Author: adam

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Love the new Challenger

Read about the return of another muscle car from the past – the Dodge Challenger. The retro craze also has brought us the Ford Mustang and the Chevy Camaro is coming out in 2010. But I love the new Challenger.

The new Challenger has three trim and transmission packages that dramatically affect the price:

  • Challenger SE at $21,995
  • Challenger R/T at $29,995
  • Challenger SRT8 at $39,995

Of course, I go for the most expensive model, and at almost $40 grand this car is worth every dollar. It has the muscle under the hood with 425 horsepower in either an automatic or six-speed transmission, and it most definitely has a dramatic retro styling to make heads turn.

  • The SE model gets 17 mpg in the city and 25 highway.
  • The R/T gets 16 mpg city and 25 highway for both the automatic and manual
  • The SRT8 with the extra horsepower gets 13 mpg city, 19 highway with the automatic, and 14 mpg city, 22 highway with the manual transmission.

I want a red one!

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Dog Days of Summer

Well the heat wave finally hit here. It’s hot. very hot.

Had to go to a funeral yesterday and stand out in the hot sun for about a half hour for the graveside service. It was 110 degrees and no shade trees in the cemetery. It was a typically bleak western cemetery. A lot of dirt and rocks with a few rows of headstones, some dating back to the 1800’s. It was a very sad day and the cemetery was no comfort for the mourners standing there in suits and black dresses.

We could use some rain – everything has turned brown and grey. Even the creeks and ponds have dried up. Good thing August only has 31 days and then we have Labor Day weekend to flag the end of summer.

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Builder of Sand Castles

Read an article on Wiki about sand castles that lead me to “World Grandmaster Sand Sculpting Champion Rich Varano” and his web site.

He’s from Florida, so I’m sure he has a lot more access to sand to practice and ply his trade than most people. Evidently he travels all over the world to compete in sand castle building competitions. The photos on his website are awe inspiring. Check it out for inspiration before you head to the beach this summer. If you need lessons, he gives them!

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Big Brother – 2

Tonight’s show was great. The veto competition was awesome. The contestants had to crawl through hundreds of gallons of honey, which really covered them in sticky goo. Then they had to bust up pillows filled with feathers, of course, to find little stiffed teddy bears. The person who found their batch of teddy bears first won the immunity. Of course, the guy who won was one who was put up for eviction. So there’s already some fun twists and turns in the drama.

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Wind Power

For the little bit that I actually watch TV, the fact that I saw three commercials yesterday by T. Boone Pickens about his plan for bringing wind power to America is remarkable. From what I’ve heard so far, wind power makes sense if the geographic area has sustained winds of about 10+ mph.

Now, a clever guy in Petaluma by the name of Steve Rustad who draws cartoons has a good idea about wind power, too. If I did this link correctly you can see his idea here. Thanks, Steve!

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What a Difference!

The past several days have typical summer weather with temperatures in the high 80’s or low 90’s and high humidity. The kind of hot muggy days that suck the energy right out of you and you really appreciate the cool air conditioning when you get home.

We’ve had a lot of thunderstorms this summer. We need the rain, so I can’t complain much, but the thunder makes my dog bark and freak out, and the lightning makes me nervous about strikes too close to home. I’ve to power down my computer several times these past several days so that if we have a lightning strike it won’t zap my system.

But today is beautiful so far. It’s only about 80 degrees, sunny with a few clouds, there is a nice breeze, and the humidity is gone. I’ll be outside as much as possible today to take advantage of this!

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Premiere of Big Brother

What a cast of characters for this new season of the Big Brother reality show! Mostly young people like me and one old guy. I’m really looking forward to this show – TV has been boring ever since the writer’s strike.

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Cardinals in a Downhill Slide

I don’t know what is wrong with my beloved Cards but they can’t seem to win a game to spite themselves. I’ve been watching parts of games for the past two weeks and haven’t watched them win yet. The losses aren’t even close – they’ve been humiliating blowouts by the other teams. Poor Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel can’t carry the whole team on their backs. They need the rest of the team to step up their game and start winning.

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Remember Shakey’s Pizza Parlours?

Shakey’s used to have pizza parlours all over the country. Where I lived in the Washington DC area there were a couple dozen, back in the 60’s – 80’s. Sometime in the late 1980’s they started closing their restaurants. I don’t know why. They were really popular with families because they had a great variety of pizzas on a buffet and everyone could eat as much as they wanted of their favorite toppings. Plus they had great music entertainment at night, with rag time or dixie bands playing songs that everyone knew and could sing along.

Entire baseball and softball teams would come in to their closest Shakey’s after a game and eat pizza, drink beer or soda and have a lot of fun. We had our baseball team party at Shakey’s every year.

There’s nothing like them around here any more. Miss them and the great family entertainment.

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Picnics and Fireworks

I wonder how many families in America actually celebrate the Fourth of July with a picnic and fireworks?

That’s been the tradition in my home as far back as I can remember. My folks used to take us to  the community park  for a full day of family activities, with a parade, pie eating contest, arcade games and concerts on an outdoor stage – followed by a half hour show of fireworks as it got dark.

Of course, my dad often performed on stage with the local bands on their request. I was always so proud of him to see him take the stage and play the piano and sing along with whatever music they chose to play. He could wing it if he had never heard the tune before and he was always happiest playing the piano.