Kerplop

Don't they make motorcycles?

At this point, I am willing to move anywhere, as long as I have a place to stay, work on my car, etc. That would be incredible actually!

I'm going to have a real personal moment here with you LP. So bear with me. Things have taken a turn for the worst at my place of employment. Worked here for 12 years. I'm miserable. Nothing is getting better. Things are worse and worse. I'm waking up every day hating what I do. The money is good, but I ask myself, "Do I want to do this in a year? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?" I know the answer. I do the same things that aren't challenging, mundane, with management that is out of this world insane, in a company that I see no foreseeable gain. I've been working on cars now, Porsches and everything I can under the sun for the last 10 years, and as you know now... My first love, Lamborghini. I had a moment the other day. I'm sitting there writing code for the GPS unit for the speedometer I'm making and I'm thinking, "I'm programming a GPS receiver, putting together a stepper motor to convert a 30 year old gauge set into modern technology. Why in the hell am I wasting my time waking up each day doing crap I hate? Why am I not doing this stuff every day?" I took a car that was pure trash and revived the motor. I've converted it to a full ITB conversion, standalone EFI, I've done all my own fabrication, cross referenced things, hell.. i've even printed my own circuit boards (recent "hobby" i picked up). I realized... the thing that makes me the happiest every day is the moments I spend working on exotics. Soldering, electronics, mechanical things, getting dirty, getting to the core of something handmade with my own handmade results. I'm fcuking miserable right now and the ONLY thing that keeps me from wanting to just fade into the dark abyss of nada is the things that bring me the greatest joy, exotics. There is something beautiful in life about the way someone shapes the automotive world into the world of mechanical. It isn't because it's "efficient" or "always makes sense", but because it's beautiful. It was made to be beautiful, amazing, a rolling piece of art. There's no word for it otherwise. At the end of the day, the only thing that drives me is completing my own dreams, which I have realized professionally revolve around that. I want to see other people's dreams come true. Someone who works hard, who put their life's effort into gaining that rolling piece of art into something they can be proud of. Something that screams, "Look, not only did I make it, but THIS represents my inner being, THIS is part of me." and it makes me happy every time I work on one. I was wondering if anyone knows anyone at any of the exotic restoration, mechanic, or exotic dealers out there. I've seen amazing things about places like bobileff and many others. At this point in my life my investments are very strong, I own ALL of my assets, can sell my house very easily and am ready for the next step in my life. I'm 32. I have nothing to lose and I'm not going to be happy until I chase my dreams. I don't know if anyone out there is willing to vouch for me, give me info on anyone who may be hiring, or where I should even start. I had my own business doing leatherwork and custom restorations for wheels for several years. I'm no stranger to running a business. But I'm not cutout to run a huge business. I'm far happier working at the core of exotics. At the end of the day I am happiest with a wrench, soldering iron, or any number of software suites to program things on my own custom microcontrollers. I'm in a place where I need change in my life, and I see no other outcome than devoting my entire being to the things I am most passionate about. Call this a cry for help, a vouch, a point in the right direction, tough love, whatever you guys want to call it. But I'm willing to give everything I have (minus my lambo, of course) to make it happen. I've never been here, and I don't even know where to begin. I have nothing to lose at this point. There comes a point in every person's life when one must choose between pursuing that which makes one happy, or doing the same repetitive stuff only to end up living a life full of regret wondering, "What could it have been?" I am at that point. You're like a second family to me and this is incredibly hard for me to put into words.

Honestly I'd probably buy a house I could maintain, a nice garage, some select cars, invest the rest and live off of dividends. Then donate to charity.

Dude didn't stand a chance.

I'm finally done with my time lapse. This isn't the original size, it's too big to upload as the format detail is 9k by 9k pixels, at highest quality and is 300 megs. So here's a 50% smaller version with detail brought down to make it internet friendly. Zoom in and the sun spots are totally visible throughout. On the 9k by 9k there's no booboos, but this one i resized early and there is one layer overlapping. Either way, still neato.

