Motiviation

It’s sometimes hard to get, or stay, motivated on a particular project especially after you’ve been working on it for a long time. I’m sure there have been times when we’ve all sat there and looked at the mountain of work ahead of us and just couldn’t even bring ourselves to raise a hand to even start the project.

(Wrong kind of “raising a hand”, but this made more sense for an image search)

Motiviation doesn’t always come to you so sometimes you need to get up and motivate yourself. Take a look at the list of things you need to accomplish (you DID create a list like I suggested…right?) and then look for the things that you either: a) NEED to complete the most or b) WANT to complete the most. Once you find something interesting or important you’ll have a set goal and you can break down that big pile of parts into a set list of things to accomplish. One of my favorite quotes is from Henry Ford and is perfectly applicable to this post: “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs”

(Henry Ford…better than you at just about everything…)

Needs some further motiviation? Take a break. Wait, that sounds counter-intuitive right? I’m serious though, take a break and rest your brain a little. I’m not telling you to slack here, this is supposed to be focused time for you to cool off the brain and entice it with things to come and the potential end result of what you’re looking to accomplish. Hit some forums and look for inspiration. Watch some videos of your favorite driver/car/race league/boobs and derive guidance from there. With something to work towards and some drive to get to it your project will start to get done bit by bit until you take your next break and look back over all that work you just accomplished.

(Upwards facing short exhausts and 2-step testing make for awesomeness)

In the end your build only moves as fast as you do and if you have all the parts, but none of the motivation your build will stagnate and become a burden. So grab a beer, roll up your sleeves, and get in there. No more excuses!

-Steve liked the “grab a beer” part of the advice the best

Beer makes me a better mechanic

It’s pretty common to hear me talking about booze. I’m not an alcoholic or anything, but I appreciate the sauce, worship delicious beer, and can even be found at a wine tasting or two.

It wasn’t until just recently that Jeff and I were talking as we reviewed some photographs of workday’s past and we noticed that it’s almost impossible to find a picture without a beer in my hand. Quite amusingly it seems that I’m almost always unaware a picture is being take, but always am in some state of enjoying an alcoholic beverage.

(I know I look sad here, but I’m actually talking to Alex who is under the car right out of frame)

Now I won’t go so far as to say that I’m a better mechanic when I’m sloshed (even though it’s likely true), but I will say that we (Alex, Jeff, myself) have never had a car day that didn’t involve some sort of beer as the drink of choice. This isn’t exactly an uncommon thing, but we all consider it mildly amusing (and obviously worth a Mediocre post) that I’m almost never without beer in hand.

(Steve in his natural habitat. Bonus: Alex bending over in the background)

We were excited one time because we found a picture of me without a beer actually near me, but were immediately disappointed because clearly visible in the picture is a rack of MGD behind me. While I’m partially embarrassed about the quality of the beer the fact that I’m apparently a lush according to photographic biographies of my life is really what concerns me.

(Stupid MGD box lurking in the background…so close)

To top the story off, I was attending Jeff and his wife’s birthday extravaganza just last weekend and when Jeff surreptitiously attempted to capture my handsome mug from a distance the universe (or my love of beer) guided my hand up from behind the couch to allow a picture of me drinking to be taken…again.

– Hi my name is Steve, and I’m an awesomeholic

Music to my mind

Humans are affected on some sort of profound level when they are exposed to well composed pieces of music. The best part about music is that sometimes you don’t even notice that it’s being played. Sometimes it’s so powerful and so effective at achieving its goal that you’ve got some tears welling up in your eyes and you can’t even figure out why.(Screw you Wall-E for making me feel emotion…screw you and your super adorable robots.)

(I don’t care how manly you are, this movie will make you squishy inside)

It actually doesn’t even matter if it’s just raw uncut sound (as in the noisy bits you hear spitting from an exhaust as it passes you at full throttle) or if it’s carefully composed and arranged notes to create a prepared symphony. Sound. Is. Powerful.

Frankly, it’s not even hard to discuss how powerful sound is as no one can debate it (except deaf people…but whatever). I frequently put up videos or links and request you to focus in on just the sound. Case and point…see below…absolutely awe-inspiring sound. It will evoke some sort of emotional response from you no matter what you think about the sound as a whole.

