The Lounge

I signed up for an environmental class that dealt with environmental planning and stuff along those lines. I originally took it because it actually sounded kind of interesting and I was genuinely interested in the subject, but I dropped it like a yesterday's news, mostly because I realized I was taking too many credits (18) along with having an independent project and going to work about 15 hours a week. Just too much stuff to juggle. There were some real strong opinions in that class...polar opposite too. On one hand, you had the conservative ag/forestry/civil engineering kids and on the other you had the liberal political science/environmental studies/design kids. …

http://jalopnik.com/5872514/

So, I just started at Pizza Hut as a delivery driver. Yesterday was my first day, while today I started making deliveries on my own. No big deal here and that's mostly good news, being that I needed a job and all. I made $22 in tips and work went fairly smoothly. With that said, I started off the day by nearly running out of gas. Why? My fuel gauge doesn't work. When it started sputtering, I thought "Sh!t, I have no chance in hell of making it to a gas station." Up hills, I rocked back and forth in a fury to slosh what little fuel I had into the pump's pick up. That worked for only a little while, unfortunately. It came to a point where that seemed to make it worse and …

I went to a couple of dealerships last night to check out new cars for the heck of it. There were NO 2010 LaCrosses at the B(O)(P) dealership...and it was a fairly large store. There were NO 2010 Tauruses at the Ford dealership...and it was a very large store. There were NO base Camaros (within the visible part of the lot) at the Chevy dealership...and it was a very large store. What's up with this? Has anyone seen any 2010 LaCrosses or Tauruses on the lots? When are they due in?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...7&viewitem= Check it out... Chris

IMBHO: Redesign the Aura, Astra(s)

About every other week or so I cruise some online car buying websites looking to see what decent used GMCs are for sale. Wishing that I had the extra cash, or at least had an easy and quick way to get out of the AURA lease, most of the time I just "daydream" about buying one of the many trucks I've found. Yesterday I' was a little bored so I cruise on over to one of the used car buying sites and search '99-'02 GMC Sierras. I found this one: 2001 GMC Sierra SLE Regular Cab, Shortbed K1500 It's what I've always wanted (well, if it had the sportside bed option it'd really be perfect) - regular cab, shortbed, K1500 (4WD) SLE with tons of factory options (foglights,…

so about 3 1/2 years ago i moved into my grandpa's house. everything is cool cept there was a 20" tv where i was used to a 50" at the parents'. saved up some money and went to sears ( to score a siblings discount ) and brought home a toshiba 52" DLP. well for every year i have owned it now i have replaced a bulb... which is costly... Toshiba asks $250 for theirs while i found a different manufacturer for $130. well the first was replaced for free under a recall notice, the next one i bought out of pocket for the $130. the toshiba replacement lasted nearly a year and a half, the $130 for maybe 8 months... you get what you pay for i guess. i kept the bulb off the bright set…

The Lumina was broken into today while parked in the parking garage near where I work. It happened sometime between 7:30 AM and noon. The asshole punched the driver's side lock in with a tool, unlocked the car, and then ripped my stereo out and left. The dash was damaged slightly and I'm not sure if they will be able to repair the lock on the door since the sheet metal was punched in pretty deep. Luckily nothing else was taken...I had a fold-out chair in the backseat, some CD's under my seat, and a set of golf clubs and a $40 battery charger in my trunk. The stereo was a $300 Alpine and has almost as much value as my car. I'm pretty bummed right now...luckily my in…

So... I went yesterday. I went with my parents, grandpa and a friend of mine. We all walked around together to all the exhibits - if somebody wanted to see it, we would spend a little time. The only companies that we didn't go to? Toyota and Kia. Kia just didnt have anything new we wanted to see, and there were a few comments about not having enough coffee for the Toyota exhibit. GM's exhibit was really impressive. They had a stage where they drove the vehicles up as they introduced them. Lexus had a really impressive 'owners lounge' at the back of their exhibit. Show your Lexus key, get in to the lounge and get free coffee, food etc. Ford actually had a decent e…

It's one of those things that remind you of your own mortality, I guess...a coworker and friend of mine who was only slightly older than I (37) died today at work... they believe it was a heart attack. Found him slumped over in his chair in his cube.

