Wednesday, November 5

teh pro job

so for our united way campaign this year, i felt compelled to donate more than the usual per paycheck amount. the company always has a big united way week where we try to give some amount. this year the buy-in was set at $50k. so i decided to go against the grain and donate my time and my l337 sk1llz and offer up 3 hand wash and wax jobs. i expected them to go for $20 each, if they even sold at all. 2 of teh 3 sold. and they went for $50 each. so that was kinda exciting. i raised more money than the dunk tank! so that proves i rock. anyway, i used to be this detailer guy and was gonna go all out and be detailer fo life yo (as i usually do with everything) but things changed and i stopped detailing. but i still got all my equipment...and product--from 1998. so most of my product has seen more season changes than i've seen dirty diapers, but let me tell you...give 'em a good shake, and viola presto--10 year old product still works! So if you hood looks like the hood above, you need wax (i wouldn't recomend 10 yr old wax though...use fresh stuff that hasn't frozen...other wise you may waste your time). that volvo was a 2002 with paint in very good condition, but no wax. water should not look like that on your car. it should bead up and roll off of your hood. anyway, my favorite things to do are tires, rims, and windows. customers immediately tell a difference when they walk up to their car. the tires look freshly bought--and not all slimy from some wet look tire finish that will grab every dust particle it can find and make your tires look gross after a couple days. the rims glow. these shots aren't photoshopped, the rims look that good. lastly, windows. ugh. ok, they suck. nobody NOBODY likes doing windows. they are a pain. you stretch, strain, sweat. it just isn't easy. you keep telling yourself that there has to be a better way to do this. well, there isn't. you just got to bite the bullet. i will give you a secret. i use a towel--perferably not fabric softened. i fold it up, use one side for scrubbing, the other for the final dry. so back to my story, in the end, i felt good, and i got to enjoy some quality time with a coworker, and relive some of my glory days as a pro detailer.

Thursday, October 2

my boy oh boy

mind if i brag a min? my boy has been on fire lately. zero (x3r0) discipline. he has been respectful, listenful, pay-attentionful, good-boyful, good-attitudeful, etcful. i am so proud of him. i had a discussion with my coworker regarding caleb about how it seems that all the stuff that i started working with him on in our townhouse way back in 2005 is finally starting to come around. i mean, its like he is actually trying, if not forcing himself to have a happy heart all the time. he is extra respectful lately. it all started when school started this year. at that time mommy also instituted curfew law. so, either school is helping this somehow, or he really is digging his sleep. he is waking up on his own, so he is getting plenty of sleep. maybe thats what he needed. it sure feels good to come home to a boy who is excited to see you. it hasn't always been like this. we have had some periods of ruff spots. haha--i just thought of something that kind of brought our relationship out of the rocks. earlier this year, as in the whole year up until 3 months ago, we were on the outs. bad attitudes, no listening, disrespect, just a bad deal. enter the ps3. i had downloaded some demo's and allowed caleb to finally play the system. it seemed as if caleb felt allowed to be a part of my life. up until then, he hated rockband. today, he says, 'so dad, you want to play rockband? i'll watch.' its so funny. then i tell him i would rather watch him play one of the demo's, and he says, 'hmm ok.' all serious like. but totally respectful. funny thing is he only plays like a couple days a month, but he totally digs it and it totally helped our relationship. maybe i should email sony. let them know that its a relationship builder.
anyway, love my boy. he comes home today and lets me know he is student of the week. not sure why. he usually comes home and tells me that he got a star at school, and when i ask him what he did well, he shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't remember. i laugh because you think that you'd remember what you did well so that you could reproduce the result. but not my boy. he got the star and thats all that matters. so, back to student of the week. i guess there is work assigned with it. and it isn't easy. it involves filling in the blanks and family pics and cutouts and stuff. but he came home and got on it on his own. already has 3 of the 7 worksheets done. then he did his homework. he is really impressing me. i am so proud of my boy. he is working hard, and doing it with a great attitude. my boy good at school. must have his mothers brains, and his fathers fiendishly good looks.

Tuesday, July 29

104F isn't all that hot

Had some fun this weekend. Fun in the sun. Southern style. With friends. I don't have much to say other than I love this family. I miss them so much. 5 days isn't nearly enough. Anyway, thanks for the pizza on the roof. We miss you. So, I have this pic in my pod at work. Do you know when/where it was taken? Bonus question: What is the model of the camera device the pic was taken with?

Saturday, July 26

Ro and Solo rock out in huge wedding concert!


the Hahn wedding was a huge success. the end result was that ro ended up showing up despite 3:1 odds. so the couple is happily married and off to some island in kentucky. so we all wish them the best. but the best part of the wedding was the impromptu concert that occurred when ro revealed not one, but 2 custom gibson lee harvey guitars to her beloved new husband, solo. they made beautiful music together that included the pop single 'iron man'. what capitalized the big rock ending (bre) was when ro smashed her custom into statue of mona lisa made out of recycled pringles cans. the guitar smashed into a billion pieces. as we appluaded, solo wept whilst ro giggled. quite an ending as everyone joined in for a nice rendition of 'YMCA'.

Thursday, June 19

Gate's Rules On Life

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2
: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3
: You will NOT make $60,000 a year rig ht out of high school . You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4
: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5
: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6
: If you mess up, it's not your parents fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7
: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8
: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9
: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10
: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11
: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

So, I like this. I am so against feel good crap. I believe that positive motivation has its place and lifting people up is an important part of life that everyone should partake in--but too much of anything is a bad deal. So, I like this. Its a "get 'r done" message that says work hard, despite how you feel, despite what you deserve, despite how TV says your life should be.