PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

SRT8 is probably a drug seizure...

 

They get a certain amount I think it's like 32,000 from the state and the rest they have to come up with. I've seen a 4Runner pro too.

 

We auction off the drug seizures here. It's their own POV's after the shift they take the light off the top and it's theirs, the county pays for all the maintenance and registration and stuff like.

 

Well. Isn't that something...

 

@HomerTaco
@Plain Jane Taco
@Artruck

Message specifically for "Artruck": Thank you for your interest in my van pictures. I don't know how familiar you are with me, so I figured I'd use this opportunity to introduce myself and show you the thread the TW moderators created just for me! To make a long story short, I was blowing up the "Off-topic Discussion" section of this forum with my short stories, much to the annoyance of some other members. However, a lot of members and several of the moderators enjoyed my stories and other contributions, so one of the mods combined all of my non-Tacoma posts into this thread!

I also couldn't help but notice that you have pretty much the same truck as me but a year older, and that you installed foglights. I am strongly considering installing foglights in my 2010, and I'd like to get some info from you about that.

Nice to meet you!

How it all started: A guy showing his customized 1977 Dodge van at Doylestown at Dusk last July told me about Keystone Madness. About two weeks prior to the event, I emailed a couple of people whose names were listed on the official website, specifically a woman named Paris who pretty much runs the whole event, and a guy called Jimbo. There is nothing identifying Keystone Madness as a "private event" on the website or either of the two PDF flyers for the 2017 event that Jimbo sent me. Jimbo and Paris were very nice, by the way. I told Paris that I'd never been to a "van-exclusive" event before and I really wanted to go to one, primarily for the purpose of photographing custom vans. She introduced herself as the gate supervisor, told me I was basically more than welcome to come, and that she looked forward to meeting in person. She told me that the cost for regular spectators to get in was $10. I emailed Paris again, the day before I planned on driving up to Schuylkill County, just to confirm the address of the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds where the event was being held. Unlike Carlisle, where there are hotels aplenty just minutes from the fairgrounds, Keystone Madness is literally in the middle of scenic nowhere (It is in fact very scenic, but very much in the middle of nowhere). I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and turn the trip into a visit with my grandmother. I'd drive up to Grammy's place in Bethlehem and spend the night, while also getting a nice visit with Grammy in, and then drive up to Schuylkill first thing the next morning. My cousin drove down to visit as well, as mentioned in my previous post.

Before 9am, I hopped in my Tacoma, punched the address into the GPS, and hit the road. I did encounter road work-induced traffic that delayed me by maybe 10-15 minutes, but the trip went great otherwise. The GPS guidance ended at a clearly marked entrance to the fairgrounds, but the entranced was locked up tight and the fairgrounds looked deserted. I drove past thinking there was another entrance just ahead. No such luck. I ended up pulling over practically into someone's yard (Shoulders? What shoulders? ), where I punched the address for the fairgrounds into my iPhone. The iPhone took me to the same spot, and I was wondering what the hell I was going to do until I saw a custom van make a right into another entrance before the thoroughly barricaded main entrance that I'd missed. The difficulty I had finding the event was my first clue of what eventually occurred...

So, I made a left where the custom van had made a right, and a dirt road quickly took me to an area apparently filled with spectator vehicles, plus a 1976-1977ish Chevrolet G-series "Nomad" van parked all by itself. I immediately parked my truck and got out to take pictures, then got back in the truck and drove up to the main entrance...

 

@HomerTaco
@Plain Jane Taco

How I almost DID NOT get into the Keystone Madness van show: There were three men who I would classify as "stereotypical vanners" at the entrance. I rolled down my window and politely asked "Where is the spectator parking?" One of the men gruffly responded by saying "There is no spectator parking." I didn't know if he was joking, but I think I said something like "This is the van show, isn't it?" Some arguing and bickering took place and these guys were becoming increasingly more hostile and pissed off, most notably an older guy with a beard. One of them said "This is a private event." Another, in a tone that said "Are you retarded or something?" said "I don't know how we can make it any clearer." I quickly realized that they were not joking, but I was absolutely dumbfounded, and also about to lose my shit with these guys. There was absolutely nothing on the website or the PDF flyers I'd gotten in the email from "Jimbovanner" stating that this was a private event or otherwise not open to the public. The only stipulation that stood out to me was that cars were not allowed on the show grounds. My mind was racing, and I was seriously about to give these guys a not-very-friendly piece of mind. After all, I'd been told by the gate supervisor that I could come in...

