If you had to guess how long it takes to restore a car, how long would you guess...1 month? 1 year? 2 years? 5 Years? 10 Years? Well, there's no right answer because everyone has a different definition of “restore”. After a quick search on ebay for example you might conclude that a restoration is nothing more than a couple pounds of bondo and some new paint. My Healey would be a good example of this. A little more in depth searching and you would find a second tier of “restorations” that may include an engine rebuild, some token interior work and of course the obligatory bondo, new wheels and paint. My camaro might be a good example of this. And then to a select few a restoration means a soup to nuts stripping of the entire car leaving no nut, bolt, gage, surface, seat, brake line etc. un-restored. My old man falls somewhere in this category and its with this in mind that i want to congratulate him on an awesome job (almost) well done. Its been about 5 years in the making but luckily, it was well worth the wait. I probably should've waited till he was 100% done but to be honest, you're never really done with something like this and besides, patience has never been my strong suit (again..the healey). Besides, i'm heading to the states for business on wed and didn't feel like waiting to post some pics.
So without further adue...the all new '66 Vette. Congrats Pop! You finally had a proper project to break-in the garagemahal.
Disclaimer: yes this is a shameless attempt to suck up so that when you tire of the car you will keep your long lost middle son in mind as the next caretaker.
Lots more pis at http://community.webshots.com/user/djcpe
Monday, February 05, 2007
And it begins.
Body work
Frame Work
Off to the paint booth
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Broken, Bruised and Busted
There's nothing like dinner and a nap after a rough day of skiing, and Friday was one of those days. Now, you might be asking yourself, why were you skiing on Friday? Well, Liechtenstein was closed Friday. Yes, the entire country was closed for some religious holiday. And like most people nowadays, i have no idea what the holiday was and rather than go and celebrate at church, i went skiing.
So anyway's, with a mild hangover and not enough sleep i ventured to Gargellen Friday to ski with some colleagues. Most i hadn't skied with before but I'd heard that they were good...fast...reckless even. I can now report that this is indeed the truth. I consider myself a pretty good skier, but trying to keep up with these guys for 6 hrs was enough. And it didn't take more than a radler (beer and lemonade) at lunch to push my concentration over the edge resulting in my worst wreck yet. I somehow managed to come out of one of my ski's and slid down the edge....on my ass. The edge managed to cut through my pants, through the inner liner, through my long john's and into my arse. I wont subject you to a picture of my cut up ass, but i will show you the result to my ski pants. The tape is covering the blood....luckily this custom vent made my ass so cold that it didn't hurt. Well, not until later that day anyway, which brings us back to the beginning..there's nothing like dinner and a nap after a rough day of skiing. Which was exactly what i had planned for Friday evening until i was rudely awakened by a bomb going off. I logically assumed that the Liechtensteiners had taken their day off to organize and launch an invasion of Altstatten. I mean seriously,what the hell else could be making all this racket on a Friday night.
After hiding under my bed for an hour or so i crawled to the window when i started to hear another noise. Not the sound of an advancing army, at least not in the traditional sense. Rather i heard music, not just music but live music, and not just live music but live marching band music and it was right under my window. Realizing that i might have had it wrong about the invasion, i took of my flak jacket and helmet, fired off a few SMS's to some friends and headed out into the town to see what all the ruckus was about.
Turns out that this weekend marks the start of Karnival and Altstatten is apparently THE place to be for Karnival in this area. Not a bad struck of luck at all! For those of you who don't know, as i didn't before a Wikipedia search, Karnival is the two week celebration before lent. The US seems to be the only nation that doesnt really celebrate it as most European and even south American nations celebrate in one form or another. Basically its music, goofy costumes, drinking and...well more drinking.
I snapped a few shots, but night shots are pretty dificult and they didnt come out to well. But I'm heading back out with a few friends tonight and i'll try to get a few more. You may notice in some of the pics the word “Dekoriert”. I was told this means topless...as in waitress's. But after checking 5 different bars I'm not so sure, i think it just means very little clothing, but I'm not giving up yet. There's a few more bars i didn't check, and i will not rest until i confirm the actual meaning of Dekoriert. What can i say, I'm dedicated.
