Fixing Dents with a Hairdryer and Aerosol Duster: Myth Busted

Before:

 The internet has many clips of guys fixing dents with these two simple household items.  They hold a hairdryer over the dent for about 2 minutes until it's really hot, then flip a can of keyboard duster upside down and spray it over the dent.  Since the metal is quickly heated and cooled, it expands and pops out the dent.  It's usually followed by a bunch of cheering.

I decided to give it a whirl considering I have nothing to lose.  The sube is riddled with dents, has about 100k on it, and I love it so I plan on driving it til it dies.  I had to grab something at Target so picked up a can of this stuff as I walked by.  You need to give your birthday to buy a can; apparently kids have taken a liking to the it too.

We tried it on two major dents.  Mattafack, these were the first two that my car took after getting it.  I had my jeep down at school for 2 years and it never got a scratch.  I had the sube at school for two months and some girl side swiped it in the parking lot and it got nailed by a football.  The football one I mostly pulled out with a plunger right afterward.  The rest of the tiny dents admittedly came from parking under the huge walnut tree at J-town senior year...the one I always make fun of the Pat monster for.

Want to see the pic of the dent after?  Just look back up at the first picture.  Let me know if you try it and it works for you, but I'd save all of those fresh cans of keyboard duster for 15 year-olds who can't find any beer.

Yep It's Summer

By far, some of the best things about this time of the year are the storms.  Here in the Cackalack we go through cycles where it'll storm nearly every day.  Since moving into my place, it's been standard procedure that when the sky darkens during the day or you hear a rumble in the distance, it's time to head out to the carport and set up a chair, or two or three depending on who's en casa at the time.

This year on the evening of July 4th, nature decided that she'd take over the fireworks for the evening, and delivered a storm that sent little kids screaming and dogs barking.

Even the Jack dog enjoys watching a good storm roll in.  I have to keep an eye on him though; if one of the neighbors pulls into their driveway, Jack's got no qualms about running over to their house in the pouring rain to say hello.

Now this isn't complex, but here are some pointers:  It's important to get out there before the thing hits - that way you get to see and feel the changes as the storm approaches.  Sort of like a song building up I guess.  Then if you are lucky, it gets violent as it passes right overhead.  All you need is a chair, a beer if you'd like one, a dog if you've got one.  If you want to go total redneck you can go suns out guns out and lose the shirt, or in this case rains out veins out.  Doesn't really matter how you do it.  You could even sit outside in the open and get drenched.  Just know that if your neighbors see you doing this, they'll be sure to triple check that their doors are locked before going to bed every night.


Anyway check out the storms, and you'll thank me once it becomes routine.  And don't be dicking around on your smartphone or anything; just sit back and accept the free therapy.

By the way the surfboards off to the right should be getting some heavy use in a week and a half - headed to the outer banks for an entire week!  Even the big dog is excited- he's been doing balance training (found this old picture on my camera):











If it's anything like last year, I'll be seeing this again as I head up the walkway to the beach:


I snapped this about a year ago.  You can see the waves rolling in above the grasses, a real rarity during the summertime in Nags Head.  Last year it was consistent all week long.  The only downer was that the water temp was 58-62 because the winds were blowing onshore (chief).  I remember getting my first look at the water and thinking "why are all these idiots wearing wetsuits, it's July!"  I got in and my question was quickly answered.

Might not be oyster season, but it's everything else season! Needless to say I'm pretty pumped.