trinacriabob

I loaded up on THREE night classes (9 semester credits) and should wrap up this degree in mid-May. Last night was my last mid-term. Kind of tough, actually. So, now it's time to go away. I leave for Las Vegas on Sunday (should be toasty) and then for LA on Wednesday, triangulating back up next Saturday. Booked a while ago so I got real cheap fares (each leg under $ 100). I am itching for some poolside r & r and sunshine. How about those of you celebrating Spring Break? Any plans?

obtuse

stunned

I keep seeing the new Jetta around. As much as I would not own one, it is much improved. That being said, I cannot help but notice too much Jetta in the new Malibu: overall side profile, greenhouse and door shapes, and trunk height and contours. It really jumps out at me. I think the Malibu will be a hit and I hope so. However, GM needs to stop siphoning some overall design themes (Malibu from Jetta and Enclave from Lexus). That's my humble opinion, anyway. Obviously, I voted yes.

Agreed. They are dip$h!s. A metallic light steel blue is also a great car color, having had several. It may not work for the GP, but it belongs on the Impala and the Buick stable (LaX, Lucerne, etc.)

I want to know about the chicks you've met there that Mama was inquiring about, possibly because she wants you to bring them to her place to meet her. :AH-HA_wink:Seriously, the gym is a big anti-depressant and, after the endorphin high, there's a mellowing period where the heart rate comes down. That's a real nice feeling. I've lost 5 lbs. in the last 2 weeks, but that's because I ain't on the job where the candy bar jug was always stocked and the kitchen always had some type of a spread present.

WMJ: 3.5 Impalas w/o flex fuel also make it to 31 mpg on the higway. Same rig as the MC. I'm so tired of the knee-jerk "write-off" of American cars by idiots in the market.

verbatim

Mind blowing, isn't it? That a person can look better at 27 than 17, and then better at 37 than 27. At 17, I had the "pepperoni on the face" action going. At 27, I had hair that was still too full and needed to be cut shorter. Some people just get their act together later, right?

bitch (how my parents pronounced "beach")

You are up at 4:47 in the AM and on this site? Good Gawd...My response: IKEA Hate that place!

FIFTEEN bucks... That must be your co-pay!

I've gotten that sensation, too, from people from there I've known and when I've been there. (I did not get a good feeling in Boulder, though, as granolas pretend to be so liberal, but are actually very rigid and smug -- their list of "shoulds" is much longer than most peoples). I hear Denver is often used as a "test market" because the cross-section is "extreme" so it really represents the US pop. I've often questioned if the cultural amenities are very good, though. The one thing that I don't think I could handle is the extreme dryness which creates a lot of nasal problems for me, so I like a mild dose of humidity to keep me out of pain. Another thing that keeps Denverites upbeat is 300 days of sunshine, compared to less than 100 in Seattle..is it any wonder northwesterners are so morose?

furniture

And the Pacific Northwest is EXACTLY the same way, particularly Seattle. That's why I couldn't stand it, though my parents retired in that region. In fact, you know that MSP and SEA are tied at the waist...too many Minnesotans of the smug variety moved there and made it uptight. They couldn't stand me. (I do have one friend from northern MN who is of French Canadian origin and she is one of the coolest and funniest people I've ever met - I met her at U of I when we were students). Down here, I am myself at work, or wherever, and it works just fine. Within a couple of weeks of being at work down here, numerous other employees were including me in their lunch groups. It's for that reason that my Dad, when he was alive, had a deep seated dislike of Nordic types, being from the other end of Europe (Sicily) and all. He was so irreverent, emotional and talkative that those stoic types seemed confining to him. He talked to all of our neighbors except for Mr. Olsen with whom he just drew a blank. And, yes, enough people notice it about Seattle that it's almost documentable. Don't even think about changing it "over time." You either assimilate, keep being yourself and risk not being in the clique, or move. I moved. And, it shouldn't take 3 years to be accepted. I know anywhere between 3 minutes and 3 weeks if I want to hang out with somebody.

No, dude, Arizona is ridiculous...3 months of 110 degrees. Yikes. I don't care how low the humidity is.

flap

You're asking ME? The "Canadian" car, of course.

What Wilmanjoe said, Mr. Nick.

Linda Blair

Good question. It is several of those. The first is that I am itching for a NEW car. My beloved Regal turns 15 on May 16th and I can kiss the ground for its relatively faultless service. The other reasons are that: -- I like the driving sensation...the sense of quiet and dependability, especially at 1 am coming back down from Lake Tahoe or from SF -- I like the way it looks going the down the road and would like to see myself in it but I doubt I would get many admiring looks in an MC, GP or LaCrosse -- It brings back memories and family traditions...my Dad breathed Oldsmobile and Buick and I was weaned on the much-loved Cutlass Supreme.

Aside from religious/political alliances which cause distress, this is what this war is about and, prior to that, why an icon such as the WTC which represents our economic prowess was destroyed. Let's face it, America, with a relatively small population yet very high consumption of resources, is not too well liked with the exception of other similarly-wired economies elsewhere in the globe.Americans can't afford to be uptight about sexuality under such conditions. There are "bigger fish to fry."

I left my job about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to finish this night time graduate degree this May (2 months from today, more or less), so I overloaded on credits to wrap it up. I worked through the 1st month of the semester, so now I am playing catch up. One chick at work e-mails me quite frequently since I was the project manager on a large project and she worked for me. She just told me that the guy in the outside window office across from her is in the cardiac unit of the hospital. He is only in his late 50s and is health is poor. He buried his wife within the last 5 years and he has not done well since. Compared to most a-hole architects, this is one of the nicest people you'd want to know. In fact, he is the "technical glue" in the office. While others are trying to vaunt their designs, he knows how buildings really go together. He is the "go to" person and will put his own work aside to help anyone out. What do you bring to a grown man in a critical area of the hospital? Please advise.

exorcism

Isn't this sort of INconsistent with the ultra-liberal, "live and let live" ...but don't get too close Scandinavian way? I had a friend from Indy (an IU grad) who took a job up in the Twin Cities. He said that, while everybody was very polite, they weren't particularly friendly. He then took a position in Cincinnati, much closer to Indiana, and said the people were a lot more "normal" in this regard. I just finished reading a required book called "Authentic Leadership" in which the author uses the term "Minnesota Nice." This is so incredibly Nordic. Give me Mediterranean in-your-face-ness any day of the week...and STAY OUT of my e-mails, Helga.