what am i thankful for?

okay, thanksgiving was a while back...tough.
I've been thinking a lot about things lately. relationships, life, the usual gambit of lousy introspective thought. Tonight I am peturbed. I really don't have hardly anything to be thankful for. I have never had anything in my life that made me step back and say "wow, thank goodness I am alive"
I have my health, food in my stomach, a roof over my head. I have personal freedoms that are taken for granted. I have a job (shitty but I have one). There isn't war knocking on my doorstep, there isn't famine of rampant disease, there is nothing interesting or exciting, or dangerous. I sit behind a desk all day getting fat. Either I have grown extremely calloused, or there is simply nothing happenign around me. it makes me depressed, because the most stressful thing in my life is that I have a hard time making rent this month. Thats a lousy fucking existence.

And yet even when things were good (not very long ago at all) I still wasn't happy. I have a GF that I'm not happy with. I have a vehicle I can't be happy with. I have a roommate I can't be happy with. I have an apt that is okay but an apt. I have parents that are good now but treated me wrong in the past. About the only thing that is good and constant is my brother, and I never get to see him anymore.
more depression. lousy.

-g

I need to get my shit together.

Okay, so after talking with Bjen Slocummaki (hahaha) at the WWR last weekend, I am again browsing various Desert Racing things. Tonight, at work, I have come across the TeamDust homepage while lokoing for T1 Silverado information.
TeamDust is a pair of brothers, from Canada I think, who bought a desert race LR Defender 110 (weird choice if you ask me) and ran the Baja 1000. And they finnished!
After reading the team Bio I see that they have no notable racing or competition exprerience. How fuckin crazy is that? and in a Defender!? A jeep cherokee shoudl be a breeze compared to running that beast.
Time to start raising money and building the truck. Like...yesterday.'
Their Baja 1000 Story

A thought

I had an appifany this morning in History class.
I am an anti-politician, so I paid very little attention to the election other than the results. But I do find socio-demographics interesting.
Clearly Obama connected with a lot more youth than McCain. But I am curious how and why? The girl that sits next to me in History, Amanda, asked me this morning if I voted yesterday. She had voted for Obama and was "happy, and proud of our country" Which is a fine attitude to have, but I wonder where ti comes from? Amanda tends to sleep in class, never takes notes, and i'm guessing doesn't do that great on tests. So I draw the conclusion that she is not the most informed person since if She does not pay attention in a class why would she read about the candidates for the presidency? And of all the kids that I have classes with I think she is one of the more thoughtful and attentive of them all.
Does this mean that our country has elected a president out of ignorance? How many college students who voted for Obama (or McCain) did so blindly, withou regard for the issues, simply doing so because MTV and Hollywood told them to? Thats a scary thought to me.

-G

How I voted today

Today was some big election deal. President or some such. So to show what side I supported; I "cast my vote" as such:

Today I bought a little cheap piece of plastic crap directly from China. The way I see it- no matter who gets elected tonight our bubbles of international economy or going to come crashing down fairly soon, so to celebrate my born capitalism, I bought something direct from China. My way of saying- fuck you Mr. President, I couldn't give a shit less about who you are as long as I can get cheap shit made by somebody else. I feel that that vocalizes most America's (that I know) philosophy about today.

Now I'm going to go back to work and await the arrival of my new gold plated cell phone, cause that's the way I roll.

Oh, and I also voted at Toppers by ordering a 1 large bacon pizza, 1 large pepperoni pizza, and 1 triple order of Toppersticks. so Ha!

-g :)

Dreams

Some men have dreams. 2 wives, 2 lives, 2 kids, anything really. Sure I wouldn't mind some perks of all those good wholsome things in life, but really; Can't a man just find a Ferrari that costs less than 2 houses? The closest thing is a Testarossa or a 400i, neither of which are overly amazing to drive. Sad Really.

Oh well. Life goes on. I have now had 2 different women drunkely passed out in my bed in as many weekends. I don't think that should be on any man's wish list. College is messed up some times. It makes you want some things so badly, and yet since I have already seen and tasted life I am held back from doing what most respecting 19 year olds would, and that makes me sad/mad sometimes. Why can't life just be simpler, It was once. I should go read Alyssa's analysis paper about lost childhoods maybe it will cheer me up. lol

-g :)

Good Times

What a weekend, good times had by all. Thursday got a bit rocky towards the end, but it couldaa been worse. I'm quite used taking care of people, so really not that bad of a night. Friday was good too, a delicious breakfast even if we did have to wait for it. Saturday was work work work. Sunday was just downright fun. Thanks Alyssa for being a sport.

