trinacriabob

Still sticking to the now gone Passat for what could serve me ... and that would include dogs, albeit medium sized ones. I love dogs and like cats. A friend in New England had a great all black female cat that was an attention whore and warmed up to guests in no time. He told me she would periodically kill a small bird and bring it to him as a gift, with not much interest in eating it. Meh. I don't think someone's Lab or Golden would do that, if not in hunting mode with its owner. All the Labs I knew of growing up just wanted to be in the backyard pool with kids.

I sometimes think of a discussion we were having at the table at my uncle's house in Italy. His daughter - my cousin - had a neighborhood dog that became hers and that her teens liked. He said that they like people alright, but probably prefer other dogs to people. It turns out that they like their humans more. They were a newborn with its mother and littermates. If you got the dog after that, you've become their "parent" in every which way, especially if they've chosen you as their person.

Way less expensive and responsible than feeding a 455 c.i. V8 I might ascribe poorly socialized Pit Bulls and Rottweilers, complete with spikes on their collars, to lesbians ... at least the rougher ones. But, yes, the more introverted lesbians might be cat ladies, along with their straight eccentric and neurotic older female counterparts.

Damn, I need to get cracking: I'm 16 cats shy of having 16 cats.

As for the power seat, I almost look at it as one of their infotainment adds. They can do it. They just don't want to. Not only are they peddling appliances, they're also peddling spendy packages.

Happy Bastille Day!

I am bordering on being disgusted with GM. If you build something on their websites for various models, the fact that I may want a driver's side power seat, which is almost a basic need anymore, does not mean I want all the other shit that makes for a $2,800 package.

There might be, spread across different manufacturers from many countries. After renting one, I like the new Toyota Camry LE Hybrid quite a bit. What a difference a tweak here and there can make (exterior and interior) and the previous-gen dowdiness is now gone. I was impressed. But choices like this also mean "sayonara" to a reasonable GM Card chunk of change.

This is less about politics and more for a laugh. You know how when you deplane at the end of the flight, the captain may be there at the front of the cabin along with a few flight attendants? A lot of these guys look like clones of each other. So, I often wonder which way they vote, at least in the U.S. I wonder if there's a token one or two who vote(s) for 'the road less traveled' in the privacy of the voting booth.

This isn't new. I can't make a decision on buying a car, since I haven't made the even bigger decision to precede when and WHERE to buy a car. I've got a lot of points from my GM Card. Never would I have thought the market would change so drastically after I last used its accumulation and would start accumulating again. So, if I were to buy a tide over used car to keep for a few years, then what? All low mileage ... the last Buick Verano 2.4 L the last Chevy Impala 2.5 L the 2015 Malibu with Camaro rear lights 2.5 L the last Mercury Milan 4 cyl. the last Charger base 3.5 V6 Something else Low mileage "older" cars cost a bundle, IF it's a dealer that's selling them.

I hate to say this, but so many people from India who run hotels are very cheap and combative. I was in a place belonging to a chain I've NEVER had problems with and like where I'm staying now for a week. This guy was just rude. We had an argument about something critical he misrepresented via phone some 2 days before I checked in. I also asked him for a bottle of water on the 3rd day of departure, which they give routinely at all their other properties, especially for people who are members of their loyalty club. It was boiling hot outside. He said he didn't have any. On the other hand, in the preceding 2 evenings, the friendly Americanized Hispanic guy gave me a cold bottle of water. I told him that most people here are not prejudiced to foreigners and my parents were from another country. However, they should expect to be called out when they run a business here and their style is not compatible with how business is done and customers are used to being treated here. As for the bottle of water, which might have had a cost of 15 cents, I told him to hang on to those 15 cents and that he was so cheap that "he'd squeeze a nickel until the buffalo shits." This was on my last day. I'm sorry. This isn't about political correctness. It's all about an ugly reality that plays over and over again like a broken record. You can also have some horrible one-off experiences in Italy, typically about utilities and climatization, because they, too, can be cheap.

"Don't you know you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run ... run" I think she says "run" 10 times in each refrain. For years, I though the singer was a man with a high voice. One of a kind.

First random thought: It always makes for a sigh of relief when they hand me the keys to a Malibu Second random thought: I'm irritated by fuel tank filler doors that are not on the same side as the driver's door

Every once in a while, I crave a Brazilian steakhouse buffet ... like now.

If someone has sex in Denver, does that make them a member of the "Mile High Club?"

Dang ... ... airfares are high ... rental car prices are high Since Southwest pulled the plug on the low cost model circa 5/28, their airfares are much higher, and so are the fares of the legacy carriers.

I know. But, man, Chevy could have put on some kind of a real dashboard instead of something that looks like a kid would have wanted from Toys 'r' Us.

I was cleaning out old photos and archiving and I found this ... ... amazing ... what a nasty rat-tat-tat dashboard ... any guesses? . . . . . It was a rented Chevy Sonic. Its dashboard was quite a bit more underwhelming than that of its smaller and cheaper sibling, the Spark

Happy Friday!

Legacy is going away, as is Malibu. As someone who obsessively makes fun of Subaru, the Legacy is actually nice, not to mention apolitical. Eh on the Altima and the Sonata looks too much like a jelly bean. Cam-cord are good choices but I would have preferred American iron.

Some appliances last a long time and some don't. I have a feeling this one will go the distance. There aren't many choices in this segment.

Even this option is gone. This is a white Passat with the light tan interior. I could have very easily seen myself in the Passat in that light metallic sand color with this interior. I really liked their taut roadability combined with a smooth ride. * sigh *

That's an interesting observation. I did not get a squeaks and rattles feel. The build quality in the interior says "larger Corolla." While it may now have a nicer cabin, none of the finishes and materials reach the point of being impressive. Also, you feel the lighter weight in the doors. My first-gen LaCrosse had better materials and more solidity than the Camry ... any of them.

You have put across that you are intent on doing it. I'd look at a LOT of YouTubes and even forums. To distill it to its basics - it's a wash, almost a complete balance of positives and negatives. But it's your personal weighting of these that allow you to break that tie. On Jan. 31, the $ bought .96 of a Euro. Today, it buys .88 of a Euro. That's a big drop in a short time. Even thought .88 is "bad," what I saw in 2007 or thereabouts was far worse and it was the W to Obama transition years.

Right. I remember when the Seattle area once had exorbitant rental car taxes. When I asked what they were for, they were for the new stadium(s) going up. Right. I know. But California has good roads throughout, for the most part, whether it's the freeways or even local streets with nice landscaping and features. Not only that, I'm sure they're taxing for some type of environmental offset and to defray other "stuff." The toll for the PA Turnpike the whole way across is absurd. To that, add fuel for the car. It's cheaper to fly to NYC than cross Pennsylvania by car in most cases.