Mikelly

The place we're looking at is upstream of the Dam, On the "cold" side of the lake. Mike

Savage, I don't know where you're fishing, 'cause everywhere I've fished on the cold and warm sides of the lake have brought good results, but then again I don't bank fish, as I never have good luck fishing from the bank... Pete, as of right now I'm on slate for this new assignment out just west of me (25 minutes) for minimum of two years, and the expectation is five years. That said, My partner is working at HQ and he fields a lot of meetings up that way. Would I have to occassionally go north? Sure. But once in a while it wouldn't be a bad drive. I can live with that, and honestly, as fast as our company is growing, we're looking at five years before we would hire an executive VP to run our " day to day" stuff. We're going to chat with the realitor today about our options for other homes. I really would like to be on the water, and the price on this place is right. Jody, The bulk of that acreage is wooded with only about 1/2 acre of grass. The drive in from the lake to where I'm now working would be 35 minutes and easy. It would actually be an enjoyable drive on scenic country back roads that I normally bicycle on. Finding land close in to Fredericksburg that isn't coming in at very big numbers will be a huge issue, and throw in the "water" community "wants" and the prices can get into the seven figure mark. I won't be house poor, so that isn't an option. We really do want to get out of a subdivision. It's not "fitting" in with our lives anymore. Mike

Well, I have a few comments for you to think about... The GTO is a very nice car, but it is no Corvette, even with the running gear, and neither is the Cadillac. Unfortunately, the Caddy has a bad history of killing differentials. The GTO is as nice as any 3700 pound car with a T56 and LS2 motor can be. Making it go faster is as easy as upgrades to any car, and although the SRT is nice enough, it is no match in comparison to the GTO. The GTO has a huge support mechanism in the aftermarket, so parts are cheap and the power gains are very real. Spend the same money on parts for the GTO that you did on your SRT and you'll be better rewarded. However, it is a big car and you won't get past that weight. All you can do is make all that weight handle better to compensate for it. I'd also consider the new Mustang, since it is in the same class... As to the new Pontiac Convertible, every test drive I've read suggested it fell well short of the mark set by the Miata. Although it "looks" cool, it simply is of most of the GM product line. Unfortunately, many of these bright ideas (remember the Fiero?) don't work out so well... I 100% believe that the Solstice is another Fiero and won't last past 4 production years. You want a decent rear drive? And you want it to be a sports car/ two seater? Dude, wait 'till you get out here and I'll help you find a clean 2004 Vette. If you want a Vette, BUY a Vette. There is no replacement... You also have a family car in the "Honda" you bought your wife, so you can justify the two seater, and you'll be close enough to me that I can help you with the care and feeding of the car... For $30K you can even get a CLEAN 2002-2004 Z06 or two... Mike

So tomorrow a realitor is coming over to look at our house and show us several others. I'm a little more torn over moving than I thought I'd be... This garage, although small, is mine. I built it with the help of the family and some good friends like Doug Carrow (Synlubes here). The house isn't great, but it could be a lot worse. I like the layout, the way we did our family room which was once the headquarters for ZFRacing's fabrications ( ) and welding, and where I built my first HybridZ. We've found a home out on Lake Anna, 2.75 acres, nice one level custom home of about 2100 Square feet, lots of trees, few neighbors, and our own boat slip with private dock. It's going for $349K and that's probably $50K less than we'd get for our place with the work we'd put into ours. It's 20 minutes further south, but still in the same county, and the small subdivision it is located in is almost resort-like. But I don't know... I keep thinking about this place... My place. Oh well... If I do move, I'll be building a larger shop, whish will be great. And now I can afford to have it built for me instead of building it myself. I'm thinking something in the line of 35X50 or 40X60. But it will be MUCH farther out into the country. No parts places right around the corner, and the real grocery stores are half hour away... That'll take some adjustment. So what do you guys think? My commute is shorter than it ever has been, and this move would only mean I'd have about 10 minutes increase and an all back road (ie CURVEY!!) commute. Mike

You're gonna take a beating trading yours in and they are losing so much on the GTOs that they won't give much wiggle room on the trade, and you might end upside down in the deal... That said, I think other than the weight penalty of the car, it is a true sleeper and a great value. The difference in that car and your SRT Neon is amazing... Not even in the same atmosphere! Mike

I can't believe this car was for sale on here for $3000 and NOBODY BOUGHT IT! You guys see the ebay pics? Damn car is K-LEAN! Mike