LSPR 08

well, a little bit after the fact, but here it is!
LSPR was another great weekend. I felt blessed to be a Stage Captain in Training. It was great fun and I finally learned about what was going on and how to set up a start control correctly. Lots of good fun.
The weekend started with the long trek from Mankato through Duluth to Calumet/Houghton. Peter also came up from his new home in Northern IL. We met up on Thursday night and got things organized. Pete's new P71 was an instant hit. The work assignments got a bit mixed up since me and Pete stuck together and he had been assigned elsewhere. Whoops. Their new Radio assignment system was not very good IMHO.
Friday night in Kenton we had a near dissaster in that almost nobody showed up to work our stage. wtf people. Learn what responsibility is. Basically everything went smoothly at the start of Stage 5, and mostly smooth on Stage 7. A long trek home and off to bed.
Saturday we worked Burma stages, again me as Stage Captain. Things went like clockwork on Saturday. No bad incedents on Brockway so everything ran smooth and on time, heck, we even started stage 12 one minute early! Incredible.
The food at the banquet was tasty and the awards were better than usual. Yay everybody.

so...not the most exciting weekend and we missed a fair bit of action, but i was glad to finally get in a position of responsibility. good stuff. Now all I need is to get back in to Rally and get a car started. Better start buying lottery tickets.

-g :)

hobbled by losing bets on mortgages

The title line ( hobbled by losing bets on mortgages) is from an article I am reading this morning about the failing economy- in particular the seizure and sale of WaMu by the Feds. Does anybody else find that line just a little disturbing?
In that kind of light the government definately should NOT be giving anybody a bailout, except maybe the people who are loosing their shirts because of their financial advisor deciding to BET with other peoples money. What a freakin crock-a-pooey.
The last time I saw information about investments it was "come inviset your money with us; we are STRONG, and SOLID, and don't throw away your money" But the last time I saw niformation about betting it was "Do you need help with your addiction? have you or someone dear to you lost everything? etc..." The second largest investment bank in the US cannot rightfully justify what happened, so how did they let it?
Freakin idiots, How come I can't get a decent job, but these guys are sitting in their pearl towers? How is that possible?

-g

...Another one bites the dust...

Chevy Silverado: Now offered with the new modular frame.
aka- What The Fuck?

The picture above was the high point of my day. Today I had a Lab for my AET class that was familiarizing myself with the hydraulic 2-post lifts we use in the shop. I volunteered my truck since I live across the street, and I wanted to put it up in the air. This would be the first time in the, roughly, year and a half I've owned it.
I had been aware of a broken brace rod across from where the pictured area is...but this I had, amazingly, NEVER seen or noticed.
For clarification: The picture is taken from behind the cab, looking forward. The beam on the right is the passenger side frame rail. The cross beam is the transmission crossmember, and it's mount on the frame. The frame bracket has fractured where it mounts to the crossmember.

Fucked. Over the last couple of days I had been getting things in order for selling the truck. Now I have no idea what to do. Depressing. No wonder I got such a good deal...

-g :(

Boredom and broken gear..

"Time flys like an arrow, fruit flys like a banana." - Groucho Marx

Great quote. I have a feeling it will be in my mind very much for the next 4 years of my life...and probably more than that but thats for another discussion.
School is going splendidly. The workload is increasing, but so far I have handled everything okay. I'm in the solid upper B range for all my classes so far. Big History test coming up on Thursday that will hopefully be in the same area.
Work is the dullest thing I have ever done. The only people who ever seem to contact my desk at night are about 99% stuff that I have no control over or have nothing to do with me.
Outside of school things are okay as well. Meeting plenty of new people from my classes and a few from the auto lab. But most as they say- What happens in Kato, Stays in Kato. :)

On a doubly sad note, I found out last night that my blender broke, and in the process of fixing it I broke it further. While researching this "Dormey 7500" handheld blender/mixer I found out that these were produced in the 40s-50s. I actually felt bad that it broke! ($16 on eBay and everything will be okay though!)

