trinacriabob

I hate to throw out a little bit of bah humbug: this is not the time to be in the market for a car. I went onto the lots of a few of dealerships earlier today. There are very FEW new cars. The used car prices were sort of nutty: 1. There was a '19 Toyota Corolla with 51,000 miles. They want $ 21 K for it. That's a 3 year old base model. And that's almost half the mileage that I have on my car. 2. There was a '17 Buick LaCrosse with 48,000 miles. They want $ 26K for it. This a 5 year old car and a discontinued model. I noticed that there was a fair number of swales in the leather seats up front, so that the leather didn't look so taut. I did see a few new cars at a nearby VW dealership. A few were new Passats with alloys, a leather interior, and a sunroof. The sticker was a low $ 29 K. I wonder if they'd take that price as the sales price. If it's windy outside, they say, "Hang on to your hats." In this sort of market, I say, "Hang on to your sleds."

I just learned from a friend that their elderly parent, approaching 80 and "immunocompromised" in a way, is in the hospital with Covid, with some really bad vitals during the days preceding the admission. My friend and I have different ideologies, but we do the best we can to keep the friendship going. While I already sort of knew the answer, I asked if the elderly parent had been vaccinated, since they would have gone to the top of the list back then. I got the answer that 'you know that my parent wouldn't do that' and stated they 'are glad they didn't get the vaccine.' This person will be in the hospital during Christmas and I do wish them a speedy recovery, with few side effects and long-term effects. How about having taken the vaccines back then, not being in the hospital at this time, and not running up an inpatient hospital bill? I've heard this once before. Some middle aged dude in Louisiana or thereabouts was in the hospital with Covid, had tubes in his nose, and was proclaiming that it was 'worth it to not take the vaccine." Is this a new form of martyrdom? Who's the patron saint for this one? I'm not following. I just went from a Tuesday appointment to a Monday appointment by hunting around on the pharmacy site. I may even try the afternoon walk-in window of time tomorrow to see if I can get it then. And how long for the injection to kick up some serious antibodies and theoretically have you toward your optimal level to fight off any infection?

I can't put this in the joke thread because it's not really a joke, but it is sort of funny and @David will probably get it. When I lived in the Seattle area, I knew many of the areas and many suburbs, but didn't know the south end, south of Southcenter Mall and north of Tacoma, very well. I had a friend who had an investment rental property in Renton. I always looked at real estate ads. It's something I've always done. And the Kent area came up, for lower prices. So I asked him if he knew what Kent was like. This was around 2000. He said: "Put it this way. If Tonya Harding were from the Seattle area, she'd be from Kent." (I've mentally filed that away.)

Random thought: Life is too short for cheap orange juice.

Ditto on the birthday greetings @surreal1272 ! Just in time to be photographed in your bassinet under the Christmas tree, if your folks took such a photo. What was the last PMD engine that rolled off the line ... a 265, a 301, another one?

I found this photo and it was incorrectly captioned as the "Andrea Doria." It is not. It was the replacement for the "Doria," the "Leonardo da VincI," upon seeing a few lounges with picture windows all across the lower part of the forecastle. This might even be its maiden arrival to New York, with the fireboats spraying water and other watercraft remaining downriver by the Statue of Liberty. There are also more tugs than needed and a helicopter circling above. It served from 1960 to 1978. And it got repainted with the new white Italian Line livery, with the green stripe and hull, after about 5 or 6 years of being in service. And I was on it as a toddler on an eastbound crossing out of NYC. I don't remember a thing. But those were the days.

So, I wake up today and look at my homepage: stocks are up, California is dealing with all these lootings and follow home robberies (for which the videos are disturbing) as well as a 6.2 earthquake (on its less populated North Coast), and Jane Fonda just turned 84.

Random, and irritating, thought: I always get ad banners for cars. How is it that Kia Rios of 2018 vintage, with about 30,000 to 50,000 miles, are being sold for about $ 17K to $ 18K asking price? That's what they cost when they were new. Does this mean new cars of that type require a market adjustment (up) and that people are paying it?

