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Today was cookie making day. Tins to be safely dropped off to relatives/family. We made Mexican Wedding cookies, those snow ball looking ones. Gingerbread everything, Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip, Candy Can cookies and the final is a White Chocolate / Craisins butter cookie.

Tax avoidance is legal but a lot of it shouldn’t be. It doesn’t count as shortfalls

cah-NAH-dah :

As mentioned in other thread- cancelling that KBB appointment. Going to see about stopping in at my local dealer tomm and starting The Talk.

Time wears down all things- only so much one can do RE maintaining perfection, esp once the miles add up. Otherwise, you are investing steady money re-doing things in the later years. - - - - - Changed my oil today (awl by mineself!), so as usual I gave things a look-over underneath- something the grease monkeys don't care to do. 203K miles and my truck is getting TERRIBLE below decks. Rockers I knew were bubbling... but there's a major crack from the rocker/floor seam heading toward the door jamb, and at least the 2 body mounts on that side are looking bad. What is someone expected to do- once you see corrosion coming around around the body bushings; pay to have the body lifted off the frame and scrape/repaint all the mounts, then replace the bushings? Who does that on a daily driver?? Answer: no one. Mechanically it's great. Checked the trans fluid and it was down about a half quart- this is the first time I've EVER added fluid to it (other than filter changes). Pan is a little damp on the outside- maybe the gasket is seeping. But the body is getting too rough. Behind the rear axle is super scaly. I'm going to cancel my KBB evaluation for Tuesday. It's about 25 mins north of me, and my regular dealer is 0.8 miles away. I just don't want to waste their time- truck wouldn't even going to a wholesaler. I'll get what I can get for it privately. Meanwhile, the new truck ordering is a GO!

I tell you what... Id LOVE to own a beater like that, maybe put bump/crash bars like cop cars got up front and that way, I wouldnt care who would try to cut me off, or run a stop sign, or park close to me at a Walmart parking lot...because even though my TL is 8 going on 9 years old, daily driven in Montreal winter weather, my car still looks good like your Escalade does, (well...your Escalade looks AMAZING and better than my TL even tho your vehicle is even OLDER than mine), and I still fear on denting my car in ANY way in ANY driving situation because of idiots on the road. Yes, like how you said...I take care of my car and still want for it to look as good as it could be. But if I had a beater like that, I wouldnt have ANY anxieties. Besides, asshats on the road would think twice, maybe, in trying anything risky when sharing the road with a beater with bump bars up front like that. And its a plus that I actually like the way that Malibu looks all beat up like that.

Im not a Star Trek geek, no. Iv seen some original Star Trek episodes on reruns when I was a kid in the '70s, saw the first two movies in the 80s. Was never a fan of the Picard stuff. The rebooted JJ Abrams movies, imo, were great, but Im not a Star Trek geek. Im more of a Star Wars geek. But as not as geeky enough as to think of my car(s) as Star Wars ships. Interesting geeky idea though. 1. I think of my Acura TL as some sort of a US Airforce stealth fighter though as the TL has all kinds of weird angles and triangular shapes, like a stealth fighter would. Plus mine is the charcoal black colour as well. I think that kind of thinking is geeky enough. 2. my imaginations have run wild on me from time to time and I sometimes do dream of what kind of character Id be in a movie. I geek out that way from time to time. If I was living in the period of the 'ole west, Id be a saloon owner. Id be an excellent pistoleer as I would be practicing shooting every day just in case a drunken outlaw would try to get the upper hand in my saloon, or they would get testy playing poker or defend my family, house and property just in case the railway companies would want to take over my land... In Star Wars, Id join the rebels and be an X-Wing fighter pilot. Back home, Id have a Diner of some sort on a planet that the Empire sucked dry. Id leave my wife run it while Id try to free the Galaxy from the clutches of Darth Vader and beyond... Id bump into Han Solo and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker from time to time, but mostly Id go rogue on my own and cause my own havoc on Stormtroopers and the Empire and First Order.