Well, I got a new camera. My crappy Olympus stopped working and I couldn't get it to work. So... I now have a Nikon Coolpix L4 with 3x zoom, 4 mps, and 256 mb card (compared to 8 mb). It also has auto focusing, auto flash, video mode, and much more. Needless to say, it's much better. I haven't taken any meaningful pics with it yet, though... just test ones. So yeah... I have a new digicam. Yay!

How to feed the world: Brazil's agricultural miracle Economist THE world is planting a vigorous new crop: “agro-pessimism”, or fear that mankind will not be able to feed itself except by wrecking the environment. The current harvest of this variety of whine will be a bumper one. Natural disasters—fire in Russia and flood in Pakistan, which are the world’s fifth- and eighth-largest wheat producers respectively—have added a Biblical colouring to an unfolding fear of famine. By 2050 world grain output will have to rise by half and meat production must double to meet demand. And that cannot easily happen because growth in grain yields is flattening out, there is little extr…

Merry Christmas, from me to you! :AH-HA_wink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

was setting up today..... caught some nice pics of the new GM stuff. more in a bit...... impressions ATS is sharp, looks more egglike in person but extremely dynamic. New XTS is large! Boatlike, between the two new Cadillacs, a very definite shift in design......more egglike, less chiseled, quite futuristic. In ten years one will be able to see how these cars ushered in new design directions Encore - extremely impressed. For the small size it looks robust and substantial. Should be a huge hit with women. New Fusion and Escape - i gotta say, the new Escape could possibly be a miss. I did not like it from the first look. I think folks like the tough boxy look! …

the power supply gave out on my computer this weekend so its been dead since thursday. It was interesting to see just how much time i use the computer when i didnt have one at my disposal. so now $64 lighter i am back. i couldnt believe there was only a 350 watt supply in this thing. pushing a 450 now and i suppose soon i shall break down and build a new one come spring. well, at least the power supply is one less thing on the parts list....

Not those balls, pervs. I'm talking sports, as in I'm in a funk because there are no worthwhile sports this time of year. The NFL is a bunch of whiny, overpayed jackasses, and the games aren't really that exciting. College football is dead to me since Mizzou cant seem to beat a halfway decent team. The NBA is worthless, the only good part of the game is the last two minutes, since just about every game is close, but then there are timeouts after every play. I cant watch a basketball game when it goes to commercial every thirty seconds. College basketball doesn't interest me because all the best players are already in the NBA, plus neither Mizzou nor Missouri State i…

And then make boats.

Place seems to dead anymore. Sad to see. At any rate, I bought a new car. If anyone feels like making guesses.

Let's share stories about the state of the infrastructure in the state you live. In this case I'm going to point out the state of bridges in Massachusetts (and some in NH near the border). As of 2008, there were 543 bridges that were structurally deficient "due to years of neglect" in Massachusetts. The state was forced to initiate an emergency rehabilitation and/or replacement program to get these bridges back up to code. Link Here's example of just what I have personally seen/see every day (except the bridges opening up). In Methuen they had to do major structure renovations to the the bridge which goes over 213, and had to close the whole bridge down to do it. Sever…

On a crystal morning I can see the dewdrops falling down from a gleaming heaven I can hear the voices call When you coming home now,son. The world is not for you Tell me what's your point of view Hey there, mister madman watcha know that I don't know Tell me some crazy stories, let me know who runs this show Glassy-eyed and laughing, he turns and walks away Tell me what made you that way Here I am just waiting for a sign All my life I knew that it was mine It's always here, It's always there It's just love and miracles out of nowhere Tell me now dear mother, what's it like to be so old Children grown and leaving, seems the world is growing cold …

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Consumer...=Malibu&src=vip As you can see via the link, this shows a "CR snapshot" of the '06 Chev. Malibu. See how many errors you can spot on the page. MSN hosts the connection (and I'm sure pays a fee to make the CR data available to them). It's simply pathetic beyond belief. After seeing this mismatch of data, how much would you trust the rest of what CR compiles?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy-Nomad-2-Door-Wagon_W0QQitemZ120537525623QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item1c1098ad77 Overpriced, but looks pretty cool, I think. Wonder how much of a Bondo bucket it is (the cracking in the sail panel makes me think the transition from coupe to wagon may be a little scary underneath)?

