Robert Hall

+1. If I didn't have my Jeep, for a winter SUV I'd look at the '90s full size Blazer/Tahoe or the '92-96 Ford Bronco...I've always liked the last Broncos, thought about buying one in the late '90s when I had the Bronco II.

Saw a '77 Catalina 4dr today...was pretty straight and solid, dark red paint faded on the roof, hood and deck. Don't see those very often.

My notes I take at work in meetings, on sticky notes, roughing out a design, etc are a mix of print and cursive (my penmanship used to be quite good in school, but it's more of a scrawl now). Though strangely, when I print, I find that I often write with a mix of upper and lower case letters--- lIkE tHiS... At home, about the only writing I do are shopping lists on sticky notes..pretty much anything else I need to write I do on the computer.

I had a coworker that bought a used '05 in '06, had 14k miles when he bought it..had a ton of problems over the year he had it..brake failures, wiper motor failure, etc...unloaded it on a new 4Runner in '07. But I'd avoid the Blazers like the plague.

I'd avoid the Blazers for the lousy crash test results that generation had. How an '02 TrailBlazer?

I haven't written anything besides my signature in cursive probably in 12-15 years or more... Even then, though, any papers I wrote were done with a word processor (MS Word for college and LaTeX for grad school academic papers and journal articles). Anything I've written corporate has been w/ MS Word. Cursive handwriting is definitely a lost art.

Yeah, but white Corollas, Camrys, Sentras, etc? Couldn't get duller and more uninspired than that. That's what I see every day in traffic...depressingly dull FWD generic appliances driven by the masses. I generally don't like white cars...there are a few that look good in white, like the new Camaro and the pearl white Caddys..

The Nov issue of HCC came today..has a pair of beautiful '73 Cutlass Supremes on the cover, one blue, one white. Other GM content in the issue incl. a '52 Buick Super 4dr.

I found the Vista Cruiser at Target tonight..pretty sweet. Also found the Merc SLR and Prius.

No idea...just trying to figure if there is an engineering reason behind it. I believe even the magazines have commented about the offset in the X3.

Don't know...but didn't some GM products have that problem in the past? It could be a packaging issue under the hood w/ the placement of the steering column and gear...

When I was in high school, the new cars kids got ranged from Mustang GTs, Mustang LX 5.0s, Camaro IROC-Zs, Firebird Trans Ams/GTAs, a Buick Grand National, Cutlass Supremes, Monte Carlo SSes, to more prosaic Cavaliers, Daytonas, Corollas, and Civics. Circa '86-88. In my senior class, probably 60% of the kids got a new car during senior year or one they had got during junior year. (it was a small high school in a Florida resort and fishing town). I got my Mustang GT between junior and senior year, an early graduation present. The most outrageous car, though, was the kid with the new bright red Merc 560SEC AMG. He and his dad were in the 'import-export' business. Found at out at my 10 yr reunion that they were doing time in a federal prison for their business. He did show up at the 20 yr reunion, had been out of prison a couple years, back in town. Alas, a few of those new cars got totalled during senior year, incl. two Mustang GTs and the Grand National...kids and 'high' power cars often don't go well together( well, they were powerful for the mid '80s). Rob

Or the yearly Girl Scout Cookie sales. I just ignore any emails or people trying to sell stuff, and if anyone asks me I always respond that I'm a contractor, not an employee...i.e. leave me alone. As far as corporate events, etc... When I was an employee a few years ago, I did like some of the corporate events we did--the occasional official happy hour (at a local Hyatt w/ delicious catered food) or the holiday party (same place, more delicious catered food), since I genuinely enjoyed my team and many of the other people in the company, when it was still small and Canadian before it got acquired by a big conglomerate. Not to mention the unofficial weekly team happy hours (that often lasted until 1-2 am). The annual company golf tournament was always a blast, drinking at 9am, seeing drunken colleagues rolling a golf cart at 10am, etc. The pot lucks were fun, esp. when the Indians brought in delicious spicy curry dishes. 4 of the 5 years I was there was probably the best of my career so far, as far as satisfying work, interesting people, and good times. Now I'm pragmatic about work...get a high bill rate, spend 40 hrs in a cube, go home. In boring AZ.

I'm sick of it and plan to get out of AZ as soon as practical..probably Q1 of '10. Go someplace greener, more humid and more authentic...

Same here...I see a few new American cars, which is great, but the vast majority on the roads seem to be Japanese generics...and a lot of the Korean ones these days as well. White and silver FWD blandmobiles.

AZ is currently claiming 9.6% or so, but analysis on the radio claims it's considerably higher. AZ is as much a toilet as NV, the economy here is too reliant on real estate (building generic beige houses in hideous beige suburbs), tourism (golf, golf, and more golf) and retirees.. AZ (along w/ NV) were growing like crazy the last 30 years, and that growth is stalled currently..so many empty big box stores, empty strip malls, half finished subdivisions. Bottom line, many people moved here, but is there anything of substance to retain people and to lead to growth in the desert? There is no meaningful future here...

Yes, that's what I meant. Not computer or software architecture. Sounds like the market is really weak right now, tied with the drop off in new construction, I assume.

Nah, current X3...

Likewise for city and state governments... I've worked for a department of the City of Phoenix and my sister has done gigs w/ various State of California agencies...all pretty dysfunctional. But, they do have opportunities for contractors and consultants to come in and get a decent bill rate to do some work for a while, same with big companies..

On the way back from the airport this evening, saw a very clean '67 Mustang 2+2 in Wimbeldon white...looked original, had a patina of age..

Saw a new Honda Insight for the first time today..maroon, was directly behind me..didn't get to see the side or rear, the front through my rearview mirror. Saw a white Transit Connect on a car hauler, first I'd seen. Also saw a current style Transit (the big one) tall roof window van.

Pontiac's only been gone a few months. It will take them time..a few years at GM speed.

The truth hurts--what was special about the G3, G5, G6 or Vibe? Just FWD generics. No Excitement!!! I can see Buick offering Buick-style sport sedans--emphasis on luxury with some sport--maybe sort of Saab like sophistication w/ Buick style. But I can't see them offering anything as overtly sporty as the good Pontiacs (G8, GTO, Solstice).

The scary thing is when the incompetent people get promoted and start making the decisions... I started out my career at MCI in Colorado Springs, had an ex-Bell South coworker IIRC. Had tons of Virginia/DC area transplants (where MCI's home offices were) as well as transplanted Midwesterners, East Coasters, and Californians...(there was also a clique of South Africans who owned the mainframe systems architecture group, ran it like a military organization, as well as the usual h1B Indian programmers)--all had come to Colorado for the great climate, winter sports, abundant sunshine, booming job market. 2 1/2 years was enough in telecom for me...was there through the Worldcom takeover..

That's not a Buick, though. Buicks are automatics,smooth, quiet cushy ride, comfy soft interiors, wood. Different demographic.