mustang84

I've had it happen one time at a Kohl's store, but I don't really remember the specifics other than he was an Indian guy and it was sort of awkward with my parents standing just a few feet away. But I get hit on at the bars by thirty-something single moms with kids all the time. You wonder why they're so good looking and don't have a boyfriend, then they whip out pictures of little Timmy and Jonie.

Chicago is hands down my favorite American city. I also love New York, but Chicago is a little more accessible, a little newer feeling (lots of new construction going up on the south side of Grant Park), and the lake keeps temps fairly mild during the summer. Driving in the Loop isn't nearly as much of a hassle as driving in Manhattan. Chicago has converted much of its old railyards and industrial areas along the lakefront into greenway space. Plus, you have the birthplace of the skyscraper, and the tradition continues with Trump Tower and the Chicago Spire. Seattle is another great city. Nice mild climate, some neat old architecture around Pioneer Square, maritime waterfront, scenic surroundings, and a decent nightlife scene. LA is a very cosmopolitan city but I have never been there, so I'd probably want to visit before judging it too much. If you're talking smaller cities, Kansas City is pretty underrated. Like most Midwestern cities, they have been redeveloping downtown over the last decade and the new Power & Light District is a pretty happening place.

Random FoMoCo

It's always been strange for me when people define Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, etc. as being part of the Midwest. I know historically that was the Midwest when they were territories and no one had really been settling west of the Mississippi, but to me those areas are so far east and have a much more urban, industrial feel than places like Iowa or Nebraska. The Midwest for me are the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri. Everything wrapping the Great Lakes I just call the Great Lakes states.

Yep, I can't count the number of times there was bitching in the editorial section of the Omaha paper any time they tried to build some new entertainment venue or clean up the industrial wasteland on the riverfront. "This ain't no Chicago...leave them art galleries and bicycle paths for the city folk!" People even complained when the funding for a project was grant money from the federal government..."ain't raisin' MY taxes with pork!" Now young people actually move to Omaha because they have a small nightlife scene going on downtown, a new pedestrian bridge over the river, a new art gallery, two new arenas, and a nice clean riverfront promenade. Google even set up shop there and is planning on expanding. The Midwest needs to start leading rather than following if it wants to bring people back.

I wonder how long before they start offering battery packs in varying degrees of range, power, and price (like what they do with SD cards, external hard drives, etc).

My impression of Fargo was from I-94, I-29, and 13th Ave...plus it was night, so I didn't really see the whole town I guess. I think the name of the place we ate at was called Thai Cuisine. It was right off 13th Street about a mile from I-29 and in what looked like a converted indoor strip mall. Yeah, I noticed there were quite a few cute girls in North Dakota. Bismarck, Fargo, and Grand Forks all had them. I kinda got the impression that Fargo could be one of those up-and-coming tech type towns that you see more out West, and I heard about Microsoft being there. North Dakota towns seem pretty clean and well laid out. I think the whole Midwest needs to start focusing more on tech jobs and less on ag. There's plenty of brain drain going on here. Some places like Des Moines, Omaha, and the Twin Cities (obviously) are starting to keep the younger populations in, but there's still a whole host of cities that twentysomethings don't want to stick around in.

I bought it a while back. It took me a while to really get into it, but I like what I hear. It's received bad reviews because people just skim the surface and listen to it a couple times. But if you really dig deep and put it on repeat, you'll begin to catch the intricacies in guitar and Axl's introspective lyrics. So many of the lyrics seem to be Axl subliminally writing about himself. The song "Sorry" is my favorite on the disc, but the title track, IRS, and Shackler's Revenge are some other favorites.

