Bologna Skins

My wife is heading to Fargo today for her friend's mom's funeral. Yesterday I got the tires rotated on the car she was taking. Turns out the reason it's been a death trap skid machine in the snow this winter is that two of the tires were worn down to the steel belts in spots and had no tread left. Stupid Hyundai and their shitty OEM tires. (33,000 and two of them are toast and the other two have like 6000 miles more in them maybe.) I guess that's how you drive down the purchase price.

So I decide to lay down some decent money for two Goodyears that have a 65,000 mile warranty on them. I figured that if I bought a set of shit tires, I'd just be replacing them in 33,000 again rather than these that should last twice as long so it's actually a bit less than replacing them twice, saving on the mounting and balancing fees.

The tread on these new tires is sick compared to the old ones, even when they were new. I'll be able to rally car it in the snow next year, since I'll have to replace the other two by then.

So I guess I've been cheating death for the past few weeks on the bald bologna skins that could have failed at any moment due to being down to the steel. Glad I found out before my wife took them another 1400 miles though, and what else would I want to spend the first month of my promotion raise on rather than two new tires?

I can't think of anything.

She Isn't Real

I've been able to maintain my good mood for a while now. I feel pretty safe at work, even though they told us within hydraulic system development they don't have approved budget for 14 of the people in the group. I'm not sweating because the D6 has budget for the entire year.


(When I'm alone I like to whisper to myself that I'm developing the hydraulic system on the highest selling bulldozer in the United States. It makes me feel special.) As a result, I feel safe. I'm sad though because some cool people in my group are most likely going to have to go someplace else within the company. I'll lose that camaraderie while I'm developing the highest selling bulldozer in the United States.


Money is cheap right now. I'm going to refinance my car and my house some time soon. I should be able to drop my car payment and take 7 years off my mortgage and still pay about the same. Hopefully I can free up enough money so we can get a larger vehicle. I want a pimped out van, but my wife doesn't. She doesn't like the concept of driving a van. If the van is awesome and has all kinds of cool shit in it then I don't mind that idea.

It's going to be cold tomorrow. Like -40 with the windchill. -40 is special. It's where Celsius and Fahrenheit meet and slap each other on the ass on the way to absolute zero. -40 is just -40. Fucking cold.

Here's a new addition to my blog. It's called: Where does Safety Man want you to be safe. The answer for today is: When boarding the "A Train" be sure to wear your personal protective equipment.