mhm ashley kept pointing out that the passat smells like stuff is burning and so i spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out what it could be.

The smell comes front the driver side of the car, so maybe this?

I'd bet you have the "oil seeping from cam adjuster" problem. The cam adjuster for the right bank is at the rear and directly above the exhaust pipe...if oil drips down it hits pipe and burns...the intake for the cabin air is right above it...so the fumes are sucked into the cabin when heater or AC is on and fan is blowin. I had same problem...Audi published TSB saying that PCV system should be replaced B4 replacing cam adjuster gaskets/seals or valve cover gaskets since clogged PVC can lead to increased crankcase pressure which forces oil by the seals...since it is way cheaper labor wise to replace PVC (and the parts to do so are about $90 online) I did this and oil seepage stopped...been almost a year and no problems!

does not sound to healthy (give me head ache) and so I guess I have to replace some more parts or live with the smell...

maybe just maybe I get lucky?

My local shop gave me a technical bulletin that applies to Passat, 2000-2001, 2.8L vehicles. The OBD for the catalytic converter system may be set too sensitive causing fault codes with out a defect in the catalytic system. The bulletin covers DTC codes P0420, P0421, P0422, P0430, P0431, P0432. The code descriptions all contain an 'efficiency below threshold' comment. Warranty claims would reference 'As per technical bulletin 2010372'. I think that the emissions coverage has expired, so it should be interesting to see if I have to pay for the update. I had the independent shop verify that the 02 sensors are good, and they didn't recommend replacing the cat's before having the code update. Will see how it plays out, but thought folks might appreciate knowing that there is a TB out for, at least, this model year/engine.

http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/volkswagen/passat/r40379/comments/page-6/

since my emission values are all perfect...

so far invested into the Passat:

• 4600$ Passat (4300$ + 300$ taxes)
• 80$ oil change
• 40$ new air filter
• 120$ aaa membership
• 240$ for timing belt kit
• 100$ for front liners
• 250$ for a skid plate
• 100$ for valve cover kit
• 30$ for a car fax history report
• 50$ hood lift support
• 230$ tools
• 140$ code reader
• 40$ ramps
• 300$ for labor

but now It's driving perfect.

got money for:

• 400$ + 200$ worth of garage credit for my dogde dakota, it will be missed
• 900$ 17-55mm F/2.8
• 590$ Taxes
• 250$ broken SB-800

being able to drive around soon and spend time with Ashley,

price less

cost of the passat:

6270$ total so far

do I trust it:

no

what needs to be done that I trust it?

• replacement of transmission oil
• PCV system replacement
• ECU update

miles driven: 1200

correction,

my truck is officially dead and for sale,
bought a 2001 VW Passat V6 GLX for an incredible price,
drove it home,
engine mal function lamp turns on,
it's very low on oil,

I hate my live...

the passat is now going in the shop to see what the issue is...

...i just bought it and I thought I can resell it easily, since it looked to be in perfect condition and a friend who is a vw mechanic checked all what he could and was amazed about the condition the car is in...

besides the engine problem. I love this car. It's so wonderful to drive...

today is the day were my trusty truck was declared officially dead. It needs repairs for over 2500$ which is just a waste of money.

Now once I get my visa, I can go car shopping again...

point reyes, is just wonderful...


well this Saturday Ashley and I went to the 'Point Reyes' national seashore and explored the deep and green jungle and the 'dangerous' surf. Why dangerous? Well it seems that if you hand somebody your key she is going to loose it and you spend the next 20 minutes searching the beach for a little orange tiger...

We even managed to see some deers, but like always it took me to long to grab the right camera/lens combination and it disappered, before I could capture it :(

About camera, that was my workout...

• tripod + head
• D200 + 70-200mm F/2.8
• D80 + 10-20mm
• 35mm F/2
• 50mm F/1.8 (didn't use it, won't bring it again)
• 90mm macro (I still suck at macros, I should sell it)
• Reflector, just in case...
• several filters which got stuck at each other and so could not be used...

I still want a small little semi pocketable camera, like a nikon P6600 or so. But I don't really needed it anyway...

Oh ya, pictures. You can find them here

The pics of me were taken by Ashley, which is getting more and more interested in the art of photography.

the story was:

• me sick
• me getting better
• me taking pictures of local salon
• me getting fever again
• me going to bed

yes I am frustrated that my blogs keep disappearing, it's a disaster...