I just got back from a two day trip to North Dakota for work. We flew into Bismarck the first day, and the weather was horrible...snow, wind, ice. Our plane was a six-seater twin engine Cessna and there was so much ice building up on the wings that we started losing some airspeed as we approached Bismarck. Most of the time we had to stay above 12,000 feet to avoid the ice, which is pretty tough on your body when you're in a small plane that doesn't have cabin pressure. The crosswinds were fierce. I love flying and never get scared, but I was kinda nervous as we were landing. Our poor little plane was being tossed around like a toy. We did our business in Bismarck, then found out that there was no way we were getting back into the air that day; no air traffic coming into Bismarck, and none going out. So the five of us drove our Murano rental on the four hour trek to Grand Forks, over icy I-94 where 3/4 of the exits sport a "NO SERVICES" sign that compliments the almost total lack of civilization between Bismarck and Fargo. And FYI, the Murano bumbles around on ice; we had the AWD set and a Lumina like mine had no problems flying by us at 75 (one of the few cars we actually saw) while we were losing traction going 60. We stopped in Fargo to have Thai food, and that town actually surprised me...it's fairly nice and bigger than I thought. The city has a very new feel to it, unlike my city which feels like its stuck in a 70's time-warp. We arrived in Grand Forks late, but it's also a very nice city and very new. I think the flood of '97 must have wiped out a lot, because it seemed like every business along 32nd Street was new. Rydell Chevrolet and the Toyota dealership were very modern and tastefully done; Rydell almost looked like a huge glass airport terminal. They also have a new arena / hotel complex next to I-29 that really stood out from the flat prairie around it. So overall, a lot of the stereotypes about North Dakota stuck, but Fargo and Grand Forks were really surprising to me with how modern and nice they are. Even though they're both fairly small, they put most Iowa cities to shame except for Des Moines, Iowa City, and maybe Davenport. I almost wouldn't mind living in a place like Fargo, except that the weather sucks worse than it does here. Final impression: beer cheese soup, apparently a staple in North Dakota, is a very weird dish. We had it as a side for lunch and I didn't get into it at all. I like cheese a lot, but eating a cup of cheese sauce type stuff with a few carrots mixed in was not very appetizing.

But you speak too much sense, FOG! No, of course that would mean taking a risk and maybe thinking outside the box for a change. Instead, let's rebadge some more Chevrolets like we've been doing for the last 30 years, glue on an arrowhead, and market it as new direction for Pontiac.

Bob brought back some of the fire that old GM used to have with his designs. I have no idea who this new guy is, but I'm not very optimistic at this point. Despite Bob's not always great PR skills, he will be missed by me.

I am trying to install a new aftermarket stereo into my Lumina and have some questions about the wiring. The wiring harness kit I have matches up with the stereo wiring, but some of the wires from the stereo have little metal tips with plastic covers. Since I am using plastic butt connectors and not solder to connect the wires, can I just cut off these ends? What are they for?

Nah, probably not. February weather likes to play tricks by throwing in a couple 50-60 degree days, then throwing in a snowstorm and negative windchills couple weeks later. I bet we still get some snow in mid-March. Even though it's complete bullcrap, did the Punxatawny Pete or whatever his name is see his shadow?

One time I was coming out of Culver's on a side street and approached a major road with a stoplight, wanting to make a left turn. It was night and there wasn't much traffic, even though the road I had to cross had six lanes. I sat there at the light in the left turn lane and after about a minute someone else pulled up next to me in the center lane, but it never changed. We both waited a couple more minutes, nothing happened. Finally after about four minutes we looked at each other, then both gunned it through. Stupid light. If I know the area and it's clearly visible that there is no traffic coming, then I'll go through after stopping briefly.

A guy that moved to my building a month ago just bought a brand new Mazda 6. Those babies are sharp looking.

I always wondered why my European Coke tasted different (as in better)...now I know why. I'm assuming that the price of sugar is too high that there probably won't be a mass switch back to it; isn't that the reason they went to HFCS in the first place?

I'll gladly accept the aftermarket look with these units, because the sound quality of the 98XX series is excellent. Even if you have factory speakers it sounds good.

Awesome, I have nearly the same stereo as you (yours is a little upmarket though...different LED readout and I believe yours comes with a remote). I'm actually trying to install mine myself right now; my car was broken into and my old Alpine 9847 was stolen. Insurance replaced it with a 9884.

I got a chuckle out of that one. It wasn't too long ago when only farmers used the word hybrid.

Good to hear you are ok. Your door frame looks like it was really peeled back...

Snopes ranks right up there with Wikipedia for internet awesomeness. So many times I have heard something from friends or family, only to read on Snopes that it was completely false or fabricated.

http://desmoines.craigslist.org/cto/981613164.html Recently a deer ran into my car (not much damage, thankfully, but a visible dent on the rear passenger door) and I've been thinking about picking up a cheap older car with RWD to have fun with so I can save up for a new purchase a year or two down the road. I came across this '85 Cutlass today and am very tempted. Not much in the way of pictures, but it looks like a farm car (probably gently driven) and only has 90K on the odo. $1800 seems like a great price. Anyone know the reliability with G-body Cutlasses?

+2 The name changes killed Buick, IMO. I have a feeling that if there was still a Park Avenue or LeSabre we'd be seeing a lot more sales. Cruze is just childish sounding...there's no reason to get rid of the Cobalt name.