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A while back, I was wondering whether God wanted me to continue with serving in the music ministry at my church. There was change in personnel, and some weird politics that I won't get into. Then I hadn't been notified (their system is an email request) about any services they wanted me in for about six months. During this time, some key positions went unfilled. I figured during the interim period between a resignation and a new hire such things as "there is no one qualified to be interim.... (choir director, or orchestra director, fill in the blank) musician." I figured that maybe they didn't want me leading any rehearsals since I was divorced or something....I didn't really know what to think. I told God that I was okay with staying at my church and serving in the music ministry, or not, or serving somewhere else. I just prayed that I would have ears to hear Him as He led.
I shared before that I responded to an ad for a church musician. This was during this six month or so period where I got no notice that I was needed. This other church is anything but Christian, so I stayed put and didn't pursue anything there. In November, I got a request to serve. By this time, I had begun booking piano lessons on our rehearsal day, so I was kind of limited, but still managed a little bit.
I recently got an email SOS from a member of a community choir I am in. Their church is in desperate need of a piano player and choir accompanist. Originally it was to be to get them through this last Sunday and their Christmas Eve and Christmas day services. But unfortunately, their regular pianist is terminally ill and they want me there permanently now.
So I am kind of between churches right now. My 12 y.o. is enjoying my old church's children's program, which is quite good, and I don't want to take her away from that. I'm transitioning from Baptist church culture to Lutheran church culture, from a more free format service to a very scripted service, from volunteering my time and musical talents to getting paid for it, and from a lobby with coffee to a very social group that is big on coffee, pastries and endless potlucks. Though I don't feel I really have a church "home" right now, I think this is exactly where the Lord wants me.
I hope I don't get fat.
I shared before that I responded to an ad for a church musician. This was during this six month or so period where I got no notice that I was needed. This other church is anything but Christian, so I stayed put and didn't pursue anything there. In November, I got a request to serve. By this time, I had begun booking piano lessons on our rehearsal day, so I was kind of limited, but still managed a little bit.
I recently got an email SOS from a member of a community choir I am in. Their church is in desperate need of a piano player and choir accompanist. Originally it was to be to get them through this last Sunday and their Christmas Eve and Christmas day services. But unfortunately, their regular pianist is terminally ill and they want me there permanently now.
So I am kind of between churches right now. My 12 y.o. is enjoying my old church's children's program, which is quite good, and I don't want to take her away from that. I'm transitioning from Baptist church culture to Lutheran church culture, from a more free format service to a very scripted service, from volunteering my time and musical talents to getting paid for it, and from a lobby with coffee to a very social group that is big on coffee, pastries and endless potlucks. Though I don't feel I really have a church "home" right now, I think this is exactly where the Lord wants me.
I hope I don't get fat.
Yeah, or even Big Rig
They got air brakes, no freezing.
I can just see Arwen grabbin gears with a 3 speed rear end
They got air brakes, no freezing.
I can just see Arwen grabbin gears with a 3 speed rear end
Automobile engineering 101:
Old car= body on frame and lots of heavy steel. The forces of a collision are transferred to the occupants since the frame doesn't bend and absorb the impact forces.
New car=unibody (no rigid frame) The forces of the impact are absorbed as engineered "crumple zones" collapse thus transferring less force to the occupants thus diminishing the severity of injuries.
Newer cars are designed specifically to "sacrifice' themselves to keep the occupants alive. Years back I drove tow trucks for a living and a colleague of mine was rear ended by a Semi. He was out for months with cracked vertebrae in his neck yet his truck was back in service that afternoon with no visible damage. The same impact speed going to a Honda would have totaled the car since the trunk would have completely collapsed, but the likelihood of the severe neck injury would have been diminished
Ok, I'm done picking on Midnight Welder for now
Actually older semi's have problems with brakes freezing also due to condensation in the air lines. Newer rigs have air dryers to prevent this.
Automobile engineering 101:
Old car= body on frame and lots of heavy steel. The forces of a collision are transferred to the occupants since the frame doesn't bend and absorb the impact forces.
New car=unibody (no rigid frame) The forces of the impact are absorbed as engineered "crumple zones" collapse thus transferring less force to the occupants thus diminishing the severity of injuries.
Newer cars are designed specifically to "sacrifice' themselves to keep the occupants alive. Years back I drove tow trucks for a living and a colleague of mine was rear ended by a Semi. He was out for months with cracked vertebrae in his neck yet his truck was back in service that afternoon with no visible damage. The same impact speed going to a Honda would have totaled the car since the trunk would have completely collapsed, but the likelihood of the severe neck injury would have been diminished
Ok, I'm done picking on Midnight Welder for now
Automobile engineering 101:
Old car= body on frame and lots of heavy steel. The forces of a collision are transferred to the occupants since the frame doesn't bend and absorb the impact forces.
