Hey all! I lost my serving job while finishing school this spring. I could not get anywhere with finding a feasible job, so after months of no income, I entered into low wage,testosterone overdosing, factory slavery in Hamilton. I was working far to hard for not enough money, but it was a great challenge and growing and maturing opportunity. I managed to put a ridiculous amount of work into my car while not letting it distract me from my future, and with a budget of basically nothing. I learned to enjoy the simplicity of life and how to be resourceful. Realizing that I had a roof over my head and usually enough to eat, I realized how to make the best of the worst, as that was more than many have and is something to take pride in. I took up mountain biking alot more to fulfill my need for speed, and got my life on track keeping a positive health oriented focus.I have gained so much knowledge and energy from all the hard work and healthy choices I have made.

I ve recently relocated to Owen Sound, and that is because all my hard work unexpectedly presented me the opportunity to enter my field as a paid employee finally. I had my first day of orientation as a Cardiovascular Technologist (Heart scanning)today here at a hospital up north. Seems like a great place to work and homes with large garages are cheap and plentiful around here! Still cant believe I got paid for going in to work today. Nice to work with women and the public again in a new setting :), and come home with the energy to keep on truckin.

I ll be living in both owen sound, and hamilton during my free time. It s my first time making a big move or change, and I consider having a home in two towns a pretty sweet deal. I m looking foreward to starting a fresh new second life, while maintaining the best of my old one. Im only casual part time, but if hours and a second job come my way, hopefully my build gets a kickstart later on into 2014 They sure do pay me well so we ll see how it goes. I ve finally walked through the right door of the next chapter.

Here is to all who worked hard to earn an enjoyable and respectable life thus far. Keep positive and eat your vegetables, lots of them! I know I will, a matter of time before I m back home for some true wrenching therapy!

Good to hear Mike. I'm sure lots of people have at least one struggle in their life financially, but when you keep positive, and the mindset of "it can only get better from here" things tend to pan out.

I find that trying to budget your income/expenses... even if it's just on a pad and paper (though Excel is ideal) it helps you learn how to spend your money. Buying my Evo and having monthly car payments + more gas $ + higher repair bills if something happens wasn't something I thought I could manage with a mortgage on my own... but I'm doing it and it feels great.

Forsure I getcha! plus one to the pen and paper method! my memory is kinda sh!t for how much knowledge I have. Having been a server a pen and paper is like a tool of its own.
BTW guys. Think of healthy eating and exercise as this: inexpensive personal performance mods! And I m sure they translate to better over all racing capabilities.

Haha Mike are you big into healthy eating and exercise, if so how come I don't see you on the fitness thread?
I personally started with putting everything on my credit card and managing it like that, I now use mint.com though.

Oh, I hear ya. I'm pulling extra jobs on the side now just to keep myself in the black at the end of the month. Sorry car, you'll have to wait for those fancy new toys

Moving story Mike. And I believe a CONGRATULATIONS is in order for your new job and new life chapter!

^ Agreed...CONGRATS!!

Congrats Mike, those side skirts you wanted are still waiting for ya

LOl! Im not sure why. I cant follow everything on the interwebs!

I am already fit so I suppose it d be ok if I used my knowledge to help others, and at the same time learn a few new tricks...

Haha! I thought I wrote too much but if only one person gets at least a little entertainment from my ramblings, I have accomplished my goal.

Thanks!

Thanks! I do alot of shopping around. But hopefully You ll be hearing from me more over the next year

Ive had my eyes on a the complete fuel system upgrade kit on your site for some time now and the other odds and ends as part of phase 1. Braided AN Tank to aftermarket FPR to aftermarket rail and injectors, as well as the filter, and braided returns. EVERYTHING aha. Lots of chassis work to do. But when I reassemble all of that, bushings, and wiring/guages are the first on the to do list. after rust repair and roll bar/cage +seats,racing wheel, harness

Thanks, Yeah now you can hopefully understand why I havent!
Where are they waiting!? I have the understanding you have left the country. I will still take em this winter. ASAP.

Haha, well to save you some time here is the link.
http://www.ca.dsm.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=365525&page=7
Most of it is lifting stuff but we are all over the place so all conversation is welcome!

Terry Sikora is your man now

+1...I love that guy!

+1

Cheers man congrats!

It's tough out there these days finding a job in many fields.

Glad to hear it worked out!

OK I guess I ll have to give you a holler when I have some money Terry? Sounds good!

Its going ok so far, will be better if I get more hours.

Yes sir

Wow congrats!! I finished CVT a year ago as well..did you graduate from Mohawk??

Ya man I was MoMac. Sounds like your a year ahead of me.

..i was the student TA for that hand-wash/scrub class (forgot what it's called..hildrop's class) earlier this year..you probably saw me unless you were in group 2

Haha nice man. I may have seen you lol!

Inspirational story. There are many ways you could have reacted to the circumstances you found yourself surrounded by, and you chose the right path.

Canada is an unbelievable nation, a great land of opportunity and also very much blessed land. When we are going through "tough" times economically its still as you said 100 times better than many ppl around the world.. So instead of sulking or cursing your circumstances or country, you got on a bike, got a healthy outlook and faced your giant!! Kudos bro.

Enjoy your new found wealth, and by saying so I mean the freedom you enjoy now. Bless others with it, and thank the good Lord for all.

