are you going retarded?

How's this for messed up....apparently my new job wants me to NOT work so much...imagine that. I only worked 4 days last week and pulled in 41.5 hours...not bad. Which would mean about 50 hours for a full 5 day work week. Apparently thats too many hours....they want me to work at max 45 hours a week. I worked 2 hours of overtime alone today...something about this whole thing seems kinda messed up. I had to train a new temp guy this afternoon too, they 'fired' the afternoon guy Friday I guess. He gets there at 4-4.30...which gives me my 1+ overtime everyday, so it all works out in the end I guess....but I'm still not pulling in the time (and money, espically since I'm making less then originally thought, I think...) that I should be. Hey, I may not have had a job for a long time, but I know how to bust ass when needed. Or something, I forget now. Oh yeah, cheese is cool.

anyone get the number of that truck?

Today my father and I did this Chrysler driving challenge thing. Basically you get to run the piss outta some brand new cars on a set up track. I drove a Pacifica, a Town and Country, a PT Cruiser Turbo Convertible, Crossfire Convertible, BMW Z4, 300 Touring, Caddy CTS, and a 300C. My faves were the PT, Crossfire, and the Z4....not so much because of the car, but the little hot number sitting next to me. They didn't let you run by yourself out there, they had an 'escort' or something to help keep you in line and tell you what to do at certain parts of the course. Well, by complete chance I was escorted three times by the same person, Miranda. Sweetie of a thing, not much to complain about...other then she yelled at me in the PT for going too fast..don't think she liked the wheelspin I had going on in some tight esses. But each time out we talked about stuff other then what we were supposed to, which were the cars. It was kinda surreal, here I am just going flat out on this course in a brand new Crossfire Convert, dialing in a bit of countersteer as I come out of a tight hair pin and I'm talking to a hot chick about buying her dinner. One of those moments in life where you really don't belive wahts going on, lol. She doesn't live around here, and I failed to even remember to ask her for her email....even though the all important contact info should be the primary objective, I was having too much fun at the time being and just forgot. I"m a dumbass sometimes. Oh well, live and learn. But it sure woulda been nice to talk to her some more.

OK, off of MIranda for a while cause I could go on all day and onto the cars, first out of the box was the Pacifica. I"ve seen a slew of these thigns on the road and never much thought about them, but let me tell you, they are really nice. Quad buckets as standard, with front and second row dual stage heating...spiffy. This one has a DVD player with wireless headphones for the rear seat passengers, and a nice in-instrument navigation system for me. Drove pretty damn good, fairly flat in the corners, stable, quick turning radius, and good get up and go.

Next was the Town & Country....yeah, it was there, so I drove it. I really don't like stock minivans, but this was was OK I guess. Some nice features, but they wouldn't do well with younger kids, say under 10 years old. Drove like a minivan, plowed in the turns like a mini van, was smooth however in the rough section, but it's still a fuckin mini van....

Thirdly was a PT Cruiser Turbo Convertible (and Miranda), what a nice little rocket this is. I've always been a fan of the PT Turbo, the non Turbo's are jsut too damn slow, but the convert was even nicer. Wind in your hair, nice stiff body...and the PT's body wasn't too loose either. Had some horrible lag in first gear though, of course it was an automatic, a 5-speed would really help that. But since it's FWD, which inherently sucks, it did suffer from a bit of torque steer, but not too bad. I was going into some tight esses, flat out on the gas well before the apex of each and the wheels started spinning. Not uncontrollable in the least, but I did get yelled at and told to slow down. But I was really dissapointed by the lack of the sound from the turbo...you could hear it spool up, but no blow off valve sound....of course, the course was almost too small to get the RPMs up high enough, but still, have the fun of a turbo is the sound.

Fourth up was the Crossfire Convert. Again, Miranda was my escort, and since she yelled at me previous, I started out a little slow. At the beginning there is a nice accelleration straight followed by a quick stop...I didn't go flat out..."Aw, come on, you can do better then that!"...thats all I heard from the passenger seat, lol. Well, I did do better. The Crossfire is a RWD car, so I had it swung around on a few of the tighter corners, really mashing the gas early to induce wheelspin to square away the back end. She didn't yell at me this time, we were to busy conversating on other things, lol. But the sight lines, for me at least, were horrible. I had to have the seat down low so that my view wasn't blocked by the top of the windshield, which left a huge blind spot by the passenger front tire. I was having to constantly lean up and over to spot my cones. The lag in first gear was also bad in this, although not as bad as the PT. Still a real fun little car to thrash about in, I could easily see myself in one of these. I also owe Miranda $15...cause I hit three cones at $5 a cone. Maybe she'll come hunting for me for her money....I wouldn't complain too bad.

