Anything can happen.

This is all I'm fixated on right now. I've seen storms turn on a dime. Still, this one has yet to make the turn north.

I hope the mortgage situation is better on the East coast. If you are underwater on your mortgage, and you are physically underwater - I'd guess the chances of jingle mail would increase exponentially.

This is something our economy could really do without right now.

In Sacramento....almost half of the mortgages are underwater. 43.4%. That is what a solid b+ gives you. Good job.

Some days its harder to stay positive than others. This is one of those days.

Bad Ass - Old timey Ford Addition.

It isn't very common for old cars to get put in the bad ass section. But, think this one qualifies. The truck bed is filled with custom woodwork. Yeah. You heard me. That is wood. The interior also was done with custom word work.



I don't know how these images are going to come out for you. One of my monitors it looks good, the other not so much. The car was really hard to capture. You can also view the video here - because I knew my shots might not come out great.

When zombies come to town.

Zombies get hungry Yo.

Zombies are trying to blend in as hippies.

This weekend I ran across this van. My town has been trying to attract the "artist" community. Which is really just code for people without jobs who make interesting things. Sometimes.

So, the van caught my eye right away. I was all about to get all whiplash when Mr S. spotted the ribbon sticker. We thought it was a support the troops ribbon. Which calmed us knuckle draggers down. We don't take kindley to hippies in this part. But zombies... that is a different story.

It is clear zombies are still feeling too ostracised to live normal lives in the burbs. So they are trying to pass themselves off as hippies.



Also see zombies have moved to the burbs.

What if they never get it?

Ebay, Adobe, EA Games Leaving California For Utah Over Confiscatory Tax Rate

"Computer software giant Adobe, computer game monster EA Games, and Internet auction king ebay are abandoning California to set up shop in Utah. Why? California’s horrid business climate and high taxes."

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Utah is too vanilla for me.

It really is like a punch in the gut. The Valley has always been almost electric with new ideas. Now the lazies are crushing us and companies are moving. It never occurs to these numbnuts that rich people do that. Move. They think they can just squeeze and squeeze and people will take it.

Hey.. Maybe I'd learn to like vanilla.

Bite me.

Are all you coast dwellers happy now? All summer long, all I've been hearing is whining about how cold it is. Waaaaa. You notice I haven't complained a bit. It's been one of the nicest summers in memory. Until today. Sucks ass.

Yeah. I'd go with that.

I have to admit - this whole Presidency has been completely fascinating. Terrifying. Yet fascinating.

I don't understand the brainchild who thought of "we don't want to go back to the policies that got us into this mess" mantra.

You mean, the policies that made it so anyone who wanted a job had a job? And also made it so even if you hated your job, you could quit and walk down the street and get a new job at will. The policies in which anyone who wanted to own a house could. No job. No money. You didn't even have to be a citizen. I don't even think you had to be alive to own a house.

Granted, there are many things about the Bush administration to be desired. Especially at the tail end.

Still, this method is a little like having a dad who lets you do anything you want. But you think he's a dick. Then your mom divorces your dad, and step dad comes in - and you realise you didn't know how good you had it.

We were on a break.

My blog traffic fell off a cliff last week. So, I took the weekend off.

Slept in, washed the cars. Made spaghetti sauce from scratch. Mr S. learned his yeasty culture was in ill health. Home made bread was a relative disaster. Now it's in the yeast hospital.

My sauce wasn't the best either.

So, you didn't have any Monday morning content. Sorry. Blogging is hard work. So, when people don't read - I tend to take a blogging vacation.

Is chipmunked the new rick roll?

If so... I think it's funny.

You have to sign a release for that.

Today I had to sign a release form, for a doctor to cut off the top layer of my skin which was about the size of a baby's pinky finger nail. Which I asked them to do.

They apparently had to inform me it might get infected, and or bleed.

No. Seriously. That is what they told me.

They had to cut down a tree. Use ink. Which we all know is very costly. Stick this paper in my file somewhere. Then probably scan it onto a computer, because we all know most medical places are moving to computer record keeping.

All for this tiny bit of skin that was making me neurotic that I might have skin cancer. Which I probably don't. But at least I don't have to stare at it thinking I do anymore.