The good thing is I still shoot on average 1000-2000 pictures a month and keep getting better, but need to learn to be more creative...

ok why do my post keep disappearing...

pics are here yet again, but I don't write the story yet another time. I'm frustrated...

what a wonderful Sunday,

getting up early after a long night with friends in the local bar and riding the bikes out to Sacramento.

Basically, Ashley, Kimberly and I decided to grab the roadbikes and ride the 14 miles to sacramento, drop them off at Ashley's house and visit a local exhibition (Buddha, German art, Californian landscapes) and having some quick mexican food afterward.

Finally we went back to davis and my crank set got loose again, which I needed to tighten up several times afterward. I should replace it rather quickly. We also lost Kimberly during the ride (it turned out she was collecting flowers...) getting some frozen youghurt while waiting for her (she passed by and ignored us...) and now making some crepes with applesauce.

The rest of the day, well I need to catch up on some work, watching a movie and preparing my self for yet another dentist visit in the morning. Maybe it's less than 500$ this time.

I'm also looking at yet another lens purchase (18-200mm VR) which would be needed on the possible roadtrip in a week. Since I do not want to carry the 17-55 F/2.8 and 70-200 F/2.8 and 10-20mm sigma around. But than do I want to spend 700$ just to avoid to carry 7lbs around? I think I rather spend this on another vacation trip.

Saturday morning, or in other words a picnic next to the farmers market with friends and snapping some pics of kims daughter playing with Cody.

And yes we did had wine at this picnic and fancy cheese, which make it more less perfect :)

how to make fancy style pan cakes...

Ingredients:

2 cups of flower
2 eggs
2 cups of MILK, you know the white stuff

Mix it together, drop it in a medium hot pan and spread it out with a spatula, if the pan cake breaks, add a bit more milk and try again.


Flambe:

2 x shots Barccadi 151
2 x shots Cointreau
nutmeg, cinnamon to taste
1 large can of pears in medium or heavy syrup

• discard the syrup (or drink it...)
• slice the pears
• soak the pears in the Cointreau/Barcadi and add spices
• wait 20 minutes
• put it on a stoves of medium heat
• wait 5 minutes
• ignite the flambe with a LONG match (paper tissue works too...)
• get a new haircut, short hair + flambe = good, long hair + flambe = bad...
• keep tossing the pears so the alcohol burns evenly off, if clumsy take a spoon and just steer it, but you get less chicks in this way
• serves to the pancakes hot with vanilla ice cream
  

If you are not fancy, serve apple sauce...

Snowshoeing in tahoe, well it's more difficult than it looks and hiking boots are defiantly the wrong shoes.

now I'm stuck at home with only wet boots and my dry shoes are in the office. Solution? Going to the office with bike shoes and picking up the spare shoes + spending the rest of the day reading at mishka's.

But I'm glad that the D200+17-55 F/2.8 are both weather sealed, they defiantly got there fair share of snow

(clumsy me)

Well tonight I decided to drive to sac quick, on my road bike, in the hope to get back in shape.

Lessons learned:

- I'm out of shape, an average speed of 28km/h is nothing to brag about
- do not ride in the dark if you are night blind, it got dark after I was half to sac
- harbor blvd in sac is a scary place at night in spandex...
- I really want to do this more often
- I am going to buy aero bars, since the causeway was just a straight line for 10 miles
- Santana is not the best music to ride too
- take a camera with you next time, there were so gorgeous reflections in the wildlife area

Short once you hit the causeway it's really fun


And tomorrow we go snowshoeing and taking pictures in Tahoe!

ok introduction of my algorithm to get rid of my ant problem:


//get available ants
List ants = getAnts();

///keep running till there are no more ant's to be found
while(ants.size() > 0){

//iterate over the current available ants
for(Ant a : ants){

//we kill the current ant till it's truly dead
while(a.isDead() == false){

//actuall kill method
a.kill();
}
}

//get more ant's
ants = getAnts();
}


Ok I provided the algorithm and software solution, now somebody needs to find a hardware solution for this...

I think this are the pictures I like the best from the short photo shoot with presh in the 'studio' yesterday afternoon. We had to shoot inside the house, since the weather is just getting worse and worse everyday.

finally managed to get a haircut...

and playing around a bit in the studio I setup in the garage for the monday shot.

what could be more fun than to spend a day in the spring sun and shooting pictures of her?

I also had the chance to play around with a model which is interested to be photographed by me and Emily.

Here are the best pictures of the tryou which was just a 25 minute shot with her and a single softbox. Hey I'm back to keep it simple...

Another clickmonkey workshop and a lot of new pictures. This time it was about shooting roadbikes and here they are

still working on the jury crap...