A few years ago I tried the Seattle Sutton program. She is a registered nurse & dietician, and started her business many years ago preparing heart healthy meals for people recovering from heart surgery. She believes in a well balanced, non-fad approach to good nutrition with very flavorful foods. The meals are pre-made, all I had to do was pick them up each week and microwave until warm. In the end I didn’t succeed, but as with all my failures, I learned a lot about myself. The big news was that no matter how hungry I got, there were things I would NOT eat! Meatloaf? Nope, no way. I learned that limited menu selections just pissed me off (no substitutions). I wanted what I wanted. Forcing myself to eat things I did not like was a recipe for disaster, and led to late night deliveries from my old friend the Domino’s delivery dude. But honestly, even the days where I ate what I was supposed to, I was so ravenous by early evening that rational decisions were not possible. I would go to bed feeling like I was starving, I’d wake up hungry, and spend my workday suffering what I call “hungry headaches” with a tummy rumbling loud enough to interrupt meetings. For over a month I struggled, torturing myself every day. I ended up gaining weight that month, and quit with feelings beyond frustration.
Nothing seemed to help.
Then, a friend of mine bought me a nice heart rate monitor sport watch. Mostly she was concerned that at any moment I’d keel over dead, and me thumping my chest declaring, “Me strong like bull” simply got me a withering looks and a snappy rejoinder of “Yeah, but dumb like Ox”.
Obviously, she knows me well.
I discovered the sport watch was programmable for not only age and weight, but it also put you through a three stage workout to determine your fitness level. This allows the watch to fairly accurately determine your calories burned during a workout. I went to the gym just to try out my new gizmo, and did a pretty good workout – and was SHOCKED to see how many calories I burned. 45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine, and 30 minutes of good weight lifting caused me to burn 1600 calories. That number stuck in my head as I drove away from the gym. As a reward for all my hard work that evening, I stopped at Panera Bread for dinner and treated myself to my favorite food item in the whole wide world – chicken noodle soup. While waiting for my order, I happened to see a little brochure with nutritional information, and I was shocked for my second time that night. One cup of chicken noodle soup was 100 calories.
100 frickin’ calories, people!
I was astounded. How did I luck out, that my very favorite food item was HEALTHY? I drove home in a daze, and ate my soup while watching the latest episode of LOST. I didn’t realize until I was getting ready for bed later that night that I was still wearing my sport watch. Wanting to see my nice 1600 calories burned number, I was confused as to why the watch now told me 1915. Why? Because I’d not remembered to hit the “stop” button! Then it hit me.
I burned calories while watching TV!
Holy Shit. This was like the second coming. Giddy like a school kid with a new cap gun, I reset the watch, and proceeded to wear it for 24 hours straight – doing nothing special. No workout, no extra effort of any kind. My goal was to find out how many calories I burned each day…simply existing. The result was an astounding 3400 calories.
Now, I had a plan. 3400 was my daily break-even number. All I had to do each day was add up everything I ate, and subtract any extra effort. Each day’s net gain/loss was rolled into a week-to-date number. My goal was to create a net loss each week of 3500 to 7000 calories. One pound of fat equaling 3500 calories would put me at the proper 1 to 2 pounds lost each week.
For the first time ever, I started madly researching the calories of each item I ate every day. I searched for ways to make things I liked & wanted to eat that would fit within my daily calorie budget.
An example of one day’s log:
ECO = Exercise Calorie Output
DCB = Daily Calories Burned
DFI = Daily Food Intake
WTD = Week To Date
CB = Calories Burned
Hinky = My Hot-Chick-Trainer
Food Numbers xxx/yyy = calories/ calories from fat
Workout Numbers xx/yy = weight / reps
DAILY SUMMARY
WTD - +160
DFI - 2654 cal / 354 from fat (13.3%)
ECO - 2474
DCB - 3000
Total - <2820>
WTD - <2660>
WORKOUT
2 bottles water @ gym
25 min cardio w/ RPM @ 50 -65 & HR @ 130 - 155 (!)
Squats - 135/15, 135/15, 155!/15!
Ham's - 110/15, 110/14, 110/15!
Calves - 125/15, 125/15, 125/15
Quad's - 87/15, 87/15, 87/13
ABS - Hate & Skipped
BREAKFAST
634 / 26
Two bowls Corn Flakes - 366 / 4
Two English Muffins w/ fat free cream cheese - 268 / 22
Coffee
LUNCH
710 / 182
Two Sammiches w/ deli turkey & pepperjack - 610 / 162
Italian Wedding Soup - 100 / 20
Diet Coke
SNACK
FOUR 32oz Bottles Water!
Other Half of Wedding Soup (late) - 100 / 2
DINNER
1210 / 144
Two sammiches of 15 grain bread, pepperjack, Gulden's, and deli Turkey 610/162
Four Bowls Chicken Noodle Soup - 600 / 144
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Chicken Noodle Soup Diet - Part 1
This is a plan of my own invention, developed over many years of struggling with my health & fitness. I have read a ton of different “fad diet” books over the years, and always felt they were too gimmicky, unhealthy, and doomed the reader to further confusion, heartache, and lack of success.
However, most had a kernel of truth in them somewhere, and each one taught me something about myself. It was also nice to realize a few truths – one being that we are each unique & someone else’s success may not work for us – and that’s ok. The other thing I learned is that there is no substitute for doing it the old-school way – solid good nutrition & simple sweaty exercise.
I was not an overweight child, didn’t have a family history of obesity, and after High School I was a VERY physically fit US Marine for several years! I was 170lbs when I graduated from boot camp, and 4 years later was a very fit 210lbs at 6”1’. While on active duty, my eating and drinking habits were horrendous, but I constantly trained for physical fitness. Being young and lacking in personal discipline, once I was removed from a structured environment where I always HAD to be active, my weight gain was immediate and significant.
Compounding this issue - I hated grocery shopping, didn’t know much cooking, yet loved to eat. My easiest sources of food were the drive-thru & delivery. By the time I was 30, I was more than 150lbs overweight. My cholesterol & blood pressure got me unnerving lectures from the doctor, yet I refused to go on medications (the possible side effects frightened me), so I simply quit going to the doctor. I became depressed. I had no energy, and the negative cycle began to feed on itself.
