I've been finding myself asking different variations of a similarly themed question a lot more often lately: How did I end up where I am today and where do I actually want to end up?
I've been feeling like trying to decide what you want to do with the "rest of your life" as a teenager has it's drawbacks. I initially thought I wanted to be a mechanical engineer because I had a strong interest in machines such as automobiles and bicycles. I used to love to draw and doodle and think of how things I drew would work in real life. I built model cars and then took them apart and made them "better" out of parts of other kits. I took parts off of all of the spare/outgrown bikes that we had kicking around in our family of four kids and made "better" bikes out of them. I felt like I would love to find a job creating new bicycle suspension designs or cars like the ones I was seeing in mountain bike and car magazines and Popular Science... but on a tour of one of the colleges I got into (I think it was Virgina Tech) I was told that a lot of their graduates work in a "toilet paper factory down the road" designing machinery, which was probably meant as a positive that engineers were everywhere. However, I came to the opposite conclusion that to end up as an automotive or bicycle mechanical engineer was a very slim chance. I also felt that even if I did come to a find a job in the automotive or bicycle industries that I'd really end up making other people's artistic renderings a reality instead of actually doing the designing.
You would think that I would have decided that a career in mechanical engineering wasn't what I really wanted... but I ended up committing to one of the mechanical engineering programs I was accepted into. I attempted to make it work for two years before offically deciding that I liked "computers" better. So, instead of staying at that university and switching to computer engineering or computer science I ended up going back home and getting an associate degree in computer information systems from a local community college, just as everyone was saying that the "tech bubble burst". At that point it seemed difficult/impossible to find a job that was "entry level" that didn't want 5+ years of hands-on experience especially in the area I lived in. So, I decided that at that point I was just going to find some sort of job and figure it out as I went. I felt that someday I'd finish my computer science degree and be a computer programmer. I interviewed around for jobs on the edge of what I wanted to do. I had been working summers at a family friend's fast food restaurant and then ended up working in a supermarket bakery department just before I graduated with my CIS degree. I spent a couple years working there followed by different positions in the same company's headquarters starting with a special project with the Bakery and IT departments. While working on that project I found out that the company had an in-house IT department that had quite a few functions and was encouraged to keep in touch with the people I worked with and apply for entry-level things that came up. So I continued to move around to different jobs in the bakery HQ, the corporate pricing department and eventually ended up in the IT department as a Programmer/Analyst, then a Software Developer.
So, I guess that answers the question of: How did I end up here? However, the question about where do I want to be is the harder question to answer.
How would have my life been different if continued with mechanical engineering? What opportunities would have presented themselves if I was willing to move away from my family, friends and hometown? What would be different today if I stayed in school and gotten a better degree? Would I be in this position right now if I didn't spend 10 years in a company doing different jobs while learning about the industry and systems in it?
What would happen if I decided I wanted to do something different right now? What if I was willing and able to move? What if I could afford to go back to school for something different? What if I'd rather start a business related to something I'm actually interested in? (I'm definitely losing interest in the overall mission of what I've been doing for the past 13 years...)
If I was to "start over" now, though, what would I do? The biggest question I have is that once I'm "there" would I be left wondering the same things on the other side of the fence?
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cars. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Thursday, October 11, 2012
On life changes.
Long time, no post. To catch up, the past couple years have brought some life changes. I'm a year and nine months or so into a career change to what I actually went to college for. I'm actually somewhat of a computer programmer now. (My official title is Programmer / Analyst.) I spend a lot of my time doing user support and ad-hoc SQL queries to create or update one-off reports. I have done some program feature enhancements and bug fixes but nothing too crazy yet. I still work for the same company that I've been at for the past 11 and a half years or so.
I traded in my grey 2007 Subaru Legacy for a blue 2012 Subaru Impreza because the Legacy was approaching 100,000 miles, had a newly diagnosed but somewhat common leaky head gasket and the new Impreza was touting approximately 7 MPG more than I was getting in the Legacy.
Most recently, I've moved about an hour west of where I spent most of my life to an area I could actually see myself staying for awhile.
All of these things have me feeling like I'm growing up... (I know, I know, I should be mostly grown up already at the age of 33) but I seem to find myself becoming more and more restless.
Now that I'm actually paid to be a programmer, I find myself growing less interested in computers and technology. Sure my interest had already faded some in the 10 years since I finished college while I was occupied with other less technology related employment, but it feels like it's continued at a more accelerated pace lately. I haven't built a computer in a long time. I don't know what the best video card is anymore and don't really want to play any games that would need a good video card. To an extent, I still know what's going on in the consumer technology market but can't help but grumble when people ask what I think about things like iPads and the "cloud". I use off the shelf PC laptops and don't bother upgrading the hardware. I recently purchased a new laptop but only because it wouldn't be much cheaper to put a new battery, decent hard drive and some more memory in the old one and even if I did it probably weighed close to 8 pounds and wasn't very portable, so I didn't even like dragging it out to the couch. All I ever do on a computer at home is listen to music and surf the internet anyway. I probably should have just picked up a tablet and put my music on the "cloud" somewhere... but I hate typing on touchscreens.
My Impreza still has the stock 16" wheels and hasn't had it's first detailing and I've had it since May. What's happening to me?
Also, now that I've moved out of the apartment I've been for the past 5+ years (to a place other than the area I spent the better part of the last 3 decades), I want to actually find a house and spend time doing projects around it. I want to have some space around me, a garden and maybe a garage.
I've recently put some books about gardening and sustainable living on my Amazon wish list and thought about what it would take to grow all the ingredients needed to brew beer. I've debated opening a brew pub. I've had moments where I had a fleeting thought about quitting my job and being a landscaper.
Recently I've actually even caught myself daydreaming about becoming a farmer while driving past various farms on my commute to work. I don't actually think I want to be a farmer... I think I just want to do something different than what I'm doing now. I've been sitting in various office chairs for almost 12 years now and it's getting boring and feels less rewarding than when I first worked my way into the office world.
I don't actually dislike what I'm doing now. The actual programming is fun. The problem solving and analysis is interesting and rewarding but I'm still just keeping the wheels turning. I rarely work on anything new or exciting and when I do get to work on new things they're almost always rushed. I spend a majority of my time solving problems that could have been avoided if a little more care was put into the planning and getting everyone in the same boat before setting sail... but I don't have a say in that part, so I just sit in my chair and figure out how to undo what I was asked to do... but the "undo" has to happen more quickly than the "do" and the "do" was expected in less time than it should have really taken to get done. So it's a never-ending cycle of chasing my tail.
The problem is, I don't know what I'd rather do.
I traded in my grey 2007 Subaru Legacy for a blue 2012 Subaru Impreza because the Legacy was approaching 100,000 miles, had a newly diagnosed but somewhat common leaky head gasket and the new Impreza was touting approximately 7 MPG more than I was getting in the Legacy.
Most recently, I've moved about an hour west of where I spent most of my life to an area I could actually see myself staying for awhile.
All of these things have me feeling like I'm growing up... (I know, I know, I should be mostly grown up already at the age of 33) but I seem to find myself becoming more and more restless.
Now that I'm actually paid to be a programmer, I find myself growing less interested in computers and technology. Sure my interest had already faded some in the 10 years since I finished college while I was occupied with other less technology related employment, but it feels like it's continued at a more accelerated pace lately. I haven't built a computer in a long time. I don't know what the best video card is anymore and don't really want to play any games that would need a good video card. To an extent, I still know what's going on in the consumer technology market but can't help but grumble when people ask what I think about things like iPads and the "cloud". I use off the shelf PC laptops and don't bother upgrading the hardware. I recently purchased a new laptop but only because it wouldn't be much cheaper to put a new battery, decent hard drive and some more memory in the old one and even if I did it probably weighed close to 8 pounds and wasn't very portable, so I didn't even like dragging it out to the couch. All I ever do on a computer at home is listen to music and surf the internet anyway. I probably should have just picked up a tablet and put my music on the "cloud" somewhere... but I hate typing on touchscreens.
