The real reason Kids dont want to get there drivers license at 16....

It is the start of the Detroit International Auto Show this week , so I thought I would write a little post about something I have noticed for a while... young adult not wanting to get there drivers license. 

Its really weird. Picture this: your 18 and you don’t have a license yet? Really? When I was in school the only reason you did not have your drivers license at 18 was due to a court order of some kind. Seriously.
But over and over I see kids waiting… 18,19,20… older. Waiting. Worse yet not even caring.

So I guess I am not the only once to notice, but I am really tired of people saying its because of  social media giving kids digital freedom, a shrinking world, the lack of a need. In fact its not ONE of those things. Its all of those reason and more.

Yes you can tweet all your friends, and let them know that your checking in at your living room in a press of a button on your phone.  Really though, I think most are just a little lazy.

Lets face it, like most things every year its harder to get your license as well. Make it hard and young adults start to question the value of it. Why try when I can just get mom to drive me? It is really a little over regulated. I am not a huge fan of the graduated process most states have adopted. I say teach you kid to drive, and let them get there license. Its gong be hard, just do it for gods sake.

Parents make it worse, coddling there kids. If you were my kid, you would want to drive. If for nothing else just to get away from me. Not to mention that if you are 18 I am not going to be driving your ass around.

I also believe that it helped that we had motorcycles, go carts, and all sorts of dangerous fun when we were kids. Now this stuff is way to dangerous for the general populace now days. Hell you have to wear a helmet to walk outside these days. When did everyone become such wussies?

Of course you are talking to a guy that was not happy with his drivers license and went on to get his pilots license. So maybe I just don’t understand the mind set. Maybe I never will. One thing for sure, I do see the trend. For what it worth I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.

I’m not jealous…. I don’t mind.

I’m not jealous…. I don’t mind.

Sure there is a car show going on down town.

Sure is Saturday.

It’s not like I would rather be there or something.

Who cares that I have to work.

It doesn’t bother me in the least.

Not.

In.

The.

Least.

Suddenly this morning….

Suddenly this morning, before coffee and without warning I ran into this Ford GT.
Figuratively of course, as it would have been a much worse day if I had literally ran into her. Nice to see something unexpected once and a while.

I've been called a lot of things this weekend...

I've been called a lot of things this weekend...from Asshole to Zealot but somewhere in the middle I was a mechanic tracking down the cause of the mysterious blown fuses to this faulty voltage regulator on the ATV.

Its a great world where I can track down the service manual on line and use it to help me narrow down the style cramping 30amp main fuse blowing issue.
At least I hope this is the issue. I will let you know as soon as I replace it. 

Shop time: Car maintenance edition

It was only 39,000 miles ago the girls car was new. Today, in the blink of an eye, it was time to replace the break pads.

Thanks to my good friend Ron, his help and the use of HIS shop, it was a quick pleasant , and most importantly inexpensive morning project.

How to service you ATV and other ways to waste your Sunday

I had a plan.

It was a good plan.
Really more like a list of things to do. Things that I was looking forward to getting done. I had the whole day to do them.

First on the list plow the driveway.

Should be simple start the ATV, plow the snow. 15 min Job maybe get the Moms driveway. Either way, done and on to the next one.

What actually happened was far different than I had planned .

When it would not start, I thought it was the battery. So I got a new one. Filled it with acid, charged it. No juice. Tracked down the Manual, tore machine apart. Tracked down the main fuse replace the fuse, blew the fuse, shoveled the driveway by hand, gave up on ATV put ATV back together.

So much for item #1.

Ride through the streets....

Ride your ATV through the streets....in the summer and you are a menace. One that is subject to a ticketable offense.













Slap a snow plow on that puppy in the winter and you are a snow moving god with traffic law impunity.

Usefulness of fingers in traffic

Thanks GraphJam for summing up my morning so succinctly.

PS:
Ice = Slow down not freak out people.

Its the Auto Show:

This week all eyes are on Detroit as the North American International Auto Show is in town.

This year as the auto industry is in its comeback infancy everyone seems to be on the band wagon as attendance is up and exhibitors (that I shall leave nameless) seem to be creeping back into the show. I am not saying they are fickle, but if the whitewall fits.... *cough-orshe-cough*

Really that is a good thing, so I do not mean to imply otherwise.

