it's time for an intro to who !LTCAP is.
ok......i think after having kgb humping my ankle in the "worst car" thread, that possibly a little introduction may be in order. none of this is intended to be bragging, but rather to simply let people on here know who i am, and what i am. the "me" you deal with on the bbs is the very same "me" you'd deal with face to face(except then you'd hafta look at my ugly mug)
i'm 48 years old. i started messing with cars when i was about 15 or 16. never took auto shop in high school. to be honest, i had a bad attitude in school, and only wanted my good grades so i could graduate, and go to work. you young people reading this....that is the WRONG attitude.
i learned a little at the local dragstrip. about enough to get myself in trouble. didn't have enough experience to get a job in the field, so i went to work in the resturant business for awhile.
during this time, i would still tear engines out, clean, and rebuild em. what i didn't know, i called my best friend(the guy that taught me 2/3 of what i know), and he'd come down and help me.
finally, one afternoon while we were dropping a 427 with trips in his brothers 57 fairlane(this car ran 11.20's), he asked me if i wanted to get into the field. i jumped at it.
he got me a job at the small 3 bay shop where he worked. started out being the piss boy(watch history of the world pt1 if you don't understand that term). worked a lot of hours, cleaning, doing oil changes, tires, etc. gradually, they moved me up to brakes, then suspension, then engine work, etc.
finally after nearly a year, dickie(the shop owner) tossed me a set of keys to a ford tempo that had just been towed in.
he told me to get the truck drivers to help me push it in the bay, grab the manual(remember when our information was actually in books?) and that he didn't want to hear a single word out of me till i figured that car out(i talked a lot,,,,,still do actually). i spent 2 days on that car with pretty much everything i kinda sorta knew how to use to diagnose it.
to this day, it is the only car that has ever beaten me(it was the orange wire....ford guys will know what i mean, and will be laughing right about now).
over the years, i kept jumping at anything diagnostic like a slut. i couldn't get enough of it, which mike(my friend) didn't mind, as he didn't...and still doesn't like computer control diagnosis.
i went to the point of purchasing my own scanner(my first one was an otc monitor 2000), obviously a DVOM, and was pretty much buying tools as i needed them to do any work. i've always worked at shops that work on anything and everything for the most part. i was there for nearly 8 years when i got a deal on a fluke 97A. they laughed at me for that purchase. till i learned how to use it. dickie, and mike both still laugh at me because i wear latex gloves when i work on cars......always have, always will.
because of how i was taught, i can diagnose/fix pretty much anything that rolls in the door. if i don't know how to do it when it gets there, i will when it leaves. i always handled the wiring problems on the shops tow trucks too...and there were lots of them, and no wiring diagrams.
over the years, i had gotten my ASE certifications. i used to believe that those of us that had those certifications had something special. not really so though.
i was certified in:
A1, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, and L1. i never took the automatic transmission tests nor the manual transmission tests, as i've never done heavy work on them, and had no need(honestly no desire either) to learn them. i no longer have the ASE certifications, as i chose to not renew them.
i hold my NJ State emissions repair lisence, and inspectors lisence. i had been certified in HVAC through gm.
over the years, i bought a newer lab scope(but refused to get rid of my 97a, as although it's outdated, it still gives me the best readings when i need a scope), 2 scanners(an otc, and a snap on modis), and my absolute most useful testing tool.....a power probe. that has to be the best $170 i've ever spent.
people that i used to call for help now call me for help. i thank god each and every day to have been blessed with such good friends,(dickie, my first boss is actually a good friend now) and such good fortune in having good jobs......of which i've only had 4 different ones in this field. i don't like job hopping.
as many times as you've all seen me come on this bbs whining about this or that.....i still after all of these years love what i do. i cannot honestly imagine doing anything else for a living.
as of march 7, 2011, i will have had my own shop for 3 years. it's a struggle, but a challenge i'm having fun with.....
so, that's me. i tall skinny geeky dork of a guy, with a bad(sometimes) attitude, and a seriously warped sense of humor.
did i miss anything?
oops....i did.
about 8 years ago, i joined the Civil Air Patrol. that's where i got my ingame handle from. honestly, i joined for greedy reasons. i wanted to be able to rent a cessna for cheap(cap aircraft can still be flown for less than $70/hour wet).
the problem, was that i started having too much fun teaching the kids about flying, about ES, SAR, and so on.
i was in for about 3 years, when i was asked if i wanted to help out at Wing HQ. i took on the position of LGTA(LoGitistics Trsansportation Assistant). i held that position for about a year, and my mentor moved up to NorthEast Region Staff, and i took over his position.
this position opened my eyes as to how many people will see a govt. vehicle, and the price seems to double or triple. i'm able to bring my experience in the automotive field into CAP though, and have done an extremely good job of controlling our costs, and took NJ Wing from a reactionary state of maintenance to a fully preventative position.
i'm so far from perfect, it sometimes scares me(more than looking in the mirror in the morning), but i like to think i'm a pretty decent person.
now....did i miss anything?
