April 17, 2005

Earl and I stopped by his office today to pick up his laptop, as he is headed out of town tomorrow morning and wanted to avoid a trip to the office on his way out. When we arrived, we noticed there was quite a bit of smoke behind the plant. So we investigated and found the heat treat chamber, which heat treats the pallets his manufacturing plant makes, was on fire.

We pulled around out front of the building and got inside. Earl then when into action. He pulled the fire alarm, just in case someone was in the building even though no one should have been. This also notified the alarm monitoring company. He then went to his office and dialed 911 and calmly explained the situation. We then went into the plant and assessed the situation. There was smoke pouring out of places of the chamber that should be emiting smoke, so Earl cut the power to the unit then went inside to disconnect the gas line that fires up the furnaces. By then, the firefighters arrived and put out the fire.

A fire at any manufacturing facility, let alone a wood-based manufacturing plant, is a dangerous and scary thing. I am very impressed by the calm, cool, collected manner in which Earl dealt with the situation. I would have never thought to pull the local alarm, I would have skipped that step. I also very impressed by the Utica Fire Department. It was a small fire. But they handled it very well and very thoroughly. Gage and Desoto would be very proud.

So Earl’s team will do some investigating tomorrow to find out what happened. What systems failed and what things worked well. They’re all very thorough like that. And the chamber wasn’t a loss, a little refurb and it’ll be up and running.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been doing some online research on a new car. I’ve narrowed my choice down to exactly what I want… an Acura RSX Type-S loaded.

We’ve had our 2001 Impala for over four years and at nearly 118,000 miles, it’s beginning to show signs of wear. Actually, truth be told, the car has been a money pit. It had a 36,000 mile warranty on it. At 900 miles the radio crapped out and had to be replaced. At 3,000 miles (during the first oil change), the “Service Engine Soon” light came on and wouldn’t go out. Come to find out, they wanted to replace the entire fuel system. This went on and on until we put $2K for transmission work January 2004 and then another $2,000 the past October for brakes (the fifth set) and various sensors and relays. While I was very excited when Chevy announced the return of the Impala back in 1999, I can’t say that I’m very happy with the whole American car thing. I know, it’s anti-American but we can’t afford to fund another American made car.

Anywyas, I let Earl know that I had decided on the Acura RSX Type-S loaded and gave him the details right down to the finest detail. Then I said that we had to start saving up some money so that we could buy it in a year or so. I figured he tell me that I’d have to settle for a Yugo, because quite honestly, the Acura was a “pie in the sky for me”, the bees knees of what I want at this stage of my life.

When I got home from work on Friday, he told me that he had been to the dealer, had worked it all out and we pick up the new car this coming week, probably on Wednesday. My mom works for a Cadillac/Acura dealer, and apparently Earl had spent the day with his mother-in-law.

I think I said something like “Holy shit”.

Wednesday can’t get here soon enough. I’ve found the track I want to bless the Acura with. Here’s a sample of for you to listen to.. Major points if you can name the artist and title, as it’s a relatively obscure dance track from 1996. It’s typical J.P. music.