mustang84

Arch unemployment is 50% in the Twin Cities? And 70 in Boston?? I don't know what it is here in Iowegia, but I wouldn't guess it to be more than 30%.

Another one is when your project manager comes over at 4:45 as the day is wrapping up and gives you something to work on that is due the next morning and takes an extra 3 hours, when they could have given it to you earlier in the afternoon but they forgot. Nice.

Nobody I work with really does this, but I have seen it in others. I can't stand it when someone is either on a phone or talking amongst their group VERY LOUDLY so that EVERYBODY CAN HEAR HOW IMPORTANT THEIR CONVERSATION IS. Half the time it is about the most inane, mundane things that 99% of people could care less about. But as far as co-workers go, I get tired of the gossip among the girls. A majority of my firm is between 25-35 years old, and there are a lot of single girls that I sit by who are constantly gossiping. I don't mind them usually, but they will spend 20-30 minutes at a time gossiping while the rest of us are working away. And these are the same people that will pad their hours and get praises for working long hours, while some of us are more efficient with our time and can get it done in the 8 hour day but get the "your hours have been lower than some others" comment at our mid-year reviews.

I don't want to completely generalize because one of my co-workers (cool guy) drives one, plus I think a few members here may have them, but what is it with Acura drivers usually being twentysomething pricks on an ego trip? I can't count the number of times I've seen Integras zipping and weaving between cars on the freeway like they own it. Personally, I'd rank them up there with BMW drivers for biggest asshats on the road.

Not really a specific car, per se, but I love this shot of the Lever House in 1955 with all the Detroit iron lined up along the street

Is that Kodachrome film? It has the color palette of it.

I'm debating whether to get some Blizzak's for the LS this winter. Right now it's riding on Continental all-season tires. Are winter tires really necessary if you take it slow?

Happy birthday Chris!

One more good one from the same photographer

I'll be doing just the opposite. This winter I'll be doing it with a RWD daily driver for the first time, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. I have driven RWD in the snow before, but it was a 5,000 lb E-350 loaded up with another 2,000 lbs of meat. From what I've heard, RWD may be easier to kick out the back end if you're driving too fast for conditions, but from personal experience with FWD you lose nearly all steering ability when you lose traction.

Where did this happen?

I've heard that it's not recommended to do that since the boiling water causes the plastic to melt and will end up making a toxic omelet.

I've always liked fruit snacks since I was a little kid, but we rarely had them because they were always so expensive. Even today, I rarely buy them because you pay $2-3 for a few little pouches that contain like 8 pieces per pouch. I've never understood why fruit snacks are so expensive and why the quantities are so small per package...they must make a killing.

Wow, that guy was good. I don't think I'll be trying the flipping thing anytime soon, but that was helpful. I'll have to try oil next time...all I had was cooking spray and the omelet seemed to be sticking to the pan when I was making it.

I made my first omelet today for breakfast, and the results were kind of mediocre for my first try. I sprayed the pan and then mixed the eggs with a little milk and butter, and then poured it into the pan with the heat on medium. After about 2-3 minutes when it started bubbling up and forming together, I added some cheese and bacon bits to the top and then folded it over and then let it cook for a couple more minutes. But when it was done, it came out really thick (almost like a scrambled egg patty) and porous, unlike any other omelet I've had before. It tasted ok, but it broke apart easily when I pulled it out of the pan and it just looked kinda odd. How do you guys cook your omelets, and what do you think I'm doing wrong?

Dio - Rock and Roll Children

Man, what was GM smoking in the mid 90s. They kill the B-bodies and put out the W Monte's instead of this. Can you imagine a Cutlass Supreme with this motor and platform? Olds might still be alive today if that had happened...

My theory is that it's a combination of the internet and computerization of music (ProTools, etc) that has turned most modern music into generic rubbish. Many bands use ProTools to do their own production, rather than going through a traditional recording studio. I'm sure it's a lot cheaper, but everything sounds so generic now because it's all electronically produced and mixed, rather than using skill to produce desired effects and unique sounds. Why work on refining that solo or riff when you saturate it with sound effects to hide the imperfections? Tom Scholz of Boston always used to mention in the album liner notes that Boston's music was produced 100% without synthesizers or drum machines, but he had the talent to make it sound as good as the polished stuff coming out of bands that did use these techniques. Also, the internet has made it so that every craptastic band can have a MySpace page. The traditional music industry is dead. Bands with talent that would formerly have been promoted by a major label to a wide audience are now lost in the shuffle of thousands of independent labels that don't have the finances or resources to properly get the word out.

In my 6-disc CD changer in my car, I have the following eclectic mix of CD's: Led Zeppelin: Early Years; Foreigner - Greatest Hits; Def Leppard - Hysteria; Nickelback - Dark Horse; NIN - Pretty Hate Machine; Pearl Jam - Ten Nickleback gets a lot of $h! and for good reasons, but I really like Dark Horse. The lyrics are typical dumb Nickleback, but the quality of the music, vocals, and production is pretty decent (it was produced by Mutt Lange of Def Leppard & AC/DC fame). The whole CD is flowing with energy and big drum beats. Recently I was posting in a thread at another website about how this decade will be remembered, and the consensus is that the 00's (aughties, buster decade, whatever they end up calling this time) has been the worst decade so far for music.

There really is no rhyme or reason to what I start my day with. Since I no longer buy soda for home, it'll usually either be juice or water. But usually I don't eat or drink anything before I'm off to work, so at work it will be either water or soda, with an energy drink thrown in here or there if I've stayed up late the night before. More often than not, it's water.

I had the option for a Ford ESP on my car, and I decided no even though there is tendency for specific things to go wrong and they can get expensive. But I'd rather take the chance than spend nearly a quarter of what I paid for my car on a 2 year / 24K mile warranty. For your car, I would say no since parts are available and repair costs shouldn't be too high since it's a common GM product.

Seal - Crazy (a guilty pleasure, but it's a good chill song)

I never really was a fan of the way the X-Type looks, but I haven't driven one so I can't comment. I wonder if it has the same 5-speed as in the S-Type/LS. Paired with the 3.0, it's supposed to have some pep.

A future classic in the making...nice ride! Great to see the last of the full-size Caddys in good hands.