Robert Hall

Sunny and 80ish today. Nice day, sucks to be stuck inside w/ sinus infection. Slept 5 hrs this afternoon. Great flooding pics, captured the crashing water around the dam effectively. Those buildings near the dam look really old.

+1. Ya....I've experienced living in a 150+ yr old home (my family's country place in Ohio). Rooms that aren't quite square, floors that aren't level, electricity that was added on, tiny kitchen, bathrooms that were added on..., hand-blown glass windows that are wavy, thick sandstone outside walls, slate roof..better though than the 175+ yr old guest house (i.e. log cabin). The basement is like an ancient stone cave. The garages are detatched 'coach houses' that originally held horse carriages... the barn has room for 10 or so horses (now has Mustangs, Cougars, and a Panther). It certainly has it's charm, but it's very high maintenance and isolated (Ohio Amish country). Modern, spacious, dull and suburban works for me..

Lotus Esprit (a black one was in BI)

In the SF Bay area $300k would probably get you a 500sq ft 1 room closet. $300k out in the Phoenix 'burbs currently can buy a very nice place, something that was 400-600k a few years ago. The Bay Area real estate pricing is in it's own crazy world, though...about 5 years ago a buddy of mine sold his dumpy bungalow that was near downtown San Jose and moved into a split level ranch out in the Blossom Hill area of SJ...nothing special, a rather run down looking neighborhood, but he was happy at the bargain he got for $575k...

Sick.

Yeah, nice area out there...parents of some friends live in Ken Caryl. Lots of homes w/ stone facings..I like the rough-hewn stone look.

I am living in a 1952 vintage house now...some things just absolutely drive me nuts about older houses--the tiny closets, the lack of power outlets (or poorly placed outlets), tiny garages (or carports as are common in Phoenix--I hate carports)...walls that are too thick for wi-fi to penetrate.. I do like brick, though. I lived in this house in Steubenville, Oh until age 10...was from 1946, and the driveway slopes down to a 1 car garage..

Lots of interesting houses there... This is the kind of place I was looking closely at in the Denver burbs 3 years ago--- Highlands Ranch homes for sale 2 story, basement, 3 car garage, small lot...anywhere from $300-450k depending on the 'burb. Built in the '90s. Lots of ideas on how I'd finish the basement.

I need to do another fact-finding trip to the PGH area next time I come back to visit family in Ohio...some of the research I've done so far is suburban areas of Robinson Township and Moon Township...towards the West, the airport, and Rt 22 would work well for me. Not sure about the commute from there into the downtown or other cube-farm centric areas. Still going to be in AZ for a while, not sure of my next destination, but W. PA is definitely high on the list.

Ummm, it's March 2010 now. Did you set your clock way back yesterday?

eBay is my junkyard. The last thing I needed for the Jeep (driver's seat and seat track) I found on eBay. I called around locally, but no way was I going to go to a junkyard in August in AZ.

Beautiful truck... don't see that generation of Blazers or Jimmys very often. I have an old built AMT '72 Jimmy 1:25th scale kit painted a similar color.

I saw one of those yesterday, same color. Odd front end.

Is that at Firebird Raceway? I'm guessing it must be w/ 202 and Chandler Blvd on the sign in the background..I drive past that track M-F on my afternoon commute...

No time change here. Doing laundry and dishes now... been up since 6am watching the first race of the F1 season.

I like gin once in a while...though for martinis I prefer vodka.

The Taurus, MKS, and LaCrosse looks like they were designed w/ the standard in mind..they seem as high as an SUV at the cowl..

I remember a sign like that from childhood from Montgomery Pontiac-Oldsmobile, Steubenville, Ohio, circa 1975-1980. This dealer was in my neighborhood, across from my elementary school. Used to walk past it every day on the way to school..remember the downsized '77 C- and B- bodies first appearing, the '77 Can Am, the various Trans Ams and 442s...

How about a road salt ban? Road salt is bad for cars.

Does the tach needle move when it's started? Does pressing the accelerator result in any noise (when sitting in park after starting)? The silent treatment sounds wierd to me..

With SYNC, have the default bootup sound be the sound MS Windows makes when it boots.

Good point. Must be the Consumer Reports affect. For absolute driving safety, I always think Mercedes-Benz then Volvo.

'Plainsong' by The Cure. And old favorite from college.

Saw a very clean '68 Olds Cutlass 2dr ht in white w/ black top, white and black interior. White wall tires, hubcaps. Saw a very clean '81-85 Impala 4dr in a burnt orange (was an '81 Chevette color also) with black steel wheels and hubcaps. '80s detective car look..very sweet. Saw two clean '65-66 Mustang coupes in a driveway, one a pale yellow, the other dark red...haven't seen them before, and less than a mile from home.

taxiway