By rfduck the music-loving mememeister
| Seems I fell asleep at the switch this week, doesn't it? Rfduck was on top of things: “Hello everyone. It's mambo time! Today is Kiss Your Car Day. I don't suggest you actually kiss your car, but we can talk about cars and music.” 4. If you could drive the car of one musician, whose car would you choose? |
Patrick must be thinking of getting a new car, more befitting his station in life. He says, “America and its cars: as much as they cost these days, I supposed we’re justified to feel a certain pride in the models we buy. But where does your brand loyalty lie? Chevy or Ford? Cadillac or Dodge?”
“But first, though Julie was first to leave a comment, she didn’t leave a link to the specific post in which she answered the questions, so the rules dictate that the second commenter, Otowi of “Otowi” must be declared the first to play last week’s question. Congratulations!”
“On to this week’s question!”
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Name the seven makes (not models) of cars you are most likely to buy.
Honda
Toyota
Volkswagon
Chevrolet
Scion
Nissan
Subaru
My answers aren't just blowing smoke; I own three of those seven brands I listed, plus one other not listed. For my money, Honda is the most reliable of any manufacturer's vehicles on the road, seconded by Toyota and Nissan. We've been in the market for a new vehicle over the past year or so, and have considered available brands, etc. My wife prefers the Volkswagon and I the Subaru. We ended up buying the “blimpmobile,” a used Chevy Suburban, because we wanted something we could haul lots of stuff in, plus a travel trailer, in addition to the dog (almost as big as a trailer herself).
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Taking another sip of her cafe au lait, Mistress Otto took a moment to exclaim, “Good Morning! Here are this week's questions. Have fun and have a great week!” =)
1. Do you listen to the radio, or a CD, when you're driving in your car/truck/SUV? Both, actually. Not at the same time, of course. Depending on the vehicle, we even listen to cassette tapes.
2. Do you have one of those GPS systems in your vehicle? We have a handheld unit that we can take with us.
3. About how many miles do you put on your vehicle in a month? About 1500.
4. Do you have your oil changed regularly? Not nearly as often as I should. Now that you can't treat your dirt in the driveway with the oil, disposal is a problem.
5. Do you take your vehicle to a car wash or do you wash it at home? Car Wash, baby!
6. How often do you have the inside of your vehicle cleaned? Do you do it yourself or do you pay someone to do it? Not very often and then I do it. Reluctantly.
7. What is the color of your vehicle? One is Midnight Blue, another is Champagne and then the other is Silver.
You can play along, too, by clicking on the title link above...
A little storm named Barry dropped by Charleston today and knocked out power briefly just as I was finishing up this week’s questions. Because of an earlier commitment, I wasn’t able to redo them and post until later. But at least the power outage only lasted a few seconds.
But before the questions, Ingrid of "A Very Simple Life" was first to play last week. Congratulations, Ingrid!
Here are this week's "Saturday Six" questions. Either answer the questions in a comment over here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal...but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as "first to play," you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!
1. When did you last compute the average number of miles to the gallon your car gets?
This afternoon ... 18.6, btw.
2. Do you use regular, midrange or premium octane fuel?
Regular fuel in the Saturn and the Suburban; premium fuel in the VW Touareg, much to my chagrin.
3. If you had to give up one or the other because of a government-mandated fuel-saving law, would you prefer to go without your car’s air conditioning or automatic transmission?
Well, giving up the automatic transmission will probably result in a net decrease in the overall fleet economy of the vehicles on the road, and I live where it's cool enough to get by most days without air, so the AC would be the sacrificial lamb in my case (as well as yours – government doesn't give choices).
4. Take the quiz: What muscle car are you?
Haven't I done this before? I haven't? Oh well...
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5. Of the cars you have driven and/or owned, which had the worst gas mileage? Did that have any impact on your decision to get rid of it or make plans to get rid of it?
The outright worst was a 1973 4WD ¾ ton pick-up with the 350 V8 and manual transmission towing a 5000 pound tractor and trailer. It got less than 7MPG in that configuration and was hell on clutch plates. By way of example, my 1978 ¾ ton pick-up with automatic transmission and a big block V8 with the same tractor and trailer would average 12 MPG. Sometimes bigger IS better.
6. On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten representing the most, how much will “environmental friendliness” have on your decision to buy your next vehicle?
We just bought the used Suburban, even though it is less than “friendly” to the environment because we need a vehicle with trailer-towing capacity that is comfortable for long trips to places like Florida and Louisiana; it had to have 4WD to cope with the snow (they just don't like to plow the roads late in the evening when my wife gets off work and her safety is number one in my book) and the ability to handle a big load(s). We were thinking it was probably going to be a full-size Toyota Tundra pick-up, but this deal sort of dropped into our laps, so we grabbed it. Any other vehicle purchased will probably have to be pretty environmentally friendly, because we are used to a 28MPG commuter car for most of our driving and aren't going to be happy with TWO gas guzzlers in our stable. That probably (hopefully) won't be a topic of discussion for a few more years, if I can help it.
There are days when I feel like taking a drive. Then there are days when I can go without even looking at a car. I haven’t decided which kind of day this is, yet, but it at least got me thinking about this week’s questions.
But before the questions, Gabrielle of "Questions of the Day" was first to play last week. Congratulations, Gabrielle!
Here are this week's "Saturday Six" questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal...but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as "first to play," you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!
1. What color car do you drive?
We've got a silver car and a beige one and a very dark navy blue one. Depending on where we are going or what the plan of the day is, I drive whatever meets the needs of the trip.
2. How many cars have you had in the past of this same color?
None. In the past I've had blue of three different hues, three greens, two reds, a fluorescent orange, a black and a fake-wood paneled wagon with a white base.