Why oh why are we such babies these days? Honestly. I thought pretty much everyone knew that when you cut crap off your body - you would probably bleed.

You didn't think it would last forever - did you?

I've been trying to bitch less about President Money Bags. The minute I started complaining about him - I lost of lot of long time readers. I guess I immediately turned into a knuckle dragger. Even though socially I'm very liberal.

Still, every week when the jobs numbers come out. It affects me. It affects me when so many people are lining up for section 8 housing. And, it pretty much breaks my heart when the housing authority calls it a success when 30,000 people turn out for vouchers.

That should never be considered a success. Ever. It isn't like you are handing out movie tickets. There is a fine line between helping people, and ruining future generations.

And no - I am not being dramatic. People don't understand how hard it is for people to get off welfare. The children of those mothers have less opportunities and often wind up on welfare themselves. Many times they become teen mothers. Like my mom. And I'm not talking 18. I'm taking almost 15. Who then can't realize their full potential because they have kids to support.

Each and every week - I see us slipping closer and closer to people having to endure that scenario. So when I bitch about President Money Bags, it isn't because I'm racist. It's because I've lived the full affects of the liberal agenda. It takes a tremendous amount of willpower to reverse that course. And it just bums be out that we have a president that seems completely okay with this. I'm not going to lie.

Forever.

It's a status thing.

From the minute we brought Saffron home a few years ago, Paisley was jealous. It wasn't something we had really experience before. Rabbits only have 5 brain cells. 3 are geared towards food. One is geared towards knowing it's name. The 5th is random fits of brilliance. Namely trickery.

The first year she was really, really, jealous. If I'd even held Saffron - Paisley would want to sniff me obsessively. She is the only bunny I'd ever noticed had even the slightest bit of jealousy. And she doesn't express jealousy towards the other two. Only Saffron.

Why do I bring this up? Well, when Saffron had that GI problem.. geeze, it must be at least a month ago. She had to get extra attention. It turns out that Saffron might have gone a little mental and started eating litter. Which is basically ground up hay with less nutrients. It also keeps her system a little dryer.

So I've been on this constant crusade to give her extra roughage. Carrot tops. No.. my bunnies don't like carrots. Just the tops. Dandelion greens and parsley. And BTW - who the hell eats dandelion greens? The store always has them, and they are fabulously healthy. I thought this was something we were all trying to get rid of.

We even had to give her a litter box filled with kibble to make her stop eating litter. Turns out kibble is less expensive than litter. Though it doesn't have the absorbent qualities. So you have to switch it out every other day.

They all get some - but Saffron has to get more until she stops being mental. This of course drives Paisley a little nuts. While the other bunnies are minding their own business - Paisley is busy staring a hole in you and looking agitated. Just like a dog.

She apparently knows she is top bitch. She gets fed first. She usually gets attention first. She lives on the top floor. Which is why this happens.

Yet, it is still funny to me she is aware enough to know her status. I didn't think bunnies were capable of this.

I guess since the others aren't top bunny, they don't care if they are the other end of the feeding spectrum. Paisley clearly cares.

This years crop of shit you can't afford.

If you are going to go for a Bugatti Veyron, I'd definitly go with the tan one.



McLaren P11.



I just liked how they had the Ferraris lined up in the red white and blue order.



Mercedes.



Spyker construction zone. I don't think they intended for it to look that way. It's how I saw it. Video here.



Maserati.

Morgan EvaGT

From the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. This car was too tighly roped off, so I didn't even really bother with too many shots. The car is more interesting when you see last years model. The Morgan Lifecar. Here. Third down.

I wouldn't have guessed these were from the same company.



Palm Pre vs. FUJI S3Pro. I think I lost. I had to do two runs of sharpen. The below pictures are from the Palm Pre.

People you probably know.

I wasn't going to even get Jay Leno this year. He shows up at the Concours every year I guess. And, he wears the same thing. Tells the same stupid jokes.

I've never been a big fan myself - but, I thought those old money types were his base audience. They seemed really non plussed. When he was introduced people barely clapped. My flipcam accidentally got turned on, and I wound up with 7 minutes of his bombing. No video. Just audio. And anyway...it was just really an asshole move to announce retirement, and then take his show back. I'm not a fan of anyone involved. It was just a chump thing to do.

