Chris_Doane

I almost want to say that's slightly impressive. Stupid, but slightly impressive.

No offsite events for GMC as far as I know. They can't play all their cards at one auto show when there are 4 major shows for the U.S. They still need to have something for Chicago and NYC. Chicago is generally the truck show.

Oooh. Yea AWD will definitely happen, along with 4 and 6-cylinder motors and a hybrid. I haven't heard anything about a sportier RS/SS type car yet.

Well, nah, I'm pretty sure just the one body style. The guys on GMI are drooling over some Impala coupe illustrations someone did, but it's never gonna happen.

Ha...nice shirt.

No doubt about that. Yea I assumed as much. It was actually someone else who asked about seeing him. Though, part of me feels like maybe I should try to get it arranged to see him....but, man....I just have no idea what I'd say after everything that happened.

Here is a question... A few of his friends have been asking me about contacting him, writing him or even going to see him (Im not sure the latter would even be allowed?) I don't really know what the protocol is here and don't know what to say. It's not really your typical "Get Well Soon" type situation.

Yea, I mostly agree with that. Though he was certainly getting a lot closer to ending his life on try #2. Tomorrow he is being moved from the hospital to some psychiatric facility. I imagine he might be there for a while... Thanks.

Haha, about half an hour ago, I got this text from him: "So, Kim Jong Ill is dead. That's good. He went out instead of me..." I have to admit, I thought it was kinda funny.

That's exactly what I was trying to determine...without it being obvious to him. Unfortunately, his cell phone was off. I've certainly had friends in the past who felt very depressed and thought about suicide....but I've never had one who actually put a plan in action like he did this weekend.

Not sure how you all spent your Saturday, but...I spent it trying to stop a friend from killing himself. Earlier this week, his wife asked him for a divorce. That was followed a day later by a half-hearted attempt on his own life. He has a large workshop/garage as part of his automotive business, could probably put 15 cars in there. He drove a modern car in there, turned it on and sat there for 4 hours. If anyone knew that modern cars run too clean to kill anyone it would be him, but he did it anyway. Basically he did it to get his wife to talk to him. The next day, Thursday afternoon, he made a post on Facebook describing everything that had happened so far that week. Needless to say, several of us were horrified. He lives a little north of me, so I went up to see him Thursday night. We talked for a while, he said some pretty bad sounding things, but by the time we were done talking, he seemed OK-enough that I didn't feel like he needed immediate attention. It was an odd conversation, he would say one thing, then sort of contradict what he'd just said a few minutes ago. Though just talking about it seemed to have calmed him down and made him feel better. Looking back on it now, I probably should've taken him somewhere that night. He was sitting in my car for two hours talking, I could've just started driving. I guess I just wanted to believe he was going to be OK. I heard what he was saying but....I didn't *hear* it. If that makes any sense. Still kicking myself for that. Sometime between Thursday night when I left, and Saturday evening, he and his wife talked again. He came to the conclusion that things between them were beyond repair. Around 7:30pm, he sent an email to me, and one other industry guy, that was more/less a suicide note. He talked about how things were through, talked about various ways he could end his life, said he was leaving his home, driving to who knows where to do who knows what. It ended with "Thanks and goodbye." That triggered "holy $h!" mode. I called the police department in his hometown. His wife later did the same thing. The police couldn't locate him and neither could his wife or I. He made some mention in the note of driving north, so I was pretty sure he was on the move to...somewhere. About 12:30 that night, I get another email from him. This one is much more grim than the one from five hours earlier. It said he had been visiting some places in his past -- the college where he met his wife, their old apartment. He then goes on to say some things that make it sound like he's worked up the courage to do himself in. He talks about a few more ways he could do it, then says he's bought sleeping pills and is thinking about going back for more. I'm not sure how much time had passed while he was writing this last email, but it was pretty long. By the end of it, he said he'd actually taken some of the pills right before he hit send. In this note, he'd also more/less revealed where he was. Another cry for help, really. I don't know if he even realized he was doing it. I called his wife to ask if she knew the exact address of this spot he was in. Keep in mind that my friend had only sent this email to me and another guy, not her. So Im frantically trying to get this info from her, and, at one point she says "Chris, what is going on?" in this tone that was total horror. I don't really know how to tell this woman that her husband might be making another attempt on his life as we speak, but I said something about pills and how serious it was. Anyhow, she did know the spot where he could be at, and through googling his business name, I find another spot he could be at. She and I both call the police up there and give them the locations and his car/plate. I guess the police found him around 2:30am. They took him into custody and took him to the ER. Apparently his stomach was pumped. So now he is laying in a hospital on suicide watch, someone is always in his room with him. This has been such a...different, trying year for me in a lot of ways. So many difficult moments, but things had been getting better lately. Hard to even know what to make of this latest episode. At least this ended with him being in the place he needs to be in.

It will get AWD and eAssist. Prototypes for both have already been built.

They are having their own reveal event offsite the night of Jan 8.

Nah, way too soon.

Monday, January 9 7:15-7:40 am NAIAS 2012 Welcome Ceremony/Michigan Hall Stage, North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards / Michigan Hall Stage 8:00-8:25 am Ford / Joe Louis Arena 8:45-9:10 am Chrysler 9:20-9:45 am Chevrolet 9:55-10:20 am Mercedes-Benz and smart 10:30-10:55 am Porsche 11:05-11:30 am Volkswagen 11:40-12:05 pm BMW 12:15-12:40 pm Bentley 12:50-1:15 pm Audi 1:25-1:50 pm Lexus / Riverview Ballroom 2:00-2:25 pm MINI 2:35-3:00 pm Acura 3:10-3:35 pm Hyundai 3:45-4:10 pm Scion / Main Show Floor 4:20-4:45 pm Volvo 4:55-5:20 pm Michelin / Main Show Floor 5:30-5:55 pm DENSO / Oakland Hall Annex, Main Show Floor 5:30-5:55 pm Panasonic / M2-30 7:00-? NAIAS party that dare not speak its name Tuesday, January 10, 2012 6:30 am Main Show Floor and Michigan Hall Opens 7:00-7:25 am Johnson Controls / Michigan Hall Stage 7:35-8:00 am Shelby American 8:10-8:35 am Lincoln / Main Show Floor with Breakfast 8:45-9:10 am Toyota / Riverview Ballroom 9:20-9:45 am Honda 9:55-10:20 am Buick 10:30-10:55 am Maserati / Chrysler Stand 11:05-11:30 am Nissan 11:40 am-12:05 pm Falcon Motor Sports 12:15-12:40 pm Via Motors 5:30-? Dinner with musical performance by SwaggerJagger

Thank ya

Thanks. Yep, it's Coldplay - Paradise

There was a Taurus leading this test group.

LOL...where did you see that? That's awesome. Edit: Ha, nevermind, I see it.

The interior looked nothing short of amazing. Honestly, the whole car looked pretty good in person. Even with the camo, it looks sporty and low slung. More pics HERE: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/14/2013-chevrolet-impala-caught-testing/

You, sir, need to go to flight school.

Ha, oh, alright. Thanks...that's one of my favorite songs at the moment. It just kinda happened to fit. Normal cruising altitude for us is 500 ft.

Cockpit video from Monday's solo flight. http://www.chrisdoane.net/heliblog/2011/12/13/hey-ma-look-what-i-can-do/