Author: fifteenkey (Page 41 of 95)

Why does buying a car have to suck so much? Sure, I enjoyed the test drives with Kyle, but that fun quickly turns to anesthesia-free gum surgery as soon as they start flapping dollars and nonsense. I should note here that car shopping on 90-something, high humidity days is not recommended, but in my case, it’s the reason for shopping.

Yesterday’s itinerary began with a stop at Sunnyside Acura in Nashua, NH. We were there to test drive my original target, a 2006 Acura TSX with Navigation. Plan B was immediately invoked as the Dealerships Controller had the car for the weekend. First we drove a 2006 TL, but it had an unbalanced tire vibration and left a shaky first impression. Next was a 2004 TSX and it was sweet. For a four cylinder, I couldn’t sense much less giddy-up than the 6-Cyl TL. We also spun a newly-designed 2009 TSX, but the new clown face grill design was as much a turnoff as the depreciation hit I’d take. Sunnyside also had an Infinity G35x and a BMW 3-something, but crappy gas mileage and questionable German reliability respectively had ruled them out at the keyboard.

Contrary to planetary norms, the further North we traveled, the hotter the wind blew. Cold bottles of Ira Lexus water greeted us in Manchester, and the black 2006 AWD IS250 we tested looked amazing as the heat rippled off the pavement. The IS250 is a hot car, and the Lexus badge just as appealing, but it’s about $5K more than the comparably equipped TSX, so the value equation favors Acura. Also, I think I’ll look a lot sillier driving 60 in the right lane in a hot Lexus than I will in a very warm TSX, and the Acura will slightly better gas mileage for my light footed efforts. Still, if some Lexus Sales Manager were to make me a Corleone-esque offer, I’d take it.

As Kyle and I discussed auto impressions over wheat linguine and marinara at the Manchester Olive Garden, I began wondering what I could get a new 2008 TSX for now that the 2009’s have washed ashore. Second shift research was about to begin…

To make this long story short, I researched Dealer invoice, holdbacks and incentives and discovered Acura is tossing dealers $1,500 to lose the 08’s. Armed with this information we drove to Herb Connolly Acura in Framingham, where their website listed 9 2008’s. When I arrived, they were down to 5, none in a color that excited me. The Sales dude said he could get a black/black (Hey, I just saw “The Dark Knight) ’08 from another dealer if we could agree on price. I gave him my low-ball offer and of course, he took it to his manager who came back with a price $1359 above my offer. I walked and took Kyle to a late lunch. I ran a few numbers and determined if we split the difference, I could get the car I wanted for about $4000 below MSRP.

When I returned, my rep was gone, so I dealt directly with the Sales Manager. He said the price was firm, and showed me some book indicating “invoice” was $2K higher than my research indicated, and added, “I don’t know what you did. Maybe you read it wrong.” Yeah, wrong. Mr. Anal checks and double checks. My numbers were right. Goodbye Herb Chambers Acura.

Stay tuned.

Saturday was a beautiful day for golf with my dad and brother Corey. I played pretty well and estimated by the last hole to have a 1-2 stroke lead on baby bro. To my surprise, the scorecard they were keeping had me down to both of them. It seems once they reach double par on a hole, they stop counting…

I can’t take another epic battle scene with guys with swords and iron masks on horses like the one in, “Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian.” That’s enough for me.

On Friday, IndyMac Bank floated like a pale, bloated corpse and once again, you and I will purchase a corporate life preserver priced at between $4 billion and $8 billion.

It also looks like a plan cooked up by the enablers in the Bush administration includes billions more taxpayer financed checks for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Dubya and the boys apparently aren’t against corporate welfare.

CEOs “benefit substantially if the risks they take pay off,” but “pay no penalty” if their risks lead to losses or even catastrophe — another sign that capitalism, in its current form, isn’t living by its own rules. – Barney Frank (D) MA

Finally, yesterday the spoiler to my aging Swedish automobile came off in my hand while unpacking groceries instead of like a boomerang on the highway, allowing repair instead of a potentially ugly accident. One has to appreciate those little things…

Recently I refinanced my home for 15 years, but plan to pay it off in 10 to 12. Mapping that scenario, I began considering whether to stay in my Hollywood Bungalow living this rerun. I mean, in 10-12 years “fiddy” will be a decade in the rear view mirror.

Lately I’ve been joking that if John McCain gets elected, I’m moving to France. That’s silly of course, especially since I’ve never been there, even though Paris and Normandy have been on the “I’d like to” list for years

While no world traveler, I lived in Tucson, Arizona during college and briefly in LA after that. I’ve driven cross country several times and have been to many great American cities including the Big Apple, Chicago, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and of course, Cleveland. My international travels are pretty limited, but luckily more than many including London, Los Cabos in Mexico, and Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City in Canada.

I’ve wanted to visit Australia ever since I heard Angus Young bang a guitar chord and now have friends who live there. The France thing is still high on the list and often when mentioning it’s mainly for the art, I hear, “Go to Rome.”