Jet got in the way on one of my shots so i made a little gif out of it.

False. I will eat it if i want to.

A few previews. A cropped version with spots clearly visible. I still have about 450 photos to process. time lapse coming.

I legitimately laughed out loud. On a positive note, I got over 640 photos for a time lapse through my solar filter and modified camera and telescope.

Well guys, a friend came to stay last night from washington. Haven't seen him in years. Had a spare solar filter for his photography and just gave me his spare. So I've been out practicing today and the results are going to be great. I do not have any glasses, but looking at the sun through my camera was gorgeous.

That was very beautiful, rob.

Apparently important enough to trash our local parking lots, land, and start forest fires. I think it's rad, don't get me wrong. I am going to try and snag pics with my telescope. But I'm pissed that so many people are so careless of our local area. Local firefighters are saying it was caused by improper cigarette disposal but they're too busy fighting it to finish up the investigation. http://katu.com/news/local/wildfire-near-s...me-eclipse-zone Only recent fires we had caused by natural events were lightning over a week ago. I'd say 85% of the fires we see are carelessness. Improper cigarette disposal, people parking in high grass (cats lighting the grass on fire), sparks from trailers, all kinds of, "Seriously dude?" reasons.

4500 acre fire surging, many residents of Sisters oregon being told to prepare for evacuation. Most of CO is engulfed in smoke and looks like we're near sunset. Eclipse may be fucked. Ironic people come here for the eclipse, and then carelessly cause forest fires that could drown it out entirely. FEMA now involved. They think the fire was caused by incorrect disposal of a cigarette but are still investigating as it could be other causes. Other smaller fires have already flared up and been put out. Eclipse festival doomed for blotted out sky? Hard to tell.

I'll stare directly if I want to, don't you tell me what to do!

My parents live in prineville, and that's what's happening there. People have nowhere to stay, so many are simply parking on the sides of the highway for miles to come. Traffic jam last night on the highway through the town was 14 miles long.

Home I have covered. I'm talking what people recommend for cars. I know some people have cam systems that cover side windows, dash, rear, etc.

So here's the dealio, the Jalpa is nearing completion. I've already got a camera and DVR system for my house in place now that I'm growing paranoid about people following me back. I had a friend on LP who drove his RWB to come work on the car and a guy followed him to my house up to my driveway. We were all a bit on edge, and the dude clearly had no bad intent. BUT, you never know. That said, I've read of others who have caught people vandalizing their autos on camera. What do you guys recommend/use? What options do I have for things like mirror cameras, dash cameras, rear cameras, etc. That kind of stuff? Especially hidden stuff. Small, light weight, good quality, and a DVR system that can record it?

Honestly I'm not one of the types who shakes my fist at people for moving here from cali. My largest concern is that there's going to be too much traffic, too many accidents, and people are going to cause even more forest fires than we've already been dealing with. But I mean.... sitting in a lawn chair flipping people off on the overpass with a cigar and scotch sounds pretty good.

Traffic is backed up from one side of town to the other past the airport coming out of my hometown of little prineville oregon. traffic reports in the town i live in are reporting huge traffic backups on 26/126/97 highways. absolutely insane, and it's ONLY WEDNESDAY. I was lucky enough to get monday off. So I don't have to deal with the mad house. I'm going to shut myself in this weekend and everyone can fcuk off. Too many people. I've stocked up on food. Most of our gas stations in the surrounding cities are completely out of gas. Estimated 1 million people are supposed to pass through here between monday this week and during the eclipse.

Well, my boss is chill with me bringing my astrophotography setup to work. So I've ordered a solar filter and will snag pics at work, since we don't have the time for time off right now.

Sounds like we need an army of ninjas.

It's supposed to be the largest traffic event in oregon history and the worst traffic jam. I'm actually pissed as hell and don't want to work that day.