Self imposed exile from C and G

[A Horse With No Name]

Gentlemen;

I will be going on a self imposed exile from C and G for 3 or 4 months, this time for real. No one here has done anything wrong, but I want you all to know what I am doing, as I consider everyone here pretty much a friend and someone I respect.

I have a kitchen remodel that has been going on for a year and just needs to get done. I am doing everything myself (tile, electrical, plumbing, building the cabinets from scratch, et al.) My wife deserves to have this Complete, and I am in the home stretch.

My sons friend Brian has taken up woodworking with me, and he is building guitars almost competently with and tools from scratch.  he is very talented, and has picked up in ten weeks things that took me ten years to pick up.  But I urgently need to build another proper woodworking bench for my workshop, not something out of construction grade 2x material but a proper hardwood working bench with vices that work flawlessly and a perfectly flat work surface.

In the midst of all this, we lost several close rounds in the last collegiate debate tournament we competed in. This had the odd effect of motivating my two best students, Erin and Kirsten, to want to work their butts off in the spring and win some tournaments.  I have a substantial coaching burden at this time writing cases, helping research, driving to tournaments, judiging, et al.

If that wasn't enough, my 15 year old daughter is transferring to a different high school, one where I will have a substantial role in transportation and parental involvement.  It is a school that works with the artistically gifted, and I think it will work out well for her.  But it is going to be a huge chunk of time.

If that wasn't enough, the health thread here has been one thing of many that has got me very serious about my health for the first time in a decade plus. I am forcing myself to take care of myself, and I have several people here to thank for that.

From an automotive standpoint, I also need the voices of everyone else to die back for a minute so I can decide what to replace the Jetta with.  There are several cars on the short lit, which we will get to in a minute...

But the good news is that there is a domestic I really want to own, not just like, on the list for the first time in a long time....don't laugh but...

Buick LaCrosse with the 2017 redesign is on my short list.  Am really ready for an entirely different sort of automobile ownership experience, and the thought of a big comfortable sedan sets really well with me.

Will be back in a few months when things clear up...

Short list at this time...

Golf R

GolfAlltrack

GTI

WRX

IS250/350

Buick Lacrosse 2017 or newer

Acura TLX

WRX

Regards,

 

Chris

 

[David]

@A Horse With No Name

Awesome  I totally understand and wish you the best with your projects, family and Auto's.

Course I hope when you test drive the Buick is the winner for you, Go Domestics!

 

[Stew]

Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do.  And be sure stop when the new vehicle to let us know what ya get and maybe a few impressions from the test drives to come!

[Guest Wings4Life(BANNED)]

how dare you give your wife and family more time than C&G.

 

btw, far too many high quality cabinet makers out there to spend the time doing it yourself.

good luck anyway

[William Maley]

Sometimes the best thing to do is take a break and focus on yourself and family. That's something I'm trying to work as well, so I understand somewhat the decision you are making.

Wish you the best of luck.

[Cmicasa the Great]

Godspeed my dude.  

[cp-the-nerd]

Good luck with everything. I know how household renovations and repairs can get away from you. First you're making progress, then you hit a snag and 6 months go by in a blink.

That's a fun list of cars. Make sure you test drive every one!

Not trying to impose, but make sure you are vigilant about what your daughter learns at that art school. Teachers seem to think it's their job now to tell students what opinions to have, which IMO is totally inappropriate. The indoctrination and infantilization that we've seen in colleges is bleeding into grade school, and that's especially true for liberal arts.

[David]

Liberal Arts = WORTHLESS DEGREE!

[cp-the-nerd]

Hey now, there are plenty of career options for a gifted artist! Liberal arts just encompasses a broad spectrum that also happens to include dumbasses smoking pot and trying to sell paintings at the boardwalk. : D

[David]

10 minutes ago, cp-the-nerd said:

Hey now, there are plenty of career options for a gifted artist! Liberal arts just encompasses a broad spectrum that also happens to include dumbasses smoking pot and trying to sell paintings at the boardwalk. : D

OK, Name some, other than the rare 1/10th of 1 % artist, I have yet to find a Liber Art degree that can insure employment that can actually pay off the crazy amounts of money people have spent on Liberal Art degrees. 

Unless your born with a silver or gold spoon in your mouth so you do not have to figure out how to pay off your college education or how to support yourself, I have yet to find any that truly can support ones self let alone a family. 

These are the ones that lived life high, did minimal work in college and now have 6 figures of debt, work at some bar or other low paying job and cry about how unfair life is as they cannot afford to pay their student loans.

Same kind of lifer  students I have run into in Europe and the elsewhere. People complain about quality paying jobs and yet never think about the kind of education they really need to make a decent living.

Nothing against liberal arts degrees, but they rarely ever pay back what they cost.

[cp-the-nerd]

3 minutes ago, dfelt said:

OK, Name some, other than the rare 1/10th of 1 % artist, I have yet to find a Liber Art degree that can insure employment that can actually pay off the crazy amounts of money people have spent on Liberal Art degrees. 

