We haven't even started yet!

     This past Saturday we went to the DMV and got tags for Baby Fat.  We have registered her as a Classic Vehicle, which allowed us to avoid the smog inspection.  I kind of like that "classic vehicle" designation.  This truck has a history.  You can feel it when you look at it sitting on the road, or when you step inside, or when you're driving it.  It is only fitting then, that we recognize the heritage of this truck, that has traveled well over 232,000 miles.  I am proud to drive our cookie truck, not only because it represents our dream and our business, but because I am one of many in a long line of drivers and owners. 
     We are working on putting our plan together for the Clark County Health District.  Soon I will install the three compartment sink, we'll get our health and fire inspections and then we'll be on the road.  It's been a great run so far and we haven't even started yet. 
     This weekend, Donna and I are going to paint the body.  We have decided (since the roll-on Krylon worked so well) that we are going to paint the whole body white.  (With the exception of the pink accents of course).  I am still working on the gauges so we have plenty to keep us busy until our grand opening.  I also plan to install that sink and give her an oil change and lube before we hit the road for real.  So if its the weekend and you're looking for me, I'm the guy under the 1984 step van with the cool license plate.
 

What Is The Thrill?

        As you know; a couple of weeks ago we brought Baby Fat home and started painting the outside.  Part of the theme includes pink and white stripes on the lower half of the body. 
        When we pick the truck up from the storage center, I always check the fluids and do a walk around to make sure no one has tampered with the generator.  I also look the body over to make sure there has been no damage, etc. (we always bring the truck to our house to perform maintenance, etc.) Today when I picked up the truck I noticed that someone had keyed the side, right over our new paint . . . .   It's difficult to see in the picture, but that scratch goes from the white stripe into the freshly painted pink stripe. 
        You know; in the scheme of things this isn't huge right?  We have more pink paint and we can easily retouch the scratch. We haven't even painted the white sections yet, so that will get covered later.  So it shouldn't be a big deal.  Right?  Well you know, it is a big deal.  Why do people do this?  Why is it that people just cant leave others alone?  There is another scratch up higher also and it appears these were done on purpose.  I sit here trying to think of what kind of satisfaction does someone get from doing this?  Nothing comes to mind.  I cant even begin to get my arms around what must go through a person's mind as they pull the key from their pocket and dig it into a freshly painted body panel.  What is the thrill?  Do they tell their friends about it?  Do they take a photo and text it?  Were they showing off for a friend?  I may never know the motivation, and in a way I am grateful that I can't get my mind to go to that place which makes something like this "fun".
        We all work hard to get to wherever we're going in this life.  While it will be easy to repaint the pink stripe, that really is not the point.  I am insulted and angry for two reasons.  First; it is an affront to decency and decent people.  This was clearly a deliberate act of a person who wanted to harm someone else's property.  The second reason; this was an act of disrespect.  I watched my wife paint each of those stripes.  It was 108 degrees that day and yet she was out there painting away, one stripe at a time.  In fact it was so hot, I set up a fan to blow on her to try to keep her cool.  This was more than just vandalism, this was a rude and thoughtless gesture which was an insult to my wife and her hard work.  I hope karma kicks in on this one, and ten-fold.
         This weekend I didn't get too much work done.  I am trying to track down the problem with my gauges.  Since I installed the new starter switch two weeks ago, my gauges stopped working. This isn't a huge problem but it is an annoying problem.  There is a certain amount of anxiety which comes from not knowing how much fuel is in the tank, or what the engine temperature is.  I thought the issue might be a ground wire problem, but I was wrong.  I still have some work to do with the gauges, and hopefully next weekend I will be able to track down the problem. 
        Do you need a Big Fat Cookie?

Sometimes You Have To Stop and Enjoy Life!

That's the gang while we waited to get in to see the play.  Of
course my son Jake had to make a face when I took the photo . . . .

        OK.  So I wasn't real happy with the way I had mounted my new starter switch in Baby Fat, so this weekend, I changed it a little.  I added a neoprene washer, which hides the hole and makes the switch appear more "finished".  I also scoped out my plans to replace the windshield washer tank and pump.  Now that the wipers are new (and improved) it makes sense to get the washer system to work.  I really didn't get too much completed because my Son and his fiancée are home from college and visiting with us. 


Jake and Melissa

        We had a blast this weekend with the "kids" but I wasn't able to spend any real time on the truck.  That's not a bad thing.  Sometimes we have to stop and put some things on hold in order to enjoy life.  We all went to see "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" at the Spring Mountain Ranch.  (The ranch is an outdoor theatre, set in a meadow.)  This theatre is a beautiful location to see a play.  Once the sun goes down the temperature is perfect and the setting couldn't be better.  It's monsoon season in Las Vegas though, and for only the third time in its 38 year history, they stopped the show (due to rain) only 10 minutes in.  The downpour started and everyone scrambled to pickup their blankets and chairs and race to the parking lot.  While I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the show, it was almost worth the price of admission to see and be out in, that kind of rain in our desert town.


