Truck Dreams

I know I don't exactly have a job right now but I feel like I can always dream about my next vehicle. Not that there is anything catastrophically wrong with my current Acura CL. It has some miles on it and I've replaced the belts and tires and what not. That aside, I've always wanted to have a truck. I think they are both cool and practical. The Acura just just can't move around a lot of stuff. I just want to pack around my bike or go camping or something like that. Jenny doesn't understand. I don't have pictures of the Acura right now and as of now it needs a good washing. A pigeon decided to crap all down the side. I hate pigeons.

Anyways I've been doing a lot of research into what I want to drive. I kind of want an American truck but I also want a good one that will last. I can't decide if I want a full size truck or a a lighter truck. If I get a smaller truck I definitely want the full crew cab. I haven't decided on either an extended cab or crew cab for the larger truck. For comparison's sake I chose the crew cab for the full size truck.

For the light trucks I compared a GMC Canyon, a Nissan Frontier, a Toyota Tacoma, and a Ford Ranger. Here is the results from that using Kellybluebook.com. Comparison

The Canyon is slightly more expensive than the rest. It has slightly better fuel economy. The Tacoma has more towing capacity. The Frontier has more horsepower. Purdy much anything is better than the Ranger. Tough call.

I also compared the big trucks on KellyBluebook.com as well. I compared a Dodge Ram, A Ford F150, a GMC Sierra, and a Toyota Tundra. Comparison

The Ram and the Tundra were the least expensive. The Ram had the worst gas mileage. The F150 had the best gas mileage. The Ram and Tundra have the most horsepower. The Ford has by far the most towing capacity. I do like the way the GMCs look though.

Now on to the new fangled technology. This part of the post has been inspired by Jennifer Klein and her quest to help the environment. Since 2009 General Motors has built the only hybrid full size trucks on the market. They recently improved things with the 2010 and 2011 models. Its actually really cool. An electric motor takes care of things under twenty miles per hour and seamlessly turns the gas engine off and on. This ups the city miles per gallon from 14 to 20 which is significant. It doesn't help as much running full out. The price is a little steeper but you could possibly get it back with fuel savings and tax credits. You can check out the GMC Sierra Hybrid.

Thoughts would be appreciated haha. All I know is I have at least 3 years to save up money for a down payment (my loan will be paid off by then).

Politics Make Me Angry

Nothing has really been going on lately. I'm just waiting patiently for word back from HR Green. I've also been working diligently on my my project for my thesis. I had a mini breakthrough today which is great. It was something tiny that I had missed for over two weeks. I feel kind of stupid but at least I'm moving forward.

Anyways, I watched a documentary today called Capitalism: A Love Story. It basically outlined what happened in the United States up to the economic downfall in 2008. The story actually made me sick to my stomach. I felt terrified watching it. It is sick and terrible what can happen when people just look away while evil is happening. The United States has been the strongest country in the world for almost 100 years but I feel and have been feeling lately that we hang on to that by a thread. The United States that everyone thinks of when the think of the perfect country is the United States from the 1940s to the early 1980s. A time where people worked for a living, hard work in the steel mills, they were unionized, people actually made things, and went to school for more than just to go to school. Now we are a country that doesn't do anything. We ship out work and companies fire workers or hire illegals so they can pay them nothing. Banks run this country not the government and definitely not the people.

Here are some things of note from the movie:

-Until recently some companies like AIG and Wal-Mart took out life insurance policies on their own workers so that when they died they collect hundreds of thousands of dollars while the deceased's family went into debt.

-Major Airlines like to make more money by paying their pilots less than $25000 a year. They collect millions of dollars from the government in subsidies while they short the people that are in the most direct control of people's safety. Weak.

-When the United States was the most powerful and had the best overall quality of life the richest people in the country were taxed almost 90% now they can get out it and leave the bill to the poor and the middle class.

-Almost all of the heads of the treasury department have been the heads of major banking companies like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. Seems to be a conflict of interest doesn't it. After this happened all regulation on banking disappeared. Coincidence?

-When the bill to bailout the financial industry went through congress the first time it was voted down huge. Then the heads of the parties and government met with the banks and suddenly there was a complete turnaround. Not only did they get the bailout, but the banks wrote in that the money could not be regulated at all. Then everyone was shocked to find out the heads of the companies just pocketed the money. No shit. Who didn't see that coming.

These are just a few of the things going on that as a citizen in this country I had no idea what was going on. That in itself is sad. It's ridiculous. Money destroys people. I go back to my Wal-Mart post a little while ago, those buttholes in the Walton family have done nothing to give back to the people that made them great. They broke peoples backs and ran good people out of business just so they can hoard all of their money. I guess my point is that if people have the liberty to screw other people out of their hard earned money with no recourse they are going to do it.

