Robert Hall

I spent part of my childhood rural--lived on a 150-acre place in hilly eastern Ohio, 2 1/2 miles from the nearest town, which had about 250 people. I knew kids in town, went to elementary school there, my dad was the school superintendent, so my folks knew everyone..1 gas station in town, 1 resturant, 1 small grocery store. When I was 8, my dad took a superintendents job in a larger town (about 30,000) fifty miles away, we bought a house there and split our time between both places...by the time I was 12, my dad retired, we bought a house in the Florida Keys and split time between there and the 'farm' (we didn't grow anything). Went to junior high and high school in Florida--small town of 3000 with a lot of retirees and part-time residents..interesting experience. My mom still lives on the farm, my older brother nearby. It was interesting as a kid, but as an adult I find it deadly dull...too isolated, too insular...but the garage space is great (on the farm, we have two 2 car garages and a barn--at one time, between my folks and my brother and I, we had 15 cars, a Winnebago, and a tractor there). As an adult, I've lived in big cities (Chicago), college towns-- Ann Arbor, Kent), and decent-sized metro areas (Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Denver, Phoenix), and find I'd rather be in a metro area, either downtown or in close-in suburbs. The isolation, lack of metro area amenities (no Starbucks, no Target, no ethnic restaurants, no bookstores, computer/electronics stores, etc within 50 miles) , the distance from airports (100 miles from Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cleveland), no software companies, make small towns or rural living unattractive to me at this stage of my life...

True...there is definitely a market for smaller 4cyl and 6cyl RWD models, I think...look at the '08 Caddy CTS..sounds like it's going be an excellent sports sedan with a V6.. I would think other future RWD GMs could use the 3.6.

Same here..the RWD models are the only ones that remotely interest me, the only ones that would bring me to buy a new GM product...

Makes me wonder...are they still going to be building their old W &G FWD models with 4-spd autos through 2010-2011?

A European number plate would fit well there, an NA one also probably. I'd like to see a return of the offset licence plates...that was a neat GM touch in the '70s.

I saw a really clean '76-77 Vega hatchback tonight..it was almost dark out, think it was dark blue. Very unusal to see something like that. Also saw a clean '74 Grand Am 4dr (blue w/ white top) this afternoon.

My first trip to London I stayed in a Thistle in the Bloomsbury neighborhood, close to the British Museum...the room was so small it was literally the 'bed's room'...i.e. no space to walk around the bed on either side, barely enough room between the end of the bed and the tv/mini bar unit. Had to sit the luggage on the bed to open it.. On a trip to Italy on the return I stayed in a Holiday Inn near Heathrow airport that had a wierd feature of lights that would only work if you inserted your key in a unit on the wall...had to get some from the front desk to explain it (no signs or anything). One of nicest hotel stays in Europe I've had was the suite in Milan at the Hilton...a short walk to the main train station, and bathroom was huge, with additional side jets in the shower, heated towel bars, etc.. that one cost alot of points.

The name makes me think of application frameworks...this Flex rocks..

I travel for work usually one week every other month at most..did two weeks in a row last month though.. I don't really like it that much, if it's to a client site it means 10 hr work days for 4 days in blah places like South Sioux City, West Des Moines or Trenton (and less than ideal connecting fligts). Going to other corporate offices for meetings in Emeryville, CA or downtown San Francisco isn't bad, though. But the frequent flyer miles and hotel points make it worthwhile..

Hmmm..Kazakh Chevys...what, no Corvette, Impala, Tahoe?

Mainstreamers don't care...the RWD difference only matters to enthusiasts...

I like the styling..they are distinctive and will hold up, I think...unlike GM's W-bodies--the bland styling of which are instantly forgotten. A friend of mine once described a certain era of GM styling (refering to the FWD A-, J-, N- bodies) as so bland that you could misplace one in an empty parking lot..

George Bush hates all people...that aren't white fundie Christians..

Interesting..I saw some of the pics there were from I-40 in Grants, NM... I've been through there a few times on my way to Phoenix...lots and lots of cars junked along the sides of the road..

Yeah, those were the A/Gs... (didn't they call them A-bodies from '78-81, until that designation moved to a FWD platform in '82)?

Katrina seems to be a forgotten event in the US, New Orleans the forgotten city..

Mmmm..pointy. I'm really liking the CTS...but in dark colors.

I had a GP rental in Dec 05 in Portland...got stuck for 8 hrs in an ice storm trying to go about 30 miles. Not fun. Though I'm not a fan of FWD, the car's traction on ice was impressive...I didn't spin out and crash like so many other cars around me on the I-5 'Freeway of Horror' did that afternoon/evening. (I've experienced a lot of nasty driving conditions in my past in the Rust Belt and in the Rockies, but nothing as horrifying as the ice storm). The car was ok, drove and handled reasonably well (went over to the coast, and up the Columbia River gorge when the weather was nice). Some of the interior materials seemed ok, some cheap...the speedometer was huge.. It was a pain to parallel park downtown because it's a difficult car to see out of, I thought...hard to figure out where the edges of the car are. All in all, a decent rental..

I don't see myself upgrading anytime soon... currently have a mix of XP, 2000 Pro, OS X, Solaris, and a couple flavors of Linux in the home office...

my worst hotel experience in recent years was a Priceline purchased Best Western at the Honolulu airport..cheap, but seriously sucky...the rooms faced a double-decker freeway and the traffic noise was deafening...only two lights in the room worked, the rest were burnt out.. the bed and pillows were lumpy, the ceiling and tub had stains, the carpet was stained, etc. It was only for 2 nights on a quicky/cheap trip, but still.. I try and stick with Marriott, Hilton/Hilton Garden Inn, and occasionally Holiday Inn when I travel... in Europe, I've stayed mostly in Hiltons, but also the UK chain Thistle (tiny but clean rooms).

Interesting..I just noticed the hatch, rear bumper and taillights are different between the 3dr and 5dr (smaller rear window on 3dr, pointed bottom on the 3dr hatch, etc).

Nope...flying direct Denver<->Pittsburgh.

Finally found the Buick GN the other day...one wierd detail--the front end is done in a tilt-forward style cut through the front fenders...it doesn't tilt, though, but the whole front end is removable as one piece...

Cool... I'm heading to Ohio for about a week around Memorial Day weekend...will get my oldies out.... it's always fun driving around in the '69 Mustang, even with just an AM radio, listening to the rumble of the 351.... or driving the '87 Mustang GT and remembering when I had hair I will also probably drive one of my mom's Cougars (the '68 390/automatic XR-7 is easy to drive, but the '67 289 3-spd manual and '68 302 3-spd manual ones (both with manual steering and manual brakes) are handfuls...

I have a Specialized. Sitting on two flat tires currently...got to get it out and tuned up for Spring.