"The Incredible Hulk" in the form of my car

I am the proud owner of a '98 Chevy Monte Carlo which I have given the name "The Hulk". It's big, green, has its share of battle-scars, and I don't like it when it's angry. What I love about this car is its dependability. I have been the proud owner of this car since 2002. I don't know many people that can say they still drive their first car; I know less that would be proud to.

This car was given to me as a gift from my Dad on my sixteenth birthday. I didn't actually have my driver's license at that point. I was a 16 year old procrastinator (surprise) that didn't get my license until 6 months later. Since then, I have driven the crap out of this car. There isn't really any other way to put it.

It hit the 150,000th mile almost a year ago. It has been declared totaled after an accident it was involved in (other person's fault) three-ish years ago. It is a pain to work on, so I don't. The A/C is now powered by mother nature. The Chevy emblem, which should be on the front, is somewhere in New Braunfels after a rainy day fender-bender (ok, that one was my fault). Oh, and the rear-view mirror is in the backseat. I have no idea how much money has been put into repairs and maintenance, but I'm sure this free car has been paid for twice at some point or another.

 In summation, I want to just say thank you. Thank you, Dad, for the great car. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me how to drive so that I didn't have to learn in some classroom. Thanks to my brother for buying and installing the Sony CD player that still works and sounds great; the pedal covers are still there, too. Thank my wife for not making me get rid of it, yet. Thank Chevy for making this car that I'm looking forward to driving for another ten years, at least.

Three Goals of Five: Progress Report

As another goal for today, I am typing this without looking at the keyboard; not so easy for me. I'm a pretty decent typist, but I am normally not looking at the screen as I type. As a writer, I'm a bit ashamed. Not sure why I never learned, so lately I began passively practicing while blogging, gaming, and working. Blogs are taking a bit longer to write, communication to teammates in games is inaccurate, and work is awesome because I have some.

I began a new project for the Austin Community Foundation, working on some web pages in their "about" section on their web site. This will be great for my portfolio, and I will be working on it for the next two weeks. The current web pages need some emotional and professional touches, so I'm really excited to start writing them after the long weekend.

My weight loss has been a bit different. I have excuses, none are good. I'm still sitting around at 152 lbs. I really want to hit it hard, and go at it like I used to in my high school athletics program. I took that dedicated time of running and weightlifting for granted. Now, I'm lucky if I motivate myself to wake up and go for an hour walk in the morning. Small changes are easier to make than big ones. I just have to figure out what they will be.

Golfing yesterday with a few distant relatives at our family reunion was very enjoyable. We played a tournament with a scramble format and three teams. Playing best ball sure made our score look pretty good, but not good enough. We finished last, but we still had a great time on a good course, and don't tell anyone, but I think the best ball was usually mine.

Overall, I feel progress has been made. I'm happy with that.