Robert Hall

Saw a dark red '14 Cherokee tonight on the freeway...lights on, semi dark. Michigan plate. Looks...different.

Mostly listening to NPR in the car on the commute and tech podcasts on my iPod whilst working lately, but at home I've been chilling out and de-stressing recently by listening to variety of artists in glorious surround sound---Pink Floyd (mid '70s and mid '90s mostly), Brian Eno's ambient albums, retro-60s style from Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited, and 80s style retro electronica from Lazerhawk, College, Kavinsky and others..

The Caddy would be a nice competitor for the Transit Connect and the Transporter would go well against the other Euro vans here from M-B, Ford, and Ram, I think...

Saw a very clean mid '70s Mercury Comet 4dr...typical period color (kind of a butterscotchy-orange) w/ a white top and body color rings on the hubcaps...looked very original...

I don't think that was ever part of the plan...it's almost like this car is an afterthought, like Chevy is tolerating it but not embracing it, afraid to sell sedans that don't fit the vanilla FWD sedan mold...

In a unintentional sort of way, these fastbacks remind me of an homage to the late '40s-early 50s era when GM had 2dr and 4dr sedans in notchback and fastback form.

computer engineers might be the only engineers making 75k out of school. when my sister graduated electrical engineering back in the mid-late eighties, i think she had been expecting and got around a 40k start. in 2013, at least in my field the starting electrical engineers don't make much more than that, if. 25 years since and the same pay. I'm sure it's changed over the years, when I got out of grad school in '97 as a software engineer my starting salary was $56k....a little over 2 years later I was making almost $90k and then 2 years after than over $100k... boy did i make a bad choice. I had a girlfriend in college who was a math / comp sci double major. I think part of the reason she dumped me is because she figured out that she was in a good money field and I would never be.......women are wise that way........ computer industry by and large still has relatively good pay scales, if your job doesn't get outsourced...... Software engineering is one of those fields where to excel you really have to enjoy it...often long hours and intense schedules..but I get to work with a lot of smart people..I love writing code, debugging systems, designing complex systems, learning new things...my experience w/ outsourcing is that the work produced by outsourced groups is often crap and has to be redone....I've had a couple of down periods (mid '01-mid '02 and mid-08) but I find there is always demand, even in a relative tech dead zone like Arizona.. I've bounced around between being an employee, independent contractor, w2 contractor, and working for consulting companies...it's been a fun ride the last 16 years. As far as teaching goes, I taught math (algebra, calculus) and intro CS courses while in grad school....my sister trained to be an elementary teacher, but went into hr, then management and then management consulting instead...our parents were both educators--Dad was a teacher then a principal then a superintendent, Mom was an elementary school teacher..

Actually, there are plenty of FWD cars in racing...in the US the Mazda 6, Honda Civics, VW Golfs, etc are seen in some series...and the Chevy Cruze has won the WTCC several times...

computer engineers might be the only engineers making 75k out of school. when my sister graduated electrical engineering back in the mid-late eighties, i think she had been expecting and got around a 40k start. in 2013, at least in my field the starting electrical engineers don't make much more than that, if. 25 years since and the same pay. I'm sure it's changed over the years, when I got out of grad school in '97 as a software engineer my starting salary was $56k....a little over 2 years later I was making almost $90k and then 2 years after than over $100k...

Saw a 2014 Camaro base convertible yesterday...silver, black top in a restaurant parking lot...first '14 Camaro I've seen, looked good...

I've seen the sticker on the front license plate in Oregon IIRC... I remember Ohio used to have windshield stickers (lower left corner). I've only had rear plate stickers in Colorado and Arizona.

Whilst slogging along in traffic tonight I saw a black BRZ and a dark gray FRS a couple cars apart on the freeway...uncommon sightings, but what made it interesting is both drivers were....women. Nice to see women driving sportscars instead of the stereotypical generic CUV or FWD appliance-grade sedan..

Those were definitely distinctive....along w/ the Olds 442 fastback of the same era. I can't recall the last time I saw one of these..seems like years or decades..

Saw a yellow & white HUMMER H3T w/ a white bed cap...maybe the first one I've actually seen driving on the street (saw a wrecked on a flatbed last week and a bunch of a car hauler in '08/09)...

That '65 Dodge convertible is sweet...like the new Camaro also.

lol..

Nice car..good luck with it...don't know if the automatic has any issues, but a friend had an '08 with a manual and had to have the transmission replaced under warranty at 25k and at 40k when he sold it was starting to fail again..

No idea..depends on the individual and their budget...16/18 is decent for me, as that is what I've been used to for ages....

Agreed on both...I'd love to have power folding mirrors (some higher end cars have 'em), and I miss the orange taillight segments, always looked good on cars that had them in the Big 80s, IMO.

Whilst traversing the ASU campus this afternoon, I saw a white '13/14 Mustang GT CS convertible w/ a Michigan mfgr plate, with a variety of strange looking objects (sensors and telemetry, maybe?) on the decklid and left rear quarter panel...guy in the passenger seat using a laptop...

Not for youth, but for adults that like coupes...this could be Volvo's A5. Better than another damn CUV. Volvo already had their youth model w/ the C30 hatchback.

I like it..a very clean coupe design..would be nice to see a Volvo coupe again. Some neat detailing, like the taillights.

My work laptop has a sunset at Huntington Beach photo and my home laptop has a Colorado wilderness photo, both to distract me from the vile Arizona summer reality

Saw a clean early '90s Caddy Allante in a teal which was a very popular color across many car makers in the early to mid '90s. Also saw a wrecked white Hummer H3T on a flatbed, that's first H3T I've seen IIRC since I saw a carhauler full of them when they first came out a few years ago ('08?)