2009 year end report

Wow! 2009 came and went so fast that my head is still shaking like a dashboard bobble doll.

The last couple of months I've not been very active with my blog. I've just had a lot on the proverbial plate and haven't really had an urge to write about things until they had gotten further along.

Where to start? My ex violated our parenting plan and moved them out of the school district. A big No No. Matter of fact she moved them so far out that it now is 40 miles one way to pick them up.

Moving is just one of the many violations. I won't go into them, but if you're divorced then I'm sure that you know all the ins and outs.

Skipping ahead. My kids are now sick of the mom and her BS. They tell me and her that they want to live with dad. Initially that goes interesting with their mom. She loses her temper with my son and proceeds to yell at him that "there are still plenty of moving boxes for you to start packing your shit into".

Real nice yeah?

So after much discussion with an attorney it's pretty much been placed on the back burner on a low simmer. The former Mrs. is now raising a stink about it and doing everything she can to continue to push the boundaries of the spirit of the parenting plan.

My attorney has a plan, and the more I think about it I wonder if its a good idea. He states that a court doesn't care what the kids want. They will side with mom for the reason that this is where they currently are and custody doesn't need to change just because mom is having a bit of bad luck.

Bad Luck my arse!! She is flat out making stupid mistakes and my kids are paying for it. I've gone to far with this one.

Back to the topic at hand. The end of the year review.

Well it's been a roller coaster year. Reconciling with the folks (mom is narcissist and we cut them off for a almost 2 years) refinanced our condo for a lower interest rate and got out from our PMI. Joined up with a great group of folks, the Seattle Steamrats, a local steampunk group. Sold my previous ride (see the Bronze Bitch files) and purchased a new one (see the end of the road).

The holidays almost went over without a hitch.

On Christmas morning the parents and grandparents came to our place for the morning. The festivities started on the front landing of our condo when my grandfather fell. So we finally got him off the ground and in the house and kept an eye on him for about 2 hours and finally had to call paramedics. He hasn't come home from the hospital and won't be. Grandma can't take care of him and the fall triggered some other things. He will be headed to a live in home once he's able to leave the hospital.

Lastly, there are the car repairs. Jake (the new to me Porsche 944) needed a few things when I bought him that I was aware of. A clutch and engine mounts. Well then 3 weeks later came the unexpected: Jake hemorrhaged fluids all over my parking space at the condo. Damn. So after 2 weeks in the shop it will be ready tonite. The first issue was the valve cover gasket and all the pulley and crank seals that were leaking. They found the waterpump leaking.

Once it was back together and the system was re-pressurized it burst a hose and the radiator. Fortunately the shop is only charging for the parts and not the labour since they had it way longer than they or I intended. So the Jake has now cost $6k in repairs alone. Last nite I asked my father in law if he would discuss the purchase price. I don't think he realised that it was going to take so much work. We'll see where that goes.

So now you're wondering, Jake? Where did that name come from? Well I'm glad you asked. Ever see the movie Sixteen Candles? A John Hughes film. One the secondary characters is named Jake Ryan. He drives a red Porsche 944. I name all my cars and this just seemed logical.

Let's see where was I? Been a few days since I could write on here. The pc has had some issues. My wife's work broke our internet connection on the pc. Her office is moving next week and there is no room for the Paisley at the new place so she has to work from home for two days next week. Well when she tried to login to the VPN is crashed our connection. Thankfully there is the restore option.

We have talked to so many peeps that work in tech support that are totally stumped that all their suggestions are not working. Well good on my lovely Paisley for suggesting that we just do the system restore. So finally tonite after going through many of the pc voodoo rituals and did the restore and BAM!! we have a connection again.

The weird twist is that this whole time according to a Communist-Cast our modem was working every time they pinged it, but every time we tried to get on we were getting an error message stating the server could not be found.

Well I'm rambling again. On to the new year. I have two resolutions. Make myself more available to help friends and family out and revamp my blog.

Page layout is the mission and more post's. There will be a Cruisin' With Jake segment to show off weekend outings and to report on how he's holding up now that we've sunk $6k into the lil bastard to get him healthy.

So Happy New Year and look for most postings and a spiffier looking page.

Good Karma October

So I was thinking the other day that October really has been a great month.

