Karaoke Trio

At Miss Petal's Birthday party (A fun, fabulous affair) we had a great time. We even managed to coax Poodle into singing a song but not without a cost. We had to agree to all sing together. We belted out "I Love You Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel. A perfect song since times like these together will be suspended here pretty soon once we move away. But for today - we're all together and having a great time. We also played poker after - but I should have stuck the microphone. Happy Birthday Miss Petals!

Oxidized Bad

Oxidized Bad
Originally uploaded by ChristopherSolis.

We're preparing for the move to Texas. I had to get new tires and once my truck was off the ground with the tires removed, even I had to admit. How ugly this thing is.

Oh sure. Just under the oxidized exterior lies some potential but right now? Mmph. Just ugliness. That's ok. From this view you can see the worst of it. The hood is seriously oxidized and the sides of the truck are poor too. The clearcoat is peeling so some spots are shiny, others are unbelievably dull.

Can't drive all that way without new tires and of course, looking at the rack of bling-shoes, i.e. RIMS - I thought hmm. What would it look like if we went from these fugly stock 14" Dakota 'sport' wheels to these glam-look-at-me-18"-chrome-beacons?

Answer: A little like an ugly stepsister wearing cinderella's slipper, but here's the start of potential becoming reality. We'll see.

Ford Pays New CEO 39.1M in Four Months

Oh uh uh. Ford Motor Company is in the worst downward spiral in the companies history and managed to negotate a salary fit for a king. They're still continuing to lose money and still authorized a bonus for the new CEO Alan Mulally. This would be absurd, if it wasn't so SAD.

The Bottom line is just this. Bring us fuel efficient cars. Bring us exciting cars to drive that are dependable AND green. Bring us mini class cars. Bring us some of the better products you're producing in Europe, rather than what you're currently making here. Redesign the Focus - it's old. Don't think that renaming the 500 "Taurus" is going to save the company. Don't put all your eggs in the Mustang basket. The sporty coupe demographic is fickle and will always want the 'next newist thing'. The Mustang, for this group, is already aging. Stop smacking retro grills on Lincolns and expect us to ooo and ah. Build a powerful, technologically innovative, competitive Lincoln sedan. With suicide doors. And a four-door convertible. Nobody is doing it. And nobody has done it as well as you once did. So reassert yourself.

Bring over the Mondeo and turn Mercury into your euro-taste division. Sort of the vision you originally had for Merkur which may have been ahead of it's time, or just a dumb idea for its day. But Saturn is having a reneissance bringing us opels - why can't you bring a german-tuned car, intact over the pond for us to drive? You should have kept Aston Martin and lost Jaguar. That being said, and being too late - don't put a dime more into that company. Tell them it's sink-or-swim. And, mean it.

Redesign the F-150. You went from jellybean to brick. How bout something in between? Where are the hybrids? You were once a great industrial giant and still a large company. How bout funnel some of that CEO bonus into putting a damn hybrid on the road? (I mean a prius competitor, not an Escape). Toyota is going to release it's THIRD generation passenger-car hybrid, before you've even released your FIRST.

There's no more excuses. There's no more time to waste. Either get off your ass and run an autocompany right, or be relegated to the biggest industrial failure in American history. We may just rename the whole company from Ford to Edsel and be done with it.

Modesto; Two Months in a Row

We had an awesome time again on our monthy roadtrip meeting! We started as usual at the roadhouse and then the crew caravaned to Modesto. We were running SO LATE. We were all a little freaked out that we wouldn't make it in time. And then... my gas light came on. OOps. I thoughttt we had enough to get there.

We coasted into the Tully Road meeting on fumes.. but we made it! Thanks to our wonderful hosts as we had a great time. Especially after at Bakers Square as seen here with Patty Cake and Rita Lynn..

Everyone had the best time and we sure hope the next time you join us. We're headed to San Jose on the 1st of February. It'll be a blast!

Your Time Has Come and Gone

Dude. Okay. I realize that's a poor salutation for someone who's 90 years old. Let's restart.

Geezer. Your time has come and gone. After hearing your broadcast on Monday, Martin Luther King Day - I'm convinced. You no longer have any business being on the airwaves of America.

And, I'm being kind. Please. Rather than allowing my commentary to descend into things like name calling, rather than calling you things like "racist", let's just say it would be best if you walked away from the mic and faded into the sunset.

I want to believe that your intention wasn't one of hate. But, it's hard. Your tirade and comparisons of the people of the south, versus the north was just plain wrong. Additionally, as someone who was in Louisiana immediately following the Katrina and Rita disasters, there's no comparison of a blizzard in Denver to what I witnessed in New Orleans.

To even suggest that they are similar events is shameful. Shameful. Also, after some investigation and finding your broadcast was lifted verbatim from another event, I wonder if you did a poor job of attributing it to the actual author, or if it was a feeble attempt at radio-plagerism.

Dear Paul, please. Save us the misery of grieving as we would a dog we were forced to have put-down. Merely tip your hat to your co-workers, say farewell to the airwaves and bid adieu. I'd rather remember you that way, than to know the rest of the story.

For Sale - The Sequel

Now I'm selling the other car. But whoa. I've had this one for five years though, so it's kind of like been a friend.

I know it's stupid to become attached in inanimate things, but I go everywhere in this car.

We've done so many roadtrips, and the odometer shows it. But, all good things must come to an end, so now I must move on.. sniffle.

