JDoors

After listening to the radio for a week or so I HAD to put in Dream Theater's Systematic Chaos, again. (What is that? Like twenty or thirty times now?? )

Frankly, that doesn't bode well. e-Bay is supposedly wickedly profitable (last I heard), so raising fees indicates something's up.

An article concerning the Socialist model for healthcare: Star Parker - Hillary-care is Not The Answer Pretty much repeats what I said above (but more succinctly seeing as how she's a professional writer).

It's like you're talkin' a foriegn language. Seventy-seven! That's t-shirt and shorts weather! We didn't get five inches (darnit), more like one, now we're gettin' a dusting of powder here and there all day long.

I can see an alignment increasing mileage by correcting tire scrub, but a rotation & balance? That'd have to be some seriously out of balance tires (you wouldn't have been able to drive it). You're getting older, that's it, you're driving like a grandma! Prices here have been vacillating above and below three bucks per. Jumped up nearly ten cents yesterday. My mileage in snow is horrendous, but that's the price I pay for havin' fun!

Bitter cold and more snow a'comin' (5 inches or so). I actually get more annoyed by people going too slow than too fast (actually, I don't even remember seeing people going too fast, once or twice? -- different perspective maybe? Or a difference in local driving habits?). It's really cold, so people drive slow. What? Why? Did your brain freeze up on ya? I sorta "get" why semis might have more trouble since they are effectively large kites, at the mercy of the wind, and once they're moving, wrong direction or not, they're not stopping easily. -----

I certainly can't argue that health care isn't important, I mean, if you need it there's really few things AS important. But the military, police, prisons, highways, etc. are things that benefit EVERYBODY, equally, nationwide. Your healthcare? How's that benefit me? Oh, you can come up with some complicated (and probably silly) argument about how if you're healthy it ... well ... I can't think in such a convoluted manner but you catch my drift, somehow you can draw a line from you to me if you really stretch it. If, however, those types of arguments were true then ANYTHING affects EVERYONE: I

Hil-AR-ious! (And pretty much true. )

Pick up the check, the headlights, install, enjoy! That was the plan, right? They look good though. Are the old ones foggy from age, or that's the way they look? (I remember you polished them at least once.)

I won't argue the number, though it's not an absolute (there are reasons the number appears higher than you might like that have nothing whatsoever to do with available health care). My problem is, WHY do people deserve to have OTHER people pay for their health care? Because it's expensive? So are new cars, so are homes. People need cars (unless they live in large city that has transportation that's paid for by other people, ie. public transportation). People need a place to live (unless they live in a household that's paid for by other people, ie. public housing). Is it a "travesty" that mos

"Difficult?" Name a country that went from socialist healthcare to private healthcare without the collapse of the prevailing government. Oy! I don't like the sound of that. Plenty of tyrants might agree that peace, order and good government, as defined by themselves, is all they really want. VERY interesting point. One reason I'm not an enthusiastic supporter of making English the "official" language in the U.S. It will absolutely cause stupid cases similar to this. Another interesting point.

That gas facility fire made the news here in the Chicago area (pretty dramatic video there), along with everything else. Isn't it early for tornado season? Isn't that usually a Spring thing? We got a foot of snow. I kept up with the shoveling throughout the day. Later the neighbor across the street tried to pull into their as-yet-uncleared driveway and, predictably, got stuck, still sticking out into the street. I went over to help (I've only seen the adult female over there, along with some kids ... so much around-the-house work goes undone there I guessed she needed a "man" to help out). Sh

... Then I punched him.

I didn't keep count but I assume I'm in the "older than dirt" category. Only heard about Packards, don't think I've seen one on the road that wasn't already considered an antique. Never saw newsreels before movies. My first car had the windshield washer control, an actual rubber bulb you pressed with your foot to squirt the fluid, on the floor. Never saw an ice box. I still use a pant-leg strap when I cycle (my bikes have a chain "ring" to keep you from getting tangled in the sprocket but the chain itself is still exposed). Some of the others I only experienced because my extended family we

80 degrees, huh? We're supposed to get around a foot of snow. Already shoveled twice (I always prefer to do things in small batches than one BIG one).

Yeah, there are some softer fish that wouldn't be my first choice on the menu. Just a coincidence, uh-hem, but while grocery shopping yesterday I bought the ingredients for fish & chips. Mmmm.

Which clearly isn't quite good at all... B I suspect, hope, that "good as ever" was sarcasm.

Strange! After another couple of inches of snow, THUNDERSTORMS are rolling through here! I'm sittin' at the computer and hear this strange noise -- Thunder?!? With several feet of snow piled up around the property, this will be, umm, interesting, if it rains a lot. SOooooo glad I shoveled before it started raining, that snow would've been HEAVY man! -----

Wow! I haven't seen that much of the innards of a car since my buddy rebuilt his '75 Trans Am decades ago (he still has it). So, here's another clue that I'm an old man: I would never have guessed any Japanese car would be worth rebuilding to THAT degree.

OK, ya almost have me convinced salt isn't "just" to make things salty. Almost. If you never use salt at all you can taste the 'saltiness' of even the tiniest amount, so I'm not quite there yet. But it's good to know the scientific facts for other reasons one might use it. I usually bake fish, but I can't remember having any fish I didn't like (unless you're talkin' unusual or bizarre ingredients). I have yet to find a dish with things like octopus/squid/etc. that I like. Now, if you DEEP FRY something and it STILL tastes yucky, you just have to admit you will NEVER like that food!

I eat fish and chicken almost exclusively ... YOU'RE MAKING ME DROOL! Regarding salt, I never use it. I don't really cook from scratch so any prepared foods I use already have too much salt in 'em. I've always felt that salt makes things taste, well, salty. That's what it does, right? At least with ATK they explained, rather than just saying, "add salt," that salt tempers/compliments bitter or other flavors. "It perks up the flavor" or somesuch is all the other cooks usually say, if they say anything at all about adding salt, to which I think, in reply, "No, all it does is make it sa

Not for her aggressive (and suggestive) dancing?

Saw that one comin' as I was reading it ...

Careful ... the local papers printed a reminder that many communities require you clear the sidewalks, in some places there's a $100 fine. Yikes! (Though most officials interviewed said they couldn't remember any homeowners ever being fined.) I'm glad they also explained the law concerning liability. My next door neighbors always used that old urban legend about being MORE liable if you DO clear the walks and someone's injured. Yeah, like our state hasn't had a law protecting homeowners for, oh, say, over thirty years or so. One official was quoted as saying the only way you could be found l

Don't count your eggs until the spoiler's installed. My Niece just bought, today (well, yesterday now), a Passat Wolfsburg Edition -- Nice, real nice. She was shopping around for a while and that wasn't even on her radar, until everything she WAS looking at got ruled out for various reasons. Another car not on her radar was the Cadillac CTS but she fell in love with one and came --><-- that close to buying one that was a "steal" (close to half-price!). The dealer didn't want her trade-in (a Mitsubishi Spyder), so she walked just minutes before signing.