Sure the weather has turned and I'm getting ready to be fairly non-existant for the winter. I can't stand cold weather to be honest. Sure I can do something about it, but that is another post for another time.

Back to the topic at hand. The weather has turned and we've just rolled our good time pieces back an hour over the weekend, and of course trouble with the former Mrs. mother of my kids, but why let little things like that stop me from seeing the good side.

I finally sold my massage table. It was time to part ways. I haven't been doing much massage work in the last few years so I figure that it should finally go to someone that was going to put it to use. The good is that it's no longer taking up space in my place and I've gained a little extra money.

The big one: The Bronze Bitch went away. This was a hard decision as well, but when it came down to it I had no problem seeing it leave. It's in good hands. The buyer will get at least 50,000 miles out of it. Lets face it, most BMW engines are good for about 300k before they need to be replaced and this one is certainly no exception. The good side of this is that I got almost my asking price (short by $300 from what I asked) and now I have the cash for the Porsche that my father in law has offered to me (which has under 200k on it and is older than the BMW I just sold).

One of the last photos of the "Bronze Bitch" I'll ever take

Many little things have come about to make it an especially good month. First off my wonderful wife took me to see Kevin Smith speak at the Benaroya Hall. We got an extra helping of Lunchbox and gift of gab when he blew off his handler and went 45 minutes over his alloted time. He is amazing to listen to. I've read two of his books and watched the first two DVD's with his tour talks. I never get bored of him.

The "small" guy on stage is Kevin Smith......Lunchbox himself.

The nite of my actual birthday was great as well. Not expecting my children to be in attendance I had planned a dinner out to a family style Italian restaurant. Just happens that while I was out walking the dog their mom dropped them off at our home. A very nice surprise and they were able to enjoy Bucca di Beppo with us and our neighbour.

The following evening the Paisley came to pick me up at work (we're good carpoolers!) and one of her Facebook friends had a pair of all access club level tickets to the Seattle Sounders MLS playoff match!!! So after 40 minutes of working our way through 4 miles of downtown traffic and then 3 more miles back to the Paisley's office (where we parked for free) we were on our way to Seattle's first futbol playoff as an MLS club!!!

October was finished off with a Halloween party at our other neighbour's (in the house behind our condo) late nite party. There was a keg and beer-pong and loads of hours de vours. Great neighbours and this is the first we've been able to really socialise with them and get to know them since they moved in over the summer.

As I finish this up November is looking pretty promising. Unfortunately you wont find out about this month until December when I do a follow up.

Cheers all from the KTA.

Halloween Favourites 2009

Well I've been behind on Halloween this year and I can only attribute that to possibly having too much in my head and not enough time to execute.

So here are some images and views on some of my fav scary films.

Alien. This will always be at the top of my list. I was 9 when this came out and it wasn't scary in the sense that I went away terrified, but the overall suspense of the film and the waiting to see just what this alien was going to do and to who and how just scared the shit out of me. I can tell you that my favourite combination is horror and space/science fiction.
Trick r Treat. This was a pretty cool movie. Not all hack and slash but a fair bit of it. This one came out last year and I don't know how I missed this one. It takes a Tales From the Crypt/Creepshow approach in the fact that there are four story lines going on in this film and they all arc together in the end. The key to the film is the very opening sequence. In the first 5 minutes you have your first kill. Not surprising is Britt McKillip in a role suited to her now typecasted image. Here she is playing an emotionless little bitch and pulling it off successfully. Then there is Ana Paquin......not sure what her decision was to do this film, but I can say that I can see why she is took the lead role for TrueBlood. This one is a must see.
Final Destination 2. This is my fav of the series. No I haven't seen number 4. Not sure I want to but I may have to in order to see how far the producers can fling that steaming pile. The body count isn't any higher than the first but I think the deaths were a little more creative and I can see some of them actually happening under the right circumstances. Definitely the best of the first three.
Rear Window. Alfred Hitchcock. Enough said. Voyeurism taken to a new level. Hitchcock just has a way of taking the everyday and making it into something suspenseful. One of my fav Hitchcock films. This one was later remade with Shia Lebuef as Disturbia. See the original instead.
Dial M For Murder. I actually don't recall a lot from this one since it has been a few years since I saw it last. The premise is great. Again, Alfred Hitchcock. Nuff said. Here a man plans to kill his wife and hires a man with a rather seedy reputation to do the job and things go wrong when the man's blackmail attempts backfire and the hired hitman is killed. This was later remade with Michael Douglas and Gweneth Paltrow as A Perfect Murder. See the original.
An American Werewolf in Paris. First off I have to say that after all the years it took to make a follow up to An American Werewolf In London that I find it hard to believe this was the best that anyone could come up with. Julie Delpy was a nice touch to the film and I do like the backstory involving her family. The special effects are so much better over the original. In the end I do like this one. There are too few werewolf films out there and this one is pretty cool compared to say Silver Bullet which was just a big steamy pile of crap. This film has had the potential to spawn more American Werewolf films, but I'm glad it hasn't.
Twilight Zone The Movie. I don't consider this to be a horror or even a suspense film, but there are elements to it that are just fitting for this time of year. For those movie geeks out there you should take notice that John Landis wrote and directed the first story starring Vic Morrow and has cleverly placed a line in the film with reference to his earlier film, Animal House. My favourite of the stories in this film is the last one with John Lithgow on the airplane being torn apart mid air by some kind of demon. This role was originally played by William Shatner in the original tv series.

