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Small Talk: Ughngnggh! Ugghhnnn!


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Oh, hush.

The problem down here isn't driving in SNOW. Hell, any idiot can drive in SNOW.

The problem is the climatic difference between the temperate climate band within which the North resides, and the subtropical climate band within which the South resides:

  • In winter, it isn't uncommon for temperate climate regions to experience multiple consecutive days of subfreezing temperatures. Which mean when snow falls, it hits ground and roads which are already cooled to subfreezing temps. Which means nothing happens to the snow; it stays in its original snow state, while more snow piles on top.
  • Not the same in the subtropical regions; multiple days with temps below freezing day AND night are pretty rare; temps . Which means road temps generally stay a bit ABOVE freezing. Which means when it does snow, the initial snow layer(s) hitting asphalt DON'T stay in their original state; they melt and turn into water, which also rapidly cool the asphalt in the process. Until such point in time as the asphalt IS cooled to below-freezing, that is, at which point the melted snow water on top of the asphalt freezes to a sheet of ice upon which the snow will then continue accumulation without further melting.
So I repeat - the problem isn't driving on SNOW. It's driving on snow ON ICE, which is somewhat different. And I haven't noticed Northerners demonstrating much more skill than than Southerners in driving in such conditions - not the ones I've helped pull out of the ditch, anyway. They just cuss with different accents. ;) Edited by Nashville
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It's hardly snowed at all in Toronto. I really appreciate you guys taking the hit for us this year.

I saw The Revenant yesterday. Damn, that movie was grim and harsh and cold. And long. I went to the 11.30am showing thinking I'd have all afternoon for errands and laundry. It was almost 2.30 when I left the theatre, and I went right to Ravi's for a bowl of curried apricot/red lentil soup to get the chill out of my bones. Is it now a rule that all current movies must feature Domhnall Gleeson? I've seen the guy in Brooklyn, Star Wars and now this one all in the space of a few weeks. Anyway, I thought The Revenant was excellent and I'd wrestle the Oscar away from Matt Damon to gift wrap it for Leonardo. I did not know he had that depth of acting in him. I remember him as a kid on Growing Pains back in the mists of time. Damn, I'm old.

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Meanwhile, people here in SoCal cannot drive in the fucking rain.  Apparently, the oil & grease builds up on the roads over the many dry months, and a little drizzle turns the pavement into a slip-n-slide.  Or, that's their excuse for being shitty drivers.  I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest, so can drive in rain, sleet, snow and icy conditions. 

 

We're expecting a couple of days in the low 70s this week.  :-D

(wq ducks the rotten tomatoes being thrown my way)

Edited by walnutqueen
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Oh and the x-files came back. I think it got delayed by football because it was on at 11 o'clock. I missed maybe 15 minutes.

I'll take domhall Gleason in every movie.

Edited by nachomama
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Meanwhile, people here in SoCal cannot drive in the fucking rain.  Apparently, the oil & grease builds up on the roads over the many dry months, and a little drizzle turns the pavement into a slip-n-slide.  Or, that's their excuse for being shitty drivers.  I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest, so can drive in rain, sleet, snow and icy conditions. 

 

Worse town I've ever seen for rain driving? Albuquerque, hands down. Two primary reasons:

  • Lack of practice. With the exception of the July/August monsoon season they rarely get more than showers; much of their precip comes as winter snow. And you can't realistically expect someone to know how to drive in an actual rainstorm when they don't get more than 2-3 days a year to practice the skills.
  • Lack of infrastructure. Year before last I was out there one evening when they got an (apparently) unprecedented 3" of rain over the course of 2-3 hours, and every street in town was awash because their storm sewer system couldn't handle the volume.
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I knew he was a Weasley brother, I just wasn't sure if he was both Weasley twins. I just like to listen to him talk. :D

 

My boss was fiddling with stuff yesterday and internet went out. Aside from killing my goof off pastime I also couldn't do any work or answer any emails. So he fought with it for an hour this morning and finally just plugged back in the thing he unplugged yesterday and it was like the christmas bulb that prevents the other bulbs from lighting up. Shazam all back working again. But praise jeebus I was not the one to do it. 

