Sep 21 2014

Weekend Roundup

Tag: Cars,PaulPaul C. @ 10:45 pm

Well hello there, and welcome back.
So this weekend was busy and fun. Emily had a church event Friday night and I hung out at home with the kids. Saturday, I ran my 2nd 5k race, and almost took a minute off my time, running just over a 9 minute split for each leg. The race was mostly flat, so that may be why – but I am training for a thanksgiving day 10k race, so I will take what I can get :).
I am training with Tri-State Running on Tuesday and Saturday with some scheduled off-day training on my own. Not sure I am ready for a 10k, but I am going to try! Saturday night we took the kids to one of the local Catholic church festivals. It has some really great rides and they had a fun time.
Sunday was church and then I came home and cut the front yard and side yard, and had a neighbor stop by interested in the Jetta. Their son is getting his license and really wants a manual transmission car. Just shy of a year ago, I found a note on the Jetta from someone letting me know they really liked it and was curious if I was selling it. Then this past spring, this same teen stopped by after I got off work asking questions about it, so it has been on his mind for a while. I let his dad know what was wrong with it (ebrake cables, AC died in July, etc) and they are considering. I’ll miss it, Here is the blog post from when I bought it. It has been a very reliable car for me and I really enjoyed it. Can’t wait to pass it on.
We have quite a bit of exciting stuff coming up so I will make sure to post on that stuff.
update – Sorry about the closed comments. A WordPress update turned them off by default. Will try to fix that.
–PC


Dec 04 2012

November and December

So for Thanksgiving this year, we did something that Emily has never done in her whole life – we went to her dad and Colleen’s house in NY. Normally we bounce between St. Louis at my Mom’s and staying in Cinci with family coming into town. It was a long long trip, but quite fun! The weather held out until the very last day. We took a few pics, although we should have taken more (Emily’s dad took some so we will get a copy of those):

We left the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and stayed in a hotel north of Erie, PA. It was Lillian’s first time staying in a hotel and she was NOT interested in going to sleep..at 1145pm. I rocked her until around 130am and she finally went to sleep.

We did the usual camp stuff – walked in the woods, road the four wheelers, etc. We got to visit with Emily’s Uncle Bob (a car enthusiast – Audi TT RS, so I got some car talk in) and Aunt Sue. Thanksgiving was delicious – stuffing with sausage in it? YUM! While we were up there, My good friend from college, Adam B. and his wife Kim drove up to visit friday – saturday. Haven’t seem him in years and it was our first time meeting Kim.

I also tried a local vodka made in Lake Placid, NY by Lake Placid Spirits called P3. This is bar-none the smoothest vodka I have ever had. So much so that when I poured it in a glass over ice, Emily actually asked me if I had watered it down! The final filtration process uses garnet! they have another vodka called 46 peaks that is filtered over diamonds. Only problem – its ONLY sold in New York!

Big thanks to my mom for lending us the Orange Honda Element for the trip!!

I flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul for my birthday this year to spend with Sean. Again, didn’t take many photos, but there will be other opportunities. We hung around his apartment a lot (because I had to work 🙁 )but we got out to the Mall of America, Best Buy Corp offices, I at a Juicy Lucy called Spanish Fly (Yum!), went to the mill district and took some photos, and we had our Birthday dinner at Manny’s Chophouse (where the maitre’d called Sean … my …”partner”. what? business partner right? hmmm). I made a small album of the photos taken. Most are from the mill district that has some “ruins” from the original mill infrastructure from the late 1800’s/ early 1900’s. Photos are not in any order because we took some with my cell phone using both normal and HDR mode; and others with my camera (well, Sean took most of those). Gallery:

We are doing Christmas in Cinci this year and I think My mom, Megan (and matt?), and Sean are coming down for that. I don’t think I have seen Megan and Matt since Christmas last year! Crazy! Will get pics up when that rolls around.


Oct 01 2012

Never order from TurboJunky.com

Tag: Cars,General,Grrr,really..?!Paul C. @ 11:59 am

I ordered a T-shirt from TurboJunky on August 23rd of this year during my lunch break. I should have googled the company first because there are a number of bad reviews for them. Anyway according to the FAQ on their website:

How long will it take for my order to ship?
Once an order has been placed your order will be processed and shipped within 1-3 business days.
How long does it take for my order to arrive?
Domestic orders are shipped via USPS Priority Mail (2-5 business days). International shipments via USPS Express mail or FedEx and usually take about 3-10 business days.
*(Weather conditions, holidays, or incorrect shipping information can delay shipments)

A few minutes after I received the payment confirmation email, I received an order confirmation for this shirt:

$4.99 plus $4.00 shipping. On August 31st, I hadn’t received any update to my order so I filled out the form on their website asking for an update. For some reason my account on their site isn’t working so I was unable to login there and view the details. Maybe I didn’t create an account. I’m not 100% sure on that. Never heard back.

