LSYE on What's Up With Missy 1340 AM

Listen to the interview I did with Missy on 1340 AM Philadelphia. Missy thought she had a great idea...and she did, it was my business! She thought it would be great to teach women about their vehicles so that they wouldn't feel like they're getting ripped off.

I contacted Missy and she was thrilled to have me on the show to give some advice to women. It was a great show and we had a lot of fun. Stay tuned...she may even have me back to take call-in questions. Thanks for having me Missy!



Lori
Radical Wrencher

Girl Scouts and the Car Sense Badge

Scheduling a class in November for outside can be a little risky in Pennsylvania, but I'm happy to say that November 8th was a balmy 65 degrees with full sun. Thank goodness, because I was teaching the Car Sense badge to 81 girl scouts and their 30 troop leaders.

As interesting as I think my lecture is, I knew that the girls wanted to get outside and get their hands dirty. So, we spent a half hour going over the different components the girls would be checking and then headed out into the warm weather.

While it was a little crazy with about 15 vehicles being worked on, the worksheet was pretty easy to follow and I found myself answering questions about what some of the things were under the hood and if it was a problem if there was no oil on the dipstick....Yikes!

The girls checked oil, coolant, brake fluid, power steering and washer fluid levels. They learned how to check tire pressure and where to find the proper reading on the vehicle and in the owner's manual. From there they had to look up different things in their owner's manual so that I knew that they could find it.

Overall it was a great day. Of course I need to thank Theresa for coming with me and being a trooper  answering questions and helping with the groups, it made my job a lot easier with so many girls.

Everyone had a good time and learned about important things that anyone can check on their vehicles. Thanks again to the Eastern Region of Pennsylvania Girl Scouts and Linda Delenick for putting this program together and working with LSYE so that girls can see that women do these jobs too!

Lori

Radical Wrencher, GM and the Twin Cities

Just back from a whirlwind tour of Minneapolis/St. Paul teaching classes for GM, I'm hunkering in for a lazy Sunday afternoon. I like the traveling thing...don't get me wrong, but it's good to be home.

I hit the ground running in Minneapolis. I had about an hour once I reached the hotel before Jennie and Kelly from GM showed up in the new 2010 Equinox to take me to a TV interview with KARE channel 11. The host's of the show, Diana and Pat were fun and I think I even taught them something they didn't know in my 2 minutes of fame. :)

From there we headed over to Merit Chevrolet to a full class of women, a quick bite to eat and back to the hotel by 9:30 pm. I was in bed by 10 pm so that I could get up early, picked up at 5:30 am, to get to Rosedale Chevrolet and do the FOX channel 9 morning show with M.A. Rosko. We did four 2-3 minute segments for live TV...I had a blast and M.A. now knows how to change a tire!

Our class that night was full again and we even had a couple bloggers to help showcase what LSYE and GM are trying to do...which is to empower women and let them know that GM is interested in their female customer's safety and making them feel comfortable with coming into their dealerships.

So this trip was great fun and another opportunity to work with GM. Thanks again to Jennie and Kelly...and to Amanda, their PR person, for making everything happen and making it look so smooth!

Cheers,
Lori

Filming with the Radical Wrencher

So last Sunday I packed up some bottled water and snacks and headed out for a day of video shooting. I have to tell you that I have a whole new respect for actors. I don't know how they do it. What seems like such a fun and glamorous job to me is tedious and exhausting at best.

Teaching a class to a group of women wins hands down as opposed to trying to give that same information to a camera lens. Words get jumbled, eyes wander and don't seem to look at the camera, thoughts of how to get my point across in a minute means I forget important points...it's all a huge learning curve.

The funny thing is that I end up loving the end product and the idea that women who can't take my class get a visual of how to do things, like changing a headlight bulb. I'm sure I'll get better at it and maybe even one day I won't dread "shoot day"!

Everyone on the shoot is very encouraging and tells me how good everything looks, but inside I'm thinking I just want this to be over :)

So where can you see these videos you're probably asking? Well, I'm doing them for a new website that will launch in just a couple weeks called www.galtime.com. It's a great new website that will offer women access to information on health, finance, family, career, cooking, relationships, beauty/fashion, entertainment, DIY and more.

You'll be able to watch my videos, read informative articles from Bogi and ask us all of your car questions. I'm pretty excited for the launch, but you don't have to wait, go visit the site and sign up. There's already a free give-away!

Lori

The Radical Wrencher, San Diego and GM

First of all I cannot believe that it’s Thursday already….where did this week go? I had every intention of writing about the San Diego trip as soon as I got back, but time just slipped away.

Oh well, let me back up some and catch you up. Last weekend I flew out Friday night from Philadelphia to San Diego. When I went through security in Philly my bag was pulled aside to be checked. I wasn’t really surprised, I was carrying a bunch of promotional screwdrivers. You’d have to stab someone with a lot of them to do any damage and they must have realized that, because they didn’t seem too concerned. What they did ask me was if I was carrying a brake pad.

I laughed and said I was. I had wanted to bring a worn pad to show what it looked like. I am always unsure what to bring when I travel. When I teach the class in my area I have a whole bunch of things I take with me, many of which would not do well in my luggage. Anyway, the young male security checker seemed excited because apparently he had guessed right from the x-ray. They re-ran my bag and I was on my way….with everything I came with!

Once I got to San Diego I had about an hour wait to meet up with Bogi (wrench wench) who was coming in from Phoenix. This was the first time we were actually meeting even though we’ve been talking for a while. We checked into the hotel, had dinner with Diedra from GM and by 10:30 pm I was dead to the world….only to find myself wide awake at 4:30 am. I forced myself to stay in bed until a friend from back home called around 6 am not realizing where I was.

We headed over to the Marvin K. Brown Dealership where LSYE taught 2 classes for GM. All of the participants had a great time and Bogi and I realized just how compatible we really are. We had the rest of the afternoon to chat, make our business plans and compare notes.

I will only say that there are some big things in the works for Bogi and I with LSYE. It’s exciting to work with someone who has the same vision about educating women about their vehicles. I think we’re going to make a great team by combining our efforts with all of the skills that we both bring to the table. So stay tuned and we will fill you in on what we have planned as the year progresses. Click and Clack….here we come!

Musings from the Radical Wrencher....

Saturday I was teaching a class and we were going over fluid levels and how to check them. After we talked about everything, one of the women said "this is what they charge $40 for?". She was referring to some of the ads that have people come to their shops to check and top off fluids.

I guess I don't really think about it because I have always taken care of my own vehicle, but she made a great point. She realized that after I showed them everything, it was a less daunting task than they had thought. I think that there is merit in offering a service like this to people who don't have time or interest in checking it themselves, but in today's economy, a little knowledge can save you some money.

I always encourage the women to get under their hood and familiarize themselves with where everything is located on their vehicle. I tell them that if it explains how to check it or replace it in the owner's manual, then it's something they can do.

Obviously there are some jobs best left to a trained technician, but the simple every day walk-around maintenance items can often be done by the owner of the vehicle. It's also an opportunity to catch things before they become serious problems by simply knowing what you're looking at.

It was great knowing that I was able to de-mystify some of the automotive jargon for this group of women. By giving them confidence to explore their vehicle on their own and know how easy it can be to maintain it, they can now be educated consumers and that their automobile may not be so mysterious after all!

Lori