 

And my tv is dead. >: (  gotta figure out what the hell is going on there. 

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Broke as I was, when my TV died I was at Walmart with my overburdened credit card buying the cheapest new TV I could find - the very same afternoon.  My current dread is my very old DVR, which is on it's last legs, but since I would have to reprogram an embarrassingly large number of "series records" anew, I keep babying it along.  It HATES me using my FF button too quickly, and will force me to perform a series of complicated steps involving a defunct TV remote (so I have to walk to the TV and use the buttons, just like in the olden days) to clear the error message.  Gahh!  :-)

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I kept hoping it was my remote, nope batteries good, or the cable box, unplugged and replugged, the power strip, I turned it off and back on, all other things, like the lamp, came back on. I walked over to the tv and used the manual power button, I swapped my HDMI cable into another input slot. I know it's not a breaker because once again all things plugged into that same strip would be out. sigh. The tv aint that old! got it for black friday not this past year but the year before. but I don't know if I can even hike it to my car. I know I brought the damn thing home in the car but I recall nearly killing myself getting in the door, up the steps etc. It's not heavy but unwieldy. 

 

I have series records that I refuse to delete for shows that have ended but I want them to come back. 

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I have series records that I refuse to delete for shows that have ended but I want them to come back.

 

Were we separated at birth?  I have so many of these it's ridiculous - I've even gone back and modified them to "first AND rerun"!!!

 

My old TV is still sitting in the defunct "entertainment center", with the new flatter screen sitting on a repurposed table in front of it.  That OG sucker is way too heavy & cumbersome for this little ole lady with semi-disabled arms to ever hope to actually move.  :-)

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Yeah, the old TVs were bulky, unwieldy, power-hungry blocks of cement heavy enough to sink a battleship. One thing about them, though; they worked for years and years and years. Something I'm noticing about the current generation of LED/LCD TVs - and this is purely anecdotal on my part - but they don't seem to have near the longevity of their older tube-based counterparts.

Over the past 40 years I think I maybe had one tube-based unit which didn't last at least 12-15 years; contrariwise, I don't think I've had a flatscreen yet which has made it to the 5-year mark without evidencing some significant degree of operational malfunction or outright failure. Anybody else's experience been different?

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You are spot on with this, Nashville.  I was just commenting on how things were made to last back in "the old days" on, of all things, the Shopping Channel forum, where people seem to be cultishly obsessed with getting the newest colors of Lock&Lock storage containers.  I mentioned I use a few old Tupperware items I inherited in the early 70s, and said I had a bunch of stuff from that era and older that is still going strong.  Imagine my surprise when they all lauded my old Tupperware head lettuce keeper, which is now some fucking collectors' item on EBay & Amazon.  Who knew my houseful of old shit that still works just fine would become somewhat of a "yuppie" (purposely dating myself here) status symbol?  :-)

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I still have a monstrosity of a tv that technically works, just isn't hooked up to any cable so the picture is not worth a crap. It had one horizontal line going fritzy along the top, I'd live with it for a back bedroom tv if I had any cable in there. I once knocked it off the shelf and onto my foot, holy bejesus that sucker must weigh 75 pounds. This newer broken tv claims to weigh less than 20 but it's so wide it wouldn't fit in my car in the box. We unboxed it in the parking lot and managed to wedge it into the back seat. the problem is trying to take it up the steps, not heavy but one person gets really tipsy going up. And it's a pain the rear to wait on a guy to have them come to me, providing such a thing exists. I would like very much to have a tv that will connect with my whatisiseses to play netflix etc up on the big screen if such a thing can be accomplished if I go shopping for a new one. I think my days of cable and satellite are numbered but I don't want to just be looking at my phone screen or computer. 