It is just good to see some good press for the "D" as short lived as it may be.

Impromptu Auto repairs… and other reasons its better to be lucky than smart.

The Girls vehicle had an issue last night. The windshield wipers just stopped working. The thing about driving in the snow is that you have to have wipers as the constant spray of crap from the car in front of you means you need to clear you windshield often.

So…. Last night I went out in the cold/dark driveway to figure out if I could figure it out. Honestly I was hoping it was some kind of fuse, but I could hear the motor running and see that then were trying to move so no fuse.

I then took apart the stupid layers of plastic covering until I could get to the linkage underneath to see what the freaking problem was. All the while holding a flashlight with my teeth. (note to self , add a headlamp to the wish list) . I could not get it all the way off without some major dissection, but I did get it enough I could pry it back and expose the pieces I needed. Apparently they just snap together and for some reason they had came apart with the weight of the snow/ice. I was able to re-align the arms with the help of a magnet wand and snap them back together.

Done.

Wipers functional, the Girl can see and I am the hero. Not to mention it saved us a service call.

Honestly it was a lot of luck involved proving once again its better to be lucky than smart.

Seen at the park: Anatomy of a bad parking job

1) Drive an exceptionally bland colored car into a public parking area
2) Aim in the general direction of a parking spot, and close your eyes
3) Drive forward, until you get close to you parking area
4) Leave your car quickly without looking

5) Glance back, make sure you left a stupid amount of room in the front of vehicle.
6) Make sure at least one of the tires is on or possibly over the yellow line.

This type of parking deserves a special award and this is a fine example. While textbook even this genius has left room for improvement. You could also: block an isle way, find a more crowded area, or hit something/someone.

Stay tuned next week when we chime in on how to drive like a douche.

Close parking...

No this is not a picture of Art Fair parking... this is a picture in our driveway. I am sharing my spot with Zack letting him park here while they are away on a quick vacation.

It makes for tight quarters and a kind of a cool photo op. I have been getting good at this close parking.

While I was fulfilling my role as worker bee ....

Gwen , the truck, was whisked away this morning for a photo shoot. It is true. It seems my friend works for “one of the world's leading automotive industry suppliers specializing in driveline and chassis technologies.” and they make some parts for Gwen and need some photos for… well I guess brochures and such.

I was asked by him last weekend as no one at there HQ seems to have my exact model/make vehicle so that is how it all came to be. So why not?

But this morning I started to think…How sad is it that Gwen the truck has a more exciting life then me?

*sigh*

Service... again

The new truck is already in for service this morning. I have not had it a month yet and still I am back.

Of all things, the much touted USB port gave up the ghost the other day.... while I was using it.

With fancy tech comes fancy bugs, still not to happy about having it back so quick.

Just a little life reminder that simple is better.

Cool gear: Quadski

O M G (new lust object alert)

I.
Want.
This.

A transforming quad- jet ski? Are you kidding me? Could anything be more cool?

Thanks uncrate for finding this one.

Whats worse than getting caught in the snow?

Whats worse than getting caught in the snow?

Getting Snow on your Lambo... of course.

Only in NY

Thanks to Jalopnik for this one.

Banking Karma

Today at the bank, I helped a guy in the parking lot jump his car.
He was trying to use one of those emergency car jumper things clearly it was just not working.

So I just helped him out.

Maybe it will be some good Karma for the weekend.

Seen last night at the park.

In the cold and dark last night, I took Tanner to the park as I do every night and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a brand new *2o1o Ford F150 Raptor* .

It was just sitting there, with manufacture plates on, in the cold under the dim lights just there dirty as mine, perched unassumingly under the inadequate lights giving the whole scene an institutional feel. I went over and surreptitiously grabbed this awful photo and pawed over her for a quick moment and just like that I was away again.

I went about my business but I could not get that truck out of my mind. I really like the Raptor and since it looks like I will be needing a new one in May.... I would really like to swing this one.
The problem is it looks just a little out of my reach. (better photo below)
*sigh*

Messing with the dark side - tire mark addition.

Today, (Name retracted to protect the guilty) took me for a little ride in one of his new toys.
As you can see here , he might have been a little on the wrong side of a careless driving ticket had anyone been around.
Then again I might have just made this up.
Honestly I am not sure this really happened, or if I was really there, but if I had been it would have be a blast.