-So what's going on lately?
1. Moved from Dearborn to Bloomfield. House >> Apartment. Better commute, cheaper rent, bigger, nicer, space. I just wish I didn't have to pay overlapping bills from moving in, yikes! I'm also living with 4 other people. Hopefully this won't be a train wreck.
2. My grades for my first semester at UM-Dearborn as a night-grad-student: B- (only one B- can count towards your degree) in Structural Analysis, B+ in Polymer Mechanics. Not up to standard as far as I'm concerned, but I'll live with it because it's passing. Both professors were horrible in their own ways. One was a dick that didn't care about helping anyone and wrote crazy tests. The other was a powerpoint abuser with boring lectures, and un-commented tests and homework so you couldn't learn from your mistakes. Sweet. I hope the classes get better.
2.b. Continuing on that note - I miss being a student in my undergrad at UW. Everything from the teamwork between myself and my classmates to get through our classes, to walking through campus through the changing seasons, and the plain 'ole college campus atmosphere, really made me enjoy and now miss my stay at UW.
3. I can finally do a semi-decent ollie. It only took me.... well, too long. I gotta say that I thoroughly enjoy snowboarding and skating. I wish I took up both sooner than the age of 22. I watch my nephew skate (who is SICK) and I just think about how old I am. Regardless of how talented teenagers are at both, I hope I don't grow out of this shit or get discouraged from just having fun with either. I'd say they're both fulfilling hobbies. Stomping shit @ the mountain is damn satisfying.
4. Something that's been annoying the shit out of me: how every mannerism I have is characterized as "west coast." My vocab, my style of dress, hobbies, music tastes, experiences (that could happen most anywhere), etc. keep getting the fuckin' "Oh, is that how they do it on the west coast?" bullshit reaction. Don't get me confused, I'm fuckin' proud, and glad that I was raised where and how I was. It's just annoying that everything I do is somehow west coast. ...Yes, because nothing else is an influence on my life decisions. Meh, I think it's just people around work (read: white people), because most of my friends outside of work don't pull that shit. Admittedly, while it is annoying, I do enjoy sticking out, because something's gotta separate me from the other CIEs. If it's my "west coast"-influenced personality, then so be it, as long as it's in a way positive.
5. Gotta bitch about work at least a little, right? For the first few weeks, work was damn slow. This was mainly because my bosses weren't giving me enough to do, which was probably because they didn't know enough about me to assign me something they could trust me with. A few months later, that's changed as I've picked up more about how the job works and they've learned more about me. Now I've got full days, and always feel overwhelmed and/or worried that I'm fuckin' something up. This bothers me a lot. I feel like I work too slow and that I should be able to manage a lot more than I do. Often I close the day out feeling like I didn't get enough done. Fuck, I want to leave work feeling like I've done all I could do. That just isn't happening unless I want to put in the OT, which I have on occasion. I told my bosses about this, kinda implying that I could use some advice, but I think they saw this as me not being able to handle what little they've given me; and seeing as they do my performance reviews, the worry only compounds. So, clearly there's a problem here. The solutions are probably a mix of a) changing my mindset to accept the fact that: perception is everything so focus your energy on what will give you positive exposure, b) learn how to budget time better, c) learn how to get from start to finish thorough, timely fashion while making sure all the information is correct, d) my performance depends on the performance of other people, so I've got to learn the art of being able to communicate to different types of people. I think I've got a long way to go before I reach the super-efficient worker I want to be. Who knows if I ever will?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Vacation Review
Time for me to document that super awesome vacay I had during the week of July 4th.
06.29: I take off from work at a typical hour and head to Dearborn to get my bags and what not. Liz and co. pick me up and take me to DTW where I chill in the airport for a minute. I'm flying NWA out of the D, and I'm a little worried because of recent articles showing that they've been cancelling a shit ton of flights. I make it on the plane though, which is good. Connect at MPLS, then off to SEA. I land in Seattle at about 11:30, pick up my bags, and meet Vincent in the pickup area. Conveniently, he works at the airport. Where'd we go afterwards? Earl's of course. I got a quite nice welcome from the homies and proceeded to consume quite a bit of liq. Great way to start the vacation. Vincent takes my intoxicated ass home, but not without stopping by McDonald's for the ultimate dollar menu combo. Thanks buddy.
06.30: I wake up pretty late (daylight savings adjustment + ending a work week + sleeping late) and hang out with the fam for a bit. My mom is pretty happy to see me, as I am to see her. 'Twas awesome. Phang picks my now hungover self up in the 240sx con SR20DET and we head to Nick's. I get to drive Alan's R-swapped '98 EJ8 with a smaller steering wheel, no power steering, and a 6 puck clutch. It smashed, but damn it was difficult to drive. Phang and I help Nick lower the AP1 (which is lookin' fly since coming out of JMI). Linh joins and we all mob to Sushi Zen for some bombass (yet pricey) sushi. After gettin' full, we head to Anthony's where he's hosting a drinkathon to celebrate his graduation. Drinking continues, but not with a Domino's 5 for 5 deals. Mushroom pizza FTW. Drink, then drink some more, then pass out back at home.
07.01: Wake up. Time to see the Church fam. It was nice to be in attendance, not just to see some of the people that I haven't seen in a while, but also because I've been having trouble getting to Church out here in MI; mainly my own fault on that one. Either way, good time. After the service, I meet up w/Linh and Bird, and we head to the Tulalip outlet. Kevin and Arlyn are around for a bit, but then split. Nic yanks some Ray-Bans, I buy some shoes, and Linh gets some glasses from Zumies. We then head to the local Applebee's to get some food. I order some gigantic burger that I'm asked to take a survey on for a dollar. It was an aiite burger, too much beef and lettuce though. Afterwards we go hang out at Linh's condo, checkin' out her bachelor'ette party shit she's getting together for her sister. Waaay too much penis. Nightfalls, and Linh, Nic, Danni, Helen, Heidi, and myself get our cheap drink on at Goldie's. Sunday night specials. Awesome tator tots btw. Afterwards we check out some joint on 45th but the girl's aren't feeling it so we go to Havana in Cap Hill. Havana is a dope spot on Sundays as they've always got good music playin'; some type of theme (Dilla, Wu, Nas, etc.), this Sunday was Michael Jackson and Quincy. Hot shit.
07.02: Time to find the 'Bu. My nephew has been learning how to drive on it, so it's at my sister's place. My Mom, brother, and I head to SeaTac for my sister's house where we kick it for a bit. Then we all head to RMC (for some reason they sell pretty good food at Renton Motorcylces) to have lunch and so my sister can buy some things for my toddler nephew (who was unfortunately at the sitter all day). Albeit only a few hours of good hangin' out time, it was really good seeing my sister, nephew, and bro-in-law. We had a lot of catching up to do. When it's all done, I meet up with Phang, who I lend a ride home from Drift Office, where he's getting some work done on his car. I take the Malibu home and chill for a bit, then get a call from Kiel about something going down at his place. I head out that way to his parents' BALLER ass house in Kirkland. We play a bit of pool and watch I'm Gonna Get You Sucka (Kiel's choice), eventually being joined by Dave, Alex, Steve, and Gilbert. We all develop some hunger and venture out into Bellevue. Gilbert lets me whip around his '06 Si which is a SOLID fuckin' car. I wouldn't mind having one. Good handling, good shifter, good NA power. After being kicked out of Joey's because of Gilbert's young-ness, we decide to settle for Denny's. Man, Denny's is sooo much better when you're stupid drunk. Great way to end the night either way. We had a lot to talk about between catching up on each other's lives and things going on with the FSAE team.
