Robert Hall

So true..that's a big part of why I left the Midwest---it seemed to have no future when I graduated from college..very few people I went to school with stayed there, the Akron/Canton/Cleveland area was a decaying, dying wasteland of hopelessness in the mid '90s...that's why I love metro areas in the West, especially the Denver/Boulder areas--they embraced high tech in a big way, and the tech job market is still good there. Phoenix/Scottsdale is good also, but to a lesser extent...it's an area with potential for tech, but they have focused on real estate, golfing, etc for too long. Hot summers in AZ are one thing, but the winters in the Dakotas and upper Midwest are a whole 'nother level of disgusting and brutal... I couldn't imagine living there, Michigan and Ohio winters were bad enough.

Yeah, people have really dumbed down in the last 25-30 years. When I was a kid in the Rust Belt, probably 90% of the cars on the road were RWD. People didn't need FWD, they had snow tires and knew how to drive in the snow.

Spartan-Mask is a good description. On a similar theme, the current HD Silverado front end reminds me of Magneto's helmet (the bumper) and the Audi Q7 front end kind of reminds me of an 'Alien' head.. wierd how those things just jump out at you..

4 Bay Area BPG Dealers close 4 GMC Pontiac Buick dealerships close Four GMC Pontiac Buick dealerships — in San Jose, Dublin, Newark and Colma — have abruptly closed their doors, as a fresh wave of shutdowns and consolidations roils the ranks of Bay Area auto dealers in the new year. About 100 employees lost their jobs because of the closing of Dublin Buick Pontiac GMC in Dublin and the shutdown of Fremont Pontiac GMC in Newark. Those East Bay operations closed Jan. 29. An unknown number of employees were affected by the shutdown of Colma Buick Pontiac GMC in Colma and the closing of Capital Buick Pontiac GMC in San Jose. All four dealerships were owned by the same group, led by retail entrepreneur Ken Okenquist. From San Jose Mercury News

My Jeep is pretty small though, only 4500lbs or so. It's ok.

I like the 300C, but it's a totally different flavour of car.. None of these cars cost $1000, so they aren't in 68's price range, though..

Closest is the S4 at about $60k...and it has about 340 hp for '09 (switched from a V8 to a V6 for '09). The SHO looks to be kind of unique in the market at it's price point...lots of technology, AWD, it looks like it's going to be a sweet car.

Here's a neat site with loads of old tractor pics.. antique tractor fotos

Old tractors are cool... my Dad had a '62 John Deere 2010 model. He used it for a variety of things around the farm, including plowing the nearly 1 mile driveway in the winter. It was one of the first vehicles I learned to drive. Looked a lot like this one:

Yes, but remember, 68 is delusional and believes his opinions are facts.. I'm a big RWD fan, but I do like 4wd and AWD, and see nothing wrong with FWD in some kinds of models.

It's taken me time to get into, but I kind of like it with repeat listenings. Too bad no Slash, though. One track I particularly like is 'Better', for the sound and the vocals. The album as a whole has an interesting appeal to me partially because it took so long to get out..

I never get plain coffee at Starbucks... I always go for the primo stuff. I can fix plain Starbucks coffee at home. I usually only go to Starbucks once or twice a week..the lines at the one at work are too long usually, and the one near home always has a long line in the drive thru. But Sunday morning, it hits the spot. I also like the seasonal drinks, like the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Peppermint Latte.

My usual venti White Chocolate Mocha w/ triple shot is like $4.75 or so here in Phoenix. I only do the iced in the summer, and usually buy the Starbucks bottled coffee drinks at the grocery.

I was thinking historically, cars have had various crash test requirements for decades, applying them to trucks is a relatively recent development, I believe. It does look like the Ram's structure faired the best of the 3. I wonder why the new F150 wasn't included.

True, their unibody cars have good ratings. Crash test ratings and safety seems to have been an afterthought w/ trucks among many carmakers, though...

Looks like the Silvy's B-pillar is collapsible. Of course, big trucks and SUVs often roll over in a side impact. Looks like they are doing ok on the front collision standard...remember the old Astro and S-Blazer which collapsed like accordions in front collisions?

When I brew coffee at home, I usually do Starbucks Breakfast Blend or French Roast. I've tried Dunkin Donuts coffee, it's pretty good.

I'd have to take a G8 GXP over a Charger SRT-8... I like the hardware of the Charger,but can't get into the styling. Plus, the GXP has a manual available. Kind of an apples and oranges thing, though. The SHO is in a different category than the Charger and G8, it's more of a budget Audi or maybe a TL competitor, or nominally an Impala SS competitor.

My current gig is with a government (city) client, and it's been eye-opening. A lot of zombies work there, just hanging around biding time until retirement and a pension, it seems. They are content maintaining their COBOL programs and seem to show no interest in doing the cool, modern technology stuff that contractors like myself are building.

So would I, the Evo is fast and handles well, but it's cheap inside and styled like it's targeted to a teenage video gamer. The SHO is larger and more adult. I liked the 1st and 2nd gen SHOs, didn't care for the 3rd gen because the 3rd gen Taurus was so ugly ('96-99 model).

Yeah, but they are old, outdated platforms with 4spd transmissions, cheap interiors, etc. The SHO is modern, much better content and drivetrain. It's a better car at a higher price. It will be interesting to see a Super version of the NG LaCrosse would stack up, though.. (or will the Buick be compared to the MKS now that the Sable is gone?).

Sounds plausible...from what I've heard, the unemployment rate for my thing is about 3% in the Denver metro and a bit higher in Phoenix. I've been talking w/ recruiters about lining up my next gig when my current contract ends, there are still a lot of job postings out there for my thing.. I get daily updates from Dice, Monster, etc for Phoenix, Denver and other metros I like, and the picture still looks better than '01-02 after the dot.bomb bubble burst.

Seems quite nice...much more modern and much nicer inside and out than it's comparable GM models (Impala SS, LaCrosse Super).

Yeah, I'm in AZ now, but I lived for years in snowy states (Ohio, Michigan, Colorado). I didn't have FWD there...my solution was a 4wd SUV (Jeep) for a practical, capable daily driver, RWD cars for fun. And I had all RWD prior to 1994. I would never choose FWD.

Not wings, but something from Ann Arbor I miss is BD's Mongolian BBQ.... I remember when they opened there in '96 or so. There is one in Denver that opened in '99, but none in AZ. And Zingerman's Deli. And Steve's Lunch (a Korean joint downtown). And the little silver trailer all-night greasy diner...don't recall the name.