UNCC_99XJ - About Me

[UNCC_99XJ]

About me – For those who haven’t met me or don’t already know, I’m Tim “UNCC_99XJ” Nolan and I’m running for Treasurer for the SEC. I’m 24, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from UNC Charlotte, and currently a Project Engineer for a company here in Charlotte that designs and manufactures switches for the power industry that help keep the power on in our homes. I enjoy spending time outdoors, working on vehicles of any kind, and spending time with my family and friends, and of course wheelin’ with you all!

I bought my XJ as my first vehicle and joined as a user in January 2005 while a Junior in High School. At the time, I had a minimum wage part time job and barely a dollar to my name but needed/wanted something reliable to drive. With college approaching, I also needed something to haul my stuff back and forth. Thanks to my parents, I was able to take out a loan through the bank to afford a nice, low mileage XJ that was showroom clean. Four years of never missing one payment later (now putting myself through Engineering as well), the XJ became officially mine.

At the time of joining , I did not meet the age requirements to become a paying member, but that didn’t stop me from visiting the forum. I began to soak up the vast amount of knowledge this forum has to offer, as well as start to meet some other local users/members in my area. In early 2006, once I met the age requirement, I turned red and haven’t looked back. Over the years I’ve met countless people that I call some of my best friends to this day. In 2011 I attended my first “official” chapter event, the Crawl. This is when I began to get interested in doing more for the chapter, as a way to give back to a community that has and continues to do so much for me.

I’ve never done this sort of position for an organization such as this before, but I have been in charge of events for groups I belonged to while in College which helped to build my leadership skills. Mark has done an outstanding job at Treasurer for the SEC, and if elected, I will continue to build upon what he has done. If I’m given the chance, I would like to continue to emphasize on land use organizations such as (but not limited to) Friends of Uwahrrie. In addition, I would like to build upon the swag a little bit. For example , last winter I saw another chapter (the NAC if memory serves) do some winter jackets with their logo on it, and I thought that was a great idea. Finally, as with most of us in the chapter, I would like to see the SEC membership continue to grow. Having set up a booth at both the Spring and Fall Jamboree’s at Uwharrie this year, I noticed a lot of XJ enthusiasts and even people who were new to the sport that had never heard of before. I would like to work with the President and Vice President (whoever they may be) in building on some ways to help get our name out there and continue to promote responsible land use.

Anyways, now that I’ve written a novel, hopefully you know more about me and what I would like to see done. I welcome any and all questions my family may have. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

-Tim “UNCC_99XJ” Nolan…AKA Timbo

 

[FlexdXJ]

Geez, write us a Novel.....


But seriously, Tim would be a great asset to the SEC. Since we've met he has become a good friend of mine with whom I talk to/text almost daily. You'd have my vote if I weren't an MWC member dude.

 

[PacificEd]

Thanks for stepping up Tim.

 

[High2by]

Thanks Timbo!!!

 

[PacificEd]

How do you feel about planning a calendar of events for the chapter even if the events can be difficult to keep?

Do you think any changes need to be made to the Crawl in relation to date and location?

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Ed, to answer your questions:

I think a calendar of events is a great idea. I remember we had one a couple of years ago, and I checked it on a regular basis. I know we've had many people say "Oh I had no idea that event was even taking place!", and I can understand that as sometimes a general thread of "we're going wheeling here on this weekend" can often get lost among the rest of the threads in our chapter. Having a calendar, that's easily accessible, I think would be a great benefit to the chapter. At the very least, it gives people more time to plan to try and attend events. Whether that event be something big like the Crawl, or something a bit smaller like a wrench fest or a meet and greet. Another benefit of having a calendar would be more participation from members in our chapter. They would be essential in helping the BOD by informing of a particular event they are planning (a meet and greet in their local town for example).

For the Crawl, I think no changes need to be made to either the location or the dates. As we are all aware, the SEC covers a lot of territory compared to other chapters of , and that's one of (if not the) most difficult parts in terms of planning an event such as the Crawl. I think having it in Harlan is the perfect halfway point for our chapter. Yes, it's a long haul for some (6 hours for myself and easily 8-9+ for those like Nick and others coming from the coast), but we also have people from the MWC who make that journey or even longer to attend. That alone tells me that the location is great! As for the dates, the nice thing about having it around the 4th of July is that typically people have a few days off of work for the holiday anyways, which helps to eliminate one more factor of people not being able to attend.