(It’s only 11 seconds long, but just enough to go through an entire lovely range of sound)

If you want to argue about how effective prepared music is at conveying brand or triggering associative emotion, go play Halo. Yes, I’m actually making the jump to video games here. There are what…3 or 4 different flavors of Halo? I bet you can pick up any single one of them and you’ll be hit with a recurring symphony and musical theme that immediately attaches you to the franchise. Not only is the music operatic and grandeous by itself, but when paired with a storyline it helps convey a sense of scale and gravity to the character’s plights/successes. Somehow, they manage to remain in the same vein as the music from the other games so no matter which game you’re playing you feel like you’re already attached. If you can play through the entire Halo series without once feeling some sort of emotional attachment or get goosebumps during cut scenes or throughout the storyline, get off my site. You’re dead inside.

(This game turns me from mild mannered jerk to full blown douchebag in about 3 seconds)

My girlfriend and I just recently watched the movie “Gamer” and were pretty impressed with the balance of music and how the differing storylines/perspectives within the movie had insanely drastic differences musically. The movie was fun to watch and had amazingly huge action sequences with lots of moving parts and explosions and even MMA Fighter Keith Jardine. If you liked the pace, visual/audio style and action level of the Crank movies, you’re probably going to like Gamer.

(mmmm…deliciously fun movie)

Did I mention that we were drinking an “on again”/”off again” beer of mine Rogue Brewery’s: Dead Guy Ale. In case you’re remotely curious…we’re in the “on again” phase of our relationship.

(mmmm…delicious death)

 

-Steve hears a faint ringing in his ears right now…

Dear Temecula, CA

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and it’s been a LONG while since I’ve posted in the “beer”category. In fact, I think the last time I posted was the time I talked about “Chocolate” .

I just finished watching “The Goods: Live hard, Sell hard” and I have to say that this might be my new favorite funny movie. It’s produced by one of the few people that truly understand humor, both overt and subtle, Will Farrell . I’d seen a few ads for this movie floating around, but I didn’t think much of it. I really like Jeremy Piven, that bald white guy whose name I don’t remember, that black guy whose name I don’t remember, and THIS guy is just flat out hilarious in both his standup and his acting. Basically what I’m saying here is that the movie was set up to be awesome just from the casting alone.

(Totally under appreciated, totally worth a watch)

My girlfriend and I have been drinking one of our old standby beers Red Hook: Long Hammer IPA and having a good time on a Sunday night and this movie combined with this beer has been perfect. Got a Sunday? Wanna laugh? Find some Red Hook: Long Hammer and rent/Netflix The Goods: Live hard, Sell hard. It’ll completely make your transition back to work less painful.

(IPAs aren’t my favorite, but damn this beer is delicious!)

-Steve-hammer

Life without beer

This may seem strange to anyone who knows me personally and has witnessed first hand just how much alcohol I consume on a weekly basis, but… <dramatic pause>… I’m taking a hiatus from beer. I’ll give you a second to pick your lower jaw up from the floor before I start explaining. 

 

(This is pretty much what I’m picturing when I imagine some of my friends reading this)

So yes, it’s true…I’m giving up beer. Well, let me rephrase that. I’m giving up beer TEMPORARILY so that I can continue with an experiment that my girlfriend recently introduced me to. A friend of ours, the good Reverand C. Ben Hoffman, has been on a journey to improve his body so that he can have an epic halloween cosutme: Leonidas from 300. In his quest to achieve ultimate Spartan aesthetics he has been going through some dietary rotations and exclusions from his usual intake. (Check out his blog for full details, it’s actually pretty damn interesting) 

(Farewell sweet prince)

  Inspired by the Reverand’s quest, my girlfriend brought up an interesting question to me and I wasn’t sure how to answer it. The question wasn’t about  if we could never pick up a beer again, it was about the worth of such a thing. Would it be worth it to go out of our ways to change our drinking habits? Would bars be worth it? Would Football ever be the same? If I were still single…would women I meet at the bars be nearly as attractive at the end of the night? I am not someone who is usually at a loss for words, so when she posed the question and I couldn’t answer, I seriously had to mull over the posibility that beer has become a considerably large part of my normal life. Fascinated with this, I decided that I would join her on her quest to see how different life was without beer. Our little self challenge also allows us a single cup of wine, or one mixed drink if we’re in a social situation where it’d just be overly awkward to not drink, but we have yet to find a need to exercise this option.

