The mystique of vintage Land Rovers

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It’s been just over a year since I got the Land Rover bug and — with a little luck — my truck will be ready to ship by the end of the week, but probably a month before I have it (I assume this is what it would be like to be 12 months pregnant). I’ve watched a lot of vintage Land Rover videos on YouTube, including a few restoration series. The one by a Brit who calls himself Maximus Ironthumper is my favorite but I have high hopes for this one as well.

Watching these guys (I haven’t come across a female Land Rover mechanic yet) I’m struck by two things. First, how did they ever learn how to do this? Second, all of the tools required to restore and old truck. It takes a garage full of tools to tackle a project like this. (I have a hammer and a screwdriver) Let me add a third observation. How much fun these guys are having.

As far as I can tell, there are really only a couple of ways get a vintage (mine is a 1979 Series III) Land rover. You can drag one out of the weeds and spend a year or two rebuilding it… or you can pay someone to restore one for you (or purchase one that has been restored). As noted above, the first option takes a lot of time, experience/knowledge and a bunch of tools. The second involves a fair amount of risk, a bunch of money, and — in my case — a lot of patience.

The expression “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore” comes to mind. I’ve thought about this a bit since starting this project. Nobody is manufacturing 1979 Land Rovers anymore. And they never will again. Someone could build a reproduction but it won’t really be a 1979 Land Rover. However many there are, that’s all there will ever be. That’s real scarcity. And I wanted one. But that’s really not what hooked me (possessing something rare). I loved the look of these old trucks. And the simplicity. I have a minimalist itch that occasionally needs scratching.

A month from now I expect to be driving my Land Rover and we’ll see if the reality lives up to my imagination. Will it be fun to drive and mess with… or will it be a pain in the ass? Like the expectant first-time mom, there’s no going back now.

AirDrop

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The following excerpts are from a piece by Joe Tonelli (AirDrop Is Your iPhone’s Most Underrated Tool). I love this feature and, like Joe, use it daily to move file between my phone and my laptop.

AirDrop is kind of a miracle. Without any internet connection or cell service whatsoever, you can still send documents, photos, videos, nearly anything, between any Apple devices, as long as they are physically relatively close to each other. You might think you need a wireless network or cell service to send things because your iPhone will prompt you to turn on wifi and Bluetooth before you use AirDrop, but that isn’t the case. Apple is simply using the wi-fi’s radio signal to cleverly create an encrypted peer-to-peer connection between the devices. Once Bluetooth senses another device nearby, you’re in business.

One of the best things about AirDrop is that there appears to be no file size limit. I don’t think the importance of that fact can be overlooked. Consider the other primary ways of sharing items between computers. Assuming you don’t have AirDrop, you’d likely email something to someone (or to yourself). Gmail’s file size limit is 25MB. So you go through Google Drive, fine. However you’re still stuck with the lengthy process of uploading and then downloading the (presumably large) file. Without a solid internet connection (pretty much anything less than LTE or a reliable wi-fi connection) this will be near impossible or take hours and hours. Sure, wireless internet is nearly ubiquitous these days but even in NYC there are places where I don’t get signal (or don’t want to connect to public wifi).

Of course there are Apple alternatives like AnySend or Deskconnect, and interspecies options like Zapya or Xender for you Windowsheads out there. They largely accomplish the same thing, and I’m sure that software all works fine. But AirDrop is already on your damn phone.

Final tweaks to the Land Rover

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Philippe (the “specialty mechanic”) has had my truck for a couple of weeks, giving it the final inspection. He drove it a bit and put it on the lift, running down Mr. Wolf’s punch list. Mostly small stuff. He’ll probably put in a new ignition switch; check the play in the steering; and see if he can fix some small thing in the turn signal that Mr. Wolf found annoying.

The only big item seems to be adjusting the timing and Mr. Wolf says that’s not all that big a deal. The video below (not my truck) shows a chap inspecting the timing chain on his Land Rover.

Depending on Philippe’s work load, my truck might be done by the end of the week. Nothing left to do but fly out to San Mateo to celebrate and play with the truck for a couple of days before shipping it to Missouri.

iHeartMedia files for bankruptcy

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iHeartMedia, the country’s largest radio broadcaster with around 850 stations and a leading outdoor advertising company, is filing for bankruptcy after spending years trying to manage its $20 billion in outstanding indebtedness. (NPR)

During the 80’s I had a front-row seat as Clear Channel Communications (the name before the cutesy “iHeartMedia”) gobbled up radio stations and gutted them of everything that made them local. Most of the bad guys got rich and got out long ago but I have no illusions about “hometown radio” returning.

Anxiety Log

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Most of the things we worry about never happen. Most of us know that to be (statistically) true, but it doesn’t help much. Why not? My theory: Once the event/outcome/whatever about which we were worried doesn’t come to pass, we forget about it. All of the hours/days/weeks/months of anxiety are forgotten. And we move on to the next awful thing that might befall us.

Introducing: Anxiety Log. The smartphone app you use to track and log all of your fears and anxieties. It works like this:

When you become aware that you’re worried or anxious (very hard to do, I will admit), you take out your phone and scroll through your list of existing Worries (or enter a new one). Then you enter your best estimate of how long this most recent thought stream has been going on. Five minutes? Ten?

If the event about which you’re fretting has a date/time (lab results; performance review; American Idol tryout), you enter that in the app as well and notifies you on that date: “You spent 14 hours and 26 minutes worrying about this event. How did it turn out?” Possible answers: a) No big deal b) Not as bad as I expected c) As bad as I feared. With a notes field for details if you so desire.

You can configure the app to give you frequent updates (daily, weekly, monthly): “You worried a total four hours in the past week.” Maybe with a little chart or graph showing how much time was given to each event.

If you are one of the lucky few that never worry about anything (lucky you), this seems pretty foolish. We know that. You’ve told us that many, many times. And while we all know that “most of the things we worry about never happen,” we don’t know just how much of our lives are spent in needless anxiety. Until now.

If this app — or something like it — is already out there, send me a link. If not and you create it and make a fortune, you’re welcome. Where do I download?