My Impreza still has the stock 16" wheels and hasn't had it's first detailing and I've had it since May. What's happening to me?
Also, now that I've moved out of the apartment I've been for the past 5+ years (to a place other than the area I spent the better part of the last 3 decades), I want to actually find a house and spend time doing projects around it. I want to have some space around me, a garden and maybe a garage.
I've recently put some books about gardening and sustainable living on my Amazon wish list and thought about what it would take to grow all the ingredients needed to brew beer. I've debated opening a brew pub. I've had moments where I had a fleeting thought about quitting my job and being a landscaper.
Recently I've actually even caught myself daydreaming about becoming a farmer while driving past various farms on my commute to work. I don't actually think I want to be a farmer... I think I just want to do something different than what I'm doing now. I've been sitting in various office chairs for almost 12 years now and it's getting boring and feels less rewarding than when I first worked my way into the office world.
I don't actually dislike what I'm doing now. The actual programming is fun. The problem solving and analysis is interesting and rewarding but I'm still just keeping the wheels turning. I rarely work on anything new or exciting and when I do get to work on new things they're almost always rushed. I spend a majority of my time solving problems that could have been avoided if a little more care was put into the planning and getting everyone in the same boat before setting sail... but I don't have a say in that part, so I just sit in my chair and figure out how to undo what I was asked to do... but the "undo" has to happen more quickly than the "do" and the "do" was expected in less time than it should have really taken to get done. So it's a never-ending cycle of chasing my tail.
The problem is, I don't know what I'd rather do.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Past goals & progress.
I was randomly looking at old posts on my blog today and I found an old post from January 23, 2007 entitled Douglas Coupland books & my to do list which, I'm sure you'll be surprised to read, contained a "to do" list.
In fact, this was the list:
1) finish cleaning up all my junk at the apartment (did some, accumulated more)
2) refinish an old coffee table to bring to the apartment (started...)
3)get my parent's old orange chair over to my apartment (scrapped this idea)
4)pull my mountain bike apart, repaint the frame and overhaul the rest (It's orange now!)
5) go through my accumulated bike parts and sell/donate what I'm never going to use (I donated quite a few bikes and parts but still have some left that can go.)
6) finish selling off the misc. car parts I've accumulated over the past 5 years that don't fit my current car (I haven't done too much with this.)
7)sell off my small guitar practice amp, distortion pedal and cables that I never use (Gone.)
8)(maybe: get rid of one of my guitars) (Acoustic/electric gone.)
9)(maybe: go through my CD's and sell off the ones I'm never going to listen to) (ruled out for now.)
10)(maybe: build a new "entertainment center" that isn't ugly and has room for the TV and all of the electronics) (bought one)
I thought it would be amusing to see how many of these that I actually did since then... so I crossed off the ones that I did. I completely finished 4 and ruled out 2. Out of the remaining 4, I started 3... I should probably get going on those. ;)
In fact, this was the list:
1) finish cleaning up all my junk at the apartment (did some, accumulated more)
2) refinish an old coffee table to bring to the apartment (started...)
3)
4)
5) go through my accumulated bike parts and sell/donate what I'm never going to use (I donated quite a few bikes and parts but still have some left that can go.)
6) finish selling off the misc. car parts I've accumulated over the past 5 years that don't fit my current car (I haven't done too much with this.)
7)
8)
9)
10)
I thought it would be amusing to see how many of these that I actually did since then... so I crossed off the ones that I did. I completely finished 4 and ruled out 2. Out of the remaining 4, I started 3... I should probably get going on those. ;)
Friday, September 11, 2009
The lazy days of summer...
Note: This post is going to be a quick recap of my summer. Repeat, this is just a gratuitous catch up post. There is nothing really deep here. I hope to revive my interest in this blog and trying to come up with more thoughtful ideas for it in the not too distant future, but until then, this will have to do. ;)
It always seems that even though I love the summer, I end up being pretty lazy for the majority of it. I end up sitting in the air conditioned splendor of my apartment and not wanting to do much of anything once I get home from work.
Even though it seems like most of my summer was spent sitting on my comfortable couch, with my girlfriend and our laptops, TV shows and books -- we did manage to do some fun stuff.
We went to the Seattle area for a week in the beginning of July to visit my girlfriend's brother, his wife and their son. We had a blast which involved a decent amount of fireworks, drinking, shopping, eating and attempting to stay cool. For a place that has the reputation of being drenched in an almost constant rain, it barely sprinkled only the last morning we were there. It was hot, humid and sunny the entire rest of the week. I learned that if a toddler says "I have idea." to make sure to hold onto the fireplace lighter that you've been using to light fireworks because it will be snatched out of your back pocket. Also, if said toddler comes down from upstairs with his hands behind his back, that there's probably something that he shouldn't have in those hands.
I also turned 30 at the end of July! It was nice and low-key, just like I wanted. My girlfriend cooked me a nice dinner on my actual birthday, her mother took me out to dinner at Brown's on the day after and my family had a BBQ on the day after that. So it was three nice days of birthday celebration, but nothing too crazy.
I purchased an Acer Aspire One 8.9" netbook as an early birthday present for myself and to bring on our trip to WA. It was nice to be able to check mail, pay bills, look for things to do, check plane schedules at the airport, and more all in a tiny, portable little package. I think it was well worth the money I spent on it, even though the battery life (with the 3-cell battery) isn't great and I tend to use my Dell Vostro as my main computer when I'm in the apartment. The display seems bigger and usable than the 8.9" size suggests and it's been trouble free, so far!
I also read some decent books. I picked up a couple books by Christopher Buckley, No Way to Treat a First Lady and Little Green Men: A Novel after reading Boomsday last year. I recommend all three. They were all well written, funny and sarcastic. I also read Steve Wozniak's book iWoz, along with How Walmart Is Destroying America (And the World): And What You Can Do about It by Bill Quinn and Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom. I'm not sure if I'd recommend any of them to people unless they're interested in Apple and/or personal computer history, retailing or marketing and advertising, respectively... ;)
Last weekend we went to The Clark to see the Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence exhibit. There were a lot of interesting oil paintings, watercolors, pastels and collages there (between Dove and O'Keeffe) with one of the most humorous pairings being Arthur Dove's watercolor Happy Clam Shell next to Georgia O'Keeffe's pastel Slightly Open Clam Shell. The pictures linked above are from this review of the show by Judith H. Dobrzynski on the Arts Journal website. There is also another review for Wall Street Journal by the same author that was interesting.
I also spent some time last weekend doing maintenance on my car that I've been neglecting for a little while. I washed and waxed it and my brother and I put on Akebono ProACT ceramic brake pads, Centric rotors, McGard SplineDrive lug nuts, NGK Iridium spark plugs and NGK plug wires. Next it's getting new Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid tires as soon as they are shipped to Firestone. (The size I need is on backorder.) The brakes are feeling good so far, the lug nuts are much higher quality than the ones they replaced and I seem to be getting a few more MPG with the fresh spark plugs and the reset computer. (Side notes: I didn't like the BF Goodrich Super Sport A/S tires that I put on last spring/early summer. They wore out extremely quickly and weren't worth the money that I paid for them. I also didn't have good luck with Gorilla spline drive style lug nuts. They only lasted one winter before the chrome was peeling off.)
I also decided to finally kill my MySpace account. I found that I hardly ever logged on and I decided not to keep it around for no reason...
There was some other fun stuff sprinkled in there but those were the big highlights... all in all it was a good summer.
It always seems that even though I love the summer, I end up being pretty lazy for the majority of it. I end up sitting in the air conditioned splendor of my apartment and not wanting to do much of anything once I get home from work.
Even though it seems like most of my summer was spent sitting on my comfortable couch, with my girlfriend and our laptops, TV shows and books -- we did manage to do some fun stuff.
