So I bought some more tools today, and found out the people who I had been buying from were charging me elevated prices. Not massively, but at least 50 cents per tool, which was enough to upset me. Considering the prices of the tools I bought ranged from $2.50 to $4.50, 50 cents per tool is a noticeable percentage of the cost.
I made a bit of a fuss and they refunded me $1.50. I felt like an idiot, arguing over the price of a coffee. I guess it's the principle of the thing. They don't seem to be hurting for cash, and I was mostly annoyed because If I'm going to be a repeat customer, as I have been, I would hope for some recognition of that by giving me good prices. I felt taken advantage of, as silly as that may seem. Also, I was somewhat suspicious that they were charging elevated prices last time, but didn't think it was too big a deal. For some reason actually confirming it right after buying tools from them was infuriating.
Also, I explored the vast maze of parts in the Russian Market (there are pictures in some of the earliest posts of this area) and bought a throttle cable for the Chaly, which cost $1.25. It was fun to go into that part of the market, because people really do not expect westerners there, and many fewer vendors speak english. I feel like an explorer there, and really wish things like this existed in the US. Pick and Pull junkyards are the closest thing we have, but those are dwindling due to litigation, the scourge of so many fun and interesting things.
Also, the reason I wasn't able to load that darn video is that It was too big a file. So i need to find some program to trim it down a bit.
Ned.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thanksgiving and Working in The Shop
Hi.
So First, I want to share some pictures from the very fun thanksgiving party that I attended and made some pies for. As you can see, there were quite a few people (I believe the official count was 29) and there was a lot of wonderful food.
People made legitimate stuffing, 2 large and delicous turkeys were roasted, mashed potatoes of many varieties, real gravy, etc. My contribution was pies, I made 3 apple and 2 pumpkin, but gave one of the apples to the owner of the oven I used, who also helped me bake for about 4 hours. This picture was taken en route to the party, the pies were still cooling as we rode.
Finding pie plates and some of the ingredients was a trial, but quite successful in the end. Everything was from scratch, from Cook's illustrated recipes. There were some goofs, like I forgot to add half the necessary butter into the apple pie crust dough, so had to add it after mixing it together. It ended up being pretty tough and not flaky, but was still not too bad. The pumpkin had a bunch of complicated steps that we skipped, and was still really good. So overall the pies were a great success, as was the party in general.
So moving onto the shop progress, here is a picture of me with a bunch of TC guys, and my translator who is cut off at the left side of the frame. Also, one of the TC guys was to Sai Ha (translator's) right, and is not in the photo. All the way to the right is Leb Krem, who randomly stopped in to say hi. He is kind of the leader of TC. Hopefully he enjoyed seeing the shop. The other important person in this picture is Lee Him, who is the farthest person to the left who can completely be seen. He will become the general manager of the shop, and is really into it. He pays very close attention, which is more than can be said for some of these younger guys. They are generally only really interested when we start using our hands. I think the launguage barrier makes it hard for them to focus.
Here we are tearing the Chaly down. We stripped it completely, except for the wiring harness, and took the head off the engine. This made it much easier to explain the valve train, and do my best to explain timing. We then put the engine back together and it started, which was exciting.
Here is a picture of the white board. The drawings on the right are trying to explain what the valve train does/how it works. The bottom left is how a carb works, I said it was like a straw pulling gas into the air. It worked as an analogy, which was cool. On the top, I was trying to explain valve clearances, which was somewhat less successful.
So I have a video of the guys drawing the 4 strokes of an engine on the whiteboard, and spent 2 hours trying to load it onto the blog. It was like waiting for water to boil, except it never actually happened, and I couldn't be sure it would, when at least water boiling is almost certain to happen. Frustrating. I'll try to get it on next weekend.
As a final note, I found out that the two guys I'm sending to school will be done in four to six weeks, which is good. When they come to the shop we'll start taking in clients moto's I think, which will be terrifying/exciting/etc.
Hope everyone's well, and that you had good thanksgivings.
Ned.
So First, I want to share some pictures from the very fun thanksgiving party that I attended and made some pies for. As you can see, there were quite a few people (I believe the official count was 29) and there was a lot of wonderful food.