I also found out this morning that Jeff Moyle died over the weekend. A horrible loss, epsecially for the upper midwest rally community. He was only 30 years old. My heart-felt sorrows go out to his wife and young daughter, and the rest of the Moyle family.

-G

Day Two- much betta!

yay, another day down! :)

Day two of classes has been much better. With the addition of my two AET classes I saw a marked improvment in my enthusiasm for going to class. Even though I recognized that both of the AET classes will not be a huge development time, they are definately a step in the direction I want to go. There are people in my class with similar background, greater background, and Shawn, my roommate, also takes them so we will have each other to use as resources.

My new phone is operation as of yesterday. A Motorola KRZR K1, decent phone although the speaker seems a little rattle-y. Some money have been distributed so I can at least pay rent this month. Still have to see about selling the truck and getting that off my shoulders.

My new WoW character is now level 13. 'Cause I roll like that. And have way too much extra time now.

-Gabe :)

Rocky start? mebe.

Well..I survived the first night of work last week. Now on to school.
Only two classes tomorrow thank goodness. 8am-10am. So far I have zero books thanks to MSU's rediculous finacial aid setup. The books will be paid for eventually, but for the first couple days it looks like I will have no books. Money is also tight, I have no idea how I last the last 6 months being virtually unemployed. Seems impossible now looking back at it. Definately need to sell the truck as it looks like work is just barely going to cut it for rent. yikes. I had really been banking on one job, one schooling, etc so it would be swell if that would work out.

Wish me luck everybody! Tomorrow I face the music and see where I stack up with a bunch of freshmen! :)

-Gabe

Here comes the schoolin!!

Wow, what a flurry of activity the last several days. Moving in to the new apartment. Training for the new job. Dealing with gettting the apartment set. Dealing with classes and getting everything setup.
And on top of it all it is nearly 90 during the day, with no clouds, and little wind. blah.
I'm slowly getting to know where and how Mankato is layed out, though I can't remember where the Super Target is. Luckily there is little tiny grocery across the way that hopefully has a decent selection of basics, and not just booze.

My first actually day at work is this Friday. First day of class is Monday. Wish me luck! (and send money!)

-Gabe :)

Buses, AGAIN!!

the DNT, the largest paper in the Twin Ports I believe, has some of the worst reporting of any "news" source. But today there was a an example that shows that the reporting really is onlyl as good as the people being reported on. You avid readers may recall my article about the DTA's hybrid bus plans? This is down the similar line only this time it is the local school districts! Young childrens education is on the line!

The the article, in short, says "OMG, Diesel is like so expensive! We like can't even afford it anymore. Like shit." But there are a few real gems in the article that I will quote.

"The District has dropped three bus routes and bought several larger school buses to conslidate longer routes..."
WTF!? they are bitching and moaning about how they cannot justify additional cost on fuel, and then turn around and PURCHASE NEW BUSES!? WTF. I am still waiting for information from BlueBird as to how much new buses actually cost (info left out of the DNT article) but i'm guessing $75k+ each. so they increased their fuel budget by $140,000 (from the article) AND spent $200,000+ on new buses (maybe three new beautys?)

" "I don't know how to get around it" said Phil Minkkinen, superintendent of Lake Superior School District"
No shit. Thats because you can't "go around it" its called baseline cost of operations. If you can't even cover that you better not be worrying about how many teachers you can "afford"!!

" "We're still banking that we're going to be OK..." Phil Minkkinen"
WHAT!? The superintendent of a school district is "BANKING" with childrens education!? are you serious? That is the same as saying that he is gambling with their education, which is a Huge no-no in my morality book.

More of the article goe sinto the "ways the school districts were trying to cot transportation costs."
4 day weeks with longer days.
Eliminating the "two tier" bussing whereby the buses make TWO passes on the same route for some kind of accomidating for age differences. WTF is that??? PC bullshit is what that is. So kid got his lunch money stolen back in the day and now they have to spend $140,000 a year because of that?? Who came up with that solutioin!? Some shiester lawyer I suppose.

So yea, good job Northwoods school districts on completely missing the target; childrens education, and fucking up your supposed target; better fuel efficiency.

I might post more later when I get word from bluebird.

-G :)

Good times be rollin.

Well...good luck is following me these days it would seem. It's been a while!
I have two roommates to fill up the apartment. I got the job working at the university. I got a new phone. I got my truck registered in MN without getting hassled. Life is good.