Our niece Samantha with Finn

Melissa and Jake with our niece Suzanne

        The following day we went to Wet-N-Wild (a water theme park).  We pretty much spent the entire day there, and we had an absolute blast.  
        Melissa is studying to become a veterinarian and at one point we were able to go visit the horse barn where my niece's board their horse.  Melissa has ridden all of her life and as a vet she plans to specialize in horse health care.  
        It was a good week, having my boys together along with my future Daughter in-law, and I know that next week we'll get back to working on the truck.





Too Cool!

That's the "cool" push button start with

 the new ignition switch.

        This weekend I was able to repair the ignition switch in our truck.  The factory installed (30 year old) pigtail which would have plugged into the new switch was missing a jumper, which meant I had two choices.  Order a new pigtail and hope I could figure out how to wire it in,or buy a $5.00 switch and mount it on the dash.  Because vehicular electrical issues scare me, I went with the second choice.  I was able to install the new key operated switch, but I added a pushbutton start mechanism.  It will  require a key to activate the "on" mode, but we'll have to push the button to kick in the starter.  It works great and it doesn't look too bad either.  Now our 1984 step van has pushbutton start; a high priced option on new cars. . . . .  Baby Fat is too cool!

New wiper blades.

        I also modified the wiper arms, and installed new wiper blades.  It's not like it rains that much here, but for aesthetic reasons, combined with the one or two times a year when it might rain, it seemed to make good sense.
        Upcoming projects call for new wheel covers, cooling system flush, air conditioner maintenance, and ...... the list goes on. 
        Busy weekend and full of accomplishment; cant really ask for more than that.
        Do you need a Big Fat Cookie?

Wish Me Luck

Donna paints the bumper rail with a

  new coat of pink.

        Last weekend Donna and I did a lot of work on Baby Fat.  We installed the shelving which will hold the ovens, and Donna began adding the paint, which will define the look and feel of our cookie business.  We also received our business license and LLC.  We are both happy that we are moving forward one step at a time, as we march toward the dream. 

Those are the evil shelves.

        The shelving about drove me out of my mind.  These are the typical "build em yourself" shelves which are designed to frustrate the average do it yourselfer.  You know how this works.  Just when you get three of the corners in place, and you're working on the fourth, there's a pop and the whole thing crumbles.  You're left standing there with that last corner you were working on, it is now in place, and the other three have all come out of their hole.  There was so much banging, shaking, noise, and foul language, coming from the little truck, that Donna (she was outside painting) called the Catholic church to see if they had an exorcist available. After several hours of working on the shelving, which included cutting one leg shorter than all the others, so it would fit over a wheel well, I finally got the unit in place.  I brought Donna in to show her my shining accomplishment and . . . . . I had put it in the wrong place inside the truck.  Donna spoke slowly and carefully as she explained that I had to move the shelves to the other side of the truck, and while she did her best, there was still a lot of swear words on my part.  I had to dismantle the unit flip it to the other side and put it back together again.  If this is a sign of things to come, as we continue to ready the truck for it's intended purpose, we will need to keep an exorcist on call 24/7.

Those are the stripes with the painters

  tape still in place.

        The paint and artwork on the outside of Baby Fat is important because it will be part of the appeal to our customers.  Donna has a complete design concept and last weekend she began to implement her plans.  She did a great job, using "brush-on" Krylon paint and in just one weekend she began to transform the "look" of our little truck.
        This weekend, I will install the ignition switch (the rest of the parts finally arrived) and I will replace the windshield wiper blades.  Sounds simple right?  Who knows what I will run into as I work under the dashboard to put in the switch.  The wiper arms will also need to be modified to accept modern blades so before the weekend is over, I will probably be puking pea soup and levitating as my head spins a full 360 degrees.  Wish me luck . . . . . . . .

They Simply Went Too Far

Micky Arison

     After more than 30 years at the helm of the company that brought us the "Fun" ships, its embattled CEO stepped down this week. Micky Arison, will remain at Carnival as Chairman of the Board, but his role as Chief Executive Officer has come to an end.  Mr. Arison, the son of the Carnival founder will be replaced by Arnold Donald, a long time Board Member. It seems to me that this is nothing new in American business.  When companies attempt to save their way to success, disasters can happen.  When you have cut your staff to the bare minimum, the only category left for big savings is upkeep and maintenance.  In our past, airlines have cut back on "capitol" or upkeep costs, with disastrous results and now we see it in the cruise line industry. 
     It shouldn't surprise us.  When times are tight economically business's look for ways to bring more revenue to the bottom line.  This is called flow-through.  The problems come when the balance gets skewed.  In the case of Carnival;  maintenance, staff reductions and poor planning probably played a large role in their recent list of very public failures. 
        As companies reduce their staffing levels they not only incur a people-drain, but depending on the depth of those reductions they begin to develop a talent-drain.  Talent for our purposes here points to skill and knowledge levels.  If you layoff your three top engineers for example or sometimes even those mid-level manager types you just may be courting catastrophe.
        I don't know what happened that led to this string of failures with the ships in the Carnival fleet. I do know or at least I believe that if the blame is not found in a conscious effort to cut costs then these failures have no other cause than negligence.  I prefer to think that Carnival was simply trying to run its business in the most cost effective and efficient manner possible; they simply went too far.

