Ed in the News

edinthenews

It seems the biggest (newly married) railfan of the Chicago area was a witness to a train accident on the Northwest side. Eddie was going in to work when he saw the accident. He was interviewed by four networks and aired by three.

BUT HE DIDN'T HAVE HIS CAMERA WITH HIM!!!

Here's the whole story: http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_179171926.html

Look on the right side of my page to see the link to his blog "Eddie K's Railfan Blog"

Dinosaur World

Walking through a garden filled with life-sized dinosaurs in Plant City, Florida.

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Fort DeSoto Park

We're checking out an historic fort near St. Petersburg, Florida.

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On the road

A great day at Disney World!

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World's Largest Peanut

On the road in Ashburn, Georgia

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Auto Detailing

Anyone who has known me for a long time knows that I love a clean car. So much that before I married and had a family, I would wash my car at least 5 times a week and wax it once a week from March to November. Needless to say, now that I don't have the time to do that anymore, when I clean my car I'm especially happy.

Since high school, John, Steve and I would detail our cars every Saturday. Detailing means washing, drying, polishing, waxing, shampoo every little spot on the car. The door jams, hinges, in between the hood and the fender - every possible spot on our cars was clean including the engine. This would take up a good part of our Saturdays since a detail on a moderately dirty car could take 6 to 8 hours. Sounds like a long time, but when you're using cotton swabs and toothbrushes to get the dry wax out of every seam in the car, the time flies.

Most people would wash, dry and wax their cars and feel good about it. Not us. Just like painting, it's the preparation that takes the time and makes or breaks the job. If you look closely at a car in the sun, you can see millions of tiny micro scratches caused by washing, and just everyday use. I have to get rid of as many of these as possible or the paint won't look deep and wet.

This is the process that takes the longest, Meguiar's makes a great line of products called Mirror Glaze and they vary in intensity. Each one is applied to the paint and worked in by hand or with a rotary buffer until almost dry, then wiped off before it dries. This is a lot harder than waxing because you get out of it only what you put in. The products I use are numbered 2, 4, 7, 9 (the lower the number, the more abrasive) and if I have some difficult spots on the car, I'll use #2 or #4 which actually makes the paint dull by putting in millions of microscratches, but it's removing the bad layer of oxidation. Then it's followed up with #7, a reseal glaze that removes the microscratches and makes the car look wet. I'll use #9 if there are any swirls left in the paint from the rotary buffer and finally the car is ready for wax.

Here's a photo of my car after the Mirror Glaze but before the wax. My car is a 2001 Intrepid with 113,000 miles on it ( I drive a lot), so it gets used, but it still shines!

cartrunk

And a close-up of the trunk showing how deep the shine is.
carpaint

You can't see the pearl finish, but in the light the dark blue has a pearl luminosity that almost glows- if you polish it properly.

New Front Door and Trim

door

I finally got tired of the old metal front door we had, so I replaced it with a woodgrain door. It has the warm look the foyer needed. After the new door, it was clear to me that I needed to enhance the boring, store-bought trim around the door. I did a little shopping and came up with a bunch of trim that looked good together and created a formal entrance, without overpowering the house.

I also had to install new trim on the rest of the windows on the front of the house, so everything would tie in. It's a pleasure to approach the house now!