trinacriabob

C-H-A-R-G-E-R-I-N-O Happy birthday!!! I need to put down as many emoticons as there are Word Association posts...but that would take too long, as it's Memorial Day weekend.

I hate hearing $h! like this. It seems like the good ones encounter these problems - this last semester, I had a management seminar that dealt with leadership and ethics - your past principal sounded like the profile of the kind of "charismatic" person that theoretically ought to make it (except for the "too nice" part) but, in reality, it's quite the opposite....so much for book learning.Curious...in the school system, is he just "lateraled over" to another school in the district....or is he S.O.L.? My biggest problem is that I tend to be a good project manager checking all the minutia (like my spelling corrections LOL) that it tends to keep me in that same spot whenever I get under one of these "broker" types who are "big picture" and don't care about the details but want someone else to tend to that...so I then "check out" and look elsewhere, since most firms are revolving doors, that's seldom a problem. (I was ecstatic that I was able to hand them a nice financial blow, leaving the project and the firm at such a critical point). However, these flakes aren't as prevalent in my upcoming career shift, having been there before. There are not many "broker" types, they all have their sleeves rolled up doing the work.

That's a keeper!

"orca"

penguin

As my father used to say: "Tutto il mondo e paese" Meaning: "The world is a village" I have seen this kind of crap everywhere, but your story sounds a little more like Italy than the U.S.

monk

My Catholic high school in LA was about 15 % black. The black girls were always sassy in class and it made it entertaining ... some of the priests and nuns didn't know what to do. By comparison, some of the student council blondies were sooooo uptight.P, you teach, don't teachers almost always put up with the smart alecks when they're A students who learn a little too quickly? I had the highest grades in high school French class and I was sometimes getting sent to detention. We're derailing Nick's thread. Nick, howya doin'?

altruism

I resigned from one a couple of months ago. I worked there for almost 3 years. The first 2 years were fine, but one day in early 2006, 6 people (the most promising employees) out of 40 quit and started their own firm. (They were guys who hung out together outside of work and did the beer/shooting range thing, so those of us who didn't "fit in" weren't invited along...no hard feelings). About 10 more left during 2006 because the atmosphere had become depressing. I thought about quitting immediately as their work would fall on other people's shoulders and stress everybody out, but I had to consider the following: - a hair under 2 years would not look good on a resume - I had just gotten braces on the cafeteria plan - I saw no point in switching employers for 1 year as I finished my night time degree and then moved on anyway My first boss there was awesome...once he left, I worked for some incompetent assholes. One partner was new and had brought in some plum projects but he was one of those "marketing only" type architects who just schmoozed and passed on the technical work...he had his own practice, had gotten into a lot of trouble with clients and had a bad reputation in the area. I was assigned to work on a massive car dealership complex under him and I was the day-to-day technical guy working for this loser. (While it was a car dealership, it was not that interesting, trust me). He didn't like getting his hands dirty, so he never checked what and how much I was doing, not knowing I was taking classes in the evening and not thinking I would quit. The way I 'effed him, and the firm, was simply by working 40 hours: 2 doing admin work, 10 on my other projects and only about 28 on a massive project. They were in a world of hurt when I left as Mr. Marketing tried to talk me into staying... and running the job went to a "job captain" (draftsman type) who looked like Jesus. He worked under me and I knew he would be in "over his head." Mr. Marketing told Jesus to cut his hair to which Jesus was rightfully upset. I heard that this high-profile project will not be profitable. Since I in essence designed the building and Mr. Marketing would take the credit, I wanted to make sure I wasn't there to do the hard part of the job (ratcheting down the drawings to tiny tolerances, dealing with the building department and seeing it through construction). There are SOOOO many ass-holes out there.

SPCA

pet (they've become increasingly popular as pets)

PB has never heard the expression "20,000 Frenchmen can't be wrong." Plus, you and I know that, growing up in So Cal, you CAN stereotype! PB is a small town boy so I guess he takes offense at worldliness. So, Chico, still want us to send you there...even if just for a couple of days?

