Category Archives: Daily Updates

Changing the oil and oil filter on a Chevy Avalanche [updated for 2013]

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Today I changed the oil on our 2011 Chevrolet Avalanche for the first time. A few notes on the process: the oil drain plug (bolt) is located horizontally (sideways), not vertically (downward) like I’m used to. the drain plug uses a 15mm wrench to re-tighten the drain plug, I used 18 ft/lbs torque (the recommendations I found called for between 15-20 ft/lbs) the oil filter is surprisingly small access to the oil filter is generally good, but clearance is tight. most oil

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The Starcraft II Van!

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Last summer Samantha and I came across this awesome van: Of course, what makes it totally awesome is that it’s a STARCRAFT II van! StarCraft 2 is basically the only computer game that I still occasionally play (usually with my buddy Kevin). We started playing classic Starcraft 1 together way back in college (circa 1999-2003). So of course seeing this pimpin’ van really made my day :-). Top Search Terms:starcraft van (94)starcraft vans (13)van starcraft (9)starcraft van logo (5)star craft

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It pays to keep paper statements

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I’m always surprised how often the “online statements” of Chase or Discover are “offline for maintenance” or suffering from “online error”. Sometimes it is nice to have a trusty paper statement as a backup :-). Top Search Terms:www.jdhodges.com+paper-statements (8)chase statement (5)chase online statements (4)chase paper statement (3)chase paper statements (2)chase online (2)chase routing number on paper statement (2)it pays to discover (2)chase (1)chase credit card paper statements (1)

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Daily update: some long overdue projects

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The girls are visiting family in KS, so today I got some long overdue projects done: replaced the coaxial cabling for our WildBlue satellite internet (I previously nicked one of the cables, thus I needed to replace it) hammered in a grounding rod to attach the ground cable to (for the WildBlue satellite dish) finished running the ethernet cable from our office closet to the networking center of our home (thanks to my dad for helping me fish the wire

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Musings on turning 30

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I think this is going to be another good year :-). Photo: sunset in the Ozarks, taken late last month. Intro: I’ve heard that you if you watch someone you can see the story of their life. I’m not talking about what kind of car they drive or how expensive their watch is, I’m talking about whether they are kind to others and whether they believe in themselves. I mean are they as healthy as they can be and do

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Cool moms!

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I wanted to write a quick tribute to my awesome mom and my wonderful mother-in-law. They are very special women and they never cease to impress me! They are also very, very cool. Case in point, on Mother’s Day: my mom did an amazing amount of work helping me put a new roof on my house, my mother-in-law went to the shooting range… What’s so cool about that to me is that my mom is amazingly fit and absolutely loves

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Current river canoe/kayak trips and caves

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It’s tough to come up with good titles anymore after having a website/blog for 10+ years. Actually, I’m not sure I was ever very good at picking blog titles ;-). I almost entitled this blog entry “Mashed Potatoes and White Gravy”  due to me having mashed potatoes and white gravy three days in a row. However, I decided to title it “Kayak week and staying busy” and leave the permalink (URL) with the mashed potatoes bit… 2016 update, title changed

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