I swear I know you from somewhere...................

Ever have one of those days........or week............or life where you wonder would anyone notice if you just stopped showing up? I'm the type of guy that wears headphones all day long to blot out the ambient bull in the office. Most people don't bother trying to talk to me unless its work related or its lunch time and they want me to drive. So, as I wander through my meek existence like that geeky-timid chick from "What Women Want", I sometimes wonder if anyone would even notice if I went missing. Due to a recent aggressive gym schedule, I didn't style my hair today cause there was no point. I got stopped by almost everyone in the office, asking me what's up with my hair. Apparently, I'm the "hair guy" and unless my do is up off my forehead, the day cannot go on. I was almost sent home to get my shit together. No gold star for me today :-(

Sooooooooooo...............I guess I've been a bit absent................awkward.......... Well, let's sum up the past couple of months. Did a little dance, forgot to make a little love, pretty much got down tonight. For real, October was okay. I had the daunting task of organizing my brother's girlfriend's birthday party so he could focus on proposing to her. She said "yes" but I sensed the hesitation ;-P No matta cause now I'm officially the "Last Man Standing"...........which is so sad that I weep whilst typing. Halloween was pretty cool also that month. November started good with Purdue making Michigan their collective bitch in football. I took some vay-kay and went to Balitmore to see the Notre Dame vs Navy game. We got rained on and some Navy fans took pity on us and shared their tailgate. I caught a cold and in an effort to get more vay-kay I worked myself to the bone and was sick the entire week of Thankgiving. You know they say "whiskey cures a cold".....well turns out it takes a whole fifth of Jack to make the "magic" happen ;-)

Well, now brings us to December. I've been taking more vay-kay but in my absence the "Powers that Be" at work decided the economy tanking is my fault and the entire office got denied an Xmas bonus, an Xmas party and a pay raise for next year. The beatings will continue until morale improves........... Actually, I took it upon myself to improve morale and organized a Xmas happy hour with my coworkers. We had a decent turn out and all agreed it was best that we did something as a company. Now, I'm one day away from the last day of work for me in 2008. I'm so excited.........I'm scared............

Saving the world........one gas cap at a time.......

King me, baby......
So, I'm trying to leave Utah to get back to Hammond for my high school reunion when I'm called upon to save the day. Some lady at the gas station had twisted her locking gas cap on crooked and I had to call upon the power of my bulging biceps to wrestle it free ;-) I'm chillin' at the Grand Junction airport right now. Got to the airport 3 hours early just to be sure I get home for my reunion. I'm kinda looking forward to it. I hope everyone's grown up since high school. The jury's still out on that one.
So, this week was spent in lovely, middle-of-nowhere Moab, UT. On the road again with AM General to do some off-road testing. And to further my bleeding ulcer. We drove the long way from Denver, CO to Moab, UT and broke down like three times due to electrical issues. I got to drive an H1 for the last 3 hours of the trip. The portion that went up "suicide pass" through the Rocky Mountains. I found it hilarious how the portion of road with death valley to the immediate right was not equipped with a guard rail but the portion with a small run-off ditch was equipped. Luckily, there wasn't much traffic as an H1 is not the thinnest of vehicles.
We had a whole week of off-roading with data collection ahead of us. The team was expanded to include people that felt the desire to drive the test trucks. Think 10 Chiefs and 2 Indians. A cluster-fuck of massive proportions. I spent 2 hours configuring and testing a wireless setup on the first test day only to have Windows go brain-dead on me at the crucial moment. Then, two lunchboxes that I've worked with this whole time got on the CB radio and my personal cell to jump on my case about it. Mind you, our day was already delayed by everyone else in the group but when my turn came, it was a big deal. I'll admit that I'm tired and stressed from work lately but these asshats know that I run the data logger and we test when I'm ready. I was seriously considering renting a car and jumping on a plane and going home as I don't need this stress but I stuck through. Then, on day 2, amateur hour hit about high noon and we broke one truck severely. "Boys' and their toys" was my way of putting it. The original game plan was to not overly stress the trucks and just back down from any event that was proving difficult. Someone forgot to inform the driver as he destroyed a transfer case and rear differential. Good thing we were 2.5 miles from the park entrance. I did my part in helping out getting gear from the base station but I'm no mechanic so after a couple of stranded hours I caught a ride out of the park and back to my hotel room. They ended up abandoning the truck in the field as daylight ran out. On the way back to the base station, another newbie broke the transfer case on the test truck. Stuck in low gear 5 miles from the base station. Long, slow drive back with our blinkers on.
Yesterday, everyone took off without giving any clear direction to the data guys so we ended up doing a little number crunching and then wasting away at the hotel all day. I went for a run and hit the weight room. I caught a super-marathon on CSI-NY so that was good. In the evening, I was chilling with the semi-truck drivers and the rest of the data guys. The truck drivers cooked us dinner cause I bought lunch at a chinese buffet. When the guys finally got back to the hotel, the news was still bad and the trucks were still down. No matta to me cause I'm going home for the weekend and flying back out to Vegas to meet back up with them on Monday. However, now they may stay in Moab an extra day so that just gives me a vay-kay day in Vegas with my boy, Lenzo, on AM General's dime. Fine with me.
I guess I don't have much sympathy for them cause I've spent the whole summer working my butt off on that truck and the young engineers that are my friends don't show any respect for the work I do. I know sometimes they are just messing with me and I've got my heart on my sleeve. I'm just to the point where I have to say "I don't care" or go into cardiac arrest.
Anywho, below are some pics from the trip so far. I can't show any pics of the test truck as its a life in prison sentence and hefty fine. Enjoy.......................