Yeah, I checked, and it's not April 1st... Flash of Genius: The Windshield Wiper Drama You've Been Waiting For Date posted: 09-08-2008 HOLLYWOOD, California — What could be the best car movie of 2008 doesn't have a single action sequence in it and centers around the invention of intermittent windshield wipers. Swear to God. Opening October 3 will be Flash of Genius starring Greg Kinnear as Dr. Robert Kearns, the Detroit-area college professor who invented intermittent wipers and received his first patent on the design back in 1967. He spent virtually the rest of his life fighting Ford, Chrysler and other automakers to get them to recognize his patent and hon…

Of Arkus. If it all works out, it looks like he will be going to Wisconsin to train in Skijorking(sp.?) . It is a sport where the dog pulls his handler on a pair of cross-country skis. I think he is built for the job, Take a look. Damn! but i'm going to miss him.

So I have been traveling for business and Enterprise was kind enough to honor my request for a GM "premium" car with an 08 LaCrosse. I know most people are poo-pooing the 3.8, but inside this car, you can barely hear it at all. Also, when at highway speeds, the car barely goes over 2,000 RPMs which keeps the car rather quiet. Inside the car, there is plenty of head room, the gauges are nice, the wheel with the radio and cruise controls is a nice feature, but there is no AUX/IPOD jack in the radio, which peeved me as I could not hook up my IPOD or Stilletto2 Sirius radio. I loved the seat with the power adjustment/lumbar. My mileage through highway traffic and San Francisc…

HOT NESS!

NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast'

(Mods feel free to move this to where it may be but i thought in the lounge since its just a personal opinion.) so for the past week or so i have been seeing this really, really annoying toyota commercial that states "80% of toyotas sold are still on the road today"... how in the world do they get that number? one would think that with the rust problems of late, wrecks, salvage, fires, and apathetically parking it and never moving it again would amount to more than just 20% of total production. i just felt like i needed to vent cause it comes on twice an hour on some of the programs i watch and annoys the t total piss out of me. even worse they follow it up with that …

So what's some of your favorite driving moments? Heres mine: Driving down a country road after a rain shower Driving down the highway/freeway after midnight Taking a drive out to the country by myself Taking a drive to the lake late at night w/ your partner and just talking

Hope it's a good one.

Is the best sandwich ever.

Just got back from Cedar Point (rollercoasters!) I just about died from laughter watching two guys run naked from Snake River Falls (water ride-you get real wet) I think some stole their clothes or something... Not something you see everyday (or really want to see, for that matter) It was funny though.....

Happy B-day, sir! (...wanted to make sure you could read this at your age, no offense!)

Seriously. I have one and its in perfect condition. I'll take, like, anything + s&h for it.

So...this was a big Saturday for me. I had a choice of 1. SCCA autocross 2. Dublin/Arthritis auto show, where the Miata club was showing our cars 3. Goodguys in Columbus...6000+ pre 73 American cars. But I decided to do something else. The Liberty Belle, a restored, flying B-17 was going to be at Bolton field here in Grove City (Columbus suburb where I live). I contacted the good folks with the Liberty Belle foundation and for a mere $430 they had a few seats left. Life was good. Went out to the airport at 9:30 this ayem and went through the plane with my two younger daughters, Christina and Joanna. Amazing plane, and very original with radio's, etc. Firs…

I have been a little busy and have wanted to go see a flick. For some stupid reason, I wanted to see "Poseidon." The reviews were not good, but I love ships. Two years out of college, I got to go on the QE2 but I was hooked long before then as a little kid when we would sail out of NY on other liners to go see relatives on the other side of the Atlantic. Is "Poseidon" any good? Any good comedies or mysteries out there? Reg, where are you?