As you can tell I'm pissed off.

HR Green Company

Yesterday, April Fools Day, I got an interview with HR Green Company! It was really a spur of the moment thing. I had a phone interview with them on Monday morning. The phone interview was a kind of get to know the company thing. Nothing to in depth. I was expecting the reply from that take a week or so to get back to me. But lo and behold I received a call Thursday afternoon while I was in class. I stepped out to take it and it was an offer for an interview the following day! That would be Friday afternoon at 4pm.

Me and the Shirt and Tie

A little closer

All day Friday I kinda dilly dallied around and then had to rush and get ready. Jenny helped me out a lot. She proofread my application and steamed my shirt and suit. She's such a sweetie!! When it was all said and done and I was ready to go I thought I looked purdy good. See for yourself.

Jenny and I took off for our 20 minute trip to the interview. It's actually not a bad trip. I could get right on Highway 218 and it leads right to it. Its even before you get into Cedar Rapids itself so thats good. Cedar Rapids has approximately 100,000 people and is a really industrial city. Iowa City is the more of a college commercialized town with the nicer shopping and places to eat. A lot of people travel back in forth for work and pleasure. Their is usually some traffic but yesterday was the worse I had ever seen it. There must have been an accident or something. Long story short even though I left at 3:40 for a 4:30 interview I still ended up a little late. It was OK though because I called ahead and it turned out that one of the interviewers was also caught in the same traffic!

The interview I felt went really well. There was two guys there interviewing me and one guy was on the speaker phone. Overall it went well but I did stumble through a few things but I think I sounded good despite it. Nothing that really stumped me. They told me that they are planning on getting through all of the interviews early this coming week and let everyone know their decision by either the end of next week or the week after. Hopefully I don't have to wait too long!! This job would be great for me, its close by so I could stay here in Iowa City with Jenny next year. Also they outsource some of their work to their other branches all of the time. I think that if I needed to get to Des Moines it wouldn't be too much of a problem. But we'll see!!!

After the interview (and after I recieved my fat tax refund) I took Jenny out to Granite City Food Brewery. Its kind of a chain of restuarants that brew their own beer right at the restaurant. They also have a ton of great food choices. We had a couple of beers and a great dinner. We had a tomato basil flatbread pizza for an appetizer, Jenny had a bruschetta salad with some awesome bread, and I had the steak chimichanga. It was AWESOME haha. I also ordered some of their mac and cheese to go. It was way tasty with bread crumbs and bacon bits toasted on top. It was a great post interview little meal.

I'll let everyone know about how the interview goes. Wish me luck!

First Run of the Year!

Today the weather got up over 50 degrees! I hope it stays this way. I think it will and spring should be well on its way. I even got to sit out on the deck a little bit!

Jenny and I enjoying some deck time

Anyways it was a good day of working out for me. I started the morning with a a little Kenpo. Its like a kickboxing workout. Even though I feel kinda silly when I do it, it is a purdy good workout. I then biked the three miles into school. After school I biked home and got ready to do a little run.

Jenny laced up here brand new Nike Free's. This brand of Nike shoe has kind of a similar concept to the Five Finger shoes that I talked about a few posts ago. The sole is thinner and much more flexible than a regular shoe. There isn't a large heel pad like a regular running shoe as well. This is basically the exact opposite of a running shoe that I was told to wear in high school. Her shoes are purdy cool though. She customized all the colors using the NikeID website. You can customize any shoe that Nike makes. Check it out.

Jenny's Custom Nike Free's

I strapped on my Five Fingers shoes. Not only was this the first run of the year but also the first run in my new shoes! The run actually went really good. I had heard that it takes a while to get used to having little to nothing between you and the road and running using a toe-strike method instead of a heel first approach. The first thing I noticed was that my feet were incredibly light. It felt like there was nothing there! I wasn't even too winded after our 3 mile jaunt but I have been biking a lot lately so that is probably part of it. The only thing that I really noticed was that my calves were a little tight afterward. Tight like I was using some muscles that I didn't know were there. Kind of the same sensation as when you roller blade or something like that.

