trinacriabob

You need to take a picture of THE GATE and post it! Wait, on second thought, it might make it easier for ocnblu to find you!

So, it's another London, basically, but with nice weather. My parents emigrated to Australia from Italy for 3 short years, returning to Europe and then moving to the states. They went to Melbourne because that's where fellow emigrants from the same town went. Their report was kind of "eh." It doesn't hold such pull for me, while I think it is probably an intriguing land. First, the 14 hour NONSTOP (yes, all of them) flight from LA is incomprehensible for my high strung personality. Second, I just went to London for the first time. The left-hand drive system leaves me completely disoriented, even when just walking around. Lastly, beaches chock full of sharks and some of the most lethal snakes and crocodiles assembled in one place. Yeah, I know, ignorance. If I get the chance, I will someday try to get to Sydney, at the very least. If I ever had to leave North America on a full-time basis, my choice would be Portugal...even more so than Italy. It's less hectic.

It doesn't bother me, but it makes me perplexed as to what I emit. Most of the time, I'm in my own world and someone interrupts my silence. Just yesterday, I got asked about train routes on Portland's light rail, and I was wearing a Montreal t-shirt, for God's sake. One day, when I did live up here in the mid-90s, I got asked directions on the way to work, during my lunch hour and going home from work. THREE times in a day. The funniest: - asked for directions in Buenos Aires in November 2005 when I went to South America - asked for directions in Munich, Germany while walking through a rural suburb last month How about you? Do people approach you out of the clear blue sky? For directions? For other odd reasons?

exercise (in futility)

You'll get over it. LOL. Any populated place is Europe is WORK.My vote: small towns in Quebec, north and east of Montreal. SOOOOOO peaceful. But you have to speak frog.

Weird, in that the Series I is the workhorse of workhorses and yours has some issues. I have 237,500 miles on mine, is as quiet as when it was new, and that's why I am hesitant to buy even a demo or lease return...only new, $h!, I've waited enough. I research vehicles and powertrains to death, break them in gently, do a break in oil and then do oil every 2,000 to 2,500 from then on. Trans fluid is changed every 20,000, even if it doesn't need it. I need to have peace of mind. Still, there are NO guarantees. But my program of "overmaintenance" has always paid off thus far.

Maureen McCormick was Marcia Brady, for you younger members who may not know. In the 70s and 80s, that look was an LA mainstay, practically a dime a dozen. Nowadays, in LA, you don't see anybody like that. So where are they? The same is true in Portland. In the last 10 years, WASPY pissy little Portland (I hate Northwesterners) doesn't look as white and pissy as it did 10 years ago. I know where the Maureen McCormicks are. In Chico and places like that, which is where I happen to be today en route to Sacramento. The third tier tiny cities of the West are where those people apparently now reside, unless they live in the spendy neighborhoods of the urban areas they didn't leave (Bellevue WA, Lake Oswego OR, the foothill suburbs of Sacto and Orange or Ventura Counties instead of Los Angeles County proper). What are the major demographic shifts taking place in your area? Where have Greg and Marcia moved to?

WMJ, you think like me! I pity you, just kidding! LOVED that Grand Prix and LOVED the dash. Pontiac has always done a better job with dashes than other GM divisions. Add to the 1981 to 1987 Grand Prix the 1981 to 1987 RWD Cutlass Supreme coupe, preferably in small-block V8 form.

paraprofessional some of the idiots I've worked with that drag down projects

True.And, in response to Ven's comment above, Cadillac has more things to go wrong, considering the number of simpler LaCrosses and Lucernes that help kick Buick up a little bit. I am sure that a lot of the problems are in the more esoteric accessories. Incidentally, back to my prolonged W body acquisition, I showed the THREE to my Mom and she liked the LaCrosse the best. She said it was more timeless. Also, as I drove down the length of Oregon yesterday into NorCal, I was paralleling a Park Avenue (of vintage similar to that of Ven's) but in the pearl white extra cost paint. I was relieved to see a "zipper head" type lady (Cher look alike, kind of earthy), driving this car, with 2 kids in the back and no bumper stickers. She would have looked quite at home in a Subaru, yet she was piloting a P.A., and this put a smile on my face. The earthy crunchy liberals are so fixated that a foreign nameplate MUST be better, thereby adding to their packaged approach to life. I think that, even if you rammed these studies in their faces, they would still keep buying those brands appropriate to their image.

You're not kidding. It is an absolutely beautiful car, not only in looks but in ride, handling and such...especially for FWD packaging.The Consumer Reports dots don't seem to report problems with the 3.5 V6 (post 2000) though I would always prefer a 3800, simply because it's a known quantity to me. If you like the car, and have to go used, then do it. Make sure you keep a spare $ 1000 or so aside for an intake manifold or other problem on any Intrigue having over 75,000 miles...or any other car with that many miles.

