On my way to pick up Max from school today, I almost killed a female university student who evaded a police checkpoint by speeding straight at me from the opposite direction. I stomped on the brakes as she almost went down sideways, but then her half-raised kickstand caught on the asphalt and inertia righted her scooter as if by magic. She rode off with a bovine smile on her face, perhaps oblivious to how close she had come to dying.
The ironic thing is that the cops were trying to stop her for not wearing a helmet.
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It’s funny, right before the slow motion adrenaline effect kicked in, the only thought that flashed across my brain was about how late this was going to make me. After it was over, I yelled out “stupid bitch,” and three policemen waved me on as if to say, “move along, nothing to see here.”
I’ve seen people escape from the cops here so many times, mostly because the cops don’t need to work too hard – they’re not even bothering to pretend that their ticketing is to make things safer, it’s straight out money making time.
Category: Cars
Pulling plugs again
The Kujira Crown has a mysterious problem with its plug contacts corroding at a high rate – enough to affect performance after just two or three weeks. I originally thought it could be fixed by using colder plugs, but that hasn’t helped at all. As it turns out it doesn’t seem to be caused by the engine running hot at all – the Crown’s been parked for a month since I haven’t renewed insurance on it yet. I pulled the plugs once and cleaned them a few weeks ago and only started the car to keep things running a couple times during that period. However, I took it for a spin around the neighborhood after the battery died last week and noticed the low end was really weak and sputtery, so I pulled the first plug. Corroded green again. Back to square one.
I pulled the rest of the plugs today in anticipation of insuring and using the car again next week, and found water on the threads of plugs number three and five. I hope that doesn’t mean something too bad. I’m drying everything out with a fan and under the sun this afternoon. Perhaps it is not too much to ask that this solves the problem.
SsangYong Rodius aka SsangYong Stavic
A few months ago, I saw the ugliest car ever made, in person. I was buying stuff at the fresh market in downtown Sarakham, and there was a white model parked close by. I read the logo, Ssangyong, and wondered what ugly planet it had been beamed down from. I even waited an extra few minutes just to see what kind of blind person had been conned into buying something so obviously atrocious. No luck, though.
Toyota Floormat Recall
This is a pretty serious problem: Toyota plans huge U.S. recall for dangerous floormats
It sounds more like a headline from the Onion, but it seems like it’s responsible for deaths. I can attest to the dangers of certain types of floor mats because they caused problems in my car last year a few times.
I was using an aftermarket rubber floor mat on the driver’s side of our Cefiro and the mass of the raised lip made the front edge heavy. The mat was naturally pushed forward when I moved my feet around while driving, and once in a while it would get pushed up onto the accelerator. When this happened, I immediately noticed that the pedal wasn’t responding so I shifted to neutral and instinctively kicked the pedal a few times to work the problem loose. This caveman solution worked well enough, but it was pretty surprising to say the least. I dreaded the day when this would happen with my wife driving.
The thing is, I had no idea what was causing the problem at the time. I suspected a mechanical problem with the throttle, so I took it in to the dealer and “rush” ordered a new throttle cable and assembly. Meanwhile, I had the current assembly taken apart, examined, and lubricated. I also had the return spring on the accelerator pedal stalk changed for good measure. It took forever for the new part to come in and a couple weeks into waiting, the accelerator got stuck once again. This time, it took several rounds of furious kicking to get the pedal free. I’d had enough. I ordered the part through a specialty store in town and they got it for me in one day (fucking dealers!). The dealer changed it out. I was happy… Of course, a week later, the accelerator got stuck again.
This time when it happened, I was on a wide open road with nobody around, so after I shifted into neutral, I put my seat all the way back and took a careful look down at the pedals. Lo and behold, the floor mat had shifted forward and was holding down the accelerator part way. I went by my homeboy Ot’s accessory shop and bought a nice set of lower profile mats that fit my car’s floor design much better and don’t shift forward. I haven’t had problems since.
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The thing is, if you have one of the cars described in the recall, what you could do to prevent problems is IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THE DRIVER’S SIDE FLOOR MAT(S).
Mitsuoka 50 series vs Rollerninjas
Too batshit crazy (in a good way) for words.
