Kia Rondo

yep, I got the pleasure of driving a Kia Rondo. It made me wonder why anyone would actually buy one, after sitting it in, let alone drive it. it was awful, not the worst car I have ever driven, but close. The worst was the Dodge Caliber, that one was king of the dung pile, that one was the worst driving experience of my life, and I have had some pretty crappy rental cars.

I better start the story off the right way, I deserved this. I had a chance to bail out, kinda. I had a business trip to Alabama yesterday, my monthly, no twice a month trip, and when i got to the Avis desk, the lady informed me that they were out of the segment car that I had reserved, she had three options, a minivan, a Pontiac Solstice, and a compact. No way I was driving a minivan, and I feared that showing up to a jobsite, on the beach, in a drop top, might make the owner just a tad unhappy, he might think I am having fun at his expense, even though there would have been o upgrade fee on the vert. The third car, she did not know what it was, it had just been returned, and all she had was the ID number. I took the option behind door number three. I get out to the garage, she hands me the key, and tell me it is in slot 3...convenient. I look to slot 3, and in horor, realize I will be tooling around in a Kia Rondo. I almost went back and got the Solstice. But, judgment told me not to. Remind me not to listen to judgment in times like that.

I proceeded to try and get situated in this car, which was not going to happen. I could not find a seat position that worked, nothing that was comfortable, and nothing that would make me want to sit in that thing ever again. I am used to my hair touching the roof of my car, it gives me a sense of security, while most people would probably feel claustrophobic. Not me. This car, had a good 10-12 inches of headroom, ABOVE my head, and I am fairly tall. I felt like I was 4 feet tall. Sight lines out of the car were dreadful, thankfully I know how to set up my mirrors correctly, thank you Ron Hale. The car had no acceleration, the springs were so soft, that under full throttle, it felt like the front tires were going to lift up like a drag car...and they are the drive wheels...so that means torque steer. yep, in gobs. Tons of it. The overall driving experience was one I would like to soon forget. The interior materials were really cheap, the stereo was really poor, bad ergon0mics on the buttons, I had to lean forward to get to the buttons, because they slope away from the driver, steeply. The ride was terrible, the center of gravity on this car was so high, it felt like it wanted to roll over in a simple lane change. at one point, I tried passing another car on a two lane, because they were going 15 mph under the posted limit, not because i wanted to go fast...I thought I was not going to make it. The hamsters in the engine bay could not peddle any faster. I think the other driver slowed down, to aid me, when he heard the little four banger working so hard. By the end of the 65 miles i put on the car, my legs hurt, and so did my back, the seats were that miserable. It reminds me how spoiled I am in my car. To make it worse, the fellas at the jobsite saw me pull in, and gave me a little ripping about it. I told them the story, and they unanimously said they would have gone the route of the Solstice.

Next time, if there are three options, and one is the convertible, I will come home with a little more color in my face.

So what's it like...

...to manage $18M in construction all at one time? Stress. I feel like the handset to my phone, has become a part of my ear. I spend 2/3's of my day on the phone...and I don't like the phone. And everyone wants everything done yesterday, and everything is an emergency. Yesterday, and idiot ran into one of my buildings with a piece of heavy equipment. Punched holes in my building. What an idiot, now that adds more work on my plate...which means something else won't get done. Who runs into a building, for crying out loud, it is a building, not like a speed bump you can't see, it is a 4 story building. I have seen bad driving, but this takes the top prize.

To top it all off, I am 2 weeks behind on the next project, another $10M project. Can't wait till that one starts, that should be fun. I might need to buy a cot, to have in the corner of my office.

I think I need a vacation.

FINALLY

Thats right folks, I finally got my results back from my Lateral Forces exam...and I ah thrilled to say...PASS! My hands were shaking like I had Parkinson's when I read it. That is a huge load of my shoulders, now I can feel good about signing up for my last three exams, and I don't have to think about structures tests ever again.

I think I might have to celebrate a little tonight!