That's it! All I could think was, "Paris will sort this out!" I said something like "I've been communicating with Paris so-and-so via email for the last couple weeks, and she said that I could get in for ten bucks."

I can honestly say that I have never seen anybody change their attitude so quickly. This trio of guys went from looking like they were ready to chase me off the property with shotguns to being borderline nice and saying "Paris is in the shower right now" followed by something along the lines of "We'll talk to her ASAP and confirm your story."

NOTE: These guys did not have any weapons that I could see, and certainly no shotguns or firearms of any kind; However, the overall vibe I got from them until I named-dropped Paris was that they were ready to either chase me off the property or throw down right there, seemingly because I was a vanless outsider and not "one of them." This is the first time anything like this had ever happened to me at any kind of car show or similar event.

I parked my truck, expecting Paris to take a long time in the shower, and called my dad to explain what was going on and get some advice on how to proceed. Before my dad could answer, one of the three guys from the near-confrontation appeared at the gate and motioned for me to come in. I hung up the phone, got out of the truck, and walked up to the gate. I was immediately met with profuse apologies from all three men. Paris had gotten out of the shower and confirmed my story, though she had yet to make an appearance. I paid $10 and had to fill out an entry form as if I were entering my vehicle in the show (including my home address; never had to do that to enter a show as a mere spectator... Weird).

The guys made up for their initial hostility and rudeness by being friendly and respectful for the rest of the time I was there. I actually asked point-blank why they'd been so rude with me at first, and "Dimples," the older man with the beard who along with Paris was pretty much in charge of the whole event, attributed it to lack of sleep. The other two guys likened it to a simple misunderstanding, but while they were rude at first they did apologize. I told "Dimples" exactly why I'd come there. I told him about my Chevy truck "Like a Rock" tribute videos, and how I had plenty of photos of pickup trucks and SUVs, but not many vans. I told him how I felt that vans were on the verge of being "underrepresented" in my videos, and how I wanted nothing more than to get some pictures of vans in their "natural habitats." That statement made Dimples' day, and he said "Thanks, I appreciate that." I also told him that I lived in the Philadelphia suburbs, and I'd driven about 40 minutes to my Grandma's house in Bethlehem where I'd spent the night, and then gotten up at the crack of dawn and driven more than an hour up to Schuylkill from my Grandma's. That immediately triggered remorse on the part of Dimples and the other two guys. Dimples was adamant about the unwritten car show rule of "Look but don't touch" and said that owners of the particularly nice custom vans could get very protective if cameras (specifically my Nikon D5300 SLR with it's huge 18-270 Tamron lens) got too close for comfort to their vehicle's paintwork.

Even though Dimples was very polite for the rest of the time I was there (I did bump into him a couple times over the course of the day), he seemed to come up with excuse after excuse as to why they didn't let just anybody into the event. I later found out from other attendees (including Paris herself when I finally did meet her) that this was not an isolated incident. Dimples was very weary of "newcomers" because he worried, among other things, that they basically wouldn't respect the old school vannin' lifestyle. I heard stories about not just enthusiasts like myself getting turned away at the gate, but a specific story about a couple of veteran vanners (a married couple actually in a van) being denied entry at the gate because Dimples didn't like the husband. They ultimately ended up gaining entry when a more level-headed member of the event staff (I think it was Paris again) intervened. Several veteran vanners told me that their lifestyle was dying out, because many of the guys (and girls) who helped get it started were getting old and, well, dying out. Like just about everything else in the world, the vannin' community is negatively affected by internal drama and individual stubbornness, among other things.