07.03: So, the previous week, my homie Nick volunteers his S as a car I can rock while he's at work. Rules are a) no humping in the car b) you wreck you buy and c) there are no other rules. I wake up and head to his place. We take the hard top off (I mean, come on) and I bring it back to my place so I can shower / get ready. I head back out to pick up Phang, who needs to get his car from Drift Office. Man, top down on 405 is a little violent, but it's a good violent. At first the fit in the S was a little awkward, but it didn't take long to adjust. I don't know what it feels like to be a fighter pilot, but this is what I imagined, between the 9000 RPM redline, sharp steering response, and the "cozy" cabin space. I was pretty much sold on the idea I'd been playing around with about getting one in spring/summer of '08. Anyhow, Phang and I get to Drift Office to pick up his now nicely running SR20DET. It previously had some cooling issues. We kick it at Drift Office for a bit. There's something cool about hanging out at a speed shop, idunno why. After that whole ordeal, Phang and out hang out at South Center for a bit until traffic dies. I buy cheap sunglasses and a belt from Pac Sun because I refuse to buy the expensive shit only to sit on it by accident. After that whole ordeal, I drive back up north. It's about 7 and the sun is setting. The view is fucking sick driving through downtown. Top down in an S in a city I love... why the fuck did I move again? I get to Lynnwood and find my friend John's hidden house. We grab some L&L aka quality Hawaiian BBQ and chat. The food is bomb and its dope being able to find out what John's been up to with the UW ME Grad program and such. Once that's done with, I meet up with Hobea (Hobey + Lea), Glenn, and Jeffrey and we cruise around for a bit. We end up at Boston's in Mill Creek, killing a team pitcher (128 oz's). 11 rolls around and it's time to return the car so we head to Nick's. Once we're all assembled, we go to some ghetto ass place in Lynnwood and meet up w/Rome, Nate, and some hood-ass white girls. We knew it was the end of the night when one of the girls was like "let's go back to your place and snort some yay." Just jokin' my ass you cokehead.
07.04: Independence Day. Lazy start off, hangin' out at home and chatting w/my Mom. I also ate some bombass steak and rice: a meal for champions. It's also my bro's bday so I don't forget the berfday wish. I head for Eddie's where a heated game of kickball is going on. I hang out there for a bit, eat many giant oysters, then head to my Uncle Bob's (not really my uncle, but that's how Filipinos do) house on Martha Lake. Apparently it was recently bought, and it's a sweet ass house on the water. Good food. Good people. Awesome stuff. When things wind down, I go back to Eddie's where being a blowin' shit up in the street. Side note: the Malibu is still a pretty solid car for all the shit it's been through. Much nicer than the Cal. It's also nice to be bumpin' KEXP again. Anyway, it's bright, and kinda nice how everyone regardless of political view comes together in the street on July 4th, even if it is just to blow shit up. Everyone heads in afterwards and eats some crawdads. I take off for home feeling really full from a combination of food, alcohol, and a lot more food.
07.05: I wake up and my stomach is not happy with me. I don't blame it though: oysters, lasagna, salmon, rice, steak, juicy jun's bbq, cheeseburgers, garlic bread, random beers, random shots, crawdads... my apologies to you stomach. It was good at the time though, LoL. I spend a good chunk of the day trying to feel normal again, and set up my mom's new laptop to work with our printer. Stupid ass Vista, way to go Microsoft; making different OS's not able to work together. Eventually I meet up with Eddie and Danni, and we grab some food at McCormick's on 5th downtown. They have some dope salmon cakes. We then head to Capitol Hill so I can try to find some local gear. No luck, but I did buy a shop deck from Goods. Gotta represent Seattle while in the D. So far the skateboard deck has been serving me good btw. After dropping Danny and Eddie back in Northgate, I head to UW for a UWFSAE meeting. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I MISS BEING A STUDENT AT UW. There's just something about the atmosphere on the campus, especially throughout the spring/summer, that makes it an ill ass place to be. Anyhow, I park in the 'ol C15 and sneak into the meeting. A bunch of my old teammates are like "WTF?! Alfy's here." You're damn right foo! There was a breakdown of the SAE West results so it was good to see that and see what's been up with the team. It was also good seein' all the old faces. This project takes a lot of your time, so you become quite familiar w/your teammates. After chattin w/a lot of the folks, we head down to the pit so I can check out the car. Liz by the way has made an appearance at this point. The car looks really similar to the T17 car, but the carbon work is far more awesome thanks to Kiel's creativity and some help from a professional Boeing cat. Chris Dolan's cooling system is much smaller and lighter than mine was, which was good and bad to see. Good because of the improvement made, bad because it was superior to mine (okay, so on some things I am a little competitive); well except for it blowing a fan fuse at comp, but he can't control that. After hangin' out there, I take off for Lake City / Northgate and have dinner with Hannah and Josiah. Hannah has graced us with some bombass tempura. Definitely quality catch up time with the Perez siblings. Around say, 10:30, I take off for Goldie's for more homies and drink specials. We proceed to quickly get our drink on. Long Islands and such. Afterwards, it's Viceroy time, another place that has dope ass music going depending on what night you show up. Viceroy also serves goldfish, which is sweet. Kiel and Liz join, which is sweet as well. After Viceroy, we check out the 7-11 converted to Kwik-E-Mart in anticipation of the Simpson's movie. DO NOT DRINK BUZZ COLA. 42g of sugar in that nasty ass drink. Kiel drank it all somehow. I took two sips and said heeeell no.
07.06: The drinking has finally caught up to me. I let out a hearty bit of yakk Friday morning and get back to the air mattress that's now in my room. By the way, it appears my mom has turned my room into a storage area. I lazy around for a good bit of the day and try to pack my bags up. I meet up w/Bird for a bit and we check out the local mall. By the way, the shops here are far doper than they are in MI. I pick up a Casual Industrees snowboard tee from BC (they sell local gear, which is ill); gotta represent, again. Dinner comes around, and I decide it's time to take my Mom out. Myself, my brother, and my Mom all head to Ivar's in Mukilteo (sp?) for some awesome seafood by the water. Damn, I miss having good seafood. I hit my Mom off with some money, which was an awesome feeling. I wish I could give her a shit ton of cash just to show my appreciation, but I gave what I could and she was still quite surprised. After dinner is wrapped up, I coordinate some type of post-dinner activity with the homies. The fam and I say a traveling mercies prayer, and I say goodbye to my mom and brother, who I might not see until December =( . It was rough driving away (the car was going back to my sister) and having my mom stand in the doorway. I get to Earl's (it was the easiest choice) and meet up with the homies, from all around; high school, and college friends, and we all get to drinkin' profusely. Wow. I wasn't supposed to get too faded, but it's hard when it's your last night w/your homies and you are on vacation. Anyway, we drink and have a great time just soaking up those moments that seem too damn rare now that I'm in the D. Afterwards, we head to Alki so I catch a good glimpse of downtown Seattle before I take off again. I take in a couple deep breaths, bullshit w/the homies for a little longer (Alex's crazy ass tries to pick up the fireball) and then it's time to get the car to my sister's and get to the airport. Nic takes me to SeaTac w/Vincent following, then my sister takes me to SeaTac airport. The airport is quiet since it's 4 AM. It's peaceful... good time to relax and take in the last week. I hop on the plane, and that's that.
Wow. Just typing this out has got me all homesick again. Moving is fuckin' tough. Especially if it's far from anything familiar, you get hit with a string of unfortunate events, and you don't click with folks as easily. This midwest thing man, how long will it last?
Sorry for the typos.
