Accelerate Mpls

I wasn’t really sure how to approach this post. The reality is, I have so much to be thankful for this year. It has been a whirl wind, but this isn’t new years so I am not about to sit here and reflect on everything. Instead, I am going to show you with pictures a few things I am thankful for this year.

First and foremost, I am so thankful for my amazing wife. She is smart, funny, gorgeous, and the most important thing, puts up with me.

I’m so thankful for both my mother and my father. They both have helped make me the person I am today.

I am thankful for all my friends. I have so many people in my life that always seem to have my back, no matter what stupid thing I do. For that, I am forever grateful. While I don’t have a picture of all my friends, I do have a picture of the guys that have my back no matter what.

Of course, I am thankful for Otto. He brings such joy to both Karen and my lives. No matter how bad the day’s been, he always can make it better. Feeling sick? He can make you instantly feel better, and even smile. He’s a sight for sore eyes and a guarantee you’ll get kisses when you walk in my door.

I’m thankful for the vehicles in my life. From Germany to Japan, we have it covered. I love both Unc’s 300ZX and my M5.

I’m of course thankful for the health and happiness of both myself and all my friends and family.

I’m sure most people already know, but I’m very thankful to have a job that I love with a great team of guys. It’s also nice to work in an industry I am so passionate about.

I could go on and on, but these are the things that stick out off the top of my head. Here’s wishing everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving. Now, go eat some turkey and be merry.

The wait is finally over, and I am happy to announce there is a new Federmobile roaming the streets of…Portland. After months of debating what to buy and looking at numerous vehicles, yesterday I purchased a 1991 BMW M5 near Seattle.

I could go on and on about many things right about now, but there is a black M5 calling my name in the garage. So I will keep this as short as possible. We all know how well this’ll work.

It started in the middle of last week when I found this particular M5 listed on Craigslist in Seattle. I called the seller and learned he was the third owner.  The second owner lived in Seattle, and he believed the first owner lived in Flordia. To his knowledge the car has never seen salt or snow. This car was his toy and never his daily driver. The reason for selling, merely to buy either an E39 M5 or newer M3.

I arranged for a friend who knows much more about this particular car than I, to see it in person and drive it. Friday night I received a call that went something like this:

Friend: “If you don’t come buy this car…I am.”

Me: “Don’t even think about it. I’ll be there in the morning.”

And so it was written. I called the owner and arranged to meet him at his house at 9 AM on Saturday. This was at 10 PM on Friday evening.

Let me take a break to tell you all what a trooper my wife truly is. She loves me. Way more than any of us ever thought. She got up at 4 AM so we could leave the house at 5 AM to go buy this car. Even Otto was wondering what the heck we were doing up so early, as he was less than pleased.

We arrived at the owners house and the car hadn’t been started for the day. The car fired right up and he backed it out for my inspection. The paintwork is all original and the car is in great condition for its age. It definitely needs a detailing and small minor things inside the cabin, but nothing that is completely outrageous.

Karen and I hopped in and took it for a drive. It took three blocks for me to know I was buying this car. When Karen offered to just turn back and let me buy it, I said absolutely not. I wanted to go for a quick drive.

After a short stint on the highway and then on some suburb streets, we were back in the sellers driveway. I confirmed on the agreed upon price, and he handed me a folder. This folder contained not only ever service record from him, but also every service record from the previous owners. Along with all this, the folder had the cards from the BMW factory with the original key and radio key codes. The cherry on top: the original window sticker.

I know you want details, so without further delay:

• 1991 M5 black on silver/gray
• 140,000 miles
• Most every major wear item has been replaced with OEM parts, including but not limited to the water pump, timing belt, most rubber in the engine bay, brake pads and rotors, suspension bits, and much more.
• Dinan stage one suspension
• Only major flaw, (if you’d call it that) is the A/C doesn’t work. I’m still not sure if I’ll have this fixed as I’m not sure how necessary it’ll be in Portland.
• Front leather seats are cracked, but no tears or holes. Leather is still soft.
• Has an E36 steering wheel (slightly smaller diameter than the original steering wheel).
• Factory tinted windows.
• Pulls hard.

I keep reading the title of this post and have a hard time believing I typed it. It’s true, we are moving to Portland, OR.

Karen has accepted an amazing opportunity as the Search Manager for WebTrends. I am so proud of her and am being as supportive as possible.

We’ll be moving in a few weeks, and she will be starting on October 17. Did I mention I’ll be traveling for work the entire week we are moving?

This decision did not come lightly. There have been many tears shed and heated arguments as to what we should do. But in the end, Karen taking this position is the right decision. I’m sad we will be moving away from our friends and family.

As many of you know, one of my main priorities in life is the family cabin up North. Giving up the ability to go up to this place of serenity as often as I want in the summer is so difficult, words escape me. I know how devastated you are that you won’t be seeing new pictures of me water skiing every weekend. Trust me, I’m even more devastated that I won’t be going water skiing nearly as often.