Paris pretty much said that one key element of the vannin' lifestyle was camping and relaxing with other vanners... Just gathering around the campfire at night to swap stories and play music (or probably picking the van with the best sound system and putting The Who or Pink Floyd in the cassette player if nobody was "musically inclined") while passing a joint around. I agree with her fully, and not just because I am very much in favor of marijuana being legalized nationwide for recreational use. I don't smoke myself (I won't lie; I have tried it, but that was years ago), but I know a lot of people who do, and I think weed should just be legal...

Scroll down for more on the van show...

 

My overall opinion of the van show: Everyone at the show was very nice, though a couple of people were rather abrasive, serious, and upfront about asking how I found out about this show. Like I said before, it's no coincidence that the entrance was relatively difficult to find. Keystone Madness is not intended to be a traditional "show." It is a safe and secluded place for vanners to bring their vans, swap stories, and reminisce about the good old days. Once Dimples and the other two guys realized Paris had basically invited me to come and apologized for being so hostile and rude, I never once felt unwelcome by anybody, but I did get an overall vibe that this was supposed to be an "off-the-beaten-path" private oasis for the vannin' community.

Regardless, I'd say my overall opinion of Keystone Madness is "good to very good." I am probably not going to go there anytime in the near future because for starters, it is quite a hike compared to other shows I've been too (surpassed only by Carlisle in terms of how long it takes to drive there from my parents' house). While everyone was very friendly once I got past the little misunderstanding, part of me is a bit worried there might be a similar misunderstanding if I were to go again in 2018, and it would be the van show equivalent of a certain 1993 film starring Bill Murray.

Within the first 30-40 minutes after I walked through the gate, a woman personally invited me to another van event in the Virginia Beach area (I have family in Norfolk so if I happen to visit them it would work out well) in November, after I told her why I was there. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to go (even though I really want to).

That wasn't even the first noteworthy encounter of the day, either...

Within 15 minutes or so paying my $10 spectator fee, I encountered a group of guys who all owned 1980s-1990s Chevrolet G-series vans and starting shooting the breeze with them about said vans. As is usually the case with just about every owner of a GM truck (or van) I start chatting with about the specs of their vehicles, these guys seemed to be quite impressed that I knew what I knew. While I was admiring a green 1993 Chevrolet G20 conversion van, I smelled the unmistakable aroma of something other than tobacco. I was expecting this event to basically be Woodstock with vans from the very beginning, before I even went, so it didn't surprise me in the slightest that these guys were lightin' up before 10am. I work at a bar, I've been to plenty of concerts, and some of my good friends are veteran stoners. The whole marijuana subculture doesn't bother me in the slightest, and like I said above, weed should be legal for recreational use in this country...

One thing that I wondered on the way there would be whether I'd be invited to smoke. My question was answered...

After all of these guys had taken their turn, they immediately started coughing and one of them who wasn't coughing looked at me and held up the biggest joint I'd ever seen (rigged up to a hollowed-out pen; gotta love redneck ingenuity). I politely declined, saying that I had to drive home, and also stating that seeing all of them coughing their lungs up after taking a hit didn't exactly make it look attractive. One of the guys actually agreed with me. I shot the shit these guys for a bit longer, and took some pictures of the aforementioned green Chevy van for my tribute videos before continuing on my way...

At Carlisle just this past August, I did pudding shots with the other Tacoma owners two days in a row. At the 2014 U.S. Diesel Truckin' Nationals at Raceway Park (first time I went), I started talking with a couple guys from Connecticut who'd driven their 2001ish Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins all the way down to New Jersey just for the one-day show. Within minutes, the owner of the truck was opening a cooler in the bed of the truck, pulling out two ice cold bottles of beer for him and his friend, and asking me if I wanted one. I politely declined (I had to drive over an hour back to Pennsylvania, and alcohol is technically prohibited on the grounds of Raceway Park; Officials just look the other way as long as people behave). Needless to say, it's a very good thing when someone you've just met buys your drink at a bar, or offers you a beer from their personal stash at an even like a car show. It's their way of saying "I like you. Wanna stay and chill with me/us for a bit?"

That said, I have to say that I am flattered about being offered weed within minutes of meeting a group of people at the van show...

