Here we go again! New Years Game 2017 anyone?

secretariata said:

Back to the AWESOME 2nd layer...this super cool clock!  Not sure if this is going to go in the grosh or get put up in my office at work?

The 16-Blade Fan

Through the years, Minis were fitted with a few different fans. The 16-blade was the least efficient, but it was very quiet, which was the goal for the engineers, because the radiator - and fan - were mounted sideways, on the left side of the car. This created undesirable noise, for those sitting in the left front seat.

Hopefully, the hands of the clock will keep you cooler than the fan ever could, while you spend time working on your latest project. 

The aluminum part is a brake piston. I'm a grinder, by trade, and that's one of the parts I grind. I believe it's for a Polaris powersports toy. 

In reply to RealMiniParker :

Glad you like your stuff RMP! The mags are regifts from previous New Year's games. The Street Machine is from daeman in Australia and the Octane is from JG. I do love me some Group B. The Lego is also a regift from JG.

That ice scraper is the best one I have ever owned. The rubber cap is for resealing snack bags like fritos, just separate the two halves of the cap and fit the bag edges in between. 

You almost received an exact duplicate of the Civic manual that you gifted this year. I wish I had included it now, that would have been hilarious.

Enjoy annoying everyone with the '70s vintage harmonica. 

Hungary Bill said:

Dang!

We're nearing the end of the game so I went back over the thread and my list (of course I did the obligatory, second check): 

Right now we have about 10 people still waiting for their gifts.  If you're one of them, I have good news!  For 100% of the people waiting, I have shipping confirmations from your senders that there is, in fact, a package in the mail with your name on it

One package mistakenly got shipped to the wrong address (being worked out now), of course there is the geographical distance between a couple of the addresses, and we're still waiting to hear back from the post office on one...  BUT this means we're on track for 100% participation again!!!!  (and that make me far happier than I can express with any combination of our current emoji selection)

 

You guys are awesome and I really cant wait to see what the last leg of this haul bring in

Cheers guys!

I just figured my sender hated me and said berkeley it, not sending. It'd be an easy thing to do. 

JamesMcD said:

And here's the awesomeness inside! I wish I had step-by-step pics of the great pouring forth of goodies, but I had several sets of grabby hands in the way:

I'm glad you, and your family, enjoyed the contents. Let's see if I can give you some more details on it all:

1. I found those plates in the garage of the first house I bought. I've got a stack of them I've been saving for something.
2. The raspberry chocolate was in my stocking this Christmas. I decided to pass the joy along.
3. Giant Ferrero-Rocher was also a stocking gift.
4. The furniture tether was for a very short hitch on top of a desk. I saw very little tipping hazard. I'm glad you can put it to use.
5. Excellent first tool.
6. For no apparent reason, Sears gave me two hookup kits when we bought our dishwasher. Decided this was the perfect use for the extra one.
7. The shirt was a gift from a family member and a couple of sizes too large for me.
8. Ratchet straps from Harbor Freight. Good for 300 pounds working load, I think.
9. if I remember correctly, the headlight bulb is the used one.
10. The magnet was just stuck to my toolbox.
11. Yes, those plug wires are for a GM V8. I bought them for my '76 C20. I went to install them and discovered they were for the other type of distributor. Unfortunately it was well past the return date when I discovered this.
12. The cover plate insulators work well. That is what was left after I did my 1920s farm house.
13. I'm glad you love the Hella magnet. I found that while cleaning up cones at an autocross. I thought it was cool and nobody claimed it.

In reply to RealMiniParker :

I wondered what the fan was from and if it was intact. Considering the size & shape of the blades it didn't look very efficient, but color had me wondering if it was off a piece of equipment or a tractor.

Mndsm said:

Hungary Bill said:

Dang!

We're nearing the end of the game so I went back over the thread and my list (of course I did the obligatory, second check): 

Right now we have about 10 people still waiting for their gifts.  If you're one of them, I have good news!  For 100% of the people waiting, I have shipping confirmations from your senders that there is, in fact, a package in the mail with your name on it

One package mistakenly got shipped to the wrong address (being worked out now), of course there is the geographical distance between a couple of the addresses, and we're still waiting to hear back from the post office on one...  BUT this means we're on track for 100% participation again!!!!  (and that make me far happier than I can express with any combination of our current emoji selection)

 

You guys are awesome and I really cant wait to see what the last leg of this haul bring in

Cheers guys!

I just figured my sender hated me and said berkeley it, not sending. It'd be an easy thing to do. 

No no, he DOES hate you!!   I was just able to convince him that sending you actual E36 M3 in a box was better than his current plan of ignoring you completely.  

Mndsm said:

I just figured my sender hated me and said berkeley it, not sending. It'd be an easy thing to do. 