We went to the Seattle area for a week in the beginning of July to visit my girlfriend's brother, his wife and their son. We had a blast which involved a decent amount of fireworks, drinking, shopping, eating and attempting to stay cool. For a place that has the reputation of being drenched in an almost constant rain, it barely sprinkled only the last morning we were there. It was hot, humid and sunny the entire rest of the week. I learned that if a toddler says "I have idea." to make sure to hold onto the fireplace lighter that you've been using to light fireworks because it will be snatched out of your back pocket. Also, if said toddler comes down from upstairs with his hands behind his back, that there's probably something that he shouldn't have in those hands.
I also turned 30 at the end of July! It was nice and low-key, just like I wanted. My girlfriend cooked me a nice dinner on my actual birthday, her mother took me out to dinner at Brown's on the day after and my family had a BBQ on the day after that. So it was three nice days of birthday celebration, but nothing too crazy.
I purchased an Acer Aspire One 8.9" netbook as an early birthday present for myself and to bring on our trip to WA. It was nice to be able to check mail, pay bills, look for things to do, check plane schedules at the airport, and more all in a tiny, portable little package. I think it was well worth the money I spent on it, even though the battery life (with the 3-cell battery) isn't great and I tend to use my Dell Vostro as my main computer when I'm in the apartment. The display seems bigger and usable than the 8.9" size suggests and it's been trouble free, so far!
I also read some decent books. I picked up a couple books by Christopher Buckley, No Way to Treat a First Lady and Little Green Men: A Novel after reading Boomsday last year. I recommend all three. They were all well written, funny and sarcastic. I also read Steve Wozniak's book iWoz, along with How Walmart Is Destroying America (And the World): And What You Can Do about It by Bill Quinn and Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom. I'm not sure if I'd recommend any of them to people unless they're interested in Apple and/or personal computer history, retailing or marketing and advertising, respectively... ;)
Last weekend we went to The Clark to see the Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence exhibit. There were a lot of interesting oil paintings, watercolors, pastels and collages there (between Dove and O'Keeffe) with one of the most humorous pairings being Arthur Dove's watercolor Happy Clam Shell next to Georgia O'Keeffe's pastel Slightly Open Clam Shell. The pictures linked above are from this review of the show by Judith H. Dobrzynski on the Arts Journal website. There is also another review for Wall Street Journal by the same author that was interesting.
I also spent some time last weekend doing maintenance on my car that I've been neglecting for a little while. I washed and waxed it and my brother and I put on Akebono ProACT ceramic brake pads, Centric rotors, McGard SplineDrive lug nuts, NGK Iridium spark plugs and NGK plug wires. Next it's getting new Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid tires as soon as they are shipped to Firestone. (The size I need is on backorder.) The brakes are feeling good so far, the lug nuts are much higher quality than the ones they replaced and I seem to be getting a few more MPG with the fresh spark plugs and the reset computer. (Side notes: I didn't like the BF Goodrich Super Sport A/S tires that I put on last spring/early summer. They wore out extremely quickly and weren't worth the money that I paid for them. I also didn't have good luck with Gorilla spline drive style lug nuts. They only lasted one winter before the chrome was peeling off.)
I also decided to finally kill my MySpace account. I found that I hardly ever logged on and I decided not to keep it around for no reason...
There was some other fun stuff sprinkled in there but those were the big highlights... all in all it was a good summer.
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Monday, April 20, 2009
I'm making a wish list...
Now that the weather is starting to get nice again I'm feeling the bug to start working on my car beginning to bite again.
I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to do much to my current car (a 2007 Subaru Legacy 2.5i) besides adding nicer wheels and then replacing parts with better, upgraded parts as they wore out. It's a nice car but I specifically bought a car that didn't have many aftermarket parts available for it so that I wouldn't be tempted to spend a ton of money modifying it. However there still is enough stuff from the Subaru Legacy GT that will fit my car that I've been tempted to go a little bit crazy. I've actually already started making a huge list of stuff that I want and it's getting longer every day. (Damn you Zero/Sports, Cusco, RalliTEK, Blitz, Prodrive, AVO, Samco, Tomei, etc. for making such cool toys!)
Even though I made a wish list I'm still trying to stick to my plan of paying off my student loans and credit card balances as quickly as possible so that eventually I can purchase a house (with a nice garage) and then a (hopefully better) project car will come after that. That said, though, I'll probably still end up picking up a few parts for it over the next few months, anyway.
Part of my recent re-obsession with cars has involved me checking out a bunch of car-related websites and blogs that I haven't been to in awhile (or at all). I've been mostly haunting the classifieds hoping to stumble on a great deal on something on my list. ;)
Aside from that I haven't been up to all that much new stuff. Mostly just day-to-day stuff and working has taken up a lot of my time. I tend to lay low in the winter and not do too much. As the weather continues to get nicer and nicer I'll hopefully have a bit more new stuff to write about.
[02/13/2024: Removed a couple sentences with outdated links.]
I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to do much to my current car (a 2007 Subaru Legacy 2.5i) besides adding nicer wheels and then replacing parts with better, upgraded parts as they wore out. It's a nice car but I specifically bought a car that didn't have many aftermarket parts available for it so that I wouldn't be tempted to spend a ton of money modifying it. However there still is enough stuff from the Subaru Legacy GT that will fit my car that I've been tempted to go a little bit crazy. I've actually already started making a huge list of stuff that I want and it's getting longer every day. (Damn you Zero/Sports, Cusco, RalliTEK, Blitz, Prodrive, AVO, Samco, Tomei, etc. for making such cool toys!)
Even though I made a wish list I'm still trying to stick to my plan of paying off my student loans and credit card balances as quickly as possible so that eventually I can purchase a house (with a nice garage) and then a (hopefully better) project car will come after that. That said, though, I'll probably still end up picking up a few parts for it over the next few months, anyway.
Part of my recent re-obsession with cars has involved me checking out a bunch of car-related websites and blogs that I haven't been to in awhile (or at all). I've been mostly haunting the classifieds hoping to stumble on a great deal on something on my list. ;)
Aside from that I haven't been up to all that much new stuff. Mostly just day-to-day stuff and working has taken up a lot of my time. I tend to lay low in the winter and not do too much. As the weather continues to get nicer and nicer I'll hopefully have a bit more new stuff to write about.
[02/13/2024: Removed a couple sentences with outdated links.]
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
American Auto Industry Bailouts
I've loved cars as long as I can remember. I remember just looking out the front window of our living room and watching cars drive by for hours and not getting bored. I could identify quite a few cars just by the shape of headlights or taillights. I had hundreds of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars that I played with constantly before moving into building model cars and tearing them apart and modifying them. I had a subscription to Hot Rod magazine when I was about 10 or 11 years old. Like I said, I've always been into cars.
I used to drool over tons of American cars including '69 Camaros, '70s Chryslers, 1990's Chevy/GMC trucks like the 454SS as well as the amazing Buick Grand National.
The problem is that the American car manufacturers haven't built anything that I am interested in now that I'm of car buying age and I have to factor in things like reliability, cost, everyday usability and stuff like that into the mix.
Sure, I'd still love to drive a Hugger Orange '69 Camaro or a B5 Blue '70 Hemi Challenger but, realistically, I will never own one and it's not really relevant to the state that the Big Three are in right now, anyway. I know that there is a new Camaro coming out and the new Dodge Challenger has been out for awhile and that they're trying to capture buyers like me with these cars. However, with the American car manufacturer's history of not having the best reliability out there, I'd be more inclined to spend my money on a Subaru Legacy GT, a Nissan Maxima or a Lexus IS. I love the styling of the new Challenger and how much it looks like one the cars I loved so much when I was younger. I'm not going to lie and say that I wouldn't drive the hell out of a new Dodge Challenger SRT8 but I can't say that I'd ever go buy one.