I didn't catch how many miles on the current Lumina. I just left the shop here in Portland with new plug wires. The Regal is starting to be frayed, but I get 29 and 27 mpg up to Seattle and back on Monday. I'm feeling a lot less attached to it, lately. Have the other 2 choices checked thoroughly before you pop for them. You may have a hidden repair on those though the Impy will have a good motor (probably a 5 or 5.7 V8 and RWD) and the 3800 should be Series I which means no intake manifold issues. The best thing to do is create 3 columns for the 3 cars with estimated cash flows for repairs, purchase price and sales price upon exit, then make up your mind. If they are close, you can be somewhat steered by emotion. Does this mean I should cross a new MC with a 3500 VVT V6 (born out of the 3400) off my list? What's your take on that? Let us know what you decide.

skanky bitch sorry, just too clean-cut to find any of these musician/tabloid bitches even minimally worthwhile

I tend to agree with you. The rear was a real turn off, with the lamps sharing the same shape as the Mitsubishi 3000 2 seater of about 10 years ago. The dash is a repeat of sooo many dashboards. Credit to the front end for general restraint and good taste.I keep saying over and over that if the GP had gotten a better make over than it did in 2004 and it were RWD, it might have fetched more aficionados. Instead, it alientated people from the 97-03 run, except for the fleet crowds. The best thing about it is sitting behind its provocatively shaped dash which will be ho-hum in the upcoming G8.

ragtop

Phone companies. Going to the dogs. I swear. I just spent 52 minutes to an MCI call center in Argentina. I ingratiated myself somewhat by speaking entirely in Spanish, which they fully understood. This is my 6th call to MCI since May and a credit has been issued against the final bill, though 1 call back in May should have sufficed. In short: - called MCI to disconnect on May 17th - had to stay in my place 1 month longer, so I called on May 11th to cancel the disconnect...I thought that 6 days prior was enough time - was told that their "system" did not EASILY allow for order cancellations/adjustments once placed because of the fact that they don't own the lines, they are resellers - phone service was reinstated by their "priority" contacting of my local phone company, but these jack-asses did NOT reinstate any of my calling plans...that took 2 more phone calls. - my phone bill for flat rate unlimited domestic and some international averages around $90 a month. As a result of NOT reinstating the calling plans, my June bill was initially over a $ 1,000 dollars but with their recalc was $ 128. This was ALSO wrong and I had to talk to them for 1 hour to take off more which correctly calculated back to about $90, but at first they didn't see my point. If I had been speaking to the Philippines instead of Argentina, I am sure the phone call would have taken 2 hours, possibly without any results. Bottom line: - Stay away from the "resellers," IMHO. They are administratively cumbersome to deal with. Those that carry the lines are now offering better packages, at last. I just switched my Mom onto a Verizon package with flat rate domestic and an international plan, and her first 2 bills were better. Plus, you get to speak to someone in the states, at least for now. Any horror stories?

roach

Great that you bring this up. I have (had) a friend in Portland who had the 3-night rule for travel. He said that you need to spend at least 3 nights in the same place while doing a multi-stop trip. He is right. One or two night stops are horrible and leave you disoriented. Three is good. I've actually found 4 nights to be a better baseline.

Yes, and a result of sleeping in your airport between 2 AM and 7 AM, I HATE your airport. Remember, I HAVE been to Houston. My friend lived by Dairy Ashford and Westheimer. It's just been about 10 or 15 years. And, yes, I thought...$h!...if it were earlier, I should have been having coffee with 98 somewhere out by the Galleria on Westheimer.

animal

I need to wring your neck. You are telepathic. Believe me, that was going through my head OVER and OVER.

I came home a week early. I made it...what an adventure. I had to overnight in London because I came into one major airport (Heathrow) and out of another (Gatwick). At least, I got to see London for an afternoon which normally would have not been part of my plans. It was a likable place, though cleary the most 'EFFIN expensive city I have EVER visited. In short, I had had enough of the heat and humidity, the congestion, the overpriced dinky rental cars and ridiculous gas prices, the fact that I probably spent $ 100 Euros ($ 138 USD) on bottled water in 5 weeks because they don't give you free water in restaurants as you may think, the sensory overload of adjacent cultures and adjacent languages, and the fact that rude customer service goes unchecked. Let's face it, we go to Europe for the cultural and architectonic richness, the fact that 5 countries have vast amounts of beautiful coastline, and, to a point, to get sucked into the cultural differences until we say "that's enough" and want to go home. For some of us, wanting to see relatives compels us to "cross the pond" as well. At any rate, had a miserable flight and New York to Houston and MISCONNECTED due to weather at Newark. I thus spent the night (from 2 am to 8 am) in the Houston Intercontinental airport, joining padded chairs to sleep, as many others had done. Pictures to come.

factory

Philadelphia cheesesteakHow can we forget?

hero