06.29: I take off from work at a typical hour and head to Dearborn to get my bags and what not. Liz and co. pick me up and take me to DTW where I chill in the airport for a minute. I'm flying NWA out of the D, and I'm a little worried because of recent articles showing that they've been cancelling a shit ton of flights. I make it on the plane though, which is good. Connect at MPLS, then off to SEA. I land in Seattle at about 11:30, pick up my bags, and meet Vincent in the pickup area. Conveniently, he works at the airport. Where'd we go afterwards? Earl's of course. I got a quite nice welcome from the homies and proceeded to consume quite a bit of liq. Great way to start the vacation. Vincent takes my intoxicated ass home, but not without stopping by McDonald's for the ultimate dollar menu combo. Thanks buddy.
06.30: I wake up pretty late (daylight savings adjustment + ending a work week + sleeping late) and hang out with the fam for a bit. My mom is pretty happy to see me, as I am to see her. 'Twas awesome. Phang picks my now hungover self up in the 240sx con SR20DET and we head to Nick's. I get to drive Alan's R-swapped '98 EJ8 with a smaller steering wheel, no power steering, and a 6 puck clutch. It smashed, but damn it was difficult to drive. Phang and I help Nick lower the AP1 (which is lookin' fly since coming out of JMI). Linh joins and we all mob to Sushi Zen for some bombass (yet pricey) sushi. After gettin' full, we head to Anthony's where he's hosting a drinkathon to celebrate his graduation. Drinking continues, but not with a Domino's 5 for 5 deals. Mushroom pizza FTW. Drink, then drink some more, then pass out back at home.
07.01: Wake up. Time to see the Church fam. It was nice to be in attendance, not just to see some of the people that I haven't seen in a while, but also because I've been having trouble getting to Church out here in MI; mainly my own fault on that one. Either way, good time. After the service, I meet up w/Linh and Bird, and we head to the Tulalip outlet. Kevin and Arlyn are around for a bit, but then split. Nic yanks some Ray-Bans, I buy some shoes, and Linh gets some glasses from Zumies. We then head to the local Applebee's to get some food. I order some gigantic burger that I'm asked to take a survey on for a dollar. It was an aiite burger, too much beef and lettuce though. Afterwards we go hang out at Linh's condo, checkin' out her bachelor'ette party shit she's getting together for her sister. Waaay too much penis. Nightfalls, and Linh, Nic, Danni, Helen, Heidi, and myself get our cheap drink on at Goldie's. Sunday night specials. Awesome tator tots btw. Afterwards we check out some joint on 45th but the girl's aren't feeling it so we go to Havana in Cap Hill. Havana is a dope spot on Sundays as they've always got good music playin'; some type of theme (Dilla, Wu, Nas, etc.), this Sunday was Michael Jackson and Quincy. Hot shit.
07.02: Time to find the 'Bu. My nephew has been learning how to drive on it, so it's at my sister's place. My Mom, brother, and I head to SeaTac for my sister's house where we kick it for a bit. Then we all head to RMC (for some reason they sell pretty good food at Renton Motorcylces) to have lunch and so my sister can buy some things for my toddler nephew (who was unfortunately at the sitter all day). Albeit only a few hours of good hangin' out time, it was really good seeing my sister, nephew, and bro-in-law. We had a lot of catching up to do. When it's all done, I meet up with Phang, who I lend a ride home from Drift Office, where he's getting some work done on his car. I take the Malibu home and chill for a bit, then get a call from Kiel about something going down at his place. I head out that way to his parents' BALLER ass house in Kirkland. We play a bit of pool and watch I'm Gonna Get You Sucka (Kiel's choice), eventually being joined by Dave, Alex, Steve, and Gilbert. We all develop some hunger and venture out into Bellevue. Gilbert lets me whip around his '06 Si which is a SOLID fuckin' car. I wouldn't mind having one. Good handling, good shifter, good NA power. After being kicked out of Joey's because of Gilbert's young-ness, we decide to settle for Denny's. Man, Denny's is sooo much better when you're stupid drunk. Great way to end the night either way. We had a lot to talk about between catching up on each other's lives and things going on with the FSAE team.
07.03: So, the previous week, my homie Nick volunteers his S as a car I can rock while he's at work. Rules are a) no humping in the car b) you wreck you buy and c) there are no other rules. I wake up and head to his place. We take the hard top off (I mean, come on) and I bring it back to my place so I can shower / get ready. I head back out to pick up Phang, who needs to get his car from Drift Office. Man, top down on 405 is a little violent, but it's a good violent. At first the fit in the S was a little awkward, but it didn't take long to adjust. I don't know what it feels like to be a fighter pilot, but this is what I imagined, between the 9000 RPM redline, sharp steering response, and the "cozy" cabin space. I was pretty much sold on the idea I'd been playing around with about getting one in spring/summer of '08. Anyhow, Phang and I get to Drift Office to pick up his now nicely running SR20DET. It previously had some cooling issues. We kick it at Drift Office for a bit. There's something cool about hanging out at a speed shop, idunno why. After that whole ordeal, Phang and out hang out at South Center for a bit until traffic dies. I buy cheap sunglasses and a belt from Pac Sun because I refuse to buy the expensive shit only to sit on it by accident. After that whole ordeal, I drive back up north. It's about 7 and the sun is setting. The view is fucking sick driving through downtown. Top down in an S in a city I love... why the fuck did I move again? I get to Lynnwood and find my friend John's hidden house. We grab some L&L aka quality Hawaiian BBQ and chat. The food is bomb and its dope being able to find out what John's been up to with the UW ME Grad program and such. Once that's done with, I meet up with Hobea (Hobey + Lea), Glenn, and Jeffrey and we cruise around for a bit. We end up at Boston's in Mill Creek, killing a team pitcher (128 oz's). 11 rolls around and it's time to return the car so we head to Nick's. Once we're all assembled, we go to some ghetto ass place in Lynnwood and meet up w/Rome, Nate, and some hood-ass white girls. We knew it was the end of the night when one of the girls was like "let's go back to your place and snort some yay." Just jokin' my ass you cokehead.
07.04: Independence Day. Lazy start off, hangin' out at home and chatting w/my Mom. I also ate some bombass steak and rice: a meal for champions. It's also my bro's bday so I don't forget the berfday wish. I head for Eddie's where a heated game of kickball is going on. I hang out there for a bit, eat many giant oysters, then head to my Uncle Bob's (not really my uncle, but that's how Filipinos do) house on Martha Lake. Apparently it was recently bought, and it's a sweet ass house on the water. Good food. Good people. Awesome stuff. When things wind down, I go back to Eddie's where being a blowin' shit up in the street. Side note: the Malibu is still a pretty solid car for all the shit it's been through. Much nicer than the Cal. It's also nice to be bumpin' KEXP again. Anyway, it's bright, and kinda nice how everyone regardless of political view comes together in the street on July 4th, even if it is just to blow shit up. Everyone heads in afterwards and eats some crawdads. I take off for home feeling really full from a combination of food, alcohol, and a lot more food.