Next up was the BMW Z4 2.5i. Wow, what a tight little car. Ugly as sin. At least the exterior, I don't even remember anythign about the interior...I was too busy yapping like a hen with Miranda and trying my damndest to get the car to break a tire loose. This thing felt like it was just glued to the road. Excellent turn in, almost too good, I found myself turning in too early, great brakes, and decent throttle response. Although coming out of a tight hairpin into some esses when I floored the gas, the engine really bogged down. It felt like the tranny didn't know which gear it wanted and stayed hung in second gear. It finally choose first for me on the downshift, but by then I was already on the brakes. Great suspension too, nicley tuned, almost no lean in any direction be it from accelleration, turning, or braking. Overall much tighter then the Crossfire. But, ugly...and considerably more expensive then the Crossfire. I could see myself in one of these for some SCCA SOLO I/II runs or at the track, but a big no on everyday use.

Fifthly (I think) was the 300 Touring. I told MIranda she needed to take me out on the 300 course as well, but she said that wasn't allowed, oh well, but the guy I had was pretty cool. The 300 is a really, really nice machine. A super nice suspension, flat enough in the corners to not feel like your out of control (it is a big sedan afterall), but enough lean to let you know what your doing. Meanwhile over the rough area it felt calm and collected. Super nice interior in this one as well. Good brakes on it as well.

Sixthly was the Caddy CTS. Now I"ve driven this car in the past pretty hard on more then one occasion, and I love it. I absolutly love the engine. A free revving V6. I mean you can really feel when this thing hits it's power band. Just feel like a damn fire was lit up under your ass. You get pinned back in your seat and are just along for the ride. Really nice performer as well. Great balance, you can induce just enough wheelspin (with traction turned off) to help square away the back end with out feeling like your about to loose it, brakes that could stop a frieght train, and very postitive steering input. The interior and exterior are kinda quirky, it takes some getting used to, but I like it. Has a kinda space-age feel to it. It's not one of those types of interiors that screams high class like in the 300C, but it's high class in it's own right, but in a different way. Of course, thats only if you 'get it', and I do.

Last but certainly not least, was the 300C. Oh my GOD I love this car. I would buy one tomrrow if I wouldn't go bankrupt. A nice HEMI engine that is not ashamed to show you it's powerful side, and yet, suprisingly gentle at slower speeds. It has a quick throttle, so the first week of ownership would see a lot of quick starts in the parking lot, until you got used to the feel. A super, super nice feeling and looking interior. Some gauges that look like they were knicked from a Swiss watch...and an analouge clock in the dash, very nice. Tourtise shell accents on the steering wheel, gearshift, and door handles has a nice translucent look to them. Different then the run-of-the-mill wood you see, and it works. Nice aluminim or similar looking accents, I can't really remember, I was having too much fun with the HEMI. A bit of a trouble to see out the back due to the high sides and low roof, but would take some getting used to is all. I could very easily see me in this beast as well.

So all in all I had a very, very nice day today. Got to spend some of it with a hot chick who seemed to dig me, got to thrash about in some brand new cars, and didn't sweat my ass off in the process. The list of my faves (putting all escort preferences aside) are: 300C, Crossfire Convert, Caddy CTS, 300, PT Turbo Convert, Pacifica, BMW Z4, Town & Country. While the BMW was a splendid track car, I just don't like the looks of them, and they would be very harsh to drive everday...although I'm used to rough, I don't want a stock car to feel like my lowered truck.