My depression got serious. I felt worse about myself, and found it difficult to find women attracted to someone so overweight. The loneliness fed my depression which fed the weight gain. It began to feel like I’d dug a hole so deep there was no way out.
Just before I turned 40, I became so desperate after trying everything I could think of to lose weight, I signed up for bariatric surgery. The guy who was reluctant to take drugs was now looking at SURGERY! Then, I was further shocked to learn during pre-op that I was, literally, twice the man I used to be. I was 420lbs. I hit bottom right there, and cried. I quit the program and walked out of that office on Michigan Avenue a broken and defeated man.
I did not know where to turn.
I knew surgery wasn’t going to fix what was broken. Surgery was tempting because it would remove my own responsibility for my awful weight gain.
I beat myself up constantly for not having the basic drive and discipline to ‘grunt it out’ on my own. This, of course, just made it harder on myself. I felt like my brain knew EXACTLY what to do – after all – I’d been a Marine, and I had read EVERY damn fitness & diet book out there! But once I was in front of food, my willpower left the building. Once I came home at night and sat down in front of the TV, my energy was gone. It felt like lounging was the best way to recharge an exhausted body, but I never quite got to the point of feeling better.
Between ages 30 & 40 I’d learned a lot, regardless of having less & less success at losing weight. I had tried several different methods of getting food into my house, as I’d figured out a cornerstone of my problem was what I stuffed in my pie-hole. I’d gone to several different personal trainers, and spent a small fortune to become a very strong fat-man who’d not lost a single pound. I knew I had to find a way to do BOTH – changing my diet was not enough on its own, nor was excersise. It was going to have to be a team effort.
I’d learned that grocery delivery got me my initial food success – ordering on-line was easy, kept me away from the evil-bastard-dorito-chip aisle, and I could stay on-plan by clicking my way to success. I learned, to my chagrin – how to begin reading labels. That education seems to be ongoing, but I’m doing it. Several key-moments have occurred, like quitting regular soda, fast food, and bad pizza. Several years later, and my bad cholesterol is down more than 60 points, with NO DRUGS! I was personally responsible for a sales slump at my local Domino’s Pizza, but I learned I could find foods I really liked – that shockingly enough – wouldn’t kill me someday.
I’d learned that a personal trainer helped get me exercise success – having an APPOINTMENT at the gym made it much more likely I’d GO to the gym! I tend to do fairly well once I’m inside the front door – the whole trick is getting me TO the gym’s front door. Having a very attractive woman for my trainer seemed to help. I’m not proud of that – but a guy has to work with what motivations he has…
I’d learned I needed to track what I was doing. This evolved into several areas.
One was a simple weekly weigh-in. I’d gained enough weight over the years that a standard 350lb scale (as typically found at the Doctor’s office or the gym) was not enough to weigh me. Finding a scale that was good enough quality to accurately weigh me at my excessive weight was an important key. I had a terribly inaccurate scale that I thought would give me at least a snap-shot of any week-to-week variation – but I discovered after MONTHS of frustration that this scale was not only WILDLY wrong (45lbs less than what I really was), it could be more than 10lbs different each time I stepped on it, depending on precise placement of my feet. I could step on, step off, and directly back on – and be 10lbs different! An accurate scale made a HUGE difference. I also found that weighing myself more than once a week was counter-productive – fluctuations in water weight and so forth could produce a tremendous swing, and easily disrupt my motivation. But once a week – despite variations – should be enough time to lose enough weight that success is seen & measured.
My next tool for success was a decent heart-rate-monitor-watch. This allowed several things – the first of which was avoiding my fear of doing too much & dropping dead. Since I’m still here, that goal must be going quite well! More importantly, the watch is programmable for weight, age, and has a three-zone “fitness finder” to help you find what heart-rate is appropriate for your fitness level. This also gives the watch a fairly decent calorie-burn counter. Every 30 days I update the weight and fitness-finder. I then wear the watch for a full 24 hours of doing NOTHING, to find my base-line calories burned each day.
Lastly – I learned that writing everything down was absolutely imperative. I’d learned that if I was “logging”, I was succeeding. Once I thought I’d learned enough and gotten good enough on my own to quit logging – success ended. I have to write down each day’s individual items eaten, drank, exercised, my accomplishments, failures, frustrations & successes. It is of particular help to have this available for review by someone whose council and advice you trust. This should be someone with a vested interest in your success, like your trainer, or your work-out-buddy. Someone who motivates you, that you want to impress, yet can be totally honest with.
So, now you want to know what I do – right?
However, most had a kernel of truth in them somewhere, and each one taught me something about myself. It was also nice to realize a few truths – one being that we are each unique & someone else’s success may not work for us – and that’s ok. The other thing I learned is that there is no substitute for doing it the old-school way – solid good nutrition & simple sweaty exercise.
I was not an overweight child, didn’t have a family history of obesity, and after High School I was a VERY physically fit US Marine for several years! I was 170lbs when I graduated from boot camp, and 4 years later was a very fit 210lbs at 6”1’. While on active duty, my eating and drinking habits were horrendous, but I constantly trained for physical fitness. Being young and lacking in personal discipline, once I was removed from a structured environment where I always HAD to be active, my weight gain was immediate and significant.
Compounding this issue - I hated grocery shopping, didn’t know much cooking, yet loved to eat. My easiest sources of food were the drive-thru & delivery. By the time I was 30, I was more than 150lbs overweight. My cholesterol & blood pressure got me unnerving lectures from the doctor, yet I refused to go on medications (the possible side effects frightened me), so I simply quit going to the doctor. I became depressed. I had no energy, and the negative cycle began to feed on itself.
My depression got serious. I felt worse about myself, and found it difficult to find women attracted to someone so overweight. The loneliness fed my depression which fed the weight gain. It began to feel like I’d dug a hole so deep there was no way out.
Just before I turned 40, I became so desperate after trying everything I could think of to lose weight, I signed up for bariatric surgery. The guy who was reluctant to take drugs was now looking at SURGERY! Then, I was further shocked to learn during pre-op that I was, literally, twice the man I used to be. I was 420lbs. I hit bottom right there, and cried. I quit the program and walked out of that office on Michigan Avenue a broken and defeated man.
I did not know where to turn.
