mustang84

No kitchen is complete without a Presto Salad Shooter. My dad gave that to my mom as an anniversary present years ago and she was less than thrilled.

My dad drives a truck for the US Mail, so we celebrated last night. I bought him a card and stuck in some money for a new watch that he's been needing, then we went and ate out at a pretty good restaurant.

Boxer-briefs here. I'm not really a fan of boxers. I used to wear briefs but I switched over to boxer-briefs a couple years ago. I usually get the Hanes 3-pack...not really too picky when it comes to my undergarments.

Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Jaguar, and MB. If we're talking extinct car companies, AMC, Hudson, and Duesenberg.

Here's an interesting video taken by some firefighters in boats going through Cedar Rapids inspecting the damage. I go through this area every day on my way to work. You can see underground gas tanks that have floated to the top, semis that have floated downriver, etc. http://www.vimeo.com/1172778?pg=embed&sec=1172778 So far, the water levels have receded a few feet and the water rationing has been relaxed because another pump is online again. All said and done, 1200 blocks were underwater as of yesterday and they are estimating about $800 million in damage for Cedar Rapids alone (compare that with $13 billion total for the Flood of '93, which affected a much larger geographical area). A lot of good has happened and people have really pulled together here, but some are trying to take advantage of the situation by posing as FEMA guys and trying to get social security numbers or scam people out of money...I can't believe how low some will stoop. Surprisingly, the gas stations have not run up the prices for fuel...they are about the same as they were before the flood. I left town Friday afternoon due to the water rationing but will be going back today since the water levels are receding. When I get back into town later tonight, I'll update with some more pictures I took a couple days ago.

So far, 2008 has been a great year for new releases. Sebastian Bach, Dokken, and Whitesnake have all been excellent and I'm looking forward to the new Judas Priest album coming out in the next few days, along with the new Motley Crue album later this month. I also heard Iron Maiden has a new album coming. The only album that has disappointed me so far is the new Def Leppard one...I got bored of it after 2 listens. Metallica's new album, if it is as good as I'm hoping it'll be, will be icing on the cake for 2008 music releases.

I've thought about this before too, especially after all the stories a while back about eco-terrorists going to dealership lots and setting big SUVs on fire. I'm not a violent person, but I would get violent really quick if I saw someone doing something to my car. I would hope that society will not deteriorate that badly, but it's possible seeing how screwed up people become when they are in fear or panic. Although, if gas prices ever got high enough that hysteria ensued, I could see parking garages becoming secured facilities with armed guards.

Poor Monte Carlo This is the area of town I work...they're saying we might not be able to return until Tuesday Near the I-380 bend north of downtown...380 is the only bridge open right now, and one of the three lanes is reserved strictly for emergency vehicles Not too far from work Mays Island, built during the City Beautiful movement in 1930, is completely flooded over And some of my own pictures... These were taken a couple days ago when the flooding wasn't nearly as bad There may be a Crunch Berries shortage....the Quaker Oats plant in CR is the largest cereal plant in the world Taken today...we had non-stop rain and I really couldn't get around because so many streets are closed off. Luckily, I still have power and internet!

On top of sandbagging and evacuating my office today, I just heard that a tornado struck a boy scout camp in Western Iowa and flattened it, killing four scouts. Apparently it came up quick and they had no time to get into proper shelter. Definitely some terrible weather we're having lately...they have closed down downtown, so I get Thursday and Friday off from work. The river is going to crest Friday morning at 24' above flood stage, which is a level they have never seen here before. The cops came into work today and told everyone we had to evacuate the building. Before that, we carried 2000 drawings dating back to 1979 up to the second floor. Now all bridges across the Cedar River are closed except for the I-380 bridge, and even then traffic is a mess. I'll try to post some pics soon.

http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index...showtopic=24735 http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/47741/...-of-the-Talibin http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/10/eu-call...ngs-on-car-ads/

Huh? Ford has been getting as much, if not more, good press as GM lately. Ford hasn't been saddled with striking unions putting a halt to its hottest products, they aren't indecisive about their RWD/V8 plans like GM has been, and the press has been praising them the most for their quality gains. GM's starting to get great press with the Volt and new vehicles like the Malibu, but they seem more vulnerable than Ford right now when it comes to the unions and finances. GM has much more to tackle on its plate than a smaller company like Ford with fewer brands. If you haven't seen a single positive Ford story, you must not be looking very hard because they have been rolling in for a while now. With that said, GM gets more press because it's the largest, most visible force within the American auto industry. GM has the chance to make a real turnaround as long as they stay on their toes and make the right decisions. Blatant rebadges like the G5 and starving Pontiac are not the right decisions. I feel like if GM had their own Mulally, someone with clear focus on what needs to be done, they will come out of this a shining star.

'66-67 Chevelles are my favorite of all. If I had one, it would look exactly like this.

We had a small tornado apparently touch down somewhere north of Cedar Rapids last night. The winds and storms knocked out my power for a good six hours. Today, the water has started flooding over the road I take to work, so now I have to take an alternate route that is going to add probably 15 minutes onto my commute. They're saying by Wednesday water levels will be 20 feet above flood stage, the highest ever recorded for this area...higher than 1851, 1929, and 1993.

