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Albert made me a checkerboard cake and it was delicious.

We now also have a status monitoring page. https://status.cheersandgears.com/ This is independent of our web server and will let you know if things are out of whack and I can put a status message there if we're down. There is a link at the bottom right of the page if you ever forget.

I miss the colorful interiors and comfortable seats older cars often had.

Like you, I am very embedded in the PNW with two kids, the grandkids, etc. While I think I will be fine to retire at 70, I am pretty much figure due to the cost of living in the US, going to work till I die. Plus, I like Tech and with my love of winter sports, technology and home movie system with big screen, yes currently at LG 77" C4 OLED TV, but have seen the new 83 and 97 inch OLED TVs that would pretty much make the whole wall a TV. Talk about TOTAL IMMERSION in a Home Theater setup. Yup, I think I will always work unless I move to the Philippians. I have a friend that retired at 60 and moved there, his $8,000 a month goes so far, beautiful house on the beach, easy sway style lifestyle. But then I have Grandkids. Latest edition this year is my Cutiepie Kai, he loves tech too.

Alas, I'm too embedded in the US to leave. I like my house and cars, my dogs, my job, my stuff. If I didn't have any stuff, I'd love to be able to emigrate to either the Yorkshire Dales or Devon coastline of the UK. I love gray, rainy maritime climates. And I am of 99% English ancestry, though going back to the 1700s in the US. Ride the trains around the UK and Europe. Get an old Range Rover and Jaguar XK8 convertible to drive around in. In the US, I have thought retiring to the coast of Massachusetts or Maine could be quite nice also. Also thinking about an RV. And figuring out how I can retire in 6 years when I'm 60. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of retirement, but my investments are doing well, so it's definitely doable.

Looks dee-licious. I got jealous and looked at our cupboards to find some sort of dessert to eat. There was none but a jar of Nutella. So I grabbed me a spoon and had a couple of spoonfulls. Now Im relaxing listening to Pink Floyd. Im bored and having nothing to do, so I decided to do...nothing I kicked off my Pink Floyd mood with this fitting song Im also comfortbaly numb right now. But I havent reached that song yet. PS...no drugs. Just the chocolate and hazelut buzz.

It all comes rushing back when I see one on the road, see it on YouTube, or similar. I miss what could have been - like influencing my parents on their choices. They could have just as easily gone with buckets - the big, comfortable kind - in that first colonnade coupe. I'm talking the Salon or S/R type buckets. No one ever sat where the armrest was and there were rarely more than 3 occupants in the vehicle. I miss what was - there was nothing quite like the ravine dash with full instrumention in the '88 to '94 Regal coupes (changed for '95 and '96) that I enjoyed looking into as a daily driver for a good number of years, and in a car with stellar reliability. In general, I mourn the loss of all the personality and luxurious creature comforts older cars had.

3rd gen CTS was about the same size as the last STS...within 2 inches of wheelbase and length. I can see the appeal of the smaller 1st gen CTS for nimbleness and parking. With the length, long wheelbase, width and AWD of the CT6, I'm becoming accustomed to making 3- and 4- point turns in parking lots. Down the road I'm thinking I wouldn't mind an XLR-V or 2nd gen CTS-V coupe for another fun car...

All of this. Though the second gen CTS did gain a lot of weight in roughly the same footprint and wasn't as nimble. This is when the CTS started chasing the 5-series more seriously and had the interior to do that. Cadillac did this because they knew the ATS was coming. Unfortunately, the CTS grew in size even more for the 3rd generation, and while it did get some nimbleness back, it is nearly the size of the 300C. The ATS was a fantastic vehicle for sporty driving and if I were single, I'd look at a Turbo-4 coupe with a manual, but they are just too small for more than 2 people.

For storage, Wasabi S3 is a competitor to Amazon S3 at significantly lower price. We've been using it here for photo storage for more than a year, but I got the backups copying to it now also.

Of course there's this CTS 3.6 with a manual and low milage on Auto Trader right now..... taunting me.

The Costco parking lot. I like the 300C and I like the Avalanche, but sometimes navigating them around in traffic and parking lots is a bear. The 300C isn't even drastically larger than the CTS, but the CTS was much more nimble and had a very tight turning radius. It was also ~3,400 lbs, 200 lbs lighter than a base 2025 3-series. It was just light and nimble, but every bit as comfortable on the highway as the 300C is. It's a shame that most of that generation have been trashed. Put a nice CarPlay unit in one and I'd be happy.