I think that many people feel the same way as I do. I think in many circles you're looked down upon if you drive a Malibu instead of an Accord/Camry or a Cadillac instead of a Lexus/Infiniti/BMW/Mercedes-Benz. The American car companies have lost their appeal and status and it almost seems like they might never be able to get that back.
It seems to me that just asking the government to keep pouring money into them so that they can build a ton of different "badge engineered" versions of the same crappy cars. They actually need to cut out the waste and just build reliable platforms that people actually want to be seen in and want to drive. They need to focus on the fit and finish and reliability that they've been lacking for years.
I don't think bailouts will do anything aside from delaying the inevitable. While all three manufacturers seemed to focus too much on their truck lines, GM had years to realize that people were shifting away from buying their mid sized cars in favor of the imports like the Camry and Accord. Chrysler had to realize that they were on the receiving end of a lot of hatred for building horrid cars like the Neon and Stratus. Ford is trying their hardest to make cars that are appealing but I think they're still being dragged down from their ongoing Found On Road Dead reputation.
I must take this opportunity to admit, though, that while Ford has always been my least favorite out of the Big Three they have been the only one out of the group that has been able to impress me lately with the cars like the 2010 Taurus SHO and Fusion Sport! They seem to be "getting it" a little bit more in recent history than the other two...
The Big Three have been so focused on immediate profits that they lost sight of the big picture and now it seems like it may be too late for a turnaround. While I really do hope that they're able to restructure, cut a bunch of waste, stop making different versions of the same car with different badges/brands and focus on making cars that people actually want to drive... it's not looking good.
I used to drool over tons of American cars including '69 Camaros, '70s Chryslers, 1990's Chevy/GMC trucks like the 454SS as well as the amazing Buick Grand National.
The problem is that the American car manufacturers haven't built anything that I am interested in now that I'm of car buying age and I have to factor in things like reliability, cost, everyday usability and stuff like that into the mix.
Sure, I'd still love to drive a Hugger Orange '69 Camaro or a B5 Blue '70 Hemi Challenger but, realistically, I will never own one and it's not really relevant to the state that the Big Three are in right now, anyway. I know that there is a new Camaro coming out and the new Dodge Challenger has been out for awhile and that they're trying to capture buyers like me with these cars. However, with the American car manufacturer's history of not having the best reliability out there, I'd be more inclined to spend my money on a Subaru Legacy GT, a Nissan Maxima or a Lexus IS. I love the styling of the new Challenger and how much it looks like one the cars I loved so much when I was younger. I'm not going to lie and say that I wouldn't drive the hell out of a new Dodge Challenger SRT8 but I can't say that I'd ever go buy one.
I think that many people feel the same way as I do. I think in many circles you're looked down upon if you drive a Malibu instead of an Accord/Camry or a Cadillac instead of a Lexus/Infiniti/BMW/Mercedes-Benz. The American car companies have lost their appeal and status and it almost seems like they might never be able to get that back.
It seems to me that just asking the government to keep pouring money into them so that they can build a ton of different "badge engineered" versions of the same crappy cars. They actually need to cut out the waste and just build reliable platforms that people actually want to be seen in and want to drive. They need to focus on the fit and finish and reliability that they've been lacking for years.
I don't think bailouts will do anything aside from delaying the inevitable. While all three manufacturers seemed to focus too much on their truck lines, GM had years to realize that people were shifting away from buying their mid sized cars in favor of the imports like the Camry and Accord. Chrysler had to realize that they were on the receiving end of a lot of hatred for building horrid cars like the Neon and Stratus. Ford is trying their hardest to make cars that are appealing but I think they're still being dragged down from their ongoing Found On Road Dead reputation.
I must take this opportunity to admit, though, that while Ford has always been my least favorite out of the Big Three they have been the only one out of the group that has been able to impress me lately with the cars like the 2010 Taurus SHO and Fusion Sport! They seem to be "getting it" a little bit more in recent history than the other two...
The Big Three have been so focused on immediate profits that they lost sight of the big picture and now it seems like it may be too late for a turnaround. While I really do hope that they're able to restructure, cut a bunch of waste, stop making different versions of the same car with different badges/brands and focus on making cars that people actually want to drive... it's not looking good.
Friday, May 16, 2008
More thoughts on fewer choices
Earlier this year I read a book by Barry Schwartz called The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less and gave a quick overview of it.
I've been thinking about this book (and some of the main ideas in it) more and more over the past few weeks and I wanted to write down a few more thoughts on the whole concept of simplification and having fewer choices.
Like most people I have things that I care about and want to have tons of choices and things that I just want to be simple that I don't have to put a lot of thought behind.
I looked at reviews on hundreds of different tires before I picked the set I wanted. However, walking down the cereal aisle in the supermarket and being presented with plain Cheerios® in three different sized boxes (8.9, 14 & 18 oz.) just seems a tad ridiculous to me. How much of a waste is it to have three different package sizes, three different cases that have to be shipped to the store, three different spots on a shelf that have to be stocked, three different UPC's that have to be maintained in computer systems and on and on... all for the SAME EXACT product. Now expand this thinking to all of the other cereals... and then on to all of the other products available in a typical supermarket.
Do stores really need to carry a half dozen or so different brands of pasta? (I've never had pasta that tasted any different than any other pasta.) How is "pizza sauce" different from "pasta sauce" or "tomato sauce"? Aren't they all just basically tomatoes and spices? I'm not going to lie and say that I don't have preferences or favorite products and foods but I'm usually so overwhelmed when I walk in the supermarket that I don't pay attention to different prices or sizes and just grab what I'm used to eating but I can spend many hours spread over a few months researching tires for my car beginning months before they're even ready to be replaced.
I don't really know how to justify what I'm thinking and I'm sure that Cheerios®, pasta and various sauces are important to some people in the same way that tires are important to me. I wouldn't just walk into a tire store and say: "I'd like to buy some tires." the same way I walk into the supermarket and grab a random box of rotini and jar of Prego®. However, I think I'd have a meltdown if I tried to compare Prego® to Ragu® to Bertolli® to Classico® to Emerill's® to Hunt's® to Newman's Own® to Muir Glen® to Gia Russa® to the store brand (and I could go on and on and on here...) the same way I obsessed about tires.
The whole concept of having too many choices is such a tricky situation that we've gotten ourselves into in pursuit of the almighty dollar... everything is a balancing act. Retailers don't want to piss off customers by taking away their choices and they want to keep adding new products to their lineup to relieve you of some of your cash while you're picking up your necessities but at the same time they want to save money and increase their profits. New brands pop up to take a share of your pasta sauce budget. Retail stores just keep getting bigger and more overwhelming. At many Wal-Mart stores you can have your car's oil changed while you purchase Miller Lite, shrimp, boxer shorts and a big screen TV.
I know there are other people out there that feel a lot like I do. The same simplification argument applies to pretty much everything from the supermarket example to computer software user interfaces. Sometimes having too many choices is overwhelming and wasteful... but how do we go back to a more simple existence? How do we remove choices without taking away a person's freedom to choose?
I've been thinking about this book (and some of the main ideas in it) more and more over the past few weeks and I wanted to write down a few more thoughts on the whole concept of simplification and having fewer choices.
Like most people I have things that I care about and want to have tons of choices and things that I just want to be simple that I don't have to put a lot of thought behind.
I looked at reviews on hundreds of different tires before I picked the set I wanted. However, walking down the cereal aisle in the supermarket and being presented with plain Cheerios® in three different sized boxes (8.9, 14 & 18 oz.) just seems a tad ridiculous to me. How much of a waste is it to have three different package sizes, three different cases that have to be shipped to the store, three different spots on a shelf that have to be stocked, three different UPC's that have to be maintained in computer systems and on and on... all for the SAME EXACT product. Now expand this thinking to all of the other cereals... and then on to all of the other products available in a typical supermarket.
