Sober Selfies #15 (shirts required, please review rules)

Yoda-Stevie · March 22, 2023, 11:57am

Such an awesome update!

Yoda-Stevie · March 22, 2023, 11:58am

Cuteness overload!

Yoda-Stevie · March 22, 2023, 11:59am

And we’ve missed you.

Olivia · March 22, 2023, 2:24pm

Congrats!!!

1000 days is great, and even more wonderful is that it’s become your norm.

DMW · March 22, 2023, 4:50pm

Thanks for sharing this with me! Congrats to you, I hope your recovery is going well! And you don"t say… St. Cloud, eh? I’m getting to know that area really really well! <Cue the “its a small world” music!>

EricH · March 22, 2023, 5:49pm

Day 810

apes2020 · March 22, 2023, 8:36pm

You must be super excited having two new beautiful humans arriving into the world that you can watch grow up! With all your fur babys included, your tribe numbers are huge lol! Amazing for thanks givings and Christmas time. So much love must be bursting out of you and kelly !

Any funny or exciting stories to share about the new (well not new anymore i guess lol ) A.Z home?!

Any crazy animals turning in your desert of a back yard?!

I seen a snake here the other morning on my walk, that was pretty scary. We get snakes where i live. Scary if the dog is off the leash coz the snakes are hard to see and scare the crap out of you when they dash out of a bush shrub lol

Wasabi79 · March 23, 2023, 1:37am

I’m a tech too. Been turning wrenches for 23 years. The business sucks, but this is as good as it’s been for us.

I.cant.We.can · March 23, 2023, 2:32am

Nice to see you sir. Looking happy and healthy. Over 800 days congratulations

Fury · March 23, 2023, 3:12am

Very true,

So long and the short of it, I started with motorcycles cause I love 2 wheels, but sadly powersports in general is super seasonal and the max pay is poor, so I got into fab work took night classes for CNC programming and was a millwright until I got laid off and decided to go to Tech school for Automotive and NASCAR, i got offered a scholarship from Toyota to do there T Ten program and it was a instant in at a dealer, i was externing at a Lexus dealership which led to a job, but then went to a GM dealer closer to home for the same pay, i drunked out there and banged around independent for a bit, as well as retailers sears Firestone NTB cause they’ll hire warm bodies as long as your sober enough to pass the drug test one time, Went to another dealership, GM and they paid for all my schooling, the others i tested out of, got my GM Master, then went to Chrysler and tested out for Dodge master, Back to GM and they pushed me into Diesel, like it was this is what we have for you, so I learned It, proved invaluable then I went to another GM dealer when i moved, stayed there till I said it was time to leave the industry, and I left for 5 years

Back again, wish I didn’t sell all my shit, but making much more money, it’s a affluent area so modt people don’t waste any expenses, and I’m learning Euro cars which is unique, but I don’t understand why it’s such a unique skill to me they are just the same as Asian and Korean rides, shit even American, if you can fix one you can fix them all

The definite downside to the industry is the hustle, flat rate pay, and how cut throat it is, customers often aren’t happy with my quotes but good labor isn’t cheap, cheap labor isn’t good, good, fast or cheap pick one

The other downside is, you almost have to job shop every year to two years to get a raise, I got my masters cert and all my ASEs plus the L series, I got a dollar raise, that’s why I moved when I got offered nearly double at my last dealer. But it’s just a means to an end for me, the cars are cool, but music is my passion, my kids want to start a customs and classic shop, and I agreed to help. Cause sadly i get a lot of calls about older cars cause no one knows how to work on them anymore, rebuild carbs, set points, shit even use a timing light. I’m hoping to pass that knowledge to my boys so they, have a niche skill to be proud of.