I knew surgery wasn’t going to fix what was broken. Surgery was tempting because it would remove my own responsibility for my awful weight gain.
I beat myself up constantly for not having the basic drive and discipline to ‘grunt it out’ on my own. This, of course, just made it harder on myself. I felt like my brain knew EXACTLY what to do – after all – I’d been a Marine, and I had read EVERY damn fitness & diet book out there! But once I was in front of food, my willpower left the building. Once I came home at night and sat down in front of the TV, my energy was gone. It felt like lounging was the best way to recharge an exhausted body, but I never quite got to the point of feeling better.
Between ages 30 & 40 I’d learned a lot, regardless of having less & less success at losing weight. I had tried several different methods of getting food into my house, as I’d figured out a cornerstone of my problem was what I stuffed in my pie-hole. I’d gone to several different personal trainers, and spent a small fortune to become a very strong fat-man who’d not lost a single pound. I knew I had to find a way to do BOTH – changing my diet was not enough on its own, nor was excersise. It was going to have to be a team effort.
I’d learned that grocery delivery got me my initial food success – ordering on-line was easy, kept me away from the evil-bastard-dorito-chip aisle, and I could stay on-plan by clicking my way to success. I learned, to my chagrin – how to begin reading labels. That education seems to be ongoing, but I’m doing it. Several key-moments have occurred, like quitting regular soda, fast food, and bad pizza. Several years later, and my bad cholesterol is down more than 60 points, with NO DRUGS! I was personally responsible for a sales slump at my local Domino’s Pizza, but I learned I could find foods I really liked – that shockingly enough – wouldn’t kill me someday.
I’d learned that a personal trainer helped get me exercise success – having an APPOINTMENT at the gym made it much more likely I’d GO to the gym! I tend to do fairly well once I’m inside the front door – the whole trick is getting me TO the gym’s front door. Having a very attractive woman for my trainer seemed to help. I’m not proud of that – but a guy has to work with what motivations he has…
I’d learned I needed to track what I was doing. This evolved into several areas.
One was a simple weekly weigh-in. I’d gained enough weight over the years that a standard 350lb scale (as typically found at the Doctor’s office or the gym) was not enough to weigh me. Finding a scale that was good enough quality to accurately weigh me at my excessive weight was an important key. I had a terribly inaccurate scale that I thought would give me at least a snap-shot of any week-to-week variation – but I discovered after MONTHS of frustration that this scale was not only WILDLY wrong (45lbs less than what I really was), it could be more than 10lbs different each time I stepped on it, depending on precise placement of my feet. I could step on, step off, and directly back on – and be 10lbs different! An accurate scale made a HUGE difference. I also found that weighing myself more than once a week was counter-productive – fluctuations in water weight and so forth could produce a tremendous swing, and easily disrupt my motivation. But once a week – despite variations – should be enough time to lose enough weight that success is seen & measured.
My next tool for success was a decent heart-rate-monitor-watch. This allowed several things – the first of which was avoiding my fear of doing too much & dropping dead. Since I’m still here, that goal must be going quite well! More importantly, the watch is programmable for weight, age, and has a three-zone “fitness finder” to help you find what heart-rate is appropriate for your fitness level. This also gives the watch a fairly decent calorie-burn counter. Every 30 days I update the weight and fitness-finder. I then wear the watch for a full 24 hours of doing NOTHING, to find my base-line calories burned each day.
Lastly – I learned that writing everything down was absolutely imperative. I’d learned that if I was “logging”, I was succeeding. Once I thought I’d learned enough and gotten good enough on my own to quit logging – success ended. I have to write down each day’s individual items eaten, drank, exercised, my accomplishments, failures, frustrations & successes. It is of particular help to have this available for review by someone whose council and advice you trust. This should be someone with a vested interest in your success, like your trainer, or your work-out-buddy. Someone who motivates you, that you want to impress, yet can be totally honest with.
So, now you want to know what I do – right?
Monday, December 01, 2008
Chicagoland Fiat & Lancia - 2008
Chi-FLU Pano Shot
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Hello, internet, I've missed you!
So, it's been an interesting year. The last time I posted, it was October of '07, and I'd just driven my Spider to Luddington for the West Michigan Fall Color Tour.
Ah, how far we've come since then!
My Chicago Fiat club was about 20 members, Gretchen and I were still dating, I had two Spiders, my job was awful, and...
Well, all that's changed!
Gretchen took 'her' Spider and left. I got a puppy for Christmas. My Fiat club now has more than SIXTY members! I now enjoy my job. And I even have (yet another) Fiat Spider to revive over the winter!
Want to hear about it all?
Stay tuned...
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
The West Michigan Fall Color Tour
Glen Haven
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
We left LATE Thursday night (totally my fault as I'd once again bit off more than I could chew!) after trying to do WAY too much to my Spider before we left. We got checked into our hotel in Milwaukee about 2am...just in time to be up at 5:30am to catch the 7am Ferry to Muskegon, Michigan.
A smooth 2.5 hours later, we got off the ferry in Muskegon, and drove to the intersection of M-37 & M-82 near Newago, to meet up with two other cars at the High Rollway State Park. Mike & Missy Bouse were in their white '78 show-car, and Tom & Cindy Walters were in his gold X. We had lunch at the Red Anchor Restaurant, and enjoyed the time chatting & catching up. From there, we drove up M-37 all the way to Traverse city - 3 hours to go 137 miles on a lovely old "blue-line" highway!
We then took M-22 up to Peshawbestown, arriving at The Lodge about 5pm. Everyone checked in, and about 6pm Al & his wife Maureen showed up in his pretty red '82 Spider. We all went down to Sutton's Bay to Boone's Pub for dinner, and predictably, the conversation kept coming back to all things Fiat!
Saturday morning we headed back down to Sutton's bay for breakfast and a morning of shopping. A few hours later we hit the road for the Leelanau State Park just north of Northport. The historic lighthouse was very pretty, and on the rocky beach we found a cool old rock-totem.
Which Missy knocked down..."accidentally"...which of course we all had to make fun of! (I named her "Princess Falling Rock")
We then went down M-22 a bit further and stopped for lunch at Fischer's "Happy Hour" Tavern, a neat little road-side place where supposedly the owner was a former Fiat owner. Sadly, he was not there, but the lunch was good anyway.
