I really don't have much else to say. Time to depart. If you've got the email, you can use that to contact me.

SUV Shopping

I am out on the hunt for a new car. And when I say new car, I mean a new car that just rolled off the train from Canada or Alabama or where ever they make cars now.

My car has not survived the brutal North Dakota winters. Every time I walk out to start it in the morning I place a bet in Las Vegas to what will fall off or not work properly.

There is a 3 to 1 odd going for the car not starting at least one time this month. But do you blame the car. Our low temperatures have been in the -30F range for the last month and a half and our
highs have not been out of the negative numbers in months.

My car is not old by any college standard. It is a 2001 but it was definitely not built for the northern states. Leather without heated seats does not greet one so kindly in the morning. One little paint ding from the hail storm last summer has caused a ripple effect throughout the car, causing paint to chip and peel. The radiator is leaking somewhere, where, I do not know. And it is way too cold to be out there searching for the leak. My hood is being held down
by the emergency latch after popping my hood one day to jump start Ryan's car, my cable that pops the hood snapped as temperatures were a balmy -45F that day.

So it is time for a new one.

The new job has provided me with a greater income than first thought. Along side becoming a North Dakota resident (shivers in disgust) my insurance and tuition have dropped faster than the President's approval rating, all combine to allow me to afford such a purchase. Though I will not be purchasing a new auto until late summer, I am still out there looking. And I think I have narrowed it down to three choices.

I want an SUV. Yeah, go ahead hiss and tell me how much it hurts the environment. When you live in a city that does not plow the streets after a snowfall or leaves snow on the streets until it melts, then you can complain. When you can not head out to the hills and have a bit of summer fun because your car wont go off road, then you can complain.

I am getting an SUV but not one of those monsters. A smaller one.

The Chevy Equinox (top) is a good choice. The Pontiac Torrent (middle) is basically the same as the Equinox only slightly more edgy. And the Mercury Mariner (bottom) is another one of my personal favorites. I am starting to lean towards the Mercury but at this point, all three are good options. The Mercury has the better financing options and also throws in premium sound and a moon roof for free. Gotta love that.

Anyone have any personal opinions or other types of SUV's in the same price range and size range that I have not thought about, let me know.

Come on North Dakota. I'm really trying not to hate you too much but with you breaking record lows at -31F (-35C) and with wind chills at -50F (-46C), you are making too easy to hate you.

Blah!

At least there's 4 inches of fresh snow out there.

At the time of the bleep the local time will be 11.20pm Central Standard Time and the temp. will be displayed.

BEEP!

Update (11.50pm CST 2/3/07) Temp: -25F and WC: -40F

I'm back. Sorry for the temporary site shut down. Posts will be less frequent and less entertaining. Things here are basically the same. School, work, sleep, school, work, sleep. You get the picture.

I have two sets of friends here at school. One group I hang out with all the time. The other group I only see once in a while but I see them to take a break from the other group.

Last night TJ and I headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for some social time. It's a good time when to aviation management guys get together and fix the industry over 3 or 4 Long Islands. We have companies merging together, starting our own airline, it's a good time.

That's why I have decided to graduate with just one B.S. degree in Air Traffic Control and apply in December for the Master's of Aviation Program here. I want to fix the industry, I don't really want to be a drone anymore. I want to fix it. Ideally I would want to work for a Frontier type of company. Nothing too big but big enough I don't have to worry about loosing my job.

Yay for me.

Oh and the roomies get uber jealous when I hang with TJ. Ha. Screw them. Wow. SFND has more friends then just them. What a surprise huh.

Alcohol always makes for an inconvenient truth to be spoken. In my case, a nearly catastrophic physical altercation with the best buddy.

I've always been a very private guy. I release information in regards to my life on a need to know basis and sometimes it's very vague when I do release it. I've become even more private since moving back to the states. It's that mentality, where I just want to blend in as much as possible, not rocking the boat and getting out of here as quick as possible without any problems.

I just don't share information with others. If there is not a need to know, then no one is going to know.

Mike and I have been kind of stressing our friendship the last 3 months or so, with a slight reprieve when I visited him in Seattle. I suppose the location could be a factor but not a major reason for both of our resent hostile, standoff-ish behavior towards each other lately. I think he feels like he doesn't know me because I keep my life so private.

I can understand his point. I suppose too much mystery can be a bad thing because someone can not really know who you are.

However, he made a comment that ripped my trust with him straight away. We were sitting on the bed with others and he jolts up when I sad down next to him. We had been drinking.

Mike: ".... I am kind of homophobic when I drink, bad experience with someone."

Me: "... I'm not him, so get over yourself."

That's basically where the fight started. The problem is that Mike is one of the only guys I know extremely comfortable with it. We don't go into great detail but he would be the last guy being homophobic. It has been said that drinking brings out the real truth. Maybe he isn't okay with it. Further down the line in regards to not devolving personal information and/or sharing personal information with the other roommate before him it got physical. No black eyes, no real punches were thrown. I think we both realized if punches were thrown, it would have not been good. He was the bigger guy, he left the situation.

I've been in this situation before. It resulted in alienating the best friend. Finally talking to her some 3 months later, just weeks before her death. I will not repeat those mistakes. We both will have regain each other's trust. It will probably be a difficult road ahead. But hopefully we both learn from the mistakes and move along.

Alcohol always makes for an inconvinent truth to be spoken. In my case, a nearly castrophic physical altercation with the best buddy.

I've always been a very private guy. I release information in regards to my life on a need to know basis and sometimes it's very vague when I do release it. I've become even more private since moving back to the states. It's that mentality, where I just want to blend in as much as possible, not rocking the boat and getting out of here as quick as possible without any problems.

I just don't share information with others. If there is not a need to know, then no one is going to know.

Mike and I have been kind of stressing our friendship the last 3 months or so, with a slight reprieve when I visited him in Seattle. I suppose the location could be a factor but not a major reason for both of our resent hostile, standoff-ish behavior towards each other lately. I think he feels like he doesn't know me because I keep my life so private.

I can understand his point. I suppose too much mystery can be a bad thing becuase someone can not really know who you are.

However, he made a comment that ripped my trust with him straight away. We were sitting on the bed with others and he jolts up when I sad down next to him. We had been drinking.

Mike: ".... I am kind of homophobic when I drink, bad experience with someone."

Me: "... I'm not him, so get over yourself."

That's basically where the fight started. The problem is that Mike is one of the only guys I know extremely comfortable with it. We don't go into great detail but he would be the last guy being homophobic. It has been said that drinking brings out the real truth. Maybe he isn't okay with it. Further down the line in regards to not devolving personaly information and/or sharing personal information with the other roommate before him it got physical. No black eyes, no real punches were thrown. I think we both realized if punches were thrown, it would have not been good. He was the bigger guy, he left the situation.

I've been in this situation before. It resulted in alienating the best friend. Finally talking to her some 3 months later, just weeks before her death. I will not repeat those mistakes. We both will have regain each other's trust. It will probably be a difficult road ahead. But hopefully we both learn from the mistakes and move along.