trinacriabob

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

That little $h!.Those sledding breeds are about 50:50...some like people and others are aloof. Which is he?

A trio of site celebrities, indeed. Intrigued, INSTEAD of taking pictures ( :AH-HA_wink:), remember that, from "across the pond" I am asking you NOT to run up a bar tab! Enjoy, guys!

gyro sandwich

Not any more. Is there a web site for ASLA, or a Northern California chapter of it, that could give some supplier references via links? Or other related sites with a link to the area? Also, keep in mind, hanging out in that area is VERY expensive and San Jose is quite ho-hum compared to the city of San Francisco.

Motown cool, cool $h!...and all those sassy black chicks

Remember, you make time coming back. I will be overnighting in London. The net gain is about 5 days. A couple of things have started to wear on me and I want H-O-M-E. Plus, I have been sitting around my relatives' house in Florence for 5 days now, doing nothing, without a car and it is f@#king hot and humid.

Yeah, and I'm sure you're itching for an "invite."

Hasselhoff Where are you, Reg?

It's because it's a non-revenue ticket (freq. flyer) and it's a very late change. I was happy to get it, though.

camel... ...jockey oops, political incorrectness has crept in!

I now have a ticket. This beats my record of 5 segments (occurring in 2002 as well as coming over this time) SIX 'effin segments: 1 Florence - Paris 2 Paris - London 3 London - New York 4 New York - Houston 5 Houston - Seattle 6 Seattle - Portland (*) It's a SkyTeam ticket so the first 2 legs are Air France and the next 3 are Delta/Continental. (*) I then had to ask her to look up Alaska for the last segment as they collaborate with Sky Team and she found me a spot on the puddlejumper between Seattle and Portland. Yahoo. Glad to be going home. I will sleep for a couple of days and also hit some granolafied hot springs somewhere (it's Oregon, after all) to soothe some sore muscles. In the future, there will only be 2 week trips to Europe.

Heehee...I can feel the love between PA and DE. :AH-HA_wink:

The Miragewe're talking Vegas hotels, right?