GRM 2015 year in review/ all things in your life edition

Well, I got a new job at a new school. New as in: the school didn't exist before last year. That's been an interesting ride. This is the first real job I've had that I can see myself staying at for more than 3 years.

I owned an old BMW for a summer, wrenched on it a bit, and sold it to Logdog for cheap so he can eventually turn it into a crapcan racecar. It was neat to meet another GRMer. He's a cool dude and now I have a connection to a Chumpcar team

Now I drive a ratty but reliable Saturn. I kinda like it, actually. Spending time with a cheapo Saturn has let me save up some $$.

That's been nice because last year I started dating a lovely gal and now it might be time to think about shopping for a ring. So there's that.

didn't do much of anything car wise ... autoX'ed it and tracked it (a bit more track time seeing if I could sneak onto the podium at the end of the season) I'm not quite quick enough to podium at any individual event ... the car is, I'm not.

and by attending more events, hoping to have the points to snag 3rd ...didn't happen .. either 4th of 5th

then the pain in the shoulder reached the point that I gave up on massage/acupuncture/chiropractic care, and got my primary care doc to take a look .... damn cancer sucks

right now the pain is at levels that I could get back on track without any problems ... well, other than neither I nor my fellow competitors would really want me to try T12 at Road Atlanta at WOT ... due to the amt. of pain meds I'm taking ... the reflexes are a bit compromised

Pets:

Started with 7 dogs, 4 cats, ended with one less of each :(

My tiny Chi broke her leg and was in a splint for 16 weeks but is healed up now.

Other tiny chi got into a spatial conflict with our bulldog and almost lost his eye, also healing up now.

Cars:

DD fleet remained constant, drove the Marauder way more than the Abarth which was never the plan but I love driving that thing.

Built a silly thing called the Lot Lizard, took it down to the Mitty and had some fun. Sold it, kept the motor for a future bit of insanity

Bought a 66 F250 as a local hauler, project toy.

Daughter wrecked her Smart car giving me an opportunity to rebuild it and customize it a bit, that was sad and fun at the same time. She was ok so that's the important parts.

Job:

Still got it, still bores me to death, still pays well

Homes:

A bunch of reno on the primary residence, nothing interesting. Almost cut my finger off with a miter saw.

Flew to FL for a 1 week reno on a rental property there, best vacation ever, my wife thinks I'm weird.

Personal:

Family all got christmas cards this year so I must still be married. That's the litmus test, if you get a card, I'm married, because I sure as heck don't send those out.

Wife is still working on getting her business up to speed but it's slowly moving along.

Still breathing, can't complain :)

No good roadtrips in 2015, gonna have to do something about that in 2016

2015 was like the hangover after a crazy party. 2014 was a lot of highs and lows, 2015 was a lot of "okay this sucks... yeah, still sucks". I'm focused on making more out of 2016 with some serious changes.

Biggest news of 2015 was that after about 2 years of admittedly not very intense job search, I got myself a new job just as things at my previous employer moved into a direction I wasn't massively keen on. It did come with a cut in base pay, but it's both local and I don't have to do three people's fulltime jobs. I still work as much if not more, but that's because my employer is expanding, not because they're "reorganising".

Car wise, I put down a deposit on the ND Miata Launch Edition on a whim and my wife made me buy it once she saw the car in person. And I keep running into issues with the 996, so everything is right with the world

Motorsports wise, I finally managed to run a full season of SCCA Club Trials with my local region, got my SCCA time trials instructor permit and actually managed to finish fourth out of eight or nine drivers in my class.

New job's great, daughter married awesome guy, quality time with my 90 year old Dad, podium finish at the $2015 Challenge, new business starting...

...life is good.

Also lost my father-in-law, and had some hard mental health problems with an important loved one- life is still good, and sometimes includes a few tears.

Dad moved in with wife and me in Feb. Passed away in May. Berk cancer.

Wife started a new job that pays much better and has better hours than previous job. That's cool. She's ready to quit and be a stay at home mom. We have no kids.

Got to check off a few more states that I've been to while road tripping to see family and friends.

Spent the entire year house hunting. Came close to making it official a couple of times, but it Never worked out. Starting to think there's a James Bond style villain swooping in and buying everything we like just before we can get to it. The search continues... Our realtor is incredibly patient.

Got the race truck running, and took it to it's first autocross since the engine/trans swap. Forgot the cooling fan wasn't wired in and overheated it after 2 fun runs. No catastrophic failures, but waiting on new house/shop arrival to really dig into it.

Frustrating and difficult year at times with it's share of loss, but healthy, happy and feeling fortunate heading into 2016.

Retired, a big adjustment.

Bought a very nice sailplane!

Got a puppy.

Had a crazy year with work taking on new role and a global team of great folks. Had a chance to get a ton of great work done on El Rabbitto and get it out to a couple of autox events.

Got my evil Bimmer sold and got Wifee into a new 4 runner which has been nice.

Got certified as Foster parents to help out local kids which was a ton of work. It's been a great experience helping out the kiddos and having buddies in the house for my son to play with. All in all a great year behind me with tons of stuff on the radar for 2016. Planning to take the kids to Disney, get out racing more, and get a deck built at the hosue.

My RX-8 grenaded its second engine in October (first one went at 86,000 miles, second one went at 244,000 miles). $6,000 is the going rate (Mazda or independent) for a turn-key rebuild. I could begrudgingly accept the expense but given the miles I drive, I’d be out of warrantee in just six months.

I ultimately decided to end my 27 year / 532,000 mile romance with the magic spinning triangles and traded it in on a 2016 Explorer for my wife and I moved into her old 2003 Explorer to hold me over until I figure out what I want.

New Mustang, previously enjoyed BMW 3 Series, or possibly even some sort of compact quad cab pickup.

I don’t know, it’s like I’ve lost my dream girl after many years of being totally happy and now people are prodding me to get out and start dating but I just don’t feel like it.

To be honest, my dream girl was a heavy drinker and often embarrassed me with her flamboyance but she was the perfect companion for either spending a quiet evening at home or going to a hard core death metal concert.

I don’t know, nothing evokes passion…maybe it’s just too soon.

Job has been going good. The MZ5 is trucking along. Celebrated 3rd Wedding Anniversary.