I just received set of the Bad Dog rails to evaluate this past week and I can tell you guys that there was an amazing amount of thought put into the construction of these parts. They effectively are stamped out of 1/8th inch steel sheet and are made such that you can manipulate them as needed without losing the integrity of the rail design. I'm going to be taking some detailed pics of these, but on first look, these parts are VERY impressive. I'd love to install them on a car so I can get a better idea of the actual install process vs. doing a rail design like Pete Paraskas. Mike

Stay away from it... The 97-98s are the worst.. The 97 out of the Vette and the 98 out of both the vette and the Fbody are known to be less than optimal motors. For $2000 you could have a nice stroker 402 Shortblock. Mike

Sitting at home without the money to enjoy living SUX. I have no doubt that it would suck much less if I had a budget close to the combined gross income of my household. That would make "living" a bit less stressed and a lot more fun. The key is to find things you enjoy and do them for as long as you can stand it. I've got the best of both worlds right now, because "technically" I'm working for another company while in this new position, and the commute is KILLER (30 minutes of country roads door to door) and my own little company is flourishing! I'll keep this gig for up to 3 years and then punch out. It'll buy us time to grow the company to a large enough size (*about 30 people) that we can afford to step back and just manage the work between my partner and myself. Meanwhile, I'm stashing cash into sensible investments, nothing crazy risky, and following good sound advice... As to that crash between 2000-2002... Everyone I spoke with back then advised to slow down on the risk. The three advisers I worked with on the plans I have ALL stated that it was at its peak and would only go down... Like everyone else, I was greedy and kept on going, although I did modify a little... Fortunately I only lost about $40K and have since made it back up. However, The signs were there. I will be more cautious and LISTEN to my invester from now on. Mike

Phantom has the correct plan! Mike

Yup, Mine (Stepkids) are out of the house, one on his own in a new career and doing well, the other is living with his dad, failing his senior year in high school and just being a slacker... No college for him at this point. On the plus side, we're not dealing with his dramas since he's "An adult" and "can handle it" and wants us to "butt out"... On the negative side, I expect he'll be repeating the 12th grade or will just drop out and get a GED. That said, He's gonna have to prove to me he's damned serious about any formal education beyond highschool before I dip into our researves to assist with formal education. No, right now we're shopping for either land, or a new home out in the coutry side... We don't want a large seven figure home. We just want to not see our neighbores. We're looking at sub $500K homes, and I'll be budgeting enough for my garage after that, assuming the new place doesn't come with one. We'll have about $100K in equity once all fees are paid and we're settled up with everyone, so we're only looking at financing somewhere in the $350-400K range. Mike

Well, The beauty is you can always start saving now... The later you start, the less years you have to be worried about! Mike

Put 'em Up! Mike

Norm, I'm 39, Going on 40 this July! I took the last 4.5 months off to stand up our corporation. Since this little company is being operated out of our two homes (My partner's and mine) and our employees work in government office space, I stayed home quite a bit of that time. Yea, I really need quite a bit of change to retire and play full time. I expect that including what I currently have in investments, I'd expect to need another minimum of 3.5 million to retire on. That sounds like big money until you think about living until you're 80. AND the last 10-15 years are potentially the most expensive from a medical expenses standpoint. Our business projections are very good at this point. We've got over 50 slots to fill with personnel. Our first hurdle was getting the work. Now we have it. Our next will be getting the people. We're working on that. Mike

I'll See ya in Fredericksburg... Kids... Welcome to Vagina.... Mike

So a couple of things came across my mind today as I started back to "work" in the "place" I do work... Retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be when you don't have the money to enjoy it... Also, Honey Do lists suck. I have been off for almost five months. I really thought it would be easy. Instead, I was gripped with fear of costing my household money. I didn't work out, didn't bike much, and didn't do much in the garage. I did little out of fear of costing myself money or injury... Crazy how the mind works. I Realized that it will take me about $5,000,000 to retire comfortably. That gives me a little over $120K per year to live on for the next 40 years. So, I really enjoy being back at WORK. Company is going well, work is going to be a LOT of fun and now this new assignement puts me within 40 minutes of home and ZERO traffic, so I'll be able to make the new company eeck along as well. But man, the work, the stability, the added six figures coming in again... I missed it all. If you have an employer provided retirement plan, I seriously recommend contributing the max to it. If you can, do a Roth IRA account as well, and do as much "safe" investment as you can. Retirement comes quick. I recommend you start. The sooner you start, the sooner you can become as bored as hell as I was with it! I AM SO HAPPY TO BE WORKING again! Mike

