tmp

A friend in NYC IM'd me- it was 99 degrees last night at 11pm. Plus, the subway car she took in to work had no AC. She said it was like a sauna.

T- You're loyal to those you love. H- You have a good personality and looks. O- You are one of the best in bed. M- Success comes easily to you. A- You like to drink. S- Easy to fall in love with.

well, I've driven the XLR and the SL500 back-to-back on a track. I'm not a "professional" auto writer like the kids at C-D, but my impressions were more favorable towards the Cadillac on handling: the brakes, acceleration and steering on the Benz seemed to be half a tick off between turn-of-the-wheel and turn of the tires, etc. I'm 6'2" with a 34" inseam. The XLR is a tight fit, the Benz is more expansive. The Benz has incrementally nicer materials (very slightly) but the Benz dash layout is goofy looking and the ergonomics aren't as good (and I'm sorry CoMand sucks). I think the XLR looks great, but a little unfinished at the airdam, and the Benz is festooned with those freaking plastic gills all over the place that C&D would have a field day ripping if GM dared to put them on the G6

Croc, that was the best laugh I've had in days....

I was told by someone from Japan that sushi is fingerfood, and you are supposed to treat it that way (a lot of Japanese restaurants here forget that it's also supposed to be one bite). You use the chopsticks to serve yourself the sushi from the communal plate, but you take your portion using the side that does not touch you lips. Sashimi, obviously, is eaten with Hashi (chopsticks). Most Americans make the mistake with rice of trying to get it from the bowl on the table to their lips. It's perfectly acceptable to pick up the bowl and scoop the rice to your lips with the Hashi. Same with noodles.

I don't think the new ads are bad, but they aren't brilliant, either. The sepia-toned one of the Calatrava-looking bridge and the one with "The Tubes" are pretty, but don't really say anything about the brand, they say more about Modernista! thinking how cool they are. The ones with the models are okay, but not great; the one with the two guys (is that one for the gay rags?) is the best of them, since the one with the girl and the one with the single guy both look as if they're bored or pi$$ed off. Not a good look if you're trying to sell a luxury brand. The graphics could use some work as well. The best of the lot is the one for the Escalade- it almost has a bit of the feel of the 60's ads, but modernised. I give it a B, when it needs to be an A+ But does this mean that we'll start to see Cadillac in script on the cars again?

The best thing to do is wait until the last moment of the auction and slam a bid in that is the absolute highest you are willing to pay. Having written that, I can tell you that for a lot of things, eBay is no longer the bargain it was 5 years ago. I see things that are ending up to be more than retail when you include the shipping and "handling".

Yesterday, it was 119 in Woodland Hills. I don't know what the actual temp on the westside was, but I was driving up Sepulveda Blvd towards Mulholland and stuck my hand out the window. It was exactly like sticking my arm in a dryer vent. Today, I went to the Chevy "RevItUp" thing at El Toro. I had signed up for the 7 am run, because I knew from experience that it would be hot there by noon. I was there for an hour, and they closed the event for lightning, making us wait in our cars for about an hour or so until the radar showed that the storms were going around us. The lightning was putting on a show. I got finished at about noon, and drove home on the 5. It was hailing in Irvine, pouring in Buena Park, raining in Commerce, spitting downtown, and raining again on the westside. All with lightning strikes. But the good thing is that it seems to have cut some of the heat. Yesterday was horrible, even with the AC running (thank god my friend gave me one she no longer uses, I would have had to go sleep in the bathtub last night without it). It's supposed to cool off early this week, and then get hotter. Oh, joy.

I'm not even going to give them the page views.

I have a Costco card from work. I use it about once a year or two, getting replacement heads for my razor and vitamins. I used to have a friend with whom I'd food shop for produce, but she moved bac to NYC and I started shopping at the Grand Central Market downtown, which is dirt cheap. I live alone, so the gallon o'mayo stuff is not for me. There's cheap gas, but it makes no sense to drive all the way to Van Nuys to save, what, a buck? My car has about a six cup tank. I may go there for tires, though.

Beautiful job, NOS!

I like her. She's not cookie-cutter pretty. She rocks the smoking rack and the gorgeous eyes. Plus, she hasn't gone to a surgeon and had all traces of any ethnicity removed.

Do you get enough iodine? I read that's why they put iodine in salt.

It wasn't a pizza delivery car (and I forgot my phone to take a picture) but parked in Chinatown today at lunch was an XK8 convertible painted Barney purple with '59 Cadillac Fleetwood fins grafted on the back. Klassee!

the only thing terrifying about this is that you may run across a naked Walter Cronkite......

It's pretty well known on the West coast, and to readers of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books. I vote for innocuous group of middle-ages straight guys getting together to get bombed and act stupid in private.

I could be completely wrong, but it always looked to me that they were just running the car without the taillamp covers- just the inner part painted flat black with the lenses

It isn't, that's the point. But it is coming along. It's about the only place left in LA that's still somewhat affordable that isn't on the corner of Crack and Addicted. I amazed at how spruced up the neighborhood has become in hte past 2 years, and not just because new people are moving in. It's like the new people have encouraged the long-time residents to step up the game. Every house on the block now has new paint and landscaping in the front yards. The realtor who sold my friend the house in HP was really good too- really worked to get a house that my friend would like. My friend liked her so much that she steered two friends to her, and eventually the woman who owned the house that Missy-Uppity gave me such attitude for walking into.

In the '96 season, they did a parody of a Barbra Streisand movie called "Terms of Imprisonment" that was the cruelest, funniest thing I'd seen on TV to that point. It was great.

I've had good dealings and bad ones. The agents who sold my friends house in the Hollywood Hills was great- it was a difficult house to sell (only 2 bedrooms, nothing updated since it was built in '58) but the realtor worked his a$$ off with it and got the asking price- this before the market went totally nuts. Then there was one who treated me like I was street trash (I was out visiting my friend in Highland Park and dared to stop in to have a look at an open house ner her place). I guess my Gap jeans and t-shirt didn't pass muster to her. Oh well. I heard later that the seller canned the bi#ch. She cancelled three open houses and stood up showing the house to a potential buyer twice. I know, because friends of mine were the potential buyers....

MG-B's had 3 wipers as well. I liked the single wiper on the Benz as well. I wonder why they dropped it? The kind of made a big deal about how great it was at the time.

the only way that story could be funnier is if the bear hot-wired the car and drove off...

It's good, it made me want to read more. Mr. Snotty Writer Grammar Police does have to point out however, that it should be "walked briskly"

I thought they should put it on the doorsills, like they used to. Or the seatbelts.

Angelina's lips are real. You can tell by the fact that they move like real lips (she can compress them, and they flatten when she smiles. As opposed to say, Meg Ryan's. Softform doesn't allow you to do that) She does have that exotic look going on, but I think that's fine. I just used her as a comic example. Actually, if I was going to hetero, I'd go there for Salma Hayek. I think she is just lovely. And I chose Brad to go along with the joke. Personally, I'd like Vin Diesel. In defense of Ms. Williams, those are not contacts. She has the exact same light bluish-green eyes that I do. She is also well known as one of the nicest people in the industry, even to people like me, who can do absolutely nothing for her except champion her sweetness on internet forums. But I'd still rather sleep with her ex....