David Pitlyuk

Back in May I wrote an article on how to get paid to drive a Dodge Viper for free for the summer. While I ended up having the car for quite a bit more time then just the summer, I still got paid to drive it I officially sold the car a few weeks ago (which is why I picked up the Corvette), and without getting into any actual numbers, I can say that after buying the car, paying all of the taxes registration, title, gas, insurance, etc…I ended up with about $1,000 profit. Who wouldn’t take a Dodge Viper supercar for 6 months or so, and get paid $1,000 to do so?

I will say this though, I only put about 1,500 miles on the car, but it was a blast! Even though I made $1,000, the new owner still got a decent deal on a pristine 94 Viper with only 16,300 miles on it. If you play your cards right, you could technically do this with any car (although it is a lot of work sometimes).

Now that I’ve had some time with the Vette, I’m actually starting to miss the Viper. While the Viper was on my list of dream cars to own one day, my actual dream Viper is a 96-97 blue GTS (hard-top) with white stripes. I’ve recently put the Corvette up for sale (no hardcore selling, but if it sells, I’ll sell it), and hope to profit about $1,000-$3,000 on it. For a 97 with only 36,000 miles on it, I should have no problem getting $500-$1,000 more than I paid at the minimum. Once that’s sold, I think I will start to seriously look for my dream Viper (They normally range in the $40,000-$50,000 range), and hopefully pick one up. I’ve already starting my search, but I don’t want to jump on anything until the Vette is gone.

The main differences between the Viper I had an the GTS I want are the following:

• The color/stripes! This is my dream Viper combo
• 450hp compared the 94 which had 400hp
• Much nicer/updated interior. Let’s just say the 94 Viper interior needs some work…although it was cool back in 94
• Much more practical. With actual windows and a button for the doors, it’s a much more practical car. Although who cares about practicality with a Viper?
• The hood scoops! This 2nd generation Viper has a hood scoop and two gills on the hood. It makes it look much more aggressive in my opinion.
• The back of the GTS is just way sexier. I love the way everything is molded into the back, and am actually not too big of a fan of the rear of the RT/10.
• The RT/10 I had was convertible, which I will definitely miss
• The 1st generation Viper that I had, had side pipes. This means that the exhaust pipes came out of the side of the car…a very exotic thing. The GTS has the exhaust come out of the middle of the back of the car. While it still looks cool, side pipes were neat.
• There are a bunch of other differences, but the above are the major ones that affect me

A used 1st generation/2nd generation Viper is a great supercar to get if you can afford it. The car does not depreciate very much at this point in time. So if you want to drive a car that turns every head, and is a blast to drive, but don’t want to spend too much money over time…the Viper is your answer. There are a couple new reasons why the value of the Viper will either depreciate at an even slower rate, or may even go up.

There is a very good chance the 2011 will be the last year that Dodge makes a Viper. Dodge has already stopped making a lot of the parts for older Vipers, and there is some word that they will stop all together in 2011. My thoughts are that this should help out the value of Vipers already out there. That and the fact that they are so rare already will help out with keeping the price you paid up there. Remember, there are more Corvettes made and sold in one year than Vipers have ever been made since they started in 1993.

At the beginning of this month, my friend Derek Semmler made a post about a contest to win $106.34 by referring the most amount of people to his site by February 25th. The winner would be chosen by the most number of referrals shown in his Google Analytics account. As I was reading his post, I came across one line:

You’re free to use any means available to refer traffic to my site - as long as Google Analytics counts the visit I will consider it valid.

As I read this, the light bulb over my head went on. This was just asking for some sort of evil method of winning the contest. My plan was to use a 1 pixel by 1 pixel IFRAME on the footer of all the pages on my blog. For those that don’t know what an IFRAME is, it’s basically a website within a website. You can specify the size of an IFRAME, and then load another webpage into it…usually it’s another page on your own site. I decided to load Derek’s site.

I wasn’t sure if this would register as a referral on Google Analytics though, so I created a test page loading in my own site. I checked to see if it came in as a referral…it did. Score! So I added the below code to every page on this site:

<iframe src=”http://www.dereksemmler.com” height=”1″ width=”1″></iframe>

If you can see this little black dot below, this is what the iframe would look like that would load Derek’s site inside of it and generate a referral visitor.