On September 5th, I shot an email to moe@turbojunky.com and executive187@gmail.com (the email address I received a form confirmation from). Never heard back.

On September 10th, I posted to their Facebook page asking where my order was. I also sent a private message via Facebook to Moe Lufti who is listed as the owner-operator. TurboJunky posted a reply to my Wall post that it “will arrive shortly i am very sorry for the delay we are extremely backed up”. I replied asking for a tracking number and to define shortly. Never heard back.

One September 17th, I received an email notification that my item shipped. Thank God. His operation runs out of California so shipping via first class USPS or UPS ground should take 5 to 7 business days. Today is October 1st and it is exactly two weeks since the shipped notice. Nothing. I replied to the shipped notice this morning (sending to both the gmail and turbo junky account) and re-posted to my comment on the TruboJunky.com Facebook wall. I’ll bet I don’t hear back from them.

I should have paid with a credit card instead of a debit card, but in all my internet transactions, I honestly can’t recall a bad experience that didn’t eventually get resolved. If you google “turbojunky.com scam” there are currently 967 results and “turbojunky.com order problems” results in 3,630 results. I read through a number of forum posts where people either didn’t get their order, only got part of their order, or the order was wrong. Not only that, but the Better Business Bureau rates them as an “F”.

Isn’t this the stuff law suits are made for? I think I may spend a couple nights looking into that. Or talking to my father-in-law (he’s a lawyer). May contact the local sheriff as well. I did have one experience back in 2001 or 2002 where a guy took some money for aftermarket car parts in a “group buy” and we got him arrested. That was for more than an $5 tshirt though.


Aug 04 2010

Project Time! (aka – how to make your wife mad)

Tag: Cars,Fun,General,PaulPaul C. @ 3:49 pm

So a few months ago (yeah..and I’m just getting around to posting this…shows how fast the project is moving), I bought a 1987 Mitsubishi Montero 2 door. For those that don’t know, is the car I had in college. It was the car I had my first stereo system in (thanks Kurt) and the car I had when I met Emily. I loved it. Took it off road, road trips, trips down south (beer run for non-Murray State folks). It started having some engine trouble and the Auffenburg Mitsubishi dealer told us the head was bad and would need to be replaced for a couple thousand bucks. My parents sold it to a friend of my sisters for $300 and he fixed with plugs and wires.

Ever since then, I’ve wanted another. I finally found one in Ohio. It was in okay shape for a 30+ year old truck and definitely fits the “project” status it has been given. It currently isn’t running though. After poking around the engine bay, it looks like the previous owner replaced all the obvious stuff – plugs, wires, rotor, cap, and even the coil and carburetor.

After buying it, I found *another* that did run, but its body and frame is in really bad shape (as in there basically isn’t a rear passenger frame rail). I got it for a steal to use as a parts truck and the guy had a barn full of of spare parts. I chucked a good portion of them though – who needs six passenger tail lights??

So anyway, that’s that. My goal this summer is to at least get it running (or at least firing!), and barring that, get any bad rust spots coated with rust kill, primer, etc. to stop it. I’m probably in over my head…but hey – we didn’t use the garage anyway, right?? Hopefully I’ll be able to find some time to work on it after baby #2 gets here in November!

Here’s a shot of the Montero sleeping and a link to the other photos:


Aug 13 2009

So what has Paul been up to?

I’ve been really busy lately with work, travel, being a dad, husband, etc and haven’t really posted anything significant in a while. So what have I been up to?
Last month, I took a long weekend trip and flew to Seattle to visit Sean and Tim and Bridgette’s family, and go to a Mighty Mighty Bosstone’s concert (YAH!). While in Seattle, Sean and I visited one of my co-workers, Debbie, at her parent’s cafe – Chelan Cafe. Its a great place with AWESOME food. On our way out to the cafe, we drove by an import dealership and saw this parked on the street:

Its a VERY rare BMW M1 and it was in awesome shape. In the sun, you could see the carbon fiber reflecting back under the pearlescent paint.
So after our brunch at Chelan Cafe, Sean and I got on the road for our drive to Portland, OR, to visit Corey, Aija, and their newborn daughter Zora. I haven’t seen Corey and Aija since Stephen’s wedding, and have never been to Portland. on the way up, we passed this weird sculpture:

Its a very pretty city. We had some good meals there (especially lunch the next day!) and hanging out with old friends made the weekend worthwhile.