Do stores really need to carry a half dozen or so different brands of pasta? (I've never had pasta that tasted any different than any other pasta.) How is "pizza sauce" different from "pasta sauce" or "tomato sauce"? Aren't they all just basically tomatoes and spices? I'm not going to lie and say that I don't have preferences or favorite products and foods but I'm usually so overwhelmed when I walk in the supermarket that I don't pay attention to different prices or sizes and just grab what I'm used to eating but I can spend many hours spread over a few months researching tires for my car beginning months before they're even ready to be replaced.
I don't really know how to justify what I'm thinking and I'm sure that Cheerios®, pasta and various sauces are important to some people in the same way that tires are important to me. I wouldn't just walk into a tire store and say: "I'd like to buy some tires." the same way I walk into the supermarket and grab a random box of rotini and jar of Prego®. However, I think I'd have a meltdown if I tried to compare Prego® to Ragu® to Bertolli® to Classico® to Emerill's® to Hunt's® to Newman's Own® to Muir Glen® to Gia Russa® to the store brand (and I could go on and on and on here...) the same way I obsessed about tires.
The whole concept of having too many choices is such a tricky situation that we've gotten ourselves into in pursuit of the almighty dollar... everything is a balancing act. Retailers don't want to piss off customers by taking away their choices and they want to keep adding new products to their lineup to relieve you of some of your cash while you're picking up your necessities but at the same time they want to save money and increase their profits. New brands pop up to take a share of your pasta sauce budget. Retail stores just keep getting bigger and more overwhelming. At many Wal-Mart stores you can have your car's oil changed while you purchase Miller Lite, shrimp, boxer shorts and a big screen TV.
I know there are other people out there that feel a lot like I do. The same simplification argument applies to pretty much everything from the supermarket example to computer software user interfaces. Sometimes having too many choices is overwhelming and wasteful... but how do we go back to a more simple existence? How do we remove choices without taking away a person's freedom to choose?
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Sunday, May 11, 2008
First car detailing of the year
** WARNING: Boring car stuff below. **
I stopped by my parent's house to see my mother for Mother's Day. We talked for a little while but she had some other stuff to do so I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today to clean my car. I don't like to drive around in a dirty car... and my car was FILTHY.
I went to the car wash and sprayed off all of the heavy grime. Then I clayed the entire car with Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit. In very simple terms clay removes junk that gets stuck in your paint. This was my first time claying a car and it went pretty well. I was actually surprised how much stuff it actually pulled from the paint.
After claying the car I used my Ultimate Detailing Machine that my girlfriend got me for Christmas to apply Danase Swirl Abolisher I to smooth out the very minor scratches and swirl marks.
I finished up the paint with two coats of Danase Paint Sealant and then I moved on to the windows and interior. I conditioned the leather with a leather conditioner that I picked up quite awhile ago. I forget what brand it is but it works well and smells like new car. I wiped down the dash, plastic trim and rubber moldings with 303 Aerospace Protectant (Amazon link). The 303 Protectant functions like Armor All but is not as shiny.
I still have to swap my winter heavy duty floor mats for the carpeted ones and vacuum the carpet. I ran out of light before I was able to finish.
Also, last week I picked up some new tires for my car. I decided to go with BF Goodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S tires in the stock size of 205/50/ZR17. So far, so good. They're much quieter than the stock tires that came on the car which wore out in less than 25K miles. The only bad thing is the person that mounted them chipped every one of my wheels in multiple places. Good thing I painted them myself so I have paint to touch them up...
I'm going to have to do that soon because that's another thing that bothers me. I'm so OCD when it comes to my car.
Anyway, after I finished up messing around with my car today I stopped to see my sister for her second Mother's Day. Her son, Alex, is getting so big! He's a funny kid, too! He's at the stage where he likes to "parrot" what you say.
(Edit: Removed dead links to Danase - 03/25/10.)
I stopped by my parent's house to see my mother for Mother's Day. We talked for a little while but she had some other stuff to do so I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today to clean my car. I don't like to drive around in a dirty car... and my car was FILTHY.
I went to the car wash and sprayed off all of the heavy grime. Then I clayed the entire car with Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit. In very simple terms clay removes junk that gets stuck in your paint. This was my first time claying a car and it went pretty well. I was actually surprised how much stuff it actually pulled from the paint.
After claying the car I used my Ultimate Detailing Machine that my girlfriend got me for Christmas to apply Danase Swirl Abolisher I to smooth out the very minor scratches and swirl marks.
I finished up the paint with two coats of Danase Paint Sealant and then I moved on to the windows and interior. I conditioned the leather with a leather conditioner that I picked up quite awhile ago. I forget what brand it is but it works well and smells like new car. I wiped down the dash, plastic trim and rubber moldings with 303 Aerospace Protectant (Amazon link). The 303 Protectant functions like Armor All but is not as shiny.
I still have to swap my winter heavy duty floor mats for the carpeted ones and vacuum the carpet. I ran out of light before I was able to finish.
Also, last week I picked up some new tires for my car. I decided to go with BF Goodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S tires in the stock size of 205/50/ZR17. So far, so good. They're much quieter than the stock tires that came on the car which wore out in less than 25K miles. The only bad thing is the person that mounted them chipped every one of my wheels in multiple places. Good thing I painted them myself so I have paint to touch them up...
I'm going to have to do that soon because that's another thing that bothers me. I'm so OCD when it comes to my car.
Anyway, after I finished up messing around with my car today I stopped to see my sister for her second Mother's Day. Her son, Alex, is getting so big! He's a funny kid, too! He's at the stage where he likes to "parrot" what you say.
(Edit: Removed dead links to Danase - 03/25/10.)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
America's Energy Policy?
Remember that time I mentioned that we need to work on our energy policy?
Well all of the recent news headlines about the increasing cost of food, gasoline and, well, pretty much everything... lead to one thing. Yeah, we REALLY need to work on our energy policy.
Well all of the recent news headlines about the increasing cost of food, gasoline and, well, pretty much everything... lead to one thing. Yeah, we REALLY need to work on our energy policy.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Is this the end, suburbia?
I read an article this morning on BusinessWeek entitled "Good-Bye, Cheap Oil. So Long, Suburbia?" that seemed to be right up the alley of my blog.
The article is about the predictions of a writer named James Kunstler who lives in nearby Saratoga Springs, NY. Mr. Kunstler seems to believe that the increase in oil prices is going to bring an abrupt end to suburban sprawl, strip malls and Wal-Mart.
As much as I feel that the suburban way of life is doing massive damage to our planet, I'm not sure that it's just going to end because of gas/oil prices. I'm sure that there will still be people that feel safer in a small neighborhood away from large amounts of other people. How many families will want to sell their property in the suburbs and a move into an apartment or house on a tiny city lot and send their kids to inner city schools and to play in public parks and community swimming pools instead of letting them play in their reasonably safe back yard? How many people will change jobs to be closer to work if the company they work for is located in a city with a higher cost of living or higher crime rates than their current suburb? (Or the business is located in an industrial park in a different suburban area?)
I'm definitely not anti-city. However, the argument can be made that the draw of "suburbia" isn't going to end just because gasoline is expensive. At least around here suburban neighborhoods have schools with better reputations. Residential property values are higher and seem to retain their value better. Crime rates are lower. Many large local businesses have offices that are outside of downtown areas probably because commercial property values are lower. Two income families have to find a central location between both people's respective jobs which, quite often it seems, are in different directions. Some cities have higher tax rates than many suburbs.
I guess what I'm saying that when the company I work for relocates to a nearby city (from the suburb it's in now) in about a year and a half I would love to move to a house in that city that I can walk to work from. However, that would still leave my girlfriend with a commute that's about the same distance as mine is now. We'd be saving a the equivalent of a 20 minute car ride (her approximate current daily round trip commute) for more crime, lower property values, less personal space, higher taxes, etc.
I just don't think that suburbia is going to end any time soon.