After a couple of days running the code, I got an IM from Derek letting me know I was evil lol. He agreed that it was ok based on his terms, so I left the code on my site for a few weeks to ensure my win. I felt bad, so I made sure that I’d post about the contest, and I also made this little ad which you may have seen running on the sidebar:

Yesterday Derek made a post announcing that I was the winner, and then PayPal’d me $106.34. Definitely goes up there as one of the easiest $106.34 I’ve ever made

Thanks for being a good sport Derek! If you don’t already read his blog, make sure to give it a chance. It’s good enough to make it onto my RSS reader, and I’ve been a subscriber and a commenter for quite some time now.

For some time I had been talking about picking up a new generation C6 Chevrolet Corvette as my next “fun car”.  Last week I found out that the Viper will be sold this week, and I started getting the itch for something new…I don’t want to have just the Accord for an option :)  I decided to spend half the price and a get a C5 (1997) so I wasn’t tying up so much money:

I found the car locally on Craigslist.  The car only has 35,000 miles on it, which means it has only been driven 3,500 miles per year on average.  It was definitely owned by an enthusiast, who got the car with 3,000 miles, had it garage kept under a car cover next to a 68′ Camaro.  The owners manual had all of the maintenance records in it…the car was obviously taken care of extremely well, and with the right price, it was a perfect buy!

The car has a few modifications done to it already, which bump the horsepower up pretty significantly:

•  Z06 Clutch Assembly
• Dynomax Ultra Flow Exhaust
• BBK Shorty Headers
• WCC X-Pipe
• Vortex Ram Air
• Modified Throttle Body
• BBK SSI Intake Manifold
• Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
• Upgraded Wheels
• B&M Short Throw Shifter

On top of that, the car is fully loaded with cool things like an adjustable suspension.  Take a look at all the fun toys in the household at the moment:

For the full list of my progression of vehicles, take a look at my progression of vehicles post.

Last weekend I went to 7 Springs resort in PA for a few days of snowboarding with 14 of my friends. Since there were so many of us, we got a 2 bedroom condo, a 4 bedroom townhouse, and a keg to stay at. Here we are on the first day, the resort is huge but you can see the main lodge:

Here I am on the top of one of the mountains, you can see more of the resort at the bottom of the hill:

What’s a snowboarding post without a little action shot?

After each long day of boarding we hit up the bars in the hotel, here’s a few of us at from Saturday night:

This is my third or fourth time to 7 Springs, it’s always a great time and only a few hours drive. Next year I’d like to try snowboarding somewhere on the west coast though, I think I’m too used to icy conditions.

Back in May I made a post with pictures of my home office setup, and even a video. I’ve made a couple of updates to the office that makes it all just a little bit nicer, so I thought I’d post updated pics.

Picked up the 42″ Sony Plasma and mounted it on the wall. I haven’t moved the clock yet, but that’ll go up higher when I’m not so lazy.  I also finally convinced Jason to upgrade his computer and monitor.  He picked up a 24″ Dell LCD and a Shuttle XPC:

Here’s my setup up close.  I have two Dell 20.1″ monitors.  Once you go dual-monitor, you can never go back.  I would much rather take my 2 20.1″ screens over 1 24″ or even 1 30″.  I like the separation of two monitors.

The middle unit houses the phone, routers, and computers:

Think you have a nice office setup?  Prove it!  Make a post on your blog, and show me what you’ve got.

Between seeing some decent traffic from Twitter over the past couple days, and Darren’s post about it…I’ve decided to try and join the bandwagon.  My main gripe is that I can’t update using AIM…which is the only IM client that I actively use.

Anyway, we’ll see how it pans out over time…I can see it being useful to share little links and gripes here and there.  If you are a Twitter, make sure to follow me:

http://twitter.com/davepit

For those that don’t know what Twitter is, it’s like a mini-blog.  You can only post 140 characters at one time, so a post may be something as simple as “Off to the slopes for the weekend”.  Short and sweet.

