Ah, the unloved Toyota Echo:
Basically, this is the car that spawned Scion. Styled by Toyota’s California design center as the replacement for the utilitarian Tercel, this bug-eyed, misproportioned design is the camel of the automotive world: Better in most respects than competitors, but it’s UGLY!
And so it is…these same underpinnings form the chassis of the Scion Xa and Xb.
It has tiny wheels, but since it only weighs 2000lbs, the 108hp engine feels powerful.
I was recently filling out a registration for Hi5, which seems nothing short of a pyramid scheme to me, and one of the fields there was ‘hobbies’
I entered the standard–autocross, photography, computers–but I thought, you know I blog an awful lot. Seems like I can’t go a day or two without spewing my inner Harold all over this forum (Still militantly devoid of comments…you wanna debate me, email me. These are my own thoughts, damnit!)
Shout out to Jack Kain Ford, they gave me my money back with no questions asked.
My new house is back on the old copper wire, suckling at the teat of BellSouth.
570-8486
I’ll give you the short version:
On friday, I came to terms with a dealer on a 2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue with 44k miles. I picked up the car Saturday after waiting THREE HOURS for the F&I guy to get his crap together.
I took the car to Mike Jansen and he said it was..umm..okay. It’d been in a front end and rear end collision, including replacement of the a/c condenser and the radiator. Also, the driver’s side front suspension had a bad ball-joint.
Lord, I hate everything about being awake and being at work right now. Give me the strength to persevere the grandstanding, the prima donnas, the power hungry, the reluctant, and my own ego until 5 pm. Amen.
After a rather disgusting first a moment ago, I want to reflect upon the “firsts” I’ve had in my new house.
First time mowing my own lawn. I don’t despise it (yet), but we’ll see how the newness wears off
First time weed-whacking my own place. I still don’t like this, but I did get a pretty neat trimmer:
First prayer said around my dinner table. This was an AWESOME moment.
“Harold, Did you get dressed in the dark?”
The Car Lounge: What are your friday’s like?
Basically, Fridays at LXK are the “nothing can get done today” day. We don’t believe in having reasonable backups in place for people on vacation,, so summer days are nuts.
All is well, the sun lowers, and my sprinkler tries to water my scorched lawn as I contemplate a wonderous weekend of rest, re-centering, and accustoming myself to my new house.
Last night, I really felt awesome as I watched a thunderstorm to our east from my back porch, clicking away my Voigtlander on the tripod, trying to catch that elusive lightning shot with the shutter held open on ‘Bulb’.
Just watched Jack Nicholson’s opus One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I’m moved by how big this “little” film was. Nicholson playes R.P McMurphy (“Murph”), a petty con-man who talked his way from a chain gang into the insane asylum. The supporting cast is a who’s-who of character actors: Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, etc.
On a level, it’s the same plot as “Cool Hand Luke”: Wiseguy gets into trouble, imprisoned by some sadist, and yet he finds a way to separate himself and enjoy his incarceration, all the while plotting his escape. It’s the same anti-establishment, anti-hero role, and it has the same tragic denoument. Also like “Luke”, this film’s hero is not the protagonist, because ultimately he’s the same static character, the catalyst for the other actors.
A house just isn’t a house until you find your TV remotes.
Opinions on this matter differ, though :-)
This is just getting nuts. We have development managers fighting project managers fighting product definition people. We have managers going behind other’s backs…crazy.
“Mindshare” (n) d. ???
Preface: I’m sore, I’m tired, and I’m fasting in preparation for my dr’s appointment @ 12. Take that into consideration for what it’s worth.
I hate the fact that an adult male cannot talk to a colleague who’s an attractive female (even though she does nothing for me) without people gossiping about them.
May I just shout this: I LOVE MY FIANCEE! She is the only woman for me. I can’t generally stand other women, and this woman, in particular, over long periods of time. I marvel each day that I’ve found a woman that I not only can stand, but actually ENJOY being around and sharing my life with.
I sit snug and thankful in my new home, with all my stuff safely moved from my apartment to…somewhere in the vicinty of my new house.
Yes, I’m living out of a box, and nothing is where it’s going to eventually end-up, but I’m here.
Bad news: My GTO suffered not one, but TWO collisions today while I moved. Stu ran his trailer into my open door and dented it, and I back my mom’s dually pickup into the grille, pushing the grille in and creating a dent in the left front side of the hood.
Theatres nationwide are raking in less and less money, despite gaudy summer blockbusters. Hmmm….let’s think about this.
1. This is the DVD era. Netflix and Blockbuster have mail-order subscription services for DVDs that come out 3-6 months following theatre release, allowing family viewing of films for essentially fixed cost. Contrast that with $10/ticket + popcorn. Oh yeah, about that
2. This is the HD TV era. For better or worse, even Joe Schmo out there has a 16:9 Plasma screen with Subwoofers the size of your Aunt Edna’s purse.
After rising with the sun both days this weekend and working outside both 95-degree days, Monday finds me exhausted. Case in point: I staggered into work, broke out our fresh-roasted coffee beans and made coffee. Only problem is, I put the RAW BEANS into the coffee filter. Thankfully, I realized this before turning the machine on.
This weekend’s theme was exceeding expectations. I expected to have a light day of packing on Saturday. Instead, my whole apartment is packed and cleaned, and 75% of it is already moved to my new house.
I won my SCCA class for the first time since Last May :-) And I beat my arch-rival.
All organizations will eventually be run by those who stay awake in committee.
I’m in a rather dilbert-esque meeting right now and I told Joel (who’s looking over my shoulder) that I’d blog his quote immediately.
so there.
