trinacriabob

puma

loafer (somehow, I can't see ocnblu in penny loafers) Happy New Year, PB.

About the psycho lady in a Mercedes, two words: Irma - Bunt About Northern Italy, be sure to drive the SS 48 (Strada delle Dolomiti) between (roughly) Bolzano and Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites south of Austria. Three words: Oh - my - God.

century

Niagara Falls

All good stuff...what kind of building was your first real building? The first one I did where the whole thing was 90+% my design was about 3 or 4 years after school and it was a 90+ unit assisted living facility, complete with the dining, food preparation and social areas. It's a great feeling. I always liked working in a firm where you get to do it all: design, documentation and construction admin. Congrats.

I was going to go to a religious retreat that started Christmas Eve and ended mid-day New Year's Day, with church services on New Year's morning. THEN I thought...hmmm....it was a small chunk of change for dinner, the overnight lodging, and breakfast, so, 30 minutes ago, I decided against it. I'll probably go to church on Jan. 1 am, but now have no plans for New Year's Eve and plan NOT to be driving around with all the nutjobs around.

barrel

depression

Where is that? To the North of Lisbon? Between where you are and Setubal? Be careful when driving home from that...those Portuguese drivers seem even wilder than the Italian ones, if that's possible (picture me going the speed limit in a rented Peugeot 107 manual or Corsa with the automatic on the "freeways" around Porto, but then I'm American)

And the city you just described is metro Seattle, though the overcast weather is a BIG problem and the people, for the most part, are even BIGGER a-holes.

pine needles

Well, I like the way AZ "looks" but the weather in the summer would knock me out. On the flip side, I think Denver's land-locked and too far from anywhere setting would drive me nuts. Midwesterners adjust to it since it's adjacent, but I don't know if a person raised on the coasts could. You went to HS in Marathon, on the Keys, right? I've often wondered if I'd like living in FL, seeing that I vacation there so much and like living in shorts/t-shirt most of the year. The cool, overcast weather we're having right now bothers me, except when I want to have coffee or tea somewhere. For me, I hope 2009 is better than 2008. The only bright spot in 2008 was the LaCrosse at the very beginning of the year.

autumn colors

I'll focus on the positive things. This part I like....

horror movie

Yes. Bad years go by slowly. Good years go by quickly.

magazine cover (I'm sure that, in preparing for her photo shoot for the GQ cover, someone got to see everything )

dental floss bikinis bikinis "fio dental"

CSI Las Vegas

I'm laughing right now. When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike to LAX (not a smart thing to do, as little as I was and since it was 6 miles away from our house using busy boulevards) and then I would come home and draw 747s of each and every airline / paint scheme that came to Los Angeles. I found the sketches cleaning out paperwork after my Dad passed away and busted up laughing. The things parents do.... Oh, yeah, things to relax....drove up to Chico to spend a couple of days...it's one of the largest towns in the less populated "North State," with only around 100,000 people, yet very peaceful and at the foothills of the Sierra. I do this about 4x a year.

calculator

Wow, what a beautiful car! The departure of a plush cloth burgundy interior (which I have in my Regal and COULDN'T get in the LaCrosse) is the sad closing of another chapter in American automotive history. I love your car. I didn't much care for the 78-80 Cutlass Supremes, but the 81-88(RWD Classic) series came back with a vengeance. The sloped back grilles and thinner, more Eldorado-ish taillamps made a difference. My favorites within that series are the 1982, 1984 (which I had) and the 1987, mostly because those years had the best grilles. What I would like is a 1982 Supreme Brougham coupe - Light Jadestone Metallic / white top / jadestone cloth interior - 260 V8 - rally wheels - and low miles. I think that's asking for too much.

nerd

I like this one!