From there, we drove onto Historic Fishtown in Leeland. Much shopping was done, ice cream was had, and after a brief, sweaty hour, we all needed to hit the road again for some breeze! Apparently the old buildings there are historically correct and have no air conditioning!
Tom & Linda headed off to a winery, while Mike & missy went back to the lodge to meet two incoming couples. Bob Reigel & his wife Laura in a Subaru (his Spider is in intensive surgery at Jon Logan's shop in Ohio), and John Alberts & his wife Rachel in their nice red '78 Spider named "Folly".
Gretchen and I opted for an around-the-penninsula tour that took us from Leeland, through Port Onedia, to the old cannery at Glen Haven, through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park & it's scenic drive (where the Fiat startled a VERY LARGE DEER than nearly ran us down!), continuing down to Empire where we enjoyed their beach & lighthouse. We then hopped onto M-72 across to Traverse city - a lovely drive through the middle! We made it back to The Lodge and had dinner with the entire group at the Casino's Buffet.
Sunday we hit the road at 10am, up North through Northport, then down the west side of the peninsula through Glen Haven, the Sleeping Bear sand dune park (where Bob split off), through Empire (where Al split off), down through Frankfort (where John broke-off) and the last three of us had lunch at the A & W. Mike & Missy went their way afterwards, and we followed Tom and Linda for a bit before we were back on our way to Muskegon where we caught the 5pm ferry.
The sun set while we were on the water, and it was pretty darn cool when we off-loaded from the ferry, so we drove with the top up until Beloit, where we had some French fries, put the top down, and cruised leisurely the last hour home.
We got back to my house about 10pm. A little over 800 miles in an antique Fiat! She performed without a hitch, and I couldn't have been happier!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Check Writing
The Pair
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
The '83 "Blue Bomber" is at Giovanni's shop getting a rebuilt trans, oil pan, oil pickup, front end bushings, center bearing, u-joints, new distributor oil seals, full tune up, and a re-working of the heat / vent and window crank systems. I have two replacement "turbo" style rims coming in from Ohio, and Firestone-Bob is getting me some nice tires at an excellent price.
Most of this I was planning on doing a bit at a time over the course of the winter...but when my trans blew & left me stranded, it was time to admit I'd left a few things too long. This way it'll be in GREAT shape for the Oct 6th Leelanua Penninsula drive w/ WM-FLU. Thinking about taking the Milwaukee ferry over next Thursday night, maybe Friday morning. And the next weekend, there is the Milwaukee area cruise with Chi-FLU! It'll be nice to enjoy the end of driving season, just in time to button her up for the winter...
The '69 "Red Barron" got driven to work today. Monday night and last night I was using the new tap and bolts (Thanks Steve!), and an apparently INCOMPLETE description in BOTH the Haynes manual AND the shop manual as I tried to compress the piston into the caliper to attempt re-construction. What a pink-pickled-pucker of a job! It's a damn 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle! Trying to re-assemble all the pieces, while keeping them where they need to be, getting stuff aligned...WOW...
From this point forward in my life, I consider money spent at a good brake shop WELL SPENT!
But - I got it done! Now I know enough to appreciate the job, and be able to speak fluently to those doing the job themselves.
The Red Baron still needs a good bit of work before I'll trust it on longer drives. I'm swapping the coil & dist for the electronic ignition I got from John Logan's infamous '83 Lancia Zagato. It'll be nice to get rid of those points, condensers, and the old style coil with the ballast!
The carb still needs tweaking, and it's got an awful exhaust leak - admitting I'm immature here - IT SOUNDS AWESOME! Not sure what's up with the coolant system, but when the car is warm, the higher level of coolant in the overflow bottle looks like a blended smoothie. Guess I'll flush the system, & see how it looks at that point. The electrical systems needs a bit of TLC - I think cleaning the fuse contacts & pinching them for better connectivity will solve 90% of the little things. Then I can worry about replacing the carpet, new map pockets, a replacement dash, and upgrading the dash-wood.
It never ends, does it? It's FUN, though! It's AMAZING how different these two Spiders are...BOTH are a scream to drive, but very, very different.
Learning To Curse In Italian
Bookends
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Monday the 24th, I had ROTTEN luck both Spiders...
The '69 "Red Barron" with the so-called minor brake issue continued to perplex me to the point of creative cursing.
And tool-throwing.
I got the replacement brake bracket, and even some brand new bolts (custom made thanks to STEVE!) - and I THOUGHT I was home free...
However, the Gods Of Fiat Repair had not been adequately appeased.
I could not for the love of FETTUCHINI ALFREDO, figure out how you push the piston back in the dang caliper???
More tools were thrown.
So...after 3 hours of heat, humidity, sweat, and horrid mosquito-feasting, I decided to go for a drive in the '83 "Blue Bomber" to relieve the tension...
...and that transmission I've been limping through the summer with...PLANNING on replacing it this winter...
...well...BLAMMO!
That transmission is now in FIAT heaven, and I found out that my collector-car insurance DOES in fact cover towing...(Thank you, Haggerty!)...they just don't promise how FAST it'll get there! Especially when one is in the middle of nowehere...and I thought Cooter in his Tow Truck was going to exclaim "Gee Whiz, I always wanted an excuse to buy me a METRIC set of tools!", but he was actually very nice, and he couldn't have been more careful when loading my Spider.
Giovanni stayed late at his shop to meet me, and I thought he was going to offer me a kleenex when I saw the price, but he was actually very well priced. Of course, he just HAPPENED to have a freshly rebuilt transmission laying around...
Friday, August 31, 2007
314 Days, and counting...
740 Miles
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
From Mike:
"Here is the game plan at this point.
Anyone that wants to tag along for part or all of the journey, I am organizing a cruise leaving Coldwater, Michigan on Thursday morning…departing at 8 a.m. We will leisurely drive two lane roads to somewhere near Erie Pennsylvania and stop for the night around 5 p.m. Note, that leaves a lotta time for goofing around on the way, or once we get there; the group will get to decide that before we depart.
Friday morning we will pack up and leave by 8 a.m. for the POCONO resort, yet to be named. We can, as the group decides take our time getting there, or rush there and have lots of time Friday afternoon with the accumulating folk from around the globe. Again, Friday’s trip will be exclusively two lane roads.