Link: Mitsuoka 50 series Bubu Shuttle
No work accomplished today
I wanted to get some midterm grading done the past five hours, but I ended up entertaining Max instead. He wouldn’t go to sleep and Nam was busy putting together slides for a presentation in Bangkok at some lexicographical conference in ten days – it takes precedence over my work so I had to watch the baby (of course, pretty soon he will be the toddler and there will be a new baby).
I really need to get as much grading done as I can in chunks because with 11 classes (7 different courses; 3 which I’ve done before but am improving and 4 new ones), a few hundred students, and 35 hours in the classroom a week, it’s impossible to finish all at once or very quickly.
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Something else also popped up this evening: A couple cops came by the house and asked us to call another cop about a traffic accident or something. It turns out that some crazy bitch who tried to make me rear-end her because I wouldn’t let her cut me off while making a dangerous turn into a signal-less intersection (whew!) reported my license number to the police… I remember it very well because it happened on my birthday last week and I was really pissed off, but refrained from cussing her out because I felt bad for the kids in the car… I couldn’t believe that she cut in front of me, waited for my car to get close, and then stomped on the brakes to try and cause an accident with kids in the car. Of course, there’s really nothing she can do unless she makes a bullshit claim, so we’ll see what happens. Basically the cop who Nam called asked us to work it out because this woman came and complained about me “teasing” her… That would be the part where I told her she was a horrible driver and should be more careful with kids in the car…
I feel the cops really have no business asking us about anything or to do anything since nothing happened (apparently by her account as well as mine), but maybe she has a brother on the force or something. If it comes to a “who has bigger friends” contest, though, I will be prepared and show no mercy…
Monkey Time at Kosamphi Forest Park
A few weeks ago we decided to go out for a drive. It was time to take Max for his first visit to the monkey park in the nearby town of Kosum Phisai, so we put his car seat in the trusty old Kujira and were on our way. We took the Kujira instead of the Cefiro because:
- Monkeys are little bastards that scratch up cars for fun
- Max sleeps really well in the Crown with its worn suspension and lulling vibration
- It’s a proper cruising car!!
Max spots some fellow monkeys!
To a normal person, this might just look like a bunch of monkeys sitting in a row, but this sight reminded me of cruising by a red light district in Osaka at night where house after house had an old women standing in the doorway, beckoning passers by to come in (I suppose old women just remind me of monkeys).
Check out the ghost reflection of the key in the ignition!
In the rearview
A discerning mommy wondering whether tthis sun-dried banana is organic or not (it is).
This is why we took the old car.
The Kosamphi Monkey Center (AKA Kosamphi Forest Park, also spelled “Kosumphi”) is a great place to visit if you are tired of seeing giant catfish, and indeed, I think they should just call it a “monkey sanctuary.”
Sunday Drive
Last Sunday we took a family drive around the outskirts of town and ended up at some sluice gates we always see from the highway. They are adjacent to the parking lot of what may still be a popular outdoor live house called Amazon Park. The sky was perfect and Max fell asleep as I coaxed our trusty sedan over muddy back roads usually used only by gravel trucks and water buffalo.
Oh My Rice
I just happened to be looking at Thai used car sites for some missing pieces to the Crown, and I happened upon one of the riciest piece of riceriffic gohan I’ve ever seen (can you say bad aero kit?). It’s apparently a Crown one year older than mine, which puts it in an earlier series. You’d never be able to tell, though, except maybe from the rear – there’s hardly anything original left on the whole car:
There’s actually a few good things about this car. First of all, the 1JZ(?) stuffed in the engine bay looks hawt. Second, although I didn’t include it, there’s also a photo on the site showing a sunroof, which I assume wasn’t a Toyota factory option in 1970. Third, I like the idea that this car can seemingly be operated with a serious lack of pedals.
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Come to think of it, there’s another great thing about this car: The price. It’s selling for 220,000 baht, which at today’s exchange rate is 6,437.46 US. The owner must have put about five times that into matching red parts alone. Dammit, if only I’d had this car in high school – I could have been the king of Little Saigon!
Rain no come
We did everything in our powers to make the rain come today: Washed both cars, watered the garden and lawn, and even washed the old motorbike. It never came, though. Usually just washing one car this time of year is enough to make it rain on the spot. We stop trying to keep the cars clean during this 2 or 3 month period, because it’s impossible to keep it that way for more than a day, usually.
Oh well, Max had fun all day and is sleeping now.