People made legitimate stuffing, 2 large and delicous turkeys were roasted, mashed potatoes of many varieties, real gravy, etc. My contribution was pies, I made 3 apple and 2 pumpkin, but gave one of the apples to the owner of the oven I used, who also helped me bake for about 4 hours. This picture was taken en route to the party, the pies were still cooling as we rode.
Finding pie plates and some of the ingredients was a trial, but quite successful in the end. Everything was from scratch, from Cook's illustrated recipes. There were some goofs, like I forgot to add half the necessary butter into the apple pie crust dough, so had to add it after mixing it together. It ended up being pretty tough and not flaky, but was still not too bad. The pumpkin had a bunch of complicated steps that we skipped, and was still really good. So overall the pies were a great success, as was the party in general.
So moving onto the shop progress, here is a picture of me with a bunch of TC guys, and my translator who is cut off at the left side of the frame. Also, one of the TC guys was to Sai Ha (translator's) right, and is not in the photo. All the way to the right is Leb Krem, who randomly stopped in to say hi. He is kind of the leader of TC. Hopefully he enjoyed seeing the shop. The other important person in this picture is Lee Him, who is the farthest person to the left who can completely be seen. He will become the general manager of the shop, and is really into it. He pays very close attention, which is more than can be said for some of these younger guys. They are generally only really interested when we start using our hands. I think the launguage barrier makes it hard for them to focus.
Here we are tearing the Chaly down. We stripped it completely, except for the wiring harness, and took the head off the engine. This made it much easier to explain the valve train, and do my best to explain timing. We then put the engine back together and it started, which was exciting.
Here is a picture of the white board. The drawings on the right are trying to explain what the valve train does/how it works. The bottom left is how a carb works, I said it was like a straw pulling gas into the air. It worked as an analogy, which was cool. On the top, I was trying to explain valve clearances, which was somewhat less successful.
So I have a video of the guys drawing the 4 strokes of an engine on the whiteboard, and spent 2 hours trying to load it onto the blog. It was like waiting for water to boil, except it never actually happened, and I couldn't be sure it would, when at least water boiling is almost certain to happen. Frustrating. I'll try to get it on next weekend.
Hope everyone's well, and that you had good thanksgivings.
Ned.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Something to Work On.
So the TC moto shop is now the proprietor of a motorbike. Hooray!
Our fine purchase, got at the high price of $70, is a Honda Chaly of approximately 1997 vintage in fairly miserable, though mysteriously running, condition. This is how we found her, at Leb Ke's families house. Upon firing her up (I was totally astonished that it ran. These honda's are ridiculously dependable) and driving around a bit, a mouse that had previously made its home in the Chaly sprinted away, to find a new place of rest.
This next picture is of the throttle cable, where it meets the carburetor. As you can sort of see, it is shredding into bits. I think there were about 3 wires left intact upon riding back to the shop. The reason it has taken such a beating is that the throttle assembly on the handlebar no longer functions correctly, so the only way to control the speed of the bike is to reach down (the carburetor is located between the drivers legs, by the knees) and pull the cable directly.
To put it mildly, this makes it difficult to ride. Turning is highly dangerous.
However, we made it to the shop, and it is now resting for the coming teardown. I'm not really sure what the goal is yet. Ideally we would restore/hot rod it, but I'm not sure If we can get it registered. So we'll explore our ability to legally drive it while stripping and cleaning it, and try to deduce the financial investment required to return it to somewhat safe status.
If actually driving it is not in the cards, it will just be a lesson in what not to do. For example, the rear sprocket is pictured below, in all it's shocking glory. Normally sprockets have teeth similar to dog canines, i.e. large and pointy. This one looks more like dull shark teeth, all curved backwards. Because the teeth dont stick into the chain, when you are driving and let off the gas, the chain 'coasts' over the teeth and makes a terible racket. I think the only reason it works at all is because the chain has zero slack. It's pretty nutty.
So thats the moto story. Also, we now have a whiteboard, to facilitate teaching.
On monday, people from Tramoung Chrum are coming to the shop. I will attempt to teach them how engines work, and if that fails we'll just take the moto apart.