Missouri had a surreal beauty all its own...and no that isn't a dig at a member here. The whole experience of hiking in Missouri was wild...I loved it. More Missouri. American flag made out of Kansas lic plates. Route 66 in Kansas....

Visited this as my last stop on my trip west, it is amazing. Visiting a bunch of Native American sites, The First Nations Museum in Oklahoma City, a ton of Civil war sites, The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, The high school in Little Rock Arkansas that was at the center of the integration controversy, and realizing so much of our country's troubled past really put the last election into perspective. I think that America is like a grafted tree...the root stock of racism, hate, bigotry, nativism, and misogyny will seemingly always spring back up. The Mound From the top of "Monks Mound" you can see St Louis from the top of the mound. The arch should be very visible in this photo. The whole park feels very much like a sacred space. I really wanted to hike Black Mesa in the far NW corner of Oklahoma but weather prevented that. You can walk to NM and Colorado from the Black Mesa trail, and it is the highest point on Oklahoma.

I understand you are a thinking catholic, but 92 plus percent of religion is just so effing toxic. Exactly. You two just fit together so well. I freaking despise the Cowboys. I so want to renounce my US citizenship. But that is not new, I have felt that way for a decade or so. Would love to retire outside of the United States. Bonus points if I can never see this country again.

I saw a BMW X2 M@#$@#%-whatever the other day and thought the exact same thing. Not sporty looking unless you consider using old Pontiac Grand Am body cladding as sporty. But Americans are addicted to tall hatchbacks Sport Activity Vehicles.... so it is what it is.

thanks for the info. I didnt know what wasabi was in website talk, but I was trying to be funny. I HAD the courage to try open mic night but since you didnt laugh at that, it means that I need to hit the drawing board again. Im niot quite there yet... Oh...you missed the other part of my 'joke'. But I sense it be useless to point it out as it may not be as funny as it was in my head 15 minutes ago.

If I was on wasabi, and I like spicy foods, I dont think Id be able to handle any back-up work. Id be running AWAY daily from wasabi I think. I guess software programming happens automatically with a touch of wizbang sorcery magic to make those thing happen at all hence the new word of the day: automatigically...for software programmers all OVER the world. 👍 Thumbs up to all of you for keeping our world functionning.

Yeah... The Costco parking lot of all places!!! LOL The 300C is/was more luxury oriented rather than sports sedan-ny not only in general but especially compared to the CTS. I get your feelings. I feels you. In hindsight, it was THE perfect size and especially when one sees what BMW has done to their 3 Series. It has been enlargened to the original CTS' dimension 10 years ago. Cadillac got it right with the 1st and 2nd gen CTS and Cadillac didnt even realize it. They beat BMW at their own game and made BMW copy THEM and not many realize that fact either. To this day, Whether it be car guys and gals or even the automotive journalists, we are ignorant of the fact that BMW 3 Series grew in size and dimensions to BE a 1st and 2nd gen CTS competitor. But Cadillac abandoned that trajectory thinking they lost the battle but indeed, they actually won the war.

I do miss the seats of my old '00 WJ Grand Cherokee. It was more comfortable on long trips than my '14 WK2 Grand Cherokee that replaced it. The newer GC is larger outside, but feels smaller in the front cabin than the old one (smaller windows definitely are part of that). The seats seem to not be as well padded as the old one.

The roll out from GM was slow. But for the better regarding reliabilty and build quality. From Chevrolet to Cadillac on the EVs. The bugs. I think, have been worked out. And quite honestly, not that many considering how fast they kinda turned it around from R&D to fully produce them from new EV factories and the new tech and all that. Less problematic than Tesla and definitely less problematic than what GM did in the ealry 1980s to convert their cars from RWD to FWD. Build quality has been on the rise since 15 years now and the last 5-8 to great lengths on them Cadillacs ESPECIALLY on the last generation of ICE vehicles from Cadillac. The EVs are spotless in build quality and interior materials despite the cost of manufacturing EVs. Ive heard some complaints on the HUMMER that the materials are less than what they need to be on such an expensive vehicle... If that is the only blemish on a vehicle that has only one rival, and its the Cybertruck, then I dont think its such a big deal. Besides, the crowd that buys a HUMMER EV simply buy it for douche bag value and those kinds of people dont really care for materials that are just a tad below what they should be. They buy it for douche bag value and the Hummer EV has EVERY competitor douche bag vehicle beat buy millions of miles in that category. And its all that counts. I think Cadillac has finally turned it around with their image and its with their EVs that Cadillac has done it with.

