A couple of days ago, I replaced the brake light switch in the Jetta AGAIN! I can’t believe after making four revisions to this part, VW still messed something up and had to produce a fifth version. Over the weekend, I noticed the brake lights were stuck on and I immediately knew the problem. I took out the switch I put in a year ago and tried to reset it. When I reinstalled it the lights were still stuck on, so I took the switch out again and left it out. Probably not the best idea, but we only drove the car a few times without the switch, and thus without the brake lights working at all.

I did a little research on the net and stumbled upon the exact same forum that provided the instructions the first time I needed them. The most recent posts on the subject were mentioning a version E of the part. I looked at my disconnected part and saw that I had version D, which was the latest version available when I bought it. I can’t believe that they had to make any change to this part, and what’s worse is they won’t refund any of my money. I’m just glad I’ve done the repair myself and not had to pay for labor. It’s a good thing the car isn’t an automatic, otherwise I couldn’t have got the car out of park with the bad part installed.

In other VW news, the Rabbit is back…

I quickly ended my movie drought that I had previously been in for weeks. Toward the end of last week I saw Clerks 2 at the theater and over the weekend I watched a number of movies. Not only did I watch Remember The Titans on network TV, as did Phil, but we picked up a few others from Blockbuster.

Kim had been dying to see Failure To Launch for weeks now, so I finally gave in and watched it with her. Let me now say that it was just as bad and predictable as I had imagined. I recall saying out loud, “It’s obvious she is gonna fall for him.” And she did just that.

My choice of rental was Eight Below. What can I say? I’m a sucker for sled dogs even though I’ve never had one. The movie was actually much better than I was expecting. Watching the dogs on the screen more than the actors was okay with me because they were doing some pretty amazing things. Just as with Remember The Titans, I’m not sure how much of it is actually based on the true story, but I’m sure there are some facts that were preserved.

Overall I think my favorite of the bunch was Remember The Titans, which is disappointing because it was the only one that was free. And to make it worse, everyone else probably saw the movie years ago.

I went on the Boulevard Brewery tour on Saturday afternoon, which has to be at least the sixth time I’ve gone in the past couple of years. I was hoping that we would get to see the new expansion, but I guess it isn’t quite complete yet. The outside looks done but there is still much to do inside. Therefore the tour was pretty standard until we got to the tasting room.

In the past I’ve had some excellent experimental brews, including the Whiskey Porter, a personal favorite, but they had three different experimentals on tap Saturday! According to the tour guide, they are considering adding to their beer lineup once the expansion is complete. We were lucky enough to sample each of these new brews: a saison, a tripel, and a dark unfiltered wheat. The saison was very popular with the crowd. It was lighter than the tripel, which was my favorite of the bunch.

Tours are now available at four times every Saturday: 10AM, 12PM, 2PM, and 4PM. I highly recommend this FREE attraction.

I finally went and saw the latest Kevin Smith movie, Clerks 2, last night. I’ve always been a fan of his movies, especially Mallrats, Dogma, and his first film, Clerks. Kim is not so much of a fan, so I convinced our friend Mike to join me instead. We’ve watched the older movies multiple times at home after coming home from a night out at the bars, so I knew he would appreciate going to see Clerks 2.

Just like in Clerks, the movie takes place primarily in one location. This location is not the Quick Stop as in Clerks, it’s a Mooby‘s Fast Food Restaurant. The two main characters from Clerks are back as the main characters once again, and both Jay and Silent Bob are in there as well. Typically I’m not a big fan of sequels, but this one is worth the money. I know many of my friends have already seen it, some multiple times, but if you have not seen it yet, I recommend doing so if you enjoy the other movies. I would go see it again in the theaters but I don’t feel like paying $8+ again, and besides Cinemark on the plaza isn’t showing it anymore. Last night was, in fact, the last night.

Memorable quotes from Clerks 2.

“Your teeth are perfect,” the dentist told me about an hour ago. I think I’ve finally perfected the flossing method that I’ve been trying to master for years. I know some of you know what I’m talking about. You don’t floss regularly, but when you get the notice of your upcoming appointment you floss like a mad man. Well I put the appointment off for an additional week and did two full weeks of flossing each day. At my appointment today there were no comments, from either the hygienist or the dentist, that I should be flossing more. Patent pending.

As bad as the weather is outside (over 100 degrees today not taking into account the humidity), I think the “weather” in our office is worse. Upon arriving at work the past couple of weeks, I would open my office door and immediately be hit with a wall of hot, still, nasty air. After leaving the door open for a little while, the air from the hall would mix and it would be comfortable at my desk. A few of us notified the administration of the problem and it was supposedly fixed yesterday.