So anyway's, with a mild hangover and not enough sleep i ventured to Gargellen Friday to ski with some colleagues. Most i hadn't skied with before but I'd heard that they were good...fast...reckless even. I can now report that this is indeed the truth. I consider myself a pretty good skier, but trying to keep up with these guys for 6 hrs was enough. And it didn't take more than a radler (beer and lemonade) at lunch to push my concentration over the edge resulting in my worst wreck yet. I somehow managed to come out of one of my ski's and slid down the edge....on my ass. The edge managed to cut through my pants, through the inner liner, through my long john's and into my arse. I wont subject you to a picture of my cut up ass, but i will show you the result to my ski pants. The tape is covering the blood....luckily this custom vent made my ass so cold that it didn't hurt. Well, not until later that day anyway, which brings us back to the beginning..there's nothing like dinner and a nap after a rough day of skiing. Which was exactly what i had planned for Friday evening until i was rudely awakened by a bomb going off. I logically assumed that the Liechtensteiners had taken their day off to organize and launch an invasion of Altstatten. I mean seriously,what the hell else could be making all this racket on a Friday night.
After hiding under my bed for an hour or so i crawled to the window when i started to hear another noise. Not the sound of an advancing army, at least not in the traditional sense. Rather i heard music, not just music but live music, and not just live music but live marching band music and it was right under my window. Realizing that i might have had it wrong about the invasion, i took of my flak jacket and helmet, fired off a few SMS's to some friends and headed out into the town to see what all the ruckus was about.
Turns out that this weekend marks the start of Karnival and Altstatten is apparently THE place to be for Karnival in this area. Not a bad struck of luck at all! For those of you who don't know, as i didn't before a Wikipedia search, Karnival is the two week celebration before lent. The US seems to be the only nation that doesnt really celebrate it as most European and even south American nations celebrate in one form or another. Basically its music, goofy costumes, drinking and...well more drinking.
I snapped a few shots, but night shots are pretty dificult and they didnt come out to well. But I'm heading back out with a few friends tonight and i'll try to get a few more. You may notice in some of the pics the word “Dekoriert”. I was told this means topless...as in waitress's. But after checking 5 different bars I'm not so sure, i think it just means very little clothing, but I'm not giving up yet. There's a few more bars i didn't check, and i will not rest until i confirm the actual meaning of Dekoriert. What can i say, I'm dedicated.
Karnival and skiing
Ouch..the tape covers the blood
One of the bands. they played "popular" music.
the kids had the best costumes.
Dekoriert eh? if you're lucky mike, this'll still be goin on when you're here.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Cool videos..
just a couple of cool videos for any gearhead out there.
Birth of a V12..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQNM-eVmTQ
and the contstruction of an engine. at the end it actually simulates it running, pretty cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKbRIlzmic
and this...well this just might be the most bad ass golf cart ever made. ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcSP22jf29I
lastly...i've always wondered about this, but now theirs video proof.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9107SknOFl0
enjoy!
Birth of a V12..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQNM-eVmTQ
and the contstruction of an engine. at the end it actually simulates it running, pretty cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKbRIlzmic
and this...well this just might be the most bad ass golf cart ever made. ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcSP22jf29I
lastly...i've always wondered about this, but now theirs video proof.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9107SknOFl0
enjoy!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Enter the Schne
One of the best jobs in the world has to be plowing roads. It’s snowing out, you get to just cruise around with no real destination and just push snow, listen to the radio, drink some coffee, maybe help the occasional damsel in distress..not a bad life I think. Only if you’ve got a proper plow though…none of those tiny sidewalk plow things. Those are a real plow trucks retarded younger brother.
Sadly though that doesn’t seem to be a job that exists here in Europe. Their philosophy on snow plowing, which I was rudely reminded of this morning, is to not do it, rather to allow the cars themselves do the plowing. Not a bad plan until you realize that we live in the real world and most cars suck in the snow. Most drivers are even worse.
On the other end of the extreme is good old Juergen Point road where my parents live. While the Swiss seem to ignore the snow that falls on the road on Juergen point the strategy is to pack the snow down and make a new road on top of the snow. This new road is a carefully constructed mix of salt and sand. Its rather effective but has the unfortunate side effect of creating enormous sand dunes on the corners each spring while coating the cars with so much salt that snow cant penetrate far enough to reach the paint.
So winter is back and to celebrate I went out to a Huttenabend last friday, basically just a party up at a ski chalet. The only problem was that it was about 10-15 deg C and there wasn't a centimetre, sorry inch, of snow. It wasn't much of a winter party but at least the beer was cold. The next day i headed up to the slopes with a few friend after the huttenabend and once again the snow was less than ideal, but the sun was out and they had an extreme skiing event going on. Unfortunately i didn't have my camera but here's a link to some pics that they have up at the mtn's site.
Thankfully global warming has changed its course. Must be the lower SUV sales.
Sadly though that doesn’t seem to be a job that exists here in Europe. Their philosophy on snow plowing, which I was rudely reminded of this morning, is to not do it, rather to allow the cars themselves do the plowing. Not a bad plan until you realize that we live in the real world and most cars suck in the snow. Most drivers are even worse.