So that's whats up!
Ned.
Our fine purchase, got at the high price of $70, is a Honda Chaly of approximately 1997 vintage in fairly miserable, though mysteriously running, condition. This is how we found her, at Leb Ke's families house. Upon firing her up (I was totally astonished that it ran. These honda's are ridiculously dependable) and driving around a bit, a mouse that had previously made its home in the Chaly sprinted away, to find a new place of rest.
This next picture is of the throttle cable, where it meets the carburetor. As you can sort of see, it is shredding into bits. I think there were about 3 wires left intact upon riding back to the shop. The reason it has taken such a beating is that the throttle assembly on the handlebar no longer functions correctly, so the only way to control the speed of the bike is to reach down (the carburetor is located between the drivers legs, by the knees) and pull the cable directly.To put it mildly, this makes it difficult to ride. Turning is highly dangerous.
However, we made it to the shop, and it is now resting for the coming teardown. I'm not really sure what the goal is yet. Ideally we would restore/hot rod it, but I'm not sure If we can get it registered. So we'll explore our ability to legally drive it while stripping and cleaning it, and try to deduce the financial investment required to return it to somewhat safe status.
If actually driving it is not in the cards, it will just be a lesson in what not to do. For example, the rear sprocket is pictured below, in all it's shocking glory. Normally sprockets have teeth similar to dog canines, i.e. large and pointy. This one looks more like dull shark teeth, all curved backwards. Because the teeth dont stick into the chain, when you are driving and let off the gas, the chain 'coasts' over the teeth and makes a terible racket. I think the only reason it works at all is because the chain has zero slack. It's pretty nutty.
So thats the moto story. Also, we now have a whiteboard, to facilitate teaching.
On monday, people from Tramoung Chrum are coming to the shop. I will attempt to teach them how engines work, and if that fails we'll just take the moto apart.
So that's whats up!
Ned.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Hi everyone.
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been up to much. Buying the tools led to a stall, since i had nothing to use them on and didn't know what direction to go in, other than needing to buy an old motorbike to use them on.
So tomorrow (hopefully, I still need to confirm with Leb Ke) I'm going to meet Leb Ke's brother, who has a beat up moto i can buy. Next week people from TC will actually be involved in the project, which will be a big step. A guy named Lee Him is going to move into the shop, and becomes it's general manager. I will then be responsible for the training of 4 young guys from TC. How that's going to work out is anybody's guess.
So I will try and teach these young guys basics, like how engines work and stuff, while also trying to work on the old moto, kind of like a balancing theory and practical work approach. I have no idea when we will open for business, but i would say it's months off still.
Anyway, Here are some pictures of two cool events. The first was a well getting drilled at the house Im staying in by a seriously jalopy-type vehicle. It was homemade, with a 22 HP single cylinder diesel engine with an enormous flywheel. It looked like an old steam engine. The drill was also a fabulous concoction of cobbled together parts.
The next cool thing was checking out TC's organic agrictulture project, which is moving along nicely. They have a bunch of watermelon plants, morning glory, and other stuff. A friend of mine is working with them to build a shade house, which will allow for growing of tomatoes and green peppers, which don't do well in direct cambodian sun apparently, and are mostly imported from Vietnam or Thailand.
I included some pictures that are more 'arty' than useful, but i thought they looked cool and included them anyway.
hope everyone's well, expect an update when the moto is bought and/or people from TC come.
Ned.
I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been up to much. Buying the tools led to a stall, since i had nothing to use them on and didn't know what direction to go in, other than needing to buy an old motorbike to use them on.
So tomorrow (hopefully, I still need to confirm with Leb Ke) I'm going to meet Leb Ke's brother, who has a beat up moto i can buy. Next week people from TC will actually be involved in the project, which will be a big step. A guy named Lee Him is going to move into the shop, and becomes it's general manager. I will then be responsible for the training of 4 young guys from TC. How that's going to work out is anybody's guess.
So I will try and teach these young guys basics, like how engines work and stuff, while also trying to work on the old moto, kind of like a balancing theory and practical work approach. I have no idea when we will open for business, but i would say it's months off still.