Please check out the "Car Porn" thread for more pictures I took at the van show!

 

@Iamraiderpower
@HomerTaco
@Plain Jane Taco
@Salty_Dog

September 13th, 2014:

I knew I had pictures of this truck on my external hard drive, but I had totally forgotten that the owner and his friend actually posed for a couple pictures!

One of these reason I love these events is not the vehicles I see there, but the people I meet there...

 

@Plain Jane Taco

Do you lease or buy your Tacomas? Couldn't help but notice you seem to get a new one every 3-4 years. The Storm Trooper double cab you currently have was a present for your wife if I remember correctly?

 

Kinda a gift from her actually...not to her. But yes I buy.

I'll probably keep this one for some time. She's paid for and as the remainder of the 8yr/125k Platinum zero deductible warranty.

 

I got her in June of '15. She's got just under 36k miles on the clock. Lots of life left in her.

 

You may also remember me saying that Dimples seemed to come up with excuse after excuse about why I should exercise so much caution with my camera, specifically regarding overprotective owners of vans with expensive paint jobs and airbrushed murals.

I would like the world to know something...

I am a car show veteran. I've been going to them as a spectator/enthusiast pretty much my whole life, and I've recently started entering my Tacoma in certain shows. I know the scene very well, and I know all the rules (official and unwritten). One of the biggest is "LOOK BUT DON'T TOUCH." Cameras, zippers, and other items and accessories with the potential to dent sheetmetal or scratch paint are to keep away from show vehicles. I've mastered the art of peering through the open windows of show vehicles to get a closer look at the interior, without getting anywhere close to damaging the vehicle in anyway.

As such, I've only gotten into a confrontation with a vehicle owner once with regards to their vehicle almost being damaged. It was in April, either in 2015 or 2016, and the vehicle in question was a 1960s Ford Thunderbird. I'd gotten permission from my friend (who also happens to be my boss) to bring her female Boxer/Labrador mix (named Tully) to the car show since my boss/friend was busy that day and it would have been a shame to keep the dog in the house on such a nice day. While I was chatting with the owner of this 1963ish T-bird, Tully randomly decided to make an attempt to jump up on the car. My Tacoma has gotten untold claw marks on the driver's door from overexcited dogs who were happy to see me, but luckily they've all been easy to buff out. A 2010 Toyota Tacoma is one thing, but a 50-year old T-bird is a different story.

Luckily, I have really good reflexes and was able to grab Tully's collar before her front paws could make contact with the car, but the owner still absolutely flipped out. I understand and fully sympathize with the guy when it comes to his car. I would have been mad too, but I stopped Tully. This guy took it a step further and decided it was place to lecture me about being a responsible dog owner, and having better control of my dog. I would like to point once again that I stopped Tully from jumping on the car. I basically blew the guy off and walked away...

Going back to the van show, I encountered numerous van owners. On a few occasions, owners saw me looking through the window of their vans trying to look inside, and they'd be like "You can look inside," meaning go ahead and open the door so you can take a closer look. These were decked out custom vans, with expensive paintwork and interior trimmings. I think people can sense when you are going to be careful and respect their vehicle...

None of the owners I encountered at Keystone Madness were anything like Dimples claimed...

 

I meant to say "from," LOL...

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@HomerTaco

Why I went to an all-van show: Quite simple; I needed pictures of vans! Why you ask? Just scroll down and keep reading...

In about 2010, I realized I had a decent number of Chevy truck photos that I'd taken in the last year or so. I have always loved Chevrolet (and GMC) trucks, and I always will. I figured "Why not share my pictures with the world via YouTube by making tribute videos?" "Like a Rock" by Bob Seger was the obvious choice because to the song's association with Chevrolet due to the 1992-2003 "Like a Rock" ad campaign. The song was just under 6 minutes long, so I threw my first tribute mashup together on MovieMaker and uploaded it to YouTube. These videos were an instant hint (and Bob Seger's music does not seem to have the copyright issues of music by other artists, so I didn't get flagged). In one of my videos, one viewer commented that the video made him want to cry (in a good way of course). The way it worked back in the old days (2010-2011) was that I made my first videos using the surprisingly few pictures I had and quickly ran out, and from that point on I would take pictures in parking lots and at car shows, among other places. I would get just enough photos (30-40 or so) of different trucks, throw a video together, and repeat the process...