Yours' too? Must be in the water! Mike

Is this Gramer/Enrish 101? Uh, YES and NO... It is paramount that we all communicate in the most effective means possible when getting questions answered, or relaying practicle information to others. This information STAYS on this site for years. It will come up again. It will be used again by others who will find it of great value later on. I'm not a great speller, and Some times I make GW Bush look like an English Major. That said, I think we can spot those who are just being lazy little children (Most being less than 20 years of age) and those who are not being lazy little children. This is and has grown to be an international site for technical info. We will get people who are smart, but use broken english to make posts. We should help them as best we can. They aren't being lazy or silly... They are learning and we should help them, so long as they take no offense when we make the statement that their broken "enrish" is making our ability to help more difficult. The rest, Yea I'll throw their arses out on their ears for being silly little children, and I'll take great pleasure in doing so. We had a LONG discussion a while back about gang/slang/wrap/ regional jibberash. It was decided and put into our rules to enforce. I DARE you to try and type that jibberash on a daily basis. We won't tolerate that nonsense. I agree, we should gage it, be reasonable, and HELP first. We should also get rid of those who get offended when we comment that their grammar makes it near impossible to gain info for helping... Get rude and you get the door. Simple as that. Mike

Don't push it. Make a week of it, and take about five to six days to do it. Go ahead and plan stops at interesting places along the way. I'd not push her any longer than 8-10 hours max including stops. You'll spend a few more bucks, but it'll be worth it to not put the added stress on your relationship. Mike

Very good advice Norm. We used these with our friends when we drove down to Lake Lure, NC last year. Cheap and economical way to chat while on the road... Mike

I might be at the track as soon as March 25-26 with Mazdadrivers... Just in the land barge AKA Corvette! Mike

Thanks for the well wishes guys. I'll pass them along... We often think of ourselves as risk takers and men of action... But when I think of my father and the risks he has taken for the sake of my mother, myself and my family over the years, it brings a tear to the eye... My father was born in 1937. He was raised in a large family. So large that one year he was forgotten on Christmas. he is the 2nd oldest of five boys and two girls, and was forced to quit school in the 10th grade and enter the coal mines of West Virginia (south eastern part of the state) to help support the family when my grandfather lost his right hand in a coal car accident. When My father was 20, he met my mother, then 16, and they got married. Two years later, realizing the economic strain of the region, lacking much future for his family, he took the biggest risk imaginable and left the area for work in Falls Church Virginia. He worked jobs as a mechanic, a carpenters helper, and anything else manual that would earn him enough money to bring my mom, sister and brother up to be with him. He worked two to three jobs, seven days per week for the first five years. The risk of having five dollars to last you a month, no place to lay your head, and uncertainty about work the coming day... That's true risk. That's make or break risk in the highest order. I look back on where I was at age 22, and what he had accomplished, and how selfless my father was throughout the years, decade after decade and realize just what a man he is, when compared to so many tough guy images today. I never saw my father get angry more than a brief few moments and each time was over-justified. I never saw him threaten a man or boast about some accomplishment he could do... He just did it and then didn't think about it afterwards. His attitude was always in proof being in action and results. No big talk. No attention drawn and more importantly, none required. At one point in my life, certainly as a young, imature kid, I had hoped never to be like my father. Boy, how times change. I could only hope that at some point later in life that my own chidren will think as fondly of me. Thanks guys! Mike

Think of it as a BIG ADVENTURE. And I'd not sweat driving both cars across country. Here's why: The Wife - She needs to break out of that shell and get used to "taking risk" and driving across country does two things in that direction... Gives her a challenge (With your encouragement that she can do it) and it will give her a sense of accomplishment When she gets there. It'll also get her intimately familiar with the car, which is ONLY a good thing. Your warranty - The car would ONLY have around 10K miles on it? First year averages are around 15K miles... Quit whining! You still have NOT told me where you'll be living... You know, it'll be easier to offer assistance, knowing where we're gonna offer it at! Mike

Also got the rear differential (Q45) into the car yesterday afternoon, along with the new uprights with adjustable sway bar. For now, I'm going to use the parts I had accumilated for the Q45 swap and build the rear subframe and control arms as I need it... I've got other work to do to get this car "done"... Mike