Surgery Day

No, not for me this time, thankfully. But for our puppy. She had to go in to get Spayed today. She was in the process of possibly going into heat for the first time, and well, we did not want to deal with that. We had plans to have her spayed anyway. It just became an issue a little sooner than expected. She is a sweet dog, full of energy, and full of life. She always has a very inquisitive look on her face, and keeps us entertained.

Sometimes you get lucky

Sometimes you get lucky, you see something at just the right moment, and you are prepared for it. I got home yesterday from work, and noticed that the neighbors Cherry Tree had dropped a lot of its blooms in the lawn. The neighbors have very nice, lush green grass, and the pink blooms carpeted the lawn, and it was very cool. So, i got the camera out, and proceeded to go lay down in their yard and shoot some. I like the result.

This third one is my favorite, the colors, the contrast, the highlights, it embodies more of what I was trying to capture.

Atlanta Auto Show

So my wife and I ventured downtown for the 2008 installment of the Atlanta Auto Show. I had to promise not to buy a new car afterwards...you see, 4 years ago we went, and that is when I first came to love the RX-8, and I bought one a week later. Sooo, I promised I would not buy a new car this time.

We had fun, it was not as big this year, which was a little disappointing. But we went on opening day, and got there early. Which was great, it made for small crowds, and it was easy to get to see the cars. And easy to take pictures.

A few highlights..seeing the new Nissan GTR. That car is one bad machine, it looks awesome, menacing, and like it will outrun everything...and it nearly does. No doubt, that if I were to just find a bag of cash, I would have to weasel my way onto the NA owners list. It was truly an awesome looking car, and the paint was luminous. Thankfully, I can't afford one, or I might have broken my promise.
Another car I enjoyed seeing was the new BMW 135. They had the loaded version, in hardtop form, on display. It reminds me of the old E30 and I really like them. It felt great to sit in, and looked like it would be a ton of fun, both everyday, and on the racetrack. Another car that I am glad I can't afford, because that promise would have been in jeopardy again.

But, I think my favorite part of the day was not a car. At Lexus, they had 3 driving simulators set up, to play the new Gran Turismo 5, a new game for the Playstation 3. And in it, you drove the Lexus ISF, which BTW, is a really nice ride. Back to the story. You had to wait in line, and while doing that, I was watching lap times, and finishing places. They have you start in 8th of 16. Some of the guys could not hold 8th, and some could, some advanced a few. Most lap times were 2:20 and higher, some near the 3 minute mark. The kids did not count, well, cause they don't know how to drive. Pedal to the floor the whole time is not the most effective way to circulate a racetrack. Some of the fathers tried the same method, with the same result, crashing. The guy in front of me managed to finish 2nd, with a lap time of 2:07. I vowed to beat that, especially when the Lexus rep said he did the best of the day, with the best lap time. I had a goal now. I got situated, and took off, quickly passing the first 3 or 4 cars by turn one, and by the time I was nearing the last few corners of the famed Suzuka track, I was in first. Finished there, with a lap time of 2:04. The best of the day on both counts. I had a perma smile for the next hour. Too many laps on that track in GT4, and a little real world seat time helps. But my wife, she actually managed to beat a lot of the guys too, pulling a solid 2:18, I was proud of her. Need to get her out to the real track now.

So, while it was not the Houston Auto Show I got so used to growing up, it was fun. A nice day spent with my wife, and I got to see some really cool cars. The most expensive being the $311K Ferrari 599 Fiorano, by far the most stunning car of the day.

The pain of inconsistency

When things don't have order, or consistency, it bugs me. It also makes you get your hopes up, or expect something, and then when that inconsistency strikes, it lets you down.

I got my results from my General Structures back 15 days after I took the test. I kinda thought the same thing would happen for the test I took a week later. Not so. And there in lies the disappointment. All week, when the mailman would arrive, I would run up to the front of the office like a kid on Christmas Day, only to be let down, when the Secretary of State did not send me a present. Now, I will have to wait until Monday, a full 21 days post-exam. Why did they have to break the mold on the last one, why did they send my results early, why can't they just tell me if aI failed or passed, that is all I want to know, but now I get to think about it all weekend.