BTFU!!!!

Boiler Up, baby!!!! Last Saturday we kicked off the 2008 Boilermaker Season. I'm not going to lie.......it got a little nutty. Ankles were sprained.......sunburns acquired.........families re-united........and the Boilermakers kicked some arse!!!! Sure, Northern Colorado might be the equivalent of a high school football team but we sure handed them their collective butts. Kudos to Ben and Gennie for making kick-ass shis-ka-bobs. Kudos to me for beating everyone (ie myself) in flippy-cup. Kudos to the sun for burning our raw flesh. My shoulder is almost done with its "leprosy" phase and may return to 3rd degree burn in the next six months :-/ Good times at Purdue as always. I've got a cousin that just started school their, which means I've got a hook up for partying for the next 4+ years ;-) Naw, as my brother put it, we getting old. Not too old but old enough to not run with this college kids anymore.
As always, my weekend got cut a few hours short by work. I had to duck out early on Sunday (after I awoke from my alcohol coma) to get back to Indy to get a rental car to drive to my 2nd home (Detroit) for a meeting on Monday. Here's a bit of good advice, if you take a day off of work, don't check your work email. I was intending to be in Detroit only monday but because I checked my email on my day off (Friday), I was now committed to 3 days in the "D". Worse yet, the meeting on Monday justified me not needing to be there so I jumped over to AM General for a day on Tuesday and then had to juggle the new customer, AMG and an Aviation customer on Wednesday. I don't think I have a stomach lining anymore. Actually, sub-consciously, I've been clenching my jaw due to stress and my jaw is sore like a $3 street-walker. Anywho, so, back on the road again. Got home for a few days this week. Leaving tomorrow........on a jet plane.........don't know when I'll be back again..........well.......actually, I'll be back on Sunday but that ruins the point ;-) Fudge it, here's some photos.........enjoy...............

I'm baaaaaccccckkkkkkk.....................

I apologize for my eventful absence but I've been on the road for a very, very long time. So, I'm going to attempt to rack my brain for the sordid details of the past three months and summarize.
Yesterday: Daddy finally got a new pair of shoes for his g-ride. Translation: I went to Discount Tire and finally got new tires. I was able to put this one off since March of this year as I was renting enough cars that I only needed to drive mine to the bars and back when in town. After that, I spent the evening with some friends at a Ribfest in downtown Indy and then did a little bowling and saw a comedy show. Mucho fun-o.

Friday: Was one of like three people at work. Took a long lunch with my old supervisor, Dan. Hit up the YMCA after work. Nothing like communal showers and a bunch of old dudes wandering around nakid. I've gotten smart about getting back in shape these days and have been taking advantage of spa time to keep the muscles relaxed. I caught "Pineapple Express" afterwards and then went to Fox n Hound for a nite cap. Funny, my old crew got fired except one guy so I don't know any bartenders. Or so I thought. One bartender looked a bit familiar. He used to bar-back back in the day and finally turned 21 so now he's the Man.

