trinacriabob

That's not how I like to interact with people; however, it just showed how completely one-sided the transaction was. One is obviously on vacation, dressed like they are going to plop themselves into a lake, with no documents of any kind and they are going to buy a car from this guy? It was about his immediate needs and not my longer-term needs. People like that give salespeople a bad reputation.I did not feel immature or regret it. I just prefer that people use their common sense and employ more courtesy so it doesn't come to that. Sidebar: I once got a coupon for an opening night at a new Gold's Gym. They would be having a taco bar. One co-worker who kidded to me that I always stood him up whenever he wanted to go have a drink (he had no clue I was going to school, as I kept it from the office) again said let's go get a drink or something to eat. I said "YES!," we are going to a health club opening for their taco bar and whatever liquids they have. Upon getting there, I was hounded to join (I already belong to 24-Hour Fitness) but I insisted that I had to think about it. They were borderline surly after that. I didn't ask you MOFOs to send me an invitation to your opening.

party animal

Glad to hear you had a nice time. I love Tim Horton's ... it makes breakfast seem "foreign." As for the home prices in Columbus, what you save in the home price, you'll have to fork out for anti-depressants and/or therapy. Just kidding.I myself went to Tahoe one day and the Yuba River another day...in a rented G6. The weather was nothing short of glorious.

Pooper Scooper

That's the way it should be. I was on vacation in Canada (the province of Alberta) once and stopped in at a Chevy dealer. I couldn't believe what a gentleman the salesman was. Very courteous and informative -- he knew I was from the States, and still was interested in telling me about various products and features, as well as talking a little bit about...you know....US/Canada similarities and differences. If I lived in Alberta, I would have bought a car from him in a heartbeat.

At such a low price, it made sense to rent instead of take the Regal. I had rented a compact. When I got there, they had no cars. They gave me a Trailblazer. They are nice, but not stunning. And even with a 4.2 Vortec 6, they are NOT economical. However, it was the lack of a canvas in the rear that caused me to take it back a few hours later. "Please give me something with a trunk." "How about a G6?" "Perfect." The overall stance of the G6 inspires confidence. It's rakish and the wheels are planted at the outer corners to the greatest extent possible, elongating the wheelbase. The rear quarter view is probably the most attractive. The front fascia is somewhat attractive, being more angular and less pointy than what is found in the Grand Prix. In fact, the G6s front end should have been grafted onto the Grand Prix instead of the pointier features its bigger brother has. I can't help but make comparisons to the Grand Prix, as this is sort of a baby Grand Prix...much the same way the Alero was a baby Intrigue, right down to the similarities in the dashboards of those 2 Oldsmobiles. Getting inside, the comparisons continue. The circular vents, in-dash ignition (kudos) and smallish stiffly bolstered buckets (demerits) say Grand Prix ... again. However, I instantly missed the wrap-around effect of the Grand Prix which has a very interesting dashboard. This dashboard is more linear and easier to get to know. Controls are logically placed and the gauges are nicely clustered. Interestingly enough, at night, they are a nicer hue of red instead of orange. Between this and the more reasonable proportions of the gauges, it was nicer than the Grand Prix. I liked the few smartly used faux wood inserts but dread any urethane steering wheel...once you've piloted behind a stitched leather wheel, it's hard to go back. It makes for a car that feels completely different, in my mind. The driving experience is also mixed. There is no doubt that the G6 can be described as taut and athletic. It is, if I am not mistaken, on the Malibu platform, which rides more serenely but doesn't handle as crisply. I don't attribute this to the EPS (electric power steering) the Malibu has ... it has to be the tuning of the suspension bits. In fact, this G6 did not have the EPS, probably owing to the fact that it was 3.5 V6 equipped. These come with conventional hydraulic power steering, evidently, and the road feel was definitely present. (Personally, I don't mind the electric steering mated to the 4 bangers which makes the handling very nimble). The 3.5 V6 makes the car quite lively, at over 200 horses pulling this little sled. The mileage wasn't as good as it could have been...some 23.5 mpg in mixed driving, but I had the A/C on and much of it was in mountain terrain (to get the inflatable mattress onto Lake Tahoe!). Interestingly enough, this 3.5 has VVT. So, now, this engine is not only found in the Impy and the MC, but this car and the Aura, such that they are putting out about half a million of those powerplants per year! Steering and response is almost go-kart like, so it is a fun car to drive. It feels quite stable at 65 to 70 mph and on winding roads. However, it is far from being a boulevardier. Interstate 80, as one starts approaching the higher elevations in the Sierras, has abonimable pavement surface, probably because of all the chains that have rutted it. On these surfaces, it rode busily. Not only that, outside noise was not that well contained. Other larger GM cars, and even the Malibu for that matter, I've rented and driven over this route did not cope with the pavement as poorly as the G6 did in terms of noise and vibration. Also, any imperfections on poorly maintained samll 2-lane mountain roads transmitted into the cabin without being filtered out. Again, even the Grand Prix seemed to handle these better. In short, the G6 is a sensible package. It is not as comfortable as I would like, neither in the ergonomics of its seating nor in the isolation of road imperfections and wind noise. But, it is likeable -- definitely more so than its predecessor, the Grand Am. It's an ideal car for a student, someone just starting out in the work world, or someone looking for competent transportation in the high teens (in terms of $s) if it were 4-cylinder equipped. To those audiences, I recommend it.