The article is about the predictions of a writer named James Kunstler who lives in nearby Saratoga Springs, NY. Mr. Kunstler seems to believe that the increase in oil prices is going to bring an abrupt end to suburban sprawl, strip malls and Wal-Mart.
As much as I feel that the suburban way of life is doing massive damage to our planet, I'm not sure that it's just going to end because of gas/oil prices. I'm sure that there will still be people that feel safer in a small neighborhood away from large amounts of other people. How many families will want to sell their property in the suburbs and a move into an apartment or house on a tiny city lot and send their kids to inner city schools and to play in public parks and community swimming pools instead of letting them play in their reasonably safe back yard? How many people will change jobs to be closer to work if the company they work for is located in a city with a higher cost of living or higher crime rates than their current suburb? (Or the business is located in an industrial park in a different suburban area?)
I'm definitely not anti-city. However, the argument can be made that the draw of "suburbia" isn't going to end just because gasoline is expensive. At least around here suburban neighborhoods have schools with better reputations. Residential property values are higher and seem to retain their value better. Crime rates are lower. Many large local businesses have offices that are outside of downtown areas probably because commercial property values are lower. Two income families have to find a central location between both people's respective jobs which, quite often it seems, are in different directions. Some cities have higher tax rates than many suburbs.
I guess what I'm saying that when the company I work for relocates to a nearby city (from the suburb it's in now) in about a year and a half I would love to move to a house in that city that I can walk to work from. However, that would still leave my girlfriend with a commute that's about the same distance as mine is now. We'd be saving a the equivalent of a 20 minute car ride (her approximate current daily round trip commute) for more crime, lower property values, less personal space, higher taxes, etc.
I just don't think that suburbia is going to end any time soon.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
My newest hobby.
I was thinking about hobbies over the past few days and I came to the conclusion that I really haven't kept up on a lot of hobbies and interests from my past.
I used to find things to do that I really liked and throw myself into them. In my past I've spent quite a bit of time doing things like mountain biking, working on bikes, roller-blading, tinkering with computers, web-design, working on cars, etc.
Lately, though, I haven't really had too many outlets that I do on a regular basis. I tend to either be working or hanging around my apartment in various states of activity (or inactivity).
I have decided that this year I'm going to get into auto detailing. Last year I spent a few full days washing and waxing my car but this year I think I'm going to put a little bit more effort into it. (Plus, I'll probably offer to do my family member's cars, too...)
I decided I'm going to spend some time doing this because I love being outside, working on cars but a lot of times I'm too nervous to put a wrench to them in fear of messing up something instead of making it better. I've always done things like putting aftermarket intakes, exhausts, wheels & tires on my cars. However, I'm currently driving my first new car with a warranty so I'm even more nervous about doing something that will mess up my warranty coverage and/or make my car less reliable. I'll probably be a little less hesitant to do things to modify it once the warranty is up (and it's paid for.) For now, though, detailing will give me an opportunity to make my car look better and keep it's resale value high while also spending some time working with cars.
I'm starting to decide what detailing products I want to purchase for my car and to add to my product arsenal to work on other people's cars. (I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive hobby.) My girlfriend got me started with the random orbital buffer that I wanted for this past Christmas which was an awesome gift!
My brother said I can try out my new toy on his beater first. [How nice of him, eh? ;) ] The paint is black and badly oxidized and it can't really get much worse, so it should be a nice first car to practice on. I'm thinking I'm going to start off by doing a little body work on it and then working on trying to get the paint in better shape.
While I'm on the topic of cars: I also just ordered an AVO high flow air filter from RalliTEK for my car, too. I'm hoping that a clean air filter might help my gas mileage which has been suffering lately, probably from the E10 fuel that we have here for the winter.
I also have my eyes on some new 18" wheels and tires in place of my current 17" setup. The original tires are getting kind of scary. In standing water they hydroplane pretty bad. So I'm thinking of selling my current wheels to offset the purchase of a new set of 18" wheels and then just buying decent 18" tires for the spring - fall and getting 17" snow tires on my stock wheels which are still sitting in my parent's garage.
I used to find things to do that I really liked and throw myself into them. In my past I've spent quite a bit of time doing things like mountain biking, working on bikes, roller-blading, tinkering with computers, web-design, working on cars, etc.
Lately, though, I haven't really had too many outlets that I do on a regular basis. I tend to either be working or hanging around my apartment in various states of activity (or inactivity).
I have decided that this year I'm going to get into auto detailing. Last year I spent a few full days washing and waxing my car but this year I think I'm going to put a little bit more effort into it. (Plus, I'll probably offer to do my family member's cars, too...)
I decided I'm going to spend some time doing this because I love being outside, working on cars but a lot of times I'm too nervous to put a wrench to them in fear of messing up something instead of making it better. I've always done things like putting aftermarket intakes, exhausts, wheels & tires on my cars. However, I'm currently driving my first new car with a warranty so I'm even more nervous about doing something that will mess up my warranty coverage and/or make my car less reliable. I'll probably be a little less hesitant to do things to modify it once the warranty is up (and it's paid for.) For now, though, detailing will give me an opportunity to make my car look better and keep it's resale value high while also spending some time working with cars.
I'm starting to decide what detailing products I want to purchase for my car and to add to my product arsenal to work on other people's cars. (I have a feeling this is going to be an expensive hobby.) My girlfriend got me started with the random orbital buffer that I wanted for this past Christmas which was an awesome gift!
My brother said I can try out my new toy on his beater first. [How nice of him, eh? ;) ] The paint is black and badly oxidized and it can't really get much worse, so it should be a nice first car to practice on. I'm thinking I'm going to start off by doing a little body work on it and then working on trying to get the paint in better shape.
While I'm on the topic of cars: I also just ordered an AVO high flow air filter from RalliTEK for my car, too. I'm hoping that a clean air filter might help my gas mileage which has been suffering lately, probably from the E10 fuel that we have here for the winter.
I also have my eyes on some new 18" wheels and tires in place of my current 17" setup. The original tires are getting kind of scary. In standing water they hydroplane pretty bad. So I'm thinking of selling my current wheels to offset the purchase of a new set of 18" wheels and then just buying decent 18" tires for the spring - fall and getting 17" snow tires on my stock wheels which are still sitting in my parent's garage.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
If Jeremy Clarkson ruled the world...
I think that most people who know me in person know how much I LOVE the show Top Gear on BBC. A couple days ago I read a blog entry on autoblog about increasing public support for Jeremy Clarkson (one of the Top Gear presenters) to be Prime Minister of Britain. Today I came across some of his views on major issues... and I'm even more in support of Jeremy Clarkson for Prime Minister of Britain. (I wish he could run for President here...)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Affluenza and more.
First let me start out with a quick update to my last post: The scale at work is definitely broken. I might have lost a few pounds... but not anywhere near 15. I'm still trying to eat a little better and exercise a bit more, though.
This weekend was pretty good. I guess it felt more busy than it really was, though. I spent most of Saturday hanging out with my family and washing & waxing my car. (It was FILTHY!) I went to a BBQ at a friend's apartment on Sunday. Great food and awesome friends always makes for a good time. Yesterday morning we picked up our roommate from the airport and then spent most of the rest of the day relaxing for the most part. I read a little more of Affluenza before bed. I'm slightly into the third section which deals with ways to cure affluenza. So, expect to see some entries in this here blog thingy about that in the near future as I finish up the book. So far I've found it well written and funny. Most of the stuff they're saying makes sense to me but I'm hoping that they have some real ways to cure the problem written in the end. I'm afraid it's going to fizzle with no real solutions...
I was talking with my mom on Saturday and the topic of having a vegetable garden came up. She was saying that she missed having really fresh tomatoes after I mentioned that I don't like tomatoes anymore. I remember liking tomato sandwiches as a kid... but now I even pick tomatoes off my $0.99 Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. We used to have a garden when I was growing up and I remember picking and eating fresh snow peas, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and much much more. So, I'm trying to talk her into starting a garden at her house next year. My parents definitely have enough room for a decent sized garden there... I think the main issue that I'm going to run into is the fact that my father has been busy working on my sister's house the past year and they still have a lot left to go there. I know it's going to be a TON of hard work but it'll be good exercise and hopefully we'll get some good fresh vegetables out of it. At the very least I'll spend more time with my family and hopefully learn something about gardening, canning and cooking.