I also got to drive (OK, ride....) through the heart of ATL and then some. I absolutely love the city. I don't get up there much, but I just love it when I do. Here in ATL we don't really have 'districts' sorted by ethnicity..no Chinatown, no Russian-ville, no Little Italy, nothign like that. Sure we have our areas, a bunch of them actually, but they aren't seperated by ethnicity for the most part. So anyway, in ATL almost no matter where you look you'll see trees and fountains. This is a very green city. The Chrysler thing was up at Stone Mountain, which is the world's largest exposed hunk of granite. Out of towners always seem to want to go there for some reason, I don't really get it cause I live here. But anyway, on the way back to the house got to go past the FOX Theater. Been past it before, but have never actaully been inside. I will one of these days. Got to drive much of on of the many Peachtree streets. And yes, there really are almost 150 different streets in ATL with the name Peachtree. It can get very confusing. Also got to venture into the residential part of Buckhead...an area where the cash is flowing, and people aren't afraid to show it....even more so then where I live now. So that was kinda nice, got to see lots of nice houses, yards, and cars. Even got to drive on the back side of the famous Bobby Jones Golf Course. Swanky place right there, lol. Well, enough of my ramblings...but I had a very nice day today.

i'll lie in the floor in the fetal position and think about pancakes

So, news, news, news....Well, I got a 'new' job on Tuesday. I hesitate to say 'new, because it sounds like I had a job previous and then got this one. My last job was a few years ago, so this isn't really that new 'new'. Anyway, I work at the same place my Dad does, in a cold storage warehouse. The largest east of the Mississippi, and the second largest in the country, at least for our company, which is the largest nationwide cold storage companies in the United States. Over 500,000 square feet, and over 1.1 million cubic feet of space....so yeah, it's kinda big. My job is to keep the forklifts (of which there are a bunch) running with fresh batteries. So I get to play with heavy machines all day long. The machine I drive is hydrulacily (however you spell that) operated and is capable of handing up to 10,000 lbs, and lifting this weight about 5 feet off the ground. It's a failry routine job, a lift comes in, I take the battery out, and pop a new one in; check the water levels of the batteries, and keep them charged up. Now for the hazards of the job, just cause it makes me sound tough, lol. Forklifts, which weight about 5,000 lbs each (at least, prolly more..I don't really know), running around, batteries, which weight 2000 lbs each and of which I usually have two at a time on the machine, sulfuric acid (and smell..ew-ey), flammable hydrogen gas, high powered magnets, high pressure hydraulics, and temperature ranges from about 50 to 100, and playing with 480 volts. Since I have to mess with wire ends straight from the 480 source, forgetting to cut the breaker off may send me on my ass in short order, lol. These batteries, while only being about 36V fully charged, are anywhere from 500 amps to 1200 amps, depenging on who you ask. And in the world of electricity, it's not the volts that kill you, it's the amps. SO I really gotta watch my ass messing with those batteries...I hear they give off a big arc when shorted, lol...I hope to not be the grounding point for that arc....but considering I have to mess with water around these things, that may be a god possibility, remember kids, water and electricity do NOT play well together. But don't let me fool you, it's not too terribly hard, grueling, or anythign else. I'm not even sure how much I"m getting paid, but I wanna say $10/hour, well, I'm hoping at least. Which isn't bad considering I go on the clock at 7am, and get off at about 5.30-6.00pm, with a total of 1 hour of breaks. If anything, it's a good workout, as I get to play with two 3' crow bars that weigh about 10lbs each, and get to force battery doors and batteries out from thier holes. If you look at this pic, my battery room is just on the near side of the joint on the right hand building, where the roof color changes from grey to tan and continues at an angle. That pic doesn't really do the size of the place justice, as the facility continues a little more off the screen, but compare the size to the semi's that are parked....and you know how big those things are. With this new cash flow, I should be able to afford a lot more toys...but I gotta pace myself.


Oh yeah....this is my 100th blog post. Wow, maybe I shoudl have a party or osemthing, sounds good at least...always looking for an excuse to get drunk (yeah, right...). Started this whoel thing back on Halloween on 03...it's come a long way. My Ranger was stock height, I didn't have a Ranchero, and it looked ugly and plain, although now isn't much better, lol. Yay! for me.

your trash is well....your trash

Went to the junkyard again today. Broght home a few more goodies for the Ranchero. I feel like absolute crap right now though. Was out in the yard for about four hours with a heat index of 105, humidity of 90%+, and all on an empty stomach. Yeah, I'm a dumbass sometimes. Oh-well, at least I got soem goodies. Sangged an electric fan from a '92 (?) 3.8L Taraus. Was looking for one from a SHO Taraus, as they are a V8 with FWD, so you know the fan will have the CFM rating for that of a V8. The one we got is fairly big, lots of curved blades, and a nice, big, torquey motor. It'll help clean up the front of the engine and give us a few HP at the same time. Also grabbed some inside door handles from a '87 Acura Integra. They are black and integrate a door pull and armrest all in one. Very simple looking, and will be a sinch to install. Great thing is that it's already black, so it'll match the rest of the interior.

swings at the 2-0 pitch, it's deep along the line.....foul

Don't you jsut hate it when your waiting around say, I dunno, a month or few for someone to sign-on on AIM (Y!, WM, ICQ, whatever you use) and when they...eh, who am I kidding, SHE....does, your hidden so that she doesn't even see you online, so she leaves? Doesn't that just steam your taters? Yeah, mine too. So goes the story of my life....

