usonia

Um, you lost me after Latin.

That's especially weird. It's the same color combination I saw.

A 2009 Lincoln MKS.....with a fake convertible top! AUUUUUGH!!! Will these people never learn? Hey Ocn, how far in advance do you think about the titles of these monthly car spotter threads? Just curious.

Bleh, I want nothing to do with it. Instead of having technology improve our lives, too may people become a slave to the technology available to them. I get grief from my friends because I have a cell phone that I carry with me but I keep it turned off most of the time. They can't quite comprehend it when I tell them that it is for my convenience when I need it, not so anybody can get hold of me at any time. The Luddites were partially right.

Actually, the inspiration for the LH cars was the Lamborghini Portofino concept. http://www.lamborghiniregistry.com/Portofino/index.html

I want details....as long as we're still talking about bread. I feel a little confused at this point.

I'm not knocking it by any means since I don't know anything about them. I can see the convenience factor if all you do is dump ingredients in it and come back later to bread. But, it seems $100 would buy a lot of flour and yeast.

I know nothing about bread machines but just out of curiosity, why bother? Why not just learn to make it? Not that I can do it yet. I've tried a few things and to be honest the results were less than wonderful but each time I learn something new. Eventually I hope I can make bread like my mom used to. It's actually kind of fun.

I believe you've created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the triple dog dare!

Two things. Number one, I love everything about this car and it makes me crazy to have to wait and see what they have up their sleeve for the DTS/STS replacement. Number two, I know that styling is purely subjective, but for me, when allowed to do their best, the domestics have the best car designs in the world. Yes, there are a few Europeans cars that I like very much but they don't make me drool and the Asians brands can't even come close. (That new Lexus thing is truly dreadful!)

I'm definitely not a stuff guy. I periodically go through and toss things that I haven't used in a while or don't really need. I do allow myself to keep a few things for potential future use like woodworking magzines that have plans for furniture I'd like to try and build someday. But, other than that I don't like to get attached to things. That is the only reason I don't still have my 1990 Buick Reatta. That was a tough decision to get rid of it. I really did like that car and I do miss it from time to time but I needed a truck and I couldn't justify two vehicles.

Just as it should be is right. It is our responsibility to learn from the best of the previous generations and make the world a better place for the future generations. It's the only way, and it's up to us.

Oh, it's easy to enjoy a hamburger without a beer, but without pickles? That is just...well...I'm at a loss for words!

Thank you. This train of thought is something I had to go through for myself when I was coming to terms with being gay. That was a really tough time for me. In large part because I just don't find myself attracted to that many people to begin with plus I was so afraid that if people found out I was gay that I would end up alone with no friends or family. I had to figure out how to come to grips with the reality of my situation and that's what I came up with.

I can sympathize and relate to what you wrote. I don’t want this to be like I’m giving advice because that isn’t my intent. I really only want to give you a few things to think about and leave it up to you as to whether it makes any sense and what you choose to do with it I think we have all found ourselves in the situation where we feel alone or are intensely attracted to someone and those feelings are not reciprocated. This is especially painful if the person of your attraction ends up with someone who is a friend of yours. In these situations, it’s not unusual to wonder “why him and not me” or “what is wrong with me“. However, that is a very place bad place to allow yourself to go because it is impossible to know the answer. What you have done is to allow your personal happiness to be dependent on other people. We have no control over other’s behaviors, interests, their attractions or their affections just as we don’t consciously decide our likes, dislikes or who we are attracted to. These are the things that make life perversely interesting and yes, at times painful and unfair. I’m not a religious person but if there is a God, in this regard he’s a rotten bastard with a sick sense of humor. Life in and of itself has no meaning. As we become adults, it is up to each of us to build a life for ourselves of purpose and fulfillment based on our interests, desires and abilities while accepting our limitations. While it is basic human nature to love and to want to be loved, it can be frustrating to see how easily relationships come to some people while others rarely find that human connection. In my opinion, meeting that “someone” is a crapshoot in general and especially so if you are gay. When you start to consider the number of people in gay community and then reduce it to just the people who are in your geographic area, then those who are single, then those who are in your age range, then those you are attracted to, then those who are attracted to you then finally those whose personality is compatible with your own, you aren’t necessarily left with a whole lot of people and the number may become zero at any point in the elimination. My point is that your lack of a relationship isn’t necessarily your fault. However, your emotional state in reaction to your situation is something you do have control over and you are the only one who can fix it. Now, I’m going to tell you something you don’t want to hear. In your post, you said: “I just feel like I’m running out of possibilities and I’m just gonna end up lonely and alone for a long time” The truth is, you may very well end up living your life alone and the sooner you can accept that possibility, the better off you will be. Please, understand I’m NOT saying that it WILL be true for you. I’m NOT saying that you shouldn’t continue to be social and meet people. I’m NOT saying that you shouldn’t continue to hope you find that special person you can share your life with and who wants to share their life with you. . What I am saying is that none of us have complete control over any situation when it involves other people. That sucks but that is how it works. I don’t think it is rational to think that you can make a plan to find the person of your dreams. You might, but then again, you might not. However, if you can build a good life for yourself where you can be happy knowing that you MAY only have close friends and family in your life, while not ideal, it is far better than being the person who is unable to accept the POSSIBILITY of being alone (but not “lonely”) and then having to face that actual situation. That is a recipe for disappointment and despair. I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be great and you are going to find your soul mate, but I don’t know that and neither does anyone else. Just remember, however your life plays out, you can be happy in it if you choose to be. For complete disclosure, I have only met 2 people in my life that I can honestly say that I have truly loved and in neither case were the feelings mutual enough to build a life together. I've had my attractions to friends who were straight and/or married. I couldn't help how I felt even though I knew it would never go anywhere and I could never tell them. My life is not perfect and there are times where I wish things were very different, but I have some great friends and a pretty good life and I guess that is the best I can hope for at this point.

