UMTravels

Today’s tasks are writing and test taking. You’d think I was back in school. What a perfect way to spend a day fighting off a cold while it snows outside.

First there is the contest entry for the Ford Transit Connect:

QUESTION 1 – What vehicle(s) do you currently drive?

MAZDA MPV (Qty: 1) BMW Z3 (Qty: 1)

QUESTION 2 – Tell us about your business.

Studio 403 is essentially a one man, jack of most-trades, home renovation company. I specialize in buying under valued houses that have good “bones”, but are in need of modernization. Most times I am working on two places at once. For preferential tax-treatment I generally live in one of the homes while all the work is going on. Needless to say, I’m single – not many partners would put up with such a transitory life.

QUESTION 3 – What about your current vehicle doesn’t fit your business needs?

There are several reasons my current vehicles don’t entirely meet my needs. Gas mileage is one – I often go to Home Depot in the BMW convertible on small supply runs simple because the Mazda MPV doesn’t get good gas mileage. Until you have seen twenty 2x4s and a couple of hundred pounds of concrete l oaded into a small two-seat sport car, you really haven’t lived. And yes, I get funny looks in the parking lot.

QUESTION 4 – How would a Transit Connect better fit your business needs?

In investigating new vans (my MPV has 125,000 miles on it) I’ve looked at the Sprinter with has good gas mileage, but is a little too large for the city, and won’t fit in the current garage. The Transit Connect appeals to me because of the gas mileage and the size in relation to the amount of stuff you can cram into a van. Options that I would like on my Transit Connect are the 270 degree door hinges and the portion of the roof that opens for those really oversize items.

QUESTION 5 – How would a Transit Connect help your business operate more efficiently?

With the Transit Connect, the efficiency of Studio 403 would be improved by having one vehicle rather than two (one for fuel economy and one for hauling). With the size of the Connect I would gain the ability to easily park in the city (where most of my properties have been located). When you add the ability of advertising on the side of the Transit Connect – you hit the trifecta of the perfect business vehicle.

QUESTION 6 – Additional comments

Please offer glass windows all the way around and please include the \”Sync\” system as an option. I rented a Ford Fusion with the \”Sync\” system when I was in Florida on business in January — what a home run for Ford — I love the interface!

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PottingShedInVan.JPG (645146 bytes)

 And then the testing portion of the day. If I really want to take my career in a different direction, maybe it’s time I did some aptitude testing to see which direction that might be. A couple of days ago I stumbled across this section of the USAJOBS site — that would be the site for getting a job with the US Government.

If you are interested, the link would be: http://www.usajobs.gov/careers/index.asp?ic=1

Some interesting categories came up. The top four are: Safety and Occupational Health Management, Contractor Industrial Relations, Telecommunications, and Quality Assurance Specialist. Wow. Scrolling further down you get to Foreign Affairs. I could have one of those.

And just for amusement, I’ve accepted an invitation to help drink three magnums of champagne tonight so that Mr. Wonderful can sand blast the bottles tomorrow for some big art project that he is working on.

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