While in Seattle, I got to hang out with Tim, Bridgette, Rylee and Tyler. Turns out Rylee and Brig are big fans of So You Think You Can Dance, which is my anti-masculine guilty pleasure TV Show that Emily got me addicted to. Rylee LOVES the show. She knows every name, dance style, choreographer, etc of every person on the show. The three of us watch the show while Sean and Tim played some PS3 game 🙂
I got to swim in the Snohomish (?) river. The river was VERY high and the curretn was so strong that sean and I couldn’t get more than 10 or 15 feet from the bank without getting a chance of us getting swept away. A great public park..things you just don’t see in this area. Another thing that was great? I actually got to see the sun shine in the Pac NW. The three or four times I’ve been up there, its always rained (surprise!).
So the last night there, Sean, Tim, and I went to see my all time favorite band, The Might Mighty Bosstones. They got back together and this was the main purpose of my trip – to see them again. Of all the concerts I have been to, I”ve seen them the most. I think this was my 5th or 6th time seeing them. This show did not let me down. I’ll post some video and photos (ala cell phone so not great…) at a later time.

So fast forward to a week or so ago. For Father’s day, Emily got me a gift cert for Boi na Braza (sp?), a Brazillian steakhouse in Cincinnati. For those not familiar, these places charge a flat rate and you get a pretty decent salad bar. Also, they have waiters walking around with 15 different cuts of meat – sirloin, lamb chops, chicken breasts, filet mignon, and plenty of others. It was amazing. While NOT cheap, one of the things Emily and I enjoyed the most was the personal time. The wait staff doesn’t bother you. Because you let them know when you want more food, they basically stay away from your table unless you need a refill on your beverage. We had a great time talking all night without some person interrupting us to see if we wanted to buy something else. And MANY thanks to Aunt SheShe for watching Sean so we could have some time out. Oh..and the deserts are freaking great too! I love a perfectly cooked flan. Their wine list is pretty decent also. We had a nice pinot grigio.

Coming soon – my twin brother Sean is flying in from Seattle for a visit over Labor Day weekend. When he is here, my mom, Megan, and Megan’s boyfriend Matt, plan on coming down and we are hoping to see Stephen and Amy as well. (Little) Sean is going to have a BLAST!

Tonight, I gave Sean one of my die-cast cars. Its a Porsche that I got when I was in the 8th or 9th grade as a Christmas present from (I think) my grandmother’s brother, my Uncle Jack McNaughton (the Scottish side!). Sean LOVED it. Its bright orange. When Emily picked him up to take him to bed he cried. He wanted his car! So she gave it to him and carried him upstairs. Up in his room, she tried to get him to put it down on his dresser so they could get ready for bed. He wanted nothing to do with that. He was hugging and snuggling her…while hugging and snuggling his new car!! I knew I loved this kid for a reason!!

Can’t wait to see what happens when he finds out I have 20 or 30 diecast cars in storage 😉 He likes that orange Porsche 959 so much he may go into overdrive if sees the others! 🙂

Last night Uncle Phillip and Gramma got back from their trip to the Cabin and NYC and Phillip brought Sean back a present! Sean is now the proud owner of some Air Jordans!

He thought they were so cool. He is wearing them to “school” today. Phillip has a matching pair so we’ll have to get a photo of them wearing them together. He is in size sixes now, and when he gets to size sevens he gets to wear his Chucks that Megan and Matt got him 🙂

Links for the various galleries related to the posts above:


Seattle Trip:

Sean’s new car:


Apr 04 2008

Calling all gear-heads…

Sean (the big sean, not the lil sean) works for CarDomain.com and they are looking to get more content on their website. If you are in a car club and want to spread the word about it, check this out:

We’re looking for people as crazy about cars as we are to give us the inside scoop on all the great auto events happening around the world. Everything is on the table, from 4×4 parties in the woods to hot rod meets at the local hamburger joint to Friday night showdowns at the drag strip.