In other news, work on the Ranchero is progressing very quickly this week. My Dad is off from work so now it's the two of us out there attacking the poor girl full force. I dare say that we are in the home stretch with the body work. usually with project cars, the body work is the most time consuming part. It's not only the largest area of the car, it's the only part of the car that will be seen all the time, so you want to take your time with it to make sure it's perfect, and jsut how you want it. That's why finding a rust and cancer free body that is straight is such a delight. Wanna make a a hot rodder mess hi pants? Give him an all original, rust free, straight 32 or 34 Ford body...guarenteed pants messing. The list of needed body mods and repairs is quickly shortening, while the list 'done' list is quickly growing. Meanwhile, my Dad and I ventured to a local body shop to cheack on sandable primer and to check out paint chips for a body color. They didn't have the former, but we did find the latter. We decided on *censored*, a stock Chrysler color to do the '66. We may change our minds after we see the color in person on a full scale car, but it looks good. We also considered a stock Merc-Benz color, but decided against it.

To do: *censored* inside bed sides body repair, drivers door body repair, drivers bedside body repair, tailgate body repair, drivers fender block sand, repair found dings

Done: shaved passenger door handle shaved drivers door handle shaved antenna shaved emblems, front fenders shaved fuel filler (move to inside bed side) shaved body seam, drivers rocker panel/bed side shaved body seam, passenger rocker panel/bed side shaved side mirrors smoothed rain gutters body repair, passenger fender (much worse then drivers side) body repair, passenger door body repair, passenger bed side (icky dent) body repair, roof

I'm sure I'm missing some stuff on both sides of the list, but i'll be happy with there is nothign but a goose egg in the left hand column.

if I could be invisible...

So whats cooler then being part of the Striper Fucker Club? Having you own active camaflouge of course. Now you too can parade around acting like your favorite video game hero. Just imagine the possibilites of having a parka that kinda makes you blend into background...only from certain angles of course....You could, like, I dunno, sneak into R-rated movies, or into the girls locker room, or any other of those boyhood fanatsies you had as, well, a boy. Just be sure you don't forget your retroreflective parka! Actaully, do check out the vids, they are pretty cool. Technology like this is very cool and has many useful applications. Kinda scary when things in video games and sciene fiction actually come to the real world....years ahead of schedule. Now where'd I put my invicibility Starman?

beware: accidental discharge may harm others

Ever wanted to blow $60 but wasn't sure on what? Want to boast to your buddies that your part of a cool, semi-secret club? Want to hang out in VIP rooms with H-O-T strippers? At discounted rates? Look no further then the Stripper Fucker Club. Yes, you read that right, Stripper Fucker Club. A 'club' of drunken, horny guys (and gals) that have joined forces to make thier drunken, horned up voices heard. And for just $60, you get a lifetime membership, discounts at gentlemen's establishments, a beer coozy, and yes, even a thong.....cause the strippers have to have somethign to take off. So gather up those empty beer bottles and cans, head on over to deposit them, and buy yourself a SFC membership...and use the excess cash for a pack of tall-boys.

thank you sir, may I have another!

Showfest in, I think, Grenville, Mississippi is quickly becoming one of the primier shows to see and be seen at. The show features all kinds of cars and trucks from all kinds of styles, and features many cover rides, and many, many feature rides, and many future cover and feature rides. This year was no different, although I didn't go, I"ve been looking through various pics to see what I missed. I picked out a few of my faves...

