my legs, splashed and burned Big Jim and the Twins, ruined the damn phone, soaked my trousers, and disconnected an important call.

Damn women drivers !

;p