Thank you. Likewise to you and your family!

We have a lot of distractions this time of year, but we are still seeing cars. Seen anything interesting on the road? Tonight I saw a last-gen LaCrosse in black coming up beside me on the freeway. Black is not my color for a car, but, on this LaCrosse, it really amped up the grille, the chrome moulding around the windows and on the handles, and mostly the rear taillamp assembly with the boomerang shaped lamps, which looks sharp to begin with.

I've had both jabs as soon as the state opened up the next rung down. Got onto the site and went to a hick town, where there were openings at my pharmacy chain's store, and only had a headache for about a day each time. The same thing happens when I get a flu shot. I always get mine on or about Labor Day, in September, so I can connect the event to the arrival of autumn (sort of). I'm scheduled for the 3rd jab next week. With my pharmacy chain, I had to book it a few weeks back. If you hunt around on the site for their stores and their slots, all the ones in deep blue areas can see you in mid-January. All the ones in deep red areas, and it could also have to do with lower population counts, can see you this week, if you're flexible. Is this not a rather "clean" and stereotypical divide? Let's see. They put a man on the moon with 4 GB of RAM type horsepower in 1969. And people are distrustful of a research process that took about a year with a completely different and higher level of scientific know-how? I guess people can look up to broadcasters who are not scientists (far from it, and with "soft" or no degrees) because that's who they see themselves allied with. A 52 year old (R) lawmaker from Washington State just died. He had been espousing the "don't tread on me" mantra. Again, we've got a "clean" and stereotypical divide. I got really sick about a week ago. I was given antibiotics. I was also asked to get a Covid test. Thankfully, it was negative. And the antibiotics put me back in working order. Moderna appears to be more efficacious over time. Moderna really beat up on some people I know for a few days - that tells me it was probably working hard. I had Pfizer because that's what they had, and will be staying with it. I'm checking the pharmacy website daily. I'm willing to go in on a day's notice if there's a cancellation within 30 miles.

@Robert Hall For a while in the late '90s and early 2000s, British used to fly a 747 daily from Seattle to London. I would have thought Seattle was a little more intermediate of a hub than that, and could have done with a daily 777 or smaller. @oldshurst442 The thing about the 747 is that it had beauty and brains ... more so than any other commercial airplane ever has. By being able to put over 400 people onto a plane, it made transoceanic travel feasible for so many more people. Not only that, it was born beautiful, for lack of a better word. They are so damn photogenic. I am happy that a few operators (namely Lufthansa and Swiss) are keeping some of their Airbus 340s around. This is partly because of the removal of the Airbus 380 from service. That's made them rethink the Airbus 340, which I like quite a bit, and they gave it a bump up in the fleet's pecking order. Lufthansa flies it from Frankfurt to Montreal, Boston, and Washington-Dulles, depending on the seasonal load. Swiss might fly theirs from Zurich to Miami and/or Boston, again, depending on load factors. I believe Lufthansa operates -600 series and Swiss operates -300 series A340s, which are sort of neat because of the 4 smaller engines. I like to sit out in the 2s on the A340 and look at the scenery ... and even the engines. I like knowing these stupid things so I can plan my flight segments accordingly.

I also like Mexican and Cuban food. I had a Cuban sandwich tonight. Definitely add Portuguese food to the list for me. Casual French, if there is such a thing, is so hard to find that French food is almost like an anomaly to me. What I've had has been delicious. Of the Asian cuisines, only Cantonese and Japanese for me. But these stack up quite a ways away from the ones I've mentioned. @Robert Hall I'm swapping out Greek for Mexican on my list compared to yours, so I'm not that far off. I never tire of my Top 3.

I almost feel like a redneck (is that possible?) for saying I could be perfectly content to eat only American, Italian, and Greek food, and ignore all the other foods. It's these three ... and then a steep drop to the other types of cuisines that cut it with me.

There will be no other, that's for sure.