Then in early 2012 I decided to reorganized my videos and start from scratch. I removed all of my original videos from YouTube and carefully organized my pictures (starting with the three categories of "SUVs," "Trucks," and "Vans"; I would then organize them further by bed size, cab size, trim level, fuel type, etc). I took hundreds of pictures leading up to July 2012, when my family took no less than two vacations in one month. The 4th of July fell on a Wednesday that year, and we rented a large house in Cape May for one week, for a family reunion. A good amount of my time was spend wandering around Cape May taking pictures of trucks, and it was on July 4th that I was hassled by some volunteer bike cop (more like a glorified meter maid with a walkie-talkie) for taking pictures of a Ford Excursion in the parking lot of Congress Hall (a famous beachfront hotel). This would mark the first time I was hassled for taking pictures of trucks, but I would like to point out that no actual owners gave me trouble in Cape May. Shortly after getting home from Cape May, my parents I flew down to New Orleans. We drove from New Orleans to Pensacola for a reunion with guys my dad trained with in the Naval Academy and stayed there for two days or so. We then drove back to New Orleans and spent a few more days there. I got pictures of some pretty sweet trucks in both Florida and Louisiana (again, no problems with vehicle owners). Then, on July 22nd, tragedy struck. I'd started keeping my truck collection on a 1-terrabyte external hard drive to free up space on my laptop. On this Sunday in late July of 2012, my hard drive just totally failed, and the memory was wiped clean. Pictures dating back to 2009 were gone forever, and these included photos from the Doylestown Road Angels shows in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. They also included truck photos from a trip to Key West with my dad for Memorial Day Weekend in 2011, and quite a few good photos from a trip to visit family in Monterey, California for Christmas in 2010. All of them were gone!

I was devastated, but then I convinced my dad to take me to the Carlisle Truck Nationals and "restock my inventory." We went, I took over a thousand photos, and the rest is history. In less than two years I had more photos then I ever had between 2009 and 2012, and in 2014 my show attendance really kicked into overdrive. In mid-2014, I wanted more pictures of diesel trucks, so my dad and I drove out to the Buck Motorsports Park in Lancaster County in June. I drove up to Maple Grove Raceway (in Mohnton, just outside of Reading) by myself for the Keystone Diesel Truck Nationals. We (my dad and I) went to the Carlisle Truck Nationals for the second time that August. I again drove solo to the U.S. Diesel Truckin' Nationals at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. I also went to another much smaller diesel truck show at Raceway Park in October of that year. In December 2014, I was wondering what I was going to do about a job, when my friend who also happened to be the general manager of my favorite bar offered me a job as her personal assistant and the bar's errand runner. The rest is history...

Needless to say, I have not required financial assistance from my parents for my annual car show budget in nearly 3 years.

Sooo...

I have not posted a Chevy truck "Like a Rock" tribute video on YouTube in like 5 years (with the exception of two in 2014 as part of a college project), primarily because I would rather have a huge inventory of photos to choose from rather than settling for what few photos I do have and then having to wait until I took enough photos of different trucks, SUVs, and vans for another tribute video. Now, I have well over 100K photos. They were all taken in random public places (parking lots, at the homes of friends, family, and neighbors, etc) Most were taken in my home state (er, commonwealth) of Pennsylvania. Neighboring New Jersey comes in at close second for the amount of truck photos I've taken there. Since the days immediately AFTER the hard drive failure of July 2012, I've also taken photos in the states of California, Virginia, Maine, Connecticut, Texas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, and Delaware, as as well as Washington, DC (Yes I've visited or passed through each of these states, and DC, at some point in the last five years).

This winter, I FINALLY plan to get the first 50 or so of my truck videos uploaded to YouTube!

The premise is simple.

 

@HomerTaco
@Plain Jane Taco
@ChadsPride
@DustStorm4x4
@Salty_Dog

I'm not going to lie...