 

back in the day we had the console tv where it looks like a piece of furniture, wood cabinet and speakers and shelves etc. then that died so we had a tv on top of that. We were mighty redneck.

Edited by nachomama
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^^^ It was called a console TV.  All the rage, way back when, as was your console Hi-Fi, preferably in blonde wood.  :-D

 

Free delivery over $35-$50 at all sorts of places.  Learn it, live it, love it!  Shop in person, then buy online.  Or, just take your chances.  Like Nashville says, TVs are now practically "disposable".

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back in the day we had the console tv where it looks like a piece of furniture, wood cabinet and speakers and shelves etc. then that died so we had a tv on top of that. We were mighty redneck.

...but how long did the Mahogany Monstrosity work before it died? ;)

I know, I know, it's all part of the planned obsolescence business paradigm, businesses are dis-incentivized to build products of maximum quality because it reduces their repeat market, yadda yadda yadda. I just think they could at least build them well enough to balance some of the expenditure for these relatively high-ticket items; for example, expecting an $800+ TV to last at least 8 years should not be an outrageously unreasonable expectation. But hey, maybe that's just me.

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It is not just you, Nashville.  These days it is all about the built in obsolescence and turnaround factor.  Back then, quality meant your reputation, recommendations and goodwill.  People actually DID care about quality.

 

My Aussie stepdad's half brother confirmed an old story for me about Rolls Royce in "the Outback" in the 30-40s, when their granny broke an axlerod or something bumping around the bush in first gear (she didn't know how to shift).  The Rolls guy came out and replaced everything, but she never received a bill.  When contacted, the Rolls rep said "Madame, the Rolls Royce axlerod does not break". 

Edited by walnutqueen
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I knew he was a Weasley brother, I just wasn't sure if he was both Weasley twins. I just like to listen to him talk. :D

 

Neither! He was Bill. :) If you like to listen to him, he did a podcast with Hardwick recently.

 

We are watching old seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Some ep in season 2. The old Vatos grandma just showed up for a quick scene. Same demeanor. LOVE that lil ol lady.

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I listened to the Hardwick podcast just this past weekend, and he was delicious. 

 

I'm trying to remember the maker of that tv, my father was a very "buy american" kinda guy, we couldn't have Sanyo, Sony, Hitachi (don't even know what foreign tvs there were at the time, and you absolutely didn't buy a Toyota, Honda etc car. But he swore by those tv's, it wasn't Phillips, but a dude's name. (Curtis Mathis maybe)  And they weren't cheap. I'm sure that console tv lasted forever, it was there before I was born and died when I was about 8-9 ish, I do recall I liked the newer tv because It had a remote, previously that was our job as children to go change the knob. We also had an extremely early VCR where the tape popped up out of the machine, it was ginormous and had a remote connected with a wire and we were confused about the "skip commercial" button. When commercials came on we hit the button and the screen went gray and we waited. It was a "pause" button for live recording so you didn't have commercials in your recording, it didn't jump the space/time continuum and allow you to jump past them. We were such noobs. We had that sucker for about 12 years!

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We had the same VCR. Around that time, we also got cable and it was controlled by a remote (also on a wire) about half the size of a toaster with a button to push for each of the channels ...

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Oh, yes. Curtis Mathes. "The most expensive television set in America - and darn well worth it." They weren't too far wrong, either. A Curtis Mathes console unit (one of the Mahogany Monstrosities) would set you back about $1200-$1500 - real big bucks in the late 70s / early 80s - but the sucker would last 20 years or more, so the actual cost amortized out to about $60-$75 a year. Compare that with one of today's $500 flatscreens which will last about 2-5 years. :P

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I doubt ours was mahogany. We also had a huge furniture thing record player. It was like a sideboard 3 squares put together. Each side was a big ass speaker. The middle had the turn table. We could play 3 kinds. I want to say it was a zenith. Got lots of holiday pictures with it. Before I was born we also had a Ben Franklin piano which if anyone had kept would be quite the collectors item. The record player, vcr and our first microwave we had for DECADES. the microwave was from possibly 81 ish. Tappen. That thing Difnt give up the ghost til at least 93-94.