I will admit that I didn’t have that wall of air when opening my office door this morning, so they must have done something. The problem now is that it is becoming too cold. I saw one of the members of the management team walk by, in route to his office, with a jacket on. My fingers are actually becoming numb while typing this, and the only solution I’ve found so far has been to sit on them and warm them up. Slight problem though, it’s hard to type while sitting on your hands though.

We just flipped the switch on the thermostat to “increase” from the “decrease” position. Hopefully we’ll be at a happy medium soon. If not I’ll have to consider bringing my ski gloves to work with me each day.

This past Saturday we headed toward the Beaumont Club to see Reel Big Fish along with some other bands play to a rather large crowd. I finally got to see RBF again after taking a three year hiatus (the last time I saw them play was 07.09.2003). They were just as good as the last time I saw them, even though some of the non-core members seem to change each time I see them now. Everyone that came along with our group seemed to enjoy the show as well. I think my friends are finally trusting me when I say to go to a show.

Speaking of RBF, they have a new live album out called “Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album” and so far I would have to agree. My live album never was any good. Seriously though, there are 30 songs between two CDs and there is also a bonus DVD. I haven’t had a chance to watch the DVD yet, but I have listened to the CDs multiple times and I have to say that they alone are worth the $20. Since the band doesn’t allow taping, like so many of the other bands I listen to do, this is really my only chance to have some live versions of my favorite songs. I’ve got an extra copy of the album if you are interested, or you can head over to CD Baby to buy one.

I think I’ve neglected to mention it before but Dominique, my little brother from Big Brothers Big Sisters, is back in Kansas City. If you recall from months ago, Dominique went to live with his grandmother in Atlanta for a few months. He has been back for a month or so and we’ve seen him twice since then. The first time we went fishing at a nearby lake. We didn’t catch anything but we did get a few bites here and there. I guess fish do like beef jerky after all.

Yesterday we decided to take Dominique and Bianca to Super Splash. They both had talked about this water park before, and we finally gave in and took them there. Bianca’s birthday was a few days ago, so we thought this would be a nice way to celebrate. As their website says, “Super Splash USA is close to home, fits your budget, and is family fun for everyone!” It is actually about a mile from their house, just south of the stadiums, and it only costs $9 per person.

Although they don’t have too many different slides to ride, there is still something for everyone, and enough to keep you busy for a few hours. Plus there is one really large pool where we tried to teach both of them how to swim. I think they are catching on, but they were petrified of the deep end. They wanted so badly to jump off the diving board but I don’t think they could have made it back to the ladder. It probably didn’t help that one of the lifeguards had to jump in the water to help someone as we were debating whether to jump or not. There is always next time.

As I mentioned before, I’m going to merge the song of the moments into my blog. I’ve created a new SOTM category that can be used to track all of these songs. If, god forbid, you forget about edpaffjr.com and down the road you want to see all of the songs of the moment, you can use the blog category to do so.

Without further adieu, I give you the first song of the moment in quite some time, Michael Franti & Spearhead – “Yell Fire!”

“Franti has created an inspiring, uplifting new album of original songs titled Yell Fire! 14 new songs inspired by his trip to Iraq, Israel and Occupied Territories of Palestine. Recorded in Kingston, Jamaica and Franti’s hometown of San Francisco, California.”

Obviously this is the title track off of their latest CD and it is also the current single. The rest of the albums is just as good as this track and on the same level as the last CD, Everyone Deserves Music. You can check out more of the music and buy the CD at myspace.com and at spearheadvibrations.com. Be sure to check out the recently announced tour dates and catch a live show if you can. You will NOT be disappointed.

It looks as if I may have praised the window air conditioner unit a day too soon. Kim got back to KC yesterday a little before I was off work. She fired up the unit and noticed that it wasn’t putting out cold air. The fan was blowing out, but the air coming out didn’t feel any cooler than when the unit was set to fan only. She shut the door and waited until I finally got home from work. We opened the door to the office only to realize that the room did not feel cool. I think the temperature got up to almost 90 degrees in the room, so something is definitely not working.

Can these things be serviced? Is it even worth it, or should we just suck it up and buy another one? I’m not even sure where this unit came from. It could be 20+ years old for all I know. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

Luckily the outside temperature shouldn’t go above the 80s today. As long as the rain stays away this is shaping up to be a great night!