Some new pictures.

INTERIOR - SEAT REMOVED NO CLEAN.

CLEANED INSIDE

SEAT BACK IN

To Expand upon the car thing - Kind of an annoying table but if it says TRUE TRUE it means that I've bought it and installed it, if one true then I've purchased it.

FALSE	FALSE	HANDLING COMPONENTS:
TRUE	TRUE	New Struts (KYBGR2’s)
TRUE	TRUE	Tire Balance
TRUE	TRUE	Nitro
FALSE	FALSE	New Rotors and Pads
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE	ENGINE/POWER COMPONENTS:
TRUE	TRUE	Spark Plugs x4
TRUE	TRUE	Air Filter
FALSE	FALSE	Block Heater Cord
TRUE	TRUE	Oil Change
TRUE	TRUE	Coolant flush
TRUE	TRUE	New Coolant Cap
FALSE	FALSE	Gasket
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE	AESTHETICS:
FALSE	FALSE	Gold Clean
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE	SAFETY/SECURITY
FALSE	FALSE	Ebrake (5-8 clicks)
TRUE	TRUE	Door Lock
FALSE	FALSE	Handle
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE	GENERAL MAINTENANCE ITEMS:
TRUE	TRUE	Windshield Crack Fix
TRUE	TRUE	Washer Fluid
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE	CAR AUDIO AND VIDEO
TRUE	TRUE	Stereo (From Danilo?)
TRUE	TRUE	Speakers = JL TR400-CXi
TRUE	TRUE	Wiring Harness
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE
FALSE	FALSE	NON CASH PAYMENT FOR SERVICES RENDERED:
FALSE	FALSE
TRUE	TRUE	Pizza

1985 Toyota MR2

So I bought a new car today. Well, new to me. It's a 1985 Toyota MR2 with 180,000 km's on it. It's got some rust on it but I'll be talking about the restoration process on here as well as on my cardomain page which I'll be creating on another site.

I LOVE cars, I have loved cars since I've been sixteen. I have not, however, ever purchased a car I've wanted but rather have always purchased a car out of extreme need. So I've owned an 88 B2200 mazda which was an unexciting truck who's only upside was decent fuel mileage and red colored gauges. When that was written off by a drunk motorcyclist doing 120 down my side road I had to purchase a 1994 Nissan Axxess mini-mini van which had a little more pep, and a sunroof, but was ugly and had so many holes in it that if you turned the heat off it took exactly 3 seconds to evacuate all warm air from the vehicle.

But tonight comes the culmination of 3 weeks of research, a plan to use the benefits of being a lethbridge toyota employee to the max, and 800 dollars + restoration money stored away. The purchase of a 1982 Toyota MR2. For those that don't know the MR2 is a mid engine rear wheel drive car which means the engine sits behind you in the vehicle. Makes the vehicle very nimble and very unique if a little harder to work on. They were Toyota's first foray into the world of sporty cars and it payed off. The MR2 was rated the #8 best sports car of the 80's behind a few names such as porsche, ferrari, audi, and BMW. Not to bad!

The car I've purchased is quite rusty, needs some engine work, tires balanced, fan fixed, oil changed, and a lot of TLC to the interior. But it's mine, it's an authentic project car, and the first manifestation of 8 years of vehicular passion. I'm stoked!

So yesterday was relatively dissapointing. I went and looked at three cars that I was thinking might be a good inexpencive way to get into a toyota. Unfortunately they were all in much worse condition than advertised so kinda blew all of yesterday evening on vehicles that 2 of which I definitely won't own and one of which I'd have to fall much deeper in love with in order to buy.

I'm so torn up because I want a project car, I want something unique. I am into the vehicle stuff but I've neither to community, the personal skills, or the bank in order to do these things (the first two directly affecting the amount of the third needed)

And so I've been grumpy since getting home yesterday...

