Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.
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Nothing much expected today except the front and rear glass.
It always amazes me when I stumble across guys like Dave. Willing to do so much for somebody, despite the fact that they already do so much for their employer.
At the same time,...it's amazing to me that this current election year has become personally so divisive.
In all of my past project cars, one of my friends that does glass work has installed my glass for me. I'll admit that we've fallen out of touch (mostly because I've dropped out of drag racing). The shop where I used to travel to is a 75 mile round trip. The owner works out of that shop, the rest of the guys that frequent that place just hang out. He is not there on Sunday.
I'm sure that the friend that I'm referring to is miffed that "I don't come round here no more."
He was my go-to when I started considering having the glass re-installed. I asked if he could help me and told him I'd pay him, but he was "too busy" to get to me. He referred me to another guy that didn't know me from Adam, (who was also too busy to get to me) but when he could,.thought that it would be around $300.00 to set the front and rear glass.
He wont have to remove the trim or the old glass, or clean the pinch weld....(I told him that it was newly painted). He won't have to replace the trim either. Just set the glass.
$300.00. For what will probably be 60 minutes work.
Seems a little high.
So I call the friend, and tell him that the guy can't get to me any sooner, but if I have to pay anybody, I'd just as soon pay him.
"I'll do it for free if you'll vote for Trump" he says. "How bout I just pay you, and you vote for him instead?"
I never heard back from him.
While at work, I ask one of the service managers if they know a glass guy that does this stuff on the side, and he refers me to our (BMW's) glass guy. Greg Shelton. The service tech manager. He knows me just from my business interaction with him.
The conversation goes...
"Hey would you be able to help me set the front and rear glass on my project car at my house?" "Sure,.......When do you want to do this?" "It'll have to be a Sunday, I work on Saturday." "Name the day." "How about the 9th?" "How much?" "How's $25-30 dollars sound?" "How about I pay you $100 instead?"
This guys works 5-6 days a week for BMW, and still makes time to help guys like me out. It's certainly NOT because he's making soo much money,...he's doing it because he's that guy. A guy like Dave, a guy like Steve, a guy like Nick, and about a dozen more that I interact with daily either here, the other web forum I frequent, or at work.
All with out asking me to ride in the back seat while I let a drunk crazy man drive the car.
It always amazes me when I stumble across guys like Dave. Willing to do so much for somebody, despite the fact that they already do so much for their employer.
At the same time,...it's amazing to me that this current election year has become personally so divisive.
In all of my past project cars, one of my friends that does glass work has installed my glass for me. I'll admit that we've fallen out of touch (mostly because I've dropped out of drag racing). The shop where I used to travel to is a 75 mile round trip. The owner works out of that shop, the rest of the guys that frequent that place just hang out. He is not there on Sunday.
I'm sure that the friend that I'm referring to is miffed that "I don't come round here no more."
He was my go-to when I started considering having the glass re-installed. I asked if he could help me and told him I'd pay him, but he was "too busy" to get to me. He referred me to another guy that didn't know me from Adam, (who was also too busy to get to me) but when he could,.thought that it would be around $300.00 to set the front and rear glass.
He wont have to remove the trim or the old glass, or clean the pinch weld....(I told him that it was newly painted). He won't have to replace the trim either. Just set the glass.
$300.00. For what will probably be 60 minutes work.
Seems a little high.
So I call the friend, and tell him that the guy can't get to me any sooner, but if I have to pay anybody, I'd just as soon pay him.
"I'll do it for free if you'll vote for Trump" he says. "How bout I just pay you, and you vote for him instead?"
I never heard back from him.
While at work, I ask one of the service managers if they know a glass guy that does this stuff on the side, and he refers me to our (BMW's) glass guy. Greg Shelton. The service tech manager. He knows me just from my business interaction with him.
The conversation goes...
"Hey would you be able to help me set the front and rear glass on my project car at my house?" "Sure,.......When do you want to do this?" "It'll have to be a Sunday, I work on Saturday." "Name the day." "How about the 9th?" "How much?" "How's $25-30 dollars sound?" "How about I pay you $100 instead?"