For those of you that were caught up in the hype of American Gladiators re-launching, just to be disappointed, join the club. I had a ton of complaints about the show when I finally saw my first new episode. Then I happened to check my e-mail inbox where I saw the subject “AG Monologue”…and it was from one of my good, hilarious, friends Elliott Antal. This should be good I thought to myself. As always, Elliott didn’t disappoint…so I asked for his permission to repost it on here to share with the world. Let us know what you thought of American Gladiators by posting your comments.

• 45 minutes I’ve been at work
• 25 emails
• 1 coffee run

Sounds like I’m ready to run down some observations about the greatest comeback since Michael Jordan playing baseball…that’s right…the AMERICAN GLADIATORS!!! Or the ‘AG’ as NBC likes to slang it. If you have watched any of it so far this e-mail will make sense, if not then I hope this e-mail will make you search YouTube for any clips supporting or denying my claims.

• First off NBC played the celebrity card to try and get viewers tuned in, I don’t know how many people I ran into before the first episode aired that said, “Hulk Hogan is going to be a Gladiator” just to find out that the Hulkster is actually a glorified sideline reporter, and because the job is too big for one ex-WWF wrestler, they had to find him a partner in Ms. Ali.
• Second, I don’t remember the first ‘AG’ having so many damn in game interviews. I don’t care to hear the philosophies of some random blue contestant, I tuned in to see someone with a name like Titan sit on your head!
• Thirdly, the Gladiators. I think they grabbed these guys in a San Fran court house, I believe these are all witnesses in the ongoing BALCO investigation. And in Barry Bond’s defense, steroids by themselves do not increase an individuals ability, and not in Canseco’s defense, they do tend to kill some brain cells. Case in point, the Gladiator named Wolf…I’d hate to meet this guy in a dark alley….until I saw him in the rings event and learned that if I do meet him in an alley, all I would have to do is look for the nearest gym apparatus to climb on. The guy they call Titan looks like he’s been posing for the cover of romance novels chipping away at Fabio’s profits. By far my favorite Gladiator is Helga…I have $50 that says even the guys can’t get by her, I also have $100 that says she celebrates a victory by chugging a keg and smashing it on her forehead.
• Fourth, the new event. Instead of trying to fight a Gladiator out of a ring, like traditional wrestling, the ring is now elevated and rotates called EARTHQUAKE. This is another event in which steroids don’t help the Gladiators much, a sense of balance is something you don’t expect from a jungle living Gladiator called TOA.
• Fifth, where is the classic event. Am I the only one that noticed that the new ‘AG’ doesn’t have that human ball rolling event anymore? You know the one where they tried to roll into a pod and wait till smoke shot up their butt to record a point. NBC lost some major points by not bringing that back.
• Sixth, the Eliminator. This event can hardly be called the Eliminator, this is nothing like the original. Contestants get to frolic through some obstacle course that looks about as hard as any event you did during Field Day in Middle School (if your school had those). There are no Gladiators like in the original and it doesn’t even look as long. Which makes me wonder why these contestants are always so winded and cannot run up the damn escalator at the end of it…did anyone screen these contestants for athletic ability before they applied?

Well for those of you who waited for the return of a classic 80’s show and were disappointed…you don’t have long to wait. NBC will soon be destroying the legend of Knight Rider next.

I’m back from Vegas, unfortunately internet access wasn’t as accessible as I had hoped (nor did I have much spare time!).  Vegas was a great time with pretty much non-stop action and little sleep.  We arrived on Sunday, and headed over to Bellagio to see the O Cirque De Soliel show after checking in.  The show was very impressive, especially the stage which went from a regular stage to a pool in seconds.

Later that night we headed over the Absolut Vodka penthouse suite in Caesars Palace for John Chow’s CES kickoff party.  While I’ve known John for about 10 years now, this was actually the first time I ever met him.  We ended up getting their almost 2 hours late, and by that time John was pretty trashed…he didn’t realize who I was until the second time I introduced myself lol.