I have thought about something along these lines before as well. It makes perfect sense and would allow dealerships to become much more flexible than they currently are tied to one or a few brands. I could see some of the premium brands like Cadillac wanting to remain separate from the "plebe" brands, so they could have their own luxo dealerships. But why GM insists on continuing to rebadge (didn't they learn anything from the 80s) rather than giving brands like Buick and Pontiac one to three models that speak for what the brand is about.

My new apartment faces the Cedar River and every day I have been watching the flooding going on around here. The road I take to work will be flooded over sometime Monday and apparently levels may reach those of the Flood of '93. Parts of downtown Des Moines are flooded and Iowa City is starting to sandbag. There are stretches of fields along rivers that have become huge lakes in Eastern Iowa. The good news is that after the Flood of '93, a lot of cities built earth berms along their rivers so hopefully if we have another 500 year flood it won't be so devastating.

There was a poll a while back that found only 15% of Americans would never consider purchasing a domestic car again. I think most would consider American cars if they had class-leading fuel economy. And even though some like the Cobalt XFE do, most don't realize it...there's the stereotype that you go to Honda or Toyota if you want fuel economy.

I'll be getting a different car at the end of the summer, but I haven't decided what I can afford yet. Since I'm out of college and on my own now, I'm waiting to see how much of my salary each month will go toward bills and then hopefully I'll have an idea how much I can afford for a car payment. I really want a Mustang and even though I would've never considered it before, reality with gas prices and monthly payments probably means I would have to get a V6 unless I get an older one. Some on my eclectic wish list: '05+ Mustang or a 87-93 GT 3rd gen or 4th gen Camaro / Trans Am '08 Malibu Buick Lucerne Lincoln LS Ford Fusion V6 (or a Mercury Milan...used Milans can be had for about the same price and usually have alloy wheels and V6's) Olds Aurora V8 Mercury Marauder A G-body Cutlass / MC / GP or Regal My parents are looking to trade the Explorer soon. My mom wants a Lincoln MKX but they will probably end up getting an Edge.

Alice in Chains - Bleed the Freak

Hardline - Rhythm in a Red Car

Happy birthday!

Gotta love the stereotypes. Millions of Americans have mismanaged their lives. That doesn't mean that all of us are that way. All that work has made us the most productive country in the world. I don't know about you, but I really enjoy my job, even when I'm there 50 hours a week. And when I was hourly, I made tons of overtime that helped me pay off a large portion of my school loans. We aren't taxed as heavily as Europe. We may have high medical expenses, but they are offset by our low tax rates. And despite gas prices quadrupling over the last nine years, our economy has grown every year since the last recession around 1990. Even with rising prices, collapsing markets, and a falling dollar, the US economy has grown by .5%. Not quite the doom and gloom plastered on TV by our lovely media. As bad as the Bush administration has been, at least we aren't resorting to absurd proposals like carbon ration cards or putting cameras on every street corner. Some of the stuff that Britain and other European nations are proposing is downright authoritarian.

I'm convinced this country is going to self-destruct trying to solve something that nobody knows anything about. The thing that is causing the pain right now are oil prices, mostly due to speculation and competition abroad. If we can get that solved, this hysteria will go away. People love to panic and fret over anything. Rising oil prices combined with rising living costs and all these natural disaster / apocalypse shows on TV give enviro-hysterics fuel for the fire. I think I remember reading somewhere that the average temperatures have actually been dropping the last ten years (Gore left that tidbit out of his movie) and that this winter was one of the coldest since the 70s. Even so far this year, only a couple days have been above 80 around here....I remember back in the mid 90s you could see 90+ F temps in April. Right now it's 67 F outside...highly unusual for June.

Ford was the first brand I got into when I was about 14. I didn't know anything about cars before then, except for the Corvette since my dad has two. Even then, I didn't know a thing about them except that they were sporty cars. I was playing a game called Midtown Madness and it had a '99 Ford Mustang GT in it. The car selection was pretty limited and the Mustang was my favorite handling car of all in the game. That was the spark that got me into Ford. Then I started digging around Mustang sites and came across a fox body one where they had a sound clip of an '88 GT with an aftermarket exhaust. This was around the time that I was about to get my license and all the sudden I was obsessed with fox body Mustangs and wanted one. After that, I started looking more into other Ford vehicles and paying more attention to what was on the road, the years of cars, etc. I also started to get into the Chevy brand shortly after because it's what I drove, and also a couple guys had IROC-Z Camaros in the parking lot and I thought they were just the coolest thing. I got a ride in a friend's '89 Camaro RS (with a 5.0) and I got to experience V8, RWD performance. Also, someone had an '87 Monte Carlo SS that totally stood out among the sea of W-bodies, Tauruses, and Grand Ams at my high school. That Monte Carlo got me into G-bodies, which then I discovered the Cutlass Supreme (and the fact that my dad used to have one), and not long after Oldsmobile became my favorite GM brand.

This was a picture taken during the 1983 Salt Lake City floods and the Oldsmobile sign caught my attention. I don't think I've ever seen an Olds sign like this in person before. Does anyone know when GM started putting up these rectangular signs for the brands? It's all I see around here today. Ford started updating theirs with the huge blue oval on top of the round column in the late 90s...I'm surprised GM hasn't brought out any new signage lately (as far as I've seen).