I hope this reading finds you well.. and that you're up to something fun! It's still winter here, although - after just returning from Detroit - I remember how how fabulous our winters can be!

Drop me a line to say hello - especially if I haven't heard from you in a while.

Another One Joins the Fray - Maybe

It's going to get very crowded very soon. Senator Obama will probably be announcing right after the New Year. Hillary hasn't 'formerly' announced yet either. But, the question still remains. Who will the republicans put forward? Almost certainly it will be America's Mayor, Gulliani. While he may be a formidable candidate, hopefully people will look at all the candidates full resumes rather than basing decisions strictly along party lines and celebrity image. I still think the dream ticket (at least as of this writing) is a Clinton/Obama combination. (Actually they could be flipped either way, but Hillary's ego would never have her as VP).

So, here's Evan Bayh announcing his exploratory committee. And, he has something Barak doesn't have, which is a record. He has a substantiated record of leadership and success. I hope that people look at him closer than they might otherwise, given the star draw of some of the other candidates. Though he doesn't have the name recognition, or elicit the oos or awws of some of the other candidates, he does have the experience of being a legislator and a Governor. I wish him luck. It's going to get busy.

Winter's Here

Sigh. Rain has arrived and sunny days are no more. But, it'll be back. We had our Sacramento conference last weekend, and had a great time! It was so much fun, with friends visiting from Reno, the Bay Area, Southern CA and Phoenix.

I'm selling the bug. It was inevitble. We love this little bugger, but I just never had the time to restore it the way I wanted, but boy it was fun while we drove it! And, it's running perfectly too. But hey. You can only drive one car at a time anyway right? And we have two other convertibles. Three was too much.

Oh well. We hope you're doing well and hope to hear from you soon.

A Day For Celebration But Not Boasting

Rick Santorum, Crying after the election. If he'd been compassionate, reasonable, basically - a human being, he could have spared himself the tears.

We received news that we've waited for for at least 2 of the last 6 years. Finally there's some balance brought back to our government. After years of congress, failing to do its job, we have a referendum that clearly states what we'd like. What we demand.

The country wants nothing more than strong, sensible, moral leadership. One of the ways we are guaranteed that is first by electing a President who embodies those ideals. Failing that, we have a government structure which allows a congress to keep an inept or renegade Head of State in check.

Heretofor, we've not had that. Now hopefully we've injected some humility into this administration. The days of 'because I said so' method of governance, I hope will come to a close.

But rather than shoot our guns in the air, hoot, holler and smack each other on the back with high-fives and "git her done-s", I hope the democrats honor this opportunity. Let's try and bring this country back together and reign in the President, rather than seeking to punish him. If any progress is to be made in the next two years (and progess neeeeds to be made) we should not get bogged down in retribution but seek rather to be the party of the high road.

Let's tackle real issues of healthcare, tax relief for all not just for the richest few, energy independence, and of course the war. If we send these issues to the desk of the President, and he chooses to hang on to an expired ideology that would have him veto good, sound legislation. Then, we'll be certain of an encore in 2008.

If however we become the party of pettiness, it's likely voters will not likey gravitate to Dems in 2008. We'll be guilty of what this administration has all along, that is, taking voters and Americans for granted. For whatever 'political capital' the president may have had (and I'd argue he had very little to start with), he's squandered it. Just threw it away.

Let's not make the same error. Let's be the country we're capable of being. Strong, compassionate, a world leader. Because currently, we're not. And history will ultimately provide the President with the retribution he may or may not deserve. He will be recorded as the worst President in modern American history.

Lost His Cool? I Don't Think So

I don't think Clinton lost his cool. I think he only modeled a reaction for us we all should be exhibiting. To try - 6 years into a Republican controlled White House, and Congress - to pin national security woes on the previous administration is outrageous.

The question is NOT why wasn't more done seven years ago, the question needs to be what has been done since. Namely - little. So often lately the media wonders what the Left has to offer. The picture painted is that Democrats have no vision to counter that of the failed 'stay the course' (even it's the wrong one) misguidance of our current administration.

Well - here's a voice. And, YES, he raised it. I hope it was heard. Revisionist history should not detour the conversation of what is being done now. Today. Yet this is the strategy that the Bush administration has so succesfully trotted out in the past. Give the Americans a decoy. Gays. Stem Cell Research. Abortion. War. Terrorism.

Give us a detracting topic over here with this hand, so that we don't see what's going on in this hand. The one in the cookie jar. The one covering the yawn. The one only half-hiding the giggle of how gullable we are to fall for this tactic EVERY time. The hand that is trying to turn the popularity chart upsdide down so that the numbers look positive.

Were not so many of us lemmings, this strategy would be laughable.

What has been done in the last 6, 7, and in 2008, 8 years? We need to hold this administration responsible for it's deeds, misdeeds and non-deeds. Yes the Dems have a vision, they've always had it. They've just had laringitis. Clinton rectified that perception in this interview with Conservative-Hitman-Disguised-as-a-Journalist Wallace.

Yes he came across hot headed. And damn shame on you if you're NOT heated. I wish he'd been able to reach across and bitch-slap Wallace and ask him... "are you for real?".

The only other regret? That President Clinton didn't sign off the interview with something like.. "what you just witnessed, is what you can expect a lot more of in the upcoming election, when America's outrage is expressed at the polls, in the streets, and at the next Presidential Inauguration".