Also, I'm also in the beginning stages of a hunt for a new apartment. I have no idea where we'll end up as of January 1st... but we'll still be in the Albany/Troy general area. I'm taking Friday off to look at a few different complexes and I guess we'll go from there. Once we get closer I'm going to look into some private owner type apartments, too. I'm also thinking that we should try to negotiate with our current place to see if they'll lower our rent to be more competitive with other places that are including heat, hot water, plus cable and internet! I kind of like our current apartment but it's going to get too expensive once our roommate moves out in the end of December.
This weekend was pretty good. I guess it felt more busy than it really was, though. I spent most of Saturday hanging out with my family and washing & waxing my car. (It was FILTHY!) I went to a BBQ at a friend's apartment on Sunday. Great food and awesome friends always makes for a good time. Yesterday morning we picked up our roommate from the airport and then spent most of the rest of the day relaxing for the most part. I read a little more of Affluenza before bed. I'm slightly into the third section which deals with ways to cure affluenza. So, expect to see some entries in this here blog thingy about that in the near future as I finish up the book. So far I've found it well written and funny. Most of the stuff they're saying makes sense to me but I'm hoping that they have some real ways to cure the problem written in the end. I'm afraid it's going to fizzle with no real solutions...
I was talking with my mom on Saturday and the topic of having a vegetable garden came up. She was saying that she missed having really fresh tomatoes after I mentioned that I don't like tomatoes anymore. I remember liking tomato sandwiches as a kid... but now I even pick tomatoes off my $0.99 Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers. We used to have a garden when I was growing up and I remember picking and eating fresh snow peas, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and much much more. So, I'm trying to talk her into starting a garden at her house next year. My parents definitely have enough room for a decent sized garden there... I think the main issue that I'm going to run into is the fact that my father has been busy working on my sister's house the past year and they still have a lot left to go there. I know it's going to be a TON of hard work but it'll be good exercise and hopefully we'll get some good fresh vegetables out of it. At the very least I'll spend more time with my family and hopefully learn something about gardening, canning and cooking.
Also, I'm also in the beginning stages of a hunt for a new apartment. I have no idea where we'll end up as of January 1st... but we'll still be in the Albany/Troy general area. I'm taking Friday off to look at a few different complexes and I guess we'll go from there. Once we get closer I'm going to look into some private owner type apartments, too. I'm also thinking that we should try to negotiate with our current place to see if they'll lower our rent to be more competitive with other places that are including heat, hot water, plus cable and internet! I kind of like our current apartment but it's going to get too expensive once our roommate moves out in the end of December.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Brazilian Chicken, gross out food TV and crappy sleeping.
I went to dinner at a friend's apartment last night. It was our host, her boyfriend, our friend Jon and my girlfriend and I. Before dinner I talked with Jon mostly about cars and music. She made a dish she calls "Brazilian Chicken" which is made sort of like this and it's delicious.
After dinner we sat around and listened to the funny, random songs on our mp3 players and then watched some TV shows where the host goes to different countries and eats foods that look disgusting. There were snakes, bugs, fish sauce, civet coffee, and lots of testicles among many other foods that looked completely unappealing to me.
When I got home I was pretty tired so I got ready for bed, laid down and then I couldn't sleep. I laid there for probably close to 2 hours before I fell asleep and then my girlfriend woke up having a coughing fit. After that I tossed and turned again for a little while and then slept in little chunks for the rest of the night. Surprisingly, I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be after sleeping so horribly last night. I really need to find a new job because that's pretty much the cause of most of my stress. Which, in turn, was the cause of my crappy sleeping.
Tonight I think I'm headed to my old house again to go through more junk. I really want to put another dent in what I have to get done over there and hopefully find some more "treasures" to sell on eBay. I'm also hoping to dig out some of my old toys to clean up and give to my sister to use for her son until I have kids someday. I'm going to have to post up some pictures of Alex soon... he's getting so big.
[05/20/2026: Removed dead epicurious link to similar recipe for "Brazilian chicken".]
After dinner we sat around and listened to the funny, random songs on our mp3 players and then watched some TV shows where the host goes to different countries and eats foods that look disgusting. There were snakes, bugs, fish sauce, civet coffee, and lots of testicles among many other foods that looked completely unappealing to me.
When I got home I was pretty tired so I got ready for bed, laid down and then I couldn't sleep. I laid there for probably close to 2 hours before I fell asleep and then my girlfriend woke up having a coughing fit. After that I tossed and turned again for a little while and then slept in little chunks for the rest of the night. Surprisingly, I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be after sleeping so horribly last night. I really need to find a new job because that's pretty much the cause of most of my stress. Which, in turn, was the cause of my crappy sleeping.
Tonight I think I'm headed to my old house again to go through more junk. I really want to put another dent in what I have to get done over there and hopefully find some more "treasures" to sell on eBay. I'm also hoping to dig out some of my old toys to clean up and give to my sister to use for her son until I have kids someday. I'm going to have to post up some pictures of Alex soon... he's getting so big.
[05/20/2026: Removed dead epicurious link to similar recipe for "Brazilian chicken".]
Friday, August 10, 2007
What should I do?
I've decided that I hate my job completely and that I'm not going to get anywhere by sticking around here any longer. I was due for a review and a raise in June and it still hasn't happened yet, mostly because I haven't pushed the issue because I'm not looking forward to another shitty review saying that I'm not doing a good job at doing other people's work on top of my own. I'm going to wait a few weeks until my review is done and I get my back-pay for my raise before I decide to leave for sure, though. I'm going push for a decent raise this year. If it doesn't happen I'm definitely gone sooner rather than later.
My MAJOR issues are that I haven't found a job that:
* pays what I'm currently making or more.
* I'm interested in AND well qualified (on paper) for.
* I'd enjoy doing more than the boring office work that I'm currently doing.
* is "entry-level" but doesn't require experience. (Don't get me started on this one.)
I don't want to do any call center or help desk type jobs. I'd consider tech support stuff as long as it didn't entail TOO much travel. I don't have the experience that employers are looking for when applying for programming jobs or the art-school education for creative jobs. After all is considered, I basically think I'm pretty much limited to stupid office type jobs.
I did find ONE job that seems interesting and appealing to me as computer recycling tech. It appeals to my desire to do something that's a little more "green", it's ONLY about a mile from where I live and it is related to computers. The issue is the pay SUCKS VERY MUCH, even more than my current job.
I currently make about $27K/year and I have to drive about 12,000 miles a year JUST to get to and from work. With gas at it's current high prices and the likelihood to stay that way, would it make sense for me to take a job that's interesting to me and only about a mile from my apartment that only pays around $23K to start (with some sort of a bonus after 120 days)? 12,000 miles at a rough average of 25MPG with gas at around $3.00/gal. equals roughly $1,500 spent on gas for the year that I wouldn't have to spend. I'd be working basically the same Monday - Friday hours I'm currently working but I'd be taking apart computers and sending them out to be recycled instead of dealing with all of the office politics at my current job.
I guess I'll have to see if it's possible for me to even live on the lower pay. I'm sure I could if I sold my car and got a beater but I don't know if I want to do that.
I hate making decisions related to big life changes. I just wish I didn't hate my current job more...
My MAJOR issues are that I haven't found a job that:
* pays what I'm currently making or more.
* I'm interested in AND well qualified (on paper) for.
* I'd enjoy doing more than the boring office work that I'm currently doing.
* is "entry-level" but doesn't require experience. (Don't get me started on this one.)
