mikey at dragonhunters.net

Holy shit, I actually made a whole web page!

So, I made a new web page on the site this fine evening, and I completed it to a point where I am happy. I did it all in one sitting! I never complete anything I start, as most who know me know. After a lot of fun today though, I had to make The Adventures of Jimmy!

Go check it out, it's fun!

My new toy.

Okay, so it's not really a toy. I acquired this 1994 GMC Jimmy from my dad for free. Basically, I think my parents wanted it out of the yard. It had unknown electrical problems, so it was up to me to get it running. My first thought from the symptoms was that the alternator was shot. I took it off, and I soon realized that it was completely froze up. I got a new one last week, and installed it. Phill and I got the thing started pretty easily after that was replaced, though it had to be jump started because the battery was dead. The funny thing was how the digital instrument panel was freaking out. Check out what it showed on the odometer!

Once I got a new battery for it, the electrical system was more stable and the odometer started reading the proper 170,047 miles. Once running, we noticed that when we opened the hood, we were getting splattered in the face with transmission fluid.
After bitching about not wanting to replace the weather-cracked transmission oil lines to the radiator, Phill came up with the bright idea to just get an auxillary transmission cooler and using it instead of the radiator for cooling the transmission fluid. This worked well, and cost only slightly more for tons less dicking around with it.

All in all, I think I got a good deal:

1994 GMC Jimmy:$ 0.00
Alternator: 100.00
Battery: 70.00
Trans Cooler: 50.00

Grand Total: $220.00

I missed out plates and insurance... Insurance was like $17 for the next 20 days, and plates and title fees were 98 dollars, which I reluctantly paid. I just have to remember that only a few trips to work will totally pay for this in the money I will save in gasoline costs.

I am so tempted to just play with it off road until it is dead. I managed to raise the front suspension about 4 inches in the front by adjustment only, and to raise the rear, I got a $13.00 kit from Autozone. We tried to put it on a couple hours ago, but the old bolts are so rusted on that we can't install the new kit. We went to Jenison a bit ago and gave the suspension a good beating after oiling it up in order to try to loosen up the stuck parts. I guess we'll see how that worked tomorrow. If we can get that lift on the back, I will be happy. I'll post more later when there's more progress.

Ugh...

So today is my sister's wedding. Yesterday evening was the wedding rehearsal, so I had to be there because I'm one of those dudes in the wedding. I wasn't feeling good after I got out of work at about noon. I went to lunch with Phill and Kim, and I really couldn't eat much. I was feeling pretty sick... I thought it was because I was sleep deprived, so I went home to take a nap. I only had two hours to sleep before I had to get up to go to the wedding rehearsal. I got up, and I felt worse. I had diarrhea, and felt pretty weak. I decided to take my temperature, because I was freezing. I got a reading of just over 101 degrees... I still had to get to Grand Haven for the wedding rehearsal. I thought I was going to die... After the rehearsal, Nick's parents took us all to dinner, but I didn't go, because I was feeling so sick. I went back to my parents' house and slept. I woke up at about 10:30 with diarrhea, and my stomach felt horrible. Eventually, I threw up. After that, I thought my fever broke, because I was sweating. I talked to Amanda and Nick for a few minutes, because they were the only ones there at my parents' house at the time, and I went back to bed. Then my parents came home. I told my mom what happened, and then I went back to sleep. This morning I woke up feeling a bit better... I haven't puked today, and I ate some soup. So here I am. The wedding is in a fe w hours, and hopefully I'll be okay. I wonder if Alicia is coming.

My aspiration is to be a slum lord...

I know that houses can be had on the cheap in Muskegon Heights. I knew this for a long time. Last night I went on swmric.com, a local MLS web site which has listings from all area MLS agencies. This is where I did the majority of my house hunting. I typed in a search for all properties priced from $1,000 to $20,000 just to see the result. Right around the $15,000 range I found quite a lot of small houses built in the 1930s up for sale. A couple of them had tenants paying $350 per month!

I've always wanted to own rental properties and go into business for myself as a landlord/real estate investor. Searching the internet, I have found quite a cache of information on doing this, and how to do it right. The Landlord Protection Agency is an example.
________________________________________________
This Ghetto Property Could Be Yours for only $10,000.00!

This 725 sq. ft. house in Muskegon Heights currently rents for $325/mo according to the listing.
________________________________________________

My problem in getting started though, has been twofold.

First, I felt I lacked the ability to slowly transition into building a business able to sustain my own survival. I was working many hours at an absolutely full time job, with no possibility of being able to cut hours. Now that I am a truck driver, I am able at any time to call up my driver relations representative, and say, "Hey Joel, This is Mike Schmalz. I've started a business recently, and I'm going to have to drop to part time so I can have more time to focus on my business. I want to start working four days a week starting next month." They wouldn't like it, but they would oblige. Many of the drivers work four days a week. Some of them work three or less, and a few only drive once a month or so when they're bored. I could cut my hours entirely as I see fit, and slowly phase out the truck driving if the whole property management thing starts to take off. I could essentially retire before I hit 30 if I'm ambitious enough. Don't get me wrong, everyone's definition of the word "retire" is different, so here is mine: For me to retire would be to have a leisurely or sporadic work schedule. I would have the ability to take off to Tennessee essentially whenever I felt like it, and the only work I would have to do would be maintenance on my properties, and dealing with financials and legal situations with problem tenants.

