beginning to feel like home.

...also known as, I moved my bed in tonight. Not too bad. Colo, Dettman, and myself went to lunch today and within about 2 minutes became 6yr old boys... because a big tractor trailer looked cool. We called it optimus prime and took pics.
Julie got a clutch for her car today. But apparently andrew and I are highly qualified technicians of all sorts. She asked if we knew what we were doing, I said, sure, It'll go something like this:

*pull car into warehouse. raise front end. look underneath for a little while*
Stand around. look at the car. drink some beer. discuss car things totally unrelated. drink some more. munch on cinnamon flavored pita chips. drink some more beer. take a leak. Tear car apart. find problems. stand back, look at car. drink some beer. get some food. stand around. reassemble car with problems fixed. stand around. test drive. call it a day.

Now this didnt seem to really convince her, so we instead rattled off some technical sounding terms.

Phone call from julie saying the clutch was in stock in irondequoit but the place closed at 9pm and would I be able to get it. I'm in pittsford and its 8:42pm. Sure.
Make it to Hudson and Ridge at 8:56pm and pick it up. Stop by julies after getting gas. Limped her poor car to Rutgers. our short jaunt on the expressway took nearly 40 seconds to hit 60mph. Poor clutch.
Parked that, took her back to Leland and then headed back to the city. Stopped by Max and had a drink with Kotok and Mary and Alex. Alex got a new FJ and its pretty sweet, he loves it. We talked cars and food and then I took off, as dave felt the need to instigate trouble in the kitchen. I went home and managed to stuff the whole damn futon into ryans car and get it out of my old place and into the new, with no damage to anything along the way.
But I forgot to deliver Andrew's mom's bike to her before it got late. Tomorrow it is.
Then I'll get to see this catwalk He's building all out of stainless steel. Damn him! I want to make neat stuff like that. time for some 'fixtures' in the apartment. Now, for no real reason, I'm going to sleep at Rutgers.
Getting kind of pumped for the week. end of summer style.

Honestly, after driving it longer, I wonder if its just low on hydraulic fluid. How boring would that be, just "topping it off" instead of 12hrs of never-done-this-before-should-that-be-there?-I-don't-know-don't-touch-it and hoping for the best...

I need to start adding pics to this.

Moving (literally, and figuratively)

I have a job interview on friday. I was approached by someone who I know through the shop. Turns out one of my most interesting customers happens to be looking for an associate. And, could I possibly throw together a casual resume for him? Sure, why not. Oh, its exactly what you're looking for? Interesting. oh, you forwarded it to The Big Man and he likes it too? Nice. Whats that? he forwarded it to a business partner in london? WTF am I getting myself into? Can I come in on friday for an interview? It'll take all day? um, sure.
Long story short, in a simple term, its a foreign car tuning/performance part importer/product developing company that is getting big. And since I have seen the cars (audi's, porsche's, bmws...) it sure seems interesting. The commentary I got was that it was career oriented - either there or as an industry stepping stone. Hmm.
Which leads to his next question:
"Are you full time at the shop? How would things go if something were to develop?"
-To which, I replied as diplomatically possible, that I had put in 6 years at the shop and I was indeed full time, but that if a situation presented itself that was mutually beneficial, I would be willing to make that change, and have it be handled on my end with no problems.
.... ah the bike shop. things I might be/have been looking at for the fall - full hours with overtime, a trip to vegas for interbike, maybe a trip to morgan hill for SBCU, maybe a trip to utah to ride.. Maybe. or maybe, maybe I'm a little tired of the ways things are run there. maybe I didnt like having someone get promoted over my head after doing that job for a month plus. Maybe I am tired of things being out of stock 24/7, and having my reputable customers thinking I'm a joke, because they think I run the place and can't keep the basics... if only they knew how much we bitch about the same things and those things never change. and, that, when I attempt to change them on my own, I get flak for it.

have fun running the shop kids. If this opportunity presents itself, I will take it. If only you let me make the store make more money by letting me do things my way... ah well, someone else will recognize that potential.

But hey. a real job would allow me time to work more on the size cycle - a project wisely kept seperate from the shop. I think that has HUGE potential. But its so hard to be motivated to work on it after a stressful day at the shop.

We'll see. if it doesnt pan out, I am taking the shop to the next level, regardless of whether or not the powers that be are interested. Because, yeah, its about that time.

Changes. Cause and (a/e)ffect.