  (After the third pitcher of Blue Moon she’s on the left. Without beer, she’s on the right. Yes, it’s the same girl.)

 Considering that I didn’t actually start drinking until I was 21 (Holy crap, someone actually respected that law?!) and went through a good portion of college having to explain to people why I was drinking water out of a red solo cup at parties, I don’t think it will be too large of a problem to just not drink. Although…football season DID just start up and Hockey season is almost here too, hmmmm.

So what do you think? Will I last for a week? One month? Longer? Leave us a comment and let me know how much faith you have in me.

– Steve is reminded a lot of New Jersey when he sees the girl on the right…

Brand loyalty

Almost entirely without exception everyone has a favorite brand or company that they like to support. It’s just simply part of our human nature to love and support something that we associate ourselves to a larger group. Companies and brands that we identify with are what help us make snap judgements and evaluations about each other as well as give us something to discuss either as de facto comrades or undeserved enemies. 

These loyalties could be as simple as shoes (Nike Cortez FOR LIFE!!), as boring as what flavor of toothpaste you cram into your mouthy-hole, or as intricate as the only car manufacturer you’ll ever even consider. For some people these brand loyalties are just passing things in which they enjoy buying one brand over the other, but aren’t really all that tied to it…more like a preference I suppose. In other cases, however, people take their brand loyalties so far as to argue over, fight about, or even tattoo products onto themselves to show how much they represent that company.

(Why yes, that IS a Volkswagon New Beetle smiley tattoo. Don’t worry, it’s not Mister Rich’s ink)
 

I’m all for supporting the companies that you approve of and I’ll often do it myself, but when it goes so far as to start a long-lasting battle over (the Ford – Chevy battle often looks quite similar to the Montague – Capulet feud for example) I think you might want to step back a little and look at what you’re really talking about.

Do you REALLY hate Hondas? Is a Hybrid really that bad? Does Pabst Blue Ribbon REALLY taste like the inside of the “Tinman’s” asshole? (Ok so yes…PBR is actually that bad, but the other two were legit questions.)

(You want to lick me WHERE!?)
 

These brand loyalties have the strange tendency to make people go absolutely beserk though and I don’t always undertsand why. It’s a company that you have to give your hard earned dollars to support and they don’t really do much back for you. Sure they provide you with a good or service for that money you proudly forked over, but they’re not compensating you in any way to be their advocate. Funnier still is when you love your brand so much that you become an instant hate monger for your company’s arch-rival and start getting unreasonably angry because of it.

Frankly, I can’t take my own advice because I can be a brand whore just as bad as the rest of you, but I want to make sure that you are really cognizant of your biases. Just because you don’t personally like one brand, don’t automatically go spreading rumors, falsehoods, or blatant hate at it. Take a step back and remember what your father always taught you: “If you don’t have anything nice to say about something, shut the hell up because I’m tryin’ to watch the damn Bruins game!”

In conclusion: I ❤ Toyotas, I love Sam Adams: Boston Lager, and the Nike Cortez sneaker makes me slightly moist….but don’t expect me to go out smashing on what you like just because it isn’t in my list. (With the obvious exception of that PBR burn I posted above. Whoops.)

(Why yes, that IS what my boner looks like)

 

– A Shakespere reference, un-solicited Nike advert, and a beer plug. Steve is on a ROLL!

Thai kung-fu movies are why I watch kung-fu

Do you know who Tony Jaa is? If you don’t, stop reading right now and go watch “The Protector” or as I like to call it “Tony Jaa breaks every bone in Australia because someone stole his mother-fucking elephant.” Well, I kind of ruined the whole plot (Yes…that is actually the whole plot), but honestly, the movie is completely worth watching for the absolutely brutal and insane kick boxing/martial arts that the movie executes. Oh, and when I said “every bone in Australia”…I fucking meant it. For about 4 and a half solid minutes all you hear are bones snapping and me giggling in glee.

 

Regardless of if you’ve seen it or not (you should’ve followed my directions and have watched it by now) he has his hand in pretty much everything that leaves Thailand and goes global if it’s about ridiculous Kung-Fu movies. I’m right now in the middle of watching his company’s latest flick called “Chocolate” on Netflix via my Xbox 360 (pretty much the best effin’ pair up EVAR!) and I immediately paused the movie to come post here because I was so excited.