He was on the stage for something like 10 minutes, and I eventually walked right up and got a picture. Last year you couldn't even get close enough to get a good shot.



Mr S. spied this guy from Ferris Bueller. I'm not even going to list his name. He didn't seem that happy to be recognised.



As we were leaving it looked like the hired police were setting up for a police escort. So I waited around for about 10 minutes, and out pops Smokey Robinson. I only got a shot of the side of his head. The whole thing literally was probably 5 seconds. Three of which I had to figure out who it was that was famous.

I think the even funnier shot is - if you look closely at the patrolman in this next shot. He has the most shit eating "I've got Smokey Robinson" grin on his face ever.

Porche 918 Spyder

I am not gonna lie - I about lost my mind trying to get these shots. Because the men about lost their minds with this car. They were packed so tightly around it. I was sure I was never going to get a clean shot.

I like this first photo because of the young boy in the upper area. This kid is going to be working for Dupont Registry when he grows up. I know it.

Bertone Alpha Romeo Pandion.

Updated: With HiDef Video here and here. Plus a link to the Bertone Mantide I got last year.

I am going to gush about this car - and you are going to like it. You will. If circumstances were different I might have totally missed it myself.

Mr S. got a call from his dad while we were at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. He went off to find a place to talk to him away from the loud speakers which were blasting a bombing Jay Leno. More later.

I was busy trying to photograph, on the sly, a Cruella Deville look alike. Also - more later.

After a while I just started roaming when the back bumper of the Bertone caught my eye right away. It was like a magnet.

No one, but no, one seemed that interested in this car. For a good 5 minutes I hovered over it. I finally got the attention of one of the guys who seemed to be attached to it to see if he'd let me go over the chain to get better pictures. Which he did. I must have taken 50 pictures because I knew the bumper was going to be hard to capture. Took video. It was great.

Finally Mr S. caught up with me, and excitedly I asked him "did you see that car"? What car - he replied. That car! He'd come in from the other direction which is why probably a lot of people didn't think it was anything special.



I kept hovering over it. It was a hard shot. Grey day. Grey ocean. Grey on black car. And, I really wanted to make sure I got this car. Still, not that many people were interested. Some guy walked up and started talking to the designer about CAD. Either you know what it is, or you don't. So, I'm not going to go into it. I realised this guy was going to hog up a lot of time. So, I got the attention of the guy who let me get behind the rope.

How do you open it - I ask. I wasn't sure how much he understood me, so I put my arm up at an angle. This is where the most glorious thing happened. I'm not sure I should describe it, because it is probably some security thing. But, it caused the doors to open. Where my mouth promptly dropped. His reaction to my reaction was priceless. Immediately a crowd started to form, and I was pretty screwed about getting any more content. But who would have guessed it was so awesome inside?



None of you slackers have watched the video. You should. You don't see stuff like this every day.







Just a side note - I was really impressed with how accessible the designer was. He talked to pretty much everyone. The group that was with the car was gracious and accommodating. It really stood out to me, because a lot of people at Concours are couldn't give you the time of day sorts of people. It was refreshing.

I'm too tired to offload my photos and vids. Took us three hours to get back from Monterey. Which is why we don't get out there that often. Traffic either sucks coming, going - or both. This time it was coming back.

Here is cell phone vid from Mr S's phone of the Bertone.

Target in Monterrey has men/women and unisex bathrooms. Is that going to cover all bases?

That's a bummer.

Update - New interesting thing about tires. If there is anything interesting. They offer to fill them up with nitrogen now. Theory is the molecules are larger, so the tires lose air less quickly.

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It is a good thing the expensive car show is tomorrow. I left this morning to visit the chiropractor because I'd moved all that wood. Found my car had picked up a screw. So, both my cars are in the shop right now. Luckily they are able to get the tires today.

Still, I was planning to go to Monterrey today for the Le'mons car show today. It is a play on words people!

I thought it would have been funny. You guys would be expecting amazing concept cars, and I'd give you the most horrible cars on earth. Plus, I'm still gathering nuts. I wanted to go to my favorite winery. I plan on drinking all winter. I'm not normally a big drinker. But, I'm getting older. And, I understand old people drink a lot. I have to start training now.