An interesting saturday.

tried to sleep in... made it as far as 11am. Borrowed the 'burban from the parents and moved a bunch of stuff to the Argyle. Had a late lunch with Julie because she was there. Then went and parked cars. henry bailed so I called in kotok. now the fun begins - cars. gotta love em. Julie stopped by to say hi to us and to read at Java's. She thought we were ridiculous because every time we got a sweet car we basically rushed to get it. "If it ain't girls, its gotta have wheels"... words from boys who... don't get out much/or really like cars. I'll suggest the latter, based on the following events: First up, a blue WRX... But of course, its Omar and Sean. I worked with Sean at Park Ave a couple years back. I was probably 19, and he was 21 or 22 and lived in the park ave area. At the time, I was hanging out with a 1. Christy Fisher (who thought sean was hot - interesting note, I'll be attending her wedding in hawaii... a state allowing same sex marriages. times change eh?) anywho, we went to some parties he had. Ironically 3 years later I looked at an apartment.. it was the one he was living in at the time! Anywho, at a neighborhood party my parents held, I ran into him. he just moved into the area, and was friends with Omar - the guy who just purchased the house next door - who is the boyfriend of janets sister. janet is perlo's like best female friend. interesting.
-back on track. the wrx just gets parked out front, I mean, because we know em. But the other guests in the party are in a sick Jaguar S-Type-R. Aka, 0-60 in 5 flat. So we zip around in it for a hot minute. car just sounds great.
later on in the evening, the jag's driver's friend needs a cab to prepps, where, coincidentall, janet and sean and omar also work (sometimes). but he doesnt want to wait. so he gets the jag's driver to allow us to blast him to prepps and back in said jag. david and I rock-paper-scissors for it and for the first time in the history of anything ever, I lost (ask colo). So dave goes. and I am bummed. until he calls me and says he is there, like 130 down east, except that the guys wife is not there yet. beer and a shot with the chauffered. too bad when his wife shows up there is like a marital fight. kotok informs me that he may be a minute. At this point, the jag's driver comes out and is like, "we're all set, where is the car?" ... To which, I reply, um, well, you see..... and then the drivers wife/gf comes out and is like "that poor valet! jimmy and so and so are in a fight and they wont let him leave yet! might be a minute"
everyone laughs, but really. what the fuck is with people and relationships and arguing? Sheesh.
Tung calls. party at the argyle, I should be there. Alana's b-day party is going on and I must attend on account that I am her other brother. har. anywho, work gets done, andrew says alana's has wrapped up, so I go back to my current apartment and change. Ryan and I drive to Argyle. anyways. they are ready for the next bar and I have to drive ryan to the airport at 5am. so I head out. nap time for a bit, breakfast at 4:30am, airport by 5... its PACKED on a sunday morning. crazy. back home, nap, work, home, etc.
Went and saw Superbad with andrew, amy, alana, and the russian. funny movie. Stopped by pauls after - he got a puppy! its name is bruiser and of course its a daschund. tiny liquid puppy. he fell asleep while I was holding him. I am going to have to visit him (paul) while he is down there in philly.
sheesh.

wednesday night.

nothing special. work was dull. we were out of the things we should always have in stock. again. as per usual. Dman was pissed at that, and I was as well. We got pizza for lunch, and I finally got my key to the argyle. excellent, since I would love to move some stuff around. I really think I will be more productive there. my goal is to have my room more like a lounge than a bedroom - as I am not too concerned with any "callers" persay, I think I would rather focus on some work related goods. the DFC needs some work, I have many ideas and little desire to apply them. I blame working 10+ days straight. I blame my callousness of it on the money i make by hitting overtime.
post-work tonight i drove through mendon ponds park to blow off some steam. counted 23 people riding bikes. chances are my workplace was responsible for 15 or so of them. not bad. I went for a ride with my sibling and some of her friends as well. it was fun, but got kinda lame once we started doing round the block laps of brighton neighborhoods. no one likes that. so we went to lux. sam, pete, kyle, annie, jon, john, myself, and luke showed. I said one drink, it turned to four, but the conversation was fun. sam is exercising her newly-found single-freedom, which is fun to watch, kyle is plethora of great stories, and annie is my favorite femme lately. she is just a great mood-uplifter. I chatted with alexandra's dad today at the shop. he is one chill guy. too bad I have not seen his daughter in months and I do so miss her company. but after that stupid party... sheesh. maybe I put myself in these situations.

maybe I can get myself out?

pics, stories, etc....later.

the idea behind this.

I'm tired of social networking sites but I am also aware of how effective they can be. Here you may find the full stories, pics, thoughts, perspectives, and a lack of capital letters.

I will back-update it as well with prior stories. haha, someday this will be a reference page.