 

WATCH. THIS. MOVIE. If you like kung-fu at all, this is your type of shit. Basic premise…retarded girl is born of Romeo/Juliet type parents and proceeds to learn kung-fu by virtue of being retarded and watching a shitload of Tony Jaa (and other kung-fu) movies . Bones breaking, retards fighting retards, what looks to be a gang comprised only of over-the-top drag queens, this movie has the complete gambit of all things hilarious and awesome.

I’m drinking St. Pauli Girl, sitting in my Charge Speed fiberglass seat (mounted to my couch, because the brackets haven’t arrived yet and I’m a car-nerd), and sweating to death, but goddamnit I’m having fun. Get off my website and go watch a retarded girl beat up some Thai gangsters! GO! DO IT!

 

 

– Steve swears a lot when he drinks and watches Thai Kung-fu

Beer makes me buy things…

I plan a lot of things out. As you’ve read in one of my very early posts on this site, I have a very strict project plan for how I plan on building my car out. This plan includes a list of parts that I know I want, how much I think I should be paying for each part, and a schedule of when I think I can afford said part. Following this project plan has kept me sane, given me an outlet to pour my energy into, and saved me lots of money by protecting me from impulse buys.

My plan, however, doesn’t include any of the human element and more worryingly it doesn’t have any regard for the booze element. I have now stepped out of my project plan twice over the course of my build and each time that I’ve gone outside of the nice and safe lines it’s been at the end of a serious drinkin’ night.

St. Patty’s day 2009: I’m half-Irish, and I’m from Boston so St Patricks day is pretty much bigger than Christmas for me. I drink until I can’t feel feelings and then I drink more. At the end of the night I’ve either: made a bad decision, lost a girlfriend, or I’ve met a new girlfriend. Typically all three of them happen at the same time, but this year was different. I made an AWESOME decision, kept my current girlfriend, and ended up with a kick-ass set of custom width Enkei RPF1 wheels on order.

Dezod Motorsports based in NY state (www.dezod.com) is an awesome supporter of the Scion community and they are in cahoots with Dan Gardner, a pro-level driver currently campaigning a Scion tC in the NASA leagues. (I believe he actually came in 1st or 2nd for his debut year in the car…but don’t quote me on that.) The two of them teamed up and put an order in to Enkei Japan to get a production run of Enkei’s RPF1 wheel with black finish in a 17×8.5  with either a +30 or +40 offset available. 8.5 inches is (from what I’ve found) the largest width out there for a 17 inch rim. Plus, the RPF1 is legendary for its light weight (only 16lbs per wheel if I recall correctly), AND being a decently priced wheel for it’s size and weight. Double, triple bonus!

 

(I got the black wheel without the decals and without the center cap)

Friday July 31st, 2009: There was no real celebration going on, just a barbeque at a friend’s house. We had a great time with some great food and then we went home. As soon as I planted my magnificently sculpted posterier into my IKEA computer chair, I logged onto www.more-japan.com and lucky for me, they were having a “3 day Summer Special” sale on a bunch of stuff. Perfect! Fully backed non-reclining race seats from the Japanese company Charge Speed for 40% off!? SOLD! I ended up getting one Black Fiberglass bucket and one Black Carbon Kevlar seat. (I would’ve gotten both in Fiberglass, but they only had one left)

 

(Again, went with the black seats)

Well, neither of those purchases could really be considered “impulse” buys because I’ve researched everything that I want for the car, and I wanted/needed both of those parts. The beer just made it really really easy to not worry about my bank account and jump on some awesome parts. The More-Japan sale was only for three days and limited quantities and the Enkei wheels were only made in a production run of 40 sets of wheels!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go cook up some ramen for the next two months of my life until I can afford solid food again.

– Steve is a shopaholic (or is it spelled “alcoholic?”)

Mediocre Motoring loves beer

We here at MM have a serious hard-on for delicious beer and we’re a little worried about the beer choices of some of our peers so we thought we’d dedicate a little time to talk about GOOD beer. There are many different ways to classify and rate beer and people actually do go to school to train to do that exact thing. The rating systems are very detailed and use quite a few points of science and reasonably logical comparisons as well as intelligent thought processes to make judgment decisions, but this is Mediocre Motoring and so we’re just going to moose our way through this and continue to be the untrained and over-opinionated assholes that we are.

 

Number 1: Your beer sucks.

