In other news, I need to update my project car page: I sold my M3 last week.

I placed an ad on Roadfly early last week, and within a couple of days I got a very eager phone call and email from a college student who was home for the summer. He came over to test drive it and fell pretty hard for the car, which is a common phenomenon with the E30 M3. Two days later I had a deposit check in my hands, and last Sunday the rest of the money arrived and the car left its parking space without me in it.

The sale of that car symbolizes the material sacrifices that I’ve already made, and will continue to make, as I prepare for my new career. I know that Kim and I will always have a relatively comfortable lifestyle, but an extra car of that much value with that much required maintenance is obviously a luxury that doesn’t make sense. Despite my reluctance to let go of such a jewel, I also wanted to do it in some ways. There’s a part of my inner self that needed to realize some of the costs of my big decision. While material things are not ultimately important, they are certainly tangible and very real to anyone. My car obsession/hobby is as much a symbol of my prior spending power (or, perhaps, spending excess) as anything else, so letting go of the M3 is a strong reminder of where I’ve been and where I’m headed.

The spiritual challenges that Kim and I faced as a result of my decision are certainly more important in the holistic sense, but the world is invariably measured in material progress. So, to the outside world, this is perhaps the biggest change that many people will notice. And it’s a significant one to those who know me.

Of course, I haven’t really changed all that much. I’m still affected — or, perhaps, afflicted, depending on your point of view — with cars and other things with wheels. I’m developing a latent interest in motorcycles, and I still own a car that speaks to my enthusiast genes. But I won’t be able to play the way I’ve played for a while…and, actually, I’m fine with that. I miss my M3 dearly, but I’m more excited about my future now than I was a week ago. Maybe that’s partly a coping mechanism, but I’d like to think that it has to do with the closure I felt upon seeing, hearing, and feeling my car rumble away from me last Sunday.

Well, we’re moved. Professional movers are so ridiculously quick, it’s sickening. It took the three of them five hours to drive up, take all of our furniture and heavier belongings, drive them to the new place, and unload the truck. We couldn’t have done that in five weeks. To prove the point, the leftover items from the move — mostly the smaller odds and ends from the closets — took more than one trip and the majority of six hours to transport.

We expected Taylor to have a tough time with the transition, and we were right. Even though all of our stuff is the same, I think she’s confused with the new house. Her separation anxiety is perking up again, so I think the next few days will be a little rough for her. Poor thing.

Oh, yeah. Some of you might be wondering about my project car. Let’s just say that it isn’t conveying to the new owners. More on that when I get a chance.

Hmm..it’s been a while since my last entry. Happy new year, everybody.

Two nights ago, while out of town on business, I happened to find Contact on TV. I realize that it isn’t a cinematic masterpiece, but it’s one of my favorite movies. There are many things about it that I like — the ongoing debate between religion and science, the struggle of someone who is versed in technical matters but unpracticed in politics, the possibility that someone else is out there.

What impresses me most, however, is that the film very nicely portrays the spark of discovery — that “click” when everything falls into place and the solution is in plain view. This happens several times in the film, from the first discovery of the prime number sequence through the realization that the plans assemble in three dimensions. It’s the moment when you finally understand the system you’ve been investigating, and when you suddenly jump from following directions to understating the concepts behind them.

I live for that “click.” My engine rebuild has not really saved me much money, and it certainly has taken months longer than if I’d just taken the car to an experienced shop. However, by pulling out the engine myself, taking it apart to the smallest finite elements, and putting it back together, I’ve gained a great amount of knowledge about the way it works. Now I can easily see my engine is complex, but only because it is a system of much simpler systems. It’s very easy to see how the modern engine has evolved from a purely mechanical system into one controlled largely by electronics. I can now look at schematic diagrams for any engine and understand what all of the parts do and how they interact. More importantly, should anything go wrong with my engine in the future, I have a much better chance of diagnosing and resolving the issue by myself. That is far more satisfying to me than relying on a shop, and it is really a priceless education. Taken from that perspective, the significant amounts of money and time I’ve poured into this project are one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

I’ve found that my career also seems to be at its best when I can work in pursuit of a similar goal. Taking on a complex system, understanding why it’s broken, and working to fix it are the activities that I seem to enjoy the most. At some point, though, the system that I work on comes into play. I don’t know that computers hold my interest the way they have in the past. And mechanical systems, while very intriguing, satisfy me more as a hobby than as a profession. At some point, perhaps it will be time to move on…maybe it’s almost time to try something new. Maybe.

I’ve made some big progress on my engine over the past couple of weekends. Finally updated the project car page after weeks of laziness.

I hate D.C. traffic.

This morning, my 30-mile commute took two hours to complete. The roads were clear and there were no accidents, but I somehow managed to average 15 mph anyway. My carpool, meanwhile, did the trip in about an hour (using HOV lanes). This is still ridiculous, but somehow I’ve been convinced that a one-hour commute is okay.

Even better, I had the good fortune to be stuck behind someone who was READING HIS NEWSPAPER as he drove. He was holding it up in moving traffic, and in stop-and-go, he would sit motionless while reading. I had to flash him several times, but I finally got sick of his inattentiveness and passed him in a wide portion of a single-lane road. If a policeman had seen this maneuver, I wonder what he would have said? This guy ranks right up there with the woman I once saw with a bowl of cereal (yes, including milk) in her lap.

The car page has been updated.

Phew. It’s been a while since my last post.

I’ve done a lot of thinking in the last several weeks, and I’ve made some good progress, I think. There are some rather large changes coming soon. I can’t comment much on them yet, though. Still incubating.

Meanwhile, I’m also making progress on the project car. Expect an update within a day or so.

Made a brief update to the project car page this morning. Working on a more interesting entry here; shouldn’t be long.

I have updated the project car page. The engine is now out and ready to be torn down!

As promised, I have created a new page for my project car.