Anyway, Here are some pictures of two cool events. The first was a well getting drilled at the house Im staying in by a seriously jalopy-type vehicle. It was homemade, with a 22 HP single cylinder diesel engine with an enormous flywheel. It looked like an old steam engine. The drill was also a fabulous concoction of cobbled together parts.
The next cool thing was checking out TC's organic agrictulture project, which is moving along nicely. They have a bunch of watermelon plants, morning glory, and other stuff. A friend of mine is working with them to build a shade house, which will allow for growing of tomatoes and green peppers, which don't do well in direct cambodian sun apparently, and are mostly imported from Vietnam or Thailand.
I included some pictures that are more 'arty' than useful, but i thought they looked cool and included them anyway.
hope everyone's well, expect an update when the moto is bought and/or people from TC come.
Ned.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ta-Da
Hello Everyone,
So I finally persuaded myself that buying tools will not immediately precede the end of the world, wandered down to the russian market, and began the process. You can see pictures of the russian market in one of my earlier posts. Also, for those who have interest, I wrote a list of what I bought, most of which you can see in the picture below, hanging from a sheet of plywood attached to the masonry wall of the shop.
I decided to use 51 screws to attach that plywood. Drilling that many holes in a brick/masonry wall is miserable and tough on the ears. Despite that annoyance, we could probably attach a moto to this sheet of plywood without it coming off the wall. So that's good. Also, you can see the workbench we commissioned, which is quite sturdy, although the top is kind of thin. I may add another sheet of plywood, so it bounces less if you hammer things on it.
Right - here's the list:
1. short #2 screwdriver - $1
2. Screwdriver set, #0 - #3, long - $5
3. combination wrenches 8mm -24mm (2 sets) - $28
4. Mechanical Impact Driver - $10
5. Diagonal Pliers (cutters) - $1.50
6. Rubber Mallet - $3
7. Allen Wrench set, .5mm - 10mm - $6
8. 1/4" socket wrench set w/ 4 -12mm sockets and some other bits and bobs - $17
9. 1/2"socket wrench set w/ 12-24mm sockets - $16.50
10. Circlip pliers - $2.50
So this is a reasonable start to the collection, and was about 90 dollars. These are the prices they quoted me. I don't really like bargaining, And found it hard to believe that they were charging inflated prices. A rubber mallet for three dollars is pretty cheap. Maybe I paid 50 cents to a dollar too much. Say overall I could have argued ten or so dollars off the price. I just found it hard to justify arguing with them about it. I made a half hearted attempt by saying "these are barang prices, give me Khmer prices." They assured me they were Khmer prices, and that was pretty much that. Hopefully they will provide me good prices in the future, and be willing to change out a tool if we break one of the ones that says it has a guarantee.
Still though, mabye I'll get a Khmer guy to price check for me this coming weekend, to dispell my admittedly fairly small fears of being ripped off.
So now I'm not sure what to do with/in the shop. I'm meeting with Leb Ke this coming monday or tuesday, and may see what he thinks. His brother has a super beat up moto sitting around that I may purchase to try and re-hab, or at least have something tangible to teach with. Hopefully that will happen soon.
Anyway, take care.
Ned.
So I finally persuaded myself that buying tools will not immediately precede the end of the world, wandered down to the russian market, and began the process. You can see pictures of the russian market in one of my earlier posts. Also, for those who have interest, I wrote a list of what I bought, most of which you can see in the picture below, hanging from a sheet of plywood attached to the masonry wall of the shop.
I decided to use 51 screws to attach that plywood. Drilling that many holes in a brick/masonry wall is miserable and tough on the ears. Despite that annoyance, we could probably attach a moto to this sheet of plywood without it coming off the wall. So that's good. Also, you can see the workbench we commissioned, which is quite sturdy, although the top is kind of thin. I may add another sheet of plywood, so it bounces less if you hammer things on it.