I’m sorry, but it’s true for the vast majority of American beer drinkers and likely if you’re reading this with a beer in your hand, you’re drinking a shitty beer. It’s statistics really. Most high volume beer companies do not produce high taste beer. Follow this simple made up way to determine if the beer you’re currently drinking is delicious or not. High Volume + Easy to find = Boring beer. Low Volume + Sort of easy to find = Better beer. Low Volume + Hard to find = Probably awesome beer. While this isn’t true for everything, it’s a pretty accurate way to judge a beer by its cover, and we all know that our mothers told us that this is the right way to make decisions.

 

Number b: You’re probably not drinking enough beer.

I don’t care what anyone tells you, beer is something to be enjoyed as often and as liberally as your liver (and wallet) can withstand. We’re not telling you to go out and become an alchy or anything that stupid, but beer is a beverage that contains massive flavor and it’s a great way to connect with people socially. Who doesn’t like things that are delicious and help you make friends at the same time? There are so many different kinds of beer out there that if you can’t find a reason to drink a beer, you might be at a funeral or your kid’s 3^rd birthday party. (For those events you’ll likely want to switch to hard liquor). Meanwhile, If you even remotely thought about the consequences of beer’s effect on your health, please go ahead and just click that little red or gray “X” box in the top right hand corner (Left hand corner red circle for you Mac nerds) of your screen so you can get the hell off my damn website, you don’t belong here.

 

Number 6: You’re not trying enough beers.

This point is a little different than the last one because it speaks to diversity instead of volume. There are probably enough beer types in existence right now that you could drink a different type of beer every day the next 10 years of your life. Why the hell are you still drinking the same beer you were drinking since college? Get out there, find a new beer and see what you’ve been missing. Heck, you might even be missing some pretty awesome variations of the same brand that you love. Even some of the super-mega-ultra beer companies have some pretty small little niche type products that are actually surprisingly good. You might be surprised by what some of the big companies are capable of making. If you don’t want to buy a full 6 or 12 pack, the next time you go out to your favorite beer serving establishment, order at least one new beer each time. If you don’t like it, finish it up and then order your regular favorite beer and continue on with your life. Chances are that you’ll quickly find what type of beer (Pilsner, Lager, Ale, Porter, Stout, IPA, etc) you like the best and then you’ll find at least one new company that you really really like. If you don’t, no big deal at least you still have your old faithful favorite beer to fall back on.

 

Number 9: Find your flavor

As I mentioned in number 6, there are lots of different types of beers and each of them has a typically characteristic type of flavor to it. Basically everything breaks down into two different categories, Ales and Lagers. From here, there is a dizzying array of different types of beers that you can choose from and if you can’t find at least one type of beer that you like you might want to find your local mortuary and ask them how much their cheapest coffin is as you are likely deceased in the soul.

 

Number 8: Go to a local brewery

If you’ve never been to a brewery and you tell people that you’re a beer fan, stop telling people that because you’re doing it wrong. Breweries are the best way to go to the heart of a beer maker and really see what it’s all about. They typically have delicious food and at the very least they often offer a short tour of the facility. The BEST part about going to the actual brewery is that you get to sample all the beers. Some will let you do this for free (Sam Adams brewery tour in Boston is a $2 suggested donation that goes 100% to a local charity and then you drink for free, for example.)  Even if they don’t have food, you can usually find some specialty brews that are only available at the brewery and might end with a flavor explosion in your mouthy-hole.

 

Go onto the intertubes, type in www.bing.com , then type “ (Name of your city) brewery” in the search box and it’ll spit out a sweet little list of the breweries near you. Ten seconds on the internet and I found 8 breweries within a 15-ish mile radius from my apartment. If you happen to live in a more rural area, don’t fret, there is probably still about 1-2 breweries within 30 minutes of your house. Here’s a contest for the comments page. Let MM know how many breweries bing found near you and if you’re super rural, let us know how far away the closest brewery is to you. Winner gets an imaginary pat on the back, but just so you know, I’m probably going to win because I plan on cheating.

Ok, so there you have it. I’ve taken some time and broken down how to become the epic beer snobs that we at MM pride ourselves on being. Get out there, drink some good beer, talk to some pretty ladies (or pretty dudes if you’re so inclined), make some mistakes, make some excellent decisions, and order one in honor of Mediocre Motoring. Cheers!

– “It’s beer o’clock” Molloy