This guys works 5-6 days a week for BMW, and still makes time to help guys like me out. It's certainly NOT because he's making soo much money,...he's doing it because he's that guy. A guy like Dave, a guy like Steve, a guy like Nick, and about a dozen more that I interact with daily either here, the other web forum I frequent, or at work.
All with out asking me to ride in the back seat while I let a drunk crazy man drive the car.
It was for the best. You didn't know where we were going when we went there, and you didn't know where you were at when we left.
Today I was only expecting to get the glass in. And for today, that is a major milestone for me. Nothing quite says "close" as adequately as having a windshield and back glass where there was nothing before.
The morning I went over to the storage facility and got the remaining box that was in that space. The glass. That 8X10 space was once crammed w/ Monster parts and pieces, and now that I was moving this last box out of there, there is absolutely no reason to pay rent for that thing any more.
$40.00 0n the plus side for next month.
The sobering take away from that was that I had written a guys phone number on top of that box so that I could call him back about a job.
10/23/15
That glass has been here a year.
My guy gets here at 10 AM, and is done one hour later (Just like I thought). He does the rear glass first.
It goes on perfectly. But it ain't perfect. I just didn't notice how many scratches were in that damn glass for some reason when I was covering the big assed scratch with the Cyclone decal.
It's too late now, the glass is set. It wouldn't matter anyway,...I'd still use it. It will work until I get a hair to change it out.
While I was waiting for him this morning, I did stain the package tray, and door arm rest, so that's done.
The front glass follows immediately. When it;s done, he looks at the front glass and says that he didn't think my trim was gonna cover the gap between the dash top.
He was right.
So I decided to scuff the margin, and paint it in.
But,...true to my SOP,...I didn't get it high enough. You'll still be able to look down on it and see that gap. You won't see it from the front, but it'll still be visible depending on where you look at it. Guess that means I'll be doing that twice too.
I installed my trim clips. I had all of them save for these three.
I had a pack of new ones but they aint gonna go on there, or I'm gonna mess up the paint or worse yet beak the glass, because I couldn't get thsoe new ones to pop on to save my ass.
Bottom line,....I need three used trim clips. It really irks me to think I'm gonna have to go to a salvage yard for 3 stinkin trim clips.
Surely one of you has three extra trim clips that you can put in an envelope and mail to me?
In the middle of the day, I promised to cover the wife's above ground "mobile home" pool, so the day was pretty much shot after that.
But,........I have glass!
Goodnight Monster,.........See you Wednesday.
The morning I went over to the storage facility and got the remaining box that was in that space. The glass. That 8X10 space was once crammed w/ Monster parts and pieces, and now that I was moving this last box out of there, there is absolutely no reason to pay rent for that thing any more.
$40.00 0n the plus side for next month.
The sobering take away from that was that I had written a guys phone number on top of that box so that I could call him back about a job.
10/23/15
That glass has been here a year.
My guy gets here at 10 AM, and is done one hour later (Just like I thought). He does the rear glass first.
It goes on perfectly. But it ain't perfect. I just didn't notice how many scratches were in that damn glass for some reason when I was covering the big assed scratch with the Cyclone decal.
It's too late now, the glass is set. It wouldn't matter anyway,...I'd still use it. It will work until I get a hair to change it out.
While I was waiting for him this morning, I did stain the package tray, and door arm rest, so that's done.
The front glass follows immediately. When it;s done, he looks at the front glass and says that he didn't think my trim was gonna cover the gap between the dash top.
He was right.
So I decided to scuff the margin, and paint it in.
But,...true to my SOP,...I didn't get it high enough. You'll still be able to look down on it and see that gap. You won't see it from the front, but it'll still be visible depending on where you look at it. Guess that means I'll be doing that twice too.
I installed my trim clips. I had all of them save for these three.
I had a pack of new ones but they aint gonna go on there, or I'm gonna mess up the paint or worse yet beak the glass, because I couldn't get thsoe new ones to pop on to save my ass.
Bottom line,....I need three used trim clips. It really irks me to think I'm gonna have to go to a salvage yard for 3 stinkin trim clips.
Surely one of you has three extra trim clips that you can put in an envelope and mail to me?
In the middle of the day, I promised to cover the wife's above ground "mobile home" pool, so the day was pretty much shot after that.
But,........I have glass!
Goodnight Monster,.........See you Wednesday.