On the other end of the extreme is good old Juergen Point road where my parents live. While the Swiss seem to ignore the snow that falls on the road on Juergen point the strategy is to pack the snow down and make a new road on top of the snow. This new road is a carefully constructed mix of salt and sand. Its rather effective but has the unfortunate side effect of creating enormous sand dunes on the corners each spring while coating the cars with so much salt that snow cant penetrate far enough to reach the paint.
So winter is back and to celebrate I went out to a Huttenabend last friday, basically just a party up at a ski chalet. The only problem was that it was about 10-15 deg C and there wasn't a centimetre, sorry inch, of snow. It wasn't much of a winter party but at least the beer was cold. The next day i headed up to the slopes with a few friend after the huttenabend and once again the snow was less than ideal, but the sun was out and they had an extreme skiing event going on. Unfortunately i didn't have my camera but here's a link to some pics that they have up at the mtn's site.
Thankfully global warming has changed its course. Must be the lower SUV sales.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Hammer of the Gods
That title is completely irrelevant here, i just that phrase in a book the other day and thought it sounded cool. Can anyone guess what the book was about? Winner gets a ½ eaten bar of swiss chocolate. ¾ eaten if you're slow.
Now to other things....I like when people come to visit but I'm always at a bit of a loss for what to do. Don't get me wrong, i'm in a really beautiful area here with lots of outdoorsy things to do but usually when people visit they want to see “Europe”..i.e. Bigger more exciting things like buildings over 3 stories, museums, people...stuff like that. Unfortunately the closest city, Zürich, is about 1.5 hrs away and the distances just climb from there.
Geneva – 3hrs.
Munich – 4 hrs.
Venice – 4hrs.
Vienna – 5hrs.
Paris – 7hrs.
etc.
etc.
Truth be told, if you spend enough time where i am you realize that this is probably more “europey” than many of the big cities. It'd be like defining America by New York City, when in reality thats just a small part of it. The problem of course is time, given only a week over here you've got to start with the New York Cities and tackle the Ohio's on a followup visit.
The reason i bring this up is that my little bro Mike, my cousin Krissy and one of their friends Matt are all coming over to visit in about a month and a half. Overlooking the fact that their ruining the ratio in my apartment i now need to figure out how to show them a good time for a week. There's the obvious things to do like ski, hike, hit some bars, maybe visit some castles, but after that this area is pretty much tapped out. Therefore i envision some trips like maybe Vienna or Rome. Afterall, i've always wanted to see the Popemobile. Mike, Matt, Krissy..in case you cant tell I'm looking for a little feedback here. Take a look at a map and let me know what you guys wanna do. Tour the swiss army knife factory...learn to yodel (spelling?..eh, why worry now)....milk a cow...?? Unfortunately you're to early for oktoberfest, but there are still lots of bars around here and I'm sure we can find some umpah lumpah music. Anything's possible.
Switching gears for a moment i get the BBC on my TV over here and they have this awesome show called “Top Gear”. For any gearhead out there, its worth checking out on Youtube. It's chockful of awesome cars and bad british humor. Here's one of my favorite episodes about playing soccer, sorry football, with minicars. Priceless. I'm not sure if you can get it on TV in the states...but thanks to Youtube and its complete ignoring of copyright laws you can see pretty much any episode. If you're bored at work and in the auto industry, you could even argue its “research”. Now where's my endorsement check??
Oh, I just remembered that they do have a Stamp Musuem in Liechtenstien...but i gotta save something for the followup visit.
Now to other things....I like when people come to visit but I'm always at a bit of a loss for what to do. Don't get me wrong, i'm in a really beautiful area here with lots of outdoorsy things to do but usually when people visit they want to see “Europe”..i.e. Bigger more exciting things like buildings over 3 stories, museums, people...stuff like that. Unfortunately the closest city, Zürich, is about 1.5 hrs away and the distances just climb from there.
Geneva – 3hrs.
Munich – 4 hrs.
Venice – 4hrs.
Vienna – 5hrs.
Paris – 7hrs.
etc.
etc.
Truth be told, if you spend enough time where i am you realize that this is probably more “europey” than many of the big cities. It'd be like defining America by New York City, when in reality thats just a small part of it. The problem of course is time, given only a week over here you've got to start with the New York Cities and tackle the Ohio's on a followup visit.
