update

I never post here any more, cause the nice folks over on nerdy tales let me post there. heres the update. I'm on my second 'leadership role', instead of assemblers, I now have 7 engineers working under me. I no longer have 3 years left on the MBA, i'm down to just over a year left.

I completed a 150k service on the TDI VW. new timing belt, new serpentine belt (i screwed up and didn't change it when i did the 80k service, so i got a whoping 150k miles out of the serpentine! it was pretty much SHREDDED when i pulled it off. yup, i got my money out of that one)

I put in a new brass impeller water pump, the orgigional had a plastic impleller. i'm still undedecided which is better, but i shelled out the high dollars for the brass (roughly twice as expensive) so i might as well use it. changing the water pump invovled a gallon of new coolant. i was smart though, and saved a little of the old stuff when I was draining it and sure enough, the gallon of new stuff wasn't quite enough, so i topped off with the stuff i saved. i'm just so proud of myself on that one to have the forethought to think before doing! (wheres some wood, i'm feeling the urge to nock on wood as i'm sure i've just seriously jinksed myself )

I advanced the timing slightly. the car revs better now, and i'm hoping my mpg will increase from 47mpg to over 50. we'll see.

that was 3-4 nights in the garage. no mishaps, just elbow grease. thanks for the help dad.

new cabin air filter (kind of expensive)
new air filter (cheep)
new fuel filter (busted the nozzle off the bottom when I was admiring it, but it still works)
new stretch bolts, new seal on the vacuum pump

todo: change the glow plug harness, clean the N75 solenoid. whatever that is. decide if i'm going to change the struts or burn another set of tires (hey, 150k miles on 1.7 sets of tires isn't bad. if i burn the rest of the rubber i have, i'll be looking for new tires next spring) i'm leaning towards another set of tires, and then look at struts in the 215k mile range. i'm thinking if i do struts, i have to do alignment too, and if I gottal do all that, i might as well do a 1" lift on the front. and if i do ALL THAT, thats another $500+ into the car that I don't absolutely have to do. so i'll just wait.