Lucille is Getting a Makeover

I've had my truck for about two and a half months now. I'm currently home for the holidays back in Rhode Island and have to take leave of both my truck and my dog... absence really does make the heart grow fonder. In the two months that I've had my FJ60, nicknamed Lucille (after the most diabolical Bluth), I've grown to love the old girl, but haven't quite had the time or money to give her everything she truly deserves. There is, of course, a laundry list of wants and needs, some of which include:

• New air, oil, and fuel filters; new plugs, cap, rotor, and wire; flushing the radiator and cleaning the carb - I'm about halfway through this routine maintenance list.
• While overall her body is in wonderful shape, there are a few minor spots of rust that must be dealt with. I also plan to strip most of the chrome trim since its crap and just traps dirt and moisture, leading to more rust.
• 33x10.5x15 BFG All-Terrain tires. A step up from my current 31" tires. 
• Eventually the wish list includes new front and rear bumpers with bull bars, a Tuffy security console, and tinting the rear windows... for someday in the distant future when I actually have money.

For now I'm gutting the rear cargo area interior of the carpet and side panels. I'm planning on getting new plastic side panels cut, allowing access to the interior of the rear quarters for some fluid/straps/cables storage and building an 8" box that will sit flush with the top of the wheel wells that will house storage drawers and include a fold-down sleeper panel to keep the level flush when the rear seat is folded down. Here are a couple pictures of my destruction process...

When I get back to California I'll be getting the side panels cut and installed, mounting the rear speakers into them, and begin the box-building process.

Career Opportunity: Zombie Subject Matter Expert

I'm fairly certain that we'll face an apocalyptic scenario in the near future, as evidenced by my recent (is a few months ago recent?) post about the Google-induced Terminator-style apocalypse. This scenario really scares the crap out of me, because how do you fight machines? They 'think' hundreds of thousands of times faster than us, our bullets will bounce off their invincible metal bodies, and you really can't make an emotional plea for mercy with them.

No, if we're going to have an apocalypse, I'd at least prefer that it take the form of something a bit more manageable for those of us who would like to pour some effort into surviving. Personally, I feel quite well-equipped for the impending zombie outbreak and would prefer that it occur in time to cripple our society's ability to unleash our own mechanical inventions upon ourselves.

With a background in emergency preparedness and infectious disease, I feel that I could very adequately fill the role of 'Zombie SME' for CDC, DHS, or other interested parties to whom preparation for such an event should fall. My extensive research into the field via film and television only bolsters my credentials and I can, of course, provide references from both large, gun-toting, zombie-fearing warriors as well as prominent infectious disease researchers. I also own a baseball bat.

Where is this Zombie threat going to emerge from? Perhaps the most likely route of infection would be via prions, but I certainly can't rule out a mutated variant of the rabies virus. In either case, it would seem that the actual re-animation of a corpse is much less biologically plausible than the destruction and alteration of a victim's normal brain function, essentially turning them into something no longer human. The 'rage' virus depicted in 28 Days Later is a prime example.

Since I already posted about rabies in China, I'll expand on the biological underpinnings of the prion hypothesis...