mustang84

Anybody know what this is? http://dustyfoto.com/land234/image/142

We've had wall clouds similar to this before, but never this low nor how quickly it moved across the sky. It was low enough that the top of the tallest building here (only about 270 ft high) was covered when it rolled in. That would've been a trip to be standing up there as it hit. The tornado sirens were going off, but no tornadoes touched down thankfully.

This storm rolled in late yesterday evening and brought 70 mph straight line winds with it. I was at work when it happened and managed to get a sequence of pics, but my stupid phone SD card got corrupted and only one was saved. These are from my co-worker's house a few miles northeast of where I was.

Yes. It's huge in person. I parked my car near it and the trunk sticks up probably a good 4-6" above my trunk. The pics released by Ford don't really do it justice; in natural light it looks really good. Fit and finish seemed pretty good too.

Well done for burgers, and for steaks I usually go medium well.

I've seen one Taurus, but was sitting on a back lot and had a SOLD sticker on it. Haven't seen them at any other dealerships yet. I've only seen one Camaro, and it was V6.

I'm thinking about switching to something else for my primary music player. I've always used iTunes though, so I don't really know what's good out there. I have Winamp (not sure what version), but I haven't poked around on it enough to know how well it does at organizing libraries. iTunes is pretty functional when it comes to organization, but since 7.0 came out it has become tedious to the point where I just open individual songs or albums with Windows Media Player.

I've had iTunes since version 4 and remember the days when it opened quickly and everything was a breeze. Then Apple kept releasing new versions and forcing you to upgrade in order to buy from the iTunes store, which became a pain in the ass because each time they limited the number of computers and CDs you could share/burn your purchased music on. I bought the song, so I should be able to use it on as many computers as I want. I've changed computers three times since version 4.0, so each time I have to screw around with approving a new computer to play my purchased music. Now ever since 7.0 it's become a big piece of bloatware that takes about 3 minutes to open, and a couple days ago I find out that my $30 left over from a $50 card can no longer be redeemed because the 'tards at Apple made me register now with an Apple ID. My card is no longer recognized because it has been "redeemed"...yeah, only $20 of the $50 has been redeemed, dipwads. I sent an e-mail to Apple, which they're supposed to respond to within 24 hours, and here I am 48 hours later and nothing. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt with it being a weekend, but if I don't hear from them by the end of the day Monday there is going to be some $h! hitting the fan.

I always had my study halls fall towards the end of the day, so my homework had to be done the night before. We never actually studied in study hall either (I was in band study hall and it was basically 50 minutes of screwing around), so of course nothing got done during the day.

I love the Mark IV's. I'd say go for it too, since finding one of those cars unmolested or rot-free is getting harder by the day. Some day I want a Givenchy edition Mark in my garage.

I love single-cab, shortbox trucks like this from the 90's before they all became gargantuan beasts.

That list isn't too bad...they included a lot of the more underrated tracks in the catalog. I wish they would have included Light Up the Sky and One Foot Out the Door and On Fire.

I remember in high school when they started introducing those backpacks with the strap that you buckle around your chest and how dorky it was for anyone to actually walk around with them buckled.

Iowa in pictures NE Iowa Effegy Mounds National Monument McGregor/Marquette (scenic river towns on the Mississippi) Guttenburg (another river town on the Miss) Field of Dreams in Dyersville Quad Cities Figge Art Museum (designed by David Chipperfield) Davenport sky bridge Des Moines East Village State Capitol complex Central Park & Des Moines Central Library (another Chipperfield building) Principal Riverwalk & pedestrian bridge (under construction) Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens Grays Lake Park Living History Farms (recreation of 1750s-1900s indian/pioneer farms and towns) Iowa State Fair (one of the biggest in the nation) Cedar Rapids Czech Village Quaker Oats (largest cereal plant in the world) Not too much more to recommend since the flood took out a lot of our attractions, but by the time the new federal courthouse is finished in 2012 downtown should be hopping again Iowa City U of I campus & architecture Ped mall area & dowtown (where most of Iowa City's nightlife is) Dubuque (oldest city in Iowa, very scenic and hilly with buildings dating to the early 1800s) Other: Bridges of Madison County & Winterset Danish Windmill & Museum in Elk Horn Pella & Orange City (two big Danish/Dutch settlements that hold annual festivals) The world's largest truck stop off I-80 near Walcott (buy your fuel across the street at the BP because it'll be .20 cheaper) Burlington, IA & snake alley (another historic river city) Frank Lloyd Wright homes & Park Hotel in Mason City Merchant's Bank in Grinnell by Louis Sullivan

First thing I thought of when I saw the pics was the Camry Solara with a Cruze greenhouse. I don't see anything too over-the-top here that will give it the same impact as the '86 Taurus. PR fluff, IMO.

