trinacriabob

Silver and burgundy will always be #1 for me ... a dark burgundy, so not really red. The only gray I like is the one like the old "dove gray" offered by Buick and Cadillac. My dad had a Buick sedan in that "dove gray" (the closest thing to it would be the one offered by the more recent Pacifica) with the gray velour buttoned cushion interior. I borrowed it a lot. Well, I found it for him! It looked good and felt like you were driving around in your living room. But that's it. Life is funny. In their youth, some of these immigrants could have never imagined sitting in a plush velour car interior and looking at the road ahead through a hood ornament!

Big time concrete was the thing back in the seventies when the brutalist movement was in full force. Certain buildings at University of Washington, UCSD, and the Salk Institute are like that, and I can't stand them. It was even in the "Bambi and Thumper" custom house in the desert, where James Bond battled them! In more recent years, it's more of an L.A. thing to have nasty concrete walls in high end modern houses. Having white wall paint doesn't bother me too much. I have a thing against white mill work in kitchens, and even in bathrooms, because it reminds me of the very few negative things about Atlanta. I never leafed through a Southern Living magazine, but I've seen their covers in the supermarket, and it seemed like the locals aspired to that look and all that goes with it.

Here's how I roll on this: Parchment colored (warm color palette) wall paint, white raised panel doors and white baseboard, white ceiling, wood flooring or tan colored deep pile carpeting depending on the room, and mill work in kitchens, bathrooms, and niches, if you have any, in a medium shade like maple or thereabouts. I like a warm color palette and wood stains throughout a dwelling to make it feel homey. Eternal and safe - may not be the trendiest, but won't jump out as out of style, either.

Random thought: I cannot stand kitchen or bathroom millwork painted in battleship gray or "distressed" nautical blue

That's Al Capone. I learned from the visitor center at Hot Springs.Arkansas that he used to come down there with his fellow gangsters to soak at the different resorts and get away from Chicago. He only lived to forty-eight. He wasn't murdered, nor did he die in jail. He had this debilitating illness, and he was able to spend his last years in a mansion on one of those exclusive islands off of Miami.

Good morning ... You don't know who that is? He (later) had a face that looked like a coin.

Good morning ...

I shouldn't complain since the main priority is safety. However, I think it's not especially exciting crossing an ocean, in either direction, to a different continent on a domestic carrier. I really enjoy flying on foreign airlines. It's almost part of the travel experience.

It was on Facebook Page named "Sharp as Ever" (advert ?) "Which state should you live in based on your personality?"

I took one of those stupid online quizzes to see which was the state that was most suited to me. I answered a lot of the questions with a good cup of tea, comfort food, a relaxed vibe, road trips, and nothing too gregarious. I was expecting New England, Washington, or Minnesota. The results page said: YOU ARE TEXAS! WTF?

A Border Collie requires a lot of time and energy of an owner because it is one agile dog when in its younger years. That's why I think a Shetland Sheepdog might be a more likely choice for me.

This is a tough one. Growing up, we never had cats and dogs simultaneously. We had an all black medium coat female and she had a great personality because she grew up with kids handling her and playing with her. Then we had an Australian Shepherd that lived to between 11 and 12 years. She weighed in somewhere between 35 and 40 pounds. I was her person in the household. I was spoiled by having such a breed of dog because she was so intelligent and easy to train. It was a blast to be able to take her along in the car to many different places. She was also very attuned to who was visiting ... she knew when there was an elderly person or a child visiting and would give them a lot of space. She also had a good read on who the turds were and she was right. That dog got along with other dogs very well. I didn't sense that much of a prey drive in her, so I think that she might have been able to coexist with a cat. Just a hunch. I know that a cat would be easier to take care of, but I'm a real sucker for Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, and Shetland Sheepdogs. But then I like those big goofy stray dogs that might have some Anatolian in them that roam the streets of Istanbul and freely interact with people. I've bought dog treats on occasion and gave them to these dogs. The most amazing thing is that they were "mannered" in taking the treats, but also careful enough not to hurt your hand and fingers. Of course you have to study the situation each and every time.

The savings on one auto rental done through Costco Travel can pay for the price of the renewal of a simple individual Costco membership.