Anyone have a weird longing for a car they sold or traded a while ago? I don't mean something that got wrecked or stolen, that was out of your control. Just a car that you traded/sold but now regret doing that? That hit me hard today for my 2004 CTS.

Thank you very much. For my birthday last year I got a gift card for a spa day package which I booked for my birthday this year. So I spent the day yesterday getting a facial and a massage and it was fantastic. Little did I know when I booked it how needed it would be.

Unlikely. Even in a Tesla Plaid you have to put it in Ludicrous mode and the Lucid Air Grand Touring makes you put it in the top model also to get that acceleration. Genesis and the V-Series just make it an easier to access dedicated button

I like how it has a V button, so you can drive it normally most of the time and press the V button when you need someone in your rearview mirror. The upper models of the Genesis GV60 has this and it is a ridiculous kick in the pants even at a much lower max power rating.

That is one thing I love about my 2006 Escalade, Gen 3 Escalades and everyone since have slab hard seats and seem more for performance and short-term driving than road trips. This is why at 200,000 miles I still have my Escalade, but after my experience with the EV9 and comfy road trips in it, the days of the Escalade are limited as Genesis has the GV90 EV coming out plus there is also the EV9 Pickup coming out next year too, so one of them will replace the Escalade.

We hiked a bit, this is from Keystone Ancient Forrest, oldest growth forest in Oklahoma. Keystone Ancient Forest hike. I decided to visit Oral Roberts University, where my sister thought of attending. She thankfully chose another school 40 or so years ago. But have always wanted to see it. Came to grips with some of the religious trauma in my life, and everyone there was friendly. From The First Nations Museum in Oklahoma City. Neat old roadside Ford Truck, Route 66. Abandoned gas station, Route 66

It would be a few years for us. My wife will get a nice pension when she retires from the state of Ohio, and my investments are doing well. Would mean giving up my woodworking shop, but for a chance to emigrate, I think it would be worth it. Wife and I exploring a small Kansas town along Route 66. Brick in a Kansas museum. IT stands for Indian Territory, so it pre dates Kansas. Woodworking tools in a Kansas Museum, Baxter Springs Kansas. Fire Engine from the same museum.

The current 2.0T debuted in the XT4 and then went to Buick..... Not that GM has divisional engines anymore since the Northstar went out to pasture. I'm not a big fan of the Lyriq styling, but I think this one is out of the park good. It can be parked proudly next to a high-zoot Range Rover and looks much better than the EQE SUV. As far as luxury EV SUVs out there, I think, at least in appearance, the Vistiq is the new king.

Here in Seattle, Tesla is popular, but since January of this year, I now see a ton of LYRIQ's and Kia/Hyundai all over the place. A number of my coworkers have replaced their Tesla's with LYRIQ's. PNW is far more green than other places, but as has shown with the huge drop in Tesla sales and an increase in Rivian, Cadillac, Kia and Hyundai, the west coast will move on as Tesla stalls. Waymo just announced today that LA is now their third market where one can use Waymo One to take RoboTaxi rides. Tesla might be up due to the Trump win, but I do not see it doing so great next year, nor Trump as Inflation hits hard North America due to his Tariffs and the rest of the world goes into Recession. Cadillac has a spot on quality on ICE and EV and while style is personal preference, I do not see Cadillac stalling as they have already said they would keep ICE going past 2030 as long as customers buy and they will adjust EV manufacturing. Mary has stated that with LFP, they can have a sub $30k Bolt before IRA and even if IRA is destroyed by Idiot47, they will still have a winning entry level EV that I think will be the homerun hit to let them get ahead of other Legacy OEMs. I think this transition will kill off some OEMs in the US, Japan, Europe and China. I could see myself buying a VISTIQ if it was not missing one critical item, Android Auto / Apple Carplay. That is the deal breaker for me.

I would have to agree with you on your longing for the CTS. It was a fantastic sports sedan. Although I personally didnt like the interior of it, I certainly loved the exterior styling. What triggered your regret? I miss my Alero and I miss my 2005 Impala SS. But I do not regret replacing them. I also miss not being in a GM car of some sorts. But since GM not offering a sedan, I dont regret not owning a GM. Although I do wish Buick had the last generation Regal available because I definitely would have bought that last year instead of the Accord. Or the Impala for that matter.