The reason i bring this up is that my little bro Mike, my cousin Krissy and one of their friends Matt are all coming over to visit in about a month and a half. Overlooking the fact that their ruining the ratio in my apartment i now need to figure out how to show them a good time for a week. There's the obvious things to do like ski, hike, hit some bars, maybe visit some castles, but after that this area is pretty much tapped out. Therefore i envision some trips like maybe Vienna or Rome. Afterall, i've always wanted to see the Popemobile. Mike, Matt, Krissy..in case you cant tell I'm looking for a little feedback here. Take a look at a map and let me know what you guys wanna do. Tour the swiss army knife factory...learn to yodel (spelling?..eh, why worry now)....milk a cow...?? Unfortunately you're to early for oktoberfest, but there are still lots of bars around here and I'm sure we can find some umpah lumpah music. Anything's possible.
Switching gears for a moment i get the BBC on my TV over here and they have this awesome show called “Top Gear”. For any gearhead out there, its worth checking out on Youtube. It's chockful of awesome cars and bad british humor. Here's one of my favorite episodes about playing soccer, sorry football, with minicars. Priceless. I'm not sure if you can get it on TV in the states...but thanks to Youtube and its complete ignoring of copyright laws you can see pretty much any episode. If you're bored at work and in the auto industry, you could even argue its “research”. Now where's my endorsement check??
Oh, I just remembered that they do have a Stamp Musuem in Liechtenstien...but i gotta save something for the followup visit.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Happy New Year!
2007 already? Holy Sh*t...not only is the decade half over..its almost 75% over. As far as the old blog goes..well it looks like i fell a bit behind here. What can i say..i was preoccupied the last few weeks with allot of, um, work. So here is the 5 second catch up..
-Happy B'day to my not so little brother Mike..you're almost out of there. See you in a few months.
-To the Card's, congrats on the new Baby...2 more and you'll have a “full house”. 49 more and you'll have a full deck! Wow..that was really bad.
-Goodbye James Brown, keep up the funk.
-Godspeed President Ford. You weren't in office long enough to get caught with an intern or start a war...so you've got that going for you.
-Merry Christmas
-Happy Channukah
-Merry Ramadan
-F U Saddam
-Happy New Year
-And happy B'day to my older brother Brian..i know its early but if i don't say it now I'll probably forget! And as discussed...you've already got your gift. See you as well in a few months.
That about wraps up the last few weeks i think. Did i miss anything? Or maybe your asking “Corrigan, Where were you?”. Well i left in early December on a 2 week work tripped which was immediately followed by about 10 days vacation. Not a bad way to close out the year if i do say so. I spent the majority of my vacation time in NY where i was hoping to do some snowmobiling or skiing but thanks to Al Gore and his inconvenient truth that plan was foiled. Most of the trip was spent bouncing around the Northeast area visiting family and friends which, despite all the driving, was allot of fun. The longer h'm away from friends and family in the states the more i miss it and the nicer it is to get back and visit, even if it does mean my dad putting me to work installing installation. Installing installation..i know thats correct english but it still somehow doesn't sound correct..was i functioning as an installation installer? Well anyway at least i can take heart in the fact that every time the heat goes on in the addition i helped to make sure it stays there. I'm not gonna sit here and list the things i did over my break because its not fun to write that and I'm sure its not fun to read that. All I'll say here is that it was great seeing all my family and friends and I'm looking forward to the next visit, especially for my visitors in March and Jun.
Getting back to Europe was nice not only because Ski Season is finally here but I also moved into my new place right before leaving. It's a vast improvement from where i was...bigger, better location, bigger...did i mention its bigger? The only downside was that i had to move to an unfurnished apt. However being that this area is a haven for expats there are always people coming and going looking to offload furniture and for anything else there is of course the mecca for all things cheap, sorry inexpensive; Ikea. Between mooching off other people, Ikea and a few Americans who were leaving the country, i was able to get pretty much everything i needed and all at a very reasonable price. There was actually another downside to moving to Switzerland, my cleaning woman from Austria who cleaned my last place wouldn't come this far. But I figure if i just live really cleanly i can get away with not cleaning until i move out at the end of the year.
Oh, and did i mention there's a bar in this town that serves Guinness?
Time for me to check out, I'm beat after skiing yesterday. Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Oh, and ma, if you get a letter from the New Scotland Police Department..just go ahead and forward that to me. If you've already gotten it and opened it...well then rest assured the infraction wasn't committed with your car. Really.
-Happy B'day to my not so little brother Mike..you're almost out of there. See you in a few months.
-To the Card's, congrats on the new Baby...2 more and you'll have a “full house”. 49 more and you'll have a full deck! Wow..that was really bad.
-Goodbye James Brown, keep up the funk.
-Godspeed President Ford. You weren't in office long enough to get caught with an intern or start a war...so you've got that going for you.