Now I just have to get moved into my apartment without trouble and I'll be good to go for a few months.
I think the whole Omega car plan has been removed; too much work to get the parts from Germany. I'm back to the E36 plan. Especially after seeing Gardemiester's success and speed this year! I looked at the photos of his car...and it looks scarily stock for the success. So I better give it a try! Just need to sell this silly truck thing... :D

later people,
Gabe :)

MaxAttacked!!!!

Wow. 40 hours on the road payed off for Eixenburger Rallysport!
Chad and Ben did an excellent job of keep the car between the ditches- with only very minor damages and mechnical hickups.
Day 1- Leg 1 went okay but a burst hose and overheating engine caused concern on stage. Luckily a quick hose fix and the removal of the cooling fan assembly resulted in enough cooling to finnish the rally that way.
Leg two had no major issues.
Day2 - Tire punctures and the loss of the front bumper were the only major concerns. Neither a major problem, although the flat did cause a loss of time in the long run dropping the car from 3rd to 4th at the end of the day.

Many thanks to Chad for putting up with me for the entire weekend as well as letting me crash at his house pre- and post-rally and the many beers/meals/good times. Congrats to Ben, although I was sad that there was no Go-Karts to be found in Elkins. Fun to meet new people- Matt Bushore, Bill Wood, the russians, the irish, the polski, and several crazy locals! I also wish the best to Brian Dondlinger and crew on getting the GTI back in running condition after the crash.

Rally WV

wow, I am more stressed out than I thought I guess! I just realized that I haven't even mentioned Rally WV on here yet! Silly me.

Yes, Gabe Johnston - Crew chief extrordinare, will be in Elkins, WV come next Thursday for NASARallySport Rally WestVirginia! WOOT. I will be head service truck operator for my man Chad E and the incredible car 687, being navigated by non other than the rally pirate himself- Ben Slocum.

Wish us luck. I'm hoping Ben keeps Chad out of the deep stuff. No rolls this time, cause that means I will get very little sleep!

PEACE!
Gabe :)

ah school.

So, classes are lined up. Housing is in the works. The only really vague item at this point in finances. Job feelers are out, resumes are out, applications are out, but no returns as of yet. I am really hoping for an on-campus job...even though it will likely have zero to do with AET. The benefit of being able to walk to work, school, and most of life for the next 4 years would be incredible!!

Wish me luck!
dont forget to donate to the collegiate fund at www.rallybimmer.com!!

Ciao,
Gabe :)

Sixx AM

Well... Hows it been internet world?
Both BMWs are gone so I am currently NOT representing deutschland.
The Chevy is...getting expensive for somebody without a job.
School is, going nowhere fast. I have spent the last week or so between Minneapolis and Mankato trying to secure a job or housing. No luck on either front and to top it off My financial aid was processed and They don't want to give me DICK. LSC had no problem laying down a ton of money for my education, and now I am getting nothing basically.
AARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHH

So the real question that I now ponder is- might it make more sense to simply stay in Duluth for another semester? Money says yes...but my heart wants out form under that "parental wing" that I have been living under for the majority of my life. *Sigh*

ANYWAY...cars...yes...
So I have decided to again represent the German motherland once I sell the truck. Think Omega...Think German.

On the upside...

...I got the starter to crank over earlier today! YAY!
Hopefully I have not smoked the DME through my bad electrical troubleshooting.

Worse than a job review...

Somehow I have managed to land myself in accademic probation, once again. Only this time I am not quite sure why. I have a GPA of 3.40 and finnished %62.5 of my classes. (5 out of 8 credits)

Weird. Now I just need to come up with the money for summer semester before it starts...tomorrow.

-G

Old car...new car.

Wow...Blogging is slow sometimes.

So B3 is gone! It moved to Rochester with my step-brother. May it treat him well until he passes it on to another brave E30 fanatic.
And a day later what is in my garage? A BMW of course! Welcome home B2 aka RallyBimmer.

I know this picture doesn't look so good but it is actually some fair progress. Wiring is the biggest pain and one of the biggest obstacles. Once the motor is running again and the driver seat is fitted it is off to the cagebuilder.