So I had big plans on doing absolutely nothing yesterday when I got home from work as a good start to my 3 day weekend. But when I got home I got a call from Jeff a guy who was very interested in purchasing my motorbike and wanted it insured by the weekend. There were 3 major problems to this:
a)The fairings for my motorbike were at my parents farm 1 hour drive away.
b)It was raining cats and dogs out
c)Jeff wanted to put the fairings back on the bike with me before final sale.

So 6:00 I leave the apartment on the Ninja which I'm going to sell that night. I ride it in the sleet to my wife's work where I drop it off and pick up the truck, after changing clothes in the front seat in the parking lot I go get some gas, pick up some A&W and leave for the farm. Arriving there I pick up the 4 pounds of plastic, a bucket of screws, and a water bottle I'd forgotten there at Christmas and turn around and head directly back into Lethbridge. At about 9:00 I show up at the UFA where I'm meeting Jeff. He then follows me to my wife's work where we transfer the fairings and screws into his vehicle and I suit up again to follow him to his house on the motorbike through a little more rain. We arrive at his house and he has me drive up his grass, through a gate, and into a garden shed. He had mentioned on the phone he had a place we could work on the bike, I didn't realize it was going to be a 5x7 tin garden shed, the bike fit in at an angle with about 3 inches clearance in the front and you had to walk out the door to get around the back. The only issue now was lighting...

Hopping into this strangers truck we proceed to drive to Wal-Mart to find a coleman lantern to use, these are 60 dollars and to expensive. We then look for halogen lights which are also to expensive. We settle on a 150 watt bulb and a connector. Arriving back at his home his wife holds back there very excitable puppy whilst Jeff proceeds to cut apart an extension cord to use the wires to connect to the bulb. We take this outside and hang it in the shed, and there was light!

What you need to understand about the 1986 zx1000R ninja is that it was the first full fairing motorcycle released, and the first production sportbike to break 250km/h in the world. Despite these facts it was a first attempt and so the fairings unlike newer models come in 8 pieces and require about 400 screws to assemble. I have dissasembled this motorcycle once never intending to reassemble it and now here I am, on an 8 degree night, in a garden shed, pouring rain outside, lit by a bare 150 watt bulb, armed with 2 hex drivers and a philips head and attempting to put it all back together.

3 hours pass

The bike is together, it took some forcing, some sanding, and there are exactly 5 washers and 3 nuts left over whose home is unbeknownst to me. Jeff isn't to concerned, he's a great guy, the exact kind of guy I wanted to sell this bike to. He knows it's 24 years old, that it's not going to be perfect, that it needs some TLC.

We sign the papers and he hands me the cash and the Ninja is out of my life. Bittersweet.

http://vimeo.com/2809991http://vimeo.com/2809991

Funny!

Well it's snowing here which is kinda fun. I'm glad that it's actually going to seem like winter.

No snowboarding yet but castle did open today and so as long as we can get some time and our boards waxed up we should be heading out there soon.

I'm working at Lethbridge Toyota as a Detail Tech which means I'm VERY good at cleaning cars now, and I'm quite enjoying my job.

So there you are a very very brief information blog.

Brake Lines... Well as of yesterday  when we woke up Pamela and I found that our front passenger break line had ben cut in a random malicious action. Theres' been a spree of this happening in Lethbridge Alberta lately apparently. So 102.99 later we have a new brake line and fluid and all that jazz, but also the fear that this kind of thing is going to happen again. Overall we're still doing great, but just had to vent somewhere about this random unjust act!

Drew Out~

Funny Cats

Awesome WRC Moment!

I can has Job now!

Well, my first day is tomorrow morning bright and early at 9:30 a.m. at Visions Electronics! I'm pretty darn stoked at this point! Let you know how it goes.

In finishing the cleanse news... I REALLY like Orange juice much better than the stuff we've been having.