-Merry Christmas
-Happy Channukah
-Merry Ramadan
-F U Saddam
-Happy New Year
-And happy B'day to my older brother Brian..i know its early but if i don't say it now I'll probably forget! And as discussed...you've already got your gift. See you as well in a few months.
That about wraps up the last few weeks i think. Did i miss anything? Or maybe your asking “Corrigan, Where were you?”. Well i left in early December on a 2 week work tripped which was immediately followed by about 10 days vacation. Not a bad way to close out the year if i do say so. I spent the majority of my vacation time in NY where i was hoping to do some snowmobiling or skiing but thanks to Al Gore and his inconvenient truth that plan was foiled. Most of the trip was spent bouncing around the Northeast area visiting family and friends which, despite all the driving, was allot of fun. The longer h'm away from friends and family in the states the more i miss it and the nicer it is to get back and visit, even if it does mean my dad putting me to work installing installation. Installing installation..i know thats correct english but it still somehow doesn't sound correct..was i functioning as an installation installer? Well anyway at least i can take heart in the fact that every time the heat goes on in the addition i helped to make sure it stays there. I'm not gonna sit here and list the things i did over my break because its not fun to write that and I'm sure its not fun to read that. All I'll say here is that it was great seeing all my family and friends and I'm looking forward to the next visit, especially for my visitors in March and Jun.
Getting back to Europe was nice not only because Ski Season is finally here but I also moved into my new place right before leaving. It's a vast improvement from where i was...bigger, better location, bigger...did i mention its bigger? The only downside was that i had to move to an unfurnished apt. However being that this area is a haven for expats there are always people coming and going looking to offload furniture and for anything else there is of course the mecca for all things cheap, sorry inexpensive; Ikea. Between mooching off other people, Ikea and a few Americans who were leaving the country, i was able to get pretty much everything i needed and all at a very reasonable price. There was actually another downside to moving to Switzerland, my cleaning woman from Austria who cleaned my last place wouldn't come this far. But I figure if i just live really cleanly i can get away with not cleaning until i move out at the end of the year.
Oh, and did i mention there's a bar in this town that serves Guinness?
Time for me to check out, I'm beat after skiing yesterday. Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Oh, and ma, if you get a letter from the New Scotland Police Department..just go ahead and forward that to me. If you've already gotten it and opened it...well then rest assured the infraction wasn't committed with your car. Really.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Year #2, Country #2
Well, the time has come. After a year in sleepy Liechtenstein its time for my to make the big move to Switzerland. You remember Switzerland right kids?...Cheese, chocolate, watches...i think thats about it actually. Calling it a “Big” move of course is a relative term since i'm only talking about a 10 km move. But still, it means packing up all my stuff (2 suitcases, 2 boxes, bike, skis, guitar) loading everything into my polo driving 10 Km and then reversing on the other end. Thats allot of work!
Over the years I've become exceedingly efficient at packing..it helps that i've lived in 9 different cities in the last 9 years. I used to have a Crown Vic and that was pretty good for moving with. The trunk could fit a huge trunk, 2 cases of Goebels and still have room for a few drunk friends. From the Vicky i upgraded to a 2 dr blazer which offered a bit more room and the possibility to tow and more easily carry things like bikes, ski's etc. My accumulated belongings continued to grow form there until for my last move i actually required a Uhaul. Truth be told it was mostly full of car parts..but nonetheless all important thing to move. Now however i can fit nearly all my belongings in a Polo..is that progression or digression?
Don't answer that.
Anyway everything must be out of my current place up by Sunday night. That works out well in one sense since starting next Saturday I'm travelling for 4 weeks..but on the other hand the ski mtn's open up this weekend. What a dilema.
For anyone that's visited me you can probably imagine how claustrophobic I'm getting in my current apartment. It was nice to be able to come here and not worry about finding an apartment, buying furniture etc, but I've basically been living in a bedroom for a year. It's time for a change. My new place is about double the size of my current apartment and its right in the middle of town. Should be a great location and allot of fun since a number of friends are living right in the area. The town's even got a bar that serves proper beer...Guiness! I'll snap a few pics once i get moved in.
Let's just hope they like loud guitar's!
Monday, November 20, 2006
And then this..
Never underestimate the power of personal responsibility...and fear. I read this today and after writing that blurb yesterday about speeding in Europe, i just coulnt get over the irony of the timing.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,448747,00.html
...accidents are actually down. Milton Friedman (RIP) would've believed it, as do i. Lets try it in NY City!