Right - here's the list:
1. short #2 screwdriver - $1
2. Screwdriver set, #0 - #3, long - $5
3. combination wrenches 8mm -24mm (2 sets) - $28
4. Mechanical Impact Driver - $10
5. Diagonal Pliers (cutters) - $1.50
6. Rubber Mallet - $3
7. Allen Wrench set, .5mm - 10mm - $6
8. 1/4" socket wrench set w/ 4 -12mm sockets and some other bits and bobs - $17
9. 1/2"socket wrench set w/ 12-24mm sockets - $16.50
10. Circlip pliers - $2.50
So this is a reasonable start to the collection, and was about 90 dollars. These are the prices they quoted me. I don't really like bargaining, And found it hard to believe that they were charging inflated prices. A rubber mallet for three dollars is pretty cheap. Maybe I paid 50 cents to a dollar too much. Say overall I could have argued ten or so dollars off the price. I just found it hard to justify arguing with them about it. I made a half hearted attempt by saying "these are barang prices, give me Khmer prices." They assured me they were Khmer prices, and that was pretty much that. Hopefully they will provide me good prices in the future, and be willing to change out a tool if we break one of the ones that says it has a guarantee.
Still though, mabye I'll get a Khmer guy to price check for me this coming weekend, to dispell my admittedly fairly small fears of being ripped off.
So now I'm not sure what to do with/in the shop. I'm meeting with Leb Ke this coming monday or tuesday, and may see what he thinks. His brother has a super beat up moto sitting around that I may purchase to try and re-hab, or at least have something tangible to teach with. Hopefully that will happen soon.
Anyway, take care.
Ned.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
What I've been up to
I came into Phnom Penh to buy tools, but haven't. I'm afraid to, because then i have to learn where/how to buy parts, start fixing things, etc. It's also a big financial step.
Also, There's a national holiday called the water fesitval where 1-2 million people descend on Phnom Penh, so it's crazy here.
Also Also, my birthday and thoughts on life writing has preoccupied me.
So Now the shop is all ready for tools, and the next step, and I haven't done it yet. I'm doing my best to recognize that I will be able to do it soon, like next weekend. But this coming week might be a very slow one for project developments.
I forgot to take pictures i have been promising, of the guys who are going to moto-repair school, and the most recent shop scene. They'll be up sometime soon.
Hope everyone's well.
Ned.
Also, There's a national holiday called the water fesitval where 1-2 million people descend on Phnom Penh, so it's crazy here.
Also Also, my birthday and thoughts on life writing has preoccupied me.
So Now the shop is all ready for tools, and the next step, and I haven't done it yet. I'm doing my best to recognize that I will be able to do it soon, like next weekend. But this coming week might be a very slow one for project developments.
I forgot to take pictures i have been promising, of the guys who are going to moto-repair school, and the most recent shop scene. They'll be up sometime soon.
Hope everyone's well.
Ned.
Thoughts on Life
Cliffnotes to this whole thing:
A. Trying to write these thoughts is kind of embarrassing. I think it come from a fear of people thinking I’m being dumb and/or silly.
B. Life is confusing. I don’t really have any answers.
C. It’s easy to over think things, but acting without thinking seems like a poor solution.
D. I don’t know what I want to do with my life, but when I get back I plan to travel the US for a while.
E. I could probably add lots of letters to this cliff notes list. Five seems appropriate though, so I’ll stop.
While in the midst of writing this, I read a piece called “Against Meat” by Jonathan Safran Foer, in which he wrote about being a sophomore in college and starting to study philosophy. He described that as the beginning of his “seriously pretentious thinking”. I constantly feel like that’s what my writing is, because it seems like I’m indulging my own thoughts without getting anywhere. I ask lots of rhetorical questions without really answering anything, and tend towards the melodramatic. Still, there may be a grain of worthwhile-ness in these ruminations. I hope they at least inspire thought. So here we go.
I am now 23, which makes me feel old. I know this is preposterous. My grandfather is 60 years older than I am which is beyond my scope of understanding, mostly because I cannot imagine what the world was like to him when he grew up, and therefore cannot imagine the world of my twilight years. This is a concept that kind of stops me in my tracks. Where is the world going? How am I going to participate in this brave new world? The art of divining the future would be a welcome addition to my skill set, but I don’t see it deciding to join me any time soon. So I will just have to live life.
