*Warning: This entry swears- I just let it roll this time.
SURGERY x2
Surgery dos was a breeze compared to the first one. I was down about a week. they cut along the same scar, I have the plate and screws in a bag, and that's the end of that story...almost. I'm still harassing the insurance company about my settlement but I'm not really worried about it yet. The next two weeks will tell me if I need to hire someone.
FLYING PLANES
So this isn't really an event but just for posterities sake. Along with loving cars, Jason loves planes. But planes are a little big for him to play with right now so he flies RC planes. Christmas of 2009 I got him this super cool, dont know why it's the best but I bought it anyway plane. So during the summer and fall Jason makes me get up Saturday morning to watch him fly the plane at the park. Used to be that when he landed it wasn't really landing it was like a less awful version of crashing, but with his now two years of experience he can land and take off like a champ.
SUNDAY RITUAL
Again, not really an event, just record keeping. Almost every Sunday my Dad, brother and sister come over to our house and do dinner and play the Wii. Well, the kids play the Wii, Dad makes chocolate cake. I don't really know why this has become tradition, we should probably use this day to see the family we don't work right next to- oh well. I like Wii and cake.
DUSTIN
Ew. Ok heads up this paragraph is going to be full of beliefs and 'stuff' and venting. I see it, I don't care.
Originally Jason ran a website called pricematchedparts.com, but after about a year of doing this he had so many requests and saw such potential in working on the cars themselves he went to a shop location at which point we changed the name to PMP Motorsports. At first he had a small 3 car shop and one of his friends Jeff Liddle (who had just finished GL training) quit the job he hated to come be mechanic for Jason. (Jason refused to turn wrench himself, he HATES working on cars that are not his own project.) At the time it seemed like a great idea- who else to work with but the friend who was all fired up from training? Weellll, what we didn't really consider was Jeff didn't have any real previous experience turning wrench. And after about six months (and every car he built coming back in) it was apparent this wasn't going to work. Our reputation in serious jeopardy, Jason decides to team up with another guy named Dustin who had a solid background in mechanic-ing and was known for doing good work. At the time Dustin was working out of his driveway, he had a client base that kept him occupied but he was looking to become a business and get a shop. Jason and Dustin decide to work out a deal. They moved to a larger shop and split the overhead costs. Dustin uses Jasons lift, welder etc etc and in return Jason sends all of his jobs through Dustin and gets a discounted labor rate. In the end it was two businesses out of one office and it started to get messy. Dustin became resentful that he was being called Jasons employee and he felt that he should be charging Jason full price. Jason was frustrated that Dustin wasn't keeping his time commitments on getting his jobs done, leaving Jason to hang as the bad guy to his customers. (If it had been this clean cut it wouldn't have been a big deal- unfortunately Dustin is very dramatic so everything was a fight.)
Ok so Dustin decides to move out to his own shop location. Him and Jason are good with splitting ways. (When they had moved into this bigger shop they had to repair some things and had decided to split the costs, Jason owed Dustin about $300 for the repairs.) Moving day I get a call from Jason telling me that Dustin just told him that if Jason didn't pay Dustin that $300 by the end of the day that Dustin was going to be taking the materials he had paid for with him. Ha. Meaning, if Jason didn't pay Dustin was going to rip the electrical wiring out of the walls and take doorknobs etc. I was shocked. Jason didn't have a problem paying him the $300 but didn't have an extra $300 laying around to give him, especially now that Jason was taking over the full payments of the shop. So I was shocked at such a dick move. I asked if Jason had offered to pay like $100 today and then $200 next week or something and he said yes and that Dustin wouldn't do it. Jason decides to call his Dad and learns that Dustin legally is not allowed to remove anything from the building because it is now the property of the landlord, that reminds Jason that he and Dustin got two months of free rent from the landlord because of the repairs they had done to the shop. Jason calls the landlord to make sure that was actually why they had gotten the two free months and after it's confirmed he let the landlord know that Dustin was moving out.
Alright so Jason gets off the phone and Dustin comes back from dropping off his first load and Jason tells him the bad news of, I'm not paying you and you cannot take any of the things you are threatening. Ha well Dustin becomes so upset that Jason calls the police while Dustin calls the landlord. So both sheriff and landlord come down to the shop and the landlord says, I own anything that is mounted or bolted, that stuff stays here and the sheriff backs him up. Well Dustin tried to fight with the sheriff and got no where and as he (and the six friends he had called over) finished packing up his things every time he passed Jason he said, "Fuck you Jason." Haahahaha. I get so upset telling this but I also laugh because if Dustin hadn't pulled such a move and just let Jason pay him the next week, he would have made money and gotten to take any of the things he wanted that were bolted. Karma.