Another thing that I really enjoyed in this film was the introductory with Dan Akroyd and Albert Brooks talking about the Twilight Zone series and reminiscing about the one with Burgess Meredith only to have the movie narrated by Burgess Meredith. A must see and great anytime of year really.
The Village. This is one of M Night Shyamalan's best films. Let's face it folks his last two films were no better than rotting road apples. I loved the suspense of not knowing what the creature was for a good portion of the film and not seeing this creature for sometime either. I like the darker overtone this one had compared to his earlier films. A must see for suspense freaks.
Wrong Turn. This was just a plain weird and creepy film. In not sure of the reality of in-breeders and their behaviour in general, but this film sure plays on the myth pretty well. This is a pretty cool hack and slash and make up is pretty good. Amusing at least once. I recently saw the second one and it really paled compared to the first. Not even Henry Rollins was able to salvage the second.
White Noise. This one started out a little slow in my opinion. It did pick up a and I found it pretty intriguing. I'm not sure how much of this is based on reality or if there's even been a study done on white noise, but this film did make my skin crawl like a toddler on a dirty floor.
The Host. I was first introduced to this film back in 2007 while working on our film, The Book of Zombie. I do like this one and I like that it's great example of an new generation films coming out of foreign countries. It's a bit of Jaws with a creature that looks like something from Skywalker ranch. Not very suspensful, but still another great creature film with a backstory that's been done before.

I had another one, but I had it on last years list so I will spare you all. There are so many great horror, suspense films out there and I encourage everyone to branch out and watch as many as possible. No matter how cheesy and ridiculous they may seem, they are in a class all their own and offer something for everyone.

Happy Halloween.

2009 Kirkland Concours D'Elegance

It's that time of year again. Every September for the last few years I've been attending the Kirkland Concours with my father in law.

I love going to this event every year. This is the one show that I find I can't wait to see who will have what car there this year. The 2008 winner was John Shirley, who also won the Pebble Beach Concours.

The honourary host/MC of the Kirkland Concours every year is actor Edward Herman. Seems one of his hobbies is restoration of vintage cars. I can't be sure but I'm sure that the last car he was working on is a 1930's era Rolls Royce.

When the FIL and I started going there was a new catagory for vintage wooden hull boats such as Chris Craft and the likes. It was cool to see these boats, but it was getting a bit repetative. Well this year I was glad to see that the sponsors and promotors changed things up a bit. There were no wooden boat entries this year, but instead there were the vintage hydro boats. The big boys of thunder, the piston boats. Every hour two piston boats were started and run. That was a nice little treat. Those boats were just bloody loud. From 50 yards those boats create such noise that you can't hear anyone around you.
For the 2nd year in a row the local chapter of the PCA (Porsche Club of America) has had their own corral with member cars on display. I like to see the different member cars. Most are 911's as expected. A large portion are from the 1970's and 1980's. The newer Porsches on display are the Boxster and the Cayman. There are a growing number of 914's there. Last year saw one and this year brought three.