07.05: I wake up and my stomach is not happy with me. I don't blame it though: oysters, lasagna, salmon, rice, steak, juicy jun's bbq, cheeseburgers, garlic bread, random beers, random shots, crawdads... my apologies to you stomach. It was good at the time though, LoL. I spend a good chunk of the day trying to feel normal again, and set up my mom's new laptop to work with our printer. Stupid ass Vista, way to go Microsoft; making different OS's not able to work together. Eventually I meet up with Eddie and Danni, and we grab some food at McCormick's on 5th downtown. They have some dope salmon cakes. We then head to Capitol Hill so I can try to find some local gear. No luck, but I did buy a shop deck from Goods. Gotta represent Seattle while in the D. So far the skateboard deck has been serving me good btw. After dropping Danny and Eddie back in Northgate, I head to UW for a UWFSAE meeting. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I MISS BEING A STUDENT AT UW. There's just something about the atmosphere on the campus, especially throughout the spring/summer, that makes it an ill ass place to be. Anyhow, I park in the 'ol C15 and sneak into the meeting. A bunch of my old teammates are like "WTF?! Alfy's here." You're damn right foo! There was a breakdown of the SAE West results so it was good to see that and see what's been up with the team. It was also good seein' all the old faces. This project takes a lot of your time, so you become quite familiar w/your teammates. After chattin w/a lot of the folks, we head down to the pit so I can check out the car. Liz by the way has made an appearance at this point. The car looks really similar to the T17 car, but the carbon work is far more awesome thanks to Kiel's creativity and some help from a professional Boeing cat. Chris Dolan's cooling system is much smaller and lighter than mine was, which was good and bad to see. Good because of the improvement made, bad because it was superior to mine (okay, so on some things I am a little competitive); well except for it blowing a fan fuse at comp, but he can't control that. After hangin' out there, I take off for Lake City / Northgate and have dinner with Hannah and Josiah. Hannah has graced us with some bombass tempura. Definitely quality catch up time with the Perez siblings. Around say, 10:30, I take off for Goldie's for more homies and drink specials. We proceed to quickly get our drink on. Long Islands and such. Afterwards, it's Viceroy time, another place that has dope ass music going depending on what night you show up. Viceroy also serves goldfish, which is sweet. Kiel and Liz join, which is sweet as well. After Viceroy, we check out the 7-11 converted to Kwik-E-Mart in anticipation of the Simpson's movie. DO NOT DRINK BUZZ COLA. 42g of sugar in that nasty ass drink. Kiel drank it all somehow. I took two sips and said heeeell no.
07.06: The drinking has finally caught up to me. I let out a hearty bit of yakk Friday morning and get back to the air mattress that's now in my room. By the way, it appears my mom has turned my room into a storage area. I lazy around for a good bit of the day and try to pack my bags up. I meet up w/Bird for a bit and we check out the local mall. By the way, the shops here are far doper than they are in MI. I pick up a Casual Industrees snowboard tee from BC (they sell local gear, which is ill); gotta represent, again. Dinner comes around, and I decide it's time to take my Mom out. Myself, my brother, and my Mom all head to Ivar's in Mukilteo (sp?) for some awesome seafood by the water. Damn, I miss having good seafood. I hit my Mom off with some money, which was an awesome feeling. I wish I could give her a shit ton of cash just to show my appreciation, but I gave what I could and she was still quite surprised. After dinner is wrapped up, I coordinate some type of post-dinner activity with the homies. The fam and I say a traveling mercies prayer, and I say goodbye to my mom and brother, who I might not see until December =( . It was rough driving away (the car was going back to my sister) and having my mom stand in the doorway. I get to Earl's (it was the easiest choice) and meet up with the homies, from all around; high school, and college friends, and we all get to drinkin' profusely. Wow. I wasn't supposed to get too faded, but it's hard when it's your last night w/your homies and you are on vacation. Anyway, we drink and have a great time just soaking up those moments that seem too damn rare now that I'm in the D. Afterwards, we head to Alki so I catch a good glimpse of downtown Seattle before I take off again. I take in a couple deep breaths, bullshit w/the homies for a little longer (Alex's crazy ass tries to pick up the fireball) and then it's time to get the car to my sister's and get to the airport. Nic takes me to SeaTac w/Vincent following, then my sister takes me to SeaTac airport. The airport is quiet since it's 4 AM. It's peaceful... good time to relax and take in the last week. I hop on the plane, and that's that.
Wow. Just typing this out has got me all homesick again. Moving is fuckin' tough. Especially if it's far from anything familiar, you get hit with a string of unfortunate events, and you don't click with folks as easily. This midwest thing man, how long will it last?
Sorry for the typos.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
patRIOTism...
Happy Independence Day everyone! Despite all the nutty shit going on, we still don't live in that shabby of a place. Yes, civil rights are being trampled, we've got awesome leadership, and don't know if the government has got our back (read: Katrina), but living here still beats some of the other offerings around the world. SOME laws are actually around to protect us, SOME police actually care, SOME school districts are top-rated. Now that I've said that, I feel the need to say this: damn this place has got problems =(
Today I was in the kitchen trying to get my mom's laptop sync'd with our printer (thanks Microsoft for making Vista and XP difficult to network together), and on the radio there was some news about some soldiers re-enlisting. My mom thought that was glorious news, and shared that later at a Church-folk get together, where some other people agreed at what a sign of greatness that was, and others stayed silent. My mom, and apparently some others, are still in the minority that think this war is being fought to protect our lifestyle. I always get uneasy when my mom or anyone else gets patriotic. Protect our lifestyle? Oh, is that what the big brother Patriot Act does? The mentality is old school, support the leadership/president through it all, and now that Bush has plucked the Christianity heart strings, he's got people mislead. I don't really know enough to get into a heated debate about this stuff, but I do know that I don't support much of the decisions/actions our government has taken and it's always an awkward situation when people I'm so closed to have such an opposite way of thinking. I feel a bit foolish for not paying more attention to politics/world news, but I, and I'm sure many of my apathetic peers, have become jaded by all the run-around bullshit we've been fed by the government as we've gone through life. /end pointless vent.
One thing someone said at the get-together in a devotion was that today is one of the few days we can put politics and world views aside and celebrate the fact that we are American. As I hung out there, and at another friend's BBQ, I couldn't help but think about how true those words were. I'm sure everyone's views varied greatly, but we've got this day to remind us that we can still celebrate together as Americans about the lives that we do have, regardless of political stance. Furthermore, republicans, democrats, and everything else in between... there are plenty of benevolent people out there that really do mean well and want to see our people bettered. Note to self, don't be such a hater based solely on one's political views.
^^ what my average-Joe-self thinks about the 4th of the July, I don't care if I sound ignorant by saying it.
By the way, the vacation is going awesome. I might just have to tell my group that I'm not coming in on Monday, or ever. Haha. Maybe soon, a little vacation play-by-play and some pictures to go along with it.
Cheers homies.
Today I was in the kitchen trying to get my mom's laptop sync'd with our printer (thanks Microsoft for making Vista and XP difficult to network together), and on the radio there was some news about some soldiers re-enlisting. My mom thought that was glorious news, and shared that later at a Church-folk get together, where some other people agreed at what a sign of greatness that was, and others stayed silent. My mom, and apparently some others, are still in the minority that think this war is being fought to protect our lifestyle. I always get uneasy when my mom or anyone else gets patriotic. Protect our lifestyle? Oh, is that what the big brother Patriot Act does? The mentality is old school, support the leadership/president through it all, and now that Bush has plucked the Christianity heart strings, he's got people mislead. I don't really know enough to get into a heated debate about this stuff, but I do know that I don't support much of the decisions/actions our government has taken and it's always an awkward situation when people I'm so closed to have such an opposite way of thinking. I feel a bit foolish for not paying more attention to politics/world news, but I, and I'm sure many of my apathetic peers, have become jaded by all the run-around bullshit we've been fed by the government as we've gone through life. /end pointless vent.
One thing someone said at the get-together in a devotion was that today is one of the few days we can put politics and world views aside and celebrate the fact that we are American. As I hung out there, and at another friend's BBQ, I couldn't help but think about how true those words were. I'm sure everyone's views varied greatly, but we've got this day to remind us that we can still celebrate together as Americans about the lives that we do have, regardless of political stance. Furthermore, republicans, democrats, and everything else in between... there are plenty of benevolent people out there that really do mean well and want to see our people bettered. Note to self, don't be such a hater based solely on one's political views.
^^ what my average-Joe-self thinks about the 4th of the July, I don't care if I sound ignorant by saying it.