flight deck

You're out of town and you're bored....or actually interested....in CARS. So you go down to the local car dealership that has the brands you like to look around. Am I the only one that does this? I hope not. Well, when I do, I always preface any approach with "I'm not local...not from the area. I'm just looking." This way, they don't "invest" their time in me. This weekend, I went out of town in a rental car. I see a B-P-GMC dealer and decide to stop to peruse the inventory, seeing there were some GPs and LaXs. I was dressed in shorts, t-shirt and sandals and, as the salesman approached, I said "I'm not from the area. I'm just looking around." So, I proceeded to look around and sit in a few cars. He came by again and asked me where I was from. I told him and, figuring it was about 150 miles away, he said "How'd you like to drive home in a brand new car?" I absof@#kinglutely hate that, having had that happen 3 or 4 times. Every time this has happened, it was a less than professional type of salesman...kind of a slickster, if you will. You tell them you're not from the area, you are dressed like crap and "on vacation," you have no pad or calculator on you....c'mon, how many people would consummate such a purchase far from home unless they have seen the car on the GM website "Find a car"? I was probably a jerk and said "No, I don't impulse buy a big ticket item...that's how 'low-life' buys a car." He was fuming. Yes I was a rude jerk in return, but I intensely hate that approach, being so methodical about home and car purchases, as I'm sure many C&Gers are, knowing quite a bit about cars. With all due respect to the other auto salespeople on the site like Carbiz and others, I personally like to work with the informed low-pressure salesman who helps me buy a car. Once I've done my shopping, I think about who was the most informative and least pushy...that's who I want to have earn the commission. Have any of you had any similar scrapes at an auto dealership?

Frank Lloyd Wright was a train wreck...5 or 6 marriages, bankruptcies, arrogant...and his work wasn't even uniformly good.

Glad to see #3 is rated where it is. I've always liked their price. A "baker's dozen" of those is actually reasonably priced. But my last purchase's package has "stale dated" -- that's how much action I'm seeing lately.

butter

I-80 (goes over the Donner Pass, el. 7,300 ft., which I will do today)

Well, I'm not in architecture as of roughly Spring Break and, if I ever dabble, it will be on my terms. I plan on keeping my license(s). I do like small scale residential.I sort of saw the writing on the wall while in the architectural program. It is clearly a step below the professionalism than being in a business, law, or health curriculum. How could it not be? It's full of pussified catty men. There are some people who are only good at design and useless at anything technical, yet they are granted a degree, and here is where the problem lies. I got As in design but I also sat in the front and payed attention in all my structures classes. In fact, when I opened "the envelope" containing my licensing exam scores, my highest was a 96 in structures-general, which floored me. The problem is that these bull$h!ters get into firms, don't do any work and only want the glam part of the job: design and client contact. Just like the pussified a-hole (married, but with all his dapperness, crisp articulation, weird mannerisms and plants, kind of questionable) that came into the firm I worked for and caused everybody under him to leave. My attitude toward them: go to work for a f@#king advertising agency instead! It's not always bad. But there are more unprofessional firms than professional firms and that nauseates me.