Last year there were no 944's and this year had one. I'm hoping that next year I will have my 944 in the PCA chapter corral. I'd like to see more 944's there and I would like to say that I've had a car at the Kirkland Concours show. That would be one hell of a story later on since I've only had two cars in local shows previously..........and gotten a trophy for each one. Not bad for a novice that doesnt do this on a regular basis. Those were easy catches anyhow.

This year the weather was great and there was also a new category. I cant recall the precise name but the premise is vintage cars that are original and un-restored. The conditions are it must run/drive and be street legal to do so.
This year also saw another new class: the mini cars. There were of course the Cooper/Austin mini's and there were Messerschmidts and there were two BMW Isetta's on display and a few of the small Fiat country wagons.



There were steam powered carriages on display and with those came owners dressed in period clothing. Also in attendance (although I didn't find them as I'm fairly new to their group) were members of the Seattle Steamrats, our local steampunk group. They were there to cheer on the steam cars on display.
One of the biggest sponsors of this show is Phil Smart Mercedes. This is the larges local Mercedes dealerships in western Washington. There was a whole row of Mercedes 300 SL Gullwings on display.

There were the usual displays as well: Woodie Row and the Museum pieces brought by the LeMay Museum. The Tucker Torpedo was the hit from them on this day.
I did see a few repeats from previous shows. They are still great to look at though.

The end of the road for the Bronze Bitch

Well as those of you know I had contemplated selling my beloved BMW 325is for sometime and moving into a Porsche.

After much debate in my mind to justify such a move the decision was made to go ahead and do it.

The big selling points were the mileage of the two cars: the BMW had almost 250k on the clock and the Porsche has only 180k despite being an older car. Reliability was a major factor as well.

While I have taken many "Sunday" drives in the BMW, I haven't taken it on any trips since it seems that I was always getting the car into order to make it more reliable. The Porsche on the other hand was driven across the state, into Oregon and up into British Columbia by my father in law in the 4 years that he's owned it.

Seems I need something capable of such reliability in the next month. Seems that my wife's company will be moving up their move to a new location and we won't be able to carpool after November. Additionally I would like to be able road trip with the Porsche...........I'll be joining the PCA and want to participate in drives and other local events.

The interior of the Porsche is in better shape as well. Good carpeting, good condition of the leather on the seats, no cracks in the dash and all the little bits works. The E30 was in good shape except for a wear in the leather on the drivers seat and the shift boot being worn. There were some interior bits that needed replacing, but nothing major.

The body is another consideration as well. The Porsche has bad paint on one fender, but otherwise needs no bodywork. The E30 however did have some minor dings and and dimples in the body and one fender had a small dent that with the proper tools can be hammed out and massaged back into shape. Fortunately I have a friend that has been an automotive painter for 20 years and will paint for free if I supply the paint.

I love the E30, but I really wasn't all the sad to see it go. I was concerned that it would go to someone that wouldn't take care of it, and that was something I had control over. After all I didn't need to sell it someone that I thought would treat it badly. Fortunately it has gone to a good home. After all it is a car. An object. Something that like all other material possessions will come and go in our lives. Will it make a difference that I had it? Probably not. Did I have fun with it? You bet. Maybe not to the full extent that the car was designed, but I had fun with it.

I look at the Porsche from this perspective as well............I have always wanted one. Who hasn't really? Well I'm taking this as the sign that this is the time for me to own one. Sure it's not the one that I want, but it's a sign non the less. My ideal is a mid 1980's 911, but for now the 944 will be a good introductory. I've driven Porsches before with my time as a car dealership employee years ago, but ownership will be a new thing and I look forward to it.

The Bronze Bitch leaves for good
This is not the actual Porsche I've bought, but this is the colour and the same style wheels and black leather interior.

Vintage Races-Pacific Raceways

So back into the swing of writing. Far from professionally, but writing none the less.

One of my many car show adventures this year was the Vintage Races at Pacific Raceways (the old SIR for those of us old enough to remember it by such name) and this was really quite something to see as far as races go.

I went down there with my father in law and he wants to take the free parking so this means we walk a bit. It's summer and the weather is good so walking is good.

Next is the entry. WE walk down the road and right past the entrance and straight into pit row. There is no fee for us that day. Seems the year before he couldn't believe how much it costs to get in and his friend Bob Morton of his was racing and tells him "next year just walk into the pits like you belong" so that's exactly what we did.