By the way, the vacation is going awesome. I might just have to tell my group that I'm not coming in on Monday, or ever. Haha. Maybe soon, a little vacation play-by-play and some pictures to go along with it.
Cheers homies.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
So much ____, so little time...
It's true, you can never really know too much. The amount of news / media you can dig up on anything fuckin' blows my mind. I couldn't hope to keep up.
Newest music I ought to check out (still haven't gone through the whole last list):
-all Stone's Throw records
-Bonobo
-Stars
-El-P's latest album
...I'll stop with music.
-Where the fuck do I live, every other day there's a announced as stolen on the local sport compact forum. Earlier this week, a truck/trailer with 2 world challenge Neon SRT-4's inside was stolen in Livonia. The trailer was later burned. WTF, how do you get away with that, much less burn a trailer down? Wow.
-Flying out to Seattle in about a week!!! I can't wait.
Newest music I ought to check out (still haven't gone through the whole last list):
-all Stone's Throw records
-Bonobo
-Stars
-El-P's latest album
...I'll stop with music.
-Where the fuck do I live, every other day there's a announced as stolen on the local sport compact forum. Earlier this week, a truck/trailer with 2 world challenge Neon SRT-4's inside was stolen in Livonia. The trailer was later burned. WTF, how do you get away with that, much less burn a trailer down? Wow.
-Flying out to Seattle in about a week!!! I can't wait.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Umm, this wasn't in my job description.
Last week one of my bosses asked me what I thought about the work I'd been getting. He was wondering whether or not I was "surprised." I knew exactly what he was getting at, and yes, I was surprised. Well, not so much as I was after starting my internship, but both this position (in Wheels and Tires) and my internship at Chrysler both share a lot of similarities. The big similarity being that the work is FAR MORE project management-based than it is actual engineering. No calculators, engineering pad, or design; just phone calls, e-mails, and... management. Yep, surprise! It gets me kinda bummed, not so much because it feels like I just spent 4.50 years and a lot of my parent's money to be a manager, but because I genuinely enjoy engineering. I like the challenges engineering problems present, and how creativity is encouraged, all the while being supported by fundamental ideas about math (a subject that SUCKS without application), physics, etc. Like any big "engineering"-based company, a lot of that actual engineering stuff has been delegated to the suppliers, who unfortunately often get less respect than deserved, are given crazy demands ("I need a tolerance of 0.000000000000001 mm or we'll find someone else!!!"), and probably don't get the pay / benefits that big companies can dish out. Tough call. At one point my boss was at a supplier doing hardcore engineering work. I forgot to ask him why he left, but there's probably a good reason, like say, being sick of getting yelled at by somebody from a big company day in and day out. He likes what he does now, and is trying to get into a more, shot-calling position, which I'm all for because he seems like a dude that can bring about some change. To be honest, I like what I do in this group too. Yes, I did just get done bitching about how I want to do real engineering work. However, being a guy that has a true appreciation for the wheels and tires, and being handed projects that I see as a real benefit to the company, and also realizing that while not all that technical, the work still requires that engineering brain, I can say that it ain't so bad. At some point, I would like to bust out the engineering pad though. Oh, btw, there are still some highly technical spots at Chrysler, but here's another downer, these guys also don't get the credit or recognition they deserve, or the nutty salary that the management that yells at them is getting.
Since we're on the topic of work, I've got another thing to bitch about. Lately I've tried to make it a habit to drop in regularly on some type of automotive blog, usually Left Lane News. Recently, an internal Chrysler memo surfaced basically saying that surveyed employees at Chrysler are pissed about how bad the Sebring and the Nitro came out. LLN reported on this, and since it's a blog, registered readers can make comments. Many of the comments were bullshit like "if I was an engineer at Chrysler, I would be embarassed" and other shit bashing the engineers. I'd like to give out a big FUCK YOU to anyone that said that shit. Being that I interact with highly capable engineers daily, it pissed me off reading that. What these people don't realize is that many of the major decisions are made by the management and the employees have to work with what they've been given. I can distinctly remember my co-workers (in the Sebring / Avenger synthesis group) from last summer bitching about how the Sebring kept getting cheaped out, and look now, complaints about cheap interiors, etc. I hate shifting blame, but really, many of the brighter people weren't making the calls.
I'll try to make my next post NOT related to work, haha.
Since we're on the topic of work, I've got another thing to bitch about. Lately I've tried to make it a habit to drop in regularly on some type of automotive blog, usually Left Lane News. Recently, an internal Chrysler memo surfaced basically saying that surveyed employees at Chrysler are pissed about how bad the Sebring and the Nitro came out. LLN reported on this, and since it's a blog, registered readers can make comments. Many of the comments were bullshit like "if I was an engineer at Chrysler, I would be embarassed" and other shit bashing the engineers. I'd like to give out a big FUCK YOU to anyone that said that shit. Being that I interact with highly capable engineers daily, it pissed me off reading that. What these people don't realize is that many of the major decisions are made by the management and the employees have to work with what they've been given. I can distinctly remember my co-workers (in the Sebring / Avenger synthesis group) from last summer bitching about how the Sebring kept getting cheaped out, and look now, complaints about cheap interiors, etc. I hate shifting blame, but really, many of the brighter people weren't making the calls.
I'll try to make my next post NOT related to work, haha.
Monday, June 4, 2007
RIP GREEN LANTERN.
So it's been about a month since my car got jacked. In some ways, I got over it pretty quickly, in other ways, I don't think I'll ever be over it ==>
I'll never be over it because a) it's not just a car. It was my car. Picking up this car was one of the last things my dad and I did together before he passed away. There's blood (really), sweat, tears, money, time, muscle, ME, that's gone into this car. I got a lot of joy just from taking it down the street. I loved getting compliments on it and was proud of what I considered a good expression of who I was. I changed a lot of minds with that car; a lot of people would talk to me surprised to find out that not every Honda enthusiast isn't some dumbass kid saving up for a bodykit b) it's a really disheartening feeling knowing that some fucker out there is rockin' my rims, suspension, motor while not knowing or caring about what that shit meant to me c) money is money, but there was money in that car that the insurance company won't give me back. Also, how do you pay back time?
I'm over it because a) it's just a car. I was blessed to have it in the first place. Thanks God. I know who stole it and could go fight for justice (fuckin' DPD, what a joke), but it's not worth dying over. I have insurance for a reason b) it was the first car that I got modded relatively heavily (hopefully not my last) and as a result, made tons of mistakes and bad decisions that I wish I could've taken back c) it had it's share of problems that I would eventually have to deal with d) while a lot of me (and $$$) did go into that car, that car and my existence related to it lived in the moment, so while I can't get any of that investment back, I can say it was good while it lasted e) I can bounce back, and fully intend to... just give me about a year and y'all will know what time it is.
RIP Green Lantern. Thanks for the good times / memories / education / unification / etc. Also, I don't know how many of the homies actually read this, but thank you for enjoying the GS-R with me, it wouldn't have been the same w/out you guys.
...The list of stories with this car would run forever, but here are a couple.
-We dumped that fucker after 4 days of owning it. Thanks Nick (one of the OG's of slammed Hondas and wheel whoring).
-Savage money shift from 3rd to 2nd. 11000 RPMs = 4 bent exhaust valves. Yikes.
-Internal work / dyno day with homemadeturbo.com went awesome. Thank you Jeff Frank for throwing down some of your expertise on this car & thank you Dave Lee for an awesome Uberdata tune.
-Full throttle launch a 4000 RPM w/GS-R tranny = FTW. Full throttle launch at 4000 RPM w/ITR tranny = FTL.