You don’t have to be a photographer. You just have to take pictures. It’s a great way to get press for your car club, or just show off your pictures to the world. Plus, submitting events earns CarDomain swag! Interested? Click Here

Oh – did I mention you get free stuff for doing it?  You will get a free CarDomain Tshirt for each event you cover (they make really cool shirts too!  I’ve got two or three).  They are working on other stuff to sweeten the pot as well.


Feb 25 2008

Another blog to visit!

My brother has worked for CarDomain.com in various titles and positions over the last few years.  When CarDomain shuttered its retail sales operation, they moved him over to the editorial department where he was blogging for the CarDomain Blog.  In the last month or so, he was given a whole other project, the SoundDomain Blog, in which he monitors and writes about all things car audio related.  If you need a place to keep up on all things car audio, including the latest in new electronics, custom installs, tools, and car shows – check them out!
Sean has also written two pieces for Forbes’ Magazines online car site.  They are Here and Here.


Dec 11 2007

New Car!!

Tag: Cars,Fun Links and Stuff,General,PaulPaul C. @ 10:31 am

Well, I sold the Durango almost a month ago and part of my “agreement” with the wife, was that 1) the new car had to have four doors 2) the new car had to have as many airbags as possible, and 3) i could only spend the money i saved and not dip into our savings. Well, two outa three ain’t bad :)I’ve been looking for a VW Jetta or Audi A4/A6, as well as a couple of other makes and models for the last month and a half. Maybe longer since I think I started looking around before the Durango was sold. I’ve always admired Sean’s GTI and Erik’s various dubbs. I was *this* close to picking up an 03 Jetta GLI in Louisville, because the price was right and I really like the GLI model. It had some issues tho – check engine light and some other stuff. I expanded my search on autos.yahoo.com past the 100 miles to 200 miles and found another GLI 117 miles away in Columbus. It wasn’t in the price range, but Emily was VERY gracious and let me break rule #3. She was happy I found a newer car, with full airbags all around, and it rates extremely high on the NHTSA (4’s and 5’s, with 5 being the highest). Also got “good” in the government testing, which is the highest.

I called the seller and it turned out a guy from Louisville was having a mechanic come up to check out the car that night, and was planning on driving up Tuesday (today) to buy it, if it checked out. I wasn’t about to pass up this deal so I placed a deposit on my Mastercard. So, Emily and I drove up to Columbus after work last night to C and L Performance Auto Sales . We met with Courtney, the owner. He told us he just got off the phone with the Louisville guy and that guy was NOT happy. That made me smile. While we were talking and starting paperwork, the guy from L-Ville called two more times!

Emily and I were extremely impressed with Courtney and C and L Performance Auto Sales. He had a lot of great performance oriented vehicles on his lot and was very open about all of them when I asked questions. We were in and out of there pretty quickly and painlessly. The gas tank was on “E”, and he apologized profusely and even gave us gas money out of his own pocket as we were leaving!

The ride home was about 130 miles and went very well. The heated leather seats are amazing (the GLI includes sport seats with extra bolstering in the sides and seat). The Monsoon stereo is very bassy and sounds great. The cabin is pretty quiet compared to my previous talons and even Emily’s Mazda 3. I have a huge roll of dynamat in my garage waiting to make it even better! The VR6 engine is awesome. I can’t believe how linear and strong it feels. The GLI also comes with a 6 speed manual transmission and is a blast to drive. Here are some pics from the AutoTrader ad. I’m waiting for some nicer weather to take some pics of my own:


Dec 11 2007

News tomorrow

Tag: Cars,General,PaulPaul C. @ 12:03 am

Emily and I drove to Columbus, OH tonight to pick up a car for me. I’ll post all about it tomorrow. I’m in a pretty darn good mood right now!


Nov 15 2007

Bye-bye Gas Guzzler!

Tag: Cars,General,PaulPaul C. @ 10:19 am

Last night I finally sold the Durango. While I did enjoy the truck – drives smoothly, it was quiet, etc…I hated going to the gas pump. The Durango had a 25 gallon tank and got between 13 and 17 miles per gallon. Every two weeks or so, it cost $65 to $75 just to fill up it! That hurt 🙂

I had the truck listed on Craigslist for quite a while and had a couple of lowball offers on it. Last night Matt at City Auto Sales in Elsmere, KY bought it from me. Now its time to start shopping around again. Hopefully going to get into something like a VW Jetta VR6!


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