Day 10 - Final Day

So Pamela and I have made it to day 10. Only 5 more glasses of the lemon juice concoction and then onto orange juice for two days followed by raw fruit and salad for a day before being allowed things like Pita's, Burgers, Milk! I'm so excited!

However I worked out again this morning and haven't felt hungry for a few days. Still not sleeping fantastic we'll see if that gets better when I get back into solid foods.

Point of interest - the longer the mix sits the hotter the cayenne becomes. Last night I went over to a buddies so I pre-mixed some lemonade and threw it in a water bottle. When it came to drinking it 3 hours later I felt like the cayenne was going to burrow out the back of my head! It's unavoidable, but something to prepare yourself for if you do this.

Final Results as of this morning for inches and weight lost...

Weight: 14 pounds

Waist: 5 inches

Hips: 3 inches

Chest: 3.5 inches

Legs: 3 inches

Butt: 3 inches

So it definitely works as a reduction cleanse.

Overall it's been a good experience, although one I won't be doing again for quite some time... :)

Pamela and I have been doing Menu Planning for the last week or so, drooling over foods we want, and trying to find a way of reducing our monthly food costs, eat out less often, and have healthy variety in our home. The idea is to try and get almost 2 weeks worth of menu planning done and that way shopping is less random :)

In order to track our health as well Pamela and I are going to continue to track our weight after the cleanse, and as of tomorrow are starting a 3 day regimen to come back onto solid foods. This means that tomorrow and the next day we will be drinking several glasses of Pure orange juice. The third day we will have the OJ for breakfast, raw fruit for lunch, and raw fruit OR salad for supper (we're assuming not covered in ranch) Now if at any point our body rejects this we are supposed to go back on the cleanse for a few days... we would not be pleased!

So in the end it's been a neat experience, never thought I could do a liquid diet for this long, but there it is. I feel like I've become more aware of my body, I feel better, and I'm really jazzed about this as a kick off to a healthier lifestyle. What truly prompted this for me was wake-boarding this summer. I just felt like it should have been easier, but with the shape I was in it just couldn't be. I just don't want unhealthiness to get in the way of things that I want to do.

In other news...

Still no word from visions.

Spore is the coolest game on the whole dang planet.

I need to get Leopard for my mac!

Day 8, t-2 days... so long as my tongue cooperates...

Well day 8 twas a good day. Played for worship in church today and then went with a buddy of mine to see Wall-e in the cheap seats. I do love that show.

As far as the cleanse goes I did not take the flush this morning as both Pamela and myself had to be out of the house by 7:30 this morning and didn't relish the idea of getting up at 5:15 to down a litre of salt water and spend those wee' hours of the morning on the toilet. I did however have 3 movements on my own so sufficient elimination is happening.

I've been getting hungry more often today, I'm not sure if it's just being busier or if it's the change in schedule.

I am really hoping my tongue will be clear by day 10 because I'm so ready to be done.

I'm sad that day 10 is the church's mens group bbq which I'll be doing music at, but not able to partake in.

I'm only losing about a pound a day now which means that my body is starting to equalize.

I'm craving Pita Pit, and a Taco Salad from the cheescake Cafe!

Day 7

Well, it's approximately 3 days until we can start to come off of the cleanse, which in and of itself is a 5 day process starting with Orange Juice, Veggie Broth, and a few other things in order to keep a person from shocking their system to bad.

That being said I'm feeling really good for day 7 and so if we end up having to go over 10 days due to our tongues not clearing up or our desire to continue to cleanse as a way of reducing weight. However having lost over 10 pounds now and 4 inches to my waist I can say that I'm feeling quite good and my desire for real sustenance again may just outweigh my desire to lose more weight. I suppose what's really become clear to me is a)how much unreasonable food I do eat, and b)how little the body actually needs to sustain itself. IT seems to me that I can eat quite reservedly and still be getting myself the equivalent of nutrition 12 tablespoons of lemon juice and Maple Syrup.

