Daily Archives: August 18, 2009

Inc. 500, 1234!

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Each year INC. Magazine creates a list of the fastest growing private companies in the US. In the past they listed the 500 fastest growing, but recently expanded the list to include the fastest growing 5000. The rank is based on the rate of revenue increase for a company over a period of three years (not total revenue, not profit, just growth). Low and behold we’re 1, 234th! By many measures it’s a small accomplishment, but there’s some satisfaction that goes with it too. I don’t think we’ll make the 500 list anytime soon (maybe one day), but we’re not doing too bad!

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

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The other day we thought we’d take the boat out for a spin… or whatever you take boats out for. A splash, maybe. We all got ready and then ran out to see what the weather was like. It turned out to be cold and windy (but clear). Not a good day for the boat. The kids insisted that we should still go so I sprayed them with water. They came around to my way of thinking. We had a conference in the backyard and decided it was kite weather.

Fran pulled out a kite Mike had gotten at Costco a few years back. I looked it over and announced it would never fly. From the deep dark depth of some obscure closet a small butterfly shaped kite emerged. I looked it over and announced it would never fly. Andrew, Tom and I have gotten together a few times to fly Andrew’s stunt kite. One place that we had some reasonable success was at the Thanksgiving Point field where they host Cornbelly’s in September and October. It’s big, green and death is unlikely.

I was right about the butterfly kite (it was assembled wrong with a piece missing). The other kite, and F1 Jet looking thing, did pretty well. It wasn’t well balanced and tilted to the left too much, but had a good amount of lift. Eventually we got it up about sixty feet or so. It was at that point that the kids wandered off. I decided the best thing to do was lay down in the grass and fly the kite with my foot. I wished I had a stunt kite. Eventually I wandered off too.

The Z06: There’s Nothing Vetter

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Cars are my hobby. I thought my hobby might have been writing… but I don’t really write. Drawing? No… don’t really do that either. Maybe my hobby is working? I work alot, but that doesn’t do it for me.  Cars. It’s cars. For Father’s Day Fran got me an awesome 1000+ page automotive textbook that covers everything car related. Beautiful.

A few months ago I bought a newer Corvette, but it was just this past week that I put the finishing touches on her (I named her Vanessa). When you get a car you have to do certain things to make it “yours” (like giving it a name). Some people just need to add a bumper sticker, put on seat covers, or get some new floor mats.  Others have to overhaul their car’s physical appearance in one way or another (there’s a right way and wrong way to do this -learn more HERE).   Sure I did the floor mats and some stickers, but I did the wheels too.

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I replaced the stock Z06 rims (18″ front, 19″ rear, flat, kinda boring, generic) with West Coast Corvette’s WCC Forged 946 EXT custom series (19″ front, 20″ rear, not flat, super exciting, made by Asanti). For tires I went with Michelin’s PS2 series. So far I really like them- good ride & great traction.

As far as cars go I’m having a good time with this one.  It’s an actual Z06 (my last car looked like one, but had a secret) with nearly 800 horsepower (an APS twin turbo kit on the LS7 engine is a pretty mean set up). My last car accelerated so fast it made some people scream.  This car is so fast that it will compress the air in your lungs so you can’t scream (better for you, better for me). Not that I have ever sped. Mom thinks I should get something quieter. Something safer. Sorry Mom. I like my cars loud and fast.

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March 28, 2010: Added some updated photos of the car.