As far as my job goes, this won’t affect my position with High Gear Media in anyway. In fact, one of our editors lives in Portland. It’ll be great to be able to collaborate with him.

I know many of you are wondering what will happen to this blog, as it is called Accelerate Mpls. I’ve been giving it some thought and have yet to really determine what I will do with the name. For the current moment as we are in the midst of the move, I am going to leave the name alone.

This blog started as an outlet for my automotive passion, quickly turning into a site where I could post automotive news and reviews. Since I joined High Gear Media, a lot of the content I now write is posted for work on our network. That leaves this site for some reviews and other personal stuff. I decided before my wedding that this site would evolve, and I believe this move is going to be the catalyst for the evolution. I will still post reviews, and random stuff, but I would like to see it morph to be more about me, my life with cars, and cars. You know, instead of just being about cars.

Portland is going to be a whole new adventure, and I can’t wait to experience it with Karen and Otto. Stay tuned for more updates, as I will try to provide plenty.

To say the last two and a half weeks has been a whirlwind, would be an understatement. First things first, on Sunday August 28 at 4 pm I got married. Quite a few people were shocked she went through with it, but I’m a lucky guy.

I know many of you are wondering what we drove away from the ceremony in. While there was some discussions regarding the topic initially, it was quickly decided that we would drive away from the ceremony in Uncs 1990 Nissan 300ZX. Read More…

Well, that day is nearly here, on Sunday I will be getting married. It’s been an interesting road getting to this point. Not quite as many emotions as I would have thought, but as of this morning it is all starting to hit me. I’m excited and anxious.

Earlier in the week I started reconsidering Operation Blackout. I have decided to go forward and unplug for an entire week as I had originally planned.

To make things even easier, I will not have my computer with me during the week. It needs to go in for repair, and I figured what better time to be without it than the week I will be unplugged.

Just to be safe, incase the world ends and I need something, I’ll have an external hard drive with a clone of my computer. This way I can boot off Karen’s computer, you know, if the world ends.

I have purchased Bob Lutz’s new book and fully intend to read that, smoke some cigars, fish, hang on the boat with Karen, and take naps with Otto. Sounds like a terrific week.

Operation Blackout: Feder Feder Unplugged with commence on Monday when Karen and I leave town. I will not touch the Internet until Monday night the 5th. I might even wait until Tuesday morning the 6th, I mean at that point, what’s the difference?

Two weeks ago I announced what I dubbed Operation Blackout: Feder Feder Unplugged. Since then, it has been extremely interesting to hear and see peoples reactions. With less than a week until the wedding, and only a week until Operation Blackout commences, I figured an update was necessary.

Many of my friends, and even family, have made comments about how they just don’t think I can do this. While some believe I can do it, most don’t think it will happen. Really feeling the support if you can’t tell.

This past weekend Karen and I were having dinner with my parents. Operation Blackout came up in conversation. After my mother informed me she didn’t think I could do it, she asked for more details. During this discussion I quickly realized that Karen plans to use the Internet, surf Facebook, and post to Twitter. Excuse me? So I’m planning on giving up the Internet and she’s not?

So apparently I misunderstood how this all happened. You see, Karen was asking me not to work during our vacation. She wasn’t asking me to give up the Internet. Talk about miscommunication. Further, when I took it the wrong way and said, “I can totally give up the internet for a week,” well she decided to take advantage of that and let me commit to it…publicly. So here I am, committed to not using the Internet and or posting to my own social media for a week. On one hand I almost feel tricked. She clearly knew I misunderstood the situation and let me continue. I’m pretty sure she just wanted to see me try.

So now I’m at a crossroads. There’s no question, I’m not working on my vacation. But I will admit, it would be nice to post  picture from the lake here and there while on vacation. But according to the rules I set out initially, that is prohibited.

I really want to prove to the world I can go a week without touching the internet. But is it worth it? Is changing who I am and how I live for a week going to make my vacation more enjoyable or less enjoyable? What’s wrong with posting a picture to Facebook while drinking an alcoholic beverage and fishing? What happens if I catch a big fish? Then I can’t share it with all you loyal followers.

This is the situation I’m in. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I definitely am not a quitter. More to come later.

As some of you might know, I am getting married in a mere three weeks from yesterday. I know, I know, I can’t believe she is going through with it either. But from what I’m told, the dress is paid for, so she better not back out now.

Many have asked where we will be going for our honey moon. After a short discussion, we both agreed that leaving Minnesota in August to go somewhere exotic seemed a little bit weird for us. So we decided to head up North to our family cabin and spend a week there alone. We will probably take some vacation to an exotic location during the cold winter months here in Minnesota.