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I doubt ours was mahogany.

 

Just my expression for those humongous wooden-cabinet console TVs.

Or would you prefer Ponderous Pile O' Pine?  ;>

 

 

We also had a huge furniture thing record player. It was like a sideboard 3 squares put together. Each side was a big ass speaker. The middle had the turn table. We could play 3 kinds. I want to say it was a zenith. Got lots of holiday pictures with it. Before I was born we also had a Ben Franklin piano which if anyone had kept would be quite the collectors item. The record player, vcr and our first microwave we had for DECADES. the microwave was from possibly 81 ish. Tappen. That thing Difnt give up the ghost til at least 93-94.

My father still has one in his living room.  Bitch weighs a ton.  AM/FM and the turntable still work, though.

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It still worked when my mom died. Dunno what my pops did with it. We had old old records too. My pops had the Tijuana brass album with the chick all covered in whipped cream. My dad had 2 copies (one stayed mint in package ) of a John Wayne spoken word album where he got all patriotic reading the declaration of independence and stuff. Again, if anyone knew where this shit went it would be a collectors item. He had bunches of jim reeves, Tennessee Ernie ford and burl Ives records. Like who had that crap?

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It still worked when my mom died. Dunno what my pops did with it. We had old old records too. My pops had the Tijuana brass album with the chick all covered in whipped cream. My dad had 2 copies (one stayed mint in package ) of a John Wayne spoken word album where he got all patriotic reading the declaration of independence and stuff. Again, if anyone knew where this shit went it would be a collectors item. He had bunches of jim reeves, Tennessee Ernie ford and burl Ives records. Like who had that crap?

 

My dad - Herb Alpert and all.  :)

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Given how I've bitched about my life-eating job, I'm finally starting to consider doing something about it. On Monday I drafted an email to an agency letting the recruiter know I would be interested in making a change. I've edited, read and chewed over that email but I still haven't sent it. I went so far as to add the recruiter's email address today and still didn't send it. I've had four jobs over the last 16+ years. Three of them were five-year contracts. I haven't quit a job since 1998 and that was after three miserable years. I've been here since October 2014 and not all of it miserable. I'm genuinely conflicted about what to do and sending that email feels like starting a fire on that proverbial bridge.

I'm also having some issues with my room mate's neediness so maybe I should just burn all my bridges at the same time. I'm feeling a bit like Hicks in the Aliens movie: "Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

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Irishmaple - Good luck. "life-eating" certainly sounds like the description of a situation worth trying to change ...

if you're not ready to start a fire on the bridge, maybe a phone call before an email? Phone calls can't be forwarded around behind your back ...

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Good luck. I always wish people well who are trying to trying to get their life back from career strangle hold. Because I hope to do it myself one day.

Crisis averted. Ordered a new tv so I can watch WD on time. Smart tv so I can dump satellite but I have to look into Hulu or prime whichever gives me WD faster. Can't be waiting for the zombies.

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I've been watching it, Whorie still doing stupid stuff behind her husband's back. 

 

Now my tv didn't get delivered, >:(  I signed up for text alerts and I got one an hour after they attempted. So try again tomorrow. Gimme a time window BEFORE and I can meet the dude, they keep helpfully suggesting I can pick it up elsewhere. It doesn't fit in my car, it has to be delivered. 

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kj4ever, on 02 Feb 2016 - 12:50 PM, said:

I wish I could change careers, but I'm set to retire with a full pension at 50.  Part of the dying breed and lucky to have it.

 

Anyone watch Colony?

 

Sounds like a job you can't afford to leave, kj - but you are pretty lucky to have it.

 

I am enjoying Colony so far.

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I wish I could change careers, but I'm set to retire with a full pension at 50.  Part of the dying breed and lucky to have it.