I was at Barnes and Noble tonight...yes, I'm a geek, I know, looking up good cheap restaurants in Europe and looking at car mags...so what else is new? I was looking at Consumer Reports. After about 3 or 4 years, a lot of Mercedes products, like the C-class and the M-class, start racking up a lot of "black dots" (more problems that what is typical) and in some critical categories to boot. I was wondering: "Why the hell would someone pay that kind of money to drive one of these when it isn't it "red dot" land like a Toyota, Honda and now even some GM cars"? I was kind of surprised and it would certainly keep me out of a German car (eat your heart out, Irma Bunt), especially as costly as they are to repair and such. Are Mercedes products really not trouble free? Or is Consumer Reports "on the rag"?

Doing this as a poll would have been tough, so let's go verbal on this one. Best looking: I am stunned by what a good-looking car the DTS has become, with almost all vantage points being very attractive. And, no, it has nothing to do with being older now...I would have loved it as a 22-year old. It's just well done. Worst looking: I think the XLR is hideous. I was at a light behind one a couple of months ago and the table-top deck lid with its ugly squarish lights reminded me of a mid-90s Achieva (remember those?) Other comments: The SUV/wagon (acronym please?) has some nice crisp edges. The CTS has nice proportions, overall, but I don't like how tall the dash feels. The STS is a miss. The sales numbers prove it, too. This is the historical Seville niche and this vehicle leaves something to be desired; the CTS is just too close, on so many levels, and with a better price point. What's your pick of the litter? Which one is the "runt"?

Blues seems to be disappearing in for a lot of cars, yet it is a very flattering color for many cars...the Glacier Blue Metallic is also gone from the LaCrosse. Silver is vapid when coupled with a gray or black interior. It's just drab. It comes alive when teamed with a burgundy interior which sadly went away in the mid-90s. I would order that combo all over again in a heartbeat, if available. However, silver is not one of my favorite colors on a stand-alone basis.

golf course

These people are the scariest. You just don't know what they are capable of doing, since they are desperate. Watching too many movies doesn't help, either. One of these days I will post my encounter with a methed-out freak last year...I just didn't do it at the time. It could have been fatal. I felt lucky that "the man upstairs" must have intervened.

I know what you mean. I had some friends in very similar circumstances growing up. The parents didn't split up on paper, but the effect was the same. They were very hurt by all the goings-on.

Yes, Mr. Smilewide, I was there less than a year ago. Transiting from beautiful Pensacola FL to Atlanta in early June. I saw a huge new auto plant on the right coming up on I-65, I believe it was. I will never forget that, for the South, it was sunny, in the mid-70s and with low humidity.Heck, if I knew at the time that 76CT hangs his hat there, I would have had him meet me for coffee at a Starbucks somewhere.

The Opel Astra 3-door hatchback is appealing, for whatever reason. Smaller cars are getting nicer lines... it's about time. They need to get on board and put out some nicer versions of diesels on this side of the pond.

Yo, Nick, Happy Birthday. And lose those thick chains from a few pix you posted for the upcoming year...you're from the ritzy "West Valley", not Brooklyn, for God's sake. But, somehow, I think we can all chip in and get you a round trip weekend vacation package to Chico, CA, seeing how much you like the place. I can make fun of you, being a WOP and all. :AH-HA_wink: HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Go to a movie OUTSIDE of your home and/or go to Barnes and Noble to read car books, travel books, magazines or anything else that piques your interest. P-C-S, the super sized blow up doll is "old hat." That gained initial notoriety on the LA freeways, the land where every weird fad seems to be born. Plus, he lives in pastoral Montgomery, AL.

Comment 1: Dogs are horny little f@#ks, period. Our female Australian Shepherd got impregnated a few times but, every once in a while, she would hump your leg. I've never been able to figure that out. (Also, isn't it amazing how a dog will let her owners handle her young wheres, with another animal, that's a recipe for death) Comment 2: Tomato juice bath...that's what I've heard Comment 3: Damn, in rural PA, do you guys have anything besides skunks, deer...and ocnblu?

teenagers (they need it...and self-control, too)