Are everybody's fingers broken?

Ok, time to get on the soapbox. Does anyone out there know about the little lever on the side of the steering wheel that makes the little green lights on your car's dashboard blink? I'm begining to think that either everyone's fingers are broken and they simply are unable to operate the lever or vehicle manufacturers have stopped wasting money on a device that's no longer used. I'm talking about turn signals! Maybe signaling a turn has become extinct or is no longer socially acceptable. Whatever the reason, it seems that use of this very simple device is the exception rather than the rule. I've lost count how many times some idiot stops in the road, seemingly for no reason, then makes a turn. Even worse, are the drivers that think, "oh, it's time to turn" and turn on thier signal just as they're turning the wheels. I think by now I've figured out what your doing stupid!

Is it just me? I'm I out in left field or maybe some bizaro world? Or is everyone so self absorbed that they just don't care about driving safely and being aware that there are other drivers who just might like to know that your turning right ten feet ahead? I don't know. But I sure do wish I had a set of air horns to blast the idots out of my way. Of course, in a perfect world, I'd just drive a buldozer to work and it wouldn't really matter. No, scratch that, in a perfect world, I'd be able to hire someone else to do the driving, "home Jeves".

Will anyone ever see this?

That's a good question. I have to wonder how many people will find these ramblings. How does anyone's blog get found? Do you have to go out and shout it from the rooftops? Or do they just come if you build it? Heck for that matter, how do the search engines even know this blog exists if no one has seen it, let alone link to it? It's kind of like asking if a tree makes any noise when it falls in the woods if no-one is there to hear it.

I could probably post the winning lottery numbers (before they're picked), the secret recipe for Coke and the location of Atlantis here in this blog and they'll be safe forever. Of course if I had access to any of these, I wouldn't be wasting my time banging on a keyboard to fill up some empty electrons. Now, on the other hand, I've read some other blogs and the pages seem to go on forever. The converse may be true in such a case because the text is so long and so obfuscated, that a juicy little jem could be lost forever.

This, then, leaves the big question left to be answered; what is there to write about? I've already mentioned the Ford truck I've been working on for the last several years. I've already mentioned the vinyl caps company I work for. What else is there? I guess I could ramble on about the weather (which is simply amazing today), politics (voting libertarian) or religion (don't really have one). I'm not really sure. I'll have to get back to you on that one. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the weekend and maybe even go out and try to get Project Responder finished.

Making a living

It's been almost a year since I started working at Mocap. It's hard to believe how fast time flies by. Before Mocap, I never really ever gave any thought to something as simple as the vinyl caps this company produces. I asked the question when I first started, "who uses these?" and the answer was "who doesn't use them?" I've since come to find out that these dip molded items are used in a huge variety of industries from automotive to industrial to household goods. Mocap is probably like a great many other manufacturers in that the products they produce are normally used behind the scenes and end up being used in or on other products we may never see directly. Such as in the example of the automotive industry, these caps are used to protect the fittings on air conditioning components during manufacturing and shipping. They are removed when the component is installed and the car buyer will never have known it was once there. Kind of like an invisible product.

So my first year is almost over and I'm still here. That's a pretty big accomplishment considering how bored I usually end up at most companies I've worked for in the past. It's usually a lack of a challege or just being under-utilized. At Mocap, I'm in the driver's seat and always have something meaningful to keep me busy and the people here are fantastic, well mostly fantastic anyway :) So here's to another year at Mocap.

Just the begining...

It's been three long years working on a frame-off restoration of a 1987 Ford F250 into the Ultimate Volunteer Firefighter's Emergency Response Vehicle. The truck is nearly complete and will soon be ready to travel to various 4x4 and firefighting shows around the US including SEMA in the fall. The truck has over a hundred sponsors and I'm sure many of them are anxious to see the truck completed and out in the public.

The big hurdle right now is the engine. The truck has a 460 motor and it seems to be getting too much fuel. The problem seems to be the carburetor. Holley is helping us out by providing us with a new Truck Avenger Carburetor, a 770cfm model which we'll be bolting on this weekend. Hopefully this will resolve the running problems and then all that's left is a lot of detail work and getting the vinyl graphics installed.

After all the work is done and dust settles, the last major obsticle is finding insurance. It seems that the truck is so unique that almost no insurance company want's to offer coverage. The one or two firms that will, want an arm and a leg it seems. We're still looking and hope to find something soon. No matter what, the truck has to be done and ready to roll for the 7th Annual Chicagoland Emergency Vehicle Show in Chicago on August 7th. So if you live anywhere around the greater Chicago area and you'd like to see Project Responder live, make plans to attend