-One night at Coulon, I raced a swapped EJ1 to find a cop at the end of the "track". Me and Phang dipped through the parking lot and into an alley, before we could get caught. Whew.
-Hobey, Jeff, Glenn and I trying to fuck with some seized H&R coilovers that I bought off some guy. We messed those things up pretty nicely, but I later traded them for some ol' school Racing Harts. The guy fixed them btw.
-Some notable kills: A few ITR's. CTR-swapped EK w/ITB's. Built LS. S2K (driver error). A couple WRX's. GS-R-swapped EG. Some Mustangs (94+?). Other GS-Rs. 240sx's (KA's). IS300. A couple ZC-swapped CRX's. A couple SE-R's. EM1's.........
-Battle of the Imports Seattle, 1st place Street Stock. LoL, I prepped for this event a lot (gutted interior, open header, etc.), and ended up running unopposed. Free money is awesome. I was faster than many non-swapped NA 4 cylinders out there (part of the S/S requirement) so it wasn't totally lame.
-Open header pulls, wow.
-Auto-X, consistent novice finishes were pretty nice, especially on the Ebay coilovers haha.
-Being in the Honda scene and all the people I've met buying/selling parts, racing, etc.
-Mobbin' 5-10 cars deep to Alki beach, whatever party was goin' on, etc. etc.
-Private drag meets w/the homies and Racelab (RIP).
-Eddie and I driving down to Oaksdale each to race someone. Him in his Z32 vs. Bobby's S14, and me vs. Tony's ITR. Haha, I think we both lost that night, but it was still awesome.
-Getting detained at West Marginal by SPD, wtf.
-Falling asleep under the car.
-Spending countless nights detailing, tightening / loosening / stripping bolts, cruisin' around, using the car.
-Mark (in an E30), Anthony (in an MP3) driving up and down NE Ames Lake Road <== windy and awesome. -The look I'd get when people saw me clearly revving past the indicated GS-R redline and shifting at 8500. -The VTEC scream. ...Okay, I guess it's time to stop, but you get the point. G'night.
...picture me rollin'...
I'll never be over it because a) it's not just a car. It was my car. Picking up this car was one of the last things my dad and I did together before he passed away. There's blood (really), sweat, tears, money, time, muscle, ME, that's gone into this car. I got a lot of joy just from taking it down the street. I loved getting compliments on it and was proud of what I considered a good expression of who I was. I changed a lot of minds with that car; a lot of people would talk to me surprised to find out that not every Honda enthusiast isn't some dumbass kid saving up for a bodykit b) it's a really disheartening feeling knowing that some fucker out there is rockin' my rims, suspension, motor while not knowing or caring about what that shit meant to me c) money is money, but there was money in that car that the insurance company won't give me back. Also, how do you pay back time?
I'm over it because a) it's just a car. I was blessed to have it in the first place. Thanks God. I know who stole it and could go fight for justice (fuckin' DPD, what a joke), but it's not worth dying over. I have insurance for a reason b) it was the first car that I got modded relatively heavily (hopefully not my last) and as a result, made tons of mistakes and bad decisions that I wish I could've taken back c) it had it's share of problems that I would eventually have to deal with d) while a lot of me (and $$$) did go into that car, that car and my existence related to it lived in the moment, so while I can't get any of that investment back, I can say it was good while it lasted e) I can bounce back, and fully intend to... just give me about a year and y'all will know what time it is.
RIP Green Lantern. Thanks for the good times / memories / education / unification / etc. Also, I don't know how many of the homies actually read this, but thank you for enjoying the GS-R with me, it wouldn't have been the same w/out you guys.
...The list of stories with this car would run forever, but here are a couple.
-We dumped that fucker after 4 days of owning it. Thanks Nick (one of the OG's of slammed Hondas and wheel whoring).
-Savage money shift from 3rd to 2nd. 11000 RPMs = 4 bent exhaust valves. Yikes.
-Internal work / dyno day with homemadeturbo.com went awesome. Thank you Jeff Frank for throwing down some of your expertise on this car & thank you Dave Lee for an awesome Uberdata tune.
-Full throttle launch a 4000 RPM w/GS-R tranny = FTW. Full throttle launch at 4000 RPM w/ITR tranny = FTL.
-One night at Coulon, I raced a swapped EJ1 to find a cop at the end of the "track". Me and Phang dipped through the parking lot and into an alley, before we could get caught. Whew.
-Hobey, Jeff, Glenn and I trying to fuck with some seized H&R coilovers that I bought off some guy. We messed those things up pretty nicely, but I later traded them for some ol' school Racing Harts. The guy fixed them btw.
-Some notable kills: A few ITR's. CTR-swapped EK w/ITB's. Built LS. S2K (driver error). A couple WRX's. GS-R-swapped EG. Some Mustangs (94+?). Other GS-Rs. 240sx's (KA's). IS300. A couple ZC-swapped CRX's. A couple SE-R's. EM1's.........
-Battle of the Imports Seattle, 1st place Street Stock. LoL, I prepped for this event a lot (gutted interior, open header, etc.), and ended up running unopposed. Free money is awesome. I was faster than many non-swapped NA 4 cylinders out there (part of the S/S requirement) so it wasn't totally lame.
-Open header pulls, wow.
-Auto-X, consistent novice finishes were pretty nice, especially on the Ebay coilovers haha.
-Being in the Honda scene and all the people I've met buying/selling parts, racing, etc.
-Mobbin' 5-10 cars deep to Alki beach, whatever party was goin' on, etc. etc.
-Private drag meets w/the homies and Racelab (RIP).
-Eddie and I driving down to Oaksdale each to race someone. Him in his Z32 vs. Bobby's S14, and me vs. Tony's ITR. Haha, I think we both lost that night, but it was still awesome.
-Getting detained at West Marginal by SPD, wtf.
-Falling asleep under the car.
-Spending countless nights detailing, tightening / loosening / stripping bolts, cruisin' around, using the car.
-Mark (in an E30), Anthony (in an MP3) driving up and down NE Ames Lake Road <== windy and awesome. -The look I'd get when people saw me clearly revving past the indicated GS-R redline and shifting at 8500. -The VTEC scream. ...Okay, I guess it's time to stop, but you get the point. G'night.
...picture me rollin'...And there's also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Mw9qZxQGg
Quick mod$ list I cooked up for the insurance company (formatting got F'd from pasting from Word):
Suspension:
Ground Control coilovers (400f/450r) / Koni adjustable struts
PasswordJDM Strut/Trunk brace
Omni rear upper adjustable control arms
15x6.5 Racing Hart CP-F Tune R's
Ebay intake pipe
AN-R Intake Manifold
Hondata Heat Shield Gasket
Toda Spec A camshafts
Skunk2 cam gears
Uberdata / Chipped P28
Boomslang OBDII to OBD1 Conv. Harness
USDM Integra Type R Transmission
Competition Clutch Stg 2 clutch and 9.5 lb flywheel
Exterior:
Integra Type R front chin spoiler Full re-spray, including shaved moldings, "integra" indent on bumpers, emblems Electronics / Interior:
Viper alarm system
Quick mod$ list I cooked up for the insurance company (formatting got F'd from pasting from Word):
Suspension:
Ground Control coilovers (400f/450r) / Koni adjustable struts
PasswordJDM Strut/Trunk brace
Omni rear upper adjustable control arms
15x6.5 Racing Hart CP-F Tune R's
Ebay intake pipe
AN-R Intake Manifold
Hondata Heat Shield Gasket
Toda Spec A camshafts
Skunk2 cam gears
Uberdata / Chipped P28
USDM Integra Type R Transmission
Competition Clutch Stg 2 clutch and 9.5 lb flywheel
Exterior:
Integra Type R front chin spoiler
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Gettin' Schooled
I just got an e-mail from my professor confirming that I bombed my first ever graduate school exam. I was 11 points below the mean and because of how the class is graded, I'm in danger of failing. If I bust ass on the second test and the one homework assignment/project we've got, I can get through the class w/an 84%. I got screwed over on one of the problems because I wasn't sure how to work it out. I've had some pretty epic bombs in the past, but I've been able to bounce back thanks to good teachers and references, something this class doesn't have. Hopefully I'll recover.