Until I got my present job at a bar (and not just any bar, but a nightclub with a full-service restaurant, a basement music venue with a professional sound booth, and an outdoor patio bar), I was not very good at holding down a job. I think this was a combination of not just having Asperger's Syndrome, but my own shortcomings as a person, regardless of whether or not I'm on the autism spectrum.

I got my first "job" in about September 2006 at the age of 17, not long after I began my senior year of high school. The reason I put the word job in quotations is because it was not a job I went out and applied for on my own. It was chosen for me by the special ed system's S.T.E.P. Program. I forget exactly what that stands for...

Anyway, my first job was at CVS, and I did manage to keep that job for almost two years. The issue was that it wasn't like a normal job. I didn't clock in and clock out, and get a paycheck from CVS. That particular CVS was one of several local businesses that had partnered with the Central Bucks School District and allowed "special needs" students to work for them. However, these students (myself included) were paid by the school district rather than the business they were working for. I forget exactly how much we got paid per hour, but it was at least minimum wage (if not more). The problem was that I was not on the books at CVS and they did not choose when I worked. The school district chose when I worked, and that amounted to maybe two or three hours a day, and two or three days a week...

I didn't exactly have the thriving social life I do now, so the somewhat impressive amount of money I did make went immediately into my savings account, where it gathered interest. Between 2005 and 2009, beginning with the 20% cut of the profits I got from helping my Grandma sell her 1987 Mercedes, I managed to put away like four grand. In addition to the Mercedes sale money (2005), the majority of this money came from the three jobs (2006-2009) I got through the school district and the shitload of money I got from parents and other family members when I graduated from high school (2007).

I got along pretty good with my coworkers at CVS, but the job coach and the significantly lower-functioning autistic student I worked with held me back. In May 2008, broke my elbow in a rather interesting mishap involving a laundry hamper and my Sony digital camera. That put me out of commission for about six weeks. I tried to apply for a job at CVS outside of the school district but didn't get hired (LONG story, but will happily share with anyone who is interested). Between 2006 and 2008, I also worked at the Bucks County Free Library in Doylestown (also through the school district). The people there were nice, but spending 2-3 hours putting books away got boring, so I never went back when the school year started in September 2008.

From May 2008 to April 2009, I was jobless. In April 2009, I was got a job in maintenance and housekeeping at a retirement community in Doylestown. The staff was awesome, but once again I had a job coach who could best described in very profane words, and I was forced to work with a developmentally disabled student who was very low-functioning. I constantly clashed with the job coach, and my time there was cut short after two months due to the beginning of summer.

In January 2009, I'd been accepted into a county-run nonprofit organization called The Coffeehouse Center of Bucks County, run by the adoptive mother of another guy with Asperger's who is presently one of my best friends and closest allies. I'd also finally taken the initiative and started taking classes at Bucks County Community College that same month. Needless to say, my social life really started to improve over the course of the next six months, and I was finally motivated to get back on the path of obtaining my driver's license. My first learner's permit had expired in December 2006, so I had to start from scratch. After failing the test twice, I finally passed on the third try in August 2009. In September 2009, my dad traded the aging 1996 Nissan Pathfinder, which was originally supposed to be my first vehicle, for the 2010 Toyota Tacoma I still have and probably will not be getting rid of anytime soon (if at all). In May 2011, again after failing the road test twice, I passed it on the third try (in the Tacoma all three times) and got my driver's license!

However, it would still be another 2½ years before I made an attempt at getting a real job, and another 3½ years before I finally got my first steady job...

 

@HomerTaco
@Plain Jane Taco
@ChadsPride
@DustStorm4x4
@Salty_Dog

I'm gonna take a break from telling the story of how I got the only steady job I've ever had at this point in my life...

It's literally been almost 8 years since my beloved Tacoma, "Emma," came into my life. My dad bought "Emma" new at Peruzzi Toyota in Hatfield, Pennsylvania on the night of September 30th, 2009 (a Wednesday). I'd only had my learner's permit for a little over a month at the time.