The room was awesome, with different themes in each bedroom.  For anybody that went there, you would have noticed a variety of banners as well as a couple vendor setups around the room.  That’s how you make an expensive party free :)   This was one of the setups from NZXT for example:

The next day we went to CES.  We ended up going to the smaller portion of the show at the Sands convention center and weren’t that impressed.  That night we went out to Jet Nighclub in the Mirage.  That’s always good times as always, if you go, I recommend getting there early unless you have some sort of connection.

I know the picture looks like there are only guys there, but rest assured, the girls are inside

The last full day we were there we went to the big portion of CES, which turned out to be much better.  I wish we had done that for both days!  We tried to pack in as much of the show as we could in one day, which is not nearly enough time.  Here’s a few of my favorite things:

This is a Pioneer Kuro (the new name for the high-end elite series) concept which was just ridiculously flat:

If you know me, you’ll know that you can probably find me in the automotive car entertainment section of the show.  That’s where you’ll find all the cool cars, cool car gadgets, and hottest booth babes.  In there you’d have found a Hummer with 30″ wheels with a ridiculous dish.  Pictures don’t really do justice, but for comparison sake see how big the lip is with a $100 bill on it:

For those of you that haven’t heard of the Tesla Roadster, it’s a 100% electric sportscar that does 0-60 in under 4 seconds.  I haven’t seen one yet, but luckily the Blaupunkt booth had one:

I didn’t grab a picture, but it was cool to see the Optimus Maximus keyboard which features all programmable OLED keys.

I didn’t have much time to do any gambling, I only pretty much played roulette for about 15-30 minutes at a time every now and then.  Luckily I was able to walk away from Vegas up $150 or so…while only putting $20 on the roulette table at one time.  I should be going to Atlantic City on Friday, so I’ll have some time to actually do a little gambling and hopefully play some poker.  All in all, Vegas was a great success for a first time visit, and I hope to be back again soon.

On Sunday, myself and the rest of the Tri Megatech crew will be heading out to Vegas to attend the consumer electronics show.  This will be my first year going to CES, despite owning a consumer technology oriented site (SystemLogic) for 4 years back in the day.  In fact, this will be my first time going to Las Vegas!  I’m really excited for it, and cannot wait to get down there.

For any readers or fellow bloggers/entrepreneurs that will be in the area and want to meet up, get in touch with me.  We’ll be arriving around 11am on Sunday, and partying with John Chow at his exclusive party that night.  We’ll be there through Wednesday.  I should be blogging from Vegas if I ever go back to my room while there

On Wednesday night a few of us went to dinner at BLT Steak in Washington DC (About a block or so away from the White House).  I have to say it was definitely one of the better meals I’ve had in my lifetime, and I got a chance to try Kobe steak for the first time.

Here’s the entrance for BLT Steak:

I’ll just list out everything our table ordered outside of the wine as everything was a la carte.  I personally got the NY strip as my entree.

Appetizer

• Caesar Salad
• Grilled double cut bacon

Entrees

• Filet Mignon
• 10oz Japanese Kobe Strip
• Rib Eye
• New York Strip
• Diver Scallops

Sides

• We wanted to order the grilled jumbo shrimp, but it was out
• Blue cheese tator-tots
• Parmesan Gnocchi
• French Fries
• Grilled asparagus
• Poached green beans

Dessert

• Chocolate chestnut sundae
• Crepe Souffle
• Peanut butter chocolate mousse
• Blueberry lemon meringue pie

Here’s a shot of the 10oz Kobe, at $26 an ounce that steak was $260:

You can see the inside here (the top two pieces) and how marbled it is:

CD got the filet mignon:

Steph got the diver scallops:

The desserts were amazing, the peanut butter chocolate mousse may possibly be one of the best I’ve ever had.  Here’s the blueberry lemon meringue pie that I got:

The chocolate chestnut sundae looked to die for:

All said and done our check was about $1,000 for the 5 of us (Thanks Andrew!).  After dinner we went by the white house to take a quick gander:

It was a great night and dinner…I think I’m still stuffed a day later.  I highly recommend going to BLT, they have locations in DC, New York City, San Jua, Dallas, White Plains, Los Angeles, and Miami.