One thing I would like to continue to do is offer perks for the bigger events. This year, you were able to provide members with no registration fees to the Crawl, which was outstanding. For somebody who may be wanting become more involved, and might still be on the fence about going for a membership, small but noticeable perks to our main events could make all the difference.

I hope this answers your questions. If you would like me to clarify anything in more detail, or maybe have additional questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[PacificEd]

Okay, you get one too.....:thumbup:

I think my failure of doing a calendar of events for the last two years led to a less active chapter.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Okay, you get one too.....:thumbup:

I think my failure of doing a calendar of events for the last two years led to a less active chapter.

Don't be so hard on yourself! It's not like there were no events that went on, or no threads that were created advertising said events. The last couple years have been rough on everybody, especially financially. A rough economy means people have to cut out some of the "fun" in order to get by. Now that things are slowly picking back up, maybe we'll see some more activity at events. Look at the attendance between the 2011 and 2012 Crawls for example!

 

[PacificEd]

I meant to say NOT doing a calendar has led to a less active chapter

 

[PacificEd]

Do you think events like the Flog will shift east?

How do you feel about dual events like the Flog of several years ago? Ghost held one in NC at Uwharrie and another was held in TN at Windrock.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Do you think events like the Flog will shift east?

How do you feel about dual events like the Flog of several years ago? Ghost held one in NC at Uwharrie and another was held in TN at Windrock.

Shifting the Flog further east would be good in making it easier for those of us closer to the coast to attend, but it would make it worse for those who currently do attend to be able to continue. Unfortunately, this is once again a challenge with being such a geographically large chapter.

I think the idea of a dual Flog is great! Having never been to Golden Mountain (which I hope to get to in the future), I can't compare the amount of wheeling that it offers compared to Uwharrie. However, at events like the Flog and the Crawl, the wheeling is only a part of the overall picture. It's the people that make it a great time, and I think with enough people, we could very easily have two Flogs.

 

[PacificEd]

Do you believe using the Chat feature on is a good way to communicate with the membership?

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Do you believe using the Chat feature on is a good way to communicate with the membership?

If you're referring to the pop-up chat at the bottom of each page (facebook style), then no. Too many people can be on there at once and it would be difficult to keep up. If you're referring to the original chat program (the one we use on Monday nights), then I could see that possibly working. We have a pretty good turn out on Monday nights for just a bunch of smack talking, but at the same time we do get some important things discussed from time to time. The issue I see there is, not everybody may be able to attend if we did a routine chat session. To combat though, somebody could take some brief minutes to be posted for those who couldn't attend.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Bringing this back to the top for re-elections.

For those who don't know me already, i've had the honor of serving as SEC Treasurer for the past two years. I still can't believe it's gone by that quickly! I hope that despite the learning curve and mistakes along the way, i've still been able to make a positive impact to the chapter and the members.

This time however, I am running for SEC President. I hope to take what I have learned along the way and expand even more over the next two years, if given the opportunity.

For those who know me well, you know that my job requires a good bit of travel all over the country. There are times where I am gone for a week or more at a time, and it does add a challenge in keeping up with the chapter and attending events. That being said, I do log on as much as I can, even if it's just for a few minutes in the evening or in between flights, and I will be attending my first Flog this coming weekend. I have attended the Crawl since 2011, and have no plans to miss one for the foreseeable future. I will make more of an effort to attend the even smaller events as time and money permit (Uwharrie trips, Gulches...etc).

I too would like to see more land use involvement within the chapter. We have donated to Uwharrie during the last two years, but they have a bigger group now that seems to have taken over that project. I would like to see more involvement at some of the smaller parks through out the chapter, be it from donations, volunteer work, or both. The funding is there, so lets use it!

As always, if you have any questions, just ask. Thank you for the opportunity to continue giving back to a chapter that has done a lot for me!

 

[PacificEd]

Do you plan to attend the Crawl in 2015 and are you in support of keeping it in Harlan?

Thank you for your service.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Do you plan to attend the Crawl in 2015 and are you in support of keeping it in Harlan?

Thank you for your service.

I do plan to attend the Crawl in 2015, and I am in favor of keeping it at Harlan. I think Harlan is a good location that offers plenty of land and amenities at a reasonable price.

Thank you for giving me a great platform to start with two years ago!

 

[PacificEd]

:thumbup:

It was a team effort.

 

[FlexdXJ]

YOU SUCK! Haha, good luck Tim. I know you busted your ass making this past Crawl happen and it was as good as any other year for me. My vote doesn't mean anything here but Tim is the man for the job!