My father in law is a big Ferrari fiend. Not sure why. Ok so they are fast and they have pretty impressive uber sports car line up. Really though, how many people do you know that own one? Really? I know absolutely zero and so does my father in law.

Back to the story. He's immediately drawn to a rather large tour style motourhome and full awning with a few cars under it and several people gathered around table. He's drawn to the 1957 Ferrari 250TR. I have to admit that is a nice car. I think I was born in the wrong decade. I'm not much for sports cars made past the 1960's. They just lost something in the 1970's and beyond.

Back to the story...........the 1957 Ferrari 250TR.........this one is owned by Jon A. Shirley . Jon Shirley took best of class and best of show at the 2008 Pebble Beach with his 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta. This same car also took best of show and a first in class at the Kirkaland Concourse in 2008 as well.

There were a lot of vintage cars of different classes and makes: Corvette, Mustang, Camaro, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lotus, Talbot Lago, Porsche, BMW, Lola, Elva, Triumph, Alfa, MG, Fiat, Austin Healey and the list just keeps going.

There were many car clubs in attendance that day as well. Among them were the BMWCCA, and the PCA.

Some of my shots from the day:

Porsche 356C BMW 2002

John Shirley's Ferrari

Rover TC A unique cooler fan set up in a Porsche SpyderThe "original" clubmanthe very rare Piper

My lack of writing lately and October

Well the end of the summer has finally come. I feel as if I haven't got anything to show for it. I did quite a bit, but have yet to post anything about my good weather adventures.

Flog me now and throw me in the brig.

So now that the weather is taking a turn for the worse here in the Pacific Northwest this should provide me with ample time to post about all the things I've seen and done over the past few month.

You've read briefly of the E30 Picnic. You've read of my tough choice to sell my prized little bronze kraut kruiser and head back to the roots of German automotive engineering and lust.

While I consider my next several post I also look toward the coming October. HALLOWEEN! Yes it is my Christmas. The one day that I truly get excited for.

It's not about the dressing up. I do like the idea of puting on a costume, but I don't like to actually do it. I have a few. So this year I'm going to dress up in something that I got last year and didn't get a chance to actually wear as a costume (although I did wear it on a regular basis IRL). I have my official Kevin Smith merchandise Mooby's Fun-Ployee shirt and name tag. This year I will be going out as Randall Graves from Clerks/Clerks II fame.

The thing that really excites me about Halloween is the decorating. I don't get trick or treaters at my home, but I do like to decorate. Apparantly I'm pretty good at it too. Last year a Jehovah's Witness knocked on my door to preach to me about the evils of Halloween and that I would go to hell for celebrating the devil's day. Whatever.

Poor little parishoner is so misguided about Halloween and it's origins. Either way I didn't have the time nor wanted to take the time to explain to him. I just decided that he should know that per the posted signs at each drive to my condo there was no soliciting allowed.

I'm hoping to top last year. Last year was pretty good though. I promise I will keep everyone posted about my Halloween decorating and get to posting my other stuff as well.

cheers all.

Tales of the Bronze Bitch.....the end of the road

Well the final decision has been made. My beloved 1987 BMW 325 is will no longer be calling my carport home.

After several mental lists and discussions with the Mrs. I've decided to sell the Bronze Bitch.

We've had a great run and had some fun in the past 4 years. I certainly have learned a thing or two about this amazing car for better or worse.

My main motivation is that it's getting up there in mileage. It has somewhere in the neighbourhood of 250,000. This is just a guess-timate. The odometer didn't work when I bought the car. The previous owner had told me that he had put close to 30k on it or more since the odometer had stopped at 198,000 miles.The M20 engine that this car comes with is good for about 300,000 miles with average care and feeding. The body is in great shape with the exception of the clearcote that has come off the the hood and roof. With all the work I've put into it there are no coolant/oil leaks.

Together we've seen some fun places in the sun in the Western half of the state and enjoyed some BMW club events. We've proven that a 22 year old BMW is still a match for some newer cars with cockier drivers out on the road and we've seen just what a well powered/handling German built automobile can do when shown some TLC.

So what will take the place of the Bronze Bitch you may be asking. It will be German. I love German engineered cars! Some people have fetishes, some people have drugs and I have German cars.