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Can't help you on the clips, but I did swear to my wife that I would be ripping out her massive failure of a mobile home swimming pool this week. Screw covering that mess up.
It's Wednesday again!!! 
I really like having an actual day off in the middle of the week. Don't get me wrong, it sucks having to work on Saturday instead, but having a full weekday off has been more than a good alternative for me. All of the "other" businesses that work that mon-fri that I need to patronize are open.
Only thing is...I don't need those specialty shops anymore. The car for all practical reasons is complete. Now it's just up to me.
As I sit here, I have a few options still to consider when deciding what to finish. Now the fact that I'm approaching a temporary "incapacitation" as a result of the knee surgeries (both knees replaced) is looming large. All of the time that I've lived with these broken down things , and they've never bothered me as bad as they are now. (It's almost like they know that they are getting removed, and thrown away..........(kinda geeks me to think that) So they have decided to go out fighting.)
*** If you're one of those guys that actually reads what I write,....let me tell ya,...If I can't work on the car,...can you only imagine how much written worthless blather that I'm gonna come up with because that's all I can do?
I think I'll run out of things to talk about.
I digress.
I guess the door panel is the part that requires the most attention now. There are several small little things that I might be able to get away with in "Gimp mode" after surgery, but cutting, welding, grinding, and smoothing isn't one of them.
I guess the writing's on the wall.
I'm just not feeling that, today though.....maybe I'm running out of gas??
I do know that to even hope to be able to start on that, I'm gonna have to wrap my knees, they hurt that bad,...Evidently Bowling must be very hard on them,..because that is what I did last night (Company function)
But The Monster expects me to visit him,...he's been waiting for 3 days now. So....Guess I'll get after it.
I really like having an actual day off in the middle of the week. Don't get me wrong, it sucks having to work on Saturday instead, but having a full weekday off has been more than a good alternative for me. All of the "other" businesses that work that mon-fri that I need to patronize are open.
Only thing is...I don't need those specialty shops anymore. The car for all practical reasons is complete. Now it's just up to me.
As I sit here, I have a few options still to consider when deciding what to finish. Now the fact that I'm approaching a temporary "incapacitation" as a result of the knee surgeries (both knees replaced) is looming large. All of the time that I've lived with these broken down things , and they've never bothered me as bad as they are now. (It's almost like they know that they are getting removed, and thrown away..........(kinda geeks me to think that) So they have decided to go out fighting.)
*** If you're one of those guys that actually reads what I write,....let me tell ya,...If I can't work on the car,...can you only imagine how much written worthless blather that I'm gonna come up with because that's all I can do?
I think I'll run out of things to talk about.
I digress.
I guess the door panel is the part that requires the most attention now. There are several small little things that I might be able to get away with in "Gimp mode" after surgery, but cutting, welding, grinding, and smoothing isn't one of them.
I guess the writing's on the wall.
I'm just not feeling that, today though.....maybe I'm running out of gas??
I do know that to even hope to be able to start on that, I'm gonna have to wrap my knees, they hurt that bad,...Evidently Bowling must be very hard on them,..because that is what I did last night (Company function)
But The Monster expects me to visit him,...he's been waiting for 3 days now. So....Guess I'll get after it.
What!
You mean that you could possibly be more long winded!
Oh.....dear....God... NO!
In all seriousness I hope all goes well Mike.
You mean that you could possibly be more long winded!
Oh.....dear....God... NO!
In all seriousness I hope all goes well Mike.
One of my co-workers just had a complete knee replacement and he was up and around in no time. Granted you're having both done, but I think you'll be happy with it judging by how he handled everything.
- Dec 19, 2010
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Yeah, there's a guy i work with that had a replacement and he said he was good as new in just a few weeks.. apparently it really is easier to recover from than a meniscus repair. I wanted to kick him in his fake knee...
Dad had multiple knee surgeries and then a replacement a few years ago. The replacement isn't fun but better than a tendon/meniscus surgery(for recovery time). Good luck Mike! I know a few people who have had it done...you'll be back in the garage before the rest of your body will probably want to.