Donald Trump's America is going to be a bizarre one for EVs. Most of the real Trumpsters that have been with him all this time are hooked on oil and would never get off of it. He wants to drill for oil to give his real base what they are asking for. Yet...he has as a BFF Elon Musk... Why has Tesla's stocks risen is beyond me. But that would be for another discussion for another thread another day. The Lyriq is quite the popular EV in my neck of the woods. I see more Lyriqs than I do Model Ys. (Same msrp in CDN dollars). Many KONA and Ioniq 5s to the point those two equal the Tesla Model 3. The Model 3 is super popular here. And the Chevrolet Equinox EV which has been on sale very recently is probably going to surpass the Model 3 in my area very soon. I see those quite regularly too. Moreso the Equinox now as compared to the Model 3 when it was just a couple of months new on sale. The Bolts are coming soon. But...lemme repeat, for the USA, in Donald Trump's America, I aint so sure that the EV will be a popular guy. I have a feeling it will be villified. The timing for GM... just as they get their EVs rolling, America voted for a very different reality. Maybe killing off the XT4 is too premature. Maybe FoMoCo is really dialing down EV launches was a ery very smart move. But what is Elon Musk to do? His BFF and the political party he is jumping for joy so much aint gonna be too kind to his automoble empire. And his EVs will probably stall in sales all over the world too. But let me steer back the converation to the Vistiq and Cadillac EVs in general. I must agree with @smk4565 that Cadillac has finally got a winning formula with these EVs. People are resonating with them. Although I dont like the overall exteror styling of the Vistiq, too upright and especially too uptight with a weird look that starts from the C pillar to the back end styling. But the interior is bang on!!! The Optiq looks like a great little compact EV. Nicer than anyting from Hyundai or Tesla in that market and price range. Its too damned bad that America is such a confused place right about now and that does not bode well for Cadillac's EV renaissance.

I think this vehicle could do well because I imagine the interior is about as roomy as an Escalade, this is about the size of a GLS or X7 so it is basically full size 3 row SUV under $80k with 615 hp. That is quite the combo, way better value than a Navigator, Grand Wagoner or even a gas Escalade unless you need to tow, and a lot of people might think those huge SUVs have gotten too huge, and will prefer this. I think GM could do really well with the EV's once they work the bugs out and battery costs come down in the next couple years. The Equinox I think will sell well, the Lyriq id the #2 selling Cadillac, if the Bolt comes back at $29k before tax credit (assuming you can still get $7500 off) then they will sell a crap ton of those because the $30k Tesla is never coming. And if Bolts are like $21,000 after tax credit, they can undercut Corollas and Elantras even, they sell like crazy at that price. The XT4 is being discontinued, the XT6 is a dud, they can dump all that junk and the new generation Cadillac that is all EV could be pretty formidable.

Very Enlightening read 'Really jarring moment': Historian lays out 'alarming' parallels to turbulent time period

AWESOME Drew Congratulations on your Birthday, it is wonderful knowing you and how special you are to us. This is exciting for Rivian, good information on the R2 too. 2026 Rivian R2 Will Get New LG Cells With 'Six Times' The Capacity

I say, let it get worse. The people have spoken and this is what the MAJORITY voted for. He even got the popular vote. Therefore the people of America have spoken. This is what they want. This is what they feel comfortable with. But I dont want to hear ANY whining from ANYBODY about what possibly may happen with him Him in power. Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me? Technically this is how that saying goes. But you never know. Maybe it really IS the lefty libtards that are the problem. Hopefully it IS the lefty libtards that are the problem and the Messiah Trump will BE the solution to ALL of our problems. I will be the first one to apologize if He actually does fix America's and Canada's problems. And unite ALL of the world and the world gets to sing Kumbaya ALL in unison. Hopefully He is the next coming of Christ. Keeping my fingers crossed but I aint holding my breath if you know what I mean.