Still have that burn in the back of my throat a little bit but it's not so severe now, still losing a lot of waste when I do the flush in the morning, and it feels as though my stomach has shrunk substantially as I am having a hard time downing the litre of salt water in the morning now.

My parents are coming over today and so it may be the first time that Pamela and I are exposed to a temptation to break the fast, but given where we are at, even if we wanted to quit we should probably do a slow ease back into food for fear of shocking our systems to badly.

It's been good, but at this point I do'nt feel like I ever want to do it again! But after seeing all the benefits I'd be willing to give it another go I think. They say that at the beginning of the cleanse that you should pump yourself up for it, and being mentally prepared for this is definitely the key to success!

Day 6

Well over half way to minimum and we're doing allright.

I'm feeling tired today even though I slept for about 10 hours, hunger isn't really an issue though Haven't felt any all of yesterday or today. The burning in my throat has gone away which is good. I was a little sick to my stomach this morning, and downing the litre of salt water flush was quite difficult to get down and keep down, but I'm feeling much better now.

Mentally I'm getting pretty sick of the flush, there was nothing I wanted more than to make some waffles this morning or to go out for a Taco Salad with some friends, or figure out what kind of nuts this guy on '24' was eating b/c they looked tasty. It's making me wonder if I'm going to go beyond day 10 (and or tongue being uncoated) for the sake of reduction or not. At this point I almost just feel like I want to be done.

In conjunction with that feeling of just wanting to be done though I have been cooped up in this house for a few days by myself and that is really starting to wear on me. I'm definitely a level 10 extrovert and so having Pamela gone during the days and not being able to do anything more exciting than organize my iTunes and fold my socks has me feeling quite stir crazy. Hopefully this weekend will bring and opportunity to get out and do something.

Will be calling into Visions again today to see if they have my first day figured out yet, and no response from the Mines recruitment centre after two messages.

Day 5 of the master cleanse

This morning I'm at 9 pounds lost, 2.5 inches from my waist, 3 inches from hips, 2 inches of chest and 2 inches of legs. So as far as a reduction cleanse I'm believing in this.

I did Tae-Bo again today which got me sweating, probably one of the most amazing things is that I have more than enough energy to work out, despite the fact that neither Pamela nor I have been sleeping well the last few nights. We're not sure if it's a result of the cleanse but we've both had dreams and nightmares.

Yesterday I was noticing that for about half of the day I had a burning deep in my throat. Now I've never had heart burn, but I would describe this as 'adams-apple' burn or just above. Also this morning even though I drank 8 litres of water yesterday I was definitely not peeing pale this morning. I have no doubt that I'm ditching toxins like mad... which is good b/c my last two jobs involved Asbestos and McDonalds food...

Still waiting for a reply from Visions, Dropped off the stuff and the hiring manager wasn't there so I'm going to call in today and see where things are at.

Pamela and i came to the conclusion that the Master Cleanse is definitely an 'anti-social' cleanse. But that's only because it seems that most of the social events that we participate in involve food. Whether it's watching a movie with popcorn, sneaking jujubes into the theatre, going out for coffee and desert or playing board games. 

I'm not gonna lie but I'm craving foods like crazy, but it's not for hunger, but rather I miss the texture of food, the social aspects of food, the taste of food. So we've decided that we NEED to have a Steak at the Keg when we're done this with the stuffed potato and baseball sirloin with the three cheese sauce. We also NEED to have Pita Pit, and a taco salad from Cheescake. I've been craving greek but Pamela's not into that, and a friend was bugging me about how she went for a Sushi lunch. :(

So day 5 marks the halfway point for the minimum amount of days that you can do the cleanse. However if on day 10 you find that your tongue is still coated then you should continue. As well I'm torn because between this and tae-bo I'm on a good road to my goal weight and so I'm debating whether I should stay on it until I've reached that weight, which at the current rate will not take up to the maximum 40 days... We'll see how we're feeling. I think that we'll both have to quit at the same time or it may become to difficult for one to stay on it...