At least two people out there know the answer. The Mrs is one and Militant Ginger would be the other.

A short back story is in order before the reveal: my father in law came to Washington state in the 1960's with the intent of building race cars and working in the race industry. Never happened. He got married had kids and became a printer. He never lost that dream though. Over the last 38 years he's restored 2 Studebaker Hawks and one Studebaker Avanti. The two Hawks are long gone but he still has that Avanti.About the same time I bought the Bronze Bitch he purchased a 1986 Porsche 944. I was shocked. My father law, though an admirer of foreign sports cars had always bought American. He was looking to complete a part of that 38 year old dream.

Now 4 years later he is looking to reinvent that dream a bit. He was looking for something newer and sportier. He started looking for another Porsche. Six months later he has finally purchased a 2000 Porsche Boxster.

This is where our stories intersect. My FIL now having an extra car on his hands needs to do something with the 944. My brother in law has a Mini Cooper S and my sister in law and her husband have two kids under 5 so their rides are SUV's. That leaves me. My FIL and I have always had a passion for sports cars.

To further the back story, I have known my FIL since 1986. The Mrs and I met our freshman year of highschool and dated a few times during that period. In that time I met my future FIL and got to see what a car enthusiast he is.

Back to the story, my FIL has an extra car. What to do with it? I'm the one that gets the question: hey dummy, you wanna buy my Porsche?He calls a lot of people dummy, and it should stop, but that aside I of course want it. So several months and some reasoning in my head has decided that I will take over ownership of the FIL's 944.

So shortly the little red kraut kruiser will adorn my carport and the Bronze Bitch will call home to someone else's driveway. I just hope that the next owner will see it's potential as I still do and continue with providing some TLC or maybe turn it into a track car.

I have no doubt that the Bronze Bitch will continue to grace the pavement for a few more years and prove that it's still a menace to other motourists.

Runs With Sticks

So if a dog runs with a stick, is that the same as people running with scissors?

Selling my past

So I have decided that I have to much stuff. So much in fact that I need to get rid of stuff.

Where does it all come from? Last I knew I was a 20 something with no possessions and now KAPOWW!!!! I have a condo and an on site storage full of stuff!!!!

This just isn't right.

What's going? Well damn near everything. Clothes that for whatever reason I just didn't wear anymore. I don't know why. It just happened. Maybe they got a little snug and I thought that I'd drop a few pounds and hang onto those clothes so that I could wear them again. Never happened.

There are free tools from my *surrogate parents home almost 4 years ago.

They are not my real parents, but they the treat me like one of the family.

Back the story. So these parents of some close friends decided to sell their house and buy a new motourhome and travel the US for a while. After all is said and done with getting their house ready to sell and on the market they pull away in their shiny new diesel pusher saying that anything they have left in the garage we can sell, keep or throw away.

Wow what a deal. There was a lot of shit in that garage. Not in the literal sense but just in the metaphoric. They had a lot of stuff. There's that word again. I think the word stuff was created to generalise the sense of one's belongings that just couldn't be defined by any one category.

So after hauling much of the stuff to the refuse station I called two friends that love tools. I told them it was a free for all and come get what they needed/wanted.

Marc took tools that he did not have, but had been meaning to get at some point. To give better insight on Marc: he has a two car garage filled with tools. Literally. When you open his garage door you are met with a wall of tools. There is a path. He has wood working tools in one area. Automotive tools in another. Manufacturing tools in one spot (including a sheet metal press) and the list goes on. As I write this he is extending the back of his garage 6 more feet to make room for.............you guessed it!! MORE TOOLS.

Then there is Dan. Dan doesn't care if he needs it or not. He will take it. A tool is always a good tool to Dan.

So I looked in the bin the other day of the few tools I did take. Never have used them and obviously didn't need to since I haven't missed them. Time for them to go.

Next on the chopping block: childhood relics. There are two rocking chairs from my toddler hood that were both hand made for me. My kids never used them and I don't know of anyone in my family with small kids that wants rocking chairs. Time for them to go.

N-gauge train equipment. Yes it must go. There is hundreds of dollars in these things. Trains are ok but it's just not my bag. Guess I grew up in the wrong era.

The bowling ball went. I think used it last about 4 years ago. Old toys that I thought I would start a collectibles shoppe with. Never happened. Those must go too.

