3/19/14

I'm afeared things may be coming to a head here at work.  Ever since they put my job under telecom, I've been slowly losing “gruntle.”  I am just about totally without any right now… no, I am totally without even the slightest amount of “gruntle” right now.  I just had a meeting with the guy who got the job for which I interviewed last December.  He has been trying to keep telecom from getting rid of the contract which has me here… and he’s not alone in that effort.  To those few who are “on my side” in that battle, I do appreciate the efforts.  The problems arise when I realize that I hate what I'm doing and want a change.  Well, that and the fact that I hate telecom.  I do not want to work for telecom… because I hate the whole telecom industry.  After dealing with them for thirteen years here, and seeing what the industry put Tony through, I just hate telecom.  I'm also beginning to hate the Audio/Visual business.  Actually, I've never had a real love for it.  I got into the business by accident, more or less, and have just been too lazy to branch out into something else.  Well, that isn’t entirely true.  I did “run off” to become a racecar mechanic for a few years… until I realized I really do not like working on other people’s cars.  Then I fell back on what I “knew” which was the A/V industry.  Unfortunately that industry is changing so much and I'm becoming a dinosaur.  Sure, I could learn all the new whiz-bang gizmos… if I gave a passing shit about the business.  But I really don’t.  I want to do something else.  I'd like to stay with the railroad, in operations of course, but I'm not having any luck on that front.  I'd even go for a cubicle job in marketing or finance or… hell, just about any department other than telecom or technology services.  Telecom because… well, look back a few lines if you have already forgotten how I feel about them, and TS because… look back a few rants if you have forgotten how I feel about computers.  I'll give you a hint, “my feelings for and/or against both are very similar.”  Well, I just got off the phone with John about the Spit, The Seven, and the trailer.  The trailer looks like it will sell next weekend.  The Spit and The Seven are open questions still.  He thinks I'm reading too much into Dick Brink’s question: “What have you done to add that much value to [The Seven] I sold you nine years ago?”  He, John, thinks I'm using that as a convenient crutch to not sell the car.  Perhaps there is some truth to that assessment.  We may still try to maximize our profit by selling it ourselves.  Hell, I might ask him to pop up a Craigslist ad to feel out the market.  If there is a line of people queuing up to see the thing at $17,000.00 as a runner, I think I could be convinced to let it go.  Looking at the “debt list” in front of me is not helping my resolve… to keep the thing that is.  I'm sure I'll be hearing from him as soon as he reads this.  As for the Spit, I realized that if we’re building the car to sell, we are throwing a lot of time, money, and effort into a project which is not going to appeal to very many people.  Sure, engine-swaps can sell… if they are a swap that makes sense to the great unwashed.  A small-block Chevy in… well, just about anything, will appeal to a hillbilly.  A small-block Ford in… again, just about anything, will appeal to a smarter hillbilly.  Modern Nissan power in a Datsun appeals to the Datsun crowd just as modern Toyota power in an old ‘Yoda does for that group.  Even a rotary in some old, small economy car from the seventies will appeal to a certain demographic.  But putting Nissan/Datsun’s obsolete economy car engine in a British sports car only makes sense to us… because we have both on hand.  I'm afeared the “Pro” of it being a running driving car would be offset by the drag of the “Con” of the oddball engine choice… unless it were significantly faster than stock, which I doubt it would be.  I think it would be faster than stock, I think it would be quite spritely in fact, but Juan could, and probably would, argue that hot-rodding the Standard Triumph engine would net similar results… and it would be the “correct” drive train.  So, I said all of that to say this, I'm still undecided as to the fate of The Seven and the Spit at this time, but the Spit “replacing” The Seven is NOT totally off the table yet.  We’ll see.