I am, in many ways, a donkey on the edge. I have a hand-printed sign I carry in my car that reads, “The world is not your ashtray, you pig!” I have knocked a clergyman down with my suitcase at the airport baggage claim for standing right next to the goddamn belt and making it next to impossible to see or retrieve a bag. Two weeks ago, I got into a (verbal) altercation with an old woman at Costco Gas when she got mad at me for driving around her and making it slightly more difficult for her to pull out, after waiting for more than two minutes for her to get into her car, adjust the seat, put her seatbelt on, count the change in her purse, call her grandchildren, and recite the Apostle’s Creed before finally turning the key. That encounter ended with her admonishing me that “patience is a virtue!” and my response that I assumed she’d be in a bigger hurry since she had so little time left on this earth. Nothing gets the attention of your fellow gas station patrons like reminding an old woman of her impending mortality, let me tell ya…

In any case, I was gratified to discover youparklikeanasshole.com, which, as the name implies, is devoted to singling out those who park like assholes for ridicule and retribution. The best part is the downloadable “parking ticket” pdf file that allows you to specify a category, like Two Spots, One Car or Diagonal Parking: Not So Cool Car.

I should point out that the site specifically says they don’t support printing the warnings on blank sticker stock and gluing them to the offender’s car…

With Michael’s help (well, actually he did most of the work), I got the heads off, the bottom end apart, and the pistons out.

First of all, the exhaust manifolds had to come off.

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This week’s update proves that the right tools make all the difference.

9 out of 10 dentists surveyed agreed that the power steering pulley needs to come off in order to remove the pump, which in turn makes it possible to remove the power steering/alternator bracket from the block. Here we see the wonderful puller kit I borrowed from Kragen. I highly recommend that the next time you need a weird tool you make a stop at the local CSK auto parts store and take advantage of their tool loan program. I slapped down a $42 refundable deposit and off I went.

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