Now I have to put this or Jason will get on my case. Jason doesn't hate Dustin, and actually has attempted several apologies about the way things went down. Dustin though is not over it, and still bad mouths Jason and PMP on Facebook. (Though not blatantly enough for me to slap him with a slander suit.) Maybe someday I will be as big a person as Jason is....maybe.
SAN DIEGO RSA/ QUITTING ZRII
On to better topics. I did my last event with Zrii, yes I said last. I also gave my 3 week notice to Zrii before the event. I was sad to leave. And not. There was too much baggage with that place. Just read Ambers blog- you will know what I'm talking about. Honestly I had the BEST co-workers there. I loved 95% percent of them and sometimes I still miss them when I have crazy stories to tell. I need to go visit....
Anyway RSA was pretty much like all the other RSA's though I was on stage a lot this time because it was my first event as Recognition Coordinator. Also, I have to say this, I did a fucking awesome job pulling the recognition together for that event. Like really, I rocked it. So well in fact I went out that last night and drank with the events team, breaking one of my rules. (NEVER drink around coworkers.)
I work at the shop with Jason now. That was really my main purpose in leaving was to come run PMP with Jason. It was the right choice, I am where I want to be right now.
HALLOWEEN/JASON IN VEGAS
There is this auto show every year in Vegas called SEMA. It's the largest auto expo in the world and the largest event in Vegas. To go you have to be an industry professional so it's not open to the public. Jason decided to go this year and took his best friend Bryan. This was my first time meeting Bryan, I was a little nervous. It went well though. He flew in on Halloween and we had a crazy party at our house that night and then he was at the shop with Jason on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday they drove to Vegas did the meet, had some very 'The Hangover' moments, and then came home in one piece. Friends were shocked that I was so ok with Jason going to Vegas for a week with his friend from out of town, I am very fortunate that in my marriage Jason and I do not have doubts about each other like that.
THANKSGIVING
A new favorite perk of working with Jason is that we can go on vacation whenever we feel like it. Well sort of. For Thanksgiving we went to my Dads sisters house in Washington, we call it The Smith House. My first time in Washington. There was so much effing snow. The drive there was 5 hours longer then normal and the drive back was 6 hours longer then normal. It was soo nice though to get to hang out with family that was ok with just doing nothing. We ate, played on our electronics and played with the dogs (and cats). Oh and ate.
DOGNAPPED
If I get a free shot at anyone in the afterlife I think I will go find this guy. Friday afternoon we let Nina out to play on the lot where our shop and Dads shop sits. No big deal, she always runs around chasing Turbo in our parking lot. But this Friday we noticed her missing after about an hour of her being outside. We searched Friday night and Saturday morning, called the local pounds, placed a missing ad etc. I was a mess, Jason actually took me shopping to get me to stop crying. Saturday night Dad gets a voicemail from a guy who says he found Nina and is wondering if there is a reward for her. I called him back to get details and the guy tells me he found her eating out of a dumpster and says he thought she might be lost so he took her to his house and called us. (She is tagged.) He asks if there is a reward, I said no there wasn't but how about $20 for finding her. He says he was thinking more like $50- whatever I said ok whats your address? Yeah he is in Springville. 20 MINUTES AWAY! I get off the phone sort of confused and tell Jason about it, Jason gets upset and tells me about people that steal dogs and then return them for the reward money. Luckily we are with a group of guys so we all head down to Springville and call the cops on the way there. Jason gives them the address but doesn't wait for the cops to show up to go in and get Nina.
Jason and Jesse (our best friend) go into this guys trailer, yes trailer in an RV park and the trailer was one of those aluminum twinkie looking ones. The guys says he collects and sells scrap metal and while he was searching for metal he found Nina here, (and pulled out a map he had drawn up before we got there to show Jason where he found Nina.) Yeah he took her from OUR PARKING LOT. Jason says ok thanks for finding her and starts to walk out the door with her. The guy said to Jason, "What no reward?" and Jason responded, "No. You fucking stole my dog." This guy started to sort of defend himself by telling Jason what a bad owner he is and stuff but Jason walked out. As he was handing me Nina and I was getting in Jesses truck with her the guy came out I think to follow Jason and Jesse but then he saw there were several of us, so he said stopped and said, "So you think I stole your dog huh?" and Jason said, "Yep." He went back inside. The cop showed up after that and Jason told him what happened and said I don't care about pressing charges about my dog but he has other dogs in there that I don't think are his. The cop told us to leave and he went in to the trailer. We don't know what happened to the guy but we haven't seen him back around the shop. I hope he rots.
