trinacriabob

tree

bad

soup

I was thinking about this lately. Most of us remember the absurd lines from movies. Some of the funniest lines are in Eddie Murphy movies. However, one Eddie Murphy movie, "Trading Places" has a lot of funny lines, but one of the most profound (in my mind). If you recall, Eddie Murphy is being prepped to make a switch to the Ivy League/Philly Main Line world in "Trading Places." The butler in the movie was really perceptive, especially after years of catering to the snobs that lived in that mansion. As he sends Eddie Murphy off into the limo, he says "just be yourself, they can't take that away from you." Wow. For some reason, that stuck. Have any movie lines resonated with you?

invisible

dog

The Thanksgiving holiday is but a few days away. Our family has been asked over for dinner by some friends from California, also living out of state, but in a city about 45 miles away. The obligatory shopping and doing of chores will take place on Friday and Saturday, and maybe there will be some time to drive around some quiet scenery to relax and get away. Hope everyone will have a nice Thanksgiving.

+1, on all your comments. With the new LaCrosse we emulate Lexus...and with the new Regal we emulate the Passat. (If you focus on the roofline and forget the taillamps for a second, it looks like a Passat). And I'm only talking about styling. Mechanically, it could be interesting. However, I don't like the way it looks. I miss brands like Pontiac, when you knew a Pontiac was a Pontiac, even when newly released and if its badging was hidden.

Enzora and REDO1GPGT: Happy birthday, gents! Special mention to Enzora, who started the immensely popular "Pictures!" thread, which is second only to Word Association in posts/views. Again, happy birthday!

depressing

office

Oregon

Acapulco

distraction

lobby

Yes. I agree with this clarification. It would have to be cream, and not tan, to work well.

Tell us how you really feel. My parents have friends who relocated from Rancho Park (Pico/Westwood area) to South Orange a long time ago. They had one daughter. When I was last there in 2004, her mom pulled out this girl's wedding picture. The wedding dress was fairly low cut. She had these really exagerrated SPHERICAL tits. I remember her as having a runner's build. The, light bulb goes on *ah, yes, I'm in South Orange County* Yes, agreed, love the West Valley. Compared to the beach towns, it would be more affordable, but it has a very different vibe...maybe an even more relaxed one. Poor moltie, we're supplying him information overload.

parlor

"Less is more" just kidding...I needed an excuse to say that... Carry on...

Olive Oil

Hiking (by yourself) in NM? The only reason I say this is because NM was the site of the last fatal mountain lion attack on a human recorded in North America. This one dude lived in the NM mountains in a trailer and he set up his bathroom (tub/shower/shaving area) outside. One fine day, while away from his trailer in his makeshift bathroom outside, he didn't even know what hit him. Very sad. So be careful Rob...and all you other SW aficionados.

Don't live there now, but a native of the area...I think that counts...so I'll chime in. Most small coastal towns are nice. They are also expensive. That would mean San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano to the south and Oxnard Shores and Ventura to the north. Personally, I loved the maritime layer that shrouds these towns in a cool gray mist in the morning, that then burns off. Slightly bigger towns would be Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. They still have a sense of community. San Pedro can be hit or miss...proximity to the port and all the ocean liners coming and going would make me a pig in $h!, and there are some nice areas as you go up the hill, and some crappy areas near Gaffey that are very "ghetto." Also worth mentioning are Redondo Beach (particularly Hollwyood Riviera, nowhere near Hollywood itself), Huntington Beach and Seal Beach. Long Beach is too big of a town, at almost 500,000 people. Venice is too bohemian. And Santa Monica just plain bothers me and is waaaay overrated. It's kind of soulless, with it's numbered grid and bland shopping areas that haven't been updated. Inland, there are few towns of note. The whole south side of the San Fernando Valley has an "ok" individual community feel while still being counted within LA's 4 million residents. I have always liked Calabasas, Woodland Hills and Sherman Oaks. There are some interesting mountain communities perched up in the foothills of the San Gabriels and San Bernardinos, such as Montrose/Tujunga, though tough for commuting into the city's core or the West Side. In reality, they are better for Pasadena or SGV workers. Incidentally, I do not like anywhere in northeast Los Angeles metro, and think Pasadena is also overrated. It looks butt ugly when the San Gabriels are so damn parched in the summer. The only SGV community I like is San Dimas, for its hilly topography and reasonably nice residential housing stock. Hope that helps. I know croc and tmp are also valuable resources when it comes to this topic. The O.C. might be a little too biased. :wink:

I picked dark slate/taupe. The other choice seems to clash more. Now, had the main color in choice #2 been a dark brown, I would have picked that.

Weird sensation...I only feel really comfortable in the upper Northeast/New England area, and I'm not from there. I really like it and the 3 to 4 weeks of color are almost worth putting up with the rest of the year. A co-worker has a sister in Saranac Lake, almost at the NY-Quebec line, and it is very peaceful and very beautiful. I have a very hard time boarding the plane in Montreal to come home when I make that trip. I also feel really comfortable in the thickly vegetated Southeast. I still have CLT and RDU in the back of my mind, seeing how much Atlanta has grown. Don't know. I'm out here for now. For me, the hard reality is that, while the PNW is where my parents relocated and settled in almost 20 years ago, I do like being there and thought my physical enjoyment of the area would override everything, but I don't like the vibe of the people. The West is very different from the East. Newly transplanted Easterners in the West complain about things, which is fine with me, since I complain 24/7. :wink:

The Brady Bunch