The hardest one of all............my massage table. Ugh. This one is hard because I laboured for one solid year to get an education. Yes one solid year. I went to school full time at nite 5 days a week while holding down a full time job and two kids and a (now ex) wife that wanted to go to massage school too. There were even weekend workshops (Saturdays and Sundays) two weekends a month. Yes I paid my dues on this one. I did graduate at the top having an overall average of a 95% percent on all work and testing throughout the year. I had my massage school certificate. I took my state exam 3 weeks later and had my state license first time around.

I'm rambling.............oh yeah massage table. Well I've posted it on Craigslist tonite. In 12 years the table has seen less and less use. My last and only client has fizzled out on me. Economy. Must be. She has no money. All too familiar these days. I just don't have the patience to wait for her to have money again. I want my house back. I want all the clutter gone.

Nick knacks and trinkets............gone!! If it doesn't have a use in my life at this moment then it goes.

We've been holding off on some large items to sell at a yard sale that my friend Dan's wife is having next weekend. What doesn't sell becomes property of the Goodwill on the way home.

I really thought that getting rid of so much of my past would be harder than it is. It really isn't. It's just stuff. There's that word again.

I have the memories of all this stuff. That's the only clutter I think I really need.

Can we find................our youth, our past

So a friend has recently asked me a question on Facebook. Well maybe more of a suggestion than a question.

Well I haven't seen my friend in close to 20 years. He's living south of me and hasn't really been seen or heard from by much of anyone.

His suggestion is to have road trip with two other friends like we used to do all the time 20 years ago. Damn..........hard to believe that it's been that long. I certainly don't feel my age.

So can 4 almost middle aged guys pull off a road trip similar to days gone by and still find new adventures? I think we can.

We have a prerequisite of things in the works to pull it off though.

Here are a few of the items needed:

• 1978 Brown VW Rabbit-this was the road trip car back then and no need to jinx ourselves with the wrong car.
  

• 4 cup holders big enough for the Super Big Gulp-This was always my best mates drink of choice on the road.

• 1 duffle bag filled with McDonald's Cheese Burgers-serious. Don't laugh. We used to eat A LOT of McD's on the road.

• Selection of 80's Hair Bands and New Wave- We were a pretty mixed group. My mate Brian was into metal: Def Leppard,Motley Crue,Winger,White Lion,Van Halen,Ratt,Kiss,Warrant. The other two (Josh and Ryan) were into other music: OMD,Cocteau Twins,Screaming Trees,Skinny Puppy,Revolting Cocks,Black Flag,Social Distortion,KMFDM......you get the idea.I listened to both happily. I like it all.
  

I will have to take up smoking again for this one. We used to by packs of Dunhills and Export A's for our trips. My favourites (and always will be) are a German brand: Botschafter. What can I say............I love a lot of German products.
(I don't read German but I think it says to smoke this in all German vehicles at high rates of speed)

So far I think Josh and I are serious about it. We'll have to convince the other two. I'm sure they'll want to go.

Road trips also involve collecting trinkets from your travels. Ours always consited of various street signs and flashing construction zone lights. We used to take those little flashing lights apart and paint designs on the inside and reassemble them so the pattern would flash on walls.

One road trip even involved Josh's dad paying Brian and I to take Josh to Oregon and leave him there. We should have charged more than $100.

So can 4 almost middle aged guys pull off a road trip similar to days gone by and still find new adventures? I think we can.

UPDATE: 8th annual BMW E30 Picnic

I know...........the picnic was a month ago. Sorry about that folks. I've been busy with other car shows and treating my wife and neighbour to lunch on one of my company's cruise ships and enjoying the really great sunny weather.

We had a great turnout this year for the E30 picnic. The attendance was through the roof with 243 E30's in attendance this year!!! When I first went 3 years ago there were maybe 120 E30's there. We officially have the largest gathering of E30's in North America (if not the world).

So here are some photos of my fav E30's there.

Clearly some folks were really excited to be there!!

This is my absolute fav: the E30 Touring. Only available in Europe. This one is a black market car.

This E30 actually belongs to a coworkers boyfriend. He has owned it for 25 years.

This one is one of my favs just because I like the Rat Rod look.

And finally we have an E30 with an LS1 Corvette engine stuffed into it. Damn.