Same here, although not at 50 for me; that's already a little ways back in my rear view mirror.

898 days to go.

Then, possibly, a few years of contracting back with my employer - for about 3x my current salary....  :D

 

Anyone watch Colony?

 

I'm giving it a try - Lori notwithstanding.

Also giving The Shannara Chronicles a try. I haven't read any of the books since about 25-30 years ago, but I still remember parts.  :)

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I decided to give Colony a try, too, but didn't make the decision until the 3rd (I think) episode so I'm pretty confused.  I know there's a resistance to something but don't know what the something is.  I'm going to try to catch the first couple episodes so I can decide whether it's worth my time.  I'm kind of afraid to get into it after my experience with "V" tv series.  Those damn rebels planned and planned and never accomplished a damn thing.

 

When I was just a wee youngster my parents won a console radio/stereo system from the VFW.  My father had purchased a ticket from a buddy and forgotten all about it until they got a drunken phone call in the middle of the night.  My mother answered the phone and hung up on them thinking it was a prank call.  Anyways, I sure wish I had that thing now.  It was really nice and I have fond memories of listening to Hermans Hermits and the Beatles on that thing.  And pretending I was Diana Ross.

Edited by NurseGiGi
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No spoilers, but you haven't missed any big reveals, they've kept the "the big bad" from us although they hint aliens and such. 

 

I also tried The Expanse, and I'm kinda hooked. I have heard that The Shannara Chronicles is surprisingly good for Mtv, although I cannot bring myself to tune into that channel. 

 

/whispering...There's a random girl sitting in my office, my boss left and did not lock the door. Usually people ring the bell to get in. So girl wanders in and at first seems like she wants to make a phone call but she has an ipad and needs to get in touch with someone and it's not charged. So she's sitting and charging her ipad to meet someone nearby... is this a new scam? It's odd because she seems somewhat distressed but won't speak in full sentences or volume. Either she's really dumb or I am. We don't let strangers come in for the phone or use the bathroom. 

Edited by nachomama
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Sounds like a job you can't afford to leave, kj - but you are pretty lucky to have it.

 

I am enjoying Colony so far.

No I can't....Started at 20 with one of the Big 3 (well what used to be the Big 3) to make money for college.  I was a late in life kid so when I graduated high school my parents were like "See ya!"...lol  So in a glorious 6 more years I am DONE.  I'll probably consult like Nashville after (I have a very specialized skill) and finally make what I deserve now :)

 

Oh good to here you like it.  I have it on my DVR (hopefully) and just have to catch up.  I love love love Sawyer, and should be watching it just for him.  The Lori factor brought down my excitement though.

Edited by kj4ever
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Something I'm noticing about the current generation of LED/LCD TVs - and this is purely anecdotal on my part - but they don't seem to have near the longevity of their older tube-based counterparts.

 

Does anything? My parents got a fridge and a stove and that was it. They never got new ones. Ever. Now we have to replace major applicances every few years. They bought a TV - a Dumont - when I was three years, and that I took with me when I moved into my own place and it still worked. I inherited a 1961 console stereo/radio combo that I just got rid of two years ago, mainly because it took too much space and I was sick of looking at it. Still worked, though. Sounded good too.

 

Ah, they just don't make 'em like they used to!

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AngelaHunter, on 05 Feb 2016 - 5:16 PM, said:

Does anything? My parents got a fridge and a stove and that was it. They never got new ones. Ever. Now we have to replace major applicances every few years. They bought a TV - a Dumont - when I was three years, and that I took with me when I moved into my own place and it still worked. I inherited a 1961 console stereo/radio combo that I just got rid of two years ago, mainly because it took too much space and I was sick of looking at it. Still worked, though. Sounded good too.

 

Ah, they just don't make 'em like they used to!