- May 8, 2006
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Mike, I've got a family with narrow feet and a history of knee surgery. My recommendation is that, regardless of your personal feelings, get it moving as soon as possible. Push harder than the physical therapy guy recommends (always a tough goal to push beyond your torturer's expectations). I'm not talking squats, I'm just talking about getting movement before you have to push past scar tissue that impedes the movement. My father had multiple surgeries and then total replacement and I have had a "tune up" that includes a brand new ACL. Both of us ran into the scar tissue problem. Now, he gets around a heck of a lot better and I look forward to having a couple of those high-end titanium joints with replaceable bearings...lol. If nothing else, I'll pay for your plane ticket and you can come down to old Tampa and get me focused on finishing the few odds and ends needed to finish mine. Heck, I still have the adjustable stool from my "I have to work on something" period.
skyline247
Advanced Member
Good luck with the knee replacements Mike. I hope it goes well and wish you a speedy recovery.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Hope you got that passenger door bar put together today. Sounds like that is your biggest hurdle to clear before surgery.
Can you post some pictures of the surgery?
Monster surgery? I'm all in.
Stop being a whoos mike, you'll feel better in the end and you have an automatic transmission!
Let Kate drive the monster those first couple months though, you might want to add a nice little poo pourrit packet hanging from the mirror. Just sayin'.......
Monster surgery? I'm all in.
Stop being a whoos mike, you'll feel better in the end and you have an automatic transmission!
Let Kate drive the monster those first couple months though, you might want to add a nice little poo pourrit packet hanging from the mirror. Just sayin'.......
Firstly,..Thanks for all the well wishes,...I know that the trade off in after surgery/therapy pain will be better than what I'm currently dealing with in the long run. So it is what it is I guess.
As a testimonial to the 'I'm not one to sit around" type, I did in fact wrap my knees, and hobble down the stairs, and out into the garage. Walking on the knee isn't the bad part,....going up stairs is the bit ch. So,......I just didn't come back up the stairs unless I absolutely had to.
The wife hears me hobbling down the stairs "Post wrap" and she says "Really? you're still gonna go into the garage despite the fact that your knee is killing you?" I swear, you love that car way more than you love me"..
Decisions,.....decisions......
I tell her that there is no contest, and the the car is a distant second to my love for her,...and with that said,...turn and hobble down the last of the stairs into the garage.
I hear "Yeah, right".....as the door closes behind me. I would've turned around and went back up to discuss it further, but my knees hurt too much to climb the stairs,..so........what could I do?
I decided to focus on what will be impossible in two weeks.
none of the holes were drilled this morning, so that is where I started. Once they were all drilled, I placed the panel in place so that I could locate the two center holes for the door bar. The "L's" on the yellow tape on top are the reference mark for the carpenters square that I used to do that.
Once I had the holes referenced, I made a threaded backer that floats on the door so that the door bar could be adjusted after it was bolted on. I bolted the door bar on, and made another reference mark so that I could locate the front mount.
This little dude is missing from the driver's door. I have a piece of 1" wide stuff that wedges against the door sheet metal and is on the back side of the where the factory door handle used to go.
You can also see that this door is butchered. Originally, I intended to stick that window motor mechanism inside, so this door was cut up to allow for that. That has changed however, so consider it door lightening instead.
With that thing welded, drilled, and threaded,.I was able to bolt the door bar on again so that I could fabricate the piece of 1/8" plate the will become the cap that butts against the dash bars. (It doesn't butt actually,..there is an 1/8" gap)
And that looks like this when it's installed.
So all that's left to do to check my work is to shut the door....so that's what I did.
And that took the better part of the day to get to this point. There is still a day left on the door bar fabrication alone to build and bend the mesh and the trim pieces that go on that bar. Then It's gotta get smoothed,primed, and painted. (probably another day).
Then the speaker box will take a day,...the center mesh a day,...and door panel upholstery is another day. When you back away from it, you add that up,..and say "meh.....it's just a week,...what's the big deal?"
I got 5 days left to do this before the knee surgery,....maybe I can get that all done,...I'm gonna try at least.
But in the end,...I'm happy with the progress today,...It's been a long time since I had a welder in my hand,....I thought I was done with that,..but I was wrong. I'm still not done with it.
So on this special edition I'll cap it with two pics,...The cynical Mike, and the content tired Mike.
That Damn Monster,..photo bombed the pic...