New car=unibody (no rigid frame) The forces of the impact are absorbed as engineered "crumple zones" collapse thus transferring less force to the occupants thus diminishing the severity of injuries.
Newer cars are designed specifically to "sacrifice' themselves to keep the occupants alive. Years back I drove tow trucks for a living and a colleague of mine was rear ended by a Semi. He was out for months with cracked vertebrae in his neck yet his truck was back in service that afternoon with no visible damage. The same impact speed going to a Honda would have totaled the car since the trunk would have completely collapsed, but the likelihood of the severe neck injury would have been diminished
Ok, I'm done picking on Midnight Welder for now
J
I bought my first car when I was 18 from an elderly neighbor when he could no longer drive for $500. It was a 1965 Chrysler New Yorker like this one (power everything; blue interior) he had babied and kept in the garage. I named it "Tank". The only issue: The window would fall down into the door when I hit a bump and my brothers would have to help me take the door apart to put the window back up on the track. Loved that car....
I named it "Tank". The only issue: The window would fall down into the door when I hit a bump and my brothers would have to help me take the door apart to put the window back up on the track. Loved that car....
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M
I've always had a really difficult time making decisions. Small ones, major ones...I take forever. But once I make up my mind, that's the course I'm set on. Wrong or right, I follow through.
...usually I choose the wrong thing.
But, looking on the bright side of that, I've learned a lot more than I would have had things been easier, had I made more right choices in my past. I've discovered things about myself that an easier, less rocky path wouldn't have revealed. I've found out that I'm tougher than anyone gives me credit for, and softer than I would like to be.
On the other hand...
Why couldn't I have chosen better?
...usually I choose the wrong thing.
But, looking on the bright side of that, I've learned a lot more than I would have had things been easier, had I made more right choices in my past. I've discovered things about myself that an easier, less rocky path wouldn't have revealed. I've found out that I'm tougher than anyone gives me credit for, and softer than I would like to be.
On the other hand...
Why couldn't I have chosen better?
A
Scary scary Arwen,
If I may make a suggestion toward your safety, theres the great possibility there could be water in the brake lines.
Over the years moisture can accumulate in them as brake fluid is Hygroscopic-(absorbs moisture from the air)
When it freezes the water it can act like a one way check valve until the water in the lines warms up and act like normal again.
It would be a good idea to have the brake system bled completely until all fluid comes out clean and clear
Bad flexible brake lines can also do this, the inner lining collapsing and also acting like a check valve not letting the brakes release.
Wouldn't want ya to get in a wreck
If I may make a suggestion toward your safety, theres the great possibility there could be water in the brake lines.
Over the years moisture can accumulate in them as brake fluid is Hygroscopic-(absorbs moisture from the air)
When it freezes the water it can act like a one way check valve until the water in the lines warms up and act like normal again.
It would be a good idea to have the brake system bled completely until all fluid comes out clean and clear
Bad flexible brake lines can also do this, the inner lining collapsing and also acting like a check valve not letting the brakes release.
Wouldn't want ya to get in a wreck
M
Thank you for the insight on the air brakes Oncefallen.
I'm open to correction.
In my own mind I am partially relating this also to water hose/ house pipes something we can all relate to with the cold weather we're having.
In a closed off hydraulic system the pressure created acts like a jack.
Its not so much the ice creating the rupture in a line but the pressure created from the expanding ice pushing on the liquid.
The liquid not being compressible has no where to go therefore breaking pipes and fittings.
A viable remedy for this sort of thing would be to simply have the valve cracked open slightly so when the water does freeze, the existing liquid has somewhere to go, an exit.
If the line was full of air, as the ice formed the air would simply compress.
Liken this to a brake line and the theory is the same. The ice creates a blockage in which neither any of the liquid up or down stream may compress, locking the brakes.
In an air brake system even if condensation formed from non-functioning water separator or lack of one, wouldn't then the air forward of any blockage be compressed and therefore not lock the drum/caliper?
Although I can see the alternative result with an air system compared to flluid could be no brakes at all, likely just as bad of a danger scenario.
With regard to newer vehicle impact absorbing design, I suppose it depends on ones experiences.
I've been in 2 wrecks, both older vehicles but under 50 MPH.
The first one and worse of the two was coming down Mtn Lassen in a 75 Ford F350 Dually Service truck fully loaded with tools. Steel rack on top etc. Only lap belts that year.
My partner was driving and we were going down hill through the turns when he hit black ice while on the brakes.
Suddenly it was like this big 4 foot wide Ponderosa Pine honed in on us and said "come to me".
I noticed we were heading straight for it and he was turning the wheel, letting off the brakes pressing them again trying to do anything to slow down or turn us away from danger. But it was like we only sped up no matter what he tried.
I instantly put my hands on the dash (as if that would help right? theory says no) and tried to keep my eyes open wanting to watch the whole thing happen before me.
