Burn My Time
~Josh Houghtelin
I finally bought a truck… 1996 F350 XLT 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel Crew Cab
I’ve had my eyes peeled back for quite a while looking for a good “TRUCK”. I got stuck on this one and bought it after looking at quite a few.
It’s a 1996 F350 XLT 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel Crew Cab Long Bed and fits my every criteria for a truck.
Both Zippy and I have cars so we only need a truck for one reason, to be a TRUCK. We needed a big truck that could easily move anything we need it to move be it a horse trailer, 10 tons of hay, a few cords of wood, a golf cart, boats, cars, LP Tanks, etc all while having room for the help, friends, dogs, and extra gear in the cab. Ringing in at $3,800(cash) I believe I got an acceptable deal.
The Body is beat up but it runs great. It’s actually a good thing the body is beat already so I don’t feel bad when I clip a tree stuffing this beast in the woods to collect timber. The important part is the engine runs clean and with the OBDII Programmer that came with it I can easily change the amount of fuel it consumes, how much power it exerts, and other misc tidbits like when the transmission shifts.
I will definitely post when I finally hit something and/or get stuck. I need to get used to not being 3″ off the ground in a go-cart and realize this thing has duallys sticking out the back. I think Zippy already has a pool running to see when (not if) I get this one stuck.
Up early to help out.
I knew I left for work at 4:am so I could help a couple lost hunters get their car out of the ditch.
Flash floods and rain = mud, runoff, clay, stuck cars… Wait a second, why did you two drive a car back there?
Recap.
To briefly recap.
- I’ve met a bunch of people in the past couple of months.
- The summer seems to be coming to a close so I’m happy to say I managed getting out on the water quite a bit.
- I almost bought a truck but it, as all too many seem to have, had problems. So I’m still passively looking.
- Work is exciting.
- I’ve driven all over the place and collected a lot of Restaurant Menus. Thanks Steve & Crystal!
- I lost the Glock riding horse. Replaced it with a Kel Tek which will hopefully soon be replaced by a Kahr.
- Time
Now on to my local news.
It’s election season.
I’ll start blogging regularly after November. Until then everything that’s not directly associated to election equipment is going to collect dust. I’ve been collecting a lot of random video footage and pictures but I just haven’t had the time to post. I’ve spent the last two weeks running around Iowa and the week prior supporting Missouri’s Primary Election. Until the Presidential Election is over I expect my schedule will remain flooded with all the fun stuff an IT Director for an Election Services Company does.
I will finish this on a good note though. With all the election equipment out there that we are supporting and all our customers I personally think I’ve been doing a stellar job. I enjoy the stress and rush that looms over elections with the limited blocks of time we are given to accomplish a multitude of tasks. This really busy time keeps me excited and bouncing off the walls, or as I like to call it - twitchy. It’s almost like paddling a canoe through the boundary waters (or wherever you may go). When you load up all your gear to disappear into the wilderness for a few weeks and start paddling it doesn’t take a quarter mile of treading water to burn up your arms. Then right when you want to start taking breaks because your arms are about to give up the burning sensation goes away and the rhythm of paddling soaks in to be quite the enjoyable sensation. Then after you’ve got used to that you get to periodically load everything up on your back and throw the canoe over your shoulder to portage which, depending on the terrain, can really wipe you out. But then you put everything back in the canoe and keep paddling soaking in the serenity that in the rhythm of life at that point even though not a day prior you were asking yourself if your arms would make it across the first lake you set forth on. Then a week later after stressing all those muscles you never use, sleeping on rocks, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and eating merely what’s available, it’s time to go back. Although it may have been stressful and painful, the idea of leaving really sucks. I know it’s a bad analogy associating the great wilderness to grinding out election services and hardware across a few states but the point is after the initial shock of starting the race I really get into it and like it. I wouldn’t mind staying as busy as I have been this last month (I’ve only spent a few days at home) all the way through November.
So if you find yourself on a road connecting one County to another in Iowa or Missouri (and in the rare occasion, Kansas) between now & November keep your eyes peeled for the little orange car. I’ll be out there.
On my way to becoming an Audiophile!
Jon, an audiophile, awesome guy & extended family member (Zippys Brother) is helping me out with some advice and tips for perfecting all the audio I produce as well as helping me go in the right direction with the recording studio I’m putting together. He suggested I get this book. I just got it in today and I’m already excited just by the pure volume of the book. There is a ton of information in this book and I’m ready to start soaking it up. It’s always fun learning new things and right now acoustics & audio in general is way out left field to me so I have a whole lot to learn!
Google lets you preview the book here.
Thanks Jon!