Threw this together. Criticism?

The Wilmington, Delaware Italian Festival will be here in 30 days or so! Here's a few links to those close by that may want to come. This is my church - It's like Sapranos here in real life! http://www.stanthonynet.org/Festival/ http://www.discoverlittleitaly.com/home.htm http://www.discoverlittleitaly.com/events.htm I'm buying the THONG! http://www.cafepress.com/little_italy

I saw this and I instantly liked it. I'm not sure why as I generally don't like conversions like this. But this one, I like. More Pics

I got a call from the collector who bought my Hawk this morning. Great conversation. He thanked me for being truthful about the car and including everything with it. Then he told me the good news: He has decided that it's a keeper and was preparing it to go into it's own climate-controlled bubble. The best part is that he has given me the right of first refusal should he ever decide to sell it. I feel much better about it all now.

Prototype Imperial Hardtop two door wagon. Almost like a high end Nomad. http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1959/wagon/index.htm And last but not least: I've heard of rebates but this is just riciculous.

Explain this: http://forum.910bluebird.com/index.php?showtopic=4123&hl=

Don't know if you enter this Lounge, but hope that you're doing well. Happy 39th birthday!

Given that my G6 is not in, I had to renew Cavy's plates, i.e. emissions test. I went to the PBG dealer I got my G6, and while doing the stuff I sat in 3 cars: Lucerne CXS, G6 GTP and Solstice. Here are my comments: Lucerne: Fit and finish is really nice, but the top of the dash material can really do better. Feels extremely rough to touch. Others such as seating surfaces are very plush and top notch. G6: Surprisingly I find the dash material here is better than the Lucerne. Except that there are some slight hints of cheap plastics (e.g. the lower part of the door, the centre console), otherwise I give it a pass. It's not exactly soft to the touch, but very sim…

Here are a set of cool pics from our last autocross. Audi is the car I was talking about in the other threads... Last picture of the Catherham-boy standing next to the car is my son Joel, I am standing behind the car and Scott, the cars owner is standing on the drivers side. The kid in the passenger seat of the Mustang is also Joel...we have renamed him Pooch the ride mooch! ...and everytime I see that Milano go through the corners, I think of Paulino (Italian member of C and G, Italian car, go figure) But check out the link if you want, my friend Eric took the pics. Chris http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=302397

Well, I can't say that having a quiet car is a bad thing (in fact I hate the level of engine noise in my Cavalier), but is sometimes too quiet a bad thing? Especially a brand like Pontiac, shouldn't there be more engine noise to make it feel sportier? Surprisingly, a Sunfire is a bit more quiet than a Cavalier because it has slightly better materials. But shouldn't it be the other way around? Is it like we should make a Pontiac as quiet as a Buick? I remember there were reports that people complained the Porsche 996 was too quiet and in the new one they had to make it noisier.

Well it looks like I'll be watching the ball drop in time square this year. . My girlfriend decided to make a last minute plan to go to New York. I really havent ever thought about going but now that i'll be there. . . im pumped to go. Has anyone ever been there for new years? What should I expect? I heard to be there at around 3pm or so to get a good spot.

ok fellas im in need of your help. a member of my auto club at school who is a big foreign car guy and he is causing a big scene because of some talk on boards about the facts that hybrids are often over priced for their actual gas mileage. so please just tell give me some more reasons to use about why hybrids arent all they are cracked up to be IF YOU DONT AGREE THAT HYBRIDS ARENT EVERYTHING THEY CLAIM TO BE THAN PLEASE DONT POST i dont usually like to confront people but this guy is just being arrogant and rude

Catch my restaurant; Cabo Fish Taco, on Diners, Dives & Drive Ins tonight at 10 on the Food Network! I might be in some of the shots.