As a testimonial to the 'I'm not one to sit around" type, I did in fact wrap my knees, and hobble down the stairs, and out into the garage. Walking on the knee isn't the bad part,....going up stairs is the bit ch. So,......I just didn't come back up the stairs unless I absolutely had to.
The wife hears me hobbling down the stairs "Post wrap" and she says "Really? you're still gonna go into the garage despite the fact that your knee is killing you?" I swear, you love that car way more than you love me"..
Decisions,.....decisions......
I tell her that there is no contest, and the the car is a distant second to my love for her,...and with that said,...turn and hobble down the last of the stairs into the garage.
I hear "Yeah, right".....as the door closes behind me. I would've turned around and went back up to discuss it further, but my knees hurt too much to climb the stairs,..so........what could I do?
I decided to focus on what will be impossible in two weeks.
none of the holes were drilled this morning, so that is where I started. Once they were all drilled, I placed the panel in place so that I could locate the two center holes for the door bar. The "L's" on the yellow tape on top are the reference mark for the carpenters square that I used to do that.
Once I had the holes referenced, I made a threaded backer that floats on the door so that the door bar could be adjusted after it was bolted on. I bolted the door bar on, and made another reference mark so that I could locate the front mount.
This little dude is missing from the driver's door. I have a piece of 1" wide stuff that wedges against the door sheet metal and is on the back side of the where the factory door handle used to go.
You can also see that this door is butchered. Originally, I intended to stick that window motor mechanism inside, so this door was cut up to allow for that. That has changed however, so consider it door lightening instead.
With that thing welded, drilled, and threaded,.I was able to bolt the door bar on again so that I could fabricate the piece of 1/8" plate the will become the cap that butts against the dash bars. (It doesn't butt actually,..there is an 1/8" gap)
And that looks like this when it's installed.
So all that's left to do to check my work is to shut the door....so that's what I did.
And that took the better part of the day to get to this point. There is still a day left on the door bar fabrication alone to build and bend the mesh and the trim pieces that go on that bar. Then It's gotta get smoothed,primed, and painted. (probably another day).
Then the speaker box will take a day,...the center mesh a day,...and door panel upholstery is another day. When you back away from it, you add that up,..and say "meh.....it's just a week,...what's the big deal?"
I got 5 days left to do this before the knee surgery,....maybe I can get that all done,...I'm gonna try at least.
But in the end,...I'm happy with the progress today,...It's been a long time since I had a welder in my hand,....I thought I was done with that,..but I was wrong. I'm still not done with it.
So on this special edition I'll cap it with two pics,...The cynical Mike, and the content tired Mike.
That Damn Monster,..photo bombed the pic...
- Dec 19, 2010
- 5,719
- 4,238
- 224
Firstly,..Thanks for all the well wishes,...I know that the trade off in after surgery/therapy pain will be better than what I'm currently dealing with in the long run. So it is what it is I guess.
As a testimonial to the 'I'm not one to sit around" type, I did in fact wrap my knees, and hobble down the stairs, and out into the garage. Walking on the knee isn't the bad part,....going up stairs is the bit ch. So,......I just didn't come back up the stairs unless I absolutely had to.
The wife hears me hobbling down the stairs "Post wrap" and she says "Really? you're still gonna go into the garage despite the fact that your knee is killing you?" I swear, you love that car way more than you love me"..
Decisions,.....decisions......
I tell her that there is no contest, and the the car is a distant second to my love for her,...and with that said,...turn and hobble down the last of the stairs into the garage.
I hear "Yeah, right".....as the door closes behind me. I would've turned around and went back up to discuss it further, but my knees hurt too much to climb the stairs,..so........what could I do?
I decided to focus on what will be impossible in two weeks.
none of the holes were drilled this morning, so that is where I started. Once they were all drilled, I placed the panel in place so that I could locate the two center holes for the door bar. The "L's" on the yellow tape on top are the reference mark for the carpenters square that I used to do that.
Once I had the holes referenced, I made a threaded backer that floats on the door so that the door bar could be adjusted after it was bolted on. I bolted the door bar on, and made another reference mark so that I could locate the front mount.
This little dude is missing from the driver's door. I have a piece of 1" wide stuff that wedges against the door sheet metal and is on the back side of the where the factory door handle used to go.