I am designating myself as route creator. I will eventually choose the midway stopping point. Other than the 8 a.m. departure times, and the maps prepared and handed out, everyone is on their own for costs, adherence to the schedule (or not). If you see something you wanna do, feel free to do so, with or without the group.
If I work things out correctly, we will probably pick up a sports car club somewhere after 9 a.m. Friday. And, about 10 a.m. we will start to see other FLUsters join our ranks, as there is a huge contingency of FLU folk living in Pennsylvania.
I will widely publicize our route, and plans beginning in February ’08, for maximum participation.
HAPPY MOTORING !!"
Mike Bouse
Secretary/Treasurer
WEST MICHIGAN FLU
a Chapter of Fiat Lancia Unlimited
http://flumichigan.italiancarclub.com/
Fiat Freak Out - 2008
Pocono Manor
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Woo-Hoo!
The date and location have been chosen!
Pocono Manor - July 11th - 13th, 2008
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Oh, By the way....
Mutual Support
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
You mean I didn't say anything?
Yeah...well...you know....
Most people who own an old Fiat Spider are a bit nuts.
Crazy. Bats in the bell tower...
Two months ago I bought the FOURTH (4th) Spider I've ever owned. Sadly, my 3rd one subcummed to bone cancer, and is now an organ donor. When I'd tell people it was my 4th Spider, they'd pause, and then ask for clarification "You mean you owned FOUR, but not ALL AT ONE TIME, right?"
Well, no, of course not. What sort of FOOL would own more than one Fiat Spider at a time?
Hello, my name is Lee Putman, and I just bought my FIFTH (5th) Spider, and I now have TWO (2) ...
AT THE SAME TIME.
Yes, internet, you may now loose your mind. I'm a crazy-man, and it you cannot understand why I'd do such an insane thing, it makes no sense.
...until you climb in and go for a ride...
Part Two
Token Shot at the GCN
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
(Saturday Evening - 11pm-ish)
...things are re-installed on the car...
...feel ready to try it out...
...the hell with sleepy neighbors...
So, with the turn of the key, the car burps, coughs, spits, and dies.
On the second try, a spume of air/gas mixture pops straight up out of carb.
My assistant holding the fire extinguisher becomes visibly more nervous.
"Is it...supposed...to do that", she asks in a tone of voice clearly conveying SHE DOESN'T THINK SO.
The only thing I can think of to adjust is the mixture screw. I'd set it where I'd "heard" you should try it - 2.5 turns backed out after fully seating.
I turned it one more full turn in.
No change.
Another full turn.
Pop...stutter...chugga, chugga...
She runs!
At idle she's a bit rough...which at first concerned me, until I remembered the Previous Owner talking about the "radical cam" in the car.
Apply just a tad of gas...VROOOOM!
The car sounds GREAT. Of course, it has an exhaust leak and sounds WIDE OPEN, making it sound like an old 60's rally racer...but it makes me smile.
Immature? Yes!
Must...
Drive...
Car...
It's dark outside, overcast, nearly midnight, and the car is still largely unknown to me. I toss a few tools in the car, and attempt to figure out the lights.
There are two light switches: one three position switch on the dash, and a three position lever on the steering column. Apparently, the older models "should" have had a two position switch on the dash - "on" and "off" - using the "stalk" lever on the column to switch between "parking" (up), "driving" (middle), and "brights" (lower).
Now, first of all, who would think to LOWER a switch for HIGH beams?
After fiddling, I realize that dash switch is from a "later" model designed to be up "off", middle "parking", lower "driving".
The two switches would contradict each other - if the stalk is in the "up" position, the dash switch all the way down will NOT engage the lights!
So, with the lights figured out, we tear off down the road...and I mean TEAR! This car SOUNDS like it's ripping the road - the tuned exhaust is LOUD, and the "note" changes dramatically with the higher RPM's. This car is MUCH happier in the higher RPM's than my blue Spider. Blue Spider coughs above 4k...Red Spider SCREAMS with happiness!
SCREAMS....!
With the rain chasing us, we return home about an hour later. I can't wipe the smile off my face. This car...Man, it's...GREAT!
Sure, the interior is a bit rough, and the brakes rub, and the tires are bit questionable...but for a paltry 2k...this car is a RUNNER!
Sure it's 38 years old...BUT IT'S AWESOME!
Wheeeee!
Part One
Work Begins
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
It's late Saturday evening, and it's been a cold, dreary, wet August day. Awful fro driving convertibles, great for wrenching on them.
I'm loosening a complicated bit of something I can't quite see, and it's jabbing me painfully in the wrist, and suddenly a bit of it flings off with slight metallic pings as it bounces throughout the engine compartment. It immediately goes through my brain that it's a clip on the accelerator linkage, a part painfully difficult to locate, practically on back-order since the car was made - as it's machined from unobtainium by a blind craftsman in the old country whose family holds the exclusive rights to that particular design of clip which no other automotive manufacturer has ever had the madness to use.
My EYEBALL would be easier to replace...Hmmm...where ARE the safety goggles...?
Nevertheless, I get the linkage disconnected, and actually figure out how to remove the entire carburetor. (By the way, at least one of the four retaining nuts CLEARLY cannot be removed without disassembling the entire engine) To the horror of women everywhere, I take the carburetor, walk inside, and sit at the dining room table.
I spread out newspaper, and paying VERY CLOSE ATTENTION, I slowly disassemble the complicated bit of machinery. Unlike the last time I did this (circa 1987), I now have to wear glasses. The bit of paper with the exploded mechanical view is sometimes more clearly understood when viewed upside down, yet this does not seem to instill confidence in my audience. Once down into the guts, and after I've spilled a bit of gasoline onto my rag, the carb is split in two halves, and the brass jets are exposed. These need to be swapped with other jets, kindly sent to me by the same parts guy who copied the instructions for me. He'd a assured me the swap was "no big deal", yet now the car was dysfunctional, with it's vital bits disassembled into a thousand parts on the dining room table. It reminds me of a scene from an old 80's movie where the mechanic gleefully exclaims "I always wanted an excuse to buy me a METRIC set of tools!".
However, the little brass jets unscrew just fine, and the replacements are marked clearly, even if it does take a jeweler's eyepiece to see the markings.