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,448747,00.html
...accidents are actually down. Milton Friedman (RIP) would've believed it, as do i. Lets try it in NY City!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Geschwindigkeit ist Spaß
Its never easy to forgive someone. Take the Germans for example...World War I, World War II, The whole holocaust thing..they've done allot of pretty questionable things over the years. But i am ready to forget all of that now...ready to offer a fresh start and forgiveness all because of one simple thing...the autobahn. I love it. Any country that offers the chance for unlimited speed with no recourse from the law, well, they're alright in my book.
My first experience on the autobahn was in the Koln area. I had a Mercedes E class rental car for a few days which made a good first car for a first time autobahner. Not too much power that one could get into trouble with. That car would do about 220 (kph) or so but that was it...now you might be saying who in their right mind would want to go faster than 220? Well, aside from that being a dumb question, the fact that i was getting passed on a regular basis shows that i'm not the only one.
Last week i had a meeting in Stuttgart which presented me with a second opportunity to drive on the autobahn. This time though i had a BMW 7 series from work. 2 more cylinders can do wonders to a vehicles topend and this car was still pulling when the needle passed 240. I guess i hit around 250 or so but the numbers ran out on the speedometer. That...was....Awesome.
The Nurgurgring is one of the most famous racetracks in the world and during the summer its occasionally open to the public. For anyone willing to pay 25 euros per lap you can try your hand at its 13 miles and 100+ turns. “The Ring”, as its commonly known, is calling my name. Before I leave next year I want to rent a Porsche or some other fast car and blast up the autobahn to the ring and then make some laps.
My goal is 320Kph...that's about 200 Mph. And its totally legal. Gotta love the Germans.
My first experience on the autobahn was in the Koln area. I had a Mercedes E class rental car for a few days which made a good first car for a first time autobahner. Not too much power that one could get into trouble with. That car would do about 220 (kph) or so but that was it...now you might be saying who in their right mind would want to go faster than 220? Well, aside from that being a dumb question, the fact that i was getting passed on a regular basis shows that i'm not the only one.
Last week i had a meeting in Stuttgart which presented me with a second opportunity to drive on the autobahn. This time though i had a BMW 7 series from work. 2 more cylinders can do wonders to a vehicles topend and this car was still pulling when the needle passed 240. I guess i hit around 250 or so but the numbers ran out on the speedometer. That...was....Awesome.
The Nurgurgring is one of the most famous racetracks in the world and during the summer its occasionally open to the public. For anyone willing to pay 25 euros per lap you can try your hand at its 13 miles and 100+ turns. “The Ring”, as its commonly known, is calling my name. Before I leave next year I want to rent a Porsche or some other fast car and blast up the autobahn to the ring and then make some laps.
My goal is 320Kph...that's about 200 Mph. And its totally legal. Gotta love the Germans.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Read this....
...its good. Rarely do we see a challenge to the "generally accepted" assumption that not only is global warming happen but its caused by human activity. Perhaps its not so cut and dry though...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Old Man Winter
It’s barely November but i can safely say that winter is (finally?) here. Fall came and went like a fart in the wind; in fact most of the trees here are still clinging to their leaves. But despite fall’s lingering presence old man winter won’t be stopped, he arrived like a freight train last week, snow bitter cold and all. Over the course of 2 days we went from warm days and cool nights to cool days and frosty mornings. It came fast and I say, bring it on!
Was that too many similes for 1 paragraph? You know what they say about similes right…they’re a dime dozen. An analogy about a simile…Ok that’s enough.
We had a vacation day last Wednsday that also just happened to be the last day to buy discount season pass’s for the Montafon in Austria…coincidence? I like to think not. Sure the Church may have had a hand in originally creating the holiday but I’d much rather use my day off to buy a season pass then get right with the lord. That’s what Sunday are for, so I hear anyway. Around 9 I fired up my Polo (not audi…story for another time. F*cking europcar) and ventured to Austria to pick a season passes for a couple of friends and myself. We debated about where to get a pass this year…Austria or Switzerland. I was leaning more towards Switzerland since I already skied most of the Montafon last year. But I was outvoted and besides things are significantly cheaper in Austria. My wallet will thank me later. So its Nov. 5, I’ve got my season card, my ski’s are waxed up, everything’s finally dried out from last year…bring on the snow!
Here are some pics of the trail to Hocher Kasten. I hiked it with a few friends in early October, but I think the scenery is much better with some snow.
Oh, one more thing....who the hell is Borat? Apparently I've been out of the pop culture scene way too long. He's on European MTV every 30 seconds!
Was that too many similes for 1 paragraph? You know what they say about similes right…they’re a dime dozen. An analogy about a simile…Ok that’s enough.