The List

So tonight when I got home from work, I pulled up my MSN website and found the following list:

6 ways to improve your butt and thighs.

1. 5 ways to shut down emotional eating
2. 12 reasons to stop multitasking now
3. 8 Surprising things that make you stink
4. All your sleep problems, solved
5. 11 reasons you should never, ever take a cruise
6. 13 ways to have a healthy road trip
7. 6 bad excuses for overeating
8. 7 ways to have a healthy fourth of July
9. 12 turnoffs that kill your sex life
10. 10 signs you may have OCD
11. 9 moves to tighter butt
12. The 10 biggest food label lies
13. How to avoid foodborne bacteria at a picnic
14. 6 ways to improve your butt and thighs

     Ok; so sometimes I just need to write.  The concept behind the My Big Fat Cookie blog  is to chronicle the events surrounding the launch of our cookie truck business.  Our plans from the beginning were that we would include life events along the way, family milestones and of course anything and everything that had to do with our cookie truck . . . . .  but sometimes I just need to write.  When milestones are still a mile away, and life events don't rise to the level deserving of a blog post, and when Baby Fat (our cookie truck) is parked for the night, you may see the occasional Op-Ed appear on our blog.  Let me apologize in advance for anything I may write which could offend you.  That is not the intent.  I simply have an opinion and sometimes it will bubble up and spill forth onto our blog page just like the one you are reading now...    
     So; did you read the above list?  WTF?  (Whose The Freak?)  Are you kidding me?  This list came from one web-page on the MSN site.  Let me see if I can put that in words which are easier to understand; this list came from one web-page on the MSN site!     I sometimes wonder if the media (in this case MSN) gets to a point where they are so desperate for content that they simply start making up stories.  Like; #9 for example.  "12 turnoffs that kill your sex life."  Really?  Only twelve?  Without even trying I can come up with 15 and all of those take place over a cell phone. 
     How about number #8?  "7 ways to have a healthy fourth of July."  The fourth of July is not meant to be healthy!  The whole holiday is about being unhealthy.  Fried chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs, mayonnaise based salads, beer, wine, chips, dip, soda, and pyro-maniacal toys which can turn a 40 year old man into an 8 year old boy before a single fuse is lit.   We are celebrating our nations independence, and this is no time to be healthy. 
   Then there's number 13; "How to avoid Foodborne bacteria at a picnic"  I didn't even bother to read about this.  If you suffer from #10 than #13 probably wont be a problem for you anyway but on July 4th the last thing you want to trouble yourself with is proper food handling practices.  All concentration should most likely go toward the salvation of your digits.  More people suffer from serious burns and dismembered hands during this holiday than  all of our other holidays combined and that includes New Years Eve.  (New Years Eve has its own set of rules for people who are stupid.)  On July 4th it doesn't matter what the label on the package says, 8 year old 40 year olds will still find it necessary to throw, hold, pitch or otherwise pick up, those little pyro-toys once the fuse is lit.  The exhilaration which comes from clutching 8 ounces of black powder with the fuse burning is too great of an urge for most men to overcome. 

11 reasons you should never, ever take

a cruise.

     #2; "12 reasons to stop multi-tasking now."  Really?  Just when the one holiday that multi-tasking was made for is upon us; you ask that we stop the practice?  When I need multi-tasking the most there are 12 reasons to stop?  How am I supposed to hold my hotdog, take a sip of my beer and still light and throw my Zippy Whig all at the same time?  If there is ever a day for multi tasking; it is the fourth day in July!  On this day if I choose to practice #14, then I certainly qualify for #10, which is bound to aggravate my issues with #4.
     In September, my wife Donna and I are going to ignore #5 when we take a cruise. During our cruise we will certainly violate all the rules stipulated in #1.  This is all enough to make you want to take a long drive to parts unknown but look at #6; there is no way I can keep up with all 13 of the ways to have a healthy road trip.....
     Is this really what we have come to?  We need a "news" website to tell us all the different reasons we should start, stop, continue, or change the things we do (or don't do) which make us who we are? 
     A list that informed us on the basics of how to throw a lit bottle rocket or the proper dosage of Kaopectate to combat the side effects of potato salad left out in the sun too long would be much more helpful.  Come on MSN; it's almost the fourth of July; don't harsh my buzz!

Do you need a Big Fat Cookie?