Dan Decides « SoCalTrucks.com

Manning to be a Bronco

Posted on Wednesday at 1:01

Welcome to Dan Decides, our SoCal Trucks blog. Everything from his love of custom trucks and big trucks to tales of his yellow field lab, Diesel (just picture Marley and Me, and you’ll get the idea), will be covered by Dan Monaco, in these original blog posts.

While we love everything about custom trucks and big trucks in general, we also value unique thoughts. One of SoCal Trucks’ founders, Dan describes his blog this way: “It won’t necessarily have anything to do with trucks, but will hopefully entertain, inspire or simply annoy you. Although, the latter is not my mission.”

We hope you enjoy reading and following Dan Decides!

Peyton Manning finally settles on playing in Denver. Thank God! I don’t think I could listen to one more thing about a washed up quarterback with an above average talent for acting. Don’t get me wrong. Had the San Diego Chargers been able to draft Peyton Manning instead of Ryan Leaf way back in the day I’m sure I would love him and think he is the greatest quarterback ever, but that’s not the way it all worked out. He hasn’t played in a year and has had 4 neck surgeries. With all of that said the Denver Broncos sign him to a 5 year $95 million dollar contract. Really? 4 neck surgeries? I haven’t had one neck surgery and I think a hit from an NFL linebacker would be the end of me.
With the addition of Manning means the exit of Tim Tebow. Again, Really? How do you trade away the world’s only perfect human being? Tim Tebow’s mom has “Tim” tattooed on her arm. When Tim Tebow does push ups the world moves downward.
Tebow sells seats and his patented “tebowing” move is infectious and awesome.
Vegas has now picked the Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl this year. Good luck with that, they will have to get through the Bolts first.
At any rate we can all move on with our lives and look forward to not hearing about Peyton Manning for awhile.
Love,

Dan

P.S. I heard Peyton drives a Prius!

Tags: broncos, dan decides, peyton manning, super bowl, tim tebow

Reality TV Junkie

Posted on Wednesday at 12:04

We hope you enjoy reading and following Dan Decides!

As each year passes I find myself learning more and more about who I am. It’s probably pretty normal. We have all heard that as people age they gain wisdom, or like a fine wine, we get better with age. However, I have developed a questionably unhealthy attraction to reality TV. My DVR is filled with singing competitions, Caged, The Challenge, Survivor and Biggest Loser. I have even tried talking my wife into watching the Bachelor. What the crust? What is happening to me?
I have began to wonder if my issue was normal, but then I thought it has to be because these shows stay on the air. So I can’t be the only one tuning in each week.
Last Monday night while I was watching The Voice it all became clear to me. As I am watching I notice that the guy auditioning looks strangely familiar. I graduated college in 2003 and have not seen this individual since then. But as I am watching and listening it dawned on me. This guy used to sing in the chapel band at my Alma Mater, Point Loma Nazarene University.
The lights dim, the snare drum sounds and Justin Hopkins’ voice comes through my 42″ LG HDTV. And in that moment my addiction to reality TV felt entirely justified. I stand up in my living room due to the sheer excitement of seeing the chapel band leader rocking out in front of millions of people. Not twenty seconds passes and Cee Lo Green pushes his button ensuring Justin a spot on this seasons show.
I feel as though all of my years of watching reality TV has led me to this place in time. It’s my duty to tune into The Voice and cheer on a fellow Crusader (since changed to Sea Lion’s).
Go Justin!!

Tags: dan decides, justin hopkins, reality tv, the voice

Competition

Posted on Wednesday at 1:12

We hope you enjoy reading and following Dan Decides!

Vince Lombardi once said: Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. Competition has always been a driving force in sports, business, and the like. As many of us know, our lifted trucks and SUV’s are no different. With the emergence of our new “Rate My Truck” section we found it fitting to host the first ever SoCal Trucks competition. Here’s how it works:

Beginning March 1st, post your big truck or SUV to the “Rate My Truck” of SoCalTrucks. Vote for your own truck, tell your friends to vote, text strangers for their vote…anything goes. At the end of the month, the truck with the highest overall rating will be crowned the SoCal Trucks winner. If your truck has already been submitted on “Rate My Truck” go ahead and resubmit it. Votes will only be counted for the month of March. So what do you win?

Our good friends Chris and Hank from 4 Wheel Parts have generously provided a $100 gift card to 4 Wheel Parts. Use it however you would like, just make sure to send us a pic of your new purchase. The winner will also receive a SoCalTrucks t-shirt, stickers and a feature story on the SoCalTrucks.com homepage. This competition is only a few days away. So tell your friends, take some cool pics, add those last minute mods and submit your lifted truck or SUV. We are looking forward to seeing some innovative trucks and SUV’s. Best of luck…Click Here to Submit Your Truck

Good Customer Service is Hard to Find

Posted on Wednesday at 1:12

We hope you enjoy reading and following Dan Decides!

Good customer service is hard to find. It seems as companies get larger and increase their profits, their customer service declines and the likelihood of actually speaking to a human becomes non-existent. This especially seems to be true when one is dealing with an online company. As most of you know I got hitched in November and as a wedding gift I did what any normal action sport, truck loving guy would do: I bought my wife a new snowboard. A snowboard shouts romance! Upon initial thought most people think snowboards are not romantic, but they fail to focus on the entire snowboarding experience. Most of the time you need a place to stay, you have to take a short road trip, and you have to relax in a hot tub or get a massage after a long day of riding. Road trip, mountainside condo, and a hot tub? I can’t think of a more romantic setting. Boom! Buy your spouse, significant other, etc. a snowboard and let the romance begin.

Sorry, I feel like that was a bit of a digression. Anyhow, I purchased an M3 from an online retailer who obviously sells snowboards at a discount. The board was listed as a blemished board with its only blemish being that the board measures 145cm but the print on it is 140cm. I thought this was something I could easily live with and it wouldn’t affect the board’s function. On the contrary! Two hours into the M3′s maiden voyage the tail began to de-laminate. By the next day the nose had began to de-laminate. Clearly I was upset. We returned home Monday evening and by Tuesday morning I had placed a call to the company. Ironically, no one answered their customer service line, and their mailbox was full. I tried calling the number again and received the same message stating the mailbox was full.

Next I went to see if they had a Facebook page that I could complain on because surely no self-respecting company would want a public message explaining how bad their product and customer service is. Again, no luck! So as a last ditch effort to remedy this situation I sent an email to the company stating my issue and asking how they were going to fix it. I have not yet gotten a reply, but I am patiently awaiting some good news.

It’s hard to sit back and wait, especially today when technology has allowed companies to respond quickly…if they want to. I mentioned snowboarding can be romantic, but it’s only romantic if you have a snowboard you can actually ride! I guess I’ll just keep waiting…

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