The Cadillac Dairies.......

Not that the story of my humble Ranger is over by a long shot, but with the recent addition of the Caddy to my family of cars, I feel it is time to open a new page.

A Cadillac means different things to different people. It was the American Rolls Royce during our "Golden Age". A Rollex was "the Cadillac of watches", and Calloway was "the Cadillac of golf clubs". There was a time when a Caddy in the garage meant you had finally arrived. Mostly, my generation saw them as giant "grandpa cars". An Eldo convertible was a parade car everywhere you went. There were the ones that fell into disrepair and were seen as the low class showing off. Pimps, dealers, mobsters, thugs, and such may very well have one as a way to treat themselves for thier ill-gained fortunes.

I saw in it something my Granpa might have liked. I could see us in it with the top down. I kinda wish he were here now to see it. It would have been really fun to take him for a ride in it.

Mine was owned by an elderly lady who parked it in 91 when she became too old to drive. She died and the car stayed. People saw it and wanted to fix it and have it for their own, but it never became a reality and it sat until last week when it was offered to me. As of right now, I have not even started it as I have yet to get the keys. But there are a few thing that need to be addressed at the best-case senario.

1. Clean it up
2. New tires, battery, and fuel pump
3. new hoses and belts
4. Complete tune up and oil change.
5. New valve seals.

To do it "right" it will also need:
1. New top
2. New carpet
3. Rust repair & paint.

It doesn't look like a total "dog" I think it has a lot of promise. If I'm fooled and it turns out to be a money pit, I'll sell it after it is road worthy.

barn-car

Have you ever heard about the guy who found a '66 Stingray in and old widow's barn and was able to buy it for $75? It's an old story that may well be true. The thought that there is an old classic car tucked away, sleeping the decades away just waiting for an opportunist to come make a dream car out of it is a common train of thought in most all men. It happened to me today, well, as close as it does in my life.

I was offered a 78 Cadillac El Dorado convertible this Friday and snatched it up. I have a place to put and I'll put a few hours and a few dollars in it here and there and see what I end up with. Yeah, it's no Bel Air, or Stingray, or Shelby.....but a classic none the less. I'd like to photo blog this whole thing, so here is what I found yesterday.



It now has a new home, while not as posh and protected as the shed it's in now. It will get the TLC it needs. If I can afford it (if it needs almost no work) I'll have me a pimp ride.

lottery curse

I've read alot about the "lotto curse". It's a series of horrible events that happen as a direct result of the people coming into so much money so fast and wind up penniless in the aftermath. I can certainly understand what happened, but not so much as calling it a curse. A curse would indicate some magical, supernatural force caused all the "bad stuff" to happen and these things that happen are readily explained.

1. You win $100 million, you don't get the whole thing. Taxes are taken out. Inorder to get anywhere near the grand sum, you have to take installments that usually last 25-30 years. If you decide to take a lump sum, the actual payout is roughly half and a good lump of that will go to taxes, you might end up with 30 million.

2. People spend like there is no limit because millions of anything is beyond the normal person's comprehension. How far is a million miles? How much do you need to drive to amass a sum of 1,000,000 miles traveled? Take 10 cars and drive them for 100.000 miles. With no real concept of how to deal with that kind of money things can get unrealistic quickly. Buy all of you friends and family a really nice house and car, you can spend all most all of it right then.

3. People will start to feel you owe them something, you will get begged, pleaded with, threatened, sued and generally harassed because they want your money. You start looking like a walking piggy bank that everyone wants to crack wide open.

4. Party time!!!! With that kind of cash, you could live a live 99% of the population would crave, but that doesn't mean you can do everything you want whenever you want all day everyday. You have to pace yourself if you want it to last. You can afford a Bently but not a fleet of Bentleys. You can afford a really nice house, but not a mansion everywhere you ever wanted to live.

If you don't decide to keep up everyone who ever did you a favor, you can eat steak and lobster every night for the rest of your life, go on HUGE vacations with a small group of loved ones every year and have a full and satisfying life.

On the other hand, if you go around spending like a fool, throwing money away at every opportunity, you will be broke before you know it. With 100 million after taxes, you could spend over 9 thousand dollars a day for the next 30 years before you went broke. Hell, even with the afore mentioned 30 million, you'd have 2,700 per day to spend for 30 years. I don't know about you, but I think I could skimp a little here and there so I could splurge on a nice event all at once.

For me, the only lottery curse I get is when I see that I still didn't win. I say "dammit" and head to work.

One Cingularly bad experience

Before there was Cingular, there was a group of smaller cell phone companies that merged to become cingular. My original carrier, BellSouth Mobility, was one of them. They merged protocols and we traded up for new phone since ours was not in that protocol and I've been with them pretty much ever since and I've been really happy with the service until recently. The dropped calls have increased, customer service has become horrible, they've changed calling features and prices on me with no notice, and it only gets worse from there. Cingular offers "savings" on new phones via mail-in rebates. If that isn't the most insulting and demeaning premium to ever come around, I don't know what is, and just to really twist the knife in a little more; they don't send checks. They send Visa rewards cards. You can't cash them, you can't use them in many ways. You can buy more crap you don't need with them and that's about it.