So what’s stopping me?

“Happiness is only real when shared.” That’s what Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) painfully scribbled onto the white pages of his journal toward the end of “Into the Wild,” and is the irony of the film. This engrossing work by Sean Penn is based on the Jon Krakauer novel and chronicles one young mans road trip from privilege that begins with compelling images of severed credit cards, a $24,000 life savings check sent to a charity, and a pyre of cash and a Social Security card. His destination was Alaska, and “Into the Wild,” but his journey there and the people he meets along the way become a compressed microcosm of a life lived. It’s not a perfect movie, but beautiful cinematography and great renditions by Mr. Hirsch and especially Hal Holbrook kept my interest. Mr. Holbrook plays Ron Franz, a veteran and widower whose brief time with McCandless allowed him experience a fatherhood previously denied by a drunk driver. The screenplay written by Mr. Penn also has it’s moments including, “Some people feel like they don’t deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past.” Yeah. Check it out.

I’m consciously not burning cash these days, and the thought of eating squirrel and gutting moose, while a sound weigh-loss strategy, remains unappealing. The recent newsworthy deaths of Tim Russert and Tony Snow in their 50’s got my attention, and I sure don’t want to hit the final check-out line thinking, “I never saw the Louvre.” Actually, maybe creating art is a more worthy pursuit… I don’t know, but I’ve reached a point where I’m searching for that “something else.” Something that’s truly a passion and pushes me out the pod bay doors and into a beautiful, unexplored new.

“The core of mans’ spirit comes from new experiences.”
Christopher McCandless in “Into the Wild”

Yardwork
Home Stores
Writing
RobotsinLove
Brother
Megan
Martinis
Salmon
Steaks
Lobsters
Rockport
Parade
PinkAquaSunset
Cookout
Mom
and Dad
and Mackenzie
100FlightsofStairs
WorkoutMix
Leftovers
Sox
Lots of little Madison
Now…

The bands self-made video for “Believe in Me…”

Photo by Vince Alongi

The Fourth of July celebrates our declaration of independence from the former British Empire 232 years ago. It’s a good day to read the actual text and doing so, reflect on its relevance today.

While it’s true we’re independent of the government then ruled by George III, how much independence do we have today when we are spied on by the government of George II? Read the document and the charges in it. As you do, think about how many of them apply to the current King George.

“But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.”

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

What has the world come to when the Sox are in NY for a long holiday weekend tilt with the Yanks and the story is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have the best record in baseball? Honestly, I haven’t been paying much attention, but here’s what I know:

• Last night with the Sox up 4-1 in the 7th, I thought, “at least the Sox will win one of these three.” Tampa then plated 6 on the way to a 7-6 sweep win.
• The Sox deep pitching should win them another Division, and take them far in the playoffs. It remains to be seen what they do before the trade deadline. They could use bullpen help, but the health of the Big Papi will determine priorities.
• The Yanks are old and tired. Even Alex Rodriguez in his prime is tired, but apparently his fatigue is from staying out late at Madonna’s place.
• Manny Ramirez threw a sixty-something Travel Secretary to the ground after the guy couldn’t score 16 tix on short notice. The fact this act of violence doesn’t get this jerk suspended is a reflection of our win at all cost society and is a disgrace.
• Letting Johnny Damon sign with the Pinstripes was a good move.
• Yankee youngsters Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano need to step up. Both are below .250.
• My pal Dave is all worked up over his Cubbies, but I think we know how that will turn out.
• The other “Boss” in NY/NJ, George Steinbrenner plans to attend the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. He’s always been a favorite pi?ata for Sox fans, but under his leadership, the Yanks won 6 World Championships and became the most valuable sports franchise on the planet.

Thirty three years ago tonight, I got my cheekbone broken blocking home plate. Dude was out.

50 songs to make you dance and this isn’t on the list?

Last night the audience stood and cheered Dana Carvey as his stand-up routine ended. It didn’t look like anyone was leaving, but the credits rolled over them and I wondered, “Do stand-up comics do encores?”

That got me thinking of encores in pop/rock music and how cliché they’ve become. I cannot think of a show I’ve attended without an encore. And while the requisite two or three bonus tracks may not be on the set list, my guess is most are pre-determined. Yeah, there’s the occasional audible called at the line of scrimmage, but most “encores” are textbook; maybe one deep catalog dive and a couple fan favorites. Of course Sloan’s show in Cambridge a couple weeks back included requests and audience members singing, but that’s Sloan…

Back in the seventies when I began frequenting the old Boston Garden for shows, fans really built up the noise and illuminated their desires with thousands of tiny flames, but today fans mail in their applause and fire laws prohibit any flashes of want. Lighters have become cell phones and most encores these days are expected, pre-measured formula. In the history of modern music, Elvis stands out for not doing them. When the King did the last song of a set, it was over, hence the post title.

Have you ever been to a show that didn’t have an encore?