I am totally partied out. This has been a very busy holiday season and I definitely went way over board. I'm tired of eating, drinking and talking to people. I need to be alone for a while. So, I'm going to stay home on New Year's eve, ponder life and go to bed early. I want to start the new year with a clear head and, hopefully, some inkling of where my life is headed.

As usual, nothing is simple with me. I have two answers to this question that are totally opposite of each other. I've not really comfortable with most people and I’ve always been pretty socially inept. I wish that weren't the case but it is and I’ve come to accept it. However, I would never do well as a hermit as I also need social interaction with people from time to time to keep me in balance. So, the first answer is that I very much enjoy time alone just thinking about life. There are times when I don’t want to see or talk to anyone for days. I don’t need to be doing anything specific but usually nature is part of it. I like being in outdoors by myself. I also really like to just sit and watch thunderstorms or snow storms. Both are incredibly peaceful and awe-inspiring and good for me mentally. I’ve never been a very good cook. I could keep myself alive and that’s about it. About two years ago, I made a commitment to myself that I would learn how to cook and began trying to make stuff. I read a lot and ate a lot of mistakes that weren’t very good. After much practice I had a small dinner party for some close friends. I had been to their homes multiple times for dinner and had wanted to repay their kindness for a long time. The whole thing was incredibly stressful for me. I felt like I was going to puke for days leading up to the big night. It was a simple dinner but it all turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. My friends are well aware of my social quirks and knew what I was going through. They were all very supportive and helpful. It has been over a year since that night and I have continued to improve my cooking skills. I’m certainly no Jacques Pepin or Julia Child and never will be but at least I’m not embarrassed by the food I can make anymore. So, while it took me along time to get there, I also very much enjoy having a small group of friends over for a nice dinner and some good wine.

That was pretty amazing considering the time period in which it was made. I'd like to see how they did it.

This was a long time ago but I had a disagreement with a car salesman over a used Merkur xr4ti. He was telling me how great it was in snow because of it had front wheel drive. I told him it was rear wheel drive. We kept going back and forth until I ended up on the ground offering to show him the driveshaft but he would have nothing of it and ended up walking away.

Absolutely! Some of the questions were more economic than civic but it was interesting. You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 % I'm not surprised that so many elected officials did so poorly. All you had to do was watch the congressional hearings with the Detroit automakers or listen to the Sunday morning news shows for the past couple of weeks. The lack of knowledge exhibited by these morons should scare the crap out of you that they are making the decisions about the economy and the fate of the American industrial base.

the first dollar is the tax and depost, it wants another dollar to pay for the soda

Your waistline?

Well, let's see, where to begin? For mixed drinks, I prefer (Bombay Blue Sapphire) gin and tonic. I don't like sweet drinks that much. For beer, I prefer Labatt Ice but this past summer I discovered Bud Light Lime and liked that too. For wine, I like reds and white equally. There are a lot of wineries here in the Finger Lakes area of New York and I like to support the home teams so I try to drink local wines when possible. My favorite white wine is a dry to seim-dry rieslings but un-oaked chardonney is good too. Now, having said all that, I really don't drink a lot. I gave up having headaches and hangovers a very, very long time ago. I also don't like to get drunk because I get really goofy. I'm a far more amusing person when I'm drunk but I don't like to lose control so I don't do that anymore either. I could give it all up and the only thing I would truly miss, is a nice glass of wine with a good meal.

I got to my polling place right at 6am when it opens and there was already a line waaaaaay into the parking lot of the church. When I got into the building, the line snaked around in there too. It took me almost an hour but the line did move fairly quickly and everybody was pretty laid back about the whole thing. I always vote first thing in the morning and I’ve never had to wait. I always get a little emotional on election day. I guess I'm just a patriotic guy at heart but today way just amazing. It was great seeing such a huge diverse crowd of people patiently waiting in line to cast a vote.

With the extra hour of sleep last night, I was heading up 390 north (in Rochester New York) extra early this morning heading towards the grocery store for a newspaper and some orange juice. Coming down 390 south was a 1968 Impala coupe in excellent condition. I haven't done a double take on a car in ages. Why are today's cars so boring?!?!?