Robert Hall

Still rolling...hit 160k today...15 years, 1 month, 5 days....

That's that super deep purple, right??? I love that color! Yeah...looks gray or black in some lighting...

Random thoughts are plenty after a night of insomnia and very little sleep. Good thing I'm off today for the 4 day holiday weekend. Work has been very strange the last 2 weeks, been stuck in a conference room with a vendor and conference calls to their Chinese developers as we work to install their very-no-ready-for-enterprise-use application on our servers...8-10 hr daily conference calls in Mandarin with one of their people in my client's conf. room translating. At least the OT hours have been billable....

Yeah, me and my older brother are very opposite personalities. He's the laid-back charmer, while I'm the wrought iron fist of the family. We sometimes don't even understand how that even happened. We both went to the same schools, sure he's 5 years older than me, but still. My brother and I are waaaayy different too, but it was pretty obvious growing up. He was popular in high school and gave my parents hell, I was book smart and dorky, my parents barely had to try. My older brother and I may as well be from completely different families...very different personalities and tastes, different culture, polar opposites as far as politics. The 21 year age difference is part of it, I'm sure. We barely are on speaking terms. My older sister and I are much closer, much more similar in interests and tastes.

My next door neighbor traded his burgundy '12 Infiniti QX56 on a new Escalade ESV in Majestic Plum Metallic...great looking beast..

Not in the least. If nothing else, MKC and MKX are currently enough to preserve Lincoln. A new aluminum Navigator is coming (none too soon), and a refreshed MKZ (also a bit past due). That puts Lincoln at least on par with Acura and Acura isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The MKZ came out in 2013 model year, it needs a refresh already? And how do you refresh it, it is still a Fusion. The GLC should put the hurt on the 2 Lincoln crossovers, now that Mercedes doesn't have an ugly c-segment crossover, they can actually get sales, and the yuppies can buy Q3s for less than a Lincoln. Why buy a Lincoln and have to explain to your neighbor why you did it, when you can buy and Audi or Benz and be proud. Does that include being proud of those obscene maintenance bills down the road (which will happen with the MB and the Audi)? The key to German car ownership is to trade it before the free maintenance period or warranty expires. Most are just leased anyway..I wouldn't buy one used. Anyway, regarding the Continental, I'm interesting in seeing what the production version looks like..it's a rather striking design.

Saw a sharp reddish orange metallic '71 Chevy Chevelle, w/ a 70 rear bumper..had ghosted black SS style stripes.

Saw a clean white late '80s RHD Toyota Soarer coupe, first one I'd seen around here. Also saw a silver Scion xB that had been customized as a Range Rover--RR badging, headlights, grille, etc...

Today was the day for car drama. I got about a mile from home in the Jeep when the temp gauge maxed out and steam started boiling out from under the hood and out the dash vents. Limped back home and found the radiator hose had popped off. Waited until 7 when my local repair shop opened, they came out, reattached the hose and added water and drove it to the shop..got off cheap, new radiator and thermostat. Meanwhile I drove to work in the DTS, in which the A/C is now blowing warm air...fun, fun...at least the windows go down in it and it was only 108 today.

From behind the new Rogue looks a lot like the Escape to me..I keep confusing them. One of my coworkers bought a new Murano a couple weeks ago, ridden in it a couple of times..seems spacious inside.

At my current job, I have dual 24 inch Dell monitors which are decent...at my last place, though, I had dual 27 inch Apple HD displays...Thunderbolt connection..those were about $1000 each in 2012 when the office was built out IIRC...those were great monitors.

I do wonder if the tepid styling changes w/ this new generation has hurt sales..it looks virtually the same as it's predecessor, different light clusters and grille shape, but still the same bland, boring blocky styling themes of the last 2 generations..

I've had that thought..run screaming from the fecal desert.. but reality (mortgage, dogs, six figure income, bills) keeps me grounded in the grind...I do prefer sticking w/ contract gigs so I don't get too involved at a company and their internal $h!..just not worth the emotional commitment. .I can come and go, there is always another cube down the street and more code to sling..hired gun. I am moving within the next year, though, to a better climate..

Cool song, cool video..that's Robert Forster driving the Seville..been in a lot of cool movies over the years, and had a memorable small role on Breaking Bad..

Been listening to a lot of retro 80s style synth music when encube lately. Miami Nights 1984, Mitch Murder, Lazerhawk, Lost Years, Kavinsky, etc. love the genre.

I grew up a fan of F1, Indy Car and NASCAR, still like all 3 plus sports car racing series like Tudor and WEC. Also like DTM, WTCC, WRC and V8 Supercars. I try and go to 2-3 NASCAR races a year (here in AZ and California) and 2-3 Indy Car races a year (the California ones).

I got a Father's Day card from the dogs.. My father has been deceased 15 years, I visited his gravestone in Ohio when I was back there a few months ago. Always kind of bittersweet and melancholy going back there.

A standardized design under the trim makes it simpler for a few suppliers to provide them.

I think every family has different degrees of dysfunctional...no 'perfect' families. Each of my siblings and I had different paths through school and college growing up, had our 'rebellious periods' at different points, different goals in life.. I think my mother still is mad at my sister and myself for moving so far away, she would have preferred we stayed in Podunk, Ohio instead of building adult lives in the West, and she favors our older brother (who was the black sheep in many ways) ..

At some level, yes... my Dad was 50 when I was born, retired at 55, so he was home most of the time when I was growing up and we were pretty close. My Mom has always been a bit strange and distant. My siblings, esp. my sister and I get along pretty well despite the age difference. Since my father died in '99, my relationship w/ my mother has become strained, as she has allied herself w/ my brother and my sister can't stand my brother, and I'm allied w/ her.

Oddly, I saw two Karmas in traffic this week...a dark red one and a white one..still a beautiful car, IMO. The 4dr Corvette that never was...

Good point..probably not. Had 4 generations in my immediate family, each distinctly different. My Dad was of the Greatest Generation, my Mom is of the Silent Generation, both siblings of the Baby Boomer Generation, and I'm Gen X.

Hasn't the Donald had multiple bankruptcies and business failures? Maybe the image of being successful if not the reality.

It's never dull w them around. I don't need an alarm clock...a couple of them like to stand on my chest and bark in my face at 5am. The short puppy cut hair cuts work best here in Arizona.

No, to compete w/ the Panamera...different niche than the CTS-V. The 5000lb luxury performance hatchback niche..