 

^^^ Now, get off our lawns!!!  :-)

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How long do yall drive cars? My father would drive em until the wheels fell off. He had a big old 1971 ford truck, we sold it to the guy who runs the flea market when my dad died in 1994. I'm sure he's still got it. We had a 1984 amd station wagon (ugly as hell) and I got it in college. I cracked it up twice and it finally went to its great reward in 1997. I have a 10 year old Toyota now. But I know people who trade in cars every 2-3 years. I don't know if thats a "built to last" issue or not

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How long do yall drive cars? My father would drive em until the wheels fell off. He had a big old 1971 ford truck, we sold it to the guy who runs the flea market when my dad died in 1994. I'm sure he's still got it. We had a 1984 amd station wagon (ugly as hell) and I got it in college. I cracked it up twice and it finally went to its great reward in 1997. I have a 10 year old Toyota now. But I know people who trade in cars every 2-3 years. I don't know if thats a "built to last" issue or not

Marketing persuasion more than anything else. I get a (usually used) vehicle, I'm driving that puppy 8-10 years minimum.

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I drive cars until they fall apart, literally.  I once found out there was a limit to the number of times AAA would come out in a year by experience.  I was raised that way.

 

So cut to something that happened this week.  I'm driving my Mom somewhere (you know, the one that raised me this way) and she asks me...  How many miles on the car?  60,000.  How old is it?  About 10 years. Then she asks, isn't it time to get a new one.

 

I do an actual stunned double take.  Like a cartoon character hit in the head with an anvil or something.  I ask her why I would do that and go on and on about how the car has never needed anything but regular maintenance in 10 years.  And how I've never had a car this problem free and will likely never again.  And that she's jinxing me by talking about.

 

She counters with.  I can make this my beater car (my beater car?) and get another one.  And at this point I'm looking at the woman who raised me to be a saver like she's insane and ask 'is it that bad?' And she starts talking to me about the upholstery.  I counter with new floor mats and repairing the leather on the arm rest (that just split at the stitches, it not gone or anything) is cheaper than a new car.

 

Her next pitch is that I need to upgrade to get all the new tech gadgets like GPS. To which I counter, my phone have an app for that.

 

But now, I have a complex.  There is literally nothing wrong with the car other than its ten years old.  But now, I've started noticing that my car is older than other cars.  And not, my car is boxy and yours isn't.  I'm talking about stuff like aesthetically the line of your SUV taillights is more pleasing to the eye than my SUV taillights. 

 

So now I'm going to go wash my car this weekend so it doesn't feel like such an inferior loser in side by side comparisons.  And maybe stop parking next to those people that trade in their cars every 3-5 years.  There is still no chance in hell that I sell my SUV before something actually breaks down.

Edited by ParadoxLost
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Don't fault Mom; people change as they get older. My mother-in-law remarried into money a while back and is now one of the bigger sticks-in-the-mud in the Western Hemisphere; I remember when she was still single from her first divorce, though, and coming back from nights out drunk off her ass and dancing through the sunroof of the car to Madonna. Tends to keep the whole current-day Junior League image in check in my mind, donchaknow.

Or, perchance, has your mother recently started dating a car salesman...? ;)

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I don't think my car looks outdated per se, I am missing hubcaps which bothers me not at all. A few years ago someone bought me hubcaps for Christmas and I was annoyed. As long as the wheels turn I could care less if they have shiny covers. I cannot fathom the whole "rims" and bling nonsense with kids these days. Kid at work spent an inordinate amount of money painting his car the paint that changes color. For the love of Pete I'm getting dementia because its eluding me. Not phosphorescent. You know the thing where in one light it looks purple but as it passes you it goes green n blue. Of course this kid lives with his mom. Doesn't pay rent. So it's disposable income to him. Id go on vacation with what he spent to paint the car.

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Paint that changes color?  I wouldn't like that.  I used to have a car that was a blue green color.  It annoyed me every time I had to describe the car when being dropped by a shuttle service to pick my car up at the airport.  The next car I bought, one criteria for choosing the paint color was being able to describe it in one word that didn't sound stupid or pretentious.

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