trinacriabob

I also don't feel the 35 to 45 year old corporate type golfer is going to RUN to Buick because of ads. He or she will still go for the import car ... unfortunately.

I'm such an academic moron. I know that in accounting parlance, there are two types of leases: a capital lease and an operating lease, the latter being just rent without anything that remotely looks like an ownership "likelihood" at the end of it all. The features in your lease which determine which you have. For you, the things to look at would be: 1. the cash outflows for the equivalent period under leasing or owning - payments, service costs, intial cap cost vs. down payment, residual value or sales value - some of which may be estimates 2. the GM Card contribution under either scenario 3. the tax effect thrown in 4. the deductibility if you use it for business and the business/personal blend 5. how many miles you drive, keeping in mind that you never know. I am not one who leases. I purchase and buy the extended GM warranty. I like to make them go a long time. Hope that helps some!

Does the rigid link between golf and Buick irritate just me? Or are there others out there who feel the same way?

G8

Just Germanic, not Nazi....makin' me walk on eggshells!

Mexico

assimilated Middle Easterner

Look, an Aryan poster child! Is that Gramps behind you? Is that an adding machine or food? The horn-rimmed glasses are cool.OK, I'll be brave. At neighbor's back yard in LA...probably 2 or 3 years old. Talk about contrast as you grow up. All of us who are first cousins were blondish for about 5 years and then went to dark brown, almost black and we got more olive complected. For contrast, this next one (this one is deliberately fuzzy because the Pix thread photo doesn't look that much like me so I don't care) was taken in Seattle after I got my first archi. license - so somewhere between 1998 and 2000. Big change in hair color and skin tone (must have just come back from a week in CA or FL...not usually that pigmented). Let's see more baby pix.

Andersen's in Solvang CA

Croc, run!Just kidding, The O.C. - it's hard not to like someone as "in your face" So. Cal. as yourself!

Linda Blair

exorcist

Bingo. I don't know if I looked down on them but I used to think "man, that is no $h! I wanna be doing." I mean, I would be around friends while they were smoking joints and I wouldn't touch the stuff...I would still hang out with them (you know those public school friends - LOL).I think I posted this on the cologne thread, but initially I thought the smell of patchouli oil was marijuana. It was on all the surfers and surfer chicks, so, it had to be, ya know. Incidentally, all of those people who speak of as being popular and cool because they did the drugs and the booze turned out to be boring...they've either become "burnouts" or are now limited and "conservative." Instead, I grew into myself and gained the self-sufficiency and confidence to hop on 747s to go see the world. Down the road, it just won't matter.

Yep. My h.s. friends (and college friends) were not wired that way. We never did any of that stuff. The only trouble (never caught, actually) we caused was usually property related (tp'ing, egging, etc.). Most of my friends were at least A- students and knew where they wanted to go. Popular? No. Worked for me? Yes.

Thanks, Croc. Don't forget, tmp will give me a run for my money any day of the week on LA....and it's more current...and he's not even a native. Damn transplants. :AH-HA_wink:

I didn't think what I thought would be a benign post would be a new thread. I DON'T think you have a personality problem. You are just coping with stuff that's tossed at you. For whatever it's worth, try not to be rigid in your expectations of others. That accomplishes nothing. You might just find that friendships and relationships run their course. I had a friend in ATL and she said "the positives have to outweigh the negatives" about jobs, friends, places you choose to live. When they don't for either party, it's time to move on. Relax, be yourself, let others be themselves!

deranged

That is SO cool. I find it really hard to believe you are so damn smart and only that age! I'm sure your parents are real proud of you!There are a lot of likeable people on this board; however, CHEERS to those of you who are mature beyond your years...the teens, HS and college students who make good points and write well. It's funny because when I was a "kid," I always liked hanging around people older than myself and when I graduated with my B.S. from college at 21.5 +/-, I liked being around people in their 30s and 40s. Whatever. It was either that I was brainier than most of my peers or that I felt I had something to gain from people with more years under their belt! They didn't seem to mind having me tag along, either.

frog legs

Is DB wealthy? I know it's nice, but I don't remember it having top billing or anything. It's someplace you drive through on 60 on the way inland or to P.S. Imports are EVERYWHERE in the Southland. DB? Isn't that douche bag?

That is very cool. I have never been there and will have to go!Air India. I would have to be offered a serious discount to travel on something that smells like a flying Indian restaurant...if it does. I take it you are picking it up at JFK because I doubt they come into PHL. And if it's a jumbo, it will be more fun. Report back!

Thanks. Didn't realize there were still modulators. I'll look for the vacuum hose and then the modulator to see if I can plop one on. I did look into this topic via search engine and also found that there is such a thing as torque converter shudder. It is so intermittent that it's freaky. The fluid was just changed for the 11th time....at about 220,000 miles and it is a beautifully transparent light pink, as it has always been. I will look into your suggestions as we are working from cheaper options first. Thanks again.

You have a point. I might add any Olds Rocket V8 backed up by that same TH400 RWD 3 speed. No personal experience. My Dad did at one time have this combo and it was bullet proof: 250 inline six in a Pontiac LeMans with a TH350 behind it. My theory is that the straight 6 did not produce the torque to upset the TH350 which have failed when mated to "torquier" engines. My Dad heard one person he knew curse a Pontiac lemon he owned so he swore he'd never have one. Then he got this car and it was probably the most hassle free car he owned...probably more so than several Oldsmobiles that were in the family at one time or another.

Ok...thank you for sharing

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