I hope i get paired up with you next year.  your expectations will be pretty low.   ;-)

Jumper K Balls said:

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

I've been told that I "might not want to mix them"  But we will see what happens.

Reading iz hard 

My Turn!!!

The opening implement (Since somehow this has become a big deal):

I think I opened this upside down

excellent! though I think one of the hands may not be attached. Should be a simple fix.

Also excellent - I know of a wall these will go on

In about 3 more years, this calendar will be good again!

There was also a Bruins hat, which got snagged by my daughter

woof!

All the smaller stuff laid out

All I can say is I hope one of these cars won the trophy

It says potential sharp edges - that could explain the bandages. But... a beer opener is not for children under 12... wonder why?

Some sweet chrome mirrors! These actually may find a way onto my miata!! YES! and some sway bar bushes for an MR2

stickers, a cheater keyring, and some vintage badges

Pretty sure this is my 2nd copy of the book on the left!! but the one on the right looks nice. I might have to go buy a motorcycle just because I have the manual. I also find the note at the bottom of the 1980-96 F-series manual to be quite ironic now

Excellent gift! Then this happened:

"Mom: let me explain to you the intricacies of the Wankel rotary engine"

You've made two kids and their dad very happy! Thank you so much!

Glad to see you and your family likes the stuff. I was worried that my boxes wasn't going to live up to the standard set by the others. Cute kids!! I like seeing your daughter with the Bruins hat on. There's  history with that hat and your neighborhood. Being that the Bruins lost the Stanley Cup  to the Blackhawks that season. Bad memories for this Bruins fan. If you put those mirrors to use please post pictures. 

Robbie said:

My Turn!!!

The opening implement (Since somehow this has become a big deal):

I think I opened this upside down

excellent! though I think one of the hands may not be attached. Should be a simple fix.

Also excellent - I know of a wall these will go on

In about 3 more years, this calendar will be good again!

There was also a Bruins hat, which got snagged by my daughter

woof!

All the smaller stuff laid out

All I can say is I hope one of these cars won the trophy

It says potential sharp edges - that could explain the bandages. But... a beer opener is not for children under 12... wonder why?

Some sweet chrome mirrors! These actually may find a way onto my miata!! YES! and some sway bar bushes for an MR2

stickers, a cheater keyring, and some vintage badges

Pretty sure this is my 2nd copy of the book on the left!! but the one on the right looks nice. I might have to go buy a motorcycle just because I have the manual. I also find the note at the bottom of the 1980-96 F-series manual to be quite ironic now

Excellent gift! Then this happened:

"Mom: let me explain to you the intricacies of the Wankel rotary engine"

You've made two kids and their dad very happy! Thank you so much!

Did you only get 3 spark plugs? I swear I sent all four. They're from a 79 Mazda RX-7 in case you care. The sticker with the yellow thing on it is Giga-pudding. Look it up on YouTube. Your kids will love the song and video, I know mine did years ago.

The chunk of camshaft is from a VW/Audi 6 cylinder diesel engine that was in a generator at work. The timing belt slipped and the valves came in contact with the pistons. The camshaft lost the battle. It was noisy. I would have sent a larger piece, but it was a lot heavier and has the cam gear still attached.

The TX plate was on my 04 Suburban when I bought it, and the MA plate went on it after. The CA plate came from my 90 Mitsubishi L300 I bought from CA many years ago. 

In reply to AngryCorvair :

It's easy to be pleasantly surprised when you literally expect nothing. (Im not really that pessimistic, I promise)

Well, in theory the box I sent is being sent back to me from about 40 miles away from its destination... which at least means it's not lost, but I'll have to send it back out to wing its way halfway across the country (again) and hopefully this time actually get where it's supposed to go...

In reply to Robbie :

"... a cheater keyring..." LOL'd my ass off ! Well played.

Mazdax605 said:

Glad to see you and your family likes the stuff. I was worried that my boxes wasn't going to live up to the standard set by the others. Cute kids!! I like seeing your daughter with the Bruins hat on. There history with that hat and your neighborhood. Being that the Bruins lost the Stanley Cup  to the Blackhawks that season. Bad memories for this Bruins fan. If you put those mirrors to use please post pictures. 

Luckily, she doesn't remember that season!

So I got my box like a week ago, but as I hadn't actually sent mine out, I felt a bit guilty about opening it.  I just packed up the box for my unlucky victim tonight, so after sealing it up I figured I'd open my box.  

So I'm sorry to my recipient, who's had to wait so long, and I'm sorry to the guy who sent me this, for wondering if I actually got it or not.  

OK, on to the opening!  

Got to follow directions...

A Box O Crap!  All Right!  I love old magazines, too.  "Could be sharp glass" is a bit alarming, though...

Hmm...no glass to be seen yet...

And the goods!