You can also see that this door is butchered. Originally, I intended to stick that window motor mechanism inside, so this door was cut up to allow for that. That has changed however, so consider it door lightening instead.
With that thing welded, drilled, and threaded,.I was able to bolt the door bar on again so that I could fabricate the piece of 1/8" plate the will become the cap that butts against the dash bars. (It doesn't butt actually,..there is an 1/8" gap)
And that looks like this when it's installed.
So all that's left to do to check my work is to shut the door....so that's what I did.
And that took the better part of the day to get to this point. There is still a day left on the door bar fabrication alone to build and bend the mesh and the trim pieces that go on that bar. Then It's gotta get smoothed,primed, and painted. (probably another day).
Then the speaker box will take a day,...the center mesh a day,...and door panel upholstery is another day. When you back away from it, you add that up,..and say "meh.....it's just a week,...what's the big deal?"
I got 5 days left to do this before the knee surgery,....maybe I can get that all done,...I'm gonna try at least.
But in the end,...I'm happy with the progress today,...It's been a long time since I had a welder in my hand,....I thought I was done with that,..but I was wrong. I'm still not done with it.
So on this special edition I'll cap it with two pics,...The cynical Mike, and the content tired Mike.
That Damn Monster,..photo bombed the pic...
Hopefully in two more days you'll have windshield trim.. sooner if we're lucky.
Awesome job mike,sorry you had to 'Play through the pain', hope your recovery goes quickFirstly,..Thanks for all the well wishes,...I know that the trade off in after surgery/therapy pain will be better than what I'm currently dealing with in the long run. So it is what it is I guess.
As a testimonial to the 'I'm not one to sit around" type, I did in fact wrap my knees, and hobble down the stairs, and out into the garage. Walking on the knee isn't the bad part,....going up stairs is the bit ch. So,......I just didn't come back up the stairs unless I absolutely had to.
The wife hears me hobbling down the stairs "Post wrap" and she says "Really? you're still gonna go into the garage despite the fact that your knee is killing you?" I swear, you love that car way more than you love me"..
Decisions,.....decisions......
I tell her that there is no contest, and the the car is a distant second to my love for her,...and with that said,...turn and hobble down the last of the stairs into the garage.
I hear "Yeah, right".....as the door closes behind me. I would've turned around and went back up to discuss it further, but my knees hurt too much to climb the stairs,..so........what could I do?
I decided to focus on what will be impossible in two weeks.
none of the holes were drilled this morning, so that is where I started. Once they were all drilled, I placed the panel in place so that I could locate the two center holes for the door bar. The "L's" on the yellow tape on top are the reference mark for the carpenters square that I used to do that.
Once I had the holes referenced, I made a threaded backer that floats on the door so that the door bar could be adjusted after it was bolted on. I bolted the door bar on, and made another reference mark so that I could locate the front mount.
This little dude is missing from the driver's door. I have a piece of 1" wide stuff that wedges against the door sheet metal and is on the back side of the where the factory door handle used to go.
You can also see that this door is butchered. Originally, I intended to stick that window motor mechanism inside, so this door was cut up to allow for that. That has changed however, so consider it door lightening instead.
With that thing welded, drilled, and threaded,.I was able to bolt the door bar on again so that I could fabricate the piece of 1/8" plate the will become the cap that butts against the dash bars. (It doesn't butt actually,..there is an 1/8" gap)
And that looks like this when it's installed.
So all that's left to do to check my work is to shut the door....so that's what I did.
And that took the better part of the day to get to this point. There is still a day left on the door bar fabrication alone to build and bend the mesh and the trim pieces that go on that bar. Then It's gotta get smoothed,primed, and painted. (probably another day).
Then the speaker box will take a day,...the center mesh a day,...and door panel upholstery is another day. When you back away from it, you add that up,..and say "meh.....it's just a week,...what's the big deal?"
I got 5 days left to do this before the knee surgery,....maybe I can get that all done,...I'm gonna try at least.
But in the end,...I'm happy with the progress today,...It's been a long time since I had a welder in my hand,....I thought I was done with that,..but I was wrong. I'm still not done with it.
So on this special edition I'll cap it with two pics,...The cynical Mike, and the content tired Mike.
That Damn Monster,..photo bombed the pic...
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