On that note, I'm finding that like my undergrad at UW, high school, work, certain aspects of life, there's a game to be played; I just have to learn how to play this one.
Bad professors FTL. He said it was "sad" that we had to use calculators to graph sin waves during the mid-term; well it's sad that he's got trouble packaging material in a way that students would be able to understand. I'm not blaming my shit score on him (because clearly some people get it), but in general, the class is struggling to understand wtf he's writing on the bored.
On that note, I'm finding that like my undergrad at UW, high school, work, certain aspects of life, there's a game to be played; I just have to learn how to play this one.
Bad professors FTL. He said it was "sad" that we had to use calculators to graph sin waves during the mid-term; well it's sad that he's got trouble packaging material in a way that students would be able to understand. I'm not blaming my shit score on him (because clearly some people get it), but in general, the class is struggling to understand wtf he's writing on the bored.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
More career-related rambling
-Last week, sitting in on all these meetings, cycling between not knowing "what the fuck is going on," "this is fucking ridiculous," and "oh, I think I get it," one constant thing stuck in my head: "I wonder how long I can do this for." I couldn't shake the feeling that we were all busting our asses for another, far richer man's profit. We're all jumping through hoops to benefit the company, which really means benefit the share holders. Maybe it's just me, but I thought the idea was to create products that benefit the customer. How much can we benefit the customer when everything is being cheaped out? Why are we so intimidated by manager approval? They aren't the ones buying the car. If you give a gift to someone, you hope that the receiver likes it, not the friend that came with you to buy it. I had this feeling last summer too, but after warming up to the group I started to feel down for the cause. Maybe I will again once I get a better grasp on my job, but right now I just feel like the customer is being forgotten and my freedom to be an engineer is severely limited. Today I met a guy that runs a test company / facility that he started himself. He worked for Chrysler at one point for quite a while, but decided to split ties and start up his own company. He seemed not only to be up to speed on technical topics, but also very enthused about the work he does. Talking to him was inspiring...
-"Still have a job? Keep buying foreign!" <--- I've seen that on a couple bumper stickers recently, and I have to say, in one way, that's some of the dumbest shit I have read. Sure, the Big 3 employ a lot of people - myself included - but as consumers, tell me, would you purposely buy a POS if you could get something better? I know I wouldn't. I buy what's good. The best design wins. Additionally, it's funny how that sticker is something the UAW (the union folks... Boeing heads know what's up with them) put out. Oh, and what is one of the biggest problems the Big 3 deal with in trying to turn a profit? The fucking union!! Another interesting fact: Toyota wants to start building facilities in MI. What are all those people bitching about losing a job because people kept buying foreign going to say when Toyota picks them up? Also, in this day and age, it's not like you're buying "American" or "foreign." Chrysler outsources all over the world, as I'm sure many companies in many industries do. Profit is going to go to whoever gets the work, wherever they are. This is business. That means the shareholders want us to make that money even if it means outsourcing to cut costs; and maybe as a side effect the economy will get a little help. Mehh...don't be fooled by what I'm saying. It's not like foreign car companies don't have similar ideals. And obviously if everyone started buying "American" cars there'd be plenty of jobs in Michigan to go around and the economy would start to prosper. It sounds like I'm torn on where I stand, and I am. Being someone that now lives in MI and seeing the shit over here, it's not hard to tell that MI needs the help. However, that's a bigger issue than just the Big 3 and what's happening with them... I'll get into that some other time. I still think the bumper sticker is damn foolish. If I decide to stay with Chrysler, a nice goal would be to contribute to a car that people want to buy, not something they feel obligated to because some schmo that they don't know needs to stay employed. <<< Wow, what a haphazard paragraph; my English teachers are all simultaneously slapping their foreheads right now.
-"Still have a job? Keep buying foreign!" <--- I've seen that on a couple bumper stickers recently, and I have to say, in one way, that's some of the dumbest shit I have read. Sure, the Big 3 employ a lot of people - myself included - but as consumers, tell me, would you purposely buy a POS if you could get something better? I know I wouldn't. I buy what's good. The best design wins. Additionally, it's funny how that sticker is something the UAW (the union folks... Boeing heads know what's up with them) put out. Oh, and what is one of the biggest problems the Big 3 deal with in trying to turn a profit? The fucking union!! Another interesting fact: Toyota wants to start building facilities in MI. What are all those people bitching about losing a job because people kept buying foreign going to say when Toyota picks them up? Also, in this day and age, it's not like you're buying "American" or "foreign." Chrysler outsources all over the world, as I'm sure many companies in many industries do. Profit is going to go to whoever gets the work, wherever they are. This is business. That means the shareholders want us to make that money even if it means outsourcing to cut costs; and maybe as a side effect the economy will get a little help. Mehh...don't be fooled by what I'm saying. It's not like foreign car companies don't have similar ideals. And obviously if everyone started buying "American" cars there'd be plenty of jobs in Michigan to go around and the economy would start to prosper. It sounds like I'm torn on where I stand, and I am. Being someone that now lives in MI and seeing the shit over here, it's not hard to tell that MI needs the help. However, that's a bigger issue than just the Big 3 and what's happening with them... I'll get into that some other time. I still think the bumper sticker is damn foolish. If I decide to stay with Chrysler, a nice goal would be to contribute to a car that people want to buy, not something they feel obligated to because some schmo that they don't know needs to stay employed. <<< Wow, what a haphazard paragraph; my English teachers are all simultaneously slapping their foreheads right now.
Monday, April 23, 2007
The latest... work and other things.
So it's official, I'm a working man... for how long? Who knows. I'm a little worried that DCX (that's DaimlerChrysler for all you that aren't in the know) is going to sell the "C" and drop funding to my program, in which case I would panic, go into a little more debt, then hopefully bounce back with an engineering job somewhere else. Anyway, here's how things have gone over the first week or so:
Monday - I get to CTC early, not knowing what to expect for a commute. I run into Andy in the hallway and we get to chat for a bit. I think kill time at Omar's desk until the orientation stuff gets started. Usually the group is 15+, but this time it was myself, Rahat (another intern from last summer), this contract-to-permanent employee, and the orientation leader. We talked about the usual orientation things: what work should be like, not to be a racist or sexist, how you should conduct yourself, how bad I am because I drive a Honda, etc. I guess the one useful tidbit from the whole thing was that to work effectively as a company, good personal relationships are key. That's something I agree with, and figured as much already, so luckily the orientation ran short. After signing my life awa... I mean filling out some paperwork, I thought it might be a good idea to pop in the group that took me in for an internship to see how things were going. Unfortunately a few people were sick but I still got to say what's up to some of the folks: Andy, Sean, and Susan (the names mean nothing to random folk reading this, but whatever, this ain't yo' blog foo). I sat down with Sean for a bit and caught up on things. One of these things being the death of two co-workers and friends. It was a tough subject to discuss (the vibe I got last summer was that they were a tight-knit group) but we agreed that work shouldn't consume your life and what's really important is the impact you have on the people you interact with; especially family, friends, etc. That's real shit and it's good to hear that coming from someone that used to be your boss. We talked for a while about other stuff too... where I was living, tips on how to work with people, the importance of retirement (this one makes me feel old yet happy to be making career money), and other random items. It was good seeing some familiar faces on my first day because I knew that like any job, the first few weeks you run around not knowing wtf is going on....
