trinacriabob

I've been to that Denny's in S.J. too. That place is always packed. I think Denny's is marginal, but I think Waffle House borders on disgusting.

LOL. Note the bold...and read my post. Well, we just got back from Denny's. We drove to one about 4 miles away. We got there at about quarter to noon. They said 25 to 30 minutes of waiting. It was 40 minutes. We were the ONLY "office types" there. Most others were either college students or "gang bangers" or "who knows what." It then took about 10 minutes to get the 3 free Grand Slam breakfasts. We made it easy on her - 3 Grand Slams and 3 glasses of water. We had to chow down fast...I mean REAL FAST...in less than 15 minutes to get back to the office so that our longer lunch went unnoticed. We tipped $3. It was pretty funny when we got back into the car and reflected on the absurdity of going through all that trouble for 3 FREE Grand Slams!

side

Ok, of this I am certain: there are Denny's from Boston to Barstow. That being said, they are doing the "no coupon - no strings attached" Free Grand Slam breakfast today, from 6am to 2pm. I'm walking over there with 2 co-workers for lunch to get a late breakfast (LOL). Anyone else partake? While not Bob's Big Boy, their food is at least edible.

Happy Birthday, Dave! It's STILL your birthday in my time zone. I hope you had a great day!

About the service being THAT bad, it's happened a time or two. I usually leave the obligatory 15%, and maybe a little less at a self-serve buffet because I'm the one putting the food on the plate(s) and taking it back to the table. Yes, I ALWAYS remember that the servers need the tips to bring their income up to reality. But, back on topic, I can't stand people in these establishments who feel they can encroach on NORMAL boundaries.

wax

Not about the drinking part... ...but the actual Super Bowl. Good going, New Orleans. No real loyalties since I don't geographically identify with either team, but what a shot in the arm for New Orleans. Actually, as a kid, I thought New Orleans had one of the best team logos, but that was about it. I watched the first quarter and thought it would pave the way for the rest of the game. I then went to the last Mass(!) (Pacific Time) and came back and it was the 3rd quarter. Indianapolis was still ahead. At that point, I thought the game would play itself out in the same manner. I did chores for about another hour and then went on-line to see 31-17. Unbelievable.

San Jose

Yes, moltie. They compared the headlights to sideways Coke bottles. And, true, the 95-99 were 2-door Luminas, just like the Riviera was once a 2-door LeSabre. In the right color, such as white, the last-gen Monte Carlo with the bigger 5-spoke alloys can look sharp.

I hear you. Those have more of a creepy leering quality to them. This had the "gotta close the deal within a finite time" element, as do the Starbucks/Borders/B&N cafe multi-level annoyances.

True, that's what's always kept me behind the wheel of a 2-door GM mid-size coupe. First, it's nice NOT to have a door pillar in your peripheral vision...a large door makes for a large window! Second, these set-ups with a console make for a cockpit style seating arrangement, which can be nice. When the Monte went to blue lighting for 06-07, it was even nicer.

Wow, I am +1-ing an ocnblu post. True, the very last revise was a clean fix and that front end works better on Monte than on the Impala. They could have easily fixed the rear hump. The CHMSL could have gone inside the back glass, or even in the upper part of the trunk like as they did on the last 2 gen Devilles/DTSs...either way would have worked.

Being chatted up while in line...it can be tolerable or it can be annoying. It's tolerable only when there is NO ulterior motive. That is, you find out that the person you are in line next to is from the same part of the country, went to a high school or college close to the one you went to, if not the SAME one, or is in the same occupation. The conversation is not strained. It ranges from annoying to sickening when you have NOTHING in common with the person and there is a general edginess about it (read "multi-level.") Yeah, I know, I've complained about this before. Last Friday, I'm in line for a Safeway deli sandwich (they can be damn good). This guy behind me starts talking to me nonstop. I'm on the defense and then eventually ask him what he does for a living. He said he has a home business that does interntional shipping. Actually, he lived in a decent neighborhood. At this point, I'm suspicious ... and tell him it's great to have casual Friday so I don't have to walk blocks and blocks in a suit to my favorite delis or dives. At this point, he backs off a little bit. Yep, it was way too friendly and too forced to be anything other than a sales pitch. Agree? That if someone edgily forces a conversation with you while in line or sitting in an eating establishment, it's PROBABLY multi-level or a sales pitch? When will it ever stop? *sigh*

Today, I saw a bunch of last(2)gen Monte Carlos on a major boulevard in my area. They ranged anywhere from early 2000s up to the 2006/2007. Some of them, unfortunately, were kind of "blingy(sp)." I look at this car and study it. It has some good angles and some bad ones. The overall side profile is good. The frontal 3/4 view is good, too. The rear hump is not at all good and the too-low and too-heavy fender sculpting is not good, either. This is a car that could have been much better. I think that it was "sort of" intended to be a Cutlass Supreme price-point personal coupe, though it was not marketed that way. I think the GP 2-door that ran through 2002 was way too different in that it was more of a fastback and lacked the more formal lines of the Monte Carlo...and the Cutlass. I put down "Meh." It's too bad. Had the styling been a little less quirky and had there been a 3800 V6 under the hood, as there was in the early 2000s SS coupes, there's no doubt I would have bought a Monte Carlo. Just thinking out loud...with this poll...

ricochet

provocative

racy

distance

sofa

starvation

Ambien

night (someone told me to watch "The Big Night"...they said I'd like it)

chicken

Thanks for posting the pictures, von. Surely, coming from AB, you must have really appreciated the change in weather and stark contrast in scenery. Sheez, I had no clue Goldwater lived to be over 90! I don't know about AZ...for me, anyway. One of my really good childhood friends moved from SoCal to Las Vegas where she could afford a (new) home, in nice quiet suburb actually, and she seems to like it. I went there in August 2007 and I can do without the 106 F. It feels like your skin is burning when you step outside in the middle of the day. I still maintain that a humid South Florida summer in the low 90s with high humidity is a little easier than a desert Southwest summer. Any agreement on that from those who know Miami, New Orleans or Houston? By the way, what kind of a rental sled did you ultimately get (in case I missed that currently)?