I get the whole thing back together, and the method to my madness pays off. As I took the thing apart, I carefully laid out the bits one-by-one - taking up a good bit of the real estate on the table. Re-assembly is then just the opposite, and I have a map to follow. I also now know which two screws are the main adjustments.
This is a BIG development.
An hour later it's back in the car, all assembled. It's 11pm. Do I wait for daylight to fire it up and check?
Hell No!
I hand the fire extinguisher to my startled assistant who clearly now has more reservations than she did a short moment ago. I dash around with excitement, clearing tools, prepping like a mad crew chief in an island revetment who's ready to yell "CONTACT" and pull the prop of his newly repaired fighter plane.
Insert key...
Pull choke...
Tap gas pedal twice...
Turn key...
(To Be Continued....)
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Thank You, Tim Beeble
Tim Beeble's '74 Spider
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
I believe I mentioned in a previous post about my trip to The Pocono's in the late 90's, and how after seeing all the Fiat Spiders there, I was inspired to go find my '74, and become a Fiat owner after too long an absence.
That happened because of this guy here - Tim Beeble. I never knew his name until I met him at Fiat Freak Out '07.
Here is what happened...
The summer of '98 I got a job at an Ad Agency as a rookie Mac Support guy. Gary Cecil was the senior Mac Support guy, and he and I ended up becoming friends. When I found out he had a Motto Guzzi motorcycle, I told him I'd owned various Fiat and Alfa Spiders in the past. He suggested I tag along to the Italian Concourse d'Elegance.
Of course, I made a beeline for the Fiats. Yeah, sure there were a few X - 1/9's, and I'm sure an odd 500 or two. But the Spiders are what I remember. One guy had a VERY pretty metallic smoke grey Spider. It had a fantastic clear-coating job done on the aluminum head and cam covers, but the guy I will always remember showed up with just his front bumper.
Seriously.
Most of the Fiat people there seemed to know him, and had a fun time ribbing him, but the thing was – I totally understood. I realized these were my people. They were crazy just like me!
I got to talking to this guy about his car, and he extolled the virtues of the ‘74. He explained that it was The One Spider that was far and above the best model Fiat Spider EVER produced. Not that he was biased or anything...but the crux of the matter made sense. He explained the ‘74 was the last year with the old-style bumpers, yet it was the first year of the bigger engine. In ‘75, Fiat knew they’d be held to different emissions and safety standards, so the new, larger engine was brought out in ‘74 - but it didn’t yet have the whole gamut of emissions equipment holding it back.
It took me a year to find my ‘74. I never remembered the guy’s name, and I was SO proud of finding my own ‘74, I’d always wanted to show it off. I never even made it to any Fiat events. Then, earlier this year, my beloved ‘74 was declared structurally unsafe, and I was heartbroken.
All too quickly I jumped at an ‘83 Spider, and I made it to this year’s Freak Out by the skin of my teeth. I had a fantastic time. At the afternoon car show I was wandering around, and as I like the older models, I spent a good bit of time back in that section remembering my old ‘74 & ‘72 Spiders.
Then I see this nearly immaculate ‘74. The owner looks somewhat vaguely familiar to me, but I can’t place him within my mental Rolodex. Then I hear him telling someone how the ‘74 Fiat Spider was The Best Year Ever...
Lightening bolts went off in my head.
This was the guy!
In a torrent of babbling I told him about meeting him when he brought just his bumper to the Pocono’s, and he leaned back and laughed, and called out to another owner who’d been there, and would remember that.
THAT guy turned out to be John Montgomery, the cool guy who’d followed me on the previous day’s cruise, and was no less than THE PRESIDENT of the damn club!
What a small world.
It only took me 9 years to figure out who he was...but I shook Tim Beeble’s hand, and thanked him for inspiring me to get back into the world of Fiats.
What a great group of people, and I can’t even express how glad I am to be back amongst them.
They’re crazy just like me!
Call me "Jefe"
Chicagoland FLU
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
While I was at Fiat Freak Out '07, one of many people I got to meet was John Montgomery, the President of Fiat - Lancia Unlimited (FLU). He encouraged my enthusiasim for a Chicago Fiat club, and gave me some great ideas and insight.
Which of course, I took full advantage of.
Earlier this week, he gave me the offical word that I have been granted "Chapter Forming" status.
Check it out:
http://italiancar.meetup.com/46/
I started the MeetUp site to attract non-FLU members, as I "know" there are a TON of Fiat owners in the Chicago area who never signed up with a club that didn't even have a local area chapter. I also got lists of active and expired FLU memberships for the extended area.
Emails went out. Replies were recieved. The MeetUp site was tweaked. More emails went out.
Our first "meet & greet" BBQ was scheduled.
...and we have 15 RSVP's - about 12 people and 7 Fiats scheduled to get together.
...and that's just our FIRST event!
Monday, August 06, 2007
So...that next project? MY FAT ASS.
The New Breakfast Plan
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Project: "Lee's Fat Ass" begins today.
Or I should say - it resumes.
Version 304 of the plan.
Things have to be adjusted from time to time, you know...and I've been wrestling with this issue for well over a decade. I have been achieving some minor successes for about 4 years now. Much like minor skirmishes won in wartime, I have gained little ground, but these small victories are good for troop morale.
Keep up the good fight, and so forth.
My current plan focuses more on "The Process". Firstly, I place Peapod and Dinner By Design orders well ahead of time, so that I always have supplies on-hand, and need not fight the unwashed masses at the local grocery emporium. After all, if I have stuff ready to cook - that is damn near easier than calling my friends at Dominoes - and THAT is where this battle is fought every day.
Secondly, begining Sunday night, I prep for the following day. The gym bag gets prepped and loaded in the car. Breakfast is assembled, the shake made, and lunchbox is placed in fridge. Next day's Dinner By Design meal is chosen from the freezer, and also placed in the fridge.
It works like this:
I get up, shower and dress for work, grab lunch box, head to office. While checking new emails and sipping first cup of coffee, I have my breakfast from the lunchbox.
Cereal - 200
Milk - 130
OJ Smoothie - 300
V-8 - 30
Bagel - 230
Breakfast Total - 890 calories. I know I have way too many calories in the OJ smoothie - but it's GOOD, and the vitamins are good for me too. Something to tweak later.