Day 4

Woke up this morning feeling pretty good. Had an 'elimination' before even taking the salt water cleanse but after that was feeling pretty clean. Still sore from my workout yesterday so I'm holding off on doing another one, although with the job not officially started yet I'm bouncing off the walls in the apartment. Says that me that I've definitely got enough energy!

The lemonade blend isn't tasting as bad anymore, but it still gives me a bit of a head rush. I tend to get 'hungry' about every 2 hours now which is perfect as that's the space between when I'm supposed to drink.

I'm realizing that I didn't have a very specific goal when I started this aside from 'general' health. But more and more I'm feeling like this should be a pretty good start to a healthier lifestyle for me. I'm realizing now that I'm not eating how much I snack! Whether it's actual things like jelly bellies we've got in the house, or making crackers and cheese I find myself standing up to go and grab them when I sit down to watch a movie with Pamela or sitting at the computer. I never felt like I snacked that much but now I'm aware and instituting some rules in my life to keep that from getting out of control!

Today I am spending my time cleaning up the house, playing with the new iTunes, seeing what a chip does to a Smart Diesel, and waiting for a phone call as to when my first day of work is.

Real Life Stuff

I am currently a conditional Hire at Visions Electronics in Lethbridge! Conditional meaning that there still running the credit and background check on me. I should be getting a call in a day or two to figure out when I'll be working my first shift and start training! Exciting.

This works really well if Pamela gets Pratt & Witney b/c it'll mean that we both have 'career-esque' jobs that give us a good reason to stick around lethbridge and community that we've formed here.

Exciting things about visions for me:
Discounts on Electronics
Full Commission Sales
Do'nt have to work sunday's until 11:30
8 minute walk to work.

Day 3

Well Day three of the cleanse and feeling good. Didn't sleep well last night, and i'm definitely feeling that my toungue is coated (this is one area where toxins can leave the body and be gotten rid of) The theory goes that you stay on this cleanse until your toungue is nice and pink again which happens anywhere between 10 and 40 days unless your a 3 times a day mcdonalds person... :)

This morning I opted to do a two litre salt water flush just to make sure I was cleaned out good and could really see if I was still having 'eliminations' If it runs clear for a few days it appears to mean that something isn't quite working right. Anyway two litres meant that for the next two hours I couldn't be farther than 20 feet from the bathroom b/c it definitely sneaks up on yah!

This morning I also did a 45 minute Tae-Bo workout. I wasn't sure what to expect given that it's been three days since I've had solid food, but it was no problem! Got through the workout and am feeling great!

The master cleanse is also a reduction cleanse, by giving the body what it needs and feeding it with the lemon juice cleanser it (in theory) can go and break down stubborn fat stores and b/c the body does not go into 'starvation' mode it also begins to eat away at fat stores. I'm definitely not a tiny guy and so this is one thing I am very excited about the master cleanse. So far I've gone from 262 pounds to 256. I'm curious to know if this rate of loss will continue, decline or accelerate. Some website I've read say that the cleanse can help you lose weight at a rate of 2 pounds per day, but that after the cleanse if you resume your old diet and lifestyle you will gain back 1/2 of that quickly and the other 1/2 over time.

In other Drew's Life News. I applied for two jobs yesterday, one with Milestone Mazda Subaru to be their lot attendant, and the other at Visions Electronics. I'm not actually sure, but I think that I've been conditionally hired at Visions, I have to bring back over 150 pages of paperwork and personality tests to them today and they need to run a credit/police check on me. But it should be pretty good if I can get it. It's 3 or 4 blocks from my house so I can walk to work, it's straight commission but that's never bothered me in the past, and we're coming up on Nov. Dec. which is when electronics stores do 50-60% of their yearly gross. Meaning that if I put in the time Theres lots of dough to be made.

So for those that care, another day in the life of Drew~

Oh, and this...