trinacriabob

Today, a presidential record is made.

Jimmy Carter becomes the first American president to become a centenarian.

Happy 100th birthday, Mr. Carter!

More of an intense sudden thought than a random one:

I am driving down the street on this beautiful day in the Redneck Riviera and I see this ...

... do I knock on the door when I'm not in a fixed enough situation to buy?  It's just what the doctor ordered ... the last rendition of the simple "less is more" base Monte Carlo in white, with alloys, and some glass tinting ... hopefully gray or tan cloth inside.  At any rate, this is a 17 year-old car (if 2007) and an 18 year-old car (if 2006) and, well, I'm in love ... sort of ...

On 9/28/2024 at 2:38 PM, Robert Hall said:

Saw William Shatner on stage in Warren, Ohio the other evening.  Had a showing of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Shatner did a q&a afterward.  Very energetic and funny , hard to believe he’s 93.  

He's a McGill business grad, so a Montrealer.  It sounds like a private university, but it's public.  It's also Anglophone and smack in the middle of Montreal's Financial District.

I've never been a fan of sci-fi, so I never got into Star Trek, Star Wars, or even Batman, Superman, and Spiderman.  I don't think liking Jetsons cartoons counts.

Shatner surprisingly makes the list of the least pleasant Hollywood celebrities you might see on homepages.  I forgot the examples they gave.  Good that he's high energy at 93.  I was not surprised to see Steven Seagal and Jennifer Lopez on the list.  Someone needs to remind her she's the product of a crappy part of The Bronx.

On 9/27/2024 at 12:13 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

Its why I am selective of where I choose to eat. 

I have found fantastic Italian if you come back to Columbus. Polar opposite of where we ate. 

That's everywhere. I have stopped eating fast foot almost entirely. taking half an hour to get a sandwich at Wendy's 6 months ago pretty much did the deal for me. 

Interesting thoughts on Detroit, which I have visited a bunch of times recently. 

I will eat all kinds of Italian food:  down home small restaurants in Italy, bistro Italian, Italian-American, and I have even had some excellent Italian food in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay the few times I've vacationed there given that, beyond those of Spanish stock, Italians are the largest immigrant group. I had a cannelloni lunch special in seaside Vina del Mar, Chile for a bargain price and it rivaled cannelloni I've eaten anywhere and at different price points.  I still think about that cannelloni lunch.

That place in Columbus was one of the worst Italian(-American) meals I've had.  And if the two people dining can agree on that, then there's something to it! I can't believe how they pat themselves on the back when they're only  resting on their laurels.

There is a good Greek and Italian (both) restaurant in the Westerville suburb - near your IKEA - where I once had a great lunch. 

- - - - -

Detroit made big plans, with a lot of elaborate buildings and grand (diagonal, so French in inspiration) boulevards.  I believe it was nicknamed "the Paris of the Midwest" because of that.  Kansas City, MO also put a lot into its urban planning and may have the nickname "the Paris of the Plains."

I tend to retain a lot of "useless" information.

3 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

A couple pics of myself from my Myrtle Beach vacation a couple weeks ago…was very relaxing. 

I have not been on the Atlantic south of Virginia Veach VA and north of Jacksonville FL.  I would like to see the Outer Banks, Myrtle Beach, etc. sometime. Rough or mild surf?  Regular blue or turquoise water?

Beach vacations where there's not too, too much going on are the best for recharging.  A South Florida vacation might require a vacation on the heels of it.  It can be work!

Glad you enjoyed it.

I have a hunch

that you might need a "Costco lunch"

but if you just want to be quick and thrifty

instead go hit up "Cafe' 150"

This happens too often when dining out.

You order your meal.  You order coffee.

When you finish the meal, they remove all the utensils.  You may very well be working on your coffee and may request another refill or two.

With them taking away all the utensils, you have NOTHING to stir the coffee, creamer, sugar, and/or sweetener with!

I'd say this happens 97% to 99% of the time.

I'm guessing it was highway miles.  And hopefully in Southern Illinois rather than Northern Illinois.  

Check to see if it's a non interference engine.  You should do that with any purchase.  This is about timing chains and such.  I don't know much about the 3.5 V6.  It's a heavy vehicle, so it will drink up. Isn't a VVT actuator an appendage that can be repaired plug and play?  How does C/R like this unit?

It has the space you'll need.  The dash modules are very squarish - FoMoCo.  The weirdest thing to me is the grille up front, with the curves, and that's about it.  But you seem to gravitate toward FoMoCo products.

Do people take dealership purchases to their own mechanics for a look over these days?

These aren't my type of vehicle but, within this genre, I like the GMC Acadia, but the reliability is hit-miss and seems to vary year by year!

So, this unit is already gone?  

Good morning ...

... maybe not

I'm starting to sour on Starbucks.  It has been going on for a while.  I went in and a grande (medium) Earl Grey hot tea cost me $3.75.  That's 2 bags of Earl Grey tea, hot water, a paper cup with a plastic lid, and labor ... and just how much overhead and planned profit?

Not only that, they are lowering the bar on their employees who are getting dumb and dumber.

1 hour ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Casino's are hugely depressing. 

Mentally and emotionally I am so done with so much of America and American culture. I want to get on an A350 (not a Boeing product...!) and leave...and never come back. Seriously. 

Slap the window shade down when the plane pulls off the runway, and never, ever look back. 

 

Cathay Pacific aircraft are beauties ... nice understated livery.

On that A350, black raccoon paint around cockpit windows, only 14 wheels (total), and it rotated very quickly.

I was going to mention that casinos are a real turn-off.  They border on depressing.  If a person has a basic statistics course under their belt, they wouldn't go into one. 