We had a vacation day last Wednsday that also just happened to be the last day to buy discount season pass’s for the Montafon in Austria…coincidence? I like to think not. Sure the Church may have had a hand in originally creating the holiday but I’d much rather use my day off to buy a season pass then get right with the lord. That’s what Sunday are for, so I hear anyway. Around 9 I fired up my Polo (not audi…story for another time. F*cking europcar) and ventured to Austria to pick a season passes for a couple of friends and myself. We debated about where to get a pass this year…Austria or Switzerland. I was leaning more towards Switzerland since I already skied most of the Montafon last year. But I was outvoted and besides things are significantly cheaper in Austria. My wallet will thank me later. So its Nov. 5, I’ve got my season card, my ski’s are waxed up, everything’s finally dried out from last year…bring on the snow!
Here are some pics of the trail to Hocher Kasten. I hiked it with a few friends in early October, but I think the scenery is much better with some snow.
Oh, one more thing....who the hell is Borat? Apparently I've been out of the pop culture scene way too long. He's on European MTV every 30 seconds!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Rounding Second..again
The same post but this time translated for my inner city peeps, courtesy of the ebonics translator....
I’ve come ta da conclusion dat da Swiss peeps gots uh bettah appreciation o' tyme than da rest o' da world. No doubt da sheer number o' clocks dey iz surrounded by on uh daily basis plays uh part in dis here, but it mus' be mo'. The world here seems ta move at its own pace. Not necessarily slower cuz procrastination an' running late don’t seem ta be traits o' da peeps here, just steadier. If you’re rollin' in da country an' dere iz traffic fo' nahh logical reason (like uh cow in da road, or uh tractor broken down..which I see on uh nearly daily basis), da smart money would be on da fact dat uh Swiss driver iz at da head o' da line. It’s almost as o' da peeps here expect brothas else ta run by they schedules, dey do make all da watches afta all.
I’ve found it ta be uh rather nice change. I wasn’t typically late fo' things 'bfoe, but I wuz known ta miss uh flight or two, an' muh ma fuckin rollin' has definitely slowed down uh bit. Perhaps da 55hp `64 an' speeding tickets play uh part in dat though. Of course predictability can be pimp-tight an' bad but thus far da clockwork Swiss lifestyle has been fine ass decent. I don’t wear uh watch, which over here iz comparable ta walking around naked. But really what’s da point, between computers, cell phones, iPods it’s uh redundant piece o' equipment. However despite da predictable, clockwork like lifestyle tyme still seems ta be speeding up. Possibly even exponentially but I wont bore anyone wiff dat nerdy theory.
Next Wednesday marks 1 year living overseas. I can’t believe it, muh ma fuckin colleagues an' niggas can’t believe it, muh ma fuckin wallet doesn’t believe it…but despite logic seeming ta say otherwise, da calendar doesn’t lie. Hell, it wuz only last month dat I graduated from high skoo, last week I finished college an' only yesterday dat I moved over here wasn’t it? It’s incredible fo' me ta th'o't dat it wuz actually nearly 10 years ago dat I finished high skoo, nearly 6 years ago dat I finished college an' as o' next Wed, 1 year since I moved over here. Where da hell do da tyme jet!
I started here uh year ago wiff uh laundry list o' expectations, things ta do, places ta see, niggas ta make, ho's ta date, cars ta gank etc. As ya can prob'ly imagine reality wuz much different, not pimp-tight or bad, just different. Over da past year I’ve done an' seen quite allot an' despite da ups an' downs da overall experience has definitely been well worth it. I wuz so miserable at muh ma fuckin job 'bfoe leaving dat I truly can’t imagine what I’d be doin' now if I hadn’t jumped ship from Detroit. My position here iz has been great so far, I actually feel like I contribute somethin' ta da organization, afta all filling da ketchup dispensers iz an important job! I’ve even got uh few other companies here dat gots asked me ta consider changing jobs.
I almost hate ta admit it but dere wuz some days while working back in Detroit dat I would jet at noon..just take muh ma fuckin cellphone an' jet home, jet ta da bar, jet hang out at da pool (thanks kovax’s’s’s), lunch on 8 mile, jet cruize muh ma fuckin cars…anything but werk. What made it worse wuz dat it didn’t really matter. As fun as dat wuz sometimes I really felt like I wuz largely wasting muh ma fuckin tyme dere, even fo' those 4 hrs I actually wuz working. Think o' “Time” by Pink Floyd an' dat wuz fine ass much muh ma fuckin life. Thinking back now, da bomb job I ever had wuz pumping gas at uh marina during summers back in high skoo. Sadly at 27 I don’t th'o't I could git away wiff dat any mo'. If I could though, I’d be back dere in uh heartbeat. Sun, water, bikini’s, da smell o' 4 bone gas, colt 45 fo' tip’s…if only I could incorporate some o' dat into muh ma fuckin job taday. Imagine da possibilities…..
