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longtooth

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Everything posted by longtooth

  1. Perception über alles. And it's this silly-ass f*cking Internet which perpetuates this. No one, no single person, has ever been so capable of having this much 'reach' before.(okay, perhaps Oprah!) Never even mind posessing the grasp. We, collectively, are all so very much in love with our cherished little opinions. It has all become a 'virtual' dick-waving contest. Even those of this author. Happy Black Friday. I hope that all enjoyed yesterday's run-up to this year's consumer (how many'll just stay home?) driven folly/spectacle. I've got a lunch-date and then we're going shopping too. Good grief.
  2. Mark Reuss: Authentic Road Warrior. Hope he's passionate enough.
  3. Hat's off to you. Fine work then for a talented amateur. I think that you captured the spirit of that beautiful day as well.
  4. I know that they are. Divulging more triangulates who I be, PCS. One good welder I know is already 'in'. I hope they've the sense to pick the best-of-the-best former GM engineers, still in their relative youth at age 67 or so. Hope you have a good evening.
  5. We've always been plagued with predators in various forms. 10% unemployment, the figure that the media will allow to be bandied about, will bring much more of this type of victim-preying-upon-victim behavior. It doesn't seem to pay to have anything nice. It seems that all we're doing is taking care of something for an anonymous someone who'll choose the time and place to relieve one of their property. The Police? (shrug) They'll do what they do best: Swap head-shaving tips, buy Creatine in-bulk and show-up after-the-fact festooned with all of that swell gear clipped to their utility belts. Unless you're set on joining a commune with other like-minded individuals; you're on your own.
  6. Big 'do at the Borgata in Atlantic City with approx. 20 couples we're acquainted with. I swear that they 'import' those rowdy folks yelling at the craps tables. And leggy Russian cocktail waitresses.
  7. I don't believe that you can go wrong with the Neros (or Neroes as the case may be). I bought a set for the Seville back in June and found them to be stellar performers especially when caught in some of those thundershowers which were prevalent for the first half of the Summer. Very quiet on the road at speed and having excellent lateral grip as well. Best wishes with your vehicle.
  8. Looks stately, capable and purposeful, the Terrain. I buzzed right past Perrine on 130 earlier this morning en route to Princeton, Chadds Ford, PA and didn't even swivel my head. Very nice camera-work on your part, 'Guy.
  9. Excellent work, as always, on !!!TED's!!! part. Looks Range Rover-ish. Not a flattering design in terms of sheer beauty. imo Manages to consolidate clunky & box-like in one unassuming package.
  10. Hyper'; the only instance of my having been in a B-52 was at an airshow in Reading, PA in '94 but since they were idling a C-5B Galaxy about 600 yards away, preparatory to a demo, the rich smell of jet fuel pervaded everything and I was too 'gee-whizzed' at how cramped everything seemed. Not to mention the sun having 'baked' us for a few hours. I did test drive a CTS-V recently in consideration of buying and I contrasted the raw power of it with my G8 and my Aunt's '07 XLR-V. Each vehicle has it's own virtues to recommend it but were I to pursue that Judge 'dream' I would want it to be brought up to the taught specs of what I have come to expect from a muscle or sports car given present day technology. The idea of a CTS-V being a turn-key hot rod right out of the box is very appealing and I'll look at the coupe when it debuts next year for sure.
  11. Were I rationally thinking of doing that, I'd expend the time and energy tracking down the real deal for substantially less than what's quoted here then spend the next several years upgrading it to 'better than new' condition as the Air Force has done with the 55-plus-year old B-52 bomber and along the lines of Year One's Burt Reynolds Edition Trans Am. It's an undertaking that a 50-something seems compelled to do at least once in his life; i.e .: Reconnect with a simpler, perceptibly happier time. When I was 22 in 1978, when the Trans Am phenomena was still cresting, I was light years away from affording one. I did indulge the impulse in buying an '02 Firehawk and that was the perfect salve for awhile. The GTO Judge, preferably a 1970 model in either Verdoro Green or Orbit Orange would be the way to go for me but not when I'm 70. At any rate it's a matter of taste.
  12. But it's a dry heat. Some "neighborhood" to be in as you put it earlier.
  13. Per capita income there's looking not-too-shabby. One link, of many sources, looked at recently. Whatever it really amounts to is likely stunning nonetheless. http://www.qatarliving.com/node/12073
  14. Thanks Camino'. It's the emotion that drives the desire and I'm sure you that you know exactly what that means. Seeing this Wangers deal sparked that memory.