You don't really even need a course.  I heard a story of a kid - about 10 - riding in a car with his parents down the Las Vegas Strip.  He commented that if these casinos were paying out jackpots left and right, they couldn't continue to exist.

Usually, I periodically stop in at casinos if they have a buffet.  All of the buffets at the Stateline on South Lake Tahoe appear to be gone.   It started with Covid and it's been used as a reason to not bring them back.

Most, not all, of the casino buffets in Reno area also gone.  "The Row" - Silver Legacy, Circus Circus, and Eldorado - have done away with buffets.  The Eldorado had Italian night on Wednesdays that was the one buffet I'd plan the visit around, with pasta, chicken, beef, and polenta dishes that were really something!  The Peppermill, Rail City, the Nugget, and the Bonanza at the top end of town no longer have buffets.   Harrah's Reno closed its doors.

The only 2 big ones that remain are Grand Sierra Resort (formerly the MGM Reno) and it is prohibitively expensive, and the Atlantis, which is more affordable.  I used to go into the GSR for their breakfast buffet in the 2000s ... affordable and filling, and most of the food choices were very good.

I found a third one with a good price point at the Sands and went in to eat.  You get what you pay for.  It was hit and miss.  A long drive afterwards is difficult.

The bottom line is that my stomach doesn't stretch well to accommodate buffets anymore.  I'm now going about once every 3 months.  I'm not missing them.  They're going the way of the dinosaur ... like I.C.E. cars.

On 9/9/2024 at 1:14 PM, A Horse With No Name said:

Local place I like to eat at, I have posted about it before. 

https://sharinghorizons.com/carls-townhouse-a-chillicothe-landmark/

Look, it was posted by a certain "Karen."

11 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

Went and saw Rival Sons (with Clutch) in Raleigh on Sept. 8th and was simply blown away by RS. Jay Buchanan (the vocalist) operates on an entirely different level from just about anyone I have seen live. The vocals were just beyond incredible. This video was actually taken at that show (not be me lol) and it is one of their earlier tunes from 2009. It captures how absolutely otherworldly their performance was. See them live. You will not regret it.

 

 

If I had to pin a genre, or similar to a genre, I'd say classic rock.

An unforgettable piece, especially since it's Bob Marley and he did a special "party remix" rendition of this for an Italian guy named Alex Natale.  Discovered in the summer of 1996 in Portugal.

An excellent piece to propel your rented econobox, and you in it, up I-80 over the Sierra Nevada.

I'll keep trying ...

I happened to see this video and thought I'd share.

The answer?  NOT MANY.  Not at all .... see the video.

That they made ~ 250 of these was decent.  I thought they made about half of that number.

I flew on 2 of these - one TWA and one Pan Am in the late '80s (to go to school ... and Miami for vacation, respectively).  MD 10s and MD 11s are still around (FedEx and UPS, etc.) and the placement of the third engine on the MD 10-11 planes looks spindly.  On the Lockheed Tri-Star 1011, that 3rd engine looks "very" engaged.  The L-1011 was also known for the highest fuel consumption (per whatever metric they were using) among the wide-bodies, so it become unpopular with operators.

7 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

A350 is one of my new Favorite planes. 

It's photogenic and, for the operator, a full A350 makes coin for them.

Having flow on one for the first time in the last 2 weeks - Finnair, which is a good airline - but I wasn't crazy about it.  

I had to entertain myself for 8 hours and their seat-back screen programs weren't that good.  Worse yet, there's no pull-down drink holder flap with the folding table back up in its place.  That's a fairly basic need.  Also, the only charging available was by USB so I couldn't open my laptop and keep it juiced.  AC power is often under the seat in many modern planes.

This is the '90s and I heard it in the car ...

The synthesizer going on in the background sounds like an electronic new age corn popper.

INTERIOR PHOTOS

The view into the cabin from the driver's front door

The view into the cabin from the passenger's front door

How configured when I picked it up - note a voltmeter inset with the tach and some interesting things near the speedometer; this is either new or specific to this LT 2, Premier, or other designation for an upline model

This is how I set it up.

Familiar and easy to operate infotainment and climate control panels

The colors and finishes are very nice

Sound by Bose

A fairly spacious rear seat in the cream/lt. beige color leather(ette) with the darker accents on the belts, in the carpeting, and on the doors

This is what this sunroof looks like from the inside

EXTERIOR PHOTOS

This is the most flattering color I've yet to see for a Malibu.

This sunroof in a rental car was a treat though I barely used it.

Here's a stance we've seen for 8 or 9 years and those alloy wheels look good.

While refueling it, I took an opportunity to take this photo:  you see this standout color, a light beige interior with darker accents, and even an interesting and less common color for the faux woodgrain that work together very well, making this a really likable unit.

I won't go into too much detail, but I had to bridge the way to another rental with a two day rental.  The rental agent told me to go to a line with a higher level of service and pick out a car there.  

I saw an intriguing Malibu, for lack of a better word, in an outstanding color combination and with the full sunroof.  I decided on that one and am glad I did.

It looks like there are no more extensions.  This is it.  There won't be another generation of Malibu with an ICE.  We were strung along with all the conceptual and schematic mock-ups just like we were with the Charger.  I'm not surprised.

- - - - -

PHOTOS TO FOLLOW

22 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I have given up on Boeing. I deliberately schedule flights to fly on Airbus when I can. 

I am saddened by the state of affairs.  They have always done better, as per the saying, "If it ain't Boeing, it ain't going."

Not many go here, either

28 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

 

I so want to travel. 

Yes, I can see why.

I have a mental bucket list.  Patagonia and the south of South America are supposed to be stunning.  I'd like to see Romania and Bulgaria in fall colors.

I have no use for places with Komodo dragons ... or even Reunion Island.

Lastly, traveling can be tiring.  You need a vacation from the vacation.