My truck is technically 7 years old, as it is a 2010 model. It was manufactured in August 2009 and purchased in September 2009. However, the window sticker (which I still have) says it is a 2010, it is titled as a 2010, and all paperwork (insurance, registration, etc) states that it is a 2010. So, yeah, my truck may be a 2010, but I consider her to be 8 years old on September 30th, 2017.

My Tacoma had about 20 miles on the odometer when we drove it off the lot that night. It now has just over 77,200 miles (rather low not just for a 2010 model in 2017, but any "older" Tacoma, especially a 2nd gen regular cab). For starters, I took the driver's license road test in my Tacoma three times and passed on the third try...

Let's look back at the various milestones and other moments I've had with my Tacoma...

15 oil changes
2 failed attempts to pass the driver's license road test
1 successful attempt to pass the driver's license road test
8 safety inspections and emissions tests passed with flying colors
2 sets of front brakes
1 master cylinder
3 fender-benders (2 of which were NOT my fault)
1 case of karma being a total bitch
2 back bumpers (rear-ended by texting driver in March 2015 and sideswiped by drunk driver in October 2015; obviously NOT my fault in both cases; see above)
1 sideview mirror (also not my fault)
1 complete stereo system replacement (head unit and speakers)
3 head units (not including the factory radio)
1 flatulent ex-girlfriend who cropdusted the cab on our first date
1 impromptu parking lot makeout session with the ex-girlfriend mentioned above
1 A/C recharge
3 sets of tires
2 sets of wheels
1 transmission flush/fluid replacement
1 battery replacement
2 round-trip weekend visits to the Carlisle Truck Nationals
1 award won at the Carlisle Truck Nationals
1 DUI avoided when a friend/coworker got hammered one night and I drove him home
1 carsick Boxer/Lab mix who barfed in the center console
1 DUI checkpoint
1 teenage coworker taught how to drive
2 traffic stops
1 speeding ticket
5 vehicles with dead batteries successfully jump-started
2 shows saved at the bar where I work
1 dyno-test
3 times getting stuck

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@HomerTaco
@ChadsPride
@DustStorm4x4
@ABA180
@ChadsPride
@newb13

The following statement was true when I first got my driver's license, and it is still true to this very day...

"My Tacoma does most of the work. I just drive it..."

Between 2009 and 2014, I just lived on the four grand or so I'd saved, and supplemented it with money from odd jobs likes shoveling driveways and walking dogs for my neighbors. Once I got my driver's license in 2011, I became "the guy with the pickup truck" in my circle of friends. Most notably, I was the roadie for my best friend's band. Things like speakers, guitars, and a keyboard; they all fit easily in the band members' cars. By 2011, my friend was driving a 2006 Nissan Maxima. My friend was one of three original/founding members of the band. One of the three members (he played keyboard, bass, guitar, and did vocals) drove an older Kia Optima, and another, the drummer, drove an old Saturn L-series station wagon. A fourth founding member (guitarist and vocals) drove a Lincoln Town Car, but he'd left the band in 2010 to pursue a career as a truck driver. His replacement was driving a then-new (or at least almost new; it was a 2010) 5-door Mazda3. The Saturn wagon was more than up to hauling a drum kit and other stuff like speakers, but the car was at least 10 years old and falling apart by then, and the A/C had quit working. It had been involved in a freshwater flood prior to the drummer's acquiring it, which resulted in the engine having to be replaced, and probably had something to do with the A/C compressor seizing up. A lot of these gigs were during the warmer months. Everyone else in the band had working A/C, so riding with one of them while his drums arrived at the gig via Toyota Tacoma was a far more attractive option. We were all young and rather short on cash back then, plus I acted as a roadie for these guys for fun more than for money. They were the best friends I'd had in quite a while, and even though I never profited, they did still find reimburse me for the gas I'd burned hauling their gear to wherever. I was also paid back in food, beer, and at one point in 2014, a $350 Canon PowerShot camera that my friend no longer used.

For jobs hauling furniture and related items, I got paid anywhere from $20 to $50, plus lunch/dinner and a beer or two in some cases.

I had a driver's license, I had a reliable source of transportation, I was going to school, and I had friends...