Except in extreme cases, Individual taxes matter a lot less than corporate taxes. Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world, but his W2 salary has stayed the same ~$81k for 20 years. His personal wealth is 90% paper based on the share price of the companies he owns. But when he does sell stocks, his tax rate is generally only 15% because he only pays Capital Gains. On the flip side, the actual corporation of Amazon pays very little of their income to taxes. This is where the bulk of the cheating is. Walmart is not only just as bad with the cheating, they are actively predatory. They'll hunt down some financially struggling town and promise to build a store there if they get a property tax exemption for the next 10 years. The town, being short-term greedy, accepts. Walmart builds the store and starts placing a burden on the local infrastructure. After the 10 years are up, Walmart threatens to close the store if they don't get an extension on their tax exemption. They'll cook the books to make the store look like it is barely profitable or even losing money. They'll claim "they want to keep the store open because they care about the community". If they get the extension, they continue to be a burden on the local infrastructure without paying towards its upkeep. If they don't get the extension, they close the store and move 10 miles down the road to the next gullible town and repeat the process all over again. The store they close they "Sadly, wanted to keep it open for the good of the community, but it just wasn't a good business decision." All the while they are doing this, they are having their workforce subsidized by Federal Tax dollars by compensating their employees so poorly that they need to go on Food Stamps (redeemable at Walmart), Section 8, and Medicare. Then they funnel a huge amount of their profits back through the Walton fund as charitable tax write offs and pay the family huge sums of money to sit on the board. And it's all legal.

Just about finished with my bathroom.

Another B&W photo someone painted over, but a BEAUTIFUL Binder :

Just sad that anyone would let their auto get in that sad of a state.

I never liked this gen Malibu. Or any of the rest of the A-Body cars that shared this body style. (Buick Century, Olds Cutlass 4 door Salon, Pontiac Bonneville and Lemans 4 door, mind you, the Lemans coupe I liked...) But somehow, in that state, I like.

That looks Awesome Blu! Sounds like a Good Avalanche road trip!

You understand that doesn’t change my point at all right? Just skip over the fact that fifty years ago, that same 1% paid even more (without so many of the current loopholes) and many folks claim that’s when this country was so “great”. Point being that the top 1% rarely ever actually pay their “fair share” these days so we can just drop the semantics quite honestly.

Well that’s certainly an interesting twist!

I’m really liking the Omni heat ones from Columbia, and NF lighter coats....both are toasty!

I like ST just fine, but I tend to think of my vintage vehicles like various serial killers. I see a self-proported 'fast' car and I want my vintage iron to rip it apart.

Uh.. I don't know. I haven't had to configure that app in so long. I'll check. Yup, there was a 10 item max I changed it to unlimited. You should be able to add stuff now.

Still way too warm for us here... but I can't wait for my first ski trip of the year.

Yes, the house was built in 1952. I bought it in 1999 off the Foreclosed list and gutted it and then updated to modern commercial standards of electrical, Copper water through out and then insulated and sheet rocked it and did a basic tape / mud of the walls and then used Smokers Sealer paint so the whole house was just basic white for about 15 years. Then in 2015 I started to take room by room and do a medium splatter texture. Used my Home Depot gun I bought in 2015 and have textured everywhere in the house and updated with new paints. Our bedroom was the last room to be textured and then painted. Wal-Board Tools Texture-Pro 200 Hopper Gun with 3 Spray Tips-52-020 - The Home Depot Works great with my air compressor I have. Starting off 2021 with the house about 95% complete. The wife asked me if I could update the Laundry room, so have started to remove everything so I can update it to be modern. She wants a stand up shower there for coming in from the yard and just have it updated with some additional shelves and new utility sink. If I can get it all done, then 2021 will start with the house 100% done. I am sure she will think of other things.

Forgot to mention, Last Friday I choose to surprise my wife by redoing our bedroom. Happy Wife, Happy Life. So I emptied it out, prepped it, Textured the room and repainted it along with an Accent Wall and then moved everything back in. She was very happy, I got it all done in 6 days and still managed to keep my skiing reservations.

The guy driving it looked exactly like you are picturing he did.

Oh yeah!