Cars!

For the last 10 years or so, I’ve made it a point to go to the annual auto show here in town. It fits in well with my car obsession, and at this point it’s kind of a post-Christmas tradition. For whatever reason, time constraints or a general lack of interest by others, I hadn’t planned on going this year—and to be fair, it seems to have lost something over the last couple of years. But a couple of free tickets turned up, and so last night after a quick stop at Circle Center Mall to eat some delicious (and meat-free) Margherita pizza, we walked over to the Convention Center.
I had planned on taking the camera, since I’m the only person I know who doesn’t have a camera phone, but of course forgot it. Verdict: If you went last year, you really didn’t miss anything this year. Unfortunately, our show falls before the big ones in Detroit, New York, and LA, which is where most of the new cars are introduced. So most of the concept cars and new cars we get to see have been out for a while. Only two real things stick out in my mind as noteworthy:

2007 Saturn Sky
I’m a huge fan of the Solstice, and had big hopes for the Saturn version. I wasn’t disappointed---while the only real difference between the Sky and the Solstice is aesthetic, I think it just looks a lot better. The rounded Pontiac lines are replaced instead with more angular, exciting looking body work (hard to see in this pic) that seems to fit well with the concept. And for $20K, it’s hard to beat.

Concept/Limited Production Chrysler ME-Four Twelve
0-60 ~2.6 seconds, 800+ hp
I was very surprised to see this car there, especially when it was sitting all by itself way over in the corner. Nobody was even really looking at it, so I guess maybe people didn’t know what it was. Ever since the release of the Bugatti Veyron, the ME-Four Twelve has pretty much faded out of the public’s view. It’s still an awesome car, and I read somewhere that although Chrysler isn’t going to “officially” produce them, they will “custom” make you one for somewhere around a $1 million or so. Really not a bad deal, if you’ve got that kind of money and are in the Supercar market.

Caution: Rant Ahead

It’s pretty nice to feel appreciated at work----that’s what I would be saying to you if I felt that way.
For the last couple weeks, (and really for longer than that, but I’ve really been noticing it lately), work has totally been giving me the shaft. Example: Two weeks ago, when we got like 7 inches of snow in 20 minutes or whatever, apparently the boss told everybody to leave early. Everybody, that is, except me---I sat here for probably an hour not knowing people had left, until someone was nice enough to walk through my half of the building and shut the lights off. Realizing what was going on, I then had to race out of the building before said person set the alarm.
Then, company Christmas party the following Saturday---I never even got invited. That doesn’t bother me as much, because I probably wouldn’t have gone anyway. But still......
And then that’s it for Christmas around here---no bonus, no gift, no “kiss my grits”. There’s a rumor of leaving early tomorrow, but it probably won’t happen. And even if it does, I doubt anyone will tell me about it.
Usually I wouldn’t care, whatever floats their boat. And it’s not like I need anything from work for Christmas, I mean sure a bonus or something would be nice…..it’s just that at every other job I’ve had, (and I’ve had some crappy ones..), I’ve been treated better than this. Talking to other people only reaffirms things---almost everyone I know either gets a little time off work, or a bonus, or even a Christmas ham—anything to make you feel remotely appreciated.
But the coup de grace, (and the reason for the ranting post, thanks for sticking with me this far) as the kids say, came just a few minutes ago. I ran into my boss’s boss, company president, down the hall. He was nice enough to tell me that since I didn’t have anything to do next week (what?) that I could work with the guys in the warehouse, outside!
Yeah, ummm…….no?
Whatever, I guess that’s it---I should be happy to have a job I guess, although with the way things are going I’m not gonna have this one for much longer. That’s my rant for the day, thanks for following along. If anyone has any advice, aside from the use of high explosives, let me know. It’s not that I’m ruling out the explosives, mind you, just keeping my options open.

It's Ninja Wheelie Time!!!

Because I'm bored, I've spent the better part of the day surfing the Internet, not unlike gc does every day. As such, I stumbled on a bunch of movies coming out that I really want to see---some of them I had heard about, some I hadn't. I figured I'd throw a few posters up on here to see what other people thought, because going to the movies by yourself isn't all that fun.

1) The Ringer----Starring Johnny Knoxville, I'v been waiting for this movie to come out for over a year now. I don't know what the hold up was, but I'm glad it's finally coming out.

2) V for Vendetta----I had heard about this a while ago, but didn't know what it was. It's apparently an adaptation of a graphic novel, along the lines of Sin City. Look weird, but in a good way---plus it might have Natalie Portman in it, so.........

3) Hostel----Another weird film, along the lines of Saw and Cabin Fever, both of which I really liked. Not a lot of premise, you pretty much know what you're getting with these movies. Throw in Quentin Tarantino, and the fact that this is supposedly the goriest "major release" movie ever in the U.S., (depending on what review your read), and I'm all over it.

4) Underworld: Evolution----I also really liked the first Underworld, so I was glad to see they were making another one. I think any time a movie grosses $100 million dollars like the first one did, Hollywood starts drooling over sequels. Hopefully they don't screw it up, but we'll see. Again, you pretty much know going in what you're gonna get, you don't set your sights too high with some movies.

So that's enough for now I guess, there are others but I should at least pretend to get some work done today. Not that it really matters, mind you. Feel free to throw out anything else that might be upcoming, like I said I really had no idea so many movies were coming out that I wanted to see.

Congrats.......

Just a quick double congratulations to the Cap'n---she'll be graduating from college and getting a job, all in a span of like a week.

I'm not too sure of the specifics, but I believe she will be helping old people. Maybe she said "hunting" old people, which would be waaaay more exciting, although it could get kinda messy.

Whatever the case, congrats--it's awesome that not only do you know what you want to do with your life, you're actually doing it. That's something very few people will ever accomplish, and you should be proud.

Other than that, not much else going on around here. Cold, supposed to start snowing again soon----yeeehaw. I can't believe it's almost Xmas, it seems like this year has flown by.

WWCND ?

So yesterday we get like 7" of snow, and the whole city freaks out. Come on people, it's Indiana---it snows here. I know that's like some radical concept to people, but if you're gonna live in this wretched state you might want to get used to driving in snow. Any by "get used to it", I don't mean buy the biggest SUV or truck you can find and drive like 80 mph, which seems to be the common solution around here. 4 wheel drive is awesome for taking off, but doesn't do much for slowing you down. But I digress......the real reason of this post was to share this pic of Chuck Norris I found, which is awesome.

A day that will live in infamy.....

Just a quick post today--the boss is riding me like a rented mule. But on this 64th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and at the risk of sounding insensitive, I figured I should do something to lighten the mood a little.

Behold the funniest cd cover I have ever seen, stolen from Gaming Age Forum:

I just can't look at this picture and not crack up, I've tried. Resistance is futile---I have to find this cd now, just to hear what "thangs" Big Bear is "doin".