Glad to hear you had a good time. Nice house and views. I'm all about the food ... all about the food. Which looks so damn tasty. I have almost no use for the alcohol ... expensive and not worth it. Also, I dig that hutch with the rounded top. I like wood furniture, cabinetry, and all that, as opposed to the tech or painted look. Makes a home feel more inviting. These people obviously have good taste all the way around.

Classic. Yep, there was such a indeed such a brand and I've seen the label inside a coat or a jacket that my parents may have had around the house when I was a kid. Not sure if it was purchased in CA, or they bought it in Bergen County, NJ and it made the westward journey with them. Life used to be so much more fun, and, dare I say, even more wholesome. You'd find the dumbest things to be amused by, or, said another way, you didn't need anywhere as much to be amused.

I think there was more flexibility, if I recall. Wow, they really went all out to customize it for the buyer. Someone with a sharp pencil has obviously peeled back on this stuff ... and peeled back ... and peeled back. It might have been doable if and when there were some upcharges for it and there was a lot of volume in terms of units built. Greeks - and Italians - can be so melodramatic and poetic about their perceptions and life experiences. Classic!

Aerolineas Argentinas has had 3 or 4 major liveries for their jumbo, with this one being the first. It was a little obnoxious with the stacked AA in the tail, but I liked striping that widened as it went rearward and/or curved up into the tail. I'm going to guess that this is at Madrid, based on the big field and parched look. They used to bring the jumbo from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles, possibly with a stop in Lima, Peru to and from. These guys used to go to a lot of places, even to Canada. By the time I got around to flying on them, they were only using 747s to B.A. from Madrid and Miami nonstop. And Airbus 340s to reach New York and Rome nonstop, so, basically, only anywhere it made sense to fly Argentines aboard Argentine planes.

My favorite Air Canada 747, the 400 series, and livery. I remember CP Air, or Canadian Pacific, the "orange" airline based in Vancouver, which then became Canadian Airlines (different alliance, possibly One World with American, and not part of Star Alliance with United) and was based in Calgary. They were definitely around in 1998 and were flying a 747 as well, but merged into Air Canada a few years later.

Rear. I wonder if a car can be optioned with a "spoiler delete" note when ordered. It isn't like asking for an upholstery that isn't even offered. Just thinking out loud. So many rear spoilers just make the rear deck lid look cluttered.

Question: If a new car is equipped or delivered with a spoiler, can it (easily) be removed by the dealership? What would be involved?

This is a "new normal" of sorts when it comes to food and libations: ... you can't go to a place whose hours you've sort of historically counted on because of staffing issues ... you can't go to a place where there is something you like on the menu because you don't know if they've been supplied with it So, you have to now call ahead and ask, "Are you open tonight?" "Do you have (insert name of item you order) tonight?" Or, asked another way, "Is there anything you're out of for dinner tonight?"

The 2022 Dodge Charger site is up. The changes are absolutely minimal. That's a "bad" sign. Pricing is up a little. I think there was a price bump in 2021. Depending on which sticker you see on a 2021 car in stock, it might have a base price of $ 29.9 K or $ 31 K, before destination charges. (I'm thinking ... it's a helluva lot more car than a Malibu, for not even $ 5 K more.) I noticed a few other things: 1. They are still offering 13 colors. Last year, very few were extra cost options. Now, most of them are extra cost. However, the upcharge is a paltry $ 95. Carried over are an interesting blue called "Frostbite" and a weird burgundy called "Hellraisin," among others. When you pull up foreign cars you want to "build," they pick the "free" color for you. And it won't be white, silver, or black. It might be orange, red, or a nasty blue. To get a normal color, the upcharge can be 500 Euro(s) or so. 2. I was looking at a sticker of a Charger in stock. And I liked what I saw. We know the car is built out at the Brampton (ON) Canada plant. Their very proven Pentastar V6 is sourced in the U.S. But their Torque Flite 8 speed automatic transmission is built in Germany! When your powertrain is made of U.S.-German products, that's a good thing, I suppose.

These were the days ...