Leaderboard

Gave your portion to the dogs

After grilling burgers there was barely any fuel left so I figured I'd just open up the vents and let the rest of it burn. Egg is now at 610F.

I have an M&P Shield in 9mm. I am more of a revolver guy, but I really like this little pistol. I like it so much I am planning on grabbing it in .40 by the end of this year. FWIW, the only other gun I ever liked so much that I bought up into the series was around the time you were born when I bought a Colt Python and followed it up with an Anaconda. I had a .38 revolver that fired when I dropped it in the rain when I slipped on the back deck..Yes I was drinking and was going to shoot at some racoons that had been getting in the trash..it was a Taurus..lol had like 50 something stitches on the inside and a boatload on the outside....LMAOHence why you don't fuck with guns while drinking. J

I have an M&P Shield in 9mm. I am more of a revolver guy, but I really like this little pistol. I like it so much I am planning on grabbing it in .40 by the end of this year. FWIW, the only other gun I ever liked so much that I bought up into the series was around the time you were born when I bought a Colt Python and followed it up with an Anaconda. Shot all of them. Glock M&P springfield In order of preference. Keep in mind they are all close IMO. I own the M&P in the .45 and a Glock will be my next purchase. I have seen both Glock and S&W used and abused by a few 'select' groups of people, and overall the Glock took the most abuse and kept on working. IMO they are the AK of the pistol world (just more accurate). J

I have an M&P Shield in 9mm. I am more of a revolver guy, but I really like this little pistol. I like it so much I am planning on grabbing it in .40 by the end of this year. FWIW, the only other gun I ever liked so much that I bought up into the series was around the time you were born when I bought a Colt Python and followed it up with an Anaconda.

Just a few hours ago I recieved, what I consider to be, the biggest compliment of my professional career. Not only is it a compliment, but it is also the beginning of some amazing extra cash. I am fortunate that I am good friends with one of the very best technicians in the country. This is not a guy who I feel is one of the best, this is a guy with accreditation from numerous national and worldwide groups from the Automotive Society of Engineers, National Automotive Service Task Force, he is the president of the National Mobile Diagnostic Technician group, and a trainer and class author of CTI who is nationally published in Motor, Motor Age, and Import Service magazine among other honors. Many automotive manufacturers have him write up documents stating what he wants to see in their scan tools. They give him tools to see what he thinks, how they can improve them, etc. He is given tools and equipment and asked to write up their use, and general reviews of said equipment.I have an ego, as far as my industry is concerned, the size of a continent, and if I wind up in a bind, this is the guy I call. He is my trainer, and my mentor. When I talked to him about my stepping into diagnosis with thermal imaging he was intrigued. We spent some time discussing the things that I feel I can achieve with the imagers, and he decided to step up and find out what can be done with them. He has been speaking with Fluke engineers about these capabilities, and they offered to send him a couple imagers to compare with what I purchased. He is receiving a $5K TI110, which I contemplated buying, and another unit with an MSRP of over $10,000 to do some testing, technical write ups, and training for CTI as well as Fuke. He called me tonight and wanted to get together to do some comparisons of the units, and what can be achieved with these units relative to cost. He wants me to be involved in various case studies involving traditional ICE repairs and diagnosis, as well as some hybrid battery case studies, both in vehicle and in the building room. Sadly, 6 months ago, Jim was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately when he recieved surgery, they found out the tumor was advanced, and his cancer incurable. So Jim is living his life knowing this disease is killing him, but his prognosis for long term survival (15 years) is pretty good. His daughters are both almost done with college, his house is paid off, his business loans are paid off, and he is not in a difficult financial state. So he has decided to back off on his training (instruction) and he asked me to take over for him. Pay for training is solid. Really solid. Pay for case studies (which we will begin together over the next couple weeks) is really nice. Simple 7-15 slide studies pay very well. If I write classes, the pay is incredible. He mentioned that my knowledge and hands on in the world of hybrids, hybrid diagnosis, hybrid repair, and hybrid battery building is years ahead of everyone else writing for CTI right now. He suggested that if he can get me in with CTI, I could easily write 4 or 5 classes in one year just based on hybrids. This will be essentially a second job. I will have to miss some time from my shop for training. This will not be a huge amount, maybe 16 hours a month, worst case. My classes will be within a 400 mile radius of my home, and all travel will be covered by CTI, rental cars included. While my boss will lose me for a little bit each month, he will be able to tout my being an instructor, and gain the benefits that guys like Jim receive... this includes a ton of free tooling, and various information systems that cost thousands of dollars a year. I don't think he will be upset. So I am stoked. This is really a huge honor for a simple wrench like me. I am completely flattered that Jim would ask me. This is a massive, huge honor. MASSIVE. I cannot think of a single time in my life when I was on a higher cloud than I am right now. I just hope and pray that Jim, and CTI, feel like I really have what it takes to perform these duties. This is a huge step, and a big financial boost for me if it all works out.