I don't want to do any call center or help desk type jobs. I'd consider tech support stuff as long as it didn't entail TOO much travel. I don't have the experience that employers are looking for when applying for programming jobs or the art-school education for creative jobs. After all is considered, I basically think I'm pretty much limited to stupid office type jobs.
I did find ONE job that seems interesting and appealing to me as computer recycling tech. It appeals to my desire to do something that's a little more "green", it's ONLY about a mile from where I live and it is related to computers. The issue is the pay SUCKS VERY MUCH, even more than my current job.
I currently make about $27K/year and I have to drive about 12,000 miles a year JUST to get to and from work. With gas at it's current high prices and the likelihood to stay that way, would it make sense for me to take a job that's interesting to me and only about a mile from my apartment that only pays around $23K to start (with some sort of a bonus after 120 days)? 12,000 miles at a rough average of 25MPG with gas at around $3.00/gal. equals roughly $1,500 spent on gas for the year that I wouldn't have to spend. I'd be working basically the same Monday - Friday hours I'm currently working but I'd be taking apart computers and sending them out to be recycled instead of dealing with all of the office politics at my current job.
I guess I'll have to see if it's possible for me to even live on the lower pay. I'm sure I could if I sold my car and got a beater but I don't know if I want to do that.
I hate making decisions related to big life changes. I just wish I didn't hate my current job more...
Labels:
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Saturday, June 30, 2007
I'm finally starting...
I'm finally getting around to doing one of the big tasks that I've been avoiding for quite awhile... I'm finally going through some of my accumulated junk that has been stored in my old place, my parent's house and my current apartment. This morning I threw out 2 garbage bags full of random shit like notes and assignments from college courses and random stuff that I've accumulated over the years. I have a bunch more stuff to go through and then hopefully by tomorrow night I'll have a flurry of stuff for sale on eBay.
I'm going to be selling my old digital camera, some misc. computer and car parts, maybe some CD's, DVD's and books and possibly some old bike parts.
I'm sick of having my stuff strewn about in three different places and I don't use most of the stuff that I have all over the place. It would also be nice to make a few bucks on stuff I never use since I'm probably still paying for some of it. (Fuck credit cards!)
I'm going to be selling my old digital camera, some misc. computer and car parts, maybe some CD's, DVD's and books and possibly some old bike parts.
I'm sick of having my stuff strewn about in three different places and I don't use most of the stuff that I have all over the place. It would also be nice to make a few bucks on stuff I never use since I'm probably still paying for some of it. (Fuck credit cards!)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
My new camera came!
My Canon A640 digital camera that I mentioned in my last post came last night. I messed around with it for a little while last night and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. I only had the 32MB SD card that came with it, though, and that holds about 8 pictures at "superfine" full resolution... and you can't really do too much messing around in 8 pictures. ;) I can't wait to get the 2GB SD cards that I ordered on eBay for $18 each (shipped) and get out and actually start taking some pictures with it. :)
I think this weekend I'm also going to take pictures of all of the stuff I have sitting around my apartment waiting to go on eBay... I'm probably going to put a bunch of it up on our local craigslist first and then what doesn't move in a week or so there will go to eBay.
I think my Best Motoring - American Touge 2 DVD (which I ordered on May 3rd) should have FINALLY come today, so I'll probably watch that tonight. I've also been reading Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg over the past few nights. I'm going to attempt to take another chunk out of that tonight, too. It's pretty good but I think it's appeal is very much limited to computer programmers, IT management and related "geeky" fields. I'm finding it very well written with great background information and research but I think it only really appeals to me because I am interested in programming and have done some programming in the past. I (unfortunately) don't think I'd recommend it to anyone who's not in an IT related field even though it does explain technical things pretty well and it doesn't delve too deep into the actual nuts and bolts of code.
Anyway, that's pretty much where I'm at right now... a few little new and exciting things and the rest of my life is pretty much the same.
I think this weekend I'm also going to take pictures of all of the stuff I have sitting around my apartment waiting to go on eBay... I'm probably going to put a bunch of it up on our local craigslist first and then what doesn't move in a week or so there will go to eBay.
I think my Best Motoring - American Touge 2 DVD (which I ordered on May 3rd) should have FINALLY come today, so I'll probably watch that tonight. I've also been reading Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenberg over the past few nights. I'm going to attempt to take another chunk out of that tonight, too. It's pretty good but I think it's appeal is very much limited to computer programmers, IT management and related "geeky" fields. I'm finding it very well written with great background information and research but I think it only really appeals to me because I am interested in programming and have done some programming in the past. I (unfortunately) don't think I'd recommend it to anyone who's not in an IT related field even though it does explain technical things pretty well and it doesn't delve too deep into the actual nuts and bolts of code.
Anyway, that's pretty much where I'm at right now... a few little new and exciting things and the rest of my life is pretty much the same.
Labels:
books
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cars
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computers
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creativity
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eBay
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movies
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technology
Monday, May 7, 2007
I'm a car-mod junkie...
I spent most of this weekend painting a set of aftermarket JDM (Japanese Domestic Market or "only available in Japan") Bridgestone BEO ar.S-03 wheels for my car. This is the second time that I went through this procedure and I forgot how much of a pain it is... It was even worse this time because the wheels I picked up were way more complicated than the last set I painted a few years ago. Plus, I spent an extra long time stripping all of the paint off the first one because I had planned to polish the faces until I realized that the original surface was pretty rough and it would have taken quite a bit of time to polish them and I was anxious to just get them done so I can get them put on the car. I worked on them after work two nights last week and then for a few hours on Saturday and most of Sunday.
They're all done and drying in my parent's basement now, though. I'm (hopefully) going to get them put on next weekend... and then I'll clean the car up nice and do a little photoshoot. (I'm hoping my aftermarket air filter will be here by then, too, and I can throw that on and see how it works.)
They're all done and drying in my parent's basement now, though. I'm (hopefully) going to get them put on next weekend... and then I'll clean the car up nice and do a little photoshoot. (I'm hoping my aftermarket air filter will be here by then, too, and I can throw that on and see how it works.)
Thursday, May 3, 2007
I won a contest...
Awhile back I won a contest that I entered when I purchased something for my last car and I was supposed to get a Flowboard (skateboard-like contraption) as a prize. However, they had problems getting the Flowboards from their supplier so I ended up with an $80 gift card instead. I actually had a hard time spending it because, even though there were a ton of things I wanted, most of them were more than the $80 I had to spend. Plus, I'm trying really hard to not go crazy into modifying this car. I keep trying to tell myself that it's a horrible way to spend my money plus it's new and still has a warranty... So, I ended up just getting a Perrin air filter and a couple Best Motoring International DVD's. All in all, I'd say I'm glad they couldn't get the Flowboards.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
I wish I could read Japanese!
I like browsing Japanese websites about Japanese cars but I find that even with translations from babelfish and google I still can't understand what the hell they're trying to say on these websites.
Here's a good example from the links page of Emotion-Fukuoka translated by google: "Also the original commodity is quantity, ill-smelling it is, HP of the K2 gear"
Any idea what they're trying to say here? K2 Gear makes aftermarket body parts and steering wheels and stuff like that. What does that have to do with being "ill-smelling"? ;) I think someone needs to figure out a better way to translate Japanese into English...
Anyway, browsing Emotion-Fukuoka or T.N. Guts is like being a kid in a candy store for me. I wish I had more money (and the ability to comprehend Japanese...)
Here's a good example from the links page of Emotion-Fukuoka translated by google: "Also the original commodity is quantity, ill-smelling it is, HP of the K2 gear"
Any idea what they're trying to say here? K2 Gear makes aftermarket body parts and steering wheels and stuff like that. What does that have to do with being "ill-smelling"? ;) I think someone needs to figure out a better way to translate Japanese into English...
Anyway, browsing Emotion-Fukuoka or T.N. Guts is like being a kid in a candy store for me. I wish I had more money (and the ability to comprehend Japanese...)
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