Something that has commonly come up in discussions with pretty much everyone is how will I “disconnect” for a week after my wedding. Can I disconnect for a week? Most people seem to think I can’t. Even my own fiancée thinks I can’t go a week without posting to Twitter, Facebook, and checking in on the auto news.

So today I am publicly announcing/committing what I am dubbing Operation Blackout. From the time we leave Minneapolis on Monday morning August 29, until I leave the cabin on September 5, I will not open my email, look at Twitter or Facebook, or surf the internet. The only thing I will touch the internet for is if we decide to watch Netflix or check local movie times.

Yes, the first two days I may get the shakes. This is after all me going cold turkey with no social media…or internet.

This is happening. It’s necessary….and I’m going to prove to the world I can go a week without the internet.

Wow it’s been a long road. In August this site will be 2 years young. Feels like a decade, but who’s counting. Now it’s time for an upgrade.

The goal was for the site to have a cleaner look. I feel that’s accomplished. The gorgeous graphic that resides at top is the work of Mirko Reinhardt. He has some serious talent. Mirko is also credited with the favicon which features a 300ZX.

An important function I wanted  in this upgrade was some sort of featured section, giving me the ability to highlight certain posts. That is of course being taken care of by the featured slider at the top.

On the right there’s a new search function, and below that you have the ability to view the most popular posts, the latest posts, recent comments, and tags.

If you don’t follow me on Twitter (wait, what? Why aren’t you following me? Can’t we be friends?) you can view my latest tweets on the right sidebar. The latest photos from my Flickr account will be below that. Last, but not least, we have the archives with old posts and the blog roll.

If you notice any bugs, things that just don’t look right, or just have a comment, please feel free to let me know.

Note – I’m told by some if you don’t dump your cookies you might see the old version of the site. Insert bit about tossing your cookies here…

Second Note – I’ve been informed that the super awesome favicon is only working in Firefox. For you Chrome and Safari users….I’m looking into it. Sorry.

The last year has been a roller coaster for me. Throughout the year there were ups and downs, but one thing stayed consistent – my passion for anything automotive.

When 2010 began, by day I was working as a Social Media Associate at SMCpros, a small social media agency here in Minneapolis. Working on everything from strategy and implementation to Facebook ads, nothing was left out.

At night I spent hours working right here, on my blog Accelerate Mpls working on car reviews, news, and random fails I saw along the way. Heck, Colin Bird and I were even doing a podcast, referred to by many as “The Birdcast.”

Things have changed a lot since then. Colin has gotten a new job at Cars.com and is no longer on the AutoBird Podcast, though we know he’s there in spirit.

In January GM brought me to the Detroit Auto Show as social media press. It was an eye opening experience. The fast paced environment of press days at the auto shows will make your head spin. Being there as social media press was especially interesting. With automakers now embracing social media and new FTC guidelines in place, it signaled a shift in how things are done. Everything is now instantaneous. Things are now live streamed and live tweeted. Real time is hitting the news, and the automotive industry is embracing the trend.

In July I left SMCpros and soon after accepted a position with High Gear Media as their Social Media Manager. There I work with the team on strategy and implementation, along with manufacturer relations. It is my job to help get High Gear Media’s name out in the marketplace.

September brought a very memorable experience. Chevrolet sponsored High Gear Media in the Fireball Run Adventurally. I was one of three members of High Gear Media’s team. In my second month on the job, they shipped me to Henderson, Nevada and shoved me in a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS. I was stuck with Nelson Ireson and Tim Healey for a 9 day, 3,500 mile adventure I’ll never forget. Making life long friends and seeing things I might never see again, it was an adventure to remember.

Upon arriving home from the Fireball Run my (then girlfriend) and I added a new member to the household. His name is Otto and he’s pretty much ridiculously cute. He is a Maltipoo, which is a mix between a Maltese and a Poodle. Otto is now 5 months old and continues to put a smile on our faces.

In November I finally manned up and asked my girlfriend Karen to marry me. She (amazingly enough) said yes! After nearly five years we are now finally engaged. I’m ridiculously lucky to have her in my life.

When I started this blog, it was to be about cars and automotive in general. Though I did mention that some of my non-automotive life would probably spill over into the blog. While I’m not sure how much that has happened, at least I warned you it might.

There is no question that when I began this blog, I was not a terrific writer. Looking back at some of my first posts, I cringe. Over time there is no question that improvement has been made.

There are quite a few people that have helped me with my writing over the past year. Far too many to list here. But I want you to all know, I really appreciate your help.  Even when you wanted to wring my neck, you still helped.

Overall 2010 has been a great year. I had the opportunity to experience some very cool things. While every day wasn’t great, I tried to make the most of each situation.

I look forward to what 2011 brings. From me to you, I wish everyone a healthy and happy new year.

Happy New Years from Accelerate Mpls!