Nike Free and Five Fingers

I'm really interested to see how this foot shoe thing plays out. I've read some of the research that says that running toe first is more a more natural way to run and that modern running shoes with their heel first approach isn't they things should be. Some of the research says that even some running injuries can be prevented by using either the Nike Free or the Five Fingers Shoes. I think that even Saucony has a shoe that works the same way. These shoes just simulate a barefoot type of running. Kinda cool. Agree or don't. I'm kinda skeptical. I have been running in traditional shoes for a very long time. You know like forever so we'll see. If you want to read more there is a Harvard Study about barefoot running that you can check out.

I'll let you know how it works out

Omlettes!!

Today I woke up a little early and whipped up an omelete. It was the first time I've used my brand new griddle to make an omlette. I just got the griddle last weekend on an ill advised trip to Target. I have spending problems when I go to Target because there are so many things that I "need" or have been wanting for awhile and the price seems right. I do prefer Target to Wal-Mart though. I recently watched a documentary about Wal-Mart and I don't think I'll ever go back to one of their stores. The Waltons seem like terrible human beings. They abuse their workers and destroy towns. They also are some of the top ten richest people in the world and yet don't give any of their money to charity. Bill Gates has given over half of his wealth to charity. Seems totally lame of those Waltons. Anyways the movie is called Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.

But enough about Wal-Mart, on to breakfast. I cut up about half and onion and 5-6 oz. of ham and grilled it up in a little vegetable oil. For the eggs I mixed up two whole eggs and one egg white from those egg whites in a container.

Egg mess on the griddle

I then threw the egg mixture on my square griddle surface and watched a nice little chunk of my eggs wash right off the griddle into the grease trap. I didn't let that stop me and it actually made a better omelet than I was getting from just using a pan on the stove. I'm getting better at omelet making but I could use a lesson so dad prepare yourself. Its all a work in progress but I love eating breakfast in the morning. I'm enjoying it while I know I have time to. Alright just thought I would update everyone that my breakfast cooking skills have moved from bowls of cereal to omelet cooking.

Completed Omelet

Bye bye!

Bike Man

Well it's spring and I've been celebrating spring time by biking to school/work. The weather still stays under 40 degrees so I have to bundle up a little bit. Hopefully it will get more spring like soon because I'm tired of being cold. It's not as cold as Montana or anything, you basically just need a longsleeve shirt, a fleece jacket, and some sweatpants. No big deal.

Me and My Bike and Warm Stuff

My bike an old school blue and silver Fuji (like these but at least 15-20 years older haha). I really don't know how old it is. I bought it at the Iowa City Bike Library. Its a cool place in town where people can donate their old bikes. They take those bikes, fix them up, and either sell them (like mine) or rent them out mostly to college kids for their commutes. Even though they are used bikes they are way better than you could get at Wal-Mart or Target and for a better price. I know this first hand. I bought a bike 2 summers ago at Target and it literally fell apart everytime I rode it. One time I had to stop at a firehouse and have the nice firemen help me put my bike back together. The last time it decided it wanted to fall apart mid ride, I let my temper get the best of me and I through it in a dumpster on the spot and walked home.

The Fuji Bike

But I do enjoy my rides to work. Its not too bad on the way in but there is a giant hill on the way back that is rough but its not too bad. You can map out any bike ride of yours at Map My Ride. Its purdy cool.

My Commute

Summer Fitness Plans Already!!

Jenny and I already have two fitness events planned for the summer! Hopefully I'll have a job by then (fingers crossed!) I have had one interview and have a phone interview scheduled for tomorrow March 27th. But anyways the summer plans. We are planning to do the Warrior Dash! Its an event that takes place all over the country and is basically an extreme obstacle course over approximately 3.5 miles. You can check it out at http://warriordash.com/register2011_midwest.php#

It looks like it will be a great time! You get a t-shirt and viking war helmet with your entry fee which is awesome. I can't wait to kick its ass on June 19th. The obstacles include: tires, a plank bridge, leap over fire, mud crawl under barbed wire, moss maze, log obstacles, cargo nets, run through a river, climb over haystacks, and even a little tunnel crawl. It should be awesome and remind me a little bit about my time at West Point haha.

The second event we have planned and registered for is the Des Moines Dam to Dam half marathon (http://www.damtodam.com/). I've never done a half marathon but I have hiked farther and done a crazy army thing for farther than that so I'm sure I can handle it. Jenny and I are going to get going on our run training as soon as the weather warms up which should be this week. I plan on trying out my new shoes for running this week. They are a pair of Vibram Five Fingers shoes. They are Bikilas and they are the running variety of five fingers shoes.

Five Finger Shoes

You can check out all the Vibram Five Finger variations at their website http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.htm. They are supposed to force you to run on your toes more instead of heel first. We'll see how that goes.

Well at least there's a plan in place. Time to deliver!