trinacriabob

We don't have any out West....or at least, all the way out West. The only one I've ever eaten at was in fact in Tennesse, as I was moving back westward from Atlanta. It's great comfort food, for sure, but the trinket store up front, good Gawd, that's tacky.

You seem to have all these mishaps with SUV/truck owners...on the road, at Starbucks...just what kind of vibes are you sending out? :AH-HA_wink:

At nearly a quarter million miles, I will be buying a set of 4 new tires for my Regal W-body coupe. It is currently on its 3rd pair of struts. I will replace the front struts. They don't cost that much. The rears are a different story. They are considerably more expensive and I've never figured out why. Currently, when you push down on the rear, it's as firm as when they were new (about 60,000 miles ago) and there is zero bounce. However, on the right rear side, I think the bearing plate has gone south because when you go over a bump in a diagonal fashion, you get a nice clanking sound. Also, the rubber boot around the cartridge has a tear. Two questions: 1. Is it possible to have the place replace a bearing plate at the top of the strut assembly? 2. Can they change out the rubber boot? Thanks.

I don't think I'd ever own one. I somewhat (term used loosely) like the Rainier for the way it's appointed. I somewhat (term used not so loosely) hate the Escalade for the jerky guys and bitchy chicks I see behind the wheels of them. Over the 4th of July weekend, I was cut off by at least a handful of Escalades and I was on freeways going at or slightly above the posted limit.

Have you ever driven one? I lived in one for 4 days in Northern Italy last summer. I had the ForFour because I told the chick at the counter that, as an American, the ForTwo scared the crap out of me. She smiled and gave me the ForFour edition. It's all right. I don't think it gets THAT much better mileage than anything we currently have. I don't know about the mechanics. Heck...it could be a "throw away" car. One thing is for sure: the automatic transmission technology is appallingly bad....the damn thing has a pause so pronounced at upshifts, you'd think you were going to stall. I couldn't believe it...I had 4 automatic transes in econoboxes over there and the quality of the driving experience bordered on almost horrible in each car as a result of the automatic. It had better have an improved trans if it is to make any inroads on this side of the pond.

That's pretty intense. You could have avoided all the &^%* by pretending you were Filipino. They "puck," you know. "Don't spill Prench pries in my Pirebird or I'll make lipe bery painpul por you." Say that 3x real fast.

Reg, you are incorrigible. One of the few archis I know that's NOT uptight. Don't most of them suck?

"The Shining" !!!

O.C. dude, WTF? HNL less than SNA? Nah. I keep going to Florida. I speak Spanish and get along phenomenally well with Cubans, Argentinians and most South Americans in general. That's what 1/2 my friends were when I was growing up in L.A. The cultural mix in Hawaii...well, let's just say that there was a Hawaiian contingent at my undergrad school in So. Cal. and they never really integrated with the mainstream population....they kind of kept to the themselves, so I never got to know any...and they have a word for white people "howlis" which is derisive according to Caucasians I know who have lived there, including one day a year in their high schools called "Kill Howli Day" when the native islanders beat up on the white kids. Nice. Hopefully, that has faded. That's why I go to Florida and drop my tourism dollars there. It's cheaper. I speak Espanol. And the Latin cultures there are so incredibly engaging and full of life. A little bit of time in So. Fla, a little bit of time on the West Coast and a little bit of time on the Panhandle. I dig it. BTW, I was in the Southland this past weekend and pulled off at Oso (or was it Avery) to go into Borders and to the Krispy Kreme en route to SD. I was thinking, this must be where the O.C. man hangs his hat! Cheers.

I would love to see the Firebird return. It always has been my favorite pony car...more so than the Camaro...and I owned a Camaro with a 5.0 L V8 for a brief while. I think it was a little more provocative and I've always liked Pontiac's edge. Things got out of hand when it became "Smokey and the Banditized." Then, it was corraled back into shape. The only thing is if the F-bird comes back, it really needs to be sophisticated. It can't be like a T-bird or Mustang rehash, IMHO.

anger

That's why one needs to string together 3 decent jobs to buy a shack over there. With all the places I've been, I've never been to Hawaii and L.A. is probably the "jumping off" spot to go there.

Suddenly I wish I hadn't started this thread.

heartburn *cough*cough*cough* you can ask Reg the same question *cough*cough*cough*

Hey, PB: How's your new job looking thus far? God, that first day or two until you get the lay of the land is so weird. We've gone through bizarre changes at work in the last 2 months...probably more complex than what needs to be put on the site. However, it has all meant MORE work for me (bleh), so now I am constantly behind and playing catch up. There just aren't enough people around with a minimum of 8 to 10 years of experience to manage projects in the area. I miss a 40 hour work week. So, report back, bud.

high paid

Mille grazie. Muito obrigado. Como vai? Tudo bem?

I say we drown Sajeev in curry sauce.

antibiotics (P, how do you get bacteria from eucalyptus? LOL. Have you ever savored the incomparable smell of a real eucalyptus tree? It's unbelievable.)

eucalyptus

Chill, guys...both (or all) sides. Back to Tennessee, NOS - did you go see any of that Music Land twangy stuff? Eat at a Cracker Barrel or two? Or was it just for sex with Bubba? NOS, you da man.

Luden's

E coli

rabies

Since I anchor the "low tech" segment of the C&G population and I have the conventional stuff throughout, I'd say let your wallet decide. I don't like contraptions that are big, expensive and scream "conspicuous consumption." You're an archi, so your sense of style/scale will also tell you what looks good in the room(s).