CHRISTMAS
What a weird Christmas we had this year. I now have five separate sets of parents. My mom, my Dad, Susan, Brett and Cat. Dad isn't ok with being in the same room as Mom yet. This year it went like this: Christmas Eve with Mom at our house, Christmas morning with Dad at our house, Christmas afternoon at Susans house, the day after Christmas we left to Jackson. I will never do it like that again. It was fun but stressful and busier then it needed to be. Here is your heads up family, next year we will be at our house. We would love you to come see us on Christmas. I got an iHome and Jason got me a board/boots/bindings that I love, Rachel got a red Wii, I got Mom tickets to the Judds, Jesse got us Linkin Park tickets...uhh I don't remember it all but it was all good. I love Christmas.
NEW YEARS
I'm putting the post about the Jackson trip with this one. This year Brett got all us kids Grand Passes to the resort in Jackson. So every day between Christmas and New Years Jason and Brett hit the mountain. I only made it like 3 of 5 or something haha. Anyway it was awesome, we will for sure be getting snowboarding passes down here next year. There were some AMAZING spots up on the mountain and I watched Jason do the half pipe (so attractive, my husband is hot). At the Casper Lodge there was this actor but for the life of me I cannot place him, he was in a chick flick thats all I remember. That week we went to The Bird, a sports bar and then on New Years we went out with Brett and Cat to a martini lounge called Ignight. That was probably the best New Years party I have ever been to- and I didn't really even know anyone haha. Maybe that is why it was better.
NATE QUITTING
Ah so we are 0 for 3 in the mechanic department. After Dustin left Jason hired a guy named Nate that he knew from working at the Mitsubishi Dealership. Nate knew his stuff and for the first couple of months was awesome....and then shit hit the fan. We've learned it's our pattern with mechanics. Nate just quit coming to work. He disappeared for a week and more then disappeared- he would hang up on Jason when Jason would call, and Jason even called his wifes number (who is crazy- that is a WHOLE 'nother story), but she would pretend she couldn't find Nate. So finally after about a week of nothing from Nate he texted Jason and said that he couldn't keep working for Jason because the shop wasn't busy enough but that he would be willing to do 1 to 2 days a week. What? There was always work for Nate to do- it just wasn't jobs he liked doing. Jason's response was, "No thanks I was only getting about 1 to 2 days a week from you before anyway". So strange. That was a month ago and Nate still has not come to get his tools etc from the shop. Though Nates wife has texted Jason a ton to find out where his last check was and where his w2 was... Jason has quit responding to her- how do you deal with crazy? The plan now is Jason is flipping cars and we are only taking jobs Jason wants to do and then continuing to sell parts. Thank heavens, it took me telling Jason that I don't think having an employee is in alignment with what he actually wants since the result is we can't seem to keep them around for him to realize it. I'm glad, being a manager is not really Jason's thing and we are having way more fun at work now.
SICK SICK SICK
I despise being sick. As I am writing this I am fighting the worst sore throat I have had since high school. Hence my sentences and spelling being all mucked up. Jason started it, well actually he caught it first up at the Gwilliam house and then gave it to me. Flu and cold and strep all rolled together.
JESSE
We have this really good friend, well he's more of a brother now since we are with him so often, named Jesse. He met Jason through car stuff and in the last year just showed up a lot. Last month he went through Part 1 and 2 though he stopped before 3. I am actually coaching what would have been his Part 3 group. It's hard wanting to go deep with him, especially with Great Life stuff since that is such a huge part of our lives, and not really being able to because he hasn't finished. Hmmmm.....
CHERRY
Cherry is the name for my new car. She is a beautiful red 1991 3000gt that is in 'cherry' condition lol. Also she has this sticker on her bumper that has been nicknamed the tramp stamp. I am excited to finally have my own 3K.
COACHING/STAFFING/CAPTAINING
Well when I first started this post I hadn't started coaching yet. But now that I am in the middle of it I realize it deserves its own post- I have learned that much. I am coaching group 274, Jason staffed Part 1 for 275 and is captaining Part 1 for 276. I'm thinking by March we will be pretty Great Life'd out haha.
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