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Happy New Year Everyone!
After a Chicagoland hiatus, I plan to move back hopefully within the next year. I need to find a job in the area, first.
For those of you who do not remember, I took a job with a company in Southern California as a step forward in my career path as a Telecommunications Engineering Manager - and it's great. I love what I do. I just hate the location. Perpetually perfect weather does not offset it. Plus, the roads here I find to be undrivable - mostly because of the terrible motorists, but also because of the mountainous terrain - you have to take almost everything at an angle to avoid losing your front clip. I actually had to travel backward up one hill in order to parallel park on one side, because my nose would not clear going up, as the approach grade was 23%. It's no fun at all. I absolutely hate hills and mountains, and even more so now that I'm stuck with them everywhere. So, I haven't driven my Camaro SS that much here - probably a few times a month at the most. On the other hand, I got back into my other hobby, and I purchased two motorcycles (actually, three). One of them was a 2014 BMW R1200RT - a great touring rig which I have enjoyed immensely. The other was a 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 - a great bike to flick around, but I found it to be invariably underpowered. I replaced it with a 2015 Harley-Davidson Street 750, which I LOVED, for all of three weeks... until some uninsured, unlicensed motorist decided to take that away from me. She lost control of her super sweet 1994 Honda Civic and spun out in front of me into a wall. I am fine, sans a broken clavicle, but my bike is destroyed. I went down at nearly 70mph on the freeway, but I was well geared up. It turns out, there are many such motorists around here. So, I'm planning to part with the BMW (unless I can efficiently relocate it to the Chicago metro) and move back to Chicagoland, and replace the Harley at that point. My hobbies around here are dead (fortunately, I am not) because there is simply too much risk with the bad motorists, horrible terrain, and liability. Income tax here is ridiculous, and don't even get me started on the fuel prices or speeding ticket prices. I've slowed down on my travels considerably. Call me Right Lane Roger, whereas in Chicagoland, I was more often Left Lane Larry. I can't even use the left lane most of the time because of the stupid diamond symbol saying that you must be on a motorcycle or have 2+ occupants in the vehicle. And, the lack of public transit around SoCal exacerbates the problem. Too many people, not enough infrastructure. The chalky water transported in via limestone channels from the Colorado River is horrible. Yeah, the cons outweigh the pros by a considerable margin on this one.
So... I arrived into SoCal with two vehicles - my Z71 Canyon and my SS, and I will part with the same two. I guess there was nothing gained from it. Plus, I miss my family immensely. The same thing happened when I lived in Kansas City, but it is totally different with a near-death experience (could have easily been ran over, but fortunately was not). I plan to return finally, once and for all, and never leave the Chicago metro region again... ever.
The good news is that I get to rejoin my C5G family in Camaro spirit! I still have all of the C5G window decals, proudly displayed on "Karmit".
After a Chicagoland hiatus, I plan to move back hopefully within the next year. I need to find a job in the area, first.
For those of you who do not remember, I took a job with a company in Southern California as a step forward in my career path as a Telecommunications Engineering Manager - and it's great. I love what I do. I just hate the location. Perpetually perfect weather does not offset it. Plus, the roads here I find to be undrivable - mostly because of the terrible motorists, but also because of the mountainous terrain - you have to take almost everything at an angle to avoid losing your front clip. I actually had to travel backward up one hill in order to parallel park on one side, because my nose would not clear going up, as the approach grade was 23%. It's no fun at all. I absolutely hate hills and mountains, and even more so now that I'm stuck with them everywhere. So, I haven't driven my Camaro SS that much here - probably a few times a month at the most. On the other hand, I got back into my other hobby, and I purchased two motorcycles (actually, three). One of them was a 2014 BMW R1200RT - a great touring rig which I have enjoyed immensely. The other was a 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 - a great bike to flick around, but I found it to be invariably underpowered. I replaced it with a 2015 Harley-Davidson Street 750, which I LOVED, for all of three weeks... until some uninsured, unlicensed motorist decided to take that away from me. She lost control of her super sweet 1994 Honda Civic and spun out in front of me into a wall. I am fine, sans a broken clavicle, but my bike is destroyed. I went down at nearly 70mph on the freeway, but I was well geared up. It turns out, there are many such motorists around here. So, I'm planning to part with the BMW (unless I can efficiently relocate it to the Chicago metro) and move back to Chicagoland, and replace the Harley at that point. My hobbies around here are dead (fortunately, I am not) because there is simply too much risk with the bad motorists, horrible terrain, and liability. Income tax here is ridiculous, and don't even get me started on the fuel prices or speeding ticket prices. I've slowed down on my travels considerably. Call me Right Lane Roger, whereas in Chicagoland, I was more often Left Lane Larry. I can't even use the left lane most of the time because of the stupid diamond symbol saying that you must be on a motorcycle or have 2+ occupants in the vehicle. And, the lack of public transit around SoCal exacerbates the problem. Too many people, not enough infrastructure. The chalky water transported in via limestone channels from the Colorado River is horrible. Yeah, the cons outweigh the pros by a considerable margin on this one.
So... I arrived into SoCal with two vehicles - my Z71 Canyon and my SS, and I will part with the same two. I guess there was nothing gained from it. Plus, I miss my family immensely. The same thing happened when I lived in Kansas City, but it is totally different with a near-death experience (could have easily been ran over, but fortunately was not). I plan to return finally, once and for all, and never leave the Chicago metro region again... ever.
The good news is that I get to rejoin my C5G family in Camaro spirit! I still have all of the C5G window decals, proudly displayed on "Karmit".
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