The nail in the coffin is that someone has gotten my cellphone number and has been harassing me with blocked calls. After 9 years of faithful business, my only option to end the harassment is change my number...with a $38 service fee. I refuse. If I have to have all that mess, I guess I'll just have to switch carriers.

In a dynamic market that actually rewards customer disloyalty it is the customer who suffers in the long run.

The A&W burger joint

I love the root beer. You mean they actually have a whole restraunt based after my beloved soft drink? I came upon the website while procrastinating here: http://www.awrestaurants.com/default.htm . I see they are not too popular here, as there are only 4 in all of NC. Looking at the website, I can see why. I'm not too sure what the "curd it" incentive is, but I'm sure I wouldn't be into it. Also, all the people are ugly, they look like they eat burgers and they are on some type of antidepressant medication. Just browse through a few of the pages. If I saw any of these hopped-up, loony-bin escapees, I'd leave. Maybe they could find a niche by sending their website models over to McDonald's and scaring the the normal people to A&W. I'd kinda like to visit just to try a root beer float, but it just isn't worth the risk.

PA?

It has been brought to my attention that PA could be a nice place to move. I'm no idiot, I've done some research to see what the big deal is. Seems like certain areas are cracking down on illegal aliens. They have made English offical language and some counties refuse to cater to non-english speaking folks.

Let it be known that while I'm not xenophobic, I do harbor certain ill will toward people who move to MY country and make me try to cater to thier needs and bend to THIER culture. I say keep your culture, respect mine. I find it disgusting that there are places in the US where you cannot get a job as a cashier in a store if you are not bilingual. I can traipse through any country I like, wherever I want and not speak their language at least to some passable degree. Go ahead, try it.

Anyway, I'd have to reseach it more, but it would be more likely for me to be a forensic scientist there, but I still like teaching. The verdict is still out, but Nowhere, NC really isn't too much fun either way and if I want more for myself, I know I'll have to leave.

waiting for nothing

I've been a little lazy in my studies this past week, I've been lazy in everything. This upcoming week, I'll get back to work. Studies, housekeeping and fitness must not be neglected. The tradgic part is, even though I work close to 60 hour a week, I don't do much most of the time I'm at any given job. I've got to remind myself how important my goals are on a regular basis, or May '08 will not be of signifigance.

I have a slight feeling my weekend job is about to turn sour really quick. It get to become less and less of a good deal every week, as the owner has reniged on almost every thing that made this job a perk. It has made me less motivated, and I'm already lazy, so it becomes a downward spiral. I was hoping it would hold out until after school, but if it gets any worse, I might have to find something else.

funny how things work out

When I was 8 or 9, I went to a nieghborhood kids' house and his whole family was over, including his cousin. We were playing a baseball-like game. His folks didn't like me too much. One of the "adults" came over with a catcher's mitt and asked us all what we wanted to be when we grew up. The both said baseball players, I said I wanted to be a scientist. He started playing catch with them. After a bout 30 seconds of tossing the ball back and forth and ignoring me, he turned and said "You're going to be a scientist, right?" I got the hint and went home.

I thought about that yesterday on the way my anatomy class.......I'm going to be a scientist, are they ballplayers yet? It's funny how things work out, right?

hateful employment

I don't make enough money. This is why I went back to school and work a part-time job on top of my full-time day job. Everything seems to be getting worse at the part-timer. It started out as a great deal. I had decent pay, good working conditions, and generally enjoyed what I was doing. Due to certain circumstances that will remain unnamed at present. The hours are worse, the pay is worse, and the general enjoyment has gone down the toilet. The best part is that they are putting greater expectations on people for less pay. Not to mention the fact that I now have people going and reporting everything that happens to the owner, usually exaggerated and out of context, so I'll probably be doing something new real soon.

unusual weather

I like days like today, not hot and not cool.
Today feels like Spring weather I think Heaven should feel like, and I want to be in a park or on a green meadow with the one I love most. We could stare at each other while Sun warmed our faces. We could hold hands and laugh love with the sound of wind and children's laughter in the air.
Later that night we could cookout. Have some chicken and steaks on a charcoal fire while the kids chase fireflies. We'd be so happy and I'd want everyday to feel like today.

But I'm spending my day in an ass-smelling nasty garage and daydreaming between hateful customers.