C-H-A-R-G-E-R-I-N-O Happy birthday!!! I need to put down as many emoticons as there are Word Association posts...but that would take too long, as it's Memorial Day weekend.

I hate hearing $h! like this. It seems like the good ones encounter these problems - this last semester, I had a management seminar that dealt with leadership and ethics - your past principal sounded like the profile of the kind of "charismatic" person that theoretically ought to make it (except for the "too nice" part) but, in reality, it's quite the opposite....so much for book learning.Curious...in the school system, is he just "lateraled over" to another school in the district....or is he S.O.L.? My biggest problem is that I tend to be a good project manager checking all the minutia (like my spelling corrections LOL) that it tends to keep me in that same spot whenever I get under one of these "broker" types who are "big picture" and don't care about the details but want someone else to tend to that...so I then "check out" and look elsewhere, since most firms are revolving doors, that's seldom a problem. (I was ecstatic that I was able to hand them a nice financial blow, leaving the project and the firm at such a critical point). However, these flakes aren't as prevalent in my upcoming career shift, having been there before. There are not many "broker" types, they all have their sleeves rolled up doing the work.

That's a keeper!

"orca"

penguin

As my father used to say: "Tutto il mondo e paese" Meaning: "The world is a village" I have seen this kind of crap everywhere, but your story sounds a little more like Italy than the U.S.

monk

My Catholic high school in LA was about 15 % black. The black girls were always sassy in class and it made it entertaining ... some of the priests and nuns didn't know what to do. By comparison, some of the student council blondies were sooooo uptight.P, you teach, don't teachers almost always put up with the smart alecks when they're A students who learn a little too quickly? I had the highest grades in high school French class and I was sometimes getting sent to detention. We're derailing Nick's thread. Nick, howya doin'?

altruism

I resigned from one a couple of months ago. I worked there for almost 3 years. The first 2 years were fine, but one day in early 2006, 6 people (the most promising employees) out of 40 quit and started their own firm. (They were guys who hung out together outside of work and did the beer/shooting range thing, so those of us who didn't "fit in" weren't invited along...no hard feelings). About 10 more left during 2006 because the atmosphere had become depressing. I thought about quitting immediately as their work would fall on other people's shoulders and stress everybody out, but I had to consider the following: - a hair under 2 years would not look good on a resume - I had just gotten braces on the cafeteria plan - I saw no point in switching employers for 1 year as I finished my night time degree and then moved on anyway My first boss there was awesome...once he left, I worked for some incompetent assholes. One partner was new and had brought in some plum projects but he was one of those "marketing only" type architects who just schmoozed and passed on the technical work...he had his own practice, had gotten into a lot of trouble with clients and had a bad reputation in the area. I was assigned to work on a massive car dealership complex under him and I was the day-to-day technical guy working for this loser. (While it was a car dealership, it was not that interesting, trust me). He didn't like getting his hands dirty, so he never checked what and how much I was doing, not knowing I was taking classes in the evening and not thinking I would quit. The way I 'effed him, and the firm, was simply by working 40 hours: 2 doing admin work, 10 on my other projects and only about 28 on a massive project. They were in a world of hurt when I left as Mr. Marketing tried to talk me into staying... and running the job went to a "job captain" (draftsman type) who looked like Jesus. He worked under me and I knew he would be in "over his head." Mr. Marketing told Jesus to cut his hair to which Jesus was rightfully upset. I heard that this high-profile project will not be profitable. Since I in essence designed the building and Mr. Marketing would take the credit, I wanted to make sure I wasn't there to do the hard part of the job (ratcheting down the drawings to tiny tolerances, dealing with the building department and seeing it through construction). There are SOOOO many ass-holes out there.

SPCA

pet (they've become increasingly popular as pets)