Lunch is with friends. I try as much as possible to eliminate eating alone, and the social time is good for me. At this point, I strive only to have a "reasonable" lunch - more like a soup and sandwich combo, less like burger and fries. No fast food. Easily tweakable in the future.
Mid Afternoon - 4pm-ish
The Shake - 2 cups of skim milk, 2 scoops chocolate protien mix, 1 cup frozen berries, 1 packet oatmeal - blended into yummy goodness. I dropped the protien mix to 2 scoops from 4 to help reduce the total calories, and have added the berries permanently for thier OUTSTANDING antioxidant qualities. Also convinced the oatmeal helps the blood counts.
About 5pm I leave work, and since the gym bag is already in the car, and I feel good for having thusly followed an all too easy plan - I actually go to the gym. The trick, with me, is to just get my fat butt in the door. Once there I really don't mind it so much. of course, it helps if there are chickies to look at, but we each find our own motivation. The shake provides fuel for the workout, and keeps me from turning into Starvin' Marvin.
Leave gym, come home, pop my Dinner By Design meal into the oven. While waiting on it to cook, I re-load the gym bag, and immediately put it back in the car. I pack breakfast, and make the next day's shake. Load the lunchbox, place in fridge for next day.
Eat dinner.
Sleep...
Get up...
Rinse and repeat as needed.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wrapping up loose ends
I really don't feel a thing....(sniff)
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
The Post FFO Blues
It was really weird to go home last night after work, and not rush off to the garage to madly wrench on things.
A friend asked me what projects I was looking at now that FFO was over. I started listing off things like replacing the door panels, new center caps for the wheels, and fixing the transmission leak - when I was interrupted.
"No, I mean what projects OTHER than the Fiat, that got put off for FFO, can you NOW focus on?"
Oh.
Non-Fiat projects?
Who has those?
Only 362 days to FFO!
On The Way Home
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Sunday: FFO day 3
Saturday night's awards dinner was pretty much what one would expect from any corporate style event with banquet food.
The beer was cold, and I was happy.
The party in the parking lot went until about 2am. Not enough time to visit with all my new friends, I was offered more beer than I could possibly drink.
Not that I didn't try...
Sunday's wake up call was just...cruel. Head pounding, mouth dry, tongue like old shoe leather.
Outside in the sun, selling a few used parts, the brain wasn't cooperating, and the hangover sweats wasn't a good situation. I met up with my group fro a MUCH needed breakfast, and the first feelings of becoming human again hit me.
Later, the parking lot seems a bit forlorn as many people had already pulled out to go home, and more were still at the AutoCross event.
There wasn't much left, but to pack up, hook up, and head out.
Alvon was headed down to North Carolina with Denise and her husband Ron so that Alvon could see his family. This made the Jeep feel a bit empty, but otherwise we had our same convoy headed home, only THIS time we went via highway.
And got to see the local scenery as we CRAWLED through several traffic congested construction zones.
About 3pm we made it to the Bouse's, and Missy surprised us with a cold cut platter so we could make sandwiches and hang out. It was a lovely break, and two hours later, it was all too soon to be headed out with another 4 hours to go.
Pulling in at home, dead tired, in the full dark, the LAST thing I wanted to do was spend an hour un-hooking Azzie, unloading the Jeep, and generally getting somewhat situated to survive the week.
Note for next year:
Take Monday off as a travel day, and Tuesday too, just to recover...
Just Happy To Be Here
Towards the back
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Saturday: FFO day two
Friday morning's cruise to Frankenmuth turned out GREAT. We took small twisty, turny roads on the way up, had lunch there, and ripped down the highway on the way home.
Azzie seemed happy to be back at speed, and I was THRILLED.
After getting back to the hotel late Friday afternoon, I had time to wash her in the blazing sun, then I had to hustle off to the showers before dinner.
Dinner was across the street from the hotel, and we must have had 150 people in there at 5 or so VERY long tables. The restaurant did a great job keeping everything moving, and the food was DARN good. The best part though, again, was the people. Jim from Ireland, Ron from Missouri, and my new friends from Canada - Dominick, and his two sons. The black Spider they brought to FFO is an AMAZING restoration done by Andy's Spiders in Ontario.
Someday when I win the lottery, THAT is where I'll take Azzie to be reborn!
After dinner, there was an unofficial party in the hotel parking lot. Everyone was waxing, polishing, and adding the finishing touches to their cars, while checking out the competition, visiting with old friends, making new friends, and of course, drinking beer.
Saturday morning came WAY too early.
I met a few people from my West Michigan group for breakfast, and then we all went out to our cars to form up for the drive to St. Mary's college where the day's events would transpire.
Seeing all the cars lined up for the big panoramic photo was VERY cool.
Seeing all the cars parked under the trees in "the quad" was amazing.
Suddenly, I noticed people leaving. Where had the time gone? I hadn't seen all the cars, hadn't had a chance to meet people I'd wanted to shake hands with...
Before leaving we got a cool picture with just our cars from our group. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for gas, and some guy in a crummy old van came tearing up.
"Where did all these Fiats come from?", he asked, looking at our cars with a big smile.
"We were just at a Fiat car show", was the answer.
"Really? WOW! I wish I'd know...I'm putting an old Spider back together, and I never see any others around!"
We all knew exactly how he felt, and gave him some info on the club. Talk about the un-lucky...he feels all alone in his Fiat quest, and he had just missed the National Club Meet right across the street.
Back at the Hotel, we met another guy who had randomly found us. He had TWO 850's at home in various stages of functionality, and he looked around the parking lot like he was going to cry.
I knew just how he felt, and I felt a bit guilty, as I couldn't wipe the happy grin of my face - because I MADE IT TO FREAK OUT!
...of course, it only took me 9 years...
Feeling like a kid at camp
Top Down....in the rain...
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Friday: FFO day one
I stayed up a bit later Thursday night, taking Azzie for a quick spin to confirm the radiator would hold.
It held.
I was so relieved, elated, excited, and was generally just bouncing off the walls. This reaction was the total opposite of the low I'd felt just 24 hours before, and I had all my new Fiat friends to thank for this.
I was so damn happy...
Now I was noticing things like the several hundred engine-oil-handprints all over the windshield, the poor installation position of the dash-mounted rear-view mirror, the mis-adjusted side mirrors - all THREE of which guaranteed I couldn't see anything behind me. Which was fine, because I couldn't see through the windshield either!