Happy wrenching and remember to always keep your chin up bro!!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for such a great uplifting reply. I ll start sharing operation organic man here shortly. I have almost completed my transition. Just need to trust in higher power that hours will keep coming my way.This is affordable, and once understood quite attainable. Im starting to stock up incase I have some more hard weeks. Food (my health) and rent are priority one.Hopefully clearing debt will follow.

I have put in many long hours working and researching food as well as documenting my past week. I ve not slept enough, but today I got paid and change alot of things. Im pulling through a rough dietary patch of almost strictly veggies, and getting some real food back. I ve almost cleared all of my sh!t food out of the house by eating it or throwing it out to make space for the pure stuff. Next week I should be feeling some great gains. I lost weight, and have had headaches and crash hard daily. I think this is all part of my conversion and cleansing phase, I spent my money mostly on what was in my opinion the most valuable as a tool to get me through my weeks, both present and future. I hope to now eat more freely, and as much as necessary. Luckily I have only lost a few pounds of muscle, I ll gain em back and then some.
I do eat alot most days but key things such as meat and fish, eggs I have been lacking. My main protein sources have been, high quality cerial, cold processed and microfiltered whey protien isolate,inorganic eggs and chicken. I ve used these resources with strict limits while I ve been getting ready to spend more to convert them as well.

Sounds good Mike!
I have been cleaning out most of the junk and honestly don't enjoy eating a lot of it but it seems that this is the season to bake cookies and other sweets so lately we have had a lot of junk coming into the house, and it's not me bringing it in.
I am bulking right now and I tend to stick with IIFYM but try to stay on the healthy side. I also do my best to get in my veggies which lately has been going well.
As soon as January hits I will probably go through all the cupboards and throw out all the junk, if there is any left, so that there are no more excuses.

Mike one more question how come you chose to go with isolate?

I actually want to try and find concentrate this was bought before my research. Isolate seems to be for lactose intolorant (isolated form of milk protein). I dont think I have that problem so I will go ahead and try the better stuff next time as long as it is cold processed and cross flow micro-filtered.

I caused a big stir on facebook lmao. People seem to think I want attention just because I was told a few times I was inspiring people here I decided to go more public. LMAO as if I have time to hunt for attention. I barely have time to write any of this.
I hope others are not perceiving my ideas as negative attention grabbers. I am not whining, but rather enjoy telling my story, weather or not others are actually suffering is not at all my point.

LOL you have some winey ass facebook friends.
The only thing your going to get from these boys is compliments and criticism. That's all we have for you here!

Yeah Isolate is for people who are pick with flavour or lactose intolerant, plus I just find it over priced.
If you are using it to extend the time between meal periods than find something that has slow digesting protein.

Here are the digestion rates for the major protein sources.
Whey protein: 40 minutes to 1 hour
Soy protein: 1 to 3 hours
Egg protein: 1.5 to 3 hours
Casein protein: 4 to 7 hours

Congrats man!

Ive been in that situation almost 2 years ago and it was stressful.

Nonetheless, i persevered, keep pushing, made my voice heard and eventually got heard. Granted i lost my job in a very different situation, but the struggles were the same.

Now, im back to where i was - although with a watchful eye (im sure they're closely checking my online presence. They can kiss my ___).

Again, good on you for chugging along.

And i agree with you, nothing's better than working with a bunch of eye candy everyday .

So now that I ve moved away and learned so much about diet, healthcare, life, and becoming an adult I am so happy to announce
I ll be coming home! I ll attempt to anyways next week. I miss my family, I miss my dog, I miss my friends, I miss my home,I miss my bike trails, very importantly I am torn being far from my DSM, and i miss my LIFE.

I cannot simply make that up elsewhere. My hours are cut, so I ll find another job again back home and work here my handful of shifts monthly.

Stoked!!

I got this! and let the race car projects resume!!!

Great news man!

It's tough being away from home.

Hope you get what you're looking for man!

If I find a steady job to fuel my wallet and continue living and eating I ve got all I need back there already
Give or take a few women! bahaha

Lol good to hear you're in good spirits. Keep at 'er and you'll find what you're looking for.

I ve been home a week, already cleaned and organized the house, applied to 19 restaurants and a few hostpital postings. If I get a serving job tomorrow I might be back in business! I ve been going to town a few days now with the wire wheel at the front half of the car! I m going to be ready to stitch weld before I know how I am going to get it done. I may buy a welder and do it myself. You know what they say if you want something done right....
Once that is done my new found skills could possibly be ready to replace some rust wounds.

Glad to hear it Mike! Make sure you take tons of picture and post them up!

Something like stitch welding is really quite easy, as long as you have the settings on the machine set well...bodywork is definitely more tricky but stitch welding your entire chassis will give you good practice controlling the welder and getting a smooth bead.

Salomon that is what I am thinking exactly! Most of my body work is hidden away in corners of the bay,behind interior panels or the underside of the car.

Any good reasonably priced options I can look into that will work off standard household sockets? I have welder friends to talk to, but haven't done that yet.

Mig pak 140. CTC throws them onsale all the time. A 20amp circuit would be best for thicker metal but a 15 amp will be fine for minor welding. you can get a cheaper fluxcore but if want something pretty much ready for gas the 140 is a great deal.