Masters on Monday

This past Monday, my wife and I had the priveledge of going to see the opening practice round for the 2008 Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia. For those that don't know, the Masters is one of the 4 biggest professional golf tournaments all year. And it is one of the most amazing, well manicured golf courses in the entire world. I have been there before, and really enjoy how amazing the course is, and as a golfer, it is fun to see some of the games greatest players from the past and the present. We got to see Gary Player a few times, he now holds the record for most starts in the Masters, at 51 at the age of 72. We also go to see Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and other notables.














The most focus was of course on Tiger Woods. He was the first to tee off for the day, and by the time we got to see him, he was finishing on 17. the crowd around him must have been 25% of the people who were there, and once he was done, the crowd dispersed to other parts of the course. I am always amazed at the number of people that follow him. This picture was taken from a distance, with my camera held up over my head, and just hoping I got something. I like how it turned out. It has a feeling of being in the moment.














The landscaping at Augusta is amazing, the colors are so vibrant, and the leaves and grass are so lush. I need to get a job there, so that I can steal all of their secrets, I wish my Azaleas could look half as nice as theirs do.














So much of this course can not be appreciated on television, there is so much elevation change, and so many places that you can not see. It really looks like a tough course, I bet I could not break 100 from the pro tees on this course. But I would love to give it a try, too bad that will never happen.

All in all, we had a good time, and I look forward to going again someday.

Four Letter word

P...A...S...S

That's right folks, I passed my General Structures Exam. I just got the results in the mail today, a good bit earlier than I had expected. It has put a nice ray of sunshine on an otherwise wet, rainy ugly day here in Atlanta. I have a grin from ear to ear!

Time...moves really fast.

When you get older that is. My favorite comedian, Lewis Black, talks about how as he gets older, it is not the physical ailments that bother him, it is that times moves really fast, and the years fly by.

We start April today, it is spring, grass is growing(mine by the way is doing great), flowers are blooming and the temperature is coming up. But it seems that just yesterday, it was freezing cold out, and I was waiting on New Years to get here so you can have a good excuse to drink too much. Before too long, it will be time for Halloween, then Thanksgiving and all of it be here before we know it. I think summer is planned to last for 3 days this year. I hope I can find time to have a cookout with my friends.

I remember being a kid, and feeling like summer was a really long time, so much time, I could take my time doing everything I wanted to do. Then, school started again, and it felt like it would be an eternity until summer again, and I was always right, it felt like eons passed between that first day of school, and the last. I miss that. Now, we look so far ahead in life, that movies are advertised 8 months in advance, music is worse. By the time a new album comes out, I am tired of hearing the song on the radio. That does not make sense to me.

Anyway, with the first day of April upon us, I just realized...time is moving really fast. Need to enjoy it more while we have it, work less, spend more time with my wife, take more time off.

Its your fault, no its not!

Why are we obsessed with who is at fault? Why do we try to place blame on someone for EVERYTHING?

What set this off you might ask...a commercial on the radio today. Discussing diabetes. It talked about all the things you can do to care for yourself if you have it, and medications that you can take and ways to treat a disease that you may not be at fault for getting. Well now that is a new way of looking at it. Who cares whose fault it is, if you have diabetes, or any other ailment or disposition in life, deal with it, don't try to blame someone else, or make yourself feel by reasoning that is is not your fault. This is getting ridiculous. No one has the spine to step up and accept what life gives them, everyone wants to find the easy way out, someone to blame, and if at all possible, blame them and get some money for it. It is not McDonald's fault if you become morbidly obese if you eat there three boxed meals a day, it is your fault. It is not Starbucks fault if you drink too much of their coffee and wind up having stomach ulcers or bad acid reflux, it is your damn fault for drinking too much coffee.

I won't even mention politics, we all know that is nothing but finger pointing. No need to beat the dead horse.