Tuesday - After being picked up by my new boss, Dan, I'm taken to my new work area and introduced to some of the people. I wound up in the wheels and tires department for my MCM (think: cost savings) rotation which is apparently a good thing because it's more involved than other MCM rotations which have you crunching numbers at a desk all day. Not having anything to do yet however, I'm dragged around to a couple meetings throughout the day, infinitely clueless and therefore struggling to stay awake. The group is cool though... Dan seems like a cool boss and Ana is my former roommate Omar's current roommate, she seems like a down ass chick and quite helpful with getting me broken in.
Wednesday - Probably the highlight of today was a "tech club" meeting. Some guy from the design office went to SEMA to check out current wheel trends. His observations were that multi-piece wheels were in style, as with the "bling finish" on the lips of wheels, Rota's tuner-style wheels, and various machined / polished finishes. I had a hard time not laughing because some of the things he pointed out have been timeless styles for years (...the Racing Harts on my car right now are 2-piece with a "bling lip") or were just outright ridiculous. I understand the need to report on everything there, but I got a good bit of silent chuckling from the pictures on his powerpoint presentation. It's not his fault though, people are releasing some dumb ass shit these days.
Thursday - Either this day or the day before, I started doing work with Ana and kinda getting a feel for how things operate in wheels and tires. So now I'm starting to feel less lost...
Friday - Kinda getting more work to do and struggling to understand some of the more technical things behind the job. Dan gave me a link earlier in the week to a database we've got so I was able to read up on some of the more popular issues around our wheels and tires. Most of my personal knowledge comes from being a car guy, so it was good to compare to how these guys see things. I also got to chat with Pete, another guy from last summer that I worked pretty closely with. We'll be hopefully grabbing lunch or a beer in the future... if I can get some checks rolling, haha.
Today (Monday) - Met my executive sponsor, Richard, who sounds like a really good dude. It turns out he knows Leonard, Tom, and Keefe (the UW recruiters)... small world. Anyway, the guy was very interested in being able to pass on any advice that he could and forming a very informal mentor-type setup. A couple signs that this guy is down to help: he gave me his home phone and address, is the type of guy that will tell you what worked for him but won't say that his methods are the only right way, and let me know that if I have any issues, I can ask him for advice without worrying about him narcing on me. Sweet. Oh, I also met Brett, the guy listed as my supervisor on my welcome packet who's actually Dan's boss. It turns out things work better with the way they choose to place CIE's. Sounds like a cool dude.
So that's the intro to the working world for me... more to come on my thoughts about working here and working in general <-- soon to come!
Oh, and if anyone actually reads this tripe and cares to say something, you don't need a blogspot account to leave a comment... I've got it set up so anyone can. Later everyone.
Monday - I get to CTC early, not knowing what to expect for a commute. I run into Andy in the hallway and we get to chat for a bit. I think kill time at Omar's desk until the orientation stuff gets started. Usually the group is 15+, but this time it was myself, Rahat (another intern from last summer), this contract-to-permanent employee, and the orientation leader. We talked about the usual orientation things: what work should be like, not to be a racist or sexist, how you should conduct yourself, how bad I am because I drive a Honda, etc. I guess the one useful tidbit from the whole thing was that to work effectively as a company, good personal relationships are key. That's something I agree with, and figured as much already, so luckily the orientation ran short. After signing my life awa... I mean filling out some paperwork, I thought it might be a good idea to pop in the group that took me in for an internship to see how things were going. Unfortunately a few people were sick but I still got to say what's up to some of the folks: Andy, Sean, and Susan (the names mean nothing to random folk reading this, but whatever, this ain't yo' blog foo). I sat down with Sean for a bit and caught up on things. One of these things being the death of two co-workers and friends. It was a tough subject to discuss (the vibe I got last summer was that they were a tight-knit group) but we agreed that work shouldn't consume your life and what's really important is the impact you have on the people you interact with; especially family, friends, etc. That's real shit and it's good to hear that coming from someone that used to be your boss. We talked for a while about other stuff too... where I was living, tips on how to work with people, the importance of retirement (this one makes me feel old yet happy to be making career money), and other random items. It was good seeing some familiar faces on my first day because I knew that like any job, the first few weeks you run around not knowing wtf is going on....
Tuesday - After being picked up by my new boss, Dan, I'm taken to my new work area and introduced to some of the people. I wound up in the wheels and tires department for my MCM (think: cost savings) rotation which is apparently a good thing because it's more involved than other MCM rotations which have you crunching numbers at a desk all day. Not having anything to do yet however, I'm dragged around to a couple meetings throughout the day, infinitely clueless and therefore struggling to stay awake. The group is cool though... Dan seems like a cool boss and Ana is my former roommate Omar's current roommate, she seems like a down ass chick and quite helpful with getting me broken in.
Wednesday - Probably the highlight of today was a "tech club" meeting. Some guy from the design office went to SEMA to check out current wheel trends. His observations were that multi-piece wheels were in style, as with the "bling finish" on the lips of wheels, Rota's tuner-style wheels, and various machined / polished finishes. I had a hard time not laughing because some of the things he pointed out have been timeless styles for years (...the Racing Harts on my car right now are 2-piece with a "bling lip") or were just outright ridiculous. I understand the need to report on everything there, but I got a good bit of silent chuckling from the pictures on his powerpoint presentation. It's not his fault though, people are releasing some dumb ass shit these days.
Thursday - Either this day or the day before, I started doing work with Ana and kinda getting a feel for how things operate in wheels and tires. So now I'm starting to feel less lost...
Friday - Kinda getting more work to do and struggling to understand some of the more technical things behind the job. Dan gave me a link earlier in the week to a database we've got so I was able to read up on some of the more popular issues around our wheels and tires. Most of my personal knowledge comes from being a car guy, so it was good to compare to how these guys see things. I also got to chat with Pete, another guy from last summer that I worked pretty closely with. We'll be hopefully grabbing lunch or a beer in the future... if I can get some checks rolling, haha.
Today (Monday) - Met my executive sponsor, Richard, who sounds like a really good dude. It turns out he knows Leonard, Tom, and Keefe (the UW recruiters)... small world. Anyway, the guy was very interested in being able to pass on any advice that he could and forming a very informal mentor-type setup. A couple signs that this guy is down to help: he gave me his home phone and address, is the type of guy that will tell you what worked for him but won't say that his methods are the only right way, and let me know that if I have any issues, I can ask him for advice without worrying about him narcing on me. Sweet. Oh, I also met Brett, the guy listed as my supervisor on my welcome packet who's actually Dan's boss. It turns out things work better with the way they choose to place CIE's. Sounds like a cool dude.
So that's the intro to the working world for me... more to come on my thoughts about working here and working in general <-- soon to come!
Oh, and if anyone actually reads this tripe and cares to say something, you don't need a blogspot account to leave a comment... I've got it set up so anyone can. Later everyone.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The move, for the move.
Hello errr'one that doesn't have anything better to do (mainly myself). This is the new home of the blog. Why? Mainly the better format and it's in cahoot's with gmail, my e-mail account. It all works out. Plus I figured it was time for a change. Shit, everything else seems to be changing these days. Haha. Later y'all.
Oh btw, here's a link back to the old xangerrrrr - http://xanga.com/alfonsotan
...weird shit, have to upload a picture to the blog itself to have it hosted as a profile pic, so nevermind this:
Oh btw, here's a link back to the old xangerrrrr - http://xanga.com/alfonsotan
...weird shit, have to upload a picture to the blog itself to have it hosted as a profile pic, so nevermind this:
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