WTF is Wolfgang doing in 80s VH...he wasn't even born yet. This looks pretty sweet, but it's only half as good as it could be by them leaving out Michael and Sammy. For as much crap as Sammy seems to get, his catalog had some excellent songs like Get Up, Poundcake, Right Now, Love Walks In, etc...and the thing about DLR VH was that you'd get a 30 minute album, while Sammy gave you a 50 minute album.

I turned 25 last May and bought the LS shortly after. I pay $20 less per month for the LS with two extra cylinders, 112 extra hp, and a lot newer vehicle than I did for the Lumina. That magic number 25 makes forthe last good birthday, IMO.

I've never twittered in my life, and don't really have any desire to. I don't think it'll have the staying power of Facebook or even Myspace, because there's only so much you can do with 140 characters.

It would take some major event to make me give up my "things." I guess if it meant survival, I could leave it all behind. But otherwise, I enjoy possessions. One thing that has always been odd for me growing up is that my mom is kind of a neat freak while my dad grew up in a household of packrats, so I have grown up with both sides and taken on a little of each. Certain things I "packrat" are car magazines (I have a hard time throwing them away because I think of how neat it will be to read them 20 years down the road), but other times I will get out a trash bag and just start throwing things at random that I don't see any need for.

I don't really follow sports talk & trivia that closely, although I pay a little more attention when it's college football season. Iowa State is like the Detroit Lions of college football, but I still root for them because it was my school and I've been an ISU fan for a long time. Sometimes I will root for Iowa, especially when they play Nebraska because I can't stand the Huskers. But any time Iowa State plays Iowa, I will always have my cardinal and gold on.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=30729 PDF of July Sales

Today was a beautiful day so I decided to take the LS out for a drive and stopped around at the local lots. I saw my first new Taurus, a couple '10 Mustangs, and the new Equinox. What really surprised me was the lot traffic. The Ford-Hyundai-BMW dealership was packed with people; there were at least 6 driving around in cars and another 4 or 5 walking the lot. Most people seemed to be checking out the Ford side, although there were a couple over in the Hyundai area. Then I went to the Lincoln-Mercury dealership and nobody was there. Drove down the street to the Chevrolet dealership and only a couple people...same with the Nissan one next door. Then I drove north to the BPG-Caddy dealership. The Pontiac sign is now gone and the new cars lot was practically empty. There were some new CTS's and some GMC's, but hardly any Buicks and no Pontiacs. IMO, it was one of the nicer dealerships in town but it looks so empty now. Then I drove across the interstate to the Toyota lot, and there were a couple people in there looking at Corollas and Camrys, but nobody else that I could see. Last dealership I hit up was a Ford-Chevy-Pontiac one and there were a couple people there and also a nice black '05 or '06 LS V8 Sport with 17" chrome wheels. It was sharp. If the lot traffic is any indication of July sales figures, I think Ford is going to do pretty well. The others...not so sure.

I would love to see that salesman's car "accidentally" picked up and crushed by the same truck. What a smug bastard.

Cedar Rapids is supposed to be putting them in soon. Omaha has them in and it has helped because people used to run red lights like there was no tomorrow. As long as I don't get ticketed while stuck in an intersection waiting to make a left, I'm perfectly fine with them because I never run red lights anyway. From what I hear of CR's system, they will be civil fines issued by the City, so none of it will go on your driving record.

I personally thought the Nissan GT-R getting #9 was BS. Sure it's fast and all, but how in the crap does it get ranked above a '63-67 Vette, the original GTO, '68 Mustang fastback, Ford GT40, etc. in cool factor? Those cars have all earned their place in the automotive history book, while this car has been on sale for what, a year?