My other problem is this: I have been having enough fun paying my own bills, let alone diving in to get another house. I have dug myself into quite a large pit of bills and big time credit screw-ups in the last few years. Lately I have been working hard to get rid of my debts so I will not be so tied down to the man. In the next few months, I should be nearly free of credit card debt, leaving me with a few larger obligations to contend with.

Dealing with those other debts probably means liquidating some of my assets, such as my SeaDoo and quite possibly my now beat up, old pickup truck I once said I would never sell. Once I deal with some or all of these issues though, I will easily be able to come up with money to start purchasing real estate. many of those listings said that they would consider a purchase via land contract. This would be great, because then I wouldn't have to deal with a lender right away, if at all since these properties are so cheap, I could almost buy them outright with cash, and if I did need a loan, I could apply for it after I've acquired a tenant, so I could say, "Here is my lease contract for the property. My tenant will be paying this payment for me."

Okay, I could go on and on about this, so maybe I should put my money where my mouth is. I think this time I will. I have a more structured plan than I ever have. This is what I get for sitting alone in a semi truck for sixteen waking hours per day.

MILF fest!

Holy crap....

Today, I went to the preschool where I was to pick up my roomate's 5 year old kid, and as I was standing in the hallway, I encountered more MILFs than I ever have in my life. I know, that sounds bad, but hey... I guess that a lot of hot chicks about my age made babies 4-5 years ago, LOL

Anyway... I felt kinda weird going to get her, because the good looking teacher chick asked me for my ID after I told her that I was there to pick up Katie. She took a look at it, then relinquished Katie after verifying who I was.

Then we came home, and I decided to make a couple of recordings of Katie. I'll probably edit them and burn it on a CD for mom to use ten years from now to embarass Katie. I'll attach a few little clips to this post. We played Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix on the Game Cube, and then I had to suffer through some my little pony DVD, though I did get a reprieve by going into the kitchen and making her some lunch. I was also stuck watching about a half hour of a pegasus barbie DVD. I got her to sing a little for the mic. Now she's occupying herself on Barbie.com and mylittlepony.com.

Now I have to go to work soon. Boy am I tired.

Katie and me... the first recording:

Here's more of me and Katie:

I also recorded some ambient sounds from outside my window in stereo earlier today... play that here... it sounds best with headphones.

Finally, a pic of my "Studio"

I took a pic of my studio setup after I installed the mixer and desktop rack over two weeks ago, but I did it on Angie's camera, and hers burns to a CD, but the disc wasn't closed, so I couldn't load the pic off of it. Well, I have it now, so here it is:

I wish I could have accompanied it with another recording, but I'm only a foul weather studio rat, and I also can't right now because I have to report back to work in about 4 hours for one last day of work before my "weekend." If you want some music, check out my previous post.

That said, I think I'll go to sleep now for a few.

I have a new CD.

Since I'm one of about 10 people on the planet who will still buy a CD every once in a while, I thought I'd blab about the latest album I found interesting. First, I'll list the last few albums I can recall purchasing just to show what I generally tend to purchase:

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
System of a Down - Mesmerize
Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists

I recently downloaded a copy of KT Tunstall's album, "Eye To The Telescope," which in February got distribution in the USA, after a successful release in Europe last year. I discovered this talented artist listening to an interview on NPR's Weekend Edition which aired on the weekend of February 4.

During her live performances, she utilizes a loop pedal ro record her playing a vast range of sounds from percussion to vocal riffs, then plays the loops with accompaniment by guitar and lead vocals.

The studio album leaves a little to be desired though. Listening to it after hearing her perform live is somewhat disappointing because the raw spontaneity and charm of the one woman with her instruments and loop pedal is lost in the grand production in the studio.

That said, this is still a great album, and even though I had MP3s, I deemed it worth my 13 bucks, and purchased it today.

Check out the NPR website to listen to the interview and the four songs she performed. (Unfortunately, you need real player or whatever it's called now to listen to that shit. Maybe VLC will do it. VLC is a good open source media player app. I hate real media and refuse to install their shit player.)

Son of a bitch!

So I just heard about the second season of a show that I haven't seen yet, but I sorta liked the idea. Last season was "ROCK STAR: INXS," and though I'm not a huge fan of INXS, I thought much more of the show than I do American Idol, because it was a small bit of a departure from the mostly over-produced excrement shat from the world of pop music. Well, I just today found out that the band for the second season, "Supernova," features Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) on drums, and Jason Newsted (long time Metallica bassist,) playing bass, along with one of the lesser known guitarists from Guns and Roses, Gilby Clarke. I am pissed. Auditions are over. Oh well, it's not like I can sing very well anyway in a rock voice... I think I just need to find the voice that fits my chords and stick with it. I can do a decent falsetto, though I generally don't, and I think my real voice is somewhere around Anthony Kedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers,) that dude from Cake, or Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver.)

