DIY: Enigne Support Rebuild & Strengthening

I always get my rear engine support busted. I don't know how but I always seen to break it. I've searched over the net and some placed polyurethane from 3m called window weld or mixed polyurethane to a manageable consistency then poured it on the mount. Unfortunately here in the Philippines you don't get the liberty of just going to your local Ace hardware and picking up the stuff or order online and get the stuff at your doorstep after a few days because it's not available locally.

Not losing hope of getting my engine support reinforced. Went to the nearest Ace Hardware to look for something to try. Some said Silicon is another thing that could be used (tried on left and right engine supports and holding up pretty well.) but as I was searching the caulk tubes I came across Bostik's polyurethane sealant. On the label it said that it has high flexibility and since it being polyurethane I gather that it will be pretty tough. Unfortunately it only came in white but it doesn't matter since this will just be a experimental project.

The following day I got my busted front and rear engine supports as guinnea pigs. Cleaned and dried and wiped. Used joy liquid detergent (it does a good job of removing oil) and an old toothbrush to do the job. Left it alone for a day to let it dry thoroughly.

After more than an hour later and a broken caulk gun later (when you cut the tip of the long screw on tip of the caulk tube make the hole big. it will make your life a whole lot easier) the results are above. I just used a thick enough cardboard to spread the polyurethane around.

I let it sit for a week in our hot garage to let it cure (the outside maybe be dry but the inside might still be curing). Applied a couple of layers of black pylox to make it less of a standout. Viola! My busted engine mounts have been given a new lease of (abused) life. As of this writing the rear engine mount has been placed and seems to hold pretty well and I got less interior buzzing compared to my solid (refurbished) engine mount. I'll try to install the front tomorrow if i'm not to lazy to move.

update: I've installed the front mount. (darned thing got the bolt a bit bent so it was a pain to put back). Vibration wise, there is a bit more compared to replacement/OEM but feels smoother when shifting. Hope this thing lasts longer.

icore psp adaptor

I think i'm pretty unlucky with PSP charges. The pic above is my third one. The one that came with the PSP suddenly died. So what I did is I just purchased a replacement one by I-core. Unfortunately, after two weeks and only a few charges, the I-core died too. Good thing is the store replaced the damaged one even if they said that they only honor one week warranty (which is very absurd).

It's been a good couple of weeks and the charger above has survived a lot of abuse with charging the PSP. I'm still hoping that this one will last a whole lot longer. If not i'll have to buy an original one.

Generic Crystal Case for PSP Slim

I bought one of the generic crystal cases for the slim just so it could give some sort of protection to it whenever my 3 yr old son would play with the PSP. I honestly hate it! One, it fattens the slim up. Two, the hole for the analog controller is not big enough. Lastly, I don't like how it looks.

If not for my son I would never buy one of these nor touch it with a five foot pole. I really hate it. It's badly constructed and ruins the overall look of the PSP slim. I guess you really get what you paid for.

Ranting Episode

Right now, i'm losing my patience with my broadband connection. Namely, my Globe broadband internet connection. Yes, if you try speedtest.net it will give you a fairly decent speed but I could see that the needle is erratic, it's not a smooth curve going up. Plus if I ping websites, it timed out a couple of times. Even if i just plain surf the internet, it even gives me error pages meaning it timed the effin up!!

I don't know what the hell is happening again but i'm beggining to lose my patience with this kind of service. I've been upto my neck trying to calm myself down. It's been a good couple of hours and the pace has been going from bad to worse. I guess i'll sleep on this for awhile and pray to god that maybe when I wake up they might show some signs of improvement.

Globe broadband sucks bigtime as of the moment!!!!

Selecta Gold Series: Berry Strawberry

We have here another creation by Selecta which they call the Gold Series. They called 3 top chefs to create their own version of a classic ice cream flavor. I tried the Berry Strawberry since I love strawberries it was an easy decision for me. This promises to have the vanilla ice cream more creamy and have chunks of strawberry in them.

When I tried it out, yes the ice cream is much more creamier than the Creations version. But alas, as I finished the 800mL (after a few days of course) I just found I chunk of strawberry. I was very disappointed since the Creations version had lots more strawberries in them. Maybe I was just out of luck but only one piece is... well... very disappointing. On the upside, the ice cream itself was creamier and satisfying enough.

A day of mourning...

Today, my pet dog passed away. He's been with me for the past couple of years. He's destroyed countless stuff, pissed on a lot of plants, left poo-poo almost everywhere, and stuck with me when i'm down.

For the past couple of days he seemed unenergetic. He wasn't finishing his meals. Then 2 or 3 days ago I had to move him to the garage to stand guard. Unfortunately I was not able to move him to the backyard the following morning because I had errands to do and forgot to ask someone else to do it. That night he looked more weak, not even touching his meal.

Last night I contacted the Vet to have him checked. The vet told me she was available after lunch. Since I was unable to sleep I kept on checking my dog. He was vomiting yellowish stuff every now and then and was hardly standing up. I slept for a couple of hours and checked him this morning and he was still breathing but he looked much weaker now. I went back to sleep since the vet would only be free after lunch. As I woke up after lunch, I went downstairs to check on my dog. Alas! when I touched him, he was not responding and rigor mortis has set in. He could not wait for the vet and went to a better place.

T-Mobile Sidekick

A few weeks back I got a hold of 3 classic cellphones from T-Mobile. A Sony Ericsson T616, Sidekick 2, and a Sidekick 3. I was then curious if a Sidekick would work here in the Philippines. After much surfing I found out that most of the features (email and IM) could not be activated since it passes through T-mobile and Sharp's servers. So I just tried to see if I could just make it work here even for just calling and texting. Further research says that the original owner should call T-Mobile to get a sim subsidy for a local sim to work. Since it was just sent to me from the US, I won't go through the trouble. But further prodding shows signs that the SK 3 could be made to work here. Here's what I did:

- After the phone asks for a sim unlock code, just press cancel

- Go to Settings and select Sim Center

- Choose Enable Sim Password (If already enabled select change password)

- Type in the password then re-enter

- On the "waiting for activation" screen, Press Menu + L to bypass

- Go to settings and select network options > Rescan and Select Manually

- Select your network and your good to call and text

Hope this helps. Although being able to use only half of it's potential sucks but if you just want to play with it, this is a good way to make it work.