  15. Mrs. 'L', as I'll refer to her here, had a '70 Judge in Green with the 4-speed. My favorite patron on my paper route circa 1973 or so by a wide margin. She was a divorcee and in filtering the inputs which I've been storing for these past 36 years or so I still wonder why she chose that car. Hmmm. Wasn't left as a part of the divorce settlement but it was something that she'd purchased new from Cathcart Pontiac in Trenton, NJ in April of '70. Mrs. 'L' would give me hot-chocolate and cookies, brownies and cake in wintertime and later beer during the dog days of those Summers when I was still the paper 'boy'. Eventually I was paid for cutting her lawn and doing some light yard-work for her. Comes the day I get my driver's license in October '72. One day, about a month after that here comes Mrs.'L' up Highland Ave after I'm done delivering my little newspapers and she swerves over to block my path, I'm on my bicycle still, safely, but definitely communicating in her way that she wanted to tell me something. I don't remember what I blurted or babbled but I remember stashing my bike behind a shed belonging to a customer of mine. Still no other cars on Highland Ave and this little tableau is playing itself out in the waning afternoon light of November over the course of 5 or 6 minutes. She asks me if I can handle a stick-shift. "No" I tell her, suddenly ashamed of my lack of expertise in that area. "No problem" or something like that she tells me, "Ill be your teacher!" as she lit her cigarette(direct quote from memory) Then she drove us the 5 minutes, very rapidly as I recall, to the Our Lady of Grace Cemetery which flanks the Route 1 bypass near the Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, PA. In those days the cemetery was a growing concern. The roads had been laid-out but the landscape was mostly vacant save for the trees there at the time. And that is where I, at age 16, learned from Mrs. 'L', how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission. Mrs. 'L' moved in 1978. About 2 years or so after I was married to my high school sweetheart. I saw Mrs. 'L' about a month prior to her move, she was going to live in Williamsport, PA, at our local Shop n' Bag. My wife and daughter were with me and after the introductions all around, some small talk, I stood watching watching Mrs. 'L's' receding form, my teacher, proceed down the aisle and into history. Now, in the seven years since my Wife's passing, every time that I go fishing in North Central, PA, stay the Holiday Inn on Pine Street in Williamsport, PA, I am subconsciously looking for Mrs. 'L' and that 1970 Judge. I have finally admitted it to someone other'n myself. Mrs. 'L' is 12 years my senior and that would make her 65 years old. If history's any indication this lady always took great care of herself and took pride and care in her appearance. I wonder if she's doing okay.(?) So in regarding this project of Jim Wangers I find it something to fuel the imagination and a means of recapturing something thought lost.
  16. When I was in that factory environment, after I had established my specialty and was in a position to mentor others, the most irritating/disheartening aspect of interacting with co-workers was in convincing people that whatever it was that I was asking them to do was nothing that I wouldn't do or hadn't done myself. So there were the scenes of my demonstrating, repeatedly, one technique or trick hard come-by from years of experience, learned from the true giants I'd been privileged to have rubbed shoulders with. Until this moment, in typing this, I've never stopped to consider how annoying I must have been. Some time to have an epiphany. Present-day, post-manufacturing me has been playing catch-up in relating to my Father's business. I consult with Dad, he travels less to see what we're up to and socializes more, I assert my elder status amidst my younger brothers and their age-contemporary co-workers. I've had to reacquaint myself with various building/construction techniques, frequently reading old manuals, texts etc., re-visiting job-sites to see how we, or my Dad and Brothers pulled-off a tricky drop of a busted 10-foot section of a parapet wall in an alleyway with two feet of clearance and not injure someone or cause collateral damage to adjoining structures. Steep curve and I'm still learning (every day something new) and I hope that I'm not appearing too green to clients. So it is again my turn to be annoying. Dad and Brothers assure me that I'm doing okay. Not so much in what they say but in how they regard me. So others out there, to keep your cool, your sanity, just be kind I guess. We're trying.
  17. I installed the soft plastic lip-type mats, designed as a catch-all for wintertime slop, in my 1996 GMC Sonoma Highrider pick-up in early December 1995. I installed the driver's side mat incorrectly right over the accelerator pedal. It worked fine at first but I soon became annoyed that at idle the motor was doing 1500-1800 rpms. What's up with that thought I. (?) And then, through a closer inspection, I realized what I'd done. Be forewarned.
  18. Add: Self-absorbed; ensconced in your 'press clippings' as you seem to be. Modern man unmasked. Aye, there's the rub.
  19. The energy required to disengage, to attain that state outweighs the complications of the encumbrances, for me, at this point. Ask the Magic 8 Ball in about 10 years. But it's definitely worth looking into.
  20. Don't. Hold. Your. Breath. The family ethic's fading and the 'generican' is becoming the dominant breed. Makes me glad that I'm old.
  21. I wonder(ed) about that too. Needing the savvy & the will to execute it. I believe that w/Roger's name & the right pitch it could happen. And it's not as though they need to rush and develop that sprawling property to satisfy the demand for yet another mall.
  22. Was out in the Lawrenceville, NJ neck of the woods a little earlier this morning and a beaming young couple (reminded me of my young wife n' I at that age) were taking delivery of their Silver Ice Metallic SS Camaro at Superior Chevrolet on Route 1. The young lady drove off with the biggest smile I've seen in some time, obviously living very much in the moment. The Camaro sounded awesome as it accelerated up the short driveway. Hope they have many safe miles of enjoyment with their new vehicle.
  23. longtooth

    To DBeaSSt

    Happy Birthday. Take an umbrella. (raining here) Many happy returns of the day!
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