Life was good, but as they say, all good things must come to an end...

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@HomerTaco
@ChadsPride
@DustStorm4x4
@ABA180
@ChadsPride
@newb13


But then by the end of the summer in 2013 I was almost completely broke. Luckily, I have awesome parents who helped me out financially, and I will forever be indebted to them because of this and numerous other reasons. I absolutely dreaded the idea of working retail, as I'd done it before and had no desire to go back...

I was well-respected at the bar where I've been employed since December 2014, but my parents told me I should never mix business and pleasure, and the woman who would become my boss in just over a year agreed. My friends and I were regulars there, I was afraid I'd screw up and put myself and the staff of what was essentially little more than my favorite watering hole in an awkward position. My parents felt the same way. I considered applying for a job as a barback at another bar in town, but one female bartender I was particularly fond of also stated that even though I was a big help at Puck and everyone loved me, I might not be as comfortable at another bar...

In 2013, I gave up on ever officially working at Puck...

But, I applied at a Dunkin' Donuts and an independently-owned deli restaurant (right next to each other) on the same day in October 2013. I was hired at Dunkin' Donuts pretty much on the spot, and left after two weeks for numerous reasons. I quit for two reasons primarily; For starters, I had to be there at 7am which meant getting up at 6am, two or three times a week; Second of all, none of the people working the morning shift spoke very good English (I believe good communication is crucial).

Like I said, I left after two weeks, getting a $178 check for my time there. Not long after I left Dunkin' Donuts, I got a call out of the blue from the owner of the deli. I'd totally forgotten about it, but he was short-staffed and willing to hire just about anybody who was able-bodied and didn't have a criminal record. He told me to come in and work a part-time shift that day so he could "try me out." Unlike Dunkin' Donuts, this place had quite reasonable hours. They opened at 10am or 11am and closed at like 8pm. I could deal with that.

I showed up right on time, was provided with an apron, and given a tour by another employee. The staff was very nice, and the first few hours were great. Then, as it got closer to closing time, I witnessed a real-life "Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde" transformation right before my eyes. The owner went from being quite nice and easygoing to being a dick. He was watching everybody like a hawk, swearing at his employees and berating them for the most petty things. I panicked when I was tasked with washing dishes, because other employees kept piling dishes in front of me. I froze, and then the owner told me it was going to work out. I took off my apron, walked out to my truck, and got in... I was in shock about disrespectful the owner of this place had been not just to me but all of his employees, and I was pissed!

I turned the key, threw the Tacoma into drive, buried the accelerator pedal, and kicked up a rooster tail of gravel as I roared out of the parking lot. I'm pretty sure everyone inside the deli heard me leaving, and that at least a couple of them saw me haul ass out of the parking lot, and I don't care...

It is worth noting that the owner went bankrupt and lost his house, and the deli went out of business about a year later, not long after I got my current job...

We all know what a "female dog" karma can be!

Needless to say, I'd had enough job-related bullshit for a while, but in 2014 my social life really picked up. My schedule consisted of hanging out with friends, drinking with friends, and going to car shows. In terms of the sheer number of car shows and other related events attended in one summer, the summer of 2014 holds the record...

I was graduating from college soon, but I was still pondering whether to continue my education at a 4-year college or go to vocational school for HVAC tech training. In the meantime, I needed a job!

By November 2014, I was wondering what the hell I was going to do. None of the jobs I presently qualified for were appealing in the slightest. My cousin was still working at Target back then, and we visited him and his parents (my mom's sister/my aunt, and her husband) for Thanksgiving. I remember very well that my cousin's boss wanted him to work late on Thanksgiving! Understandably, my cousin wanted to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Seriously, who would chose working at Target for $8.50 an hour, over cracking open a cold beer (or two, or three) and spending the evening watching football with your dad, uncle, and cousin? My boss bartered with his boss and got Thursday off, but he had to work like a 10 or 12-hour shift the next day (Black Friday). Needless to say, watching this go down made me even less motivated to get a job.

The day before we drove down to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with the aforementioned family members, it just so happened that I'd gotten my first taste of the service industry, and it had been quite profitable to say the least...