The long rubber gloves are hilarious, and yet I immediately thought of an occasion when they would have come in handy.  So we'll need to secret those away somewhere where I'll find them again.  The Mid-Ohio glass is really cool.  Mrs. VCH is from Ohio, and grew up only a few miles from the track.  We've been to a few races there.  It's always a family reunion.  Ditto the Ohio plates- I'll add them to my collection, which I totally never use for transporting non-registered vehicles across state lines...

Golf balls...I was cleaning out a box of crap today and found golf balls.  Now I have even more...from another box of crap.  ;-)  

Can never have too many knives.  Excellent!  Same goes for fauncy chrome exhaust tips.  And, er, 4 bolts.  Well, they look metric.

The magazines:

I love the old ads.  Stuff you don't see anymore...

Love the 780,

Sterlings.  Wow.  The car I always forget about.

And it was probably for the best.

201 HP!  o-60 in 8.4 seconds!  What a rocket ship!

It sure was a lasting impression.  Perhaps not the kind they'd hoped for, though...

Finally- the Shox speaker came with a little carrying baggie.  When I opened it to stick the Shox inside, I noticed the baggie said this.

Now, I am one of probably 1% of the population that actually uses a Blackberry.  In fact, all of the above pictures were taken on one. Did my Secret Santa know this?  If so, how?  This is starting to get...creepy.  

Thanks for all the loot!  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Ha. I did know of the fascination with Volvos.    I did not know about the Blackberry. 

The little speaker is left over swag from 14 years in the cell phone business.  I got out of the biz in 2011 so it has been more than 7 years that speaker has sat unused in a cabinet.  I did however have more than one of those speakers.  I used to carry one with me in my travel laptop bag in the days before wide spread cheap bluetooth speakers.

I just opened this same cabinet and took a picture of some other Blackberry crap I still have.  You are welcome to any and all of it if you would like.  You might like the bag.  Its probably the most modern "usability" of anything in that group

When you said you still use Blackberry, my first thought was, "...and your not even Canadian?"  The Blackberry is a Canadian company and has always been widely more popular and for much longer in Canada.  

In reply to John Welsh :

No, although I grew up in Upstate NY.  One time when I was much younger, me and a buddy of mine (who was married) went up to Canada for some fun one night.  He called his wife from the car (I was driving) and when he told her we were in Canada I could hear her screaming "You're in another country!?!?!?!".  My friend, never one to become unhinged, replied calmly, "But...it's a _near_ country."

Anyway...I use the BB for work, which involves mostly email and texting.  So the BB makes sense.  A lot of guys complain about their Android/iPhones and I show them the BB.  I really don't understand why it hasn't caught on more.  I have a BB 10, which has a pretty decent screen.  I do have one of the older ones that you show in the picture- I leave it connected to wifi only and use it to stream music to my stereo.  

Next year you can secret santa away that bag.  ;-)  

I arrived home from work yesterday afternoon to find a box by the front door from RossD  in Wisconsin.

After picking it up and giving it the obligatory shake and listen that you do with any present, I took it inside so I can get down to the business of opening it

Brown paper! Mate, you shouldn't have, that's awesome!

Joking aside, let's get to the loot.

Once I got past the brown paper I found a note from Ross alongside with the stuff shown above.

I got a hot wheels, a Wisconsin number plate (its headed to the garage to join the Washington number plate from last year), a k&n service kit (awesome because it's the spray oil, I've got a leaky squeeze bottle of oil  and it's annoying to use), a pilot bearing (apparently fits a bunch of ford stuff and some Mazdas amongst others), a lisle spark plug gauge, a rather rustic and well worn drill bit, a survival kit in a tin, a partially used book of matches from the silver spur saloon, a Nike golf ball, a bottle opener keyring with a w on it (for Wisconsin?), A pair of work gloves, a bunch of non slip floor tape sample (some of which glow in the dark I found out last night), a carpenters pencil from noffke lumber and lastly a bag with a bunch of fittings that I can't identify and some used bushings.

Thanks heaps for sending stuff all the way to Australia Ross, there should be a package with your name on it finding its way to you pretty soon.(seems to be spending an inordinate amount of time in New York customs)

In reply to daeman :

Re: customs. Well, we do have to go through every package now to sort out the ones from e36 m3 hole countries.

And that survival kit is awesome! Though my impression is that to survive in Australia, you just need a very large knife.

Something has arrived from a state far, far away . . .

AWSX1686 said:

AWSX1686 said:

Finished packing my box last night, and it'll go to the post office at lunch time! Sorry to someone Indiana for the delay, I hope you enjoy it!

 

Shipped!! Due to arrive Tuesday! Sorry again for the delay. 

It may, or may not appear like this one . . .

Have to find time, and something to open it with . . .

Can't find a knife right now, so I'll have to improvise . . . .