After a self imposed time out from off topic, I have returned to find that nothing had changed. I walked away for a few months because I began to find that I had fallen into the trap, became one of the pathetic, impotent people that I despise on the internet. I find that there is nothing more pathetic than an internet bully, someone that using the annonymity and security of a computer screen to say things that they would not say in person, and I realized that I had began to cross that line. Upon my return, I realized that nothing had changed, in fact it has possibly gotten worse. With nostatic's recent threads that just turned into pissing matches, it occured to me, why?
Is it the fact that we all interact over this cold, impersonal medium, simply generic usernames interacting? Better yet, what can help us to regain a semblance of the friends BS-ing over a beer mentality that this forum use to have? So, my little contribution to making this a happy shiny place again was to start this thread. I want everyone to introduce themselves, location, tell what they do, tell us about their family, car, and any other hobbies, sports, etc that are important to their lives. My hope, soon to be crushed I'm sure, is that if we can view each other as friends instead of strangers, maybe we can resurrect a shread of respect. So I'll start.
Name: Matt J
Location: Wichita, KS
Job: Aerospace Engineering Student at Wichita State, Raytheon intern (Horizon 4000 program)
Family: Married 4 years, son 2 years 5 months
Car: Mazda Protege5- I just sold the 540, it was about to break me. Finally faced the fact that older German cars aren't for college students with no time or money. Now I have a nice cheap car with 54k that gets 30 MPG, and isn't half bad to drive. German cars are for after graduation.
Also, 2003 Toyota 4Runner Sport 4x4 (wife).
ETC: Not much, school and work has pretty well stolen my life, the little time I have is spent with family. I used to love golf, and enjoy watching F1 and WRC with my son. Also enjoy DIY work on my car, but my new rice burner shouldn't require much.