It's my old car! Well no not exactly, but I did have a black Civic EX coupe from the same generation. Autoblog article

My beautiful wife spent the afternoon working on one of her home made soups and at 4:00 she had to go out to pick up some things so she turned the soup off because she didn't want it to burn, said she'd be back in an hour. Stupid me decides he's hungry and can't wait so I decide to turn the soup back on but then I come back to cheers and gears and forget to check on the soup. Next thing you know the front door opens around 5:15 and she asks what's burning? I am such an ass.

I was just over @ Autoblog lookin' at the threads and holy heck there's a picture of the old Cadillac sign at the dealership I worked at in Easton, Maryland for 10 years that went bust last year. What a sad picture. That was an old sign that was kept maintained (lit with neon) about 200 feet from the highway. You can see the empty lot behind it. Sigh. CADILLAC

It's been a long time...

The Kappa architecture uses major components from nearly every GM division and modern platform: * The rear axle and differential are from the Sigma-based Cadillac CTS * The Solstice's interior storage bin is from the Y-body Cadillac XLR * The passenger-side airbag, steering column, and exterior and interior door handles are from the Delta-based Chevrolet Cobalt * The Solstice's backup lights are from the GMT360 GMC Envoy * The heating, ventilating, and air conditioning modules are from the Hummer H3 * The Solstice's front fog lamp assembly is from the W-body Pontiac Grand Prix * The Solstice's steering wheel is from the Theta-based Pontiac Torrent *…

Many people know that the best way to keep the underside of you car from rusting is to keep wash the salt from it every once in a while. You don't just want to let it be wet when you're done though, you want to air it out so it can dry.

The Yes and No are for crimes which, if convicted, would carry the death penalty. As one reads the paper, they can't help but see all the heinous, unprovoked and sickeningly violent actions carried out by certain individuals. While I may bill myself as a liberal practicing Catholic, religion doesn't even come into this one. My feeling is that if it is legitimate to kill an opponent in combat to protect yourself, it is certainly ok to permanently anesthesize a monster who threatens a city, a state or a region. Let's try to keep politics/religion out of this. Just your practical opinion. I don't apologize for mine.

I've been to many car shows and I can usually find something to appreciate in any of them. This show, however, quickly has become one of my favorites. Walking around the Hershey Hotel, you see so many great cars that you could not find gathered in many places in the world...let alone, in Pennsylvania. If you love classic cars, this show should be on your schedule for next year. It's gathered such a reputation that organizers from some of the more established shows have made it a point to visit this one. http://automotivetraveler.com/jump/4185

Damn, I was scanning the on-boards and birthdays on the home page, and saw Nick's birthday. I waited...thinking of others *cough* who might have started this thread...but it would have been uncool to overlook your birthday. So, Happy Birthday.

Ok, I'm finding this interesting... I'm doing just fine with my laptop, until this: I wanted to add some stuff with a flash drive, and it asks me for software to install. I'm like - my flashdrives don't have software-they are just plug and play ones.... I tried 3 of them, same problem-won't even let me to them. This is my first time with Vista though-is there something I'm missing? A buddy of mine has Vista and has had no issues like this...Heck, I haven't put much of anything on it yet....

http://www.iihs.org/sr/pdfs/sr4009.pdf

All night long. Kind of cool and I am going to share it. But I warn you, my subconscious is kind of a strange place to be. And I hope I don't offend anyone with my dream, I just want to tell you guys about it because you guys were in it. But don't say I didn't warn you... So as I start dreaming I find myself walking up to Balthazar's house, as he's asked me over to have a ride in his newest toy. A perfectly restored 1964 Black Pontiac Grand Prix. We're cruising along the New Jersey Turnpike, chatting away, talking about my sons music and his son's band, vintage cars and the like when we start talking to each other in French for some odd reason. Balthazar pulls off…