So I’ve rambled on fo' long enough an' in uh few hours I gots ta catch uh flight ta Germany. Am I half done or only half started here? In da end who cares. With da 50% mark fast approaching I can honestly say dat dis here past year has been one o' da funnest, most interesting years o' muh ma fuckin life…next ta ’96 o' course but that’s uh story fo' another tyme. what 'chew thinking man?
I’ve come ta da conclusion dat da Swiss peeps gots uh bettah appreciation o' tyme than da rest o' da world. No doubt da sheer number o' clocks dey iz surrounded by on uh daily basis plays uh part in dis here, but it mus' be mo'. The world here seems ta move at its own pace. Not necessarily slower cuz procrastination an' running late don’t seem ta be traits o' da peeps here, just steadier. If you’re rollin' in da country an' dere iz traffic fo' nahh logical reason (like uh cow in da road, or uh tractor broken down..which I see on uh nearly daily basis), da smart money would be on da fact dat uh Swiss driver iz at da head o' da line. It’s almost as o' da peeps here expect brothas else ta run by they schedules, dey do make all da watches afta all.
I’ve found it ta be uh rather nice change. I wasn’t typically late fo' things 'bfoe, but I wuz known ta miss uh flight or two, an' muh ma fuckin rollin' has definitely slowed down uh bit. Perhaps da 55hp `64 an' speeding tickets play uh part in dat though. Of course predictability can be pimp-tight an' bad but thus far da clockwork Swiss lifestyle has been fine ass decent. I don’t wear uh watch, which over here iz comparable ta walking around naked. But really what’s da point, between computers, cell phones, iPods it’s uh redundant piece o' equipment. However despite da predictable, clockwork like lifestyle tyme still seems ta be speeding up. Possibly even exponentially but I wont bore anyone wiff dat nerdy theory.
Next Wednesday marks 1 year living overseas. I can’t believe it, muh ma fuckin colleagues an' niggas can’t believe it, muh ma fuckin wallet doesn’t believe it…but despite logic seeming ta say otherwise, da calendar doesn’t lie. Hell, it wuz only last month dat I graduated from high skoo, last week I finished college an' only yesterday dat I moved over here wasn’t it? It’s incredible fo' me ta th'o't dat it wuz actually nearly 10 years ago dat I finished high skoo, nearly 6 years ago dat I finished college an' as o' next Wed, 1 year since I moved over here. Where da hell do da tyme jet!
I started here uh year ago wiff uh laundry list o' expectations, things ta do, places ta see, niggas ta make, ho's ta date, cars ta gank etc. As ya can prob'ly imagine reality wuz much different, not pimp-tight or bad, just different. Over da past year I’ve done an' seen quite allot an' despite da ups an' downs da overall experience has definitely been well worth it. I wuz so miserable at muh ma fuckin job 'bfoe leaving dat I truly can’t imagine what I’d be doin' now if I hadn’t jumped ship from Detroit. My position here iz has been great so far, I actually feel like I contribute somethin' ta da organization, afta all filling da ketchup dispensers iz an important job! I’ve even got uh few other companies here dat gots asked me ta consider changing jobs.
I almost hate ta admit it but dere wuz some days while working back in Detroit dat I would jet at noon..just take muh ma fuckin cellphone an' jet home, jet ta da bar, jet hang out at da pool (thanks kovax’s’s’s), lunch on 8 mile, jet cruize muh ma fuckin cars…anything but werk. What made it worse wuz dat it didn’t really matter. As fun as dat wuz sometimes I really felt like I wuz largely wasting muh ma fuckin tyme dere, even fo' those 4 hrs I actually wuz working. Think o' “Time” by Pink Floyd an' dat wuz fine ass much muh ma fuckin life. Thinking back now, da bomb job I ever had wuz pumping gas at uh marina during summers back in high skoo. Sadly at 27 I don’t th'o't I could git away wiff dat any mo'. If I could though, I’d be back dere in uh heartbeat. Sun, water, bikini’s, da smell o' 4 bone gas, colt 45 fo' tip’s…if only I could incorporate some o' dat into muh ma fuckin job taday. Imagine da possibilities…..
So I’ve rambled on fo' long enough an' in uh few hours I gots ta catch uh flight ta Germany. Am I half done or only half started here? In da end who cares. With da 50% mark fast approaching I can honestly say dat dis here past year has been one o' da funnest, most interesting years o' muh ma fuckin life…next ta ’96 o' course but that’s uh story fo' another tyme. what 'chew thinking man?
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