A place to indulge my narcissism... and write stuff...

Day: July 23, 2008

That New Girlfriend Smell

Occasionally I’ll catch a whiff of a woman’s perfume that squeezes me through a time-space wormhole back to a time and a place and a woman. It hasn’t happened lately, either because my sense of smell is gone or I simply don’t get close enough for the sense to operate.
Whatever. That’s just a cheesy intro to my new car smell post. Yep. I sent an offer to three dealerships of what I wanted to pay for a new “Carbon Gray” 2008 Acura TSX w/ Navigation and within 12 hours, one accepted. Pete Boudreau, Internet Sales Manager at Acura of Auburn was simply great to deal with. Last night I signed up for some serious debt and this morning plugged in my iPod and drove away very happy.

Sadly, the old girl didn’t go without a fight. I don’t mean to go “Christine” on this, but some odd things happened with my Volvo once I made the decision to trade up. A “check engine” light caused a failed emissions test and $1,196.20 since May couldn’t turn it off. On Sunday it went out by itself and didn’t come back on… This morning as I put the car in reverse to exit my garage for the last time, it wouldn’t move. It felt like something was blocking the car behind me, so I got out and went back to check if I left something back there while emptying the trunk. Nothing. I got back in and backed out. (Queue X-Files music…)

First impressions…

  • I really can’t drive 55 and spent a good deal of time in the left lane being careful about speeding.
  • The iPod sounds amazing plugged directly into the Audio system…
  • XM Radio (trial) is a great way to experience new music. A Lewis Black sketch on the Comedy station was cool.
  • A navigation system is a cool new toy, but I always found my way without one. Still, if you’re in a strange place, you push “Go Home” and follow the breadcrumbs.

On the downside, I’ve been unable to successfully pair the “LeoTreo” with the female voiced Bluetooth system… On a certain level, that makes perfect sense.

Cover Band

I admit an embarrassingly high degree of ignorance of the Pearl Jam catalog, and I acknowledge they didn’t build their rabid fan base with stage gimmicks. A couple weeks ago I was trimming large swaths of weeds surrounding my house when “Release” randomly shuffled through my head. At a certain point in the song I simply stopped, um, released the mower, and stood there. Stunned. Intense doesn’t really cover it.

Speaking of covers, I’ve always considered this jam with Neil Young tearing up Young’s “Keep on Rockin in the Free World” one of the best “live” TV music performances I’d ever seen.

Fifteen years later, here’s another just as good… Wear earbuds if ya got ’em…

That Pearl jam is pretty, pretty, pretty good.

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