3. What does this particular color mean to you?
Obviously, nothing special.
4. Take the quiz: What color car should you drive?
| You Should Drive a Blue Car |
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You're the type of driver who isn't hung up on what brand or the color of the car you drive. You don't need a flashy car to show off your wealth or style. Instead, you go for value and reliability. You're quite practical. You're a great driver, but you don't show off. Part of your skill is not standing out on the road. |
What Color Car Should You Drive?
5. Would you ever consider driving a car the color the quiz suggests?
Blue? Sure, no problem, so long as I am still in the North. White for the South – it's just cooler. But for melting snow and ice on a sunny day after a snow storm in Maine, a dark color is the thing.
6. Do you consider yourself the most-aggressive driver on the road, the least-aggressive, or something in between?
Just as there is ALWAYS someone tougher than you are, so too when it comes to aggressive drivers. I have driven race cars, but I'd not try to mix it up with someone from NASCAR, for instance. At least not if I was driving in a circle. To the left. Only.
Here are this week's questions. Have a great week and thank you all so much for playing! =)
1. What kind of automobile do you drive? A '97 Saturn SC2 sedan with a little over a hundred thousand miles on it.
2. What kind of automobile do you WISH you drove? An H-1 Hummer with a .50 caliber machine gun and a bed full of RPG's.
3. When is the last time you bought a vehicle (new or used)? About 10 years ago...
4. What is your color of choice as far as vehicles go? Up here, it's something darkish that stands out to other drivers – red is good. Anything that heats up and melts snow is very good. Down South, I think I'd go with white or a pale yellow pastel...
5. Do you regularly have your oil changed? Not as often as it should be, sorry to say.
6. How long do you generally keep a vehicle before thinking about buying a new one? Generally, I start thinking about a new one far, far sooner than I ever actually buy one. I only get serious when it is evident that permanent mechanical death is imminent. I'd guess it's ten to twelve years on average with new cars, five to seven with used (they're already five to seven years old when I buy them).
7. What kind of automobile will you buy next? An SUV or Pickup. Depends on SWMBO – getting a new pickup while I still own my '78 Chevy will be a trick, let me tell you...
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Dear John,
This is a tough one. I have been without a computer and a car, albeit not simultaneously. Living out here in the sticks, the nearest “store” is pretty close, actually. It's only a mile and a half from the house. Never mind the fact that a quart of milk is two dollars, a cup of coffee almost as much and a loaf of bread about twice what a quart of milk goes for – all at least 200% mark-up over the supermarket in town. Being disabled, it might as well be fifty miles, though – the odds of my expiring while trying to get there are about the same, either way. Furthermore, there's no way I'd be able to get a five gallon can of gas home for the mower, to say nothing of the 15 gallons of kerosene we go through every three days at the height of winter. Good thing I no longer drink – they have beer, but it's probably going for $6 a six pack for Budweiser bilge water. Saint's preserve us -- imagine what a six pack of Guinness might go for, if they even had Guinness for that matter. The cars make it possible to go to work, to doctors and hospital, to eat, to stay warm, to clothe ourselves, and to broaden our horizons through the occasional trip beyond the local environs. They transport my sea kayak and canoe; they take the pets to the veterinarian. They truly are our lifeline to civilization. Even with gasoline creeping into the $3/gallon range again, out here a car is a necessity, not a luxury. There is no daily public transportation which serves the area I live in – I'd have to go four miles to the nearest bus stop for local service (might as well be 400 miles). A cab ride from the airport to the house is almost $30, so taxis are pretty much out as an alternative. Not a pleasant thought.
Then there's the computer. It's my principal source of communications, music and other entertainment, as well as my photo processing lab, my repository for manuscripts, and the ultimate black hole of time and concentration. I know I can survive without a computer ... but would I really want to? I know I can write novels on lined legal pads – but then would have to pay someone else to put them on disk to submit for consideration. There goes the profit margin!
I am homebound as it is whenever my wife is using the car. Do I really want to increase the amount of time I spend at home, alone? People already think I'm a freaking lunatic. Imagine how much more intimidating I would be if I was alone two times, three times or maybe four times as much as I am already? Scary thought, that.
Equally scary is the thought of trying to hitchhike in this day and age. I remember I once got stuck for a day and a half in west Texas trying to hitch a ride. There were days last month here where exposure of skin would result in tissue death inside of five minutes. Standing on the side of the road, thumb out, hoping for a ride for an hour or two would simply yield a wilsicle! Counter-productive.
Given all that, plus many more issues, I'd vote with my feet – the computer would have to go. I know, there are some who say I could move into a town or city, but frankly, I am not psychologically wired to live in a place where swinging a (frozen, dead) cat by the tail would knock out twenty people and bring the humane agents out with automatic weapons. No, I am not a city boy. I've tried it, I lost it. I'm the kind of quiet, unassuming fellow who is so close to the edge, any built-in stressors like massive populations (i.e. over 20 people per square mile) and I'd end up in a watch tower taking out those 20 and as many more as I could manage before turning the weapon on myself. I have no desire to be the lead on the News at Eleven, thank you very much.
Finally, my fine feathered friend, it should come as no surprise that my first car, purchased with my hard-earned money, cost a fifth of what this computer cost. Of course, if adjusted for the difference between then and now, they cost about the same. Both were obsolete the day I bought them and neither got any better with age. Sad to say, the computer has needed almost as many repairs as that first junker. And so it goes...
Kiss Athena and Krissy on the cheek from the dirty old man in Maine. And cut down on the sugar, my friend, else you end up fat and disabled like me.
wil
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Save the Planet
Kill
Yourself
Church
of Euthanasia
The One Commandment:
"Thou
shalt not procreate"
The Four Pillars:
suicide
· abortion
cannibalism
· sodomy