This living of life brings the question of how best to do so. Is deep, gritty, hands-on participation required for the fulfillment of my potential? Or are the observation of life and the gaining of broad knowledge the keys?
I’m not sure of the answer to these questions, unsurprisingly, but I kind of live them out in my daily life. On the side of the former, I do work on the shop when I could pay others to do so, and on the latter I consume vast quantities of information that have nothing to do with the actual purpose of me being here. I don’t know which is better, or if either is ‘good’.
This highlights another question; what is the purpose for me being here? (in Cambodia, although certainly the larger question of existence is also interesting) Ostensibly it’s to start a motorbike repair shop, live the social entrepreneurship dream, etc. I just don’t know if that’s really what it’s all about, and I feel like I’m not devoted enough to the project because of my confusion. I’m constantly searching, trying to answer these questions.
My search for answers leads me to read a lot, and I’ve begun to move away from novels. While I dearly love them, and they can contain the essence of human experience, the answers are a little too unclear. I want some straight shooting.
This has led me to books like Irrational Man, which is William Barrett’s explanation of existentialism. While I haven’t finished it, parts of it really strike me, as when the author speaks about the problem of "the divorce of mind from life." This expresses something I have felt, because it seems like so much of modern life is not really deeply thought about, just done. There is certainly something to be said for living in the present, but I think what makes the present 'good' or 'bad' is whether it is mindful. Unfortunately, this path leads to the problem evidenced in the above paragraphs. I’ve started asking too many questions, which rapidly can become a detriment to actually doing things.
But they are important questions, and to try and come up with answers, even if imperfect, seems at least as significant as tangible productions.
So here are some thoughts.
About mindfulness in life, what I mean is that something drives people through the present, generally speaking. They have memories, and hopes for the future, which affect their behavior at every moment. What I have trouble understanding is what drives people (including myself) to do things, and if they think about what drives them.
It’s easy to say people are driven by ‘a desire to help people’, or the pursuit of other stuff, but how does this make them capable of such astonishing feats? I’m thinking of Greg Mortenson and Paul Farmer, who built schools in Afghanistan and Health Clinics all over the world, respectively. Drive doesn’t always lead to good things though. Like Bernie Madoff was probably a pretty driven guy, but he didn’t really help people out very much.
Also, life seems quite fleeting and truth is illusive. I think one reason I read so much random stuff is that I feel like I have a very short time to learn everything I want to. But maybe my quest to learn a lot is a waste of time, because living life in the pursuit of something, whether it is money or knowledge, is a dangerous path. I don’t think people who pursue something specific will ever be totally satisfied. This may be an influence from what I’ve learned of Buddhism, which says that the cause of all human suffering is desire.
To that end, I think the vast amount of time I spend taking in information distracts me from my life. To phrase it more impressively, my personal divorce of mind from life actually comes through the almost continual intake of external information. Ironically, I am using my mind to avoid my life. I’ve begun questioning why and what better use I could put my limited amount of time to.
But what would be a life without desire? Is my want for answers really foolish? Why do I feel like I have to use my time for a specific goal when just being alive is a pretty great thing? I think the Buddhist answer is that the purpose of life is to try and enlighten oneself, where enlightenment does not come from read knowledge but from direct experience of life in its immediate form.
Bleh. I don’t know what to think. The purpose of life, both all of it and mine specifically, evades me. Apparently some people think searching for that purpose is what leads one astray. Others would adamantly state that life is about achieving, and shooting for the stars, etc. Generally though, it seems to me that when people have answers, they are based in dogma, and their specific view of the world. Who is to say what view of the world is correct? Does our personal sense of morality really allow us to tell other people what is good and what is bad? Is collective thought of moral principal (which I guess manifests itself in laws, written and not) the real guiding force in life?
I think when I get back I’m going to road trip around the country for an indeterminate time, visiting people, looking at places I’m interested in working, and experiencing parts of the US that I haven’t. I don’t really want to do anything traditionally considered ‘productive’. Just travel, and learn, in my home country. Re-connect with friends, and see if a cool job that won’t stifle me exists.
Thanks for reading.
Ned.
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