Finally Friday

Why did I use this picture? It has nothing to do with what I am going to post about today. I took it a couple of days ago, and I know my readers are easily stimulated by pictures. You know you are!

This weekend I'm going to that car show in Monterrey. I've been tuned out the last couple of days, but every few hours Mr S. sends me some email with a company saying they are going to reveal a new car there. I think Lotus, and Jaguar have made announcements. Not a big fan of Jaguar. I never really see myself driving one. Too upper crusty. I'm more in the new money Internet millionaire camp. I'm probably heavily influenced by tech company parking lots. Not as many Jaguars there.

My car didn't come home today. Which is good and bad. I didn't want to make the two hour trek. Still, they are going to have it almost a week by the time it is allegedly ready. The rear differential is on a slow train from China.

Day 2.

Just about around noon I was feeling like the fire tetris champion of the world. By six, I was vacillating between despair and victory.

I estimated it would take three days to move 2.5 cords of wood. It is all moved. About a half a cord sits in a heap in the back yard. Tomorrow the Solstice comes home. Hopefully. And the heat is ticking up. Yesterday, it felt like fall. It was awesome. Musically awesome. Today it felt like summer. NOT awesome.

Yesterday I imagined the neighbors biking by were thinking I should just kick babies. After all, I surely hate mother earth with all that freakin' wood. I didn't get the usual greeting from passerbys. After all, this is a place tree trimmers are freaked out about getting sued for chopping down trees. And I'm sitting on enough wood to power a small village. Whatever.

I might pay to have them stack next year. I'm changing that whole "use it or lose it" attitude. I'm throwing in the towel. There is no earthly reason I shouldn't be strapped to a gurney having robots feed me.

I have stupid logic.

Today, I am pretty much hating my philosophy that no one dies from a little hard work. Moving and stacking two and a half cords of wood is a bitch. Painful, yet maybe not as painful as watching the market today.

I barely even know what is going on with the world. But, I know everyone is mad. Which I am surprised about. Correction - I'm surprised they are mad right now. Eh.. whatever.

At least you might not get my weekly gberment rant. I mean.. it was jaw dropping they propped up the unions by making poor people starve. Teachers hate people on food stamps. Well.. I'm not so happy about it either. I know first hand how it traps generations.

Still you can't not see stories like this, and feel like things will get much worse for poor people.

30,000 line up for housing vouchers, some get rowdy

I've never seen anything like this in my whole life.

Fabulous!

I don't know who buys an eight foot tall metal mantis - but it does get you to stop. The boa doesn't hurt either.

Not so interesting stuff.

Things will get more interesting soon. For now - I'm pretty much gathering nuts for the winter?..?

I almost hate to brag, but it has been the most fantastic summer as far as weather goes. I know the rest of the country and the world is getting punched in the neck. And.... that sucks.

All I feel is this intense need to start hunkering down for the winter.

Today I had to take the Solstice in. Because all of those assholes closed their doors - the shop is a two hour round trip event. I did get Dim Sum out of it. I've mostly been off it this summer.

Apparently the car needs a new rear differential. Which would have really pissed me off if the warranty was off. It isn't like it is something that is easy to run into the ground. That is a defect. It only has 25k miles on it. The new shop at least does good work. Also it was busy. People are buying cars. Apparently.

Then, my renter believes we are besties. He took up a bunch of my day. If he wants to pay rent on time, maybe we can be besties. On time for him - is the 10th.

Notable about the conversation is his new hatred of Mexicans. It is everywhere now. I almost can't believe it. I mean, I get the reasons. Yet, two years ago - everyone but everyone used them. I liked them. They were hard workers. In one generation they went from siesta takers to job takers. Just sayin'.

Tomorrow I get two and a half cords of wood delivered. If they are going to shut me down, I'm going to burn my way to happiness. I also figured out they were delivering almond wood and am going to spend the winter BBQing with it. I've got this new affinity for BBQing in the rain. It makes me feel happy for some reason. No stress about setting the hills on fire. It's tranquil. The rain is awesome. And so is BBQ.

I'm telling you - I'm a compact.

Bad ass - it's been a while.

I am on again - off again when it comes to these Lotus's.