Not that it would matter anyway if I could find my voice, because to be on TV and succeed in such a reality show, you can't be a fat ass without charisma, like me. :-P Oh well, I'll just piddle around in my studio on my days off from work. I still need a drummer to lay down some tracks, or I need to get a hold of either a sampler or a drum machine. there's tons of shit floating around in my head, but I need to lay a foundation to produce it. Drums are the bane of my existence. I lack steady rhythm, and percussion instruments. I could make some shit with egg shakers I guess... not everything in my head is hard rock.

Speaking of me making music, my buddy Phill pointed out something to me. My stupid little song that I made with my pal Dave jokingly done as "Linus the cat" basically shares a riff with a cut from an album released by Avenged Sevenfold about 5 months after I jammed out my little "Linus the Cat" riff. If you get a chance, listen to the verse parts of "The Beast and the Harlot" from the album "City of Evil," and then compare to my song that I've linked to way too many times, even in the entry below this one. I first heard the song back in August of 2005, 2 months after the album dropped, and I have heard the song often since then, and I never noticed until Phill said something a few days ago.

I saw a friend from high school Tuesday night. (Rich Brandt) It's crazy... I'm like the only one without at least one kid, and I think really in the back of my head, I was the first to want one. I've somewhat secretly wanted kids since like.... well, I'd say mid 2000. I keep hesitating. The circumstances have never really been right I guess, and also I think my sperm are retarded or something, but that's a story for another day.

Seacrest, Out! (LOL, that guy is such a douchebag!)

Okay, I'll try again.

So here's another attempt at a blog entry.

I just woke up on this Thursday morning, which is really my Sunday, because I have to go back to work tonight. I am groggy and it feels like my head is swimming. I have a cold and/or allergies, and I can barely hear because while I was sleeping my eustachian tubes clogged. One time in middle school this happened so badly that I could not hear anything below shout level for a couple days.

Anyway... I'm excited because it's finally getting warm enough to ride the motorcycle and not freeze my nuts off. I rode it to a friend's house yesterday evening without a jacket, and it was nice. What sucked was when 10:00PM rolled around and I jumped on to go home. There was frost on my seat. Oh well, it was only like a 2 mile ride. It probably advanced my illness I'm experiencing though. I don't know, it seemed to temporarily clear my sinuses.

I was rearranging my recording studio equipment last night after I got home because I got an equipment rack for like 5 dollars or something. Here, I'll take a picture.

...

Well, I guess I can't post it because Angie's camera won't let me steal the pics off of it until the CD is full. She has this silly camera with no internal storage and requires mini CD-r's. you can't take the CD out and use it until you're done writing to it. it's not quite full yet, so I won't close it because Angie might get pissed...

Alicia wants me to write her a song. I haven't been able to write any song, let alone a specific song! Well, I reckon if you want to consider "Linus The Cat " a song, then I suppose I have written a song. Oh well, I'm still trying. I should record that "song" again with my new equipment. That original edit was pretty rough. I'll need to either program some drums or have someone lay down a drum track for me. I played all the rest myself.

Speaking of Alicia -- She was arguing with me over the instant messenger last night, and she was picking on me about my common use of uncommon words and phrases. I thought it was funny... what word did she point out? Umm, let me look, since I still have the window open... Heh, I used the word figurative, and she thought it was funny, or cute or something. I don't know.

I wanted to have a bonfire last night because I have all this wood and yard waste that needs to be burned, but by the time I got home last night, no one wanted to come over and sit around it. Oh well, maybe next week. Anyone who reads this is invited, so long as it's not raining, snowing, or if we have too strong wind activity. 914 S Quarterline, across from the cop shop. :-P if no one shows, I might just hold out another week. *shrug*

Anyway... here went another failed post attempt. My life is boring. I have nothing of substance to talk about. I just need to take my sinus meds and go do something like clean up my yard, ride the motorcycle around town, or prep my radio control cars for this season's racing action!

p.s. If it's warm enough, I decided to ride the bike. :-)

Dang, I'm tired...

I came in here to go to sleep. I am extremely tired because I have been up for the last 24 hours and some minutes. I suppose though that I will make a quick post since everyone thinks I disappeared off the face of the planet.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I didn't know anybody really read this anyway...

My poor truck is in the middle of surgery here at the house of Phill Briggs. We went to autozone and I bought oil, a filter, and 4 ball joints. I also got the special tools that are needed to remove and replace them. Autozone has "free rental" of these special tools, but that means you have to throw down a hundred bucks in order to take the tools out the door in case you don't come back.

Anyway, I have the oil drained right now, and we did the ball joints on one side of the truck. we almost completely broke a part that would have been about thirteen bucks, but would have been a pain in the ass to replace because depending on the desired adjustment, only one of thirty or so different parts would be the proper replacement. Fortunately, we could still use the old part. Tomorrow I must change the oil filter, and fill the oil reserve, and Phill and I will do the two ball joints on the other side. I will then be able to get the front new tires without them prematurely wearing out again.

Well, I am about to pass out. I better get to sleep. I'm working on 25 hours straight with not a wink of sleep right now, and I'm sick. I need to beef up the immune system by sleeping.