This Ranger is perhaps one of the sickest Rangers, nay, trucks, I've ever seen (late model at least). I has a rear hinged bed, bagged, full Mustang interior (dash and seats) covered in tweed (and even a nice two toned center waterfall to match the exterior...and not let us forget the beautifully finished 5.0 engine and engine bay-


Nothing quite like a no frills, down and dirty, open piped, open tired, chopped, channeled, Chevy powered old skool Ford truck. Love the red oxide primer finish, the rough and unpolished look, a lack of chrome is a nice touch...chrome in just the right places-


Here is a slightly different take on the same style truck as above....a bit more polished. This one actaully has fenders (fenders are for wussies...lol), some nice old skool wire wheels, nicely channeled, some chrome bits, and a sweet looking side dump exhuast-


Nothing too extreme about this little red beauty, but it is similar to how I envision my own truck one day. Nicely bagged, and an expertly engineered front suspension to eliminate the extreme camber normally associated with Rangers and bags...it could be a Mustang II front suspension, or they have it aligned at dumped height and not the ride height, but still, looks pretty damn sweet laying rocker with straight front wheels-


Now I'm not 100% on what this is, my guess is either a Caddy, but more then likely a old Lincoln Continental. How can you not love this thing? Huge, heavy, flat black, shaved, and laying rocker...and that rear fender skirt...nice-

see inside for details

So, work finally continued on the Ranchero today. Started shaving the gas door, won't take much to get it done really, I hope. The passenger fender is about done....really close to getting there. It's just been to bloody hot to work out in that damn shop...go out there and even with the fan on high you sweat up a storm, just makes you not wanna work. But my father and I came up with an absolutley killer looking bed idea....of course, I'll keep it under the hat for the time being. Trust me, it's gonna look cool. I really thing the whole truck will eb supper spiffy when it's done, can't wait for that first cruise.

In other, rather uninteresting news, I got my preorder for Halo 2 in today. I went ahead and got the Limited Special Duper Ultra Delux by Preorder Only Editon....or something like that. You can only get it (for now at least) by pre-ordering, and not by buying in the store after the game comes out..or so I've been lead to belive. If so, oh-well. It comes in a metal box, and with a second DVD with behind the scenes stuff. For $5 more, what the hell. I know I'll probably be able to get it cheaper on e-bay the day after the game comes out, but that means I won't be playing it the day it comes out...so yeah.

dictionary....stat

I think I did something today....I can't quite remember. I know I woke up, left the house, and came back home, left again, came back home again, and um...I guess thats it. I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61! Oh yeah, it rained really, really hard today whilst I was out driving...was kinda odd, some of the streets had this soapy stuff all over them, wasn't oil, wasn't grease, dunno what it was. But there was a definite frothy, soapy look to the water whereever it was being turned up. Maybe it cleaned to truck up a little...maybe not.

I was recently turned onto a 'new' band The Mars Volta...dunno much about them, but I grabbed a few of this songs from thier site, whattauknow, not half bad. They have a kinda AFI feel to them, and kinda not. And the lead singer sounds so much like the lead singer from Coheed and Cambria that it makes me wonder if they are the same person. Can't find the lead singers name for CnC, though...so I'm not sure.

sleep? yes please

it's fairly safe to say I've had a total of about 5 hours of sleep in the past 36+ hours. At about 2.15am last nite, my bro in law called the cellie and told me that my sister was starting to have contractions, and that they were on the way to the hospital. I was already awake, he didn't wake me up...so, I woke my mom up. Then at abou 2.45am he called back and said they were at the hospital and to come on up. My mother and I got up there at about 3.30am. Hospitals are generally creppy and univiting for me, as for most people I assume, but this wing was coozy. The rooms were so inviting in fact that I wouldn't mind having a similary styled room as my bedroom...hardwood floors, high ceilings, big, private bathroom, an entry alcove, a large picture window with a seat bigenough to stretch out on, can lights, all kinds of fun stuff. The rest of teh wing was no slouch either...a freaking HUGE entry atrium, arc-shaped, about a 40 foot ceiling, nice live trees, 15foot high free standing columns, full capeting, really swanky. Anyway, I only was able to get about 1.5hours worth of sleep at the hospital...not much. The little baby boy was born at 11.39, 6lbs 6.5ounces, 18" long, named Dylan Jude Puckett. Cute kid, fead of hair, nice blue eyes. I left the hospital at about noon...got some lunch, went home, and fell asleep at about 3pm...woke back up at 5pm....went back to sleep at about 7.30..woke back up at about 8.30....went back to the hospital at about 9pm, came back home at about 10pm, and have been up ever since. The bed looks mighty inviting right now, but alas, I have a spot of insomnia...damn my luck. Nice to have a natural nephew, hopefully he won't turn out too screwed up...