The Winter of discontent

Winter is always bad for me. I get paid before Christmas and I over-spend. So there's not a lot of bill money in January, I have to catch up in February, which means I don't get back on an even keel until March only to have it start all over again. Fun days of PB&J sandwiches for lunch, pizza roll dinners, and what's this breakfast you speak of? I guess it's not so bad. If I learn to live frugally when I'm broke, I'll be able to hold onto cash when I need to after I get a better job.

new routine for a new year

I got back into the gym last night with a new twist on my old workout. I've been reading quite a bit on workouts. I'm trying to find something that will give me some progress. I am happy with some of my progress, but some not so much. As a result, I've decided to get really serious with my exersice. I'm going to get some of this fat off and get as much muscle on between here and June as I can and the only way I can do it is to get very careful with what I eat and stay with an intense workout program. I really need to ramp up my cardio too. I'm going to try to graduate from the eliptical machine to the treadmill.

I guess I'm tired of being fatty. I hate being "big guy". I'm 5'10". I weigh 253 lbs, which means I gained 5 over the holidays. My goal of getting under 200 seems so far away.

How much????

I bought 3 book for school that totaled $300! That's pretty steep! Higher learning = deeper penetration.

return to it all

I'm back at work. Next week, I'll be back at college. This may very well be my most difficult semester both personally and academicly. I have to trudge on through 'til May 2. Then I get to go to Summer school. Thinking about it all makes me tired right now. After this semester, I'll only have a year left before my degree. For me, I'll be so busy that the next 5 months will fly by....that makes me more lucky than others.

smoking section

I live in a town that has all but banned indoor smoking in public places, so unless there is a bar, you won't run into too much indoor smoking. As Robyn and I were enjoying a rare weekend meal at a restraunt, we detected the foul stench of cigarette smoke. I was about to comment on what kind of gutter trash goes to a non-smoking restraunt and lights up, but Robyn stopped me. It does stand to reason that it takes a certain level of trash to be so inconsiderate as to disregard other peoples allergies in lieu of you own addictions. That being said, I have no problem with tobacco use. I do not tend to use tobacco products myself, but I support free will in choosing to use whatever it is that you preferr. Mainly, I just wish that if it were a vise that is residually harmful to others, you would do it away from those who would rather not partake. The problem with this thinking is there will always be some jackass with a cavalier attitude toward whatever they are doing. "It ain't bothering you" No, asshole, it is not bothering YOU. If it were not bothering me, I would not have said anything, now would I?

Motorcycle

I want another bike. I miss riding horribly. When I was delivering pizza, I hated driving of any type and as a result, I let my motorcyle go for a stupid price. There were times I could have really used that bike too. I keep telling myself when I get done with school I'll get another one. I'll have a lot more resposibilities by then, so I don't know if I can keep that promise.

New Year?

I have been guilty of making New Year's resolutions because it is just what you do. Most of mine go the way of the dodo bird, as do they all. However, this yearI was able to keep a few.

1. Go back to college. I did that, working on that BA in forensics.
2. Get in better shape. I began exercising regularly and I am in much better shape than I was in a year ago. I'm not athlete by any stretch, but I might get there this year.

I think it's funny how people see a difference in one day over the other. On Dec 31...nothing, but on January 1, it's a new year time to change my life, it's a fresh start. Says who? Come tomorrow, you'll owe the same bills, you'll weigh the same, look the same feel the same. Anything, good or bad, will still be yours tomorrow. As a matter of fact, I like the course I'm going. I don't need your stinking resolutions.

day dreaming

As I am pretty broke, I can't do everything I'd like. I realized when I got my surplus tution check that an extra $800 one time isn't verry much, but as a regular part of my cash flow, it would be awesome. Spent wisely, it would take no time at all to straighen out my affairs and make forward progress. I dream about the things I can do when I finish school. Cookouts, motorcycles, vacations, new cars, nice clothes.....a family. Normal stuff is kinda nice when you haven't had it forever.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Yep, times has changed me. I've made a lot of major changes recently that I'm pretty happy with. By the time all is said and done with, I'm not too sure I'll even recognize myself. Priorities are different and such. I've accomplished a few goals....a few I have been lax on. I'm going ahead and making a few resolutions for the new year to help remedy that.

1. Fitness. Although I have been lifting regularly, I have not achieved the goals I had hoped for and I plan on changing that. I'm upping my exercise and will attempt to be in prime shape by June.

2. I'll finish the work on the Ranger by Summer and have another car in decent running shape too.

3. I'll keep the course in school and prepare to be finished in May '08

4. Speaking of school, I'll stay on top of my studies and not allow myself to get behind. I could have possibly had A's instead of B's had I not allowed myself to get behind.

5. I'm going to keep myself, my home, and my vehicles up as well as I can. Going back to the "hot damn" instead of "god damn" as the desired response when others see me or my property.

Big things that take small steps and yield major results.

Final grades in.......

I made straight B's......not too bad for an old under-achiever going back to school after a long hiatus. I feel more confident than ever that I can do this. May '08, degree......September '08, normal life ahoy. Basically 22 months and counting.