Unless your born with a silver or gold spoon in your mouth so you do not have to figure out how to pay off your college education or how to support yourself, I have yet to find any that truly can support ones self let alone a family. 

These are the ones that lived life high, did minimal work in college and now have 6 figures of debt, work at some bar or other low paying job and cry about how unfair life is as they cannot afford to pay their student loans.

Same kind of lifer  students I have run into in Europe and the elsewhere. People complain about quality paying jobs and yet never think about the kind of education they really need to make a decent living.

Nothing against liberal arts degrees, but they rarely ever pay back what they cost.

Slow your roll, buddy! I brought up liberal arts because the OP's daughter transferred to a school for the artistically gifted (that rare percent you were referring to). I doubt she's going there to join a drum circle and major in art history some day.

I'm well aware of the life-wasting, money burning majors under the umbrella of liberal arts, but it also includes graphic design, web, and motion graphics, which is where the driven people go.

[hyperv6]

We just got done with the kitchen rehab. It was painful and expensive. But I did get the wife on record as saying it is ok to look for a Corvette once our son is done with school. 

Right now it will be a 59-61 but that could change later depending on prices and the C8. 

Get things done and get back here. we need a good sound board to bounce our crazy ideas off of here and you were one of the boards in the wall. 

[David]

15 minutes ago, cp-the-nerd said:

Slow your roll, buddy! I brought up liberal arts because the OP's daughter transferred to a school for the artistically gifted (that rare percent you were referring to). I doubt she's going there to join a drum circle and major in art history some day.

I'm well aware of the life-wasting, money burning majors under the umbrella of liberal arts, but it also includes graphic design, web, and motion graphics, which is where the driven people go.

True, and Yes, my apologies to the OP and anyone else, I have just heard so many poor me stories lately from people who choose to go this route and do not achieve their dreams and then cry a river.

My own son is a Graphic Design graduate who runs a group at a high tech company. Bachelors of Graphic Design. 

I just never think of those careers you listed as people doing that work are focused, driven and productive. It's the ones such as a young man I know who's parents supported him in getting his BA in Art History, then went on to get a masters in Asian Art and every time I see him he is always complaining about no jobs.

Worthless education to my way of thinking. I like the young man and am friends with his father but would have never supported my son if he had wanted to study such a field.

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

All the best to you as you take care of the many things you need to do and desire to do.  I can understand... 

[TaurusSHO]

Good luck with everything!  It's always good to get away for a while from the intense debates that occur on forums. 

[balthazar]

• Godspeed, Horsey. Always advisable to get your house in order.

• My degree was in Visual Communications, tho for some reason I never heard it banded under 'Liberal Arts', even in 2 different schools (well, the first school it was Industrial Design). I spent 10 years doing GD professionally, and saw both sides of the digital wave; when I started we were compiling & coloring print spreads manually. We successfully changed over to digital production, but computer capabilities went mainstream and we eventually lost our contract via underbidding and I left the industry. The GD (print) industry is a hollow shell of what it used to be,; you used to have to go to a print shop to get business cards.  

• I could do it myself, but I don't think I'd ever take on building my own kitchen cabinets. So many choices on the market and they take so much time… unless you are building boxes in very unconventional sizes. Most of the manufactured cabs only differ in the boxes, whereas the faces/doors are of a narrow band of quality, which is to say pretty decent.

[ccap41]

Best of luck with all of the family and household things you're busy with! Personally, I don't know how a site can absorb that much of ones time/concentration(minus drew as he's the owner). Do what ya gotta do and we will be here still, lol. 

On 12/15/2016 at 3:56 PM, dfelt said:

OK, Name some, other than the rare 1/10th of 1 % artist, I have yet to find a Liber Art degree that can insure employment that can actually pay off the crazy amounts of money people have spent on Liberal Art degrees. 

Graphic design and advertising(and anything involving those two - hello car mags that we all tend to read so much into) are two pretty popular careers with art degrees. 

[Frisky Dingo]

Bummer. This place has been really quiet as of late. Losing a regular poster for a several months will be a big loss.

Good luck with everything.

[Drew Dowdell]

Good luck with everything. I certainly know the pressure.   I'll be back a lot more over the next few weeks @Frisky Dingo, so hopefully I can perk things up for you. 

[ykX]

Good Luck!

[daves87rs]

Man I need to stop in here more often....was wondering why things were quiet there! I totally understand the family thing....why I have been away at times myself.  Kinda like @Drew Dowdell, I plan to pick things up myself....

Besides, I've missed the banter......

 

[GMTruckGuy74]

From someone who has seen his work and personal life get busier and busier with less time for pleasure activities on forums, I can empathize. Good luck finishing the kitchen project!

By the way, I had a 2017 Buick LaCrosse Essence loaner from my dealership for 24 hours back before Christmas. While I enjoyed the new LaCrosse and found the electronic shifter "cool", I found it sat too low to the ground compared to my wife's 2013 LaCrosse Premium I and wasn't as thrilled with the overall experience. I miss the blue ambient lighting and did not like the bright white ambient light and the fact that was less lighting was featured.  I'll stick with the 2013 for a while