Last week: Sunday got in some good sun and booze at the pool. Made a couple of single serving friends and went to dinner with them at Fox n Hound. 1st time I've been back there since April. The old crew got fired so I don't have the hook-up over there anymore. Probably a good thing. I joined the YMCA through work on Monday. I put on about 10lbs drinking and stressing work all summer in Detroit. Got a 10 year High School reunion coming up. I'm going mainly to let everyone know I'm still alive. Plus, I figure I haven't done shit in the past ten years that would warrant my absence from a reunion.

Week before last: I spent the week at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, MI wiht AM General for work. I've been working too much lately and had a major brain breakdown. I was messing around with one of my friends from AMG and wrote "Kyle Sucks!!" in spray chalk on the ground. It was pretty funny but the project leader got a little upset. I went to wash it off and it turns out temporary spray chalk is more permanent than one would think. I bought a grill brush and got it cleaned up. Its good to get in a little trouble from time to time as it reminds one to behave. Work was good and productive that week. More than its been in a while. The project leader is kinda of scatter-brain and doesn't manage the project very well. He likes driving the truck more than doing his job in my opinion. Normally, I wouldn't care so long as I get my work done but this project has worn me thin so I'm burned out on patience.

Week before that: I had to go to Canada for work. I left from Detroit from AMG. My boys at AMG had messed up my rental car the friday before and luckily I put it back together before crossing the border. The patrol was doing a "blitz" on single passenger vehicles. I got searched and had to go through Customs. Work fucked me again and I show up to a customer with a software solution that had no chance in hell of working. Way to go Dan for setting that one up and then quiting. It really burns when people I have to rely on half-ass it. Canada was okay except they kept focusing on the Candian Olympians instead of the Americans like they should have. I heard a blip on the radio on my way back and Canada was claiming that American fast food will kill you and for Canadians to not immigrate over. Kool with me.

Week and a half before that: I had to go back to AM General to refurbish some of the equipment cause we're taking the truck on a three state tour of Colorad, Nevada and Utah in September. I was back with my AMG boys. I've become good friends with a few of them and get out in the evenings for general debauchery. At this point, I'd been on the road about three weeks straight so it was time to hit up a "gentlemen's club". Good old 8 mile. Its weird but Livonia, MI is starting to feel more like home than Indy. I need to get back and stay put for a bit, badly.

Week before that: My supervisor quit and left me with a bunch of work to do. I was hoping that the exhibit at the EAA show in Oshkosh, WI would be cancelled but instead work decided to that I was expendable and capable enough to run the show by myself. Yeah, big F-U Pi. I took the opportunity to make a pit stop on the way up to see my Goddaughter. She's getting big and adorable as ever. I think I have a face-melt picture I can insert here.

Oshkosh was okay. I'm not big into airplanes and was mostly doing work for AMG on my laptop the whole time. I told Pi that I'm in no way trying to be a sales engineer. My brother and uncle were able to come up and catch the show. We got to see the F-22 do its thing and some really cool warbirds with some pyrotechnics of C-4 and gasoline.

Week before that: I was finally back in Indy for a few days. Had to catch up with a lot of people. Work made me take two days off. Didn't matter, customers called my cell phone with shit for me to do. Got to get in some sun at the pool so that was good. Went to see Batman at an IMAX. That movie rocked!!! I was surprised to see that it was PG-13. Even without the blood and gore it was an awesome movie. I think the franchise is doing well without blood n guts. Its a shame Heath Ledger is dead. I swear hollywood actors need a frigging babysitter 24/7 to keep them alive.

Week before that: I went to Chippewa, South Bend, IN for some good old off-roading with AMG. I was piggy-backing this trip with a trip to Mid-Ohio to support an IRL race. I mis-calculated my travel time and had to drive 5 long hours after working all day with AMG to get to the middle-of-no-where Ohio. But I was supporting with my buddy, Neal, so I didn't mind it. It was a good race weekend and I elbowed Danica Patrick on accident in the boob area. My 15 seconds of fame. She's tiny in real life and walks around like a jerk. I'd still give her the time of day ;-)

Week before that: Spent more time at AMG working on the truck. My supervisor put in his 2 week's notice. I saw it coming. Pi is jerking new business individuals around so there's not much point in staying to sell shit that won't work outside of a race car. I'm going to hang in for a bit. Not cause I like Pi all that much but I want to be settled for a bit and I like Indy.

Okay, I've been writing and watching a movie for over an hour so I'm going claim a mental shutdown and end this post. I'll toss a bunch of random photos from the "Summer of George".....................