It was just so nice to be able to drive her.
I fell into bed, totally and completely exhausted around midnight. Tossing and turning, I woke up at 5am, unable to contain my excitement.
My Spider runs!
I'm at Fiat Freak Out!
I shower, dress, head to breakfast, clean the windshield, adjust the mirrors, and I'm first in line to get ready for the morning's cruise.
In the rain.
I, of course, put the top down anyway...
I knew it was going to be a damn good day.
I couldn't stop smiling.
The Arrival
Friday Morning in the parking lot
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Thursday: 1 day to FFO
Wednesday night I ended up fetching Alvon from O'Hare an hour late, after my Spider overheated, leaving me without my Jeep. My lovely, patient, and all-to-understanding girlfriend drove over to my house, picked my dumb-ass up, drove me to my Jeep, and we went together to pick up Alvon. Knowing I needed to vent, she let me spew as my Spider had done. I'm glad I got that out of my system before meeting Alvon.
Alvon turned out to be a nice guy, a good houseguest, and while driving the next day, an excellent traveling companion. He's owned his '70 Spider since '85, and it has about 200,000 miles on it, but the last few years he has done an amazing job bringing it back to better-than-new condition. Wednesday night he and I stayed up late showing each other pictures of our cars, and swapping Fiat stories.
Thursday I got up early to load the Jeep and get Azzie hooked up. Even though she wasn't running, I was going to drag her ass to FFO, anyway. I'd put too much heart, effort, and tears into this damn car to leave it at home. Alvon helped me load up, and we were on the road by 8:30am.
We were looking to hook up with Mike Bouse's convoy that was gathering at his house between 12 noon and 2 pm. Peanut butter sandwiches and Kool Aid were promised, and the thought of a convoy was enough to make me smile.
Traffic out of Chicago wasn't too bad, much better than I'd expected. Alvon and I stopped at the Hinsdale oasis to meet a co-worker of his who lived nearby. I told Alvon it'd be a shame to be this close and NOT stop, although it would make our timeline a bit tight. As it turns out, we rolled into Mike's yard just in time for the 2pm roll-out.
With no time for sandwiches, only a muffin for breakfast, and having forgotten dinner the night before - MAN, my tummy was rumbling! But it was good to be in the convoy, and cool to see a few Spiders traveling together. Not a large convoy, it was just three of us. Dave Nicholson's red Spider with a cool hardtop was a nice addition to the group. I'd looked forward to meeting him, and he & his wife Carol couldn't have been nicer or more down to earth.
Even with Mike's Spider developing a slow coolant leak, we made good time. The coolant leak was little more than seepage, and with a call into John Logan, a replacement bit was on it's way to meet us at FFO. We pushed on. We hit rush hour. My tummy rumbled. We pulled into the Marriott about 6pm.
We checked in, and quickly met back down in the lobby to rush over to where others were holding seats at dinner for us. Faint with hunger, I have no idea what I ate, but my brain again began to function during dinner, where I met a few new friends. After dinner, a small contingent went to K-Mart for supplies. I bought two containers of radiator coolant, as I'd looked at Mike's thermostat, and thought I may know what to do to fix my overheating issue.
Back at the hotel about 9pm, I walk through the parking lot, admiring the other Fiats that have arrived so far. Wasting little time, I dig my tools from the back of the Jeep, and reach in to pop the hood on the Spider.
The sound of the hood-pop must have echoed through the parking lot.
Within minutes, no fewer than 6 guys were gathered around my car, offering advice, tools, holding flashlights, and helping a fellow Fiat nut any way they could.
By 11pm my Spider was running, the cooling system holding, radiator fan working just like it should. My relief was enormous, my head was soaring in the clouds, my pretty little Spider was back on the road.
Azzie was drivable!
Boiling over
Boiling over
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
Wednesday : 2 days to FFO
At lunch Wednesday I'd driven over to the neighborhood mechanic's shop as they'd requested. Fearing the worst, it was almost comic relief when they said they just needed two bolts from the air conditioning compressor's mount to fix my oil "leak". Those bolt holes went all the way through to the oil reservoir - who knew? Proving an old saying of mine that I'd gone against - 'Do just one project at a time' - I thought THIS oil leak was caused by the exhaust manifold bolt I'd stripped.
Insert sigh of relief here.
I raced home, got the bolts, and was assured I could pick up a fully functional car after work. I was elated.
This was not to last.
Alvon Elrod, a Fiat Spider owner in Ventura California, contacted me needing a ride to FFO. His Spider was currently down with a disassembled transmission, so he was flying into the area. His original ride, Dave Voss in his Fiat 131, was driving to FFO from the Oregon Fiat gathering. However, Dave had stopped to help Nanci and Shaun Folkerts with their Lancia Zagato in Idaho, and while it had all worked out, and everyone was on the path to FFO, the timing was off, and Alvon needed someone to pick him up from O'Hare.
Is everyone clear on this?
Alvon's flight was set to arrive at 8:30pm, leaving me PLENTY of time to fetch my Spider from the mechanic, wrap up a few loose ends (like re-installation of the driver's side door panel), and perhaps even drive the Spider to fetch Alvon from O'Hare.
Insert monkey wrench.
I arrive at the mechanic's and see my car outside. Hood up, steam billowing. They had 'fixed' the oil leak, replaced my flex disc, replaced the cap/rotor/wires/plugs, and even adjusted my timing with a REAL timing light. However, the car was horrifically overheating. The radiator fan wasn't coming on, and I had no idea what to do.
Thinking I could get it to cool down by driving, getting some air through the radiator, I took off driving. My intention was to go around the 'hood, come back, hop in Jeep, fetch Alvon. However, driving it didn't help one iota, and once the steam started whistling, I coasted down the block for a quarter mile, and barley made it into my own driveway. Now I was stranded at home without my Jeep, and a Spider with a radiator overflow container that continued to boil 15 minutes after the car was shut down.
Mad with frustration, I wanted to pitch a fit, cry, scream, throw tools, and kick something.
I had put so much effort into this damn car trying to get ready, and I'd accomplished so much, come so far, and was still no closer to having a car I could drive. Now I was stranded, and was running late to pick up Alvon.
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