Just about 10 feet before impact we were doing perhaps 35 Mph and my brain either turned off or my eyes closed on their own.
My arms buckled as my upper body slammed forward with my face smacking the dash. Felt like someone punched me pretty good as the truck hit the tree head on dead center. The steel rack bent forward causing the the rear window to bust showering glass everywhere. That stuffs itchy on your neck
I jumped out spitting blood, My mouth was numb. The driver asked if I was ok, I tapped my front teeth as I was standing there looking in the rearview mirror trying to see if they were still there but my eyes were watery. I had to ask my buddy to look and ask him "are all my teeth still there?"
He laughingly said"yeah they're all there... BUT for get your teeth, are you alright!"
I said No I got a fat lip.
The thing is...when I was married, my wife clipped a deer in her Taurus. air bags went off, the right air bag cover shot into the windshield cracking it, messed up the plastic facia parts in the front.
A little deer clipping caused more than 1500.00 worth of damage, and she said she didn't even think she hit the thing because she didn't feel any impact.
My face heals pretty well on its own.
My truck don't.
I dunno, anything under 40 or so I'll take a stout old car/truck
Over 50 I could see the merits in an impact absorbing something or other.
I'm open to correction.
In my own mind I am partially relating this also to water hose/ house pipes something we can all relate to with the cold weather we're having.
In a closed off hydraulic system the pressure created acts like a jack.
Its not so much the ice creating the rupture in a line but the pressure created from the expanding ice pushing on the liquid.
The liquid not being compressible has no where to go therefore breaking pipes and fittings.
A viable remedy for this sort of thing would be to simply have the valve cracked open slightly so when the water does freeze, the existing liquid has somewhere to go, an exit.
If the line was full of air, as the ice formed the air would simply compress.
Liken this to a brake line and the theory is the same. The ice creates a blockage in which neither any of the liquid up or down stream may compress, locking the brakes.
In an air brake system even if condensation formed from non-functioning water separator or lack of one, wouldn't then the air forward of any blockage be compressed and therefore not lock the drum/caliper?
Although I can see the alternative result with an air system compared to flluid could be no brakes at all, likely just as bad of a danger scenario.
With regard to newer vehicle impact absorbing design, I suppose it depends on ones experiences.
I've been in 2 wrecks, both older vehicles but under 50 MPH.
The first one and worse of the two was coming down Mtn Lassen in a 75 Ford F350 Dually Service truck fully loaded with tools. Steel rack on top etc. Only lap belts that year.
My partner was driving and we were going down hill through the turns when he hit black ice while on the brakes.
Suddenly it was like this big 4 foot wide Ponderosa Pine honed in on us and said "come to me".
I noticed we were heading straight for it and he was turning the wheel, letting off the brakes pressing them again trying to do anything to slow down or turn us away from danger. But it was like we only sped up no matter what he tried.
I instantly put my hands on the dash (as if that would help right? theory says no) and tried to keep my eyes open wanting to watch the whole thing happen before me.
Just about 10 feet before impact we were doing perhaps 35 Mph and my brain either turned off or my eyes closed on their own.
My arms buckled as my upper body slammed forward with my face smacking the dash. Felt like someone punched me pretty good as the truck hit the tree head on dead center. The steel rack bent forward causing the the rear window to bust showering glass everywhere. That stuffs itchy on your neck
I jumped out spitting blood, My mouth was numb. The driver asked if I was ok, I tapped my front teeth as I was standing there looking in the rearview mirror trying to see if they were still there but my eyes were watery. I had to ask my buddy to look and ask him "are all my teeth still there?"
He laughingly said"yeah they're all there... BUT for get your teeth, are you alright!"
I said No I got a fat lip.
The thing is...when I was married, my wife clipped a deer in her Taurus. air bags went off, the right air bag cover shot into the windshield cracking it, messed up the plastic facia parts in the front.
A little deer clipping caused more than 1500.00 worth of damage, and she said she didn't even think she hit the thing because she didn't feel any impact.
My face heals pretty well on its own.
My truck don't.
I dunno, anything under 40 or so I'll take a stout old car/truck
Over 50 I could see the merits in an impact absorbing something or other.
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M
Good question but Not if its icy or snowy DONNNNTLol, but if its dry and you practice this method then it could help slow you down yes,
But the potential for putting you into a tail spin skid is rather high, like i said unless you practice this in a safe area like a big safeway parking lot or something with no other people or cars around.
Whatever you do dont crank on that thing, light pressure and allow lots of distance in front of you.
That being said, as a last resort and I wont recommend it for the possible danger of the brake locking mechanism catching and causing a rear tires to skid which could cause your car to skid sideways.
But it can be done yes.
Safer if you have a pull handle in the middle between seats so you can keep the release button down.
Not very safe if its a foot brake and you have to have the release pulled while you are driving trying to feather the E-brake.
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