About getahelmet

Hi, whether this is your first visit or you're a "long-time viewer" let me say welcome to Getahelmet; I hope this site can be of some use. If you want to email me, click HERE. I read all emails that I receive, but due to the high volume of email that I receive it is sometimes difficult to reply to all of them despite my best efforts. For that I am sorry.

Those who know me would classify me as easy-going and laid-back. Conversely I am very conservative and I support anyone wishing to make their life better through helping themselves instead of waiting for someone to help them. In the PG-rated quote from Denis Leary, No Cure For Cancer:

"Life sucks, get a ****ing helmet."

I try to live life to the fullest and to continue my education in the many facets of life. I developed Getahelmet to be an information source for others to help themselves with the ever-present challenge called "life." You can either say, "life sucks" and succumb or you can Getahelmet and tame the beast and perhaps even enjoy life!

I married my high school sweetheart and I adore the very air she breathes. She is my best friend and if not for her support, life would surely suck. Thanks a million, B. We are both growing Christians and I hope to someday open a chapter of 4given4x4. 9/08 Update: Our first child, Abraham, was born on 9/1/2008. He too will be a Jeeper and I cannot wait to go camping and Jeeping with him. He has several Jeep toys and outfits already.

I am proudly a descendant of several American Revolutionary War soldiers, and I too am a veteran. I served 8 years in the military where I completed Airborne School, LRSLC, Infantry School, and over 500 credit hours of correspondence courses. I also learned a great deal about mechanical systems in the Army thus furthering my training as a "gearhead." I am an Eagle Scout and I naturally love the outdoors. To pay for my obsessions, I work as a technical consultant for a Fortune 500 company. Currently I am in a role as a Senior Systems Administrator/Engineer for Microsoft software on HP/Dell servers and I occasionally I work from home.

"Bullet" is my 60th Anniversary Jeep TJ is my second Jeep. My first Jeep was a 1980 Jeep 2 door Cherokee Laredo (Full-Size-Jeep or FSJ). This is back when Laredo was the top model of Cherokee with all of the bells and whistles; in 1980 this meant it had more chrome, carpet and a cassette player. I was practically born in the '80 FSJ and I fondly recall going on mining and camping trips in the Rockies of central Colorado (where I was born) as a child. We used the FSJ for everything: towing, moving, camping, Boy Scouts, canoeing...you name it.

My friends always envied the FSJ and I never grasped why. I suppose it was because I always had known Jeeps, and to them it was different and cool. On my 16th birthday my parents gave me the keys to the FSJ and said it was mine! I used it to pull friends out of ditches during the blizzard of '95/'96 (Indiana) and had all sorts of fun in the mud and snow that year in High School. Then on a trip to Pennsylvania in 2/96 with my wife (girlfriend at the time). We were driving around 75mph and lost control of the Jeep and hit a guardrail on the edge of a 200' cliff. We hit with such force that it broke the right hub clean off the front Dana44 axle and the FSJ mounted the guardrail like a train. We rode the rail until the Jeep lost momentum and I awoke hanging through the windshield bleeding to death looking over a cliff. I thank God and my guardian angels for that day, it was obviously not my time to die. Someday I will scan in my old photos and post them on here of that cool old Jeep. Someday I wish to restore an old FSJ to mint condition. Perhaps Collins Bros in TX can help me get the parts I need?

My current Jeep is my daily driver and my play toy, so my modifications (web articles) are focused to make the Jeep more efficient, trail worthy, dependable, safe, fun, comfortable, etc. I drive approximately 18,000 miles per year in my Jeep and I aspire to visit all 50 states in it and all 50 highpoints as well. In the coming years I plan to buy a YJ or TJ to build as a trail only toy, but for now Bullet will have to suffice.

I try to make this website as simple to use as possible. Nearly every photo can be enlarged by clicking on the image. Any link to an outside site will open in a new browser window to retain your position on Getahelmet. Every page will have the navigation bar at the top or sides to get you back to the menus. I reference technical articles and books whenever possible to make sure my works are accurate, but please use discretion as some of my writeups may be incomplete or inaccurate over time.

TO view the layout of almost the entire site, I developed the Getahelmet.com site map. On there you may see the following "new" or "updated" images:

New pages will have this graphic next to a link on the sitemap page or an index page.

A page updated recently will have this graphic next to a link on the sitemap or index page.

I try to be open-minded, so if you have constructive criticism or comments feel free to let me know via email. All for now...

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Page created on 1/14/2004
Last updated on 10/19/2008