@oldshurst442 This pretty much sums up just how bad it is going to get. Trump's economic plans would worsen inflation, experts say | AP News

Not just iPhones... He tariffed Canadian wood the first time around as Pres and the prices of wood skyrocketed so American home builders bought American wood which was and is more expensive than Canadian wood. I guess that is good for American wood producers. But for the fact that house prices also skyrocketed. And considering that Canada and US have a more or less good trading thing going on...so not that good. Not for the US and not good for Canada. But Donald thinks otherwise. And all the folk that voted for him this time around think that the economy will get better? I hope so for their sake. But Elon and Jeff B's billions rose quite a bit upon the announcement of his re-election. I wonder if those people that voted for him, I wonder if their wealth also rose instantly? You poor bastards... You have no idea what is coming to you... (those that voted for him. With the excemption of the rich of course) Donnie Rides Again

We'll this sucks, C&G went down causing headaches for Drew and we now have a Fascist in power. How folks can vote for a convicted rapist, convicted business fraud and not once but 6-time bankrupt businessperson all for his own personal gain is beyond me. I did read an interesting AP story that said in 2016 the bulk of Latino voted for Trump, then 2020 for Biden and now back to Trump. College education is low among Latino's and the bulk of these conservative folks have stated that they do not believe woman belong in politics or business and as such went with the guy to vote. Seeing so many immigrants supporting Corrupt 47 blows my mind. A coworker said a number of folks from Africa that he knows where he came from all voted for Trump as Economy was their number 1 concern. Yet we have a strong economy and low unemployment. He said they all were frustrated with how expensive things had become to buy and they said Trump will lower costs. I pointed out that Inflation is always here, and the first two years of a new president is dealing with what was left to them from the outgoing president. As such, the first two years of high inflation under Biden was due to the poor policies that Trump did while in office. Unfortunately, It is what it is and truly mind boggling that so many bought into the Trump Lie Machine. Hopefully the House will go Democrat to balance out a republican senate so crazy cannot go too crazy with stuff. Here is an interesting video to watch. Video: Listen to The 2024 Xiaomi SU7 Max Belting It Around The Track | Watch This is interesting, price parity has been achieved on the fleet side. The 2025 Ford E-Transit Costs The Same As The Gas Version

Good morning ...

Have to say that now with Kia releasing the full econo lineup of the Kia EV3 with the top end being the GT-Line, this is a sweet EV. Should be very successful here in the US when it goes on sale Spring 2025. Chevrolet Bolt better deliver otherwise it will be a knockout by Kia. Kia EV3 Base Model - They have an EV9 go by and you can see the style and size. Better than anything Tesla has offered in the Model 3 for an interior (IMHO) and Chevrolet better bring their A game as Kia is going for the throat. Removed the videos as they auto play and I could not stop it, so here is the site you have to choose which EV3 video you want to watch. Kia EV3 videos - Dailymotion

The RoadandTrack link there is all full of hooie and fooie From the 1st paragragh: And this article was published on Oct 30. This was news in September with speculation, so there was no need to misinform that VAG is a cash cow. VAG was a cash cow... VAG might return in being a cash cow, but VAG when SCOUT released its vaporware products is NOT a cash cow. Besides SCOUT being vaporware, Im not so sure that SCOUT will EVER become a thing just BECAUSE VAG is lacking cash... https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/volkswagen-plans-major-layoffs-shut-least-three-german-plants-works-council-head-2024-10-28/#:~:text=WOLFSBURG%2C Germany%2C Oct 28 (,council head said on Monday. https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/10/28/volkswagen-set-to-close-three-german-plants-and-cut-thousands-of-jobs https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/02/investing/volkswagen-factory-closure-germany/index.html

Seems Ford and Lectron have joined up to build and ship out the CCS to NACS adapter as the Tesla one is still having the bugs worked out that caused Ford to tell their customers to stop using it. Ford will ship out the Lectron to replace the Tesla units. Ford Begins Shipping New Tesla NACS Adapters To EV Customers

Interesting read on an ICE that has become an EV user for 90% of their life. Their old 231,000 miles Tahoe is for the other 10%. I'm A Gas Car Fan. Here's Why I Love My First EV @surreal1272 Months like this add up to take over a market big time. EVs And Hybrids Catapult Hyundai, Kia October U.S. Sales To New Record

That was always the deal from the start at least for VW. The only addition is that Scout will have access to it. VW group being the ownership mess that they are, Scout having access to the tech was never a given.

Seems Scout is now wanting to use more than software in the Scout Truck / SUV. Scout Motors Plans to Leverage Rivian's Electronics Architecture

OK, this is one Bad Ass Cool EV Converted old car!!! Mopar’s Plymouth GTX Electromod Saves The Planet By Killing The V8 | Carscoops Mopar e-crate motors will debut at SEMA. This is one bad ass car!!! Future never looked so good!!! Nothing like plugging in where you once poured gas into!!!

Excited for SEMA in a week as Kia seems to have some new EVs to show off and one could be an X-Pro off-road edition of the EV9. Teaser photo they released today.