^ ^ ^ @A Horse With No Name You beat me to it by a matter of minutes! LOL. Happy birthday, Drew! Celebrating? Enjoy your special day.

Back in the '90s, Dr. Ruth did a commercial for the Honda Prelude. Or should I say PRRRelude. She was one of a kind! And I mean that in a good way.

Yes. That's good to know. I reviewed my Tampa Bay Prius rental here on C&G. I liked it. It's attractive. But, at 5'-10" (average), that front pillar was overly raked and *bump* a few times a day. One is conditioned to enter a regularly proportioned coupe door. I will have to test sit a Civic hybrid. Civics are certainly not the runts they used to be. Getting ~50 mpg is a great feeling! I like economizing when I can. (I made it to Whopper Wednesday yesterday.)

While I now like the sleek design of the Prius, I wonder if the Honda Civic is easier to get in and out of.

Ditto. That may be why I'm "turning Japanese." I really think so.

I know that, in online posts, people don't want other people to keep beating a dead horse. However, Long Beach, California took on the first Queen Mary in 1967 and Long Beach is a big town, but still considered a suburb of Los Angeles. People went to the Queen Mary to eat, have brunch, have drinks, have their proms, have conferences, and even sleep there. QE2 is thankfully a floating moored hotel in the port at Dubai. I really think that the SS United States could have found a spot on the river near the Financial District in New York. Downtown New York becomes a small triangular tip on the harbor at its base. Workers and visitors go to eat and do other things at the South Street Seaport on the Brooklyn Bridge side in a matter of minutes. If placed on the Hudson near Battery Park City, you can bet that there would have been a lot of employees in the area who would have gone to the ship to eat lunch, have meetings, and sleep there if they created a hotel in part of it. The SS United States was billed as "America's flagship" and New York was the inscription on the stern. That's where she needed to be.

Farewell Here is a fairly intact S.S. United States with the modest Mobile, Alabama skyline behind her, after being towed there all the way from Philadelphia. At this point, her funnels and mast have been removed, and they are getting closer to sinking her in the Gulf of Mexico to be an artificial reef.

It's Whopper* Wednesday! Get the app and eat ... eat - - - - - * regular or Impossible

You're right. At the time, the forum was more GM-centric and all of the car divisions were around, with Oldsmobile just having exited. The Canadians on here were just like the Americans and they themselves also had a long history with GM cars that they owned or that their families had owned. Some of these folks were interesting, and even funny. One such person was a Torontonian who had held a lot of different jobs, one of which was selling GM cars. He took us back to the Toronto that had a sizable middle class thriving there, unlike the very expensive Toronto of today. He told quite a few ribald stories, sometimes oversharing, but they made for interesting reading. He had a significant other from Brazil, so he began dividing his time between Toronto and Brazil and then participated less and less. But he made some eye opening posts! Yep, it was just normal back and forth car stuff - commenting about mostly ICE coupes and sedans that were still around - or just random daily cartoon strip stuff that was happening in our lives. During this period, I met one of the more understated Canadians on the forum when I was in Canada on vacation and he had recently picked up a babied rust-free Cutlass Supreme colonnade. That meeting was a good experience.

Just for its humor value, the guy that was running for mayor of New York City who had 16 cats in his apartment got 16% of the vote. For being as eccentric as he was, it was surprising to see that he was the GOP candidate. He's got quite the local accent, so the whole kit of parts is really quirky. Probably an interesting guy to talk to.

There used to be a fair number of Canadians on the forum. Things change over time.

That's fantastic. I've heard that 2 pounds a week is the maximum safe amount, so about 8 pounds a month. I just want to lose about 12 pounds. They are stubborn. When they put in my height and weight at the doctor's office, it shows an above optimal BMI. I wear jeans and pants with a 34 inch waist - for at least 2 decades now - and I don't really have a stomach, so these BMI charts don't account for all situations. The holidays really mean about 2 or 3 gluttonous meals. The real problem is when you travel by ship. One guy at the table back on the April crossing said that the 5 to 7 pound weight gain usually comes off on its own because you return to eating much smaller meals like an on-off switch. He was sort of right.