* Article about OC,SH & me, published online on my birthday, 09/19, & appeared in the 09/21/2014 print edition: http://couriernews.suntimes.com/2014/09/19/heart-felt-facebook-page/ 09/22/2014, watched “The Rockford Files”, then drove my 1989 Caprice Classic Brougham on the road for the 1st time in over a year … will make it more difficult to sell it & my 1979 Caprice Classic. Also drove the ‘81mc on the road for the 1st time in over 2 years. Odd therapy … mix of invigoration, sadness & memories. Ended the afternoon by watching “CHiPs”. Always remember. Things CAN switch in a heartbeat. Easy to support when things are well; challenging …

Well today I got my 2006 GTO tail lights in the mail and installed them. It took about 5 or so minutes to take the old ones out and put the new ones in. Anyways, here's before: One black light and one red light: And after:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-Cay...5fCarsQ5fTrucks

http://www.collegehumor.com/

I don't know if anyone has seen this internal GM promo before - but I thought it was simply brilliant. -Mak 08 CTS FE3 with six on the floor.

So the radio says (Hurricane) Ike will hit Florida... The internet mentioned (Hurricane) Ike might hit No. Carolina and/or Florida Meantime the TV says Ike might hit Georgia & Louisiana, But I think if anything, Ike will hit Tina Turner.

http://evansville.craigslist.org/cto/822687893.html It's in great shape and under eight grand. What I would do for a loan or to win the lottery right now.

Boogie Boarding :: Nags Head, North Carolina "Going down da shore" is Philadelphia-ese for vacationing at the beach. It usually means heading to Cape May, Wildwood, Sea Isle City, or Avalon, New Jersey--great beaches all, with amusement parks and boardwalks and plenty of places for family entertainment. And many thousands of people do seek out these relaxation spots every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But if you're "going down da shore" early in the season, when ocean temperatures in New Jersey are typically in the 60s, you need to head to more southern locations. North Carolina's Outer Banks lures many of these early vacationers. Read more at: http://aut…

RE the recent '66 Impala discussion.... these seats recently sold on eBay. They were from a '61 Starfire, but (pattern aside) are correct for '59-60 also (of note; they have full metal backs). There were 5 pics, but you absolutely get the picture of their condition. No tricks. Without checking the link / eBay, what would you guess a pair of '59-61 GM buckets, in complete but worn shape, would go for?

I have (my company has) this one client who is turning out to be a real ass hole. (I wrote about this once before). Unfortunately, I service his current project. I have never had a client I didn't like before (well, actually there was one). I figured it out. This guy, an exec "of sorts" at a construction company, thinks architects are necessary evils. (I'd like to see him get the degree and then the license). He is obviously some ex-jock who got into construction management - he may have a college education in construction, but, regardless, he is a little too classless. Since he probably lacks the technical skills, he has to use his over-the-top aggressiveness to g…

I got this in an email from one of my brothers. Read on, I thought it was pretty funny... There were two nuns.. One of them was known as Sister Mathematical (SM), and the other one was known as Sister Logical (SL) . It is getting dark and they are still far away from the convent. SM: Have you noticed that a man has been following us for the past thirty-eight and a half minutes? I wonder what he wants. SL: It's logical. He wants to rape us. SM: Oh, no! At this rate he will reach us in 15 minutes at the most! What can we do? SL: The only logical thing to do of course is to walk faster. SM: It's not working. SL: Of course it's not working. The man did…

I've had iTunes since version 4 and remember the days when it opened quickly and everything was a breeze. Then Apple kept releasing new versions and forcing you to upgrade in order to buy from the iTunes store, which became a pain in the ass because each time they limited the number of computers and CDs you could share/burn your purchased music on. I bought the song, so I should be able to use it on as many computers as I want. I've changed computers three times since version 4.0, so each time I have to screw around with approving a new computer to play my purchased music. Now ever since 7.0 it's become a big piece of bloatware that takes about 3 minutes to open,…

Happy Birthday to lakefire! Hope it's a good one, sir.

Today, June 6th is the 25th anniversary of Tetris being released. 6/6/1984 was probably the greatest day in human history.