Once the car is caged up I will be finallizing the electricals and plumbing. Then it is a matter of installing the safety gear and equiping the computer. And then...more stuff, more money, etc etc etc. :)

Right now the plan is to have it running by June 9th for the CVSCC autoX in Eau Claire. I still have to pick up my 3rd place trophy from two years ago and figured it woudl be a perfect time to get the beast back in the groove.

-G :)

Unemployment=car time.

Sadly I am still unemployed...but that is depressing so I will only mention it. :)

I spent most of today in the garage. It was rather satisfying. I actually MADE a new key for B3 (the E30). I bought a key blank right after I bought the car and nobody in PF could cut a key fragment for me, and I asked one guy in duluth today and he said the same. So I finally (why didn't I do this on day one?) got out the Dremel and a narrow cutting wheel and had at it. I wish I had a second pair of hands so I coulda taken some pictures of it. Lordy! it was funny. And to top it all off the damn thing worked when i was done! A little tweaking, but it works! Yay.

Then I went and got a new wash rag at menards and did a little wishy washy on the beast. I was amazed at how much gunk there was on this car. I don't understand the history of this car at all. it reminds me very much of Sam's Mercedes. Mystery rust, holes where there shouldn't be, ride feels original etc...

After last weekends glorious visit to the pull-yard in East Bethel I had a few bits to make the car good again. Seatbelt buckles, window switches, trunk handle. I left several parts there though which are calling my name from afar now. Oh well. Theres always next time. :)

Ah, environmental politics

I must admit that since moving in with my father, I have become quite the little political thinker. Today I wrote my first letter to the editor. I hate myself. (just kidding) Now I feel like expanding on the subject.

Last friday (March 28, 08) The Duluth News Tribune's cover story was about the 2 hybrid transit buses that the DTA had purchased, and how they planned on replacing all 44 buses with hybrid equiped machines.
Great, lovely.
Each hybrid bus costs $500,000. Uh, what!? Come again!?
Yes, ladies and gentlemans, for 3.6x the cost of the average Duluthian home (http://www.city-data.com/city/Duluth-Minnesota.html) you too can purchase ONE hybrid transit bus.

Okay okay so the government (read- tax dollars) pays 80%. That still leaves $100,000 to be paid directly by the Duluth tax dollars. Which is they change out the entire fleet of buses equates to 4.4 MILLION dollars directly to Duluth, or $22 MILLION to the tax paying general public.

I can hear the greener of you out there thinking to yourselves "Well you can't put a price on saving the environment." Right... But we can minimize the cost imposed to us by the philanthropist government. But i will touch on this again towards the end, hold on through my fiscal analysis please.

The article states that the hybrid bus saved approximately $3500 per quarter, which means $14000 per year.
If we look at this from Duluth's perspective it is good. The buses will pay for themselves in 7-8 years. BUT if we look at the total cost of the bus it will take about 36 years to even come close to payoff. These calcs don't even touch on maintenance costs or intrest payments or anything else. If you are not from Duluth or the upper-Midwest let me tell you about the roads: SALT. My 20 year old BMW that lived it's life here should probably be illegal to drive because of the rust damage from road salt. A 20 year old transit bus should look about the same, if not worse. So how in the world are they planning to get 36 years out of these buses? Perhaps that should be the DNT's next cover article? LOL

Back to the environment.
Me and my father discuss the environmental/green FADS at length when we get bored. People are gullible seems to be our common conclusion. I would apply the same here.
Why do we, the environmental concious public, HAVE to spend $500,000 x 44 to "save the environment"? Why don't we refit half the fleet with hybrid units $170,000 x 22 and reduce the bus routes? (I do see people waiting for the buses here in the west end...but rarely downtown, and pretty much never in the east end)
How about spending $200,000 on bike and walking trails/paths? Spending $100,000 on offering incentives to car-poolers? Or to businesses that use more fuel-efficient vehicles?

Hybrids are not the golden egg, the holy grail, or the golden fleece. So get over it, folks. Learn about what effeciencey actually means before you give in to the "social norm" and the environmental fashion. Please?

Romney anounces new countrys under his presidency.

During Romney's "happy speach" after tonights FL primaries he let our this priceless gem: "Jobs going to other countries...like Asia and India."

oh my lord. me and my dad laughed for a while on that one!! hahahahaha

and it wasn't the only one...but i'll leave the others for other people.

-Gabe :)